A boy and his father
Posted: Mon Jun 22, 2009 2:42 pm
[This is the story ongoing story of Mikael's time in Paragon and his fathers involvement in his life. I hope you enjoy it. If you have comment or suggestions please send them in PM format or talk to me in game. I am always happy for some criticism on my writing. I'm just glad to get back into it. The post in the commons is sort of the prequel as well.]
Chapter 1: Arrival in a new world
I looked around me as I stepped off the train pulling my single piece of luggage behind me with one hand. Walking slowly across the stations floor toward the exit, my eyes scanning over the place slowly. It was just like any other train station on the inside, but there was a sense of unfamiliarity to this place. Like it was nothing like any other place in the world. I knew this was true in many ways but that it felt so very present in such a harmless place was disturbing to me. I realize suddenly I had stopped in the center of the station, standing there unsure of why I had stopped. I brush off the strange dread feeling and begin to walk again, gripping the handle on my luggage tighter with a mechanical sound. The cybernetics in my fist reacting to my commands as if they were my natural hand. But they were not natural in any way, as close as science had come from what I understood of my fathers inventions. They were a strange form of bio-organic metal that grew with me as I aged. My father had built them for me after the last time I’d seen him four years ago. A meeting I recalled with crystal clarity.
“Mikael!” My uncle’s voice broke me from my thoughts as I continued to walk. He stood near the exit in a set of plain looking clothes. Uncle Walter; my mothers brother, was a well built man with a large graying beard on his face and no hair on his head. He smiled at me happily as I approached him, a warm kindness in his eyes as he came up to me and hugged me tightly. I hugged back calmly and grinned at him.
“Uncle Walter, it’s nice to see you again.” I said, and I was happy to see him. He was always kind to me as far as I remember. Which is only eight years of course, since the surgery. I didn’t remember anything from before I came out of coma. He patted my on the shoulder carefully, again breaking my thought process. He was good at that. He was such a simple and optimistic man that it was hard to think about things like that around him.
“You know you can call me Wally you know.” He laughed as he said it, he knew I didn’t like using nicknames. “So you must be tired after that train ride,” He smiled at me and continued with a smirk, “I can never sleep on those things, so noisy.” He lead me out of the building into the street, it was dark outside; probably near midnight I guess and look to my uncle.
“You know I don’t sleep like that.” I state melancholically and raise a hand for a cab. He smirks and laughs at me.
“There’s no taxi’s in this town boy,” He sighs, “too dangerous.” I raise an eyebrow and inspect his expression as I lower my arm. “Anyways,” He chuckles, “Copper District is only about 8 blocks away.” He begins to walk down the dimly lit sidewalk at a steady pace. He waves me to follow him and I do, easily catching up. Matching his stride once I do. “Thought you didn’t get tired Mik?” He asks teasingly.
“I don’t,” I answer simply, “but you do.” I look over the stocky man appraisingly. He looks at me with a grin and shakes his head.
“You worry about this old man too much.” Laughing at me as he continues to walk.
We walk for about six blocks before the towering building he points out as home comes into view. I look at the skyscraper as we walk silently. It was big and fancy. It looked more like a business building than an apartment complex. Suddenly something near the doors to the building caught my eye, a reddish light bouncing from side to side. My cybernetic eye scanned the light immediately, flicking from one vision type to another till it stopped on thermal imaging. I stopped walking as it became clear that there were two figures standing at the door. One of them tossing around what seemed to be a ball of fire.
“Uncle! Stop.” I whispered and he halted to turn and look at me. “There’s two men by the door,” I explained, “one has a fire… ball I guess!” He seemed distressed suddenly and came to my side.
“Hellions boy.” He said. “A group of thugs that love fire,” He went on, “some of them can control it.” He dug in his pocket and pulled out a small pistol and checked to see if it was loaded. “Come on now.” He put the gun back in his jacket pocket and started walking again nervously.
We walk till the men come into view, a pair of thugs in black and red with bandannas over there faces. One points to us and the other laughs. “Hey gramps!” The African American one shouts to us, pulling a knife. “Why don’t you and the kid give us your money?” The other chuckles and rolls a fireball over his fingers. I let go of my luggage and clench my fists, feeling the tingling electric start to intensify in my body. They come a little closer and my Uncle pulls the gun back out and point it at them.
“I think not!” Uncle Walter shouts and grits his teeth, planting his feet. “Leave us be punk.” He commands them.
