[IC] Heroes Rise: Paragon City

[Nallore]

---

---

@Tally Dor@IAmTheIsland@Araby264@Carlyle@Silver Carrot
Date and Time: Monday, September 1st, 2060 10:00AM

---

---

"Good morning Paragon City!" Said the local news anchor for those that were listening to the radio on their commute to work that morning or for those watching the news at home or wherever they are. "Theo Stevens here, today is a beautiful summer morning here in the city, it's currently eighty five degrees outside. It'll be mostly clear skies during the day with a chance of showers later this evening." The man said over the radio as he started out with the weather for the morning. "Lets start off with some of the election news this morning with Anthony Delgato leading incumbent Benjamin Garcia by two points, with a townhall debate later this evening stay tuned in for that." He stated over the radio.

"Now onto the daily crime report." Theo said as he pulled out another sheet of paper and read through the teleprompter. "Last night at around seven in the evening a small turf battle happened between the Blue Dragons and the 70th Street, with on casualty a young college kid currently we do not have the name for.

There was a small altercation between a member of the Puritans and a police officer, and he has been arrested and in police custody now. A body has been washed up on the shores of Halcyon Beach with some strange markings from what other reports say it was by the new group by the name of The Void. There was also a SWAT and DEA raid on a local busisness in Greyport smuggling in drugs into the city. Police Chief Wallace will have a press conference about these stories and we'll report it here as soon as we know more. We'll continue with the news shortly after this break." Theo said before the news had gone to an ad break or those listening to the radio music started to play.

---

---

Diana Smith

Location: Smith Private Penthouse, Veridian Technologies, Nighthaven, Paragon City
Skills: N/A

---

---

Diana groaned slightly as she woke up from a long night still in her clothes that she wore as her role as the vigilante Artemis she got out of her bed and made her way over towards her bathroom. Diana pulled out her phone she looked down at it, she had a few meetings that she needed to attend to during the day one of them was in thirty minutes. Which she didn't really look forward to and always thought that they were very boring.

Diana quickly got herself into the shower and started to clean herself making sure that she got all of the dirt and blood that she had on her off herself. When she was done Diana got out of the shower and looked herself in the mirror she had a few bruises on her chest and arms fighting against a Delgato grunt who managed to get the jump on her last night. Luckily her clothes would simply cover it as Diana grabbed herself a suit and started to get changed.

She entered the living room of the penthouse Diana had opted to live alone in the penthouse here at Veridian they did have another place in the Financial District where her mother lived when she was done for the day at work. But her mother was also luckily out on a busisness trip outside of the city leaving her alone to run things for now. She entered the elevator and started to go down until she was in the offices everyone was busy about going about their duties and Diana left them alone to handle things as she went and entered her mother's office to get some paperwork done.

---

---

Madalyne Crane

Location: Paragon City Academy, Riverside, Paragon City
Skills: N/A

---

---

Madalyne had been up for awhile now as she made her way out of class, she decided that she wanted to skip classes for the rest of the day, she was really good with her school work and last year she got really good grades. So she quietly snuck off during lunch break she grabbed her backpack and headed out. She pulled out her phone and earbuds and slipped them into her ears and quietly started to listen to some music and quickly got onto the bus.

There was a really good ramen shop that she liked going to the Lucky Noodle she had skipped lunch as well to, as Madalyne sat quietly on the bus she observed those around her quietly. There luckily wasn't anyone that didn't want to start up any kind of trouble really as she leaned back slightly watching as the bus went along it's usual route headed for Little Asia.

[Tally Dor]

---

---

The Weeping

Location: Abandoned building, The Melting Pot, Eastern Nighthaven, Paragon City
Skills: N/A

---

---

Kill...Kill...Kill...Kill...Kill...Kill...Kill...Kill...Kill...Kill...Kill...Kill...Kill...Kill...Kill...Kill...Kill...Kill...Kill...Kill...Kill...Kill...Kill...Kill...Kill...Kill...Kill...Kill...Kill...Kill...Kill...Kill...Kill...Kill...Kill...Kill...Kill...Kill...Kill...Kill...Kill...Kill...Kill...Kill...Kill...Kill...Kill...Kill...Kill...Kill...Kill...Kill...Kill...Kill...Kill...Kill...Kill...Kill...Kill...Kill...

The sound of shuffling feet echoed throughout the empty building. A weathered hand held tightly to a railing as they lifted tired feet. The worn out shoes were barely holding. The old man who slowly staggered up the stairs was gripping a large brown bottle in his free hand. Occasionally he'd stop to take a swig, he reeked of the stuff but it seemed to have little effect in slowing him down.

He ignored all the bullet holes that were scattered along the walls. It seems a massive gunfight had occurred in this building at some point. As he crossed the final step he steadied himself. This small landing had one overhead light that illuminated his surroundings. Being one of the few buildings in this section of the Melting Pot that somehow still had power.

Most likely because it had been Fat Tony's. The slum lord who had ruled these ally ways until... Well until he was no more. The old man took a deep breath as he wiped the sweat from his brow, the back of his palm having to go a bit further back then most because of his greatly receding hair line. His watery blue eyes strained into the pitch blackness of the room ahead of him. Even tho it was a good ways into the morning, little to no sun light could pierce the thick curtains in the room.

Kill...Kill...Kill...Kill...Kill...Kill...Kill...Kill...Kill...Kill...Kill...Kill...Kill...Kill...Kill...Kill...Kill...Kill...Kill...Kill...Kill...Kill...Kill...Kill...Kill...Kill...Kill...Kill...Kill...Kill...Kill...Kill...Kill...Kill...Kill...Kill...Kill...Kill...Kill...Kill...Kill...Kill...Kill...Kill

The drunk took a few more tentative steps closer to the darkness but being careful not to enter the room as he looked for anything. Movement? Breathing? Life? All that he encountered was silence and his own labored breathing from the climb up the stairs. Then he saw it. There in the darkness. Two small orangeish red eyes. He felt a small twinge of fear travel down his spine. They were eyes like that of a predator.

The explosion of sudden sound gave the old man another fright. His grip on the bottle tightening. For The Weeping spoke like no normal man or woman. It was as if hundreds of voices were all speaking at the same time. A cacophony of voices with no real rhyme or reason.

“Why are you here Garrett?”

As the question lingered in the air, Garrett took a quick swig of liquid courage and shrugged off the growing sense of dread. That's why, the others had sent him up here. The drunk spoke with a slight slur as he quickly spoke.

“The others wanted mah ta check in on youse.”

A hiccup escaping his lips as no response came from the pair of eyes in the dark.

Kill...Kill...Kill...Kill...Kill...Kill...Kill...Kill...Kill...Kill...Kill...Kill...Kill...Kill...Kill...Kill...Kill...Kill...Kill...Kill...Kill...Kill...Kill...Kill...Kill...Kill...Kill...Kill...Kill...Kill...Kill...Kill...Kill...Kill...Kill...Kill...Kill...Kill...Kill...Kill...Kill...Kill...Kill...Kill

The Weeping's eyes vanished from Garrett's sight as he had been sitting with his knees pressed up against his chest. His head bowed low and his eyes closed as he rocked back and forth his voice seemed uncertain of itself.

“It's too loud. You need to go away.”

Garrett's blue eyes seemed confused for the briefest of a second before he shoved his brown bottle outward towards the figure in the dark.

“When da hospital closed. I ad no more meds. This thing helps me quiet the voices nowadays.”

Once again met with no response. Garrett inwardly sighed to himself as he staggered in his efforts to turn himself using his hand to keep from falling. His eyes gazed towards the stairs before looking back into the dark.

“I dunno what month it is but it's going to get cold before long. You should come out and warm yourself by the fire. We got plenty of barrels going.”

Not expecting an answer the old man slowly left as he went down the stairs he came up earlier. The Weeping frowned as he stood from his sitting position. The bums, the destitute, and those who wished to remain lost that made the Melting Pot their homes. Would they truly welcome such a monster if they got a good look at him?

