23 )
.
Crass was a super hero. His powers were limited. He could sense what was around him, he could move with lightning speed and could take a punch double what a normal strong man could He also had excellent endurance. His powers were recognized when he was growing up so he was given martial arts training, military training special forces training.
What kept him from being a really good super hero was that he was not all that bright and had a poor memory for some things. That lack of intellect and memory made him useless to the super hero league. When he became an adult, he lost his right to be a super hero.
Working for a moving company he was taken to the mega city. He was moving things for a vendor at a convention. His training made him strong, but he was just as strong as anybody else so no one noticed he had any ability at all, other than the fact that he took less breaks.
At the end of the second day of the three day convention he was going to his hotel room across the street. He had always gone with someone before this. He was going alone.
He made the mistake of going out the wrong door. He then turned left instead of right. He did not notice he was not going to his hotel until the third street. He turned around and took a wrong turn and was soon so totally lost. He had no idea what way to go and no one was on the streets. He decided to look for someone to give him directions. Looking around at several intersections he continued in the wrong direction.
It was around midnight he knew he was not supposed to be in this neighborhood. The people were completely unsavory.
The minions of the Mega crime lord was doing a deal with another mega crime lord. Crass saw the group of men and decided to ask for directions He walked up to them. To them he looked like an undercover cop. One of them swung a metal bar at him. better to take him out than have him rat them out.
Crass reacted as he was trained. He sent the man flying with a misdirection. Guns and knives came out. Moments later, he was standing among toppled bodies. there were several that ran. One appeared to take a picture of him before he went around the corner.
Crass knew he had better get out of there quick. He headed off in another direction, right into the center of the hood.
The two mega crime lords were so angry that their deal was broken up, they decided to work together to take out this cop.
As Crass walked, criminals would come out of nowhere and attack. He ended up with a few weapons from the meeting.
He sensed danger behind him to the right. He dropped, spun and flicked a metal bar. It caught the gun aiming at him and bounced up to catch the criminal between the eyes.
Each night, he somehow found a place to sleep before he headed back out into the city. Two whole gangs were hunting him down. Purchased police were tracking him, private investigators were looking for information into his background. They learned he was trained as a super hero.
The mega crime lords, learning they were fighting a super hero, pulled on all their resources to take him out.
Crass was scared, lost and barely finding enough food to keep going. He took a couple bucks from some of his victims, never taking everything, mostly pocket change. The best way for the crime bosses to track him was when he purchased food in shops and stalls.
On one really cold night, a big thug attacked him and gave him a good fight. he took the thug's heavy, bright red, hooded, overcoat and galoshes. Since his regular clothing was taking a beating, he started wearing the coat and boots all the time. it was a couple months before he learned that "the red hood" was terrorizing criminals in the city, and realized it was him.
Because he was wandering, lost, rather than going somewhere, the crime lords could not predict where he was going to set good traps on him. their minions found him accidentally sometimes while doing other work. To them, it looked like he was fighting crime. He was actually only trying to survive until he could find someone who could get him out of there.
A couple "evil" super heros came into the area to deal with him and could not find him. He did meet a couple minor heros and beat them as they under estimated him.
Because the mega lords were concentrating on him, some of their other activities started suffering on the margins. Accidentally, he was fighting serious crime effectively.
.
My note said a totally inept super hero blunders along and accidentally becomes a thorn in the mega criminal's rear end.

24 )
.
The boy got a knight's costume for the dress-up party. It came with a sword and shield.
A couple weeks later, he donned the costume and ran out into the woods. He came home smelling slightly of smoke. and wore a big grin. During dinner he went on and on about fighting dragons.
Every weekend, he would go out in the armor and come back with similar stories. The stories of the battles were imaginative to say the least. Every time he smelled something of smoke.
His mother hid his armor in a place she was sure he could never find it. She was working in the kitchen and heard, "I am going out to play, Mom." she turned and out of the corner of her eye, she saw he was wearing the armor. The armor was not where she put it, but nothing was out of place, which was impossible for a child that age.
