(HS) Project Ascendant (Full Version)

All Forums >> [Gaming Community] >> [Legends and Lore] >> Writers of Lore >> [The Bookshelves] >> AE Fanfiction >> HeroSmash



Message


vulkan -> (HS) Project Ascendant (6/17/2012 8:08:50)

By Vulkan. Based off Hero Smash. Names based of characters that have given consent to use. Once again, i would like to say thanks to the AE team for making such an awesome game. I would say this story is best suited for ages 13+ for violence. Please take a moment to comment here!!

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Intro: A cowards way out

After DC-14's defeat at the hands of Thundersmite, the red legion have splintered, becoming warring factions for control of the silent city, being unable to follow the orders they were created to follow. However, one of DC-14's few remaining loyal officers, Beta-Five, has found the fragments of the orb, and she has been able to use them to rebuild DC-14's body and consciousness , bringing him virtually back to life. However, instead of the red legion uniting under his command again, several thousand of them have declared independence from DC-14's control, and have hunted his loyal followers without mercy, marshalling their forces under a mysterious figure known only as "the shade". DC-14, Beta-Five and the few remaining loyalists are now at war with the new faction, who call themselves "the undying", which threatens to tear the silent city apart in a wave of blood and madness.


The bunker shakes as another shell explodes overhead. Beta-Five looks up. She didn’t scare easily, but there was no denying that a load of high explosive detonating over your head with only a bit of concrete to protect you from it was definitely high on her scare list. The room is faintly lit, a few loyalist officers crowding round a table with a large map on it, discussing military plans. There were very few large battles this war, only dozens of small skirmishes. Beta-five was usually here, discussing tactical plans. She was a good tactician, but she hated it. She wanted to be out, fighting for the loyalists, leading soldiers into battle, and punishing the scum that betrayed their master.
She walks to the table. Several of the officers moved aside for her. She was a well respected and feared figure in the loyalist command structure, and many officers looked to her for guidance.
"So?" she asks.
"Undying forces have taken another 15% of sector 5/9. We are suggesting abandoning 5/9 and funnelling the soldiers there to other sectors where the fighting is going badly."
"Any other news?"
"We now have full control of sector 1/3. Undying forces are in full retreat, and we have been isolating them from allies and killing all we can."
Beta-Five looks at the map. Red flags marked sectors that were controlled by loyalists, and black ones represented ones under undying control.
She sighs, as she did every time she looked at the map.
Out of the eighty-one sectors in the city, sixty-two were under undying control. Although no one in the loyalists, especially beta-five would admit it, They were losing. They knew that as soon as they drove undying forces from a sector, they would return with a larger force that would drive the Loyalists from the sector again. Or they would raze it to the ground with artillery. All this war was doing was buying the loyalist's time. But for what? What could they do? Beta-Five is deep in her thoughts when DC-14 came in, flanked by his eight guards. Each of the officers stops discussing the war and stand to attention.
DC-14 nodded at Beta-Five, who sits down.
"Have we lost any more sectors?"
The officers shake their heads.
"Good."
DC-14 walks up to the table. He sighs. For a second, Beta-Five sees hope in his eyes, which is quenched as soon as he looks at the map.
He sighs and turns away, the officers moving back to discuss the plans.
Beta-Five walks up to him.
"It's hopeless, isn’t it?"
DC-14 looks at her, and sighs once again.
"Yes, it is."
"But…what can we do?"
DC-14 looks around the bunker, as if reminiscing.
"Give the command. All units currently unengaged abandon their sectors and fall back to relay station six. Tell them…we are abandoning the silent city."
"What?"
"They can have the city."
He walks away.
Beta-Five looks at him as he goes round the corner and disappears.
She sighs. And then walks back to the planning room.


Six Hours Later


"Are all the units here?"
Beta-Five nods.
"Out of the one thousand, four hundred and twenty six loyalists, we were able to evacuate one thousand, one hundred and twelve. The rest will have to hold on until we can power more rift warps. If you don’t mind me saying, how are you going to power this one?"
"I'm going to use some of the residual energy from the attempted awakening of the underground legions. I just hope we have enough…"
Beta-Five looks round the camp, several bunkers were around, each housing around fifty loyalists.
"I'll program it to warp all living creatures within half a kilometre from here. If that includes any undying…well, bad for them. And if you'll excuse me…"
DC-14 walks up to one of his engineers programming the rift warp, it is a small machine, only the size of a refrigerator, although the cables running from it makes it look bigger.
Beta-Five looks on. She doesn't like this. She doesn't like this at all.

An hour later

DC-14 looks upon the rows of bunkers in the distance. The rift warp was nearly ready. All he needed to do was supply it with the energy, and off they went.
He smiles. Time to give one of his little speeches.
"Alright people!" he says into a comm device linked to each of the bunkers. "Try to stay still in the warp! And if you are sick, please aim away from other people!"
DC-14 laughs, and turns to the operator.
"Activate the energy matrix."
The Engineer presses a button.
There is a faint hum, as several miles away, the energy in the underground catacombs is diverted to the machine.
DC-14 looks around; twiddling his thumbs. It would take a few minutes for the energy fill up the machine.
"Anyone for tic tac to…"
There is a whistle far above. DC-14 has seen enough of them fired not to know what it is.
"You have got to be…"
There is a massive explosion, blowing one of the bunkers from existence in a ball of fire. DC-14 is thrown to the ground by the blast, and is partially stunned. He is helped to his feet by Beta-Five, after an unknown amount of time spent unconscious. He looks around, and a sight of a war zone greets his eyes. Several more missiles are being fired, and as he looks up, he sees several helicopter gunships moving in on the compound. Their black and white armour signifies them as undying forces.
One of these gunships lands, dropping six undying soldiers, they run up to the platform. Obviously trying to stop the warp. Unfortunately, they are met by Beta-Five, who smiles as she draws a pair of thin red blades.
DC-14 looks away. He wasn’t squeamish, but Beta-Five was undeniably…vicious when it came to undying. He tries to ignore their screams.

