Paradigm_Shift

"Is the monster gone yet?" The invisible Urban Fellow of Merry Wit asked from somewhere. He sounded extremely worried.

The Urban Fellow of Merry Wit just watched the unfolding spectacle with a big O plastered onto his face. And then the laughter came, and he responded in time with a high-pitched childish laugh. He then grinned a toothy shark's grin, and whispered...

"It's Showtime...!"

There was an explosion of confetti, a flash of dark red, and the kid vanished into thin air!

Jase was a twentieth of a second from being shot with a Marshmallow when Rosie suddenly said he was ok. The Urban Fellow of Merry Wit shrugged and tossed the bazooka over his shoulder. It flew in an arc about five feet, and then started flying straight up. 50 yards into the air, it exploded in a cloud of confetti.

"I thought he was evil because he's fat and and bald and has a piggy face like all the bad suit guys from cartoons?" The Urban Fellow of Merry Wit turned to look at Rosie over his shoulder with a questioning look, still pointing the Marshmallow bazooka at Jase.

Jase found a four-foot tall impediment between him and Acid Zero.

"Ninja man hungry for Marshmallows? :S" The Urban Fellow of Merry Wit was pointing a Toy Marshmallow Bazooka Launcher at him. His eyes were gleaming with dementia possessed of all children who knew they were in a position of power.

The Urban Fellow of Merry wit let loose an excited yell as Rosie launched herself and him through the air. The moment his feet touched the ground as Rosie let him down, he started running in circles around Acid Zero and the Congressman, screaming and laughing as if he was having the time of his life just getting dizzy.

Ok, pretty much what I expected. That said, I LIKE this idea.

Question.

What was Superhero 101? Are only teen supers allowed to enter, or is this one of those "everyone is mysteriously a teenager without noticing" things? And if so, are villains allowed to attend?

The Urbane Fellow of Merry Wit laughed as Rosie noogied him, and then the cake flew over, its rocket-thrusters disengaging and the turret sliding back into the depths. The candles returned to a normal color, and the UFMW started gorging himself on the cake.

"Want some?" He asked Rosie through a half-full mouth. He seemed completely oblivious to the spectacle occuring in the sky.

The Urban Fellow of Merry Wit pretty much allowed himself to be tackled and started fooling around with Rosalind. The super soaker was discarded to be left lying in the middle of the bridge.

The candles atop the cake turret started burning a pure yellow glow easily discernable from the red one they had cast earlier. Its rocket thrusters fired, and suddenly both Jase and Balgair had a cake with a turret between the first and second layers floating right in front of them. It smelled DELICIOUS, as if it had JUST been baked. The little automatic party-blower blew itself with a disconcerting "Pethewn!" noise. The burning candle-flames were rapidly flickering between orange and red. It could almost have been said that the cake-turret thing was LEERING at them, but that was crazy.

Then again, they were both already saying and thinking as much. They should have expected that.

The Urban Fellow of Merry Wit, A.K.A. "That Kid" to people with no patience for such names, seemed entirely unperturbed by the magical forces descending upon the immediate area. He jumped off the roof of the stalled car with an acrobatic flip, running along the pavement until he was right behind Acid Zero and Rosalind.

He then tugged on the Lycan's sleeve, and pointed a VERY cheap-looking plastic super-soaker at her.

"BANG!" He said, flashing a wide and cheesy smile that showed all of his pearly whites. "You're dead!" Of course, no such thing occured, but given what the little demon is guise of a boy had produced so far, it would not have been surprising if the cheap-looking super soaker was actually a molecular destabilizer. The turret-bearing-cake fired its rocket thrusters and halted at the edge of Acid's force bubble.

"DakkadakkadakkaCAKE!" The Urban Fellow of Merry Wit said randomly, producing a two-layer cake complete with pink frosting and lit candles seemingly out of thin air. The cake was entirely edible, but had been summoned for a different purpose. Rocket thrusters fired on its underside, and the second layer suddenly sprang upwards to reveal a hidden gun turret within. A party-blower attatched to an air pump on the turret's side went off with a "Pethewn!" noise, and the turret started targetting the ghosts heading for Dire Lament with an endless barrage of bullets. The cake it was situated inside of used its rocket thrusters to navigate closer all the while, increasing its accuracy while the birthday candles atop it burned menacingly.

