Origin...

[Sargun II]

"When you have lived as long as I, you would understand."

The red light started shifting. It became a screen on the top of the chamber - and then a sphere. The sphere floated into Sarah's outstretched palm: the Earth.

"Millenia in the future, mankind will build cities in the sky. Space is too far to reach - and the benefits too little. Mankind never went outside of Earth, perhaps a good thing. We will never know." The Earth became cities floating on top of clouds - bubbles around them absorbing solar rays. "The cities were powered on solar rays - they were always absorbing light in some way."

Tiny bubbles floated up, the sphere still in Sarah's hand while tiny balls popped around her face and neck.

"Eventually, mandkind in the air and mankind on the earth had a mishap. The ground nations fought a war. It was their last. Nuclear weapons, the worst of the worst, they all went off. Everybody had them. It was common knowledge. It was their downfall." His voice became grittier, the red light turning into explosions all around the Earth. A woman's scream for her children pierced the chamber as the dust flared again, exposing more hieroglyphics.

"When they aimed for the skies, the skies said no. Weapons fell back to Earth, as if adding insult to injury. There was no mercy. Self-protection turned into malice. Humanity on Earth was eliminated in one.. fell.. swoop."

A number, in the tens of billions, started shedding off digits until it reaches the hundred thousands. More bubbles.

"The sky cities lived on. Life continued in the heavens. This was what we were taught. Millions of years passed." The sphere turned back into Earth, then into the solar system. The Earth went around the sun fast enough to be a blur. But something was off.

"The warfare pushed the Earth off. It slowed it down. Earth was not Earth as it used to be. Over the years, the Earth went off slightly. It became colder. The Sun faded. There are billions of years left in life for the Sun, but the Earth was too far away."

Bubbles flooded the chamber, slowly popping as he talked.

"Eventually, me and my brother were born. It was a crisis for humanity - over the millions of years, we had grown used to this life. We lived longer in the skies than we did in the ground. Ironic, perhaps, that mans push for a better future led to this. And there was nothing we could do about it except find another source of energy. So we looked below."

One bubble was left. It morphed back into Earth. This time, it zoomed into an area vaguely resembling the southeast United States. There was a large cathedral - larger than one ever build in present times.

"The Cathedral of Man. It celebrated humanity as what it was, not what it is. At least, that was the idea. They protected it. There were shields around it - and it was spared the blasts. All sorts of creatures.. I was twenty one. We were supposed to go down to the old Appalachian mountains. Find a heat source that we detected. Me and my team - including my brother, James. Johnathan and James, me and my brother. We were soldiers - one of the few people allowed to wield weapons. Everything was automated then, you know. Robots, food, shelter. However, the slowing of the Earth's rotation was not something put into the coordinates, and we ended up crash landing. We were.. exposed."

The cathedral transformed into a man. He was a bit handsome for a young man, with a slightly overlarge nose - but average nonetheless. He was wearing a futuristic uniform not unlike those shown in sci-fi shows today. Suddenly, he let out a hair-splitting scream. Liquid boiled around him, steam (or what seemed like it) fusing his skin to his suit. He writhed around in agony for a few seconds before Qin cut the power off.

"I was Johnathan then. When we got back to New America, the city, it was too late. My.. body was beyond repair. So they did what they could: they gave me life. Through metal. And they kept adding it. Through the crisis, crime had increased as people panicked. Nobody had weapons to defend themselves. It was an ideal situation. Create a giant super-soldier. Let them police the cities. It was brilliant."

A tank-looking machine, a humanoid machine, something vaguely resembling a tiger, and N-17 were all shown briefly. "N-17, as you call him. James, to me. We were both the lead. I had no choice but to accept their proposal. My life began anew. I was a monstrosity to all that was man. And I accepted it."

The light dimmed as it returned to a floating bubble.

"After seven years of policework, it was finally time for us to go. We were outcasts. Pariahs in our own home. We did the one thing we could do: we left. Back down to Earth. It was our only chance!"

A dozen vague shapes flew past Sarah's sight, the bubble shifting faster than ever.

"We reached Earth. We fashioned a new civilization. The Bree. We were... tribal. It was very violent. Very passionate. Emotions ruled over logic. But how could robots reproduce? Artificial insemination. Hundreds were born and fashioned out of the scrap metal on Earth. It was ideal for them. Our population reached into the thousands in a few years. Finally, we stopped. The tribes were becoming more violent. It was like our old ways. We stopped making children. We.. we're monstrosities. We didn't deserve to have more of us."

The Earth started to go around the Sun again.

"Thousands of years passed. Many thousands. I lost count, my dear. Finally, another ship came. Me and Ju'lu - that was his new name. He wasn't James to anyone but me - we both were out hunting. For sport, you know. We don't.. we don't need to eat. A ship came. Again, the pilot made an error - this time a human pilot. They landed on top of a heat signature, all right. The heat signature was our village."

"Our entire tribe."

A large ship appeared, filling up a space the size of Sarah's head. It crashed into the ground, landing and skidding across plains until it crushed several dozen large robots, including makeshift buildings. Qin stopped talking. Several minutes passed as the soldiers got out.

The soldiers didn't care. They were after the Cathedral. They went. It played out in front of Sarah like a movie. The scientists grieved over the fading life signatures, but they were too late. The drama played out quickly, and accelerated. Ju'lu and Qin both arrived, threatening them. They ran in a rage to the Cathedral, attempting to stop the soldiers. The shield fell.

