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chaniters · 6 years

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Lies and deceit.

Following up the story, Sidestep grows closer to Elyise, and the dynamic of his conflict with Steel unfolds, as usual between them.

LIES AND DECEIT

"HOLD ON!" Steel orders

You take hold as the boat evades the incoming fire barrage, one sharp turn after another. Elyise's barrier stops most of the bullets, but some come through, digging holes in the boat's surface. She doesn't really need to hold since her powers should protect her from the sharp turns.

You try to keep your head low.

Ortega's modded hand digs into the boat hull as he takes hold. He holds your arm with his other hand.

The gesture either makes you think he is being protective, or he thinks you are the fool that's going to fall overboard.

"STEEL! WHEN YOU TURN, AIM FOR THEM AT TOP SPEED!" Elyise asks

"WHAT? THEY'LL JUST SHOOT US DOWN!"

"TRUST ME!" she screams to be heard over the enemy fire.

*Help me with this* are the words she sends into your mind. You nod.

Steel gives another turn, this turn aiming for the large cargo ship, bullets coming left and right.

"WHATEVER IT IS YOU ARE PLANING, DO IT N...."

You lose track of what Steel is saying. You are with Elyise. Helping her focus. Steading her hand so to speak. Her powers are much greater than she able to manifest. But with your help, she can really exploit them.

You expand her focus. Give her training wheels so she can go on to do great things... great things... she is destined for great things... The alien thought sticks in your mind. Perhaps it's one of hers? Wouldn't surprise you. She's not like you. She has a really bright future as a hero in Los Diablos once she masters all of her abilities.

The boat jumps in the air at top speed, floating over the ocean thanks to Elyise's Psychokinesis... The mercenaries look bewildered and try to dodge... Too slow. It lands on top of their machineguns, crushing several of them.

You are flung forward by the impact's strength, falling over the ship's deck in a roll, as you were trained to do.

Ortega also manages the roll. You know about his parkour past.. Steel is not so lucky and slams into it with force. Still, his armor should do the trick and keep him safe.

Elyise... you don't see her...

Oh. She's slowly gliding down. Of course. Sometimes you forget she can do that.

"KILL THEM!" a mercenary yells. They pick up their weapons.

You and Ortega look at each other and charge onto them. You've done this a million times.

Ortega runs straight at their leader, all their shots missing since you're projecting an illusion of him having jumped to fall above them.

He doesn't even ask you to do it by now. You just do.

One of them draws an electric baton and comes for you, but you take his arm and fling him overboard.

Steel has recovered and charges sending several of them to the floor. Their leader soon joins them, beaten by Ortega.

A pile of beaten humans, lying on top of each other. They wrest themselves free, knocking each other.

The group runs towards the lower decks... but is stopped when a massive figure emerges from the hatch. It simply swats them like flies on it’s way. Obviosuly it doesn’t consider them useful anymore.

His metal suit is enormous. He must be about 2 and a half meters tall... and his arms ... One ends in a mechanical claw. The other is a straight-up cylinder.

Military grade armor. Fuck. The dark frame of the armor's head becomes transparent, revealing the man inside.

You sense recognition from whomever’s inside. Steel is startled...

"Ahhh... If it isn't Hood's little pair of hostage boys and friends? Coming to ruin my party? If I had known, I would have been out there to receive you from the start!" The metallic voice echoes through the ship.

"JUPITER!?!" Ortega asks bewildered.

"What are you doing here?" Steel stood in a cautious stance.

"What does it look I'm doing! Ha! I'm going to spank both of your asses like I used to do every week back in the day. And there will be no Hood saving you morons! I can tell you how this is going to end... " the arms begin pointing at Ortega and Steel "It ends the way it ALWAYS does! With me getting paid!"

"ORTEGA! MOVE!" You scream. He tries to. But it's too late.

The metallic claw on his right arm starts spinning... and then emits a bolt of pure thunderbolt at Ortega, sending him flying through the duck up in smoke.

Steel charges at the armor.

"DODGE STEEL!"

Steel is faster and quickly jumps to the side as Jupiter's left cylinder points at him. As the device activates, it extends at full speed, destroying the deck where Steel stood a moment ago.