A visitor arrived and decided to stay for dinner. The boy came home. When the boy started telling his story about the battles, the visitor started asking questions. The boy never killed a dragon. He just forced them to surrender. There were hundreds of them in the forest but they were hiding and had to be hunted down His shield protected him against the fire, the armor protected him against hits and bites. and his sword was such to force them to surrender once he was able to get to their weak spots.
While his parents would try to get him to quite down, the visitor urged him on with questions about details about the battles. Why did the dragons only aim at his shield, did they use their tails to trip him, Why did they not take the sword out of his hand, did they use their claws? The boy admitted that this was not a battle for keeps. they were fighting for the fun of the fight. Yes they did talk to him, but it was difficult. They talked like adults, even the babies.
He explained that real armor had no chance against them. The toy armor had special properties that gave him the protection. He had not given it much thought but it might have something to do with the power of belief.
In his discussions, he did admit he had lost a couple battles. He had to beg for his shield and sword back.
The next week, the visitor came back early in the morning. when the boy went out of the house in his armor, the visitor followed. In the forest, the visitor removed his cloak to show he was wearing party armor and had a shield and sword. He followed the boy at a distance.
He saw the dragons all over, but the boy was not looking there. He was following some trail. The boy gets to a clearing and a dragon appears. The visitor stops just outside the clearing. the boy challenges a dragon and is going through the ceremony to fight. A very large dragon slinks up next to the visitor.
"It has been a while, hasn't it?" the dragon says.
"Too long. I lost a lot in my age."
The boy fights the a dragon a bit bigger than himself and eventually wins.
"You want to go at it?" The dragon asks.
"Why not?"
The visitor walks into the clearing. The boy is shocked. Then the big dragon appears on the other side. The boy watches the adult and dragon fight with masterful skills. They decide it is a tie.
"We never have ended in a win." The dragon says.
"It will be that with the boy too."

25 )
.
It was considered an impenetrable fortress in the middle of a hostile city. The force had to leave. There was no way anybody could get in once completely abandoned, so someone had to be left behind to let the force in should it return.
Melba was selected to stay. She was a good solder and was happy to follow orders. With the force gone, she would have decades worth of supplies. Any force that returned would bring their own supplies.
Melba settled into a pattern. Each morning, she would get the local paper that was left at the door. She would then go through the place cleaning and maintaining the place, before she would go through her exercises to remain in condition.
The front door had a latch that had to be rotated up and locked into place to prevent it from automatically closing. One day, she saw that the knob was not holding the latch well. She decided she would fix that. She locked the latch in place the best she could do and then stepped out to grab the paper which was a bit farther than normal.
She was still wearing a nighty which she wore when alone. the door automatically closed behind her which was normal. Just as her hand touched the paper, she heard the latch close. She pushed pulled leaned on the door trying to get it to open. It was closed.
She walked around the place three times checking for any way in. She got up onto the roof and could not find an entry. After thinking for a long time, she realized she was stuck outside. She decided to enter the city and see if she can make a life for herself. Since she was a well trained and conditioned solder with combat experience, she should be able to take care of herself. She was not naive either, though she could play that part quite well.
Searching the city, she finds someone with ties to a criminal organization and joins that. Since she was not of this city, being a criminal was perfect.
She had to do things she did not want to do and would never do under any other situation, but finally got training to be a burglar. She was good. She made a heist that was the talk of the town, getting into and out of a place considered impregnable.
She finally had the confidence to try what she learned on something really important. She slipped away, disappeared. That was not something one does with this organization.
She got to the fortress. After examining it carefully, she broke in. Knowing a lot about the systems and design gave her the one key advantage to get in.
Inside, the first thing she did was to fix the front door latch. She then went through the place, repairing the damage she did to get in, and then modify it so her method would not work again. She did, though, make it so that she, knowing the precise design, could get in again if needed.
Her disappearance caused the crime organization to make a mistake while trying to find her and a good portion of the organization was severely damaged by the authorities. Those at the top realized that if she had actually talked to the police, she knew enough to bring the whole organization down. Those that were caught were only connected to the mistake made.
The force eventually returned to break down the fortress and take her away.

26 )
` .
when you log onto AOL on the web to go to E-mail, they have some advertisements for different features and answers. One was that you could change the theme of your E-mails. In that, they listed options such as NINJA, AUTUMN, MONKEYS. I saw that list and decided it had to be a story idea.
