Reluctant Heroes

[BadForm]

All over the world, those who were fortunate felt only the tremor as the world was shaken. The news of this broke into every TV and radio program being broadcast.

We have just received word that the seismic activity which just occurred is due to a volcanic eruption. This eruption has taken place at mount...

...wait, I have just been informed this is not a volcanic eruption. It is seven of them spread throughout the world. In Italy, Mount Vesuvius, in Oregon, USA, the Three Sisters, in Japan, Mount Fuji, in Ecuador, Mount Cotapaxi, in Antarctica, Mount Erebus, in New Zealand, Mount Egmont and in Kenya, Mount Kenya itself, previously believed extinct, have all been reported as having major eruptions. Information is scant at the moment, although from what we have heard these are all ongoing eruptions way beyond what these volcanoes are known for. We can not even guess at the tragic loss of life and property in these nations, let alone the global impact of such a large degree of seismic and volcanic activity. We are going live now to the...

And with that, the various broadcasts switched to an emergecy statement made by the leader of each nation. They did their best to assure their people that they would be ok, but when something like this happened, and completely unexpectedly in all cases, what could they say?

OOC: The OOC and recruitment thread for this is: Casting/Reluctant Heroes . Feel free to join there!

 

[Lacewing]

Before the fire

Amanda Pierce watched the report along with most her classmates in the cafateria were the cook had placed a small set above the lunch lines.

Amanda was sure that it was just some sizemate activity or some other normal thing happening under the earth, just not something people reconized as happening before since the world wasn't connected in the old days as now.

SO she put her nose back in her book and ignored the gasps and shocked cries of the shallow little jocks and prep girls. They were all the same, acted shocked at soemthing happening away from them the 'oh poor person' but they didn't care. If they really cared they'd be finding a way to help the 'poor people' involved in the tragaty. Oh sure a few of them were honestly conserned. They had freinds and family in those areas.

She didn't so she wouldn't express consern, it wasn't her business. It was shocking suprising and tragic. But not in the sense that 'it affects me' so she wasn't going to stress out over it right now. Wasn't like someone bombed the valcanos into exploding.

So she ate her lunch and went on with her day as normal as she could with everyone turning class times into debates.

She thought her final year of school would see the end of this nonsense seemed the world had other ideas.

 

[nightray]

Ray

I feel the ground tremble under my feet as I move through the Amazon jungle I had just destroyed a terrorist training camp and am on my way to my pick up spot. I com to the clearing looking up in to the sky looking for the chopper it should me here. I frown as I feel the earth shake faintly under me agene.

I look up as I hear the betting of the chopper blades coming closer. It lands in the center of the clearing and I run over to it my head ducked low against the wide form the spinning blades. Once I’m in the chopper lifts off agene speeding to the nearest aircraft career where I will fly back to the stats for my debriefing.

Once on the large ship I hear the news of the seven volcanoes erupting all at once and not stopping. I shrug thinking not my problem unless some one set them off onpurpes then I would most likely be sent in to take care of it but until such orders com I’m not going to sweet it.

I go and get cleaned up smiling as I scrub off the Amazon mud. I then go back up top wearing my flight suet. I go to the fighter that they had reedy for me. I walk around it making my post flight check then I clime up in to my set. I close the canopy and start the engines enjoying the feel of pear power rumblings under me. I taxi out to the catapult and wait for my tern to take off. Minutes latter I’m flung back in to my set as I take off form the ships deck.

As I rise up in to the sky I can see the plums of smoke rising far in the distantes form a few of the volcanoes. I tern my jet toured home and hit the afterburners flying at the jets top speed all the way home.

 

[Dark Warrior]

Bruce

As the others packed up my gear, I headed inside, switching on the TV and going to get a beer from the fridge.
"...tragic loss of life, and millions of dollars worth of damage..."
As he came back into the room he threw himself onto the couch, opening up the can of beer as he watched the news.
"Well, I'll be a monkey's bloody uncle." I said as I watched an amateur video of a volcano erupting. "Hey, you blokes - you have to see this!" he yelled out to the garage, where the other members of the band were just finishing packing away their instruments.