The duo starts laughing and steps closer. “Watcha gunna do gramps shoot me?” He laughs. “I control FIRE man,” He shouts, “I’m friggin invincible!” I was sure he was exaggerating there because the second man hesitated a moment. I watch as the two exchange a glance and step closer again.
A moment passes and I push my uncle out of the path of a fireball! Barely dodging it myself, but also missing him as I toss out a bolt of electric. The Hellion pauses a moment at this and I take advantage of it. Jumping to my feet and grabbing him by the neck, letting the volts flow between us freely! Not even feeling them, as they are produced by me. I drop the man after he passes out and turn to check on the other who is on the ground with a nasty bump on his head. My winded uncle standing over him with a look of thanks. “Good work kid,” He huffs, “didn’t know you could do that.”
“Oh uhhhh kind of why I got kicked out of school.” I confess and gather up my things again. He nods and looks around.
“Well let’s get inside before more come around.” He says, breathing hard as we go into the building.
Somewhere in the rogue isles
“Sir.” The orderly calls down the hall into the lab. His crisp clean coat clashing with the dark walls of the room as he enters it.
“What?!” An annoyed sounding voice shouts from across the room, a Russian accent thickly coating the word. A metallic hum that had filled the room suddenly stops and the source of the voice appears from under a large machine. “why do you bother me?” The small, grayish skinned man grumbles and tugs the rubber gloves off his hands. He was short, only just over five feet, he had a lab coat hanging over his whole torso and a stained silver suit of armor underneath it. His left eye scanning the orderly angrily, the other a cybernetic implant seems to zoom in and out of it’s own will. The orderly walks up shakily and apologizes to his apparent superior.
“Sorry, sorry sir,” He starts, “I was sent to deliver you a message.” He paused a moment. “Well Professor Geniusovich,” He explains, “your son is in Paragon.” The man stops and shakes slightly. Gustav, looks at him and starts to pace about the room. The orderly continues, “He has enrolled at the Saint Joseph School.”
“The one for super powered teens?” Gustav quizzes, raising an eyebrow and turning to the orderly slowly.
“Yes sir.” The orderly confirms nervously.
“Excellent. That means he is a perfect success.” Gustav begins and moves to a desk covered in schematics and anatomical charts. “I shall have to arrange a meeting with him.” He laughs maniacally and waves the orderly out.
Chapter 1: Arrival in a new world
I looked around me as I stepped off the train pulling my single piece of luggage behind me with one hand. Walking slowly across the stations floor toward the exit, my eyes scanning over the place slowly. It was just like any other train station on the inside, but there was a sense of unfamiliarity to this place. Like it was nothing like any other place in the world. I knew this was true in many ways but that it felt so very present in such a harmless place was disturbing to me. I realize suddenly I had stopped in the center of the station, standing there unsure of why I had stopped. I brush off the strange dread feeling and begin to walk again, gripping the handle on my luggage tighter with a mechanical sound. The cybernetics in my fist reacting to my commands as if they were my natural hand. But they were not natural in any way, as close as science had come from what I understood of my fathers inventions. They were a strange form of bio-organic metal that grew with me as I aged. My father had built them for me after the last time I’d seen him four years ago. A meeting I recalled with crystal clarity.
“Mikael!” My uncle’s voice broke me from my thoughts as I continued to walk. He stood near the exit in a set of plain looking clothes. Uncle Walter; my mothers brother, was a well built man with a large graying beard on his face and no hair on his head. He smiled at me happily as I approached him, a warm kindness in his eyes as he came up to me and hugged me tightly. I hugged back calmly and grinned at him.
“Uncle Walter, it’s nice to see you again.” I said, and I was happy to see him. He was always kind to me as far as I remember. Which is only eight years of course, since the surgery. I didn’t remember anything from before I came out of coma. He patted my on the shoulder carefully, again breaking my thought process. He was good at that. He was such a simple and optimistic man that it was hard to think about things like that around him.
“You know you can call me Wally you know.” He laughed as he said it, he knew I didn’t like using nicknames. “So you must be tired after that train ride,” He smiled at me and continued with a smirk, “I can never sleep on those things, so noisy.” He lead me out of the building into the street, it was dark outside; probably near midnight I guess and look to my uncle.
“You know I don’t sleep like that.” I state melancholically and raise a hand for a cab. He smirks and laughs at me.