After Beta-Five has her fun, she walks back to the machine. DC-14 looks at the engineer working the warp.
"Get that damn thing running already!"
"I can't! It doesn't have enough power yet! It won't be able to transport all the loyalists, and it will end up…"
"…end up where?"
"The…rift warp will not be able to lock on to its current coordinates. It will automatically take us to the last coordinates we used for this machine."
DC-14 eyes widened in fear.
"Super city…"
"Yes. We…"
The engineer never finishes his sentence, as a blast round incinerates most of his torso. DC-14 sends another round into the face of the offending undying, and turns to Beta-Five.
"We can't turn it on now. We will leave half the legion behind…"
"We have to! We can't afford to leave it any longer! Every second we waste costs the life of another loyalist! For goodness sake, DC-14, WE ARE UNDER ATTACK!!!!"
"But we…"
Beta-Five gives him a piercing stare, and walks to the machine, taps a few codes in and her hand hovers over the "enter" key.
For an instant, every possible scenario goes through DC-14's head, each one worse than the last. He takes a deep breath.
"Do it."
Beta-Five hits the key. And one hundred and twenty one loyalists disappear.

Two hours later

Assault Captain Rho-twelve waits by a landing zone. In fairness, it isn’t so much a landing zone as it is the only piece of the battlefield that isn’t strewn with corpses, rubble, or most commonly, both. The large helicopter lands and several black and white armoured soldiers jump out of it, forming two rows. Then, a man steps out from behind the soldiers, clad in a black suit and a red mask. Rho-Twelve shudders. The man was nothing special physically, but his aura of power and control seemed to ebb from his form.
He was the shade. And the undying did his will.
Rho-Twelve bowed to him, and then walked alongside.
"Did the attack go well, captain?"
Rho-twelve was uncomfortable. He didn’t want to be the bearer of bad news.
"We annihilated most of the loyalists, but several, including DC-14, escaped though a rift warp."
The shade paused.
"He escaped? Well, I suppose that is to be expected."
"We also…"
"Enough. Leave me alone for a moment."
Rho-Twelve bowed again and walked away.
The shade waited, and then whispered into his comlink.
"This is shade to Delta-One. Come in."
The comlink fuzzes.
"This is Delta-One, is everything alright sir?"
"I'm afraid not, he escaped through a rift warp."
The comlink fuzzes again.
"That’s a pity. What now?"
"We can't risk leaving it any longer. Order the kill teams to prepare for a warp. And accelerate the plans."
"Are you sure sir?"
"Yes. I am sure. Project Ascendant begins."




vulkan -> RE: (HS) Project Ascendant (6/24/2012 15:52:28)

Part 1: Arrival
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________
It was almost midday in the market street of super city; countless citizens of super city were doing their daily/weekly/monthly/yearly shopping here. It was one of the few districts relatively untouched by the daily wars that raged between heroes and villains there. At least, in the daytime.
Tom Clark is a middle aged businessman, currently investing in teleportation technology being developed by several companies. He was only going to Market Street to pick up some groceries for his wife, who was currently in bed with flu. Unfortunately, he was lost.
He takes out his mobile.
"Hello? Alice, are you there?"
A nasally woman's voice sounds at on the line
"Tom, where are you?"
"Sorry Alice, I got lost. Which shop am I going to again?"
"It’s the bzzzt…wha...bzzzt."
Clark looks at his mobile, it’s a new model, with almost perfect reception, and it was brand new.
"Sorry, breaking up, call you later!"
Clark puts his phone in his pocket, wondering what is going on.
The air in front of him flickers.
Clark takes a step back, wondering if he imagined it.
It flickers again. This time with blue energy.
Other people have seen it too. They begin to step back, muttering, some with amazement, some with fear. Clark takes several steps back again, in fear. Then the air begins to crackle violently, arcs of lightning whipping in all directions like flails. Clark and many people begin to run, several people are screaming, other people dialling into their phones to the police, little knowing that the lightning is disrupting their signal. The tendrils widen, covering an area of the street about 20 metres squared.
The onlookers watch, jaws slack at the display happening before them. The sound of patrolman sirens begin to sound in the distance. The lightning stretches out, and then is sucked into the crackling maelstrom of energy in the middle of the street, which flashes, temporarily blinding everyone who is gazing upon it.
DC-14 is on his knees, gasping for breath. Around him, one hundred and twenty-one are doing the same. The people watching them gasp and point, and several cry out when some of them rise, revealing them to be holding their blades and firearms. DC-14 swears loudly. He couldn’t afford to draw attention to himself now. And he couldn’t think of anything more likely to do so than landing in the market street at midday. He turns around to his soldiers. Most of them are sporting minor wounds, but nothing their enhanced body structure couldn’t handle. There is a noise to his left, and DC-14 spots several patrolmen. Armed patrolmen.
"Split into respective squads!" he yells. "Regroup at the base!"
It works. The loyalists jump to their feet and run, splitting into squads and making off in different directions. DC-14 is left on his own, having joined no squad. He sighs, and begins to run.

