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Nemesis
by Danny Dyer
Faction: Hero
Archetype: Blaster
Specialty: Archery
The Obsidian Arrow
Donnia Marks walked down the dark street when
a hand grabbed her and yanked her into an alley. The Hellion pulled her
close and laughed at her frightened expression. He began teasing her
with his knife. He reached as if to stab her, but instead cut the
handle of her purse. He made a break for it and stopped all of a
sudden. As he fell down, Donnia noticed an arrow was stuck in the
thief's heart. A dark figure slowly levitated down to the dead man.
Donnia thought her luck couldn't get any worse, now she was being
attacked by a super villain! He reached down for her purse then turned
to her. As he walked forward she almost cried out in fear. When he
raised his hand she feared he would strike her down but instead, he
gave her her purse. She opened her eyes to say thanks but the
mysterious hero had disappeared. That is the way of The Obsidian Arrow.
Faction: Villain
Archetype: Stalker
Specialty: Assassination
The Ruby Blade
Donnia Marks walked through the streets once
more. It had been a week since her mugging and being saved by that
mysterious hero. She almost laughed when another Hellion tried to take
her new purse. She stopped laughing when he told her he was a good
friend of the Hellion who died mugging her. He cut her wrist and she
fell on the ground in pain. He laughed, kicked her, than ran out of the
alley with her new purse. He jerked to the side and cried out in pain.
Donnia opened her eyes and saw what she though was yet another silent
savior. He picked up her purse then started moving towards her. She
smiled and stood up to greet him but when she looked into his eyes, she
didn't see the kindness she saw in the hero. She saw a cold hate-filled
look there and she started to run away. He teleported in front of her
with his sword pointed straight out. Donnia ran right into it. The
killer watched her shocked expression as he yanked out his sword and
she fell to the ground. He turned to walk away but then had an evil
idea. He grabbed a black arrow from a slit on his cape and put it into
the sword wound. It was time to have some real fun.
Gotta keep moving. Can’t stop now they're right behind me. The
Obsidian Arrow flew low through the alleys. Then rising to the rooftops
to hide behind air vents as his much faster pursuers passed him
overhead. For some reason he was being chased by Longbow!
I need to get over to my contact and see what
this is all about he thought. He jumped down and ran into the sewer
entrance. He looked around and made sure there were no Vahzilok to try
to take him apart... again. He kept running trying to ignore the
disgusting water. He found the right grate and climbed up. A quick run
through a back-alley and he found he who needed to see...
As The Obsidian Arrow dove into the sewers, he
didn't notice a dark figure smirking from a nearby rooftop.
"It looks like my plan is working excellently. I'll
let these Longbow fools wear him out and then he will feel my blade."
He heard the flap of a cape and made himself
invisible. When he saw it was a Longbow Scrapper he decided one less
pursuer wouldn't matter. He walked through a shadowy hole and landed
atop the do-gooder. He drove him towards the ground and leapt off just
before the hero hit the ground. He heard a loud crunch and was
satisfied... for now.
Technically his contact found him. A knife pressed up against his
throat, Obsidian tossed the weapons wielder over his shoulder into a
pile of trash cans.
"Stan what are you doing?" the hero asked.
"Oh come on OA you know how dangerous it is
out here. Super villains are everywhere these day and, let's face it,
you don't look a whole lot like a hero."
Arrow shrugged and asked, "I need you to tell me who planted that arrow."
"How come they're coming after you? That coulda been anyone's arrow," Stan asked.
"Apparently you haven't seen my arrows up
close." he pulled an arrowhead out of a pouch on his belt and pressed
on the sides. When he did the shaft sprung out. The whole arrow was
black with a slight almost metallic shine. "All of my arrows are made
out of obsidian. I get a steady supply from a provider off shore. He
has no idea why I'm buying it and he doesn't ask. I don't normally have
time to retrieve the arrows so the cops have plenty of them stashed in
their evidence room."
"So did you do it?"
"What do you think?"
"Your right. Ok so what do you need?”
" I need names. Give me every possible lead you have."
What can I say? It's just too easy. I thought
maybe I'd take down just one then try to find where Obsidian was
headed. Blade stuck his katana out into the street and watched a
Longbow speedster run straight through it. He actually went a whole
seven blocks before the top half slip off. The bottom stopped four
blocks after that.
Another flyer? He teleported into the air,
sword pointed up and impaled the unfortunate fighter. It's like
stabbin' fish in a barrel! He watched the body fall and wondered how
these morons could ever enter a supposedly elite group of heroes.
Back to business, he figured. He set off to
find his prey. But not before putting an endurance sapper on a
teleporters back.
As the teleporter fell to his death The Obsidian Arrow was flying to a
very bad part of town. Now in Paragon City there isn't really a good
side of town either. It's just that this place was worse than the rest.
