_Max_

And even more treasures to sell for lots of money one day:

LEVEL FIFTEEN
LEVEL SIXTEEN

Now at 18,200 words, so 700 above target so far. As usual, the next chapter is up to read in the 'Dark Heart' thread.

(And if anyone here is reading it, please comment if you have anything to say. I can't make the story better if you don't say what's wrong with it. )

The next chapter from the novel, and a one-off for now, looking at the situation from someone else's point of view rather than Ethan's, who in turn, does not appear in this chapter.

If anyone has any views on the story so far, now that it's developed more, feel free to comment.

Chapter 7 - To Serve And Protect.

“Code seven! Code seven! We have a medical emergency at the AusTech building in Steel Canyon! I repeat, an urgent medical emergency in Steel Canyon!” Chief Newman put the mouthpiece for the emergency radio back into his police car, closed the door and ran towards the yellow warning barriers currently holding the public and press at bay from the scene in front of them. Terence Austin, the head of AusTech, a leading research and development organisation, was currently lying face up on the road, having fallen from the top of the AusTech building only moments beforehand. Newman pushed the barriers aside, and closed them back up as he walked past and towards the body of Austin. He looked at one of the other officers standing close by. “Any signs of life Harris?” He asked, before chewing on his lip and shaking his head in disbelief. “No sir, no pulse or breathing. I don't think anyone could have survived that fall. The ambulance should be here in a minute.” Newman looked around, and got his police radio out. “All sniper units, any sign of Ethan Mortimer?” He waited a second before the reply crackled through the speaker; “No sir. Unit Alpha Two got a clean shot on him sir, he fell off the side, and should be down there as well.” Newman shook his head and had a look around again in case anyone was trying to get his attention, but most officers were still either keeping the growing crowd at bay, or searching round the side of the building. “Well, he sure as hell isn't down here Harris, and there's no way he just flew away, he wasn't registered with any powers, and someone would have seen him sailing away.”

Newman walked over to the body of Terence Austin, and spoke in a low tone. “We almost had you, a damned confession being recorded, and then you snuff it right after. Something tells me this Ethan Mortimer wasn't acting alone, and I'm going to find out who he was working with.” As he finished his sentence, the quick wail of a siren indicated the arrival of the ambulance, and the crowd moved to both sides to let the vehicle through. It reached a few feet away from Newman, and stopped, before two paramedics got out of the front cab, and ran over to Austin's body. One of them reached down, and put his index and middle finger just below Austin's left ear, feeling for a pulse, whilst the other positioned his face close to Austin's to check for breathing. They both looked at each other after about 10 seconds, and shook their heads. “How long has this man been here Chief?” one of them asked as the other began to take out white protective gloves and put them on. “About 5, maybe 6 minutes.” The paramedic asking the question nodded, and turned to his partner. “Not long until permanent brain damage occurs, we need to do this fast.” Newman stepped forward, and posed a question; “Can't we get one of those healing heroes in here, or teleport him to the hospital?” The paramedic with gloves on replied back as the other ran to the back of the ambulance; “Those things only work on people still alive Chief Newman, you can't just heal someone back from the dead. Maybe you can heal wounds and minor problems, or even bring someone out of unconsciousness, but revive them? I've yet to see a hero or machine do that by itself, there's no easy way to do this.”

The other paramedic came back from the ambulance carrying a defibrillator, and laid it down by the other paramedic, before taking protective gloves of his own from his pocket, and putting them on. He then picked up the two paddles from the defibrillator, as the other paramedic unbuttoned Austin's shirt and laid two protective pads on his chest. “Charging, everybody stand clear!” the paramedic with the paddles shouted as a small whining noise came from the red box next to him, increasing in pitch, until it peaked, when the paramedic shouted again; “Applying shock, everybody stand clear!” and pressed the paddles to the pads on Austin's chest, and pulled the triggers in the handles. There was loud snapping noise, and Austin's body convulsed as the current ran through it. Chief Newman turned away and wiped his brow. He hated nights like this, especially when he was supposed to be off duty, back at home, and in a warm, comfy bed with Linda. Newman shivered as the cold air of the night breezed past him, and the sounds of the paramedics applying more shocks came from behind, the same as it happened with every fall victim or suicidal jumper in this city, and he knew what the result would be.

The defibrillator box made a constant whining sound as the paramedics placed the paddles back, and removed their gloves, the noise halting as the paddles rested on a hook on the red box. The paramedic at the top of Austin's body shook his head, and went round to the back of the ambulance, whilst the other walked towards Newman. “It seems the trauma was too severe from the fall. Can't say it was unexpected from that height. If you want your men to dust for prints, best do it now.” Chief Newman turned around and nodded, before motioning for the forensics team to come over. “Okay, split into two groups. You three, dust Austin for prints and any other evidence, before taking the top floor and roof, and take two officers with you. The other three, you're coming with me, and you two, over here.” He said as he pointed at two officers. “We're going to check and dust the bottoms floors, Austin's phone call earlier sounded like it came from somewhere large and spacious, possibly the car park underground.” Newman checked he had his radio and his gun, and went into the building by the front entrance, followed by the other officers and forensic team members. “Okay, you, dust this reception area, and you watch over in case Mortimer shows up again.” Newman strode over the marble floor and towards the lifts, before putting a plastic glove on his hand and pressing the call button. The lift doors opened to reveal the elevator carriage with the speaker hanging by a few cables from the ceiling. “I don't trust it, could have been tampered with by Mortimer. There any stairs about?” They looked about, and caught glimpse of the wooden door to the side of the reception area. “Over there sir, looks like a fire exit.” one of the officers exclaimed as he pointed towards the door.

