PARAGON CITY
8:52 PM
SCIMITAR ACQUISITIONS TEAM ALPHA-9-BRAVO
ACQ. SUBJECT: 582-54-545 "BLOODHOUND"
BRIEFING:
UNDER DIRECTOR, ACQUISITION TEAMS ARE TO BEGIN COVERTLY ACQUIRING RAW MATERIALS AS DICTATED BY PROJECT LEAD. CURRENT HYPOTHESES SUGGEST POSSIBLE USE OF ORGANIC
CPU IN PLACE OF X-FACTOR ARTIFICIAL, BASED ON INFORMATION GAINED FROM MALTA "PROJECT: WIDE-AWAKE".
GIVEN ADVANCES IN COERCIVE METHODS, ACQUISITIONS ARE AUTHORIZED TO SEIZE SUBJECTS FROM SUBVERSIVES LIST DELTA, PROVIDED A NOTICE LEVEL OF 6 OR LOWER. MHCS ARE
TO BE AVOIDED AT ALL COSTS. SECRECY LEVEL ALPHA.
END OF BRIEFING.
****
Lisa Vanette was not having a good night.
Ever since Vivian Tucker, the Shining Light, had joined the Paragon Protectors, Lisa had been notably suspicious of the group which claimed "only
funding" from the megacorporation known primarily by its most common sobriquet: Crey. As a former informant of Vivian's, she'd expected to be
called on afterwards, even if only because Shiney was a sentimental sort, for tips about the various crime bosses. A bit of the romantic in her even suspected
Shiney might use her to break whatever big scoop she was pursuing inside Crey's pet supergroup, given the woman's notable suspicions about the
organization due to its connections with the corporation that she and Lisa shared all-but-confirmed paranoia about.
But it never came.
The Shining Light and the Paragon Protectors went about their jobs as Crey's PR arm, but never threatening Crey operations directly. Lisa, suspicious, had
contacted Vivian's husband...or tried to. Finding out he was in protective custody after a kidnapping attempt by rogue Crey elements confirmed for Lisa
what she already suspected: Shiney'd been turned somehow.
Going into Brickstown, so close to the eco-hazard known as Crey's Folly and Crey's private back yard, had been risky. Her uncle Todo would've
killed her if he found out about it, given Bricks' reputation not only for Crey, but its proximity to Ziggursky Federal Penitentary. But Lisa was on the
tail of a scoop and wouldn't be denied. Hiding her name(and thus her connection to her uncle), she'd followed leads, using what few contacts she had
with other heros to bring along muscle when she needed it. A few dozen....hundred....beaten up Crey later, and she was heading for a facility publically
acknowledged to be the Protectors' headquarters...but which was owned through seven layers of shell organizations by Crey, and had just had a huge shipment
of "something" delivered there.
Which was when the Crey strike team, consisting of several men and women in black suits looking like government agents had intercepted her. She'd
sacrificed her camera to distract them, but even though they weren't shooting at her, Lisa could hear them following still. And frankly, she wasn't in
the best of shape compared to what Crey probably required of its thug squads.
These thoughts and a glance back at the pursuing agents distracted Lisa for a critical moment as the blue and yellow shape of a Crey Protector stepped out in
front of her. Lisa, running for her life, impacted his armored form at high speed with a solid thud. Dazed, she fell backwards, only to see one of Crey's
smocked scientists step out behind him.
"Yes, this will do," he said, putting an injector of some kind against her neck. Lisa had two seconds to feel absolute terror at the concept of Crey
bringing her in before the blackness took her.
***
Stockton bent back up, nodding at the security agents running up. "Stanford here caught her. Good work, people. We can cross Bloodhound here off our list
of troublemakers....and soon enough, she'll be an asset instead of a liability."
Lisa's limp form was picked up by one of the agents and settled into the back of a black van that pulled up, Stockton climbing in with Stanford as the
various other security agents faded into the scenery and the van drove away. A homeless man noticed it happen, and curled back up in his raggedy blanket. There
wasn't anything to be gotten from trying to stop Crey goons.
