Frost Rider/Of Gleaming Steel

From Unofficial Handbook of the Virtue Universe

Somewhere deep in Oranbega

“They are here. The moment is at hand.”

The elder mage glanced up annoyed at the young initiate “is that so, has the wielder surrendered the blades to you then?”

“Well..no Master. But they are in the city!”

“Wonderful. That and ten dollars will get you an Orange Mocha Frappachino, and no closer to success than we are now.” Laplamis looked far younger than his ninety plus years, but then the Archmages of the Circle of Thorns did know a few secrets in how to stay young and virile, and fortunately there were enough fools in Paragon City that it was never a problem to find souls to drain for their dark rituals.

Then someone had gotten the idea to attract more souls, using these...'infomercials', selling eternal youth on the infinite number of shopping networks.. At least that is what the fools in the inner circle had assigned him to. He sighed, sitting back in his chair, rubbing his hand over his face, times like this he really missed the old days.

“No Master, we shall have them! I am organizing a strike upon the surface to capture the wielder-”

“Idiot. Have you learned nothing? The Swords of Frost are nothing more than pricey antiques unless the wielder surrenders them of his own accord. Steal them, and my life's work will truly be for naught.”he grunted, stomach twinging again. Thousands of years of knowledge of the dark arcane arts, and yet they still couldn't find anything for his heartburn, pulling out the bottle of Maalox and taking a sip. “Put a spectral knight to watch the wielder, perhaps we may find a weakness. Then bring in that dammed lawyer...and call the HSN people back.”

Kings Row, Monday morning, 555 am

“Jake, time to get up”

He barely registered his mothers voice, still deep in slumber, rolling over, pulling the pillow over his head, the alarm clock sounding more like a klaxon...

“Commander, we have two Basestars inbound!”

“Set the fleet to condition one, launch Vipers!”

deep in the mighty battlestar, Jake heard the order, and Starbuck's voice over the com “alright nugget, lets see what you got.”

He ran over the last items in the checklist, power to 85 percent, check the LSO, and head back for the launch position. There was a thump from behind him as the Viper was shot out into space, behind him the fleet, a head, a mass of Cylon raiders so thick it obscured the stars. “Locked on, launching missiles!” large bulky pods departed from the Vipers, screaming towards the approaching raiders, while thousands of them vaporized in pyrotechnic fireballs more kept coming (Jake!)

Starbuck's face showed up on the monitor on the instrument panel “Switch to Battloid mode and lets get em!”

He pulled the switch marked B on the panel that appeared in the cockpit, the Viper transforming into an armored giant robot, chest marked with the Skull and crossed bones of (JACOB! It's 6 o'clock!) the squadron. It was an ugly battle, but short, made even shorter when the Galactica transformed as well, decimating the Cylons with their Wave motion gun. That left only one thing left... The Base Death Star, and Darth Rhonda, who was holding the Princess hostage. He had landed on the moon sized space station, and armed with his great grandfathers light sabers, headed deeper into the fortress (JACOB ALLEN EVANS, you're going to be late!)

There she was, breath hissing through the mask, looking dorky and stupid as ever, even her own light saber wasn't as cool as his own “The Force is strong in you” she hissed, “But I am Stronger!”

He just smirked “But I have your secret weakness!” he said as his hand shot out, holding a packaged Mostess Fruit Pie..

Darth Rhonda raised both hands, cursing “NOOOOOO!!! you brought the strawberry pies! I can not resist...gimme” She swiped the fruit pie from his hand, munching on it “you win, Princess Claire is in the prison block, third cell on the left.”

Jake left the Dark Lord with her pies, and donning his Spartan armor, made his way to the cells. third on the left, here it is. He opened the door and there she was, wearing a white dress, her black hair done up in buns “Aren't you a little short for a Master Chief?” she said, smiling at him. He started to step forward (THATS IT! MOM SAYS TIME TO GET UP!) he turned and it was Darth Rhonda again..with a pitcher of water?

He sat up sputtering, awake now, drenched, his sister standing in his bedroom “Mom said you're gonna be late” she said, holding the now empty pitcher she had dumped over his head “and ah don't have time to drive you to school if you miss the bus.”

He shot her a dirty look but got up, right when it was getting to the good part too. “you didn't have to drown me you know”

“Maybe you'll get up next time” she said as she headed back into the hall. Gathering up the now wet bedding, he dumped it in the hamper then headed for the bathroom. At least he didn't have to fight with his sister over it this morning.

Twenty minutes later he was clean and groomed, ready for school. Well in theory anyway. He sat down at the kitchen table with a grump, his mom putting a plate with eggs, bacon and grits in front of him. Rhonda had alerady left for school, though his dad was there, arm still in a sling , but at least the cast was off “was wondering when you'd join us dear” she said as she sat down with her own plate

“guess I overslept a bit” he admitted between bites, shoveling food into his mouth with a speed that meant either teenage boy or enlisted army. He was still kind of scrawny for his age, but many hours of riding game him more muscle than many would think, motocross riding isn't near as easy as it looks. His skin was lighter than his mothers, making him look like he had a permanent tan, with dark brown hair that almost never stayed combed for some reason.

