Dodeca

[SIZE="1"]"Agent Sorren, this is HQ." Alexis stopped dead in her tracks. She'd been so absorbed in her report that she hadn't even heard her radio come back online. [B][I]It's barely been 5 minutes, what the hell could they want...?[/I][/B] "We have a high-priority situation developing 10 miles to the west. An alpha has escaped custody, and certain gravitational anomalies suggest that at least one more is present. We're reassigning you to assist in their capture. Agent Bennett is known to be nearby, so co-ordinate your efforts with her if possible." "10 miles?" Alexis sighed, "How do you expect me to-" "We've already taken the liberty of activating your GPS beacon, Agent Sorren. One of our extraction helicopters has been dispatched to your position and should be arriving shortly." The voice paused for a brief moment. "The targets managed to destroy one of our MCS units, so be sure to exercise caution." "Understood, HQ." She couldn't help but be intrigued by that last comment. Even basic Mobile Captive Suits were designed to resist most alpha abilities; no wonder they were so eager to get their hands on those involved. "One more thing, Sorren. You will be working under one of our other agents for the duration of this operation. He will be waiting for you onboard the chopper." "What?!" She said. Or at least she'd meant to say it; it came out as more of a yell. She could barely believe that they'd do this to her, after all this time. "But I-" "Those are your orders, Agent. I suggest you follow them." "But who-" The line had already gone dead. Furious, Alexis tossed her earpiece to the ground and kicked out at it, sending it clattering down the road. How could they do this to her, after six years of loyal service? She slumped down on the curb, head in hands, trying to make sense of it... but after 20 seconds of trying, decided it would probably be best not to think about it. They at least had enough faith in her to give her a new mission, even if it wouldn't be her mission. And in the end, that had to count for something. The rythmic beating of rotor blades had began to fill the air, growing louder and louder. Lifting her head from her hands, Alexis squinted up at the descending helicopter, hoping to catch a glimpse of her new taskmaster. When she finally caught sight of him leaning out of the cabin door - that long brown hair, those cold and piercing eyes looking back at her - she almost wished she hadn't. "Guider, seriously?" She murmured as her head dropped once more. "I thought they wanted them [I]alive[/I]." [/SIZE]

[quote name='Rachmaninoff'][URL="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32489733/ns/today-today_people/"][U]Breast implants led to ID of murdered model[/U][/URL] Well that's one way to identify a body... o_O Still had me going wtf when I read it though.[/QUOTE] [SIZE="1"]Another reason to go for natural girls, I guess. Well, as long as you have homicidal tendencies. : p[/SIZE]

[quote name='chibi-master']My little cousin is visiting along with his mom, my aunt... I am being constantly reminded of why I have such a strong distaste for children. ESPECIALLY ill-mannered loudmouths who have been shown no dicipline throughout their short little lifespans... Also, now I know just how much I hate the sound of the "BOMP! BOMP! BOMP!" of little feet running in the hallways combined with their owner's wails of nonsensical jibberish... And the repetition of EVERY WORD IN A SIMPLE SENTENCE while said sentence seems to be breaking the sound barrier... Ex.[/QUOTE] [SIZE="1"]Oh gawd, I can't stand young children. I just [I]can't[/I] interact with them. [I]At all.[/I] It's partly because I've never really gotten the hang of 'talking down' to them, and partly because I'm really bad at faking enthusiasm. [I]"What, you learned to use a toilet? Wow. Good for you?"[/I] All in all, becoming an uncle next January is going to be... interesting. [/SIZE] :help:

