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Post by Mostly Harmless (flufflepuff) on Sept 19, 2016 20:52:03 GMT -5
“I don’t understand it. You’re doing everything I told you NOT to do, and your ratings are rising like mad. I simply don’t understand it." Stan stroked his hash brown colored whiskers. “What do you need me for?” The not-harshness of his tone grated at Mizshu’s ears, reminding her further that she was directly under his thumb. There was no escape with him, just as there would be no escape from the government. “I...for general guidance and help with stage fright?” she squeaked. “But really the other heroes are not like you or my friends at the shelter say--they’re actually really really nice and I made friends with a few of them.” “Yes,” he drawled, “like the large firefly man who stumbled home stinking drunk. I saw him on the street. You’ll do well with him, I’m sure.” Mizshu suddenly thought her boots looked very interesting. “Just next time, you should just--” An obnoxious, shrill tune echoed in the room, and Stan opened his flip phone--an acquisition Mizshu didn’t dream laugh at, as she wasn’t terribly into technology herself. “WHAT? Oh, Ms. Kyoko I’m sorry, it’s been a long night and--” Stan’s stony face grew even stonier. “Right.” He flipped his phone shut without even so much as a goodbye. “Ms. Schumacher,” Stan addressed her with unusual formality. “We need to go. Right now.” *** Mizshu stood silently as she took in the scene. Mr. Sinclair did not look happy, and neither did the other heroes. No one spoke--no one could figure out why this happened, or why the who was among them. “This can’t be true! I...I’ll prove it! I’ll prove it somehow! Mr. Glitch is a good guy, honest he is! He...” Mizshu trailed off. If what he’d done was taken into account, if he really did steal the flash drive...that would only make the betrayal even worse. “Come on!” she encouraged, racing out of the room and easily ducking under the haphazard fence of caution tape. “Stand back as I look over the tape,“ she said with undaunted authority, only to be stopped by someone bigger than her. ”Whoa, kitten, this is no place for kids. You‘re going to have to leave right this second.” A gentle shove did not deter her. “Oh do let me try,” she tugged on the guard’s sleeve, milking the cuteness points for all they were worth. Normally, she wouldn’t do this, but in times of crises, Mizshu knew what to do to get her way. It worked, especially with the chance of other heroes coming to see, and Mizshu scurried on through to the security feed, kneeling on the rolly chair to make herself look taller. Mizshu peered at the camera frame, watching for any differences in the time skips. What sharp eyes children often have! “Keep going...slower, slower...” “Wait. Go back a little, if you please.” Mizshu squinted and pulled off her ‘hero’ mask, scrunching up her face in its newfound freedom. There it was, plain as vanilla ice cream, at least to her. “Oh no...it can’t be." Mizshu’s face fell. “What is it?" asked one guard. She pointed at the screen. “Do you see that? I know that sheen anywhere.” The security guards scratched their heads. There, on the control panel where the flash drive had disappeared mere seconds ago, was a handful of silver dust, just barely twinkling in the dim light. Mizshu removed a glove and shook its contents on one of the plants at her waist. It perked up and waved happily, full of the life and water it once lost upon being picked. “I’m safe to touch for now, but look at my hand.” She held it up high, and sure enough, it was was sheathed in the same light coating of silver. “It was awful kind of you to come out and confess, but your fun’s over.” A heavy hand clamped Mizshu’s tiny shoulder. Mizshu paled. “I didn’t do it!” she wailed. “I just know who did...” she trailed off, her eyes filling with tears despite strict orders for them to not to. ”Wait, I was only jo--” “After all I told...after all I asked...after all I trusted him with...” Mizshu’s tears were no longer of loss, but anger. "That UTTER BUTT!” Mizshu banged on the panel in a fury. Stan, Mizshu’s agent, is a butt. He gets a call from Mr. Sinclair’s assistant and he and Mizshu get back to HCN, which saves Mizshu from his berating. For now.
While there, Mizshu finds out exactly WHO took the secret flash drive of secret stuff and protests that wait it couldn’t be him she trusted him with a lot in between rounds that will be revealed later.
She runs to the camera to prove that it wasn’t Mr. Glitch but her gift from the previous round proves it is and she catches it. She sees stark evidence and breaks down.
However, after being jokingly accused, her sadness quickly turns to anger and her actions threaten to destroy even more government information. But can you really be in any sound state of mind when you find out you and your new friends have been badly betrayed?