A giant pneumatic hammer used as a weapon on a suit. Now that's a new one. Sometimes it’s the simplest technology that’s the most terrifying.

Steel closes in and holds the suit's arms upwards, pushing him, trying to throw him overboard.

Jupiter headbutts him, sending him down. As he lies down, he points the cylinder directly at Steel's head.

"Now die ranger!" He speaks in a cold murderous tone. You can sense the fear in STeel's mind.

You invade Jupiter's mind as swiftly as you're able. Sending a whirlwind of random colors to block his sight and lose his balance. It works, he stumbles and the cylinder moves slightly down and left of its target.

"What... the.. fuck!" The cylinder activates and Steel screams in pain.

The armor around his arm is almost destroyed, taking the hit. Well, at least it wasn't his head.

Jupiter regains his balance and turns on you and Elyse.

"YOU! YOU FUCKING KID! IM GOING TO KILL YOU FOR THIS!" He does despise younger heroes. You keep the colors blocking his eyes, but he isn't a fool.. he's managing to see trough.

"When I tell you... help me again," Elyise asks.

You nod lightly, focusing on Jupiter. The claw on his right arm begins spinning... charging with power for another bolt. It looks for you... trying to find you as you try to keep it from targeting you.

"NOW!"

You let go and lend her your focus.

She lifts the boat again... and sends it flying at Jupiter's suit.

The lighting bolt hits a wooden box by your side, making it explode as his aim is thrown off by the impact. Jupiter's suit is knocked to the side, as he tries to regain his balance and hold his ground against the boat pushing him.

"I AM STRONGER! I AM... JUPITER! I WILL CRUSH YOU ALL!"

He begins regaining ground... Not even Elise's full power unlocked with your help is enough against his armor suit.

"Who's were you saying going to get spanked today again?" Ortega asks. He reaches the boat and begins it onto Jupiter.

"As Hood used to say..." Steel speaks, taking pushing against the boat with his functional arm "The Rangers always get their man!"

"Yeah, even if he has to be drowned first!" Ortega adds finally.

Jupiter struggles, but all the added strength pushes his suit backward, towards the edge of the ship.

"Not this ranger shit again... You can’t... you... you aren’t stronger than.. me...” his voice sounding more desperate by the second “Hey... Hey kids! Wait... we can... HNHg... discuss it!"

"Do you hear something Charge?" Steel asks, his face red with effort.

"Nope. I only hear the sea. Do you hear anything Sidestep?" Ortega asks while pushing as hard as he can.

"Nothing at all Marshall," you say with a grin while aiding Elyise’s psychokinesis.

"WAIT! I Yield! I'll tell you everything! I can’t go underwater in this suit! I’ll drown!" Jupiter pleads as his feet touch the edge of the ship.

"Well.. in that case," Steel started.

And then Jupiter’s claw lowers again, taking aim at Ortega.

"It's a trap!" Elyise screams as she is the first one to notice. "THROW HIM DOWN BEFORE HE SHOOTS THAT THING AGAIN!"

"WHAT? No! No! Wait! This is a misundersta..." he screams desperately as the boat pushes him and his suit over the railing, and into the sea.

You approach Ortega and Charge, watching ...

The suit sinks hard like a rock, going straight for the bottom.

"You think he can survive in there?" Ortega asks Steel.

"He's got even more mods than I even without the suit. No way he can float. IT's over"

You feel a little bit conflicted by this. "Can we do anything?"

"No," Steel says in the end. "We don't have a way to pull him up. It's the end of Jupiter."

"He tortured so many people..." Ortega speaks with pure resentment. "I'm not going to cry Sidestep. And neither should you"

And then he stumbles to the left and lands on his butt.

"Fuck! Ricardo, are you ok?" you approach him. He got hit with a lightning bolt after all.

"My batteries took most of it" he smiles lightly. "It can't be so bad!"

"You idiot, of course, it can be bad," you say checking the mods.

"What about you Steel?" you force yourself to ask while trying to evaluate the damage. He's an ally too.

"I think my armor's toast around ... and the arm hurts like hell... but it's not broken as far as I can tell," he says flexing with a pained expression.