In the magical world, many creatures appear and disappear based on the seasons. There might be spring horses, Summer raccoons, Autumn deer, winter wolves. Each appears magically when the season it best for their kind and then they go away to wait for the next season.
Many of these magical creatures are highly intelligent for their kind and can do other kinds of magic besides "hibernating" during off seasons. Generally, there are a version of each for each season, though most tend to avoid winter for the lack of food. There are mundane, non-magical- normal, versions of each magical creature too and they have to survive year around.
The master of the king's guard decided he needed to develop a second line of defense and attack besides his trained soldiers and assassins. Looking around, he decided to try monkeys and raccoons. He quickly found that the normal animals were just not effective. They were not intelligent enough to know what an enemy was. The monkeys were good enough warning as they did make noise when strangers came around.
While collecting some extra monkeys, they somehow captured some magical Spring monkeys, which tend to be thought nearly impossible. they proved to be more than intelligent for their missions.
They had them nearly trained when they disappeared with the end of spring. the master then had his people go out and capture Summer monkeys. Just when they were trained, they disappeared. the same happened with the autumn and winter monkeys.
The master was disheartened as all his effort for each season was lost when they disappeared each time. He had hoped they would remain.
Then spring came. A bunch of monkeys appeared at the training center. The master got all excited. They came back. He knew it was because they received more than enough food and care than they needed. He returned to training them, and the same for the other three seasons.
ON the third year of training. he sent some Summer monkeys on a mission to kill a bandit leader that was causing trouble. the monkeys struck at night and the rest of the bandit leader's camp never knew what killed him.
The autumn monkeys appeared. He decided they were smarter and more advanced in their training. He taught them the highest level of assassin skills, they were ninjas when they finally disappeared. It was pointed out to the master than the monkeys learned well and did not forget, because they only lived while they were among the trainers.
A year passed. hostilities with a rebel lord had gotten serious. The king did not want to waste his army fighting his own people. He needed to stop the hostilities.
He sent out his Ninja Autumn Monkeys out to take out the entire command of the lord. The king could put his own officers in charge of the land. Just before Winter was to set in, he sent out his monkeys. Two nights later, the hostilities ended. the entire command structure of the lord's army was gone. The lord's women and some young men of the family were spared. Before dawn after the Monkeys did their act, they were gone, returning to their magical hiding place until next Autumn, protecting them from being hunted down in their escape from the scene of the killings.

27 )
.
He thought himself invulnerable. he was essentially immortal, unless killed by another immortal of his strength or more. They left him alone as he did not interact with them socially.
He came into an area where there were a "people" living in lots of clans. He caught one and found they could be used for food.
After he caught a few stragglers, who gave a valiant fight and poked him with their weapons, he ran across a clan of the people. The whole clan, males, females and children, attacked him. He wondered why. there was no way they had a chance against him.
They surrounded him and attacked him from behind. They were quick, but never attacked him as if they were trying to kill him. They poked him in his limbs from all sides. One by one, he killed them. He was surprised at how they so easily sacrificed themselves.
As he fed on their bodies, he noted that he was hurting where they stabbed them with their weapons. He examined the weapons they used. Simple sharpened bits of stone on sticks. No magic. it took him several days to finish up the remains.
A few weeks later, he got hungry so he found another clan. again, the whole clan attacked. The clan was not bothering saving any members. Females carrying babies joined in the battle, even using the babies as shields against his blows.
The clan dead, he feasted. The old wounds had nearly healed but now he had more. The wounds bothered him. He did not like the pain and irritation.
After four more clans, he approached a clan. They turned on him as a group. He found himself shying back. He looked at the little pin holes and slices all over his limbs. They approached and he backed away. he finally turned and left faster than they could travel.
He avoided the clans until he was fully healed, then attacked a clan and got poked and cut again. He feasted well of course.
A clan approached him a few days later and he realized he did not like the discomfort their weapons caused him. He decided the clans were not worth the effort.
He was feeding on a big beast, which was now his preferred food as it did not fight much. It dawned on him. the tactic of a whole clan attacking him was brilliant. while the species lost several clan groups, whatever predator, such as himself, that would feed on them, started avoiding all of them. The rest of the species could live in peace. It was later confirmed when he watched a clan drive off a toothed beast with ease. He followed the beast until it found another clan and it kept the distance, not wanting to mess with them.