***
Lisa woke up several times over the next few hours, at least partially. Drugged as she was, she didn't feel the Crey scientists further sedate her, her
hair being shaved off, or the feeling as the lines were marked along her cranium in preparation. At some point, she dropped off entirely, which was to her
benefit. She wasn't awake when the surgeons began their work, nor did she see an identical body to her own wheeled in beside her, almost normal except for
the removed top of the cranium, which revealed an emty skull with a metal interior...
***
Lisa groaned as she came to, trying to ignore the splitting headache she'd had. Unlike most, she remembered exactly where she'd been before the
drugging, which meant the flashes of subliminals flooding her vision and hearing were expected. Again, unlike most, she had been told how they worked, and how
to avoid them. Shiney had told her about it once, when she feared Crey attempting to subvert her contacts on her. Further investigation had netted the
information that half the drug cocktail they'd used to knock her out had been a suggestive mix meant to disorient her and leave her open to the
brainwashing. The brainwashing was based on a disoriented person being too caught up in trying to understand what it was saying to notice the subliminals
sliding into their mind, leaving them weakened before Crey telepaths did the final mop up work that made someone a Crey slave. Her family, her memories, her
sense of self were her best defenses, and Lisa clung to them through the hurricane of images and sounds like a drowning woman to a solid rock. Concentrating,
Lisa thought of her parents, her uncle. The cop that her uncle'd bullied into taking her along with him on his rounds when she'd needed a way to show
off her journalistic skills to her professors. Leon McNichol, she thought to herself. That was his name. Kinda cute, but if she'd been interested in him
despite the age difference, his attitude that he was God's gift to women certainly put her off him. She could appreciate a little ego. It was the roaming
eye that lost his appeal with it....
Eventually, the images stopped and Lisa did her best impression of unconciousness as the Crey medic came in to check on their little project. Seeing that the
full upload was done, the medic loosened her restraints as he tapped her on the shoulder. Lisa pretended to wake up groggily. "Where am I?"
"You collapsed on the street, ma'am. We're doing our best to determine if you picked up any of the Vahzilok wasting disease that was spread about
where you were."
Lisa mentally snorted. A credible lie, but one she could play along with. "Is that what that...weird gas was?"
"Possibly. We think you're going to be alright, but you need to stay here for the moment, okay?"
"Yeah...okay..."
"Good girl. I'll be back in a bit with a few more tests to perform on you."
As he left, Lisa stood up, feeling off balance for some reason as she looked around. The room must've been made impromptu. It was hardly a cell with all
the things spread about....including a gleaming gunmetal gray battle armor. Lisa stared at it as pieces clicked through her mind.
The armor was a dime a dozen...unless you were like Lisa and curious about the mysterious branch of the supergroup Riot Force 6.1 known as the Knight Sabres.
Almost all anonymously registered(Allison Harker, Demolition Sabre, was the sole exception to Lisa's knowledge), they were a rapidly expanding group.
Conspiracy websites all over the net linked them with Crey for some reason, but this was Lisa's first real proof that Crey had a connection with their
armor designs. Furthermore, given her abduction and attempted brainwashing, Lisa could begin to piece together the progression. The Sabres were women abducted
off the streets, brainwashed, and put into these armors given increased speculation about the Protectors. Clearly a few had escaped Crey control, given their
attack patterns, but others might still be controlled, or even villians, if the rumors about "Scimitars" in the Rogue Isles were true. With this in
mind, Lisa explored the armor, not bothering with the cameras as she ran hands over it...and the armor itself opened up along invisible seams, as if inviting
her in. Deciding "what the hell?" Lisa did so, the armor closing around her as she let the collar pieces clamp still around her neck, a flexmetal
that remarkably allowed her full range of motion while protecting her neck from snapping should someone hit her. Slipping the helmet on, Lisa took a step
forward as she heard a claxon blare.
Searching through the controls, Lisa saw what seemed to be weapons as she looked towards the door. Pointing her hands towards the door, not knowing what
they'd do, she triggered them, and staggered as a vibrating shockwave of sound shot forward, hitting the door like a truck and sending it flying off its
hinges.