He runs towards the crowd at full speed, they cry out again, thinking he is attempting to attack; instead he barges into them, throwing several people aside in order to mix with the crowd.
He risks a glance back, and spots several jetpack patrolmen following him, correctly guessing that he must be the leader. He ducks out of the crowd, into a narrow alleyway. Unfortunately, the patrolmen see him and fly into the alleyway, aiming their rifles.
DC-14 thinks. They don’t know if he is dangerous yet, so they shouldn’t use…
There is a burst of gunfire, and a dumpster next to DC-14 has several holes blown in it, the surprise almost making DC-14 trip over.
He breathes, alright; maybe they would use live ammo. He supposed he would have an L.O.C.K.D.O.W.N file somewhere…
He reaches the end of the alleyway, and grasps hold of a ladder. The patrolmen yell at him to stop, but their shots miss. DC-14 gets to the top of the building. He guessed it must be a small apartment or something. He runs to the side, and looks down. There is no ladder this side.
DC-14 groaned. "Why do I have to always choose between certain death and probable death?"
He jumps. He now knew how Thundersmite must have felt when he blew up sigma's conference building. As he fell, he hoped he would survive.

His fall is broken by a parked car. It absorbs most of the momentum energy from the fall, but it doesn't stop him breaking two ribs and possibly his foot. As he catches his breath, he looks up, and sees the patrolmen flying towards him once again.
"Oh god…haven’t I suffered enough?" he moans.
He had to get away from these three patrolmen before he got any innocents hurt. If he did that, he would draw even more attention to himself, including…he gulped. Thundersmite. Above all Thundersmite must not know.
He looks around, and sees some scaffolding dead ahead.
"Perfect."
He whirls around, pistol in hand, and fires a shot at the oncoming patrolman. It didn’t go anywhere near, but it served its purpose in making him go into a steep dive on his jetpack, making him unable to fire with his rifle.
Meanwhile, DC-14 is able to limp to the scaffolding, grabbing hold of it, ignoring the roaring pain in his leg and ribs; he pulls himself up, and climbs up a ladder, approaching the top. He hides behind a box, waiting for the patrolmen to come closer. He then takes a grenade from his belt and puts it on the floor.
If he didn’t time this right, he would have his leg blown off. If he was lucky. He takes one deep breath, and sees the patrolmen come within ten metres. Already regretting the decision, he pulls the pin from the grenade, and stands up with his hands up.
Ten…
"I surrender!"
Nine…
The patrolmen keep their rifles trained on him.
"Hold it DC-14! You aren’t going anywhere!"
Eight…
They fly a few metres closer.
Seven…
Closer.
Six…
DC-14 is sweating now.
Five…
"Please let this work…"
Four…
DC-14 moves his foot forward, gently pushing the grenade over the side. The patrolmen are too wrapped up in their capture to notice.
Three…
The grenade lands on the pavement, and bounces back under the scaffolding.
Two…
DC-14 moves, he throws himself off the edge of the scaffolding. The patrolmen take aim…
One.
The grenade explodes. DC-14 had placed it perfectly, blowing the entire structure to pieces and throwing in towards the three patrolmen. They try to dodge, but are far too slow. They are violently pummelled by piece of wood and pipe that formed the makeshift structure. One pipe hits a patrolman's jetpack, causing it to splutter and fail. He falls, and unfortunately for him, does not have a car to break his fall. He survives, but from what DC-14 can see, he won't be patrolling again for a while. The other two patrolmen are simply pummelled to the floor in a similar way.
DC-14 smiles, before realising he jumped off the scaffolding.
"Not agai…"

DC-research facility.


DC-14 looks round. The last thing he remembered was falling from the scaffolding. He felt it was familiar…the white walls, the blue carpet, the large armchair in the corner, the space on the wall that looked like it used to hold a TV…
"Glad to see you awake."
DC-14 turns, and sees beta-five.
"Is this…"
"…the DC research facility. Try not to overexert yourself."
DC-14 sits back. "Why?"
"Well, I would advise not landing on your head next time you blow up the thing you are standing on."
"Thanks beta-five, you certainly know how to comfort someone who feels like someone has caved his head in with a mace."
"I'm not a nurse. I kill people. What do you expect when I draw the short straw and become your little carer while your head pops back into place?"
DC-14 laughs, but the action brings another sensation of pain to his head.
"Did we all get back?"
Beta-Fives smile disappears.
"No, seven of us haven’t arrived yet. We can only assume that they have been captured or killed."
DC-14 moans in pain. His head feels unbearable.
Beta-Five pulls a syringe from her pocket.
"Better put you to sleep, hopefully you will feel better tomorrow."
The needle pricks DC-14's wrist, and he is asleep in seconds.




