I hate phones.
It's not the telemarketers (which I get), or the spam calls (which I also get), it's how you can pick up a phone, intending to call something specific,
and wind up somewhere totally else if you're not paying attention.
After getting the transformation under control a lot faster than I thought I could, I surfed around a bit to see if any of the other people on Virtue had
similar issues. Aside from the game itself, the only other place I run into most of them is...
"Oh crap," I muttered. "Forgot to update the game."
I went over to the Chrono site and updated the next round of combat. While there, I looked around for hints the others had gone through any traumatic changes.
Feeling a little exposed, I opened a thread and posted, "Virtue WTF?" and asked who'd had connect issues that night. I figured that was obscure
enough it wouldn't mean anything if they hadn't been affected, but direct enough to help me out if the others had been affected.
Then I made the mistake of going back to the CBC news site. In local news it talked about a minor little fracas involving a corner store and a couple of thugs
with knives. No one injured, police investigating.
While reading this, I'd found myself reaching for the phone and dialing a number I could have recited from memory. Which was good, because SHIELD agents
weren't allowed to commit local contact numbers to...
Crap.
I put the phone down and ran my hands through my hair in aggravation. I knew none of that was real. Which meant I had to rely on what was proven to work. Go to
the site, pull up the police report on the radio's holo emitter and see if I could take the mission or if another had beaten me to it...
Crap.
The sensible thing to do was to do nothing. I had once had a police friend in the RCMP who'd told me that 95% of
all cases were solved because criminals were stupid. So I had no reason to believe a couple of thugs would last very
long on the lam before they did something to trip them up and wound up behind bars. And I had no business playing
heroine, especially since I had no real experience using my powers!
That stopped me for a long moment. A minute later, I was heading out the door.
There's a long divider behind the community, acting as a partial sonic barrier for the train tracks behind them. It also means there's this straight
stretch for hundreds of meters running right through the community that no one can see into. Perfect for a bit of practice. I even knew where the local kids
slipped through when they thought no one was watching.
Once on the other side, I concentrated. Pulling up Foxfire's training in Paragon, I recalled how they'd explained energy worked. Flow from the center
of the being, out to the fingertips. It's no coincidence a lot of blasters use throwing motions, because that's how they're taught to see the power
flow coming from them. Drawing on the same analogy, I concentrated on throwing the energy.
Crackling light formed around my fingertips, and a small bolt of electrical power jumped away from my hand and down the track. Unfortunately the train track
was - of course - metal, and the bolt arced down to that. It grounded, and raced away at near the speed of light. There was a quiet crack sound that echoed down the tracks, causing me to jump with embarrassment and duck into the treeline. The local kids played
with fireworks all the time, hopefully they'd think that was all it was. But it was still embarrassing. "Stupid, stupid... Next time don't shoot
at the giant metal rail on the ground!"
I also realized as my hair caught on the branches that I'd reverted to Kara at some point during all this. Possibly during the whole practice session. I
stopped when I felt the painful tugging, and spent the next ten minutes carefully teasing my hair free of the branches. "How to girls manage this stuff?" I cleared it from the branches, ignoring the small twigs I could still feel in the hair. "Yuck! This
is so gross!" I concentrated and became myself again. Of course, the other shoe fell at that point. While I'd
been practicing, I'd been unconsciously hitching my shorts up periodically. When I stopped to concentrate... well... Kara was just way too small for the
shorts. So I reverted just in time to feel my shorts fall around my ankles.
I caught myself on a tree and looked down. With massive dignity, I paused, pulled my shorts back up, and tucked everything back in. "I've got to find something to wear as Kara." A thought struck me at that point. I reached into my memories of Paragon, remembering
how the GIFT trainer had explained we used the basic equipment every super was issued upon registration. Focusing, I reached for an invisible point just to my
left and twisted. Moments later, I was wearing a small computing device attached to my left arm. Except that when I
did that, I'd reverted to Kara again, and my shorts were down around my ankles again.
"Crap."
Hitching the rebellious clothing back up, I considered the device. It was pretty simplistic. I was told that some people added to it over time. At the moment,
it contained my changes of costume (I only had the one. I'd been able to afford one decent outfit at Icon's, and that one only because of a gift
certificate I'd gotten in a limited-run print of the Paragon Times. Not being an idiot, I'd opted for actual armored cloth, thank you...