The group walked over to the door, and one of the officers withdrew his pistol, and made a quick covering sweep of the stairwell before everyone else entered. “Any light switches around?” Newman asked as they descended downwards. The others shook their heads and looked around as they carried on downwards. “Great safety feature for a fire escape.” Newman said sarcastically. As they went down the stairs some more, one of the forensics team started sniffing at the air; “Can anyone smell cooking?” she asked as they reached the end of the stairwell and the door to the work shop lay open. One of the standard officers walked in and swept the room again with his gun. “Chief, I think you really need to come and see this.” he said, covering his mouth and nose with his hand as the smell of burnt flesh invaded his sinuses. Newman pushed past the other officer and forensics people, and went into the room, covering his mouth and nose also. Two bodies lay on the floor near some computer terminals on the wall adjacent to the door, thin wisps of smoke still rising from their clothes, one other person lay sprawled out on the concrete floor, a heavy bruise mark visible on his forehead, but otherwise apparently unharmed. Newman unclipped his radio from his belt, and pressed on the transmit button before speaking into the radio; “Harris, we need some more medical assistance down here, we're in some sort of a laboratory or work shop, two probably deceased, one injured but apparently alive.”

Newman took a handkerchief out of one of his pockets, and covered his mouth and nose with it, before walking forwards slowly. “Has anyone got a flashlight spare?” he asked, his voice muffled by the cloth covering his mouth. One of the officers passed him a large torch, and he flicked it on to light up the dark side of the room. One of the computer terminal's screens had been smashed inwards by something being forced into it at speed, which seemed to somehow have been one of the bodies on the floor, and high voltage electrocution would certainly account for the burning of the body, but how had someone, possibly Mortimer, have thrown them at that force and speed? Newman raise the torch slightly further, to see a buckled door propped up against another damaged computer terminal. Turning to his right, the terminal riddled with bullet holes was still emitting the odd spark and crackling noise, the lights flickering on and off randomly, it was then that he noticed the pod lying open at the far side of the room next to the shot-out terminal. Walking over cautiously, he put his handkerchief back in his pocket, switched hands with his flashlight, and drew out his gun, aiming it at the open pod. He walked closer and closer, and looked over the side, the light from the flashlight illuminating only an empty space, and a thin layer of dust on the inside. “Hey, you guys and girls might want to get a sample of this, might be important, whatever it is.”

He turned away from the pod, and walked towards the door. “Okay, I want this room swept from floor to ceiling. Every hair, every grain of dust, every damn air sample, I want analysed to find out...what...on earth happened here.” Newman went through the doorway, and climbed back up the stairs to the reception, feeling the iron railings to help him through in the dark. Once in the reception, he went over to one of the forensics team. “Find anything useful yet?” he asked, the forensics investigator shook his head and Newman walked back over to the lift, pressed the call button, and stepped in. As the doors slid shut, he saw two new paramedics coming through the front entrance, and towards the stairs to the work shop. The elevator carriage descended smoothly, with no sudden jolts or anything unexpected, and stopped at the underground car park, as the doors slid open and Newman walked in, and looked in disbelief at the dented red car right by the elevator doors. The tarmac floor had tyre marks in many seemingly random directions, the light from the bulbs in the ceiling failing to reflect off of the rubber stains. It was as though the car hadn't been on the floor for the entire time it was moving, which was impossible, wasn't it? He spoke into his radio again; “We're going to need some forensics people down in the underground car park. The lift from reception works fine, so no need to walk round to the other entrance.” The radio crackled, and the reply came through; “Roger that Chief.” Newman thought for a second, then spoke again; “Have we got an address for this Mortimer character?” he asked. “Yes sir. Number Forty-Three, High House Street, Skyway City”. Newman walked back to the lift, and pressed the button for reception. “I'm going to go check it out, Mortimer may head back there.”

The cold air blew in through the gap between the door frame and the window as Newman drove along Steel Canyon's roads and towards Atlas Park. As much as it made him shiver and get goosebumps, he needed to stay fresh and alert. It was late, somewhere near midnight. The crowds outside had mostly dispersed save for the journalists and news crews still reporting from the scene of the crime. It was a crime wasn't it? He thought to himself. Mortimer had thrown Austin from the roof after being shot, despite getting a confession from Austin, and if he was innocent, somehow, through some mistaken circumstance, why hadn't he come forward to say so? As he contemplated this, he realised he was now exiting the tunnel from Steel Canyon to Atlas Park, and had been driving without thinking for the past few minutes. “Great way to stay alert” he said to himself, as he drove through the district. The air was awash with costumed heroes flying, running and jumping around, attacking anyone who was committing a crime, or looked like they could be committing a crime, or simply standing round Ms Liberty as she looked nervously at the heroes gathered around her looking for 'encouragement'.

