Number: 28 Title: Red Circle Guardians Type: Original Fiction. ---------- Synopsis: ---------- In the form of several short stories. Some piece about each of the characters, kind of stuff that happened to them growing up, then a short story of them meeting together and going on a job, then one of Mai and Haruka cementing their bond. then... other stuff. ---------- Characters: ---------- The hard case: Haruka Saiyuri "I'm going to hunt the bitch down and put her heart in a blender. I'll bring back some body part that you can mount on your wall." The only child of a wealthy family, and an exciting yet tempestuous daughter with endless enthusiasm, Haruka was a born daredevil who had her nanny loosing hair at 23. When she was four years old, Haruka jumped off the roof of the Saiyuri house--the third story roof--and clipped a concrete garden wall on her way to the ground. She suffered a broken arm, a few cracked ribs, and one cracked skull. Nothing about her behavior or enthusiasm changed until she turned 10. By the time she was 14, Haruka stalked through the world with a king-sized chip on her shoulder. Her favorite form of communication revolved around a terrifying blend of physical violence, cold stares, and a caustically delivered responses drenched in derisive sarcasm, when she wasn't busy pointing out the ugliest truths she could find. She also lost all sense of fear, a trait which affected not only common fears of snakes, spiders, heights, fire, etc., but also stripped away all fear of public speaking, telling the truth, exposing her emotions, and getting into serious trouble. Haruka has trained diligently in Mein Chu'an kung fu (familiar since Taru of Ranma 1/2 fame is also a master of the style) since the age of twelve, and as of her 18th birthday considered one of a handful of true masters of the style. The most interesting side effect of her injury, however, are fogue events which she calls 'white noise.' She knows they are going to happen a few minutes before they do. It begins with her vision fading to white. The next two or three minutes she can't remember, but regresses to the state of the little girl that jumped off the roof of her house, in behavior only, not in terms of intelligence. Then the brief blindness vanishes, and she returns to her senses, but for the next half hour or so, her personality has done a 180. Instead of thriving on rage and hate, she is sensitive, peaceful, and empathetic to other people's feelings to an inordinate degree...and still not afraid of anything. As this fades, she is filled with a certain precognitive sense of an event or series of events in the near future. The closer to each event, and the more significant the event, the more clearly she knows of it. In one example, a group of people are trapped in a failing elevator that has been sabotaged. Haruka is able to explain in detail what the sabotage is, _before_ the elevator fails and before she's even seen the building this happens in. Stories: Haruka's parents talking to their friends while Haruka plays in the background. Haruka's nanny looking desperately for her, sees her jump. Haruka, now ten years old, is doing fine in school, has lots of friends. Age 14, Haruka is poised to enter a private high school and marches through the world, fists raised in anger. Beginning of high school, lengthy fight with her rival. ---------- The old solder: Lt. Rebecca Straits "Ladies, suit up. It's time to do the impossible again." Rebecca is in the Air Force, and has been for going on a dozen years. Her primarly expertise is with exotic weapons, which she tested for the Air Force before a dragon showed up and wiped out most of the base she was assigned to. Since then, she's become an expert at killing magical creatures of various types, including familiars and summoned beasts. She suspects a conspiracy, but doesn't talk aloud about it. Friendly and understanding, Rebecca is mystified and frustrated about the invisible barriers the other girls seem to have. As the odd one out, she sometimes feels like an outcast in the group. Rebecca was always a bit of a tomboy, and took to semi-pro racing right out of high school. She moved onto maintaining and flying airplanes, but her prospects of travel and adventure were few until she joined the Air Force. Sure, there's a lot of b.s. to deal with, but she's done extended tours all over the world and knows how to pilot/drive an amazing array of vehicles and handle a wide variety of weapons. She was assigned to the Red Circle operation (where the US Gov't "donates" equipment and personnel to the Red Circle organization) ---------- The handicapped mage: Mai Ren-Shu "I am tired, sore, depressed, grimy, and COMPLETELY OUT OF PATIENCE! Now get out of my way or I'm going to hit you with enough lightning to melt down an aircraft carrier." Mai was orphaned at approximately 1 year of age. No one has any idea of where her parents went, but a monk happened across her at a recycling center. Turns out her discovery is part of an old prophecy which the monk knew about and respected. She has been raised in mix of China's primitive school system and the reclusive temple/scholastic academy where the monks who are her adoptive family live. She is highly gifted with magic, and the most powerful mage the human race has seen in a thousand years (apparently). Mai is a small but athletic girl who's quite normal, in addition to being very smart. At the beginning of the story, she is attacked by some other magic users, and manages to fend them off. She walks away from the encounter, but her injuries are primarily permanently damaged senses. Her taste and smell are