***
A floor below, Chief Stanford looked up as he heard a rending tear of metal. He had a brief moment to curse before the reinforced door flying off the balcony
above hit him head on, burying him beneath it. Only his Protector armor kept him from being crushed instantly.
***
The rest of the escape was primarily uneventful, thanks in fact to things Lisa didn't consider until afterwards. She was able to hear footsteps a great
deal further away than she should have. The brief moments of panic as she wondered if they could hear her as well subsided as she realized the differences in
her perception and the Crey agents'. However, it wasn't until she realized that she could hear their voices from hundreds of feet away if she
concentrated that she realized it must be the suit. It made...some kind of sense. She could fire bolts of coherent sound as a weapon. So presumably it was also
more receptive? Like a two-way microphone? Maybe. However, getting out of the facility, Lisa's thoughts turned towards what to do next. She could go home,
for one, but Crey obviously would know who she was, and that she'd stolen the suit. But then, she could take a wild guess why they'd come after her.
Perhaps letting the suit sit in a closet and backing off on a couple of her investigations...she could justify it as having a close shave with her contacts.
They'd understand. And Crey would think she was scared off the streets.
That said, Lisa's credentials wouldn't go unused. After all, thanks to Crey, she'd stumbled across possibly the biggest score she knew of. She
could find out the identities of the Knight Sabres. Their origins, their goals...all of it. All because Crey'd
decided to try to turn her into one. Come to think of it....she toggled on the suit's internal internet browser, sighing as she realized she'd have to
struggle with CreyFishing again. That was the first thing that was going to go when she got around to customizing the internal settings. Downloading another
browser quickly to counfound any Crey monitoring, Lisa accessed her private server, calling up her notes about various potential stories...and gravitated over
to an ongoing investigation by the PPD's PSI division....who'd just gotten a new transfer by the name of Leon McNichol. And they were investigating the
Sabres as well.
Well, well, well....this might just work out.
---
"Oh, silver blade, forged in the depths of the beyond. Heed my summons and purge those who stand in my way. Lay
waste."
8:52 PM
SCIMITAR ACQUISITIONS TEAM ALPHA-9-BRAVO
ACQ. SUBJECT: 582-54-545 "BLOODHOUND"
BRIEFING:
UNDER DIRECTOR, ACQUISITION TEAMS ARE TO BEGIN COVERTLY ACQUIRING RAW MATERIALS AS DICTATED BY PROJECT LEAD. CURRENT HYPOTHESES SUGGEST POSSIBLE USE OF ORGANIC
CPU IN PLACE OF X-FACTOR ARTIFICIAL, BASED ON INFORMATION GAINED FROM MALTA "PROJECT: WIDE-AWAKE".
GIVEN ADVANCES IN COERCIVE METHODS, ACQUISITIONS ARE AUTHORIZED TO SEIZE SUBJECTS FROM SUBVERSIVES LIST DELTA, PROVIDED A NOTICE LEVEL OF 6 OR LOWER. MHCS ARE
TO BE AVOIDED AT ALL COSTS. SECRECY LEVEL ALPHA.
END OF BRIEFING.
****
Lisa Vanette was not having a good night.
Ever since Vivian Tucker, the Shining Light, had joined the Paragon Protectors, Lisa had been notably suspicious of the group which claimed "only
funding" from the megacorporation known primarily by its most common sobriquet: Crey. As a former informant of Vivian's, she'd expected to be
called on afterwards, even if only because Shiney was a sentimental sort, for tips about the various crime bosses. A bit of the romantic in her even suspected
Shiney might use her to break whatever big scoop she was pursuing inside Crey's pet supergroup, given the woman's notable suspicions about the
organization due to its connections with the corporation that she and Lisa shared all-but-confirmed paranoia about.
But it never came.
The Shining Light and the Paragon Protectors went about their jobs as Crey's PR arm, but never threatening Crey operations directly. Lisa, suspicious, had
contacted Vivian's husband...or tried to. Finding out he was in protective custody after a kidnapping attempt by rogue Crey elements confirmed for Lisa
what she already suspected: Shiney'd been turned somehow.