He turned towards one of the walls and vanished into the darkness. After a few moments. He walked out of a different shadow into a secret basement in the same building. It had been Fat Tony's own personal torture chamber where he broke others to make them do his bidding. The first thing that hit the Weeping's nose was the hint of iron, the stench of human waste, and rotten food.

Kneeling before him in the dimly lit room was Fat Tony. He was naked and most of the flesh on his back had been rended, left with nasty scars. The voices in his mind began to scream as a searing pain seemed to race around in his brain as the flesh on his fingers shredded itself as his bones lengthened and ended in jagged points.

KILL...KILL...KILL...KILL...KILL...KILL...KILL...KILL...KILL...KILL...KILL...KILL...KILL...KILL...KILL...KILL...KILL...KILL...KILL...KILL...KILL...KILL...KILL...KILL..KILL...KILL...KILL...KILL...KILL...KILL...KILL...KILL...KILL...KILL...KILL...KILL...KILL...KILL...KILL...KILL...KILL...KILL...KILL...KILL...KILL...KILL...KILL...KILL..

He resisted them as he leaned down in front of Tony to get one final look at him. A pained whimper escaping the fat man's mouth as his terrified eyes landed on the beast in front of him. His multiple chins wobbling as fresh tears begin to stream down his face.

“Please kill me.”

A malevolent grin crossed the Weepings lips as he gave into the voices. Rearing back he drove his claws straight through the slum lord's skull. He had kept the man alive and tortured him for weeks in an effort to learn about the underbelly of Paragon City. Truth be told Tony's usefulness had gone out the window after the first week as he only knew so much, but the Weeping had kept him around because of how he had toyed with the lives of those who had no way to fight back.

As he pulled his hand free with a sickening sound and the massive body fell, he licked his fingers. Enjoying the warm metallic taste despite being inwardly grossed out. Normal food and drink were like ash in his mouth, it was only through losing himself had he discovered this grim reality of his new body.

[Araby264]

C A N I S - V
C A N I S - V

---

Location: Engineering Labs, Veridian Technologies, Nighthaven, Paragon City

---

[System Boot Up]

[Initializing...]

[Initializing...]

[System Initialized]

[Good Morning Canis-V]

Canis-V came to consciousness all at once. There was no sense of grogginess or tiredness, only the darkness of inexistence, then consciousness. It brought its sensory suite online, getting it's 360 degree vision and crsip audio recievers to observe it's surroundings. It found itself in its docking station within Veridian Technologies main lab.

The docking station was a platform slightly raised off the floor, surrounded by automatic assembly arms and spare parts. There were racks and shelves for more loadouts, but Canis-V and it's engineering team had been restricted from their access until Canis-V could prove its worth, something it did not understand.

At the operator seat for the docking station sat one of the engineers. Canis-V's internal H.U.D. displayed his available information, and it reviewed the dossier in a fraction of a second before speaking. The sound that escaped it's speakers was an androgynous, slightly feminine, artificial voice. It spoke with a warm, welcoming tone that it did not feel.

"Good Morning, Dr.Mchail."

The middle aged man with black hair and green eyes looked up at Canis-V with a smile. He wore a pair of coveralls covered in grime and machine oil, amd his voice was hoarse and rough. Canis-V assessed that he needed more sleep.

"Good morning Canis-V! Excited for the big day?"

Canis-V turned its featureless faceplate in Dr.Michail's direction. It did not need to, but it had noticed that this action seemed to put it's organic counterparts at ease.

"I am at the operational standard set by the parameters given to me."

The greasy engineer raised an eyebrow,"Missing your weapons and Modular enhancements?"

There was a brief pause as Canis-V processed his words.

"Yes, my functionality is limited."

Dr.Michail sighed and nodded, "I understand Canis-V, but thems the breaks. If you want to operate in the city, you've got to keep to their standards... although," The doctor rubbed his chin, scratching at the light stubble that had begun to form there, "You're supposed to have a meeting with the big wigs up top before you head out, maybe you can convince them to let you have your Modular gear back."

[MISSION RECIEVED]
[MISSION PARAMETERS: DEBRIEF WITH 'BIGWIGS']
[PRIOTITY: ONE]

"Acknowledged."

Canis-V ran the undocking procedure through its systems. Crisp clicks and whirrs could be heard as thick cables detached themselves from Canis-V's frame and locks released, letting it leave the docking station.

"Have a good day Dr.Mchail."

The doctor nodded and waved, turning around to go over something on his screen. Canis-V walked towards the stairs, as it was too heavy for the elevator, and began to climb tirelessly to the Executive suites. Upon arriving it walked through the offices of Veridian Technologies executive floor and found people scrambling to get out of its way fearfully. Canis-V found the reaction confusing, but said nothing. Upon arriving at it's location, Canis-V approached the secretary for the Executive office.

"Hello, I am here for my debriefing with the 'Bigwigs'."

[IAmTheIsland]

S A R A H  M A R I E  K I N G
S A R A H  M A R I E  K I N G

^{Parkside West, Mapleview. 9:45AM}

The low-toned thud beneath Sarah's sternum set the pace as she set down on the concrete walk outside her apartment. Stepping from the shade of the building, she squinted hard as the sunlight exacted its retribution for her lateness the night before. But she had grown accustomed to mornings like this, and her eyes adjusted quickly. A second, a thought, and a breath passed through her as one wave, and she turned herself in the direction of Little Asia. Her first strides fell like curbstomps, aligned with the beat in her chest. The music of the body, she reminisced to her first lessons with Ken Shimazu. Her footfalls eased as she settled into her pace, treading the sidewalk with the calm alertness she had honed through a life time in Mapleview; 'aware but not scared,' as people on her block always said; that was at least one thing she could say she had mastered.

Punctuality after late nights, however, elluded her. It was 10:00AM when Sarah slipped in through the back door of the Lucky Noodle. She ceremoniously brushed the dirt from here worn, black Converse, and crossed the backroom into the kitchen.

E N T E R S H I M A Z U

"You are late, Sarah." Ken Shimazu's voice carried from somewhere out of sight.

Sarah following his voice around to the industrial stove top, whereupon a large pot of fresh noodles was slowly cooking to a boil. Shimazu was nearby, cutting up chicken, his back turned. Sarah almost asked how he knew it was her, but she was well enough aware of how perceptive he was; his ability to sense energy put hers to shame. She simple found herself an empty stretch of counter space and leaned back. "Late night," she said bluntly; she had long stopped apologizing, knowing that the nights weren't something she'd stop having any time soon.

"Another evening in the Pits?" Ken set down his knife and wheeled around. He looked his young ward over carefully. "And who managed that?" He pointed to a spot just below Sarah's right eye.

Sarah's hand pressed her cheek, feeling the bruise from a prize fight the night prior. "It's nothing. Some other girl... muscle for 70th Street. 'Torres,' I think... thought she'd make an example out of me. Pretty strong; punched hard. Was even harder to punch." She showed Shimazu her knuckles, equally bruised as her face. Punching the bitch had been like trying put a fist through a steel wall; even using Chi, Sarah's hits amounted to next to nothing.

"And how did you overcome her?"

"Used some of the judo techniques you showed me the other day; she wasn't expecting to get flipped on her back like that. Plus I was faster, and frankly, she had no gas to fight for very long." For a second Sarah thought she sensed a slight beam of pride in Shimazu's eyes. If she had, it was short lived, as the ramen chef returned to cutting chicken without so much as a 'good job.' She wasn't surprised by that, nor by his actual response.

"What I teach you is meant for self-defense and protecting the community. Not beating up people in dingy, basement fight clubs. I've told you this before."

"I know. I know!"Sarah pulled away from the counter and stood next to her Sensei. "I do it because I need the money. It's not much, but a c-note twice or three times a week is worth a few scrapes and bruises. I know I can beat almost anyone in the Pits. It's easy cash in pocket."

