Scott and Amber stood outside of The Elite Lounge just feet from the front door. Buster Keaton’s Revenge had finished their set and Eric was inside trying to secure the band for opening night of their own night spot, The Hub. People rushed past them, going in and out of the club. However, Scott and Amber stood outside as they waited for Eric to finish his wheeling and dealing.

Scott had suspected that Eric’s insistence that Scott wait outside with Amber had been a strategic move to get the two of them to spend some more time together alone, a maneuver that had Scott wanting to punch him, and thank him all at the same time. Although he had been skeptical about being set up with Amber, Scott had found that he really did have a good time with her, and he could not deny that there was a fair amount of chemistry between them.

As they stood outside making idle chat about the evening thus far while they waited for Eric to finish dealings. As they stood up against the brick façade of the building, Scott noticed that Amber had begun to shiver slightly. It hadn’t donned on him that it had gotten considerably cooler since they began their night in the lounge. Because he wasn’t affected as much by the weather, it had hardly registered that she might be cold.

“You’re shivering.” He said, genuinely concerned.

“It’s alright, I’m fine.” Amber replied.

“No, you’re not.” Scott said as he removed his coat and draped it over her shoulders.

She accepted the coat and was pleasantly surprised that it was quite warm.

“Thanks.” She said as she zipped up the coat.

“Don’t mention it.” Scott said as his phone began to vibrate.

He took the phone from his pocket and opened the screen, seeing that he had a new text message from Eric. Its message was simple, “Hung up inside. Take her home. ;)”Scott shook his head and smiled.

“It was Eric, he said that he’s going to be awhile and we should take off.” He said, still unable to believe the lengths that his friend would go to ensure that he and Amber had a memorable evening.

“It’s alright, I should probably head home anyhow, I have to work in the morning.” She said almost reluctantly.

“Well, let me walk you home.” Scott said with a smile.

“Okay.” She said as she nodded, a smile beginning to form on her face.

They walked the 8 blocks from The Elite to Amber’s home, a nice two story brownstone which had been converted into townhouses. As they walked, Amber told him about how she lived their with her younger brother and his girlfriend, and how she put her plans on hold to move to Lost Haven to help him out as he had gotten into some trouble, financial and otherwise. As they made the 8 block journey, they had been so wrapped up in their own conversations that the never noticed the black SUV that had been slowly trailing them from the time they left the club.

When they finally reached the brownstone, Scott walked Amber to the front door. She took her keys out and once she found the right key for the front door, she stuck it in the lock and opened the door.

“I had a great time tonight.” Scott said.

“I did too.” Amber replied with a smile as she backed into her house.

“We should…do it again sometime.” He told her.

“We should.” She agreed.

Slowly, Scott began to lean in for a good night kiss.

“Goodnight.” She said with a smirk before closing the door on him before their lips met. Scott stood there for a second with a silly grin on his face before he turned and made his way back down the steps to the street.

He looked back to the brownstone, still smiling.

“Goodnight.” He said as he began making his way down the street toward the subway station, never noticing that the black SUV was still following close behind him.

A GROWING PROBLEM – PART V

I awaken to a constricting feeling across my arms and legs. I’m foggy and disoriented, can barely remember how I got here. Wait, no. I do remember. I was fighting that Foliage kid, and he overwhelmed me with those vines of his. I was pinned to the ground, and then he sprayed me with some kind of flower… I open my eyes. My body is wrapped in vines from the shoulders down. They move and throb like little green snakes. I look up and see that I’m suspended from the field goal posts, just as that football player was.

Foliage descends on an oversized leaf, looking smug as ever. “I warned you not to cross me, bug. Now, you’ll share his fate,” he says as he nods in the direction of the opposite field goal post, where the aforementioned football player is still dangling.

“What are you going to do, Foliage? Pollinate us to death?” I shout back with as much bravado as I can muster. Truth be told, my first “supervillain” fight isn’t going so well for me.

Foliage smirks. “Not quite.” He holds his hands out in front of himself and closes his eyes. The ground beneath the football field begins to shake, and I catch the entangled football player giving me a nervous glance. A big red plant bursts from beneath the soil. It’s easily two stories tall. The plant is cylindrical with a large opening at the top. It looks like a rolled leaf that sealed itself shut at the seam.

“Carnivorous plants are fascinating, don’t you think?” Foliage asks loudly, making sure both of us can here. He waves to the big red plant currently occupying midfield. “Take this pitcher plant, for instance. It evolved for habitats in which the soil lacked the necessary nutrients for survival and was forced to find those nutrients elsewhere.” Foliage lowers himself to the plant’s side, pressing a hand to its outer surface. “The inside of the leaf is coated with a waxy lining which ensures that its prey cannot simply climb out. Eventually, the prey succumbs to fatigue and falls to the base of the pitcher, where a pool of digestive enzymes does the rest.”

I call back, “Jabba, this is your last chance! Free us… or die.”

Foliage looks at me, bewildered. “What?”

“Oh, come on, man. No love for Return of the Jedi? I mean, I know Empire’s the superior film, but—“

“Shut up!” Foliage barks. The vines around my body constrict. “It’s time to end this!”

I begin to feel myself moving towards the pitcher plant. Foliage’s vines are willing me forward. My exoskeletal blades extend slowly through the thicket surrounding my body. I can hardly move, so I twist and turn as much as I can. The blades slowly begin to cut into the vines, but I’m not sure I’ll free myself in time. I can see over the mouth of the pitcher, down to the bubbling pool of digestive fluids waiting at the bottom. Once I’ve made some headway, I begin to slice faster. Finally, I feel the vines go just limp enough, and not a moment too soon.

I burst through Foliage’s ensnarement and somersault over the pitcher plant. I hit the turf with a roll, and Foliage is on top of me in an instant. He calls forth a veritable forest of vines, branches, leaves, and thorns. I’ll never be able to cut my way through. He’s too smart and too well-defended to let me get close. Okay, Sean, think, I coach myself. That’s when it hits me. The way he winces and flinches whenever I take out one of his plants. He must be able to feel their pain somehow.

I begin hopping and scaling up the bleachers to avoid Foliage’s onslaught. So, Foliage is somehow in tune with his plants. If I can cause them enough suffering, he’ll be too distracted to put up his defenses. From there, all I need is one clean shot at the man himself. But how do I harm the plants? What kills plants? I ask myself. Fire, but that’s too risky. If I lost control of it, I’d risk doing more harm than good. On the other hand, if I could freeze them…

Liquid nitrogen. I know for a fact that chemistry lab has some. My professor brought it out last semester for a demonstration. He froze a rubber band and dropped it to the floor, where it shattered into a million little pieces. If I can break away from Foliage long enough to get to the science building and find a canister, I can put an end to this madness. But first, I have to rescue this football player. It wouldn’t do to leave him alone like this.

I hop across the field, narrowly dodging a thorny branch and some razor sharp leaves. Blades extended, I leap towards the field goal posts. I crash into the football player, and my blades slice through the vines keeping him suspended. We begin to tumble towards the seats. I spin us both around so that I’m falling first, and I raise my armor just in time. My back slams into the seats behind the end zone, the force of impact being displaced across the hard exoskeletal plates.

“Thanks,” the football player says breathlessly as he shrugs off the withering vines around his torso. I see a branch rise up behind him.

“Don’t thank me yet!” I grab onto his shoulder and spin us both out of the branch’s path. Clamoring to my feet, I keep my grip on the football player as I tug him forward. “Let’s move!” Foliage’s plants are literally nipping at our heels as we scramble up the bleachers towards the top of the stadium. We finally reach the top, and all of campus is sprawled out before us.

The football turns to me. “What now?” he asks, exasperated.

I glance over my shoulder. Foliage is gaining ground, his nasty little plants in tow. “Now, we jump,” I answer. I grab onto the football player around the waist with one arm as I push off with as much strength as I can muster. We clear the quad next to the stadium in one jump, landing somewhat softly on the grass a good distance away. I turn to the football player. “You know, you’re a far cry from the ‘damsels in distress’ that I usually save. Go run and find somewhere safe.”

“There’s nowhere you can run, Mantis!” Foliage shouts. He steps off his leaf onto the leaf of a beanstalk waiting outside the stadium. “I’ll turn this whole campus against you, root to stem!”

“Only if you catch me first!” I call back.