 

[airborne92]

Gunther Munz

It was just another day of training. Target shooting, entry tactics, hostage situations, and the like. Then it happened, and we were put on alert. At first we thought it was a hijacking of a Lufthanse flight somewhere. Then we were told the truth, volcanoes were erupting all over the world. Panic was taking hold in some areas. We were ordered to the border with the Czech Republic. We were to patrol the border to prevent a mass influx of refugees through the woods and mountains.

"Herr Leutnant, why are we being sent to the border. We are trained for hostage rescue, not general police work." I ask my team leader as we head for the border.

 

[LadyBlueMoon]

The Salon

"Erica!! For God's sake get up here!" the panicked manicurist was shouting in my headset as I gripped the desk to steady myself from the shockwaves. I looked at my assistant manager, but his face was white with fear. Emotions! No time for them now. I rushed out the door and up the stairs, just in time to encounter several clients, in various stages of 'processing', come pouring out the door onto the hallway by my office. The sight would be humorous if not for the circumstances. Panic was getting the best of them. I looked around for the designers, caught one by the arm as she attempted to flee into the street, and shouted "Help me calm these people! Now!" It was California, after all. Maybe this was the BIG ONE at last.

Finally, the panic subsided, the clients and my staff calmed themselves and began to take stock of the situation. The receptionist motioned me over to the front desk.
"What is it, Rose?" I asked, surveying the damage to the salon.
"The cd channel... it was interrupted by the Emergency Broadcast System" she replied.
"Well, does that surprise you? I'd say this constitutes an emergency."
"But Erica, that's just it. This isn't happening just here. It's happening all over the word. Volcanoes....." her voice trailed away.
For once, I was speechless as well.

 

[BadForm]

Asha Tambika

She stared at the horrific scenes displayed across a dozen huge screens in the room. Seven volcanoes, one on each continent, which were not simply erupting but virtually exploding. Nothing like this had been seen before and it boded ill for the future. Her employers had only today identified the cryptic messages they had been receiving recently - each day a different pair of numbers, gradually counting upward. It had taken every computer resource Worldgov could throw at the strange problem, and trillions of dollars in doing so, but finally they had it, chapter and verse.

VIII:VII

She looked at the screens again, seeing the rain of volcanic ash and lava, the terrified people fleeing through the streets around the globe, and the wildfires now burning out of control. Asha shuddered.

"You have identified the people who may best be able to withstand the transformation?" she asked, her african accent lost after so many years of dealing with people from around the world.

"Yes." The voice of the Worldgov leader, known only as Dollar, spoke. "We will bring them together in one hour."

 

[Lacewing]

Interlude to flames

Amanda desided school was stupid. All classes were halted because of the mess and thus nothing was being done but everyone sitting around in a stupor.

So she left. No one even noticed. Not like they cared if she was there or not anyway. She was just another number for them to collect off of.

She carried her books in her arms and watched the ground slight rumbles and tremors of aftershocks to the planet being felt. Likely going to be a mess for awhile.

She got home to an empty house. But her parents were off flying to some fancy exsotic local. Not like they were ever home. She was just a nusance to them. Not pretty enough to take with them to show off to thier high sociaty friends they were always trying to impress.

She looked in the frig and sighed. Not a scrap left. They never even bothered to stock the frig when they left her like this.

She found some crackers in the cubboard and crashed on the couch with a book lisening to her walkman.

 

[airborne92]

Gunther Munz

I had point for my team's patrol of the border. We could feel the slight tremors as we walked through the forest. We hadn't seen anything or anyone since we had started. We had expected to see at least some people trying to get to away from the volcanoes.

The forest seemed almost too quiet as we went farther along our patrol route. There seemed to be almost no sounds of nature. It was almost surreal.

 

[LadyBlueMoon]

Bath time

It took the staff several hours to straighten up the salon. Obviously, no other clients would show up, the city was still chaotic. Finally, all that could be done had been. As the last of the designers said goodnight, Erica locked the salon, then her office, and took the three flights of stairs to her apartment. No elevator working yet. But, she thought, she could use the exercise anyway.
Opening the door to the studio apartment, a far cry from the huge house she once had in the suburbs, she was pleased to see the quake had not done too much damage. She could clean it up later, she thought. She lit five white candles, saying a brief prayer to the goddess as she did so, then turned on the water in her tub. She shed her clothes as she walked to her night stand. Naked now, she opened the drawer, removed the small pipe and plastic baggie, and sat on the bed. Deftly, she filled the bowl with the sweet, pungent herb, lit the pipe, and inhaled deeply. Holding the smoke in her lungs, she began to relax.
Exhaling, she rose, walked to the counter and fixed a small Beam and coke. Now she was ready.
She lowered herself into the tub, the waters immediately relaxing her aching muscles. She sipped her drink, took anothre hit from the pipe, and allowed the memories to come. The fights, the angry words, his leaving, the young grad student with whom her age did not allow her to compete. "Bastard!" she thought, then laughed. It was the past.... now she had the future to look forward to, whatever it might bring.....