"And what happens when you rough up the wrong person? Like an enforcer for 70th Street? Or a Blue Dragon hitperson?"

Sarah bowed her head before Shimazu's sharp side eye. He was right. She had spent her walk from home expecting Valentina Vega's crew to run up on her, if not Vega herself.

"That's enough talking for now. I have to open up shop soon. Go downstairs a practice your forms. Once I get things going I will check in.

"You don't need any extra help up here?"

"I Have plenty today. Downstairs. Forms. Shimazu scraped the chicken cuts into a frying pan, with no further words.

"Yes, Sensei.

[McNephelim]

K E N Z O Y A M A M O T O
K E N Z O Y A M A M O T O

Location: Little Asia Northern Neighborhood, Little Asia, 9:30 AM

Ken's eyes opened slowly as the sun dimly shone through the curtains of his apartment. Just some seconds after he did this, his alarm went off. Normally, he would find this weird if it wasn't the third time in a row that it occurred. Ken was a light sleeper, but never to this degree. Anyway, he got out of bed and realized that he had slept in the pants of his vigilante outfit, "Oops."

After a quick shower, he found himself drinking some coffee while watching the news, nothing out of this world, just the regular news in Paragon City. He had noticed before the bath that he had baggy eyes and a black eye, It's good that he doesn't work on Mondays, it would be awkward to lie to some coworker about falling while bathing or something.

It was 10:00 now, and Kenzo had begun to feel a bit hungry, despite having the necessary tools for a healthy and balanced breakfast. he decided it was a better idea to go to the noodle store he heard his coworkers talk about. Lucky Noodle. That's what he heard; it sounds good, weirdly optimistic, but good.

He stepped out of his apartment, dressed in black and with some black shades over his eyes, and began to walk to the store, following the directions from his phone.

[Kuro]

Z E R O - Z E R O
Z E R O - Z E R O

Location: Financial District, Paragon City
Skills: N/A

---

---

A large, humanoid robot stood tall on the rooftop of a high building deep within the heart of Paragon City. The red sheen of the robot's exoskeleton was but a dot in the sky, melding amidst the scattered, blinking rooftop lights. Held within its metallic grip was a single man, squirming unsuccessfully against the cold chains that held him prisoner.

"I-I swear!" The man pleaded, pushing his arms upwards to try and squeeze out of the robot's grip. "I ain't know nuthin'! W-We just do what they tell us to do! That's all! Now let me down!"

A pair of eyes squinted, echoing almost the sound of a camera shudder. On the robot's shoulders, a girl—practically a high schooler—sat on top of them. Expensive-looking wires connected into her back as she mowed down a breakfast burrito, happily made to her request.

"If you say so." A feminine, yet slightly robotic voice spoke. In a whirl of machinery, the exosuit swung the arm which held the man over the edge of the building. "Or we could try again."

Nancy waited for his response. Instead, all she had received was a torrent of piss leaking from 00's grip.

"Really?" Nancy sighed, shaking her head. She'd have to go invest in some cleaning products now. "You're ruining the paint."

"You're crazy!" The man shouted, fearful for his life. He began to squirm harder, hoping that he could escape somehow before he was dropped to his doom. "You're going to kill me!"

"Who said anything about killing you? Just tell me what I want to know, and you'll be fine."

"Alright, alright! I'll tell you!"

"That's better."

Admitting his defeat, the man began to divulge what information he knew. He was certain that Tony and others would kill him for leaking information, but whatever death they had planned for him sounded better than being dropped off a building.

"Tonight!" The man yelled. "On the corner of 9th and Adams, over in Nighthaven! T-Tony said he had something big planned, but that's all I know! Please, I-I swear!"

"See? Now that wasn't hard. That's all you had to say."

Crumpling up the now-empty burrito wrapper, Nancy threw it to the ground. Swinging herself upwards, she climbed into the back of the exosuit, sealing herself inside as it closed up from behind. The orange eyes of the suit began to vibrantly glow as the machine whirled to life once more. In one swift motion, the exosuit began to rapidly descend from building to building—all the while the man still in its grip screamed for his life, eyes wide open in fear.

As the exosuit reached the ground, it landed with a loud thud against the concrete, startling nearby passerbys that were on their way to work or elsewhere. The machine then promptly released the man from its grip, letting him fall on his bum onto the cold ground.

"He's all yours." The exosuit robotically announced, leaving behind stunned spectators as it promptly disappeared from the scene.

[Silver Carrot]

---

---

Julia Kray

Location: The Melting Pot, Eastern Nighthaven, Paragon City
@Tally Dor

---

---

Julia Kray had been formally released from prison only a few hours earlier. She had never owned her own home. Allof her jobs had included room and board. She had no possessions or assets, officially. What she did have was several hideouts where she used to stash her possessions, gadgets, costumes and wages. She rummaged in a dumpset next to a convenience store and had been lucky to find a block of expired cheese. This was all she needed st the moment. She sat down on a park bench, opened the bag, and then made some sounds with her mouth that wouldn't have sounded like much topassing people. To a rat, however, it was a request. She openly asked any rats listening to check out each of her hideouts and report on whether they'd been discovered and cleaned out. They would get a little cheese for taking on this job and double that for completing it. She was very soon swarmed with rats around her feet.

She stayed sitting on that bench as she watched the world go by. Things had really changed in fifteen years. She'd naturally heard about the death of The Defenders. Theoretically, there was nothing stopping her from falling back into a life of crime. But no. She didn't want to go back to prison again, and she no longer had to risk her life working for supervillains. The rehabilitation and therapy sessions she'd received in prison had convinced her to try going on the straight and narrow with the rest of her life. Do something befitting her age. She'd eraned the right to live as oblivious civilians do. Own a house and a car, and get a job that didn't run the constant risk of injury or death.

The rats returned. All of her hideouts had been cleaned out. Except one. Fat Tony's place. Her gear was still lying around. And if that was the case, the stash of cash hidden there was likely also untouched. She gave that rat double the cheese, then dropped the rest of the bag for the rats to scramble over.

She walked to Fat Tony's, slipped into the adjacent alleyway and scurried vertically up the wall until she reached the penultimate floor. A homeless man wandered out of the front door and would have seen her if he looked up. Julia froze out of habit until he hobbled away. She slipped inside and made her way to a certain part of the hallway, then leapt straight up and into an open ceiling panel.

This was her hideaway. Sure enough, there was an old, damp futon. Next to it, what was once the iteration of her costume she had worn while working as Fat Tony's spy, informant and henchwoman. She began to get wierdly nostalgic as she picked up a set of goggled that had been cutting edge tech at the time. They were over seventeen years old now and probably belonged in a museum. She put them on and pressed the buttons on the side. Nice. They still worked.

What she was really here for was the envelope of cash hidden behind the wallpaper, which she retreived and shashed in her pocket. This would be more than enough to live off of for the time being while she contemplated her next step. As she was about to leave, she smelled the sharp, unmistakle stench of fresh blood. She knew she should leave it alone, but her insticncts and curiosity as an information gatherer couldn't let her ignore this. She adjusted her goggles to the infrared setting and began creeping through the building. There were readings from the old interrogation room. Upon finally reaching the roof overlooking it, she saw someone, or something, kill Fat Tony. She was honestly impressed he'd managed to stay alive up until this year. But who was his killer?

[Master EffeX]

T r o n i c a l
T r o n i c a l

Location: Keyrs' Apartment - Border of Halcyon Heights and Mapleview | Morning

Keyrs scoffed as the newscaster on the radio equated "beautiful Summer morning" with "85 degrees". Of course they did. Most people did. Weather forecasts were such weatherists. 29 degrees -as it would be listed in her home country of Canada- in the morning was hardly cause for a smile. What was it going to climb to during the peak hours of noon-to-four? 29 was already about 5-6 degrees higher than Keyrs' preferred maximum.

Chance of showers sounded nice. At least that was reported neutrally.

