_Max_

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on a roll today. Catching up once more..

Max.. watch out ^_-

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Me? Watch out? But I just reached 36,044 words.

I aim to be finished by the 22nd. Whether that'll happen or not, with a History essay due in on the 20th, I don't know, but I'm aiming for it.

Next ones, and I'm unsure about the level required for this zone, I vaguely remember being there this level, but I may be remembering wrong.
LEVEL TWENTY-NINE
LEVEL THIRTY

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Hehe good work, like the last 2 best
I noticed that he didnt get a new suit.

AF

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Well, his first and second costume slots are identical, apart from one having a hat, and the other being non-hatted.

EDIT: Should also point out, the last picture thus far is supposed to be a bird's eye view of the zone, except I'm rubbish at persepctives.

Mr T!

You sir, win the internet.

I apologise if this chapter isn't up to the usual quality of previous ones, I've been writing since 5pm after a busy day, and not even had dinner yet.

Chapter 13 - They All Come Back In The End.

Ethan looked around outside frantically, there were sounds to indicate an alarm was going off, nor were there any police waiting outside the door ready to arrest him. He tensed up as a tentacled drone hovered past, scanned the surrounding area, then carried onwards. A few Arachnos troops who had just gone off duty walked past, one of them pointing a thumb at Ethan as they walked past and laughing, their conversation too far away to make out. The darkness of night had all but invaded the landscape of Cap Au Diable, and for the first time since arriving, Ethan felt alone as the last ray of light from the sun dropped below the horizon, and he stood there in silence, almost wanting the private security guards to leave the bank and catch him, just so there was someone around. Instead, there was silence, and the distant chatter of people as they walked around the city. Some gang members began congregating at the corner of the bank, and Ethan wandered off aimlessly, hoping to avoid attention with the bag of money he was carrying. Walking in no particular direction, save for away from the bank, he walked back down the bridge that had taken him into the modern city, and headed back into the disrepair of the lower city. He had nowhere to go where he could stay the night, nowhere to keep warm, and no one to keep him safe from whatever it was like in the Rogue Isles at night. Walking slowly through the cobbled streets, he eventually reached the small dock where ferries had been operating from earlier that day. There was one ferry still docked, waiting for passengers, the engine humming loudly over the silent night air. As he approached the ferry, he was knocked slightly by someone in a suit who rushed past him, towards the white-armoured Arbiter. As he was about to speak up at being shoved aside, Ethan stopped as he noticed that the suit was occupied by a large green lizard man, speaking in a snarled manner, revealing sharp looking teeth. Ethan let the situation go this once, and carried on towards the ferry, walking on board via the car loading ramp, figuring it to be safe as there were no car on board, just a few various people sleeping on the floor, probably gaining a free ride by staying in the cargo areas. He walked up some cast iron stairs along the side of the ferry, the white paint peeling off even as he walked on the steps, until he reached the top if the ferry, and walked to the bridge. The metal door was open, he knocked, waited, and stepped into the small room. A well-dressed captain was standing over the bridge controls, who turned around and greeted Ethan with a large smile. “Good evening..can I help you?” the captain asked. “Um...does this ferry go anywhere near Paragon City?” Ethan asked nervously. The captain laughed heartily, and slapped Ethan on the arm playfully, before returning to the bridge controls. “This isn't a prison ship, and I don't intend it to be.” the captain said, still chuckling; “I'll get you to Port Oakes, you're more likely to find transport there. Now, are you riding free, or first-class?” Ethan reached into the bag he was carrying, and withdrew another wrapped bundle of wrapped money, labelled as five hundred dollars, and handed it over to the captain, who greedily snatched at it and began counting out the notes, hunched away from Ethan, before turning back with a smile. “Welcome aboard the S.S. Anne! Please make yourself at home in the first-class area!”

The said first class area was in fact, surprisingly luxurious, consisting of a reasonably large dining area, with a dozen or so dinner tables arranged around the room, each perfectly set, with four white ornate chairs situated around each. The floor was clean and carpeted, with a cream colour, and a wooden panelled open bar sat at the head of the first class area. Ethan walked over to the bar, sat down on a cushioned stool, and showed the neatly dressed bar maid a small paper ticket the captain had given him. She smiled and nodded, before asking; “What drink would you like sir?” Ethan thought for a second, he hadn't had anything strong for a while; “Whiskey, please.” he responded, and the barmaid went to prepare his drink. As he waited, a grinning man in grey leather combat gear sat on the stool next to him, and ordered a drink as well. Ethan turned to him and asked; “So, how comes the rest of the Rogue Isles looks like a dump, and we get this rather nice treatment?” The man turned to him, still grinning, and replied; “Because, we my good friend, are the ones with the money to afford such a fine service! A toast to fine service!” He raised his hand, and the barmaid placed a glass in it, and handed Ethan his whiskey, who proceeded to raise it in the air as a toast. A few people scattered around the tables raised their glasses, and the grinning man downed his glass, before banging it down on the bar. “Another my fine woman, and another for my friend here!” Ethan downed his whiskey, before asking; “So, who are you then?” The grinning man downed the next drink the barmaid handed him and replied: “Me? You don't know the great Citizen Smith? Robotics extraordinaire? Why, there I was thinking my marketing was top-notch! And yourself?” Ethan took a sip of his next whiskey, and responded; “Apocalypse..Dr Apocalypse. I'm new around these parts.” Smith grinned again; “Fair enough, I'll let you off the hook this time. Nice start you've made for yourself here.” Ethan nodded, and carried on drinking from his glass.