 

[Dark Warrior]

Bruce

The entire group sat or stood around the living room, their eyes glued to the news and their voices silent, each of them with a beer in one hand, which they would occasionally take a gulp off.
"Bloody hell..." Bruce finally said, and the others murmured. "I've never heard of so many bloody volcanoes going berserk at the same time... smells fishy to me." Bruce said, his brow knitting together.
Always one for a conspiracy theory.

 

[BadForm]

Asha Tambika

Asha looked at the list of names scrolling across one of the screens. Over three hundred people had been selected for the transformation process, most countries having one or two representatives. She frowned at the size of the list, understanding why it was so large. The process was still in the prototype stage and, although it would be necessary to create a group of superior human beings to investigate and prevent what Worldgov believed to be coming, most of their selections would die during transformation. She felt more than a little guilty about what they were going to do, but the only other option would be far worse than a few hundred deaths. Glancing at the news reports, she knew it already was worse.

 

[nightray]

Ray

I land my jet in Washington DC taxiing it to a hanger. I get out of it climbing down to the ground. I walk to the near by barracks where there are some people waiting for me. I stop and salute. They say “Go change and we will take you to the debriefing room.” I nod and brush by them in to the barracks. I take my time taking a shower and then getting driest just to piss them off.

I come out smiling and get in to a nondescript car and we drive to a nondescript building. But once in side its obvesly not a normal building with normal people working in it. It’s the covert apportions main headquarters. I’m led to a comfortable room and I sit on a plush couch. I pick up a magazine as I wait for my superior to com in for my report.

 

[The GrandMage]

Claude DuFrange

He blinked, looking around the bright room. He stil missed his good ol' basement filled with books, but this job paid way more than it ever could. His name had been droped someplace, and he'd been pulled into a complex cryptic messages. And judging by the equipment he had workedwith that was new, and the way hi coworkers had pulled their hair, he had te feeling he should have got a lot more. Especally since it was he who waded through most of it. He would have cracked it himself if all his work was for his workers and he'd needed the sleep. The team of 'em had completed it while he slept, and then rushed off to take their vacation days.

The wheeled in television played the news as he took care of the computers, finishing thehoo-ups to the new equipment, checking the huge ntwork for bugs and ackrs. Under his handle 'The Plague', he'd been showing the hackers how it was done, and easilly wiping out the bus he came across. Chugging down the rooteer he kept in the empty chair beside him, he sighed. His employer, who was still a mystery to him, had too many files to be of any use, ad only added to seurity problems.

He'd found the computers speed amzing,and quickly downloaded an emulator and a game and was deep within the old SNES RPG. Sure, it was illegal, but so was the pay he was getting, considering the huge systems he was protecting by his little old self. Besides, how would they find out? That was his job. He chuckled to himself. He guess he couldn't complain. The move hadn't been nice, but judging by the news, it was just in time. He knew his basement was probably being burned away by now, and was glad his boxes and boxes of books had been transported with him to his new home. It was a little smaller,...

But at least his bank accout and waistline were still growing.

 

[Abraxas Winterlight]

Alex Smith/ Bloodwynd

I come home to the same thing every day, a empty apartment for a empty life. Getting a beer from the fridge I plop myself down in my recliner & turn on the TV. Hmmm, looks like life sucks for a lot of people right now. Seven volcanoes, all erupting at the same time. Well, its not my problem.
I sip at my beer and channel-surf, loosing myself in daydreams until I fall asleep.

 

[BadForm]

Asha Tambika

There was something nagging at her as she looked over the list, and at first she could not tell what. There was plenty of names here to account for the 'wastage' that was sadly going to occur. At first she considered that it may just be her reluctance to be part of such a kidnap and transformation, but she knew that the only way to head off the coming disaster was to create superior troops who could operate on their own and find out who or what was causing the catastrophe. Then she noticed what was odd.