The shade walks on the dusty path towards the small bunker. He was flanked by several guards, each sporting weapons varying from handheld machine guns to short blades. He looked at the bunker. He was surprised that it didn’t have any sensors of any kind. He expected that alpha-ten would be more cautious
He turned to his men. Speaking though their private comlink so not to make any noise.
"Break him, and ill break you."
The guards nodded. The shade was no stranger to killing his own soldiers; after all, it had happened before.
"Ready?"
Each one of the soldiers looked at each other. They were nervous and it showed.
"This operation is critical to the success of project ascendant. Do well and you will be one of the first to benefit from it."
The signs of nervousness on the faces of the undying soldiers disappears. they don’t know the full details of the project, but they know perfectly well that it is something big.
One of the soldiers steps forward, the shade recognises him as Rho-twelve, one of the highest ranking officers of the undying.
"Sir, if you don’t mind me saying…how does finding the last loyalist in this city help with the project? Do we need a test subject or something?"
The shade laughs.
"I have all the test subjects I need. But question my judgement again and I blow your head off."
Rho-twelve takes a step back, his face becoming recognisably pale again.
"Now then…"
The shade raises his hand, and a small ball of blue light solidifies in his palm. Then it stretches like elastic towards the door and buries itself in like a harpoon. Then another ball of light in his palm does the same, and another, and another.
Soon there are seven energy tendrils buried in the door.
"Try not to die."
The shade pulls his arm back, and the door is ripped off its hinges, as soon as the door is down, Rho-Twelve pulls a pin from a stun grenade and throws it in. There is a cry from the inside, and the shade smiles.
He steps in. The interior of the bunker is untidy to say the least, with weapons, empty ammunition cartridges, and several strange inventions lying everywhere, a large bunk bed is at one side, and a worktable at the other. When the shade looks in, he notices the inside is considerably smaller than it looks on the outside, he supposes that it must be due to the armour of the bunker being so thick.
In the middle of the mess of gadgets and weapons there is a man lying on the floor, wearing a red suit.
"Well…" says Rho twelve, "at least we know we got the right bunker."
The shade and his men laugh.
"Heh…that’s true. Anyway, wake him up please."
One of the soldiers draws a small syringe and injects it into the mans arm, his eyes flick open with confusion in them, only to turn to terror when he lays eyes on the shade.
"Evening."
The loyalist's fear turns to hatred.
"What the hell do you want?"
"Ha… don’t think your little experiments haven’t gone unnoticed. I've seen what you have been doing. And you have something I want."
Alpha-ten was virtually gritting his teeth at him.
"I…know what project ascendant is… and for gods sake…you cant!"
"You were once a loyal officer of mine, but then you learned the truth, and you defect to the other side."
"All for a good reason!"
The undying soldiers look at him with hatred in their eyes. Rho-twelve even spits on the floor. Unfortunately, in his anger he forgot to pull up his visor before doing so.
"Where is it?"
"What?"
"You know perfectly well. You are a scientist."
"…go to hell!"
The shade smirks.
"Been there."
The shade raises his hand, and like when he took the door down, several tendrils of energy snake from his hand. This time, they impale themselves in alpha-tens flesh, who screams in pain.
Rho-Twelve blackens his visor, as do the rest of his team. This was the shades preferred method of execution, and it wasn’t pretty.
"NO!!! YOU MUSTN'T!!! I KNOW WHAT YOU ARE PLANNING, AND IT IS INSANITY!!!"
Sigma holds his clenched fist close to his face, a dozen tendrils connecting it to Alpha-tens body.
"And you think I'M not insane?"
The shade opens his fist, and the tendrils move out in different directions at speed, ripping alpha-ten into several dozen bloody pieces, all flying in different directions, splattering the messy bunker with blood.
The shade lowers his hand, and turns around to the squad.
"Sorry to make it messier than it had to be, but habits are hard to break."
"What now sir?"
The shade glances down at a small brass box under the late alpha-tens bed.
He walks over and picks it up, and opens it.
"What is it?"
The shades eyes brighten, he reaches into the box and produces a small blaster pistol. Knowing what it is, he weighs it in his hand, and much to the shock of his squad smashes it against the bunker wall, making it shatter into several pieces. He watches it fall to the floor.
"Erm…is that what we came to do?"
The shade ignores his soldiers as they ask their questions. He bends down and picks up a piece of the weapon partially submerged in a small puddle of alpha-tens blood. Despite this, the piece he picks up remains clean of any bloodstains. He slips it into a small sandwich bag, deliberately preventing his squad from seeing it, and turns to Rho-twelve.
"Contact your men, order several warp jumps. Search planets that have dormant legions under them, all we need now are DC-14 and the project can be put into place." He pauses.


"And I want him alive."




vulkan -> RE: (HS) Project Ascendant (6/27/2012 8:17:09)

Part 2- A very angry clown

_________________________________________________________________________________

Beta-Five checked her watch. It was 16:28. Nearly time to see DC-14 and inject him with more anaesthetic to make sure he didn’t moan for the rest of the night. She was starting to get used to this nursing thing. After all, poking needles into your boss was pretty therapeutic.
She walked down to DC-14's room. She passed several legionnaires on the way, all sniggering at her misfortune.
She turned to one of them, and held up a lethal looking syringe.
"Unless you fancy me ramming this down your throat, I suggest you shut up and do whatever the hell you idiots do around here."
She said it with such venom that the legionnaire almost tripped over his own feet, mumbling an apology.
Beta-Five carried on, muttering about stupid layabout legionnaires. At least she had forsaken the nurse uniform. There would be no end to the ribbing if she wore that…
She reached DC-14's room.
"Its time for me to poke you with painful needles!" she said in an annoying sing-song voice.
And stopped.
DC-14 was not in his bed. DC-14 was not under his bed. DC-14 was not even in the room.
"Hello?" said Beta-Five. "Where are you?"
She looked around, and saw something on the wall.
It was a large pie, which had appeared to have been thrown at the wall. She looked closer, and to her shock, saw that it was slowly eating away at the wall. It was acidic.
She thought for a moment. If DC-14 had been hit by a pie like that, he would be a mess on the floor. She thought, and stopped dead.
"Oh no…"




DC-14's eyes flicked open gently. His head was throbbing again, although nowhere near as bad as a few days ago.
He blinked, where was he? He remembered something appearing in his room, a flash of light, and laughter… insane laughter…
He looked up, and his jaw dropped.
All over the walls, drawn in…blood? Were small cartoons. Everywhere. There was barely any room for any wall at all. Everywhere DC-14 looked, there were small stick figures depicted in what looked like fights, not unlike the cave paintings that DC-14 had seen on TV.
What the…"
DC-14 took a closer look at one of the paintings. One stickman with a smiley face was hitting another stick figure with what looked like some sort of chainsaw, another painting, and the smiley figure was standing over another figure, with what looked like the other figures leg in his hand. DC-14 then looked up, and saw a sketch of a plane, with a man falling out of it, with the smiley figure poking his head out of a window.
"What the hell…"
Then he looked up to the ceiling.

