Log:Ruined Memories

Ruined Memories 2014/05/25 Paragon Allison 1

When Paragon arrives, Allison is pacing back and forth. She has holo simulations all over the gym involving brains and nanobots flowing throughout said brains.

Paragon arrives prepared, carrying a cup of coffee and a paper bag from next door. The door slides open with a soft swish her her plated feet clank along the floor upon her entrance.

Whirling your way, Allison is smiling... Beaming as it were. She looks well rested and well caffeinated at the same time. "Paragon!" she exclaims, bouncing over to try to give you a hug before going further.

Paragon tries her best to give Allison a hug with her hands full, smiling behind the faceplate. "Hey Allison," her mechanical voice coos warmly. "I see you've been busy."

"What I had in mind is... in my research, I found that in theory at least, it is difficult to totally -delete- data from computers, and the brain is quite a heck of a computer. I wanted to know if you would submit to an attempt for me to try to peek into your memories... using my special ability with computers. We both know I can interface with your systems. But I can also sift through databanks. But I wanted to see if maybe your memories were not so much -gone- as... potentially just blocked." says Allison. Yep, talking fast and all.

Paragon tilts her head. "And you sure this will not be damaging? We still know nothing of who I--" she corrects herself, "Who this body was. Or even how long it was deceased before Mechaneer made use of it. The brain may have been too far for there to be memories."

"That is true. But I am only going to probe. I will not be trying to make any changes at all. I am also not going to unlock these things yet, that is... if I even find anything. I will simply look to see if there is anything there at all." Allison says. "And then let you decide, if I find anything... what to do with it.

Paragon nods slowly as she processes things. "I trust you, Allison. Let us try."

Reaching hands up to your chest, Allison closes her eyes and takes a deep breath. Another breath and then she tenses as she shoves into the system. "Okay... I am in. I am sifting through... whoa!" she announces, stepping back a half pace. "Apparently, your systems do not like such penetrations."

Paragon's eyes were closed, and to the outside observer, the glow inside her helm had shut off. Her eyes flicker back on. "Did I do something wrong? I was trying to relax for you," she sounds confused and apologetic.

Paragon says, "Are you alright?"

Shaking her head, Ally just grins. "No, sometimes, systems defend themselves even when you try not to." she remarks.

Paragon's eyes shut off, unsure if it will help.

Once more, Ally places hands on your body and breathes deeply, a few times, before she grunts with exertion, veins standing out on her temples and then... she is IN!

Paragon doesn't seem aware of anyone around her, her eyes just pinpoint lights that finally dim to nothing as Allison delves deep into her memory core.

It takes an intense amount of effort and Allison has to dig deep to find anything. She passes through the layers of the machine she knows to be Paragon. Beyond that, there's a vast emptiness as she delves into the organic parts; the human brain.

It seems so dark there. Just when you think to stop digging, you hit something deep down. Just...fragments of what once was. You get some blinding flashes of things out of order, all experienced from a first person perspective, but only the last of the memories can be sensed.

You feel a surge of strength and look down at your black gloved hand to see it clasped around the neck of a hero while standing in a battle ruined laboratory. You can feel the smug grin on your face as you squeeze. "That all you got, pipsqueak?" That's...that's Paragon's voice! But it sounds crude and mocking.

Someone with a deep booming voice yells commandingly off to your left, "Ruin, let him go!"

You look up to see another hero, then look back at your hand. You're standing in a grassy backyard strewn with kids toys. In your now smaller hand lies a broken toy that looks to be crushed. A young boy no older than 7 or 8 sniffles and looks up at you with tears in his eyes. "You broke it, Sis!"

"I...I didn't mean to, James..." says an apologetic teenage voice.

You look back up at the commanding hero, once again in that laboratory with your hands around the other hero's neck. "I meant it when I said I'd break his neck if you don't give us the weapon," you warn.

"The Doctor says your brother's arm is broken in two places. What were you kids doing?" your mom tells you off in a hospital waiting room. "Your brother won't say what happened!"

"He fell out of the tree house," you lie, feeling terrible for accidentally breaking his arm. You look down at your hand and squeeze it shut.

Your hand begins to squeeze. You may just kill him anyway, just for fun. They can't stop you. You feel confident and brash. Unstoppable. The hero cries out and you can hear a slight crack as your fingers start to crush into the bone. "Now give up the device and leave."

"Dad left," sniffles your younger brother, hugging you tightly in the living room, his head barely coming up past your waist. You want to hug back and comfort him, but don't for fear of hurting him again with your bursts of strength that you can't seem to control. He just cries into your shirt while you can do nothing.

