Heh, so thanks to Team Wildcard's plan, I woke up this morning with a scene playing out in my head. I thought I'd share it with you guys in case you could use a laugh or some positive thinking right about now.
Paragons Assemble!A table in a darkened room, close-up on a telephone. It rings. A hand picks up the handset and we pan up to see Brian Clayton. A solemn smile builds on his face, and he nods slowly. "I'll let them know."
He puts down the phone and walks out of the room. He crosses the hollowed-out remains of the Paragon Studios offices; empty desks, wall decorations being taken down, Jessie Lawrence sneaking piles of game swag into boxes marked "Real World Hero". Brian begins to pick up speed and as he reaches the stairwell he's full-out racing. Cut to an open rooftop, under a dark and cloudy sky, and Brian bursts out through the door. He runs to the edge of the roof, catches his breath for a second, and looks up to the clouds. With a deep breath he calls out, "PARAGONS! ASSEMBLE!"
Phil Zeleski, sitting on his couch, looks up suddenly and breaks into a grin.
Jeff Hamilton is walking along, minding his own business, when out of nowhere a flying disc thonks off his forehead. "OWW, what the...?" Picking it up, he sees it has the Paragon Studios logo on it. "Wait, how did..." He looks around to see where it came from, and then he hears the call.
Andy Belford is sitting at his computer, in front of a webcam. "Hello! And welcome to our first ever weekly community chat for - " He's interrupted by the echo saying "Paragons! Assemble!" He blinks silently at the screen for a moment or two, then with a wave to the camera he stands up and walks out of the room. A few seconds later he walks back in, puts his hat on and adjusts it, and walks out again.
Sean McCann is standing in his office, waving around a model phaser pistol and making pew-pew noises. "Paragons! Assemble!" rings out. He jumps, startled, and the phaser fires, disintegrating his computer. His eyes go wide. Brushing everything into a desk drawer, he stands up, tries to act nonchalant, then breaks into a dead run.
Hosun Lee looks over his shoulder, a hint of a smile passing across his face for a fraction of a second. Then he looks back and relaxes his grip on the nun he was threatening. "You're lucky. Just this one time, the orphanage gets to stay open." He starts to walk away, then stops and turns back for a moment. "But don't get used to it!" He throws the door open and storms out.
Melissa Bianco is head-first in a book when "Paragons! Assemble!" echoes vaguely in the distance. "Uh-huh, I'm coming," she says, not even looking up from the book. A few moments later the echo repeats itself. "Paragons! Assemble!" "Be right there," Melissa mumbles. The echo sighs and clears its throat, "Melissa! Move!" it says sharply. "Huh? What?" she says, looking around. Then she spots the sky. "Ohh! Right! Awesome."
At a picnic table in a park somewhere, a tear wells up in Matt Miller's eye. "They did it. I can't believe it, they actually did it. You beautiful b-"
Cut to the rooftop. We slowly pan out from Brian to see a group shot of the entire Paragon Studios team, laughing and carrying on, together again. The dark clouds above break apart and the sky lightens before our eyes.
Cut to a different darkened room, a different telephone. The handset is off-screen, cord dangling. A high-pitched voice says, "So we understand each other, right? You're going to make Paragon City the happiest place on the internet. Good, good. You're game developers. This is what you do. Now go do it." The handset is replaced in its cradle by a comically oversized white glove. Then the voice begins to laugh its best mastermind laugh. "Mwahahahaha! Haha... wait. Why is it so dark in here? Somebody turn on the lights! Jiminy Christmas, this is an office, for crying out loud. Are you trying to make me blind?!?"
