Cyrus Noble part 4: A Voice

It was a mere two days after Longarm betrayed us. Nobody really talked, with the exception of saying the necessity things, like 'I'm hungry' or 'So tired'. Megan is a strong girl, but I guess there are some things that are too painful. I didn't cry. I never cry. Crying doesn't solve anything. It just gets your way. But that doesn't mean I wasn't pissed at Longarm. I trusted him. Next time I'll be more vigilant, ruthless, and smarter about my moves. We were at a McDonald's. Everyone was eating, except me. I wasn't hungry. Megan was eating, just barely. I said, "Eat up. You need to keep up your strength." She ignored me. After we were done, we went back to the woods at our campsite. We were in a forest at least a full city away from San Diego. Our camp area consisted of two family tents (one for the guys, one for the girls) with a campfire in between them. We stole some camp equipment from Walmart. Apparently all you need is a big distraction, and someone to disable the cameras with a EMP-bomb. Anyway I got the canteens and said, "I'm gonna refill these. There's a fresh water creek a quarter mile from here. Zeus will alert me if anything goes wrong here." Nobody said anything. Megan went into the girls tent. Sara started petting a waiting Zeus. Magnet started messing with his goggles. Viktor just slumped under a tree. I took a step toward the tent, Jazz put a hand on my shoulder and said, "She'll come around Cyrus, let me talk to her." I sighed. "I just want to help her." She nodded. "I know and that's what makes you a great leader, but let me handle this one. Go and fill up the canteens." Normally I would argue about who was in charge, but now wasn't the time.

I went to the little river and started filling up canteens. After I was done I put on the cap on the last one. I had a thought, it came out of nowhere, but I thought, We need to go to Manhattan, there are plenty of places to hide there. I can't shake the feeling. So I headed back to the camp to make my announcement. "Guys, " Everyone turned to me, Even Megan poked her head out of the tent. "I think it would be a great idea to go to Virginia." Jazz gave me a funny look. "Why? Are you forgetting that it's October? We are trying to find a nice warm spot before winter, and going East means that it's gonna get colder." "If we go to Manhattan we'll find a million different hiding spots." I said. "What about the criminals?" I raised an eye-brow. "What about 'em?" She just stared at me. I knew she knew me. "What about...... Never mind. How 'bout the rest of you? You wanna go?" Viktor shrugged with his usual apathy. Magnet smiled, put on his goggles, and said, "Ooh. Ooh. I would like to see the Liberty woman or what ever it's called." Sara joined him, "Me too! Me too!" Megan muttered to herself, "Whatever."

"Well that's three yes and two maybe and one no." Jazz sighed. "I don't like it, but we'll go east if you really think so." I started pacing. Now what was a quick way to get to the east cost? We could take a plane. But we don't exist. We don't look like terrorists however if they search Megan they'll find her wings. They'll find rather questionable things n Jazz's person. I don't think Sara can control minds like I've seen in some movies. "O.K. I am going to be honest. I have no idea how to get across the U.S. Any Suggestions?" "I can take you there." Said a random voice

Sorry about the stories being so long. I'll try to shorten them some.

Cyrus Noble part 3: Traitors at the Comic-Con

"I still can't believe we did that!" Said Jazz over our new communicators. (She built them herself.) I called back. "Don't worry. If we need motorcycles, we will NOT steal them from that one used car lot." Yes. Motorcycles. We had three of them. We hiked our way to Nevada, and we stole some gear. We were very careful to not touch anything. We typed a note saying 'Sorry, needed this stuff more than you did.' or something like that. We all had helmets at least. Jazz held on to me. Sara was in front of me, she was holding on to the handlebars and my hands were over hers. She was not going anywhere if I can help it. Longarm was on another bike with Magnet in front of him the same way Sara was in front of me. Megan was on the other bike with Viktor holding on to her, which must've been humiliating for him. Zeus was flying high up in the sky above us. Jazz said, "You could've at least, leave some money for the cameras we smashed!" Why can't she just let it go? "And use our food money? I don't think so." "Uh. Cyrus?" "Sup Magnet?" "Where are we going again?" "San Diego." "Why?" "There's a Comic Con going on there in a day or two." Viktor came on "Ha! Nerd!" "Nice Viktor. I mean that we going to blend in with the costumed........people." Longarm came on "Don't beat around the bush. They're a bunch of freaks and you know it." He was recovering well. Yeah, since I gave him my blood, I think it gave him my healing factor.