"Alright... Let me take care of it" you say, volunteering to get the first aid kit from the ship. You're trained as a field doctor among other things. It took Ortega and Steel a few injuries to realize you have more experience than some hospital surgeons. And of course, you refused to answer why. Not their fucking business.

You volunteer to get both a toolbox and first aid kit from the ship to repair the damage. That bastard Jupiter did a mess on Ortega's mods. A few bad moves and his legs could disconnect completely.

Not a hard fix, but it takes a while to reinforce it aboard a ship. Some dermal cream for the burns is all you can do about that, but it doesn't seem like it will leave a mark. You’not sure why is he under so much pain... you check his wounds twice ...

It takes you a few moments to realize he’s just exaggerating his pain.

You just see it in his eyes. He wants to draw you in. He’s going to kiss you once more if you play his game.

You quickly turn. Steel is in need of just as much help. The armored around his arm is destroyed and really causing him severe pain. No way to fix it, all you can do is disarm it and free his arm, leaving it bare.

"Sorry... I don't have replacement parts"

"It's alright," steel says, flexing his arm. "At least it's stopped hurting so much." "Thanks" He adds after a few awkward seconds. He always thanks you for helping them. Doesn't stop him from wanting to get rid of you. It's the passive aggressiveness you don't stand.

---------on the lower deck. -------------

"Gulf war Tech. Must be stolen" Steel says after hacking onto the onboard computer. " They were smuggling about a hundred boxes worth of it... enough to start a little war. I guess the mercenaries didn’t want to pay for the delivery.”

Large boxes as far as you can see in the storage compartment.

"Well... better count them," you say. And you begin doing exactly that, while Steel goes over the details.

Elyise is helping Ortega. That's why you chose to start counting yourself. He’s still there pretending to be seriously hurt. Trying to drag you into talking alone again. He pulled the same trick at the party. When he told you he needed to go to the bathroom.

And you can't have that. Because if you do, he'll invite you out again, and you know you are going to say yes because you're a sucker for him. And that will end up with him finding out. You need some way out... He will try again later, and with the boat in this condition, you’ll have to wait for a rescue team. You’ll be together for hours.

It takes a while to count each box. You make it take a while. You don't actually make mistakes when counting stuff. It's another difference between you and humans. You could count about a thousand identical stones without counting any of them twice or making a mistake. Your body is purposely built for information gathering, and it’s a skill you’ve also been trained in.

"95... 96... 97" You end. "Steel... there's three missing boxes. They must have taken something from here." you add pointing at some oil marks, left by a wheeled metal cart.

"That's no good. It doesn't seem like they could open them if they needed to carry them out"

"How do you know?" Ortega asks.

"These are old" Steel explains. "You need the old war Theater of operations codes to open one of these. Only someone in a unit with authorization from back then could have them."

"Oh. MAkes sense " Elyise adds looking at the boxes.

"You two, head upstairs.” He looks at you and Elyise “My unit was assigned there back then... I'll see what's inside."

"Why do we have to go upstairs?" You ask

"Because you are not rangers" He simply adds, as if that was the end of discussion.

Ortega stands by you. "Hey... let's go upstairs, let steel do his thing. we can chat and..."

No. Definitely no. That is NOT happening. And Steel just gave you the way out.

"Oh, so we're good enough to save your ass from Jupiter, but we're not good enough to see some rusted old weapons?" you start. You know what he said makes perfect sense. You're not authorized to see the weapons. You would do the same thing. But as usual, he is giving you the perfect excuse.

"It's not my fault you won't follow proper procedure and join us instead of following Charge around like a lost puppy!"

You force yourself not to smile. You come up with a comeback. He answers, adequately insulting. You respond in kind. Ortega steps in trying to calm you both down. Steel just throws in the big ammo, actually calling you names. Now that's a record. You raise his bet. Both of you look at Ortega. He's the Marshall after all.

He sides with Steel. He has to. You're not authorized to see stolen war gulf-war era weapons.

You yell at Ortega for siding with him.

Its true Steel is right, but he could just skip procedure this time if he wanted. It's all it would take to throw off your little scheme. He could do it if he truly cared so much.

