Five men and two women sat behind a semi-circular table on a raised dais. Seated on a hard chair in front of them, Erika felt very small and isolated. She supposed this was intentional. Of course, they didn’t go for the full effect by darkening the room and flashing a light in her eyes. Not that it was necessary. The terse questions after long pauses were doing a fair job on their own of making the young mutant uncomfortable. Did they really have to re-read all their accumulated notes after every yes/no question she answered? Because that’s what it seemed like they were doing. That and leaning over to whisper to each other about who knows what. Maybe it was some kind of test of her patience and concentration. She’d caught herself nodding off one or two times already.
In the dorm laundry, a young girl scrubs furiously at a stain on her school uniform. One of three given her by the administration, the uniforms represent the sum total of everything she now owns. They are the first nice clothes she’s had in two years. First ones that aren’t stolen and ill-fitting, anyway. She looks in horror at a small rip in the underarm seam. Fetching a needle and a spool of thread, she begins to repair the damage, care and concentration making up for her lack of sowing experience. She would die before admitting it to anyone, but she loves her uniforms. Fiercely.
“What did you do then, Miss Raeder?” The question came from Doctor Kim, the representative from G.I.F.T. He was one of the friendlier ones, having sat in on her last 12 reviews and supported her in each. Of course, the G.I.F.T. reps were mainly concerned with her ability to control and exercise her mutant powers, and that was an area in which she had always excelled.
“I made a bigger flaming sword and I hit him again. That seemed to finally convince him.” Erika couldn’t help but smirk a little describing her recent battles. She’d done well, and she knew it. There was no way they were going to deny approval based on ability and performance. She was on top of her game.
“Okay Erika,” says the dweeby looking one whose name she thinks is Conrads, “now we want you to show us how much control you have. Don’t worry about hurting anything here. This is all scrap we use for testing purposes, and those mannequins there are state of the art. If the flames get away from you, there’s a fully operational sprinkler system too.” He laughs lightly, obviously trying to make her feel at ease.
Before he can say anything else, the girl walks up to a large upright piece of sheet metal and puts her hand up against it, all five fingers spread apart. A brief burst of flame is seen, and then she pulls her hand away. Left on the sheet is a burned imprint of her palm… and her upright middle finger.
“Is that enough control for you, Doc?” she asks with a sneer.
“You seem to favour, shall we say ‘punitive’ operations, Miss Raeder. There is no policy about this, but we like to see our city sanctioned heroes making the care of the populace their number one concern. It’s not always all about how much damage you can do. Sometimes it’s about helping and sacrifice.”
“Umm… was that a question, Mrs. Liddel?” Erika knew from the sudden muttering that she’d made a misstep, but she couldn’t help it. Representative Liddel from the City Council was a total joykill, and clueless to bat. Try as she could, Erika just couldn’t respect her.
“I’m simply looking for you to demonstrate to me a certain level of compassion…”
The boy looks so sad it’s almost painful. Well, hardly a boy, with his well-developed muscles and his dark goatee, but he is looking decidedly boyish at this moment. Erika can tell he’s totally cowed by this Kali girl. She sounds pretty heartless, kissing another boy right in front of him! Nope, this guy needs some major cheering up. Maybe if she hangs with him for a night, goes dancing, flirts a bit, puffs him up a little. Then he can go back to Kali with restored confidence. Maybe not let her toy with him so cruelly. It will be good for her too. He can probably introduce her to lots of people. It’s not like anything is going to come of it.
“Hey Stoned, why don’t you show me this Pocket D place everyone is talking about?”
The Board of Review has decided...
Moderator: Student Council
-
Erika Raeder
- Million Dollar Baby
- Posts: 736
- Joined: Thu Aug 17, 2006 8:58 pm
- Location: Baumton... deal with it!
The Board of Review has decided...
Once an Outcast, always an outcast...
-
Erika Raeder
- Million Dollar Baby
- Posts: 736
- Joined: Thu Aug 17, 2006 8:58 pm
- Location: Baumton... deal with it!
“Why didn’t you call for assistance at that time?” It was a fair question. Captain Herrara from the Longbow Division of Freedom Corps was always fair. Still, the question annoyed Erika to no end. But having already lost her decorum a few times, she knew she had to answer in the calm, professional tone that the representative favoured.
