Random picture

Saw this, and just though I should share it.

Good night everyone! Catch you on the flip side.

The Dragonborn Comes

Let's start today's post with a video, shall we? Have a listen.

I was searching earlier today for music from the game The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim and I found this video. The user, malufenix is amazing and does so much for this song. I especially love how she ended the song. I wish the bards in the game sang as well as she does in this video.

Not really much else to post about today. I start my new job here in a few hours. I need to head to bed soon. This will be a change for me as I normally don't sleep until a few hours from now. Having to wake up at 6 am will take some getting used to. I'm not really worried about the commute. In fact, any excuse to spend more time in my car I enjoy. Gives me time to enjoy her!

The biggest change for me will be having to get used to not seeing or talking to my girlfriend every day. Being in a long distance relationship, communication is very important. And as she is 8 hours ahead of me, it makes our talking time very limited (ex. The time I'm at work, is the time she is at home. By the time I get home, it's past mid-night) so we will have to rely heavily on emails, video messages and the like.

It's going to be hard. I think harder for her. While I will have a job to have my mind focused on, she will be at home. And while this is only temporary (a year or so) it's going to be a very hard year. On the other hand, if we can make it though this, then I feel we have a very good chance of making it against anything else that may come up. So, I guess I can look at this as a test for our relationship.

....I hate tests. I'm happy I have a job, but sad too. If I had my way, I'd be at home speaking to my girlfriend. But this world runs on money. And with unemployment being harder to upkeep, and not sure if I will have a paycheck after so many months, I need something stable. So this will provide me with money for savings, and for our future together.

I'm reminded of a story my history teacher told us. It was high school and this teacher, Mr. G was my favorite teacher. He told us of a story about a farmer, and his family. The farmer had corn, and each year they would keep some and sell the rest. But, the farmer wanted a new tractor, so he could grow more corn and provide more for his family. But in order to do so, that would mean less corn for the time being for the family. So there were some days during the winter months where they had to go without, but in the end he saved enough money for the tractor, and was able to provide for his family.

That was a round about way of saying, good things come with a price. A minor setback now can provide positive growth in the future. Yes, this will be hard but we will be better off in the end after this all. Remember, they never said it would be easy. They only said it would be worth it. She is worth it. And I feel that our future together is worth it.

Good luck out there for you guys. Find your tractor. It's going to take work, some pain and tears but in the end, you will have what you want. We just need to find the strength in ourselves to make it though this hard time.

Cat's outta the bag! And into the sink?

Awww kittens... They can be so much fun.

He... can't... see... me...

My cat, Charisma's newest thing to do is to jump up in the sink. Any sink. My bathroom sink, the kitchen sink. My roommates sink. Worst one is the roommates sink. The faucet leaks and she rubs herself against it, getting her backside and tail all wet. Then she enjoys jumping up on me to get me wet as well. Ah, so much fun.

Yes, I have a new roommate. I mention something about it a few posts ago but didn't go into detail. He's an injured military vet/gamer. So he's right up my alley. Actually we met though a good friend of mine and he joined our weekend gaming group. He plays a wizard in the party and is a blast to play with. He also plays MMO's and has a PS3, which is the reason for my latest addiction, Skyrim.

Speaking of Skyrim, I'm in love with that game. Really. It's a blast to play. I don't think I've ever been so into an Elder Scrolls game as much as I have with Skyrim. I really enjoyed Marrowind back in the day. Oblivion I didn't really care for. Not sure why, I just didn't really get into it. I remember working for the Dark Brotherhood but that's really all I did. In Skyrim, I'm playing a Nord warrior, and sticking mostly to good quests. My friends tell me that I can do all the bad ones as well but I really enjoy role playing on there. Even though no one else can see it, I've had a blast creating my own story in my mind. I even got married, and my wife is also a warrior woman. Actually, we just finished slaying a giant, his mammoth pet and a dragon that wanted to eat said mammoth. Good times.

So, what else? Oh yeah. I just got a job! Yeah, I can't believe it either. Kinda happened out of the blue but there it is. And it's a preschool teacher job, and I may be working with my old boss which will be great. We got along really well before so it should be fun. I start Monday and while I'm nervous, I'm excited to be part of the job force again.

So, that's that really. No gaming this weekend as it's my buddies and his wife's birthday. Yeah, they share the same birthday. I guess that's one day of hers he'll never forget!

