Project Gaea

Subject: Project Gaea Tue Oct 21, 2008 9:31 am

The following was submitted by an unknown source. It is a tape recording done from a cell inside the Zig that we here at the Protector have copied into written words for all to read.

Rogue Isles Protector
Author: Unknown

Q: So tell me, what’s your name?
A: I used to be called Victor Krane, but that name is long since forgotten. I go by Project Gaea now.

Q: You seem like a very interesting specimen. Why the name Project Gaea?
A: It fits with my mutated state.

Q: Really? How interesting. You seem to be very uncomfortable in my presence, why is that?
A: Over the course of a decade I have become bitter. I am resentful of the “normal” human race. This wasn’t always so.

Q: Care to elaborate on that?
A: Why not? It ain’t like I’m goin’ anywhere for a while. I had a normal life once, a wife, a job as a cop, a house. We lived out there in Skyway City near the yellow line. I was a good man. Kind and compassionate. The kids in the neighborhood used to follow me to my house to see if I had any candy for them. I used to smile all the time then. Life was good, and I was happy. Then 12 years ago my wife and I were walking through a small park by the lake. The day was sunny, and the temperature was just right. We were talking about going for a dip in the water and then the conversation got on the topic of children. Stacy had really wanted to have children. When we first got married I was against the idea, at least for a little while. So I indulged her with the topic of discussion. Besides, I had been thinking about children a bit then too. That would turn out to be a day for surprises. After a few minutes of banter back and forth Stacy told me that she was pregnant. At first I was in shock and didn’t do much of anything save sit there and look at her dumbfounded. At her prodding I came out of my stupor and we talked about it some more. You know, about all the things that would change now. I decided that we should go and start looking at baby items, which she got really excited about. We were maybe 5 or six blocks from Paragon’s Baby Elite store. That was the last time, outside of nightmares, that I would ever see Stacy again. We were coming up on a side street when something in a window caught my attention. I stopped briefly to look at it, and Stacy kept walking backwards digging at me to come on cuz she wanted to check out the baby clothes and crib sets. I was too pre-occupied with what I was looking at to notice that she was no longer in my sight. I immediately went to where I saw her last and looked around. Instinctively I reached down and un-holstered my gun. Slowly I crept around the corner and surveyed the area. It seemed empty. The only noise was the occasional newspaper page fluttering in the wind as it got blown across the street. I walked along the side of one of the buildings as I searched with my eyes and ears for any sign of her. There was nothing. I lowered my gun and was about to go back to the main street, but I noticed something in a door way. It kind of looked like a face peering from the shadows. I raised my gun again and quickly made my way over. I cleared the door way and took a quick glance around behind me before I entered the building. My gun swept from left to right as I looked around. Then I saw her in a large room. She had been gagged and her hands bound behind her back. She was being forced to kneel on the ground and I could see the barrel of a gun pushing against the back of her head. She wore a look of terror on her face, and I could see her tears. I stopped thinking rationally and rushed into the room, gun trained on her captor’s head. A Malta operative stood behind her. I told him to drop his gun and let her go or I was gonna paint the wall with his brains. I should have made sure it was clear before I went in that room. Stacy’s eyes were as big as saucers, and then I felt cold steel press to the back of my skull, followed by a voice from behind me. “Officer Krane, we’ve been trying to catch you for some time now. Our clients would like to have a chat with you. Drop the gun so no one gets hurt” he says. So I says to him “Let the girl go and I’ll do whatever you want.” So he nods and the guy holding the gun to Stacy’s head places it in its holster. I raised my hands out to the sides and the guy behind me reached out and took my gun from me. He walked around so I could see him and he wore the clothing of the gunslingers. He snapped his fingers and two operatives grabbed me by both wrists and restrained me. So I says to him, “Who is this client of yours and why do they want to see me?” he then says back to me; “You’ll find out soon enough.” He raised his gun and pointed it at Stacy. I yelled out. The sound from the shot was deafening. I saw Stacy’s head jerk backwards, and then forwards, her chin coming to rest on her chest before her body fell to the floor. I was stunned. For a second all I could do was watch the pool of blood that flowed from under her hair. I cracked and began to struggle against my captors, yelling out her name. I felt a burning at my neck and my body twitched. Everything went black after that. When I came to I was strapped to a table with wires and tubes hooked up to me. My vision was blurry and I watched as, what I thought was a doctor, held up a syringe and tapped the side of it before he injected it into my IV. I felt the liquid burning inside my veins. I could have sworn that he wore a Crey insignia, but I couldn’t be sure. I figured that’s what it was since Crey was famous for kidnappings. They would perform experiments on me every other day. I was given no food. All the while I began to feel weirder as the days wore on. I don’t know exactly how long I was there for, but it was a long time before I was allowed to regain complete consciousness. I could scarcely remember who I was back then. I’m guessing it was from all the trauma and repeated injections. Eventually a doctor came in and looked me over, apparently happy with his findings. As he checked my tonsils he spoke to me. It was the first time in a long time anyone had done so. “You’re being called Project Gaea. After Mother Earth. If everything has gone as we have been hoping they have, then it should be apparent to you why we chose that particular name for you. There is no use in trying to escape from here. We have every exit watched 24/7, and you will be shot dead if you try.” I hung my head and said back to him, “I’m already dead.” The doctor looked at me over his glasses and went back to looking me over. “We shall see won’t we? We shall see.” That was the beginning of my extensive testing. I was forced to try to control the very earth we walked on. When I refused, they would put me in the shock tank. That’s what they called it. A round tube that was closed off. Hooked up to it were rather large cables that supplied enough electricity to power a whole city block. That was the worst part about the whole ordeal aside from watching my wife get murdered. The violent shocking was painful, as a result, left my face disfigured and my left eye blinded. I learned quickly to use my new abilities. I found I could encase others in stone. In the hours when I was left alone in my little cell I would experiment to see just how far I could push these powers over the earth. It was in those hours that I realized that whatever the injected me with allowed me to absorb the power of electricity from the shock tank. I could shoot bolts of electricity from my hands. I kept this fact a secret from the scientists. I began to devise an escape plan. Each day I would take mental notes on emergency exits, or elevators. I learned in the next few months that I was not the only “Project” they had been working on. Apparently there were three others. Project Poseidon, Project Zeus, and Project Ares. Each of them the other three elemental powers. Only Poseidon was a little off. Instead of water, his powers were of ice. It was this knowledge that eventually led to my escape from the facility.

