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. Chapter 2 explored the perspective of the young heroes called to defend their city from the rising tide of crime. In Chapter 3 Part 1, Mosaic, Vincent and Mara arrive at an Arachnos-held area only to encounter violence from other prisoners. In Chapter 3 Vincent, Mara and Mosaic arrive at the Arachnos base and are drawn into the web of villainy.

Spirals of Fate: Chapter Four (Shadows of the Future) - Part One
By Michael Lafferty and Matthew Eberle

Snowman had to fight the urge to grab his hair in both hands and begin pulling it out. Then he realized he didn’t have any hair and what he really wanted to do was grab the hair of the youthful superhero standing in front of him and begin pulling his hair out. But he knew that would be stepping over the limits, something he was addressing with his ‘teammate’ at that very moment.

The massive man took a deep breath and tried counting slowly to ten. “Ok, let’s go over this again,” he said in a strained voice. “We were fighting those five Blood Brothers …“

“Yeah, we were,” Charger interrupted quickly. “They were trying to boost that old Saturn when we saw them.”

Snowman glared at the young man beside him and decided that maybe pacing was a good idea. He took several purposeful steps away before his heavy boots made a crystalline crunch. Paul’s eyes slowly close and he took another deep breath. “And we decided to stop them,” Snowman continued. “That I understand. We had three of them either out cold or disabled quickly …“

“Those punches of yours sure do some damage, don’t they?” Charger said with a grin. “Look, if you want to see the footage my armor recorded we can go find a TV or something and hook it up.”

“No, that’s Ok,” Snowman said stiffly. He listened to the heavy rumble as the tow truck began pulling out of the parking lot. There was a tinkling sound as some more glass fell onto the concrete and shattered as the car it was pulling bounced off the slight curb separating the lot from the street. “So we were containing the situation. Everything was under control.”

“No,” Charger said heatedly. “One of those punks pulled out a gun!”

“I’m bulletproof, Charger!” Snowman snapped. “For that matter, so are you in that armor. Right?”

“But Lumiare isn’t!” He was pointing one finger straight at the woman who was quietly conversing with the police officers who had arrived on the scene a few minutes ago. Snowman glanced over at their teammate. The two police officers were trying to hide behind her slim figure, watching the argument between the two heroes with varying degrees of concern. “The punk was aiming at her instead of you or me,” Charger continued. “That’s why I let him have it with a wide-angle beam from my gauntlets. If he got off a round I wanted to have at least some chance to hit the bullet. Maybe knock it off course or something.”

“A wide-angle beam?? You realize that the ‘wide-angle beam’ totaled the very same property we were trying to protect?” the look on his face was a mild anger coupled with disbelief at the callousness destruction.

“It was either the car or my partner …” Charger stated forcefully. “… and excuse me, but I chose my partner!”

He turned his back and strolled purposely over to the police officers to give his input into their report, leaving Snowman standing there, again looking for something to crunch or pull out.

Lumiare could see the disgruntled and somewhat frustrated look on Snowman’s face and wandered over, knowing full well that she might get an earful of rant. She was right.

“I can’t work with that young kid …”

“Paul, he’s almost the same age as you are.”

“… he is a glory-hound, just out for himself, not the team …”

“He was doing what he thought best – as in watching both our backs.”

“… with no respect or concept of the abilities of others …”

“What’s the real problem here, Paul?”

“… I mean, how do you expect me to do my job when everything that comes close gets knocked to kingdom-come by his beams! …”

“Ah, so that is what is bothering you.”

“… how am I supposed to do my job when …”

“But I thought you were fundamentally opposed to inflicting violence on others.”

The rant stopped mid-thought. Snowman turned to alternately look shocked and then glare at Lumiare.

“I am,” he protested.

“Then why be upset when Charger does something that allows you to NOT use your physical strength and saves you from projecting violence,” Lumiare asked.

Snowman opened his mouth, then closed it, then repeated the process – several times.

“Is that your fish-out-of-water impersonation?” Lumiare inquired, “or your man-without-rebuttal emote?”

… to be continued
In Chapter 4, Part 2 Mara, Vincent and Mosaic prepare for the bank job.

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.

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