A fight ensued.

"Eventually, an explosion happened. I don't know what caused it. Perhaps the soldiers? Maybe I? I will never know. It was beyond my understanding. But I fired as much as I could, as did James. There was a rip. We didn't know what it was - but it sucked us in. A rip in time, I'm afraid to say."

The sphere disappeared, back into a ray of red light against the ceiling.

"We appeared hundreds of thousands of years ago. Disabled, crashed in what you call.. Egypt. Radio was our only way of communication. Me and James. We talked. For thousands of years. It was the most desolate time. But we waited. It was pleasant. No fighting. No war. The silly humans never found us. It was like.. like a dream, dear child. A dream that never ended."

Finally, the sphere came back. This time, in the shape of pyramids.

"We were discovered by ancient peoples. They built these pyramids over us, you know. The languages, hieroglyphics. They came from us. Our red rays made shapes they tried to mimic. It was hard work, but we eventually did it. We conversed. Taught them language. After many years, we finally decided to stop meddling with them. It was entertaining, but too slow. We wanted peace again, as war came."

The light shut off.

"We deactivated ourselves. Radio was it. Just to talk sometimes. To pass the time. For many years we have waited. We were forgotten. Our transmissions were never picked up. We waited. Finally, a man came. He discovered my brother. He worked on him, and turned his radio off. It has been several years, and I have waited for him to come back. My power, it slowly faded without him."

The light slowly turned back on.

"I heard noises up above, dear child." It was more than a statement.

[Sarah Tintagyl]

"My god." Sarah slowly floated back down onto the machine gun turret as Qin finished his story. "A wrinkle in time, truly amazing. So N-, James was your brother." She sighed. "He's doing horrible things Qin, people could get hurt. Look, I'm not a hero or any means. I was somehow given this gift for reasons that still escape me. But I know that if he continues his present course of action, he's going to kill people, lots of people and we have to stop him before its too late. This man, who found your brother. Do you know anything about him, anything at all? I need to find him so I can stop him." Sarah looked down at the ground. "I know I only look like a young girl, but I think I'm the only one in the entire world that can stop this. So you have to help me. I don't want to hurt your brother, I just need to stop him, stop him from hurting people."

The rumblings came from up above. The sounds of rocks falling and gunshot. "Damn it all." Sarah looked up cursing and then turned back towards Qin, still laying faded on the ruins. "Please, Qin, is there anything I can do anything at all. You said you had a last dying wish. Please, I'll do anything for you if you help me stop your brother from killing."

Her words were rushed as more cave-ins sounded from the top.

[Maelstrom Vortex]

## Project Transhuman.. Dragonisian City, Dragonisia##

The Empire's combined tinkering with genetics and cybernetics goes totally awry.. it produces something completely unexpected. Well, perhaps not much so for them.. and at least that's what they're claiming.

Taking advantage of the technological singularity, the most advance scientists in the world had converged to produce a being with organically grown carbon-nanotube constructs as part of its anatomical structure. Atop that nanobots had been created that were designed to reproduce themselves internal to the organism and to spread themselves to any offspring much like mitochondria. The Nanobots induced an appetite for silicon in the beast, which the nanobots then interwove into the carbon tube structures to turn the creature's body into an electronic superconductor grid. The nanobots then created other nanobots which served as an interface between neural biological apparati and the silicon conduits.. the net result was a cyborg-like computerized organism.

The creature when it was awakened was imprinted on its silicon based storage units with a body-wide operating system that would allow it to host an array of unusual sensory apparatus. Data-linked to the visual cortex of his eye the beast had a full body wide-operation system with access to read-write capabilities in memory areas created throughout its form by the nanobots and coded for systemic redundancy. The frills and fins on its body acted as radar receptor dishes and relayed such sensory to his brain.. the horns acted as pulse emitters.. the power for these systems were delivered by an extensive array of main, hunters, and sachs organs throughout it body much as one would find on an electric eel, but to a much larger degree.

It had the senses of an array of organisms from the deepest fish in the sea, to echolocation as in bats and dolphins. The monstrosity was nearly unstoppable. Scales predominantly made of carbon nanotubes interlocked with an organically assembled molecular steel covered its body in midnight black and were 1-2 inches thick. It has appeared in Dragonisian City, climbed to and coiled around the tallest sky-scraper in the city.. and made demands for 50 cattle and a pile of white sand via morse code radio broadcast from a nanobot constructed biological radio transmitter powered in like manner as the rest of its body.

All the telephones rang throughout the city.. as people picked up the message would play, "This is the Chairman speaking. Tell our military NOT to shoot me damnit!" Click. Apparently the beast had made its way onto wifi and was using its skype account to make the calls.

Edited July 25, 2009 by Maelstrom Vortex

[Sargun II]

"James? He would.. he would never kill people. This man, he's.. he's ruined James! Humanity has proven again their worthlessness. If it weren't for jewels like yourself, dear child, I am afraid what the world would look like."

The chamber was very tight. It would not collapse. But Qin could sense her fear. "There is no need to be afraid, young one. At least, afraid of this place. I keep it up. My power is great here. But.. fear should be your only emotion when facing a Bree. We are built to kill. James, he has a particle cannon. It uses small pellets of a future mineral called tiberium. It was man-made and brought back to this Earth when we crashed. The pellets are destroyed quickly, they let loose a powerful wave of energy. It can demolish entire city blocks."

