Tales of the Legendary: Horror Stories

[Acyl]

Yesterday, as everyone probably knows, the Halloween event was activated early - starting with a full-blown zombie invasion. A bunch of us got
together to fight in Dark Astoria, which was totally awesome. Graveyards, crypts, mist of evil, and ZOMBIES FROM THE EARTH. Ankhani said that someone should
write up the whole experience in fiction form.

So I did.

I've altered the details, embellished a lot, omitted some actual lines of dialogue while using others wholescale. Apologies to Foxboy, I didn't use Emi
Arizona because she only arrived towards the end. Frenetic Sublimation gets almost no characterisation here, I'm afraid, because he didn't actually say
much in the real log and I know absolutely nothing else about the guy. I'm sorry, Sweno. Hope what I fudged works. =(

I've started this new thread in the hopes that during this Halloween period, other folks will add their own Halloween stories or mini-ficlets. Think of
this as similar to the Snippets thread - but I didn't wanna clutter that one because this is, after all, rather seasonal and more specific. =D

With acknowledgements to Ankhani, Valles, OpMegs and Sweno, I present what is hopefully just the first:

---

Tales of the Legendary: Horror Stories

"Raise the Dead"

"...so that's when Gaussian comes in," Syndesis said, slyly, "complain' that the break room smells o' disinfectant."

Net Sabre almost missed a step, her armoured figure stumbling as she emerged from the catacomb exit. "You did not...you didn't tell
him?"

Syndesis placed a hand over her chest as she led the way out, adopting a look of pious innocence. "Wha,
who me? Naaawww..."

A loud snort came from behind the two. Brightsky shook her head as she followed her teammates, floating over
the stone steps. Behind the flying heroine came the lumbering form of Emet, the big golem mounting the stairs with great care.

Frenetic Sublimation was the last to emerge from the underground tunnels. He paused as he crossed the
threshold, holding up a hand. "Okay," he asked, "everyone present, accounted for? No serious injuries?"

Turning round, Net Sabre glanced at each of the team members, silently running a quick scan on her hardsuit
sensors. Checking vital signs. After a moment, she gave a nod, her helmet bobbing. "Looks like."

"Alright," Fren replied. With a practised gesture, he produced a communicator from his own armour,
withdrawing it from an external compartment. The device came to life, a blue hologram flaring in the air in front of him - a slowly rotating wireframe of the
Legendary insignia. "Calling it in. Let's head back to base."

Brightsky made a face. "Good," she stated, with heartfelt emphasis, "I hate Dark
Astoria."

"Aw, c'mon, kid," Syndesis ribbed, elbowing the flying girl as she passed. She had to reach
high to manage that, but did it all the same.

While the group made their way from the catacombs to the graveyard above, Syndesis continued:
"What's not to like? Sure, the neighbourhood's low on amenities and it's a bit of a commute, but yer can't beat the property
prices."

They picked their way through the cemetery, and Syndesis kept talking. The others stared at her in disbelief,
but she didn't let that deter her. As they passed by an overgrown crypt, Syndesis pointed to the entrance, encrusted with moss and vegetation. "See?
Lotsa space, classic architecture, just needs a little renovation. In the current housin' market, yer need ta---"

"Syn," protested a female voice, coming from Emet. To an uninitiated observer, it would
have sounded strange from the massive golem. But by now the members of the Legendary and Riot Force were used to it. "Who would want to live in Dark
Astoria?"

Whatever method of transmission Amberlee used to project her voice out of her golem, it distorted her words
somewhat - but the tone came through strong enough that her consternation was clear.

Fren shrugged, as they passed by a row of headstones. He lifted a hand, pointing to the crumbling stonework.
"Dead people?"

"Exactly," Brightsky hissed. She shivered, pulling her leather jacket tighter around her body.
"This place is creepy."

Net Sabre turned her helmet to and fro, taking in the graves and mausoleums. "Aw, c'mon," she
chirped, "it's not so bad!"

Fren paused, mid-step, his boots sinking into the damp ground. He arched an eyebrow, looking sceptical.

"Yeah, exactly," Syn replied, "yea, I mean, sure, the climate's a little gloomy, but
really, in Paragon City, weather ain't 'xactly the bigges---"

Syn trailed off, blinking, She looked up, lifting the tanker goggles from her face. Pushing them up to her
forehead, she squinted at the sky, peering hard through the haze. "Heeey, that's funny."

"What is it," Amberlee said, through Emet. "I don't..."

The big golem ground to a halt, as its operator went speechless.

The group of heroes was silent for a while.

Then, as if on cue, a low moan reached everyone's ears.

Syndesis dropped into a fighting stance, her boots scraping against the earth as she spread her feet.
"Red sky at night," she muttered, "a zombie's delight..."

"I'm picking up motion," Net Sabre reported, as she punched her sensors to maximum gain,
"but no heat sources."