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Post by June Scarlet on Sept 19, 2016 22:15:24 GMT -5
Beatrice Bizelli’s smartdevice went off with a sharp alarm. Was it an important alert straight from the top, calling her and her peers to hear an important briefing about a very dangerous situation and a terrible betrayal? No, it was just an email with a Gyro City coupon. Though that was a pretty good coupon, maybe she’d have to stop by and use it. Beatrice looked back up at the man she was sitting across. “You wanna swing by Gyro City later, James?” James shook his head. “Nah, I was going to head to uptown, see if maybe I could catch a few pics up there.” He lifted up his very expensive camera to emphasize his point. “Hm, I guess it’s a good a place as any to find someone in action. It’s sort of hard the first day, no one’s really set a pattern yet,” she shrugged, and took a sip of her milky coffee. “A lot of banks around there, good chance there could be a robbery. Better chance than here, at least” he countered, gesturing at the coffeehouse they were in. “Nah, it’s that kind of cliché by now? It’s not just the heroes who care about their image, the villains get into it too. Their costumes, their publicity, the rumors…” Beatrice trailed off, before looking her coworker in the eye. “James, do you think I’m just... a gossip columnist?” “What?” James set down his coffee. “No, Bea, of course not, why would you even say that?” Beatrice sighed. “I don’t know, it just seems kind of pointless sometimes. All the running around, trying to find out some tiny detail that the public doesn’t already know about the show, resorting to pointless filler when I can’t find anything good. It’s just, I wanted do to more. “It’s not just the heroes that want to change the world. I wanted to change the world too. I wanted to uncover secrets and piece together clues, I wanted to unmask villains just using my wits and good research, I wanted to feel like I what I did actually mattered.” James reached out to her. “It does matter. It’s just… it’s premier week, even the weatherpeople have to work the hero gossip into their weather reports. ‘Looks like it’s going to be a chilly one, bet those heroes will have to break out their jackets for the premier tonight.’ “But that doesn’t change who we really are. Just because I’m trying to take pictures of the heroes in action doesn’t nullify my degree in photojournalism, we’re just trying to give the people the news they want to hear. Next week, it’ll be back to normal for me.” Beatrice gave a wry smile. “Covering the show is normal for me. But yeah, you’re right, it’s probably just the premier getting to me. And, well, the rumors at work.” James shook his head as he stood up to leave. “Nah, as I figure it, our newspaper has been around since the founding of Heraclia, I figure there’s nothing that could bring it down at this point.” He slung his backpack over one shoulder. “Well, catch you later, Bea.” Beatrice gulped down the rest of her coffee. “Yeah, I’d better get going too. I thought I’d try my luck at the show Headquarters, at least until something better pops up.” James shrugged, “As good a plan as any,” and left. Beatrice gathered her things, and left as well, walking briskly until she found herself outside the Headquarters of the Hero City Network. Or at least within 100 feet of the entrance; the security was pretty picky about their space bubble around the place unless she was explicitly invited inside. She found a good vantage point across the street, and waited to see what would happen. Oh, by the way, Beatrice is a real person with real hopes and dreams of making the world a better place through her investigations. But who has time for that when there’s costumes to gossip about? Beatrice makes her way to outside the show’s HQ.
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Post by The Scrac that Smiles Back on Sept 19, 2016 23:23:26 GMT -5
I'm an adult arguing with what are clearly children.“Look, I’d love it if you would BOTH go to the concert with me! “NO!” resounded from the two other participants of the conference call. “I refuse to be in the same room as that witch!” her father yelled. “I feel dumber every moment spent in that weasel’s company!” declared her mother. “THEN YOU WOULD BE BRAIN DEAD BY NOW YOU-” Laima quickly interrupted her father “STOP WHAT ARE YOU FIVE-” she was interrupted by both parents hanging up. Tears welled up and she hung her head, thinking about the days before the divorce. About the same really, but with just a little less yelling. A cold nose pressed against her hand, and she looked up into the dark golden eyes of Ilesha, her large mixed breed dog. Laima smiled a little and pet Ilesha. She glanced over the tickets she’d received at the after party, it looked like she was going alone. Unless she called her brother? No, she wasn’t that desperate. Her smart device rang and she answered, frowning at the summon. She pocketed her tickets and took the train to HQ. Comet is on her way.
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Post by Reiqua on Sept 20, 2016 0:14:06 GMT -5
At the HCN headquarters, tension was high and faces grim as everyone struggled to come to terms with the magnitude of the disaster they were facing. The vast majority of Heraclians, however, remained blissfully unaware of the crisis that was about to rock their world. The citizens went sleepily about their day-to-day business with muffled yawns and shuffling feet – testaments to a thorough celebration of the Hero City premiere the night before. Miss Marković wrapped her coat more tightly about herself and stared out across the sea of bright red hats bobbing about the dull grey playground at recess time. One pair of children in particular caught her notice. On a low metal bench, Jo and Tim sat close together, staring intently at a tablet. Miss Marković could not help feeling that this was a most unlikely pairing. Notwithstanding Tim's apparent fear of 'girl-germs', the two children had very little in common. She walked casually towards the duo and stationed herself a short distance away, but well within earshot. There weren't many perks to playground duty, but it made sense to enjoy what few there were. Eavesdropping unashamedly on funny conversations between eight-year-olds was one such perk. “So how do you do that indent thing?” Jo was asking. “You use a block quote,” Tim explained. “So type in 'blockquote'... no space... and you put square brackets around it... yeah like that, and that'll make your text indented.” There was a pause as Jo tried it out, then “Hey it worked!” “Thanks so much Tim, you know everything! This'll be so great for what I wanted to put in my fanfic!” This was Tim's cue to show some polite curiosity. “What's your fanfic about?” he asked. “It's about Hero City” said Jo enthusiastically, “I post it on this site called HCWF... here I'll show you the first chapter.” A brief pause as she navigated her way to the writing she'd mentioned. “I wrote this last night after the Hero City premiere,” she said thrusting the tablet under Tim's nose. Miss Marković could only imagine that it must be rather short, and full of stray capital letters and misplaced punctuation. Jo was certainly above average at writing within the class, but any fanfic written by an eight-year-old would have to be truly horrendous. “Who's Sally-Mae?” Tim's voice asked in confusion, “is that a superhero I don't know...” “Oh, she's a character I invented,” said Jo seriously, “She's only twelve years old but she's been on Hero City since she was five, so she's a lot more experienced than most of the other superheroes. She can fly and turn invisible and read minds,” the girl explained, eyes wide. “She actually reminds me a lot of me...” she added. Tim accepted all this with a solemn expression. He turned his eyes back to the tablet where he had been reading, but Jo seemed too eager to let him read for himself. “So chapter one is about the premiere, because obviously Sally-Mae is really used to opening nights,” Jo was saying in a fast patter “but she read Mizshu's mind and found out that she had stage fright so she told her to be brave.” Jo reached a finger across Tim to swipe the tablet's surface, scrolling further down the page. “And look,” she said, “people leave me comments and reviews here.” “Who's flame_gurl13?” asked Tim, looking at one of the comments. “Oh, just some person,” replied Jo, her voice oozing contempt and bitterness. “She's really mean and she always says mean things about my fanfics.” Here Jo paused for a moment to give the pout-to-end-all-pouts. It couldn't last forever though, and she soon resumed her abuse of the unfortunate flame_gurl13. “She thinks she's so great just because she always gets more likes for her fanfics than me. But she only writes gross stuff about Eyescream man and Glitch and DUDE BRO. I mean, like, who wants to read that?” she added with a sneer. Jo's mood visibly lightened as Tim joined in deriding the fanfics of the unknown flame_gurl13. “Hey,” Jo said, her eyes alight with the sudden idea of something wonderful, “you should make an account and read my fanfic! Then you can like my posts! I mean, if you like them, of course.” Tim's subtle lack of enthusiasm at this prospect seemed to be completely lost on Jo. “Make sure you friend me,” she told him, “my username's purple_princess_17” definitely not an 'I got bored' post, nuh-uhMiss Marković is on playground duty, blissfully unaware of the crisis the city is facing. To relieve the boredom she eavesdrops on a conversation between two of her students. They are talking about Jo's latest fanfic on HCWF, which apparently involves a self insert Sally-Mae comforting Mizshu ( Mostly Harmless (flufflepuff) ) at the season premiere. Also Jo seems to have a fierce rivalry with a certain flame_gurl13 ( Avery ) over whose fanfic is more popular. Who'd a thought it?