He had learned the same lesson. the people were safe from him too.

28 )
.
Cladus had lived a lot longer than he looked. He was tired and was going to see if a doctor had something for him.
He entered the sky scraper and followed a distance behind a family with four little children toddling along. They entered the elevator and he rushed to get in with them. They had already it the top floor which was where he was going.
After the long, but quick run, the elevator door opened to a cubby off the hallway. He helped bring the children out of the elevator with all their belongings. The elevator door closed behind them, then they heard a sickening snap and grating of metal. Moments later, strange glowing beings appeared and rushed in.
He stepped between the family and the beings. He caught the first one with a solid spin kick sending it into others. The father could barely follow his movements as Cladus blurred through martial arts moves, sending the glowing beings flying. The ones he dealt with did not move. The others kept coming in. The father had to shove some of the glowing bodies out into the hall.
As soon as Cladus had cleared the way a little, the father lead them down the hall to the stairwell. Cladus checked to see that the stairs were cleared, then turned and dispatched more of the glowing people.
Cladus took up the rear, laying low the glowing people as they went down the stairs. They reach the ground floor about the time no glowing people were seen following. They leave the stairwell and are outside the building. Authorities were all around. Checking, they found that the officials were trying to get to the upper level as the elevators had stopped. Cladus and the family decide to leave the scene.
Cladus now remembered why he was so tired.

29 )
.
He posted on his opinion blog a few bits of information before others did so he had some regular readers, at least people who would see what he had. He wanted more but was not sure how to do it without spending all his time in research.
He went to an estate sale for a rather eccentric inventor. He made a bid on a pile of items. He then found he had purchased a truck and half the stuff that was on display as he was the only one who made the bid.
He got the truck home and started digging into it. Among all sorts of home made electronics, furniture, personal items, was and dozens of boxes of papers. He got the boxes into the house and started sorting through them. His jaw dropped as he read them. The papers were historical archives, covering big stories of the time, but the time was now. Among the personal he found the inventor discussing the design of a time machine. If he actually had one working, would explain the archives.
Looking through the papers, he found some collections involving present day news. He studied them and picked a few bits and pieces of information, and posted them, saying they were from unnamed sources. He was smart enough to pick things that could be found from outside sources than those personally involved.
Within a week, he blog views hit the roof. Each day he posted some little nugget within his normal ramblings. His blog became the one place to visit for information.
He saw in one paper, that the place where secret discussions were held, was actually an easy place to go to. He visited it once, making sure what level it was operating at, and then started using the information he had from that site, again, date appropriate data. Because he was there once, he had cover for using information based on there.
His information was never complete, just mentions of this and that. It was enough to cause others to investigate more intensely, especially since he was found right many times.
He mined his data sheets for decades and he was able to make quite a bit of money. he never tossed any of the materials he got from the inventor, instead he purchased several neighboring houses to store them.
He found he was getting close to the end of his data. He had changed the nature of the country with his posts.
He received a knock on the door. He opened the door and somehow recognized the man standing there. He then realized this was the inventor.
There was a way to change the course of history, but it could not directly be done by the time traveler.
The inventor gathered his belongings, now that they were well stored all these years and left, but not before leaving another batches of boxes from the future.

30 )
.
I saw a show where they showed the route of their flight. There was zig zag, which I assume was through mountains. My story idea mind clicked into full power.
The nation was split into two sections separated by badlands. Over the bad lands, they lost a lot of flights, sometimes two a month. Going on the ground was unthinkable. A corridor was developed where planes could fly with some semblance of safety. The planes lost did not follow the safe corridor exactly. Little errors is all that is needed.
The reports of the lost planes reached the outside world, but not the causes. The natives refused large planes that civilization offered. The large planes were safer in design, but the natives knew that small planes hide better.
One of the super powers moved into the area because of dangers in nearby nations. They needed a closer base and the nation could use the money. They bought more small planes.
After the base was set up and filled with planes, equipment and supplies, the danger increased. Flights went down the corridor. The flights received fire from both sides of the corridor. By fast maneuvering and defensive equipment, they escaped without damage.