"Don't sense any minds," Amberlee's voice came from the golem's unmoving visage. While
the golem had no expression, Amberlee was a telepath - her voice and the accompanying undercurrent of emotion made clear her sense of alarm. "But
that's..."

"CONTACT," Fren shouted, as he took to the air, igniting his gauntlets. Lifting his hands, he sent
a wave of flame blasting into the mist. The sudden illumination burst like a flare, casting the mist-shrouded graveyard into stark relief...and revealing the
shambling figures closing in on the group.

Brightsky twitched as a creature covered in rags leapt out at her. Acting purely on instinct, she spun,
kicking. Her heel smashed the skull at the jawbone. Gaping empty eye sockets peered back at her as the twitching corpse fell to the ground.

"What the hell," Brightsky managed, her own eyes widening.

"ZOMBIES," Syndesis yelled, as she blocked a swipe from another hunched-over attacker. Her reflexes
kicked into high gear, a cocktail of substances more potent than simple adrenaline hitting her enhanced body and forcing it into overdrive. Syn's
counterpunch struck hard enough that the sound of breaking bone echoed over the melee like a gunshot - but that wasn't enough to stop the thing from
moving.

Emet moved to assist, but never got there - the golem's movement stopped, then ceased entirely, as the
ground broke beneath its feet. Skeletal hands emerged from the earth, wrapping round Emet's legs...even as more zombies came out from the darkness,
swarming the big stone golem, burying it beneath a wall of bone and rotting flesh.

Net Sabre brought her hardsuit's weapons and propulsion systems to life, the latter giving her a sharp
boost of unnatural speed - which was immediately necessary, as her threat indicator shrieked alarm. She just barely managed to dodge one of the undead as it
came right at her. Her systems had no trouble tagging the bodies as hostiles now, but there were so many that her HUD was having trouble
designating targets.

She could keep track of her teammates, though, and those indicators told her that one was in
trouble...

Frenetic Sublimation dropped from the sky, struggling with the upper half of a zombie ... the corpse was
burnt and blackened, and missing everything below the waist, but what was left was still moving, and coming dangerously close to choking the life out of the
flying hero.

Net blasted it off him with a double-pulse of energy from her hardsuit weapons, jetted over, intending to
help him to his feet...only to give a sharp yelp as Fren quickly pulled her down, a second before a hulking undead thing would have taken the little red
Sabre's head off, swiping at her from behind.

A scream rose over the melee - Brightsky's voice, climbing up an octave:

"WHO THE HELL MANAGED TO RAISE THIS MANY UNDEAD?!"

"I don't know what's going on," Frenetic answered, as he and Net separated. Moving to cover
the hardsuited woman's back, Fren filled his hands with fire again, the ambient temperature spiking several degrees. "But," he added, "this
is better than Halloween."

"Mass production zombies," Syndesis quipped, as she grabbed one of the shambling figures by the
head, driving it down into the earth with as much force as she could muster. Chips of bone sprayed into the air. "Model T Corpse."

One of the undead grabbed Brightsky by the leg. The zombie's arm started to disintegrate as it made
contact with the heroine's gravity field, ruined muscle peeling off from bone. But it didn't stop the creature...at least until Brightsky let loose
with a focused high-pressure blast, turning the zombie into a rapidly expanding cloud of rotting debris.

Bits of gore splattered against Syndesis' face, catching her as she turned at just the wrong moment.
Instead of flinching, though, Syn threw her head back and laughed wildly...before accelerating into a blur, her leather coat flapping behind her.

The nearest zombie just fell apart as Syn went straight through it, ignoring the explosion
of necrotic flesh. The collision left the speedster's hair in disarray and her clothes a dripping mess, but that just seemed to amuse her all the more.

"Good call, kid! No need for restraint 'ere," Syn cackled, "the DEAD CAN'T SUE! TIME
TO GO WIIIIILD!"

From her position above the melee, Brightsky stared, open-mouthed. "You are completely
INSANE!"

Net Sabre tilted her helmet in a way that made it clear she was grinning beneath the faceplate. She gave a
lilting laugh. "My kind of insane!"

Brightsky unleashed another pressure wave, unwilling to get any closer than necessary to the undead things.
"The DEAD should STAY that way!"

Synchronising her attacks with Frenetic's blasts of flame, Net Sabre let loose a volley of precisely
calculated energy bolts, the air crackling with ionization. Artificial lightning struck again and again as her hardsuit's weapons went to maximum output.
"That's why," Net retorted, "we're sendin' 'em back that way. HARD!"

And then the thunder stopped, as Net's weaponry depleted their charge. The overstressed capacitors went
into refresh mode, smoke curling from the Sabre's gauntlets. The armoured heroine shook her head, looking ruefully at what her systems were telling her.
"Aww...my kingdom for a shotgun and a chainsaw..."

"Make do, kiddo," Syndesis shot back, as she swung a battered weeping angel statue like a baseball
bat, sending a hapless zombie flying.

