"Bees, hornets, wasps. No matter how you look at em they all have stings and are all yellow and black." Paul answered to Wasp as the boy started to fly off. Paul wasn't exactly the smartest despite his age. He had been using his nearly 250 years of life learning about sports rather than the anatomy of different insects.

Paul had finally finished knocking out as many of the thugs as he could. He was in the process of tieing each of them up at this point he turned to their guns grabed them, then broke them. There were already too many of these guns in the world. Making others work to obtain weapons again seemed like a good plan anyways.

Once he finished he headed out to where Wasp was to help him in tying up the last of them and then carrying them to where the others were. As he was working though Paul's stomach let out a large growl. "Guess I worked harder than I thought, you wouldn't happen to have any food on you would ya wasp?" Paul asked the wasp actually getting his name right this time. He figured the joke had run it's course for now.

Paul one of the only heroes in the city who was homeless. He had no where to sleep other than in card board boxes when he found them. Some times others would offer him a place to stay, but he would never stay for more than one night. Sure Paul needed help, but his pride wouldn't allow him to accept help from others for long, and nor would he ever take advantage of their help. There was after all such a thing as a man with a heart too pure for the world.
@Weird Tales

May 3rd, 11:37 am...

The man stretched as a yawn escaped him as he stood out on the balcony of the penthouse hotel room he had rented looking out over the beach and boardwalk of New Athens. It took four days and nearly 6 million dollars but I've finally done it. I've finally gotten away from that psychopath. He let out a contented sigh as he leaned against the railing, looking out at all of the people along the beach enjoying the sun shining and those walking along the boardwalk wandering from shop to shop, a small smile spreading across his face as he did so.

A knock on the door to his room startled him from his daydreaming, bringing back memories of his constant running from the previous nights until he remembered the room service he had ordered. And finally a decent meal. "Just wheel it on inside." He yelled from the balcony, wanting to take in the sight a few moments longer before continuing on with his day. From across the room he could hear the lock of the hotel's door buzzing open and a set of footsteps and the wheels of the room service trolley on the polished marble floor. "Just leave it anywhere, thank you." He said as the footsteps and wheels stopped for a moment before the footsteps started again receding from the room followed by the sound of the door shutting with a thud. "I could really get use to it here." He said aloud as he took in another deep breath of the sea air.

"Unfortunately," A deep, synthesized voice spoke from inside the room. "You will not have the chance to."

The man's eyes went wide. No, no, no, no, no, no. He kept repeating in his head, hoping beyond hope that when he turned around it would've just been a figment of his imagination.

"You've kept me waiting for some time now, Mr. Fraywich." The footsteps started again heading deeper into the room.

When the voice spoke again he knew it wasn't a figment of his imagination, and as if to further push the point home the footsteps had started again heading deeper into the room, stopping once again close to where he imagined the trolley had been placed. "How in holy Hell did you find me all the way out here?" Sweat had started to bead on his forehead as he tried to think of some way out of his current predicament. "You followed me from Paris, to Moscow, to Hong Kong," Where I thought I had left enough mercenaries to deal with you. "All the way to here. New Athens, North Carolina." Fraywich turned now to face the one person he had been running from only to see an expressionless skull mask staring back at him.

In the center of the room stood the Reaper. While the man under the mask may not have been wearing the full suit of body armor that Fraywich had seen him in on that first night, he still had enough of it and his iconic mask on. Beside him, on the trolley, sat a black duffel bag instead of the silver plated meal he had been expecting moments earlier. Inside, he could only imagine what the Reaper had in store for him.

"At first," Reaper turned just slightly enough to reach into the bag beside him. "I was simply going to kill you quickly." He pulled a black bundle from the bag, setting it beside the duffel on the trolley. "A quick and painless bullet to the head," He began to unravel the bundle revealing a set of knives tucked into sleeves. "But you ran," He looked away from the knives and back towards Fraywich. "And then you left me a parting gift in Hong Kong." He wagged a finger at Fraywich. "Tsk, tsk, tsk, tsk, tsk."

"Now," He drew one of the black blades from a sleeve. "We do things the slow way. Can't take to long though," He said as he made his way over towards the balcony. "I've got another meeting later today, so you've got about ten minutes of my time." A smile spread across Reaper's face under the mask as he came to a stop in front of the cowering Fraywich. "But it'll feel like a lifetime to you." He grabbed one of Fraywich's arms and threw him back into the room causing him to slide to a stop on the marble floor. "We wouldn't want to disturb the rest of the hotel with your screaming now would we?"

"Oh, God! No!" Fraywich yelled as he tried to scramble away from the encroaching Reaper Only to have him slam the knife thru his hand embedding it down to the hilt, earning a pain filled scream from Fraywich until it faded into choking sobs as he tried not to move his hand.

"One down," Reaper stood over Fraywich, reaching to grab another blade from a sleeve. "Nine more to go. One for every minute that I get to spend with you." Reaper kicked Fraywich's unpinned hand away from he other. "That is if you don't die from blood loss," Reaper said as he looked at the growing puddle of blood. "Whichever comes first really." He shrugged as he slammed the second blade into Fraywich's other hand, eliciting another pain filled scream from Fraywich that once again faded to sobs as Fraywich tried his best not to move his hands. "This is going to be a real pleasure," Reaper said as he drew a third blade, watching the two blood puddles connect to one another thru one of the mortar lines in the marble.