Until next time, dear readers!

Meet the Cast: The Dusk Man (FINALLY)

Hello and welcome to the long awaited third installment of my series, Meet the Cast. In Meet the Cast, I go over some of my characters in the MMO, City of Heroes. Today, I will be talking about one of my newer heroes, The Dusk Man.


Meet The Dusk Man!

The Dusk Man

IC info:

Working at the docks

Jose Luis Marques was born to a Portuguese couple from the Azore Islands who moved to the US in hopes of living the American Dream. Sadly, due to lack of education and the language barrier, Jose's father worked most of his life on the docks of Independence Port while his mother took care of Jose and his little brother Delio. Times were hard, and to make enough money to send their two children to a private school, Jose's father struck a deal with a powerful mob boss in the Family. In exchange for the money to pay for his sons' schooling, Jose's father would turn his head to mob activity on the docks. This went on for years until Jose's father tried to stand up to the Family boss, and paid the ultimate price.

What looked like a tragic accident on the docks turned Jose's family upside down. With his father dead and no other income, Jose dropped out of school in order to help support the family. While his mother did not approve there was little choice in the matter. Soon, Jose struck the same deal with the Family as his father did before him and looked the other way on the Family's criminal activity.

Jose is skilled in the use of a bow.

Shortly after Delio graduated from High School, Jose saw the murder of the dock foreman at the hands of prominent Family bosses. The bosses also saw Jose and gave chase. Jose managed to escape and headed home. Outside of his house, Jose saw what looked to be an officer speaking to his mother, telling her how Jose was seen leaving the scene of a murder by a number of witnesses and was wanted for questioning.

Knowing the only other people that could have seen him were the Family mobsters, Jose went into hiding. He didn't know if he could trust the cops and there wasn't a hero who would listen to him. Jose managed to track down an old friend of his living in Galaxy City who could help him. But that is when disaster struck. The sky turned red as strange creatures attacked the city. After the attack, Jose made his way though the rubble of Galaxy City, only to find that the Family had tracked him. They were not allowed inside but were waiting at the exit. Going back into the ruined city, Jose found a dead hero, known as The Dusk Man. Jose took the heroes clothing and used his ID as a way to slip past the guards.

Ready for action!

Finding an old warehouse where Dusk Man kept his things, Jose took up the identity of The Dusk Man, continuing the legacy of the crime fighting hero. He strives to stop the Family whenever he can, and has found out how deeply their corruption has gone. He has recently picked up a partner, the ex cat-burglar known as Moon Diamond and is helping her to become a hero, and perhaps something more.

The Legend of Dusk Man:

Nino Rossi, the first Dusk Man

The first Dusk Man was from the early 1920's and fought the mobs during the prohibition years. Nino Rossi was a ex-cop who was sick of being just a tool for the powerful organized crime mobs. He went vigilante, donning a large hat, jacket and his trusty sidearms, took up the name The Dusk Man and took the fight to the mobs. 

The second Dusk Man fought during World War II era. Deron Jamerson was an expectational fighter pilot and was known for rooting out any Nazi trying to set foot on American soil. He fought in the European Campaign for the Allies, getting soldiers out from behind enemy lines.

Deron Jamerson, the second Dusk Man

During the 50's and the 60's a new Dusk Man mostly stayed in the States. Staying true to his vigilante roots, Sean Foley turned his aim on our own government, searching for any and all signs of corruption and even communist spies. These were dark days for The Dusk Man, with both local and federal law enforcement looking for him. Many rumors started to float about Dusk Man, some claiming he was a communist spy himself, to being an assassin paid by our government to kill off competition.

Sean Foley, the third Dusk Man

During the 70's it was thought that the Dusk Man legend had died, becoming just another story of the past. Very little turned up about the hero during these years. The truth was that Dusk Man had gone deep into hiding, and most of the history from this time is lost, or incomplete. It is know that a much older Sean Foley came back in the early 80's to train the next Dusk Man, who much like Nino Rossi was an ex cop who was tired of seeing corrupt officials and CEO's using law enforcement as their own private army. George Watanabe leaned on his excellent speed and agility when fighting criminals, and his grandfathers swords, said to have been used during World War II. It was this Dusk Man that fought along side the troves of heroes to defend earth from the Rikti invasion in 2002, and was one of the thousand heroes chosen by Statesman to attack the various Rikti troop concentrations around the globe. While helping, George was injured and could not help in heading to the Rikit's home dimension, and perhaps escaped an untimely death.