Sharon sipped her coffee “so who's this girl Rhonda said you were talking about in your sleep?”

Jake blushed a bit, shoveling another fork full of scrambled eggs in his mouth, crud, she heard him? “uhm..”

“Don't talk with your mouth full”

“sorry” he said, swallowing, Who did she say I was talking about?”

“Claire, I think is what she said. A girl from school?”

“oh, yeah, Claire Pachowski. She's in my Biology class, and I have English and PE with her too.”

Randy frowned “isn't she that red headed girl who rides a Suzuki?”

He shook his head “thats Cindy Peterson, I've got a couple classes with her too unfortunately.” he pushed around the last bit of eggs with his fork “She even brought her first place trophy to school when they had a 'tell us what you did over the summer' day.

Sharon laid her hand on his shoulder “you're a better rider than she is, don't worry.”

Coming from his mom that did make him feel a bit better, while yeah, she was his mom, she also never hesitated to tell him when he was learning to ride. Glancing at the clock he got up, picking up his plate and taking it to the sink “gotta go, bus is gonna be here.” he grabbed his backpack and hugged his parents “I'll see y'all tonight”

“Try to have a good day sweetie”

He smiled a bit “I'll try mom. See ya”

Heading down the stairs, he sighed, every step getting closer to the bus. He didn't dislike school...just most of the people there. A lot of them were born and bred in Paragon City, families knowing each other in the Row for generations. It had been three, going on four years now and he still didn't feel he fit in. Oh sure he had friends, but most like himself were abit on the outside of things. The fact that he didn't talk like he was around here didn't help matters either, and in junior high, any difference from the rest was bad. Getting to the bus stop, he was pretty much ignored by the other kids, which honestly, was fine with him this morning. They were chattering about this pop star or that reality show. Jake couldn't stand most of the shows his classmates watched religiously, sticking mainly to SciFi, the Anime network and the Speed Channel. He leaned against the bus stop as his classmates continued to bleat mindlessly, trying to keep from laughing from what was coming over his iPod, getting looks from the others. Yeah they might be old, but his parents did have good taste in music.

Growing up it all seems so one-sided Opinions all provided The future pre-decided Detached and subdivided In the mass production zone Nowhere is the dreamer or the misfit so alone

(Subdivisions) In the high school halls In the shopping malls Conform or be cast out (Subdivisions) In the basement bars In the backs of cars Be cool or be cast out

As the bus pulled up he sighed, resiting the urge to say 'baa' as he boarded. The driver really didn't have much of a sense of humor he'd found the hard way. Sitting back in an empty seat he closed his eyes, another day in the purgatory known as Junior High.

Roger Williams Middle School . You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy, at least it seemed that way at times as Jake got off the bus, heading across the courtyard towards the main doors to the school. Just another typical Monday, there were the jocks bragging about their weekends, the rich kids over in the corner who were still upset at having to be bussed into the row, like it was a personal insult just having to breath the same air as the rest of the student body, the goths moping along the wall, the anime freaks and other geeks in one of the outer orbits of the schools pecking order, even in middle school the kids forming their cliques.

It was that group that he was headed towards, the buses were early this morning, still a good bit of time for folks to socialize before heading into the salt mines. He waved as he got closer, what friends he did have were usually over here, Mike Larson, a semi heavy red haired boy from the High Park area, and Tyron Reyes, who was half a head taller than Jake's 5'1”, and also feline (or Feline-American as he preferred to be called) Back in Tallahassee, Tyron would have been seen as a freak, but in Paragon? Just another kid, though his geekyness ostracized him just as well as his appearance could have. “Hey man, did you catch Naruto last night?”

Jake shook his head “nah, was out riding, then there was a 250cc Supercross on Speed channel-”

Tyron shook his head, his tail twitching “DUDE! How could you miss it, it was one of the best episodes yet!?”

“Calm down Ty, I've got it Tivo'd. I'll watch it tonight, I just rather watch races live when they're on, and the last race of the season's coming up before too long. I've finished in the top 5 enough that I've got a good shot I think.”

the others nodded as the first bell rang, stilling conversation across the plaza. By ones and twos they began to stream towards the doors, while many of the kids would wait till the last second, it was better to beat the rush. He was approaching the doorway when he saw her, was it a trick of the light that caused the sun to come out from behind a cloud just then? the sunbeam falling around her, causing her ebony hair to almost glow in the light. There was a chorus, not of angels actually, the schools glee club practicing early, but it was close enough for him, as he watched Claire Pachowski walking towards the front door.

