The Prelude to Justice: Genesis

Hey, Gang. This is the first post to the Prelude's first storyline titled Genesis. I hope you all enjoy and will continue to read updates as they form over at: http://www.freedomphalanx.com/v-web/...opic.php?t=146

Enjoy!

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Halorin sat back in his seat with a bitter face. He wasn’t in his costume, but rather civilian clothes; a loose pair of jeans, a white tank top which was draped over by an open button-down light blue shirt. The sunshine of mid-afternoon was at just about eye-level as it spattered through the blinds of the small office.

“You’re going to do it, and that’s that. There’s no other way around it, or I’ll revoke your group’s official standing in the city, which will be a violation of your parole. Do you really want that, Mr. Halorin?”

Jake Reynolds was a relatively small man, but he commanded large words from behind his desk. Gray hair and glasses defined the otherwise non-descript face as weathered eyes watched Halorin with malicious intent. He continued on.

“You don’t even –deserve- this chance, and here you are, throwing it in our face. It’s a simple task. You WILL do it. Am I understood?”

“It’s BS!” Halorin snapped back. “Th’Prelude ain’ some kiddie arrangement. We don’ do clown tricks, blow up balloons. We ain’ minor league. I’m sorry, but I ain’ gonna watch a kid’s birthday party at Freedom Pizza all day when my contacts need me out there fightin’ crime. I’ve got leads t’follow, an’ so does my team. We’re makin’ th’news. We’re doin’ good. It ain’ happenin’, Reynolds.” Halorin seemed absolute on his stance.

Mr. Reynolds crossed his arms boldly over his chest as bushy eyebrows lowered down and knitted themselves together. Anger took over his tone. “You will do it.” Halorin shook his head and stated defiantly. “I know what y’er doin’, an’ it ain’t floatin’. Sorry there, guy. You won’t have me doin’ this small-time crap ‘till I get sick o’heroin’ an’ get thrown in jail. Y’think I’m stupid?” The man’s silence was answer enough. Halorin groaned and stood.

“Listen. I ain’ got time f’this, okay? There’s stuff I could be handlin’.” He headed for the door. Reynolds watched him reach the door before stating. “..Fine, then. I will have no choice but to report this.” Halorin’s hand, which was firmly gripped onto the doorknob emitted a green glow and bent the metal sphere to conform to his fingers. Glowing eyes lashed back to the stately man. “…Y’think they’d really throw me in jail b’cause I’d rather stop a drug ring over watch y’er kid’s birthday party so you c’n laugh at me an’ my team? Right.” Halorin opened the door, but froze again as Reynolds said something that peaked his interest.

“You’ve called my bluff.”

“..I know I did.”

“I have something for you. Something real. We believe Dr. Vahzilok is up to something. We have reason to believe he’s creating something the likes we’ve never seen from his sort of activity.” Reynolds reached into a drawer on his left side and pulled out a plain folder. He slapped it pointedly on his desk. “Well? I was going to save this for a real group, but since you’re so eager to fail, it’s all yours.”

Halorin envisioned breaking this man’s neck and subjecting to all sorts of educational methods of physical persuasion, but chose to casually walk over and look at the file instead. Pictures of a Vahzilok lab were shown, with various body parts and organs laid out on tables. Halorin’s features hardened as he leafed through the grotesque science captured in the surveillance. There was something that was completely off from how Vahzilok usually operated. The last few pictures appeared to be of some sort of capsule, which was empty and waiting to have something placed inside. The hero lifted his eyes to the man at the desk. “Where’d you get these?”

“These were sent to us by an anonymous source, but if you’d look…” Reynolds paused and searched until he found a specific picture of Dr. Vahzilok himself, “here, we have reason to believe it’s credible. It looks like he’s creating something, and not just a typical zombie.”

Halorin silently gathered all of the pictures together and closed the folder with the images tucked inside. “I’ll look into it...” Reynolds gave a disbelieving look. He repeated Halorin’s words with dripping sarcasm. “You’ll look into it.” Halorin nodded and headed for the door. He stopped for a split second before shutting it behind him. “Oh, an’ I’d getta new door handle.” The force of the closed door startled Reynolds, straightening his slouch in the chair.