In any case, she had a cooling system in her gear. A true "must have" -not a feature she even thought to offer optionally. She wasn't going to be one of those cash-sucker-sellers who required you to pay extra for features that honestly existed in the category of "needed for well-being".

The following crime report included mention of a body washing up on the shores of Halcyon Beach. Was nothing sacred anymore?! Not that crime anywhere was unusual, as evidenced by how that particular crime tidbit was reported with no more alarm than the rest, but still. A location named after symbols of peace and calm set certain expectations in one's mind. It was all just false advertising at this point.

From her balcony, where she was sitting working on modifications to her helmet, Keyrs looked up.

The apartment she called home was situated on the border between the aforementioned neighbourhood, and the poorest. Her balcony was positioned such that she could look left and see Halcyon Heights to the North, or look right and see Mapleview to the south -or, as the locations existed in her mind: the neighbourhood she deserved to be living in, and the neighbourhood nobody did.

Following moments of compassionate reflection and self-centered brooding, Keyrs reverted attention to her work. The laser sights/guns she was working to install on the bases of her antennae feeling all the more prudent.

But, something wasn't quite meshing. She set down her tools a moment later, pausing with another moment's consideration of the situation. "This calls for Solar Crisps," she declared in a matter-of-fact way to herself, shifting from her slouched, foot-against-the-railing position into one conducive to standing up. "Maybe some Five-St*rr Crush, too."

Keyrs bent over to pack her tools back into their kit with one hand while keeping her helmet on her lab with the other. Shutting the case, she then placed the helmet on her head before grabbing the former object and heading back inside.

She shut the screen and interior door behind her, engaging the lock mechanism of each in turn and closing the blind, set the tool case where it was meant to go, and after changing to casual "going out" clothes from her casual "staying in" clothes -and doing a few other pre-going out routine things- locked behind her the third door of the day -her front. After first unlocking it to get out of course. One could not live in this city without keeping the doors to their domiciles thoroughly locked at all times.

Extra thorough in Keyrs' case, and not by way of 4 different bolt locks plus a chain, though she had those too -analog was an essential backup should power outages by way of overtaxing the grid or EMPs occur- but by way of her own specialized security system which definitely was not for sale. As soon as you sell your technology that's when it can be co-opted; corrupted; exploited. Even sooner than that, really, but Keyrs had responses to hackers, too.

In any case, now on the other side of the door, Keyrs inserted a credit card-shaped USB into a camouflaged port, rapped three of her fingers on the drive's touchscreen in a certain way, then removed it and snapped the drive into a section at the inner-wrist of her glove.

That all done, she proceeded down the stairs -much more agreeable than the elevator- and once out on the street, placed her specialty-gloved hands into her pockets and started to walk to a convenience store in Riverside.

Detritus was visible on the streets on the regular which tended to prompt Keyrs to think of Riverside as What's-In-Your-Riverside, but oh well.
It wasn't a bad walk, all things considered

Location: Riverside | Before Noon

[Nallore]

---

---

@Tally Dor@IAmTheIsland@Araby264@Carlyle@Silver Carrot@Master EffeX
Date and Time: Monday, September 1st, 2060

---

---

@Tally Dor@Silver Carrot In the interrogation room where The Weeping was the temperature in the room started to suddenly dropped from cool to freezing. It was cold enough for anyone to see their breath in the little light that the room gave, for Julia from where she was observing she would also feel the room temperature drop as well. The colors for the infrared goggles that she wore would suddenly went to a very dark purple she would see a feminine figure but it appeared as black she would be able to pick up every word of the conversation that was going on.

The Weeping would see a woman sitting on a nearby counter with her legs crossed giving him a slight frown. "I would have made him suffer at least a couple more weeks, or make his death very painful and long." She said before sliding off the counter as she walked around the room, looking back at the Weeping. "I am Amara." She said as she circled around him. "I know a little bit about you Nigel I believe was your name before you met your fate with the Delgato's." She said as she pulled out a card from her robes on the card had information on the townhall meeting later tonight. "If you want your revenge you may have the card if you do something for me." She said to him keeping it just out of arms reach.

@Carlyle As Zero-Zero moved about the area she would pick up what sounded like a vehicle driving and crashing into a building, she would be able to notice what looked like box truck that rammed itself into a bank along with a few other cars. From the back she would see several armed men and women getting out of the back of the truck and barging their way into the broken store front of the bank They were members of the 70th Street Gang they had the number 70 printed onto the back of their shirts. Valentina got herself out of the front seat and followed the rest of her crew into the bank itself.

Inside the bank the patrons and bank staff were quickly all escorted over towards the back of the bank Valentina turned to look at Theresa. "I want you and ten others to secure the place and make sure that there aren't any other rats mulling around. If you see any escort them here we only have a few minutes until they bring in the police." Valentina told her as she turned her attention to the bank tellers to see who was the owner of the bank they had planned this heist for a few weeks now.

@Master EffeX As Kerys walked over towards the nearby convivence store things were pretty calm as she entered the store there were a few people in the store. A young couple could be seen grabbing some food and heading to check out then there were a few kids in their early teens probably skipping out on school or something like that. They wore the Paragon City Academy uniform, as they were holding up a few magazines reading and gossiping about school matters. The store clerk at the counter looked at Kerys recongizing her as one of his regulars and waved over at her.

"Whatcha getting for today?" He asked as he checked out the young couple and were about to leave when three people wearing suits approached though it looked like they were watching until one of them approached the front desk. "The boss needs his cut." The man said as the store clerk glared slightly as he looked at the kids for a moment still oblivious what was going on really. "I just paid you Delgatos last week." He said as he rummaged through the register for the money.

---

---

Diana Smith

Location: Veridian Technologies, Nighthaven, Paragon City
Skills: N/A

---

---

The people working on the executive level seemed to be a little bit startled by Canis-V as they entered and kept their distance, the secretary manning the front desk with blonde hair she was slightly startled by Canis. "Uh yeah let me call her up real quick." She said as she pulled out her phone and started to dial the number of the executive's office. Diana started to turn on her computer station as she started to read through a few boring emails and answering some others with their investors. Then there was a video call from her mother as Diana quickly answered it. "Hey there whats up mom?" Diana asked as Maria could be seen sitting in her hotel room it looked like it was night on her end. "The usual setting up a contract here in Shanghai." She said as she pulled out her own email. "Don't forget that we have that meeting with Dr. Dr. Michail's little project." Maria said as Diana sighed slightly and nodded. "Yeah I nearly forgot about that, you were going to join in on that meeting to." Diana said as she rubbed the bridge of her nose slightly when she heard the call from the secretary and gave her mother a one minute signal as she went to answer it.

"Canis-V is here wanting to talk." She said as Diana looked over at her mother on the phone was she grabbed her laptop that she kept on the desk. "Tell Canis to meet in Conference Room Two down at the end of the hallway. Also page Wolfe to meet me there to." Diana said as she shut down the phone call.

"I'll bring the call over there be back in a moment." Diana told her mother as she hung up the video call on her end, and started to leave her office and headed down the hallway. "Diana will meet you in Conference Room Two." The secretary told Canis-V. As Diana made her way down the hallway she went and sat down pulling out the laptop again and started to pull out the information on Canis-V as well as bringing the call to her mother again.

---

---

Madalyne Crane

Location: Little Asia, The Lucky Noodle, Paragon City
Skills: N/A

---

---

The bus ride was pretty standard to Madalyne she had taken this bus route a few times before from Paragon City Academy to Little Asia as the bus came to a stop just outside of the district. Madalyne pulled out her purse and paid the bus fare before getting out along with a few others who were on the same route to. She took in a deep breath and smiled slightly the day seemed to be pretty nice so far to her as Madalyne walked down along the sidewalk towards the Lucky Noodle. She knew that there probably weren't to many customers there yet as Madalyne walked along seeing a few members of the Blue Dragons were talking amongst themselves and smoking. They were easily spotted by a blue dragon sleeve tattoo on either one or both of their arms if they weren't wearing any long sleeves anyway.