Frenetic opened his mouth to reply, but whatever he intended to say, it never emerged. Instead he frowned,
sweeping the area with a concerned gaze. "Hey...where's our tank? Is Emet okay?"

Almost as one, the heroes looked at the other end of the graveyard...where the hulking figure of Emet was
stomping through the mist, a writhing horde of skeletal figures hanging off the golem's broad shoulders, trying, and failing, to swarm the stone construct.
And above it all, Amberlee's voice came from the golem in an inarticulate keening wail.

A grave burst open in Emet's path, a fresh corpse crawling up from beneath the ground. But it didn't
get very far before its ascending skull was met by a giant descending stone foot.

Emet STOMPED on the zombie, driving it back into the earth with excessive force.

Letting out a low whistle, Syndesis paused in her own mayhem long enough to observe: "Amber has gone
bye-bye, Egon,"

Without missing a beat, Net Sabre completed the quote. "What have you got left?"

Instead of replying, Frenetic Sublimation set his jaw, eyes narrowing. Clenching his fists, he sent massive
lines of fire in all directions, retina-searing flame scorching cleanly through the mist - sweeping around his fellow heroes with unerring accuracy. The
inferno burnt the remaining zombies down in the space of a single heartbeat, reducing dozens of them to charred bone and ash.

"Ok," Net Sabre said, "that'd do."

Syndesis helped Frenetic to stay upright as the man took deep and heavy breaths. Heat shimmered around him in
visible atmosphere-distorting waves, his suit hot to the touch.

Overhead, Brightsky hovered, warily, watching the cemetery for any remaining signs of unlife.

Silence.

With a grinding sound, Emet turned its head, blank golem eyes regarding everyone. The big figure gave a final
shudder, then grew still. Amber's voice broke the sudden quiet. The telepath sounded shaky: "Everyone okay? No one here bitten?"

Frenetic grimaced. "You think this is contagious?"

Syndesis rubbed the back of her scalp. "Ehhh, hope not. Don't think my insurance covers
it."

"We're fine," Brightsky said, as she settled back down, rejoining the group. Wrinkling her
nose, she stared at her costume. "Though I could really, really use a shower."

Fren sighed, as he surveyed the graveyard, now littered with motionless corpses. Not exactly the prettiest of
pictures. "Any idea what that was?"

Net Sabre cocked her head to one side, listening to something only she could here. Then she tapped her helmet
with one raised finger. "I'm getting PPD transmissions on my radio. These things hit city-wide...network's in an uproar. Coordination
plans..."

The armoured heroine's face was hidden, but her body language revealed surprise. "They had an
anti-zombie invasion plan? Huh."

Syndesis rolled her eyes. "This is Paragon. Wouldn't be surprised if the PPD has a secret plan ta
deal with Atlas comin' alive and goin' bowling wit' his globe."

"MAGI can't pinpoint the cause," Net continued, "but they say it's still around. They
can't guarantee this won't happen again."

Everyone blanched. Except Syndesis, who had an entirely different reaction. Her lips pulled back in a wide
and predatory grin. "Daaaamn, better pack the shotguns, boyo. Praise the Lord, and pass the ammunition."

---

Closing Note:

The punchline that this story opens with is a real tale of mine; I figure Vanguard locker room nonsense has to be somethin' like my own experiences in the
uniformed service. This fragment does not end with Nene singing 'Thriller' - but that was technically an entirely different fight sequence, and I
figure that's best left to OpMegs to describe, if he so chooses. =D I apologise if Syndesis gets all the smartass lines, but as my own character, it was
obviously easier for me to use her to frame the piece rather than any of the others.
-- Acyl

[Evil Midnight Lurker]

"They had an anti-zombie invasion plan? Huh."

Probably borrowed it from Cumberland, Maryland.

--Sam

"Roof pig! Most unexpected."

[Sweno]

Don't worry about Fren, I don't have much of a characterization in my head for him.

And I spend far too much of the fight burning the dead to stop and type dialog.

Still, coolness!
-Terry
-----
"so listen up boy, or pornography starring your mother will be the second worst thing to happen to you today"
TF2: Spy

[Ankhani]

Quite well done, Acyl. Great scene there.
---

The Master said: "It is all in vain! I have never yet seen a man who can perceive his own faults and bring the charge home against himself."

>Analects: Book V, Chaper XXVI

[Rev Dark]

Nice work, with a great feel for the dynamics of superhero combat.

[Bob Schroeck]

Loved Emet's "return to sender" stomp.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.

[Wiregeek]

And a snippet from last night -

"I don't have my slipstick with me, Terrence, but rough numbers indicate that this is actually more efficient than Parapets, and it's a lot more
fun!"

"Mag."

"Besides, this suits a lot better for a full 8 person group, and how often do you really get to let loose with a full group of The Legendary?"

"Mag..."

