Behind Enemy Portals

[Eomatrix]

Seem walked into Harvey's Bar in Steel Canyon. He was wearing a jet black leather trenchcoat and sun glasses on the outside. However, under the surface he had a combat knife on an under-arm holster, a .45 Glock pistol in an ankle holster, and an extendable bo staff disguised as a cigar between his index and middle fingers. He took off his sun glasses and perused the room. He walked up to the bar and ordered a Sam Adam's. The bartender brought him the drink and Seem gave him the money. He had just finished his beer when a man burst through the door. The man was very muscular and was carrying a crowbar. He walked menacingly over to Seem and tapped him on the shoulder.
"Buddy, you got something that belongs to Marauder." said the man.
The whole room gasped at the name. Marauder was one of the government's most feared enforcers, and his skills were left unaffected by the recent nullification of powers by Lord Recluse's Forces of Freedom.
"Yeah? Screw him and his gang." said Seem.
The man roared with rage and raised his crowbar. Seem spun around, drawing his knife. He deftly dodged the falling crowbar and stabbed his knife into his attacker's hand and pinned it to the table. As the man shrieked in agony, Seem spoke.
"You can tell Marauder to go screw himself. I don't give a shit if he's big and tough, he isn't safe from me." he snarled into the man's ear.
He took his beer can and smacked the man over the head with it. His assailant lost conscioness instantly. The crowd watched in silence as Seem calmly tugged his knife out of the man's hand. He sheathed it in his under arm sheath, put on his sunglasses and walked out the door.

Seem focused on his hand and tried to conjur a flame. He felt his hand grow a bit warm then a little flame burst to life on his index finger. It flickered, then went out. The power drain had obviously worked. He made a mental note to thank the Portal Corp tech who had given him the weapons when he got back. He felt empty without his powers. They had been apart of him for so long, but now it simply wasn't there. It was an emptiness that tugged at his psyche. He was lucky hadn't gone insane when he had been drained. Seem reflected on the fact that many of Tyrant's minions had lost their minds after the power drain. It was a testament to his upbeat attitude and iron will that he had not succumbed to the insanity. He activated his earpiece and pulled down the voice reciever. He spoke a passcode and a comforting voice answered the phone.
"Yes, Brother Seem, do you have the item?" asked the voice.
""Yes Lord Recluse, I am returning to the base now." Seem answered.

[Eomatrix]

Seem strode along the streets of The Praetorian Steel Canyon. It's eerie gothic style of building gave him the creeps. He was used to the fluid style of Paragon city back home. Here, everything seemed to be militarized. It disheatened him, because whether he stayed and fought along side Lord Recluse or went back home, he would eventually have to raid this place to dethrone Tyrant and his lapdogs. He checked the mirrored edges of his sunglasses. He nearly cussed. There were about 15 of Tyrant's goons following him. He didn't break into a run or act jumpy, he just kept on walking and subtly drew his "cigar". He turned a corner then shifted the .45 to his pocket. He went through his breathing exercises as he walked. Having an asthma attack during a huge street fight was NOT what he needed.
The fact that he had asthma was a fact few people knew. Being someone who throws fire from his hands and constantly dealt with smoke didn't mesh with the idea of an asthmatic. Not to mention the fact that he knew he was a role model for a lot of kids and diminishing the image could have serious repercussions on their self-esteem and behavior. He knew this first hand. When he was a kid, there was this teacher at his school who everyone thought was awesome and cool. Everyone wanted to be like him. Until the day that they found out that he was a serial killer who raped the dead bodies of his victims. After that, the kids at his school had very serious trust issues and behaved poorly. There had been 3 school shootings in the space of 6 months. Seem had been one of the targets in the last one. Fortunately, he had been able to disarm his attacker, but not before he was shot in the arm. Seem changed schools after that incident. He finished his exercises and leaned against a wall, pretending to smoke. Tyrant's goons turned the corner. Seem swore. There were 30 of them, all armed. On flashed his badge and raised a gun. Seem pulled out his .45 and shot the man between the eyes. He heard the sounds of 29 guns loading.

[Eomatrix]

Seem knew shooting the enforcer had been a mistake. He was going to die.
"Carrie...I'm sorry." Seem muttered to himself.
"SEEM, DUCK!" shouted a voice.
He did.
Before anyone could react, an iron beam came swooping down from the overhang on a chain and smashed into the frontline of the enforcers. Seem took a few potshots at the scattering enforcers. Three connected and 2 enforcers were killed. Blade Tigers were suddenly all over the place, cutting down enforcers. A bright fire suddenly appeared above Seem's head, nearly blinding him. A warm hand reached out to him and the light dimmed.
"Need a hand, hun?" said the voice.

[Eomatrix]

Seem grabbed the hand of the angelic beauty, Angel Bride. She was Lord Recluse's right hand woman and Scirocco's lover. Since she was in her protective area when the wave hit the rest of Praetorian Earth, her powers, along with those of the Forces of Freedom, were unaffected. She was beautiful beyond words. The mere sight of her made it difficult to speak. It was another first for Seem, he could usually talk any woman out of their pants. Her white Feathery wings, her flowing red and white robe, and her beautiful face made her gorgeous to gaze at. Scirocco was lucky to have her. She hefted him up and muttered a few Words of Power. He suddenly found himself in a giant dojo, much like the one he had first trained in. Paper walls, hay floors, and wooden framework. There was a large man at one of the wing chun dummies, training hard. It was Lord Recluse, hero of Praetorian Earth and good friend of Earth's Statesman. It was easy to see why. This was a friend who was unchanged by the horrors of Tartarus. Seem strode over to him and stopped the dummy's swinging arm with one arm.
"Hey old chap." they both said in unison.

[Eomatrix]

"I assume you know why we need this artifact, Seem?" said Lord Recluse, now speaking with Seem in the briefing room.
"No, not really." replied Seem, "I was just pissed off at Marauder for massacring my hometown in this dimension. I wanted to go after him. I'm stil torqued that I didn't meet him at the base." he continued, crossing his arms.
Lord Recluse's jaw dropped.
Scirocco's sword clattered to the floor.
Angel Bride gasped.
Admiral Gideon snickered.
White Hawk raised his eyebrow.
"You mean you almost got yourself killed just to piss off Marauder?" asked Lord Recluse, astonished.
"Well what did you expect? I'm Prometheus reincarnated. He was a reckless psycho too." replied Seem, sarcastically, "Anyway, you were telling me what this thing does, get on with it." he continued.
"Right, what this thing does is open time portals. However, it has a tendency to spit people into the futures of an opposite dimension. It's quite possibly the only way back to your own dimension. However, you will need to find a time travel artifact to access the present of your world. We have located it, but you won't like where it is." said Lord Recluse.
"I'll deal, where is it?"

[Eomatrix]

"Jesus Christ, Absolute wasn't affected by the power drain?! Well then how the hell am I going to get the time artifact back from him without my powers?!" shouted Seem, at Lord Recluse.
Absolute was the Praetorian Earth version of himself. After what Lord Recluse had told him, Seem learned that Absolute had infiltrated one of their facilities during the drain, so he was unaffected by the drain of powers.
"Seem, calm down. We've developed a spell that will rstore your powers, but you won't be able to use them on Absolute. Fortunately, he won't be able to use his on you. The fact that your fire spells don't burn you, means that they won't burn him. Feel free to use them on his minions though. I'll be sending Angel and Gideon with you. They'll help you out against his minions. Right now, I'll have my mystics prepare the spell, come with me. Angel. Gideon. Prepare a flyer, each of you should bring two of your best men. Hop to it!" said Lord Recluse.