"HELLO!!!" it said on the ceiling, in big capital letters.
"THIS ISN'T USUALLY HOW I SCARE PEOPLE, BUT MY NORMAL ROOM IS GETTING REPAINTED!!!
ITS HARD TO FIND A PAINTER WHO CAN PAINT IN BLOOD! HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!!!!!
ENJOY THE PAINTINGS, I MADE THEM MYSELF!!!!
ALTHOUGH IT WASN’T MY BLOOD I USED. HA HA HOO HA HA HOO HA!!!!!."


DC-14 wasn’t used to fear. But he knew what this was, who wrote those messages. The most feared and hated man in super city, who had brought the city to its knees.
"no…please…not him…"
Clown the Jester. The ringmaster of the chaos carnival, mastermind behind the chaos riots, and probably the only person who DC-14 would prefer not to be pitted against.
DC-14 took a deep breath. He had to stay calm. If he kept his mind intact, Clown the Jester would take longer trying to break his mental defences. That would give him more time to escape.
But how could he escape? Without the orb empowering him, DC-14 would be like a fly attacking a tank if it came to a fight.
"c'mon…think think think…"
BANG.
Something exploded in front of DC-14, almost making him fall over. A large cloud of purple smoke appeared. DC-14 tensed his fists, waiting for the harlequin to appear.
The smoke cleared, and Clown wasn't there.
"What?"
DC-14 blinked once.
"But…what…where…"
"HELLO!!!!"
DC-14 had no time to turn around before something smashed into his back, sending him propelling across the room, smacking into the wall with bone crunhing force.
He tasted the coppery tang of his own blood in his mouth as he looked up, but not before a hand grabbed him and smashed him into the wall again.
He found himself looking into the eyes of Clown.
"HI!!!" he virtually screamed in DC-14's face "IT'S BEEN A WHILE HASN’T IT? HAVEN'T SEEN YOU SINCE YOU TOLD ME THAT JOKE!"
"And…what a good joke it was…"
"Meh. I've seen worse. BUT ANYWAY!" he said, dropping DC-14 on the ground. "I guess what ill do with… OH wait… WAS THAT YOU?"
DC-14 turned around, and saw that several of the stick paintings were smudged with even more blood; DC-14 instinctively knew it was his.
"HOW RUDE!!!!" Clown opened a portal above his hand and a rubber chicken fell out of it into his hand, he then whacked DC-14 round the face with it with incredible force, almost breaking his jaw.
"HOW…DARE…YOU…" punctuating each word with a blow from the rubber chicken, "…SMUDGE…MY…LOVELY…DRAWINGS!!!! DO….YOU…KNOW…HOW…LONG…THEY…TOOK...TO…PAINT?!?!?!"
When he was finished, DC-14 was battered all over. If it was not for his denser muscle structure, he wouldn’t have survived the first half dozen blows.
"Oh wait; I wasn’t the one who drew them at all!!!!
HA HA HA HOO HA HA HOO HA HA!!!!"

