Home at last. Mad Scientists. Demon Invasions. People who can remold other people into any image that the former desires. Heck, I would take some high school drama (I’m not talking about any Thespians here) over this crazy crap. What I have learned so far from this heck of a week is that there are some extremely screwed up people in the world. And that’s an understatement. But I don’t have to worry about these people any more (or at least for tonight). Tonight, I’m staying home. I’ll just camp out on our couch, decked out in my pajamas, and mindlessly stare at the television screen. I don’t care what’s on; I just need a break in the insanity that is our world. It’s Friday night. What else do I have to do? My homework can wait until the weekend and I am for sure not going to be running around in spandex beating ‘evil-doers’ to a pulp tonight. While I was making myself comfortable in front of our television, I noticed Ashley, Felecia, and Kristin approaching me, dressed up as if they were going out somewhere tonight. “What’s with the fancy dresses?” I asked my three friends, “Please don’t tell me I forgot one of your birthdays. Considering the week I had just endured, you all should give me some slack.” The three of them traded glances with one another, smiles on their faces. Then Felecia turned back to me. “Actually, your ‘Hell Week’, as we like to call it, is the occasion. We thought that, since you had such a miserable week, that the four of us should hit the town tonight.” I gave my friends a blank stare. Did they not realize that my most recent kidnapping (and it’s sad that I have to make a distinction with ‘most recent’) happened while I was trying to get a drink? Did they not see the irony in this? I can already see their rebuttal. “You shouldn’t have gone alone. We’ll be safe in numbers”. “No way” I told them, “All I want to do is stay on this couch and melt my brains away by watching some mindless television. Is that too much to ask for?” All I got in response were three puppy faces. Yes, I know that they were just trying to cheer me up, but I am not in the mood for it. Normally, trying to go get a drink would be an appropriate response to all the crazy crap that has happened to me recently, but since I got kidnapped trying to ease myself with the bottle, it kind of took away any solace that alcohol could give. “You want to waste this perfect Friday night by staying at home?” Kristin told me. The three still gave me puppy faces. “If you all really want to go, just go. I’ll just stay here and enjoy my peace and quiet night alone.” I responded to her. “But what would we do if, when we returned, you were missing again for the third time? How would we feel then?” Felecia butted in. Actually it would be the fourth time, but who’s counting? “Fine. You win. I’ll go.” I caved in, knowing that if I didn’t, they would not stop bugging me for the whole night. And I’m not talking about the ‘is it time to go’ bugging that you would get from a ten-year-old child. No, it would be the sarcastic bugging. They would say “we could be dancing to this song” or “we could be drinking that”. “Just let me throw something on.” However, I would never reach my room, let alone my closet. After I had taken a couple steps, I felt an intense pain in my stomach and it disseminated throughout my whole body. The pain matched the same agony that I had experienced under my captor’s ‘extreme make-over’ powers. How could this be? That sick-minded woman got herself shot, so how is this happening to me now? Once this agony had gripped my entire body, I fell to the ground. I no doubt looked as if I was undergoing a seizure. My body shook rapidly as the pain permeated through my limbs. Due to the pain, I could see what was happening to me, but I only knew that nothing good could come out of it. And the pain disappeared almost just as quickly as whatever this was had arose. I stumbled to my feet while I regained my senses. When I looked up, I could tell that the jaws of my friends had fallen to the floor. “I think I’m going to be sick.” Ashley muttered as she sprinted to our apartment bathroom. Was it really that bad? “What happened?” I asked. “I wouldn’t look in the mirror if I were you.” Felecia replied. Nevertheless, I ignored her. I rushed into my bedroom and gazed into the mirror I had in there. “Oh God, I’ve been Frankensteined!” I yelled. Heck, besides my skin, I would bet my head and hands were the only part of me that stayed the same. I mean, yes, it wasn’t as bad as the Frankenstein monster, where the different body parts did not match up with one another. But why is this happening to me? I look like a freaking comic book character with this body. Well, it looks like my captor will get the last laugh, right? “How in the world am I going to explain happened to me? How am I going to explain dropping a couple dress sizes, considering I was pretty thin to begin with?” “I don’t know how you’re going to explain the rest of your comic book physique, but you can at least say that you received the best boob job in human history.” Kristin joked. “At least you look more realistic in that respect than you did a few hours ago.” I glared at my friend. “Yes, that’s like saying it’s better being chased by a black bear rather than a polar bear because the former is ‘smaller’.” I rolled my eyes at the thought. “Come on, Aubrey. I think this shows why you need this R&R more than ever.” Felecia told me. “I’m not going. What do I have to wear? Everything I have will either be too loose or too tight in certain areas.” “I know where to get you some clothes.” Kristin smiled at me as she started to head to the door to our apartment. Oh God, I hope she is not thinking what I think she is thinking. “There is no way I’m going to wear any article of clothing that belongs to your roommate, Kristin!” I yelled out to my friend, although I was not sure whether she heard it or not, since she had already existed the apartment.

Kyle fought hard to keep the boredom from overtaking him. He never really liked working at Brewed Awakenings, but he put up with it because the money was better than it ought to be, and it beat a work study job, and on the plus side, Sarah tended to keep things interesting. However, today was brutal. Not only was it abnormally slow, which added to his boredom, but even the regulars who could always be counted on to at least break the day up were a no show. With no one in the shop, except for Sam who was waiting for Kyle to finish his shift, the day was unbearably long. He looked up at the big, retro, round clock that sat just behind the counter. Grace, one of the owners of the place thought that it gave Brewed Awakenings character. Kyle on the other hand, just thought it looked tacky. 4:45 _Fifteen minutes._ Kyle thought to himself. He looked around, and saw that save for Sam, the place was still empty. “Hey Sarah, you mind if I take off early?” He asked, hopefully. “Nah, get out of here. Sadie should be here any minute.” She said, smiling and nodding toward Sam. “Besides, she’s been waiting long enough.” “Thanks.” Kyle said as he went out back and punched out. Things had been awkward between Kyle and Sam since Addie came back. While Addie was gone, Sam had been there for him, and they had grown closer. Though he had once had a crush on her, those feelings had ebbed over time. However, in the days after Addie’s sudden disappearance, those feelings had started to stir once again, and it seemed that this time, those feelings were mutual. However, any chance of the two of them becoming anything more than friends died when Addie returned to school. Sam took the news hard, though she did her best to keep up appearances. She hadn’t spoken to Kyle for several days, avoiding any interaction with him at all. She didn’t answer his calls, or return his texts, and made up excuses as to why she needed to be elsewhere whenever they did cross paths. But as the days passed, the disappointment of “what if?” had lessened. Though it still lingered, she had decided that she would rather have him in her life as a friend, than lose him completely. Kyle had been relieved when Ronnie had mentioned that Sam wanted to have a night out on the town. He decided to take the night off from patrolling, and join his friends for some much needed time off. Harry was less than thrilled with the idea, knowing that Nightmare was still out there, however, it had been relatively quiet since the death of Fagin and the return of the missing children, so he reluctantly agreed. Kyle made his way over to the table at which Sam was seated, and took the chair beside her. “So, I’m done here. Did you want to meet up with them at Bogart's, or did you want to head back to campus first?” he asked. “We can go right over to Bogart's. Ronnie’s running late, and Dmitri had to work, but Hannah should be there now.” She said as she got up from her seat and led him out into the frigid afternoon air.

The explosive mercenary had been rounding circles around the warehouse for what felt like months, scanning the place for bugs of traps to the best of his well-trained ability. For this outstanding effort and tense scrutiny, the reward was fairly lackluster in the fact that there simply was no reward to speak of. Despite his best efforts, War-Pulse turned up little to no results from his initial scanning of the room, either she was very good at hiding herself, or he was in the wrong warehouse. However, Pulse's disappointment was interrupted by the crackling of his communicator, apparantly Warden had finished with whatever had drawn him away from managing the mercenary's efforts. "Pulse, any luck on the target?" "Oh yeah! I also found Waldo and the Loch Ness monster having a tea party with an Alien!" "A simple 'no' would have sufficed." "Pbbtht, that's not fun." Came a snap from Pulse as he exhaustively sprawled into one of the lone, musty chairs that surrounded a table in the middle of the warehouse. "However, in all honesty, I think I may have the wrong place, it does not look like there is anything of significant value here, woman or otherwise." "Hm. Usually my intel is never wrong, the contact must have given faulty information, or this woman really is as good as they say." Warden took a pause for let out a firm breath, a silence filling the link before he continued. "Keep your guard up, she may be trying to get the drop on you." "Shouldn't you be looking for that?" "I am, but I'm not perfect, the contact was not very clear when they gave you her abilities, I'd be ready for anything." "Frankly the only thing I was not ready for were the size of the rats in this warehouse, I think the last one I saw could eat a tabby cat." "Focus, Pulse. This is a big job on our hands." "I'm always focused, you know this!" "Then why can I see on your vest cam that you aren't even sneaking anymore?" "Meh, sneaking is boring. You know what's easier?" And without warning, War-Pulse struck the front door with his palm, casually turning about as the heavy metal door was ripped from its hinges and sent bouncing along the street, crashing into a dumpster a block down from where he was. As he turned to face the silent room from the doorway, he called out in a display of brazen boldness. "Alright! Ollie Ollie Oxen Free! I'm done playing hide and seek! Let's get to the real game!" "Did you really just--" "Yup." "You are such a moron."