The commanding hero raises a hand and says, "Wait, don't to it!" But he's not talking to you. You suddenly realize his eyes are focused just behind--

"I'm sorry..." you say as your younger brother, now a young teenager, as he yells at you for disappearing at night and being just like your father.

"You're gonna be sorry," you growl to a scared bully laying on the ground, whose nose you broke for calling you and your brother names.

"You're ALL going to be sorry!" you taunt some heroes as they burst into the scene of a bank robbery and demand you drop the cash.

Back to the destroyed lab. A horrible surge of pain that pierces through your back and out your chest, through lightly plated body armor that should've been strong enough to protect you. Your grip loosens on the hero just as that searing pain kicks you out of memory and back into the physical world.

As memories fade and the world goes dark, you can just barely make out the distant sounding teenage voice of the younger brother. "You ruin everything..."

And so, watching all of these visions through your eyes, Allison is learning new details about her friend. Her breathing is becoming harsh and difficult, but that could be a product of the emotional intensity that she is feeling from these visions. She is choked up, literally... breathing labored as tears slowly trickle down her cheeks. She is not even aware of the hands creeping towards her throat. . . o o O O (So... a good person, in a bad situation... doing wrong things because she was pushed into it... do I tell her that I found this?)

Only when she thinks that, and she breaks off from the vision... her eyes open and suddenly she realizes -why- her breathing is labored... mechanical, robotic hands... latched about her throat and slowly tightening. Her hands reach for yours, but she is no match for your strength (not yet)... and she grips your wrists, "Paragon... wake ... up ..." *hrk* "You're hurting me."

Paragon's eyes are still shut off, but her hand remains wrapped around Allison's throat, much like it was in the vision. Paragon doesn't seem to be active or responding to her environment or her friend's pleas. She's not applying all her strength, but it is considerable. Her shoulders are hunched up and shuddering as she grasps her chest, corresponding to where the injury was in the vision. Slowly, shakily, her fingers uncurl from Allison's neck, the hand moving to also clutch the perceived wound in her chest. Paragon grunts and gasps in pain as she relives her death, doubling over a little before crashing down on her knees and sitting back on her heels. For a few moments, she remains that way, her breathing labored. Then she sways a little before her head droops, her arms falling down to her sides limply. Paragon becomes inactive, sitting hunched in this position. It's only the rigidity of her armor that keeps her from falling forward into a heap.

Gasping as she is released, Allison sees this from her viewpoint in her mind's eye. She shakes her head, trying to dismiss the mental image for the moment before she surges up to her feet and calls out into your cyber-augmented brain. <> She didn't mean to cause her pain, or make her relive things. Damn, this didn't work out quite the way she had intended. She's hugging your metal body now, maintaining contact as she says internally, <>

Paragon doesn't seem to be in pain anymore at least, now that she's unresponsive. Everything's silent in Paragon's head as Allison calls out internally. A few pathways in her circuits begin to spark up again. After several still moments, Paragon takes a breath, and there's the gentle hum of electricity as her systems boot up. Her eyes open slightly, appearing as thin, dim lines in her helm at first. The lines disappear and are replaced with brighter, glowing orbs. "Was your attempt successful, Allison?" Paragon asks as she regains consciousness and fully activates, sounding as if nothing happened. She looks around and suddenly realizes she's not in the same position she was a millisecond ago.

Shaking her head.. not in a negative sort... Allison is more like a punch drunk boxer trying to clear her head. "Partially..." she mutters softly. She smiles a bit, her eyes filled with concern. "I can tell you that you have always had a good heart. I only caught little snippets of things. Like flashes from a dream." She shrugs as she steps back, lifting her shirt a bit to cover any possible bruising she may have. It will heal quickly even if it is there... "I'm not sure about the details though.. I didn't get names or anything but... I did see a few other faces, and if you want, I could try to use some of those details to learn more about you."

Paragon studies Allison, slowly rising to her feet as her eyes scanning over her concerned face. "Well, I'm relieved I had a good heart. I was afraid I was a bad person." As Allison steps away, Paragon reaches out gingerly towards her face in an attempt to brush away what she thinks are tears. "Have you been crying...?" Paragon sounds confused at what she's seeing. She doesn't notice Allison trying to cover up.