“There’s no taxi’s in this town boy,” He sighs, “too dangerous.” I raise an eyebrow and inspect his expression as I lower my arm. “Anyways,” He chuckles, “Copper District is only about 8 blocks away.” He begins to walk down the dimly lit sidewalk at a steady pace. He waves me to follow him and I do, easily catching up. Matching his stride once I do. “Thought you didn’t get tired Mik?” He asks teasingly.
“I don’t,” I answer simply, “but you do.” I look over the stocky man appraisingly. He looks at me with a grin and shakes his head.
“You worry about this old man too much.” Laughing at me as he continues to walk.
We walk for about six blocks before the towering building he points out as home comes into view. I look at the skyscraper as we walk silently. It was big and fancy. It looked more like a business building than an apartment complex. Suddenly something near the doors to the building caught my eye, a reddish light bouncing from side to side. My cybernetic eye scanned the light immediately, flicking from one vision type to another till it stopped on thermal imaging. I stopped walking as it became clear that there were two figures standing at the door. One of them tossing around what seemed to be a ball of fire.
“Uncle! Stop.” I whispered and he halted to turn and look at me. “There’s two men by the door,” I explained, “one has a fire… ball I guess!” He seemed distressed suddenly and came to my side.
“Hellions boy.” He said. “A group of thugs that love fire,” He went on, “some of them can control it.” He dug in his pocket and pulled out a small pistol and checked to see if it was loaded. “Come on now.” He put the gun back in his jacket pocket and started walking again nervously.
We walk till the men come into view, a pair of thugs in black and red with bandannas over there faces. One points to us and the other laughs. “Hey gramps!” The African American one shouts to us, pulling a knife. “Why don’t you and the kid give us your money?” The other chuckles and rolls a fireball over his fingers. I let go of my luggage and clench my fists, feeling the tingling electric start to intensify in my body. They come a little closer and my Uncle pulls the gun back out and point it at them.
“I think not!” Uncle Walter shouts and grits his teeth, planting his feet. “Leave us be punk.” He commands them.
The duo starts laughing and steps closer. “Watcha gunna do gramps shoot me?” He laughs. “I control FIRE man,” He shouts, “I’m friggin invincible!” I was sure he was exaggerating there because the second man hesitated a moment. I watch as the two exchange a glance and step closer again.
A moment passes and I push my uncle out of the path of a fireball! Barely dodging it myself, but also missing him as I toss out a bolt of electric. The Hellion pauses a moment at this and I take advantage of it. Jumping to my feet and grabbing him by the neck, letting the volts flow between us freely! Not even feeling them, as they are produced by me. I drop the man after he passes out and turn to check on the other who is on the ground with a nasty bump on his head. My winded uncle standing over him with a look of thanks. “Good work kid,” He huffs, “didn’t know you could do that.”
“Oh uhhhh kind of why I got kicked out of school.” I confess and gather up my things again. He nods and looks around.
“Well let’s get inside before more come around.” He says, breathing hard as we go into the building.
Somewhere in the rogue isles
“Sir.” The orderly calls down the hall into the lab. His crisp clean coat clashing with the dark walls of the room as he enters it.
“What?!” An annoyed sounding voice shouts from across the room, a Russian accent thickly coating the word. A metallic hum that had filled the room suddenly stops and the source of the voice appears from under a large machine. “why do you bother me?” The small, grayish skinned man grumbles and tugs the rubber gloves off his hands. He was short, only just over five feet, he had a lab coat hanging over his whole torso and a stained silver suit of armor underneath it. His left eye scanning the orderly angrily, the other a cybernetic implant seems to zoom in and out of it’s own will. The orderly walks up shakily and apologizes to his apparent superior.
“Sorry, sorry sir,” He starts, “I was sent to deliver you a message.” He paused a moment. “Well Professor Geniusovich,” He explains, “your son is in Paragon.” The man stops and shakes slightly. Gustav, looks at him and starts to pace about the room. The orderly continues, “He has enrolled at the Saint Joseph School.”
“The one for super powered teens?” Gustav quizzes, raising an eyebrow and turning to the orderly slowly.
“Yes sir.” The orderly confirms nervously.
“Excellent. That means he is a perfect success.” Gustav begins and moves to a desk covered in schematics and anatomical charts. “I shall have to arrange a meeting with him.” He laughs maniacally and waves the orderly out.