Rebel_Scum

For what it's worth, I like it and would love to read more if you want to write it

Valerie paid little attention to the Kommandant's explanation of their world's recent history, not unsurprisingly since she'd lived through it same as he had. Isabel on the other hand turned away from her watch of the tracks behind them and listened. Her response was much the same as Flashpoint's, Portal Corp were the very best when it came to interdimensional anything. And even if they couldn't stop the invasion before it even got there, the sheer number of metahumans hanging around not only Paragon but most other major cities would stop them dead in their tracks through overwhelming numbers if nothing else.

Flashpoint said it better than she could though, so she merely nodded her agreement and returned to watching their rear.

[ QUOTE ]
"Takes them longer to follow. Hopefully, long enough for us to get away..."

[/ QUOTE ]

Both Valerie and Isabel looked away from each other at this, instead turning towards the Kommandant. Without saying anything, Isabel got up and went to stand at the rear of the train, looking out towards the tracks behind them. Should anything break through the debris left by the explosion in time to follow them, it was going to get a rude surprise in the form of a full barrage of energy blasts that'd probably bring the tunnel down around it if not kill it outright.

Valerie meanwhile looked back to her sister again, her intention to ask if someone should be watching the tracks behind them rendered somewhat unnecessary by the fact that Isabel had just taken up that position. Thus she simply sat there in silence once more, debating with herself about talking to Isabel. She'd seen the faint spark of recognition in the other's eyes, but far less than the outright shock she herself had experienced. Part of her wanted to know why, while another feared that she might not like the answer.

[ QUOTE ]
"Please, go aboard." the Krieger motioned to the nearest car

[/ QUOTE ]

Isabel merely nodded before walking calmly over to the idicated car and sitting down in the first available spot she saw. As she looked around the interior of the train, she inevitably noticed a certain soldier once again looking at her. She looked strangely familiar, though Isabel was quite sure she'd never met her before at least in the three years she remembered. "What?", she demanded. "Do I have a spider on my face or something?"

Valerie didn't respond for a long time, not really knowing what to say. Again she tried to convince herself that the person sitting there wasn't really her sister, but being so close and hearing her speak (She even spoke in exactly the same way) made it even harder.

[ QUOTE ]
Alana's, Justin's, and Vortex's comm units all chirped with the invite.

[/ QUOTE ]

Alana only sort of listened to Cinderstorm's explanation since she was engaged in fighting a pair of hellions, but she got most of it. These ones seemed oddly weaker than the first group. As the second one dropped she looked down at the bracelet on her arm as it beeped at her to indicate someone was inviting her to a team. Holding it up where she could see it easily, she touched the 'accept' button in the projected window before turning to hear Justin's orders.

"Bet that plan lasts all of maybe one mob before everyone starts just doing their own thing", she commented, always the pessimist. She opened her mouth to say something but stopped abruptly as she realised something. She wasn't bleeding, nor were there any visible gunshot wounds on her. "Ok that makes no sense, I know I got shot at least twice so why are there no wounds?", she asked no one in particular, looking down at herself to make sure she hadn't just missed them.

[ QUOTE ]
"So, what say the jury," Justin asked and gave a menacing half-smile back to the prodigal Hellion.

[/ QUOTE ]

"Oh, definitely deserving of a beating", Alana replied, ceasing her search for the non-existant gunshot wounds and turning to the lone Hellion. "Sorry mate, but I need one more Hellion and here you are all on your own."

[ QUOTE ]
"Do not take the Dark Sovereign lightly." the Krieger cautioned Isabel solemnly, "Our world did - and we paid dearly. The Rikti were nothing compared to his forces, and they have only become stronger."

[/ QUOTE ]

"I'm not taking him lightly", Isabel replied as the Krieger turned to leave. "Just saying maybe you're underestimating our dimension a little in return. And for the record the Rularuu and Praetorians are more dangerous than the Rikti ever were, in my opinion at least."

She got up to follow him as requested (as much as she didn't want to trust anyone in this dimension he was the closest thing to an ally they had at the moment) but was pulled aside by the commander they'd met in the sewers.

[ QUOTE ]
"You spoke of a 'first' Rikti invasion...what did you mean by that? Did you not neutralize them? Did they come back for more with you...?"

[/ QUOTE ]

"In the first invasion we were caught completely unprepared and lost a lot before we even started fighting back, but we did win eventually. The second was far smaller and as far as I know localised to only Paragon City while the first was global. Really I'm not the best person to ask about it, I wasn't even involved in the first invasion, the earliest I remember is about three years back. The people that saw told me I appeared in this big flash of light. I never though much of it, there's people in Paragon with far stranger stories to tell."

