Revelations, Part 1
Posted: Thu Feb 02, 2006 9:37 pm
A soft hum from an alarm clock snapped Drago awake from his trance. No one in the building could hear the alarm; only Drago’s enhanced hearing could pick it out from the rest of the morning sounds. Lazily he pulled himself out of bed, His muscles still aching from a long night. Information he gathered the previous night still lingered in his thoughts. He silently made his way across the room and into the bathroom. Drago turned on the water to the shower, letting the warm water wash away the night’s sleep.
As hard as he tried he couldn’t clear his thoughts. The word on the street was that one of Aracnos’ Destined ones had made his way to Paragon City. His knowledge of the Rogue Isles was very limited along with the Arachnos Organization that governs them. Word was that there was going to be a retaliation strike against some Family members for a failed assassination attempted on a high-ranking Arachnos official. Two Family fronts had been attacked, leaving about sixteen Family members and three bystanders in the hospital. Both places looked as if a bulldozer had ran through it. Witnesses recounted of hearing loud crashes and screams followed by silence. The victims only gave up a name, Extreme Ravage. Not that Drago had any love for the Family, but innocent people where getting caught in the crossfire. And if someone didn’t do anything more people would get hurt.
After washing up, Drago dressed into his school uniform and met his roommate in the common room. His roommate, Steven, was already dressed and ready to head to the cafeteria for breakfast. Steven stood about a foot and a half smaller than he did, but was one of the few students Drago has been able to get along with. Not that Drago was hard to get along with; he was just uncomfortable around people and had a hard time opening up to them. And when he made an attempt it was just too forced, so he usually kept to himself. When Drago first came to this school he saw Steven being push around by some school bully with super strength. While the bully was a lot stronger than Drago, Drago knew where to strike. One quick punch knocked the wind out of the bully, followed up by two quick strikes two the throat. The bully went down and didn’t get back up. After that Steven help Drago with the transition to the new school.
“Late night, huh,” said Steven amused. While both Steven and Drago were students at Saint Joseph School, Steven wasn’t ready to use his abilities to protect and serve the people of Paragon City. Steven had the ability to control the weather and generate electricity from his body but had yet learned to control it. Actually most students at St. Joes didn’t use their abilities outside of the school. Only a few of the students took on the challenges of Paragon City.
“It was a busy night, I thank there is some trouble brewing out there,” replied Drago, “besides three hours should be enough sleep.”
“But what about that big math exam later?” Steven asked as the two friends left the apartment headed to the cafeteria. Drago had forgotten about the test, but wasn’t worried.
“I’ll be alright,” answered Drago with a smile. While he didn’t mind school, Drago was a warrior and felt more comfortable in battle.
The two of them walked across the campus to the school cafeteria. The cafeteria was quieter than usual. Drago had always used his enhanced senses to keep up with what was going on, but ever since the dance last week, there has been a feeling of dread through out the school. He didn’t attend the dance himself due to the fact he was too nervous to ask one of the girls to the dance. But the day after it had felt as if the atmosphere of the school had changed. After being served some eggs and bacon Drago sat down at one of the tables. At the table sat Jaygo, Jasmine, Hedge, Cricket, Tawney, Mimi and Sam. He couldn’t see Sam but could tell he was there by scent and a combination of other senses, and the fact that Mimi seemed to be talking to thin air.
“Hey John, Good morning,” greeted Jaygo. The other students quickly add their morning greetings. Drago had always been amused by the fact that while he was bigger and better trained than Jaygo; they where both equals in battle. In fact the smaller Jaygo could physically withstand more punishment than Drago, whose super reflexes keep most blows from landing with full impact.
“Um, morning,” responded Drago as he started to eat his breakfast. He had listen to their conversations as he finished his breakfast. He had sat with them to ask about this Extreme Ravage, but just couldn’t bring himself to startup the conversation. He thought his investigation would help take their minds off of their own problems, but now he’ll just have to be there to help them fight whatever battle their problems would lead to. “ I’ll see you guys later.”