DC-14 managed to use the last reserves of his energy to look up.
"Now what…"
Clown looked down at his victim, reduced from a powerful Smasher to a quivering wreck in seconds.
"…well this is dull. I expected that you would be made of harder stuff, or maybe it just shows how good I am at this stuff. Well? What one do you think?"
"Shouldn’t…you be playing…tag with Drakkoniss… at the moment? Or…maybe…blowing stuff up?"
"Maybe, but I fancy something different. I haven’t killed anyone this way for AGES!!! And I get to make up ironic ways of killing them! HA HA HA HA HA!"
"…whoopee for me…"
Clown opened another portal, and to DC-14's shock, a load of TV equipment fell out, cameras, lights, the lot. A smaller portal opened above Clowns other hand, and a microphone fell into it.
"ANYWAY! ITS TIME, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, FOR CLOWN'S DEATH OF THE WEEK! TODAY I HAVE DC-14. A FORMER SMASHER WHO LOST HIS POWERS AFTER GETTING BEATEN TO A PULP. I BROKE HIM OUT OF JAIL, BUT THEN HE PUT SPIES IN MY CARNIVAL! HOW RUDE IS THAT? HE WAS CREATED USING A RED ORB, SO LETS SEE WHAT WE HAVE TODAY!"
Clown opened a second portal, and a large pile of red crystal balls fell out, rolling across the floor.
"OH GOODY! RED ORBS! LET'S SEE WHAT OUR CONTESTANT THINKS OF THIS DEATH!"
He pointed the microphone at DC-14, who said nothing.
"NOT THE TALKATIVE TYPE THEN!!!!! HA HA HA HA HA HOO HA HA HOO HA HA!!!!!!!"
Clown opened yet another portal, and a large cannon fell out, which clown happily skipped to, and placed all the crystal balls inside.
"ANY LAST WORDS DC-14?????"
"…no."
"OK THEN!!!" Clown produced a match and lit the fuse on the cannon.
"THREE!!!"
DC-14 closed his eyes. This was it. The end. The only thing he was glad of was getting his soldiers to safety…
"TWO!!!!"
Was it him, or was it getting hotter?
"ONE!!!!"
No, It was really getting hotter! What was going….
"FIRE!!!!!!!!!!!"
The cannon exploded, and blasted several dozen red orbs towards DC-14.
And they stopped.
DC-14 looked up. Clown's jaw dropped. Both staring at the orbs, suspended in mid air like small moons.
"Was…that you?"
Clown looked slightly puzzled as well.
"That wasn’t me! IS SOMEONE MESSING AROUND? HELLO???" He said as he knocked on the walls "IS THERE ANYONE WITH TELEKINETIC POWERS MESSING AROUND IN HERE???? YOU BETTER NOT BE!!!"
DC-14 felt a little strange. He had felt this before, but when?
"OH WELL!" said clown, with a bit more disappointment in his voice than earlier.
"LOOKS LIKE TODAY'S SHOW IS CANCELLED! STILL!!! ILL JUST BEAT HIM SOME MORE WITH MY CHICKEN!!! COME TO THINK OF IT, I USE HIM A LOT, BUT I HAVEN'T EVEN GIVEN HIM A NAME YET!!!! HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!!!!"
Clown raised the chicken, DC-14 prepared himself.
It was hot again.
DC-14 opened one eye.
The chicken came hurtling down…
And melted before it could strike DC-14.
Clown looked down at the goo on his hands. And wiped it on the wall, showing no hint of how hot It was.
"HEY! THAT WAS MY FAVOURITE CHICKEN!!! DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW HARD IT IS TO BUY A NEW ONE WHEN YOU ARE ME!?!?!?!?"
"I…don’t know…what I'm doing…"
"I WON'T LET YOU GET OUT OF HERE ALIVE!!!!!"
Clown snaps his fingers, and a group of clowns appear in front of him. DC-14 recognises them as the Carnivorous Clowns of Killdarro, one of the most vicious members of the chaos carnival.
"CHEW HIM UP AND SPIT HIM OUT!!! AND THEN CHEW HIM SOME MORE!!! HA HA HA HA HA!!!!"
The Clowns charged, DC-14 could see their breath in front of them, their mouths salivating at the expectation of sinking their teeth into DC-14's flesh. DC-14 looked at them.
The heat again…
One of the fastest clowns got to him first, sinking its teeth into DC-14's arm, but he didn’t feel anything.
He felt…strong…no…something was inside him…expanding…it made him feel….powerful…no…now powerful…he felt… like…like…
The clown screamed and fell away, DC-14's blood had turned to acid, burning most of the clowns face away. He kicked the clown with such force that he was completely smashed beyond recognition. He turned to the others, leaping to his feet.
Clown looked at him, and opened another portal, which a small chair fell out of, which he sat in, and some popcorn, which he began to eat.
"Wow…this is better entertainment than I expected."
DC-14's hands began to glow with blue fire.
"DIE!!!!"
He concentrated his new power, and sent a wave of blue fire towards the clowns. They were flash frozen in a heartbeat, and burst into flames in another. Their remains fell to the floor.
"Well…looks like I've set off some sort of time bomb here!" said clown, laughing. "Thanks for the entertainment!"
Clown opened one last portal, and stepped into it.
DC-14 was scared now. He had too much power, he had intended to incinerate clown as well, but now with him gone…
DC-14 looked down. He needed to get rid of it before he killed himself.
"Well…I guess the paintings weren't that good after all…"
He released the power. In a gigantic shockwave, tearing the walls, roof, and everything else near him away and throwing them through the sky, people saw the pieces rain down over super city.
DC-14 looked up, standing on a stone floor in the middle of a street.
"Ouch."
And he fainted.

He felt himself being shaken awake. He looked up, expecting clown. If it was him, he would give up. He had no idea where the power had come from and he doubted he would be able to produce it again. But it wasn’t clown, it was Beta-Five.
I leave you for an hour and you do all this?!?!?"










vulkan -> RE: (HS) Project Ascendant (7/11/2012 18:21:40)

part 3- Ruin
_______________________________________________________

My eyes opened. I saw it, what I have dreamed every night for the last few years. The events leading up to… to…it.
I listened. There was noise in the background, noise that sounded like gunshots and screams of the dead and dying. How could I have allowed this to happen? What had I done?
I drew my revolver. It wouldn’t be much good, but it could slow down my attacker. I tapped the enter key, and I am done. Anyone who found that would know what they were up against…
"YOU!"
I turn around, and see…
"YOU SCUM! IM TAKING YOU DOWN!!!"
My attacker opened fire, a hail of bullets stitching holes in the wall above my head. I duck behind a overturned table, my attacker firing until his gun makes a hollow click, his madness making him not notice that he was wasting ammo.
I take my chance. Jumping from behind the table, and run for the door.
My attacker growls. He draws a knife, and throws himself an incredible distance towards me.
I whirl around, aim my revolver. Close my eyes, and fire.
There is a bang, and my attacker falls to the floor, yelling in pain, clasping his shoulder.
I feel a temporary sense of excitement, but he gets up. The pain just made him angrier.
I run, and run, and run. I can almost feel his breath on his neck as I run. I don’t care where I'm going, or if I could get out before the self-destruct, I just don’t want him to kill me. I dont want to give him the satisfaction.
Hes falling behind. The shoulder round must have severed an artery. To a man that would be fatal, but to him…that would just slow him down. And im beginning to tire too. Soon he will catch up and tear me apart.
And I stop, and turn to the right. I know this place, it's…yes! I can live!
I run to one of the gigantic doors. These are the armoured chambers, to protect specimens from anything short of a nuke. I quickly tap in the code, and open the door.
He can see me escaping, he screams, and throws himself at the door, attempting to pull it open, to get to me. He opens it slightly, and leaps at me, his hands tightening around my neck. I can feel him strangling me, slowly…I cant breathe…im…blacking…wait…what…oh…
Using the last reserves of my energy, I grab my pistol, blindly pushing it forward. the barrel pokes him in the forehead, and using my last ounce, I pull the trigger.
His head virtually explodes, showering me with red goo. His decapitated body falls back, where it dissolves into red liquid, which evaporates.
I pull the door shut, and magnetically seal it. Just in time too, as I look out of the window, the base explodes, the entire world dies around me, and I watch as it turns into ruin.
I breathe. And turn around. And see…


"Sir?"
The shade opens his eyes. He must have dozed off.
"Sir? Are you alright?"
He looks around. Several undying are staring at him, with confusion on their faces.
"I'm fine. Where were we?"
"um…we were discussing the location of DC-14. Our intelligence units have reported a disturbance in super city matching a rift warp."
The shade looks at his commanders.
"So err…should we send in a death squad?"
The shade doesn't answer; he is looking at a scorch mark on the wall. One that was made by a lightning blast.
"No. I have a better idea."