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Post by Moni on Sept 20, 2016 0:28:28 GMT -5
Glitch was responsible for stealing that hard-drive full of secret research on mithium. Normally, Fireflyman was all right with the distribution of research knowledge, a notion impressed in him in no small part thanks to Dr. Faust. She'd always went on about how research should never be kept in secrecy, no matter how dangerous the object of that research was. This theft was one of information--and that information was likely dangerous, but since he'd had no contact with mithium (the amount allotted to public research was obliterated just as mithium crept into academia's eyeshot) it made it hard to see the danger of it all. "Sinclair," he said, turning to his boss. "What information, specifically, did this flash drive hold?" And, his brain reminded him, it was Timothy Hikes who stole it. That kid who never seemed to have much anchoring him to anything, really. His name was apt--a glitch, a mistake in some sort of program that was never intended by its creators. (Of course, using that metaphor tended to rile up Dr. Faust: "Don't give some sort of intention to the universe. That doesn't belong in any sort of science.") if Timothy had found stability with something else, then he would surely pursue it. The betrayal, if a bit surprising, made perfect sense to Fireflyman: it was not wholly shocking to see the unmoored sailor paddle to the nearest dock. He knew that well. What that new source of stability in Timothy's life was, he wasn't quite sure--and that was what made him fret the most. Glitch might have very well made the worst mistake in his life if he'd landed on the wrong isle. Still, Fireflyman couldn't help but feel at least a little sorry for him. "This can’t be true! I...I’ll prove it! I’ll prove it somehow! Mr. Glitch is a good guy, honest he is! He... come on!”Mizshu easily ran out of the room and through the caution tape to watch the footage of the actual theft; Fireflyman quickly followed. She was stopped by the guard standing watch over the scene of the crime, only to stun him with a sudden gusto of authority that knocked down his resolve. He let her through to watch the tapes. The girl jumped on the rolling chair, commanding the guard to slow down the tape and rewind just a little bit. She seemed to notice something in the footage that made her rip of her face mask. In the slowed down tape, Fireflyman saw Timothy's short, meek figure, a whiff of yellow over his head, and when he grabbed the flash drive out of its place, a small, silver sheen was all that was left. "Do you see that? I know that sheen anywhere." Mizshu flicked some of the silver grit that lined her hand and said, “I’m safe to touch for now, but look at my hand.”That was her healing dust--or poisonous dust, sometimes, he wasn't sure how that worked yet--that she gave to Hikes earlier, during the premiere of Hero City. Him having it while he was stealing something more important meant that he either used it and it didn't come off, or for some reason, he'd brought the pouch of healing dust with him. Fireflyman didn't put either possibility past Hikes. He and Zenith were always admittedly a little... reckless (as much as he hated to admit it), but considering it was his little girlfriend that had taken the dust from Mizshu, it was probably the former scenario. Just then, one of the guards made a motion toward Mizshu and laid a heavy hand over her. “It was awful kind of you to come out and confess, but your fun’s over.”"Isn't that a bit of an off-color joke of you to make?" said Fireflyman. Mizshu cried, and the guard floundered out an explanation: he was only--before Mizshu's tears of sadness turned into tears of anger. "THAT UTTER BUTT!" she screamed, banging the screen where Timothy was. "Hey," Fireflyman called out. "Don't assault the screen; it's done nothing. It's Timothy who's the utter butt. You gave him that dust to help him feel better, didn't you? He had been feeling a little sick earlier." He shrugged, choosing his words carefully: "It was the right thing to do, but Glitch... might have had something going on, and healing dust can't fix that. Sometimes the people you help aren't going to turn out to be the best." Speaking of unrooted kids... this one is much too trusting, he thought. No, no, I'll keep an eye on her to make sure she's fine.tl;dr: I AM THE QUEEN OF INTERNAL MONOLOGUING. BOW BEFORE MY POWER. Anyway, in the building, Fireflyman asks Shinko what information was stored on that hard drive in particular, and when Mizshu ( Mostly Harmless (flufflepuff)) comes he follows her inside and watches the tape with her, and then tries to give her a few "calming" words.