fine, but there are numb spots on her body that are only slowly recovering feeling. Her right eardrum is gone, and the ringing/partial deafness in her left ear is fading very slowly. Not good, especially since she is totally, irreversibly blind. Interestingly, due to a complicated string of medical conditions resulting directly from this one attack, the whites of her eyes are blood red, and she no longer has a visible iris in either eye. This means, of course, that except for pure black, large pupils, they're blood red. Hence the sunglasses are also a way of not freaking people out. ---------- The General: Saleena Aileen Recanzou "Once again, it's time to raise the dead, dodge bullets, part the red sea, change the rotation of the earth, bend the laws of physics, and save the world. In other words, I've got another great plan. So who's in?" [Need to flesh this one out.] ---------- Notes: ---------- On RCG... well, I feel that was I sent doesn't properly articulate the story. It's mostly about these various interesting people and their trials in everyday life with the occasional (though close) brush with the supernatural. The backdrop of the Red Circle group is that demons and other evil hideous things (like G. W. Bush) have secretly crept into society and are corrupting. They're almost ready to pounce, and a group calling themselves the Red Circle formed. They are an international task-force who aim to stop a demonic invasion in it's tracks. But the demons are well-hidden. Read "The Shadow Chronicles" (particularly everything after "To Cast a Long Shadow," or whatever the first major part is called). Plus many humans aren't any better than the demons, and many work with them. And... okay, the characters are the meat and potatoes of the story. Haruka is a violent, unrepentant physically powerhouse about to graduate high school with very few long-term ambitions and a rich family to back her. She engaged in a minor 'gang war' at her private school, and bonds with Mai during a particularly harrowing "mission" when they first meet. After this, she winds up in a kind of Japanese WWF setting, involved in the drama there while demons tempt human souls... Mai is crippled right after her first appearance. Barely able to find her way through the world, she struggles against depression and a haunting fear of the evil that they must fight. She bonds with Haruka during a very ugly mess where they have to literally think, move, and act like a single body in order to survive. Mai is quiet, encyclopedically intelligent (about magic at least), but other than whipping out heavy spells in combat (only with Haruka's help), she can't really interact with the world. Rebecca is older, wiser, and more confused than anyone else. The primary focus of her story is the slow realization of what they are truly up against, and how far it has infected this world, forcing her to trust the other Guardians more than ever, and learn NOT to trust many people and organizations' trust that she once thought was sacred. Saleena (nickname: General), is a French-Canadian strategic genius. She was raised by an insane but smart ex-SAS operative after her parents passed away. He was a nice fellow, but filled her head with far too much military knowledge before his passing. Saleen is very independent, and more grown up than her similar-aged teammates. Her involvement with the Guardians I haven't fully explored (Haruka happens across demons that are killing a few of her friends, Mai shows up, things go down hill from there, and that's how the Red Circle and demons are kind of introduced). She basically comes up with the plans, but she's able to work on the field too. ---------- Plot: ---------- As a result of her swan dive onto the lawn, Haruka is the most powerful seer to ever live. So powerful, in fact, that she's seen the intimate details of something so horrible that it drover her insane. Ever since she's been an emotional cripple. Unable to deal with the enormous fear of something she can't remember seeing, she copes by letting her anger override everything else. However, this enormous stress on her psyche has given her a Disassociated Personality Disorder. Periods of extremely lucidity (following her episodes of "white noise") are moments when this alternate personality/perception emerges, and it _can_ deal with her precognitive sense of... The black mages who attacked Mai (and failed to kill her) are working for the bad guys. ---------- Scenes: ---------- [Words in the Darkness.] "We need to work together to get out of here. You can't defeat the magical traps..." "And you can't see anything else." "What's the matter?" "Nothing. I just... wanted to do this alone." "Getting help doesn't mean you're weak." "You need my help, I don't need yours." "That's not true." "Dammit I'm not a cripple!" "..." "..." "...Where'd that come from?" "You wouldn't understand." "I CAN'T SEE! If you're feeling like a cripple then I'm the FIRST person you should talk to! _I_ should understand!" "..." "..." "..." "... "I..." "..." "I failed to protect you." A sharp intake of breath. "You didn't." "I did! I failed everybody. I failed Saito! I failed that man on the train. I've screwed up over and over again, and what do I have to show for it? Dead bodies everywhere! I shouldn't have... I knew I shouldn't have--" "Don't say that! You saved _me_. You've saved me _twice_! Don't think that if you need help you've failed anyone. If anything, I've failed you by falling into this trap." "...Mai." "Haruka, I love you like a sister. I don't blame any of this on you. Now, _I_ need _your_ help. Can you be my eyes again? Will you?" ----------