May 3rd, 11:51 am...

Reaper let out a disappointed sign as he returned the latest knife to it's sleeve. "Only made it thru eight." He said as he turned to look back at his handiwork. One knife thru each of Fraywich's hands, one thru each foot, another thru each of his knees and elbows. The pools of blood from each knife had gathered together under Fraywich and had spread throughout the room following the mortar lines to other parts of the room. All around Fraywich's body were bloody handprints and foot prints, that were slowly being covered from the puddle of blood, from when Reaper had walked around the man planning out the next placement of his knife. "I'm surprised he made it to that many, frankly."

He let out another disappointed sigh as he moved to clean his hands on the curtains of the balcony doors when another sight caught his eye, a young man walking up out of the sea. He couldn't make out much from where he was but the crowd of onlookers and the sun glinting off of the armored pieced he wore caused the young man to stand out a great deal. Reaper returned to the duffle bag, replacing the rest of knives to their place inside the bag and pulling out a rifle scope for a better look.

"Now, let's see what the new boy on the block is up to." He said returning to the balcony placing the scope up to the lens of his mask just in time to watch the young man enter into one of the shops of the Boardwalk and exit a few moments later dressed like many of the others on the beach carrying a bag with him, as he started to walk again this time heading towards Universal Ave. "Well, looks like I can keep tabs on the new guy and take care of my next target in one fell swoop." He turned back to Fraywich's body. "Looks like it's gonna be a good day after all, huh." Reaper said as he replaced the scope into the bag and pulling out a black coat putting it on and stuffing his mask into the inside pocket as he hoisted the duffel bag onto his shoulder and left the hotel room, slipping the 'do not disturb' sign on the door before shutting the door.

May 3rd, 2:04 pm...

Reaper had followed the young man from the Boardwalk up most of Universal Ave. It wasn't hard to keep track of him as the further they went up the street to more and more the young man became out of place wearing his Boardwalk bought shirt, shorts and flip flops. When the young man ventured into one of the many Silver Dollar Coffee shops, that seemed to be as numerous as the heroes and villains that inhabited it, Reaper took his chance to find a good vantage point to set up in.

He found on easily enough as many of the building in the part of town the young man had ventured into were no shorter than 5 stories. It seemed that luck was on his side even more than he had thought as it seemed that some commotion was taking place at the NABC around the same time. "I couldn't have picked a better day." He said as he pulled his mask from his jacket's inside pocket and placed it over his face again. "I guess I owe it to Fraywich in the end." He said as he finished setting up his SR-25 at the corner of one of the larger buildings on the block giving him a good view of the coffee shop he had left the young man in as well up and down the three blocks around him.

As he scanned the crown looking for his next target he caught a glimpse of the young man exiting the coffee shop only to stop at a nearby hotdog vendor, and after a few moments chatting up the older man behind the cart, he paid for the hotdog with three gold coins. Interesting. I wonder what else the new guy has up his sleeve. As another man in a suit stepped up in line behind the young man Reaper's scope rested on the newcomer and another smile spread across his face. "It sure is my lucky day." He murmured as he took in a breath, slowly exhaled thru his nose and pulled the trigger, dropping the man in the suit with a well placed shot just above his ear and splattering blood on those around him.

And with last jump spinning back-kick, Stuart knocked out the last thug before him and the man tumbled to ground. Stuart was breathing heavily, his adrenaline was going almost full blast and he felt almost relieved to have the battle over. While it was exciting, it still meant going through the dangers of potentially dying and Stuart wasn't a man without fear. He then turned to head back towards where Paul had finished off his share of the criminals and as he came upon the larger hero, Paul asked him if he had any food.

"I don't have honey if that's what you're asking. You'll have to make a stop by a fast food place I guess" he replied to the bigger hero. Stuart didn't know much about Paul Bunyan, the stories say that the hero is the creator of America in the flesh and is over two hundred years old. The power that the hero possessed seemed awesome compared to his and Stuart wasn't one for bragging about his abilities.

In truth two of them seemed to be exact opposites. Paul was big and strong, while Stuart was small and quick. He was smart and Paul was kind of slow. Some say that opposites can sometimes the complimentary in terms of teamwork. Maybe this whole fight was so that they could meet and team up. The Yellow Jacket and The Builder of America, that would be an interesting team.

@Cuccoruler

Polaris

Stardate 2116055.7 - May 05th, 2016 // 1900 Hours

Luxe was sitting back with her feet on the control panel, munching on a frozen blue substance from Karth. She enjoyed the different cold delicacies the galaxy had to offer.

The warning lights came on and the computer informed her that she was fast approaching her newest destination, a planet called Earth. She had come to seek out a weapon left behind by an ancient civilization, still undiscovered by the primitive inhabitants that lived there at present. Her father would no doubt be sending scouts to find the weapon as well. It was one of the missions he had prepared to send his daughter on to help ensure his continuation as the current head of power in the Cabal. Luxe put her feet back on the floorboard of the Star-Breaker and began flipping switches and pushing buttons as the ship descended into the Earth's atmosphere. "Terrestrial Camouflage on, S.B." she said aloud to the ship's A.I. "Cloaking on, Captain. Currently looking for a suitable place to land near New Athens."