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Post by Shinko on Sept 20, 2016 7:34:59 GMT -5
Sinclair watched as the heroes gathered, his lips tightly compressed. Not all of them showed up, but that wasn't entirely surprising. Kizuna put a small toy likeness of himself on the CEO's desk, which knowing him was probably intended well, though Sinclair couldn't for the life of him fathom why this was the gesture the doctor opted to go for. Once as many people had arrived as were probably going to, Bill explained the situation the them. The response was not unexpected- shock, denial, anger... At Fireflyman's question, Sinclair quirked an eyebrow. "If I could answer that question, why would the research even be top secret? But I-" Mizshu's outburst cut him off, and Sinclair frowned at her sternly. Undaunted, she took off out of the room, seeming intent to prove Tim's innocence. Fireflyman's took off after her, and the company CEO could only slap his forehead- these idiots were always so impulsive." "Are you two quite done?" He called to them crossly once Fireflyman's had finished comforting Mizshu. "I would not be making accusations if I were uncertain, Mizshu. I've been doing this a long time, so I know from experience that sometimes, for one reason or another, heroes go bad. It's not fun, it's not pleasant, but it's reality. We can only deal with things as they are- idle speculations about Glitch's psychiatric state don't moot what he has done." Sinclair took a deep breath, then went on. "As for the flash drive he stole; I can't tell you everything that was on it. I am not at liberty to do that. Mihtium's capabilities are vast and still being explored. However, I can tell you one thing-" Here the CEO reached for one of his leather gloves- the one on his right side- and gently tugging it off. "The recent breakthroughs in prosthetic technology are entirely thanks to mihtium research." Sinclair held up his hand, palm up, to the heroes. A hand made not of flesh and blood, but of metal, wires, and circuitry. "You all know that until eight months ago, I only had a stump just below my shoulder left of the arm I lost thirteen years ago. I'd tried other prosthesis controlled by muscle pressure and sensors but never liked them. But this one, though it took me nearly five months of physical therapy to be able to control fully, is the closest modern science can get to recreating a real, functioning arm. Made of steel on the outside, it's wiring and skeleton are pure mihtium, as in all prosthesis of this type. And do you know why?" Sinclair's jaw clenched. "Because mihtium is the only metal which can conduct the electrical impulses carried by biological organisms nervous systems- a metal that is, in a manner of speaking, alive. If engineered right, as in my arm, it can be controlled directly by the brain. Consider, if you would, the ramifications of someone with no moral code learning those engineering methods, and producing weapons that they can manipulate by thought alone, as effortlessly as you-" He raised the pointer of his mechanical limb, "would lift a finger. And that's just one use, the most commonly known one." Revelation time! Sinclair talks to Kizuna, Mizshu, Fireflyman ( Draco Mostly Harmless (flufflepuff) Moni) and whichever other heroes haven't posted yet but want to retroactively say they were present, lol. He chastises Mizshu for thinking he'd make accusations if he wasn't certain, then addresses Fireflyman's question about the mihtium research. He can't fully explain everything on the flash drive (partially because Classified, partially because he's a television network CEO and not a scientist so doesn't really know himself). However he does go over something that's relatively common knowledge, explaining that mihtium, when engineered right, can be controlled directly by a person's brain. Also it turns out that yes, Celes was right, Sinclair's gloves are there for a reason. Namely, to cover up the hand of a cybernetic right arm, a replacement for one he lost in that accident that forced him to retire.
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Post by Moni on Sept 20, 2016 11:00:35 GMT -5
Fireflyman stared at his boss's arm as Sinclair explained to him one capability of mithium--and it was possibly the most ridiculous thing he'd ever heard. There was nothing special about the nervous system's action potentials that made them especially unique. Biological systems weren't created out of some special essence, and they didn't need some special element (and especially not an unstable heavy metal) to interact with. And elements, especially, were not "alive." Dr. Faust would have been livid at Sinclair's explanation. And Dr. Faust was always right. In a world with superspeed, living glitches in time and space, and children who produced mystical healing power, the concept of a living heavy metal was completely implausible and silly, of course. Those things had 100% scientific explanations. If anything, the engineering marvel of Sinclair's prosthetic wasn't the fact that mithium could conduct action potentials, but the technology used to properly link up everything properly to neuronal systems, possibly without rejection from the immune system. Perhaps mithium has properties to make that easier.With this premise, Fireflyman at least understood prosthetic. But producing weapons that could be controlled by thought alone needed more than just something attaching to your nervous system; if they were attached to existing motor neurons, they would replace the function and cortical area of the brain associated with it; and if you wanted to attach it to the brain directly, it would have to replace something else. Sinclair was probably obfuscating and simplifying the details until they meant nothing. Mithium was just implausible--impossible. (Had Fireeflyman thought of his own existence here, he would have perhaps fell into than existential crisis.) "Consider, if you would, the ramifications of someone with no moral code learning those engineering methods, and producing weapons that they can manipulate by thought alone, as effortlessly as you-" He raised the pointer of his mechanical limb, "would lift a finger. And that's just one use, the most commonly known one.". If mithium was as mystically powerful as Sinclair had claimed, and the government had stored critical engineering methods in that disk, it might have been a repeat of the discovering of the atom bomb, on a much smaller scale. Fireflyman had learned all about the intrigue surrounding the Manhattan project and its eventual leak from the United states to the Soviet Union, kickstarting a cold war between that lasted for generations, a war that could have wiped out the entirety of humanity on an unprecedented scale. Of course, in modern times, it was no secret, how to produce such a weapon--what really stopped humans from going after it were the resources they had to make it. And by regulating the resources required to produce a nuclear weapon of any power, humans had slowed down its proliferation throughout the world quite effectively, or at least, that was the conclusion Fireflyman had made during his government-mandated global politics class that aimed at making him understand the workings of human society. "Knowledge is one thing," Fireflyman said, "Capability is another. Mithium is a controlled substance, and at the very least, something should be done to make it less available in quantities that would allow Timothy to do anything with it. It should take some time for the thieves to crack whatever cybersecurity protocols the government had placed to protect that data, too." After the information on the drive was revealed, it would be useless to retrieve it; its information could be backed-up and copied at will if the villains at hand had half a brain in their heads, and Fireflyman had long thought past this point. "Do you know anything about who or what Hikes may be working toward? That might give us a good starting point." Fireeflyman, being a bit of a biologist, thinks Shinko 's explanation of the powers of mithium is full of malarkey. (Ignore the irony here.) Nevertheless, he plays along and offers a few questions and suggestions as to what can be done.