"Paragon..." says Ally. She shakes her head, "Your life appeared to be difficult, emotional. I saw glimpses of things that broke my heart. I don't know all of the details, but just..." she sighs and shakes her head. <> (Yeah, she refers to her thoughts she picked up as downloads) << I need you to run facial recognition on the heroes in the bank, and the brother... we have image samples of the brother aging from child to young adult already... so please extrapolate... Also, the bank event, cross reference the robbery attempt, to news stories about the death of a metahuman during a robbery attempt.>>

''Julius can pull a quick search: Ruin was a villain who worked as a mercenary for fire. She was always the hired muscle and was brutal to her opponents, seriously injuring many heroes in her career. She was wanted for robbery, assault, destruction of public property, and a suspect in a heroes murder, among others. She was killed by a vigilante named Payback during a heist to steal a dangerous weapon for an unknown employer."''

''Facial recognition and aging software comes up with a record matching the name: James Reynolds, 21 years old, a Colonial Bay resident. He has a juvenile record of shoplifting and minor crimes starting 6 years ago, last known booking was 4 years ago. Sibling name: Madison Reynolds.''

''Further results found from Julius: James' father, Collin Reynolds, still missing. Mother: Avery Reynolds, killed by drunk driver 3 years ago.''

Paragon's eyes dim. "I'm sorry for any strain or emotional hurt it put you through. It sounds like...whoever I was, struggled through some tough times." She sounds at a loss, not remembering any of it. She still seems like the same old Paragon as she pats Allison on the shoulder. "Did you find out what happened at least? Is there enough information to notify family members if needed?" Paragon asks dutifully.

Having Julius inform her.. putting ID pictures in her eyes, Allison pauses and looks up to your orbs. Oddly, she connects better with you when you're in the armor. Eventually... she says, "I learned... some information. The question is, do you want to learn everything about your past? Or only enough to give family members some closure?"

Paragon, similarly, feels more like herself in the armor than out of it. "Allison," she says after some consideration, "Your hesitancy and vagueness tells me perhaps I should only know enough to ensure the family members have closure." For as naive and innocent as Paragon appears in many instances, she's perhaps more astute than she lets on. She puts a hand to her temple for a moment, her eyes narrowing a little before turning to normal. She drops her hand to her side.

"It's not that. You had... a rough life. You were driven to deeds that were not... acceptable, but in the end, it was more of the fault of others than of your own." Sure, Allison sees it a different way because.. you are her friend. "I felt your fear of losing control, how you did not want to hurt anyone... and I watched you pushed over the line by unfortunate events."

She thinks a moment and then sighs. "You have one family member left. And... if I am not mistaken, he and you fought the last time you saw him, and ... well, let's just say the two of you had a falling out. Do you want to locate him? Perhaps construct an email to let him know what happened?"

Paragon's eyes dim for a moment. "Was I...a villain?" she asks in soft, modulated tones that echo hollowly in her armor. She tries to process the idea of contacting a family member after all this. "This...was not what I expected. I think I need to think on how best to approach this. Or if I even should considering there was a falling out. I had never considered..." she trails off. Oh, but she had. She didn't dwell on it, but the possibility of having been a villain did cross her mind. But she never thought it would happen, and so never gave it the amount of consideration it deserved.

"I think you were... angry at the world. Bitter about the losses you had suffered. But... you died performing criminal acts. So, whatever your past... I think you have -paid- for those acts." Allison steps over and places a gentle hand on your shoulder.

Paragon's eyes dim further. "I think...I'm glad I don't remember who I was," she says finally, her eyes illuminating again. Perhaps Allison read her mind again as she mentions having paid for past actions. She looks down at the palm of her hand, momentarily considering if she should turn herself to the police. "I need to think carefully about what action I take next concerning this."

"Paragon. You -are- a hero, and the best person I know. Any past actions have been paid for. Death has a way of making up for quite a lot. You were not allowed to find the peace in death that you never knew in life. The Mechaneer robbed you of that." Allison shakes her head. "But, you have a brother... focus on who you are, not who you were."

"I have a brother...?" Paragon's eyes widen. "I...I will have to think of how, or if, I should approach him. I don't want to cause more damage and hurt. Considering how they parted ways, I'm not sure what would be best yet." After a moment of silent processing, she pats Allison on the shoulder, her voice carrying its usual cheerful tone. "Thanks, Allison. Don't worry, I won't stop being a hero. It's who I am." But hidden behind the faceplate, there's no smile to match the tone as Paragon has a lot of thinking to do. "I think, however, I should go on patrol and see how the city's doing." And get some fresh air and a city view to clear her mind.