Havoc Bane/In and Out
From Unofficial Handbook of the Virtue Universe
Stepping into the busy street, Bane Creed breathed in a whiff of fresh, free air as the Zigursky Guards opened the gate for him. Well, as fresh as air came in Brickstown, Paragon City. Standing with his broad back to the waving guards, Creed looked to his left where a couple Council members stood around some crates, preaching to the meager crowd; on the opposite corner, three members of the 5th Column also preached to the same meager crowd. Creed chuckled at the sight thinking to himself, "Things never change. Not even after that long stretch." And on his right, two Crey recruiters were handing out pamphlets to passersby. Chuckling again, the gigantic man straightened and started leisurely walking toward the general direction of the Paragon Transit Depot which would take him Talos Island where he could catch a boat home.
As he walked, in no particular rush, people subconsciously got out of his way. As they should, Bane Creed was a huge, mountain of a man: Dressed to the nines in his business suit, fedora and government issue sunglasses. And he knew they were government issue because he broke the nose of the FBI agent who was wearing them. Creed took attitude from no one, but he exuded an over abundance of it. His family, the Creeds, were big names in the Etoile Islands, better known as the Rogue Isles. Villains all of them, the Creed clan had been contributing to the crime rate in the world for generations. Some had even achieved the coveted "Super Villain" status. If the Creeds were into any sort of business, it was the business of making monsters. When your parents are villains, it's not too difficult to grow up psychotic. All Creeds were thus villains. Except for one, lone black sheep: Bane's older brother Russell had come out. Not as gay, although he was - But that was irrelevant, after all, it is the 21st century. Even he, Bane, had been known to take a male lover or two...Outside of the Zig, even. No, Russell Creed had come out as much worse; he had disobeyed his lineage and become the vigilante known as Gothic Creed. St. Martial still echoed with the supersonic wails of his mother's anguish. All Creed family members were under strict orders to kill him on site.
On the monorail, Bane grumbled to himself, "Maybes I should take a detour and visit Kings Row and see my bro...?" At this rumbling, the commuters around him moved away. He reached out one large, reptile skinned arm and pulled the next stop cord. Bane's mutation had advanced while he had served time in the Zig. At first he noticed the itching on his forearm. Then the skin became rough before the scales erupted. All Creeds were born with some mutation or innate magical ability. Such was the nature of a family of villains.
Brickstown made Kings Row look like Steel Canyon. The graffiti was confined the alleyways and parking garages, but it was still there. King's Row was also crawling with new heroes. Looking over the skyline, he could see flying silhouettes against the setting sun. "Heroes in Paragon City are like pigeons everywhere else; there were a lot of them, they like to hang out around statues and they often shit on my plans," he said aloud. The woman who was standing next to him suddenly looked frightened and shirked away. Bane paid her no heed. People were always cowering from him. Bane began to stalk the streets, looking for trouble. The chances of meeting his brother were slim, but maybe he could find some low security level hero and mess them up a little. He had just spent seven years in the Zigursky pretending to be an upstanding human being; he needed to find someone or something to destroy. And the best way to make a name for yourself was in the Rogue Isles was to kill a super.
As he entered The Gish neighborhood, he heard some commotion down an alley. Finally, he thought to himself, some action! Rounding the corner, he could see a crowd of Lost forming around a hero he had never seen before. The hero was small, smaller than himself at least, of average height and build and was dressed in a ridiculous Egyptian get-up. Clearly, he was outnumbered at least two to one and needed help. Heroes in Paragon bred like rabbits and new heroes were always trying to make a name for themselves.
"You back off, fiend!" the hero said to the leader of the Lost, a Headman Blaster.
The Headman just laughed, "You in wrong place, super. We gonna mess you up!"
Bane casually walked up to the Headman while he was preoccupied with the hero, made a huge fist and brought it down on the freaks head, knocking him out. The other members of the lost gang, caught unawares by Bane's sudden appearance and startled by his size, backed up a few paces. The hero, looking grateful, used their confusion to his advantage and struck out at the Lost closest to him. Bane turned to a Scrounger and, as the little man raised his shotgun, grabbed his face in one massive palm like a basketball and bounced it off the alleyway wall. The gang was easily subdued. Without the leadership of the charismatic Aberrants, most Lost gangs were literally lost and without direction.
Once all the thugs had been dealt with, the hero turned to Bane and said, "Th-Thank-you! Hey! We make a great team! We should team up!" and smiled up at Bane. The smile quickly faded.
Bane glowered at the hero. "What makes you think I'm a hero, Hero?" he smirked. Without warning, Bane grabbed the hero around the neck, lifting him two feet off the ground and slammed him against the wall. "Now, I'm going to have some real fun," he exclaimed and threw the hero across the alley and into the far wall. The impact knocked the wind out of the hero and left a splintered dent in the brick. As Bane reached down to grab the hero again, he was knocked off his own feet by an unexpected force. Seeing stars, Bane looked around to see who would have the courage to attack him. "Brother! Of all the luck!"
It was Gothic Creed - his own black sheep of a brother. "Back off, Havoc. I heard they let you out. I'm bringing you back."
Bane grunted and stood up to his full, eight-foot-685-pound height. "You and what army, Rusty? I mutated since the last time I was out," Bane said as he showed the hero his muscular, Reptilian forearms. "Maybe I can take a real hero like you, now, huh?"
"Try it," Gothic Creed said.
Bane made a fist and threw a punch that would have broken more than a few ribs on any normal human being. But, Russell Creed wasn't a normal human anymore. He was a Hero. He deftly avoided the punch and crouched down, reciprocating with a swift, flame-fisted uppercut to the gut. Bane fell, the wind knocked out of him. Dazed again, Bane sarcastically said,"Mom sends her love."
Then Bane knew only darkness as Gothic Creed brought down both fiery fists and knocked him out.
He awoke with a pounding headache and staring at his usual cell ceiling in the Zig. "Well, I was out for a bit, I guess." Shaking his head clear, Bane sat up as the head guard yelled, "Lights out!"