The rest of the ferry journey consisted of Ethan and Citizen Smith trading stories over drinks, Ethan relating the story of who he had been just a week beforehand, how he had come to be where he was now, but leaving out the most recent part of the story where he was in possession of rather a large amount of money. Smith told Ethan of how he was a successful businessman back in Paragon City, and how he realised that any publicity for his robotics firm was good publicity, and hence, had come under a guise to the Rogue Isles, in order to 'promote' his wares, by causing general mayhem. The ferry crawled to a halt at Port Oakes, and Ethan made his goodbyes to Smith, before departing from the ferry. The cold sea air whipped around Ethan and caused his cape to flutter wildly in the wind, as he walked across the wooden docks, towards the only lit ship on the dockside. There was a woman dressed in dark waterproof clothing, smoking a cigarette, her long oily brown hair sweeping across her face in the wind. “Where do you want to go stranger?” she asked, and continued smoking. “As close to Steel Canyon as possible.” Ethan replied. “Well, I'm sure as hell not taking this boat then.” She stubbed out her cigarette on the wooden dock, and pointed towards the hatch of a small submarine at the end of the dock. “You've got to be kidding me...” Ethan said under his breath. “You want Steel Canyon, we go through a war zone. I'm not taking a fishing boat into a war zone.” Ethan sighed, and handed a wad of cash to the woman. He clambered through the hatch, and into the cramped interior of the submarine, which consisted of enough wooden benches to seat around six people, and the controls at the front, with various lights flashing on apparatus scattered across the inside of the vessel. The woman clambered in behind him, closing the hatch, which cause the engines to flare into life.

The voyage was made in complete silence by Ethan, who sat worrying about the water that was dripping through the seams in the metal, whilst the submarine's equipment hummed, and the female 'captain' mumbled to herself, the odd expletive emerging that Ethan could understand. After around an hour's voyage, and Ethan's paranoia about drowning increasing, the submarine stopped, and rose to the surface. The woman turned back to him: “Now, in three hours, I'm going to surface in this spot again. I'll wait for fifteen minutes, and if you're not here in that fifteen minutes, I leave without you. Now scram.” Ethan frowned, and climbed out of the small submarine, still carrying his money bag, feeling the sweet caress of fresh air as he lifted the hatch. Looking around, he found he was in the coastal district of Siren's Call. With it being near midnight, there were thankfully no heroes about fighting for control of the district. He closed the hatch behind him, leapt to the half destroyed dock they had surfaced by, and began running towards the exit to Steel Canyon, waiting for the security guard to go inside his sentry box for a cup of coffee before gliding through the large open gate. The sight of somewhere he used to call home made Ethan feel giddy on the inside, it was good to be back somewhere more...safe, despite the warrant for his arrest. He began heading towards the AusTech building by foot, attempting to ensure he stuck to the shadows and alleyways, so as to avoid detection the nearer he got to his destination. After a short time sneaking, he reached the back of the AusTech building, heading round to the side to the side entrance. He tried the metal door. Locked. Fumbling around in his pockets, he searched for, and found, his keyring. Trying the key, he found it still fit, unlocked the door and stepped into his old work place. Heading through a small corridor, he emerge into the reception area, which still retained its moonlit glow through the glass front of the building, though this was obscured slightly by the mass of yellow and black hazard tape, reading “Police Line – Do Not Cross”. He strolled across the marble floor, his footsteps making an echoing noise he found he sorely missed. The doorway to the stone stairwell was also covered with the hazard tape. Ethan lifted up a low section, and ducked under, before walking down the cold grey stairwell to the work shop. The door to the work shop was also taped up, and Ethan clambered through the web of tape, and switched on the lights, to see his work shop being much tidier, and emptier than before.

Elizabeth's remains, and the gravitational stasis pod were gone.

Ethan walked slowly over to where the machine had been, and a small clean circle amongst a thin layer of dust was the only proof it had ever been there at all. Feeling tears well up in his eyes, he fell to his knees, letting out an anguished cry, unaware of how he was in the same position as when she had died. Without the machine, and her remains, there was no way to bring her back, no way to save her, no way to redeem himself. Looking at the money bag in his hand, he dropped it to the floor in disgust at what he had descended into, in just a matter of days. If Elizabeth were still alive, he wouldn't have been able to look her in the face. He got up from the floor, tears still rolling from his eyes and staggered over to an empty work table, before detaching the broken gravity control device from his arm and laying it down on the table's surface. Reaching for a screwdriver, he undid the makeshift casing with it, and began to repair or replace the damaged parts, soldering wires, readjusting connections, and covering the results with a proper casing, made of lightweight, waterproof plastic. He allowed the plastic to cool down from being heat-fastened into place, and attached the device to his arm again. Walking over to one of the computer terminals that was undamaged, and still left in the room, he unfastened the front panel, placing it to one side, and removed a hard disk from the insides of the terminal. Glancing around, he caught sight of a small tool bag, made for clipping on a belt. Emptying the bag of the contents, he attached the small navy blue bag to his belt, and placed the hard drive inside it, as well as two bundles of cash from the money bag, leaving the rest sprawled across the floor.