Why? Because it was the home of the Black Spade, a club where almost
every villain hung out. From lowly Hellions to the back rooms where
Malta members made deals with the Knives of Artemis. A hero could
easily get killed in there. Good thing Arrow wasn't going in as a hero.
A Skull walked in and sat down at the bar. He didn't seem very
comfortable in the hard mask and kept tugging on it like it didn't fit
right.
The man he had sat down next to was a Joseph Mariche. An Underboss with
the Family who had some connections to the Rogue Isles. Rumor was that
his cousin's best friend was Emil Marcone. Whether this is true or not,
Mariche knew a lot about the going-ons of the villains in the city.
The Skull whispered the password "Statesman wets the bed" into
Mariche's ear doing his best not to laugh at how this crook deals with
getting whaled on by the hero.
Joseph looked at him and yanked off the Death's Head mask showing a face he recognized all too well.
"What the hell are you doing? We don't like you goody-goodies here!"
He gave me the wrong password! I’m gonna have to remember to pay Stan back.
"I need information. And if you don't give it to me I'd be happy to
tell Nemesis who's been giving Black Scorpion information on his armor
improvements."
Joseph gulped and after a few seconds of thinking said, "You play dirty you know that?"
Obsidian smirked and asked, "Someone framed me for the death of a woman
last night. One who I had saved the night before that. I want to know
who, why, and where can I find him."
"Bu-bu-but that guy would chop me to pieces!"
"Not my problem" he said with a shrug. And as he did so he pulled out a grenade-tipped arrow.
"Are you insane? You'll blow the whole joint to pieces!"
Obsidian started to pull on the ring on the grenade and Joseph finally cracked.
"Wait! Wait hold on.... there's no need to go all suicidal. I'll....
I'll tell you what you want to know. This guy is classified as a
Stalker. A sneaky guy who specializes in, literally, stabbing you in
the back. He has a red sword hard as a rock. Some say it's actually
carved from rubies. If that's true, whoever he is, he must be loaded."
"Thanks," Obsidian said. He handed Joseph the rubber grenade and walked
out doing his best not to laugh at the stream of courses coming from
Joseph's mouth.
The Black Spade. I'm impressed, thought The Ruby Blade. He hadn't
thought his prey would start off with such a good lead. And his
instincts told him who gave the hero his information. He figured if the
hero was smart he'd check his supergroup's base for information on the
wealthy people in Paragon City and the Rogue Isles. He saw him activate
a teleporter on his arm and figured his guess was correct. He also saw
a man walking out of the club. Blade took out a small, blood-red
dagger. He concentrated on the man's chest and threw. He heard the thud
and the man's surprised gasp from across the street. Satisfied, Blade
went to his own lair so he could see the files Obsidian was checking
and plan his next move.
The Obsidian Arrow found what he needed. He ran up to the Base Portal.
Once inside the Buttkickers of the Fantastic base he quickly turned on
his Cloaking Device. Ok this could get difficult. Good thing I watched
Johnny test the security system. He flew over the infrared sensors and
took extreme caution around the turrets.
When he finally came to everybody's bedrooms he got nervous. He stopped
to listen, trying to tell if anyone was awake. He heard snoring. Loud
snoring. Ok, I know Jack's asleep. He listened harder and heard what
sounded like a fire. Ok BB's doing target practice. Good. He needs it.
Figuring that noise would cover his footsteps he crept on through. At
the kitchen he say Johnny Velocity scarfing down all the food in the
fridge. So that’s who ate my pizza!
He kept moving and found what he needed. The Super Computer. He turned
on the computer and typed in the Supergroup password. He was in and had
access to all of the files he'd need. Only problem was.... he had no
idea where, or how, to begin. He was about to randomly start pressing
buttons when he heard someone say, "Don't move." Obsidian put his hands
up and turned around seeing Hyper-Man standing with his arm aimed
straight at him. His arm was coursing with energy ready to launch a
blast that would blow a hole through him.
"I don't want to believe that you killed that woman. I don't want to,
but I will shoot if you try to make a break for it. And trust me. I
don't miss that easy."
"Ok just calm down Hyp. Look me in the eye. I did not kill her."
"Alright. If you say you didn't then I'll believe you. Now, what exactly are you doing to my computer?"
"I wanna find the guy who did kill her. Problem is... I don’t have a clue to what I'm doing."
"Move over"
Hyper-Man typed rapidly on the computer pulling up 3 programs. One with
a list of all the data on the murder case, one with a search program
for Paragon City residents, and another for the Rogue Isles.
"Ok what do you know?" Hyper asked.
"Not much, just that he's classified as a Stalker and has a sword made out of ruby."