We stopped just outside the city and left our bikes behind a billboard in some bushes. We walked the rest of the way there, which we don't mind at all. The Comic-con is tomorrow so we spent the day sight-seeing. After we ate lunch we went to the San-Diego zoo. It was pretty cool. A sob story act fooled the guards into letting Zeus in. The girls adored the Pandas. Viktor and Magnet had a ball with the birds, especially the parrots. Longarm enjoyed the snakes, which I don't get. He found them 'interesting'. I don't care for them. Anyway as much as we would like to stay here, we had to find a place to sleep and get something to eat. Y'know, those kind of luxuries. Anyway we split into four groups and agreed to meet in front of the hotel when it got dark (we it passed on the way to the zoo). Megan and Sara, with their sob story: anyone would fall far them. Viktor and Magnet, with their sneaky sonar and magnetizing powers combined. Me and Jazz with our trained stealth, no one would even notice us. Although I don't know how well that'll go with Zeus being rather clingy to me. Longarm was a professional so, he was on his own. I trust him.........he'll be fine..........right?



Anyway, we went around taking money outta wallets and placing the wallets (with IDs and credit cards still in them) back in place. When it was getting dark we started heading back. Jazz started a conversation. "Cyrus, can I ask you something?" I wonder where this was going. "Yeah, Sure. What's up?" She said, "Why don't you care, about other people? Other than our family?" Here we go. Zeus ruffled a little. As if to say 'Uh oh. I know Where this is going.' I said, "Why should I? I mean, it's either them, or us; and then there are the people that get in the crossfire. They would never accept us. We are non-human, mutants,...........freaks. I just accepted that fact. I'm just looking for a way to survive. If that means to hide, steal, or even murder someone, fine, so be it." She sighed and said, "But, if you have the power to do something great, isn't it your responsibility to?" I turned to her. "What Oh-So-Great thing do we have to do? We are not some heroes in a comic book! The only thing we need to do is survive." We walked and she didn't say anything for a while. We got in front of the hotel and she stopped me and said, "But, with what we can do--" "What we can do?! Jazz, I can't hardly die, Viktor is unstable and blind, Megan has wings, and not the fluffy white kind, we can't hardly censor anything from Sara, Magnet has to much power to deal with, and you;" I looked at her. Tears were starting in her eyes. Please, Not Jazz. I can't stand to see her cry. I put a hand on her shoulder and finished with a lowered voice, "I mean that it's enough for me to take care of you guys, I don't care for the rest of the world. We may be more powerful than humans, but we are still the victims of it all." I gave her a hug and said, "Come on. No need giving the others any worries." We went inside and met up with the other kids. We counted all the money we got. We scored a total of $192.50. Sara and Megan did a great job. We booked two rooms for the night. One for the Guys. And one for the Girls....and Zeus. On Sara's behalf.
The fact that we get to sleep in a hotel was a miracle enough. We didn't care if it was a big and fancy five star hotel. We need the showers. My family smells like a barn after a week or two with no showers. Or maybe that's just me. We had a difficult time when it came to who sleeps where. We had a main bed and a couch that unfolded into a bed. When it came right down to it; it was Viktor and Longarm in one bed (and not to happy about it ) and Magnet shares a bed with me. I don't care I'm not getting much sleep anyway.