Switching the light off, Ethan left the room, for possibly the final time, and clambered through the police hazard tape, heading up the grey stone stairwell towards reception. He climbed through the second lot of police tape, and found a torchlight shining into his eyes from across the room, dulled by the sunglasses he was wearing. “Place your hands on your head, and get down on the floor!” a stern voice yelled at him. Ethan stood there, and heard the click of weapons being readied. Looking to his sides, he began to raise his arms slowly, before clenching his fist, and flinging it forward, bringing a large framed map of the building from behind him flying into the torchlight, knocking over the person with the flashlight. He rushed for the front entrance as the other two people he could now identify as police officers tried to get their bearings, whilst he drew his pistol from his belt, and fired twice at the panel of glass in one of the doors, before covering his face with his cape and dashing through the gap made as the glass fell to the floor. Some of the falling glass glanced past Ethan's face, making some small incisions, which for now were ignored, as he bounded outside, to see half a dozen police cars parked around the entrance to the building, and a number of police officers all aiming their guns at him. Aiming his hand down at the floor, Ethan leapt forwards toward the officers, and climbed higher and higher into the air, over the tops of the police cars, and climbing higher until he landed on top of a small apartment block opposite the AusTech building, and instantly leapt again, heading in the direction of Siren's Call, as a volley of shots whistled past him, hitting the side of the building, or travelling as far as they could go, before falling to the floor, hitting the tarmac of the road with a small tinkling noise. Ethan positioned himself, and made another jump from the side of an office block, and landed gently in front of the gate to Siren's Call, running through as fast as possible, and heading back to the shattered dock.

33,404 words, and hopefully now on the start of a definitive lead over my arch-rival. (In a nice way of course. )

Slowly reaching today's 32,500 mark, but didn't start until 5pm as it's shopping + laundry day, which means likely not to finish until 9pm or so.

Congratulations on winning Creative Genius, well deserved.

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30k hit, and the best part is, I've finally reached the juicy plot nonsense - I'm back in the zone, dudes!

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Yay! I'm still 600 words ahead of you!

It looks really, really good so far, and oh my goodness, what I wouldn't give to have had my living room like that when I was a kid.

On the coloured picture, if you're apt at drawing skies, I'd recommend trying to do so, as the photoed sky there detracts from the drawing, though that's just my opinion of course.

Next lot of pictures so amazing, they'll change the world around you so much, that you won't even notice anything different:
LEVEL TWENTY-SEVEN
LEVEL TWENTY-EIGHT

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The RP doesn't start at 9, it's just the Galaxy Girl mob gets going at 9. GG is not the be-all and end-all of RP.

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Aside from the metting-points, there are those of us who roleplay in teams, or on the off-chance we find other roleplayers by chance when levelling. As Weasel pointed out, there's people out there who RP but don't know about the meeting points at all.

I managed to break the 30,000 word barrier today, at 30,928, though today's chapter took me an awfully long time to write.

Next chapter, and the longest to write so far, at six hours, despite in the end, being rather an easy one to write once I got into the swing of things...after four hours.

Chapter 12 - Withdrawal.

Ethan adjusted his sunglasses, and made sure the gravity control device was sitting comfortably on his arm. The exposed circuitry looked a mess when combined with the outfit he was wearing, and he would need to manufacture a cover for the device, preferably one that matched the outfit, and also which was waterproof. “Okay. We need some money, where do we go?” he asked Nova Violet in a calm, collected voice, as he found himself slipping easily into the persona his outfit created. Nova Violet replied; “Wait here, and I'll find out.” He walked over to a nearby phone box, opened the door, and slid inside, before picking up the receiver. From outside, Ethan could see Nova Violet listen to the receiver, before banging it on the dialling section, and lifting it to his ear again, before dialling a number. The person on the other end responded almost immediately and Nova Violet began talking to them, whilst Ethan leant against a wall with his arms crossed, keeping himself to himself as various civilians walked past, trying to go about their daily business without disturbing the various gang members and individual villains that littered the narrow streets. Generally, the various criminals were too busy with grander schemes they were planning for the more profitable Paragon City then to waste time shaking down someone who would only have their week's wages on them. This strange social code puzzled Ethan slightly. When back in Paragon City, the television and papers always portrayed the Rogue Isles as an anarchic place, in a constant state of open gang warfare, where it was unsafe to even walk on the streets. Though the place was no Garden of Eden, it certainly wasn't the 9th level of Hell either. Nova Violet hung up the phone receiver, and exited the phone box, leaving the door swinging open. “Luckily for us friend, it's a local place.”