"It's alright, put 'er on manual. I got this," said Luxe as she expertly guided the ship down from the clouds and into a Valley that was mostly empty pasture. She let down the landing arms with a hydraulic hiss. (pffsssshhhhht) "Can you locate the weapon?" she asked Star-Breaker. "Currently, it seems as if there is a cloaking device on the weapon, Captain. I am finding no traces of it in the New Athens area. Do you want me to expand the search? It could take a few hours to include the whole continent."

Luxe thought about this for a second, and then jumped up out of her chair. "Yeah, go ahead and expand the search, I have never had a chance to explore this planet before. Maybe I can find something good to eat. Besides, I've been stuck in that chair for too long." The ship chirped approval and the computer monitors began showing data and locations in ribbons across the screens. She wished she had commandeered a bigger ship with a wardrobe unit that could outfit her with the planet's attire. She had no idea what the current fashion was here. She put on her duster and combed down her hair, after a second thought she left her pulse rifle on board- worried that it might draw unwanted attention.

"Hello world," she said as she pushed the button for the airlock and squinted against the incoming sunlight.

@Carlsberg

May 3rd, 3:34 am, Downtown New Athens

Gunrat and her accomplice, Jiao, had been searching the area for over an hour, with no sign of their target. Letting out a sigh of frustration, Gunrat leaned against a wall and put her fingers to her right ear.

“Zhang”, she grunted.

“Yes ma'am?”, a timid voice responded.

“The damn thing got away. Any sign on police comms?”

“Just the corpses she reanimated, ma'am, and it sounds like they've all been taken care of by now.”

“Alright”, Xiu grumbled conclusively. “Guess we're heading home for the night. Tell the cops the area's clear, and they can start cleaning up.”

“Yes ma'am”.

With that, the two vigilantes made their way out of the building, and down an alley to Jiao's parked van. Hopping in, they began their drive back to HQ. Xiu crouched in the back and began undressing, checking over her body for damage. She found minor scrapes and scratches along her arms and shins, as well as a sizeable purple splotch under her left arm. With enough time, Xiu knew her ribs would heal on their own. Taking a quick look at her jacket, it was almost entirely undamaged. Clearly, most of the shock had been transferred straight into her.

“Hey Jaio.” she called to the driver

“Wei shima?” the slender Chinese man responded.

“Tell Qing to make the next jacket with thicker padding.”

“Wo hui.” he confirmed.

A few moments later, the van screeched to a halt in an inconspicuous garage, at the base of a weathered three-story building. Past the broken elevator, up the staircase to the third floor, Xiu entered the suite, brushed past Zhang with a lazy wave, and collapsed on her bed in the next room.

May 3rd, 2:17 pm

Xiu sat on the side of her bed, rag in one hand, an unloaded revolver in the other. The Ghoul had gotten blood on her gun, and she hoped to fully clean and re-oil it. As she scrubbed away, she heard Zhang shout from the other room.

“Ma'am!”

“What is it, Zhang?” she shouted back.

“We've got another hit. NABC HQ! Police comms are going wild!”

“Ghoul?” she inquired.

“No ma'am. They're not sure what this is. Reports of civilians being flung through windows. Looks like they've already called the SWAT team.”

“Tian'a!” Gunrat exlaimed. “Jiao, start the van! We're moving!”

From across the suite, Gunrat heard thumping as her driver bounded to the stairs. Putting her uniform on, holstering her pistols, and slinging her rifle across her shoulder, Xiu was out the door right behind Jiao.

Across Town

The van pulled into a junk-filled alley, just beneith a fire escape. Gunrat hopped from the roof of the van to the fire escape, and made her way up the building. Taking position at the top, across the street from the NABC building, Gunrat peered through her rifle's scope. Jiao stayed below, guarding the van, assault rifle in hand. Through the window she could see a great deal of commotion. Gunshots were going off right and left, and the lower floors were littered with bodies.

“Any word on the target?” Gunrat asked.

“Yes ma'am” Zhang responded through her earpiece. “Security footage shows blue hair, black clothes, mask covering her lower face.”

“And how is she surviving all these gunshots I'm hearing?”

“Can't confirm, ma'am, but looks like psychokinetics of some sort.”

“Well,” Gunrat whispered into her earpiece. “time to say hello.”

“Ma'am?”

Gunrat locked her sights on a sprinkler head, protruding from the building's ceiling, just barely visible from her vantage point. At once, the offices of the NABC began showering themselves with water.

“Zhang. I want you to cut the power to that building. Kill as much of the grid as you have to. I want my target to be wandering in the dark.”

“Yes ma'am.”

As Choklad was savagely devouring meats of all kinds he heard the sound of a Meat behind him and talking straight to him. Rather than turn around Choklad's face disappeared from his form and reappeared on his back. The chocolate beast stared down at the metal clad Meat just as it unsheathed it's bright claws. Choklad let out a loud roar as his mouth became inhumanly large, all the while grabbing more deli meats. Finally after his mighty roar Choklad leapt straight at his current advisory but immediately made an attempt to climb over Sentinel.

He didn't want to pick a fight with the metal Meat and simply wanted to dine and dash so after he got near enough to hopefully scare of the Meat, he began to make a break for the sewers, unintentionally knocking another Meat standing just outside of the store to the ground. At this point all Choklad was worried about was getting home and back to Picasso to check and see if he had been eaten by rats or by any number of merciless creatures that lived down in the sewers with him and Choklad,

Paul rubbed the back of his head, it was unlike him to ask for help but he was really hungry, if he had to fight again he may not have the energy due to lack of food. "Well, you see. I have no money, 'fraid that I have yet to come upon any kind of money. I also live in a box." Paul said giving a innocent looking smile. It felt a bit shameful to admit that the builder of america was in fact, poor and broke. His heart too pure to ask for anything except for when he really needed it. Also most people wouldn't hire him due to his fame and the fact that he was too big to fit in most doors.

