Vic Raiden

I apologize for the delay, but this chapter came out far longer than expected. In any case, hope you enjoy it as much as the last two! Chapter 3: The Ballad of Fire Wire Over the course of the next few days, Axel Shade would take his time to seek out job opportunities, as well as take a look at how his competitors were faring thus far. And for the most part, he wasn't impressed. The vast majority of newly freed evildoers he saw were either harassing ordinary citizens, picking fights with the police, or even trying to enlist into Arachnos service. Childish losers... They have not even a shred of ambition. Surely there must be something greater for a self-respecting villain to do around here! So lost in pondering his options was he that he eventually found himself bumping into the wall of a nearby building. After this sobering crash, he'd look up to see where exactly his thoughts led him - right in front of the Mercy City Bank, designated as such by an unmistakable banner suspended just above the front door. Of course! The only bank in this claustrophobic stronghold. Normally I would deem it beneath me, but a beggar has no right to choose. Furthermore, if I were to successfully rob it, I would gain not only the wealth stored within, but plenty of infamy among the criminal underworld as well! If Shade still had anything reminiscent of a functioning human face, he would've smirked upon thinking of all he could gain from pulling a classic bank heist. But even without that, his curious posture would soon attract the curiosity of one peculiar individual... "What's up?" rang out a screechy and high-pitched, yet obviously masculine voice beside Axel. "Hm? Who is it?", he responded in mild confusion as he turned to face the voice's source: a shifty-looking man in a red business suit, with sunglasses over his eyes and dark red hair combed in the shape of a candle fire. "Name's Fire Wire. I'm the best lookin', best talkin', best fire usin' guy this side of Mercy. Haven't seen you 'round here before, who are you?" "Stahl... I mean, Cyberkhan. I am also curious what even brings you to me, of all people." "I heard you're tougher than tough. That's the kinda person I need on this job I'm plannin'." Fire Wire rested one arm on Shade's shoulder before stretching the other one out in front of them both. "This thing is gonna be BIG, Cyberkhan. We're talkin' lots of money big. You catch my drift?" "I believe I do. But it is not something we should discuss out in the open." Having said that, the cyborg grabbed his interlocutor's arm and dragged him into a nearby alleyway, ensuring nobody would listen in on their scheme. "Now we can continue." "So, the bank right over there, yeah? The RIP have really upped the security since last time someone tried to rob it. Word is that they're storing a bunch of stuff there now. Money, artifacts, the works! It's all on super-secure lockdown..." Fire Wire leaned closer, visibly brimming with criminal excitement. "But you and me, we're going to rob that place blind!" "You sound immensely confident in our success. I presume you already have a plan of action?" "You bet I do! What self-respecting robber wouldn't have a pla--- wait, quiet a sec. Rippers." When Shade looked, the red-suited fellow was jerking his thumb at the opening of the alleyway; visible in the light were silhouettes of two RIP officers marching by sanctimoniously, the thumping of their jackboots against the cobblestone producing an unmistakable sound. Fire Wire waited a couple seconds for them to leave before continuing. "Anyways, I got some inside info from a guy who is a guard there. I told him I'd split some of the cash with him, but I'm just gonna light him on fire in the end. Nice, huh?" "I have little regard for that. Get to the point." The odds of him doing the same to me are all too high. I shall be careful... "Okay, okay. So he left the detailed info inside a statue here on the main plaza. You gotta be the one to get it and check it out. Meantime, I'm gonna go run some surveillance on the place, check out the times when the security switches up. That'll be the time that you and me make our move! Let's meet back up when we both got what we need, you dig?" It was then that Shade's mask of humility had cracked, even if only a little. "Excuse me?", he asked. "Why should I run any errands for you? Surely we would both be better suited for the opposite tasks." "I can't go out there! Too many people in Mercy know about me already, we'll be toast if anyone spots me! Meanwhile you're a total stranger here, they won't bat an eye to you as much." "Fine, fine. I shall do my part, then." Oh, how low have I fallen to take orders from such an entitled brat... But I will come out on top nonetheless. Having parted ways with his current fellow conspirator, Axel stepped back out into the stronghold's streets, briefly covering his eyes as he readjusted to the bright daylight seeping through the uncharacteristically thin clouds above. He directed his steps towards the large plaza between the gatehouse and governor's palace, trying to raise as few eyebrows as possible as a mechanoid covered in an elaborate, despotic crimson armor design. Fortunately for him, the place was fairly quiet that day, save for an occasional pedestrian, so it didn't take long before he located the right statue and recovered a small envelope stashed away in a small drawer at the base. Regardless, to make doubly sure he's not caught, he retreated into a back alley before opening the envelope and familiarizing himself with its contents - a detailed map of the bank, paired with the following notes: - 20x submachine guns for security guard use - large supply of heavy piercer rounds - set of pop-up security turrets to install in the vault hallway - upgraded trip-wire laser network along the entire vault area, only a handful of guards can disable it - They're upgrading the system soon, a bunch of higher ups were given documents detailing the