"Come on, admit it. You're starting to get bored with pounding those same freaking romans all day long, not to mention the competition out there on
the parapets."

"MAG!"

"What?"

"You're literally covered in zombies. I can't _see_ you. I feel really uncomfortable talking to someone who is BURIED IN ZOMBIES."

".....you raise a valid point, sir."
"No can brain today. Want cheezeburger."
From NGE: Nobody Dies, by Gregg Landsman
http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5579457/1/NGE_Nobody_Dies

[OpMegs]

This one's rather apocryphal, as no such team-up actually happened the first night of the invasion. However, the image's clawed into my mind and
won't go away, so....

***


Tales of the Legendary: Horror Stories


"Green vs Grey"





The staccato sound of gunfire echoed across the Paragon skyline in Founder's Falls, an unfortunately all too common sound these days. What was
uncommon, however, was the dull moaning that the gunfire had to rise above, and the oppressive red skies despite the lack of any moonlight that hung over
Paragon City.




"So I think we can assume that these don't obey the usual rules," Sell-Sword noted as he put shot after shot through various zombies'
craniums, causing the creatures to stagger back momentarily, then continue moving forward. "This means we move to option number two."




"What's that?" Onyx asked, teleporting another garbage dumpster into position and chucking it into the shambling undead hordes advancing upon
their position. On the other side, tossing charred fallout and radioactive matter into the encroaching grey tide, Smouldering Decay similarly looked at the
armored mercenary.




"Very simple. If there's no way to quickly disable them, we do so the old fashioned way. Total destruction. Fall back," Sword ordered, the
two women following him as he hovered backwards, continuing to pick off zombie after zombie that got ahead of the main pack. The groaning hordes crawled
over their ventilated brethren, stumbling through walls of flames and gravitational snares. No matter what the three did, however, it did little more than
slow down the groaning zombies.




Backing quickly over one of Founders' larger bridges, Sword turned back, nodding to himself as the zombies, still slow and shambling, were left a
considerable distance away. "Wait here," he noted, vanishing via his cloaking device as Onyx began to protest before cutting off in irritation.




"He always does that!" she growled, getting an amused chuckle from her opposite number.




"Work with him often?"




"Yeah, actually," Onyx admitted. "He's the one that helped me get my liscense, and when he's not being an all-knowing, 'trust
me, I know what I'm doing' secret agent ripoff personality, he's actually fairly decent in a fight."




Decay smirked behind her improvised mask. "You two...." she trailed off, leaving the implication open as Onyx blanched.




"What?! No! No, it's nothing like that. He's just....actually someone who actually thinks like I do, sort of. We've got a few things in
common. That's all."




"Ah..."




They lapsed into silence, watching the approaching zombies until Sword appeared again. "There. Now we just need to hold them off."




"Hold them off?" Onyx said, dubiously looking at the seemingly endless swarm coming their way.




"Only long enough to get them into position," he said, whirring noises emitting from the servos in his arms and torso that Onyx knew meant that
his armor was locking into place so he could relax in a stationary position in it while keeping his gun trained on the oncoming foes.




From his stationary position, he spoke up again. "Get ready girls. On my signal, total lock down. Understood?"




Decay and Onyx both nodded, waiting as the zombies drew nearer, coming within thirty feet of the other side of the bridge.




"Now."




Onyx concentrated, as did Decay, and all across the other side of the bridge, zombies stuck in place, surrounded by fire that lapped and latched on, or
held in place by gravitic anomalies that lifted them off the ground. The entire front row froze in place, blocking the other zombies behind them from
progressing. Sword nodded mentally. "Decay, release your pets," he noted as he opened fire, shredding the trapped zombies behind the frozen front
line with automatic fire before dropping a grenade into their midst that sent necrotized flesh flying everywhere.




Decay snapped her fingers, flames leaping into being and taking on the form of fiery imps of vaguely humanoid form. Before she could really tell them to do
anything, all three let out high pitched cackling noises and sprang forward, running at high speed towards the zombies. Their insane giggling added an
eerie edge to their violent actions as the living embodiments of flame clawed, bounced, and torched their way through the moaning mass.




Onyx blinked as the insane, high pitched cackling echoed around them. "When did they start doing that?" she asked.




Decay shook her head. "Hell if I know. Though other than them making noises, they're about as aggressive as ever."




"Probably exposure to whatever magic's been summoning these creatures," Sword said, triggering another grenade as the zombie horde came
within ten feet of the bridge. But as much as the two women attempted to hold the zombies, more pushed their way through, some bearing horrific burn
scarring from the imps still gleefully causing high temperature carnage amongst their ranks. Their low pitched moans vibrated through the air, causing Onyx
to shiver as Sword raised a hand. "Alright, stop holding them, but prep to do so again when I say," he said.




The duo complied, the zombies surging(well, relative to their previous snail's pace, anyway) ahead, walking onto the bridge as Sword continued firing
into the mass. The zombies simply stepped over their destroyed numbers, coming closer, both women's hands clenching as they waited for the word....and
then it came.




