Lives Lost In Time: Chapter 3
Interlude the 1st: Timeless Promises
The voice was a silken caress across his flesh as he slept, whispering “You have done well my disciple. Have I not given you everything I have promised? Have you not destroyed your rivals? Have not your enemies died beneath your feet, screaming?” The doctor twitched restlessly, his eyes darting beneath closed eyelids. The long, delicate fingers of a surgeon bunched handfuls of sheet by his sides as he dreamed on. “Yet even now you have failed me, failed your benefactress, your true Mistress!”
A quiet whine escaped from bloodless lips as the sweat-soaked body on the bed jerked as if struck by invisible whips.
“This magic you call science is but a wan reflection of the power I offer you. You have but tasted of the glorious power I can give to you! Your heart and soul belong to the Mistress. You are filled with the darkness you dance with and that darkness is my home. The shadows between your desires are my hunting ground.” The voice inside the mad doctor’s brain grew sibilant with menace, the razor-edged words slicing across his mind.
“Do not disappoint me.”
Lives Lost in Time Chapter 2
Please note: As with earlier stories, while the characters in this story are original, they exist within and were created for the City of Heroes/City of Villains MMORPG copyright NCSoft and Cryptic Studios. It’s their world, they just let me play there. Enjoy!
Chapter the 2nd: Where there’s smoke…
“I’m tellin’ ya, nothin’! I don’t know nothin’!”
“Then tell me who does” Spyker hissed at the Skull gangbanger. For good measure she bounced his head off the wall once more. The Skull’s feet scrabbled fruitlessly as she held him a couple of inches off the ground. “I can do this all night, you gutterpunk. And I’ll enjoy it right up until your brains splatter out and I have to go find some of your friends by myself.” Her balled fists twisted into the lapels of the cheap leather jacket the punk wore, Spyker shook the skeleton-masked man once more.
“A’right, a’right a’ready!” screeched the punk. “There’s a guy that knows a g… OW!”
“If I wanted fairy tales I’d go to the movies! Last chance.”
“Okay! Jeezus! Ask for Bonebreaker over in the Gish. He moves around a lot. I’m tellin’ ya!” the punk yelled as Spyker shook him once more, “He doesn’t let anyone know where he hangs. Over in the Gish, the Gish I swear!”
Spyker let the power within her begin to seep through the leather wrappings around her forearms. The ebony energy looked like a cross between black flames and dark grey, sooty, smoke. The Skull’s eyes widened as he felt the hungry fingers begin to creep toward his face.
“Wha the! Hey, no! I told ya!” he screamed as the dark cloud covered his head.
Spyker dropped the unconscious punk to the ground. The police band beacon, a “chirper” in the lingo, she set by his feet. The PCPD should arrive long before the Skull and his buddies regained consciousness. Spyker faded back into the shadows, the black tiger-strip camouflage on her dark orange catsuit blending her outline into the night’s cool darkness. She headed slowly toward the park she knew was nearby, staying to the shadows while she thought her way through what she’d learned.
Rumors had been circulating about a new type of villain terrorizing the streets of Paragon City. Not that there was a shortage of evil-minded freaks wandering about after the Rikti invasion. There was also no shortage of new heroes as well thanks to the incredible energies released during the Rikti War. Many had formed teams and even groups, but Spyker had avoided them. Her single-minded mission hadn’t seemed to leave much room for working with other heroes. Yet, she knew other heroes might have information sources she did not. She had been a loner for so long, she wasn’t sure how to approach these other superheroes. For now, she had another goal in mind. Homeless people had been disappearing. It wasn’t as if the city kept accurate records on the homeless, but several of Spyker’s sources had reported friends and acquaintances going missing. Worse than that, she had seen copies of several police and forensic reports where bodies had been found, or rather pieces of bodies had been found. Few of the victims had been identified since DNA-style identification was mostly useless; the homeless rarely had occasion to have DNA typing done. In every case the police had been unable to positively identify the victim. More disturbing than that was the information that hadn’t made the papers: in many cases the body parts found together didn’t belong to just one individual.
Lives Lost In Time: Chapter 1
Please note: As with earlier stories, while the characters in this story are original, they exist within and were created for the City of Heroes/City of Villains MMORPG copyright NCSoft and Cryptic Studios. It’s their world, they just let me play there. Enjoy!
Chapter the 1st: The Time Before
“DAD!” Elektra Duras screamed as she leapt up from her sweat-soaked sheets.
She was halfway to the door before her conscious mind reasserted itself and reality spun away the fibers of her nightmare. She fell to her knees, the terrible images still so real inside her head: the awful smell of the laboratory as the black flames roared hungrily through shattered glass beakers and test tubes. The heat was terrible; she could feel it beating against her, but somehow inside her skin rather than outside. Even now she could still feel the twisting agony echoing within her, just as she had first felt it racing through her father’s office door only to be engulfed in darkness. Read the rest of this entry »
The Boss’ Daughter
[ The caveats: First, this story is based upon characters created for the MMORPG from NCSoft City of Heroes and the City of Villains addition. The names of locations and non-player characters from CoH form the backdrop for this story. Carla and Sergio are characters a friend and I created. There is no intent to infringe upon CoH or NCSoft in any way, just to write what is essentially a fan fiction piece. Second, it's also terribly stereotypical in the vein of old gangster movies. This is not intended to offend anyone, that's just the way we played the characters. I apologize in advance.]
“Ey Carla. Ya mind pointin’ dat blamed Gatling gun da other direction?”
The beautiful young woman standing beside the long black sedan pointing the barrel of a truly huge weapon at the dark figure behind the passenger window did not appear to hear the question. The sound of the slide ratcheting back was loud in the silence.
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