Reynolds stood up with a frown as he headed for the large window in his office, hands fitted neatly behind his back. He looked out to the waning sun in an aimless gaze. “That’s right, Halorin… Play along… Play right along.”

It was long after sundown when Reynolds made a brief telephone call on his way home from a long day’s work and politics.

“Yeah. No witnesses. Make it look like an accident. I gave you the address. Bye.”

A grimly satisfied smirk crossed his features as he ended the call with a button on his luxury car’s steering wheel. Two birds with one stone, was the plan.

Halorin leaned back against the back wall of the elevator. The silent thrum of gears and machinery working to lift the cabin to the fourth floor was something that calmed him. It was the sound that his day was over, and it was time to rest. There’d be none of that for the weary tonight. A beep sounded and the double doors parted ways.

“What the?!?”
Halorin was slammed in the chest with a combined volley of dark energy, blasting him back against the elevator’s wall and collapsing to the floor. Four Eidolons looked to each with a silent nod before gathering the unconscious body of Halorin up and descending in the elevator. No one was in the lobby this late at night, and no one saw what happened. The distress signal on Halorin’s PDA was activated with his last ebb of energy.

They took him to a cleaners of all places. Kenny’s Cleaning. An obvious front for nefarious activity. Late at night the place was a ghost town, and not much had to be done to mask their activity. Halorin lay over one of the Eidolon’s massive shoulder, looking out of character to be so helpless. He dazed in out from time to time, hearing bits of conversation and echoing sounds as he felt himself being taken down stairs. The Dark energy stuck to him with a static cling, sapping whatever strength he tried to muster.

A pained gasp strained from his throat as he was thrown haphazardly to a hard concrete floor. His chest was immediately pressed upon by a boot. Halorin’s eyes, widened by discomfort, focused on a man’s face half-hidden by a surgical mask.

“Mr. Halorin, I presume,” Dr. Vahzilok said with a villainous sense of humor. “We’ve been..” He looked up with a smirk to his cohorts before looking down to Halorin again, “..expecting you. Do please, help yourself up.” The good doctor eased from Halorin’s chest and walked over to the capsule to make several tweaks and adjustments. He called out to Halorin as he was forcefully lifted up by his shoulders. The dark energy of the eidolons kept him weak.

“We’ve been afforded the pleasure of taking care of yourself and the members of your team, Mr. Halorin. It seems you’ve stepped on the wrong toes, made the wrong moves even. Why, I’d even go as far as to say… Your presence wasn’t welcome here in Paragon City. But we’ll be taking care of that. I’ve done research on you, Mr. Halorin. Impressive talents you have. I’m sure you’d have made quite the formidable foe, even.. a worthy ally?”

Halorin’s head was hung, but he found the strength to lift his eyes to the man across the room. He noticed the capsule, and from Vahzilok’s words, he knew exactly what was going on. He’d be set up by Reynolds. He responded with a faint smirk, “Y’say that like I ain’ still formidable.. Ain’ that how you bad guys always slip up? Y’oughtta read some comics the-Urrrgh!!” His sentence was cut off with a swift blow to his stomach, a dark energy powered punch that rocked him to the core. Halorin was allowed to slump down and collapse to all fours to gasp for air. Dr. Vahzilok smirked. “I have a feeling you aren’t in much of a fighting condition. In fact, I have read my comic books, and have done my homework. It is time for this conversation to end. Gentlemen, if you would.”

Halorin futilly tried to break away from the Eidolons who didn’t use much effort to grab him up, hoisting him into the air. He continued to struggle, only to no avail. He was being taken to a large vat across the room.

“What we have in there is a certain cryogenic solution. We were using it to, well.. engineer. We hear you and energy share an intimate relationship. I’m curious to see exactly how your death is brought to you when you are introduced to this. I’d imagine it to be a rather painful one.”

Halorin stared intently at the vat, and then his glove. The distress signal was still on but by now it was too late. He continued to attempt to break free, but there’d be no helping him this time. It wasn’t so much of a splash as it was the sound of something sinking into quicksand as Halorin was thrown into the vat. His entire body burned with pain and his energy’s reaction to extreme cold and bioengineered byproduct. Too weak to struggle free, he slipped beneath, his defiantly raised hand the last to be seen.

The volumous laughter of the room was the last thing Halorin heard as black consumed his senses.