@weird tales

May 3rd, 2:09 pm...

Arkylius was in shock. Less than a minute had gone by since the man in the business suit who was in line behind him was targeted by a sniper and killed. The gunshot was silenced but the noise of the suppressed shot was louder in the ears of the Atlantian than of those around him. There was a continued ringing for what seemed like at least an hour, though in reality only a minute and a half had gone by now. If Ark could hear the panic and screaming of those around him he'd be more in panic mode as well. He'd never been sprayed by blood, only ever having seen it flow through the oceans and the currents like a red cloud.

Reaper smirked as he watched the young man's reaction through his scope. "Well, looks like the new kids never been around much blood before." He adjusted himself for a better shot and lined up the sights of his scope over the young man's head. "It's a shame he won't have much longer to grow acquainted with it." He took in a deep breath, slowly exhaled through his nose and pressed the trigger again only to watch the young man disappear from his scope and have the bullet pierce through the hotdog vendor's cart and catch the older man selling them in the leg, dropping him to the ground screaming in agony. "Damn it!" He nearly yelled taking his eyes away from the scope to just barely see the young man running in the street. "You lucky little shit." He muttered as he placed the scope back to his eye to try and catch him in the scope again.

"Were those surface dwellers killed for being close to me? Have I already made enemies on land?" Ark thought darting in between cars, walkers on the sidewalks, and the occasional bike messenger.

Arkylius took a breather after running through a fountain towards the beach coast of the city. He ducked for cover behind another of the buildings that didn't go past five stories high. He tore off his horrible t-shirt and put his Atlantian gear back on in full, trashing the flowered bag he'd purchased earlier to carry everything. His attacker seemed to have the higher ground advantage, however once in his uniform the young Atlantian sent out a remote beacon to Jake the robotic snake currently in stealth mode in the Atlantic. Touching another button on his chest gear, Ark went invisible himself and leaped onto a nearby rooftop. The sixty-five feet long snake en route to his location.

Reaper quickly acquired his target in the scope once again, watching as the young man darted between parked car and people on the sidewalks as he waited for his chance to take another shot. He pulled the trigger only to have the bullet land in the truck of a parked car. "Damn." He muttered as he started to mentally keep track of the remaining bullets left in the clip. Seven. He found the young man again on the sidewalk and fired again, once again missing, this shot landing in the shoulder of a woman in a red suit jacket that just exited a building. "Damn." Six.

Everything just seemed to be in the boy's favor as every remaining shot missed the young man and would either hit another person, a parked car or simply embed themselves in the ground. And each time Reaper would curse and mentally note the remaining number of bullets left in the clip. "You have got to be kidding me," He said as the last round had been fired from the ten round clip, the last shot hitting the front wheel of a bike messenger's bike and sending him cartwheeling over the handlebars into the pavement. He continued watch as the young man ran through a fountain and disappear around the corner of a building. "So much for my luck, and I was having such a good day today." He muttered as he took apart the rifle and replaced the pieces back into his black duffle bag.

~KL~ / Aro

Sentinel's reply was met with the angry roar of this monstrous blob, as it sucks in all the possible meat it can carry in it's comically giant mouth. Then, it proceeded to leap straight at the metal clad hero, who was all too ready to strike at the blob. However, just as he issued his strike, the blob suddenly leaped over him and proceeded to make his getaway. Despite missing his first initial strike, Sentinel quickly runs after it as he powers his thrusters to match its speed. He wasn't frightened at this creature's scare tactics at all.

As he quickly moves after him, Shinji charges up his blades once more as he prepares for another attack. He then cuts power to his thrusters for just a moment as he leaps towards the goopy mass, blades stretch out and ready to strike. He attempts to stab the creature around its belly region, and if it happens to go right through him as he predicts, he tries to jerk his blade inside as to weaken the creature before retreating and preparing for another go.

@Jotunn Draugr

May 3rd, 2:18

NABC Headquarters

Jen looked up as the sprinklers came on, drenching her in water. She let out a sigh as the power went out as well.
"I knew it coudln't all go so smoothly," She said to herself as she pulled a small flashlight out of her pocket and switched it on, heading back to the elevator.
She clicked the button, not surprised when the button didn't light up.
"Power's out," She muttered.
She glanced at the stairs, wondering if that was a potential way out.
No, they'll expect that. Have to find another way down, She thought, before glancing back at the elevator, a small smile playing across her face.
She quickly grabbed the doors and pulled, managing to open them enough to slip through, looking up and down the elevator shaft. She grabbed on to the steel cable that was used to pull up the elevator and wrapped her legs around it, starting to shuffle her way down it.
Your move, She thought, thinking about whoever was after her.

May 3rd, 2:22 pm, NABC HQ

The building went quiet. Xiu saw a couple security teams scrambling around on the higher levels, wondering what was going on, but there was no sign of the target. Swinging her rifle's scope right and left, scanning for her prey, she saw nothing. Frustrated, the huntress tapped her earpiece.