Before Foliage can accept my challenge, I begin my mad dash for the sciences building. Luckily, it isn’t far from here. As I’m running, Foliage calls up all manners of snares and traps from the dirt to try and stop me. It’s an exercise in reflexes that keeps me going. I begin running on the side of a building, hearing the sound of smashing glass to signify that Foliage’s pets are right on my tail. Finally, the science building is in sight. I make the jump across the quad, landing near a second story window. The chemistry lab is on the third floor.

The building begins to shake, and I look down to see the greenhouse below erupt into a maelstrom of whipping vines. The plants begin shooting up the side of the building with alarming speed. “Geez! I had heard of the Ivy League, but this is ridiculous!” With my hands planted firmly against the brick face of the building, I swing my legs back and upwards, letting the momentum carry me through a third story window feet first.

I land inside an empty classroom moments before the window to my left explodes as vines burst through. In close quarters like this, I’m toast if I let Foliage pin me down. I begin ducking and weaving through the vines, occasionally getting tripped up. Another blitz of razor leaves comes my way, and I flip over a desk barely in time to block it. I lower my shoulder into the hallway door, not wanting to spend another minute trapped in that classroom.

Once in the hallway, I have some peace and quiet. I let my knowledge of the building lead me to the chemistry lab. A quick stinger blast blows the knob off the locked door. I begin tearing through the place, looking for liquid nitrogen. After a minute of searching, I finally find a container. It’s about the size of a fire extinguisher with a nozzle at the top for attaching a hose. Tucking it under my arm, I dash back into the hallway.

“Oh, you have got to be kidding me.”

Foliage’s vines have worked their way into the hallway, turning the far end into a jungle. As if they can sense me, the vines begin spreading rapidly in my direction. I figure there’s only one thing to do. Extending a single blade, I stab a hole into the side of the container. The pressurized air rushes out of the canister, and I splash the liquid on the growing weeds. They begin to recoil and wither, turning black almost instantly. In this way, I push the vines all the way back to the classroom and back out the window.

“Hey, Foliage!” I shout from the shattered window. “Catch!” I throw the canister into the air towards Foliage, perched on his little beanstalk. Once it’s directly overhead, I take aim and fire a charged stinger blast. The canister erupts, pouring down liquid nitrogen on Foliage and all his plants. The latter shrink and wither on contact. Foliage holds his head in his hands and screams.

Seizing my opening, I throw myself at Foliage head first. I ball my right hand into a fist and pull it back. Once I’m close enough, I release a punch strong enough to knock a boxer on his back. Foliage falls from his leaf, and I quickly grab the front of his overalls. We both hit the ground with a tumble. Though I can stand, Foliage is out cold. The vines which haven’t begun to die simply hang lifelessly from the side of the building. “Green looks better on me, anyway,” I say to no one in particular.

Zac Wilson | Kelly Brown
Kelly held up a pair of jeans up to her waist. While they were the correct length and waist size, Kelly knew that they were not fit her solely because the wasp abdomen. Unless she was willing to mutilate the back of the jeans, they would never fit her.

“This is going to be one heck of a wardrobe make-over.” Kelly said to herself, although Zac could hear her complaints. She folded up the pair of jeans she had held and placed them back on the display stand. Ever since Kelly had her little ‘growth sprit’ in Lost Haven, Kelly was in dire need for a new wardrobe since her clothes would surely not fit her due to the several inches she gained. Luckily for her, Alice provided her some clothes that allowed her to conceal some of her unusual traits (especially her wasp abdomen). Adding a toboggan that was pulled down over her Wasp Antennae and some sun-glasses to cover her black compound-eyes, she looked as normal as someone with her features could look. She tried to hide her lower arms under one of Zac’s sweatshirts, but there was still a noticeable bulge caused by her arms, no matter how she arranged them.

“Maybe we should buy you one pair of pants? Just in case?” Zac asked his girlfriend, although by the expression she gave him, he knew that the answer to his question would be no.

“I think I probably should stick with the dresses like the one I am wearing now.”

“Well, then, off to the dress section, I guess.” As Zac and Kelly exited the jean section and entered the dress section, Kelly kept her eyes turned towards the ground. Zac noticed something was bothering, but he could not place his finger on it.

“Anything bothering you, Kelly? Beyond the obvious?” And what he meant by the ‘obvious’ was the pressure for her to hide her wasp appearance.

“I still feel a little guilty about what happened to your mother. I mean,” Kelly started, lowering her voice as she started the second sentence, “My appearance made her faint!”

“Don’t worry about it.” Zac said as he placed his arm around his girlfriend’s shoulder, although he had to reach up since she was still slightly taller than he was, even when Zac was in his regular appearance. “My dad even got a good laugh out of it. When we were carrying her out to the car, there were several frat boys walking by. My dad couldn’t resist the temptation to say that my mom had a little too much to drink.”

Kelly just shook her head, not believing that Zac’s dad said that about his wife. “Your dad has a twisted sense of humor.”

“Tell me about it.” Zac replied. Once they reached the dress section, Kelly picked out several dresses that were similar to the one she was wearing, although they were different colors. In addition, she picked out some nice shirts and blouses that match her new dresses.

Once they had finished Kelly’s emergency shopping spree, Zac proposed the idea of going out for dinner.

“Sure, just let me go to the restroom to reapply some make-up. I don’t want to look too pale. Anyways, I need to stretch out, if you know what I mean.” Kelly had kept her lower pair of arms hidden within her sweatshirt for this whole time. She obviously needed to stretch out her arms. Zac nodded, agreeing with her reasoning.

---

Kelly plopped her purse on the restroom counter, pulling out some make-up to apply to her face. While it would by no means hide her yellowish-pale skin tone, the make-up would help make it less noticeable. At the same time, she pulled out her two lower arms from under her sweatshirt. The feeling she felt by doing that was like what a person would feel when he was stretching his limbs out after a long car trip. However, the serenity of this moment would not last.

Behind her, Kelly heard a little girl scream. Kelly had been taken a little of guard by this because she did not consider the possibility that someone else could also be in the restroom at the same time. She trusted that her boyfriend would text her if anyone was heading towards the women’s restroom, but she forgot that someone might have already been occupying the restroom.

“You’re a monster, scaring little child.” The mother of the child said. What she said was a low blow toward Kelly, or at least that is how Kelly saw it. She shoved the make-up into her purse, grasped her toboggan, and stomped out of the restroom. Once she exited the restroom, she dashed out of the mall, tears starting to run from her eyes.

“Kelly?” Zac said, worried when he saw that his girlfriend was rushing out of the store in tears. He ran after her, trying to catch up to her. He finally found her sitting in a nearby side alleyway, bawling out her eyes.

“What’s wrong, Kelly?”

“Nothing.” Kelly lied. However, Zac could see straight through her lie. Zac sat down right next to her and placed his arm over her shoulder.

“Come on, Kelly. You can tell me.”

“Alright. A woman in the restroom called me a freak because I accidently frightened her kid. But that wasn’t what really hurt me. It reminded what my mom called when yesterday when she called. She called me a freak. My own mother.”

“Don’t worry, Kelly. She’ll turn around.” He pulled Kelly closer towards him, wrapping his arms around her. “My dad said he would do his best, too. So you never know. So, what do you say about getting dinner?”

Kelly looked up to her boyfriend as she lay in his arms. “That would be great. Get my mind off all this ‘freak’ stuff.”

Zac Wilson | Kelly Brown
One of the most annoying sounds one can hear in the morning is an alarm clock. While it might be necessary so that one might not be late for work, class, or anything else, the noise emitted by the clock still is not always pleasant sounding to everyone. Once he had heard the alarm go off for the third time, Zac finally turned off the alarm and sat up on the edge of his bed, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. He groggily stumbled into the apartment kitchen and popped two Pop-Tarts into their toaster. While he waited for his pastries to finish baking, Zac poured himself a glass of milk.

Out of the bathroom walked out Kelly, dressed in one of her new dresses that they had bought for her the day before. The dress she was wearing was yellow, matched with a black blouse. “How do I look?” Kelly asked her boyfriend, spinning around in a circle so that Zac could see her new outfit from every angle.

“You look like the most beautiful wasp-girl I know.” Zac said with a grin. Kelly strolled over to where Zac was standing in the kitchen and leaned against the kitchen counter, tilting her head towards Zac.