"Though I have to admit to some curiosity. See, in our dimension the Rikti were provoked into attacking us by a man named Nemesis, who built mechanical replicas of our world's most famous heroes and attacked the Rikti with them thus they retalliated. Until that they were a peaceful people, so what did your world do to piss them off?"

[ QUOTE ]
"As far as he is concerned, der Reichsmann won, has conquered your world, and is presently so entrenched that any offensive without months of preparation is doomed to fail from the start."

[/ QUOTE ]

"Hell, that's probably true anyway", Isabel almost laughed. "After your guys, the Rikti, the Rularru and the Praetorians a while back, we're getting pretty good at repelling interdimensional invasions. Not to mention the sheer number of metas running around the place in general. If they're not planning something on the same planet-wide scale of the first Rikti invasion they've likely got little or no chance to begin with, preparation or not."

"But whatever, we'll do it your way", she shrugged.

[ QUOTE ]
"But is safe guess that Reichsmann subject of questions."

[/ QUOTE ]

"Oh yeah, probably is isn't it", Isabel agreed, remembering again that this was the dimension he'd come from. She fell silent as Flashpoint talked but added after he finished, "Yeah, I don't know any more than that. He attacked, he got the crap kicked out of him and they froze him and stuck him in a basement somewhere." She quite deliberately neglected to mention that she knew for a fact that said basement was the old Freedom Phalanx headquarters in Boomtown.

-----------

Meanwhile, Valerie was halfway across the base, helping with the evacuation. But her mind wasn't really on her work, rather it was on her extradimensional sister. After she stumbled and dropped a second box of supplies because she wasn't watching where she was going, the commanding officer yelled at her to stop daydreaming. For all of maybe five minutes, she did.

[ QUOTE ]
"What? I was- we were doing it back there! We should team up. What do ya say?" He had already forgotten again that he didn't have his costume.

[/ QUOTE ]

"If I knew how to work this stupid thing," Alana replied, shaking the hand with the bracelet on it in front of him to indicate what 'stupid thing' she was talking about, "then I would have already invited you. But I don't, so I haven't."

With that she was off again, sprinting towards another group of hellions a bit further down the road. Azuria had told her to beat up at least 5 after all, and they'd only got two so far. Stopping right in the middle of the group, the flames still rolling off her got their attention quickly enough as she punched the closest one in the gut with a flaming fist.

[ QUOTE ]
"Great. Idiot here too. Have been awake long enough to find out where have been dragged?"

[/ QUOTE ]

Isabel started to say something in response, but was interrupted by the entrance of the one who was presumably responsible for their rescue and recovery. Ok, so not back in Paragon then. Oh well.

[ QUOTE ]
"We have business to discuss. I assume you know what we would like to know of you...?"

[/ QUOTE ]

"Honestly? Not a clue", Isabel replied, lowering the glowing hand she'd reflexively pointed at him the moment the door opened. "Thanks for saving us though, thought I was dead for a moment there."

Isabel came back to consciousness with some surprise. She'd thought her injuries too severe for that, that she'd be waking up in the afterlife. She had a vague memory of someone who seemed strangely familiar kneeling down beside her with a medkit, but beyond that nothing. If she were to be honest with herself she would actually feel a little disappointed that she wasn't dead.

Rolling over slowly, or at least attempting to, she realised she was in a hospital of sorts. Fairly reasonable place to be after almost dying, really. Still she had to wonder, given that her vision was still too blurry to make out anything more than general shapes, if she was in a hospital somewhere on Axis Amerika Earth or back in Paragon somehow. She knew the mediporters worked in some other dimensions so it was possible at least, wasn't it?

((Valerie would presumably be caught up in whatever they were hurrying for, can't really post for her without more details than Devious likes to give out. ))

Not posessing his level of physical durability, Isabel wasn't nearly as lucky as the big tanker in suriving the nuclear blast. Her personal force field saved her from most of the damage of the blast itself, but she got it up too late to prevent herself from being flung down the hallway alongside Flashpoint. Impacting hard against the wall with a sickening crack of bones shattering, she slumped to the floor.

Unlike the tanker who was apparently merely tired, Isabel was barely even breathing. And if nothing was done, she soon might not even be doing that.

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

Valerie could stand it no longer. Watching what she assumed was Primal Earth's version of her sister fighting a crazy cyborg was one thing, but seeing her almost killed by said cyborg was quite another. She'd had to watch her sister die once, she refused to do it again. Unless one of those metas could do something for her though, likely all Valerie would be able to do with the contents of the medkit she snatched from the squad's very surprised medic before running over to the fallen meta would be make Isabel's last moments more comfortable.