Victoria elegantly walked into the living room of Zac and Kelly’s apartment. Since Kelly, in her rage, forgot to lock the front door behind her when she came inside, Victoria let herself inside the apartment. And even if the apartment had been locked, she could have used her magical knowledge to break the lock on the door. “You two don’t mind me crashing the party, don’t you?” Victoria asked the two young metahumans, although she did not really care for what answer they were going to give her. “Why are you even here?” Zac asked, still unsure what in the world was happening. His current girlfriend believes that he is cheating on her with Victoria, who somehow made it seem like that was the truth. But the weirdest thing was Kelly's violence. Zac knew that she could get a little defensive, as he saw when ‘dream-verse’ Aubrey was with them for that short period of time. What has gotten into her? “To take vengeance on someone who has wronged me in the past.” Victoria responded. However, both Zac and Kelly were shocked to see that she was pointing at Kelly rather than Zac. “What did I ever do to you? I have never met you before a few days ago!” Kelly said. “Oh, you might not have seen me in this form before, but you have meet me in this other appearances.” While Victoria spoke, her hands began to glow. She raised her hands above her head and slowly lowered them down to her sides. As she did this, whatever magic she was using began to morph her appearance. Once the transformation was complete, before the two young metahumans stood Kelly’s old high school boyfriend during her senior year. “Wow, Zac.” Kelly said to her boyfriend as she turned to him, “You were cheating on me with a guy? I didn’t know you were into that stuff.” Before Zac could again deny that he was cheating on Kelly, Victoria (who now looked like Kelly’s ex-boyfriend) spoke up. “Actually, my true appearance is the one that you just saw, minus some cosmetic modifications. So, that would make you the one who had a Lesbian relationship in high school.” Victoria (still in the ex-boyfriend’s body) snapped her fingers. Out of nowhere, the lyrics of a Katy Perry song began to play. “I think I’m going to be sick.” Kelly muttered as she rushed into the bathroom. After Kelly had left the room, Victoria snapped her fingers again and her original appearance returned. “Um…” Zac began to speak, “I might have missed it, but why exactly are you taking revenge on Kelly?” Victoria laughed out loud before she answered his question. “Oh, I just made all that stuff up. It seems like it worked pretty well, don’t you think? Just use some magic to learn some personal information and then craft a perfect lie that would set her off.” “Then, why in the world are you really here?” Zac asked. “Well, the power of foresight is one of the perks of knowing magic. I have seen that you two will be a thorn in my side in the future. So, I decided that I might as well take you two out now before you actually become anything close to a competent super-hero. Don't they always say that preventative care is always better than trying to cure it after the fact?” “Wait, why did you just tell us your plan? Isn’t that a big ‘no-no’ for super-villains?” “It’s not like you can do anything about it.” Victoria told Zac. Before Zac could move, Victoria muttered two words: A small puff of black smoke appeared next to Victoria, billowing every second until it had grown to a considerable size. Then suddenly, from within the middle of the cloud appeared a giant eye. As soon as the eye opened wide, Zac began to slow down. So much so that he was almost as still as a statue. In fact, his whole body and the clothes that he was wearing had turned to stone, as if Medusa herself had laid her eyes upon the young man. Finally Kelly reemerged from the bathroom after she had recovered from the lie that Victoria had fed to her. “I still have a bone to pick with…” But before she could finish her sentence, Kelly saw that her boyfriend was now entirely composed of stone. “What did you do?” “Oh, I thought a few seconds ago you were about ready to beat the pulp out of poor old Zac. What changed?” Victoria asked with a calm voice, almost as if she was trying to egg her on. “I didn’t want something like this to happen!” Kelly responded. She had already moved right next to her petrified boyfriend. “I just wanted him to learn a lesson. But nothing like this.” “How cute. This would make a perfect statue.” Victoria commented as Kelly wrapped her arms around Zac. The Gorgon-eyed cloud again appeared, but now it had a new target. Again the summoned smoke opened its eye, causing Kelly to become petrified just as quickly as her boyfriend had been. “I love that spell.” Victoria spoke aloud, although she knew that no one was going to respond to her. “Two perfect dactylic feet. Too bad this little discursion was way too simple. Did I seriously believe that these two would actually pose a threat to me?” Victoria began her departure from Zac and Kelly’s apartment when suddenly she heard something stirring in the young metahumans’ bedroom. The silver-clad sorceress was intrigued by the noise: Zac and Kelly were supposed to be the only people in the apartment. Victoria wondered if she was going to have some ‘fun’ with an unsuspecting guest. When she had walked up to the entrance of the bedroom, Victoria saw that their bedroom window was open. Outside the window, she saw a large tree rustling in the wind. Disappointed that what she hoped for as an actual person turned out just to be a tree, Victoria rolled her eyes, not believing that she could have been fool by something that was not even sentient. BANG The bedroom door swung on its hinges, crashing into Victoria’s face. The magic user was caught off guard by the blow to the face, causing her to lose her balance and stumble backwards. Victoria, recomposing herself after the impact, looked up back toward the door, seeing her assailant standing in the doorway. Since the lights inside the bedroom were not on, the darkness shrouded the appearance of her attacker. “And you’re supposed to be what?” Victoria taunted.

But as the man sent the front door flying with his fist and stepped out of it there was a faint laughter from just behind him within the warehouse. If the man turned he would see the woman standing behind him. Either she was nearly silent and had gotten the drop on him with ease or in the conversation he had been distracted. Either way the blonde woman he had been shown a picture of was clearly there. The corners of her mouth were turned up in a smile that seemed altogether sinister and far less cheerful than such an expression normally would. What he would find as well was that in the brief contact the woman had stuck something to him and with a thudding sound a localized explosion of hardlight would strike him as well. Even as the metahuman could turn around though the woman was moving with a speed that was far more than human. Her hands struck the man, and somehow she seemed to be able to get a grip on him and in a motion that was far too fluid and practiced the metahuman was scooped up and thrown back into the depths of the warehouse. The woman struck the side of the warhouse besides where the door had been and something came to life in the space above it. A silver energy extended downward to the ground and spread around the rest of the inside of the warehouse a similar field descended. "So another sheep has come to the slaughter?" The woman asked, her voice sounding oddly distorted and clicking. Her silverblonde hair writhed around her as if it had a will of its own, fanning out wide.

The sudden onslaught caught the veteren mercenary by surprise, in his nonchalant arrogance he was caught off guard, and only whirled about to catch sight of the woman before the hardlight explosion detonated on his back, causing him to stumble forward into her arms. Very quickly the attacks turned for the worse, her hands making contact with him very quickly, the loud thuds shaking the warehouse with their impact. She was fast, very fast, it took effort for him to place his arms up and guard the strikes against him, and even then he still caught one or two of the fists to a soft spot. One of her hands managed to wrap hold of his coat, and before he was even able to try and counter the strike, he found himself flying into some crates, crashing through a collection of odds and ends before bouncing and skidding off of the concrete floor. As the dust settled, the mercenary slowly took to his feet, an impressed smile on his face. For the first time in what felt like forever, someone had actually managed to get the drop on him, and even fly through his guard. With an amused huff, the mercenary dusted himself off as the woman struck a mechanism to close some sort of field around the two. She was boxing him in, hoping that with her sudden display he would feel trapped and insecure. What she got was a laugh and a crack of his knuckles, energy sparking off of them as they snapped. "And here I was thinking I ran into a dud." War-Pulse murmured to himself, seemingly thrilled by her display. He turned his attention to the woman, his eyes scanning over the free moving hair and bloodthirsty grin as he called out to her. "I may look like a sheep, but that's only because I'm wearing its clothing." And with that remark, he dropped into what looked like a boxing stance, hands up now to deliver his strikes. However, he was still curious, this woman had speed and some degree of super-strength from what he could tell, but what else did she have in store for him? He gestured to her, his fingers curling to himself in a 'bring it on' motion. "Don't let that stop you, though, you seem like you're on a roll. Show me what you can really do!"