All day I kept getting this feeling that I'm being watched. I looked at my watch, 11:30. Grrrrrrrrrrr. I need to sleep! There was a tiny knock at the door. I got up quietly without waking Magnet up. I opened the door with no one there. I looked at the bed Longarm and Viktor where sharing, which if the blanket was stretched out any more it would tear right down the middle. Still asleep. Magnet was still asleep, his favorite goggles dangling from his tight grip. O.K. Time to investigate; I sleep in my usual day clothes so no need to get dressed. I sniffed the air, getting a good wiff of who was here. It was familiar, but I couldn't pin it down. It lead me to the lobby, at first I thought it would be the lady behind the counter, but it lead me outside. I tracked the scent down the street to a Target. The door was stuck open.......with ICE on the edges of the door.
I entered. Some lights were on. If Stephen King is reading this, I think I found one of the next settings for your next novel.....movie....whatever. I walked down some isles still tracking that scent. It's getting stronger, meaning he's close. I entered the frozen treats isle. Half of the isle was covered in darkness, blinding me from that end. The scent led me there. I called out, "I know your there. I have a few questions for you. Let's start with 'Who are you?' and 'What do you want?' " No answer. A figure appeared out of the shadows. "Glad I got your attention." The Bounty Hunter said. I remember this guy. "Zero." I growled. "Oh, you do remember me. I'm touched." He walked up to me and said, "About the abduction thing, I seriously thought.......he told me that you were his adopted children. I thought--" I cut him off. "I don't care! I promised myself I'd kill you when I got the chance. I noticed you froze and broke the cameras. Good. I thought I'd have to shut them off myself." I extended my claws. He saw it and said, "I didn't come here to fight you." He was going to say something else, but I didn't let him. "I did!" I said and I lunged at him. I slashed and kicked. He dodged and blocked. He formed a bat of ice and did a home-run worthy swing on my forehead. I staggered. Who knew ice could hurt so much? I calmed my breathing. The wound (bruise) healed almost instantly. He threw the bat away. "You can't keep up with your injuries forever." He said. "Yes I can." I said. I tackled him in to a book shelf on the far side of the isle. I continued to punch him in the face. On the third swing, he caught it, put his palm to my chest, and suddenly I was propelled through the air until my back was against the wall. He froze me to the wall. So he is a mutant. The ability to form ice from thin air. I guess that's why they call him Zero. As in Zero degrees Fahrenheit! My breath was showing, just like his. It WAS cold in here, but his breath also showed the last time I saw him too.
He walked up and said, "Would you just stand still and listen to me for ten minutes!" I obviously wasn't going anywhere anytime soon.......at least not until the ice melts enough for me to break through it. "Fine." I muttered. He let out a big sigh (which made him look like a smoker) and said, "Someone is going to betray you. I don't know who or why, but someone is going to have you killed. Tomorrow." Despite what I was feeling right now, I chuckled. "O.K. Two problems with that. 1) How did you get THAT information and 2) Give me one good reason why I should believe anything YOU say. Your the one who kidnapped my family, Remember?!" He responded, "I already told you the reason for that! To answer your first question I was trying to restart one of the Archer computers and--" I continued my interrupting habit. "Wait, What?" He said, "Archer co. A weapons company. Some suspect that the current owner is a criminal master mind. But he's so sly no one can lead anything back to him." "Bishop." I muttered. He continued "Anyway, I got it online just in time to hear a transmission going out. 'The group is moving to San Diego. Prepare to strike.' he said. I don't even know if the mole is male or female. The voice was altered. For obvious reasons. And to answer your second question. If you don't believe me, you risk having your entire family getting destroyed, or worse getting into the hands of Bishop."