“Zac, I’m the only wasp-girl you know.”

“But it’s the truth. You are the most beautiful wasp-girl I know.” Zac reached over to Kelly and kissed her on her cheek.

“You don’t think it is too cliché for me to be wearing yellow and black since I kind of a human-wasp hybrid?” Kelly wrapped her four arms around her boyfriends, two above his shoulders and two around his waist.

“Um, maybe just a little. However, it would be more cliché if you had yellow and black stripes on your outfit. Anyways, if you don’t mind me asking, what’s the occasion that called for you to get dressed so early?”

“Zac,” Kelly began to say, rubbing her hand through Zac’s hair, “I have class, because it is Monday. I always have classes on Monday.”

“Kelly, shouldn’t you maybe let things cool down and take a day off from classes?”

“I haven’t missed classes yet since I started college. That isn’t going to start now.” The toaster suddenly popped the Pop-Tarts up. Kelly reached over one of her lower arms and snatched up one of the toaster pastries. She split it in half and took a bite out of one of the halves. “Brown Sugar Cinnamon. Nice choice.” Kelly took the other half of the Pop-Tart out of which she did not take a bite and placed it in her boyfriend’s mouth.

“So,” Kelly asked her boyfriend, “When is that meeting with the NCAA about those alleged rule violations?” Zac’s eyes opened up wide. He had forgotten about that meeting because of all the shenanigans that happened over the weekend in Lost Haven. Zac swiped up the last Pop-Tart from the toaster and scarfed it down, along with his milk. Then he hurried over to the bathroom so that he could take a quick shower. Kelly just shook her head while she watched her boyfriend hurry around frantically. Kelly lifted up her backpack, slung it around her shoulders, and headed out for class.

---

“Maybe I should have listened to Zac’s advice about skipping class.” Kelly thought. Although she was wearing a similar outfit as yesterday (sunglasses, toboggan, sweatshirt, etc.), Kelly still felt as if everyone was giving her strange stares. Even though she could now see the nursing school, Kelly had this weird sense of foreboding that something bad was going to happen.

“Hey Wasp B****!” Someone yield from behind her. Kelly just ignored that person’s remarks. She was not going to allow anyone taunt her into doing anything stupid, like retaliating. All she did was quicken her walking pace.

“Yo Abomination of God!” Someone else shouted. This time, the insult was followed swiftly by a snowball that pelted Kelly in the back.

“Come on, Kelly, you’re stronger than this. Just ignore them and get to class.” Kelly thought, trying to muster enough will power to get her through this heckling.

“Hey Wasp B****! I was talking to you!” This time the shout was much closer to Kelly then the last two. Then suddenly, Kelly felt someone grasp her butt. The feeling of awkwardness and violation put Kelly over the edge. She would put up insults and snowballs, but this had gone too far. Kelly immediately turned around. She would have backhanded whoever did that sickening deed, if she had noticed that the man was holding an aerosol can. As soon he sprayed the content within the can, Kelly immediately crumbled to the ground in immense agony. It felt like her skin was burning up.

“See guys, I told you bug spray would work!”

---

Zac crumbled onto the couch out of exhaustion. Today had been an extremely long and tedious for him: he had to do an ‘interview’ with the NCAA about the alleged ‘rule violations’. And this was on top of classes, too. He was bouncing from place to place so quickly that he did not have the time to get a proper lunch. Once he heard his stomach growling, he quickly picked up his phone to call Kelly to see what she wanted for dinner. It was actually quite weird that she was not already back by now. She would always beat him home from classes on Mondays.

“Hey...” Zac heard Kelly’s voice say. Zac was about ready to speak until he heard the rest, “You reached the phone of Kelly Brown. I’m sorry I’m not available to receive your call. Just leave a short message and I’ll get back to you as soon as I can!”

“That was weird,” Zac thought, “Kelly would almost always pick up her phone. While wouldn’t have access to it while she was at class, by this time of day, she was definitely out of class.”

Suddenly their apartment telephone rung. Zac rushed over to the phone and answered it.

“Hello?” Zac asked. They would rarely ever get any calls on this line, primarily because both Zac and Kelly had their own cell phones.

“Is this Zac Wilson?” A voice said on the other end of the receiver. It was definitely a woman who was speaking.

“Yes this is. What is this about?”

“This is the Albany Medical Center Hospital. Your girlfriend, Kelly Brown, had an extremely severe allergic reaction this morning. But don’t worry, we have stabilized her and she will be fine. When will we be expecting you?”

“I will being heading over right now!” Zac said, pulling on his winter coat. “If you don’t mind me asking, but was caused the allergic reaction?”

There was a short silence on the other end of the phone. However, the woman on the phone finally spoke up. “Um, this might sound crazy, but apparently bug spray caused it.”

::Abaddon::

Arthur lifted his head slightly at the alarm sounding near his head, then groaned. He tried to shift himself toward the source of the offending sound, only to be hindered by the bed's other occupant, awkwardly draped over him. He groaned again, trying to extricate himself from the other man's embrace. His reward was a sound somewhere between a growl and a whimper, and a tightening of the grip around him. Arthur, performing a worthy (and moreover authentic) snarl, practically leapt out from under the other man's grip, slamming down hard on the alarm clock. Any other system would have seen that as their death blow, but Elliot was used to his client's... less-than-savory moods in the morning. Finally freed of the Most Annoying Sound, Arthur fell back, rolling his eyes as Logan's arms began snaking around him again.

"Early to rise, Logan. Training day today."

"Don't wanna," he replied, defiantly tightening his grip. Arthur broke out a rare smile, gently beginning what would be an epic battle to free himself from his boyfriend's clutches.

"Come on, you promised. We shook hands on it." Sort of...

"Too tired to care. Let's just stay home. Sleep. Eat cookies or whatever."

"I'm under no illusions of what 'whatever' translates to in your deluded little mind--"

"Nuuuuuuhhh, too early for big words--"

"--come on. If you're a good boy today, I might give you a treat."

Logan finally raised his head, fixing his significant other with a squinty glare.

"How do you do that?"

"What?"

"That weird, condescendy thing, and still make me like it."

Arthur smiled again (this was surely becoming a new record) and patted the other man's cheek fondly. "Ancient superhuman secret."

Logan wrinkled his nose, unimpressed. "That doesn't make any sense. I'm a Meta, too."

"Then clearly you are untrained, and thus, all the more reason for us to do so today," said Arthur, grinning smugly. Logan rolled his eyes.

"You owe me," he said grumpily, making a great show of tossing off the covers and flinging himself out of bed, before practically stomping off to the bathroom.

"You complete me!" shouted Arthur after him, earning a very particular finger in response. Arthur then stood up, stretching, getting himself into what Logan called his "Business Mode."

Let's go catch some bad guys.

Scott was feeling pretty good. He had really enjoyed his evening with Amber. Much to his dismay, he knew that he would have to admit to Eric that he had been right all along, and that there certainly seemed to be a bit of chemistry between he and the young woman. Eric had been trying to set them up almost from the moment that Scott arrived in Lost Haven, despite his friend’s protests. On this night, Scott had been glad for his friend’s persistence, because if Eric had simply taken him at his word, he never would have met Amber.

He walked toward the subway station in the brisk night air. Though he could simply fly back to his apartment and be home in a matter of moments, Scott enjoyed taking the time to do things that normal people did on a daily basis. He found that it kept him grounded, and to a man with the abilities that he had, he felt that staying grounded was essential.

As Scott continued his trek toward the subway station, a black SUV sped toward him, coming to a skidding halt on the sidewalk before him. He tensed at the sudden arrival of the vehicle, not knowing who was inside or what they wanted. The doors of the SUV opened, and the driver, a pretty young brunette stepped out of the vehicle, followed by a man who looked to be in his early thirties. Then from the back of the vehicle emerged a mountain of a man. The large man who’s stringy black hair concealed his face was built like an Olympic power lifter and stood at nearly seven feet.

“You’re a hard man to find.” The young woman said casually as she stepped toward him. “We’ve been looking for you for a long time.”

“I think you have me confused with someone else.” Scott said dismissively.

“I don’t think so. Do you know anybody else who has a habit of being in the right place at the right time…stopping assassinations, catching space stations…?” She replied, a smile beginning to form on her lips.

