A brief prologue...

[Rukellian]

A large, dimly lit room slowly flickers to life as a large monitor illuminates the surrounding darkness. The light from the screen shines down upon a group of men hunched over a rounded table. A meeting has been called, each person representing a notable position in some organization or another. Top leaders of the world, generals of powerful armies, the brightest minds in the field of science and technology, highly influential billionaires and entrepreneurs alike, they all gather in this room for one collective purpose, one goal.

A heavy silence fills the air as the figures remain silent, motionless in their chairs, some filing through paperwork, portfolios put together for the conference. Then a door opens from the side of the dark room, light from the connecting corridor, temporarily shining even more light onto the room. The person has his back turned to the light, showing only but that of a silhouette of his figure. His appearance differed greatly from the rest of the group, for he seemed to be wearing a large trench coat with a high collar, effectively concealing his whole body.

The door now closing behind the mysterious figure, he stops and says out loud and quite abruptly, "Show the footage." No sooner did the man finish his order, the illuminated screen started to play said footage, and the contents within became increasingly erie as the group of assembled people watched.

The video showed a string of clips taken from various security cameras as well as footage recorded by the onlookers of said incidents. A man picking up a vehicle and swinging it like a bat, a women shattering the glass around her just by shouting, a cloaked individual manipulating fire without the aid of tools or surrounding items, the displays of superhuman like abilities seemed to never end.

"Enough," said one of the men gathered around the table. "I've seen enough of this to know why we are here." An aged voice, showing his years, but it held a tremendous sense of authority and power as he spoke. "Those masked vigilantes, those… freaks of nature, we are all brought here to discuss how to deal with them, yes?"

Murmurings can be heard throughout the room as the old man finishes his question. "It would seem as if he is not the only one who thinks this way," says a woman across the table. "This outbreak of… creatures and vigilantes needs to be quarantined, eliminated even. You all have seen what those individuals are capable of, by themselves. So much destruction and chaos that unfolds in their wake, they are too dangerous to be ignored, causing or inadvertently causing harm to those around them, even themselves."

"I agree with her statement," chimes in another man. "They all act alone right now, as far as we can tell; but how long do you think it will take for criminal organizations to make use of these individuals, produce their own? We cannot allow this to escalate any further, or even allow the possibility of such."

The man in the trench coat, still hiding within the shadows of the room, holds up the case that he has been holding. Bringing it forth to the table, everyone becomes silent once more as they all hunch over to see what it is. The man opens up an electronic keyboard within the suitcase, typing in a passcode. A flash of green light shines and a clicking mechanism engages, popping open the case. He lifts the lid and turns it around for everyone to see.

No one says anything for a while as they all gaze into the contents of the case. The realization of the situation finally sunk in for the rest of the gathered people as mysterious man closes the case and pulls it off the table. "So, do you now understand the situation we are all in? I have gathered you all here today to challenge this new threat, or possibly, this new avenue of advancement. Here stands before you the changing point in this world's history. No longer do we look upon the works of fiction from the past and say they are fiction. No, they are becoming reality, just as you have seen before you, and just as you will soon come to acknowledge and accept.

"Do we give into fear and needlessly attack these new threats, or will we take the time to understand what is happening and use all of this to our advantage, to better our world in so many different ways?"

"You speak as if you know more than what you have let us on to believe. You obviously have a plan in mind; if you will not eliminate the threat, as so many of us are inclined to do in the name of safeguarding our world, our race, then what is it exactly that you want to do? You speak of understanding them, using them for our advantage, care to elaborate?"

The man laughs as he is asked this. "Isn't it obvious? We need to understand why this is all happening. Instead of treating the side effects of the matter, we need to cut to the source, find it, secure it, and use it benefit us. Before us stands an evolution in technology and physiology. If we can tap into those secrets, we will be able to better mankind, the whole world!"

The woman just shakes her head again in disapproval as she brings up another point. "These side effects are not simply just going to go away. We need to do something about it! You have seen how effective law enforcement has been on these individuals; it's proving to be not enough now. We cannot rely on a country's military for every single incident either, now can we? Observing and analyzing is all fine and good, but how will we protect ourselves in the mean time?"

"I propose that we set up a security force, a specialized one that makes use of those very same individuals that we may very well be fighting. Our own group of supers for lack of a better term."

"You can't be serious?!" Exclaims the aged man. "The idea alone sounds preposterous! It's like using a group of thugs and criminals to arrest thugs and criminals. I'd sooner hand over all of my country's nuclear arsenal then agree to such a plan!"

"Indeed," chimes in another person, "Your idea is flawed and lacking in credible evidence to support such a plan; however, I am not entirely opposed to the idea of making use of this new technology. Certainly in the right hands, it could be of use in combatting this new threat…" More murmurings can be heard through out the room as everyone seems to slowly agree or shake their heads in disapproval.

The man in the trench coat, still standing the shadows, leaves the room silently, having finished what he set out to do this day. The ideas have been planted, and those with the necessary resources will surely act. With a smile, he fades away and the room is left with a fog of uncertainty, more questions having been raised then answers given.

[Rukellian]

portal corp .jpg (109.58 KiB) Viewed 464 times

A few lone scientists remain at the portal corp institute as most of the residents in Peregrine Island finish their evacuation of the city. They have heard the news, they felt the tremors within the dimensional space around them, reality itself was on the verge of collapse. The cause behind this is unknown, the solution, far beyond their grasp, and a limited window of opportunity looming over them hangs as they try to find either.

"What are our options," states a familiar voice in the background. Positron approaches, knowing full well that their options are limited and that he may very well not like to hear any of them. The scientists look towards him and just shake their heads. "The stability of the dimensional matrices are volatile to say the least. We've only been able to anchor one set of coordinates safely to ours but...."

"Don't tell me..."

"Yes, It's the only one unaffected by this dimensional collapse across our multiverse, Earth no. 000742."

"The untouched one... do it."

"But sir! You are aware of our policy with tampering with the natural development of-"

"I am fully aware of the consequences of such, but this is our last chance to preserve what little of this world that we can."

And thus, the stage was set...