Going into Brickstown, so close to the eco-hazard known as Crey's Folly and Crey's private back yard, had been risky. Her uncle Todo would've
killed her if he found out about it, given Bricks' reputation not only for Crey, but its proximity to Ziggursky Federal Penitentary. But Lisa was on the
tail of a scoop and wouldn't be denied. Hiding her name(and thus her connection to her uncle), she'd followed leads, using what few contacts she had
with other heros to bring along muscle when she needed it. A few dozen....hundred....beaten up Crey later, and she was heading for a facility publically
acknowledged to be the Protectors' headquarters...but which was owned through seven layers of shell organizations by Crey, and had just had a huge shipment
of "something" delivered there.
Which was when the Crey strike team, consisting of several men and women in black suits looking like government agents had intercepted her. She'd
sacrificed her camera to distract them, but even though they weren't shooting at her, Lisa could hear them following still. And frankly, she wasn't in
the best of shape compared to what Crey probably required of its thug squads.
These thoughts and a glance back at the pursuing agents distracted Lisa for a critical moment as the blue and yellow shape of a Crey Protector stepped out in
front of her. Lisa, running for her life, impacted his armored form at high speed with a solid thud. Dazed, she fell backwards, only to see one of Crey's
smocked scientists step out behind him.
"Yes, this will do," he said, putting an injector of some kind against her neck. Lisa had two seconds to feel absolute terror at the concept of Crey
bringing her in before the blackness took her.
***
Stockton bent back up, nodding at the security agents running up. "Stanford here caught her. Good work, people. We can cross Bloodhound here off our list
of troublemakers....and soon enough, she'll be an asset instead of a liability."
Lisa's limp form was picked up by one of the agents and settled into the back of a black van that pulled up, Stockton climbing in with Stanford as the
various other security agents faded into the scenery and the van drove away. A homeless man noticed it happen, and curled back up in his raggedy blanket. There
wasn't anything to be gotten from trying to stop Crey goons.
***
Lisa woke up several times over the next few hours, at least partially. Drugged as she was, she didn't feel the Crey scientists further sedate her, her
hair being shaved off, or the feeling as the lines were marked along her cranium in preparation. At some point, she dropped off entirely, which was to her
benefit. She wasn't awake when the surgeons began their work, nor did she see an identical body to her own wheeled in beside her, almost normal except for
the removed top of the cranium, which revealed an emty skull with a metal interior...
***
Lisa groaned as she came to, trying to ignore the splitting headache she'd had. Unlike most, she remembered exactly where she'd been before the
drugging, which meant the flashes of subliminals flooding her vision and hearing were expected. Again, unlike most, she had been told how they worked, and how
to avoid them. Shiney had told her about it once, when she feared Crey attempting to subvert her contacts on her. Further investigation had netted the
information that half the drug cocktail they'd used to knock her out had been a suggestive mix meant to disorient her and leave her open to the
brainwashing. The brainwashing was based on a disoriented person being too caught up in trying to understand what it was saying to notice the subliminals
sliding into their mind, leaving them weakened before Crey telepaths did the final mop up work that made someone a Crey slave. Her family, her memories, her
sense of self were her best defenses, and Lisa clung to them through the hurricane of images and sounds like a drowning woman to a solid rock. Concentrating,
Lisa thought of her parents, her uncle. The cop that her uncle'd bullied into taking her along with him on his rounds when she'd needed a way to show
off her journalistic skills to her professors. Leon McNichol, she thought to herself. That was his name. Kinda cute, but if she'd been interested in him
despite the age difference, his attitude that he was God's gift to women certainly put her off him. She could appreciate a little ego. It was the roaming
eye that lost his appeal with it....
Eventually, the images stopped and Lisa did her best impression of unconciousness as the Crey medic came in to check on their little project. Seeing that the
full upload was done, the medic loosened her restraints as he tapped her on the shoulder. Lisa pretended to wake up groggily. "Where am I?"
"You collapsed on the street, ma'am. We're doing our best to determine if you picked up any of the Vahzilok wasting disease that was spread about
where you were."