But the Urban Fellow of Merry Wit wasn't done!

"Wicked ghosts MELT ON CONTACT WITH WATER! AHAHAHA!" He laughed triumphantly from his position atop the stalled car, reaching behind himself and pulling out of thin air a novelty omni-directional kiddie sprinkler system. (Batters included.) He tossed this right into the middle of all the action, and the sprinkler went to work sprinkling. Only, it wasn't sprinkling water. Rather, a highly acidic chemical designed to weaken defenses and lower the resistance of just about anything, including force fields.

Add a "single" option so that the Ambush only spawns one enemy. This will allow for bosses and the like to be spawned as ambushes without spawning multiple copies of them. I would also like to suggest that defeating ambushes be altered so that they can be made into mission objectives, along the lines of "Survive the Ambush" or "Defeat your pursuers."

Cloning is entirely legal in the Rogue Isles. However, such clones are not considered Human Beings, as Aeon Corps. Demonstrates to us since they test most of their stuff ON clones. Vivisection upon clones is also very popular. "Destined" Clones are still not considered human, but then again, neither are Destined Ones. In this particular case, they are elevated from "Sub-human" to "Super-Human" status. Super-Human clones are protected by what passes for the law.


In Paragon City, I think it's fairly safe to say that non-government sponsered cloning is highly Illegal, as Crey Industries demonstrates via their super-secret hush-hush Revenant Hero project. One can presumably obtain a liscense for cloning, but such a liscense would be very hard to get your hands on. Probably as hard to get as a liscense to kill. And such a liscense would probably only be considered valid if the holder was a direct government employee. Clones, when they do turn up, are given the same legal status as their apparent physical age. This would have to be the case, otherwise fully matured clones who are still only 5 years old wouldn't be able to get anywhere in Paragon City, which would be a big no-no with human rights activists, arguments over whether clones or human or not. Clones are therefore also protected by the same laws as everybody else.


The above is merely speculation and logical deduction, so if anybody cares to refute me, go right on ahead.

There was this THING about Paragon City.

Events draw attention. Which isn't saying much. Lusca draws attention and there is rarely anyone these days who cares to put her down. Yet, strangely, when a few actually bother to try, passer-by supers become less apathetic and join in the fight. So it wasn't events that drew attention.

Events where there were a lot of supers drew attention.

A lone figure walked casually down the opposite side of the bridge. Wearing heavy brown rubber gloves and boots, with a sturdy looking tech helmet and power armor underneath a plain light blue t-shirt and khakis, the figure walked with an air of confidence and power that would have offset any foe.

........Had he been any taller than 4 feet. For the figure was not a man, but-

"Look at all those mean ghosts." Whined an Urban Fellow of Merry Wit (age 8). "They've gone from stalking me and living under my bed to hurting people! That's just plain mean!" With that, the boy ran forward at a ninety-degree angle like a Hollywood ninja and jumped onto the roof of one of the stalled cars, and flung out his hands. An explosion of brightly colored confetti shot out in every direction, as did a veritable swarm of seeker drones with buzzing blades that started to home in on the Circle Mystics.

Basically, Fate and Destiny CAN in fact be altered. Timelines can overlap, suppress and change current events in realtime. The past can be changed. Or, to make it more straightforward...

Time moves forward. Changes to the timeline in the past IMMEDIATELY affect the future. Changes in the future do not affect the present, and do not increase the chances of that particularly future coming about.

We know this because of the following pieces of evidence:

1. Arachnos apparently uses time travel technology to erase the genetic history of villains who they deem are out of control. You never hear about them. Guess why?

2. Recluse's Victory is a future in a constant state of flux, with Arachnos trying to figure out how to imprint their victory over the present. It hasn't worked as of it, and is unlikely to at any point in time.

3. When you bring back Recluse's head from the future, that future very notably does not happen.

4. Professor Echo hails from the same future, trying to change our past in order to change his future.

5. Ouroboros. That is all.

So, in the end, the general gist I get of time is that there is no such thing as destiny or fate. Time is only directly maleable in the past and present, the results of which determine the future. One cannot increase the chance of a future happening by altering or experimenting with the future. One can only control the future by controling the past and present. (Sound familiar? )

I sneeze and kill them all.