upgrade. You can find usually find them in the parts of Mercy here. Get those documents and you can easily hack into the upgrade. Once he finished reading, the red cyborg hid the paper in a small compartment at his hip before setting off towards the Rogue Isles Police station, the only symbol of genuine justice within Mercy's oppressive walls. It did not take long before he reached the location, in no small part thanks to how characteristic it was compared to the majority of Mercy's architecture - the police was stationed in a large cubical building with gray-painted walls, just a single crossroad east of the Arachnos palace. Predictably enough, there were several RIP officers guarding the ground-level entrance. Simple beat cops with nothing more than batons and revolvers... They are of no threat to me, but I cannot afford to make a scene in broad daylight. I need to find some other way of getting inside... Looking around some more, Shade noticed a flight of emergency stairs running up the wall of an adjacent tenement. Taking advantage of the rather low density of people around, he went on to climb it for a few levels, up until he found himself just above the walkway connecting the police station with the governor's hall. After some careful calculations, he would take a running start and jump over to the walkway, landing a couple meters behind an Arachnos soldier who was just entering the police building. The spider-branded man was startled by the sudden noise behind him, prompting him to hurry inside and leave the door open, thus giving Axel an opportunity to sneak in as well. On the inside, the station looked like a perfectly ordinary office building: beige-walled hallways with red and black linoleum covering the floor, their monotony occasionally spiced up by some potted plants or propaganda posters. More importantly for the cybernetic infiltrator, there was an evacuation floor plan hanging off the wall not too far from the door, detailing the placement of all stairs and fire-extinguishing equipment on the level... alongside several specifically marked rooms, of which the one that drew his attention was a large one labeled as "Archives". He took a few seconds to memorize the optimal route before carefully making his way there, taking advantage of the fact most of the personnel was currently on lunch break. Thankfully, he did not run into any stray officers along the way. Picking the requisite paperwork out proved itself to be just a formality... almost. Before Shade could leg it, he heard the sound of the door opening, prompting him to hide behind one of the massive wooden bookshelves. And unfortunately, the sheer weight of his footsteps was enough to give his position away. "HEY! Who's there!?", shouted out the lone RIP officer as he turned the lights on and began making his way towards Axel's hiding place. In turn, the cyborg pushed the shelf forward, causing it to topple over and make all the ones behind follow suite like a bunch of oversized dominoes. Papers and folders were flying left and right, and the cop eventually succumbed to their flood, as did two others who came to investigate the ruckus. By the time they managed to dig themselves out, Shade was long gone - all that remained of his presence was one of the windows having been knocked open. About an hour later, the crimson cyborg would meet up with Fire Wire again, in the same back alley as before. "Everything go cool on your end? Eh?", the red-suited crook opened the conversation. "Indeed", responded Axel almost immediately as he handed over his loot. "Complications were minimal." Fire Wire took all of a few seconds to skim over the documents, a devious grin forming on his face. "Nice! This is exactly what we're gonna need." "And what did you find?" "About what? Ah, right." The fiery-haired man pulled a small notebook out of his pocket and showed its most recent contents to Shade. "Looks like they're the weakest around the middle of the afternoon. That's when they got guys switching guard posts and when they got some tech guy comin' in to make sure the security system hasn't been hacked or anything." "Interesting... According to my calculations, work on the upgrades is set to begin around five o'clock. With this in mind, what would the next step be?" "I'm gonna see about hookin' up to one of their networks to slip one of my nasty viruses in there. That'll at least solve the issue with those nasty turrets going on. I'm gonna need ya to do two things for me while I'm takin' out the turrets." "Excuse me?" Fire Wire's body language was outright radiating criminal glee. "So first, I need ya to run some interference for me, take out some cops so they're not noticin' me hackin' into the system. Then, I'm gonna need ya to book it real fast to an office buildin' near here." He pointed towards a fairly unremarkable tenement several crossings away."The RIP are usin' it as one of their storage facilities. We gotta get ourselves a detailed list of what exactly is in that vault. You really gotta book it though, 'cause accordin' to my sources, they're planning on moving all that info later on today!" "Hold on. Why should I do all this menial work while you hack into their systems? Surely our heist would have a higher chance of succeeding if we split our duties in the opposite way." The man in the red suit suddenly hestitated, his expression changing to show growing discomfort. "Well, you see... You're so big and heavy, and loud, no way ya'd be able to hide well enough while hackin'! While I ain't so brawny as to pick fights with rippers on the streets, see? They'd just arrest me on sight, and our plan'll be foiled!" Axel did not respond for a couple seconds, either. Is he taking me for a fool? This sounds like a distraction for sure, but less for the RIP and more for myself. Nevertheless, I shall keep playing my part for now, if only to see where this is going. "Fine. I shall do it. Just make sure you do your part as well." "Of course, of course... Now