Drago made his way from the cafeteria to the computer lab. There was once a student who had the ability to create any type of technology that he could think up. One such device was a computer server on the school network, called the Infinity Server. This server tracked news across the Internet, compiling a database of information useful to any hero trying to gather information. Very few people knew of this server, Drago overheard one of them discussing it about a month ago. Drago logged on to one of the computers. From there he logged on to the Infinity Server. First he looked up the name, Extreme Ravage. The database came up with a few articles about a brute for hire in the Rogue Isles. The only useful information was that he was one of Arachnos’ Destined Ones. A search on the Destined Ones was a lot more fruitful. The Destined Ones were once a bunch of criminals locked away in the Zig, A high level super prison in Paragon City. Arachnos allegedly led an assault on the prison freeing over a hundred prisoners. They were taken to the Rogue Isles were the weak would be weeded out while the strong would prove their worth to Lord Recluse himself. A search of the inmates from the Zig had no recorded record of Extreme Ravage. More curiously was that there wasn’t any official list of the escapees from that assault. Drago could only deduce that the number was quite larger than any official was willing to admit. But Drago did know someone in the Zig that could be questioned for more information, his brother Daniel. The first school bell rang giving the students five minutes to get to their first class. He quickly logged off and ran across campus. Drago made it to first period with few seconds to spare.
Drago found his seat near the back of the class. He cleared his thoughts as the test booklets were passed out. Having not studied the night before he needed a little extra help. He quickly singled out students with calm heartbeats. Using a blend of peripheral vision and answers quietly muttered under fellow student’s breath, he jotted down the stolen answers on his own test booklet. He knew if he studied these test wouldn’t be a problem at all, but he grew lazy relying more on his senses than his study habits. He could sense by heartbeat alone which classmates failed the test. After he finished and turned in his test booklet Drago left the classroom. He decided to ditch classes for the rest of the day and head over to Brickstown. Drago actually felt guilty that he hadn’t visited his brother much since he has been incarcerated. They really hadn’t gotten along as children. What was worse was that Drago blamed himself for Daniel’s situation.
Once in Brickstown, Drago made his way to the Zig. He wondered how two years in the Zig might have changed his brother. Upon walking through the entrance Drago made his way the visitor’s desk. The woman at the reception desk greeted him warmly. “ May I help you young man?”
“ Hi, I’m here to visit an Inmate,” he replied very softly. The slightly plump receptionist typed away at her computer.
“ And who are you here to see?” asked the receptionist.
“My brother, Daniel Drago.” The receptionist entered the name into her computer. All of a sudden her heartbeat changed. Her smile disappeared as she reached for her phone.
“ Can you please take a seat over there and I’ll be right with you.” Drago frowned, something was wrong. The receptionist quickly dialed the telephone while her heartbeat kept the same hastened tempo. The number she dialed was an extension, three fourteen. He had learned to decipher dial tones about a year ago and practice with them every now and then to keep his skills sharp. “ This is Joan at the visitation desk. We have a code fifteen. A young man to see his brother,” whispered Joan. Drago clearly heard every word as if she had shouted it across the office.
“ Send him away!” The reply from the other end was harsh and followed with a click. Drago loosened his tie. Something was up and he was going to find out what it was.
“ I’m sorry young man, but your brother is not allowed visitors at the moment.” The warm tone in her voice had vanished.
“Why?” asked Drago.
“ They don’t tell me these things,” she replied. “It’s usually behavior related.” Her heartbeat betrayed her. She was lying.
Without another word Drago walked away. The puzzle was becoming too complex. All this detective work was starting to get to him. He needed action.
Once out of sight Drago slipped into an empty office. With what he was about to do, if he failed he could be expelled from school. John Drago would be too visible and easily identified; he stripped off his school uniform revealing the outfit of UrDrago, the spirit warrior. Drago quickly stashed away his clothes and donned his mask and gloves. After a quick search of the office he found the prison phone listing. Extensions three fourteen belong to the warden of the zig. “ I think it’s time we paid the warden a visit,” whispered Drago to himself. Drago dashed through the prison hallways, careful to avoid security cameras. Before long he made it to the warden’s office. The office door had a high tech locking device. He reached out with his senses to eavesdrop on any conversation in the warden’s office while keeping himself out of view of any passerby. The warden had just finished a conversation and was getting ready to leave for an appointment. Patiently Drago waited keeping himself out of sight until the right moment. Quickly the warden emerged from his office at a fast pace. The office door started to swing close and at the last second Drago sprung from his hiding spot, as if shot from a cannon, and caught the door before it closed.
Once inside the office he started to search the wardens desk for prisoner files. On the top of the desk rested several files that the warden must have recently going through. Drago scanned through the files and stopped at one in particular. “ No, It can’t be,” he said under his breath. Drago took a seat at the desk and used the warden’s computer to access the Internet. Once on, he logged onto Saint Joseph School’s network and from there, the Infinity Server. Once again Drago pulled up all the information on Extreme Ravage. But this time he cross-referenced it with prisoner one eight four. After a couple of minutes the results came back positive. Extreme Ravage is no other than prisoner one eight four, Daniel Drago.