"Now."




Decay and Onyx's powers reached out, seizing the front rank in place, just as a zombie shambled across a laser trip wire ten feet away from the exit
side of the bridge. It didn't notice the flat tone as the mine decloaked and triggered, nor the other mines planted along the bridge that triggered in
a cascade.




The three heroes, however, DID notice, as the bridge erupted in a fireball, incinerating all the zombies on top of it and dropping the entire stone
construction into the canal below, seperating the heroes from their zombie nemeses by a long, empty span of water. Onyx whirled on Sword, scowling.
"You had to go invisible just to do that? You couldn't have just let us see it so we knew the damn plan?! Why do you have to be so damn
dramatic?!"




Sword raised a hand, silencing her as he pointed, Onyx's eyes widening as the zombies spilled over the burnt edge of their side of the former bridge,
stumbling into the canal. Some sank entirely, weighed down by whatever they had on hand, but others, still mechanically attempting to walk forward, began
floating towards their side, as more and more joined them in the water. Soon, there was the beginnings of a bridge of moaning grey flesh, other zombies
walking atop each other to get closer to the other side of the bridge. Sword fired a few rounds into them, but it failed to accomplish much as the dead
corpses simply created more stable surfaces for the zombies to crawl over. Decay shivered, stepping back before Sword chuckled.




"Excellent. Just as planned."




"Just as planned?" she asked, cutting off another rant from Onyx who was scowling deeply.




"Mm-hmm," Sword said, pulling out a detonator as the last of the zombies spilled over the edge into the canal. "Now they're right where
I wanted them."




***




Enynn looked up from where she'd just decapitated a zombie as an explosion broke the evening air. She floated out of reach as she realized
someone'd blown up a small dam on one end of Founder's, a torrent of water shooting out of it and flooding the canals.




***




Onyx kicked a zombie back down into the water, before sending a trash can hurtling into another's face, when she heard the oncoming roar. Not of an
enormous beast or some kind of super zombie, but the rushing sound of several tons of water flowing down the canals at high speed. She looked over just as
the vibrating movement temporarily attracted the zombies' attention, before the overflowing wave pouring down the canal hit the undead bridge and swept
the entire thing away, decaying flesh and bone pulverised into specks and powder by the impact.




Decay looked down the canal, not seeing any zombies climbing out of it, before looking back at Sword, who was merely watching the scene impassively behind
his helmet. "You blew up the dam?"




"Only after whittling down their numbers sufficiently that they'd waste the rest crawling into this canal," he explained. "Now,
let's get moving."




"You expect more escaped?" Onyx asked, getting a chuckle and a shake of the head from the mercenary.




"No. I just don't want to be around here for them to potentially attempt to bill me for the damages. You'd think annihilating an undead horde
would be covered in their insurance, but no...."
---
"Oh, silver blade, forged in the depths of the beyond. Heed my summons and purge those who stand in my way. Lay
waste."

[Sofaspud]

I grew up on the street, yanno? And I've seen me some crazy stuff. 'Specially livin' in the Hollows.

It's a nice place, really. Dunno why so many people are down on it, and lemme tell ya, that plan I've heard rumors about? The "Lake
Wincott" project? That'd cheese me off major. I like the view the way it is, dammit.

But a man's got his limits, right? Everyone does. And these new neighbors... yeesh. It's kinda noisy, an' I was just getting to the good part in
my book.

***


Tales of the Legendary: Horror Stories


"Heating Up the Hollows"




Stayin' in one place has never been my thing before now. My current digs are what I call the Penthouse Suite; used to be some sorta office, an
insurance agency I think, but what do I know? Anyway, it's cold in winter and warm in summer and only one of the windows is open -- busted, really -- but
it's got some good things going for it too. Firstwise, the elevators in this building don't work any more, unlike most of the other buildings, and
secondly, the stairwell collapsed long before I showed up.

A little careful welding -- back in shop class, I was one of the best, but I still got a D 'cause the teach
didn't think much of mutant powers, the jerk -- and the fire door wasn't gonna open for nobody no more, and I had an entire floor to myself. Oddly
enough, it still had power, too, if you don't mind a little flickering now and then, which I'm not picky about nohow. So all I had to worry about was
them flying Outcasts, the shocker guys, and for that...

... well, old favors go a long way, yeah?

So I knew it wasn't Outcasts having fun next floor down. For one, those old favors, and for another, there were way too many moaning noises. Outcasts and
Hellions are much more into the boom, whether from a stereo or a Molotov cocktail, they don't care much. But you don't catch them moaning. Leastwise,
I sure as hell didn't want to catch them moaning, likely as not with some of them girls what hang with the Skulls or something. Yuck.

