Spirals of Fate is a serialized work of fiction centering on the intellectual property of City of Heroes and City of Villains. Chapter One centered on two villains, Vincent and Mara, and their breakout from the Zigg, a prison used to house those with super powers. They met another villain named Mosaic and the three headed for Arachnos flyers and freedom. To catch up with the story thus far - see the Table of Contents or start from Chapter One.

Spirals of Fate: Chapter Two (Where Heroes Walk)- Part One
By Michael Lafferty and Matthew Eberle

This was what a superhero base was supposed to be. Gleaming, polished marble floors, alabaster pillars supporting a soaring ceiling, and tasteful masterpieces depicting heroes in action. Leonard Carvel was growing more excited by the moment. It was his first day here at the Hero Corps main office in Paragon City and so far it was everything he had hoped and more.

Off to his right he heard someone voice a faint question. He glanced over and saw a timid-looking young woman with brown hair holding her hand half-raised, searching the busy throng for someone to assist her. In a flash of light another woman appeared. The new arrival had black hair and electric blue skin. Her clothing consisted of the standard white and red Hero Corps uniform that all employees in the building seemed to wear.

Leonard smiled and turned back to admiring the magnificent view for several minutes before making his way - carefully - to the receptionist’s desk. When he got close he disengaged the magnetic locks holding his helmet in place. Obediently the faceplate rose out of the way as the helmet unsealed from the breastplate. Leonard lifted the high-tech piece of equipment off his head and absently tucked it under his arm. With a blinding smile he waited for the receptionist to acknowledge his presence.

The short, heavyset man behind the desk grunted once before asking, “Can I help you?”

“Leonard Carvel, reporting for my first day of training,” the young man said brightly.

“Another one of those armored types, eh?” the desk worker said, unimpressed.

“Built from scratch by Doc Jones himself,” Leonard responded. He was pleased when that finally got a response.

“Old Silver built that for you?” the man said as he glanced up from his terminal.

“With me and for me.”

“Well, small world. Says here you are supposed to wait in conference room C on the fifth floor. You’re early.”

“What can I say. I got excited to be here,” the younger man replied quickly.

“Guess that explains the moniker, then.”

Leonard simply grinned in response. He waited while the desk worker’s terminal produced a small, laminated ID card. He took it in his hands and stared at it for a long moment. A picture of himself with his helmet off and a giant smile was prominently displayed in the center of the ID. Across the top was a simple message:

Charger
Hero Corps Trainee

Leonard grimaced slightly. There were two irritants – the pseudonym bestowed upon him and the word ‘trainee.’ Ok, perhaps he was a little impulsive, but he had been preparing for this moment all his life. That he was stuck with the word trainee would soon be rectified.

“Ok, Sunny-Jim, here’s how it works,” the receptionist smiled slightly, almost in a condescending manner, “at 1300 hours you will be in the Atlas Auditorium for orientation. There will be a 45-minute presentation about ethics and teamwork, among other things, then you will be assigned a cell with at least two other trainees. You will then proceed to that cell to meet your teammates, pick up your Longbow patrol outfits. There will be two shifts during a given day – the Longbow security patrol, and then the roving trainee patrol. You will wear the red and white Longbow outfit during one the first of those; during your second shift, you can wear whatever you think suits your personae best … even that tin suit. Got it?”

Leonard bit down slightly on his tongue. This was not the place to get feisty. Instead, he snapped crisply to attention, sharply saluted and with an “aye, sir!” turned and went off in search of a cafeteria to while away the time until he took his first big steps on the road to being a superhero worthy of earning a statue like those dotting Paragon City of past heroes.

…

Paul “Snowman” Carter sat alone on a bench outside of the Hall of Heroes in Atlas Park. There was a soft breeze crawling through the leaves of the trees, gently playing a song with each rustle. The sky was a soft blue, dotted with a few high clouds and a blazing sun. It was a glorious day, only dampened by what lay ahead for him. Beside Snowman, on the bench that protested each slight movement of the enormous mass of the young man, was a package, semi-opaque, with a red-and-white uniform within. The Longbow uniform. He had just picked it up and the enormity of the occasion had descended on him like a sledgehammer.  

He was gifted with powers he sometimes wished he did not have, and with those powers came the responsibility to make this world, his world, the kind of place that people could live in comfortably. He could still feel the terror, in the not-so-distant past, with the Rikti came, and heroes rose to the challenge, many sacrificing their lives. With the loss of so many, thugs and other criminal elements had risen up. This was not a time to hide away, but rather to come to the aid of his city, his world. And if there was one thing that Paul had never shied from, it was duty and the responsibility it demanded.

He had been part of the morning session, had listened to the impassioned words of the speaker, had met one member of the three-member cell, and had received his security patrol uniform. He had some doubts that the Longbow outfit would fit; he had a problem with clothes fitting his particular size well. The afternoon session would soon be beginning and they would get the third member of the team. He hoped it was someone nice, someone as nice as …

“There you are,” the voice was like honey caught by a single beam of sunlight – soft, gentle, golden. “I wondered where you had disappeared to.”

Snowman looked up at Lumiare, the other member of the cell. Her lightly tanned skin contrasted with her short blue-tinted hair that angled across her face, occasionally obscuring half of it while her eyes – when seen – alternated between a deep sky blue and soft glow that melded several shades of the hue into one. She was wonderfully radiant and beautiful, perhaps the most beautiful woman that Snowman had seen. But, unlike him, she seemed to be comfortable with the powers she possessed.

“Just taking a moment to enjoy the sunlight,” Paul said quietly.

“Somehow the idea of you soaking up the sun’s warmth seems a little silly,” Lumiare teased as she sat down next to him.

“Because I’m always supposed to be frigid and cold? I’ve heard that joke before,” he said with a smile. “I just wanted a moment away from everything. The people at Hero Corps are very intense.”

Lumiare studied his broad features. “You say that like it is a bad thing,” she noted. “We are fighting to preserve the city and to keep it safe for ordinary people. Shouldn’t we be devoted to a calling like that?”

Snowman shrugged. “It’s easy enough to say but ...” he paused and looked around. A few feet away a small rock was half-hidden under another bench. He carefully got to his feet and retrieved the stone. “What can you say when it is so easy to break something by accident?” he continued. He held the small stone out for her to see it in the palm of his hand. His massive fist closed around it. Several cracks could be heard as he tightened his grip. After a moment he opened his hand again. Dust and gravel trickled between his fingers as the pulverized stone settled.

“Well, I say that it is a good thing we have someone of such high moral fiber holding that power,” Lumiare replied. “Do you know how few of our colleagues ever wonder about details?”

Snowman frowned in thought. “I have no idea,” he said finally.

“It’s not a large number,” Lumiare replied sadly. She glanced down at her watch. “But if we don’t want to be late for our next meeting we need to get going.”

… to be continued

In Chapter 2, Part 2 trouble comes calling.

This is a fictional story is based on the intellectual property of City of Heroes and City of Villains. That property was used as a backdrop for this story with the permission of both Ncsoft and Cryptic Studios. While this story uses that world as a backdrop, it is not meant to reflect either gameplay or storylines with the massively multiplayer online world. Some of the images used with Spirals of Fate have been taken from the game and modified to suit the illustrative purposes of this story. This story is intended for entertainment purposes only.

del.icio.us | Digg This | Glink It

---