The light shook violently as mushroom clouds, dramatized of course, filled the air.

"And his blade. His blade is a neutrino blade. It is not made of real neutrinos, but rather fashioned like it - it cuts through any current substance. I would know this - I created it." Pride filled his voice for a brief moment. "Alas, he uses it for the wrongest reasons. For death and destruction. I suppose that there is no way for me to fix it in my current state, but I can help." He was rushing along now, to calm the girls nerves.

"Take this, my child." The chamber, for the first time, shook. The ground split beneath Sarah - not like the pyramids rising, but like a human-sized split. A large, black shard of metal slowly wove its way up, being pushed by an invisible force below it. Eventually, the shaking stopped. The split scarred the otherwise perfect ground - the neutrino shard gleaming maliciously.

"Place your arm, palm facing up, against the blade. One end should be at your shoulder, another end going a foot or more past your fist. Hurry, girl!"

Edited July 25, 2009 by Sargun

[Sarah Tintagyl]

She nodded in a hurry, hearing the sounds of collapse all around her as Sarah tried to listen to as much as the robot was saying before she would have to be sent away. Finally, the ground underneath her began to shake and out of the dirt and dust shown a beautiful jewel, a seeming shard of onyx or obsidian shimmering from the ground. Sarah's eyes widened and sparkled taking in the beauty of the blade. "Incredible."

"Place your arm, palm facing up, against the blade. One end should be at your shoulder, another end going a foot or more past your fist. Hurry, girl!"

Sarah rushed over to the blade and nodded as she followed his directions, placing her arm, her palm towards the sky against the shard and extending her full arm to the length of the blade. "Like this?" She said looking up at Qin, just as the onyx shard began to glow a strange purple light.

[Sargun II]

"You.. you are very brave."

At the end of 'brave', the shard shot up. Purple light flashed through the chamber as the shard, jagged edges and all, rammed itself into her arm. Blood, the first to be shed here in a millenia, spilled across the chamber floor. There was no pain - the nerves in her arms were shot. Everything in her body was shot. In fact, it was made to do so. She was essentially paralyzed as the blade sunk into her arm, slowly crunching a way through to the bone. And as it made contact with the bone, another flash of purple light.

Her eyes were forced closed as the shard absorbed the bone in her arm and replaced it. The shard jutted up above her hand, then slowly retreated back in. The process took several minutes, crunching slowly as it moved through her arm.

"I am glad that I can make this not hurt - do not be afraid."

Finally, another flash. Her eyes were forced open. What she would see was a perfectly good looking arm.

"Whenever you will it, the shard will produce from the topside of your wrist. It will not hurt. It will extend far and upset your balance slightly, but fear not. You will not be caught on anything - you will simply rip through it." The sphere of light put an example of Sarah slicing across a large boulder clean in half.

"You may imagine yourself like that, ah, Wolverine character, if it makes you feel better, dear child."

[Maelstrom Vortex]

The Chairman was starting to go into shock. He was witnessing immense biofeedback from his new systems and his state of consciousness was still adapting to the massive inflows. Imperial helicopters surrounded him and hummed. He clung to the tower for dear life, at the time, it is all he could really manage to do as his mind whirled. Imagine for a second.. if you were taken from a previously near-human conscious state.. to subconscious dreaming.. but when you woke up again, your mind was working differently and you could sense it. Suddenly, you did not have to open your eyes to see... and the amount of things you could see exceeded the limits of 3 dimensions because your mind had been re-shaped to handle multiple input vectors.. sort of broken down into multiple processing centers.. not that it isn't already, but even more so now.

It was like being born again.

Maelstrom was gripped with nausea and let out a complainant roar as migraine set in. Worse, the longer he was awake.. the more bio-feed back was coming on line. His mind was hooked into the world wide web, and his subconscious was starting to log him into the government data grid.. including raw data streams straight from radar. It wasn't 5 minutes later he was consciously aware of every single aircraft in the airspace around his perch.

For a brief moment, he had a humorous sensation of pity for those whom he would be firing in the executive branch if he managed to survive this. So many bureaucrats would no longer be needed.

Edited July 25, 2009 by Maelstrom Vortex

[Sarah Tintagyl]

Sarah looked down at her arm and breathed in deeply. She thought for a moment, closed her eyes and felt the skin of her wrist subside into her hand itself as she obsidian blade shot out. "Incredible." Sarah thought again and the blade retracted back into her arm. "Truly incredible Qin. Truly incredible. I have to thank you for all that you've done for me, I'll never forget you and maybe in the future after the world is cleaned up, I can release you from this self made prison." She smiled and floated up again to his eye. "Everything is worth living for, think, if you had given up. I would have been trapped down here for ever and you would have never gotten the hope that the world still is a great place." She leaned in and kissed the light as more rumbling started up on the ground above the ruins. Time to still escape was running out.

Bowing her head she smiled and extended the blade once more. "Thank you for everything Qin, I promise I won't fail you." With that the blade was retracted and Sarah took off through the sand still streaming in from the pit above. She flew as fast and hard as she could until she was able to break through the sandstorm left by N-17. It was now time to stop the chaos that he had caused. She knew her mission, she knew it well. Order, preserve Order on earth and protect from chaos. It was a great mission, but Sarah had become much more than human, and if anyone could accomplish such a feat, it was the Lady Protector of the Hanseatic Commonwealth.