Lisa mentally snorted. A credible lie, but one she could play along with. "Is that what that...weird gas was?"
"Possibly. We think you're going to be alright, but you need to stay here for the moment, okay?"
"Yeah...okay..."
"Good girl. I'll be back in a bit with a few more tests to perform on you."
As he left, Lisa stood up, feeling off balance for some reason as she looked around. The room must've been made impromptu. It was hardly a cell with all
the things spread about....including a gleaming gunmetal gray battle armor. Lisa stared at it as pieces clicked through her mind.
The armor was a dime a dozen...unless you were like Lisa and curious about the mysterious branch of the supergroup Riot Force 6.1 known as the Knight Sabres.
Almost all anonymously registered(Allison Harker, Demolition Sabre, was the sole exception to Lisa's knowledge), they were a rapidly expanding group.
Conspiracy websites all over the net linked them with Crey for some reason, but this was Lisa's first real proof that Crey had a connection with their
armor designs. Furthermore, given her abduction and attempted brainwashing, Lisa could begin to piece together the progression. The Sabres were women abducted
off the streets, brainwashed, and put into these armors given increased speculation about the Protectors. Clearly a few had escaped Crey control, given their
attack patterns, but others might still be controlled, or even villians, if the rumors about "Scimitars" in the Rogue Isles were true. With this in
mind, Lisa explored the armor, not bothering with the cameras as she ran hands over it...and the armor itself opened up along invisible seams, as if inviting
her in. Deciding "what the hell?" Lisa did so, the armor closing around her as she let the collar pieces clamp still around her neck, a flexmetal
that remarkably allowed her full range of motion while protecting her neck from snapping should someone hit her. Slipping the helmet on, Lisa took a step
forward as she heard a claxon blare.
Searching through the controls, Lisa saw what seemed to be weapons as she looked towards the door. Pointing her hands towards the door, not knowing what
they'd do, she triggered them, and staggered as a vibrating shockwave of sound shot forward, hitting the door like a truck and sending it flying off its
hinges.
***
A floor below, Chief Stanford looked up as he heard a rending tear of metal. He had a brief moment to curse before the reinforced door flying off the balcony
above hit him head on, burying him beneath it. Only his Protector armor kept him from being crushed instantly.
***
The rest of the escape was primarily uneventful, thanks in fact to things Lisa didn't consider until afterwards. She was able to hear footsteps a great
deal further away than she should have. The brief moments of panic as she wondered if they could hear her as well subsided as she realized the differences in
her perception and the Crey agents'. However, it wasn't until she realized that she could hear their voices from hundreds of feet away if she
concentrated that she realized it must be the suit. It made...some kind of sense. She could fire bolts of coherent sound as a weapon. So presumably it was also
more receptive? Like a two-way microphone? Maybe. However, getting out of the facility, Lisa's thoughts turned towards what to do next. She could go home,
for one, but Crey obviously would know who she was, and that she'd stolen the suit. But then, she could take a wild guess why they'd come after her.
Perhaps letting the suit sit in a closet and backing off on a couple of her investigations...she could justify it as having a close shave with her contacts.
They'd understand. And Crey would think she was scared off the streets.
That said, Lisa's credentials wouldn't go unused. After all, thanks to Crey, she'd stumbled across possibly the biggest score she knew of. She
could find out the identities of the Knight Sabres. Their origins, their goals...all of it. All because Crey'd
decided to try to turn her into one. Come to think of it....she toggled on the suit's internal internet browser, sighing as she realized she'd have to
struggle with CreyFishing again. That was the first thing that was going to go when she got around to customizing the internal settings. Downloading another
browser quickly to counfound any Crey monitoring, Lisa accessed her private server, calling up her notes about various potential stories...and gravitated over
to an ongoing investigation by the PPD's PSI division....who'd just gotten a new transfer by the name of Leon McNichol. And they were investigating the
Sabres as well.
Well, well, well....this might just work out.
---
"Oh, silver blade, forged in the depths of the beyond. Heed my summons and purge those who stand in my way. Lay
waste."