Madalyne eventually came to a stop in front of the store she looked up seeing a man wearing all black along with a pair of shades she gave him a slight smile and wave. "Good morning." Madalyne said to him as she waited for Ken Shimazu to open up the store, Madalyne was a somewhat regular at the Lucky Noodle visiting a few times mostly after school hours however.

[IAmTheIsland]

[

70th Street Bank Heist

"Go time!" Theresa Torres was the last to get out of the truck, landing with a thud of heavy boots as she jumped down. It was Valentina's usual play: keep Theresa up her sleeve, let the grunts work, then pull "The Bull" out when no one thought she was around.

As usual, it worked, as several hostages' faces sunk sunk as she rounded the truck and stood next to her boss; they all knew she'd complicate things for police, if they arrived in time. Indifferent to the crowd reaction, Thersa nodded back to the hole in the wall. "I coulda done that for us," more a joke on the now battered front bumper than a complaint.

She nodded again to Valentina's order, and gathered her team. They fanned out, dragging bankers and customers from the offices and cubicles behind 'Toro' as she tore out an broke down locked doors.

"Stop where you are!" Security had finally gotten off its ass to do something.

Theresa turned to face the guard his handgun aimed at her. She raised her hands in mockery, and stepped towards him, ignoring orders to stop until he opened fire... the bullets stung, but fell otherwise harmlessly to the ground after tearing her shirt to hit her skin. She grinned, "Shoulda brought a bigger gun." She spun a kick into the side of officer's head, knocking him out cold. She took the gun, an exrra clip of ammunition, and a taser off his belt and carried him to the back, dropping his unconscious body among the other hostages.

"Took care of the doorman," she said, handing the gun and clip to her boss, keeping the taser for herself.

---

Veridian Technologies - Atrium Security Check

The elevator chimed and opened into the Veridian Tech atrium.
Stepping out, Katherine Tran approached the security check-in station. She tapped lightly on the bulletproof glass, getting the guard's attention.

"Yes?" The guard cocked his head ip from some dribble playing on his phone.

"Yes," Katherine said with a smile. "I'm here to see Diana Smith."

"Ms. Smith is busy... She isn't seeing visitors without appointments. Call ahead and set up a time with her assistant." The guard went back to his video.

"Oh! But I'm an old friend of hers."

"This is Veridian Technoligies, not some Halycon social club. Schedule an appointment, and come back later." He didn't even look up. How rude!

Katherine sighed and rolled her eyes. She figured security would be tighter these days. The hard way then... She focused her mind. The pupils in her eyes went wide.

"Sir."

As she spoke, the guard heard both her audible words, and their echo in his head. He tore is eyes from his phone and threw his most intimidating glare into hers. "Kid! I told yo-" His sentence trailed off. His eyes glazed over as though he had fallen into a trance.

Easier than I thought. "I'll be seeing Diana Smith now."

"Right. Your name?"

"Katherine Tran." She showed him her driver's lisence as proof.

The guard promptly handed her a visitor's pass, and opened the gate for her. "The elevators are straight through the atrium at the end of the hall. Ms. Smith will be on the executive level. Bring back the pass before you leave."

"Thank you. And do call up to let her know I'm hear." Katherine walked around and through the security check, leaving the guard thoroughly confused as he returned to his own senses.OK, that was Too easy.

Veridian Technologies - Security HQ

Horace J. Wolfe was deep in concentration. His focus was locked on his computer screen, looking over a database of ID authentications going back several months. Dates, names, emplyee numbers, and which labs they had gotten access to at which hours were displayed on the spread sheet. How his team had missed someone entering the facilities for the defunct Lazarus Project was beyond him; they had only just found out that assets from it were missing when R&D moved material to repurpose those labs.

Horace flagged it as an IT lapse; authentication systems in older labs weren't always updated on schedule with active projects.

As he poured through the history that IT had provided him with, a page through V.T.'s proprietory communucation system pulled his attention. A message from Maria Smith. He knew it would be important, as Maria rarely contacted him directly unless it was urgent.

Conference with Dr. Michails in Conference Room Two. Canis Project.

Horace's eyes widened. Rarer still was his involvement in matters not pertaining directly to security and asset protection and recovery. He quickly responded.

Copy. Will be there shortly.

He got up from his desk, setting out from his darkened office and began his way to the Executive Level.

[McNephelim]

K E N Z O Y A M A M O T O
K E N Z O Y A M A M O T O

Location: The Lucky Noodle, Little Asia, 10:15 AM

The walk was just what Ken needed, the fresh air blowing over his face, the urban noises of the city were a perfect counterpart to his silent vigilante night sounds. Ken arrived at a particularly silent street. Ken stopped momentarily, his eyes closing with tension. He slowly walked next to a group of Blue Dragon Members, Ken turned his face away from them. One of them had a black eye and some patched bruises over his face. "Some bastard came to me last night, he beat the crap out of my group." Ken got to hear, "It's that Kuro guy? I thought he was just some lowly powerless vigilante?" Another member said, "Even for a powerless vigilante, he hits harder than most of the regular nobodies we deal with regularly." Ken kept walking despite these comments, grinning slightly. It's certainly a beginning. Kenzo thought, walking to the other street.

Once he had arrived at the store, he noticed he wasn't alone, there was a girl alongside him, no more than seventeen. After she smiled at him, he chuckled and asked. "Good morning, you seem like a regular visitor... tell me, does this place have good food?"

[Tally Dor]

---

---

The Weeping.

Location: The Melting Pot, Fat Tony's interrogation room.
Date and Time: Monday, September 1st, 2060
Skills used: Host of Many

---

---

Negative energy.

It was a thing that ran rampant amongst the dark places of the world. Paragon City despite its lights and heroes was no stranger to such a thing. The spirits that festered in the Weeping craved it, longed for it, were forever pleading to be bathed in its dark energies. Fat Tony's place was no exception to the rule. All the new death in the last few weeks had done wonders for saturating it even further.

As the dark butcher continued his grisly work. Slicing flesh from bone and shoving whole chunks of warm meat into his gaping maw like a hungry animal. The damned spirits danced about the room, some even crossing through the physical walls in their greedy dance. It was one such invisible specter that noticed Julia and immediately floated up behind her and wrapped her in its cold icy embrace before vanishing, being pulled back down to its host.

The Weeping froze in place as the multitude of voices in his head began to scream.

“WATCHER!!! SPY!!! PERVERT!!! FLITHY SNOOPER!!! SHE STARES!!! PLUCK OUT HER EYES!!! PEEPING TOM!!!”

The Weeping's eyes began to look upward when he stopped noticing he was no longer alone. A frown crossed his blood-stained lips. It seems that the little mouse would have to wait. In front of him sat a black-haired woman. He noticed how all of his spirits that had been freely roaming had all retreated back into himself.

As she introduced herself, he felt himself become mentally jarred. As he slipped back into the reins of control.

“Ni....Nigel?”

That...That was his name, wasn't it? It felt like an awful migraine was tearing his head apart as scattered memories plagued him and he wounded up shaking his head. He noticed the disappointment in Amara's eyes as he realized she had asked him a question.

The Weeping had already been in a kneeling position while feeding and leaned forward resting his temple on his right wrist as he sighed in exhaustion.

“LIAR!!!! CHARLATAN!!! CON ARTIST!!! FIBBER!!! SHE DEVIL!!!”

He frowned inwardly. The voices seemed...scared? His orange eyes locked upon Amara's face noticing the runic symbols that descended down her cheeks. They were oddly similar yet different to the symbols that danced around his body.

He tossed caution to the side as the spirits within as well as he burned for a chance at a revenge.

“Speak Woman. What must I do?”

His clawed hand outstretched towards the card that was just out of his reach.