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Post by Celestial on Sept 20, 2016 11:01:01 GMT -5
Tabitha reached Sinclair's office as soon as she was able to, that was when the dress rehersals of La Traviata had wrapped up at the old threatre for the day and she had been let go. There were already quite a few heroes at the scene: Mizshu, Fireflyman and even Kizuna were already at the scene, as well as Sinclair, of course. Tabitha listened carefully as he explained the situation and remained fairly calm while doing so. Unlike, however, Mizshu, who ran out of the room, with Fireflyman chasing after her. She did raise an eyebrow when Sinclair revealed his cybernetic hand but his explanation on the properties of the mithium that it contained did not surprise her much. Her mother had told her as much when she had discussed her research, or at least what she was at liberty to discuss. That was just one of many extraordinary properties that mithium had, and she did not need to imagine what it could do in the wrong hands. "Thank you, Mr. Sinclair, for the information," Tabitha nodded, her arms folded in front of her while her umbrella hung off her wrist. "That is certainly grave news indeed. If it was Timothy, given his powers, we have a good deal of trouble on our hands if we want to catch him and recover the flash drive," she tapped her finger against her elbow. "There is, however, something I wish to discuss with you, Mr. Sinclair, which might be pertinent to this case." She strode closer to Sinclair, lowering her voice to get more privacy. "Master Hikes came to the premier yesterday, this you know. However, backstage, he was met by someone who he introduced as a girlfriend. He certainly seemed infatuated with her, far more than she was with him. He had never mentioned her until now. She, however, gave me a strange feeling. She was twitchy, avoidant, seemed rather scared to be in a room with so many heroes. When Zenith asked to take a photo of her, she allowed it very reluctantly," Tabitha's lips thinned. "I only have my intuition to go on but I think this young lady is somehow involved. Her name was Natasha Lee or so she claimed. Zenith has a photograph of her, which should be faster than us describing her. Even if she is innocent, she might help us find Master Hikes." With that said, Tabitha stepped away, bowing her head slightly to her boss. "I understand that looking for him is the most pressing matter at the moment, because if we find him, we're likely to find the drive. However, with all due respect, I think it is vital that the mithium research facility knows about this too. I'll go over there now," with that, she reached into her coat and pulled out a slim black phone. Tabitha smiled. "Goodness knows, my dear mum will be so happy to see me. Good day, Mr. Sinclair. Do not worry yourself, we'll sort it out." She strode out of Sinclair's office, scrolling through her phone for her mother's contact details (between the Hero City cast, her threatre collegues, friends, ex-friends and former lovers, Tabitha just had far too terribly many numbers saved) but just before she could dial, she went past the room where Mizshu and Fireflyman were. Mizshu was banging on the screen violently while a security guard hovered over her. Tabitha's eyes narrowed and she walked in, tapping the security guard on the shoulder. "Excuse me but would you not bother the poor child? She has suffered enough already and we all know who did it: Timothy Hikes. Now, would you kindly find some other business to attend to?" she looked past him and smiled towards Mizshu. "I know this has got to be hard, sweetheart, especially if you were so nice to Tim earlier only for him to turn around like this. It is not your fault, however; you did not know." She kneeled down, putting her hands on the girl's shoulders. "Maybe there's something else going on here and Tim did not mean to do it. We can only find out when we bring him back, can't we? Maybe he'll still have the flash drive he took? So perhaps you could try to help find him?" the woman brushed a lock of hair from Mizshu's head. "And no blaming yourself, alright? That will help no-one." Once the girl was somewhat comforted, she turned back to Fireflyman. "You seem sensible, Mister...Fireflyman, is it? Would you be ever so kind as to take care of her and make sure she does not get into any trouble? While you are at it, try to find out where Master Hikes has gone. I highly doubt he has left the city," she stood up and tipped her hat. "I'm going to pay a visit to my dear mother." With that, Tabitha plucked the phone out of her pocket and strolled out of the room, finally dialling the number. It rang for a few moments before a sleepy voice answered. "Hello, who is this? Are you aware how early you are calling?" "I am, mum. Hello to you too, and by the way, it is already morning," Tabitha replied, smiling as she walked down the corridors of the HCN building towards the exit. "We have a situation I thought I should let you know about: a flash drive with a lot of mithium research on it has been stolen." There was silence on the other end. "Oh. How dreadful," there was a rustling of blankets. "Well, I best let everyone else know. Is your lovely boss sending anybody?" Tabitha grinned. "Glad you asked, mum. I'll be coming over to help with security at the lab. Does Jeffery still work at the entrance?" "Oh yes, darling, though he's close to retirement. I'll let him know you're coming over," there was the sound of kissing on the other end of the line. "I love you. Hurry up. I'll bring biscuits." "Thank you, mum," Tabitha replied before hanging up and stepping outside, heading for the train station to get to the research facility. Tabitha arrives to respond to Bill Sinclair's( Shinko ) call and listens attentively while he explains the situation and mithium's properties. She tells him her suspicions about Natasha before suggesting that she ought to go see to security in the laboraty, since her mum works there. On the way, she stops to comfort Mizshu( Mostly Harmless (flufflepuff) ) and tells Fireflyman( Moni ) to look after her before rushing out and calling her mum. Stay tuned for the next post, where we meet Constance!