"Crap." Yes, I was saying that a lot. It bore repeating, especially when my memories jumped out and dogpiled me the way they'd been doing the
last few days. Apparently my Paragon alter ego hadn't liked getting shot at any more than I did. So her suit had armor in it. Experimentally, I pulled up
the graphic of her outfit, and pressed the button.
A flare of energy around me coalesced into a new outfit. Suddenly I felt like I was actually decently clothed. The bodysuit was black with dark blue lightning
bolt designs on it. I had a utility belt literally covered with pouches, and what looked like a small throatmike on
the side. Lifting it off of the belt, I fitted it to my right ear, the way I had been taught. Pressing the button did two things. First, the almost-invisible
mike connected to the Paragon City police network, and through that to the remote Cell network, controlled through the data handler on my left arm. The system
also powered up a very tiny monocular lens which literally rezzed into existence over my right eye. But it was so small that if you didn't know it was
there, you'd never see it. Because I was new at this, mine was pretty basic, and had none of the whistles and bells the more expensive ones had. Mine just
pulled ID's from the police database and let me identify known perps on sight. Made it real easy to tell normal citizens apart from known felons. I mean,
aside from the ones in robes, or the demons stomping around Perez Park half the time...
"Bloody hell," I muttered, stopping that chain of thought. The idea that the auto-target function in the game had a real-world analogue hadn't
even occurred to me. But what the hell. This was all coming at me so fast, I figured I'd just run with it.At that point, I paused. In the game, I'd
been on so long I had tons of Veteran Rewards. I had purchased the upgrade packs, and had a lot of extra features on my character. Did Foxfire have any
memories of being given any early powerups?
The moment I considered that, I remembered being taken into the back room. As a visiting super from another country, they wanted me to of course give the best
impression of my work in Paragon back at home. So they let me equp myself with a lot of extra stuff. The blackwand, which drew on the Netherworld for its scary
power. A VIP pass to Pocket D, the dance club in another dimension. A variety of defensive augmentations. A simple holographic emitter to create 'speed
lines' when I ran (that was apparently an over-the-counter item someone had knocked off a couple years ago that really hit it big.) And the Nemesis Staff.
A thoughtful look on my face, I reached down with my third finger to tap the concealed button in the lower palm. With a glittering flash, the Nem staff
appeared in my hand. I almost dropped it. The thing weighed a good twenty pounds, and seemed to be made of equal parts brass and bronze. It had the two cogs
inside the open cogwheel, and everything. It just wasn't spinning. I recalled hearing from my handler in the Phalanx that it was steam-powered, using a
small device concealed in the upper grip. I grinned when I recalled that.
Paragon Kara wouldn't have known it, but the staff was clearly some kind of two-stroke Stirling engine. One of those wonderful inventions that comes along
after the complicated invention, the Stirling motor could also be called a heat engine, in that the gases that made it
work never left the engine. It ran entirely on external heat sources. The technology had been invented in the early 1800's, so it even fit, that the
Prussian Prince of Automation had found a way to build an entire army on the Stirling heat engine. If I remembered correctly, the device generated electricity
which the complicated focusing elements in the large cog then converted into kinetic blasts. Pure force, which would knock any random junk or average person
away with massive force. And I could generate electricity. Grinning, I concentrated on drawing the power out again. I felt...something, traveling from my arm out to my hand.
And then the cogs began to spin. They picked up speed until they were moving at their regular pace, electricity crackling around the inside of the cog
mechanism. "Wow," I muttered to myself, ignoring how high-pitched my voice sounded. "A CoH weapon that actually works!"
I watched it for a long few minutes before something else occurred to me. Carefully letting the energy stop flowing, I waited until the staff spun down and
tapped that concealed button again. It vanished, and I tapped the costume button on the computer (I didn't want to transform back and realize I
couldn't use the costume change thingie. Very embarrassing to walk around in the bodysuit in public. Much more mortifying to do it as a guy.) Then I
switched back.
I made my way back to the house, already planning what I would do next. I had to try to draw out how the Nem Staff was put together. If I ever had to
fix this thing, I'd need to know what parts I needed. And if it had been invented on Eighteenth century tech, it
shouldn't be too difficult...
---
Those who fear the darkness have never seen what the light can do.
