Sunday 21 June 2015

1.2 Rising Part 3

It doesn’t take long for them to reach the gun store. Scott leads Legacy round behind it before knocking on the backdoor.

It is a moment before they hear someone on the other side of the door.

“Who’s there?” demands a man from behind the door.

“Don’t worry old friend,” replies Scott, “It’s just me, Mason.”

“Mason!” exclaims the man, “I know you said you would be arriving early, but I didn’t expect to show this early. Lucky for you I decided since I would be early, I might as well be here as early as I could. I’ll open the door in just a second.”

“Thanks Matt,” replies Scott, “I appreciate the favour you’re doing us.”

“It’s no problem mate,” says the man, who must be Scott’s friend Matt, as he opens the door, “I trust you not to do anything illegal.”

“You’re better off trusting me not to do anything wrong or amoral,” Scott disagrees, “You’re far less likely to be disappointed that way.”

“You aren’t doing anything I should be worried about, are you?” inquires Matt.

“Not at all, just technically illegal,” Scott reassures him, “May we come inside now?”

“Sure,” says Matt and he steps out of the way.

Scott marches into the building and Legacy follows him inside. They enter a room full of boxes. Within seconds of entering the building, Legacy is closest enough to sense some of the computers, cash registers, security cameras and other electronics within the store.

In fact, I’m able to sense the entire store computer network. Not that I’m sure that I can do anything with it other than make things explode and electrocute people.

“So who is this?” Matt asks Scott, indicating Legacy.

“This is Legs,” answers Scott, “The girl whom I’m helping and is staying with me. And the person who I want to get custom armour for.”

“No weapons,” inquires Matt.

“No,” says Scott firmly as a smile tugs at the edge of mouth, “Weapons are not a concern.”

“And yet armour is,” muses Matt as he glances at Legacy, “You got money?”

“Yeah,” replies Scott as he pulls out a wad of cash as he calls it, “Also not a concern.”

Matt is silent as he looks from Scott to Legacy and then back to Scott.

“Scott, mate,” says Matt, “Is the girl a super?”

“Why do you ask?” replies Scott, surprised.

“Because you’re got this girl with you,” replies Matt, “You’re buying armour, but you’re not worried about weaponry. You suddenly have a large amount of money and I know as sure as hell you’re not going to have anything to do with drugs with your past. This is a complete change from when I last saw you yesterday. So the idea of Legs being a super is the most likely explanation.”

To Legacy’s surprise, Scott laughs.

“Legs, close the door please,” Scott says to her before speaking Matt, “Yeah, Legs here is a super.”

“What sort of super?” inquires Matt as Legacy closes the back door, “Judging by the fact she needs armour, it’s not something that protects her. And since you don’t need weapons, it has to be superstrength or some kind of elemental powers. Perhaps energy blasts like Blastout maybe?”

“Technopathy,” Legacy declares proudly, “I have technopathy. I can create mechanical devices and make electronic stuff explode if I want.”

Why not tell him what I can do? I’m proud of my abilities. Besides, he’s already figured out I have a power and Scott trusts him.

Matt is silent as he observes Legacy, making her slight uncomfortable at being the centre of attention.

“You’re not going to start making my computers explode are you?” asks Matt nervously.

“No,” answers Legacy, “I’m not going to do that. Not even on accident as I have full control over my powers.”

“Good,” says Matt, “Now, let’s get onto business.  What sort of armour do you want?”

“Some lightweight and mobile, but good protect against both sidearms and stabbing attacks,” replies Scott, “I don’t want Legs slowed down. Mobility will be one of her best assets. I don’t expect to be protected against the higher calibre rounds, but handguns and stabbing attacks will be one of her most common dangers that we can do something about so those are a priority.”

“I understand,” says Matt, “Okay Legs, let’s get your measurements. Follow me.”

Matt walks into another room and Legacy follows him with Scott following her. Once in the second room, Matt has Legacy stand in the middle of it. He then begins to stare using a tape measure and a notepad to measure Legacy and recording them down.

