The doors, like most in Paragon City, were stronger than they appeared, and only rattled dully despite the massive firepower being directed at them from the
other side. Terrence Knight leaned against them idly, holding them shut and barely noticing the frenzied thumping as the pursuing Crey forces tried in vain to
break through.

Swift Sabre sighed, the frustration coming through the voxmod unchanged. "Well, we did what we could, right?"

"Ow," Mirage Sabre commented from where she lay sprawled a few feet away. She climbed slowly back to her feet.

"There was just too much firepower happening around that desk," Terrence put in as a particularly loud bang sounded from the door. Mirage began to
remove her helmet as Terrence continued. "There was no way it wasn't going to be destroyed."

"Crey's kinda picky about people rifling their desk drawers, aren't... they...?" Nano trailed off as Mirage shook her hair out and turned to
face the other two Sabres.

Mirage noticed Nano's attentive stance and cocked her head. "What?"

"Are you feelin' okay, Mirage? That was a nasty beating you took in there," Terrence said.

"I'll be fine," Mirage answered. "The headache will fade. Made that way, you see."

"Are you sure?" Swift put in.

"Yes, it's psychological," Mirage replied. "Feedback from a past event." She furrowed her brow, looking at Nano, who appeared to be
frozen in shock. "Nano, are you all right?"

"A...An...Anri?!?"

Mirage jerked as if struck. "How... do you know my name?!?"

Slowly, dumbly, Nano reached up and removed her own helmet.

Behind Anri, Terrence winced, but kept his mouth shut. Sensing something important happening, Swift hesitantly inquired, "Um... maybe we should go to the
base and sit?"

Anri appeared not to have heard. "Sylvie...?" she said wonderingly.

"This... this can't be happening..." Sylvie said in broken tones.

"What is it?" Swift asked, putting one hand on Sylvie's shoulder.

"Ah... what are you... I mean... Sylvie...?" Anri was at a loss for words.

Terrence cleared his throat. "Perhaps, I need to bow out here," he muttered quietly. "I think you two have some catching up to do." He
stepped away from the door -- Crey having apparently given up the pursuit -- and swiftly strode away, shaking his head. "I somehow knew this was bound to
happen sooner or later..."

"Uh, right, Terr... later..." Anri said without taking her eyes off Sylvie -- who, for her part, managed a faint "G'bye, Terrence," as
her eyes filled with tears.

Anri gazed at Sylvie and took stock of the situation. "Should we go somewhere... Sylvie?"

Swift removed her own helmet. "I... think there's room, at our place...?"

Sylvie didn't register the question. "How... how did you -get- here?" she inquired, a frustrated edge entering her voice.

Anri spread her hands helplessly. "I didn't quite... -get- here." She shrugged and said one word: "Crey."

"You mean, like us?" Linna looked concerned.

"I think so," Anri replied. "The first thing I remember here, was waking up in a Crey facility. Before that was--" She was cut off by
Sylvie.

"You... we..." Sylvie turned and buried her face, resting her head on Linna's shoulder. Muffled sobs erupted even as Linna's hands came up
to hold the crying woman.

"Sylvie!" Anri cried. "Are you... okay...?" She trailed off as she noticed the protective, intimate way in which Linna responded.

"Oh, sure," Sylvie replied bitterly, with a coarse laugh -- all muffled by Linna's shoulder. "I'm fine, I'd finally gotten over
you, you were dead, you see, had to be, you weren't anywhere around and Crey was punching the rest of us out like dolls, but not you, oh no, that'd be
too EASY!" She whirled and glared at Anri, then burst into a fresh round of tears, her armored hands coming up to cover her face.

"What do you mean?" Linna asked quietly.

"Aah..." Anri winced as the realization struck. "Has Sylvie told you about... before?"

Linna looked blank. "Before when?"

Anri's hand came up to rub her face as she responded. "Oh dear. You don't know anything about MegaTokyo?"

Puzzled, Linna replied, "No, I remember, at least I think I do..."

"We knew each other there," Anri indicated Sylvie, who twitched but said nothing. "Rather intimately."

Linna's face was blank. "I... ah..."