Thankfully, being so late, the traffic, on the ground at least, was almost non-existent, meaning Newman drove through Atlas Park reasonably quickly, and entered the tunnel to Skyway City. What had happened in that building? He wondered next, as he ran through what he had seen in his head. Obviously a fight or struggle of some sort had occurred, but had those men in the work shop been working with Mortimer, or with Austin? The one still alive certainly looked like he could have been Family, but they wouldn't know until they found some evidence or he woke up. But when had that occurred? Had Mortimer chased Austin in the car, then into the workshop and onto the roof, or had the incident in the work shop happened after Mortimer was on the roof, or during that time? Only one person knew the answers to these questions, and Newman was going to find him.

The lights at Ethan's house were off when Newman arrived, and no car was parked on the drive. He pulled up at the side of the street, and readied his gun as he got out of the car. He looked around and walked carefully over to the front door, tried the handle and found it was locked. Raising his foot up, he booted the door near the lock and it swung open violently. The inside of the house was silent. Newman looked to his side, and saw a small hall table with some photos on it. He picked one up, and saw it was a picture of Ethan and Elizabeth. At that moment, his radio crackled, and Harris spoke; “Chief, we just got a report from the hospital. One of their patients is missing, and it's Ethan Mortimer's wife.” Newman placed the photo back down, and replied back; “Harris, put out a warrant for Ethan Mortimer's arrest, in conjunction with charges of murder, and kidnapping. And off the record, use any means necessary Harris.”

“Roger that sir.”

I don't think I could get my head around copy+pasting parts of a story around. I just start from the beginning of each chapter, and write as it comes to me. Heck, the chapter I'm writing right now won't have Ethan, the main character, in it at all, but I didn't think of that until 10 minutes ago or so, and so will continue the chapter in that way.

I'm still on target, despite a day's rest, should reach 27,500 or so by the end of Sunday. I'm not going to rush myself and add to the wordcount though, as that'll just mess things up completely. I'm pacing myself so I have a reasonable amount to write each day, and once it's done, I have an evening free to do things that don't involve writing.

Damn that Level 68! Damn it to eternal suffering and pain!

I currently have the dilemma of coming up with what happens at the beginning of the next chapter, after what could easily have been the end of the story.

Here's the last two pictures from the zone I spent waaaaay too much time in level-wise:

LEVEL THIRTEEN
LEVEL FOURTEEN

Next chapter's done, and the easiest to write so far. No worries for me about filling space, it was more a case of fitting everything into 2,500 words. Managed it in 2 hours 10 minutes too.

The next chapter, I won't say anything, or I'll spoil the surprises.

Chapter 6 - Downfall.

Ethan spun round on the spot, his right hand still staying as close as possible to the computer terminal, as he looked to see who was talking, but the wrench accident from earlier on meant that half of the room was still covered in darkness. He could just about make out the outlines of four people at the other end of the work shop, three of them wearing similar fedora hats, and a slight glint of light reflecting at what would have been around waist height revealing at least one of the figures had a gun of some sort. “Who are you, and what are you doing in my work shop?” Ethan asked, his voice trembling slightly as he tried to remain still so as to not risk any trigger-happy shooting from the other people. “Your workshop Mr Mortimer? YOUR workshop? Why, Ethan, how can you take such personal ownership of something that doesn't even belong to you, why, next you'll be saying how this machine...whatever it is, that's running on company power and resources, is YOURS too!” As the shadowy figure finished his sentence, he walked forwards a few deliberate steps into the light. “I own this building Mr Mortimer, I own the equipment you're using, I own you.” Ethan's eyes widened as he realised that the person opposite him was Mr Austin, the head of AusTech. “Surprised to see me? I should hope not. You do happen to owe me something, that my...friends are really rather eager to get a hold of.” On that sentence, the three other men walked forwards, revealing their neatly creased pinstripe suits, and tommy guns all pointed at Ethan. “Hey's, this is the's jerk who's was in's the car park's a while's back.” one of them said in a whiny mock Italian voice. Mr Austin smirked and replied; “Really? Oh Ethan, you should have phoned the police sooner then, although I had a business partner round, who had a very important appointment to keep down at the docks.” At this, all four men laughed at what was, at best, a very private joke.

Looking round for any sort of weapon, Ethan stood rooted to the spot, and moved slowly to cover the computer terminal with his body, as to obstruct the screen. “I wouldn't try anything rash Ethan, my friends are watching you very closely. Now, I have a deal to provide them with the first prototype of the gravity control device. Where is it? It's needed rather urgently for an important business venture at the bank in Founder's Falls.” Ethan shook his head and replied; “You're working with criminals Austin, no good can come of this.” Mr Austin suppressed a laugh, and replied back; “Mr Marcone is a very generous man, and helps with funding difficulties, I think a lot of good can come from my business arrangements with him.” Ethan took a step forward, and there was a loud explosion of gunfire as one of the Marcone goons fired a burst of bullets from his tommy gun. Ethan dived to the floor, as the shots flew past and hit the computer terminal. “What on earth did you do that for you fool!” Mr Austin exclaimed angrily at the goon, as sparks flew from the terminal over Ethan's head, and a low humming noise started to rise in pitch from near Ethan. “He's got's a bomb there! Fire!” one of the other goons shouted, and started firing wildly at the computer terminal, and the other two opened fire as well beginning to obliterate the computer terminal. “Stop firing you idiots! STOP!” Mr Austin's voice was lost amongst the sound of gunfire.