[SIZE="1"][I][B]This should do the trick. The kid'll never see it coming.[/B][/I] It was all set up perfectly. She'd brushed her hand over a loose brick in the wall a couple of feet beyond the corner, and knelt in wait no more than 10 meters deeper into the corridor. With his attention focused on her, he'd never see the brick coming. She'd just need to follow it up with a tranquiliser dart, and then he'd be out of it for good. Quick, quiet and relatively painless; easier for both of them. Of course, Alexis hadn't expected him to stop. She cursed under her breath when his footsteps fell silent. Had he seen through her tactics? Broken free of her imprints' influence? Whatever had happened, the boy had forced her hand. If she couldn't lure him in, she'd have to take the trap to him. Slowly, quietly, she stalked forwards, sliding her left hand along the wall's rough, broken surface as she went. If he was ready for her, she'd need all the ammunition she could get. Alexis was almost within reach of the corner when a voice cried out in the darkness. "Please don't take me away!" For a moment she waited, silent and confused. It didn't make sense. If he was waiting there for her - waiting to strike - why would he shout out to her? And why did he sound so surprised? And then it hit her. [B][I] Damnit, he's not alone![/I][/B] She raised herself to her feet and ran around the corner, and quickly discovered that she'd been right. There were now two people in the corridor - a young man, not even out of his teens from the look of it, stood opposite her target. And they were both staring right at her. Instinctively, she thought back to her hiding place, reaching out to anything that would answer her call; and with a wave of her hand brought a storm of bricks and rubble whirling around the corner in her wake. But she was too late. The newcomer dropped his belongings and leapt through a rift in the wall, taking the boy with him. She tried to redirect her attack through the portal, but it wasn't enough. Dust and noise filled the corridor as the barrage crashed harmlessly into the wall, the portal gone in the blink of an eye. Alexis couldn't help but fall to her knees; but it wasn't from exhaustion. She'd lost her target. She never lost her targets. Her hands trembling with frustration, she reached for the radio clipped to her belt and keyed in her assigned handler's frequency. A brief hiss of static came through her earpiece, followed by a click. "This is Recovery Agent Alexis Sorren," she had to pause for a moment - her nerves were getting to her. "Mission failed. Target alpha has evaded capture." A brief silence followed, but it was long enough to send a shiver down her spine. "Understood, Agent Sorren. Return to headquarters immediately." More silence. "We expect a full report, have it ready on arrival." The static kicked back in before she could respond. She knelt silently for a moment longer, lost in her emotions. She'd never failed a mission before. This was all new to her. But she'd find a way to cope. "...I always do." She whispered, with a grim half-smile. With a reluctant sigh, she finally dragged herself to her feet. It would be a long walk to the nearest extraction point - and a long report to put together on the way. [/SIZE]

[SIZE="1"]Cold, dank and dark. [B][I]Urgh.[/I][/B] These missions were easily her least favourite. Maybe that's why they did it. Hiding themselves away in some rotting abandoned hellhole just to frustrate their pursuers, to make them slip up. It didn't matter, though. Alexis would find him. She always found them - always did what had to be done. And besides, this Alpha was hardly an expert. From the moment her team had entered she had felt him using his ability to reach out to her, poking and prodding with his mind, giving away his position. It was a trap, of course - but it was an obvious one. A rookie move, as it were, and one that she'd seen from many young telepaths over the past 6 years. She had to give him some credit, though - he'd at least pulled back once it had become clear that she wasn't going to fall for it. If it hadn't been for that little slip of emotion before he'd broken the mental link, he could've dragged this thing out for hours. The poor boy had been intrigued. Maybe he'd never gone toe-to-toe with an agent before, maybe he just found some odd fascination in her - she couldn't tell from such a brief 'mistake'. All she'd known was that a part of him wanted to follow her, to fight her, and that she could use that to her advantage. Since then it had become a game of cat and mouse... except the mouse had been tricked into chasing the cat. Imprints left in her wake had lead him on, unsuspecting, not yet realising that his thoughts were no longer truly his own. And now Alexis could hear him, hear his footsteps faintly echoing in the corridors behind her. [B][I]One more corner[/I]. [I]Then you're mine.[/I][/B] [COLOR="DarkSlateGray"]---------------------------------- The bold+italic parts are her thinking directly, if that makes any sense. I probably won't do that much beyond the opening bit, I just didn't think it'd be appropriate for her to actually talk while she's trying to spring a trap, heh.[/COLOR] [/SIZE]