Time seemed to stand still, not noticing anything else in the universe at the moment but her...especially not Amos Moses, star of the Roger Williams Middle Schools football team, a eighth grader who could eat his weight in groceries, and have it all turn to muscle. Half a dozen high school teams had already sent scouts down to look over him, and even reportedly one college. So it wasn't surprising when Jake plowed right into the back of him, knocking the beefy athlete's Pepsi out of his hand, even worse..the cola spilling all over his suede jacket.

Jacob had done his best so far this year to avoid Amos and his buddies, middle school was bad enough without having to worry about being pounded into the ground like a tent peg by the goon squad, which pretty much described most of last year. But there was no escape this time, the impact knocking him onto his rear, the older football players towering over him even more so than they usually did.

“What the @#$%, it's ruined! 500 bucks this jacket cost me Twinkie, and it's ruined, just like you're gonna be!”

Large hands reached for him, not even getting time to try to get clear. The other kids started crowding around, someone starting up the 'fight fight fight' chant that always seemed to go along with these incidents. He was grabbed easily enough being flat on his rear, Amos's powerful hands digging into his shoulders as he lifted the younger boy up off of the ground by his shoulders, feet at least a foot off of the ground. The only reason Amos's buddies hadn't piled on him yet is they were peeling off their own suede jackets, that would change any second though. At least now he was high enough he could see, there was Tyron's tail disappearing into the doors of the school, off for help most likely, the catboy knowing better from painful experience to have their attention turned on him. There was a ring of students around him and Amos, cheering on the action.

Maybe it was staring real death in the face during the summer, instead of schoolyard bullies. Maybe he was just tired of running, or it was something to do with the swords sitting on his dresser in his bedroom. Or possibly it was the sight of her noticing what was going on with all the sudden shouting. From his vantage point held tight in Amos's grip he could see her frown and turn towards the fight. That was the last straw. He turned back towards Amos, his eyes narrowing. It had been close to a year since the last time he'd tangled with the football goons, while he hadn't put on another 50 or so pounds like they have, he had spent a couple hours each day practicing, not to mention races on weekends.

He brought his feet up and kicked out, muscles trained in controlling 150 pounds of Kawasaki dirt bike slamming his hiking boots against Amos's chest, knocking the wind out of him, and loosening the older boy's grip. As Amos wheezed he tucked his legs up, hands coming down on the two linemen's heads behind him as they paused, staring at their gasping quarterback, then pushing off with his hands, twisting in mid air trying to get his feet under him.

“and here mom thought that doing freestyle Motocross was a waste of time” he thought as he landed behind them, not realizing that he was now standing on their suede jackets as well. The two linegoons glanced at Amos then back at Jake, their fury rising “you little twerp, gonna tear you limb from-”

He never finished that sentence, as silence fell on the chanting students as the new vice principal walked out the front door. “Mr Moses! Might I remind you, that one more disciplinary incident, and you will be banned from competing in ALL Extra curricular sports activities, and that goes for both you Mr Norwich and Mr Johnson.” Agent Smith glared at the rest of the gathered crowd. His name wasn't really Agent Smith, but he did look the part, he could have been a twin of Hugo Weaving. He had about as much tolerance for foolishness that the Agent in the Matrix movies had, even though he did dress more like Mr Rodgers. “As for the rest of you, the second bell has run, I would suggest you proceed towards your classes.”

The students began to disperse, heading into the building. Amos glared angrily at Jake, but turned and headed in as well, the last thing he wanted was to lose his eligibility to play, and the same with the other two. Once the season was over on the other hand...he'd have to watch his step.

“Mr Evans, are you injured?”

Jake shook his head “ah'm fine Sir, I just got distracted and bumped into him.”

The Vice Principal nodded and went back to herding the students into the classrooms. Great way to start the week. He sighed and bent down, picking up his backpack and scattered books when a shadow fell across him. He glanced up, here we go already, only to blink, his mouth hanging open like a goldfish.

“are you ok? Claire asked, as she bent down to help him pick up his stuff. He managed to nod as he gathered the folders “uh, yeah, wasn't a big deal”

“Those guys wouldn't last a full quarter in the Yards. Our fifth-graders would tear them apart. By the way, that was a nice move you did getting out of his hands.”

he blushed a bit, she had seen that. Fortunately the third bell rang, saving him from having to try to explain. She handed him the folder and smiled “See ya in Biology” she said as she headed into the school.

He watched her go, again, the universe seemed to shrink, and all that mattered or even existed was her. Slipping the papers back into his backpack, he watched as she turned down the hall for her first class...while he walked straight into the open door, the edge catching him across the face, sending him to the ground again, blood pouring from his nose.

Shepherding the last of the stragglers in the vice principal turned just in time to see Jake go down. He sighed as he pulled out his radio to contact the school nurse..it was going to be one of those days again.