Click. The clips of the tommy guns were empty, and the noise had started to reach a high-pitched whine, as the gravitational stasis machine hummed, and made clunking noises, before a surge of electricity jumped out and struck one of the goons, sending him flying backwards into the wall, smoke rising from his jacket . The other goons looked at each other, reloaded their clips, and started firing at the pod of the gravitational stasis machine. Some bullets bounced off the metal casing, others hit exposed areas of circuitry. “Please god no! Stop firing, stop it! Don't damage it please!” The machine started whirring loudly, and the goons stopped firing. Ethan got up from the floor and rushed to the pod, looking through the protective cover. “Oh god, it's started working...I can't stop it...” He rushed over to a spare terminal, and tried to re-route its connections to the gravitational stasis machine. “No! Nooo!” he cried as he saw what was happening. The damage done by the gunfire was causing the machine to malfunction, and instead of completely stopping the metabolic rate of Elizabeth, it was speeding it up beyond normal human levels. He ran over to the pod, and tried to force open the door, and was thrown backwards by another surge of electricity, picking himself up he lunged at it again, an agonising cry emerging from him as he struggled to try, somehow, to save Elizabeth from her impending fate. The high pitched whine raise up in pitch even further, and Ethan clutched at his ears as the sound began to cause physical pain, falling to the floor as it reached agonising levels, Mr Austin and the remaining goons doing the same, until suddenly, the noise peaked, and started to quickly fade away.

The room fell silent, save for the odd crackle and spark from the damaged computer terminal behind Ethan, whose ears were ringing intensely, as he picked himself up off the floor, and staggered over to the gravitational stasis machine, which had thin columns of smoke rising from various parts of its structure. He pressed a button on the side, and the hydraulic lock creakily slid opened. Looking away, he lifted the cover of the pod, and bit on his lip, tears already starting to roll down his face. He forced himself to look into the now open pod, and let out a loud cry of anguish, as he dropped to his knees and began to sob violently. Inside the pod, there remained simply a thin layer of dust, the only remnant of the life that only minutes ago had still been in there, now lost forever. Mr Austin reached out one hand, grabbed hold of a nearby table, and dragged himself off of the floor, before dusting himself off and speaking. “Mr Mortimer, I don't know what exactly was in that machine that's caused all this, but hand us the prototype, and we'll be on our way.” Ethan wiped the tears from his face, and stood up again, his body shaking with trauma and a rising feeling of rage. “That...that was..my wife..you heartless...inconceivable...son of a bi-” His words were cut out as the click of a weapon being readied stopped his progress forwards. Ethan licked his lips, and looked at the two goons aiming their tommy guns at him. “You want the device Austin? You want it bad, huh? Well, I wouldn't want to give it to you without a...demonstration.” Ethan raised his right hand up, the scorch marked brown jacket still concealing the device underneath, and clenched his fist as he pointed towards one of the goons.

“H..hey! What's going's on?” The goon shouted as he felt his body start to constrict itself and lock up. “Help..help..I can't move!” Ethan raised his arm further up, and the goon started to move upwards, a look of panic in his eyes as he lost the last amount of control over his own body, and strangled, garbled noises came from his frozen mouth as he attempted to speak. Still clenching his fist, Ethan suddenly swung his arm to the left, and rammed the held goon into the other, knocking him off his feet. He then flexed his arm outwards, resulting in the floating goon being flung backwards into a computer terminal, the loud crack of a broken bone being heard. Ethan looked at one of the metal trolleys near to him, reached out, and motioned for it to be lifted into the air, where it hung for a second, before it flew wildly towards the other goon, who was just clambering to his feet at the time. It hit him at full impact, sending him unconscious before he hit the floor with a dull thud, the metal trolley carrying onwards and hitting the wall with a loud clanging noise. Ethan turned, and look straight at Mr Austin, who went white and started stumbling backwards as he talked; “Look..Look, Ethan...I had...I had no idea...really...I'm sorry..please don't...please don't hurt me.” Mr Austin glanced at the nearby door, still swinging open from where he had entered earlier, and ran through the exit, slamming the door shut behind him, entering the security code, and running as fast as he could up the stone stairwell.

Ethan simply stared at the door, raise his right hand, clenched his fist, and pulled backwards, causing the door to buckle, then fly backwards into the room, before hitting the opposite wall and falling noisily to the floor. He walked through the now open doorway, and heard the frantic cry of Mr Austin, just as the door to the reception slammed shut above him. Ethan strode briskly up the stairwell, climbing over multiple steps at a time, and opened the door to the reception. The moonlit room gave no clues as to where Mr Austin was, but a soft thud from the distance in the otherwise silent room indicated the elevator was being used. Ethan ran over to the lift, and hammered on the call button, as the floor indicator above the door showed the lift going down to the underground car park, before slowly rising back up to the reception. The lift doors slid open, and Ethan hurried into the elevator carriage, and pressed the button for the underground car park. The lift doors closed, and the elevator carriage started to descend, the irritating music playing as always, until Ethan raised his right hand up, and the speaker fell from the ceiling, the connections severed, leaving the elevator carriage silent.