He let that set in a bit. Before I get distracted I asked, "Why bother helping us?" He sighed again, "If someone was going to survive mutations, like yours, they would have to be injected into the embryo of a, not-yet-born, baby. And, quite frankly, I'm not O.K. with that." I thought about that. So, we do have parents. That's a shocker. No, really, it is. Maybe we can find them and see if they'll really except us. No. That's just another fairytale that'll never come true. Whatever. He started walking away. "I can't do anything about it now. The rest is up to you." He started to walk away again, when I said, "Hey! You gonna let me down, or what?" He threw a few ice shards at me. I flinched (As much as you can flinch when frozen to the wall), but they didn't pierce me. The ice started to break up, and I fell to the ground. I got up and dusted myself off, and scraped some ice off my shoulder. I looked up searching for Zero. He was gone. O.K. Bounty Hunter you live today, but I will kill you, one of these days. I looked at my watch. 12:19. O.K. Just a nice midnight stroll, yeah, that's all it was. At least, as far as Jazz will know. But.......who is the traitor? They all had a chance to kill me, or capture me at one point. Sara and Magnet are too young and innocent to do anything like that. Megan is too kind. Viktor wouldn't be able to keep it serious long enough. Jazz is my right hand man, err, uh, girl. If I couldn't trust her I could trust any body.
The next morning I was awakened by an angry Jazz. "CYRUS!" I sat up straight in my bed. Magnet was gone, probably in the kitchen. Jazz burst in the bedroom and said, "You are sooooooo beyond dead." I looked at her and said, "Don't I get a trial, or at least a right to know why I'm being convicted?" Her face turned red, probably out of anger. "You know very well why. Come here." I got up and and followed, better see what the fuss is about. I entered the other room just in time to see Jazz changing the channel to the news. I watched as it gave the details. Let's see.......frozen cameras......doors forced to stay open with ice........claw marks........unknown on how this could be done. So, what happened last night wasn't a dream after all, yippee.
So I had to tell her about the fight last night (of course I left out the part about the traitor in the group, I don't know how to break that down to her just yet). When I was done she looked puzzled. "Why would he attack you like that? It doesn't make any sense. He was able to kidnap us so easily last time." "I know. Anyway he got away before I could kill him. I doubt that we've seen the last of him." She looked at me up and down. She knew I wasn't telling the whole truth. Dang it, how do women do that!? Anyway she let it go. As for me I need to think of a new destination for us. Anyway we all got ready for that Comic-con. Megan thought it would be cool to dress up in costumes. I had to say no that. Costumes are for disguises and disguises are for James Bond and other spies. Plus, that costs money, which we don't have a lot of that right now.
We went, and it was Packed! It was like everyone in the universe was here. We saw people of all shapes and sizes. I saw a group of kids dressed up as the X-men from the movie. They had a section for recent and up-coming movies, comics, games all that jazz. They had playing decks for Yugi-oh and Pokemon and even one for Chaotic (whatever that is). I said, "O.K. Guys. Find a partner and have a ball. I need to strategize." I sat down on one of the benches so I could think. Longarm, Magnet, and Viktor went towards the video game section like moths to a flame. Megan, Sara, and Jazz stayed behind. With Zeus on Jazz's shoulder. Megan said, "Jazz. Me and Sara are gonna go and see the movie section. Wantta come?" Jazz turned to them and said, "You go on ahead. I'll catch up with ya in just a sec." She sat next to me and said, "I don't have to be a mind reader to tell something's wrong. There's something your not telling me." I looked at her. Was she born with that power, or was it another integrated-into-her thing? I replied, "The Bounty Hunter, Zero, he said-" I lowered my voice, "-someone, in our group, will betray us." She sat there with a face that said please, please, PLEASE, tell me this is a joke. I continued, "I don't know whether I should ignore the warning, assuming it's a trick, or try to find out who it is."
Then Jazz looked furious. "Why didn't you tell me this before? Come on. We need to find the others and get outta here." I nodded. We both looked started looking around. I said, "I'll get the guys." Jazz said nothing. That means she'll start raging at me later. I looked in the Videogame section. No guys. I finally found them in the card gameplay section. Magnet was playing and Viktor was behind him. I walked up and put a hand on Viktor's shoulder. "Vik, we gotta go. Like, Right Now. Meet outside the front door." He nodded. I tapped Magnet's Shoulder. He turned around. "Hey Cyrus." He said. I flinched. Yes, please, shout out my name and let everybody know I'm here. "Hey Bud. Listen, we need to go....Now." He now understood. He nodded, put his cards down and said, "You win. But I will have a rematch someday." We all left the section, I asked Viktor where'd Longarm went. "He said he saw something and wanted to check her out." "Check her out? What--Oh." He nodded. "Must've been a nice view." he muttered under his breath. "Wait for the others outside. I'll be right back." I started the hunt for Longarm.