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Post by Jayeee on Sept 20, 2016 12:12:44 GMT -5
“I’m always ready for adventure,” BROVERINE™ announced to the cameras as he stood outside HCN and brooded in the early morning sun. His usual costume of white and gold was instead replaced with yellow spandex. Just as tight-fitting though. “I can smell danger from a mile away, because i’m totally dark and mysterious like that. Even if this city hates people like me, who have no place in society-,” he paused to allow a manly tear to fall, “I’ll always be here to protect it. Because that’s what I do.” He pulled at the costume absent-mindedly; maybe it was a little too tight after all. BROVERINE™ pointed behind him gruffly. “Got the call from Billy a little earlier, and raced over to find him. But I’ll always make a little time for the fans first.” In truth, he’d been sleeping after that epic night with Fireflydude. Who knew that glowing insectoid bros could have such a great time? A fact he would be sure to remind his new sidekick of frequently. When he woke up, he felt different somehow. Like, he needed something other than the white and gold. Something mournful and deep. Obviously neon yellow spandex was the answer for that. And thus a new chapter in the DUDE BRO™ saga had begun. With a final nod at the cameras, he sped into the building and headed for Billy’s office, just in time to hear the explanation of the situation, including a revelation unbeknownst to BROVERINE™ - that Billy’s arm was totally not real. “You must be lying, bub.” He paused for a second. “Wait, can we cut? I need to rework that catchphrase there. Doesn’t sound authentic enough.” He took some time to pace back and forth across the room seriously - this completely original and unique character he’d thought of needed some fleshing out first, but at least he had the sulking walk down perfectly. “Okay,” BROVERINE™ said at last, standing back in his original position at the front of the small cluster of heroes. “ACTION!... You must be lying, bro.” Perfect execution, if he did say so himself - unlike that test catchphrase, the kids would be adding bro to the ends of their sentences for years to come, and all because of him. BROVERINE™ raced around Billy at high speed, poking both his fake arm and real one at different points. “Can confirm: one of them is totally fake, bro,” he declared eventually with a factual nod. He folded his arms and glared at everyone around the room darkly as they fired questions at Billy. He even tried not to cower in fear when the high-class woman spoke to Billy privately and then left, because BROVERINE™ never experienced fear! He did feel boredom though, and had become so used to picturing Billy as a hot blonde woman to make meetings easier on the eyes that it had almost become natural for him to do so. So when the heroes had had time to calm down a little and digest the information they’d just been told, he didn’t even give it a second thought to add, “That was a killer story, baby.” “... I mean sir… I mean bub… I mean bro!” He hastily corrected. That was a nice save - well handled. “So what exactly do you want me to do?” BROVERINE™ asked after raising his arm in the air. There were thick lines of permanent marker up both of his arms to create the effect of hair. “Because i’m totally the awesomest there is at what I do, but what I do isn’t very killer in the thinking department.” BROVERINE™ grunted angstily in Billy’s direction. “Give me orders that i’ll rebel against as I constantly reminisce over a tragic past and then turn up in five different places at once!” Oh yes, this character was developing nicely. I was totally wasted after last night like, ZZZZZZ! But then there was an emergency and I got the hero call like, MAYDAY!I arrived after coming up with a killer new character like, BROODINGMAMMAL! And then Shinko showed me his fake arm like, ROBOCOPHERO!I asked Billy to give me instructions in a totally mopey way all, BUBBRO!
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Post by Tiger on Sept 20, 2016 13:22:27 GMT -5
Maxis Designs (Incorporated) had done quite well for itself in Heraclia. If the mere fact that it had designed much of the technology and aesthetics behind the city’s elevated train system wasn’t enough for someone to just infer its success, the company owned a building in the prestigious Upper Districts - and not just the Upper Districts, but the Waterfall Upper District. It wasn’t one of the buildings tucked into the center, either - but nearer to the edge, so if one was high enough, they could look out a window and see over the guardrails to look down on the lighted city below, and the fire-colored mountains beyond.
The view was even better from the roof.
Sitting with her booted feet swinging over the edge, a short, somewhat stocky figure in some sort of cloak and hood enjoyed the best view of Heraclia. The building itself was just trivia - a wealth of facts to add to her already prestigious collection. And a nice place to sit. Not for long, or she would be caught - and how unfortunate that would be for whoever caught her.
The volume on her earpiece was turned low, but she could just make out the rerun of the Hero City premiere. Heroes. Villains. They made this city interesting, even exciting - but she wasn’t one of them. She wore a theatrical costume, yes - a royal-blue robe trimmed with repeating gold designs and a scarf of both colors wound around the lower half of her face - but there was more to being a superhero or supervillain than that.
The woman considered herself… perhaps not quite above the separation of superhero and supervillain...but definitely indifferent to it. Certainly apart. Her priorities weren’t related to saving the day, not really, but they weren’t dedicated toward ruining it, either. Not really.
A little trilling beep on her earpiece announced the detection of more interesting news. The woman tilted her head as a bit of a report came in. “ - alarms began going off around one in the morning. William Sinclair, CEO of Hero City Network, is believed to be on the scene, but according to guards around the studio headquarters, he has no comment at this time. All non-hero access has been denied. More on this story, as it develops.”
With a light tap to her ear, the woman muted the earpiece. So it had finally started - she’d wondered what Iskender and his little team of four had been waiting on. Curiosity killed the cat, she thought with amusement. But of course, “satisfaction brought it back.”
She tapped her fingers against the open lid of the box beside her. This box and its many-sized siblings were her trademark; royal blue with gold trimming, rather simple in shape. Her smallest had been mistaken for music boxes, until the recipient realized there was no mechanism for winding. They usually assumed jewelry box at that point. They were wrong, then, too. Much to her amusement.
She could just imagine the looks on Bill Sinclair and Iskender’s faces when they each found one of those little boxes in the top drawers of their desks. They would probably waste time having them inspected - as if she would just leave explosives or poisons or the like. This time. It wouldn’t be much fun that way.
Perfectly harmless, confusing little boxes - with even more confusing little instructions inside.