She knows. Scott thought to himself as a sick feeling began to spread through his insides. He knew from the very beginning that someday someone might figure out his identity, and he had always told himself that should that day ever arrive, he would deal with it. However, never in his wildest dreams did he ever believe that it would happen so soon. He didn’t know who these people were, and he wasn’t sure what to do. Running would do him no good, they obviously had tracked him this far, they would know where he lived.

“What is it that you want?” Scott asked.

“We want you to come with us.” The woman said flatly.

“Not interested.” Scott said dismissively.

“Scott, wait.” The woman said, an almost pleading tone to her voice. “Haven’t you ever wondered where you came from? Don’t you have any questions about who you are…who you REALLY are?”

She had managed to hit a nerve. He had always wondered about just who or what he was and how he had been given his abilities. However, he didn’t trust the woman and her companions and was not willing to give them whatever it was that they had wanted.

“Not going to happen.” Scott said as he pushed past the woman and began walking down the street.

“Sorry, can’t let you do that. I have my orders,” She said, and then eyed the large mountain of a man who stood beside her. “Richter.” She said, nodding in Scott’s direction.

The big man started after Scott, grabbing him by the arm. Scott shrugged the man off of him, pushing him away.

“Not a smart move.” The woman said to no one in particular.

The large man grabbed Scott again, spinning him around to face him, then landed a hard right cross to Scott’s chin, which sent him crashing into the parked SUV. The impact knocked the vehicle up onto two wheels before it came back down, bouncing on the ground, the shocks and struts creaking under the stress.

Scott looked up as the big man was bearing down on him, moving in for another attack.

I raise a single brow incredulously as the iron man jests about nonexistent Greek Gods and attempts to engage me in banter. His babble is meaningless and I let it roll over me like water as I look around at the remains of the battered city. I know that I exorcised most of the cancer, but much of it might reappear if I do not finish the job. I have seen how disaster brings suffering and how the suffering allows the cancer to grow and the parasites to show in droves to feast.

It will not happen here! I let a thread of my attention trickle back to the iron man as he finished talking. “You talk too much.” I say. “And you make no sense. I am bringing healing to the World. I stopped this storm and will now heal this city just as I healed this little one’s mother.” And as I speak the little girl’s mother starts to stir, her eyes flickering towards me with pure gratitude and adoration. I feel the warmth that healing always brings me and wish I could do more.

“Thank you. Thank you for saving my mom.” I hear the voice of the child as she attempts to hug me. I allow it and overhead I feel the vibrations in the air as news helicopters capture this iconic moment on camera. Now it is time. “Stand back little one.” I say kindly before I begin to make the changes I that the World demands.

Crimson wings flare out around my body as I begin to call to the World. I hold a picture in my mind of what will be as I feel the World answer. Then I tell it to change again. The World convulses around me, but I hold it steady so that the man in his suit and the mother and child are not harmed. The nodes of cancer were destroyed and I do not need to obliterate pieces of the city for the storm has already done so.

The wave of change washes over the city, repairing all the damage of the storm and the decay that the cancer and parasites had brought. I do make some changes, where the storm destroyed slums I raise up fine homes and parks but I mostly restore for the cancer and parasites would turn the people of the World against me if they could.

Last a ray of red light descends from the skies to engulf my body and I veil myself again as I rise. But I leave behind a record of my presence. A golden statue on a pedestal rests where I had stood, a statue of my angelic form embracing a mother and child to protect them. I speak one last time and the words linger for a moment before I am gone again. “I am Mercy and I will not rest until this world is healed.”

Christopher Arthur III

Chris beheld the newly transformed city, astonished at seeing the whole infrastructure change before his very eyes. However, even though he knew that the city was being restored, lives had been lost in the storm, or at least that what Christ thought. According to the Intel provided by S.T.R.I.K.E., apparently, only the “shady” parts of Little Ulster were extremely revamped and there were no traces of the occupants who lived in those areas. Did everyone whom this red angelic character considered a part of this group deserve to die? How many sons and daughters lost their parents that day? How many fathers and mothers lost their children? Are all these peopled destined to be damned for their decisions or for the decisions of others? One man in Little Ulster almost fell 80 feet to his death, had he not had the reflexes to steady himself.

“You talk too much.” The Red angelic figure said. “And you make no sense. I am bringing healing to the World. I stopped this storm and will now heal this city just as I healed this little one’s mother.”

“Talked too much?” Chris thought, “If she thought I was talking too much, she hasn’t seen anything yet! What do you want to hear? Homer? Hesiod? A little Plato?”

Then the child embraced the crimson angel and thanked her for saving her mother. This sentiment sickened Chris, since he knew that the angelic figure probably caused the weird weather in the first place. Chris deduced this because he knew that weather patterns, like the one that just happened, could never spring up out of nowhere. The storm had to develop and move into the area. What are the chances that a character who could almost ‘magically’ fix anything happens to appear in an area that was suffering from freak weather patterns? There have been hundreds of examples of this type of deceit in the literature, comics, and films: Watchmen, The Incredibles, heck, even the Miser Brothers’ Christmas for crying out loud.

“How come the other neighboring cities, like New York City wasn’t affected?” Chris pondered.

However, before he could do anything, the crimson figure arose into the air, leaving behind a golden replicate of herself where she had stood. Her figure shielded a mother and child from harm’s way.

“I am Mercy and I will not rest until this world is healed.” She called out as she departed from Newark, whose name now had a double meaning, as Newark was now newly recreated.

“Some healer,” Chris thought, “She had to use a freak storm first in order to ‘heal’, if my assumptions are correct. She is a dangerous one, as absolute power corrupts absolutely, as the saying goes.”

Since the cause of the disturbance was gone, Chris was about ready to depart. However, the golden pedestal still did not sit well with him. While he was not by any means the most religious man in the world, he still had a regular Christian upbringing. The pedestal reminded him of a story in the Old Testament, in Exodus to be exact. While Moses was on Mount Sinai, where he received the Ten Commandments, the Israelites had forged a golden calf, which was a false idol. Therefore, God punished the Israelites. While he did not know if God would do anything about this statue, Chris did not want to find out what if God decided to do something.

Then an extremely rash thought entered Chris’ mind. Once the crowd had cleared away from the pedestal, Chris would have turned towards the statues and activated his energy pilum. Chris would have hurled the spear of pure energy towards the golden monument, shattering it into countless pieces. Everyone nearby would have thrown up their arms and complained about why would he do such a thing. The only answer Chris would have given them before he departed was “Bill me”.

However, doing such an action would not be wise, as vexing a metahuman who had almost god-like abilities would probably have dire consequences. Therefore, he just left, although he might have left scorch marks next to the pedestal.

He was uncertain what was going on. The first sensation that he had been graced with upon his awakening was a terrible pain in his head and a feeling of heaviness that made it hard to move his limbs. And there was this abominable itch in his hands and feet. Though he had quickly realized that his limbs were also restrained by metal shackles that held him down upon the table that he had woken up upon. Attempts to turn his head to either side only proved to be more confusing as the room looked like something that belonged in a horror movie far more than something that anyone would see in real life.

Harsh florescent lights illuminated the room with an intense radiance that left almost no place for shadows and was painful enough that he could not see without squinting. Strange devices that he could not identify surrounded the metal table that he was strapped to and though he strained against the metal shackles he did not have any luck breaking free and there seemed to be no give in them. The man could not remember how he had come to be in this position, the last thing he remembered was a foul smell as he had walked down an alley and then there was nothing but darkness until he had woken up.

The harsh sound of industrial air filters whirring in the background made it difficult for him to notice the other sound at first. A heavy and labored sound of breathing through a filter, a sound that had been so distinctive that it had inspired many others to adopt it for cinematic villains. The man managed to crane his head up enough to get a look ahead in an attempt to see where the sound was coming from and was rewarded for it by a vision that he recognized with incredulity and surprise. "What the fuck?!" issued forth with surprise as he took in the sight before him.

A man stood on the other side of a transparent wall of reinforced glass, a man clad in an archaic black uniform of a style that had fallen out of fashion since the second world war. Six diagonal lines of crimson were emblazoned on the collar of the uniform and a mantle of fur hung from the man's shoulders as another element of his rank. But most distinctive was the mask, a symbol so iconic that there were few even 70 years later who did not recognize it. The six red visor slits that slashed across the matte black mask, and the three filters that were clustered around where the mouth would be.