I put the bookmark in place and told the good doctor and his animals that I'd see them in a bit, and shrugged into my working clothes. I don't bother
much with a costume. A bit of black smudge across the eyes, a pair of ratty old football shoulder pads, jeans and a t-shirt, and I'm set. I sometimes
dress it up a bit with leather pants -- they handle being dragged along the ground better than jeans do, and you'd be surprised how often that happens --
but I was in a hurry tonight. Doolittle had just made it to Africa, dammit, and I wanted to see how he got away from the king.

I stuck my head through the drapes and out the window to look around and stopped. I didn't expect the sky to be... well, the only word I could think of
was blood, as in 'blood-red'. Like I says, you see some weird things living here, but nothing beats the view... usually.

Next thing I saw was a mob. And I'm talking the torches-and-pitchforks variety, excepting most were waving around superpowers instead of, y'know,
torches and pitchforks. Though I did spot a few of those in the mix, too.

And then I saw the moaners. Well, they had a lot to moan about, I guess. I'd moan too if I'd ripped myself outta the ground -- like I saw some of
them doing -- and was wandering around trying to eat brains or whatever it is they were up to.

An' then I saw one of those zombies lay into a little girl -- who, I had to admit, seemed to be enjoying the fight, but still -- and that was it. I stepped out of the window and let gravity take over, flaring my field as I fell. I'm no hero, I'm just a guy who
happens to be on fire most of the time and who likes breaking stuff, but even I know you don't step on an urchin in my town.

There are a couple fine points, I'm told, to flying and fighting with fire an' all that. That's nice. I've never been what anyone calls the
subtle sort, though, so I didn't bother with any of that crap. I let my heels open the discussion, wrapped in flames as hot as I could make 'em
without setting civvies on fire, and discovered something I didn't know before: Zombies crunch good.

I stepped out of the impact crater where asphalt and squished zombie bubbled together in an unholy soup and watched bemused as the little girl -- up close I
realized she was little-height, but not little-anything else -- wound up and punted another zombie up onto the roof of a nearby building. She dusted her hands
off and gave me a quick wink.

"Nice entrance," she says.

"Thanks?" I reply, but she's gone. Ah well. Little too lolita for my tastes, anyway.

A few minutes later and the ruckus was over. I flared my field and burnt off the goo -- handy trick if you can master it, but I lost a lot of hair the first
few times -- and stared around, puzzled.

"Hey," someone said, tugging on my sleeve and ignoring the fire which should have made them pull back a charred stump. "Wanna go
trick-or-treating with us?"

I stared down at the lolita-girl from earlier for a minute. It was Halloween already? Damn, the Doc had been gone longer than I thought. I blinked and
shrugged. "I don't have a costume..."

She looked me up and down. "You're kidding, right?" She grinned. "C'mon!"

Trick or treating... in the Hollows? Sure, it was home to me and a few others I knew, but it was also home to Trolls
and Outcasts and Skulls and Hellions and other generally nasty types.

What the hell. I needed a workout anyway.

"Lead the way," I said, and took to the air.

---

(edit: Interesting. Yuku ate the bottom part of this.)

This is mildly apocryphal, as Flaming Wreckage didn't participate in an invasion event in the Hollows, but the lolita-girl request for trick-or-treating?
Yeah. That happened. I wish I could remember her name, but it's been so long since I played him last that it was before I was in the habit of chatlogging
*everything*.

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

[Niteflier]

It was just another day, Y'know? Though this 'Trick-or-Treat' thing was interesting. So I said to myself, "Ya'know? What will these humans think up next?"

Yah, I know. Be careful what you Wish for.

***
Tales of the Legendary (and assorted others): Horror Stories
"Wish for a Safe Spot"

So we were working our way down a block on the eastern part of the Island. This had already been a weird team, 'cause I hadn't made my usual solicitation for Wishes. Geez. That was prolly the start of the whole thing, ya'know? So we make our way down the street, tapping on doors and saying the words of the ritual. Sometimes we got smiles and candy. Sometimes we got Vampires and Sorceress. What were they doin' hiding in that garage, anyway?

So we make it down this block, and we're working our way up the other side, when the sky just sorta went red ya'know? That's when I say to myself "Anarakis, what kinda trouble are you in now?" The team Star yells for everyone to make a break for the train station, then she's off. I sorta stand dumbly for a few secs, then fly after her and the rest of the team. Follow the Tank, right?

We stop in front of the station, and everything looks norm, Lumi's standin' there, Citadel's yawning, and there's a paperboy yellin' out headlines from the stack in front of him. Who really cares about costume changes when the sky's bleeding red? (Funny, I'd usually compare it to some of my flame, but that's the word that came to me at the time. What happened after just made it stick.) Standin' in front of the station, got all of my fire pulled around me, and nothin's happenin'. The the ground sorta shakes. and I hear something like.... moans?

That ain't right, moans from under the ground.