"Sir, you have nobody on this list with African origin..."

There was a pause before Dollar responded. "We... have only selected one African. Strangely the genetic strain needed for the transformation appears to have been largely bred out of the people of Africa."

She looked again. "No, sir... you have nobody from Africa on... the... list."

She stopped as the realisation dawned.

"Not on the list," said Dollar. "Already here."

She looked at the videophone in horror. "No! No, I... I can't. No. Please..."

She was babbling in terror. Three hundred plus people and they expected what, a squad of six to eight at most to be successfully transformed. It would be virtual suicide to take part in the process, but she knew that there was no other choice.

"There is a reason we have employed you, Asha. We had warning of this coming several years ago, and began our search for those who may survive the transformation. You were determined to be the one most likely to do so."

Most likely to survive. That was not a description that held much hope for her.

 

[Abraxas Winterlight]

Alex Smith/ Bloodwynd

RINGGGGGGG RINGGGGGGGGGG

I groggily reach for the phone, but the machine catches it first:
Hi, this is Alex, leave me a message & I will call you back.

Hi, Alex, this is Dianne. i was going to do this in person but I just decided to get it over with. Alex, we aren't going to work out. You just aren't going anywhere, & I met someone who is. Anyway, don't call me, I don't want to be friends, & i don't want to work this out. Goodbye Alex.


I stared at the phone in shock. What in the hell just happened???? Things were going fine from what I saw. Hell, I had just spent $500.00 on a 6 month aniversary gift for her.
GODAMNIT!!!

Well, it was 6AM, might as well get ready for work.

 

[BadForm]

Around the world, nothing was on television, cable, radio or even many internet sites other than the news. With varying degrees of propaganda and accuracy, the same thing was everywhere. The volcanoes were continuing to erupt. Lava was spreading and burning the nearby wildernesses. Hot ash was raining down across a landscape rapidly becoming arid as smoke clouded the air blacker than a thunderstorm. Earth tremors shook the world around them, spreading their fingers out to even the most unlikely places. And the people. The people were no longer rational in those towns and cities nearby. They were like panicked animals, fleeing, fighting, desperate and doomed.

 

[Dark Warrior]

Bruce

"Holy shit..." spoke one of Bruce's mates as they watched images on the news of a stampede of people wanting to escape nature's wrath.
"Wow... nothing like that ever happens here in Australia." Bruce said. The whole thing was just a little surreal, as all tragedies always were on the news. When you lived in Australia, you were always just used to peace, and nothing out of the ordinary. That's why seeing stuff on the news like that always seemed so... so much like a movie.

 

[LadyBlueMoon]

Morning...

The ringing awoke her. She reached out, groping for the alarm, found it, but the ringing continued. The cell phone! "Hello," she mumbled, still half asleep.
"Mom?" the voice on the other end was relieved, "Thank God! I've been trying to reach you all night, the phone lines are down. Haven't you been watching television?"
"Kari? Slow down, please, it's only 6 a.m. here," her youngest always did talk a mile a minute, and when excited... "Now, what were you saying about television?"
"Mother! Honestly! Ever since you moved out to L.A. you have become so different! You were the one who was always the CNN junkie, remember?" Kari was reminding her of a different time, a different woman, of a woman who once cared.
As Kari's voice droned on about earthquakes, power outages, mudslides, martial law in some cities, world crisis, Erica came fully awake. Her mind immediately focused on the job at hand.
"Kari? Are you all right?"
"Yes, mom, the team is here in Columbus, we had a game and coach says we'll just stay here until it's safe to travel again."
"Good! That's a relief, and your sister? Have you heard from her?"
"I talked with her this morning. She said everything was calm, but then, she's living in Marion," Kari's laughter assured Erica that both her daughters were safe.
"Listen, honey, I need to go. If everything is as crazy as you say, I need to make sure clients are notified, that the staff stays home, that..."
"Of course, mother," the icy tone in Kari's voice reminded Erica her daughter still did not approve of her new life, her post-divorce self, "You just go ahead and take care of what is important to you."
"Kari, I love you and your sister, more than life itself, you know that. But I have a job to do. Just stay with your soccer team, and let me know when you get back to school, okay?"
Kari's voice softened a bit as she said her goodbye. Erica flicked off the phone and hopped out of bed. There was work to be done.