As hard as he tried he couldn’t clear his thoughts. The word on the street was that one of Aracnos’ Destined ones had made his way to Paragon City. His knowledge of the Rogue Isles was very limited along with the Arachnos Organization that governs them. Word was that there was going to be a retaliation strike against some Family members for a failed assassination attempted on a high-ranking Arachnos official. Two Family fronts had been attacked, leaving about sixteen Family members and three bystanders in the hospital. Both places looked as if a bulldozer had ran through it. Witnesses recounted of hearing loud crashes and screams followed by silence. The victims only gave up a name, Extreme Ravage. Not that Drago had any love for the Family, but innocent people where getting caught in the crossfire. And if someone didn’t do anything more people would get hurt.
After washing up, Drago dressed into his school uniform and met his roommate in the common room. His roommate, Steven, was already dressed and ready to head to the cafeteria for breakfast. Steven stood about a foot and a half smaller than he did, but was one of the few students Drago has been able to get along with. Not that Drago was hard to get along with; he was just uncomfortable around people and had a hard time opening up to them. And when he made an attempt it was just too forced, so he usually kept to himself. When Drago first came to this school he saw Steven being push around by some school bully with super strength. While the bully was a lot stronger than Drago, Drago knew where to strike. One quick punch knocked the wind out of the bully, followed up by two quick strikes two the throat. The bully went down and didn’t get back up. After that Steven help Drago with the transition to the new school.
“Late night, huh,” said Steven amused. While both Steven and Drago were students at Saint Joseph School, Steven wasn’t ready to use his abilities to protect and serve the people of Paragon City. Steven had the ability to control the weather and generate electricity from his body but had yet learned to control it. Actually most students at St. Joes didn’t use their abilities outside of the school. Only a few of the students took on the challenges of Paragon City.
“It was a busy night, I thank there is some trouble brewing out there,” replied Drago, “besides three hours should be enough sleep.”
“But what about that big math exam later?” Steven asked as the two friends left the apartment headed to the cafeteria. Drago had forgotten about the test, but wasn’t worried.
“I’ll be alright,” answered Drago with a smile. While he didn’t mind school, Drago was a warrior and felt more comfortable in battle.
The two of them walked across the campus to the school cafeteria. The cafeteria was quieter than usual. Drago had always used his enhanced senses to keep up with what was going on, but ever since the dance last week, there has been a feeling of dread through out the school. He didn’t attend the dance himself due to the fact he was too nervous to ask one of the girls to the dance. But the day after it had felt as if the atmosphere of the school had changed. After being served some eggs and bacon Drago sat down at one of the tables. At the table sat Jaygo, Jasmine, Hedge, Cricket, Tawney, Mimi and Sam. He couldn’t see Sam but could tell he was there by scent and a combination of other senses, and the fact that Mimi seemed to be talking to thin air.
“Hey John, Good morning,” greeted Jaygo. The other students quickly add their morning greetings. Drago had always been amused by the fact that while he was bigger and better trained than Jaygo; they where both equals in battle. In fact the smaller Jaygo could physically withstand more punishment than Drago, whose super reflexes keep most blows from landing with full impact.
“Um, morning,” responded Drago as he started to eat his breakfast. He had listen to their conversations as he finished his breakfast. He had sat with them to ask about this Extreme Ravage, but just couldn’t bring himself to startup the conversation. He thought his investigation would help take their minds off of their own problems, but now he’ll just have to be there to help them fight whatever battle their problems would lead to. “ I’ll see you guys later.”
Drago made his way from the cafeteria to the computer lab. There was once a student who had the ability to create any type of technology that he could think up. One such device was a computer server on the school network, called the Infinity Server. This server tracked news across the Internet, compiling a database of information useful to any hero trying to gather information. Very few people knew of this server, Drago overheard one of them discussing it about a month ago. Drago logged on to one of the computers. From there he logged on to the Infinity Server. First he looked up the name, Extreme Ravage. The database came up with a few articles about a brute for hire in the Rogue Isles. The only useful information was that he was one of Arachnos’ Destined Ones. A search on the Destined Ones was a lot more fruitful. The Destined Ones were once a bunch of criminals locked away in the Zig, A high level super prison in Paragon City. Arachnos allegedly led an assault on the prison freeing over a hundred prisoners. They were taken to the Rogue Isles were the weak would be weeded out while the strong would prove their worth to Lord Recluse himself. A search of the inmates from the Zig had no recorded record of Extreme Ravage. More curiously was that there wasn’t any official list of the escapees from that assault. Drago could only deduce that the number was quite larger than any official was willing to admit. But Drago did know someone in the Zig that could be questioned for more information, his brother Daniel. The first school bell rang giving the students five minutes to get to their first class. He quickly logged off and ran across campus. Drago made it to first period with few seconds to spare.