[Sargun II]

"I do hope she remembers how to find me," Qin said wistfully, as the light slowly faded. A humming, previously unidentifiable, slowly ceased. A ringing, below the hearing threshold, ceased. The red light finally turned off. Cold revisited the chamber once more.

Matthew sighed, twiddling the cigar between his fingers. "So the brother was alive after all. What a pity. I wonder what drove him to die," he wondered aloud, blissfully unaware that the lack of heat signature was not something he knew a damn thing about.

[Maelstrom Vortex]

People on site in Dragonisian city are confused. They see the creature making strange gestures at the news helicopter. It doesn't make a lick of sense to them.

[Comrade]

Molakian Military Command

Kotka Air Force Base

Kotka, Molakia

"Are you sure its authentic?"

"Yes General. It....gestured as it spoke."

"Wouldnt hurt..."

The General hops onto The Old Ham Radio located in the Control Tower of the base.

"Dragonisian Military, this is Molakian Military Command, please come in. This is a priority one message."

[Maelstrom Vortex]

Dragonisian City, Dragonisia

CENTCOM Bunker

"This is General Anthony Davis of the Military High Command. How did you get this frequency? It must be important. Please authenticate."

## In the City itself ##

Even as the command staff of the two nation's spoke a rocket was fired at the creature on the building in an attempt to remove it. It flicked it's tail as the rocket approached and deflected the rocket into the street below where it created a pothole. Maelstrom roared angrily.. but he still had way to much of a headache to do much but react.

Edited July 25, 2009 by Maelstrom Vortex

[Comrade]

"Priority Code 6A35260XKSF. Message is "stand down all operations in Dragonisian City against the monster by order of the Chairman"."

[Maelstrom Vortex]

Dragonisian City, Dragonisia

CENTCOM Bunker

Davis blinked. "One moment." Anthony and his Lt. broke out a pair of keys and opened a locked box. They broke open a pair of plastic cards and read the materials within. A minute later he got back on the phone, "Order Authenticated. Thank you. Do you know where the Chairman is? Currently we have no verification of his whereabouts and there is news circulating of an assassination attempt during a medical procedure."

In the meantime his Lt. was issuing orders to stop attacking the beast, but to contain it. As Maelstrom saw the relaxing postures of the military personnel and aircraft around it.. he sagged against the building and went into a deep slumber. In his dreams, his mind began to re-organize itself.. processing the events that had transpired since his last.. "upgrade". He wasn't supposed to have grown this large. Something must have gone wrong.

Edited July 25, 2009 by Maelstrom Vortex

[Comrade]

"Well the thing you were going to blow up IS him. Dont ask us why, one of our drunk Diplomats got the message. I assume you gentlemen have the situation under control?"

[Maelstrom Vortex]

Davis blinked, "That.. explains a lot.. actually. Um.. we do.. but I now have a gaggle of scientists and doctors I must interrogate. Do you have any other message to convey at this time? If not, I'll bid you a good evening and we again thank you for your help."

[Comrade]

"Yeah, ask your people to call someone more LOCAL next time. Its like, 4AM here. Molakian Miltary OUT."

[Shadowsage]

A stained glass platform stretched out in an expanse beneath Kevin Holihan before stopping in a precise circle. The platform was wide, showing a massive mosaic of the various world figures Kevin had dealt with in his time as the Imperator. Long forgotten friends like the Byzantine Twins, King Sargun, and more familiar leaders such as Jerrey Rough and Kennedy were arrayed in various poses around the platform. In the middle of it all a stained-glass image of Kevin tied the picture together, arms folded and gazing balefully out at the inky blackness surrounding the floating platform.

It was this obsidian realm in which Kevin awoke, sprawled out on the platform.

"Where am I?" He thought groggily to himself. Never before had he been so puzzled by his surroundings. Kevin took a look around while dragging himself reluctantly to stand. The images around him were surreal in their life-like quality and he spent a few moments living back memories of better times.

You Have Been Chosen.

The words came to him, sliding across his vision. It was as if God spoke, and yet his ears heard nothing. Kevin couldn't quite imagine what had the power to not only transport him across space but read his mind and realized he was severely outclassed.

There Are Perils In This World.

"Well, yes." The Imperator said sheepishly. "But I do what I can to fight them."

Other Threats Have Surfaced. Threats To The Stability Of The World.

The statement echoed about in his head and throughout the pervasive darkness. Whatever was talking to him, it was coming right down to business. "Wait a minute, I'm not some kind of saint. I can't do the work of God."

Deep, throaty chuckles emanated throughout the darkness. A cold shiver ran down the back of Kevin's back as he heard the sound. It wasn't something he would consider to be reassuring under any circumstance, much less the current one.

A swirling vortex of purple and black hues appeared on the edge of the platform. The ambient light in it's general area gave way to tendrils of darkness, and an oval portal materialized. A figure stepped out of this impossible construct clad in a bastardized form of the Imperial Uniform he wore so often himself. The same darkness which it stepped out of also obscured it's hooded head from any possibility of recognizing the face within.