The man actually managed a laugh in the face of the specter. Clearly this had to be some sort of elaborate joke, some of his buddies were playing a prank on him and they had gotten quite a realistic set up made for that effort. "Alright guys, you can fess up now. It's a damned impressive one but you've outdone yourselves."

But the only reply came from the hissing and crackling voice that whispered through the filters. "Begin the test." That was all the voice said and as it finished the man outside the chamber pressed a button on a control panel. A robotic arm with a syringe filled with a vicious green fluid extended out of the slab that the man was pressed against and then plunged into his arm. There was a cry of pain and another vocal objection. "What the fuck are you doing?" But then the real pain began.

Bones cracked and skin tore apart as muscles grew and bulged outwards, the man's body suddenly convulsing and changing in response to the compound that had been pumped into him. But the man did not simply tear himself to pieces, as the spasms continued pieces of his skin began to knit back together over the new musculature and bones. And eventually the spasms would cease altogether and what remained of the man was left as a truly grotesque monster. The screaming though did not stop, it was as if some fragment of humanity still remained within the tortured man who had been changed.

The only response that the screaming received was another press of a button which caused the audio feed from the room to suddenly cut out. "Test successful, mutagen agent identified. Activate disposal procedures." And the Good Doctor simply turned away from the glass and walked away to the next of many such chambers where another poor soul was wondering how they possibly had ended up there.

Christopher Arthur III
Six Months Ago

Veronica furtively peeled open the front door of her and Chris’ mansion. Even though she had already entered the fail-safe password so that she would not set off the intruder alarm, she still made sure she did not make a single sound, not wanting to wake Chris up. For it was already 3 o’ clock in the morning.

Veronica had thought she had succeeded at escaping Chris’ notice as she was sneaking up the main stairwell, until she heard Chris’ voice at the foot of the staircase. The lights downstairs suddenly emitted their light, driving away the darkness that had shrouded the room seconds ago.

“Why the hell were you out past midnight? It’s a freaking school night for God’s sake.”

Veronica just ignored him and continued up the stairwell. Chris commanded her to stop at once and explain herself. This time, she actually stopped to give Chris a response.

“You’re not my freaking parents.”

“I know that I am not our father, but I am your legal guardian.”

Suddenly, a robotic arm appeared out of the staircase and grasped Veronica’s leg. She frantically tried to free herself, but only in vain. By that time, Chris had already walked all the way up the stairs at the spot where she was standing, holding a small device in his hand. He grabbed Veronica’s arm and pressed the device against it, injecting something into her arm.

“WHAT THE HELL DID YOU JUST DO?” Veronica yelled at her half-brother.

“I just injected you with a nano-tracker. Now I will know where you are at 3 o’ clock in the morning.” Chris said calmly. He then turned around and descended down the staircase, wishing his half-sister good night.

“CHRIS, YOU’RE A [slur of curses not suitable for this forum]!”

---

Present Day

Chris departed from the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. Since Chris was an enthusiast of the ancient world, especially ancient Greece, he was a major donor to the museum. With his funds, the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts had been able to expand their collections (especially the collections dealing with the ancient world). That night had just been the Grand Opening of their new collections, and Chris, being one of the major donors, was invited to come.

One of the new displays contained three ancient rings that had been discovered in the archaeological digs that Chris also supported. While the museum did not own these rings, as they were loaned to them because it is illegal to take away artifacts from a country, the museum still proudly displayed them. Now, these rings were surprisingly still in good condition, even though they originated from ancient Greece a few thousand years ago. While the colors on the rings had worn off, they still had images stamped on ring itself. One had an owl, another had a hammer, and the last had a thunderbolt.

“Mr. Arthur.” Chris heard a feminine voice behind him. He remembered the voice, but could not place a name to the voice. The woman was of above average height, had titanium blonde hair and gray eyes. She appeared to be in her mid-thirties. She was dressed in business attire (including a long skirt) and was wearing a thin pair of glasses.

“Oh, Ms., um, Minnie, no, that’s not right.” Chris stumbled over himself trying to remember her name.

“Minerva” she replied, a little agitation showing in her voice.

“Yes, yes, Ms. Minerva, how silly of me to forget your name. At least I knew that it began with an ‘M’.”

“I would have thought you would have learned it by now. I have been working as your secretary for over a year now.” Ms. Minerva rebuked Chris for his forgetfulness. “I do hope this ‘forgetfulness’ has nothing to do with your shameful dating practices.”

“Oh come on! I might not be the most, well, committed man ever, but you can’t be that hard on me. I’m sure you have had some eventful nights of your own.” However, Chris only got an angry stare from Minerva for his comments, “No maybe not. But let’s get off that subject. What’s brings you out here?”

“You missed your morning appointment.”

“Oh, you are so right.” Chris said, “With the guy who wanted to talk about the new rings that we just found. What’s his name. I know it starts with a ‘V’. Don’t say it, Minerva, I’m warning you.”

“Mr. Volchko?” She said, ignoring his plead. At that same moment, Chris had covered both of his ears with his hands.

“Mr. Volchko. See, I remembered.” Minerva just shook her head, knowing that he probably still heard her in spite of him having his hands over his ears. “Anyways, he’s here now to talk.”

A nicely dressed man approached from behind Minerva. He was of average height, although he was extremely bulky. He face was covered with a grizzly beard and his right eye was covered by a monocle. In his arm was a cane and as he walked, it was evident that he had a limp.

“Mr. Arthur, it is a pleasure to finely meet you.”

“Mr. Volchko. I apologize for missing our last appointment. I had a crazy day yesterday and didn’t get much sleep last night.”

Suddenly Chris’ cell phone started to vibrate. Chris apologized for the interruption and pulled out his phone. The phone’s screen had turned red and read the following: “Code Red”. Chris wondered what could possibly be going on back at home that was so important. Then the following appeared on the phone: “Important: Return home ASAP”.

“I am so sorry, but I am getting a Code Red signal from my house and if that happens, something serious must be happening, like my house is on fire or under siege or someone accidently trips the security alarms. Mr. Volchko, I am so sorry. Just talk to Minerva here and she’ll make another appointment.”

“Well, I will see you next time, whenever next time is.” Mr. Volchko said, holding out his hand to shake hands with Chris. Chris took his hand, and then Mr. Volchko placed his other hand on top of Chris’ hand so that Chris’ hand was encased in it. Chris felt a small burning sensation on his hand, but he ignored it and hastened towards his limousine.

“George, talk to me. What’s the problem this time? I just had to leave an appointment that was supposed to be a make-up appointment for one I missed earlier this morning.” Chris said into his cell phone after he was seated in the limousine and heading back toward his mansion.

“Sir, there was a Meta-Human attack on the mansion. Somehow how it bypassed our censors that would have picked up any Meta-Human markers or tracers. However, we have found some hairs and skin samples left behind so that we can add them to the scanners.”

“So, what’s the damage?”

“Well,” George started, pausing so that he could decide how he should begin. “There is some major damage at the entrance and some damage inside the mansion, but nothing happened to your lab down in the basement.”

“So, couldn’t this have waited until I got back? Nothing happened to the armors, so what’s the problem.”

“Um, well, I don’t know how to say this, but Veronica was kidnapped by the Meta-Human.”

“WHAT? Why the hell would it want her?”

“I have no clue, Master Arthur.”

Chris immediately activated a miniature holo-screen in the limousine and loaded the tracking system program.

“Why the hell would it take Veronica into the middle of nowhere in West Virginia?”

“Your guess would be as good as mine, Master Arthur.”

“Well, George, contact the engineers and tell them to prep the Daedalos Mk. V armor. Hell hath no fury like when I am scorned.”

“Sir, isn’t it ‘Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned’?”

“Well, since I am not a woman, my wrath would have to do.”

Scott got to his feet and prepared for the large man’s attack. When the mountain of a man known to only a few as Richter threw a wild punch that would have caved in an ordinary man’s skull, Scott sidestepped the blow, landing a hard right hand that knocked the monstrous man back several steps. The big man quickly recovered, and hit Scott with a hard punch of his own. From there, the two stood before the dented vehicle trading blows with one another, neither seeming to gain an advantage.

The woman and the her other companion stood by watching as Scott and their compatriot slugged it out in the middle of the sidewalk. The man standing with the woman began to grow visibly impatient, then suddenly started toward the two combatants.