Instead, he tries to justify Steel's words. To make you see reason.

“Don’t be like that! You're acting like a five-year-old!”

“I’m not a fucking kid Ricardo! I’ll go upstairs, I guess I should have learned my place is always at the back row with you guys.” You snap at him and storm off. They have made exceptions for some famous vigilantes and heroes. But not for you. It irritated you. But certainly suits you now.

Elyise follows you speechless. You've taken part in this dance so many times now. Most of the time, Steel wins. But sometimes, you just want him to think he won.

Mission accomplished. Now you have the perfect excuse not to talk to Ortega for a long while.

That AND, he is the one who will feel guilty about sending you off. You do feel bad about the whole thing. But you would feel worse if the farm captured you again. And maybe killed him while doing it. He is nothing to them.

Lives are interchangeable. Expensive Experimental Regenes that have been on development for years are not.

"Is it always like that?" Elyise asks as you reach the stairs. "Yes. It's always the fucking same," you answer, trying to look hurt, your shields suitably raised up. "Well... I guess he's just trying to do his job... could use with some better manners though... " She sighs. "Let's go up, shall we?" "Yes, lets'" She moves, letting you go first. As soon as you reach the ship's surface deck, you look down. "Damn... I think I lost a glove down here! Give me a moment"

You sigh, turn and look at the sea. She climbs up half a minute later and joins you. "Hey.. are you still mad about this?" she says putting a hand on your shoulder. "Yeah," you say. It’s true that you orchestrated this. But a part of you expected Ricardo to ruin your plan and tell Steel to go fuck himself. And he didn’t. And you felt alone again. You *are* made about it. For real.

And so you spend the rest of the trip, venting about Steel with Elyise.

Steel called you Ortega's lost puppy. But it's Ortega who looks the part in the end. Standing by himself, wanting to approach you but knowing you’re furious.

You're not sure if that's a reason to celebrate. The whole thing just makes you drift apart from them. And Ortega is... you don’t know what he is, but he’s definitely more than a friend, and you can’t talk to him now.

Oh well.

At least Elyise is your friend now.

_____________________________________

My fanfiction: https://chaniters.tumblr.com/post/181692759294/my-fanfiction-for-fallen-hero

DISCLAIMER: This is a work of fan fiction using characters and the setting of the Fallen Hero: Rebirth and upcoming Fallen Hero: Retribution games written by Malin Riden. I do not claim ownership of any characters from the Fallen Hero wold. These stories are a work of my imagination, and I do not ascribe them to the official story canon. These works are intended for entertainment outside the official storyline owned by the author. I am not profiting financially from the creation of these stories, and thank the author for her wonderful game/s, without which these works would not exist.

#fallen hero: rebirth #fallen hero spoilers #Sidestep #Ortega #Steel #Chargestep #Fanfiction

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netunleashed-blog · 6 years

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Spider-Man PS4's Opening Hours Have Everything We Want, And Something We Don't