Nova Violet nodded his head in the direction of the large city on top of the artificial hill, and began walking back the way they had come before. The sun was beginning to set on the horizon, and Ethan was thankful for having dry clothes rather than his damp shirt and trousers from earlier as the air cooled around them as they headed through the streets of Cap Au Diable. As they were walking, a few apparently random members of the gangs huddled round the entrances to alleyways would shout a greeting to Nova Violet, who would respond with a tip of his hat or a slight wave. “You're quite the celebrity here then?” Ethan asked, as they drew closer to the large bridge leading to the city on the artificial hill. “I've just helped a lot of people, in a lot of different situations friend. And people like to work with someone who has no set affiliations.” They reached the foot of the large bridge, and Ethan looked up the road, and around him before heading up the bridge. “I wouldn't bother looking friend, I don't know a single person who drives round these parts. I see the cars parked, but never moving.” Ethan shrugged, and carried on walking up the bridge, his shoes thudding up the steep incline of the cobbled stone road. Numerous tentacled drones hovered motionless at various intervals at the sides of the bridge, and Arachnos troops patrolled up and down the bridge, stopping people and asking for I.D cards. Before they could reach the top, they were stopped themselves by a troop. “I.D cards please.” Ethan produced his, and showed it to the guard, and Nova Violet did the same. “Neither of you two are registered as residing in the Aeon City district. What are you doing here at this time?” Nova Violet took his card back, and replied coldly; “We're here on business friend, and we're running slightly late, so, if you could let us pass.” The troop handed back Ethan his pass, and grumbled to himself as he marched off down the bridge. Ethan and Nova Violet carried onwards, entering a much more modernised city district, with high-rise buildings, and smooth stone footing, as opposed to the 19th century designs of where they had just arrived from. Nova Violet led the way through the open spaces, as Ethan looked at various red costumed people patrolling the area, some of which were completely cloaked and floated in mid-air, expressionless, and letting out small crackles of red electricity as they scanned the area, whilst women in red bodysuits and long black coats generally accompanied them or a small detachment of Arachnos troops. “Who are those people?” Ethan asked in a hushed tone. “The cloaked ones are Mu, trained by some guy named Scirocco. The others are Seers, and are the type who like to mess with your head. Don't mess with either of them, and you'll be fine.” They carried on over a plaza area, until they reached a building with heavy looking, reinforced doors. “Okay, we're here. Now get inside quick.”

Nova Violet opened one of the doors, and Ethan dashed inside, to find himself in a small entry hallway, with cheap blue carpeting and fake wooden décor. “Where are we?” Ethan asked as Nova Violet closed the door behind them. “Aeon City 1st Bank. Now get your guns out, follow my lead, and don't let security get any funny ideas.” Nova Violet readied one of his automatic rifles, opened the next door, and ran into the main room of the bank with a blaze of gunfire aimed at the ceiling. “Oh god. Oh god. He's robbing a bank. I'm robbing a bank. I'm robbing a bank!” Ethan said under his breath as his adrenaline levels increased, and he fumbled for his two pistols, and readied one in each hand. He opened the door which had swung shut to see Nova Violet holding one of the bank tellers at gunpoint, and motioning towards a door at the back of the main banking room. Two security guards lay on the floor nearby, and Ethan felt his stomach churn as he ducked his head back behind the door and leaned against it, breathing heavily through his shroud. The door rattled, and opened, and Nova Violet glared at Ethan; “You want the money, then come and earn it friend!” he said sternly. Ethan nodded hesitantly, and walked out into the main banking area, where one of the tellers was trembling. She looked relatively young, was dark skinned, and about the same height as Ethan, dressed in the same dark blue skirt and sky blue shirt the other female tellers were dressed in. The captive teller led Nova Violet and Ethan back over to the room on the far side, and used a key attached to her belt to open the door. “I..I don't have any other...access to the safe..please don't...hurt me.” Nova Violet pushed her out of the way and walked through the door. Ethan looked at the teller, the look of sympathy in his eyes blocked out by the sunglasses and shroud. He pointed to behind the service desks with one of his guns; “Stay over there, and stay out of the way. I don't want anybody else to get hurt, so please, don't trigger any alarms.” The teller nodded, and scampered over to the desk, and hid behind it, poking her head up to look at Ethan fearfully as he walked through the door, shaking his head in disbelief.