Then this hand pops outta the ground in front of me. Its pale, shaky, and got bones showin' through the palm. Ew. Undead. Last time I fought the Undies was a couple cents ago in the South Sahara. Those guys were at least dry. These things were still wet and icky.

So the team forms up, the healer spams a rec aura, and we start goin' to town on the soon-to-be-really-dead. I almost get shocked outta my form when this ugly undeadder jumped straight outta the ground in front of me! He's a bit bigger than the rest, and he takes a couple a' hits from my sword and the tank's ice to shatter into charred, icy, bloody pieces on the ground. At that point, I was outta breath, and there were needing-to-be-returned-to-the-grave all around me. So I take a moment, grab a breath, and take a little bit of all their fire to stock my own. That was the first time I'd been able to do that and I was pumped!

That's about when I noticed a stray shot of fire take down one of the gravecrawlers to my left. I was the only one on my team that played with fire, so I took a look, and saw a well known face: Bella Fuego! Of the Legendary! Exactly the sort of people I need to be like to fulfill my side of the deal! I shout a greeting at her, then dive back into the battle with my fireblade swinging. I noticed a couple other people not on the team that were flinging and fighting, but what really caught my attention was a bigger fire than all the rest of the enemies coming from below.

So I'd thought I'd be a little smart ass.

I pinpointed where the big guy was going to rise up, and then jumped up, swinging my flame sword behind my head for one hell of a crushing blow. But when I dropped down on Mr. Big-Bad's head... it caught my fire. I was still emmiting pulses of flame, of course, but it grabbed my sword in one hand, then swung with its other. I was knocked clear into the info terminal. I took a sec to run fire over myself, doing my best to spot-heal any wounds, when I heard the cry: 'Bella's Bomb, has got it going on!'

I was up and headed back into the fight! There was no way I'd miss the flame of such a great hero!

The explosion knocked me off my feet, not 'cause of the shockwave, but of the shear power of the flame. I don't think I'd ever felt something that powerful, even from another of my kind! To think this mere human had pulled it off!

Wow.

My team had already taken down the Nighmare that had caught me, but there were several more to deal with. After we returned the twice-buried to the ground, the moanings dropped off, and the ground stopped rumbling.

And I realized that was a hell of a lot of Zombies we just went through. My flame burned low.

I called my farewells to my team, then grabbed my ring and hid it in the station, then discorporated my form back into it.

Man, Humans have the best of ideas to celebrate holidays!

[Shader]

In a land outside time, in a world beyond the rules of normal space, time still passes, as heroes and villains alike use it as a shortcut and 'mend'
time

"Lord Nemesis," intoned a voice out of the orange light of Ouroboros constant daylight.

Startled, Mender Silo jumped and glanced around. The voice appeared to becoming from right behind him. And as far as he was aware, he was alone on his terrace
this cycle.

"Its Mender Silos," he hissed. "How many times must you be told?" Silos turned around as the figure slipped out of a tear in the very
fabric of reality. Glancing towards the other Menders, Silos gestured and a rippling bubble flashed out, passing through all of Ouroboros. In its wake,
everything was frozen still, even the flickering of flame in Pillar. All but the new mysterious figure, clad in robes.

"As you say, but what is in a name? Is it not a mere label? One that can be changed as quickly as merely toggling some bits in a stream? Or does it have
deeper meaning? True Names with True Power with Real Meaning?"

"Enough," interrupted Mender Silos. "You didn't come all this way to talk philosophy and riddles. My patience is not infinite."

"True," agreed the figure. "'Mender Silos' that is not why I am here at this juncture. As you know, the Zombie Plague is occurring. Like
you've asked I've set the zombies free. And Unleashed Echoai and Jack of Irons from their home in Croatia. For a times. Then they return. Be grateful
for that."

"Oh but I am, my dear."

"Pity that your powers don't reach beyond this realm isn't it?"

"You are trying my patience again. Anything else? A mere report could have been done via a proxy."

"There is a group that is or rather will soon be coming close to uncovering the source of the plagues. There are several in fact, but only one that really
stands out as a threat. They are the closest."

"Oh I see. Them again."

"What shall I do about that group?" the figure asked with a distinctly malicous tint to their voice.

"You have your orders. I have other agents that can deal with them. That is all you need to know. They will soon cease to be an issue."

The figure sketched a slight bow in acknowledgment. "Very well."

"And the Storm?" Inquired Mender Silos, turning away from the figure to survey the frozen beauty set before him that was Ouroboros.

"Will occur when expected Mender Silos," came the answer.

Nodding and addressing the figure without turning, Silos waved them off as if swatting a fly, "Very well. Thank you. Be off with you." Reality
rippled and the figure was gone.

Looking out over the frozen view before him, Mender Silos nodded to himself and indulged in a small grin. Activating a small communicator on his wrist, he
ground out the phrase, "Activate them."

Returning to his place, and to the correct pose, he plastered the neutral expression on his face and softly clicked his fingers. Again a bubble flashed forth.
Time resumed its passage in the land beyond time once more, no one the wiser it had even stopped.