Later.


Thundersmite waits. He couldn’t believe that he was listening to the note he had been given. It could have been a trap or something. He remembered finding it on the door of a bank that was being robbed. How could the writer have known he was going to be there? Still, he was cautious. He had his hammer and had a ball of lightning in his fist, ready to throw if he was attacked.
"Hello."
Thundersmite whirled around, and saw a man in a black suit, wearing an actor's mask.
"Who are you? You left the note?"
"Indeed I did."
"What do you want?"
The man held out a hand. "I am the shade. I believe that we have a common interest."
"Again, what do you want?"
The shade smiles.
"Tell me Thundersmite. Are you interested in the location of DC-14?"
Thundersmite looks at him, and the lightning in his fist fades out of existence.
"Go on…"




vulkan -> RE: (HS) Project Ascendant (7/25/2012 17:18:07)

Part 4- first strike
_______________________________________

"Hey!"
DC-14's eyes flicked open. He was irritated at being awoken from his comfy sleep, but when he saw Beta-Five waiting he kept his snappish reply firmly within the vicinity of his brain.
"Feeling any better?"
DC-14 smiled to himself. Beta-Five had turned from a cold vicious killer to…well…a lot nicer. It was amazing what a change of scenery was doing to her personality. She even didn’t mind when people called her by her first name, Rebecca. He had even started to notice how good looking she was.
Pity the same couldn’t be said for him. Since he demonstrated incredible power after he was captured by clown the jester. He had been constantly ill. Seeing as his immune system was far superior to a human. That meant that this was no normal illness.
It worried him. It really did. The orb was destroyed, so did that mean…he was becoming a human?

Aerith, or better known to the people as Thundersmite craned his neck for the millionth time that day, and at last he was rewarded. The sight of a red legionnaire coming out of the elevator. He didn’t know where he was going, but he knew this. The shades intelligence was correct. This wasn’t a trap. DC-14 was in here.
And now. Thundersmite would stop him. Once and for all. He would bring justice to the red legion, and they would pay for everything that they had done.
He crept towards the door. Stealth wasn’t his style, but he decided to give it a try.
He crept towards the elevator. The red legionnaire was looking the other way. Thundersmite raised his hand and fired a bolt of electricity, throwing the legionnaire against a piece of debris and stunning him.
He looked at the legionnaire for a moment. How easy it could have been to kill him there and then. And how tempting it was as he remembered Sigma's death on the battlements of the silent citadel.
But he couldn’t. He convinced himself that DC-14 was the enemy. The red legion were just pawns.
He took a few more steps, and was hit by an incredible sense of déjà vu. He remembered the last time he was here. Cutting down the red legion guard outside the building, cutting a bloody swathe through the legionnaires inside, filled with rage for DC-14's murder of several hostages. And finally his duel with DC-14 in the office, killing him, and realising his invincibility.
Damn. If Déjà vu was water, he would be drowning.
Aerith took a step into the elevator, which was cunningly disguised as a piece of debris. As he went down, he thought. The DC project couldn’t have been the only illegal experiment held here. Where were the rest of them? Were they still alive/intact? Could they be as dangerous as DC-14? He threw those thoughts aside. DC-14 mattered now. Nothing else. He pressed the down button for the elevator, and waited.
From his previous attack on this base, he remembered that the lift took exactly eleven seconds to reach the bottom.
He closed his eyes, and counted.
"Eleven…ten…nine…"

DC-14 rubbed his eyes. He felt a bit better now; at least that medicine that beta-five had given him was doing its job. He could get up now.
He sat on the side of the bed, rubbing his eyes. How long had he been asleep?
"Never mind that." a little voice in his head whispered. "You have been planning this even before you were ill. Now do it!"
"But what if i…"
"Do it!"
He looked at beta-five, who was leaving.
"Err…Rebecca!"
She turned around. "Yes?" she asked.
"Um…seeing as I'm getting better…um…"
"Just say it you idiot!"
"Um…I wondered…once I get better…"
"SAY IT!!!!"
"um...never mind.
Beta-Five looked at him with a puzzled look on her face.
"erm...alright then. Ill see you later."
She opened the door, and walked away.
DC-14 held his head in his hands.
"someone kill me..."

"…six…five…four…"
Thundersmite opened his eyes, and lightning ignited in his palm.
"Three…two…one."
The doors opened, and he saw several red legionnaires, weapons in hand, patrolling the corridors of the base.
They turned to the lift, their faces turning from confusion, to pure, unadulterated terror.
Thundersmite raised his hand, and fired an arc of lightning, scything several legionnaires off their feet.
He slapped another open handed, sending him flying through a wall. Sirens began to sound; His lack of subtlety was going to make this harder.
He flexed his fingers, and continued into the base.

DC-14 was resting again.
Then the siren went off. His eyes flicked open, and he jumped to his feet, desperation giving him the energy he needed to get up.
"What the…"
He pulled his laptop towards him, and tapped in a code that would allow him to access the bases security cameras.
He looked through them, confusion on his face, until he looked at the one by the lift, where the confusion was replaced by shock.
"No…how did he…NO!!!!"

Beta-Five was daydreaming when the alarms sounded.
She shook her head, and looked up.
"What the hell?"
She drew her twin blades. They were mirrored, so she could reflect light into her opponents face.
"What's going on?" she yelled to a red legionnaire who was running past her.
"It's Thundersmite! He's found us!"
The red legionnaire continued on his way. Beta-Five was 60% sure that he was running from Thundersmite. He has gained a fearsome reputation in the red legion, second only to the shade himself.
She relished a rematch with him though.