George Watanabe, the 4th Dusk Man

George was in Galaxy City during the Shivan attack in 2011. While trying to help free a group of people stranded in a collapsing building, a large metal girder landed on the hero, killing him instantly along with the legend of the Dusk Man.

That is until a young man named Jose Luis Marques picked up George's costume and belt, and learned about the history of the name of the hero who fell in battle. The name he would don in his fight against criminals in Paragon City.

The legend of The Dusk Man lives on...

OOC Info:

The name Dusk Man has been used by many different heroes. This is the idea I had when creating him. I wanted a hero who was just more then a guy in a cape. But someone whose name and ideas have been passed down generation to generation. While Jose doesn't know all the history there is to the Dusk Man, he is learning from the things left in the previous Dusk Man's hideout. (Every hero needs a hide out, right?)

I had the name Dusk Man for a while. Actually some of the costumes, most notably the first one are based on old heroes I had named for Dusk Man. He's been everything from Warshade, to a magic user to a street justice vigilante. Then after some time, I figured I really wanted to make 'batman' type character. But instead of a melee fighter, I leaned on his ability to use gadgets which I really l enjoyed. I didn't want to be another 'dark' hero like the ones you see at Pocket D. So while Dusk may be vigilante, he is a hero at heart. He just doesn't enjoy the limelight or the flashy colored costumes.

All dressed up

Not that I don't enjoy them, I just wanted something different. I also wanted to make Dusk Man not white. Being Portuguese myself, I figured I would just used that as my reference. Even used part of my name for his. When writing up the history of Dusk Man, I wanted to keep the minority hero a theme. The first Dusk Man is Italian, the second is African American, the third is first generation Irish, and the forth is American born Japanese. The current one of course is Portuguese, first generation. I guess that I wanted to show just because your not blue eyed (Or hair, I'm looking at you Superman!) fair skinned, you can still be a super hero. Just like I think we need more 'big' heroes. I've seen some thick female heroes which have been very attractive. Doesn't work so well for males though.

Off that rant.

My girlfriend and I play City of Heroes together, and most of the time we build heroes to complement each others heroes. Dusk Man was a hero I made for myself. And her hero, Moon Diamond she actually made as a side kick/partner for another hero of mine. But Dusk Man and her seem to get along better, and they work amazingly well together. She's a stalker, while Dusk is a Traps and Archery defender.

While writing this, I had to recreate his history. Rping with someone the other day, they informed me that the old history I had for Dusk was way to much like a character in the City of Heroes lore, Manticore. So, I had to go in for a rewrite because that never happens in comic books. So this is Dusk Man's new history and I have to say, I like it.

Oh, also. His super jump ability is role played as a grappling hook that he shoots out to... somewhere. Like it made sense how Spiderman was able to swing over the Empire State Building, right?

Wow it's been a while since I did a Meet the Cast. This one I found to be really enjoyable. And a challenge as I had to create all of this off the top of my head. Normally I create a background via RP but here I just went with what sounded good. I tried to stick as close to lore as possible, using Statesman's bio as a guideline of what was going on during the past. Hope it fits well!

As always, comments, complaints and rants are welcome and appreciated.

True Fiction, the NSFW Edtion

Well, here we are. I'm sure this will be my ONLY NSFW post. In fact, I won't even keep it up for very long. But I'm putting this here because it was requested.

Per request, I present you with the City of Heroes infamous nude mod.

I'm sure you have heard it. Whispers in the D. The ERPers talking about it. People who are simply curious who may want to see what it has in it.

Well, let me tell you what it doesn't have. One, there are no changes for Male or Huge toons. Guess no one wants to see that. There's also no 'futa' option. I know people were wondering about that.

While, yes the mod does change the Eden top and Bikini 3 bottoms to nude, it also has some rather nice changes that really don't get brought up. So I will highlight them first.

Metal Change

The nicest change I think is the Metal change. It changes to metal top and bottom to be the Carnival of shadows corset. I was really hoping this part, as well as the next one would be in the Carnival pack but sadly the devs did not include it. They did include the boots, so the mod isn't needed to view them any more.