“No, let me handle this.” The woman said as she grabbed the man’s shoulder.

“But Haze-“ He began to protest before being cut off.

“This the way this is supposed to go.” She said before he was able to finish his thought. “Stand down, Riot.”

“But-“ He said, his protest cut short.

“Stand down.” He ordered.

Reluctantly, the man known as Riot did as he was ordered and stepped away from the confrontation.

The woman called Haze stepped toward Scott and Richter, knowing better than to get between the two powerhouses, she stopped mere feet from where they continued exchanging punches.

“That’s enough Richter, back off.” She demanded, the larger man ignoring her. “I said, stop!” She ordered.

After a moment, the two combatants stopped throwing punches at one another. As Scott and Richter stopped fighting, Haze stepped between them. She looked to Scott, and then to Richter.

“This is not what we’re here for.” Haze said with a mix of authority and regret.

Scott simply looked at her, unsure what to make of the young woman.

“Then what is it that you want?” Scott asked after several beats.

“We want to give you answers.” She said with a pause. “We want to bring you home.” She finished.

“You have answers about where I come from?” He asked. From the moment that his abilities began to manifest, Scott had wanted nothing more than to know where he came from. It was true, that at times he was not entirely sure he wanted to know the truth, because he was afraid that he wouldn’t like the answers that he got. However, eventually, he knew that he needed to know the truth, no matter what that truth might be. He wondered if it was possible that this young woman was telling the truth, if she actually had the truth of his origins.

“Not exactly, but I can bring you to the people who do.” She confessed. “But you might want to put on your ‘work clothes’ first.” She said with a smile.

Zac Wilson | Kelly Brown
Kelly lied in her hospital bed, trying to relax as best as she could in her situation. For the last couple of hours, the hospital staff had been scrambling to discover what was wrong with her and how they could combat her allergic reaction, or at least what seemed like an allergic reaction. Finally, they discovered that the chemicals in the bug spray that made it effective against the creepy crawling pests also had an adverse effect on Kelly. Now, with the ‘allergic reaction’ combated and suppressed, all that was left for Kelly was rest and wait for Zac to come and take her back to their apartment.

“Ms. Brown, you have a visitor.” A nurse said. Kelly sprung up from her reclined position so that she was sitting straight up in the hospital bed, anticipating that it was Zac who had finally come for her. However, to her surprise, it was not Zac, but some other man. Therefore, Kelly returned to her reclined position.

This was the same man whom Zac meet back in Lost Haven at the Five Guys and Fries restaurant; he even was wearing the same trench coat, glasses, and wide-brimmed hat. He walked over to the side of Kelly’s bed and took a seat in one of the chairs nearby.

“Hello, Kelly.” The mysterious man in the trench coat said at last. However, Kelly just rolled over in her bed, facing away from him.

“You have nothing that I desire to hear.” Kelly finally replied, “My boyfriend already told me about you and his interaction with you while we were in Lost Haven. You have already ruined our lives already. Why try to do any more damage?”

“On the contrary,” The man said, “I have not ruined your life but allow you to create a new one. Once the general public accepts people like us, we shall possess special positions in the new culture of this world. Once we successfully universalized metahuman abilities, we shall open up new possibilities for hundreds of thousands of people. People will be hired to purify and create sanitary drinking water to quench the thirst of this planet. Others shall be able to produce clean energy to power our civilization to the next stage of technological evolution. I am not trying to ruin anyone’s lives, but only create better ones for all of humanity.”

Kelly turned over in her bed. While his ideas sounded wonderful on paper, Kelly still wondered whether they were actually possible in the real world.

“While your plans might sound tempting on paper, do you really know what would actually happen if you set your plans into action? Would the world just transform into some perfect utopia just because you make everyone metahumans?”

“If I actually set me plans into actions? That is no longer an if, but a when. My plans have already been set in motion ever since, with the unknowing aid of both you and your boyfriend, I have cracked the code to naturally transform humanity into metahumans. However, I am still willing to welcome you with open arms into our cause. By the expression on your face, I can tell that you will, at least in this moment, reject my offer. Nevertheless, I will give you my personal card so that if you decide to change your mind, you will be able to come into contact with me.”

The man handed over a small, rectangular card to Kelly and then immediately walked out of the hospital room.

---

Zac paced around in the waiting room at the hospital, awaiting for the hospital staff to release Kelly. He had already wasted a couple hours waiting for them to let her go, only because they wanted to make sure she was okay. Zac wondered if that was double talk for the staff delaying for some government agency to acquire the proper paper work so that they could take her away and dissect her in the name of science.

“Is everything alright? You looked a little stressed.” A voice said from behind Zac. When Zac turned around, he noticed that there was a young women standing behind him. She had short black hair that flared out in the front of her face and her skin was deathly pale. If she had not worn normal clothing and if she had worn emo make-up, Zac would have thought she was Gothic.

“Um,” Zac began, “I’m just waiting for my girlfriend. It’s nothing.”

“Maybe you need a new girlfriend?” She said, as she wrapped her arms over Zac’s shoulders. Zac felt that the situation was becoming weirder and far more awkward than he thought it would have been when he answered her question. After this, she pressed her lips against Zac's, forcing him to kiss her unwillingly. Out of the corner of his eye, Zac saw Kelly checking out with the patient desk.

“Shit.” Zac thought. Zac struggled to rip the strange girl’s embrace from himself, but it only made it look as if he was not an unwilling victim. Once Kelly saw this, she stormed out of the hospital, not allowing Zac to explain the situation to her.

Once Kelly had exited the building, Zac violently threw the mysterious girl down into a chair in the waiting room and scolded her, his blood was pumping through his veins.

“Bitch, you might have made me lost the one girl that made me felt complete. In spite of her outward appearance, she is the most well-natured person I know.”

After saying this, he stormed out after his girlfriend so that he could catch up to her and explain everything to her. However, when he got outside, he did not see her anywhere. Therefore, he started to search around the neighboring area just in case she was still nearby.

However, unaware to Zac, Kelly was indeed still in the area. In fact, she was still at the hospital, albeit she was sitting on top of the building where no one else could find her. She pulled out the small information card that the mysterious man had given her earlier that afternoon. Upon that card said the following:
Dr. Dorian Dipillan

---

Zac finally rested his weary limbs on a small park bench. He had been searching in vain for the last few hours for Kelly. Since it was starting to get dark, he decided that he probably should be getting back to his apartment. All he hoped was that Kelly somehow decided to go immediately back to the apartment.

On that bench sat an old man with a large white beard. However, ‘old man’ might not have been the best term to use for him because he had aged quite well.

“Don’t worry. You’ll win her back.” The old man said to Zac. Zac was astonished by his remarks. How did he know Zac’s plight?

Before Zac could respond, the old man placed both of his hands on Zac’s right hand. Zac felt a burning sensation on the top of his hand. When Zac pulled his hand away from the old man, Zac discovered that there was a green symbol on his hand, although he was not sure what it was supposed to be (OOC: The symbol is similar to what this person is holding). However, the symbol did not stay there, but slowly faded away until it was no longer visible on his hand.

When Zac peered up so that he could demand the old man to tell him what the heck just happened, he was shocked to discover that the old man was no longer sitting next to him! How in the world did the old man just vanish in midair.

Suddenly a strange sound echoed from behind Zac. When Zac turned his head around, he noticed that there was a giant webline attached to his back. But before Zac could do anything, something inside the protective coverage of a tree’s foliage pulled Zac off the bench, overturning it in the process. Zac was now hanging upside down from the tree, slowly being pulled up into the tree. When he discovered the perpetrator of this last action, Zac was shocked at what he saw. It was the same woman at the hospital, who caused Kelly to stomp out of the hospital without a word. However, her body below her waist was replaced by that of a giant spider. This part of her body was entirely black, with a red hourglass set in the center of the spider’s abdomen.

“You messed with the wrong bitch. You’re just lucky that the Doctor wants you alive for some reason.”

Immediately after she said this, she proceeded to wrap Zac up into a cocoon made from her webbing.