 

[The GrandMage]

Claude DuFrange

He continued to sit, uncaring, as the television set listed the ever-increasing problems of the world, with more and more flair as the media began peicing together their own 'truths'. He just sneered, listening to the news anchors blaming anything and everything from terrorists blast nuclear devices under the Earth's crust, to the Apocalypse. He actually began laughing as the ABC news declared that the pope was unavailable for coment, so they would be broadcasting a special episode of a child's television show made for just an emergency.

The greatest crisis of all time, and they couldn't cover it with decency or reality. GreenPeace leaders blamed the destruction of the rainforest, the Catholic Church blamed everyone-saying their sins had brought about 'a day of retribution', the Christians blamed the Catholic Church, and Democrats claimed it was the Republicans fault. Shaking his head, Claude went back about his business. As far as he was concerned, all humanity was but a disease, and Mother Earth was finally getting better.

So, the world was ending, why should he care? So millions were dying , was that his problem. If things continued as they were, the dead would be the lucky ones. People were rioting, countries were under martial law, armies were mowing down their own people to stop them from ripping each other to shreds, and crime was at an all-time high. If humanity did survive, it would look back on these days in shame. And he had a feeling it was only just begining.

 

[BadForm]

Asha Tambika

"It is time."

Dollar's voice cut through her fugue and she looked up with tears in her eyes.

"Thanks a million, boss!" She snapped sarcastically. "What was that, one whole hour to come to terms with the fact I'm probably about to die and if I don't my lifes gonna be as ripped up as my body will be? God damn! Can't I have a little space?"

The response was apologetic, but cold. "Sorry, Asha, but it is time. If we allow this to continue, everyone's lives will be destroyed. I wish there was some other way, but there is not. Prepare yourself, we are bringing the others."

Asha wiped her eyes and walked up to the dais before the huge screens. The room before her was huge and currently empty. Shortly it would have over three hundred angry, confused, terrified people in it. She would be one of them.

Then it happened. All around the world, people were silently pulled from their habitats as the Worldgov teleportation device drew them into the sterile, circular room. Babbling in a hundred different languages, they confused people looked at one another and the room. Many panicked.

"Welcome to Worldgov HQ," Ashas voice boomed, the translation system making sure everyone understood. "We have brought you here in the hope of ending the catastrophe that is gripping the Earth..."

Slowly they were calming down, but not looking any happier. Several began hurling questions and she waited until she had silence.

"I am sorry this is inconvenient, but our scans have shown that only you have the genetic code to survive the transformation process about to occur. You have each been selected for this reason to assist Worldgov in discovering the reason behind the catastrophe and stopping it before it goes any further..."

More shouted questions. She waited for the hubbub to die down before answering those who she could hear.

OOC: Anyone got any questions, sure you do, then throw them.

 

[nightray]

Ray

I’m in the medal of giving my report to my superiors when the world suddenly goes black and then just as suddenly I’m standing amongst a few hundred confused people. I look around taking it all in my training keeping me form freaking like the rest of the people here. I notice that it looks like theirs some one her form every country. I look at the walls of the chamber but they tell me nothing.

I tern to the girl how was talking to use she machined the worldgov I frown thinking “who the hell is that.” I lesson to the girl talking about saving the world I shake my head thinking “what is she insane.”

I push through the confused and frittend people untell I’m standing in front of the girl. I say “Send me back now girl my country needs me where I was not her lessoning to a bunch of kidnapping idiots.”

 

[BadForm]

That was a question, or rather order, she had expected. "I am sorry," she said, "but there is no going back until we have performed the transformation. This room is sealed, having no doors, windows or other exits. I am afraid that we are the only ones who have any chance of surviving the procedure, and that being the case, Worldgov cannot afford to have any of us flee. Please understand, this is for the good of the whole planet."

 

[nightray]

Ray

I feel my hands tightening in to fists as I lesson to her. I look around the room sing that it’s true. I curl my lip with anger holding my self back form striking at the girl she’s defenseless and I don’t see any point in harming her.

My eye flash as I register what she said about a transformation. I scowl at her “what transformation and what do you mean we’re the only once that MAY survive it.” I glower in to her eyes feeling my face going red. I take a deep breath concentrating on coming down. I don’t like being taken away form my job I never even take vacation voluntarily.