“I knew I could handle it, sir. Operative Takao was wounded and without support. I knew a second approach from a different angle would be successful.”
“More support yourself would have assured victory, would it not?”
“There was a question of time, sir. There was no telling how long it would take for support to arrive.”
That answer must have sufficed, because the note reading and whispering began again. Erika leaned back in her chair and muttered quietly to herself. “Assistance? Who the hell am I gonna call?”
Cold. Everything about the white haired girl is cold. It isn’t just her pale appearance, or the white and blue of her patrol costume, or the chips of ice she seems to create and flick around at will. No, it isn’t any of those things, the auburn-haired girl realizes. It’s how she looks at her with knowing eyes, seeing past the newly bought stylish clothes, past the carefully cultivated sophisticated manner. Not fooled at all by the witticisms, or the colourful anecdotes, or the false attempts at camaraderie.
“She’s no fool,” Erika thinks to herself. “She knows what I did. She knows what she’s looking at. She knows… trash… when she sees it…”
“Damn her!”
“Your After Action Reports aren’t as complete as some of the others I’ve seen, Miss Raeder. A lot of your operations seem to have been handled in a highly chaotic manner. Sometimes it’s hard for us to piece the details together from these brief summaries you provide.” That was Shapiro, the representative for the State of Rhode Island. Erika had never seen him before, but she could tell he was a career bureaucrat and bean counter from the moment he opened his mouth.
“My reports are in compliance with established protocols, Mister Shapiro,” she answered in a carefully neutral tone. “Sometimes the details aren’t any clearer to me than they are to the clean up crew. As for the chaotic manner… well… that’s just the way I have to operate. It actually adds to my effectiveness, I think.” Three hours of talking like this was really starting to take its toll, but Erika figured she was toast if she admitted she just enjoyed the mayhem. Life was full of frustration, and doesn’t everyone deserve a sense of satisfaction every once in a while?
When the mist clears, only two figures are left standing. The Outcast leader looks at the girl in front of him with a faint sense of recognition. He’s sure he hasn’t fought her before, but still, there’s something about her face. Whoever she is, she’d handily dealt with his lieutenants and flunkies, and he’s going to have to make her pay for that.
For her part, the girl knows exactly who she’s dealing with. This is the man who, in her opinion, had ruined the Outcasts, her one time surrogate family. The man who had put most of her friends in jail in order to preserve his own power base. The man responsible for separating her from her brother. She concentrates briefly and forms a blade of pure fire in her hand.
“Remember me, Frosty?” she says evilly. “I’ve got a ‘Boomtown Special’ for you.” Oh yes, she is going to enjoy this...
“I knew I could handle it, sir. Operative Takao was wounded and without support. I knew a second approach from a different angle would be successful.”
“More support yourself would have assured victory, would it not?”
“There was a question of time, sir. There was no telling how long it would take for support to arrive.”
That answer must have sufficed, because the note reading and whispering began again. Erika leaned back in her chair and muttered quietly to herself. “Assistance? Who the hell am I gonna call?”
Cold. Everything about the white haired girl is cold. It isn’t just her pale appearance, or the white and blue of her patrol costume, or the chips of ice she seems to create and flick around at will. No, it isn’t any of those things, the auburn-haired girl realizes. It’s how she looks at her with knowing eyes, seeing past the newly bought stylish clothes, past the carefully cultivated sophisticated manner. Not fooled at all by the witticisms, or the colourful anecdotes, or the false attempts at camaraderie.
“She’s no fool,” Erika thinks to herself. “She knows what I did. She knows what she’s looking at. She knows… trash… when she sees it…”
“Damn her!”
“Your After Action Reports aren’t as complete as some of the others I’ve seen, Miss Raeder. A lot of your operations seem to have been handled in a highly chaotic manner. Sometimes it’s hard for us to piece the details together from these brief summaries you provide.” That was Shapiro, the representative for the State of Rhode Island. Erika had never seen him before, but she could tell he was a career bureaucrat and bean counter from the moment he opened his mouth.
“My reports are in compliance with established protocols, Mister Shapiro,” she answered in a carefully neutral tone. “Sometimes the details aren’t any clearer to me than they are to the clean up crew. As for the chaotic manner… well… that’s just the way I have to operate. It actually adds to my effectiveness, I think.” Three hours of talking like this was really starting to take its toll, but Erika figured she was toast if she admitted she just enjoyed the mayhem. Life was full of frustration, and doesn’t everyone deserve a sense of satisfaction every once in a while?