[ QUOTE ]
"Valerie, that is not your sister." the Unteroffizier told the woman sternly, "And she is putting us all in danger right now - you of all people should know that. Now mo-"

A crunch down the tunnel cut her off, signifying the removal of a sewer lid.

[/ QUOTE ]

Valerie didn't respond, still watching the metas fighting each other. The crunching sound however got her attention, and she looked around in that direction before looking back debating with herself if it was worth the risk to try and help them. She swore quietly to herself under her breath, knowing there was nothing they could do to help without almost gauranteeing their own capture.

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

[ QUOTE ]
He teleported to the far end of the tunnel, opposite of the direction that Flashpoint Zero had headed in, and his combat invisibility disengaged for good this time. He raised his sap stick and started firing it repeatedly in Flashpoint's direction, in an attempt to aggrevate the tanker...

[/ QUOTE ]

God dammit, how much does it take to put this guy down?, Isabel wondered to herself as she again lifted off the ground and shot off down the tunnel towards the cyborg, wincing as a stray blast from the sap stick tagged her in the arm and made that whole side of her body go numb. With the other hand, she kept firing at the cyborg.

Before following the others out the door Alana paused and looked down at the black bracelet attached to one of her gloves, the one they'd given her when she registered. She recalled being told how to communicate with other heroes on her team with it, but not how to set up a team in the first place. After a couple of minutes she shrugged and gave up, running out the door after the others. Maybe she'd ask the hologram later, it probably knew.

Spotting Justin over in the parking lot facing down a trio of hellions, Alana sprinted over in that direction. As she did so the reason for her hero name became obvious as she quite literally burst into flames, what she and the hologram both called a Fire Shield flaring into life around her. She jumped in front of Justin, the shield absorbing some of the hellion's punch for her before she returned the favor with a punch of her own. Though it wasn't a punch really, more of a slap. Just enough to get the flames surrounding her hands close enough to set the unfortunate hellion on fire. Oddly, though it was obviously painful (She could practically see the damage numbers ticking upwards from his head), he didn't seem bothered by it.

One of the others laughed at them. "Ha, stupid kid has to be saved by his midget girlfriend." Hearing this, Alana turned on him instead. "Heh, at least he's not the one that's going to get beaten up by said 'midget girlfriend'. And for the record, I'm not his girlfriend", she commented before giving him a flaming slap across the face as well. She hated people like him, them and their constant teasing were the reason she'd been messing with her Dad's magic in the first place.

Deciding to try out the new power she'd gotten from the hologram, she concentrated and a ring of flames burst outwards from her, followed by another a few moments later. They continued rolling off her as she fought, burning all the hellions though not any of her allies. That was the good thing about being a fire elemental, even one in a human body. The fire burned only what she wanted it to burn.

((This hasn't died already, has it?))

[ QUOTE ]
"I'm Cinderstorm, I've been at this probably a few more hours than you, but I'll help you out if you want it."

[/ QUOTE ]

"You could come help me beat up Hellions, if you've got nothing better to do", Alana replied as she walked back up to the group. "Azuria's creepy", she added, as if that explained everything she'd done in the short time she'd been gone.

"Cinderstorm huh? You have fire powers, like me?", she asked the newcomer, raising a hand at the same time around which flames flared into existence before she realised something and turned back to the first guy she'd met. "I don't think I got your name either, what do you call yourself?"

((This is quickly becoming ridiculous, much like Paradigm's character in TSS did if I remember rightly. Something about how increasing a character's power level every fight (or even every hit, in some cases) is a bad idea that just doesn't seem to get through to him.))

Isabel still wasn't quite sure why the cyborg was ignoring her, but as long as it was she was going to take advantage of it. Realising that he tended to appear near where Flashpoint was, she simply watched the tanker rather than searching for him herself.

[ QUOTE ]
"Getting annoying, this is."

[/ QUOTE ]

"Indeed it is", Isabel commented, flinging an energy wave through where the cyborg had appeared. Not that she expected to hit anything, considering past experiences. Though that thought did give her an idea, and she turned and flung another energy wave straight at the big tanker. Not to attack him though, Flashpoint would notice no injury at all from the attack though it might tingle a little, but hopefully she'd hit Egregore as he inevitably materialised next to Flashpoint again.

[ QUOTE ]
"No, this was the OTHER gigantic hole in our defenses I neglected to mention entirely. About damn time somebody noticed."