[SIZE="1"][B]Name:[/B] Alexis Sorren [B]Age:[/B] 24 [B]Alpha Ability:[/B] Her primary ability is [URL="http://www.superpowerlist.com/details/820/"][COLOR="DarkSlateGray"][I]Tactile Telekinesis [/I][/COLOR][/URL]. While light objects can be 'imbued' with a single tap of a finger, larger and/or heavier objects require longer periods of contact before they can be easily manipulated. She is also capable of a form of [I]Telepathic Imprinting[/I] - transferring emotions, images and simple thoughts to objects via contact. What follows is essentially psychic background noise - the thought/emotion will subtly intrude on the mind of anyone who approaches the imprint. Uses can vary from marking a door with "This way" to lure a target into a trap, or using a disturbing image to create a sense of nausea. Unfortunately, the imprint is only useful against minds that are open to suggestion. Against targets who are resistant to suggestion - by ability, training, or personality - the imprints have little to no effect. The ability can also be somewhat difficult to control during moments of stress or heightened emotions, even with a lifetime of training. [B]Appearance:[/B] [IMG]http://images4.wikia.nocookie.net/starwars/images/6/64/Mara-Swarm_War-Japan_cover.jpg[/IMG] Minus the gloves. She also wears a pair of [URL="http://www.whitesboots.com/assets/img/categories/boots.jpg"][COLOR="DarkSlateGray"]black, mid-cut leather boots[/COLOR][/URL] Due to her status as a Topotech agent, she wears an additional belt at the top of her right leg, fitted with [URL="http://mysticbarrel.com/library/g3212ThrowingKnives.jpg"][COLOR="DarkSlateGray"]two small throwing knives[/COLOR][/URL]. A similiar belt just above her right knee carries a pair of tranquiliser darts. [CENTER][I](Is that okay? With the nature of her power I thought she could do with something to fall back on, but if you'd prefer her not to have them I'm sure I can think creatively enough to make her ability work in most situations. : p)[/I][/CENTER] [B]Personality:[/B] Alexis is fairly withdrawn and introverted, although not excessively - she wouldn't think if herself as a 'loner', she just likes her space. She's also a noted optimist, although this is believed to be more of a coping mechanism than anything else. While she's relatively at ease around your average human, she tends to feel a degree of distrust towards, and discomfort around, her fellow alphas within Topotech. Again, this is generally believed to be a coping mechanism, although Alexis would simply say that it's an attitude that comes with the job. A job which she performs with cool, focused precision. [B]Biography:[/B] Alexis never knew her true family. She was raised by a nice young couple in a foster home out in the countryside. She had a brother and sister, or at least she liked to think of them as such. Children like her - in more ways than she could have understood back then. A month after her 11th birthday, it happened. She changed. She could barely control it; tiles would break free of the floor and hurtle through windows with every step, doors would crack and splinter as she turned the handle... yet her foster parents weren't afraid. They simply picked up the phone, and 20 minutes later they came for her. What followed was 5 years of pain, confusion, and fear. Due to Topotech conditioning Alexis barely remembers anything from that time, and the few memories that she [i]does[/i] have, she'd rather she didn't. Shock treatments, being forced to fight other alphas... her first kill. Watching in horror as her foster brother was "removed" from the program. She was glad to have come through it alive, if nothing else. Battered and broken, but alive. Things became easier from there-on-in. She'd had to rely so heavily on her abilities in testing that they'd almost become second nature to her, and her agent training seemed to pass by in no time at all. Her supervisors re-assured her that her contribution would ensure that future generations of her kind could live in peace, and she believed them. She had to believe them - something had to justify what they'd put her through, something had to have made it worth the suffering. Two years passed, and her training finally came to an end. At first it was difficult, capturing her own kind... [i]killing[/i] her own kind. But she still believed in the lies, and with time she learned to cope. She began to distance herself from other Alpha agents, began to focus on the task rather than the target. For six years, it had made the hunt easier... but things change.[/SIZE]