Portland, Maine Earlier The mansion of Hephaestus, the god smith of Olympus, is something to behold. While it's no Mount Olympia, the mansion has some of the most ornate furniture in North America, with such masterful craftsmanship that one would not guess that the creators of such beauty were heartless automatons. The entire mansion was built from the ground up by Hephaestus' personal work force of machines he constructed with his own two hands. The cavernous ceilings, gorgeous statues, tall pillars, and the supersaturation of marble in the structure gave it the appearance similar to the famous Parthenon. Beneath the empty halls of the mansion lies a secret factory, where Hephaestus' robots toiled away without tire creating whatever their master required of them. At the heart of the twisting tunnels that made up the god smith's underground workshop lied a carved out expanse of emptiness. If one turned the Empire State Building on its side, it would fit inside the space without much difficulty. Yet no one had discovered the space; Hephaestus' billions had seen that no one dug too deep past the city's sewer system. Inside this massive hole sat the main assembly room. Endless rows of assembly lines covered the expansive floor. Huge furnaces sat at one end of the room. On the other, a group of strange wheeled chariots that had the appearance of semi-trucks transported goods and raw material between the assembly room and the various other facilities. Currently, most of what was being transported consisted of building materials, religious icons, and ancient Greek weapons and armor. Chike stopped briefly next to a pile of weapons being moved onto the trucks. He stooped down, grabbing one of the spears out of one of the many racks present. He held the weapon above his head, examining it. He than spun it around with the skill and grace that one would expect from a veteran warrior. He then chucked the spear at one of the walls; the spear dug into the stone past the spearhead. Chike nodded his head in approval before moving on. These weapons will do justice to the cause of Ares. He thought as he strode down the long halls of the underground sanctum. After approximately ten minutes of walking, Chike found his destination; a twelve foot high door. Upon entering the room, Chike was greeted by Hephaestus. The old god was hunched over an anvil, battering away with a hammer at a piece of metal."Welcome, my friend!" The cripple said cheerfully, his throaty and deep voice echoing in the large room. Chike nodded, smiling up at the eleven foot tall giant. Hephaestus and Polemos had grown close over the years they had been living together. While most of the gods looked on the ugly and crippled god smith with disdain, Chike looked past his physical deformities and saw the smith for who he really was. "Hello, Hephaestus. You told me you wanted to see me?" Chike asked, curious as to why he was being called for. "Ah, yes. Well, Ares wanted to speak with you in person." Hephaestus gestured to his right. The wall had a semi-circle carved out, and a raise platform installed in front of said semi-circle. Upon the wall was what appeared to be a bronze shower curtain. Chike glanced at his friend, raising an eyebrow. The smith merely chuckled and snapped his fingers. A wave of red light entered the room, blinding the pair temporarily. When the light died down, Ares was standing on the raised platform."The God of War walks the earth, restored to his former glory once more!" Ares practically shouts, raising his hands into the air. Chike shook his head and chuckled quietly, walking up to his master. Upon reaching the foot of the platform, he removed his helmet and bowed. "Rise, my Avatar." Ares said. "Today is the day you begin your duties as my avatar." Chike stood, looking up at Ares into his blood red eyes."What do you require of me, Ares?" Polemos asked, adjusting the leather strap that held his spear and shield on his back."There is a city nearby called Lost Haven. There are many worthy foes there: you are to conquer that city by whatever means you see fit, and do so in the name of Ares." Chike visibly recoiled."You want me to declare war on the United States of America?" Ares chuckled."No, you fool. Not yet, at least. I want you to declare war on its underbelly first. Your main opposition will be the organization known as the Shroud Syndicate. If my sources are correct, they control most of the scum of this city. You are to conquer them and bring the heads of their leaders before me." Chike exhaled, looked down at the ground for a moment before looking back up at Ares, determination in his eyes. "I will need you stronger if I am to rely on your powers to take this city. I will convert as many people as I can to worship you. Then I shall raise an army from among them, and we shall bath in the blood of your enemies." Polemos squeezes his hand into a fist as he says this, trying to make his point. Ares nodded in agreement."I will need a shrine in Lost Haven for my followers to meet and pray to me." At this, Hephaestus limped over to join the two of them."I can do that. Just show my automatons where, and they can build you a grand structure in a week or two." Ares looked to Chike."Go to Lost Haven. Find a place for this shrine, and begin your recruitment." Chike nodded, and turned away from the two gods. "None shall stand in my way." Lost Haven, Maine - Little Ulster Present One would think that the people of Lost Haven would be used to strange sightings by now. After all, Lost Haven is the city where the metahumans first appeared, and where a portal to Hell itself opened and a daemonic army invaded the earth. You'd think that nothing you did could turn the heads of the people of Lost Haven. But you would be wrong in assuming such a thing. After all, most of the people in Lost Haven are only human; most of them. So when a man dressed as if he's going cosplaying as a Spartan walks down the middle of the street in thirty degree weather, flanked by two ten foot tall metal automatons, heads turn, and people make notice. "Who's that?" "Why's he dressed like that?" "Gotta be a meta, I'd reckon." "Mommy, is he gonna hurt us?" "Hey!" Someone shouted, as a car horn went off. "Get outta the road, ya hippie!" Chike turned to look away from the pedestrians on the side walk, and looked at the man in the car shaking his fist. Chike stepped forward, and jumped on top of the old man's car."What th-" Before the man could react, one of the robots had grabbed him and ripped him out of the car door's window."I am Chike Baatul, Polemos, servant of the God of War, Ares! Hear me, people of this besieged city!" Chike yelled out in a command voice, and a number of the people walking down the roads stopped to listen. Chike raised his fist into the air."How long must you endure the hardships that you suffer before the government bats an eye?" He began, his eyes tinted an ever so slight red."This city has been the epicenter of superhuman activity; and yet, it seems ever other day a new villain appears to wreck havoc upon your city, upon your houses, and upon your families. But it isn't the military who's there to stop them, is it? No. These villains are brought to justice by men and women, just like you and me, who have been gifted with incredible power." A few more people seemed to be stopping to listen as Chike continued. Ares, from Hephaestus' mansion, began to put his influence over their minds. "When the demons came, and massacred your children and husbands and wives, who was there to stop it all? The people. Sure, the government showed up. But they weren't here to protect you and me - oh no, they were here to catch all of those upstanding citizens that were doing their duty in a trap. The truth is, America is afraid of us! The president hates metahumans! They call us weapons. Monsters. They'll only let us run around saving lives for so long. Eventually, the military'll come in here with their guns and their super soldiers, and they'll force us out. They'll take down all of the metahumans, hero or villain." Just then, an older man with a scraggly beard and dirty clothes stepped forward."So what? If you're all gone, we might finally get some peace n' quiet around here!" There appeared to be some sentiment for the fool's statement. This angered Ares. "After we're all gone, they'll leave you to the gangs. The armies of bloodthirsty thugs who used to own this city will take to its streets again; do you know what the government will do then? NOTHING! They'll sit back in their leather chairs and watch as this city burns. Without heroes, there won't be anyone to protect you. The police are corrupt and useless. The National Guard will not act until it is too late. The only people you will be able to rely on then are yourselves." That smelly old man interrupted Polemos' speech again."What are we suppos'ta do about it?" This was it. This is the moment Ares had been waiting for. The God of War began to strain himself as Polemos continued. "That is why I have come before you. I can teach you to defend yourselves. I can give you armor and weapons; I can train you in the art of war. The punks who used to own these streets won't be able to touch you." Someone else spoke up from the growing crowd."What's the catch?" A young woman with a Boston accent asked. "Merely show my master, Ares, the respect and worship he deserves." It was obvious from their reactions that many in the crowd thought Chike was crazy when he said that. A pillar of green and black fire suddenly shot up behind the car Chike was standing on. The Avatar of War jumped down and stood in the fire, grinning."Ares has granted me great power, in exchange for my loyalty. He can do the same for you, if only you follow him into battle!" Polemos turned around, picking up the car he was standing on with one hand and effortlessly tossing it into the air and out of sight. There were some gasps and "ooos" and "aaahs" from the crowd. There was also one old man yelling about his poor car. "People of Lost Haven, are you sick of not being able to protect your families? Your homes?" Chike cried loudly, to which they responded with a resounding yes. Ares' magic was definitely working."Raise up your fist if you're sick of it! Raise your fist if you will take a stand against the evil that resides in this city, and join Ares!" The first man to raise his fist was covered in piercing, and had a purple Mohawk. Not exactly the crowd Ares was looking for, but manpower was manpower. A number of people like the man joined him, raising their fists."I'm sick o' these metas wreckin' my streets! I want powers too!" Someone yelled. In less than a minute, almost a hundred people had their fists raised. Ares, meanwhile, felt power surging into him. As his power grew from their commitment, so grew his ability to persuade them to his cause. "Follow me, brothers and sisters! We have history to make!" Meanwhile inside Chike's mind... What are you doing, Ares?! Give me my body back! me control again! You are a weak speaker, Chike. You couldn't convince a crowd that you were from Africa, let alone to die for me. Sit back and watch the master of war at work. Polemos led the crowd of increasingly loud people down the streets and into an abandoned sector of the city, dominated by run down apartments and warehouses. The only residents were the homeless, and the occasional gang. They would all join Ares' fold, in time. It was like a mini-Little Ulster, but in Little Sicily; old Little Ulster, that is."This place will do quite nicely." Chike said, standing in front of an empty sand lot. He turned back to the crowd."To prove yourselves loyal to Ares, he wishes for you to assist him in creating a shrine to his name. We shall build it right here, and we shall populate the nearby buildings. We will turn this useless ruined block into a district devoted to the God of War!" With that, Ares and Hephaestus began coordinating the transportation of buildings materials and supplies from the mansion to Lost Haven. Chike's first true mission as Polemos had finally begun.