go, we've precious little time to spare and I don't want ya to distract me!" Shade begrudgingly nodded and made his leave, the impact of his steel boots producing small but noticeable quake with each step. Day had already progressed into afternoon, clouds above having grown thicker as if to spite what little light used to shine past them in the morning. The streets were now significantly louder and more crowded with the influx of citizens leaving their jobs and school. An ordinary crook would have little issue blending in to avoid police patrols and especially the ever-watchful eyes of the arachnocopters routinely circling above the stronghold like vultures above fresh cadaver. Unfortunately, Axel was no ordinary crook - his bulky armored silhouette was towering above the masses. As such, it's no surprise that he was spotted within minutes of leaving that back alley. Even without doing anything attention-drawing, he'd already have a full squad of three cops charging towards him with arresting intent, causing non-villain citizens to scatter away in fear. His reaction was swift - the first officer to get within melee range was met with a rocket-assisted right hook introducing him to the pavement, while the next one ended up pushed into the nearby dumpster with a well-placed burst of energy bolts. The last policeman backed out and took cover between buildings, before proceeding to draw a walkie-talkie and call for reinforcements. Soon enough, Shade would hear the sounds of police sirens in the distance, coming from the direction of the RIP station and drawing ever closer to him. He looked sternly at the approaching flashing blue lights, then turned to dash off in the opposite direction - not out of fear, but out of a carefully-planned desire to keep the pursuers occupied. And seeing an opportunity to kill two birds with one bullet, he directed his steps towards the building which, according to Fire Wire, was supposed to house a number of RIP assets. Instead of simply entering it, however, the cybernetic crimelord strayed off to the right, into a narrow alleyway, and quickly took to scaling the emergency staircase - or rather, skipping it completely, jumping from one balcony straight up to another. This should keep them occupied enough... Indeed, once Axel made it to the rooftop, he'd see his pursuers stop before the building and splitting up to surround it, with one detachment taking to climbing the stairs. He weren't going to stay there and wait for them to catch up, as he heard the eerie buzzing of an approaching arachnocopter, taking it as a cue to move further on. Several buildings later, he suddenly stopped in his tracks and looked down at a street beside. What he saw was something he expected to run into, but was infuriated by nonetheless: Fire Wire standing out in the open, holding a casual conversation with an Arachnos captain like an ordinary citizen with nothing to fear. Grunting in annoyance, Shade quietly descended several levels to listen in on the situation... "...and once he gets in there and thinks he made it", said the red-suited man in his usual annoying voice, "we're gonna raid 'em from behind, and then BAM!" The last word was punctuated by a fist slamming down on an open palm. "Are you entirely sure about this, Destined One?", replied the spider-masked soldier. "Do realize that there is nothing stopping me from grabbing you by the collar and dumping you outside the walls if you turn out to be wrong." "Don'tcha worry man, I've got it all set. Bet that guy's worth a whole lot, enough to get us both promotions! 'Arbiter Liola', can you imagine that?" "Hmmm... Fine. Now go back to playing your part, I shall handle the rest." I knew it, I just knew it! Of course this pathetic rat was an Arachnos agent. Oh, he is so going to regret ever considering backstabbing Emperor Stahleon... Shade's gaze lingered on the scene long enough to show him Fire Wire and the officer exchanging Arachnos salutes before parting ways. After that, though, he got back up on the rooftop and hurried back to the building still besieged by the Rogue Isles Police, who have managed to break inside it by now. Once the last cop disappeared behind the door, Axel smirked mentally before leaping off the roof and landing on the pavement below. Before long, he'd be on his way to the previously-agreed rendezvous point, having trapped the police inside the building via shoving a bench right in front of the main entrance. As expected, Fire Wire was waiting on the spot, clutching a closed laptop in one hand. "Good to see ya back, Cyber-pal!", he started the conversation once Shade approached him. "How did things go on your end?" "The RIP will not be present to intercept us", replied the armored cyborg. "Unfortunately, the building itself turned out to be empty." "Wha?" The redhead's shocked tone was almost comically fake. "Man! That's too bad..." And then he slipped back into his jolly car-salesmanly demeanor, grabbing Axel by the shoulder with one hand while gesturing vividly with the other. "But hey! On the bright side, you'll be in for a big surprise when you get into the vault!" "Have you managed to disarm the defense systems?" "Aye. All that's left is making the big move on the bank itself. You ready to make some big cash?" "I could not be more ready if I wanted to." "Okay, so here's the big plan, Cybbie." Fire Wire backed away to give himself more room for gesturing. "I'm gonna trigger the virus I put into their systems, it's gonna cause their turrets to explode! It's gonna cause a mess in the main lobby and take out the majority of the guards." He closed the distance again, prodding Axel's chestplate with his index finger. "That's when you make your way in to take out any of the remaining guards, and then break into the vault." "I like the sound of that. And what about you?" Fire Wire reached for his laptop and opened it with a swift move. "I'm gonna buy you some time by disconnecting their security systems, then