It was five minutes into the search, I was next to the emergency exit when I heard, "Cyrus!" I turned to see Longarm, half of him was out the emergency exit. He continued in his hushed voice, "Cyrus, uh. It. You have to get here quick!" I ran after him. Once outside he yelled over his shoulder, "Just follow me!" I did. He led me through an alley and to a warehouse. Of course if I were smarter than the average bio-logical weapon, I would have noticed that the warehouse was owned by Archer co. Well, I didn't. He opened the door and said, "Quick, the traitor ran in here." It wasn't till I jumped into the building until I realized what he said. "Wait, how did--" "Cyrus! Look out!" A strong pain struck me in the back of the head. The last sound I heard before I passed out was an evil chuckle.
I woke up sometime later. I was still in the warehouse and I was suspended in the air....by chains. I closed my eyes, trying to remember. Let's see. Following Longarm into the warehouse. Hey, Whoa! I'm in the air. I mean way up in the air. I called out. Like an Eagle. Wait that's not me. I....I'm looking through Zeus's eyes? Uh. Zeus? I thought. The bird called out again. Huh. Let's see I am......there! I'm in that building. Go get the others and hurry! I opened my eyes, to see Longarm, down on the ground, far away from me. He was holding a crowbar that had some blood on the other end of it. "Hey! Your awake! What's up Dude? How's that knot on the back of your head? Well, on second thought, I guess that's healed over by now." I was stunned. "Longarm. Your the traitor." Then I let acid drip into my voice, "I am going to kill you. It will be slow and the deepest pit in hell will seem like heaven after I'm done with you." He grinned, "How cute. Even when captured you still make threats. And that one was a bit dark, even for you. Don't worry I'll talk to the boss man and get you a promotion." "Longarm. Why?" He laughed. Then started mocking me. " 'Oh, Longarm. Why d'you betray me?' Please. Spare me the drama session. I was working with the Archers and Sci-fys the whole time. All it took was an innocence act to gain your trust. Don't worry, when Bishop gets here we'll capture your friends and keep them alive. At least, long enough to be dissected!" I was ready to tear his head off and hang it on my mantle. That is, as soon as I actually get a mantle. I heard some cars stop outside. "Ah. They're here." Longarm mused. I saw something move at the corner of my eye, but I pretended not to notice.
A minute later four Knights came through the door. I mean old days of yore' Knights. They had shields in their left hands and swords in their sheaths, hanging on their left side. I doubt those are regular swords. Next were the two Archers. They had big metal bows, with smaller rods in the middle of it, where the handles are. The Archers themselves had costumes that made them look like futuristic versions of the 'Assassin's Creed' character. One of the Archers said, "It is your pleasure, to be in the presence of the all mighty, Bishop!" And, on cue, Bishop, looking the way he did the first time I met him, walked in. "Wow." I said. "You have to have someone announce your presence before you walk into a room? What, No red carpet? No theme song?" He mearly looked at me through his shades. "Ah. Cyrus Noble. Still not yet worthy to fight me." He looked at Longarm. "You did well. Your freedom, your home, your money, and your new life will be waiting for you." He returned his gaze on me. "No such pleasures are in store for you. Don't worry, your friends will be joining you soon."
Cyrus. Get ready.
I said, "Why do you want me? I mean, out of all of us, why me?" He answered like it was the simplest thing in the world. "You are the first successful experiment with the ability to heal any wound or disease given to you." "So. My blood is pretty valuable huh?" I mused. He continued to stare with no emotions on his face. I said, "What if I said I injected some of my blood into a former-buddy of mine. Longarm. To save his life. Which I will forever regret." He turned to Longarm. Longarm had a questioned look on his face. "Where are you getting at, Noble?"Asked Longarm. Then Bishop asked, "Is it true?" Longarm stuttered. "Y-yeah, but....." Bishop interrupted, "Boys. There has been a change in plans. Take Longarm AND Cyrus to the lab." Longarm looked like he was about to explode. "We had a deal! Bishop!" He raged. Bishop's Knights surrounded him.