Lost Haven, Maine - Little Sicily The sun had just started to set over the Lost Haven skyline. Chike sat atop one of the small two story apartment buildings that dominated the abandoned sector of the city that Ares had led him and his new followers to. The warrior sighed, setting his Greek helmet down next to him on the ledge. He looked up towards the setting sun, thinking on the day's events. He had been successful in the first stretch of the mission; he had gathered some of the city's less fortunate, the more pliable individuals, and had made them followers of the God of War. But he felt off. The way Ares had made him trash that guy's car...And then to throw it into the river? Chike sighed once more, turning his eyes down upon the construction site below his feet. Around ten more automatons had shown up, along with a number of trucks full of supplies. The people and machines were hard at work. In fact, the foundation was nearly finished. The automatons seemed to be using some sort of ray gun to solidify the concrete in record time. Hephaestus was right: they would be finished rather quickly. Perhaps before the second week, as he had estimated. Chike turned away, looking around, because the fluttering of familiar wings distracted Chike from the scene below. "Hello, Varnia. Where have you been?" Chike asked. Though he plastered a smile upon his lips, it was obvious from Chike's voice that something was troubling him. "Heya, Chike. I was taking a look around the city...The female eagle paused."Chike, what's bothering you?" At this, Chike shrugged, looking back at the sunset."It's Ares. He took control of my body earlier today. He...made me do some things that I...Don't agree with."Chike chose his words carefully, not wishing to insult his master. "What...What'd he make you do this time?" "He made me throw a man's car into the river." Chike said with a grown, putting his hands onto his head. The bird made what could be called a whistling sound."Sounds pretty bad. Varnia commented, looking off towards the sunset as well."What are you going to do about it?" "What?" Chike asked, caught off guard by the question."What do you mean? What could I possibly do about it?" The bird cocked her head."It seems pretty simple to me. You find him, and get him a new car. Maybe a wad of cash so he can buy the kind he wants." Chike looked up at the darkening sky."Now how could I possibly do that?" He asked, the disbelief in his voice making it rather apparent that he didn't think the plan would work."Do you want to fix this, or not?" Varnia shot back quickly."Of course I do, Varnia, but-" "No buts! I know exactly how we can do this." "Explain, then." "Well..." Later Varnia sat on the edge of the river, looking into the murky water. She was starting to worry; Chike had jumped in there almost twenty minutes ago. The eagle glanced over at the pile of armor and weapons Chike had left when he dived into the river. He seemed so sure that he could see the car down there, yet Varnia couldn't even see the bottom. Suddenly, Varnia noticed water being displaced near the other side of the river. The eagle took flight, then, to get a better view of the anomaly. Out of the water rose a beat up old Jalopi, with a dark skinned African man underneath it. Chike rose into the air, until he was next to the eagle."Found it." He said nonchalantly."Grab the license plate for me, will you?" Varnia cawed, flying around to the back of the car and forcefully pulling the license plate off the back of the car. The eagle then flew back around to Chike, holding it between her talons."Got it!" "Right, now what?" "Let's go talk to Ceri." Portland, Maine Later..er Inside a small trinket shop called the 'Magia Tabernus,' Ceri Kendra sat behind a counter on a laptop, assisting Chike and his winged companion in their search for the car's owner. The shop's name means "Magic Shop" in Latin. Inside, one can find anything from cheap tricks to actual magic tomes, and even ancient literature on the ideas of magic and enchantment. There one can also find a number of devices used for the occult, as well as a number of books dedicated to the subject. This is Ceri's primary source of income, due to the sizable community of practicing witches, wizards, and warlocks that live in that small Portland suburb. There were even a few creatures disguised as humans living there in that secret society. It was an interesting place to visit, for sure. Especially if you knew where to look. "So you're telling me that there are entire websites where you can track people's licenses? Is that even legal?" Chike asked, looking over Ceri's shoulder. Ceri stands at 5'6, and has light blue hair and matching eyes. Her hair reaches down to the middle of her back, and is often branded. She's thin, though not overly so. Chike is under the impression that she's one of the most beautiful women on the face of the planet. She was currently wearing her ornate blue robes, and that small silver crown with a sapphire gem centered on her forehead. "Yes, Chike. There are. You were here when I googled it, remember? And yes, it is legal. Ceri answered Polemos' questions. It was obvious that she was slightly tired, yet Chike still thought her voice sounded as silky and gorgeous as usual. "Besides, Ceri said after a moment, cracking a wry smile,"you've never been one to shy away from breaking the law." "But that's entirely different!" Chike argued. "I only do what I think is best. It's not like I murder or steal. Even just spying on this guy seems wrong. This caused Ceri to sigh again, yet she was at least still smiling."Chike, we're not spying on him. We're just trying to find out who he is and where he lives so that you can apologize. That's all." Chike just nodded."Right. Right." After a moment of silence, Ceri perked up in the stool she was sat in. "I've got him. His name's Alex Hughes. He lives in Little Ulster, near where you...chucked his car into the river...For..Some reason.." Chike groaned. "I already told you, Ceri: Ares was in control. I would never hav-" Ceri cut him off."I know, I know! Yesh. You can be so sensitive some days." Ceri complained, to which Chike scoffed. "At least I don't have a stick shoved up my butt. When was the last time you left your shop?" "Ye-" She began, before Chike cut her off."That wasn't necessary." Ceri just growled."Just go give that guy his money." Lost Haven, Maine - Little Ulster This is the last later, promises. Chike stepped up to the door. Apartment B25, second floor. Yup. This was where he lived, if Ceri's tracking skills were to be trusted. Polemos had opted to leave his shield and spear at the work site; he didn't want to scare the man too badly. Of course, he kept his short sword, just in case. Chike knocked three times on the old, worn door."I'll be there in a minute!" A voice called from inside. After about twenty seconds, the door opened."What do y-" The man practically flipped backwards when he saw Chike in his doorway."S-Stay away from me!" He screamed, falling to the ground and crawling down the hall towards a small desk."Sir, I'm not here to hurt you. I just wanted to apol-" Chike stopped speaking when the man whipped out a pistol from the desk and leveled it towards Chike's chest."Sir, that's not-" Chike was interrupted once more when the man fired the weapon off. He fired eighteen shots, all of them landing across Chike's body at various places. Polemos stood there, motionless. He waited, completely unharmed, until he heard the gun click. Upon hearing that the weapon was out, he stepped inside the man's home."I'm sorry for what I did to your car, sir, and any injuries my machines may have caused you." Chike pulled a wad of cash out from a leather pouch on his belt."It's not much, but I hope its enough for you to forgive me." Chike tossed the money onto the ground and turned, walking out of the apartment without another word being exchanged. Alex was stunned. Why had that freak tracked him down and got shot just 'ta give him some money? He had to be a shizo, Hughes thought to himself as he shut his front door. Just a nut job. Why else would have suddenly feel bad for wrecking his car? Alex bent down, and began to count the money. Hundreds? Well, that was shocking. The higher Alex counted, the more unsure he became."Ten thousand dollars...?" He whispered to himself as he sat down on his couch. Who was that guy?

(Collaborative post between myself, marra mistborn, and dedonus) As the Iron Knight made his taunts the darkness below continued to billow and spread out within the false light of the barrier. The only sound that came from within it after the crash of the pilum and the taunts was a long and terrible laughter. It was a sound that gurgled and bubbled as if it was issued through the throat of something so clogged with phlegm and slime that it was nearly unidentifiable. And yet there was a sense of malevolent amusement in the sound, a sense so strong that even the garbled sound was recognizable. "YOU POOR DELUDED FOOL. YOU THINK TH-" The dread voice that resonated and made the world shudder issued forth once more, but before the words were finished another series of beams of light arched downwards and slashed through the darkness in precise sweeps that should have caught anything within it of the size nightmare had to be. A glance would show that the metal angel had procured another of the spears that had previously been thrown into the darkness. Where it had come from in a suit that seemed so cramped was uncertain, though clearly a genius of Archangel's caliber had figured out some trick to allow it. The darkness actually faded away for a moment, it ebbed as several of the slashed parts vanished to reveal nothing save scorched concrete where the lasers had burnt into the ground. "Be careful" Archangel's voice sounded in the silence within the Iron Knight's helmet, broadcasting over a feed that was likely highly secured seemingly effortlessly. "He likes to play dead." "Like a opossum?" Iron Knight proposed. While the mechanical knight has seen some bizarre things so far, like a metahuman giving a whole city a complete makeover or his own sister morphing into a Lamia-like human hybrid, this Nightmare thing topped them all. Iron Knight tried to use the 'opossum' simile to try to keep himself calm, but the billowing nature of this being was just over the top. How was it scientifically possible for this thing to expand and contract like that? Seconds later, as if the darkness sensed that it's ruse had failed once again the tendrils of shadow launched upwards and outwards again, three heading for each of the armor clad heroes. The metal angel's spear was raised and spun in a fluid motion that seemed to predict where each of the shadows was going to be, severing them effortlessly with graceful motions. A plasma blade flared to life, severing two of the shadows that approached the Iron Knight. The other one however struck the man and sent him reeling before the suit could recover. Before the Iron Knight could reenter the fray with the darkness a spear struck him from behind, while it failed to penetrate the armor it marked the entrance of another to the fight. A being stood atop one of the roofs, the harsh light of the false sun making it gleam and shine so much that for a moment the glare made it difficult to tell what it was. As the glare receded details became visible, the shine was that of polished bone and what stood atop the roof seemed to be a knight or lord of some kind clad in armor made from bones. "Oh great," the Iron Knight mumbled to himself, "First, we have to fight some Monster Blood from Hell, now we also have to put up with Skeletor?" The modern knight stumbled back to his feet in order to face his new assailant, getting back into a ready stance so that he would be prepared to respond to this new opponent's attack. The bone clad man laughed and stretched out his arm as a hail of spines began to erupt from his armor and shoot out like shotgun blasts towards the hero. "Oh hell," he muttered, seeing the spines darted towards him. "Computer, shields up! Again, shields up!" The energy shields began to flow around his, encapsulating the Iron Knight in a protective bubble. While the majority of the spines were deflected off the shields, a few were able to get pass before the shield was entirely complete. While the spines did not cause any critical damage, it was still damage none the less. Meanwhile the darkness and the metal angel had not been idle. Continuing the deadly dance of light and shadow the darkness was slowly expanding and while the spear and rays of light continued to slash through every tendril that launched upwards towards the angel it was clear that Archangel was losing ground. What was not so evident was the careful, calculated way in which Archangel retreated, the epicenter of the darkness moved continually as she drew back. It was when the metal angel had drawn the darkness to the very center of the projected light that she suddenly stopped her retreat and did not react as the tendrils of darkness raced towards her, they had nearly reached her, and likely caused concern in her ally as the seeming doom bore down. But in the instant before the tendrils could reach Archangel a light that put even the field to shame blazed down from the sky with a force that sent a shock wave rippling outwards and left a crater in the street below. "Angie?" The Iron Knight asked over the secure line to his ally. "Everything okay down there?" For a moment there was silence as the dust settled and Archangel's voice sounded in the Iron Knight's helmet again. "I hope that worked. He does not make sense." The voice sounded tinged in confusion and surprise at the fact of confusion more than the events in question. "Oh, thank goodness you're still there! What the heck just happened! Well, on second thought, it looks like you're going to have to fill me in on the fly because I'm kind of staring down with an angry looking Stalfos up here."