The next room was full of empty computer cubicles, with the PCs switched off. It must have been nearly closing time, Ethan thought to himself. It also explained why there had been no customers in the main banking area, for which Ethan was grateful. The image of the two guards on the floor continued to prevail in his mind, there hadn't been any signs of blood, but he didn't know if they were alive or not. He looked down at the guns he was carrying, thinking back to only a few hours earlier, where one of them had shot the female hero. He felt a sickening feeling in his stomach again. This wasn't right, but what else was there? He was seen as a murderer back home anyway, there was nothing left to go back to, no job, no home, no Elizabeth. Upon thinking about Elizabeth, he felt himself grip the pistols tighter in his hands. He could do something, he could go back and avenge her, somehow, or find a way to bring her back. There had to be a way to bring her back, there must be. Every action has an opposite and equal reaction, Newton had said, and surely he could reverse what happened somehow? There must be a way, there was always a way. And the way he was going to find out, was by getting the money from this bank, taking it from people who probably didn't deserve it anyway. He strode forward and into the adjoining corridor, where Nova Violet was talking to a security guard. “Dr Apocalypse, meet Cash Davies, professional mole.” Ethan nodded at Cash, and turned to Nova Violet. “Can we get this over and done with?” Nova Violet smirked, and led the way for the trio, as they headed through a steel door, which Cash opened with a security key card, and they walked into a long corridor coated with sheet metal panelling, with a raised ceiling between regular security points, which had thick steel bars blocking the way through. Cash strolled over to the first security point, and swiped his key card through a small black box on the wall. The first set of steel bars started to raise slowly, as red warning lights warned of the moving items. They proceeded through the now open archway, and headed to the second set of bars. “How many of these things are there friend?” Nova Violet asked, as he glanced behind himself quickly. Cash replied; “Five gates in total, only one can be open at a time. So we've got to wait for the one behind us to shut, before the next one can open.” Cash swiped his key card through another small black box, and the bars behind them lowered slowly to the ground, fitting into slots in the metal floor. As soon as the bars hit unseen pressure switches in the holes, the bars in front started to rise. “So much for a speedy escape friend. There'd better be a good load in here.” Ethan turned around and watched the entrance as the bars climbed towards the ceiling. The trio went through the next archway, and Cash swiped the key card through yet another small black box.

As the gate behind them started to lower, Ethan nudged Nova Violet, and pointed towards the slowly opening steel door they had entered the corridor through. The barrel of a gun emerged from behind the door, and suddenly it was kicked open to reveal two private security guards in blue shirts, and a security officer in a brown shirt, with mirrored sunglasses. He was heavily built, the shirt fitting badly on his muscular frame. He adjusted his sunglasses with one hand, and held a pump action shotgun in the other. “This is Securis Services. Cease your actions, drop your weapons, and return to us slowly.” Nova Violet walked over to the just-closing gate facing the security team, raised his automatic rifle, placed it between the bars, and fired a small burst of bullets at the security team. They dived to the sides of the corridor, one security guard to the left, the other and the security officer to the right, taking cover behind the columns forming the archway of the first gate. “Get that gate open friend!” he shouted, as the bars rose slowly upwards to the next area. Ethan and Cash ducked under the half open bars, as Nova Violet fired another covering burst from his automatic rifle. The clip on the rifle clicked empty, and he rooted around for a new clip on his belt. Using the opportunity given to them, the security guards and officer ran towards the first small black box, and swiped a key card through it, causing the gate behind Nova Violet to stop rising, and start descending again. He looked behind him, and dived under the lowering bars before they sunk into the holes in the floor. Brushing himself off, he stood up, and fell back to the floor as his jacket dragged him back, caught between one of the bars and the socket in the floor. He tugged at the caught section, but it wouldn't come loose. A burst of three or four shots clanged against the bars and the floor as the security guards realised he was caught there, stepping through the open first archway.

Cash swiped the key card in the next small black box, and the bars started to raise into the last caged area, as the bars behind the security personnel started to lower into the floor. Nova Violet struggled, and wrenched his left arm free of the jacket, before dropping the automatic rifle and removing his right arm from the jacket sleeve. He picked up the automatic rifle, and headed through the half open archway, as it started to lower again. Grabbing a clip from his belt and slamming it into the rifle, he fired a continuous burst at the approaching security personnel, who again ducked for cover. Cash ran to the last small black box, and swiped his key card. Ethan crawled under the narrow gap between the bars and the floor, dragging his cape with his hand so that it didn't catch in the bars. Nova Violet slid himself backwards across the metal floor, still firing at the security personnel, until his ammunition clip ran empty again. The security personnel returned fire as Nova Violet continued to slide himself backwards under the gate. The bullets whizzed past and hit the floor, save for one, which ricocheted off of a bar and hit Cash in the arm, causing him to drop the key card and fall to the floor with a cry of pain. Nova Violet pushed himself forwards, and grabbed the key card, before sliding back under the bars as they started lowering again, from the security personnel opening the bars to the next area. He picked himself up from the floor, and ran to the door at the end of the corridor, swinging it open, and running through, followed close behind by Ethan, who slammed the door shut behind him. “What about Cash?” Ethan asked, as he caught his breath quickly. “He's down friend, and he'll live, but he's behind the bars now, and we'll all be behind bars if we don't get out of here.” Ethan looked around, they were in the adjacent room to the safe, which had been inexplicably left open. The walls were lined with safety deposit boxes, Nova Violet tried a few, but they were all fixed into the wall. He wandered into the main safe itself, picked up a nearby money bag, and began filling it with cash. Ethan kept a watch on the door, aiming both pistols at it for when the security personnel would inevitably come through. He felt queasy, as he pondered the fact he was likely to kill someone soon. It was wrong, he knew that, but it was that or spend the next 10 years in the Rogue Isle's version of the Ziggurat prison, which he guessed wasn't going to be very favourable. Nova Violet chucked a money bag through the door of the safe, and was about to start filling a second bag, when a loud klaxon alarm started to sound, and without warning, the door to the safe slammed shut. Ethan looked behind him, and ran over to the door, trying to prise it open. A digital clock next to the door was counting down from fourteen hours. A time lock. Ethan banged the stock of one of the pistols against the door, but could not hear a reply from the other side. He looked around, unsure of what to do, and saw the money bag lying on the floor. He glanced back at the door, then at the bag, dropped the pistol in his left hand, before picking up the money bag and heading back out of the door into the room.