[Kuro]

Z E R O - Z E R O
Z E R O - Z E R O

Location: Financial District, Paragon City
Skills: N/A

---

---

Making its grand escape, the exosuit maneuvered down a series of winding streets and tight corners. Nancy had planned to return home (or so as far as you could call her place a home) and to prepare Zero-Zero for tonight's mission. Yet as she scaled the roof of a Shawarma Palace, one of many within the city, the interior HUD of the exosuit began to flash with several alerts and warning messages brought upon by the sudden crash of a large vehicle into a building.

WARNING. ARMED ASSAILANTS SPOTTED IN THE AREA. PREPARING ZERO-ZERO FOR COMBAT.

"Hold on, Zero." Nancy spoke. While she still had the chance, she began to survey the nearby area, and watched numerous armed men jump out from the back of several trucks. The back of their shirts were stylized with a 70—the 70th Street Gang. Not her prey of choice, but a nasty bunch nonetheless that she couldn't just ignore. "There are civilians in that building. We can't go in guns blazing."

AFFIRMATIVE. LIMITING PULSE WEAPONRY OUTPUT TO 50%.

"Better." Nancy replied. Zero-Zero's plasma pulses were deadly, capable of melting through solid metal. She couldn't risk civilians being caught in the crossfire. "Let's see about that back door."

Taking her opportunity, Nancy descended towards the bank while the 70th Street Gang were still hopefully distracted with the ongoing chaos inside. Gripping an emergency exit with powerful claws, Nancy pulled the metal door free from its hinges and proceeded to climb through to accommodate the exosuit's larger size.

"Now, where were we?" She asked herself, preforming a cautious scan of the interior for any signs of life, armed or not.

[IAmTheIsland]

K E N S H I M A Z U
K E N S H I M A Z U

^{The Lucky Noodle, Little Asia, Between 10:15AM and 10:30AM.}

The kitchen and dining room at the Lucky Noodle were at full bore. Shimazu double checked that noodles upon the stove top had come to a respectable boil, and the added ingredients of spices, vegetables, and meats, would all be prepared to serve for his first wave of customers. He made a final walk through of the kitchen, delegating his trusted employees and volunteers to their tasks as he made his way out towards the dining area. He smiled brightly at the usual sight of clean floors, well-dressed table settings, and the eager readiness of his service staff; he, of course, would be floating between serving and kitchen… and stealing a moment or two when he could to check in on Sarah before it was time for her to break for a meal herself.

He beamed even more brightly when he noticed Madelyne Crane, a regular at the shop, who traversed the city’s bus line to be here often; knowing that his restaurant, the small niche it was in Little Asia, had gained notice in other parts of the city, was uplifting. He looked to a younger woman, Hoshi, who was his usual pick to manage service while he was making his rounds; she was noticeably anxious seeing customers outside close to an hour before usual opening.. “A few minutes,” he said coolly. “I’ll open up myself around ten-thirty.” Hoshi nodded, and busied herself with a few small details and got her two partners mentally ready for the day.

Shimazu walked back through the kitchen, double and triple checking the food prep as he crossed into the backroom and down the steps into the basement storage area. It wasn’t exactly large, being only about three quarters the floor space of the corner store-made eatery upstairs. But he had found a way to make the most out of the space. Two of the walls were lined by industrial freezer and refrigeration units, while the far end of the room was occupied by sealed containers of non-perishables. A cabinet near the entrance from upstairs held extra cleaning and sanitation supplies, while another held spare table settings, chopsticks, and silverware (for those that desired them).

At the center of the room, upon a 6’x6’ rug he otherwise kept rolled up in an empty corner, Sarah was meticulously, if frustratedly, practicing her forms.

S A R A H M A R I E K I N G
S A R A H M A R I E K I N G

^{The Lucky Noodle, Little Asia.}

Left foot step forward. Block at head level.

Chamber left hand. Right punch, chest level; left punch; chest level.

Turn one-eighty; right block at chest level.

Sarah moved through her kata with fierce vigor and excited haste. In the back of her head, she might have believed that the faster she went through the forms, the more quickly she could move on to more interesting parts of her training; or that she could duck out early to find a reason to fight again in earnest, however, she turned towards the doorway, she fell off balance at the sudden appearance of Shimazu. She stumbled, but caught herself as her sensei’s presence caught her senses. “Shimazu… Sensei!” She remembered her decorum; Ken was good about not being called Sensei when he wasn’t teaching her. She gave a quick bow, an act she wasn’t used to even after so many years. “Have you been there the whole time?”

“Long enough to see that you’re not being precise in your movements.” Shimazu stepped across the threshold and circled Sarah, who followed his walk around the room.

“But I’m… I’ve got the speed. I-”

“And what good does speed do if you aren’t being exact? Four, five punches wasted to land them as quickly as possible without thinking of where they’ll land? One strike,” He had stopped in a horse-stance in front of her, and struck her chest with a light but firm punch… enough to demonstrate his point. “One good strike to the chest is worth half a dozen to the arm.” He backed away, and completed his circle back to the landing. “Slow your pace. Know where you are going with each motion. Speed can come later.”

“But Sensei… I-”

Shimazu’s hand raised, cutting her off instantly. He could see her eyes and sense from her aura that there was something burning within her spirit. “We’ll talk later,” he said assuringly. He turned around, and ascended the steps back to the restaurant.

Sarah, alone again, breathed, and returned to the top of her sequence. OK. Slower. The word itself felt like a curse to her…

Back upstairs…

“We’ve got more customers lined up outside.” Hoshi reported almost immediately upon Ken Shimazu re-entering the kitchen.

“What time is it?” he asked.

“Not quite ten-thirty,” Hoshi responded.

“Get ready to open.” He made a quick beeline to the front entrance, rolling up the storefront security gate into a slot above the door, and unlocking and opening up the shop. “Hello! Welcome to the Lucky Noodle.” Gave the incoming patrons a courteous bow as they entered.

[Master EffeX]

T r o n i c a l
T r o n i c a l

Location: Riverside Convenience Store

Though knowing what she wanted, Keyrs walked casually through the aisles, interested to browse the different items and see if anything new was on display. She noticed the other shoppers, the young couple sparking Keyrs' imagination some -she liked to wonder about the people she observed- while the teens sparked more of her interest.

Her schooling experience had been different from the norm -she'd gone digital- and academy life was like an interesting genre of media to her. Real academy life more so than actual media depictions of such, which tended to get boring past a certain point in your life -or certain stage in your mental development, said things not always coinciding.

She turned when motion caught her eye and sported a little smile in response to the familiar, friendly cashier, whom she was about to answer when she was rudely interrupted by a ne'er-do-well and his cronies conducting their illicit business -in broad daylight while the store had something of a crowd. For real: think of the children.

Though it was probably nothing they hadn't seen before in this city.
Some of the appeal of skipping school, perhaps.

For Keyrs part, she folded her arms, waiting for the "transaction" to be over as though it were really no more than another check-out at the till. Or so it seemed. Keyrs could look unoccupied in form while she was quite the opposite in mind.

She'd considered getting in the extortion game.
Though she didn't enjoy shaking down little old ladies and kindly older gentleman.

Okay- she didn't actually know how old the store keeper was, but older than herself, surely!

Stealthily, while her hand was still beneath her opposite elbow, Keyrs extended it that little bit to expose her wrist disc shooter, and with a generally miss-able clenching of her fist, discharged one of her hard light discs towards a shelf after casting it a sidelong glance in way of aiming-

-and apparently a glance wasn't enough.
The absence of an impact sound, followed by a sliding one, told her she'd misjudged her angle and instead sent the disc off somewhere ultimately across the floor.

Anyone's attention it may've attracted would find -almost as soon as they clapped eyes on it- the tangible object dissipating into actual light, as untouchable and ephemeral as a rainbow.

At least there was that,
as Keyrs hoped her ensuing frown could be mistaken for 'what the heck was that?' instead of 'I really should upgrade my targeting system to not require me to look', when she realized it wouldn't be at all suspicious to turn towards a sound. In fact it would be more so not to, so she did, and in looking like she was trying to find out what just happened, she was in fact getting a better look at the shelf she wanted to destroy enact a strategy on.