Chitin gloves

If you noticed the gloves in the previous picture, you may have noticed how they match the boots. Well, the mod also changes the chitin gloves to the Carnie gloves. Again, was hoping this would be in the pack but sadly, no. Still works well for anyone who wishes to RP as a Carnie or just wants more options for gloves. Who uses chitin gloves anyway?

Sports Top

The Sports top also gets an over hull and in my option it works well. While maybe not "sporty" it works well for a bikini top. Even has small straps that look they tie in the back. (Not pictured)

Eden Back Detail

I know you were expecting to see the Eden top and bottom but I won't post them here. But I will post the tattoo that comes with the Eden top. It's a nice little detail that was thrown in.

Well, there you go. "The Mod"

Follow the white rabbit...

Happy Valentine's Day, Part 2

Love Letters

I got my gift from my girlfriend the other day. It was really thoughtful. Of all the many many things I love about her, her gifts are so sweet, heartfelt and thoughtful. Each one is touching and somehow, she gives a part of herself to me with each one.



She made a photo album, in which she put pictures of us, and our characters it in. With each one she put a little note and it was really sweet. (I cried. But that's because I'm a crier and I'm not afraid to say it) She also had a card, but sadly it wasn't perfumed. She did write nearly a whole songs lyrics. Marry Me by Train. A friend of mine showed me the music video to that song one day, and even though I wasn't with my current girlfriend at the time I knew that the song meant something to us. Or, would mean something.

The pink stone was also something of hers. Rose quarts, if memory serves correctly. It has a spiritual meaning, both the meaning of the stone, but also that because she had it for so long. I won't really go into my believes, and while I don't subscribe to a religion per-say, I do believe in something. Be it a god, the Force or duct tape.

Living so far apart, we find ways of having that connection with each other. While other couples can simply lean over and kiss their partner, we have to find creative ways to have that connection. From emails, voice/video chat, gaming together, text messages, letters, cards, we always have some sort of communication together. And most of the time, we use at least three of those a day. While having a long distance relationship is hard, I've done them most my life. And like any relationship, some work well, and others, (like my last one) well not so much.

So, there we go. I SWARE I will get the next Meet the Cast up. I'm half way done with it. I also had a request to post some pictures of the CoH Mod. So that's on my list of things to do.

So then, until next time!

Another day, another post :-D

Well, let's start off with first things first.

Under the pale moon

I had this piece commissioned from Tovio911 over at dA. Check his dA page out here! Link

The picture is of my character Dusk Man and my girlfriends character Moon Diamond getting um... rather close it would seem. Dusk and Moon are both characters from the game City of Heroes. I made Dusk one day on a random Altitese outbreak, wanting to make a 'Batman' type character. My girlfriend made Moon on a different day because she wanted to make a cat girl, (Not that kind of cat girl!) and also to make a partner for one my other characters, Delta Eye. Well Delta and Moon didn't team very well. Delta is very squishy and had a tendency to draw a lot of agro. But I suggested that Moon and Dusk should try to team and they worked really well. And the RP just kind of went from there.

So, what else is new? New roommate and I are doing well. He mostly keeps to himself and plays Everquest while I am in my room playing City of Heroes and talking to my girlfriend. It works well. We do talk to each other and such so it's not like we are not speaking.

I really need to tackle my Meet the Cast. I think I will focus on that today. I hope that I don't find some RP that get's me sucked in and distracts me from that. Wow, look at that. I just hoped NOT to find role play. This is getting serious.

Well then, I guess it's off to work on that. Until next time my readers!

Happy Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day everyone!

I know a lot of people say the idea of Valentine's Day has been commercialized and is only used for candy, cards and flower companies but the idea of setting aside one day of the year for that one special person in your life is touching. Don't get me wrong, I'm all for having love being part of every day of my life. But sometimes we do need to be reminded to go out, and do something a little extra for that special person. Because to them, you are their world and sometimes, we just need to remind them that, yes we do think of them as well.

I hope, that whomever you are, where ever you are that today, you enjoy the time you have with that special person. And if you don't have that special person in your life right now, then just love yourself. Know that you are a good person, with a lot to love and to give. Because, if we don't believe that how can we ever believe another person will think of that of us. As the saying goes, if you can not love yourself, how can you love another?