Lost Haven, Maine - Little Sicily Chike Baatul stood in the middle of the street, his arms crossed and his eyes narrow. Frost covered the rooftops, the streets and the sidewalks, but Chike was undeterred by the cold. The Fire of Hephaestus was his warmth. Chike glanced to his right and left, examining the block. All along the sidewalks were barrels filled with fire at random intervals. Gathered around these barrels were the followers of Ares, bundled in their heaviest coats and trying to keep warm. From what little Chike had learned of his companions, he knew that the majority of them were homeless, runaways, or ex-gangsters. There were only around twenty three of the hundred or so that had steady jobs, and only five or six had families. Until the Automatons finished the temple, the people couldn't focus on repairing the apartment buildings and other abandoned structures, so they were stuck out in the cold while they were on their lunch break. While Chike was skeptical of moving all of Ares' followers, present and future, to this block, Ares was of a different opinion. The God of War seemed to think that Hephaestus' money and proximity to Ares' shrine would be enough to persuade the lot of them to move in there and establish a small, niche community in the heart of Lost Haven's Olympia. Of course, there was the issue of the scum that already inhabited the block’s many abandoned storefronts and apartment buildings. They were gangsters, junkies and thieves. A few of them were honest folk without a place to go, but not many. But Chike knew the value of those kinds of people: they were looking for a means to an end. They need money, so they take it. They want to escape reality, so that live their lives on a constant acid trip. Chike and Ares were in agreement: they would make perfect recruits. Just then, Varnia came flying down and landed on Chike’s shoulder. "Hey, Chike. "Hey. Did you find anything?" "Yep. One of our boys ran into about twelve of 'em over on 18th. They were camped out inside a rundown Deli." "Were they armed?" "One of them tried to bludgeon Billy with a pipe. Says it had all the smells of a junkie hang out." "Right, guess we can deal with this on our own, then." 18th Street. Chike stepped towards the Deli, looking it over. The building was in as severe a state of disrepair on any building one would find on that same block. The sign stuck into the ground by the entrance to the small parking lot read "Mac's Deli" in green and red letters. Under it, however, were the words "Stay out" in black. The last message was obviously applied using spray paint. Chike stepped onto the dead grass and then onto the broken asphalt of the parking lot. The sad excuse for an eatery had a torn umbrella-like covering over the entrance. The glass doors that led inside were both shattered, with the glass left cluttered around the front of the store. Most of the windows had holes in them, implying there had been some sort of violence since this sector of the city was abandoned. Chike also noted that the building appeared to have been burnt at one point. Chike kept one hand on his sword's hilt as he proceeded past the parking lot and into the deli's entrance. He had opted to leave his sword and shield at home, so that he wouldn't have to deal with the extra burden that would affect his agility. The African warrior looked about at the wrecked furnishings and flipped over tables. The glass under the counter where food had been displayed was scattered across the floor, alongside the glass from the doors. The cash register was smashed open, and all the contents were missing. The wooden counter fared no better. Chike began to wonder if the residents had bugged out after Billy had found their hiding spot. In one swift movement, Polemos hopped over the counter and began to look around the kitchen. In truth, Chike wasn't surprised to find some kind of makeshift lab inside the kitchen. He suspected they were making their own products, and perhaps had been selling said product as well. He walked over to the stove and looked upon the boiling pot that sat there with confusion. Someone had left the stove on, with some strange yellow liquid boiling inside. How were they even getting electricity out here? This place had been taken off the grid years ago. There was a crash from behind Chike, who promptly whipped around and balled his fists, startled by the sound. Standing there was a man who looked like he'd just crawled from the pits of Tartarus. His skin was deathly pale, his brown hair was unnaturally thin, and his eyes were bloodshot. He was so skinny, the term 'skin and bones' could be taken literally. The man growled, showing his teeth. "Are you...Alright?" Chike asked wearily. He had to be on something, right? Chike wasn't too familiar with the affects of modern drugs, but the way the man held himself suggested something closer to insanity than ecstasy. While Chike was distracted by his thoughts, the man pulled a syringe from his coat pocket, his hands shaking profusely."This is MY home! You won't take it from me!" The man screamed, driving the needling into his neck and interesting the yellow liquid. Chike stood still, unsure of what to do besides wait. That was when the man began to change. First, the skin on his left arm started to ripple. It was quite disgusting, watching it stretch and move as it did, causing the limbs to grow in length. Next, bulges began to rise and sink rapidly, all over the arm. It stabilized after a moment, thankfully, leaving behind an arm that could rival Polemos' in size. The same was repeated with the other arm. Then the man's legs began to change in a similar manner, only this time he started to grow taller. The junkie's chest followed, growing large enough to break rip his coat up quite substantially, leaving behind nothing but rags and ribbons. The man's feet grew to a size where they caused the shoes' material to stretch around them and break open at the toe. The man's head and neck were last; his face stretched and his head grew and his neck grew as well to compensate. The nightmarish growth took around thirty seconds, and left a 5'8 and approximately 160 pound man as a 6'5 242 pound giant. "This our home! You leave or you die!" the monstrous man gurgled, stomping towards Chike. At this point, the warrior was at an impasse. He knew the man needed to be neutralized, that much was for sure. But he didn't want to hurt the man: Chike had so many questions for him. "I do not wish to hurt you! We can talk this through-" Chike began, raising his hands to keep himself from looking like a threat. His exposed position didn't seem to garner any sympathy from his attacker, hower."RAAAAWWWW!" He screamed, before bringing his arm back and nailing Chike in the nose. The Greek Avatar when flying backwards through the concrete wall of the building, and slammed into the wall of the adjacent building, cracking the bricks behind him with the force of his landing.Alright, so he's a meta..Or is that just from the syringe he took? The man came charging through the hole in the wall, arm held forward stiffly as if he were some sort of running-back. He was fast. Much faster than any bruiser meta Chike had ever fought. With a kick off the ground and another to the wall behind him, Chike expertly leaped over his attack, flipped, and landed in a standing position where he'd been a moment before. Chike's opponent slammed into the brick wall, smashing through it easily and skidding to a halt in the lobby of the apartment building. Chike dashed inside, pursuing him in the hopes of apprehending and questioning the meta. The meta turned, held both hands above his head, and then struck the ground. The resulting shockwave threw the charging Chike down onto the ground, right on his back. The meta immediately followed up by leaping into the air, and trying to smash Polemos' face in with an overhead smash using both of his fists. "You try my patience." Chike brought his forearms up to protect his head, locking them in an 'X' pattern. When the meta's fists collide with Chike's forearms, an audible crack can be heard. The meta begins to roar out in pain, stumbling away from Chike. Polemos stood to his feet, keeping his eyes trained on the meta."I'm surprised your hands lasted as long as they did, honestly."Chike said sympathetically."If you come with me, I know some people who cou-" Chike went silent as the meta started to flex his fingers, a string of cracking noises alongside the motion."My bones not stay broke."The meta explained in broken English. "Interesting."Chike muttered, cracking his neck. Maybe he'd get an actual fight for once. The Greek warrior sprange forward, unleashing a mighty battle cry as he flew towards his formidable enemy. He brought his fist back, before striking the meta in the face with a powerful haymaker. The meta was sent flying through the lobby, and then through the opposite wall. Chike watched as the meta was flung through three buildings before finally stopping at a dumpster, which he dented horribly, bending the metal in the most awkward way possible. Polemos ran after the meta, catching up to his broken body quickly. Chike listened as the meta's bones began to repair themselves, and his swollen face began to heal. Chike immediately regretted hitting the meta as hard as he did. Those kinds of punching were for men like Icon, not some city level punk with a healing factor and some big muscles. Ares. Polemos thought, contacting his master. I need you to knock this guy unconscious. Blunt force trauma isn't cutting it. Hmmm... Came the immediate reply. Wait until he returns to his human form. The levels at which he's burning off that serum repairing himself means that he should be a pathetic excuse for a human being in a minute or two. Just as Ares predicted, the man began to return to normal as soon as his body had healed."Alright bud, you're coming with me." Chike flicked the man in the forehead, knocking him out. He then slung the man over his shoulder and began to walk away. Tell your thugs to avoid 18th street until I can find the other nineteen guys. They might have some of that serum on them too.