As she stands that, Legacy focuses on her power. With moments, the image from one of the security cameras fills her vision. Legacy observes the empty store before using her power to find the next camera in the network and switch to that.

Soon Legacy is going through all of the security cameras.

It’s pretty amusing and interesting to watch myself standing there using one of the cameras in this room.

Once she gone through all of the security cameras, Legacy starts shifting through the files on the computer network.

Just boring stuff such as stock and finances. Ooo, I know, I’ll use the cameras to find out my measurements that Matt has doted down and enter them into the computer.

Legacy opens a Microsoft word document on one of the computers that she has turned on before using the cameras to observe the numbers on Matt’s notepad. She then types in the information into the document.

Just as Matt finishes taking Legacy’s measurements, Legacy enters them into the computer before switching back to one of the cameras in the room.

It’s amusing hearing Scott trying to get my attention when I can hear and see them via the cameras. Better stop using my power.

“You okay Legs?” she hears Scott asking her as Legacy lefts the networks.

“Yes Scott,” replies Legacy as Matt leaves the room, “Just trying out a new aspect of my power.”

“What new aspect?” inquires Scott.

“When I focus, I can enter electronic devices and control them,” explains Legacy.

“And what exactly were you doing?” demands Scott.

“Hey!” they hear Matt exclaim from a different room, “Somebody has already entered the measurements into the computer!”

Legacy smirks.

4 comments:

  1. I just got done archive-delving both this and your League of Heroes story back to back. I have to admit that while the League story got off to a rough start, I've found the last few story arcs have piqued my interest a bit. This one has come out much stronger right out of the gate. So while I'm mildly intrigued in seeing how the current League storyline progresses, I'm REALLY eager to see what comes next for Legacy - keep up the good work!

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  2. In my opinion, Legacy has a bit of a slow start, as the world and characters are introduced. Once the main pieces have fallen into place about 1.6 Alliance (I use a buffer and I'm have just finished 1.3 for Legacy), that's when the main storylines I have planned start to kick off.

    I'm glad you're enjoying Legacy by the way. My League story was really just me finding my feet as a web serial author as seen by how it started off pretty weak and has grow stronger. Legacy is going to be my project as I while I have got the League background pretty well built up in my notes, it didn't really happen until after the first few chapters and I had no idea how I wanted League to end up. Legacy on the other hand has had a clear world I come up with to set it in and how I want the main story to progress has already been planned.

    If you have any questions about story or the world works, feel free to ask. I'll be happy to answer them as long as it doesn't mean revealing spoilers.

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  3. Well, I think the difference in the two beginnings is that in Legacy, we're only a handful of chapters in and we've already got unanswered questions driving the plot forward. The "I woke up with amnesia" hook may be a little cliche, but cliches exist for a reason, and now the nature and identity of Legacy herself add an extra air of drama and mystery to the proceedings.

    By comparison, the early chapters of League of Heroes feels more like the main character is simply rambling away about the events of his day - it took awhile for you to develop any plot threads that had any sense of urgency or immediacy to them. I wish I had more technical terms to describe it - I just feel more like I'm reading about actual people in Legacy.

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  4. I know what you mean. While I do like the my League of Heroes story, I understand that I tried to put too much detail in an attempt to make it more realistic. I agree that whole amnesia is a bit cliché, but in this case, I feel that of the two clichés that work with her character, that one is the one that makes her less powerful at the start and therefore better at the beginning of the story. If there are clichés in Legacy, it'll probably be due to fact that certain character/plot clichés are hard to avoid when going for certain plots or character types (such as having a long term hospitalised loved one that the character is trying to make better, but I don't want to spoil that as I got what I hope is a bit of a twist to that sub-plot). While powerful protagonists aren't bad things, it isn't good to have them start off powerful, but grower stronger over the course of the story as their character develops. I made that mistake with Daneil Griffin/The Sentinel from League of Heroes and hope to avoid with Legacy (that's not to say that some of the villains won't start off powerful). I also think that while it is fun to come with an alternate timeline, the fact that Legacy has a divergent timeline from our own is easier as people just assume things are the same unless noted otherwise, making writing the start of the story easier.

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