The security personnel had reached the last gate. One of them spotted Ethan and shouted something his head blocked out. Ethan looked up, and saw a fire detector hanging on the ceiling. Taking the only chance he had of getting out, he aimed his remaining pistol at the detector and fired. The shrill ringing of the fire alarm echoed through the metal corridor, and a shower of water sprung from the ceiling in an effort to put out the non-existent fire. Amongst the spray of water, Ethan saw that all of the bars were raising up to allow easy escape. He covered the money bag with his cape, and ran as fast as he could for the door at the opposite end of the corridor, ducking under the half open archways, and weaving from side to side, hearing shout from behind him, and the burst of gunfire as he exited the corridor. He carried on running, not taking any notice of his surroundings, passing through the main banking area, where the female teller was still cowering behind the desk Ethan had told her to hide behind. He reached into the money bag, pulled out a wrapped bundle of cash, and left it behind on the floor, looking at the female teller as he did so, before pointing at it and nodding, running out of the door of the bank, and into the outside world.

Here's today's artistic supplements, and we finally leave everyone's favourite zone. Plus, over halfway now.

LEVEL TWENTY-FIVE
LEVEL TWENTY-SIX

Aside from today's writing, I'm not finding it that stressful, or much of a nightmare to be honest. I simply get up, write for a few hours, finish a chapter, and get on with everything else afterwards.

I think if you see it as a challenge, then it becomes a challenge. I'm just writing, and meeting a respectable quota each day, and enjoying it.

Due to being distracted a lot, couldn't concentrate properly on today's chapter, so used up some of my words-cushion. I'm still a few hundred words above the quota though, now at 27,962 words. I should break the 30K barrier tomorrow.

Slightly shorter than normal chapter today, due to distractions here.

Chapter 11 - Keeping Up Appearances.

Ethan rubbed his chin, feeling the effects of having not shaven for a few days. “How do we get over to Paragon City, in a way that doesn't involve us having to run for our lives?” Nova Violet started walking towards a metal door in the wall, and opened it. “You get there by boat or submarine friend. My boat, bit risky as it's not registered. Arachnos provided ones will get you through, but they come with a price tag.” Ethan walked towards Nova Violet, and grabbed the handle of the door. “How much is this price tag?” Nova Violet rolled his eyes up ward, and started doing calculations in his head, whilst counting on his hands. “Probably about five grand friend, maybe more, maybe less.” Ethan swung the door fully open, and started walking through into the main interior of the Arachnos base. “And where can we get five grand from that easily?” Nova Violet followed him through the door, and shut it behind them. “I know a place. Got another friend who owes me a favour. First up though, for what we need to do, you need some much better gear friend.” Ethan looked at him quizzically; “Gear?” Nova Violet sighed and carried on walking, avoiding the Arachnos troops running to and fro in the large control room they had walked into. “Clothes friend, clothes.” They carried on walking, past the control room, and to a corridor leading to a lift door. Nova Violet pressed the call button, and the doors slid open. They entered the elevator carriage, waited for the doors to slide shut, and Nova Violet pressed the button on the elevator panel for the roof. The elevator carriage remained silent for the ascent upwards, save for the humming of outside mechanics, until there was a rattle of metal against metal, and the elevator carriage jolted to a halt, the doors sliding open to reveal the helicopter pad on top of the Arachnos base. The wind blew against them as they walked over to the Arachnos flier, Nova Violet's jacket billowing to his left, and Ethan suddenly wishing he hadn't left his jacket in the entry room downstairs. The Arachnos troop stationed next to the flier turned to Nova Violet, and asked; “Where to?” Nova Violet thought for a second, and replied; “Cap Au Diable friend.” The Arachnos troop nodded, and pointed his thumb at the flier next to the one he was guarding.