”Look, Randy, I know that you really wanted to try this out, but now that I’ve got the augmentium it just feels really stupid. I wanna beat the &*$% outta Metas and get some respect, not get you the money to buy a PS4. I can just steal you one, for %&@#’s sake!” “Dude, robbing banks might as well be in the %&@#in’ supervillain starter pack. I mean, the banks have been robbed so many times they’ve got security up the ass and wannabe heroes just sitting around waiting for &*$% to go down so they can show off. This could be a golden opportunity to fight somebody without looking all desperate! What, you wanna send an email to Icon telling him to meet up for a duel to the death in the park?” ”Ughhh. You suck so bad. Are you gonna be filming? Don’t get in the way, just get in and look like you’re totally not an accomplice. If you get me punching out a Meta on tape I’ll steal you twenty PS4s.” Randy toyed with the cap on his slim little camcorder, pointing it at her and grinning. “Plus games?” Taylor slipped her goggles on. Maverick elbowed her friend in the gut and smirked. ”Shut the %&@# up, dude. Go inside and hide that thing until I come in so you don’t look all suspicious.” Randy saluted, climbing out of the driver’s side of his car that he’d parked in the alleyway half a block from the bank. He suddenly paused and pat the lump of the camcorder in his hoodie pocket. “So it won’t be suspicious that some random unattended kid happens to have a camcorder rolling just as a robbery goes down?” ”Shut uuup! Go, go!” Maverick waited for Randy to disappear around the corner, walking along the sidewalk that led to the front steps of the bank. She leaned back in the passenger seat of the rickety blue car Randy had found in the dump just a year before. She ran a fingertip at along a loose flap of the duct tape he’d used to mend the worn leather of the interior and eyed the cracked dash she rested her boots upon. Randy was a smart kid, patching it up like he did with a little bit of Christian’s help and loads of manuals. He’d make a good mechanic someday. She glanced down the alley and wondered if he was in the bank already, growing impatient. Maybe she didn’t need someone to film her first few exploits after all. Was it really worth toting someone else around? Especially some stupid no-powered—Ugh. Stop right there, Taylor. Randy had to be ready. She couldn’t afford to look stupid and make him wait a couple minutes! What if someone decided to ask him where his parents were? Well, in coffins, technically. She popped open the car and poked her head around the corner of the alley, spotting the nice-looking front of the bank where a few people milled around, having lunch in the shade on the steps or lining up at the ATMs. She took a step back, settled into her augmentium form—a feeling she was still getting used to—and began to scale the alleyside wall of the building nearest her by shoving her gleaming fingers into the brick like a hunk of wet clay. It was only a handful of stories high, and she drank in the bountiful aerial view of the bank. Hell yeah, it had a skylight. Reinforced, but nothing her kickass new body couldn’t handle. She could almost pick out Randy’s yellow hoodie from the people inside. She hadn’t really tried out the proper leaping capabilities of her augmentium form yet. Or her strength at all, really. But she could bet that she was at least four times stronger in her current form than she was back in her nickel form, a bet that she won when she vastly overshot the leap from the building she was on to the center of the skylight. She watched the avenue between them fly by beneath her feet. And the skylight. And the bank. She crashed straight through the window of an office building a block and a half away from her estimated landing zone, touching down in some poor shmuck’s cubicle in an explosion of glass. She groaned, sitting up and finding her head had punched perfectly through his computer monitor, giving her an inch-thick square necklace. The office guy whimpered when she peeled it away effortlessly and chucked it out the hole in the building she’d left behind, sending it plummeting to the street below. ”&*$%! %&@#! Ugh, this sucks!” She suddenly turned on the man, grabbing his tie and tugging it so tight he hacked and, judging by his expression, began formulating different ways to beg for his life. ”You think you’re so %&@#in’ great, yeah? Got a wife and kids? Yeah? Scared &*$%less, yeah?” “Hhh—pl-plea…” Taylor leered down at him as he stared, wide-eyed, at his bulbous reflection in the lenses of her goggles. Her upper lip took on a disgusted curl and she dropped him in a heap. ”Man, I’m getting distracted.“ Strolling to the edge of the car-sized entrance, she sighed at the precipice and leaned out into the wind, surveying the street below before bounding over it entirely. This time the skylight came into closer view, rushing forward until her hands extended to rip through the little metal reinforcements like a diver slipping into water. She landed hard enough to crack the flooring of the bank, facing the tellers and people in line to the chorus of fifty shocked cries as glass rained down on them. She raised her arms up in a gaudy gesture and bellowed, ”Alright you @#&*s, gimme all the cash in your wallets and all your jewelry! Hey, you. Round up all the money in this craphouse and get it into—“ She paused and pat her belt, where the sack she was going to use was missing. ”&*$%! &*$%!! Aaaaghhh! I forgot the bag! God, just give me as much money as you can bring out and I’ll just—just give it to me. Now!” She jabbed a finger in the direction of a few people who had to guts to pull out their phones to record, including Randy with his camera. Sorry, Randy. New plan. Things aren’t working out and I don’t want this embarrassing crap on the record. ”I swear to god, I’m gonna break all your legs in a few seconds. Drop th—” Her feet flew up in front of her face and she crashed to the floor in a pile, like someone had wrapped string around her waist and tugged her onto her ass. ”Seeing how badly your little operation was going, I almost didn’t feel the need to get involved; let the police do their jobs for once. But threatening bystanders I can’t let stand.” Oh, hell yes. Taylor tilted her head back, getting an upside-down view of her newfound adversary from her vantage point on the floor. He was clad in leather armor with golden accents and buckles, gripping the handle of a thick whip. The business end was wrapped snugly about her waist. Whatever it was made of was strong—stronger than her metal, even, and crackled alive with magic runes as she ripped and tore at it in an attempt to stand. As she struggled, she cackled and rolled upright to get a better look at him. ”Ahahaha! Who the hell are you? Captain Safe Word? Lemme go so I can beat the &*$% outta you!” His lips curled in disdain. ”Wonderful. An uncreative, poorly-organized pottymouth with more bloodlust than brains. Just the kind of villain I needed to crush as my debut.” His expression shifted to one of sternness. “This whip is infused with more electricity than a thousand lightning bolts. Obviously I won’t be incapacitating you with all of that.” Taylor could only smirk at him. ”You think I’m gonna go down so easy?”