It's not the telemarketers (which I get), or the spam calls (which I also get), it's how you can pick up a phone, intending to call something specific,
and wind up somewhere totally else if you're not paying attention.
After getting the transformation under control a lot faster than I thought I could, I surfed around a bit to see if any of the other people on Virtue had
similar issues. Aside from the game itself, the only other place I run into most of them is...
"Oh crap," I muttered. "Forgot to update the game."
I went over to the Chrono site and updated the next round of combat. While there, I looked around for hints the others had gone through any traumatic changes.
Feeling a little exposed, I opened a thread and posted, "Virtue WTF?" and asked who'd had connect issues that night. I figured that was obscure
enough it wouldn't mean anything if they hadn't been affected, but direct enough to help me out if the others had been affected.
Then I made the mistake of going back to the CBC news site. In local news it talked about a minor little fracas involving a corner store and a couple of thugs
with knives. No one injured, police investigating.
While reading this, I'd found myself reaching for the phone and dialing a number I could have recited from memory. Which was good, because SHIELD agents
weren't allowed to commit local contact numbers to...
Crap.
I put the phone down and ran my hands through my hair in aggravation. I knew none of that was real. Which meant I had to rely on what was proven to work. Go to
the site, pull up the police report on the radio's holo emitter and see if I could take the mission or if another had beaten me to it...
Crap.
The sensible thing to do was to do nothing. I had once had a police friend in the RCMP who'd told me that 95% of
all cases were solved because criminals were stupid. So I had no reason to believe a couple of thugs would last very
long on the lam before they did something to trip them up and wound up behind bars. And I had no business playing
heroine, especially since I had no real experience using my powers!
That stopped me for a long moment. A minute later, I was heading out the door.
There's a long divider behind the community, acting as a partial sonic barrier for the train tracks behind them. It also means there's this straight
stretch for hundreds of meters running right through the community that no one can see into. Perfect for a bit of practice. I even knew where the local kids
slipped through when they thought no one was watching.
Once on the other side, I concentrated. Pulling up Foxfire's training in Paragon, I recalled how they'd explained energy worked. Flow from the center
of the being, out to the fingertips. It's no coincidence a lot of blasters use throwing motions, because that's how they're taught to see the power
flow coming from them. Drawing on the same analogy, I concentrated on throwing the energy.
Crackling light formed around my fingertips, and a small bolt of electrical power jumped away from my hand and down the track. Unfortunately the train track
was - of course - metal, and the bolt arced down to that. It grounded, and raced away at near the speed of light. There was a quiet crack sound that echoed down the tracks, causing me to jump with embarrassment and duck into the treeline. The local kids played
with fireworks all the time, hopefully they'd think that was all it was. But it was still embarrassing. "Stupid, stupid... Next time don't shoot
at the giant metal rail on the ground!"
I also realized as my hair caught on the branches that I'd reverted to Kara at some point during all this. Possibly during the whole practice session. I
stopped when I felt the painful tugging, and spent the next ten minutes carefully teasing my hair free of the branches. "How to girls manage this stuff?" I cleared it from the branches, ignoring the small twigs I could still feel in the hair. "Yuck! This
is so gross!" I concentrated and became myself again. Of course, the other shoe fell at that point. While I'd
been practicing, I'd been unconsciously hitching my shorts up periodically. When I stopped to concentrate... well... Kara was just way too small for the
shorts. So I reverted just in time to feel my shorts fall around my ankles.
I caught myself on a tree and looked down. With massive dignity, I paused, pulled my shorts back up, and tucked everything back in. "I've got to find something to wear as Kara." A thought struck me at that point. I reached into my memories of Paragon, remembering
how the GIFT trainer had explained we used the basic equipment every super was issued upon registration. Focusing, I reached for an invisible point just to my
left and twisted. Moments later, I was wearing a small computing device attached to my left arm. Except that when I
did that, I'd reverted to Kara again, and my shorts were down around my ankles again.
"Crap."
Hitching the rebellious clothing back up, I considered the device. It was pretty simplistic. I was told that some people added to it over time. At the moment,
it contained my changes of costume (I only had the one. I'd been able to afford one decent outfit at Icon's, and that one only because of a gift
certificate I'd gotten in a limited-run print of the Paragon Times. Not being an idiot, I'd opted for actual armored cloth, thank you...