[SIZE="1"]The only things that I can physically bring myself to drink [that I've tried thus far] are cider, rum and whisky, the latter being my preferred choice. For cider, it's got to be nice and sweet, so Bulmers and/or Gaymers do the job wonderfully. I've tried Strongbow before too, but it just didn't work for me... so I got the person next to me to drink it instead, whilst coercing them into drinking some of my whisky. [I should stop doing that.] Rum... I drink it so rarely that it doesn't even deserve a mention. In fact, I haven't drunk any in more than a year, and then some. Now whisky... oh what joy. My brother and his fiance are to blame for getting me in to it, and now I absolutely love the stuff. If I'm already fairly drunk I prefer to drink it as-is, but until then [though not if it's some of the expensive stuff] I'll drink it with coke. Doubles with coke. Today one of the bar staff misheard me when I asked for straight whisky and [somehow] gave me Jack Daniels with lemonade and, to be honest, it was pretty good. So good that it might just replace JD & Coke as my regular. [For the record, I spent £25 on drinking today - though £5 was spent on other people - and threw up twice, yet I still feel fairly sober. Though apparently I neither looked nor sounded it, so what do I know.] Now if you'll excuse me, I have a lecture in 6 hours time and am in desperate need of some sleep. = P[/SIZE]

[SIZE=1][quote name='Nerdsy][color=deeppink]I mentioned it it my last post; it was [spoiler]Linderman, but he didn't explicitly state it. He was hinting at it heavily, but "someone with great power" could mean something else. I'm absolutely sure he meant a superpower, though.[/spoiler'][/color][/quote] Short of saying [spoiler]"Your dad had superpowers, Nathan m'boy", he couldn't have made it any more obvious, methinks. He seemed to talk about it in the same manner as he had about his old 'supergroup'[/spoiler] too. [quote name='Nerdsy][color=deeppink]Hypothetically. There was no guarantee. Yes, [spoiler]Ted died without going nuclear, but he wasn't in the middle of a meltdown. Nathan was probably both trying to keep on the "safe" side as well as keep his daughter from shooting her hero in the face.[/spoiler'][/color][/quote] I like to think that Nathan did what he did to make amends for what had come before, [spoiler]to prove himself a hero by both saving NY from 'the bomb' and saving his brother from a bullet to the head[/spoiler]. I'm guessing he also wanted to [spoiler]act against the conspirators plans by saving the 0.07% and, if he did indeed get himself killed in his little stunt, removing himself from the equation.[/spoiler] Though I really [spoiler] don't want him to be dead[/spoiler], heh. [quote name='Nerdsy][color=deeppink']He mentioned that he couldn't do anything. Whatever the reason, it seems he just wasn't able to fly.[/color][/quote] Mmm-hmm, much like [spoiler]Ted couldn't do anything as he was going nuclear at the Bennetts'. Heck, Ted couldn't even stand, so I guess Peter was lucky to have at least managed that much[/spoiler]. Anyway, Sylar... first off [spoiler] I can't help but find it kind of stupid that the guys just, y'know, let him crawl off into the sewers. Surely, even if they believed he was dead, someone at some point [i]must[/i] have thought to check his body or something. And they didn't notice that he disappeared, either. It's shameful, really. Also, I don't quite get Sylar's motive in that last bit. He seemed quite obsessed with turning Peter into the villain and himself into the hero, but I don't quite get it. The only way he could have hoped to survive to be [i]seen[/i] as a hero would've been to kill Peter there and then, instead he focuses his last ounce of strength on stopping Hiro, thus keeping Peter active and effectively dooming himself. Or maybe he'd already used Isaac's power to see what lay ahead? On that note, what did he see as he was lying there on the floor, just before he seemingly 'died'?[/spoiler] Heck, maybe he's just a psycho. : P[/SIZE]

[SIZE=1]I'm gonna go for [B]Gold[/B]. Mwaha... ha... hah...[/SIZE]

[quote name='r2vq][color=#007520][spoiler]Since nobody else has seen the future but Hiro and Ando (...) they would continue to do what they did in the original timeline.[/spoiler'][/color][/quote] [SIZE=1] On that note, what the heck was Peter thinking when [spoiler]he went out to find Ted himself, even though he'd already realised that Ted was the one who'd make him go boom. He goes to all that effort to try and control his powers and prevent the blast, then he goes and messes it up, just like that[/spoiler]. [I]Worst. Decision. Ever.[/I][/SIZE]