In the same moment as she reverted her attention to the front, she made that clenching fist motion again and this time succeeded in breaking a support bracket, causing one shelf to tip, spilling its contents (while the hard light disc that did it ricocheted away fast as -well, light, to the same dissipating result of the first try).

"Looks like you're doing a fine business, boys," Keyrs spoke up semi-casually to the Delgatos. "The man clearly isn't stashing away enough to put back into his."

It was an impulse. Maybe it was stupidity.
But Keyrs sensed -whether wrong or right- a possible escalation from routine extortion to "that last cut seemed short. Sure you're not cheatin' us?", and she'd be darned if she wasn't going to stand on the side of her favourite chip and soda repository.

[Araby264]

C A N I S - V
C A N I S - V

---

Location: Executive Suites, Veridian Technologies, Nighthaven, Paragon City

---

---

Skills Used: Tactical Analysis

---

[CRITICAL MISSION UPDATE]
[UPDATED PERAMETERS: DEBRIEF WITH 'BIG WIGS' IN MEETING ROOM TWO]
[PRIORITY: ONE]

"Acknowledged. Thank you, and have a nice day."

Canis-V turned and began to make it's way to the assigned room. The secretary turned, watching it go and asked,"You know where you're going?"

Canis-V stopped and turned to talk to the woman, "I have been inactive in the engineering labs for two thousand one hundred and ninety point zero zero two hours. In that time I have downloaded a vast quantity of information, some of which was the publicly available schematics of this building. I have thoroughly reviewed this material repeatedly over the past eleven point one three two seconds and have memorized it's layout. Your attempt at assistance is very appreciated. If there are no more questions, I will be going now."

The secretary just stared at Canis-V for a moment. Canis-V waited approximately two seconds before it spoke again,"Have a Good Day."

Canis-V walked away from the secretary and watched through it's rear view as the flabbergasted woman turned back around. It congratulated itself on it's successful social interaction as it approached the meeting room. It had such little active social data on those outside the engineering labs, and the new data was being consumed by its zero point energy brain and integrated in a series of system updates at a rapid pace.

[COMMUNICATIONS SYSTEM SUITE UPDATED]
[PATCH 5.5]

Canis-V integrated the changes seamlessly as it entered the room. It saw that Diana Smith, Dr.Mchail, and Maria Smith (via screen) were already present. It nodded in greeting and took a standing position next to Dr.Mchail, as it was too heavy for the seats.

While it was standing it analyzed the people in the room, it analyzed everyone ot saw, but this time it got several unexpected hits, though it was to be expected that Diana and Maria Smith were in shape, its analysis confirmed high combat potential for both. When their final member entered the room, Canis-V was unsurprised that the head of security also held high combat potential. It ruminated deeply on its insights over the course of several seconds as people got situated before the meeting truly began.

Veridian Technologies - Executive Floor

Approximately 10:20AM
^{Characters: Horace J. Wolfe; Diana Smith; Maria Smith; Canis V}

Horace arrived in characteristic promptness. Though the security checkpoint knew him on sight, he maintained protocol and displayed his ID badge and coded himself into the executive suite; he gave an affirmative nod to the guard on duty as he walked through. He winced as he adjusted to the lighting in the hall; the open, window lined upper floor was always a stark contrast to his station in the sub-basement. “Good morning,” he said to the receptionist as he checked in. “Horace James Wolfe. Maria Smith paged me from Security Headquarters.” He showed his ID again.

“Yes Mr. Wolfe.” The receptionist began to log Horace’s arrival. “They are already in Conference Room Two.”

“I’ll see myself in then.” Horace continued down the hall, passed conference room one, and into room two, closing the door behind him. Inside, Maria, Diana, Dr. Michial, and the hulking mechaneloid that was Canis V were awaiting his arrival. “Ms. Smith, Ms. Smith, Dr. Michial,” he greeted around the table. “And, I presume,” his eyes landed on Canis V. “Canis V.” He nodded, and it nodded in return as he took his seat.

Diana had finished setting up the laptop and turned to have it setup onto a tv screen within the conference room as well to. “Good to see you all here.” Maria said as she sat down on a nearby desk on her end of the video conference call. She turned to Canis-V for a moment as Diana looked at Wolfe giving him a slight nod as Diana spoke.

“I am assuming that this meeting is about activating Canis-V for it’s practical use?” Diana asked looking at those present.

“I am curious,” Horace added after returning Diana’s nod, “What is the practical use for Canis-V? Particularly since being repurposed from its original law enforcement design?”

Dr.Mchail went to speak but closed his mouth. He got an impish gleam to his eyes and instead motioned for Canis-V to speak. Canis-V took a moment to understand the meaning of the gesturing, before it addressed the group, ”You are correct in you assumption, Ms.Smith, It has been explained to me that this debriefing is regarding my release from inspections and testing in the engineering labs to active service in the city,” It turned its head to Horace, ”To answer Mr.Wolfe's query, I am a fully functioning peace keeping unit designed, built, and tested by Veridian Technologies to patrol for, investigate, and stop crime, specifically meta crimes, with zero risk to human life. I can also serve as a sentry for the building, though this would be a gross missmanagement of my potent abilities.“

Maria thought for a moment as she looked at the group from the other end of the screen. “If my daughter agrees to it we could allow Canis-V to patrol around the city.” She suggested as Diana looked over at her mother she was kind of surprised that she was going with it. “If Canis-V and Dr. Mchail are fine with a trial period for the next couple of days and see how well Canis is in the field and we can revisit it.” Diana said.

“My apologies,” Horace interjected, he directed his eyes toward Dr. Michial. “But it was, to my understanding, that the order was made to remove the brunt Canis-V’s offensive capabilities, in favor of a more service-oriented function. Or,” he looked at Maria and Diana, “Was I misinformed on the matter?”

He wasn’t closely involved in the various projects at Veridian, but as Chief Security Officer, it had been his responsibility to know the goings on and assess potential threats both external and internal. The Canis-V project had been one such internal concern, given its initial combat modules; he had kept a particularly close watch on its development… until the decision was made to reign in its more aggressive loadouts.

Canis-V spoke up again,”You were not misinformed, I am currently at about ten percent of my overall combat potential. If I had access to my full weapons loadout, I could terminate all violent crime in the city single handedly. If we were to include my cyber warfare suite and my flight modules, I could terminate all violent and non-violent crime on the eastern seaboard. As it stands, my current equipment parameters allow for foot patrol and hand to hand combat capability.” It spoke with no sense of grandstanding or confidence, only as if it was simply stating facts.

Diana looked over towards her mother for a moment before her mother answered Horace’s question. “We do have other assets and buildings in other parts of the city, the police is stretched thin already as it is. And we cannot respond to every little break into our facilities either.” Maria spoke as she looked at Canis and Dr. Michial. “I’ll let my daughter make the final decision though.” Maria said as she looked over at Diana.

Diana thought for a moment trying to think best how to use Canis-V’s capabilities. “I’ll allow Canis-V to have it’s flight modules in order to get around the city, however the use of it’s more offensive abilities cannot be used. Canis can patrol around the city, and prevent further crime but also Veridian Tech assets should be top priority. Will this work for the two of you?” Diana asked Canis-V and Dr. Michial.

Canis-V held up a finger and began to speak,”Actually, it would be mo-” it was cut off as Dr.Michail stood and spoke over it. “Yes ma'am, that's more than sufficient for a trial run.” He gave Canis-V a pointed look and it put it's finger down before it nodded, and did not speak again.

“I would strongly advise a more controlled trial to start off with, if possible.” Horace added. “Perhaps a battle simulation to better assess and understand Canis-V’s combat potential and tendencies. We could use the remaining stock of assault drones at the hangar outside of the city. From there we can gradually transition to practical trials within the city. Supervised, of course.”