The elevator carriage jolted to a halt, and the doors opened on the underground car park. Ethan rushed out, and saw Austin running towards a red car in the distance, just finishing on a phone call. Austin turned around, saw Ethan, and began running faster towards the car. Ethan outstretched his arm, and pulled backwards. Austin's face showed a look of horror, and he dived to the floor as his car hurtled towards him through the air, and landed on the other side of him. The car stayed still for a second, before sliding slowly across the floor towards him, the tyres screeching slightly as they were forced sideways across the tarmac. Austin got up from the floor, and ran, covering his head as the car jerked slightly, then was again flung in his direction, missing him by inches. Austin started to sob slightly as the car scraped along the floor towards him, not flying any more, but herding him back towards the lifts, and to Ethan. Austin lurched forward suddenly, and attempted to clamber over the slowly moving car. As he got onto the bonnet, it picked up speed and he held onto one of the side mirrors in a desperate attempt to stay on, as the car raced towards Ethan, still motioning with his arm, and came to a sudden halt, causing Austin to fall off the car and onto the floor by Ethan. “Don't try to run from your crimes Austin.” Ethan said coldly, as he grabbed Austin by his jacket with his left hand. “Now, we're going to show the world what a piece of scum you are.” Dragging Austin, Ethan went back into the elevator carriage, hoisting him inside, and pressed the button for the top floor. The elevator carriage climbed slowly upwards, Austin still sobbing as he remained defenceless against Ethan. The door panel made a pinging noise, and the doors slid open, as Ethan dragged Austin out, and towards the stairs up to the roof.

The air on top of the AusTech building was cool and fresh, and a slight wind was starting to pick up as Ethan dragged Austin towards the edge of the rooftop. As he looked over the edge, he was met with the intense brightness of a spotlight in his face from down below. There were a dozen or so police cars stationed outside the building, with spotlights aimed at the roof. “I see..there's a..there's a welcoming committee for you Mr Mortimer.” Austin said as he slowly released himself from Ethan's grip. “Give me your phone.” Ethan replied without hesitation. Austin chuckled slightly, and handed his phone over to Ethan's open hand. “What good is that going to do you Mortimer? You're a criminal now, violent attacks, kidnapping, attempted murder.” Ethan stared back at him as he dialled the emergency services. “I'm not going to kill you, at least, so long as I get a confession to whatever crimes you've been involved in with the Marcones, and you get to spend the next 25 to life as penance for what you did to Elizabeth..yes..this is Ethan Mortimer, currently standing in the cool air on top of the AusTech building and enjoying the view. Could I be put through to the officer in charge down below please?” Ethan said as the operator answered on the other end of the line.

“Hello. Mr Mortimer? This is Chief Newman, of the Paragon Police Department, we are advising you to release your hostage, and descend from the building peacefully.” Ethan rolled his eyes, and replied. “I'm not the criminal here, Mr Austin is, and I'm going to get a confession to prove it.” Down below, Chief Newman turned to talk to one of his tactical advisers, covering the mouthpiece to the phone he was using. “If he tries anything to endanger the hostage, you have permission to give the order to fire.” Newman removed his hand from the mouthpiece, and replied back. “Don't do anything you may regret Mr Mortimer, we just want to end this all peacefully.”

Ethan turned to Austin, who was standing there looking triumphant, and reached out his right arm. Austin barely had time to register surprise, as he was lifted from the ground, and moved swiftly over the edge of the building, suspended in mid air. Ethan pointed the phone at Austin; “Now, tell the chief everything, and I'll let you down safely.” Austin cried out as he looked down past his feet at the street below, a good forty or so stories down. “Okay! Okay! I admit it! Please let me down! I did it ,all of it! I'm working with the Marcones, I was in on the Steel Canyon protection racket! All of it! Please, for the love of all that's holy put me--” His confession was cut off as a single gunshot echoed over the top of the building, and Ethan staggered backwards, clutching his chest with his left hand, still holding out his right at Austin, before stumbling sideways, and toppling off of the building, his grip releasing on Austin, who suddenly fell out of suspended air and towards the ground below.

That's a point, I forgot to nominate:

I also go for Sar's Fury 101 comic.

I just thought, even though the first post was made in October, the act itself was related to the November attempts. But as you say, it's up to Bridger to decide.

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
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Thnx mate ^^

I would like to nominate Blackdove for her insane challenge

I know it'll turn out good ^^

[/ QUOTE ]

Wrong month, wait until next time.

[/ QUOTE ]
Say what?

[/ QUOTE ]

This is the nominations for last month's creative pieces, in October. Blackdove's Nanoo Nanoo thing corresponds to November.

[ QUOTE ]
Thnx mate ^^

I would like to nominate Blackdove for her insane challenge

I know it'll turn out good ^^

[/ QUOTE ]

Wrong month, wait until next time.

Today's pictures, unfortunately from a zone with very few different colours in it.

LEVEL ELEVEN
LEVEL TWELVE

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
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As such to suggest that someone who is not a member of said group, who does not team with or talk to said group, joins their 'private and unofficial' channel is increadable.

[/ QUOTE ]

The Forumites channel is A.) Not private, you want to join, you join. B.) Still under all the rules of the game and the EULA


[/ QUOTE ]

I say it is a private channel, because it is not one that everyone is automatically a member of. (unlike help, global etc).