"Zhang, get a hold of our friends in the NAPD. Tell them to have SWAT standing by, but do not breach until I give the word... And get all these damn peasants off the street before a stray bullet hits one."

"Yes ma'am."

"Hey Jaio" Gunrat barked, "How's your body armour fitting?"

"Shi-hao."

"Good, 'cause you're going in first. I'll be close behind you. Don't hesitate to blow the target's little blue head off."

"Hao-ba."

As police sirens sounded in the distance, no doubt preparing to block-off the area, Gunrat and Jiao made their approach. Jiao took the lead, with his automatic rifle pointed strait ahead. Xiu stayed several meters behind, still wielding her sniper rifle. They burst through the front door of the establishment, catching the two security guards by surprise.

"Wh-i-identify yourselves!", one of the guards bellowed, reaching for his gun.

"New Athens Police, G.R. department." Xiu responded.

"G-R?" the guard inquired.

"Sir, in exactly two minutes, SWAT will have this building surrounded. They will answer your questions. Right now, my partner and I have work to do." Xiu explained, striding around the stunned guard.

Jiao walked behind the reception desk, and stooped to check the pulse of the unconscious employee.

"Ta-huo-zhe." the heavily clad man reported.

"Hao-de. Lai." Gunrat commanded, gesturing that he follow her lead.

Jiao charged into the stairwell, and began his climb up. His plan was to breach every floor, heading upward, and to radio back to Xiu when he found the target. Xiu tucked herself into a corner at the bottom of the stairwell, rifle at the ready, waiting for her prey. If her target came from above, she'd have warning from Jiao. If her target found another way down, and made it to the first floor, she'd be ready to spring out from the closed door of the stairwell. If her target attempted to flee the building, they'd have a barricade of police and SWAT teams to deal with. Gunrat licked her lips in anticipation.

Chok-Lad was nearly to the sewers, all he had to do was one final leap and he would be home free but before he could make his grand escape he felt something hot tear straight through him. He looked back just in time to see the light swords being jerked around in his stomach area, letting loose his stomach's contents. This hurt the chocolate behemoth quite a bit as he stood there letting out a roar of pain as he once more began to pick up his various meats off of the ground. Seeing that this Meat wanted to fight, Chok-lad quickly finished his meat retrieval and brought down his mighty fist down with a great deal of force on top of a now vacated car.

Quickly Chok-lad began sucking up as many loose pieces of scrap from the car and jettisoning it from his chest at the Metal clad Meat. The not-so gentle giant was hoping for a quick get away but now it realized that it was going to have to fight for this meal.

It looks like Shinji finally caught its undying attention. As he lands in front of the blobering beast, it began to suck in pieces of a vacated car. Then it suddenly began to jet them at the hero at quite the speed. With his blades still out, Sentinel began slicing them in half, demonstrating the raw cutting power behind his attacks. One almost happened to hit him, but he simply dodged out of the way and begins to dance around his opponent. While doing so, he reaches out his hands and fires rapid volleys of plasma volts, trying to at least weaken Chok-lad to the point where he can unleash a finishing blow on him.

Regardless, this was gonna get messy...

May 3rd 1:00 pm

Nothing but lab work for the indomitable Tamera. It was tedious, meticulous, long and just plain irritating purifying her own protein samples as side work to the lysate samples she was supposed to be dealing with. So far, nothing out of the norm when she ran her tests (her own proteins stayed together at the correct temperature, denatured normally etc.) so from an analytical stand point she was still confused. Whenever she put the necklace on, she could feel her body temperature drastically lowering and see her own breath. She even took her own temperature once and it read 7.8 degrees Celsius (46 degrees Fahrenheit)! Yet the sample she swabbed showed nothing of the sort. She was a little bit on edge too. What sort of added side effects did this thing have? She seemed to be right back to normal when it was off, healthy and vibrant. Still, she couldn't shake the feeling she was dabbling into something she shouldn't be. The first rule of research is to never test things on yourself, but she liked the idea of the power too much.

"Hey, Sam. Can you run the buffers for me? I've got some extra papers to work on. Please?"

"I will but remember this when i need you to pH my solutions"

"Yeah Yeah", she said running out of the door.

3:00 pm
Sitting over a pen and paper, feeling frustrated, Tamera flicked it over to the news.
"Police department on standby over at NABC HQ, sources say, some sort of standoff is...(trailing)"

Hmm. Maybe this is something i could check out from a side view, She thought with adrenaline pumping. Grabbing her costume, she ran off into the dorm bathroom to change, and snuck out the backdoor.

May 4, 2016
12:49 am

The night was still. The air was warm and a breeze passed between the buildings and over Athens Park, rustling the leaves and the trees. After midnight, the streets were quiet on the edge of the city. The soft glow of the streetlights and the flashing yellow stoplights provided just enough light to see down the empty roads and vacant sidewalks.
The only movement was a man in his bed slippers with a bath robe loosely-tied around his waist, walking his Cairn Terrier. He yawned and scratched through the material of his coffee-stained wife beater that was peeking through his robe. He peered down at the terrier as he tried to rub the sleep from his eyes.

"Come on Todo. It's after midnight and I've only gotten 4 hours of sleep in the past two days writing headlines from all the crazy events that happened yesterday!"

The dog sniffed at yet another tree, deciding this one didn't meet it's standards for an appropriate bathroom either.