"I'm... I'm okay," Sylvie said, taking a deep breath and wiping angrily at her tears. "I'm sorry."

"No," Anri said slowly, shaking her head. "I shouldn't have hidden... but it was so -easy-, after what happened to you... then Largo...
then..."

"Me?" Sylvie frowned. "What do you mean?"

"... you DIED, Sylvie." Anri spread her hands. "Priss came and told me."

Sylvie shook her head. "I... no, that can't be right..."

Anri pressed on. "The DD, you remember that damned thing, right?"

"I... I got caught at the GENOM facility," Sylvie said, her eyes taking on a faraway look as she rifled her memory. "Didn't I?" She
frowned again.

"It went berzerk somehow," Anri insisted. "They HAD to stop you!" She looked at her former lover. "You... don't remember?"

Sylvie shook her head. "I was ... I was looking for the schematics! And then the... guards caught me." Her face was confused, and worried.
"You were at the apartment."

Anri shook her head. "I was out of it... I didn't know until after..."

Behind Sylvie, Linna glanced between the other two Sabres with a helpless expression on her face.

"I didn't die," Sylvie said in the tone of someone trying to convince themselves. "GENOM caught me, and then Crey came and stole us and...
and put me in this new chassis... right? I'd... I'd remember if I died... wouldn't I?"

Anri sagged, staring at the distraught Sabre. "Oh, Sylvie..."

"I never knew about ... it... until they showed me," Linna put in, laying a comforting hand on Sylvie's arm. "I mean... maybe it was the
same for you? Do you think? They did the same to you, as me?"

Sylvie stared at a point very far away. "I don't know," she murmured. It was Anri's turn to look confused as she tried to puzzle out what
Linna had meant. Sylvie continued in a tired voice, "I don't know anything, anymore..."

Anri took a hesitant step forward. "Sylvie... it's okay. I'm here for you... if you need it..."

Linna let her hand drop. "I really can't come between you two..."

Sylvie's eyes widened. "No!" she cried, seizing hold of Linna's shoulders. "I'm, I'm not the Sylvie she remembers... I
can't be..."

Behind them, Anri froze, then nodded. "It's alright," she said quietly. "I've been alone long enough... that I'm used to it."
She put her helmet back on.

Sylvie turned, her expression stricken. "Oh, Anri..."

"You've found happiness, Sylvie," Anri said, gazing steadily at them through the facebowl. "I can't move between that."

"I had the same problem, you remember?" Linna said reassuringly, completely missing what was troubling Sylvie. "When I found out I
wasn't... who I thought I was. I'll try and help you get through it."

Anri nodded sadly. "Help her," she said softly. "I can't anymore." She flicked the shield down, and there was a quiet hum as her
stealth systems engaged. Then she vanished from sight.

"This isn't fair!" Sylvie cried. "ANRI!" She fell to her knees, sobbing.

--sofaspud
--"Listening to your kid is the audio equivalent of a Salvador Dali painting, Spud." --OpMegs

http://forum.rpg.net/show....php?t=421723&page=79

----------------------

Epsilon

Believe in yourself
Be who you want to be...

I will shed no tear, I will face my fear all alone
All the doubts in mind, I will leave behind

Lost in the dark, seek for the light
I hold out my hand into the endless night

To get through the time in strife in my life
I tell myself over to never give in

Feel your heartbeat inside you
Don't be afraid
Keep the faith
That's the key to all the doors ahead
Open up your way with the brighter hopes for today
The sun will rise upon your way

Believe in yourself
You're not alone
Believe in your strength
You'll find your way

My weakness inside is something I can't hide from your eyes
So fragile and fair, so much I can bear

Breaking the chain that binds you from pain
Through gentle rain, you're free once again

Searching for truth and love in my life
'Till I find my own I will never give up

Listen to the voice of your heart
Deep in your soul
Keep the faith
Let it work a miracle in your life
Never look back on sorrow and let go of your pain
The light of love shines upon your way

Feel your heartbeat inside you
Don't be afraid
Keep the faith
That's the key to all the doors ahead
Open up your way with the brighter hopes for today
The sun will rise upon your way

Believe in yourself
You're not alone
Believe in your strength
You'll find your way

- Faith, by Lisa Komine, written by Mika Arisaka and Takahito Eguchi, copyright © 2007 JVC Entertainment Company

As the header says, it's yet another confidence song. If Doug happens to first hear the song by watching http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclo ... hp?id=8033]the anime for which it's the opening theme and Doug's subconscious wants to be really nice, it might also be an "grant magical aptitude" empowerment song... but how likely is that?
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012

"X-Box
360 Jr. Jr. Jr. is survived by his mother, PC, and his father X-box."