The same voice he 'heard' before spoke from it. "And what makes you believe this is the doing of the Light?" It cast an arm about the platform, still speaking in the regal voice. "Look around you! This is NOT the Realm of Light. This is the humble abode of the Denizens of Darkness." The last word came out almost as a sneer, and the figure pointed a finger at Kevin.

"And you are their chosen Avatar."

The Imperator stood very still, staring at the figure for an endless moment while his mind went over the ramifications of what the thing confronting him had just said. The Imperial Writ taught that there were two basic forces in the world, Light and Dark. It was theorized that each force spread far beyond the single terrestrial plane of Human Existence, and these unimaginably powerful forces gave rise to 'Gods' which manipulated the various mortal realms in an unending battle for supremacy.

Being a part of that struggle was not something he wanted. Ever.

"No." Kevin whispered. His icy blue eyes locked onto the Denizen of Darkness with a fiery hatred as his voice rose to a shout. "No, no, no! I won't be your pawn! This game you play with the Light is one I want no part in! Giving up my entire life to do your bidding? Never."

His last few words trailed off in a barely audible moan. "The Darkness won't consume me."

The figure considered him silently. Seconds ticked and turned into minutes. After what seemed like an eternity to Kevin, it came to a decision and drew back the hood of the coat it wore while simultaneously dropping the shroud of darkness. And the Imperator found himself uncomprehending while staring into a face he knew.

Himself.

"You don't have a choice in the matter." His Doppelganger held his gaze with eyes of writhing obsidian and a cruel smile grew on the familiar face. "This is what you, or should I say we, have always been destined to be. Harbinger of Darkness, Bringer of Night. And, you know what?"

The horrified Imperator didn't answer.

"Deep down, we can't wait."

---

Kevin bolted upright in bed, stopping just short of screaming at the top of his lungs. He glanced wildly about his room for several seconds like a caged animal before the man in him reasserted his dominance over base instinct.

'It was just a Dream.' He thought to himself.

With a groan, Kevin put his legs on the floor and got up out of bed. The bright expanse of Imperial City was a familiar sight, its lights banishing the primordial night for miles around. The hustle and bustle of the public transportation and people walking on sidewalks never seemed to cease.

'Even at this ungodly hour.' The Imperator looked at his clock. '2:31? Jeez. Gotta get some more sleep.' He was about to do that when his own voice started talking to him from the back of his mind.

'Why go to sleep when you should be up and about?' An image of the cruel Doppelganger flashed into mind, his smile sending chills down Kevin's spine.

'Get out of my head! You're just a dream!'

'Oh no. I assure you, we're very real.'

The response gave him pause. 'You keep saying that. What do you mean, we?'

'Exactly what it sounds like. But, for now, just let the Darkness do the talking.'

At that moment, a pool of pure blackness began to coalesce around Kevin's feet. He jumped at the cold touch and looked down in ignorance. The sensation of downward motion made him start to panic, and he found himself slipping through the puddle of shadows. Kevin struggled for purchase on something, anything to keep afloat. Bit by bit, he sunk into the Darkness until all that remained was an outstretched hand. Eventually even that was swallowed up.

Kevin blinked as he found himself deposited unceremoniously in the hallway directly beneath his room. He took a glance at the ceiling and saw the same black portal which supposedly moved him through the floor. The writhing Darkness seemed almost pleased with his analysis of the situation.

'Yes, that is but one of your abilities. Anything you can use the darkness to do, it can be done.'

Kevin chose to ignore the gleeful voice which was so irritatingly similar to his own and instead decided to test the proclamation out. He stretched one arm, palm out as far as it would go. Shadows gathered at the heel of his palm, wrapping around themselves and growing bigger and bigger. Eventually the ball was about as large as his head. At that point, it shot out like a bullet and smashed into the far wall. The concentrated Darkness started eating its way through the wall and he hastily told it to disappear before lasting damage occured.

'Good, good. You grasp the concept.'

Kevin finally turned his attention to what he was supposed to believe was himself. 'Okay, so assuming I'm not hallucinating in Central Hospital, why do I have these powers?'

The Doppelganger was only too happy to respond. 'There is a serious imbalance in the scale of the world today. The one known as Lady Tintagyl has taken up the mantle of Light, knowingly or otherwise. Balance requires a similar being be created from the Realm of Darkness.'

'Are you telling me I have to fight Sarah Tintagyl?' The thought was almost too insane to imagine; Sarah Tintagyl in a fight with a hardened veteran of 4 Wars and Dozens of smaller conflicts.

Apparently his dark-side took the question seriously. 'I don't know. One of the myriad of things wrong with your various civilizations is its' characterization of Darkness as always a force of Evil. There have been countless times in the past where Light was far more cruel than Dark, and Darkness being used as a force of construction.' His other self paused for a moment, obviously relishing the next few words.

'We are not DESTINED to be evil, but it's certainly a possibility.'

Kevin cupped his head in his hands. 'You know what, it's too early for this !@#$. I've got a lot of things to do, like watch the news for whatever the new-and-improved Sarah's been doing. With a little bit of thought, Kevin snapped his fingers and an obsidian portal similar to the one his Doppelganger had used materialized in front of him. He hesitated for just a second, and stepped through to begin his journey to face whatever destiny had in store.

[Shadowsage]

Even though his dark-self constantly bickered at him to go out into the world and create mischief with his newfound powers, Kevin decided to plop down on the couch and turn on the News. Hopefully, something would be on about the doings of the Lady Protector.