Q: Wow, that’s… well that’s quite a story. How exactly did you escape?
A: It was simple. Eventually they started to pit us together to test how weak or strong we were against to other elemental powers. It was only a matter of time before the four of us would come to the same idea. We worked together to get free. They took to leaving right away. I on the other hand didn’t like the idea of leaving the place in good working order for them to try to duplicate the Projects. I destroyed their generators, their computers, their filing cabinets and any other files I could find. I ended up causing an explosion that killed about a hundred people. Some that were innocent, others that were not. To my knowledge there has not been another “Project” anything after that.

Q: So that’s how you ended up here in the Zig?
A: Not exactly. I snuck to the Rogue Isles after I got out of the facility. I knew without a doubt that I would be apprehended if I stayed in Paragon. I had no other choice.

Q: So how did you end up here?
A: Well, a guy needs to eat you see. I did a lot of odd jobs for contacts in the Isles. I was even directly involved in numerous bank robberies. Far cry from the life of a cop. Anyhow, I was with this group, and we were sent into Peregrine Island to cause some trouble. You know, arsons, robberies, the normal crap. Well we were doin good until this cape showed up. Big hitter this one was. He pummels us, next thing I know, Long bow are everywhere and I’m being restrained with zip ties. That was 5 years ago. I’ve just gotten bitterer in here with all the low lives.

Q: So who was this cape you’re talking about?
A: The Back Alley Brawler. He’s a strong S.O.B. That’s alright though, if I ever get out of here he’ll see me again. I don’t plan on letting those responsible for the way my life turned out get away with it. I still have my revenge to shell out.

Q: Well, alright then.

(Sirens begin to wail in the background of the tape at this point. We here at the Protector almost just turned the tape off until we heard what went on next. In the next few seconds the sounds you hear is the wall to the cell being blow apart by a rocket or a missile. Listen to the screams.)

Q: What the hell was that?
A: That, well that looks like my ticket out of here.

Faintly heard in the background “You wolf spider, halt in the name of Long bow!”

Q: Who are those soldiers?
A: Ain’t you ever been to the Rogue Isles before? They’re Arachnos soldiers. My ticket out of here.

Q: Well, I’m getting the hell out of here.
A: What size clothes do you wear?

Q: Excuse me?
A: Never mind, I’ll find out for myself.

(You can clearly hear the sounds of sparks jumping to and fro here on the tape. Mingled with those sounds are the sounds of the questioner’s screams as he is electrocuted to death. We know this because we saw it in the Paragon times.)

The man walks towards the Arachnos flier and pulls the newly acquired trench coat around himself. Lowering the brim of the hat he took, he gives a sideways glance to the pilot. “Took you bloody long enough. Started to think Recluse forgot about me.” The Pilot scoffed. “Lord Recluse works on his own agenda, you’ll do well to remember that ‘Destined One’, now get in, sit down, and shut up.”