Paragon X:
States of man.
(2022 Eleven years ago)
The portal to Preatoria was closed and the second Preatorian invasion was over. Bodies of Long Bow, Preatorians, and others littered the area. A captured Bobcat was being taken away by Mynx and Penelope Yin. A pile of circuits and metal was all that was left of Citadel, but the most devastating loss of all was Sister Psyche. Her body lay, torn in pieces. These thoughts, and others, troubled Statesman. He sat on a small island off the coast of Sharkhead Island and pondered those events over and over again in his head. He kept asking himself, what could he have done to prevent this. What could he have done...to save her. Then, as if right on cue, drones began swarming all over the world announcing that Lord Recluse has claimed a victory in smashing the Freedom Phalanx, causing the Rift, and wreaking havoc everywhere. His recorded message went on to say that he will never allow the rain storms to stop. Even if it means flooding the whole world! Finally, he began to explain how Statesman is to blame. How Statesman was unable to save them. Unable to save even Sister Psyche. Outraged, Statesman tore a large rock out of the ground and threw it at the drone smashing it to pieces. Then he began to fly to Grandvillie for answers, and maybe...blood.
Lord Recluse sat upon his throne laughing madly at the reaction his world-wide message he delivered. "You see, my servants, this is how terror can be used to control the world. Even if you are not the author of the carnage itself." Barracuda, Sciccoro, Ghost widow, Black Scorpion and Captian Mako all stood in silence and watched the drones from around the world display the panic and sheer terror of people everywhere. But none of them cared. For a long time they were all discontent. They found out Lord Recluse used them and to pit themselves against eachother for Recluse's amusment, and to keep him in power. They began plotting and scheming of ways to overthrow Recluse, or just a chance to leave him, forever. There were other reasons that they no longer wanted to be the type of villains that Recluse wanted them to be. They found that there is more to life than villany. Some found hope, and they all lost their ambition. Also, the fact that the world was being swallowed by a giant hole and soon there would be no place left to run, made them a little more, self dedicated and at the same time, concerned for the world in general. Black Scorpion whispered into Barracuda's ear, "He is mad, doesn't he realize we are all going to die if we dont find a solution to the Rift?"
Siccoro grabs his ear piece. "Lord Recluse, Statesman has been spotted at the edge of the city. He is engaging our forces and decimating them rapidly!"
Lord Recluse turned on a another monitor and there was Statesman, crushing the forces of Arachnos. "Is he alone? We must stop him!" Ghost Widow sent a thought into Black Scorpion's head, "Do we fight Statesman or do we turn on Recluse?". Realizing that this was the chance to be rid of Recluse once and for all, Black Scorpion thought back, "The four of you escape and find a solution to save our world and in the mean time, leave me here to help Statesman defeat Recluse."
Black Scorpion addressed the group, "We will break off into two teams. Mako and Sciccoro will be team one. Your job will be to distract Statesman. Ghost widow and Barracuda, team two, your job will be to strike at him while he is distracted. I will stay here and...protect, Lord Recluse." Ghost widows thoughts entered the rest of their minds, "Leave this fool Recluse to die by himself, if we don't act to save the Earth then we are all doomed!" The two teams left Recluse tower leaving Recluse and Black Scorpion alone.