[/ QUOTE ]
-From Paradigm's latest post, page 28.

So if that's the other one, what's the one he was informing us about? I was under the impression that there was only one - the sewer entrance.

Unfortunately for Egregore once again the tanker wasn't alone, a lesson apparently not learned the first time Isabel's energy blasts smashed him into the wall. Thus it was that he found himself again propelled into the wall at high speed by a bolt of concussive force. And this time she didn't leave it at that, coming at him with a double handed Total Focus attack that, if it didn't KO him outright, would leave him dazed.

----------

[ QUOTE ]
"If we're discovered..."

[/ QUOTE ]

"Yeah, we should leave...", Valerie agreed, though it was obvious from her voice that she didn't want to simply abandon the one who looked so much like her deceased sister.

(( I think that becomes null and void when the rest of us are waiting for your character to do something before we proceed. ))

((I was waiting for Paradigm to post Egregore's next move - whether he shows himself or not.))

[ QUOTE ]
"Wow, you're short. I mean..." Justin looked down for a moment to reorganize his thoughts and what should be said out loud. He looked up again and smiled.

[/ QUOTE ]

"And you're not", Alana replied flatly, as if it was the most meaningless thing in the world.

[ QUOTE ]
"Well, every time I defeat someone," he looked around and beckoned for Alana and Nathan to get closer so he could whisper, "they disappear. And these origin guys make all this come off so real but... I'm thinking this might just be a training simulation before we get to the real stuff. Which is cool, "Brian stood up again and returned to his normal voice, "because I'm not tryna die anytime soon."

[/ QUOTE ]

"Don't they teleport to the Zig or something?", Alana suggested. "Sort of like how if we get beaten up we get teleported to the nearest hospital. One of the cop guys in Outbreak told me they have the same sort of thing set up for the bad guys, they get teleported away to prison after we beat them up. He said they can't do it when they're awake, cause of some interference from their brainwaves or something like that. I wasn't really paying attention."

"Anyway", she announced. "I'd better go talk to this Azuria person before this place shuts down for the night. See you round. Oh, I'm Alana, by the way." She gave probably as close to a real salute as she'd ever manage to the Marine, smiled and ran off in the direction Justin had shown her." Now that she had directions finding the right office didn't prove to be too hard.

Poking her head around the door of the office, Alana was startled by a voice from within. "Yes, did you want something?" The voice came from the sorceress standing in the middle of the room. Given that she was the only one there, Alana assumed she was the one she was looking for. "You're Azuria, right?", she asked as she walked fully into the office. "I'm Alana Duran, registered as Incendiary Exponent. The hero guy in Outbreak, Coyote I think he said his name was, told me to come and talk to you about missions and stuff."

Azuria nodded and replied, "It is my belief that you are destined for greatness, Incendiary Exponent."

"Umm, ok?" Alana wasn't sure what to make of that, but the woman was a sorceress after all. Her being creepy wasn't entirely unexpected, given how her Dad acted sometimes when he was in the middle of doing magic stuff. "So, do you have any missions or whatever?"

Azuria cleared her throat and spoke almost as if reciting a prepared speech. "Myself and others here at the Modern Arcane Guild of Investigation have sensed a disturbing trend. The Hellions are making rapid headway in their bid to take over Atlas Park. These Hellions are thugs who have discovered some source of dark mystic powers, and use them to enforce a brutal reign of terror on the streets. I need you to take on the Hellions and show them they aren't welcome."

Alana nodded her agreement and replied cheerfully, "Ok, crispy-fried Hellions coming right up."

As the young hero turned to leave, Azuria continued. "These Hellions are playing with powers they do not understand, and care little for who gets hurt. I would recommend you begin first by battling them on the streets of the city. Defeat 5 of their number to introduce yourself to them."

Alana turned and nodded again, wondering why the sorceress was still speaking when she'd almost left already. She waited a moment but Azuria said nothing more, so Alana proceeded out of the office.

((And yes, most of Azuria's dialog was ripped straight from the game ))

[ QUOTE ]
"What is wrong with you? You look like you saw a ghost..."

[/ QUOTE ]

"I did...", she whispered softly. "...My sister, Isabel. She died three years ago, but that stranger looks exactly like her." Somewhere inside she knew that wasn't really her sister, that it was an alternate dimension's version of her. But she couldn't quite force herself past that yet.

((For what it's worth, the soldier's name is Valerie Matthews (Sometimes shortened to just Val by her friends) and as stated she's Isabel's sister.))