And the irony about it not being a "clique, a group, a tribal mentality of people" is that such a thing is impossible. Every 'group' and in turn channel that is ever created is always done for an 'in' group. Take the many channels created by and for SGs. it is for that SG. they are the IN group, all others who can't read it are part of the OUT group. Plus by simply giving it a name that designates a group of people, it is stating that it is a channel for the forumites. If however it was called the General Discussion Channel, that would be a different matter. But that is not it's name

[/ QUOTE ]

An SG channel is an entirely different matter though, it is *designed* to be for a small group of people, that's its innate purpose. I can quite easily say Arena Chat itself is a clique, as I don't read it, but I know that it's not. The Forumites name, as I said, is a name, it should probably have a heading of 'General Discussion Channel' as that's basically all it is, people pop on, ask for teams, GM hunts etc. and have informal chats.

And anybody can do so just by joining the channel, it's not a 'private' channel by means of the in-game system. You don't need to be invited in like the actual private channels.

Anyhows, I'll move this conversation to a thread in General Discussion, as it's trailing off the debate over the Arena Chat.

[ QUOTE ]
As such to suggest that someone who is not a member of said group, who does not team with or talk to said group, joins their 'private and unofficial' channel is increadable.

[/ QUOTE ]

The Forumites channel is A.) Not private, you want to join, you join. B.) Still under all the rules of the game and the EULA

There's people in the channel, that I will admit, if they weren't there, I wouldn't be talking to them in-game, as I don't team with them or know them that well.

The channel is there for everyone to use, and is not a clique, a group, a tribal mentality of people, it is simply a channel for people to talk in.

We've had people in there a couple of times who've never even posted on the forums, the name is just a name it started off with, no more and no less.

As I have a lot of History work to catch up on for University, I'll be doing that instead of Nanoo Nanoo today, plus it means I can think over what's going to happen in the next chapter beforehand, rather than when I'm writing it.

The artwork will still be done though, as that takes slightly less time to create than 2,500 words.

And here's today's artistic masterpieces:

LEVEL NINE
LEVEL TEN

Well, next chapter's up. Went over my quota today, so I have some slight cushion space for a few chapters hopefully.

Next chapter, and little bit longer than the others, but only a few hundred words, and I'm sure you'll see why I couldn't leave it at the quota level.

Chapter 5 - The Rescue.

“That'll be five dollars sixty please” Ethan reached into his wallet and pulled out a ten dollar note, before handing it to the male teenager at the till. He looked around what he could see of the supermarket, people in matching uniforms of black trousers and dark blue shirts, pushing service trolleys stacked with food items and toiletries, having to compensate for the lack of brakes on such heavy objects as they rolled past the corners they were trying to turn around, all the while attempting not to push the service trolleys into the customers walking by. It was people in situations like this that the prototype was eventually supposed to help, by allowing heavy objects to be lifted onto the trolley without strain by reducing the gravitational pull downwards, or being able to brake with heavy trolleys by making gravitational forces go sideways in a localised area around the wheels. The gravitational control device would make Ethan a rich man, but what were riches without someone to share them with? “Here's your change sir” the till assistant said as he handed the money to Ethan, who thanked him, picked up his bags with some food in, and walked to the exit from the supermarket.

The last glimpses of daylight had long since disappeared since Ethan had gone into the supermarket, the sky now a hazy dark blue as the first stars started to emerge above. He started to walk back towards the AusTech building, Icon bag in his left hand, grocery bag in his right, as the streets started to empty of people, save for the odd group huddled underneath the overhangs of buildings, smoking and chatting, exchanging tales of whatever deeds they had been up to that day. As Ethan walked onwards, he noticed out of the corner of his eye, one member of a group point at him and laugh. He walked onwards, picking up his pace, and heard the sound of numerous footsteps behind, trying to keep up with him. Ethan resisted the temptation to look behind him and just kept walking forwards, getting closer to the AusTech building, only a block away now. He looked left and right quickly as he went to cross a road, not caring about if he was jaywalking, and reached the other side, taking a sharp right to get around the office block in front of him. Ethan considered going inside just to be out of the way of whoever was following him, but as he passed the front entrance, he saw that the lights were off, and everyone had gone home. The AusTech building was close, but if the front door was locked, he'd have to walk round to the side entrance, in the alley between it and the next building, which would mean wasting time to fumble with keys to try and get inside.

He wasn't going to have to worry about that, as a hand reached out and grabbed him by the shoulder, forcefully turning him round to look at his pursuers. There were five of them, all dressed in similar clothing, blue denim jeans, with orange jackets that had the sleeves cut off, and white shirts underneath, save for one, wearing a black waistcoat and some weird face mask, with a distorted facial pattern on it, and white horns protruding from its surface. “What's in the bags pops?” the masked gang member asked, pointing at Ethan, before bringing his face closer to Ethan's. “And no fibs either, or I might get a bit angry, and you won't like me when I'm angry.” The other gang members seemed to find this hilarious and started laughing, either at the joke, or at Ethan. One of them reached forwards and grabbed Ethan's right arm, whilst another grabbed his left. “Now, what's in the bags?” the masked member asked again. Ethan struggled to try and get free, to no avail. “It's just some food, it's nothing important, please, just let me go!” he said to the masked gang member. “Well, that may be the case behind door number one, but let's see what's behind door number two shall we? I mean, a bag from Icon, it wouldn't be good for your health to find some hero's outfit in there, if you know what I mean?” The masked gang member reached over, grabbed the Icon bag by the handle, and started to tug it from Ethan's hand. “Hey! Let go of that! It's just a jacket, get off of it!” Ethan started to shout. “Hey, might want to lower your voice, don't want to attract any unwanted--” The masked gang member didn't get a chance to finish his sentence, as a large bolt of blue energy slammed into him and sent him flying off to one side.