(Not my pics, but I wish they were. The photographer's awesome. :lol)
---
"Oh, silver blade, forged in the depths of the beyond. Heed my summons and purge those who stand in my way. Lay
waste."

It's something that's been on my mind lately, and Bob's off-hand reference to Asimov's The Martian Way helped my mind clue in at a
good time.

Simply put, the Midnight only seems to have F-HUGE engines. The fact of the matter is that at the time of the Midnight's retrofitting
high power engine-scale ion emiters are a piece of cake when working with the Wave - even to the point of the process being pretty much quirk free since the
emmiters can be easily built using handwaved tools instead of handwaving existing equipment into a working emitter. Ergo, the ion engines themselves on the
Midnight occupy a relatively small space in the engine nacells.

The rest is a device that is equal parts fiendishly complex and fiendishly simple and the reason why Midnight generates the shock-diamond pattern in
her exhaust-wake when it shouldn't happen in vacuum. This device is a focusing manifold that redirects the flow of the exhaust ions into a quadruple-helix
wave pattern. This not only provides the shock-diamond pattern, but forces the ion stream into a tight beam that provides far more power for acceleration -
enough that it rivals the Soviet Airforce's brute force answer in fusion torch designs.

This rather unique device is one of the few bits of proprietary technology that the Roughriders have - this is owing to the unusual nature of the device
itself; no one is willing to mess with it and those that have gave themselves migrains trying to figure out the product of Ben's mind. (This has led some
to question Ben's sanity and whether it's safe to leave him in command of a potent force such as the Roughriders. Ben's proponents claim that he
is merely a Mad Scientist that is able to keep his madness closely in check, letting it out in controlled quantities when he is working on a project.) During
the initial phases of the mass-production line of Blackbird Class ships, the 'propulsion units' were the only portions that the Roughriders
manufactured themselves. Fortunately, the build quality is exceptional and breakdowns of the system are rare and usually only occur from battle damage. In
these cases, the customers are more than happy to accept new or refurbished units in exchange for the damaged ones for the reasons mentioned above.

This propulsion unit is not only present in the Blackbird Class ships, but a somewhat scaled-down version is used in Firfox Class fighters as well, which
explains quite a bit about their unusual-even-for-a-fighter speed and acceleration.

I saw this and I felt it was necessary to 'share*' this with the group.

*(By 'share', I mean 'inflict'.)

(Edit: Corrected topic/thread name at Kurisu's request. -- Bob)
_____
DEATH is Certain. The hour, Uncertain...

http://link.brightcove.co...35797252?bctid=1729330625

----------------

Epsilon

So I asked myself "How can I make motorcycles more dangerous?"

Art Monkey looks @ stuff in FenWiki, Art Monkey is dissatisfied. Art Monkey starts doodling on paper, takes paper home and starts doodling in Illustrator. Tired Art Monkey posts pretty pictures in forum. --Mal





Also, for the seriously curious, here's http://fnord.sandwich.net/fenspace/vvs- ... lpaper.jpg]a 1900x1200 look at all the VVS design work to date.
Mr. Fnord interdimensional man of mystery

FenWiki - Your One-Stop Shop for Fenspace Information

"I. Drink. Your. NERDRAGE!"

I direct you http://www.amazon.com/foo/dp/B001K98M46/, and http://www.amazon.com/foo/dp/B001F34HPK/.

...just what use Intangibility is? I gave it to Beach Baby on one of her last levels, and since then, I haven't found any use for it that ordinary
Invisibility wouldn't do just as well. I was expecting it to let me go through walls and stuff, being used to the way its analogues work in other games,
but nope, no such luck. So what good is it?
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.