The inside of the flyer was cramped, with enough room to fit six, maybe seven people, though one side of the flier was taken up with an extremely large and muscular man dressed in a green tank top and camouflaged trousers, leaving Ethan and Nova Violet with just enough room to squeeze in on the other side, next to a person in a dark brown robe, who muttered incomprehensible words as they sat hunched over. The loading door was slammed shut behind them, leaving the cargo area lit by only a singular red strip light embedded in the ceiling, and the flier's engines roared into life outside, causing a deafening noise within the flier. Ethan gripped onto the handrail beside him as the flier lifted up, and tilted forwards towards is destination, whilst Nova Violet sat back, and tipped his hat over his face as he relaxed. Ethan glanced quickly over at the large muscular person sat opposite him, who glared back at him and growled, he responded with a quick weak smile, and stared at the floor for the remainder of the flight. After around quarter of an hour, the flier levelled out, and started to descend, before hitting the ground with a slight thump, causing the cargo section to jolt. After a few seconds, the loading door was opened, and Ethan walked out into the cool air, onto a small airfield, surrounded by half a dozen large hangars. Nova Violet followed after the large muscular man stomped out of the flier and marched heavily towards the city in the distance.

“Right friend, follow me, and try avoid grabbing anyone's attention, it could be bad for your health.” Nova Violet started walking towards the city, and Ethan followed. As they walked towards their destination, Ethan brought up a question with Nova Violet: “One thing you've never told me...how did you stop me from falling from the AusTech building? All I remember was falling, then being in the back of your car.” Nova Violet adjusted his hat, and replied; “Some things friends, are best left unanswered. It spoils the magic of the moment.” Ethan frowned and grabbed Nova Violet by the lapel of his jacket, and brought him face to face with himself. “What were you doing there...friend? And why did you save me?” Without warning Nova Violet grabbed hold of Ethan's other arm, twisted, and flipped Ethan on to the ground, before taking one of his automatic rifles from his shoulder and aiming it at him. “You want to know friend? I was in Paragon City on my own errands, and was approached to help with some dirty work by some guy in a suit. He wants me to help clean up some mess in case things go wrong. They went wrong, and I ended up with you.” Ethan's eyes widened as he focused on Nova Violet. “You mean, you were working for Austin? So what, you were supposed to kidnap me in case I didn't give them what they wanted?” Nova Violet pulled the gun barrel away, and placed the automatic rifle back over his shoulder. “Yeah, and now Austin's not in much of a position to pay me, so I figured I'd go with someone who'd be a good long term investment.” Ethan picked himself up from the floor and dusted himself off, before swinging a punch at Nova Violet and landing it it square in his face, causing his red sunglasses to buckle and shatter. “My wife died that night, and you helped the man who caused that to happen?” Nova Violet took the broken sunglasses from his face and dropped them to the ground, revealing more of the intense scarring around the left side of his face. “Now I need more glasses. I had no idea what happened in there friend, I was just paid to wait outside, and if there was any trouble, to get you under wraps. And as you're wondering, it was a two-shot teleport device. One trip up to you as you fell, and another one to next to my car. Nice punch though.” He said as he rubbed the side of his face. “Now, come on, you're still dressed like a civilian. Heck, you are a civilian,and that makes you an easy target.”

The rest of the journey was made in silence, as Ethan continued to fume, barely taking any notice of the sights he passed, whether it be the electrical generators with small electrical gremlins clambering over them, or the black and yellow armoured figures flying overhead, towards a larger, sleeker looking city on top of an artificial hill. They carried onwards towards a small dock area, where ferries were constantly transporting passengers to and from the island. Numerous costumed people ran to and fro, making progress reports on their schemes to Arachnos's Arbiters, dressed almost solely in white armour, taking down endless notes on a data pad. The journey continued into a small warehouse district, until they came to a large wooden shack. Nova Violet walked to the entrance, and opened the door to reveal a more medical looking interior, before walking inside with Ethan following behind him. They were greeted by a woman in a grubby nurse's uniform; “Hello there, and welcome to Facemaker's! How can I help you gentlemen today?” Nova Violet pointed at Ethan and replied; “Make this guy less of a target, and make it cheap too.” The 'nurse' nodded enthusiastically and grabbed Ethan's hand, pulling him behind some curtains that would have surrounded a hospital bed. “Now now now, what could suit you sir? What's the name gorgeous?” Ethan felt a little flustered, and replied; “Um..Dr Apocalypse.” The nurse grinned: “Nice name! Nice name! It's simple and effective, which your costume should be! Wait here!” She dashed out of the curtained area, leaving Ethan alone to idle away the few minutes with his hand in his pockets. The building, despite not being a proper hospital, was certainly in a better state of repair and cleanliness than the one he had been in earlier...was it earlier today? He had no idea how long he had been unconscious for between arriving at the hospital and waking up in the Council cell room. It had certainly been getting towards dusk during the journey to this 'Facemaker' place, so it was possible everything had happened in the same day. As he pondered this, the nurse rushed back into the curtained area carrying a small pile of clothing underneath one arm, and dragging a metal table on wheels behind her with her other hand.