"Crap." Yes, I was saying that a lot. It bore repeating, especially when my memories jumped out and dogpiled me the way they'd been doing the
last few days. Apparently my Paragon alter ego hadn't liked getting shot at any more than I did. So her suit had armor in it. Experimentally, I pulled up
the graphic of her outfit, and pressed the button.
A flare of energy around me coalesced into a new outfit. Suddenly I felt like I was actually decently clothed. The bodysuit was black with dark blue lightning
bolt designs on it. I had a utility belt literally covered with pouches, and what looked like a small throatmike on
the side. Lifting it off of the belt, I fitted it to my right ear, the way I had been taught. Pressing the button did two things. First, the almost-invisible
mike connected to the Paragon City police network, and through that to the remote Cell network, controlled through the data handler on my left arm. The system
also powered up a very tiny monocular lens which literally rezzed into existence over my right eye. But it was so small that if you didn't know it was
there, you'd never see it. Because I was new at this, mine was pretty basic, and had none of the whistles and bells the more expensive ones had. Mine just
pulled ID's from the police database and let me identify known perps on sight. Made it real easy to tell normal citizens apart from known felons. I mean,
aside from the ones in robes, or the demons stomping around Perez Park half the time...
"Bloody hell," I muttered, stopping that chain of thought. The idea that the auto-target function in the game had a real-world analogue hadn't
even occurred to me. But what the hell. This was all coming at me so fast, I figured I'd just run with it.At that point, I paused. In the game, I'd
been on so long I had tons of Veteran Rewards. I had purchased the upgrade packs, and had a lot of extra features on my character. Did Foxfire have any
memories of being given any early powerups?
The moment I considered that, I remembered being taken into the back room. As a visiting super from another country, they wanted me to of course give the best
impression of my work in Paragon back at home. So they let me equp myself with a lot of extra stuff. The blackwand, which drew on the Netherworld for its scary
power. A VIP pass to Pocket D, the dance club in another dimension. A variety of defensive augmentations. A simple holographic emitter to create 'speed
lines' when I ran (that was apparently an over-the-counter item someone had knocked off a couple years ago that really hit it big.) And the Nemesis Staff.
A thoughtful look on my face, I reached down with my third finger to tap the concealed button in the lower palm. With a glittering flash, the Nem staff
appeared in my hand. I almost dropped it. The thing weighed a good twenty pounds, and seemed to be made of equal parts brass and bronze. It had the two cogs
inside the open cogwheel, and everything. It just wasn't spinning. I recalled hearing from my handler in the Phalanx that it was steam-powered, using a
small device concealed in the upper grip. I grinned when I recalled that.
Paragon Kara wouldn't have known it, but the staff was clearly some kind of two-stroke Stirling engine. One of those wonderful inventions that comes along
after the complicated invention, the Stirling motor could also be called a heat engine, in that the gases that made it
work never left the engine. It ran entirely on external heat sources. The technology had been invented in the early 1800's, so it even fit, that the
Prussian Prince of Automation had found a way to build an entire army on the Stirling heat engine. If I remembered correctly, the device generated electricity
which the complicated focusing elements in the large cog then converted into kinetic blasts. Pure force, which would knock any random junk or average person
away with massive force. And I could generate electricity. Grinning, I concentrated on drawing the power out again. I felt...something, traveling from my arm out to my hand.
And then the cogs began to spin. They picked up speed until they were moving at their regular pace, electricity crackling around the inside of the cog
mechanism. "Wow," I muttered to myself, ignoring how high-pitched my voice sounded. "A CoH weapon that actually works!"
I watched it for a long few minutes before something else occurred to me. Carefully letting the energy stop flowing, I waited until the staff spun down and
tapped that concealed button again. It vanished, and I tapped the costume button on the computer (I didn't want to transform back and realize I
couldn't use the costume change thingie. Very embarrassing to walk around in the bodysuit in public. Much more mortifying to do it as a guy.) Then I
switched back.
I made my way back to the house, already planning what I would do next. I had to try to draw out how the Nem Staff was put together. If I ever had to
fix this thing, I'd need to know what parts I needed. And if it had been invented on Eighteenth century tech, it
shouldn't be too difficult...
---
Those who fear the darkness have never seen what the light can do.