So do it old school. Write a letter. Send a flower. Go out of your way to just say hi. It's the little things that matter. And if you are alone, remember that you never really are. There is a whole world out there, just waiting for you. Go to your favorite restaurant today and who knows, maybe you will find someone in the same state as you are. And who knows how things may go from there?

Yes, I am a bit of a hopeless romantic. I believe in love. I believe in finding that person that will make us complete. Make us so happy. Because that other person looks at us, sees us, and knows us as we truly are. They love us for who we are, inside and out.

So hold that person, and treat them well. Learn that we all have our ups and downs and disagreements will happen. Remember, that it's forgiveness, understanding, trust, and above all open and honest communication are the keys that make any relationships work. Finding that common ground. And what works for you may not work for others.

I hope you all the best today. And for your future as well.

Out With the Old

Well, the roommate/ex girlfriend moved out. Just like that. Didn't even give me a warning. Good riddance to bad rubbish I say. So, after over 8 months of being broken up. Of all the shit she's caused me the last few months, she's gone and she can't affect me any longer. Now I hope she keeps up her end of the deal and pays me for the next month.

Things have been going good besides that. I'm on medication now for depression. Have had some good days. Actually the day before this happened I was doing really good. This will just be a minor set back I believe. The pills make me really really sleepy. I've been taking 2-3 hour naps during the day and I really don't like that. I also think they give me headaches but I'm not sure. It is one of the side effects.

This is the first time I've ever taken medication. I've been really worried about doing it but a friend came to me with some things he's seen in me that raised some flags. So, here I am. He noticed that my mood stings and the like were pushing my friends away and the first person I though of was my girlfriend. Her and I really get along so well. I fell so connected with her, it's really incredible. I know it's cliche to say it but I really believe I've found my soul mate in her. And she's been really supportive with me though this and for me, that really means a lot. She is always by my side, and always looking out for me. And for me, and my past relationship, that really is a breath of fresh air. I don't know where I'd be without her right now.

My cat is driving me up the wall. I believe that is was kittens are suppose to do. She's my alarm. 7am, she's outside my door meowing, telling me it's time to get up. And it's also the time to feed her and for her to run around the house like MAD. Afterwards she goes to be and gets upset if I try to wake her up. Hum, such is life.

It snows last night. Not a huge fan of that but the morning looked really nice. The world was sliver and white. I enjoy looking at the snow. I also enjoy knowing that I get to be inside and it stays outside for the most part. And not fall and be wet. That's always a plus.

Playing Catch Up

This week has really flown by for me. I look at the date and it's Thursday already. I know I was supposed to get my Meet The Cast out today but it looks like it will have to be put off.

As for me, I'm in a bit of a rush. Heading out to visit with some friends. Things should be fun.

Take care!

We Now Return to Our Regularly Scheduled Programming

Well, I'm back. Had some very emotional, challenging and reflective couple of days. Took some time away from things to focus on myself. Hoping that with some changes I've made, and some still to come, I shall see some positive changes in myself. But, more on that to come later.

Not sure if anyone watched it but, what about that Superbowl? Was a crazy game. A friend and I watched it while I was away. While I didn't really have a team in the game, as my 49ers were knocked out two weeks ago I was going for the Giants. I thought the Patriots though were going to win the game. But the game turned out to be a shock to me, and I'm sure a lot of other fans out there. Not a huge football fan, so I won't go into any detail, but that catch by Mario Mannigham was amazing.

All in all it was a good night. Talked to a good friend, had some good food with family and friends.

The next few days I stayed in my home town for a bit. Visited the parents and just relaxed a bit. I also got to see a court pre trial. It was for a friend of mine but it gave me a chance to see first hand how the legal system works off TV. And I can say it's a lot different then what Law and Order shows. It felt more casual for one. Not in the since of dress but there was a lot more smiles and laughs from the lawyers and judge then I expected. The system also seems more lax then what I though, moving dates around and seeming forgiving for people who didn't get a chance to talk to their lawyer. On TV, everything seems fast and now. While in real life, it was much more forgiving.

There wasn't even a mallet.

So, changes. Changes are coming. Not sure how though. So I'm happy, but worried at the same time. That's kinda how I feel most all the time. Either happy but worried, or sad and also worrying. I will be getting back to posting again on here, and I am working on my next Meet The Cast. That should be up by Thursday at the latest. Until then, I think I need to try out the new Pocket D costume pack.