AN: Edited to fix a typo...

[Rev Dark]

Morgan squinted as if narrowing
his vision could pierce the mist shrouded darkness. Dark Astoria stretched out before him. The long night had entered the second day and the reports had all been the same. The dead
rising. Zombies. While zombies were not unique to Paragon, this was
different. The exploding corpses of Doctor Vahzilok were products of science; some were even volunteers to a process
that could potentially grant immortality. Morgan snorted. At no point should
anyone interested in immortality wire a few ounces of high explosive to their nervous systems; it significantly reduced the odds. The corpses of the Banished Pantheon were, well for lack of a better word, immigrants.
They had followed their masters.



These were
different.



They were citizens of Paragon,
laid to rest, and now pulling themselves free to reign havoc and terror.



The endless night
broke. A red glow that danced at the edge of his vision. No. It couldn't be the night breaking. Night did not break to the North. No matter how broken it was. Morgan concentrated briefly, unlocking the barriers of his
chi; energy flooded from the chakras. He let it expand outward, propelling him through the air towards the
glow. The graveyard.



The ground fairly bubbled as
corpses pushed their way through soil that had become liquid. The sick, wet, sucking noise as each pulled
free. They were converging on a single point. The glow.



Just outside the cemetery, Bella
stood, wrapped in a cocoon of flame. Zombies staggered towards her, only to be blown back as fragments of sizzling meat
as she unleashed torrents of plasma at them. Morgan caught a motion. Her red
eyes met his and she shook her head. He wasn't to interfere.



Desecration. Morgan had learned early in their relationship that desecration fired Bella's temper to incandescent flame. Since the zombie apocalypse had descended on Paragon, Bella had been redoubling her efforts, sweeping through the
city. It was her hope to find those responsible and put a stop to it. Her
efforts so far had been futile, but the anger had grown and grown.



Zombies spilled out of the
cemetery, sliding over the walls to land with wet thumps against the pavement, and then staggering towards the blazing heroine.
Her flames doubled, lashing out in a solid wall. Still the dead pressed on, the sheer volume of flesh damping
the flames even while being consumed by them. Morgan bit his lip, tasting blood.
The lip healed. All his muscles tensed. He needed to act, but Bella had
waved him off. She was going to be overwhelmed.



With a primal scream, Bella
unleashed another wall of flame, clearing the space around her momentarily. Her faltered and then guttered out as she
dropped to one knee, panting. There. Pushing through the crowd. A creature of pure evil. Quite the accomplishment for Paragon where one sometimes saw pure
evil as being on tap. Hot. Cold. Pure
Evil. Don't reach for the wrong one in the shower. The zombie towered over its kin. The rotting flesh bulged and shifted as if it were assembled from a
myriad of parts, that were working together, albeit under protest. It glared down at the smoldering heroine, a flash of
intelligence in the glowing yellow eyes.



"Time to join
us." The voice boomed out clearly, despite the rotting tongue that lolled from the split, decaying
lips.



"Bastardo!" Bella swore loudly.
A glint of fire rose in her eyes. She raised a fist. Flames flickered on her
fingers and then blazed into white hot incandescence. "Des a los muertos muertos de la estancia. Le pongo para relinarme." The last was a whisper.
She drove her hand into the asphalt of the road.



Morgan dove prone. Hitting the roof as fast as gravity would let him. The gas main. Bella never did anything by half measures. Instead of a massive explosion, there was a
blazing pillar of fire, erupting from the ground, but bound and controlled by Bella's will. It wrapped around her
like a snake, rekindling her aura as it poured its power into her.



"Deje el fuego limpia esta
profanacion!" The fire leapt from her, burning outwards in a circle that enveloped all of the advancing
dead. Bodies sublimated in the raging inferno. The master zombie toppled, his
lower legs burned away. He tried to pull himself forward on his arms, but was brought up short as Bella let loose a
bolt of plasma that burnt through the top of his skull and exited through his hips. He fell apart in chunks of seared
meat and cracked bone.



The flames died out. Morgan knew without looking that the punctured main had been welded closed. Bella stood on
a circle of black, rippling, glass, her chest heaving. She paced towards the smoking remains of the master zombie and
knelt before them, digging her gloved hands into the remains. Morgan could see the flash of silver. He jumped down and raced over to her.



"Someone built
this." Bella said, her voice low and dangerous. She displayed the silver
chased circuit board to Morgan. "Not magic; deliberate technology."



"You should let Mag look it
over." Morgan noted. "Maybe he can find out who built
it."



"Whoever did should pray he
cannot." Bella said. "Because if I find out who did this, no prayer
will save them."

[Wiregeek]

EEEEEEEEE, I has a cameo!
"No can brain today. Want cheezeburger."
From NGE: Nobody Dies, by Gregg Landsman
http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5579457/1/NGE_Nobody_Dies