When the mist clears, only two figures are left standing. The Outcast leader looks at the girl in front of him with a faint sense of recognition. He’s sure he hasn’t fought her before, but still, there’s something about her face. Whoever she is, she’d handily dealt with his lieutenants and flunkies, and he’s going to have to make her pay for that.
For her part, the girl knows exactly who she’s dealing with. This is the man who, in her opinion, had ruined the Outcasts, her one time surrogate family. The man who had put most of her friends in jail in order to preserve his own power base. The man responsible for separating her from her brother. She concentrates briefly and forms a blade of pure fire in her hand.
“Remember me, Frosty?” she says evilly. “I’ve got a ‘Boomtown Special’ for you.” Oh yes, she is going to enjoy this...
Once an Outcast, always an outcast...
-
Erika Raeder
- Million Dollar Baby
- Posts: 736
- Joined: Thu Aug 17, 2006 8:58 pm
- Location: Baumton... deal with it!
“Looking over these records from your previous reviews, I’d just like to say I think it’s wonderful how far you’ve come in such a short time.”
“Thank you Jan... er… Miss Kellum.” The presence of Janet Kellum on the review board had been a very pleasant surprise for Erika. The F.B.I. rep at her previous six hearings had been firmly in the “you don’t belong here” camp. Having someone who almost passed for a friend on the board was a totally unexpected bonus.
“Don’t mention it, Erika,” the young officer said with a smile. “Now, for my first question, I’d like to know a little about what motivates you to do the things you do. Why did you choose to become a registered hero?”
“Because I like to help people,” the mutant snapped quickly with the pat answer, inwardly cringing at this line of questioning.
A girl crouches on a rooftop observing an unusual meeting. In the cemetery beneath her, a tall armoured Rikti, Polis of the Restructurist faction, is agreeing to terms of some kind with a representative from Crey Industries, whose name was excluded from her briefing. She isn’t really interested in the suit. Her instructions are to wait for the meeting to conclude before executing. Polis is the target.
It has been almost five years since the invasion, but the pain and the horror of that first day still resonate within the girl’s soul. Her father killed. Her home destroyed. Her city transformed into a virtual police state, and a poorly controlled one at that. If one were to be honest with one’s self, one would call Paragon City a war zone.
The meeting ends and the humans leave, carting away crates filled with some kind of Rikti technology. The girl ignores them. She knows that others wait nearby, prepared to trail the traitors to their destination. Polis is her only concern. “Destroy Polis and his command staff”. Those are her instructions. That is what she prepares to do.
She looks at the vaguely humanoid things with disgust. They have no place in her world. They are a threat to her way of life, still plotting to supplant humanity with their own twisted perversion of life. They have even somehow found a way to corrupt humans to be more like them. This can not be allowed to continue. As the anger builds in the girl’s heart, a fire builds in the air around her. A sword of pure flame erupts from her right hand. She leaps into the air, and down into the centre of the Rikti command group.
They aren’t human. There is no wrong in this.
“I now refer the rest of the board to Document L-34771, which outlines the Department of Defence’s complete endorsement of this applicant. I have here the original, signed personally by the Secretary himself as well as the National Security Advisor.”
That was Colonel Delfontaine talking, always Erika’s biggest supporter on the board. Of course, he’d been praising her so hard for so long that she was afraid the other board members had long since begun to tune him out. There was also the fact that he was unable for security reasons to outline the reason for the military’s unquestioning support. A document saying “Yes, she’s very good” was nice, but she knew a vague endorsement like that simply couldn’t have the impact it deserved.
Besides, such vocal support from the military might even count against her with reps like Liddel and Shapiro. Given the sort of things she did and was expected to do to earn that support, Erika was not entirely sure she was comfortable with it herself.
The late morning sun beats down oppressively. Looking down provides no respite as the glare reflecting from the snow burns the girl’s eyes, even through the filter of her tears. She stumbles through the streets of Galaxy City in a daze, neither knowing nor caring where she is going. There are no more familiar places to seek for comfort or solace. How can any place feel familiar when her whole world has been turned on its head?