You know back in high school, when all the girls would share clothes. ‘Oh, that’s a cute outfit, could I try it on?’ One might have said. “Sure!” The other one would have responded. Then on the next day of school, the first girl would be wearing the other girl’s shirt or pants or skirt or even boots. It wasn’t the The Sisterhood of Travelling Pants, but articles of clothing did get passed around. Sometimes it was even fun. This was definitely not one of those times. I mean, I kind of feel defiled in this dress. My roommates tried to make me feel better by saying that this dress probably has been on the floor longer than it has been on Danielle’s body, but that doesn’t really help. She does have to put the dress on afterwards, doesn’t she? Good god, I don’t even want to think about it. Well, looks like I’m going to find out what it is like being at a club while being sober. That’s just too bad that the combination of my metahuman physiology and my healing factor renders alcohol pretty much useless. Because of this fact, it makes the circumstances of the last time I was kidnapped even sadder since getting a drink would not have done anything. And don’t ask me to turn on that stupid ‘power nullifier band’ because I have already tried it. For some strange reason, my healing factor isn’t going away immediately, so I would have to wait quite some time before I could even start feeling any of the effects of the alcohol. “Aubrey, are you feeling better?” Felecia asked me. “Well, if you consider being groped, ‘accidentally’ bumped, and slapped more times than I have ever been in my entire life as ‘feeling better’, then yes, I am feeling better.” I responded with more than a hint of sarcasm in my voice. “Come on, Aubrey. You’re exaggerating things a little bit, aren’t you?” For a few seconds, I gave her an ‘are you serious’ stare, until I gave her my response. “Oh, of course I’m exaggerating things a little bit too much. This dress being way too short for my stature and I being on the verge of popping out of the top of this dress have nothing to do with anything.” There was an awkward silence between the two of us, or there would have been one if the room had not been filled with blaring music. “Fine.” She finally replied, “We can go in a few minutes. Let me grab the other two.” While Felecia was rounding up the troops, someone ‘accidentally’ (of course it wasn’t an accident) ran into me and spilt his liquor all over the front of my dress. “Oh, I’m so sorry about that. Let me help!” The young man said, although from the scent of his breath, I could tell that he already had a few too many to drink. “Oh, no, that’s not necessary.” I told him. Nevertheless, he ignored what I said and began to ‘dry’ me off. It didn’t take me long at all to see what the shenanigans he was trying to get away with. “If you want to keep those hands, I would recommend that you stop touching my breasts.” “If you don’t wanna be treated like a slut don’t go dressin’ like one” the man told me as he took a step back from me. I had to bite my tongue hard on this one. If I didn’t hold myself back, I would have slugged the guy for it. If I would have done that, I probably would also break his face too. So, I took the high road: just walk away. Or at least I thought I did. While I was walking toward the door, I felt his hand slap my rear. Almost faster than a blink of an eye, I spun around and slapped him across the face, causing him to crumble to the ground in pain. “My nose!” He yelled in pain, “I think she has broken my nose!” I just rolled my eyes. Of course that was rash, but he needed to be taught some sort of lesson. If a broken nose teaches him not to treat women like that, then it has been a win-win for all of us. Anyways, since I didn’t want this spectacle (although I should have thought about that before I slapped him in the face), I headed toward the exit. My friends will know that I have left because I’m sure they could connect 2 and 2 equals 4 (which other girl could have broken that drunken jerk’s nose?). As soon as I was outside, I hurried toward the closest side alley and darted behind a dumpster (or rather beside it – the point was to get out of sight from anyone else). Once I had secured some cover for myself, I clicked a button on the wristband on my arm, causing my super-hero costume to replace my alcohol drenched dress. What was weird was that those tights actually fit well on my body. You would have thought that, since the, well, extreme make-over of my body, my costume, which was fitted to my normal frame, would not fit me anymore. “Whatever.” I thought. I was more concerned about getting home rather than how some of my clothes magically were fitting me. With my costume entirely on, I climbed up the wall in the alley and began my journey home. Before I knew it, I was back at my apartment, waiting for the right opportunity to climb through my window, making sure no one saw me going in. Once I was inside, I pulled off my mask, tossing it aside on the floor, and hurled myself onto my bed, back first. “How could this week get any worse?” I asked myself in my head. Only if that had been the last of my misfortunes. “Ah, you have returned, Aubrey.” Athena startled me, since I did not notice her sitting in a chair next to my closet when I entered the apartment. “You came back sooner than I expected and through a different entrance, too. Luckily I have just finished resizing your clothes for you. Of course my courtesy.” Then I realized what she was holding in her hands. I leapt out of my bed, snatched the bra out from Athena’s hand, and stuffed it into the top drawer from my dresser. “Why the hell did you have that?” I asked her. “Like I said,” Athena responded, crossing her arms as if she was trying to show me that she has already told me the reason why. “I was making sure your clothes fit your new body frame. Plus, I probably saved you hundreds of dollars.” “No.” I said, taking a moment to collect my thoughts, “Why did you waste your time doing this when there is another, obvious solution.” “Which is?” She asked. “Really? You’re the ‘Goddess of Wisdom’ and you don’t know what you should have done? You should have returned me back to normal!” “Do you really think that I did not think of that option?” Athena stood up from her chair, “The problem is that I cannot change you back.” “You can’t or you won’t?” Athena rolled her eyes, as if she was a mother dealing with her teenage daughter. “I cannot reverse the magic that has altered your molecular structure. I can only rearrange you affects, not nullify them. Furthermore, even if I could break the spell, your healing factor would cause trouble. Did you ever wonder why you were returning back to normal?” I just gave her a blank stare. Of course I didn’t know why I was turning back to normal a few hours ago. Well, there was that one explanation by that know-it-all FBI agent, but that was only a guess, right? “Your healing factor was acting like a system restore on a computer. It was attempting to revert you back to normal. However, once that same magic was used to turn you back to normal, it freaked out the healing process. It ‘knew’ that the magic used on you was harmful, but when the magic changed you back into ‘you’, the healing factor did not know to what it should revert. Therefore, it shuffled the parts of you that it had not fixed yet with the previous forms into which your body had been transformed. Even if I could break the magic that was used on you, your healing factor would prevent it.” “Wait.” I suddenly said, “How can my healing factor ‘fix’ me, but you cannot?” “That’s just how magic works.” Athena said frankly, “Have you not read Sleeping Beauty? The Princess was originally cursed to die when she touched the needle, but one of the other fairies could only alter it to make her fall to sleep instead of die.” I planted my face into my hands. The stress from this week had finally become too much for me to bear. And she was comparing my situation with a fairy tale? Does she really think that that would make me feel any better? “I’m done.” I finally told the ‘Goddess’ of Wisdom. “What?” “I’m through with this ‘superhero’ stuff!” I pressed another button on my wristband, causing my costume to revert back to the borrowed and alcohol-drenched dress. Then I pulled of the wristband and tossed it under my bed, hoping that it would somehow get lost under there. “If this is how my life will be if I’m a super-hero, then count me out.” “So you don’t want my assistance anymore?” Athena asked me. “YES!” I yelled at her. “Do I have to say it in ancient Greek for you to understand?” “You can speak ancient Greek? When did that happen?” “Just leave.” I told her. “Alright. I’ll be back here tomorrow morning. But before I go, let me clean that dress off.” Athena stomped her spear onto the floor of my room, causing a blue light to emit from her spear. In seconds, my dress had been dried and cleaned, as if I had not worn it that night. But when I looked back up from my dress, I discovered that Athena was not there anymore. In a blink of an eye, Athena disappeared from my room, almost as if she had teleported to somewhere. Why can’t she take a hint that “I’m done” and “Just leave” mean don’t come back?

The woman's grin only grew more predatory as her lips opened wider and the folded skin that caused the slight wrinkles to her face began to unfold as well, revealing a much larger mouth than normal where a set of decidedly nasty teeth had descended. There was a faint shiver, hardly noticeable that the mercenary might not notice at first in the flesh of her neck, the blood vessels swelling and a ripple running through the flesh. "A wolf in sheep's clothing you say? I think no--" The woman's reply broke off as her head flicked forward in an odd motion and a spray of acid burst forth from her mouth amidst a keening shriek that seemed tailor made to disrupt the nervous sytsem of humans. Taking advantage of the momentary staggering and disorientation the woman was moving even before the sound had died away. Leaping up to grab one of the walkways above with a single fluid motion as she swung herself around over it and then shot back down, delivering a kick with a force that could shatter bones directly at the solar plexus in a an attempt to take advantage of the anatomical weaknesses there. Even as she made contact with the man the woman used him as a spring board, leaping back again as she flung her arm outwards again and a handful of silver spheres with blinking red lights flew towards the metahuman before detonating like the others had. Was it a trick of the light or was she changing? It almost seemed the free moving hair was coalascing and taking on a form of a coiling mass of blade tipped tendrils.

War-Pulse watched from afar as the woman's face shaped and molded into a subtly monstrous grin, her attitude also seemingly thrilled by the idea of a fight. Definitely metahuman was the phrase that echoed in War-Pulse's mind, the best conclusion for her agility and strength. It was probably why the mysterious employers he was working for had an interest in her, to see who made her, what gives her these powers, possibly adapt on her tech. Her vocal response was expected, even anticipated, but cutting it off and shooting acid at him was not. By muscle memory alone, War-Pulse managed to dart out of the way of the acid spit, the ooze grazing and singeing the tail ends of his jacket. He did not get a chance to retort, however, as the combined scream instantly disoriented the merc. He winced, raising his hands to hold his ears, rendering him helpless to the opponent's powerful shot to the chest. The contact echoed through the room, causing some of the glass in the windows to crack as he was pushed back a few steps by her attack, holding his chest in surprise. It was clear to Pulse she was attempting to overwhelm him, keep him on his toes long enough so he would never get the chance to strike back, keeping his offense at bay with a series of contraptions and tricks. A clever strategy, especially combined with her impressive speed. This was no novice he was dealing with, he probably would have been screwed by this point if he was a normal human. Her flickering speed allowed her to continue with her assault, the small explosives detonating in War-Pulse's face before he got a lock on her, covering him in fire and smoke with a deadly burst. Crates and rubble spread over the warehouse with each detonating orb, craters now filling the ground around where the mercenary stood, enveloped in a haze of black powder. He was hidden now, rendered concealed to a human's eye, possibly even looking temporarily defeated by the attack. However, an audible chuckle could be heard after a few seconds from behind the smoke. "Not bad, Jaws, not bad. I'm starting to get the feeling you're a little more than just some lab rat's playtoy." Almost as soon as he spoke, a blue aura became visible through the smoke, highlighting his humanoid form only for a second before the smoke was blown outwards as he shot from the smog, his body a blur as it erratically darted across the room in a surprising display. With a spur of momentum, he tried to catch the already speedy woman off-guard with a straight jab, catching her right in her grin and sending her hurtling back into the wall behind her, cracking into the hard concrete and steel walls. If this would not remind her that she was not dealing with a human, the follow-up energy ball he was cooking in his other hand would, as he hurled the baseball-sized charge directly after her, detonating at her chest region with just enough kinetic force to push her back into the wall she rebounded off of. He did not want to hit her too hard, after all, he needed her alive. He zipped back out of immediate striking distance, keeping his guard up for her rebuttal, though not before passing another taunt her way. "Could be wrong though, maybe a few more love taps will enlighten me!"