There is a reason why you stop seeing these guys after a certain level thresh-hold.

Utopia justifies the means.

The Government is shaped by the will of its people.

Unity through a single belief formed the foundation for heaven.

Poverty and ignorance stem from blind and false worship.

Safety is freedom. Law is freedom.

Freedom is slavery. Law is slavery.



We are tired. We are so very tired. All of you are BLIND. All of you are IGNORANT. All of you are FANATICS. Your petty bickering and fighting, wars and vendettas over your ideas of an ideal community are equally flawed. Regardless of whether you are a Loyalist and a blind lackey, or a member of the so-called "Resistance" with your futile cause, you all have one thing in common.

Community. Society. People.

That is not the way things work.

All of nature is about the INDIVIDUAL. Only through personal strength, through personal intellect and personal skill can anything be achieved. That mockery of an Emperor Cole got where he was today because he is the strongest, most cunning and most vicious ******* to walk your pitiful world. But not for long. Soon, he shall be replaced. There is always somebody stronger, faster, smarter, BETTER. He shall be overthrown not by an army of pitifully complacent and feeble-minded rebels. He, and his entire regime, will in the end fall by the hands of a single person. That person, in turn, shall also fall to another. It is an inevitable cycle, and that one facet of its progress is irrelevant when compared to the entirety of its grand tapestry. For behold, look upon all of Praetoria! Look upon all of Primal Earth! Look upon every corner of the cosmos! Every moment is filled with conflict, between individuals both small and large, weak and powerful, "good" and "evil." The measure of the individual is their own strengths and weaknesses. Every individual is responsible for themself, and is beholden to nobody else. Thus, their own shortcomings are their own fault. They were too weak to improve where they were lacking. They were unfit. All are responsible for their own destiny, and all are in full and utter control of their own fate. They have but to grasp it with both hands.

This is why I must say that Emperor Cole is an individual to be admired. The feats he has accomplished through sheer power, intimidation and violence are admirable. He has conditioned his populace to allow him to shape their fates, and thus they become the lowest of scum. They become slaves, less than human, with no destiny other than that which Emperor Cole weaves for them. He has caused the inevitable cycle to STALL. He is an IMPEDIMENT in the grand design and tapestry of nature.

He will be removed. He will be replaced. And he will serve his new master as his pitiful excuses for citizens served him.

As for the so called "Resistance," you are rot. You are decay. You seek to overthrow the Tyrant who rules over you, for whatever motive any of you may have. However, you have all banded together under a common banner to do so. You have formed a community. A society. One with laws, written and unwritten. There are rules, and this is only to be expected in any orginization, regardless of how rag-tag and pathetically conceived it is. Thus, even if you could overthrow the false emperor - And you won't - you would just be replacing one form of society with another. This cannot be allowed. This stagnation of natural order has gone on too long, upon both Primal Earth and upon Praetoria. You shall all be hunted, for your thoughts are perversions of the highest order.

You are primitive savages that slow progress with your folly and madness. You will be put down. You will be put down by the hands of individuals. Or perhaps even by one individual. It matters not.




In the end, all that matters is that the grand cycle continue. Every individual WILL have control over their fate. Destiny will be within YOUR very own hands. YOU will be responsible for yourself and your standing in the world. You will either rise or fall by your own efforts, and the inevitable cycle will continue.

Anarchy WILL reign. TRUE freedom, not your current watered-down concept of it, WILL come to be. Chaos and Entropy wll govern all, and the inevitable cycle will continue, on and on, for all eternity!

The thing with pocket D is that the local god is floating RIGHT THERE IN THE MIDDLE OF THE PLACE. If you cause trouble in his little paradise...

Even the most psychotic and senseless person would think twice before starting a fight in the D.

Now now, save the super-weapons for other threads. :S

Pfffft. You forget, I imbibe Moonbeam Absinthe. You couldn't crush me if you pressed me between two gigaton hammers.

I'm so lonely here on Winfinity, that I may transfer over to Virtue JUST to have my soul crushed.