Hyper-Man whistled as he typed in a few things on each search. "Experts
thought the wound on the woman looked like a sword wound not an arrow,
but the police were all too happy to believe you were the murderer."
"Figures."
"For the Rogue Isles there’s no records on a RICH sword wielder.
Plenty in Paragon City. If this was made out of a ruby though...."
Hyper typed in a few more searches then hit another button. A sheet of names began to print.
"These are jewelers who have the skill and the materials to make something like a sword from something as expensive as rubies."
"Why can't you look up what they've sold in the last few years? Be nice if we could narrow it down"
"You really think they're gonna want heroes or villains to see they've
worked with a suspicious person?" When Hyper didn't get an answer he
turned around. "Arrow?"
He was gone.
Atop the head of the statue in Blyde Square The Ruby Blade watched his
enemy leave the Base Portal. He looked like he knew where he needed to
go. He was glad to know that the fight would be coming soon. He was
ready to kill this most amusing prey. He left, but not before throwing
a ticking bomb down to the heroes training with Valkyrie and getting an
"important" mission from Positron.
"Geez. 16 different jewelers and I've got NOTHING!"
Obsidian Arrow sat down on the curb, in his civvies, wondering what to
do. None of the jewelers made a sword, or sold enough rubies to anyone
for them to make their own.
He was about to walk away when a shuriken hit the wall behind him. It
had a note stuck to it. He took the note and read the message. It said
'Ready to end your pain?' He flipped the note over and saw an address.
He was ready.
A menacing figure slid back into the alley shadows. He had traps to set
before the fight began. But first, he needed to pick up a special
package from the Circle of Thorns.
"Well. This is the place. Time to teach this guy what happens when you mess with me."
The Obsidian Arrow opened the warehouse door revealing a large open space.
"At least he won't be able to hide."
All around him a deep, echoing voice said, "Wrong."
Obsidian noticed the voice was being amplified from a speaker system set up all over the warehouse. "Show yourself!"
When he didn’t get an answer he pulled out his bow, nocked several arrows, and fired one at each speaker, except one.
“That’ll help my headache,” he muttered.
He moved forward another arrow ready. He went several steps before
stepping on a pad, setting off the first trap. A spike slammed up and
The Obsidian Arrow lept to the side but scraped his leg.
The voice in the speakers chuckled at that, making Arrow so mad he almost took out the last speaker.
He got up and, limping, moved on. He needed to find where the assassin was hiding. Then he figured it out.
He grabbed a flash arrow and launched it up into the rafters, then quickly launched a second flaming arrow at his target.
As the flash arrow created a large bang, a target fell to the ground
dazed, and the fire arrow set off the sprinkler system so that he
wouldn't be able to super speed away without slipping and breaking his
neck.
"Good, good," said Ruby. "But not good enough!"
He charged sword extended, then stopped moving, allowing himself to
slide along the wet floor. Arrow dodged by a hair and kicked Blade in
the back, sending him face first, to skip across the floor to the other
end of the warehouse.
As the villain rose the hero nocked another arrow. Blade looked up,
ready to attack again until he saw the arrow aimed straight at his
heart. He raised his hands and said, "Now, now, no need for that." Then
he waved his right hand, and suddenly, he was gone."
"Show yourself!" Obsidian said.
"Ok" he said as he plunged his sword deep into the hero’s chest. "Game Over."
All Arrow could do was fall to the ground. The Assassin Strike was so
sudden he couldn't even reach his medi-porter. He was going to die...
Except that something happened no one in that warehouse had counted on.
There was a crash through the window and 8 people came into the
warehouse. Hyper-Man, Jack Power, Violet Tigress, Java Juggernaut,
Chris Lancelot, Burning Brawler, Johnny Velocity, and Otsob were the
rescue team. When they saw their friend on the ground surrounded by a
pool of blood there was fire in their eyes. Brawler surged with angry,
heat turning the water on the floor to steam.
"It's a good thing I prepared for such unfair odds." Blade pulled out a blood-red gem with a streak of white through the center.
"Ooooh shiny. What are you gonna do? Chuck it at me? I'd be out of the way in a snap," challenged Johnny.
"No... Oh man this isn't good. That's Red Orichalcum. It'll make him from a mortal to a god!" said Burning.
"God or not I can take him," said Jack.
“Really?” the villain said, and hit Jack with an uppercut,
knocking him up out of the window the team had come in through.
"You shouldnt've done that,” Chris warned. Just as he said that
Jack came leaping through the window and brought both hands down on the
villains head.
Blade didn't even flinch.
"Told you. A god," said BB.
Hyper decided they needed to act fast. "Ok everyone, attack at once. Hit him with your best."
They all rushed in Burning, Hyper, and Java using their Novas and Jack,
Chris, and Otsob taking a stomp-clap combo while Violet and Johnny
rushed in clawing with vicious speed.