"A building full of men were beaten and killed. One was thrown out a window... others were shot in cold blood in the middle of the street in broad daylight. The city just isn't safe anymore." he muttered to himself as the dog moseyed up to another tree.

James Stewart was a journalist for The Olympian and although he was happy with his job, the chaos with yesterdays events kept him glued in front of his computer screen for the past 24 hours. At this point, all that he wanted was some peace and quiet and a little shut-eye before his boss called him in to write about the next tragedy that was bound to happen.
Todo's ears perked up and he started peeing uncontrollably on the spot. Eyes-wide and fur raised. James was curious with his dog's behavior but his focus was far from the dog as goose bumps covered the length of his arms.
His watch began to spin and his hair was lifting straight up. Peeling his gaze away from his watch, James looked up and off into the distance. The stars began to twist and swirl. The building's edges began to distort and warp in unnatural ways. In the center, in the space between the buildings, all light was being pulled into darkness. Todo yelped and ran off in the other direction, yanking the leash from his hands. James yearned to join him. He screamed at his legs, willing them to move but he was frozen in place as sweat slid down his neck.
A pop and a rumble broke the silence as he felt himself being pulled, no; sucked into the void. Suddenly, a mass of black and violet, indigo and flashes of light erupted from the void as an object was hurled from the center of the vortex.
Another BANG that sounded and felt like a sonic boom forced James to look away as glass shattered and the distortion was split and frayed. And just as quickly as it had come in, the air was still, the stars were all in place as they were before and the only disturbance were the sound of car alarms echoing down the neighborhood.
As Jame's eyes regained focus, something was lying on the ground and that something ...was beginning to move.

May 3rd, 2:17 pm...

Arkylius of Atlantis now rode his giant robotic snake, both now out of stealth mode and visible to those around them.

"Where did he go, boy?" asked 'Ark as photographers and onlookers recorded video and took pictures with whatever devices they had on hand.

Arkylius didn't know that reporters would dub him 'Sea Snake' that day. His robotic snake tracked the vantage point of the gunman and the robot and his rider went up the side of a building in stealth mode once again. Sea Snake, as he would be called, turned his invisibility off. The gunman cleaned his tracks rather well, however a single bullet casing remained from one of the high powered sniper bullets. Ark stored the bullet casing in a compartment in the snake and hopped back onto it. Going back into stealth mode the two disappeared once again down the side of the building.

Hours later, 4:19 pm...

The Atlantian rode underwater with his robotic snake to what seemed to be an underground cave. It lead into a chamber that was dry, and rather than try to find a day job and live among the surface dwellers, Ark decided this would in fact be his new home. He pulled several keepsakes from various compartments in the snake, one being an Adventure Time toy of some kind that had both Finn and Jake on it.

"You know I finally found out what this was in that town... these two are on something called a tee-vee show called 'Adventure Time'. This yellow creature is called Jake, what do you think of that name..?" Ark asked as the snake honestly didn't seem too moved by it one way or the other, "I'm just saying, maybe we should give YOU a name..."

_____________________________

The hidden mountain fortress of STRIKE...

Director of STRIKE, Gary Frank, watched news reports and witnessed several new heroes being discovered while also keeping an eye on the black behemoth known as Shayd on another monitor. On another screen was arguably the most powerful hero in the United States, the red white and blue clad Liberty Son, son of the 1970's superheroine Lady Liberty. A folder was laid out across a desk with documents on both of the patriotic heroes, one showing the now much older Lady Liberty in a recent photo...

~KL~

Choc-Lad let out yet another bellowing roar, he just wanted to leave with his steal but he was going to have to do something about the canned Meat that was trying to stop him. Suddenly his roar was interrupted by a volley of light shots that collided with him with very little effect. The attack hurt somewhat but Chok-Lad's unique physiology allowed him to distribute tha damage pretty well. Seeing that this canned Meat meant business, Chok-Lad decided to cause some serious damage and hopefully get the can off of his hands.

Just as the metal Meat was about to strike, Chok-Lad reacted as fast as he could by shoving himself deep into the street and waited a moment. There was a moment of nearly complete silence with the only audible sound being the far off sound of people and cars coupled with the faint buzzing sound of the metal Meat's energy weapons. In the blink of an eye the road was ripped from the ground as the Monster of Choklad inc tore it from the ground and brought it crashing back down to the ground which ended up shooting shrapnel and large chunks of various junk in most directions. Chok-Lad guessed that this would likely take care of the canned Meat but he didn't want to stick around to find out.

With a quick leap Chok-Lad's body contorted into a torrent of chocolate mass and various objects and he entered the now wide open hole into the sewer systems below. He quickly scurried away in the sewer water before more attention was brought to him. As he got far enough away, Chok-Lad opened up his Walkmen and put in a 4 non blondes cassette as he neared his home.

Chok-Lad walked over to Picasso's small home and took out a small, gravel covered piece of sausage that he proceeded to place inside with the tiny turtle. "Piicassooo~" said the Beast from the Sewers as he watched his tiny friend eat his meal.

