Terra Volta changed me. Not only did it improve my powers due to excess radioactive exposure, but it renewed my faith in other heroes. I made contacts in TV that still hold true today directly and indirectly. Fighting in a nuclear reactor is no easy task....obviously. Teamwork is a key to survival and lets just say the first few groups i went in with were a nightmare. I ended up in the hospital dozens of times and couldn't seem to stop the insurgence of Sky Raiders. (Sky Raiders are a weasly group of paramilitary mercenaries that plague the eastern seaboard.) Even through the many failures in T.V. I met a few heroes that I bonded with. The first that comes to mind is a big demon, Blue Lucifer. Huge and at first intimidating, he soon turned out to be a realy sweetheart with a wicked sense of humor. With him was Illyria Rx, an excellent illusionist and healer that I still see every now and then in Paragon City. Though we didn't completely save the reactor, heroes behind us helped cull the onslaught. Blue and his crew went on days later and saved the reactor from explosion while I was away. They went on teaming for a few days but I stayed in Independence Port because rumor had it the Raiders were planning a second assault. True enough they did and then I met BrainPain. Again we failed to completely stop the raid, but after we were sent to the hospital and revived the two of us talked for hours and found we had alot in common.
So there I was going from virtually no friends to many who then aquainted me with even more. Blue was very connected and introduced me to members of the Becoming, a mystical group of heroes. I met Nekro an energy blaster with some of the more devistating attacks I've seen even today. I then met two people that are still very important to me today: Medistar and Lil Debil. Medi, a quiet fellow and a bit shy showed to become a great empath and more importantly a loyal teammate. I teamed with him all the way to Security Level 50. He is someone I can trust. Lil Debil is the type of teammate that makes fighting crime almost enjoyable. Not only is she this little ball of energy but she can, when provoked, talk a blue streak with the best of sailors. They soon combined and formed a great super group known as Dark Justice. They of course offered me a spot but I declined due to my promise to Nicole. They had super group stuff to do alot so my teaming with them was sporadic for a few levels. I spent about the next 6 levels teaming mostly with BrainPain. For two "squishies" we made one hell of a team. The two of us put quite a hurting on the Circle of Thorns and especially the Devouring Earth. Occasionally this lower level blaster would tag along and side kick with Brain. His name was Tetsujin Kaga to this day one of my most trusted collegues. We teamed together in Brickstown and Founders Falls for months. About this time the Neo Nazi group the 5th Column was taken over by the fascist Council. And that was many days spent cleaning the streets of their infighting. At the same time the Winter Lord (Frosty on steroids) wreaked havoc across Paragon. We were busy and we were becoming great heroes. Then something strange happened to Brain. She became distant and began soloing. After level 34 I pretty much didn't see her again. Tet and I mished as much as we could but he was of lower security clearance and some problems were off limits to him. I then reconnected with Lil Debil and this crazy reformed Troll, Sam Stonehands. We fought the Winter Lord and his minions for what seemed weeks. We then turned out attention to the Rikti (alien invader) in Founders Falls and Crey's Folley. The three of us teamed regularly until one day Sam disappeared never to be seen again . Later I met his long lost twin sister ,Suzanne Stonehands. Apparently they were separated at birth and she was shipped off to an alternate dimension known as the Pinnacle Shard where she too reformed and fought under the name Suzi Fusion. She had no sooner come to this dimension and discovererd she had a brother when he vanished. Ever since she has been angry and fought blindly any evil forces in Paragon.
I became distracted with work at the University and watched as alot of my friends went on to more challenging tasks. Blue Lucifer, Illyria and Nekro all leveled up to 50 while I was stuck in my late thirties. I then learned that BrainPain too had gone missing. She had reached Security Level 50, she the top of her profession and was about to retire. Her husband killed her in her sleep. (I had always heard rumors he resented the time she devoted to hero work.) He was later killed in prison by an inmate Brain had once rescued from the Family mafia organization.
That left me and Lil Debil and she too had responsibilities outside of hero work. So once again I spent the next few levels mostly alone. Although I did enjoy the occasional team with Lil, Tet and Medi. Then at Level 41 I met a smart mouthed scrapper called Ronin Popiel. We were trying to do a task for the Woodsman in the environmental wasteland called Eden. True to form a great friendship came from a tragic failure. We started teaming together where he introduced me to Tellania, a extradimensional being that would prove to be the greatest tanker I would ever worked with. As I teamed with them and became even more powerful Lil returned to hero work again and took up with a great Katana scrapper, Hoard of Souls. We all soon began teaming with each other almost daily and little by little we all approached our late 40's. Lil then disappeared, not to be heard from for sometime. I hoped she hadn't met the same fate as some of my other close friends.
Ronin soon left angry with the politics of Paragon and became caught up in a controversial theory that some godlike entities known as the Developers were altering hero's powers. (As a side note: I did not start offbelieving this theory but lately am beginning to wonder) Tellania introduced me to what turned out to be a friend of Suzanne Stonehands (now known as the Troll Princess). Her name was Onceti May, a weather controlling mentalist with some powers similar to my own. We took her under our wings and showed her the world of crime fighting.
My late 40s were the best time I spent in Paragon fighting evil. Hoard was well connected and a natural leader, always able to throw together a team of heroes. Tellania was invulnerable and had super strength but was also very intelligent and knowledgable in all aspects of hero work, especially extradimensional worlds. Medistar was the consumate healer always there to save a teammate from possible death. Tetsujin was a powerful blaster with keen abilities in stealth and bombs. And our little Onceti May proved to be a quick learner and while she started off almost 20 levels behind us she quickly became quite powerful and by the end of the summer we were all level 50 heroes looking towards our futures in or out of hero work.
Then I ended up in a bunker with almost no powers and no memory of how it happened. These were the only people I could trust.
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