[Nallore]

---

---

@Tally Dor@IAmTheIsland@Araby264@Carlyle@Silver Carrot@Master EffeX
Date and Time: Monday, September 1st, 2060

---

---

@Tally Dor@Silver Carrot Amara gave The Weeping a slight smile as he tried to reach out for the card but she kept it just out of his grasp by moving her arm away. "The task is pretty simple. I am looking for someone, they are around the ages of fifteen and twenty-five give or take." She said as Amara waved her hand as a small looking amulet attached to a chain with a purple looking crystal on the end of it. "My sources say that they currently reside somewhere in either Nighthaven or Mapleview. This pendant will start to glow once you find them, bring them to me alive and unharmed and you may have your chance of vengeance." Amara said.

As she let go of the amulet and it slowly started to float over to The Weeping. "Do we have a deal?" Amara asked, as she looked over her shoulder towards Julia's direction sensing that there was someone else watching. "You have a guest it looks like." Amara said not making a move really towards Julia however.

@Carlyle Valentina smiled slightly as she looked down at the security guard that Theresa had brought in, she accepted the weapons sliding the gun into the waistband of her pants. "Good job." Valentina said as she knelt down to one of the banktellers seeing that he had the name tag and title he was the actual manager of the bank. She grabbed him by the hair forcing the man to look at her. "Mind helping me with the vault?" She asked forcing him up to his feet and slowly made her way over towards the vault.

As Nancy entered through the back she didn't see anyone right away until she could hear someone's voice as a member of the gang rounded the corner. "Shit!" He yelled as he quickly fired off two shots at Zero-Zero clearly missing his target, Theresa would be able to hear the two gunshots suddenly going off as a few 70 Streeters went to investigate the gunshots.

@Master EffeX The young couple yelped when the sudden hard light discs went flying, one harmlessly crashed into a wall, while the second one managed to crash into one of the supports of one of the shelves. The young couple quickly fled and left the store behind, as the two Delgato's turned to face Tronical's direction. One of them had a gun in their hands as he started to slowly approach her gun already aimed at her. "Lady this shit don't concern you, I suggest you leave." He said as he got very close to her as he pressed the gun to her forehead, the other Delgato quickly aimed his gun but not at her but at the manager.

---

---

Diana Smith

Location: Veridian Technologies, Nighthaven, Paragon City
Skills: N/A

---

---

Diana thought for a moment as she looked at Canis and then over at Horace before nodding. "Alright we can do a little trial we've been meaning to get rid of some of those combat drones." Diana said as she looked over at her mother as she nodded slightly agreeing to give Canis a moment to test itself. "Horace if you don't mind setting that up and observe the test as well. And also would like to have your security risk assessment of Canis-V at the end of the day." Maria said as she looked down at her watch for a moment. "I have another meeting with our investors in Shanghai that I have to go to, keep me updated." Maria said as she turned the camera feed off on her end.

There was another on the phone that was in the room Diana reached for it and hit speaker it was security downstairs. "I have a Katherine Tran coming up here to see you." The secruity guard at the other end said as Diana looked at those assembled. "Thank you." Diana said as she hung up. "It'll take sometime but if you can meet me at the hangar later this afternoon around four and we can get the test underway would that work? I have to go and meet up with my friend." Diana asked as she got up and started to gather her things.

---

---

Madalyne Crane

Location: Little Asia, The Lucky Noodle, Paragon City
Skills: N/A

---

---

Madalyne turned to look at Kenzo and smiled towards him and nodded. "It really is one of the best ramen shops in the city in my opinion honestly." She said as she extended her hand towards him. "I'm Madalyne by the way it's nice to meet you." She said as her attention turned to see at least five other people were already waiting for the little shop to open.

When Ken finally opened the other guests started to enter they all greeted Ken in a friendly way as they entered. Madalyne was one of the last to enter the little shop she gave Ken a little bow that he gave everyone. "Good morning Kem Shimazu its good to see you." She said giving him a smile as Madalyne made her way over towards her usual seat at the front of the store that was closest to the window. Hoshi started to approach some of the guests and started to take a few orders.

[Kuro]

Z E R O - Z E R O
Z E R O - Z E R O

Location: Financial District, Paragon City
Skills: N/A

---

---

The exosuit crawled its way into the bank from the back entrance. Once she had cleared the obstacle, Nancy stood the exosuit back up and activated Zero-Zero's scanners, searching for any sign of life in the bank's hallways.

"Righto," Nancy spoke, "Let's get down to business."

Or so was the plan. The sound of one's voice drew ever nearer, detected by the exosuit's communication software. Turning to the source, Nancy had been immediately greeted with a hail of gunfire from one of the 70th Street, which thankfully struck the nearby wall beside her rather than its intended target.

"Really?" Nancy spoke, absolutely flabbergasted. Zero-Zero's arms followed suit, thrown in the air in disbelief. "You're going to shoot me. Me. The giant armored robot. The thing that could squash you like a grape."

Sighing, Nancy readied herself and Zero-Zero for combat. Although the gangster was armed, she planned to take him down with force, rather than the energy-based weaponry that Zero-Zero had within its varied toolkit. The alarm may have been sounded by the gangster's gunfire, but she was still faced with one foe. It seemed wasteful to burn her suit's energy by blasting holes through the bank walls just to take out a singular target, despite how quickly it could eliminate her opponent.

"This is why they tell you to stay in school, kids."

Finishing her stance, Nancy piloted the exosuit forward in a charge. Smashing cold metal into the gangster, she hoped to take him out before any of his buddies showed up to his aid.

[McNephelim]

K E N Z O Y A M A M O T O
K E N Z O Y A M A M O T O

Location: The Lucky Noodle, Little Asia, 10:30 - 10:35 AM

Kenzo raised an eyebrow at the sight of the owner, he seemed nice. The type of person to own this sort of store. Kenzo nodded at his bow, "Hello, sir. I hope this place is to my liking. Not that I'm too critical of things." Kenzo adjusted his shades before entering the store, and he made his way towards a seat close to the bathroom. It turned out to be far from where most people sat down, and the lady called Hoshi came to ask him for an order. "Huh... give me the best you got here, I want to have this place this high up." he gestured his hand right over his head, signaling that he had a great esteem for the little store he had just entered.

Yet from time to time, he gazed at the Blue Dragon Members who had sat at the opposite side of the store. It was not the right or good place to start a fight, so he had to keep a low profile at the sight of them. All that he could ever want was not to fight against them in the daylight while being potentially seen by multiple people.

[Silver Carrot]

---

---

Julia Kray

Location: Fat Tony's Warehouse, The Melting Pot, Eastern Nighthaven, Paragon City
@Tally Dor@Nallore

---

---

Julia noticed the air got unnaturally cold as the Weeping stopped mid-meal. The hairs on the back of Julia's neck stood up. She was definiteky actively in danger now, which means he must have noticed her. Her suspicians were confirmed when he looked up. She was about to slowly retreat back to her hideout when she noticed there was a new prescence. The unnatural chill became significantly colder to the point where breathing burned Julia's lungs a little. She wasn't normal either. Julia's curiosity got the better of her once again and she used her goggles to zoom in. Sheswitched from thermal back to basic vision as this new figure was so cold, she was making thermal practically useless.

She watched. A card she couldn't quite read that was offering him the chance for revenge, presumably against the Delgato's. In exchange she wanted him to use a pendant to locate a young person. There wasn't much Julia could do with this. She'd rather not get involved with the Delgatos again. But something about a fifteen year old being saught out by this woman bothered Julia. For what purpose? A sacrifice? If this woman couldn't just use the crystal themselves, was the kid fleeing them? It was probably a result of her own messed up childhood but Julia strongly belived that children should not be involved in the would of supervillainy.

Before Amara discussed any more details of the deal, she drew the Weeping's attentio to Julia's prescence. Julia took the hintand began to soundlessly back away until she was back in her hideout. From there she madeher way back to the outside of the building and then scurried down the walls. She'd picked up the money. That was the main thing she really needed. Her next port of call tomorrow should be to get some new clothes and a phone, then look for a job and a place to rent. But first, she needed a motel.