Adrian inhaled deeply. His lungs were on fire and every inch of him was in searing pain. He blinked slowly trying to wipe the tears from his eyes as he dared to take another breath. "What the hell just happened?" The words and the world still spinning in his head. He closed his eyes willing, pleading with the pain to subside. Images of light and dark, pushes and pulls, distortions and waves had burned their fading afterimages into the black canvas of his inner eyelids.
As the tinnitus faded from his ears, the ringing was replaced by dogs barking and car alarms echoing off in the distance. "How did I get here? I was just..." "DISSONANCE." As quickly as the word left his lips he could see the outline of someone standing before him. A rush of adrenaline; Adrian moved like a lion ready to pounce on its prey. A blast from his hand went sailing, catching the figure in his shoulder and knocking him onto his back and blowing his bath robe to the floor. The man groaned but quickly regained his senses. He screamed and ran in the other direction; a bed slipper abandoned on the sidewalk.
"It wasn't her." Adrian muttered as he staggered to his feet. His head throbbed and his legs were wobbly. A black hoodie bloodied and ripped, clung to his shirt. The golden "I" from the Incredibles movie shown between the zippers. He used the scarlet shirt as a substitute symbol for when he went out paroling as Impulse. The rest of his uniform was comprised of casual black jeans and some black Air Force Ones that he also played basketball in. If it was sunny outside, he'd wear black shades to cover part of his face. Besides partial face obstruction, his main strategy for not getting recognized was the same strategy he used in a fight. "Don't get seen." and "Always to strike first." Impulse was no assassin but he didn't want to be unexpectedly shot or swung on either. His powers (although strong) didn't have any duration. It was like firing a thousand cannons in all directions but if he blinked, they would all disappear. Gunfights were the especially troublesome. He could block a million bullets and have a building fall on him but if two people alternated their shots, one just after the other, he could rely only on blocking one of them and hope to dodge the other. Because of that risk, he preferred to hit first and have that one hit be the only hit he needed.
The pain had almost completely dissipated as he stretched, cracking his knuckles and his neck. Something was still odd though. His clothes had shrunk... or rather, he had grown. He felt heavy, unnatural, off balance. Almost as if he had borrowed someone else's body but kept his height and voice. The streets looked ...newer. No, they didn't have that clean look like new things do... Instead, they seemed more advanced. Sheek. The power lines were made out of carbon fiber. He noticed that the street lights had sensors in them. Every one he walked past had a blue light blink at him and then turn off when he was out of range. "Were there cameras installed in them now?" He became absorbed in deeper though as he noticed more and more 'little' changes all around himself.



Suddenly, a spotlight shown down on him. It illuminated the sidewalk and was bright enough to devour all the shadows around him. He blinked and covered his eyes from the blinding light. "This is the police! Put your hands behind your head and lay face down on the ground!" said the voice through a speaker. The speaker was attached to a drone, which was shining the obnoxiously-bright light down on him. "We said get down on the ground! NOW!" another voice shouted from down the road. A cop car whirred around the corner. Then another and another. They kept flooding in from all directions until Adrian was surrounded. "We go em' surrounded. Closing in!" another cop said into his voice comm.
"Where's the gun?" yet another police man asked to the team.
"I dunno, I don't see it!"
"Are we sure this is the terrorist who bombed the buildings?"
"I said get down!"
"It has to be. He fits the description!"
"Well then, where's the gun?"
"He must have tossed i... I said get down! You have till' the count of three!"
Adrian wasn't even going to wait for the officer to count to "two". He heard the two magic words that get people shot; "Terrorists" and "Gun" and he wasn't about to wait and see which one was going to get him in the most trouble.
"ONE!..."
"I'm not in the mood." He muttered under his breath. Adrian squatted and spread his finger out, palms facing down. A soft boom sounded from underneath and he could feel the rush of wind on his face. As he thought, the police were only startled for a moment before Adrian heard them open fire. Simultaneously, Adrian detonated his impulse barrier and blasted a powerful force out of his hands. His barrier smashed straight through the drone. He saw bullets distort his barrier like ripples on a water's surface, each one being deflected like flicking an ant off a table. Both the shots he fired from either hand hit two police officers, flipping one over the hood of the car and slamming the other's head into a vehicle; denting the door. Adrian landed in between another officer and two squad cars. Before the officer could fire another shot, he detonated his impulse barrier sending the officer flying into the park bushes. The two cop cars behind him were sent flipping over the other vehicles. Metal and glass shards lay littered in the streets. He knew that he hadn't killed any of the cops but they would be out of commission for a while with some severe broken bones and cracked ribs.
Another soft boom and he was airborne again. Then another. He had angled his second blast so that this time he went further up and quickly moved away from the debris and the wreckage. He was higher than most four or five story buildings at this point. "Videogames wish they could double jump like this." he smirked. Another blast. The third one just added to his momentum and he was rapidly climbing higher and higher and moving into the city.
"Those cops were in over their head."
Another blast. It seemed like even the stars were chasing him.
It was bad luck that they cornered him like that on the night his mother was murdered.

May 10th, 10:00 am...

Gary Frank, Director of STRIKE, sat in a secure room facing a large monitor. Frank was currently stationed in the mountain fortress of STRIKE hidden in the Appalachian Mountains on the outskirts of New Athens.



When the monitor came to life, on the other side there was Frank's friend from the Marines Bill Hadley. If not for his lighter colored hair and eyes, Hadley could pass for actor Gary Sinise. The two of them served together in the Marines and were on the ground floor during the early days of STRIKE in the 70's. Both men were well into their seventies age-wise, but either of them could pass for an in-shape forty-something.

"Bill..." Frank said aloud at the screen.