“Now then! Here's some lovely bits and pieces! And in your friend's price range!” Ethan watched as she placed the pile of items on the metal table. “He's not my friend.” he replied as he perused the clothes. The nurse stood there grinning at him. “Um...do you mind?” he asked as he started to unbutton his shirt. “Oh, spoilsport!” she said to him as she left the curtained area. The clothing consisted of a short sleeved black flak jacket, with a bulky metal zip up the front, black armoured leather trousers, black leather boots, an aqua blue shroud, and some fingerless leather gloves. He reluctantly began to place the clothes items on, and found that they fit surprisingly well, and even felt clean and comfortable to wear. He stepped outside of the curtained area, to see Nova Violet standing there, looking quite pleased at the result. “He needs sunglasses.” he said, and the nurse went to a drawer in a nearby desk, and pulled out a pair of black sunglasses, along with a new red pair for Nova Violet. “Now, there's something missing, but I'm not sure what.” He stated, and the nurse rushed off again, returning with a folded cloth, that matched the aqua blue of Ethan's shroud. “Technically, we shouldn't give these away! But who's going to know! It's reward for such a great performance sweetie!” Ethan raised an eyebrow; “Performance?” he asked. The nurse pointed up, and he followed the line of her finger, until he saw a wall mounted camera pointing into the area he had just changed clothes in. “Now, try it on! try it on!“ the nurse exclaimed before he could respond at all. He took the cloth, and unfolded it to reveal a long cape. He swung it behind him, and attached it to some pre-made mantles on the front of his flak jacket. “Oh, what a cutie!” The nurse squealed as she began to write down costs on a notepad she took from her pocket. She gave the notepad to Nova Violet, who took out some notes of cash, and handed them over. “Thank you sir! Have a nice day!” she chirped as they walked out of the building. “Why do I feel like I look like a Terminator movie reject?” Ethan asked as they left. “Because you do, and that's a good thing. Shows you mean business. Did you pick up your I.D card and guns from your other clothes?” Ethan checked the compartments on his new belt, and nodded, before asking; “How did you pay for that anyway?” Nova Violet smiled and replied; “I took the money from their till whilst you and the lady were occupied in the changing room.”

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Why is it that when ever I read these PvP threads I wan't to log on, go to the PvP zone and kick some butt?

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Because that's what the PvP Zones should be for, and not a place full of feeble ploys to get people into the zones, including Accolade badges which in all fairness, shouldn't be there?

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Which would end up in this argument starting up all over again. If you remove the things that people are complaining about having to go to PvP Zones for, then you remove the problem.

Obviously, keep things like the Shivans, Nukes, exploration badges. The former do relate to engaging in PvP in game-lore sense as you're taking things from the other side, just remove the Accolade requirements and the increased XP, and you've got no reason for PvE people to complain if they're in a PvP zone, as what's left will be strictly PvP related.

[/ QUOTE ]But people are complaining about shivans, nukes, and exploration badges AS WELL.

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There is never going to be a good way to end this debate, but at least removing some of the catalytic material is better than the current situation we're in.

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IMO, that is an issue with hero side NOT having accolades that require PvP.

PvP, and entering PvP zones SHOULD have rewards that will be useful in PvE content, but not REQUIRED to complete it.

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Erm.... okay, I'm not going to counter that, because I don't know how to say it politely. I don't mind teaming, I don't mind doing Task Forces for accolade requirements, but I don't see how adding in PvP requirements on the heroes side for accolades would do anything other than cause a lot of fuss.

[/ QUOTE ]I'm not saying they should add them to existing ones, but that the new ones they eventually give us should have PvP requirments.

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Which would end up in this argument starting up all over again. If you remove the things that people are complaining about having to go to PvP Zones for, then you remove the problem.

Obviously, keep things like the Shivans, Nukes, exploration badges. The former do relate to engaging in PvP in game-lore sense as you're taking things from the other side, just remove the Accolade requirements and the increased XP, and you've got no reason for PvE people to complain if they're in a PvP zone, as what's left will be strictly PvP related.

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That's directly related to PvP though. If you want the 400 rep badge, you have to PvP and take part in it willingly, as it's a PvP badge. It's a completely different kettle of fish to the other badges.

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??????????????????????????

It is a badge. the other badges are badges. If a player decides that a certain badge is necessary for their character then they need to get that badge. It is their choice. It doesnt matter if the badge is top dog or heart of hamidon. What is it with people and logic? Why odes logic escape most people? Why do they INSIST on finding 'nuances' when there is none?

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To me, it's some of the points I'm arguing against that are the ones finding nuances.It's called being on different sides of an argument, and I'd prefer it if you didn't tar people arguing the opposite point as having a problem with logic.

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So if a player considers the Accolades to be an important part in 'completing' their character, then they have no choice but are required to enter the PvP zones?

[/ QUOTE ]The same could be said of having 400 PvP reputation, for example.

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That's directly related to PvP though. If you want the 400 rep badge, you have to PvP and take part in it willingly, as it's a PvP badge. It's a completely different kettle of fish to the other badges.

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*poke pokes BD*

I get a good screenies, can you draw Hana as well as RC and his new pet Dinolizard Bob?

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As I have a gap of ideas around the 40's for my thread, I may add a GG picture, and I'm sure you can make an appearance in it. No dinosaurs though, my 40's were pre-Issue 6.