The scene within Bogarts, a popular night spot for local college students was rather slow for a Thursday night. Normally, the bar, which also doubled as a pizza joint was filled with raucous college students hell bent on having a good time. However, tonight was not one of those nights. Perhaps people were still recovering from D-Day, or it could have something to do with the Nightmare killer, but tonight the popular 18 plus night spot was only half full at best. However, the lackluster showing at the bar didn’t dampen the spirits of Kyle and his friends. As Sam had said, Hannah had been waiting for them when they arrived, and Ronnie got there shortly after Sam and Kyle had walked in the door. The foursome sat in a booth to the side of the bar, a large meatlover’s pizza and a pitcher of Coke sat on the table before them. Hannah and Ronnie sat to one side, Kyle and Sam on the other. “I’m glad we got to do this it’s been too long since we all hung out and did anything.” Hannah said between bites of pizza. “Yeah, We’ve just been really busy this semester. Classes have been kicking my ass this term.” Sam agreed. “Yup, Biometrics has been a nightmare this term, I can’t wait until it’s over.” Ronnie said. “Yeah, and poor ‘Mitri’s been going crazy between school and his internship at RenCo. The poor boy has no time for anything these days.” Hannah said before adding, “What have you been up to Kyle, I haven’t seen you around much lately.” “Oh, you know…a bit of this, a bit of that.” Kyle said, not really elaborating as he reached for another slice of pizza. “How’s Addie doing?” Hannah asked, a question which caused Ronnie to cringe and shake his head, not because he didn’t like her, in fact, he liked her quite a bit. However, she was still a slightly sore subject with Sam, who seemed to shrink in her seat at the mention of Kyle’s girlfriend. “She’s uh…she’s doing well considering everything. She’s going through a lot right now, but she’s doing the best she can.” Kyle said sheepishly, not wanting to get into her mother’s murder. “So, Bogart’s is kinda lame tonight. I figured everyone would be out blowing off some post D-Day steam.” Ronnie said in an attempt to change the subject. “Yeah, you guys wanna--“ Hanna was cut off by the sounds of glasses shattering and rising voices coming from across the room. Kyle looked to see what the commotion was, and saw that a quartet of guys had surrounded a young co-ed and were harassing her, knocking over her glass and shattering it on the floor. “Excuse me.” Kyle said as he got up from the table. “What are you doing?” Sam asked, a hint of fear creeping into her voice. “Don’t worry, he’s got it.” Ronnie said confidently. Kyle made his way across the floor and approached the four creeps who had moved in closer to the frightened girl. “Come on, you know you wanna party. We won’t bite, I promise.” One of the guys said as he pressed up against the girl, his face just inches from hers. “I don’t think the lady’s interested.” Kyle said. “Fuck off, the bitch wouldn’t know a good time if it smacked her in the face. But we’ll teach her how to have some real fun.” One of the thugs said from over his shoulder. “I said, she isn’t interested. Now be a good boy and take a hike.” Kyle said as he grabbed the guy by the shoulder. The guy spun around and threw a wild roundhouse right, which Kyle easily dodged and struck the guy square in the nose, shattering it on impact. One of the other creeps moved in to join the fight, but the first creep got back to his feet. “Naw, naw…it’s cool. We were just leaving.” He said as he got to his feet and motioned for the others to follow him. “See you around.” He said as they made for the exit. Kyle watched as the last of the thugs made their way out the front door, then turned to the girl. “Are you alright?” “Yeah, thanks.” The young woman said, her voice trembling. After he made sure that the girl was indeed alright, he rejoined his friends at the table. As he sat back down, Ronnie looked at him in wide eyed disbelief. “Dude, I can’t believe you did that.” Ronnie said. “Yeah, maybe we should call it a night. Sam said as she got up from the table and grabbed her coat. “Yeah,” Hannah said, before adding, “Those guys are bad news…we probably don’t want to be here if they come back.” They all agreed and made their way out into the night air. After they walked Hannah to her car, Kyle, Sam, and Ronnie began walking back to campus, completely unaware of the four sets of eyes watching them from the darkened Cadillac parked just down the street.

Sammy stretched out her feline body on her apartment couch, resting her head upon a pillow that propped her head up so that she could see her television set. In her current condition, there was little Sammy could really do without the help of her best friend Kelly (since no one else besides Zac knew about her current condition). They had left all the doors open so that Sammy could move around the apartment freely, although there wasn’t much for her to do in the other rooms. “Come on, Kelly.” Sammy thought to herself, since otherwise they would have come out as purrs and meows. “Please come back safely. I don’t want you to do anything stupid.” Sammy thought back to the sticky note that Kelly had left behind. Something had to be wrong with her best friend because Kelly did not see the same message that Sammy did. When she looked at it, Sammy saw something about Zac having a surprise for her or something like that. But when Kelly read it, it said something way different. How could that even be possible? Then Sammy heard the click of the front door unlocking. “Finally she, or they, are back. Hopefully this means that Kelly did not do anything stupid while she was out.” Sammy thought, as she sat herself upright. However, when the door opened, nether Kelly nor Zac were standing there. Instead, two men entered through the doorway. One man looked older than the other, sporting a full beard and wielding a staff that had a snake wrapped around it. The other man wore a wide-brimmed hat upon his head and also carried a staff in his hand, although this one was winged without any snakes. Both of the men were dressed up as if they had popped out of some ancient Greek movie. As soon as she saw these two strange men, Sammy darted off the couch and headed toward her bedroom. However, she had not anticipated the younger man’s speed, as by the time Sammy had landed on the floor and started running to her bedroom, the second man had already closed the distance between the two of them and had picked her up in his hands. “Don’t fear, mortal. We have not come here to harm you!” The man who held Sammy told her, “In fact, we’re here to help you!” “Hermes!” The other man said, “Don’t be messing around! We have a job to do!” The man so called ‘Hermes’ rolled his eyes and carried Sammy back over to the living room couch. “What are you talking about ‘messing around’, Asclepius? When do I ever mess around?” Asclepius shook his head, knowing the crafty nature of his partner. He then took a blanket that he had brought with him and wrapped it around Sammy, leaving only her head visible. Then, the son of Apollo placed his hands upon Sammy’s face. At that moment, Sammy began to freak out, since this was the same position she was in when her body (besides her head) was transformed into that of a cat. “Do not struggle, young one.” Asclepius said while he tried to calm the squirming girl, “Remember that we are here to help, not harm.” After hearing this, Sammy eased up a little bit. What did she have to lose anyways? There wasn’t much that he could do to make her situation any worse. All she hope was that he was telling the truth. For several seconds, a blinding white light hindered Sammy’s eyesight. While she could barely see the silhouette of Asclepius, everything else was shrouded in the bright, white light. Once the white light dissipated, everything seemed to have shrunk around Sammy, or somehow she had grown larger. “Be glad, mortal, that you have been restored to a humanoid form.” Asclepius told Sammy. Joy overtook Sammy, since she now knew that she was not going to be reliant on her friends anymore for her basic needs. Heck, now she could go outside without a fear of being kidnapped by some secret government organization because she looked like some weird experiment performed by a mad scientist! What’s even better is that she no longer needed to use some electronic means to communicate anymore: she could now speak normally again! However, while taking in everything that just happened, Sammy realized that something was off. “Wait.” Sammy remarked, “You said ‘humanoid’, right? Why would you make a distinction between ‘humanoid’ and ‘human’?” Sammy could already tell that something was off, or rather something felt the same, especially in respect to her hearing. From beneath the blanket that kept her decent Sammy stretched out one of her arms, patting down the top of her head. Her fingers discovered that feline ears crowned the top of her head, although it had been like that since this whole “cat” ordeal began. She didn’t even need to reach behind herself to know that she had a cat tail, since she could already feel it brushing up against the blanket that covered her. “You seem awfully calm for your current situation.” Asclepius asked Kelly’s best friend. “Well,” Sammy replied, “When your best friend has been turned into a wasp-girl and you yourself has been rendered into something from Tim Burton’s imagination, being a girl with some vestigial cat anatomy isn’t the freakiest thing I have seen so far.” For a few seconds, she sat there in silence, taking in what has happened to her and Kelly these past few days, enduring her circumstances better than most others would have in her position, as the son of Apollo had already said. Well, it was silent until Hermes broke it. “At least you were changed into a female cat. Things right now would be weirder if that was not the case.” Both Asclepius and Sammy gave Hermes blank stares, both of whom were a little disturbed by the messenger god’s comment. “Hermes, no one wants to talk about your transvestite child whom you had with Aphrodite.” Asclepius chided the son of Zeus, even though Hermes was the older Athanatoi there, in spite of it seeming the other way around by Hermes’ behavior. “So,” Sammy asked while trying to change the subject away from Hermaphroditus and Hermes’ other strange comment, “Why are you helping me again?” “Well, mortal.” Asclepius began, switching the conversation to answer Sammy, “We are here as agents of Zeus, the father of gods and men and the ruler of the Olympians. He has a particular interest in your friends, especially the mortal whose name is Zac Wilson. Unfortunately, your two friends are in trouble and Zeus has sent us to restore you to a form in which you could make yourself useful.” “Zac and Kelly are in trouble?” Sammy asked as she jumped to her feet (still wrapped in the blanket), feeling more concern for her friends rather than questioning why these ‘gods’ could not solve the problem by themselves. “We need to do something.” “Be at ease, mortal.” Asclepius said, patting the spot where Sammy had just been sitting, gesturing for her to sit back down, “You will go and save your friends. We must, however, first wait for my aunt, Athena, to arrive so that she can make you a costume.” “You might want to chew on this while we wait.” Hermes told Sammy as he handed her an herb that had a flower as white as milk, but roots as black as coal. Sammy hesitated at Hermes’ offer, wondering what the heck that herb would do to her if she ate it. Considering what Hermes had just said prior to Sammy’s change in topic, Sammy knew it could not be good. “Don’t worry.” Asclepius consoled her, “That is just Moly, the same herb that Hermes offered Odysseus when he was intending to free his men from the sorceress Circe. It will protect you from the magic that your friend’s assailant is accustomed to using.” Once the herb got Asclepius’ stamp of approval (as he seemed to be the more trustworthy of the two), Sammy began nibbling on the herb that they called ‘Moly’. Meanwhile, Hermes somehow got his hands onto Sammy computer and started to search through the internet for ideas for Sammy’s costume. “Hey,” Hermes said, “Why don’t we use this ‘Tigra’ character as inspiration for your costume?” Hermes’ suggestion was immediately rejected by both Sammy and Asclepius, knowing how ridiculous that idea was. In fact, Asclepius tried to snatch the laptop away from Hermes, but the trickster god was able to elude the son of Apollo. “Wait! I think I got one!” Hermes pleaded, “This design is covered up pretty well. Well, mostly anyways. She kind of looks like what you would get if you would cross a Minoan priestess with a cat-themed super-heroine.” Hermes turned back to the other two, giving them a toothy grin. However, Asclepius had placed his hand over his eyes, shaking his head in disappointment. “Who the hell decided to put this pervert on the costume design committee?” Sammy said aloud.