The initial euphoria was a blind. The pride in being awarded an Omega-level Security Clearance merely a feint for the horrible truth that followed. Even now, having seen the evidence, her mind races furiously seeking ways to deny it. She wants to hit something, but there are only innocents in sight. She wants to scream, but her throat is so dry that she cannot force even a whimper. She wants to crawl into a hole and die, but she knows the terrible truth will follow her even to the hell that awaits her.
“The Rikti… they can’t be…”
“… ‘cause if they are…”
“… then I…”
“Thank you Jan... er… Miss Kellum.” The presence of Janet Kellum on the review board had been a very pleasant surprise for Erika. The F.B.I. rep at her previous six hearings had been firmly in the “you don’t belong here” camp. Having someone who almost passed for a friend on the board was a totally unexpected bonus.
“Don’t mention it, Erika,” the young officer said with a smile. “Now, for my first question, I’d like to know a little about what motivates you to do the things you do. Why did you choose to become a registered hero?”
“Because I like to help people,” the mutant snapped quickly with the pat answer, inwardly cringing at this line of questioning.
A girl crouches on a rooftop observing an unusual meeting. In the cemetery beneath her, a tall armoured Rikti, Polis of the Restructurist faction, is agreeing to terms of some kind with a representative from Crey Industries, whose name was excluded from her briefing. She isn’t really interested in the suit. Her instructions are to wait for the meeting to conclude before executing. Polis is the target.
It has been almost five years since the invasion, but the pain and the horror of that first day still resonate within the girl’s soul. Her father killed. Her home destroyed. Her city transformed into a virtual police state, and a poorly controlled one at that. If one were to be honest with one’s self, one would call Paragon City a war zone.
The meeting ends and the humans leave, carting away crates filled with some kind of Rikti technology. The girl ignores them. She knows that others wait nearby, prepared to trail the traitors to their destination. Polis is her only concern. “Destroy Polis and his command staff”. Those are her instructions. That is what she prepares to do.
She looks at the vaguely humanoid things with disgust. They have no place in her world. They are a threat to her way of life, still plotting to supplant humanity with their own twisted perversion of life. They have even somehow found a way to corrupt humans to be more like them. This can not be allowed to continue. As the anger builds in the girl’s heart, a fire builds in the air around her. A sword of pure flame erupts from her right hand. She leaps into the air, and down into the centre of the Rikti command group.
They aren’t human. There is no wrong in this.
“I now refer the rest of the board to Document L-34771, which outlines the Department of Defence’s complete endorsement of this applicant. I have here the original, signed personally by the Secretary himself as well as the National Security Advisor.”
That was Colonel Delfontaine talking, always Erika’s biggest supporter on the board. Of course, he’d been praising her so hard for so long that she was afraid the other board members had long since begun to tune him out. There was also the fact that he was unable for security reasons to outline the reason for the military’s unquestioning support. A document saying “Yes, she’s very good” was nice, but she knew a vague endorsement like that simply couldn’t have the impact it deserved.
Besides, such vocal support from the military might even count against her with reps like Liddel and Shapiro. Given the sort of things she did and was expected to do to earn that support, Erika was not entirely sure she was comfortable with it herself.
The late morning sun beats down oppressively. Looking down provides no respite as the glare reflecting from the snow burns the girl’s eyes, even through the filter of her tears. She stumbles through the streets of Galaxy City in a daze, neither knowing nor caring where she is going. There are no more familiar places to seek for comfort or solace. How can any place feel familiar when her whole world has been turned on its head?
The initial euphoria was a blind. The pride in being awarded an Omega-level Security Clearance merely a feint for the horrible truth that followed. Even now, having seen the evidence, her mind races furiously seeking ways to deny it. She wants to hit something, but there are only innocents in sight. She wants to scream, but her throat is so dry that she cannot force even a whimper. She wants to crawl into a hole and die, but she knows the terrible truth will follow her even to the hell that awaits her.
“The Rikti… they can’t be…”
“… ‘cause if they are…”
“… then I…”
Once an Outcast, always an outcast...
-
Erika Raeder
- Million Dollar Baby
- Posts: 736
- Joined: Thu Aug 17, 2006 8:58 pm
- Location: Baumton... deal with it!