Now that the crisis with the espionage was starting to wind down, the supervillains’ cat and the superheroes’ CEO might find their little gifts any time now - and in that case, she wanted to be ready. The woman gave the lid of her box a gentle shove - it fell shut, and before the slam could even begin, Pandora and her box vanished like smoke from the rooftop.
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Post by icon on Sept 20, 2016 13:59:26 GMT -5
CLICK TO OPEN CHATLOG * * *
“...And left on Key Summers, and we should be coming up on the HQ before too long,” Wax shouted from the sidecar. “You’ll probably have to go around the block to look for parking, you know how they are about security, but Moss should be fine with his board.” “Yeah, I’ve got you,” Erica replied, glancing over. “Is anybody else on their way over, do you think?” “I don’t know, to tell the truth,” Wax said with a smile. “The radio station said that all non-hero access has been cut off, but you know how people are about being nosy and sticking around—case in point, us. And hey, even if we can’t get studio access, you can use this time to follow some heroes and get footage for Rewind.” “You know prime heroing hours aren’t generally until late afternoon, Wax.” “Yes, and I also know that my Chitter feed has been blowing up about the throwdown between Zenith and Nyx Nightshadow yesterday afternoon, which could have been a prime chance for some footage,” he retorted with a chuckle. “Doesn’t count as part of the season if it’s before the opener,” Erica said, gritting her teeth against the cold air. “Pre-season footage, then. Oh, look, here we are,” he said as they pulled up to the street opposite the headquarters. “Moss and I can get out, you should go park Iggy before that security guard starts coming over. Meet you back here once you’re done!” As Moss helped Wax get out of the sidecar, he looked around—despite the report, there were still a smattering of journalists outside trying to bring news vans up. The security guard at the front door was already starting to look nervous. Wax watched Erica drive off, then he glanced at the gathering crowd and noticed a familiar face. “Beatrice! Beatrice Bizelli!” He waved. “Great to see you—I heard you were at the premiere last night, though we must have missed each other. I have to say, I read your article last week about HCN's security policies—great stuff.” Wax wheeled himself over the sidewalk toward the fellow journalist and offered her his hand. “Are you here for the breaking news about the studio as well?” Chatlog funtimes abound as the MASK network staff show just how professional an organization they really are (read: probably less than anyone would like to admit). It turns out that some of the city's journalists are heading over to HCN Headquarters due to the breaking news report, even though not that much information has officially been released yet. Wax and Moss are currently outside of HCN HQ trying to talk to Beatrice Bizelli ( June Scarlet ), Erica is nearby but split from the party because parking in metropolitan areas.
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Post by Shinko on Sept 20, 2016 16:53:05 GMT -5
Oswald had enjoyed spending time at the Hero City premier with Natalie, though mindful of the fact that it was a school night for her he took care to bring her home in time to get a good night's sleep. He of course heard the reports on the news the following day about the alarms at the HCN building, and was concerned about his father. But he knew better than to try to press Bill about it- company secrets were secrets from everyone, after all. If Ossie needed to know something, he was confident he would be told. Instead he decided to tag along with Bill's wife Anna to surprise Moriah when they picked her up from school- she'd been in trouble the night before and not allowed to go to the premier, but nobody said she had to stay home a second day in a row. And there was a certain concert in the offing he figured she might enjoy. While they were on the train, he fiddled with his phone. Ossie was pretty active on Chitter, using his account to talk to fans of Birds Eye on Science. He even went by his real name there, which of course brooked some curiosity ("That Sinclair? Nah, you must be a phony.") Just now, however, he wasn't talking about his cartoon show, but checking the updates from the night before of MASK- a group he followed because he found their rather blatant Hero City fansquealing entertaining- and he also commented periodically, just to see if and how they'd react. "Os, we're almost there," Anna said, catching his attention. He closed the Chitter app on his phone and grinned at his step-mother. "I hope Nat doesn't get too jealous," he remarked. "She got to go to the Hero City premier last night," Anna pointed out. "Letting Moriah have this is only fair." "True. But you know teenagers have a skewed sense of 'fair.'" Anna quirked an eyebrow. "Technically you are still a teenager yourself." "Ack!" Ossie put a hand to his chest. "I'm hit! Dead in the black- but I like to think my dashing charm and exquisite maturity make up for that." He waggled his eyebrows, earning a cuff over the head. The train finally stopped at the station near Natalie and Moriah's Catholic school, and Anna and Ossie got off. Their timing was perfect. Just as they got to the front of the school building, the bell rang to signal the end fo the school day. Within a few moments the Sinclair twins appeared, and Oswald rubbed his hands together excitedly. "Say Momo," he chirped when they drew near. "What do you say to and adventure? Just you and me." He plucked the tickets to the concert out of his pocket and swished them about in the air. Ossie is on the train checking Chitter. He sends a message to MASK ( icon ) because he is a bit of a troll like that, then he arrives to Moriah's school ( Avery ) and invites his baby sis to go to the Queen's concert with him. I'll post again with Bill later, just want to give other people time to address him, ahaha.