The other gang members released their grip on Ethan, and looked around for the source of the blast, but the roadside was empty, with not a person in sight. One of the gang members slowly reached into his inside jacket pocket and pulled out a pistol. Just as he was about to release the safety catch, another barrage of blue energy hit him square in the chest, and he was knocked to the floor unconscious. The remaining three gang members looked upwards to see a female form hovering above their heads, and instinctively reached for their own weapons. One was hit with more energy blasts, and fell to the floor with a thud, as the other two started firing pot shots into the air around the female hero. She swooped down gracefully and effortlessly, and one of her hands started to glow red, a shining light coming from the glow which illuminated the immediate area. A gang member stopped to reload, and was met with heavy punch to the chest that flung him backwards a good twenty foot. The last gang member gulped, and started to run in the opposite direction to the female hero. She stayed hovering in mid-air, pointed her arm at the fleeing criminal, aimed, and fired a concentrated burst of energy that knocked him face-forwards onto the floor.

Ethan stood there shaking slightly, watching the events unfurl before him in a matter of seconds, before the buzzing sound of a police drone came into earshot, and moved quickly towards the scene. It hovered in mid-air, scanning the unconscious gang members, and one by one, teleported them, using whatever technology it was that was inside that small dome, to the nearest jail cell. As he watched the drone teleport the gang members away, the female hero landed next to him. “Are you all right sir?” She asked softly. Ethan nodded, thanked her and began to walk towards the AusTech building. “My name's Shimmer, if you're ever in trouble, just give a call!” she shouted cheerily to him as he walked off. The words didn't register with Ethan, instead he just felt a immense feeling of anger at his own ineptness. If he had powers, he'd have shown those muggers not to mess with him. As it was, he was just a man, and there was nothing he could do about it. He walked up the front door of AusTech, tried the handle, and rattled it as it remained shut. The side door had been left unlocked, as he had asked Rose to, and he was thankful at least for that. He walked in,and headed for his work shop.

As he entered the work shop, he checked his watch, the time was nearing seven o'clock. A couple of hours to eat and fine-tune the equipment would do to pass the time. Ethan set the two bags on a spare worktop, and took out the chicken and mushroom pastry slice he had purchased, opened the foil packet, and started to eat it ravenously. After it was finished, he swept the crumbs from his lab coat, and reached inside the supermarket bag for the bottle of water he had bought, undid the top, and began to drink it, and spat out a mouthful as he realised what a fool he'd been. He didn't have to put up with being an easy target any more, he had the power and the means necessary to defend himself, and it had been sitting in the work shop all this time. Ethan walked over to the work top with the prototype on it, removed the plastic dust cover, and looked at it intently. He removed his lab coat, and placed it on a nearby computer terminal, before picking up the prototype in both hands, and beginning to attach it to his right arm. The catches on the equipment fitted neatly over his forearm and shoulder, though the battery unit on his shoulder felt sightly heavy, but that was something to work out for the next development stage.

Ethan moved his arm around to get used to the weight of the device on his arm, lifting it up and down, and flexing the arm in and out. The device moved seamlessly, and after a while, felt natural to Ethan, despite the cold feel of the metal through his shirt and onto his skin. But it was time for a more practical test for the device. Ethan bit his lip, and slid the switch on the side of the device to the 'ON' position. A high pitched whining noise came from the device, which settled to a low hum after a few seconds. Ethan looked around the work shop, and spotted a wrench lying on the floor, he walked over to it, cleared the area around it, and stepped back, before aiming his right hand outstretched at the wrench, and raising his arm slowly upwards. Nothing happened. Ethan breathed in, concentrated fully on the wrench, and raised his arm again. At first, it seemed that it wasn't working again, but suddenly, the wrench started to shake slightly, scraping the floor, and without warning, flew straight upwards, and into one of the lights on the ceiling, causing a loud crashing noise and sparks to fly out as the glass tube shattered and shards hit the floor. Ethan recoiled as the sparks flew outwards, and half the room fell into darkness.

He cursed himself underneath his breath, and looked at the wrench again, laying on the floor having landed from its impact with the lights. Ethan concentrated on the wrench again, raised his arm outwards, and lifted it again, but kept concentrating on the wrench, and clenched his fist as it levitated into the air. The wrench stayed where it was, and Ethan lowered his arm, the wrench staying where it was. He wandered over, and touched the wrench, but it stayed where it was, he tried tugging at it, but it remained perfectly still and immobile. The device had somehow caused the wrench to become its own centre of gravity, without collapsing in on itself. As Ethan was looking at the wrench in wonder, it suddenly fell to the floor, clanging on the hard concrete. Ethan looked at it, pointed his arm at it, and raised upwards, clenching his fist again, resulting in the wrench once again becoming suspended in mid air, and again, after a short while, dropping to the floor. He timed it using his watch, the wrench would stay in the air for approximately a minute or so, sometimes several seconds more, sometimes several seconds less.