He took it all with hardly a scratch. He lifted his foot and stomped it
on the ground making a crater in the floor, and knocking everyone
flying. Some recovered through flight and others, like Violet, landed
with cat-like reflexes.
They all stood in his way but he had a specific target. He wanted the
girl. He knocked everyone else aside, then shoved Violet down onto the
floor.
He bent down with an evil look in his eye. She cringed from his
horrible gaze but before he could do anything to her a super-charged
fist broke his nose… There stood Java his eyes crackling with
hate.
"Get... AWAY FROM HER!!!!! He screamed in rage and hammered Ruby with
his fists crackling with purple and blue lightning. He smashed his
fists in the villains face and, to everyone’s surprise, Blade was
bleeding.
The only one who wasn't staring at Java’s rage-filled assault was
Otsob. He ran over to Obsidian Arrow and hurriedly gave him a reviving
pill.
Arrow coughed blood for a minute but nodded his thanks. When he stopped he noticed Java and said, "Whoa. What's up with him?"
He didn't get an answer because Otsob rushed in to help Java before
Blade recovered. They all rushed in. Fire raged, fists smashed, energy
and electricity crackled.
Arrow got up and pulled up his bow. He had a special arrow just for
this. He had it enchanted by Numina, one of the few who believed he was
framed. He pulled the arrow as far back as he could, then let it fly.
It whizzed through the air with blue sparks flying and struck the
villain on the side. But it didn’t stop. It went completely
through and the Stalker howled in rage.
He whirled around, fists out, to knock everyone away.
No one fell.
“Wha-what have you done?”
“Just made this game a little more interesting.”
Ruby growled and waved his hand in a wide arc, and only Burning Brawler
realized he was casting a spell, but before he could warn the others,
it took affect.
This was not an offensive spell though; it showed the person what they
wanted the most. It was meant to distract the enemy in tough situations.
Hyper-Man was walking along the street, and he wasn’t trapped
inside his suit. No one was staring or cowering, no villains jumping
him just because he was a hero.
Jack was watching the news at the base; they just announced that the Tsoo had finally disbanded.
Violet was playing with the world’s largest ball of yarn.
Java had in front of him, a cup of the best coffee in the world, one
that appealed to every positive taste bud on the human tongue, and even
Kheldian squid, tongue.
Jack wasn’t the only one watching the news back at the base.
Chris was there to and just barely heard the next news report over
Jack’s cheering. The newscaster announced that there had been a
large crime bust breaking down the biggest of the bad. The major
players in the Rogue Isles, Paragon City, and all the dictators who
sought war for profit, had gathered together to make foolproof plans
for world domination (and think to themselves how to stab each other in
the back.) But an elite Strike Team of heroes assaulted the meeting and
took everyone prisoner, or was killed. The money in all of the
meeting’s member’s bank accounts was used to help the poor,
ending world hunger. The only hero casualty was Wonder-Woman, the
reporter said, and was not available for a comment.
Burning Brawler was in a gigantic library, filled with books of power and lore.
Johnny Velocity had a pizza, but not just any pizza. It was so big it took him 5 seconds to super-speed across.
Otsob was standing in a Council base that was in flames. The leaders of
the Council at his feet, blood pooling around them, his father avenged.
What Obsidian Arrow saw wasn’t an illusion though, what he saw
was real. He grabbed the sharpest arrow in his quiver, and pulled it
further back than he has ever been able to before. He saw his target
The Ruby Blade who was laughing in hysterics as Johnny ate his own
cape, Jack cheering at an invisible TV, Java’s drooling, and Vi
rolling Hyper around.
Blade went to look at Arrow to figure out his fantasy, but it suddenly
became very clear. It became very clear when he had an arrow through
his head. Then nothing was clear, and finally it all went black…
Three weeks later, Hyper’s scratch wounds were cleared up and
Jack came out of denial that the Tsoo were still around. Violet gave up
on re-making that yarn ball, but Java still cried at night for that cup
of coffee. Chris drew up many plans to assassinate Wonder-Woman but
decided it wouldn’t be very heroic to any of the fanbois who keep
asking him out, JV had his cape repaired, but wouldn’t tell the
Tailor how it got shredded in the first place, and Otsob searched
harder than he normally did for much longer than three weeks for the
Council leaders, wanting to fulfill his illusion. He came close, but
instead of their death’s they were sent to the Ziggurat only to
be broken out a month after that.
The Obsidian Arrow was free to roam the streets without being chased 2
weeks after the fight. When the police searched the warehouse the body
was gone but the sword was left behind. After the investigation was
closed, the ‘Kickers took it as a trophy and hung it in the vault.
The sword mysteriously disappeared a week later…