See ya, space cowboy.

Wrong thing for the right reasons

Sometimes we do the wrong things for the right reasons.

It's strange that this morning I was just thinking about that line. I kept wondering how that would be possible. If you had good intentions then shouldn't you be doing the right things? If your aim was true, shouldn't you hit your mark? But today, I saw how someone could do the wrong things, even if they had good intentions.

I've had a lot of things going on in my life the last month. Mostly dealing with work, (or lack there-of) things going on in various relationships, ex-relationships and other personal things. Things that you, my loyal readers would know of. And they've really been getting to me. So much that I started to write this blog so I could express some of my emotions.

I've felt alone. Really alone the past month or so because I feel I don't have anyone to share these emotions with. Well, I know I do. I know I have people in my life that I can open up to and express myself but in my mind, I feel that I've been doing that a lot. There have been things said to me these past few months that have stuck to me. Really struck me and while I'm normally the person always telling someone that they need to let go of that hurt and pain, and use it push forward, here I am letting it hold me back.

The other week, I had some issues come up. I wanted it to be a great day. It was a Friday and things were looking good. But as soon as I got out of bed, it went down hill fast. And it wasn't anything big. It was all just small, minor things that made this huge mess of a mountain. A mountain that kept me from moving forward. I tried to contain the situation as I had some friends over and another friend I hadn't seen in some time coming over.

My friends knew that something was wrong but I kept them at bay. And that is where I did the wrong thing for the right reason. I wanted to keep them away not because I didn't trust them. But because I didn't want them to have to always see me as the guy with the issues. I know how I am with people who's life always seems like there is drama. That they are never happy and the like. And I didn't want to be that person. I don't want to have my friends look at me as 'that' guy. I wanted to be the guy who's happy and we all get to hang out and have fun.

In doing so, I pushed people away. Along with previous actions that I did, it caused a rift between myself and a really good friend of mine. In trying to cause LESS drama, I added to it. And that's exactly what I didn't want to do. But I didn't know it at the time. I thought I had been doing the right thing and went on my merry way.

Here is what I think is funny. (well, maybe not that funny) The issues I was having that Friday was about holding things in because you think you are doing the right thing at that moment, leads to negative consequences. So I had experience this before, but for some reason I didn't apply that to this situation.

Fast forward a week. After attempting to make contact with my friend, I decided to speak to him. That is when I found out about everything, and how my actions, while done with good intentions were viewed by him. I understood where he was coming from and, with any luck we will be able to resume our friendship.

I'm not sure if this is anyone's "fault" but more of just miscommunication on both sides. Had I known how my actions were being taken as, I would have changed them. And had I shared the reason why I wasn't talking about what was going on, things wouldn't have been misunderstood.

I feel bad about what happened. I think perhaps I've been doing these actions more often then I know. I tell people who are close to me that when I do something that they take offense to, to please catch me. Because I hate to hurt anyone. That's normally not my intention (and when it is, I normally fail) and knowing that I /did/ hurt someone makes me feel really bad.

Going back to Pete's Dragon reference. If you haven't seen the 1977 movie, (I don't blame you, it's not a great movie) Pete's dragon Elliott would get into trouble for things he'd cause. Elliott never meant any harm, yet things around him would just happen. Fires, riots and the like were caused by him as the large creature fumbled around the town. But when confronted by it, Elliott the Dragon would really feel bad. He hated doing anything to hurt others and I believe at one point he leaves so he wouldn't cause anymore harm. But it was then did they need him the most, and ended up saving the day.

One day, I hope to save the day.

See You Space Cowboy...

Magic Unleashed

Disclaimer: This is a work of fiction based on a picture I saw. The picture inspired me to write a short story with a cyberpunk vibe. This is in no way related to the artist or his world. This is just me, with a few short minutes of free time on my hands.

Carry on :-D

The Big Bang by nobodythere. Check him out here
 
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

They never knew what sort of horrors they would unleash. Power corrupts. Absolute power brings forth an Armageddon no one saw coming.

Leaders of the free world, my arse. Governments lost power as corporation rose, and over night a new world was born. Once the government accepted that a corporation had the same rights as a person, including the right to vote, money controlled every aspect of our lives. Government became a puppet of the big Corps. Military, police and hospitals were all privatized. Each Crop had it's own standing army, with government endorsement.