Thundersmite threw the red legionnaire though a door. DC-14 had to be here somewhere…
He burst through another door. Most of the red legionnaires were falling back. He had only killed a few of them though. Better to let them rot in L.O.C.K.D.O.W.N. prison.
He looked around. No red legionnaires here. They obviously were scared of him. He felt almost flattered.
He took another step.
If he had not heard the door creak, he would have been killed where he stood. But something told him to duck, and he did. He felt the blade graze along his head, drawing a trickle of blood.
He whirled around, and saw a red legionnaire, in black armour instead of a red suit. It wore a black mask, and wielded a pair of blades.
It slashed again, Thundersmite ducked, and lashed out with his fist. The red legionnaire spun to the side and sliced his arm with its blade. Thundersmite sent another bolt of lightning towards the legionnaire. Once again, the legionnaire dodged it like it was nothing.
Damn it was fast!
He took a step back. He was so close now. This…whatever it was, would not stop him from bringing justice to the red legion. He lashed out with another punch. This time, when the red legionnaire dodged, he sent a bolt of lightning towards the legionnaire's skull.
It glanced the legionnaires face, sending it flying into a wall. It got up, and seeing that the mask was burnt and blackened, pulled it of their face, revealing long black hair, a pair of light blue eyes, and a complexion of hate. If it was not for the hatred in those eyes and look, her face would have been all but perfect. But it wasn’t her looks that surprised Thundersmite; it was the fact that he had seen that face before, falling to its death.
"Beta-Five." said Thundersmite. "I wondered if you survived the citadel raid."
She didn’t answer. Instead she lashed out again. Thundersmite was barely able to duck the strike again.
"You should not have come again Thundersmite. Now you die!"
She raised her blades. Thundersmite threw another punch, which she parried and sliced his arm once again.
"I've trained since we last met." she growled. "I'll wear you down and slice you apart!"
Thundersmite took another step back. She was too fast, but…
Beta-Five slashed again, this time Thundersmite sidestepped, and grabbed the blade. He winced as it sliced into his hand, but he held on.
Beta-Five attempted to pull the blade, but he had it tight in his grasp, it was sawing into his flesh though, and it hurt. A lot.
She smiled, and pulled the blade again.
In a fraction of a second, Thundersmite's mind was made up. He let go of the blade. Beta-Five didn’t expect this, and she fell back a few steps. She was disorientated for less than half a second, but that was enough. Thundersmite followed up with a shoulder barge, sending her flying into a wall.
She didn’t get back up.
He glanced at Beta-Five for a moment, and continued.

With shaking hands, DC-14 placed the clip into his pistol. He did not have the orb anymore. This, along with his weakened state, meant that Thundersmite could kill him with a snap of his fingers.
He hoped that his pistol would be effective enough.
He looked at the door, and aimed his pistol at it, still shaking.
Hold on. Shaking? He wasn’t THAT scared!
Looking at his hands again. They weren't shaking, they were…
Glowing.
DC-14 stared at his glowing hands with terror. Tiny arcs of black lightning began to dance from them, hitting the walls and desk, putting little scorch marks in their surface.
He could feel the power building up in his body.
It was…what…it…he hadn't felt like this since…since...
The blast hit him in the side, sending him crashing to the floor. Thundersmite's aim had been good. The Olympian Smasher ran in and grabbed DC-14 by the back of his neck, smashing him into the wall again, making sure any fight was knocked out of him. Thundersmite was usually relatively calm, but seeing DC-14 again made him angry.
"You should have died in the silent citadel!"
DC-14 looked up.
"…how did…you find me?!"
Thundersmite slammed DC-14 into the wall again. He was about to tell DC-14 of the shade, but then he decided against it. He had DC-14 alive. If he was able to contact other elements of the red legion, the shade could come under vicious reprisals. He wasn’t completely sure if the shade was friend or foe, but he didn’t wish that on him.
DC-14 was barely conscious. This puzzled Thundersmite. The blast he hit him with wasn’t very strong.
He looked at the wreck that was once one of his worst enemies, and began to drag him out of the door.

He got less than a kilometre from the facility. Right to the middle of the main street.
"Evening!" said the shade, wearing his actors mask, although this time it was a frowning face.
Thundersmite frowned, still clutching the semi-conscious DC-14.
"What the hell?!?"
The shade was flanked by several guards, armed with automatic pistols.
"Good work Thundersmite! I knew you could get him! I see you have cuts on your arms. Did you meet Beta-Five on the way?"
Thundersmite dropped DC-14. "What? What do you want?"
The shade gave him a look. "DC-14 of course. My men couldn’t take that facility. We needed you."
"I captured him so he could face justice! Not to hand him over to whomever you are!"
The shade swore under his breath.
"Fine. I suppose this will save me a bit of time later." He turned to his men.
"Kill him."
The guards opened fire. Thundersmite managed to dive behind a dumpster, and fired an arc of lightning back, blowing apart one of the soldiers.
The shade wandered into the crossfire, oblivious of the lightning and bullets being fired around him. He crouched at DC-14s body.
DC-14's eyes flickered open. As they settled on the shades face, he closed his eyes. He had given up.
The shade smiled. And in a flash of light, he, DC-14, and the surviving soldiers disappeared.
Thundersmite watched them disappear.
What had just happened? One of his worst enemies had just been taken away against his will, probably ending in something unpleasant for him.
So why did Thundersmite feel so uneasy?




Page: [1]

Valid CSS!




Forum Software © ASPPlayground.NET Advanced Edition
0.15625