“We have heard a lot of good things about this applicant today,” began the sour faced man in the uniform of a PCPD Inspector. “We have heard that she is achieving a passing grade at school. That she has restrained herself from engaging in organized criminal activity for a period of almost one full year. That she has channeled her violent urges into a socially constructive role as an instrument of public vengeance. Hell, I’ll bet if we ask around, we might even find an old woman that she has at one time helped across a busy street.”
Erika rolled her eyes as Inspector Browning began his sarcastic diatribe. He’d been trying to get her Hero license revoked for six months, and had voted against approval in her last twenty-six security reviews. So far, his opposition had managed nothing but an occasional delay in her Security Level upgrades. Unfortunately for her, applications for Security Level 50 required a unanimous vote. Her anxiety grew as the bitter police representative continued.
“I am sure that most of you see here a determined and capable young woman. A girl who has overcome adversity and risen to challenges. One who has learned her lessons and cleaned up her act. A burgeoning hero with unlimited potential for good. It makes a nice story, and I wish I could believe it...” At this point, the Inspector paused for dramatic effect.
“But I don’t.”
Then, as he always did at her reviews, Inspector Browning played the security tape.
Despite everything happening, no one has turned off the music. The halls in the back of the club reverberate with the deafening pounding of bad techno. The frightened young girl is grateful that the flashing lights at least are now behind her. The improvised dance floor she has just left is now the scene of a chaotic three way battle between the Outcasts, the Trolls, and the Paragon City Police. There are rumours of heroes involved too, as there always is. Behind and to her right, another girl is screaming that Positron is here to blast them all to hell. A boy ahead of her comments that he wouldn’t mind if it were Swan instead. Erika ignores them both. All she wants is to get out of this confused maze of hallways and out onto the streets where she knows she can easily evade capture.
Finally an exit sign is seen and the nervous teenagers break into a sprint. Rounding the last corner, Erika sees the boy ahead of her, the one who likes Swan, fall to the ground in a heap. A squad of men in dark uniforms and body armour stand before her. One of them raises a weapon. Without thinking, the young mutant lashes out with her powers.
Overhead, a camera records everything.
“Why do you look so uncomfortable, Miss Raeder?” the Inspector asked cruelly. “Are you not proud of your abilities? Proud of the way you were able to defeat six trained officers? Proud that you put Sergeant Caulfield, a good man with a wife and three kids, in the hospital for three months? Where is that smirk I saw earlier when we talked about your altercations with the Council? Isn’t this the same thing?”
Erika was trembling with indefinable emotion. She wanted to scream at this bitter, vengeful man, but she was also ashamed and wanted to cry. She struggled to form words, or even to make a sound of any kind, but she didn’t really know what to say. Browning cut her off anyway.
“What’s the matter, child, have you forgotten how to speak? I asked you a question. I want to know how you feel about what you did that night. I want to know if you think that’s the sort of behaviour we should expect from a Hero of the City?”
“What do you want from me?” she finally blurted out, sparked to response at last by the officer’s angry and patronizing tone. Surprisingly, the Inspector backed off a little and responded in a more reasonable manner.
“You know, Miss Raeder, in order to qualify to serve on this review board, I had to promise I would give you a fair chance. Believe it or not, the city does not stack these tribunals against the applicants. So this is it. This is your chance. What I want is for you to convince me that you deserve that pin you want so badly. I’m giving you a chance to convince me that you truly are a hero and not just a talented thug in a pretty package.”
Erika stared at the man for almost a full minute, trying to penetrate his hard stare to see if he really meant what he said. If he really was ready to listen. Of course, she also had to figure out what to say. What it would take to win his confidence. He was a reasonable man, she knew, but his emotion over the injury to his friend had clouded his perception of her. For her part, her emotional reaction to his hostility had interfered with her ability to respond to his constant criticism. She took a deep breath, and tried to purge herself of all emotion before answering.
“Inspector Browning, I was terrified out of my wits that night. I saw an inhuman appearing figure raise a weapon, and I thought I was going to die. I reacted instantly out of a sense of self-preservation. I’m not proud of it.” She looked him straight in the eye before continuing. “I am very sorry for what happened to your officers, especially Sergeant Caulfield. If I could take it back, I would. What’s done is done. I can’t change what happened, and there is nothing more I can say on the matter.”