The Big Bang by Nobodythere

Corporate greed, when mixed in with advanced weapons and the men willing to use them? Yeah, that doesn't sound like a bad idea at all.

The first Corp War was in Africa. It was so far away from us, we didn't care. Hell, unless you hacked the 'Net you wouldn't have heard of it. The news was bought out and they were only allowed to show what the Corp that owned them allowed. Over a million dead. Mostly people just cough in the wrong place at the wrong time.

The next Corp War was online. Even with all the protests, you can't stop an army of White Hat Netrunners who's only purpose is to secure any and all data it deems necessary for the safety of ''the people." We couldn't even go to the public areas of the 'Net without being watched by ICE.

A number of us wanted to leave. There was a mass exodus to the Canadian boarder. But because the Crops had no boarders, the ones who tried to leave were all black bagged, never to be seen from again.

Then, it finally happened. EMB and Mil-Tek had been in battles for years about rights over tech. It finally came down to all out war. This time, it wasn't in some foreign country, it was here. Right on our own soil.

No one was sure who let the bomb go. EMB said Mil-Tek. Mil-Tek said EMB and News Corp pointed to the 'Runners. But we do know what happened after.

A whole city gone, in a blink. And from it, strange and horrible things came from it. Bands of light ripped though the sky, then as if someone was ripping paper, the sky opened up and from it poured the evils. The strange. The different. Ordinary people from all walks of life could suddenly shoot fireballs, fly in the sky or turn water into wine. The bomb ripped the thin membrane between our world, and some other strange world where magic poured from. It flowed into some of us, giving us abilities we only read about, or seen in a holo-vid. Some people transformed, changing into something that wasn't human. Some were hunted down, others seen as heroes. The cries echoed though every city, every house hold: The end is here!

But this was no end. This was a new beginning for us, the people. The Corps are now rushing to try to control and contain the situation. But they can't, they won't be able to now that over 30% of the population now has the Gift.

It's time to take this place back. It's time to stop these Crops and show them to the rest of the people for what they really are. It's time to unleash.

Time for some thrilling heroics!

The rampaging monster charged down the narrow street. In front of it, a small car, trapped between an over turned truck and a fallen tree blocking it's path. A young woman sits in the car, fumbling with the straps of a young child's seat. Her eyes are wide with fear as the huge creature lumbers forward, stretching it's arm and reaching for the car.  A piercing scream fills the air, overpowering the crying of the child still trapped in the back seat. The monster's massive claws wrap around the car lifting it up into the air and throwing it towards a nearby building, both passengers frozen in terror, the young woman's eyes clenched closed.

From high above, the cry is heard. A blue and orange streak flies though the air, catching the thrown vehicle. The driver feels the sudden stop, and then silence. As she slowly opens her eyes, she hears her baby's small giggle. Eyes wide, she looks to see the city around her ascending slowly and the sound of the vehicle's rear tires touching down on the ground. As the front end of her car slowly lowers down to the ground, the young driver again freezes as she stares transfixed at her savior, gripping at her own light blue shirt.

"Hey, I think you dropped this!"

Ms. Metropolis smiles, setting the car down on the ground. She looks to the woman and child in the car, letting out a sigh of relief knowing they are alright. She flashes the two a bright smile and a thumbs up as she walks away from the car. She looks to the monster, now studded to see such a small person stopping his immense power, then pauses. She looks back to the woman, clutching her shirt. Ms. Metropolis catches the logo on the woman's shirt, the same as her own symbol on her chest. From the corner of her eye, Ms. Metropolis sees the license plate of the car and smiles. She looks to the driver, mouthing to her "Nice shirt!" and offers another of her famous smiles.

The woman in the car takes a sharp breath, watching Ms. Metropolis's eyes change, becoming narrow and focused. She watched Ms. Metropolis turn to face the monster, it's own gaze now focused on the hero. She stares in wonderment as the hero gives a small smirk and charges headlong towards the monster. "I knew there was a reason I liked her."

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

Newly commissioned art for my City of Heroes character, Ms. Metropolis. Art done by laskex21 from deviantART.  View this and her other works here: Laskex21 on deviantART

Character belongs to me. Ms. Metropolis is my inv/ss tanker from the MMO, City of Heroes.

City of Heroes is free to play! Check them out at http://na.cityofheroes.com/en/ and join the fun!