Ethan moved over to one of the metal workbenches, cleared it of the various soldering and mechanical items on it, and wheeled it to the centre of the room. He stood back against the wall, looked at the workbench, and began to raise his right arm and clench his fist, like he had with the wrench. Sure enough, the workbench shuddered, and levitated into the air, before hanging in mid air. The next few hours were spent experimenting with the device, lifting up various objects, suspending them in the air, and eventually, with practice, being able to move them through the air with a reasonable degree of control. He looked at his watch, it was gone 10 o'clock now, how time and various objects flew when having fun. Ethan took the brown jacket out of the Icon bag, and put it on. It was a little baggy and oversized for him, but that meant it served its purpose of covering up the device on his arm.

He headed for the door to the workshop, opened it, and left the room, leaving the security bar unlocked, and headed up the stairs, his footsteps echoing as always throughout the cold and empty stone stairwell. The wooden door up the stairs led into the reception area, and Ethan continued striding onwards, his footsteps creating the only noise in the dark empty space. Unlocking the catch on the metal shutters covering the glass doors, he lifted it upwards with both hands, manoeuvred past the shutter point, and let it slide to the floor. He turned and unlocked one of the front doors, and left the building, before heading in the direction of the hospital, hands in the pockets of his jacket.

The streets were clear save for the odd taxi or van that went past on the road, and Ethan reached the hospital in no more than twenty minutes walk. He walked to the front door, and entered the hospital, where the reception area was empty, with no one attending the desk. Ethan looked around the ceiling level, and spotted two security cameras, one pointing near the desk and the other towards the lifts. He outstretched his arm, and both the cameras bent upwards until they were simply recording the ceiling, allowing him to walk casually across the reception floor, keeping an eye out for any one around. He pressed the call button for the lift, which opened immediately and walked in, without turning around, he fumbled for the lift panel, and pressed the button for what he hoped was Floor 2. The chances were reasonably high that there were cameras in the lift, and would be pointed towards where people would be facing the lift door. The elevator carriage's doors shut, and it started to ascend. The doors opened again, and Ethan stepped out backwards, looking up at the floor indicator above the lift door, it was the second floor. He turned around slowly, the halls were again all deserted, and Ethan was thankful for a quiet night accident-wise. Ethan looked around for any more obvious cameras, but none were to be seen, and so he headed for Elizabeth's room. He opened the door to her ward, and closed it quietly behind him, before heading swiftly to Elizabeth's bed. She was still hooked up to various tubes and machines, those machines that were probably keeping whatever was afflicting her alive and strong. Ethan followed the cables from the machines, to a few sockets in the wall, and flicked the switches on the wall to the 'OFF' position. The machine's low humming faded away, and Ethan started to remove the various tubes from Elizabeth's body.

Once she was removed from the various medical tubes, Ethan placed one hand underneath her shoulders, the other underneath her knees, and lifted her from the bed. He hurried over to the window, and peered through the glass. He couldn't take the lift, as regardless of not having his face shown, a person carrying an unconscious woman was going to be noticed by anyone who could be watching the security footage at the time. He stretched his palm underneath Elizabeth, and the window eased open by itself, before Ethan took one step out, and onto the ledge, and jumped, concentrating as hard as he could, as he lowered gently to the ground two floors down, and landed on the tarmac below with barely a sound. He turned in the direction of AusTech, and leapt forwards, the reduced gravity in the area around him causing him to leap massive distances with ease, and land without a sound. Within a minute, he was back at the AusTech building's front entrance. Again outstretching his palm, the glass doors swung open and the metal barrier rose upwards as Ethan, still carrying Elizabeth, passed underneath. Once he was inside, he turned around, motioned his hand, and the doors and metal barrier closed, and shut.

Ethan walked calmly onwards to his work shop, opening the doors with a simple gesture of his hand, the actions becoming easier as Ethan grew accustomed to using the powers at his disposal. Upon entering the work shop, he let go of Elizabeth, and she stay suspended in mid air as he hurried to removed the dust cover from the gravitational stasis machine, and started it up, before opening the door to the pod, and rushing to Elizabeth's side, ready to catch her as she dropped out of the air. He walked over to the machine, and laid her down inside the pod, ensuring she looked as comfortable as possible, and closing the door. He pressed a button on the side of the pod, and a hissing sound indicated the hydraulic lock sliding into place. Another button was pressed, and the whirring sound of internal fans began to sound from the machine, however, before Ethan could start the machine up, a voice sounded from behind him. “A bit late to still be working, isn't it?”

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Your story is encrypted, no one can read it - you're only judged on your word count - so no, you won't need permission

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I meant if alot later on I decided ot send it to a publiser's or something like that.

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If you intended to have it professionally published, you'd almost definetly have to gain permission from Cryptic/NCSoft, as you'd be using elements Cryptic had created, unless you wrote the story in such a way it could be about any city with heroes in it.

Plus, I'm doing CoH/V fiction, loudly proclaimed I'm doing so, posted it on the forums stating it's for the Nanoo Nanoo, and not had any warnings from Brdiger et al. so I'd guess it's fine.

As explained yesterday, I got my level 5/6 and 7/8 mixed up, so here's today's, with the wrong title to keep continuity up.
LEVEL SEVEN
LEVEL EIGHT

Next chapter's up, and I'm now one-fifth of the way there word-wise. Rather exhausted though, as this chapter's definetly been the hardest to write, as I didn't want it to go halfway into the action and then awkwardly stop.