http://www.internetunleashed.co.uk/?p=33087 Spider-Man PS4's Opening Hours Have Everything We Want, And Something We Don't - http://www.internetunleashed.co.uk/?p=33087 If you love reading superhero comic books, there's a good chance that a huge part of what makes them so attractive is the way they explore the regular lives of the people behind the masks. Matt Murdoch's daily courtroom drama and neighborhood philanthropy, Jessica Drew's demanding commitments as a single mother, and the multifaceted teenage dramas of Kamala Khan and other student-aged heroes are equally as engrossing as the crime-fighting adventures of their alter-egos. And when work and life clash, that's when things really get interesting.The more mundane side of superhero stories are rarely explored in video game adaptations, and that's something Insomniac Games is openly talking about as a major point of difference in their take on Marvel's Spider-Man. In the game's first two hours, which I experienced during a recent preview tour, a large chunk of time was spent controlling Peter Parker in his mild-mannered form, as well as Mary Jane Watson. Insomniac explained that this ratio was largely indicative of the rest of the game, with major themes of mentorship and trust as something that would be explored with and without masks.That might sound like a far cry from what's been shown of Insomniac's Spider-Man up to this point, but these moments hit all the right notes for us. The game's version of Peter Parker falls on the dweeby side, despite being old and having almost a decade of crime-fighting expertise. He's messy, perpetually behind on his bills, and isn't currently in any kind of romantic relationship, all thanks to his second life. But he takes time to visit his Aunt May and catch up with acquaintances, as well as work on science projects as part of his day job, hoping he can do some good there, too.I spent a large part of Spider-Man's opening hours exploring interior environments as Peter, making and listening in on small talk, looking at photos and reading documents to fill out back-story, and performing research experiments--there are Pipe Dream and pattern matching minigames that can earn you experience points to spend on Spidey abilities. Mary Jane, an investigative reporter in this universe, has her own separate narrative motivations that quickly become entwined in the rest of the plot. Her interactive segments have their own mechanics, which Insomniac told us would grow and evolve over the course of the game. For more on Mary Jane's section in these opening hours, be sure to read Kallie's in-depth account. But as happy as I was to see a big emphasis on the Peter and MJ side of things, I still had just one thing on my mind, being this was my very first first hands-on: Whether or not Insomniac's Spider-Man was going to surpass the memories I had playing Treyarch's open-world Spider-Man 2 for consoles, generally regarded as the best Spider-Man game to date, thanks to its phenomenal web-swinging mechanics. And it most definitely does, as we've previously reported. Insomniac's Spider-Man adheres strictly to the rule that Spidey's web lines need to attach to a structure, and that creates the wonderful sense of tangibility that is both essential to selling the experience, as well as creating a satisfying need for forethought when traversing New York City.It works like this: R2 shoots out a web line, and pressing X while mid-swing will let you jump and gain height or distance, depending on where you are in your arc. Pressing X without being attached to a web line will let you perform a quick web zip, which propels you forward, allowing you to gain directional momentum without losing height, and is great for quickly changing directions. Finally, holding L2 will trigger a slowdown, allowing you to aim a cursor and hit R2 to create a direct zipline to that particular point (provided it's in range), and is a great landing technique that allows you to expertly perch on lampposts and other locations, just like a spider can.Web swinging feels fantastic, and minor additions, such as hitting L3 to nosedive, using Circle + Triangle in tandem with the left stick to perform aerial tricks for experience points, and the motion blur when you pick up a large amount of speed, adds a lot to making the act of getting around town a pure joy. Even Central Park can be traversed by web-swinging, thankfully, so long as you pick a route with enough trees to latch onto.Movement on the ground also feels suitably Spider-Man-like. Aside from using L2 and R2 to web zip from point to point, holding R2 acts as an Assassin's Creed-like parkour button, allowing you to easily clear obstacles, as well as run up and across the side of buildings. But if you need a break from thinking about how to get from A to B, Spidey can also just take the subway and fast travel to a different station.The parkour button isn't the only inspiration Insomniac's Spider-Man takes from an Ubisoft series, though. In a move that took me completely by surprise, Spider-Man incorporates the archaic mechanic of tower reveals, that is, points of interest that you have to find, travel to, and solve a puzzle at in order to reveal a map of the immediate area, as well as the locations of other points of interests like side missions, challenges, collectables, and Far Cry-style outposts. Each district of Manhattan represented in the game--Chinatown, Greenwich, Financial District, Hell's Kitchen, Midtown, Upper West Side, Central Park, Upper East Side, and Harlem--has a number of towers hidden within them, which you're required to activate before you're even able to see where you're going on your minimap.This is strange not only because the mechanic feels incredibly