Ever since she was a girl, Alexa Winstone has loved Big Bear Mountain. Her childhood is riddled with memories of week long vacations to the Southern California ski resort with her family. To this day, she remembers the thrill she felt the first time she strapped a pair of skis on and took the ski lift to the top of the mountain. She remembers, just as if it were yesterday the her first wipeout. And just as if it were yesterday, she remembers her first heartbreak. She had been 13, his name was Kenny. A 25 year old ski instructor with flowing golden locks who looked like he had stepped directly off of the cover of a trashy romance novel. Deep down she had known all along that their love, or at least she had imagined that it had been their love, was doomed to fail. However, the knowledge that their "relationship" was doomed, or the fact that Kenny had hardly even noticed that she was alive did little to ease the pain of that heartbreak.

However, that was years ago, and she had mostly forgotten all about Kenny. She had continued to frequent the resort over the years, both with her family, and without them. Her most recent expedition to Big Bear is a week long getaway with her boyfriend Jason, her best friend Kara and some other friends, many of whom she doesn't really know all that well, but has run into from time to time on the LA party scene. Over the last few days, Alexa has been getting tired of the drama that is a constant at the cabin, and is excited for a nice nighttime hike with Jason. Because the mountain is almost like a second home to her, Alexa knows the trails like the back of her hand, and is excited to show Jason the spectacular moonlit view of Big Bear Lake.

As Jason and Alexa traverse the trail to the lake, taking great care not to slip in the snow, they finally find themselves in a clearing, which opens up to give a picturesque view the lake, with the mountain in the background. She inches closer to Jason and embraces him in a long hug, the warmth from his broad chest gives her momentary relief from the cold, which is something that, no matter how often she visits the mountain, she is never quite able to get used to.

"This is so nice." Alexa says dreamily into Jason's coat.

"It really is." Jason responds.

As they take in the view, they notice something strange taking form in the sky. From the east, strange lights begin to dance and shimmer in the sky above them. There are beautiful green, orange, blue and red lights that almost appear to be a massive laser show of some sort. However, at the same time, it is nothing like anything that she has ever seen before.

"What is that? Maybe we should get back to the cabin." She says as she begins to pull away from Jason.

"Don't be silly, Kiddo. It's just the Northern Lights, I think." Jason says trying to comfort her.

Then suddenly, before she can respond, the sky explodes in a cascade of light, and a massive red lightening bolt crashes down just before them. Before either can move, a second red bolt crashes down, this time, directly striking Alexa. The force of the blast sends both Alexa and Jason sailing through the air, landing several yards away from each other. Alexa lays where she landed, her body engulfed in pain like nothing she had never experienced in her life, and before she knows it, she slips into darkness.

"....xa. Wake up. Alexa!" She hears the voices, but doesn't recognize them. Then, she is suddenly aware of a presence near her. She tries to open her eyes, but even that causes her pain. Finally, she does manage to open her eyes, only to find that it is now daylight, and Jason is standing over her with what seems like an army of rescue personnel. She tries to move, all she wants is to get up from the cold ground and be with Jason, however, instead she slips back into unconsciousness.

Zac Wilson | Aubrey Adkins | Veronica Arthur
The flickering of lights and the clicks of some doors unlocking jarred Zac awake. Once he had regained his senses, he realized that he was in a small cell with a single, simple bed. Zac also noticed that his captors had somehow gotten ahold of his ‘super-hero’ threads and they already swapped out his normal clothes for his ‘super-hero’ costume. They also left the nullifying band with him, although Zac was not sure how useful it would be for him because his ‘super-hero’ threads were made with his meta-human height in mind, not his normal, human height.

“I told you that my prayers would work.” A voice said, although it was not intended for Zac as another voice responded back.

“I’m pretty sure my half-brother probably caused it. He’s a tech genius. He probably already knows how to get me out of here. It’s only a matter of time.”

The second voice was unfamiliar to Zac, but the first was not. The first voice sounded exactly like Aubrey, the meta-human he and Kelly meet five months ago when they first acquired their powers. While Zac knew that this Aubrey was probably different from the one he had already met, he already guessed that she could not be too different. At least he hoped that was the case.

Therefore, Zac walked out of the cell, swiping up the power-nullifier into his hand. His head still ached a little from being pulled violently from that park bench by that giant spider-lady, but fortunately it was only a minor headache. Once he exited his cell, Zac finally catch sight of the two girls. Aubrey was pretty much exactly what he remembered from the pictures he and Kelly saw on the “dreamverse” Aubrey’s cell phone: she was blonde and was somewhere between an average and an athletic build. However, the other girl Zac had never seen before: she seemed like she was still in high school, just slightly shorter than Aubrey was, and she had black hair.

One thing Zac forgot to consider was how the two girls were going to react to his appearance. Once they saw him, Aubrey and the other girl took a couple steps back away from Zac.

“I’m one of the good guys,” Zac said, raising up his hands, in order to get calm them down, in spite of his appearance. However, once he raised his arms above his head, his raptor claws ejected out of his knuckles, revealing six obsidian colored blades. “You’re not helping!” Zac said to himself, although to any onlookers it could have looked like he was talking to his blades.

Even after Zac’s attempt to show that he did not mean any harm, both Aubrey and the other girl were hesitant to approach him and they only did so once Zac retracted his claws.

“How do we know that we can trust you?” Aubrey asked once they had approached Zac.

Zac wondered how he should respond. He already tried to tell them that he was not their enemy, as he was a captive too, or at least he assumed Aubrey and the other girl was there against their will. Then an idea struck Zac. He still had the power-nullifier in his hand.

“Take this.” Zac said as he tossed the band over to Aubrey. The expression on her face revealed her confusion over why Zac would give her this wristband. “That little band negates my powers and gives me my regular appearance back. I would give you a demonstration, but I don’t want to ruin my costume when I return to my regular height. And I don’t have any pockets in these threads, so it would be better for someone else to hold onto it.”

The two girls still were hesitant to believe what Zac said, but in the end they decided that they did not have much choice.

“So, um, I’m Aubrey.” The blonde haired girl said, as she placed the power-nullifying band in her jean’s pocket.

“And I’m Veronica” The younger girl said, “My half-brother is the CEO of Knight’s Corp. Whoever kidnapped us will regret messing with Chris.”

“And how so?” Aubrey asked, a little agitated because she has heard Veronica say this over and over again, “You said that your half-bro will make them pay, but you never say how.”

“Don’t worry. You’ll see sooner or later.” Veronica told Aubrey with a wink. Aubrey just rolled her eyes at Veronica’s answer and turned her attention back to Zac. “So, what do we do now?”

“Well,” Zac began, considering what their next actions should be, “I think we should first check to see if there are any more prisoners in this corridor.”

The SUV pulled to a stop outside of a small, nondescript building that had seen much better days. The building, which had a faded sign which still read “ Millie’s Dairy.” The drive had taken several hours, which had nearly driven Icon mad with boredom. He was accustomed to getting where he needed to be, anywhere in the country in mere minutes. Being cooped up in a badly dented SUV which was now making a number of annoying sounds as a result of the damage it had endured in the scuffle between himself and the man mountain known as Richter was nearly more than he could take.

Mercifully, the car came to a stop in front of the decrepit old dairy store near the banks of Frost Pond, near the Canadian Border in Quebec. When he first got out of the vehicle and looked on the sad excuse for a building, Icon almost believed that he had been the victim of some sort of prank.

“Don’t worry, it’s bigger on the inside.” Haze said teasingly as she directed him toward the entrance to the building. The quartet stood before the front door of the derelict building, as the young woman called Haze stepped up to the door, pressing against the brick façade of the aging structure. Several bricks slid out of place, revealing a high tech security interface, who’s keyboard Haze began typing on. Once she had entered the required credentials, the front door opened, revealing a single elevator behind the door. Icon looked to the woman, who returned his stare with a wink and a smile.

Icon, Haze and the others stepped into the elevator, which was a pristine white in color and looked as if it had never been used. The elevator also had no buttons to indicate floors. Instead, once the doors closed, the elevator quickly descended. The elevator moved at such a speed that it was impossible to tell just how far down they were traveling. Finally, the elevator came to a stop. The doors opened and as Haze led the group out of the elevator, Icon saw that Haze had been telling the truth after all…It was much bigger on the inside.

The interior was about as far from the decrepit old dairy plant as one could get. The cavernous facility was a sterile white, and smelled much like a hospital. Inside the massive main chamber, there were a number of doors with different number designations etched on panels which lay on a small panel beside each one. Icon felt uneasy inside the facility, however, his curiosity for answers about his origin was too great, and because of this, he was compelled to see this through.