'I really should explain this whole situation to her..' He thought to himself. 'Maybe she's had some kind of encounter with her light side, and I'm not some one-of-a-kind schizophrenic freak.'

He turned the T.V. to the Channel 3 News, and his jaw promptly hit the floor.

"...ports from Dragonisia indicate that a Dragon-Like creature, possibly the Chairman has been cited on top of a skyscraper, only far larger than previously indicated. His failing health was supposedly cured but the transformation has literally changed him into something more than human..."

The last three words struck home in Kevin's mind. Something more than human was a category he himself now fell in; a club that seemed to be growing bigger each day. It was this realization above all else which proved to him that he didn't have to be alone in the world. He could allow himself to feel again, to have friends.

'We're going WHERE?!' Kevin's other-side screamed at him.

'Will you shut UP? It's my destiny, I'm choosing what I'm going to do. And right now,' The Imperator smiled, 'It's time to pay a visit to a friend.'

He went to his wardrobe and glanced at the various civilian outfits he had, yet never wore. They wouldn't do. An entirely separate closet held a few identical military trench-coats, and he threw one on with a flourish. The hood went over his head after he zipped it up to the neck. And with a snap, he was gone to Dragonisia.

---

Once more the Darkness let go of its' grip on him, and Kevin stepped through into the twilight of Dragonisia just after Sunset. He was standing on the top floor of a skyscraper in the middle of the city. Something in his mind urged him to turn around and have a look behind him, which he did with a slow spin.

A colossal Dragon sat sleeping behind him!

For just a moment panic registered on Kevin's features, but that quickly subsided as combat instincts seamlessly exterminated his fear. So it was with a calm heart that Kevin strode quickly up to the sleeping beast and started to speak.

"Chairman Vortex, I presume?"

Edited July 25, 2009 by Shadowsage

[Maelstrom Vortex]

The Chairman's senses were puzzled by an electromagnetic disturbance.. or a.. disturbance in gravity space/time? What the hell? Another new sense.. they had put in a gravometric scanner as well as the standard shark's organic electromagnetic sensory array. An eye slowly opened. He tried to talk.. and it came out as a warbling garble.. his voice was forever gone through vocal delivery.. the structure of his throat forever changed. Annoyed, his brain looked up morse code under Wikipedia and he clicked through his teeth using his forked tongue.

* - -   * * * *   - - -	   - - *   - - -   *	* * *	   -   * * *   *   * - *   *

Deep in Centcom's Bunker.

Anthony Davis had called the doctors of Maelstrom and the scientists of the "Transhuman" axiom and demanded an explanation. The story that unraveled was that one of the scientists had gone rogue during the experiment and had attempt to kill the chairman by getting his heart to grow to large to scale, but had used the wrong enzymes and instead catalyzed the chairman's Pituitary glands.. hooked up to the feed systems the Chairman's body began a relentless growth that continued until he broke free of the laboratory and the feed system when he woke up mid experiment, realizing something was going wrong.

They verified the structural changes to the chairman had already been made and since his growth had continued proportionately he was not expected to have any medical complications despite his size, especially given his skeletal structure had been reinforced with the organic carbon nano-tubes and bio-steel structures. The scientist who had attempted the assassination had been found in the bathroom later dead from a self-inflicted gun-shot to his head. The assassination attempt mirrored the behavior patterns seen in Saboria in the first phase. They suggested in any future experiments that tighter guidelines be used.

Davis almost went off on them, "FUTURE EXPERIMENTS?! Tighter Guidelines?! As of right now this project is on lock down and no further subjects are to be taken. We need a reevaluation of the moral consequences of the trans-human program before more research is done. Tell me what we're looking at."

The lead scientist surmised, "You are looking at a Genetic Chimera of unprecedented size and scope in the history of self-evolved life forms. It has been integrated with the latest nanotechnology and genetic engineering designs. Combined with cybernetic connections and equipment.. it is more expensive than any single weapon developed in our history outside of our unfinished atomic project which has not been the focus of our research. It is also a mobile command center. It is fully knowledgeable of our government, its functions, its passwords, It is still the Chairman. It is perhaps one of the greatest military and diplomatic geniuses of our time. Recent data feeds from military and commercial networks indicate it may have achieved a state of semi-omniscience within the national domain. It also has massive limitations. It is cumbersome. It is large. It cannot help but be detected. It is the only one of its kind. It will demand a size able caloric intake under any strenuous activity, but given sufficient nitrogen intake via the lungs, carbon intake, and exposure to sufficient sunlight may be able to photosynthesize enough of its own sugars to remain alive without feeding as long as it remains almost completely idle. It has multiple interlaced neural structures allowing to process some of this data consciously, some of it subconsciously as we do senses such as taste and touch. It is also a religious artifact. God knows how many Han Chinese or Asians in general are going to look at it and think of it as a Long. God knows how many Christians are going to think of it as the coming of the Anti-Christ.. or the beast. One factor is certain, it will almost certainly cause social unrest just by its mere presence wherever it goes."

As they spoke the TV in the room was showing the news camera.. once again.. as it had so many times the Dragon like creature's head turned from its visitor to stare directly into the nearby Camera of a local TV chopper. It was like it were looking at itself. Then suddenly.. Anthony's phone rang.

"Anthony Davis, who's speaking?" Davis asked.