I'll head over to the bank to give you some backup. You got any questions?" "Only one. I assume you will help me drag all the loot out?" "Oh? Of course! You and me, we're gonna get everything outta there together. If we go fast enough, we can get everything outta there before the rippers arrive. Plus, since the security cameras are gonna be disabled, they ain't gonna know it was us who robbed the place! Win win scenario, huh?" "That it is. Now let us waste no more time." "All right, enjoy the fireworks!" Having said everything, the man in the red suit tapped the spacebar key on his laptop. What followed was a number of loud rumbles coming from the bank building, paired up with smoke leaking out of the windows and a whole crowd of patrons and staff alike spilling out through the doors. Shade and Fire Wire silently nodded towards one another before the former walked out of hiding and made his way into the bank's main lobby. Inside, the place was chock-full of smoke, fire and collapsed structure pieces, while what few security guards were present were too busy taking care of the wounded to pay any attention to the big mechanoid casually passing by. Without much resistance, Axel took the stairs down to the building's basement, eventually emerging in a hall with all its walls, floors and ceilings lined with steel. And soon, he'd find himself standing face to face with the giant vault door - the last thing standing between him and the treasure. He'd take a short moment to examine it before beginning to crack the access code. After a couple tries, the massive locks finally gave in, unlocking the door with a loud clang. Bags of cash, piles of gold, a number of peculiar relics... It took Shade a while to process all this wealth. Unfortunately... "There's Cyberkhan!" Axel's contemplation of his prize was rudely interrupted by an all too familiar voice coming from behind. "I told you, he's trying to rob this place blind!" "Fire Wire..." The mechanoid could not even be bothered to look behind as he spoke with a dose of annoyance readable through his deadpan voice. "What took you so long?" "You think you can really cross Arachnos and the RIP, huh? Well, you got another thing coming!" As if on cue, a dozen pairs of boots could be heard ringing throughout the hall as a squad of Arachnos troopers ran into the chamber, their rifles all primed and pointed at the would-be robber's head. "HALT!", shouted the leading officer, the very same one who was talking with Fire Wire earlier. "Put your hands up and turn to face us!" "And what if I refuse?" asked Shade defiantly. "Then we... We'll shoot you dead on the spot! Yes, that's what we'll do!" Without saying a word further, the cyborg villain slowly turned around to face his opponents: Fire Wire, Captain Liola and ten lower-ranking Wolf Spider soldiers. Just when it looked like he would surrender to them, however, he would suddenly stretch his hands out forward and fire out a burst of lightning bolts, frying three of the spidermen on the spot. In response, the remaining seven all opened fire against him, only for a good deal of the bullets to either harmlessly bounce off of his armor or simply get stuck in it without causing much internal damage. This body may be old, but it seems bullets still have not out-evolved it. Confidence in his superiority restored, Axel rushed straight into the fray, easily fending off the Arachnos troopers' attacks while dishing out bolts, beams and punches against them. As the brawl went on, however, he caught a glimpse of Fire Wire himself slowly making his escape from the site now that his plan has gone south. Stopping just short of knocking Liola out for good, Shade decided to leave the last few of Lord Recluse's followers be and dashed after the redheaded crook, eventually catching him by the collar and slamming him against the wall, in full view of the Arachnos troop survivors. "H-hey, just hold on, OK? I was just... just kiddin' around! H-hahaha! We're gonna beat Arachnos and take the loot for ourselves, right?" Fire Wire's facade of confidence quickly faded away as he realized just in how big of a pickle he had found himself. "Silence, worm. You sent Arachnos after me in the first place, and I am not going to pardon you for that." "Okay... okay, I messed up. Okay! There, I said it! Just... come on man, just let me go! I'll leave you alone, you can get all the money, too!" "Why should I trust you now?" "I'm not exactly in the place to lie to you now... am I?" "You are making a sound argument. Unfortunately, sparing you still poses too big a risk to be worth considering." Axel's other hand moved up to the back of Fire Wire's head, its firm iron grasp sending immense shivers down the man's spine. "I-I just wanted... to get aheaAAAAAEEEGH!--" The Arachnos sellout's last words were cut short by a loud snap of his own neck being twisted far beyond what a human could possibly survive. Shade threw his limp, lifeless body behind himself, right in front of Captain Liola, who sheepishly backed away in a mix of fear and disgust. "No one backstabs me. No one." With no further opposition, Shade returned to the vault, scooping up all the goods he could claim. A few minutes later, he'd be leaving the bank's premises, nonchalantly, with a number of stuffed bags over his shoulder. A small distance away, just far enough to not draw attention of the passersby, an older man was observing the unfolding events. His inhumanly scarred, stitch-covered face was only partially obscured by a silver half-mask resembling a skull cut off at the nose, complementing his black suit in a grotesque way. ""Are you entirely sure he is fit enough, Doctor?", asked a disembodied voice only he could hear. "Yes", he replied, "he does seem have what it takes." "Very well. Invite him as soon as you can." "I shall, my master." Evening slowly transcended into night, casting it shadow over the entire city, only being broken up by the elusive Doctor's glimmering red eyes...