Drago found his seat near the back of the class. He cleared his thoughts as the test booklets were passed out. Having not studied the night before he needed a little extra help. He quickly singled out students with calm heartbeats. Using a blend of peripheral vision and answers quietly muttered under fellow student’s breath, he jotted down the stolen answers on his own test booklet. He knew if he studied these test wouldn’t be a problem at all, but he grew lazy relying more on his senses than his study habits. He could sense by heartbeat alone which classmates failed the test. After he finished and turned in his test booklet Drago left the classroom. He decided to ditch classes for the rest of the day and head over to Brickstown. Drago actually felt guilty that he hadn’t visited his brother much since he has been incarcerated. They really hadn’t gotten along as children. What was worse was that Drago blamed himself for Daniel’s situation.
Once in Brickstown, Drago made his way to the Zig. He wondered how two years in the Zig might have changed his brother. Upon walking through the entrance Drago made his way the visitor’s desk. The woman at the reception desk greeted him warmly. “ May I help you young man?”
“ Hi, I’m here to visit an Inmate,” he replied very softly. The slightly plump receptionist typed away at her computer.
“ And who are you here to see?” asked the receptionist.
“My brother, Daniel Drago.” The receptionist entered the name into her computer. All of a sudden her heartbeat changed. Her smile disappeared as she reached for her phone.
“ Can you please take a seat over there and I’ll be right with you.” Drago frowned, something was wrong. The receptionist quickly dialed the telephone while her heartbeat kept the same hastened tempo. The number she dialed was an extension, three fourteen. He had learned to decipher dial tones about a year ago and practice with them every now and then to keep his skills sharp. “ This is Joan at the visitation desk. We have a code fifteen. A young man to see his brother,” whispered Joan. Drago clearly heard every word as if she had shouted it across the office.
“ Send him away!” The reply from the other end was harsh and followed with a click. Drago loosened his tie. Something was up and he was going to find out what it was.
“ I’m sorry young man, but your brother is not allowed visitors at the moment.” The warm tone in her voice had vanished.
“Why?” asked Drago.
“ They don’t tell me these things,” she replied. “It’s usually behavior related.” Her heartbeat betrayed her. She was lying.
Without another word Drago walked away. The puzzle was becoming too complex. All this detective work was starting to get to him. He needed action.
Once out of sight Drago slipped into an empty office. With what he was about to do, if he failed he could be expelled from school. John Drago would be too visible and easily identified; he stripped off his school uniform revealing the outfit of UrDrago, the spirit warrior. Drago quickly stashed away his clothes and donned his mask and gloves. After a quick search of the office he found the prison phone listing. Extensions three fourteen belong to the warden of the zig. “ I think it’s time we paid the warden a visit,” whispered Drago to himself. Drago dashed through the prison hallways, careful to avoid security cameras. Before long he made it to the warden’s office. The office door had a high tech locking device. He reached out with his senses to eavesdrop on any conversation in the warden’s office while keeping himself out of view of any passerby. The warden had just finished a conversation and was getting ready to leave for an appointment. Patiently Drago waited keeping himself out of sight until the right moment. Quickly the warden emerged from his office at a fast pace. The office door started to swing close and at the last second Drago sprung from his hiding spot, as if shot from a cannon, and caught the door before it closed.
Once inside the office he started to search the wardens desk for prisoner files. On the top of the desk rested several files that the warden must have recently going through. Drago scanned through the files and stopped at one in particular. “ No, It can’t be,” he said under his breath. Drago took a seat at the desk and used the warden’s computer to access the Internet. Once on, he logged onto Saint Joseph School’s network and from there, the Infinity Server. Once again Drago pulled up all the information on Extreme Ravage. But this time he cross-referenced it with prisoner one eight four. After a couple of minutes the results came back positive. Extreme Ravage is no other than prisoner one eight four, Daniel Drago.