"This is Maelstrom. How are you friend?" Came the eerily electronic, but recognizable voice of the Chairman.

"Maelstrom.. how'd you know where I was?" Davis inquired.

The creature replied, "I saw you on your not-so-closed circuit television security system in the bunker that's linked to Milcom mainframe."

Anthony about that time looked up to a corner of the room and saw a lens refocus on him of a camera that normally swept the room.

"Sorry if you are disturbed." The Chairman noted again

Davis swallowed hard. "Um.. no Sir.. not at all. Ahem.. what do you want?"

"I am very hungry Mr. Davis. Can you get me the cattle I ordered before I start having to retrieve them myself? I would hate to steal. Use my state card." The chairman noted.

"Umm.. Very well sir. I'll have them delivered to the Airport. Be there in an hour. I'll have a space cleared in a hangar for you." He noted.

"Anthony.." Maelstrom muttered.

"Yessir?"

"Before you get any ideas... remember. I do not like being caged." The false voice had a faint rumble to it

Anthony blinked, "Sir, you're in an unusual state, but you are still my friend.. and the party has yet to strip you of your powers. And you've had equally odd states of being before. I am not going to cut and run on you because you have changed."

"That's good to know Davis. Know I would stand by you just as well. I thought you would say that, but.. things have gotten more complicated..." he tried to explain away his doubts in his old friend..

"Think nothing of it Sir.. after last night. I can't blame you. We'll have you settled and secure soon."

"Sounds good. I'm borrowing a few remote drones for my defense if you don't mind.".. the line clicked dead.

The streets of the city in downtown Dragonisian city looked like the scene out of an old Ghost busters film.. people were predicting the end of the world.. other were welcoming their "Dragon Overlords". The plethora of reactions ranged as widely as there were opinions. The Trans-Human Chimera turned its gaze to its visitor. He spread his massive wings, darkening several city blocks in his shadow in the rising sun.. the gleaming surfaces of his scales begain to turn a faint green, taking up both a photosynthetic and photovoltaic effect.

## At a nearby airbase ##

The staff were confused as 4 predator drones had been ordered readied, 2 with anti-air capabilities, 2 with anti-surface capabilities.. but with no pilots asigned. Not ones to question orders, the planes were prepped and moved to the appropriate runways. Inexplicably to the ground crews.. the air-craft self launched and began to head towards Dragonisia City.

Edited July 25, 2009 by Maelstrom Vortex

[HHAYD]

OOC: EDIT, deleted due to a rewriting in my RP since I felt the beginning wasn't good enough.

(I wish there was a delete button here...)

Edited July 26, 2009 by HHAYD

[Sarah Tintagyl]

OOC: Absolutely amazing guys. I should tell you all know that this will be an entire off shoot of CNRP. Comrade called it CNRPH for Heroes so we'll stick with it. I just wanted to tell you this in case if you wanted to break off in another thread. Because I will probably be doing so after I finish my story with Sargun. However, I would say that interaction is awesome and lets try to keep all our threads open for the possibility of building an amazing tapestry of heroes and villains.

I want to thank you all for participating and now we have a very solid cast of characters, that I hope will only continue to build. Truly awesome guys. Thanks!

[Subtleknifewielder]

People on site in Dragonisian city are confused. They see the creature making strange gestures at the news helicopter. It doesn't make a lick of sense to them.

Carl was just passing a video store when he saw a news feed...hellfire and damnation, what was that thing?

One thing was for sure, it was not natural, and it was most likely another genetic abomination. Thinking only for a moment, he turned around and sped off in another direction.

Even when he reached the ocean, he did not stop--but kept on running. Onlookers capable of acrtually seeing would be amazed, but he gave that no real thought.

[Acca Dacca]

17 years ago...

"Science has developed a new agent, a new pathogen that could make a human into something more, something greater. Today, humanities limits will be broken, and progression to evolve humans into a newer species has begun."

Dr. Kinditch stands by his wife, who is holding thier daughter, Melony, near the podium. He looks out into the crowd of fellow scientists that have worked with him on this project for years. He looks at thier faces that hide thier excitement with exhaustion, as thier lack of sleep has become more and more for the past 6 years.

"And with christmas just around the corner, we can all expect a bonus and a break."

With that, the crowd erupted with clapping, stomping of feet and laughter. The quiet doctor laughed along and scratched his beard. Slowly, his smile disappeared, and he told his fellow workers to settle down.

"Now now, we all know what is instore for us afterwards. We all took an oath to science and we must work to develop this further. I hope that each and every one of you is ready for the years ahead. Project Evolution must not go undone. After this break, we will return to work, no buts.

The crowd booed, and there was a miserable silence that broke out under the hissing and whispers that filled the room. At this point, he adjusted his glasses and stepped ahead of his family,

"I, too, suffer. I have a daughter who I am seeing for the first time in months. I am glad this break is coming up so that I might actually be there for her first birthday. I hope you do all understand that this is not something you do alone. We are all here in an effort for science, and one day our children and our children's children will benefit from what we do. Please, stay for coffee and desert before going home."

The doctor dismounted the podium and returned to his family. He kissed the greatest women in his life both on the cheek. He put his arm around his wife and led them to the desert table. As his wife went for coffee, he held onto the baby. The little baby girl was sound asleep as the father ran his fingers over its beautiful face.

"Melony, someday you are going to change the world. Hopefully, it wont be for the worst."