outdated--Ubisoft has moved on, their open-world franchises now focus on more organic discovery mechanics--but it just doesn't make characteristic sense. Insomniac has been pitching their version of Spider-Man as an experienced one, one that's been fighting crime in New York for nearly a decade, and it's incredibly puzzling that this Spider-Man hasn't internalized an intimate geographic knowledge of the city he protects. I don't believe him when he exclaims, "I'm flying blind here!" while swinging through world-famous Times Square, no matter what the tower MacGuffin might be.Any activity revealed by towers can still be found by naturally stumbling across them, and minor Spider-Man 2-style randomly-generated events, such as car crashes and armed robberies, also can pop up unannounced, which is great to see. But the emphasis on using towers to reveal them just seems like a huge misstep, a puzzling addition that feels like unnecessary filler.You need a javascript enabled browser to watch videos.Marvel’s Spider-Man Show Floor Demo | PS4 | E3 2018Size:640 × 360480 × 270 Please use a html5 video capable browser to watch videos. This video has an invalid file format. Sorry, but you can't access this content!Please enter your date of birth to view this videoJanuaryFebruaryMarchAprilMayJuneJulyAugustSeptemberOctoberNovemberDecember12345678910111213141516171819202122232425262728293031Year20182017201620152014201320122011201020092008200720062005200420032002200120001999199819971996199519941993199219911990198919881987198619851984198319821981198019791978197719761975197419731972197119701969196819671966196519641963196219611960195919581957195619551954195319521951195019491948194719461945194419431942194119401939193819371936193519341933193219311930192919281927192619251924192319221921192019191918191719161915191419131912191119101909190819071906190519041903190219011900 By clicking 'enter', you agree to GameSpot's Terms of Use and Privacy PolicyenterBut there's still plenty of good filler in there, namely, the number of things you can stuff into Spider-Man's suit. As expected, you can unlock dozens of different Spider-Man costumes by earning experience and leveling up to gain access, and spending different tokens (earned through completing side content) to purchase them for use. Each suit comes with its own unique suit ability to assist you during the game's exciting, Batman Arkham-inspired combat system, but a nice feature is that once you own a suit, you can transfer its unique ability to a different suit you own.For example, I immediately sought to don the Spider-Man Noir costume, which comes with the ability to stop enemies from calling backup (great for stealth approaches), but swapped that out for the Battle Focus ability from the Advanced Suit seen in the game's marketing materials. Battle Focus steadily increases your Focus meter, used in combat to heal and perform the game's cinematic takedowns. Other suits and abilities I saw included the Classic Suit (webs every enemy in sight), Scarlet Spider (creates holographic decoys), and the Spider Armor MK II (protects from bullet fire).True to Peter's science background, you can also equip a number of unique combat gadgets, switching between them using a radial menu with L1, and upgrade their effectiveness over the course of the game. Aside from the standard web shooters, they include things like impact webbing to pin enemies to surfaces, spider drones that seek out opponents and fire energy, electric webs that stun, web bombs that are proximity triggered, web trip mines, concussive blasts, and a suspension matrix that suspends enemies in the air.The game also has a skill tree for ability progression, featuring three branches with which to upgrade Spidey's combat and web swinging techniques. The Innovator branch focuses on web-based combat techniques, such as using webs to disarm gun-toting thugs and the ability to throw a larger variety of objects and enemies, while the Defender branch improves Spider-Man's general striking, evasion, and combo abilities, letting you earn bonuses for things like perfectly-timed dodges. Finally, the Webslinger branch largely lets you perform additional traversal moves, but also gives you access to Spidey's infamous web swing kick in combat. It also unlocks the aforementioned ability to perform tricks in mid-air for small amounts of XP and large amounts of style.There are a number of references too, of course, found in dialogue, environment, and the game's backpack collectibles. But it's a range that can be appreciated by both casual Spider-Man fans (Spidey asking "Should we kiss?" to a hanging enemy), and fanatics (a mention of "Nazis made of bees"). There were some nice interactive touches I loved: using the attack buttons around citizens lets you wave and give high fives, with some interactions giving you XP, and J.J. Jameson now hosts a podcast Peter listens to, but you can unsubscribe in the audio settings menu.Insomniac's representation of the Spider-Man experience plays as good as it looks, at least in its opening hours. The web swinging and acrobatic combat are instantly satisfying, but it's also wonderful to see that there's a lot more to it--a significant focus on interacting as Peter Parker and Mary Jane (which we're hoping will continue to evolve into something great), a depth of progression options and combat abilities, and many minor, but exciting details that positively colored my short experience. The opening hours had me eager to play more--even just to have more time swinging around the city--but it also reinvigorated my excitement about the Marvel universe in general. I just wish I could forget about those towers. Source link

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