The Inspector returned her stare, but showed no hint of his feelings or reaction to her words. There was silence for almost a minute, and then he turned to the rest of the panel.
“I have no further questions for this applicant.”
Erika rolled her eyes as Inspector Browning began his sarcastic diatribe. He’d been trying to get her Hero license revoked for six months, and had voted against approval in her last twenty-six security reviews. So far, his opposition had managed nothing but an occasional delay in her Security Level upgrades. Unfortunately for her, applications for Security Level 50 required a unanimous vote. Her anxiety grew as the bitter police representative continued.
“I am sure that most of you see here a determined and capable young woman. A girl who has overcome adversity and risen to challenges. One who has learned her lessons and cleaned up her act. A burgeoning hero with unlimited potential for good. It makes a nice story, and I wish I could believe it...” At this point, the Inspector paused for dramatic effect.
“But I don’t.”
Then, as he always did at her reviews, Inspector Browning played the security tape.
Despite everything happening, no one has turned off the music. The halls in the back of the club reverberate with the deafening pounding of bad techno. The frightened young girl is grateful that the flashing lights at least are now behind her. The improvised dance floor she has just left is now the scene of a chaotic three way battle between the Outcasts, the Trolls, and the Paragon City Police. There are rumours of heroes involved too, as there always is. Behind and to her right, another girl is screaming that Positron is here to blast them all to hell. A boy ahead of her comments that he wouldn’t mind if it were Swan instead. Erika ignores them both. All she wants is to get out of this confused maze of hallways and out onto the streets where she knows she can easily evade capture.
Finally an exit sign is seen and the nervous teenagers break into a sprint. Rounding the last corner, Erika sees the boy ahead of her, the one who likes Swan, fall to the ground in a heap. A squad of men in dark uniforms and body armour stand before her. One of them raises a weapon. Without thinking, the young mutant lashes out with her powers.
Overhead, a camera records everything.
“Why do you look so uncomfortable, Miss Raeder?” the Inspector asked cruelly. “Are you not proud of your abilities? Proud of the way you were able to defeat six trained officers? Proud that you put Sergeant Caulfield, a good man with a wife and three kids, in the hospital for three months? Where is that smirk I saw earlier when we talked about your altercations with the Council? Isn’t this the same thing?”
Erika was trembling with indefinable emotion. She wanted to scream at this bitter, vengeful man, but she was also ashamed and wanted to cry. She struggled to form words, or even to make a sound of any kind, but she didn’t really know what to say. Browning cut her off anyway.
“What’s the matter, child, have you forgotten how to speak? I asked you a question. I want to know how you feel about what you did that night. I want to know if you think that’s the sort of behaviour we should expect from a Hero of the City?”
“What do you want from me?” she finally blurted out, sparked to response at last by the officer’s angry and patronizing tone. Surprisingly, the Inspector backed off a little and responded in a more reasonable manner.
“You know, Miss Raeder, in order to qualify to serve on this review board, I had to promise I would give you a fair chance. Believe it or not, the city does not stack these tribunals against the applicants. So this is it. This is your chance. What I want is for you to convince me that you deserve that pin you want so badly. I’m giving you a chance to convince me that you truly are a hero and not just a talented thug in a pretty package.”
Erika stared at the man for almost a full minute, trying to penetrate his hard stare to see if he really meant what he said. If he really was ready to listen. Of course, she also had to figure out what to say. What it would take to win his confidence. He was a reasonable man, she knew, but his emotion over the injury to his friend had clouded his perception of her. For her part, her emotional reaction to his hostility had interfered with her ability to respond to his constant criticism. She took a deep breath, and tried to purge herself of all emotion before answering.
“Inspector Browning, I was terrified out of my wits that night. I saw an inhuman appearing figure raise a weapon, and I thought I was going to die. I reacted instantly out of a sense of self-preservation. I’m not proud of it.” She looked him straight in the eye before continuing. “I am very sorry for what happened to your officers, especially Sergeant Caulfield. If I could take it back, I would. What’s done is done. I can’t change what happened, and there is nothing more I can say on the matter.”
The Inspector returned her stare, but showed no hint of his feelings or reaction to her words. There was silence for almost a minute, and then he turned to the rest of the panel.
“I have no further questions for this applicant.”
Once an Outcast, always an outcast...