Huh. Never thought I'd have Rudra of all people defending me. Either way, yeah. As far as I know, a lot of people just aren't comfortable with the fact the game's very structure forces them to play lackeys to a number of NPC villains, regardless of whether or not a given arc ends with a double-cross in the player character's favor. And having to spoil oneself by checking every single contact on the wiki before accepting their missions is a pretty clunky way to play because, in some edge cases, it may leave one with no sufficiently in-character options whatsoever. And well, let me reiterate: writing playable content for villains is just that much harder in the context of a video game, especially a static-world MMORPG maintained by a small circle of volunteers. There's ultimately a lot more villain archetypes than hero archetypes, and few of them would be morally bankrupt enough to be content doing literally any kind of evil they're asked to do.

I honestly dunno, but I do feel insulted right now because my first character here was made redside. It's just that it's not really as enjoyable as it may seem because of how all-over-the-place the questlines are in terms of the exact villainy you do. Villains are generally harder to play in a questgiver-based system simply because they're the proactive ones and vary so much in their goals, methods and values that it's far easier to say "my character would never do this!" mid-questline... and then have to do it anyway because there's no progressing otherwise. Sure, you can have the wiki at hand at all times and cherrypick the arcs you feel your villain is least unlikely to do, but in the end, sometimes it still feels like the "intended" way of playing redside is to be an absolute sociopath who'd do literally anything for the greater evil.

Ugh, trying to work out a solution to redside's shortcomings is never not gonna be pain. I suppose part of that comes from being tacked on top of what used to be a pure hero game until then, plus the original devs not really wanting players to enjoy villainy to begin with, I think? Anyhow, this is starting to feel like one of those situations where the closest thing to fixing it would be to remake it from the ground up with a different mindset.

Could you guys please NOT argue?

Not a Halloween work, but here's the latest revision of Major Liberty's costume.

Striga Isle overview

An old photo from the 20th anniversary, showing my girl Deka getting to hang out with the ghost of Statesman himself.

Arachnosifying visual novel backgrounds will never not look great.

It's been an interesting read so far.

So, does that mean redside as a concept is now completely beyond saving?

... I was trying to maintain a bi-weekly post schedule for this, but I've recently hit such a writer's block that I could barely get any work on chapter 3 done. Apologies for any inconveniences.

After all this, I think we could very well close this thread. If you lot really want to comment on something I posted, why not comment on my fanfic instead? (sorry for self-advertising) Also, @Laucianna wins the thread with her take on a minimal FX option.

On the other hand, the default assumption for the ATs was that the player character was an ordinary civilian nobody prior to merging with his or her Kheld partner, be it voluntarily (thus, Peacebringers were Natural-origin by default) or as a result of a mad science experiment (thus, Warshades were Science-origin by default). EDIT: No, I'm not objecting to the origin limitation being lifted.

Okay, sorry for making a dumb, purely cosmetic suggestion in the first place. Could you all PLEASE stop arguing over everything else pertaining to HEATs? Ideally ASAP?