Icon also noticed something strange about the facility. It was eerily silent. Even with his enhanced hearing, he wasn’t able to hear anything from behind any of the doors. He assumed that they had used some sort of high tech sound proofing equipment which cancelled out even his super hearing, which left him with a startling question…

What else might they be able to neutralize?

After several moments, one of the doors opened and a tall, lanky man with coke bottle glasses and wiry grey hair stepped into the main chamber and greeted the quartet. He took Icon’s hand and looked at the hero with an expression of pride and wonderment as he shook his hand.

“Welcome, welcome.” The man said excitedly. His jovial tone seemed to succeed in calming some of the tension that Icon had been feeling.

“And you are?” Icon asked as he released his grip on the handshake the doctor had initiated.

“I’m Dr. Wesley Franklin. I’m your father.” He said, before finishing, “So to speak.”

Icon stood and stared at the lanky scientist in utter disbelief. The doctor’s provocative statement had the opposite effect on the hero than had been intended. Icon almost immediately came to distrust the scientist, and hold a bit of contempt for the man. Icon already had a father, a man who he may not have always agreed with, but a man who had raised him. Icon felt it somewhat disrespectful to his father’s memory for someone else to so cavalierly use the title.

“I have a father.” Icon said somewhat curtly, perhaps more so than he had intended.

“Of course. Mr. Hunter raised you, and by the looks of things, he did a stand up job.” Dr. Franklin said. “I however, had a much more…intimate role in your becoming who you are.”

Before Icon could respond, another door opened behind him and yet another man emerged into the chamber, this man was slightly taller than Dr. Franklin. He was a rat faced man with close cropped graying hair and an air of arrogance about him, which was more than likely developed in part due to the heavily armed guards who trailed behind him.

The man looked first to Dr. Franklin and then to Icon. He flashed a toothy grin that seemed far from genuine as he spread his arms out and greeted the hero.

“Icon, welcome to the Valor Institute.” The man said.

“And you are?” Icon asked.

“I’m Benjamin White, the administrator of this fine facility. Now, I’m sure you have questions for us, and I’ll be more than happy to answer them for you. But why don’t we go to my office, we have a lot to discuss.”

Icon looked to Dr. Franklin, who smiled and nodded his approval.

“Alright, Mr. White, why don’t you lead the way?” Icon said. Benjamin White turned and motioned for Icon to follow as he led Icon and the others down the long and narrow hallway that lay behind the doorway.

***

Icon sat in Mr. White’s office, his head bowed, staring at the floor as he processed the information that he had been given over the last forty five minutes. Mr. White had told him about the early experiments mixing human and alien DNA. He learned of the numerous monstrosities that had been created and summarily destroyed. Mr. White explained how a rogue scientist had stolen him as an infant and vanished, never to be seen or heard from again, and how it wasn’t until they had seen the incident with the space station that they had suspected that they had finally found him. He also explained how it took some time, cross referencing new arrivals to Lost Haven as well as known associates of Dr. Hill, the woman who had taken Icon as a child, before they were able to find anyone that could possibly be the one that they were looking for.

He remained seated in silence as the information began to sink in. When he had agreed to come to this facility to find answers, he knew that there was a possibility that he would learn things that he wouldn’t want to know. Things that he wouldn’t want to believe. However, he was not prepared for what he learned in this office.

“So that’s it?” Icon said finally. “I’m just some science experiment?”
“No, my boy. You’re much more than that.” Mr. White said enthusiastically. “Son, you are the pinnacle of evolution, the perfect being. You are capable of so much mo…” He was cut off by Dr. Franklin.

“Icon, it doesn’t matter where you were born. All that matters is what you choose to do with your life, and as someone who had direct involvement with the process that produced you, I couldn’t be prouder.” Dr. Franklin said.

“Of course, we would like you to stay with us for a few days so that we can run some tests and just ensure that everything is in order.”

“You want to study me?” Icon asked incredulously.

“In a manner of speaking. There are so many things that we don’t understand. We would like to run some tests to see exactly how you've developed, and the true extent of your abilities. But most importantly, we had some…difficulties with other subjects of the experiment that created you, and we just want to be sure that everything is in order.” Mr. White explained.

“With all due respect, I didn’t come here for tests. I have a lot of responsibilities in Lost Haven, a lot of people that count on me. I really should be getting back.” Icon said.

Benjamin White exhaled slowly and slumped slightly at Icon’s refusal. Then he straightened his posture and an understanding smile slowly crossed his face.

“Of course, I understand. Perhaps another time.” He said.

“Perhaps.” Icon agreed in a noncommittal tone.

Well, you’ve come this far, why don’t we show you around the facility before you go, let you see where you really came from.” White said, then continued. “Dr. Franklin will show you around.”

“I’d like that.” Icon said as he stepped out the door.

Benjamin White sat back down at his desk and watched as Icon and the scientist made their way down the hall. Once they were out of sight, he motioned for Riot to close the door.

“Sir, are you really just going to leave?” Riot asked.

“Of course not! Icon is the property of The Valor Institute. He isn’t going anywhere.” White sneered as he got up from his desk and motioned for Riot to follow him down the hall after the hero and his tour guide.

Cedars-Sinai Hospital, Los Angeles California:

Jack Winstone sits at the bedside of his little sister, watching over her as if she were simply sleeping. However, the constant beeping of the machines which monitor her vital signs, as well as the “wooshing” sound of the artificial respirator pumping oxygen into her lungs serves as a constant reminder that his little sister is not just sleeping, she is fighting for her life.

From the moment he heard of Alexa’s accident, Jack has sat at her side. He’s tried to keep a positive outlook on things, and he’s tried to be strong. However, the pessimistic stance that the doctors have almost universally held has made keeping a strong front very difficult. As he sits beside his sister, he is suddenly aware of someone else in the room with them. He looks up to see the tear streaked face of his mother looking down at the two of them.

“It’s time.” She says as she motions for Jack to follow her.

Reluctantly, Jack gets up from his seat beside Alexa and follows his mother out of the room. The family is scheduled to meet with Dr. Philip Ross, the doctor who had taken the lead in Alexa’s case, and a close friend of the family, where they will discuss their options. As Jack and his mother walk into the small conference room, they find Mr. Winstone already seated at a large oak table.

Jack takes a seat across from his father and waits for Dr. Ross to arrive. The Winstones don’t have to wait very long, as only a few moments later Dr. Ross appears and takes a seat at the large round table.

“So, as we’ve discussed, Alexa suffered catastrophic damage to her central nervous system as well as a number of her internal organs. As of now, there is no brainwave activity, and we have little hope that there will be any.” Dr. Ross says grimly.

“What are you saying Phil?” Jonathan Winston asks, although he already knows the answer, he wants to hear the doctor say it.

“What I’m saying John, is that there’s very little chance that she’ll ever wake up. Even if she does, she’ll more than likely be in a vegetative state. Look, I know this is difficult, but you have to think about what would be best for Alexa. Think about what kind of life she would have.” Dr. Ross says, his voice filled with sympathy and understanding.

“Phil, if it was your daughter, your Becky. Would you take her off of life support?” Jonathan asks. The doctor looks down at his folded hands for several seconds before he looks back up at his friend.

“Yes John, I would.”
Mr. Winstone’s eyes meet his wife’s and they both know what they have to do. As hard as it is to say goodbye to their daughter, they know that Dr. Ross is right. Even if Alexa were to somehow wake up, she would have no quality of life, and that just isn’t fair.

“Alright. It’s the right thing to do.” Jonathan says as he tries to fight back tears.

“I agree John, and I’m sorry.” Dr. Ross says as he leads them out of the conference room to say goodbye to their daughter and sister.

While they are making the short hike from the conference room to Alexa’s hospital room, the lights begin to flicker, at first it is barely noticeable, but then all the lights in the hospital wing go out, just for a moment before coming back on. Fearing that the hospital’s momentary loss of power has robbed them of the chance to say goodbye to Alexa, the Winstones rush into her room, only to find that she is beginning to stir.

The Winstones look on in wonderment as Alexa’s eyes flicker open, and she looks directly at them.

“J-Jack? Mom? Dad? Where am I?” She says weakly to their disbelief.