Her mother came over.

"Hopefully she'll meet a nice husband and have babies and not work 2 months straight at a time without coming home."

Her father smirked.

"Hopefully the boy will be approved."

"You're over protective"

"Can never be too careful."

"You were a boy once."

"Like you never did anything stupid with me."

The mother took the baby away from the father with a smile

"I wouldnt call her stupid at all."

They stuck thier tongue out at each other, and laughed like teenagers. Only to be interrupted by John Botly.

"Sir, congrats on a job well done. My name is John Botly. What does the future hold for you?"

"Happiness."

The man in a suit, unlike the scientists in plain clothes, smirked, and came out with a quiet but evil laugh.

"Guess again."

The windows shattered as bullets ripped through and tore the scientists to pieces. John Botly ripped out a handgun and pointed it at Dr. Kinditch and his family. The guests began to fall to the floor as they attempted to escape, none did.

"What you have developed is life changing. Cloning it would make an invincible one man army. Tell us where the papers are and we let you go."

The Doctor, igripped with fear of losing his family, gulped.

"F-follow me, but let them go."

"Oh no, they are coming with us."

The baby cried as they walked down the long stretch of hallway. The mother was in tears and the father's mind scrambled for a plan. Only the mad man behind them with a gun held a straight face. They neared a door, 316C, John had the doctor open it, and move out of the way. John looked in. saw nothing, and looked back at Kinditch.

"YOU THINK THIS IS A GAME?"

"N-no. Its in the door to your left."

"This is a scientists office that only opens with a swipe card!"

The makeshift plan didnt work, and John was furious. In a matter of seconds a bullet left the chamber of the handgun, and hit Mrs. Kinditch in the head. The baby fell onto the already dead mother. the father was shocked, and furious. In a last effort, he roundhouse kicked john into the door way, where he stumbled back and flew into the desk where he landed on the other side. The doctor locked the door behind him. He look at his wife's body on the floor. But there was no time to remorse, footsteps were down the hallway. The gun shot must have alerted the henchmen. The doctor grabbed his daughter, and with tears in his eyes, ran to the lab.

He had another plan.

His daughter was screaming in tears as he layed her down on the desk. He looked for the container of Project: Evolution. He found it and pulled it out of the frozen container. He took the stimulant and planed in into a needle. Slams on the door were heard. gun shots rang out against the steel plated door. He knew he had no time to rethink. He injected the project into his daughter. He lifted her up and put her into the nearest hiding spot and began to burn all the documents. He created a blazing barrier between himself and the door, and just in time. The men burst through the door, John in front. He looked over the flames at the doctor, knowing the project was gone, he had no more use for him.

"You want to burn this place down? Then I'll help you!"

A ring of C4 was placed in the hallways as the henchmen left. Only they could hear Dr. Kinditch scream up until the explosion of C4. The building came down as the men drove off.

The day after

Police Commissioner David Gardner came down. He looked over the rubble as he came to his head detective.

"Anything at all?"

"You'll have to come see for yourself."

The two men neared the gathering of people taking pictures. An ambulance came over as well as EMTs checked something out. As they made a hole in the crowd, their eyes grew wide as they found the phenomenon everyone was looking at. A little naked baby girl, free of any burn marks.

"Goo?"

OOC: How was my first RP?

[HHAYD]

Flashback, 7 days ago on Easter Day:

Conor was moping around in his apartment, still suffering from depression ever since his entire family was killed. "Bah, Easter Day, a pathetic holiday..." was all he mumbled as he makes a mental note of himself:

Are you taking the happy pills (anti-depression pills)?: Yes

Are you an alcoholic?: Yes

Have you ever thought of suicide?: Yes

Do you seem to hate everyone?: Yes

He noticed there was a pile of concrete bricks lying on the floor. Deciding to mess with it for the lulz after seeing another magician pulling the same trick off before on TV, he pressed his hands on it, and said, "Bunny please."

Pile of concrete bricks begin to glow and form into a shape of a bunny

"What this I don't even..." he mumbled as glowing stopped, revealing a real looking bunny.

"I think the alcoholic and the happy pills have to do something with this..." he thought as he picks up the bunny. The bunny squirmed around in his hands, hopped out, and started sniffing around.

"Oh crap..." was all he said when the bunny decided to jump onto a ladder, knocking it down, and crushing itself. The bunny glowed brightly again, and turned back into a pile of concrete bricks.

"Well, this is interesting." he said.

------------------------------------

Today:

Over the next seven days, he tested his summoning skills secretly, and came to a conclusion:

1. He can only summon rabbits and bunnies.

2. The only material that he can use for summoning are anything that is made out of at least 80% concrete.

3. The bunnies and rabbits he summoned are highly loyal to him.

4. The more concrete, the bigger the bunny or rabbit he summons.

He then remembered something, the largest construction supplies warehouse in the nation was in the industrial section of Detriot. Obviously there are going to be plenty of concrete bricks, enough to summon a nightmare bunny monster. He left his apartment room, careful to avoid being seen, walked down the stairs mumbling, "Time to put this crappy world out of it's misery, for too long corrupted and evil government officials held power which resulted in my family's death, including many others. Not anymore, not anymore..."

He reached the first floor, entered the city street, and hailed a taxi.

"Newark Corporation construction supplies warehouse, Aveon St."

Edited July 26, 2009 by HHAYD