[quote name='Kirra][COLOR=RoyalBlue][FONT=Comic Sans MS]Personally, I'm more excited about the Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings DS game, rather than IV. Of course, both will probably be good games. I wouldn't know though, I've never played one of the turn-based Final Fantasy games, just Crystal Cronicals.[/FONT'][/COLOR][/quote] [SIZE=1]Revenant Wings... I was vaguely interested in that until I saw a video clip of the new battle system in action. I understand that the producer wanted/wants to make it more 'friendly' to gamers who are new to the series, but in my eyes he's just butchered it. :animedepr Anyway, on-topic, if those really are in-game screens, they seem to have packed more detail into the environments than in III DS, or at least sharpened things up a little. I'm really quite impressed.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=1]Nice. I was never a great fan of FFIV myself, mostly because of the game's tendency to axe half of your party and replace them with new characters just when you got attached to them, but I'll look forward to this nonetheless. I loved the way they handled FFIII DS, so I guess I'll go ahead and expect even better from this. Oh, and I have a friend who'll be totally ecstatic about this. IV was always one of his favourites too, bless 'im. : P[/SIZE]

[SIZE=1]Someone really needs to fire said contractors, if they haven't done so already. Being cautious is one thing - but jumping to conclusions out of sheer paranoia is ridiculous and inexcusable. While they're at it, they should dispose of the fools who sent out the warning [i]before[/i] having the common sense to research the matter. Next time, they should try letting someone who knows their stuff take a look before making total ***** out of themselves. Simply taking it to the aforementioned Royal Canadian Mint and checking whether or not the coin and/or the coating were of their making would've been a good start.[/SIZE]

[QUOTE=2007DigitalBoy][url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darfur_conflict][COLOR=DarkOrange]Where[/COLOR][/url] [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rwandan_Genocide] [COLOR=DarkOrange]the[/COLOR][/url] [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iraq_war] [COLOR=DarkOrange]hell[/COLOR][/url] [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genocides_in_history] [COLOR=DarkOrange]you[/COLOR][/url] [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bosnian_Genocide][COLOR=DarkOrange] been?![/COLOR][/url] [COLOR=DarkOrange](click each word)[/COLOR][/QUOTE] [SIZE=1]You missed my point, namely the [I]marginal improvement[/I] bit. I wasn't trying to point out that the past was all dirty and that modern society is all clean, my point was that the human race has been a fairly rotten one since the beginning. If you think that we're any worse, or a whole lot better, than we were in the past, think again. [You don't think that, I know. : P] In fact, my opinion's fairly similiar to yours, at least in the sense that I highly doubt that humanity will ever be able to sort itself out as much as it'd like too. True peace, as far as I'm concerned, is simply beyond our grasp - we can try as much as we like, but greed and selfishness will always resurface to tear our attempts apart. It's human nature. However, people [i]do[/i] actually seem to [i]care[/i] about things these days. We don't just follow blindly [well, most of us don't], but instead we choose to ask questions. If someone goes to war, we want a reason. And a good one. If someone wants to kill for no reason, people won't just sit back and let it happen, they'll protest against it. [COLOR=DimGray][And, on the most part, people in power don't kill anyone who dares to question their decisions these days either. Unless they're tyrant dictators, naturally.][/COLOR] [I]That[/I]'s the marginal improvement. : P[/SIZE]

[SIZE=1]I think I'll go with; humanity's gotten better, if only marginally. Let's not forget the days of old, when invading armies would sweep through towns and villages, sparing neither civilian nor soldier. When the phrase 'all's fair in love and war' was taken a little too literally - a bit o' rape here, bit o' pillage there... oh, look, that guy we set on fire's [i]still[/i] running around screaming. When armies would cut down anyone who stood in their way for the belief that God wanted them to. Good times. Oh, and then the times where anyone showing any sign of, or believing in something that couldn't be explained by the knowledge of the time would be marked a heretic or a witch and killed pretty much on the spot. Then the times when full-scale slavery was all the rage. When nobody gave a damn about racism, sexism, or any of that bad stuff. When a group could be blamed for a nation's troubles and murdered en masse. Sure, we have our problems, but don't make the mistake of thinking that the world was any more 'humane' in the past.[/SIZE]