[K5pbem] Alt World Ditl!

[Jamie Jeans]

Hello people!

First off, I am writing this one entirely on the e-mail, because my computer
is shot, fried from the higher Korean voltage in the wall outlet, and
secondly, I am choosing Logan's character, Lora, to write about.

Ohhh, I think I know Logan knows I know where this is leading... ^^

*****

July, 2003, Talos Island.

Paragon City.

"Aces and Eights, deal them a joker!"

>From behind Lora came a freezing wave of ice cold energy as Ice Naga,
wielder of cold powers, froze the floor in front of the charging horde of
Freakshow gang members. Her long deep purple hair flew in the hair, pushed
back by the wind of the release of her powers, and she laughed aloud, her
laugh every bit as joyous as her leather and steel outfit was revealing...

... even with the cape she wore.

Many fell down, but of the ones that could fly, Valiance and Scarlet Steel
met head on. Valiance, not even slowing as she was blasted with electricity
from three foes. Grabbing one Freakshow blaster by his metallic hand, she
gripped it hard, and he cursed as the metal was crushed in her grip. Her
light red hair was cut short, hanging just above her shoulders, and her
muscles flexed beneath her white and blue outfit as she spun him in mid-air,
smashing him into the ice covered ground.

As the other two blasters tried to flank her, one was struck by the other
Canadian member of the team, Scarlet Steel, dressed in a red and blue
costume. Kicking one in mid-air, she aimed the blaster at the other, and
both were sent flying out of the warehouse to land in a heap outside.

Lora, with a quick mental command for grips to come out of her boots, ran
forward to meet the strongest of the gathering of Freakshow, the Tank known
as Acid, whose footsteps were easily smashing through the inch-thick ice to
find purchase in the concrete floor of the warehouse.

"I'm going to smash you, little girl!" he cried out.

"Different dimensions, same old hollow threats," Lora said, and took a small
jump, landing on her side on the ice, dodging the massive hammer that was
Ice's entire hand and upper arm, and slid between his legs. From past
experience, she knew that even with her fully cybernetic body, more advanced
than the crude job before her, Lora knew better than to take on a Tank head
on. Stolen Crey technology, as badly modified as it was, was still powerful,
with the real deal even more so.

After all, Lora had fought the real deal, a seeming-life time ago, back in
Neo York, forty years into the future and another dimension away...

Acid turned to face her faster than she had anticipated, and it was only due
to her reflexes, both computer and human alike, that she was able to dodge
both of his massive hammer hands. Even then, she felt the wind of his blows
against her hair, and planted her hands on the floor, in one of the
footprints he had left behind.

With a good grip, she shoved upwards, catching Acid in his face, and
knocking his head back into the half open helmet that was wielding to his
shoulders. He stumbled back and Scarlet Steel and Valiance, took the
opening, the former hitting him in the head, keeping him off-balance, while
the latter left deep dents in the armour of his abdomen.

Lora added to the assault, waiting for her teammates to back off as she
jumped into the air to land a blow on Acid's face. He was reeling, and this
kick would be the one to lay him out and end this fight.

However, her combat sensors caught the swing of his left hammer-hand before
she cold react, and she was struck aside, smashing into a pile of wooden
crates and through them. She heard, rather than saw, Acid knock both
Valiance and Scarlet Steel aside before approaching her in a manner that one
could only describe as stampede-like in its intensity.

Self-diagnostic units came into play, showing her the damage done by the
blow, while nanites, the same that Crey had tried to use to discover more
about and exploit her body when they had first found her, went to work on
repairing the damage. She set them to automatic and shoved aside the hunks
of wood in time to see Ice Naga cry out a warning as she froze one of Acid's
arms to his body. It didn't slow him down any, but it did give him one less
weapon to use against her.

He plowed into the crushed crates, Lora just having enough time to roll out
of the way, and through the wall behind it. It took his massive nine foot
tall metallic frame a few seconds to stop and turn around, but by then, the
Aces and Eights were back on their feet and prepared for him.

With a roar, Acid fired a grenade at the four superheroes, and they
scattered, Lora leaping straight up to hang from the rafters while her
teammates went left and right. Acid came rushing out, and Scarlet Steel and
Valiance stuck their feet out, tripping him up. Before he landed, Ice Naga
painted the floor with inches of ice, and he slid down into the cache of
weapons he had been trying to protect. They belonged to Crey and had been
stolen the day before, according to Lora's contact in Steel Canyon, and the
only reason why this gang of Freakshow still had them in their hideaway on
Talos Island was because Acid had still been deciding whet ever or not to
sell them to the Tsoo or Warriors for more money or keep them for himself.

Regardless, he wouldn't be able to do anything with them now as the ammo
packs he crashed into detonated, sending a wave of heat and fire coursing
over the superheroes.

"Think he's okay?" Ice Naga asked.

A growl came from the middle of the flames, and Acid stepped out of the
fire, wobbling ever so slightly on his feet.

"That answer your question?" said Valiance.

After a few more steps, Acid gave one more grunt, and he fell hard on his
face.

"Ice Naga, put out the flames. Scarlet, Valiance, gather the other
Freakshow. I'll give the the Paragon PD a call, and then we can tell Crey
we're ever so sorry about their weapons," said Lora as she took a radio out
from one of the pouches on her combat belt, the sarcasm on her voice easy to
detect.

Everyone on the team, after all, knew how Lora had become trapped in this
dimension due to an other-worldly excursion by a secret black ops team of
Crey employees invading her own. Lora, with her fully cybernetic body, had
gone through the open portal while the other members of her team had kept
the Crey Forces on their side, and had blown up the generator. She would
have had time to get back before the bomb, nestled in the power generator,
went off, but she had been discovered, delayed, and she saw her one chance
to get back home disappear before her in a wave of light.

She had survived the explosion, yes, but had been badly damaged, and
discovered by a Crey clean-up crew. They had brought her back to one of
their labs and used experimental nanite technology to try and find out more
about what made her tick, literally. Fortunately, her systems, as damaged as
they were, were strong enough to subvert the nanites to her will, and within
a day, she had completed enough repairs to escape.

After introducing herself to the superhero community, she had managed to
make herself a home, met some other superheros, and had made the Aces &
Eights, a superhero group named after her old squad.

"You okay?" Valiance asked after Lora had finished her call.

"Hmm? Yeah, yeah, I'm fine..."

"You seemed distracted fighting Acid there," Valiance commented. "Bad thing
to be when your opponent is swinging hundred pound sledgehammers."

Lora sighed. "Just... saw the Crey tech, flashback..."

"Homesickness," said Scarlet Steel.

The cyborg nodded. "Pretty much."

"You might not have to feel it forever," Ice Naga chimed in. "With Portal
Inc doing all the travels they're making, they may find your home world
someday."

"If it's aimed towards the future, yeah," Lora said. "I just... well... heh,
sorry. I guess leaders shouldn't feel this way."

"Not in the military, and not so openly in front of the troops," said
Valiance. "And although we're a team, we're not the military. You can
lighten up in front of us."

"Thank you," said Lora, seeing the same opinion on Scarlet Steel's and Ice
Naga's faces. "Sometimes hard to remember, instinct and all." She tapped
Acid's large metal shoulder. "Now, lets get this guy disarmed and in a cell,
then we can call it a night."

*****

Appologies to the owners of the characters Ice Naga and Valiance for using
them without permission.

Jamie Jeans
-- 
Jolt! Sweet... nourishing... jolt...
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