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Post by ♥ Azzie on Sept 20, 2016 17:00:30 GMT -5
(Earlier...) "IT'S THE FI-NAL COUNT-DOWN~" SMACK!"New message from: HCN Office! Read message?" Oh. Not an alarm. Karo Sullivan sat up slowly. "Read message," they confirmed, rubbing their face with their palm. "Your presence is needed at HCN Headquarters there's been a. Security breach please come immediately." The cool voice read off in its jerky computerized voice. Karo groaned. What time was it, anyway? They sighed and climbed out of bed. "Alright. Reply "On my way." Send message." "Message sent!" replied the phone cheerfully. Groaning, Karo slipped on their suit and grabbed a granola bar on their way out the door. There might be people on the train, sure, but Dynamic was too tired to care, and certainly too tired to pack a bag with their suit in it to take with them. Fortunately the train, while not completely empty, was sparse enough that Dynamic could grab a seat in the back and sit there dozing until their stop. When they arrived at HCNHQ, the atmosphere was chaotic. People were rushing about, and Dynamic heard a yell from somewhere. Still, it was easy to find the center of the action: a clearly-tense Bill Sinclair, surrounded by a few of the other heroes. They arrived in time to hear that it was a hard drive that had been stolen, and it had something to do with mihtium; they were about to ask for more information, when Bill took off his glove and revealed his prosthetic. It's amazing! Dynamic marvelled at its construction, at how easily it moved. They were so enthralled that they almost missed the explanation of how it worked. That brought them back to their senses; mihtium did sound incredibly dangerous in the wrong hands. They sighed. They were incredibly tired... but this was important. They headed for the exit, intending to go search for the culprit, when they overheard Tabitha Kingsley on the phone. When she had finished, Dynamic stepped into the hallway. "Excuse me, but I couldn't help overhearing. If you're interested in some company, I'd love to come along. I'm not sure how helpful I can be, but it never hurts to have an extra hand along, does it?" Karo gets woken up by the call for help, and drags themselves along for the briefing. On the way out, they hear Celestial on the phone, and ask if they can tag along with her.
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Post by Dju on Sept 20, 2016 17:12:04 GMT -5
Losing track of time did not feel the same to Timothy Hikes as it would to others. If he was not paying attention, his surroundings would stray from his focus and dissolve into a swirl of sounds and images that had no respect for order or sense. To lose track of time was the equivalent of being carried by a dream. A dream of memories that twist and turn into a blur, full of echoes of words that had been said to him, until he could no longer be sure if they were real memories or just illusions. "I'm sure it can only get better if you keep going." Zen’s voice repeated. It stood out amongst all the disconnected sounds that were filling his ears at the moment. I’m trying to, Zen, he thought, I swear it. Timothy opened his eyes and tried to drag himself back to the present. Where am I now?He rubbed his eyes and blinked – he found himself sitting on a bench at Heraclia’s Central Station park, his loyal bicycle standing beside him. He took a deep breath and checked his watch, it said: “Lunch break. Sort of, I guess.” Timothy then pulled out his small notebook – or better, his log diary- and checked his annotations. Until the last two days, each page carried was neatly organized with his routine and whereabouts, but the most recent entries were nothing but shambles of scratched words and annotations that made little sense to him. The last days were a mess. Trying to look past his disappointment, he turned to a new page and noted down the current time and his location. “It can only get better if you keep going,” he quoted Zen. “SO I’ll give myself a fresh start.” Below the new log, he wrote: He paused at that last note. The powder. What happened to it?He searched his backpack, but he could not find the package she had so kindly given to him. He did notice however, that that were some bits of silver powder on his hands. He carefully examined it and smiled at how beautiful it shone. The nosebleeds stopped since I used it. Thank you, Miszhu.
But still – where did the rest of it go? It slipped his mind. He couldn’t even remember using it in the first place. But that was a problem for another time, there was something he needed to do first. Putting down his notebook, he reached for his phone. At first he thought about typing, but... ...the letters feel so cold. He instead started a recorded message: All right – let’s consider this the end of a really, really bad episode of...whatever this is. The worse must be through by now and it’s time to focus on the present. The boy then picked up his bike, settled his backpack and went on his way through the park. He could not remember how he walked himself there, but the reason why was quite clear: the park was his refuge. Amongst the tall trees and water fonts, it was easier to shut out the world and dive into one’s own counscious – it was a place where Time seemed to pause naturally. After walking a few minutes in the same direction, Timothy eventually reached Heraclia’s city center by the end of the park – the bustling crowds in the street, however, did not frighten him. Much on the contrary: the sight of so many people enjoying their breaks was considerably entertaining. They appreciate the Time they’ve got. I should learn from them.He watched laughing businessmen loosening their ties, students picking up their lunch, children enjoying their parents and vice-versa. It was simply life at its finest hours, and it comforted him to be part of it in a way. Tabitha was right – the show goes on. It never stops, so I just have to-“Timothy Hikes?” He heard someone call. In his direction came walking three large men, all in black suits. “Timothy Hikes.” The one in the middle said, “may you accompany us?” The man signaled to a black car parked by the road. “Who are you?” Timothy asked. “We just want to talk, Mr. Hikes.” The man explained. “There’s been a problem, but we just want to listen to what you have to say about it.” Tim took a few steps back. “We just want to talk.” He repeated. “We can help you.” “Don’t need any help, mate.” “There’s been a problem with HCN. We need to sort it out, or else you’ll be in trouble.” HCN. I was at the HCN this morning. I remember.
“I-I don’t...I don’t know why I...” He stumbled. I did something wrong.
It didn’t matter now, the men were no match for him. He hoped on his bike, sped himself up – and just like that, disappeared into the bustling streets of Heraclia. After sending a message to Liou, Timothy Hikes has to deal with the consequences of his little adventure at Hero City Network
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Post by Reiqua on Sept 20, 2016 17:32:56 GMT -5
Miss Marković suppressed a smile at Jo and Tim's conversation. She had a hunch that she would find herself looking up a fanfic by a certain purple_princess_17 that night - from a purely professional viewpoint, of course! It was always important for a teacher to be aware of how her pupils' writing was developing. Just then, Tyler Schmidt's new song about his latest break up started blaring from the PA system, signalling to the children that play was about to end and they should get ready to head back to the classrooms, ready for learning. Miss Marković made a quick detour to the staff room to set down her mug, and bumped - quite literally - into Mrs Taylor who was scurrying out of the staffroom with a harried look on her face. "Andrea! Have you seen this?" she asked, ignoring Miss Marković's apologies and instead thrusting a tablet towards her. Miss Marković glanced quickly at the Fuzzbead article on the screen and her expression of mild curiosity was replaced immediately by a look of utter shock. Miss Marković sees a headline that seems to shock her
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