Base command got angry and launched the full might into the area on the sides of the corridor. Some flights went just above the ground, some mid range and some really high. The midrange flights were attacked. The sources were pinpointed and more firepower went into action. They dove into the targets on both sides, rockets launched, cannons blazed, bombs dropped. They swept the bad lands back and forth, day after day.
The badlands were not prepared for such firepower directed with such ferociousness.
While I planned for this to be against rebel forces, a thought crossed my mind that magic and creatures are being used. magic fireball, creatures flying in, magic amplified arrows and other weapons, taking down the small planes. The high tech weaponry pulverized the ground around the magic users, even if the magic users have protection against direct attack.
The magical force that was separating the two parts of the country was not destroyed. the corridor was made big enough that anybody can pass through with absolute safety. the badlands were now split in two, not the nation.

31 )
.
I learned long ago that creatures that are designed to run fast have short thighs. They also tend to run on their toes so their ankle becomes like another leg joint. Fairly even length thigh and shins, walking on the flat of the feet, like humans are, is a less specialized design and is more for maneuvering. A long thigh allows for a higher lift of the feet. The end of the thigh has to move large angle to get movement in the shin while a short thigh gains a lot of shin movement for a small change of angle.
My note has a picture of an adjustable leg, and beneath the picture it says, "Running machine can change stride for speed or maneuvering." Sometimes it is more fun to sneak up on the idea like I normally do, but sometimes one just has to tell what you are aiming for and then try to make it work.
The Star Wars walkers had fixed length legs, stomping slowly along the rough ground. they were not designed for speed and not really designed for rough ground either.
I am thinking of a fairly small, four legged walker. It would carry a squad of soldiers along with the crew.
In my design, the thighs passed right through the body of the machine. the body of the machine can be lifted on the thigh as needed. In rough ground, the body is lifted to the top so the legs can be raised over obstacles and can reach to the side if needed. the legs can even be turned when the body is on the top so the legs can be splayed to the side, good for rapid side to side movement.
When the territory is clear and level, the body is lowered so the center point of the thigh is low. the top of the thigh moves above the machine. The legs then are in position for running. the end of the thighs now move a short distance compared to the legs, swinging them front to back faster so the legs can do more repetitions in a given time than normal, to be able to run fast.
I picture something like the Imperial forces arrive with their walkers and their massive force moves in to crush the natives. the natives put their smaller, lighter walkers to use. First their walkers go through some territory that Imperial walkers could never cross. The splayed legs give them the ability to cross on top of and around boulders and crags. One spot they have the legs straight out to the sides of a gorge using both walls to get through a tough spot.
On the other side, they do a surprise attack on the landing base leaving the place a smouldering ruin. The Imperial walkers have only the supplies they are carrying.
While this attack is going on, pirates allied with the planet raid the Imperial ships and draw them away from the planet so there is no relief from space.
The natives then go after the Imperial forces. they shift to fast running mode. The Imperial forces know the natives were at the base. The walkers will take two days to get there so if the natives are coming their way as expected they will meet around dusk.
Several hours past noon, the natives are in view. there is two lines coming at the Imperial forces. the numbers, sizes, and speeds are not discernable. Assuming they are the same size as the walkers, they are a long distance away.
Suddenly the size of the natives start growing. they are close and moving fast. the Imperial forces struggle to get battle ready.
the flanking walkers see that there are a large number of the native machines but those in the center basically see two. Suddenly, the native machines spread. the spread is faster than expected since the machines are really moving. the native machines concentrate their fire on the few machines directly in front of them, then slowly split as they follow up both flanks of the walkers.
The walkers open fire. They do kill some of the native machines, but most of their rounds miss as the native machines are moving faster than expected. The range is totally off. It is only when the native machines are among them that the Imperial forces realize how small the native machines actually are, by then it is too late.
There are no survivors among the Imperial forces. None were executed, all died in battle. The secret of the native machines are never learned by the Imperial forces.
by the time the battle ships return, the planet is completely lost and planetary defenses open up since there is no surprise now. Damaged ships limp away leaving the space filled with their debris. The pirates come back and gather the technology left beyond, including the killed walkers and leveled base.