"Frank... it doesn't look good. On his way out of the Quad, Liberty Son set off a telekinetic wave that fried every electronic device on that side of the building. It also made a vegetable out of Soldier of Fortune..." Hadley responded with a grim look on his face, "He's completely broken contact."

"Yesterday that bastard Shayd destroyed most of Westman Chemical. Tore up Highland Park too, that's where Lady Liberty decided to take her dog for a walk. Bad news travels fast even with friends in the media. Damn shame too, Bella was a doll." the STRIKE Director reminisced.

"Couple of aliens were found torn apart, and the hero Sentinel was hospitalized as well?" Hadley asked.

"Yeah, we're not sure if it was Bella's boy or not. He may be looking for Shayd. Witnesses described the man as wearing red white and blue, so there's a chance it's him. He may have just gone completely off the deep end. Over four dozen confirmed deaths at Westman Chemical, at least another two dozen in the hospital. The only fatality at the park was Bella." Frank continued.

"Almost looks like somebody wanted her dead and used the destruction to their advantage..." Hadley commented.

2:11 pm, same day....

"You are practically a God, you HAVE to have battled Shayd! Tell me what you know!" the blonde haired former hero screamed unleashing his telekinetic fury on the American legend in the flesh.

The telekinetic energy poured a yellow color from his eyes under the hood of his twisted suit as he broke the manifestation of Paul Bunyan in a field of energy. The two men were in the wreckage of Highland Park that had been sanctioned off from the general public and only city workers and volunteers had access in the clean up process. Those civilians though had already ran off minutes into the misunderstanding. Only rumors and a crappy phone video recording made the news headlines in the Olympian Gazette.

May 12th, 4 pm. New Athens...

Hadley and an entourage of plain clothed STRIKE agents stepped out of a car parked outside one of the many Silver Dollar Coffee Shops around the city, and entered into the cleared out building.

"You've got to be kidding me right?" Hadley said as he looked at the table where a small cardboard box sat atop it, "This," he motioned to the box as he looked at the agents accompanying him, "This turtle is suppose to be what gets a giant morphing chocolate monster on our government sanctioned super team?"

He turned to stare back at the agents once again.

"Seriously?" he said with an exasperated sigh sitting down at the table with the box and putting his head in his hands, "If this is some joke it's not a funny one..." he muttered.

May 12th, 10:46 pm...

The half human half alien Polaris searched the woods for an alien container with no idea what it really held inside. Luxe just knew the United Planets put a big enough bounty on the container for the woman to come back to this mudball in the Milky Way Galaxy. Her pulse rifle drawn, she looked down a bit of a cliff to see the metallic container. With her Starlord-like mask/helmet she could see that the container had been breached. And that there were parts of another starship floating up the Kirby River. A flicker of light caught her attention and when she focused her headgear's lenses she saw it.



An energy creature had escaped from the container and bolted in and out of existence with incalculable speed. He eventually bolted into a powerline and an electrical surge could be seen heading into the city. More specifically the empty Mercury Mall...

"Damn..." Luxe said under her breath looking onward.

@MsMellow @rocketrobie2

~KL~

May 11th, 0900

STRIKE agents had been staked out, watching the chocolate creature for days now. Their superiors wanted to know everything there was to know about this thing, but all there seemed to be was an odd love for this turtle. Every single day the monster was tailed by the agents, he always came back home to his hideaway in the sewers that connected to an old abandonned subway tunnel.

"Just bring me the damn turtle then... Hadley out." came over the agent's ear pieces.

"Roger that" said an agent who was currently and cautiously walking through knee high sewage in a pair of rubber fishing pants.

"So run this assignment by me one more time?" said another agent who had neglected to bring protection from the sewage that now stained his suit's pant legs.

"We tail Hershey Bar and find out everything there is to know about him. If you'd been here with me and Michaels the last two days you would've known to wear the right gear by now." said a chubbier STRIKE agent in rubber pants and suspenders, flashlight in hand.

"Well exuse me for trying to keep up a social life Mr.'I-practically-live-at-base'. Some of us need to go out and live life a little." the ill-prepared agent said as he lifted his leg up to check the damage done to his precious slacks.

"Oh I got everything I need back at HQ. Personal quarters, cafetteria food that ain't half bad, and Agent Mendoza..." the chubby agent said in a tone as if he had little hearts in his eyes.

"Is she the one with..." the third agent began to ask before the chubby guy cut him off.

"She's none of your damn business Michaels. She works in tech support, we had a moment in the shooting range together... I see a future with her and five kids. I might even trade in my 'stang for a minivan!" the chubby agent continued coming up on the helpless turtle with a brown cardboard box.

May 11th, 11:42 am

Chok-lad had been out 'hunting' some deli meats at various shops around town. The big brute was glad to not have run into anymore armoured Meats while out and was even more happy about the amount of various meats that he was able to get for himself and Picasso.

With a low grunt Chok-Lad announced his pressence to his shelled friend. When he didn't hear the distinct rustling coming from Piasso's aquarium home, Chok-Lad became concerned. Chok-Lad hurried over to find a horrific sight. Picasso was gone.

Chok-Lad looked under everything in his immediate vicinity but when he couldn't find his friend he began to get angry. "GRRRRRAAAGGGHHH!" The Beast of Choklad Inc called out as his form spiked out into pointy protrusions and his body mass became scalding to touch. Chok-Lad's roar was loud enough for even those across town to hear his voice coming up from the sewers.