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

"I hate stealth powers", Isabel muttered to herself as she noted the cyborg had disappeared. Floating up to the ceiling, she hovered there waiting for him to reveal himself. The instant he did, she had a pair of energy blasts with his name on them.

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

"Sorry, I don't understand Russian. Do you speak German?", Valerie replied in English to the other stranger that landed beside them, again pointing her rifle at him just in case.

At the bottom of the stairs in front of the Atlas statue, the characteristic pop of someone appearing out of thin air announced the arrival of another new hero from the zone known as Outbreak, where the city provided a basic tutorial to people wishing to become heroes. Alana, AKA Incendiary Exponent, looked out over the city she was to protect. Here, in the mostly safe Atlas Park, it didn't seem such a daunting task.

Alana herself stood all of four feet tall, and had she not been wearing the costume her Father (Himself a hero, and a fairly powerful one at that) had given her one might have almost assumed she was an average citizen, apart from one thing - her eyes. Where normal people had normal eyeballs with pupils and such, Alana had two small balls of concentrated flame. How it didn't escape or burn the flesh around it would be a mystery to those who didn't know what this tiny girl was. She'd been human once but a misguided attempt to make herself taller using a magic book she'd stolen from her father's library had gone wrong and instead turned her into a being of living flame, or a fire elemental as most people would call it. Her father had managed to use his much greater knowledge of magic to force her back into a human body, but it wouldn't last forever and nor were the flames suppressed entirely as evidenced by her eyes.

In comparison, her costume wasn't much really. A black trenchcoat with ornate spiked shoulderpads and no sleeves (beneath which an orange bandeau-style top was visible), a pair of black padded gloves and black pants with an orange flame pattern, flared at the bottom and held up by a studded leather belt. As far as costumes went it was closer to being normal clothes than most, but Dad had said she could get anything the tailor at Icon would let her have and this was what she'd settled on, so this was what she had.

Proceeding up the stairs to where the holographic figure of Miss Liberty stood Alana spoke quietly with the hologram for a few minutes, mostly about her powers and learning new things to do with them. Then before walking off, amused herself for a moment by waving a hand through the insubstantial figure until an angry response from it stopped her. She walked away a little amazed that whoever had programmed that hologram had thought to put that in. Stopping by one of the Trainers in the Freedom Corps uniforms she inquired about prices for the various enhancements they sold, but there was nothing she could afford so she moved on around the statue to City Hall, wherein was the one she'd been told to talk to before leaving Outbreak. A MAGI sorceress by the name of Azuria, apparently.

Alana stopped a moment in the main reception area, looking around and realising she didn't actually know where this Azuria person could be located. The MAGI office obviously, but where was that? She wandered over to where a man roughly her age by the looks of him was sitting in one of the chairs, apparently deep in thought about something or other. "Hi", she greeted him cheerfully. "I was looking for the MAGI office, would you happen to know where it is?"

Unfortunately for Egregore, Flashpoint wasn't alone. His focus on the tanker gave Isabel the moment she needed to catch her breath after being hit by that sapper stick. Looking back to the cyborg, she realised he wasn't going to let up just because she asked nicely. He wasn't half-assing it either - he was trying his absolutely best to kill the other hero. This more than anything else in Isabel's eyes made her decide he needed a damn good beating.

To that end, she raised both hands and a fairly stunning display of sheer destructive force shot towards the cyborg.

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

The soldier looked on in something resembling shock, as the various metas from Primal Earth suddenly turned on each other for no apparent reason. Giving the so very familiar looking blaster the benefit of the doubt she pointed her rifle towards the cyborg and waited for the order to fire, if it was coming.

The soldier that had made the first contact with the cyborg was equally surprised by the sudden appearance of a huge flaming man in the tunnel, but followed her commanding officer's lead and didn't fire. She did however ask, "So are you with him? From Primal Earth too?"

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

The psychic wave Isabel neither saw nor felt as she landed beside the big tanker, but the sap stick she most definitely did see. With the tanker facing the other way talking to the soldiers, she assumed he wouldn't see it coming and took matters into her own hands. Jumping in the way of the beam she took the attack for him, almost collapsing against the side of the sewer as the energy draining effect took hold. "I hate getting hit by those things...", she muttered to herself before looking back at the cyborg. "What the hell's your problem?!", she yelled. "We're stuck in another dimension, and you're attacking friendlies!"

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

As the blaster appeared from the same tunnel the flaming man had come from, the soldier's eyes widened and her grip on her weapon slipped a little. No way, it couldn't be. She was dead!