Pros and Cons
She slammed the door to her apartment, the rush of air following it tearing off another charred piece of her sleeve. She growled under her breath as she moved into the kitchen, her satchel containing the last of the paperwork she'd ever get from that office.
She'd thought she would be safe working secretarial. After all, she'd done it before for Largo, surely a simple bioengineering firm would have any trouble, right? No one would want to attack a company that was trying to reduce pollution and restore the environment, right?
Apparently, she thought sourly, the Devoured want to be the only ones fighting for a green Earth.
She left her satchel on the counter, and moved into her bedroom. Not bothering with the buttons on her ruined business suit, she merely plucked at the burns in it until it fell to pieces. "That... damned... HERO!" she yelled as she fell onto her bed. The Devoured had held her and several of her co-workers hostage, for unknown reasons. They had been... 'saved'... by a puffed-up hero who seemed to be permanently on fire. he had ricocheted in, searing the walls and floors, beaten down the Devoured while close enough for his aura to scorch the walls behind her, then afterwards, had obviously expected her to *thank* him for nearly killing her with his own powers.
She knew that several of her former co-workers had to be treated for smoke inhalation, third degree burns, and at least one for broken bones when they tried to get away from their fiery 'savior'. She shook her head and sighed, "Even I could have done better than that..."
Shock silenced her for a few moments at that traitorous thought. She had given up 'heroing'. She had locked away the hardsuit, and gotten settled with a nice, peaceful job. She didn't want to be fighting for her life, hiding behind the armor, hoping that she'd be able to make it past the next battle, the next mission, the next day.
But, her mind supplied, You wouldn't hurt those in need of saving, would you?
No, she thought again, but sever psychological damage can be harder to overcome... if I let it harm innocents.
She'd just been a Hero long enough to build up a small nest egg, enough to see her through to a 'real' job. The 'real' job that she'd just been fired from, actually. The company itself was going bankrupt, due to damages from the Devoured and that... 'Hero'. So now she was out of a job. With rent still due. And her little nest egg gone.
She glanced at the storage closet.
"No, Anri... You can't go back to that life..." she told herself. It was hard, though. She did keep track of the other Sabres that were active in Paragon. She might have never seen their faces, but she knew them from her few interactions with them, and from the notes she got from Riot 6.1.
She glanced at the closet again.
It would be easy, really. Go out, break up a few gang sites. Collect her share of the salvage. Pay off the rent and get another suit to replace the one that the idiot burned. Start all over in the business world... until it happened again.
No company could be safe from villains in this city. The only way to stop them...
She slowly got up and moved to the storage closet. Opened the door. Sighed once more, and hit the power up sequence for her hardsuit.
Mirage Sabre would be on the streets again tonight.
She slammed the door to her apartment, the rush of air following it tearing off another charred piece of her sleeve. She growled under her breath as she moved into the kitchen, her satchel containing the last of the paperwork she'd ever get from that office.
She'd thought she would be safe working secretarial. After all, she'd done it before for Largo, surely a simple bioengineering firm would have any trouble, right? No one would want to attack a company that was trying to reduce pollution and restore the environment, right?
Apparently, she thought sourly, the Devoured want to be the only ones fighting for a green Earth.
She left her satchel on the counter, and moved into her bedroom. Not bothering with the buttons on her ruined business suit, she merely plucked at the burns in it until it fell to pieces. "That... damned... HERO!" she yelled as she fell onto her bed. The Devoured had held her and several of her co-workers hostage, for unknown reasons. They had been... 'saved'... by a puffed-up hero who seemed to be permanently on fire. he had ricocheted in, searing the walls and floors, beaten down the Devoured while close enough for his aura to scorch the walls behind her, then afterwards, had obviously expected her to *thank* him for nearly killing her with his own powers.
She knew that several of her former co-workers had to be treated for smoke inhalation, third degree burns, and at least one for broken bones when they tried to get away from their fiery 'savior'. She shook her head and sighed, "Even I could have done better than that..."
Shock silenced her for a few moments at that traitorous thought. She had given up 'heroing'. She had locked away the hardsuit, and gotten settled with a nice, peaceful job. She didn't want to be fighting for her life, hiding behind the armor, hoping that she'd be able to make it past the next battle, the next mission, the next day.
But, her mind supplied, You wouldn't hurt those in need of saving, would you?
No, she thought again, but sever psychological damage can be harder to overcome... if I let it harm innocents.
She'd just been a Hero long enough to build up a small nest egg, enough to see her through to a 'real' job. The 'real' job that she'd just been fired from, actually. The company itself was going bankrupt, due to damages from the Devoured and that... 'Hero'. So now she was out of a job. With rent still due. And her little nest egg gone.
She glanced at the storage closet.
"No, Anri... You can't go back to that life..." she told herself. It was hard, though. She did keep track of the other Sabres that were active in Paragon. She might have never seen their faces, but she knew them from her few interactions with them, and from the notes she got from Riot 6.1.
She glanced at the closet again.
It would be easy, really. Go out, break up a few gang sites. Collect her share of the salvage. Pay off the rent and get another suit to replace the one that the idiot burned. Start all over in the business world... until it happened again.
No company could be safe from villains in this city. The only way to stop them...
She slowly got up and moved to the storage closet. Opened the door. Sighed once more, and hit the power up sequence for her hardsuit.
Mirage Sabre would be on the streets again tonight.