My pose' chose this time to strike. It started with a metal javelin flying from the darkness behind me. It hit the ground between the knights and Bishop. A electric explosion hit the knights, but they seemed to rebound off of Bishop. Of Course. Magnet used his abilities to chuck one of the Knights across the room like a ragdoll. Megan flew down, picked up one of the Knights by its ankle, and drop him. Viktor shot one of the Elite Archer Guards. He's not getting up any time soon. Jazz, Magnet, and Sara slid down the ladder as if it was a fire house pole. Sara put her hands to her head. Magnet was letting me down. More Knights fell, most likely do to Sara's mind attacks. Bishop put his wrist to his mouth and said, "Send in the Rooks." Zeus was trying to peck out the eyes of the other Elite Archer when I got free. "Thanks Mag." I said. Just then the walls exploded. Two tank sized......things were standing there. They were 10 feet tall. They looked like black towers that came to life. All covered except for their face. "Ah, Crud." I said. I looked at Longarm. He was walking backwards away, slowly. "You're not gonna help us, you coward?!" He responded. "Why should I? You're going to kill me anyway!" "Which would you rather take you? Us or Them?" He looked between the two of us. Then he said, "O.K. The enemy of my enemy is my friend." I smiled, "But your still my enemy." We all charged at the Rooks. Megan couldn't break them. I couldn't slash them. They weren't made of metal. Their minds were protected by something. Tripping them with extremely long arms didn't help. Zeus had little success with scratching their faces. Viktor blasted one of them. The Rook was caught off guard and slamed Bishop with his forarm and knocked him out against the wall. Guess he's not as tough as I thought. I said, "Jazz! Sonic scream, now! Everyone else, cover your ears!" I grabbed Sara and Magnet and pulled them under me as I hit the deck. Jazz sucked in a lot of air and let it out in piercing scream. Even when muffled her screech was so painful. One of the Rooks fainted with a groan, only to be followed by Rook number 2. Jazz stopped, her hands on her knees. I got up and said, "Great job Jazz. Guys tie up Longarm." Before he could protest they were all over him. I turned and walked over to a nearby Knight. I picked up the sword that the had a death-grip by the owner. It had a trigger on the handle. I clicked it on. It was kinda like a high-tech buzz-saw sword. It had a whizzing/humming noise. I grinned and walked over to Bishop. Just in time for him to get up and steady himself. "Guess what, Bishop?" I said as he looked at me. "I say I'm more than worthy to kill you."
With that I stuck the sword right through his stomach. I sliced diagonally upward. What I saw was not what I expected. As he fell on his back I realized that Bishop wasn't even human after all. He was a robot, more specifically an Android. The machine started laughing. "You think I would risk coming here m-m-m-myself?" It said with more static in it's voice. Digital numbers appaered in his shades '5............4..........3..' "Uh Oh." I said. I ran as the Machine exploded in a firey blast. Which would've worked in killing me if I didn't dive behind the knocked out Rooks for cover. The sword I used landed beside me, stuck in the ground and handle in the air. I grabbed the sword and started for the others. They were creative I'll give them that much. They tied him up in a straight-jacket using his own arms. I looked at him. On any other ocasion I would laugh. We would all laugh. I almost didn't trust my voice. "Jazz." I said slowly. "Get the kids outta here." She nodded and did so without question. Megan stood there for a second, like she wanted to say something, but she didn't. She just ran after the others. I glared down at my tretcherous foe. He had fear in his eyes, as he should. I said, "You broke the hearts of my family, including me. I thought you were my friend." A tear ran down his cheek. "Now, I will take away the very thing you're proud of." I let that set for a moment. Then I whispered what he was thinking, "Your Arms."
He looked at me in shear terror. With the sword I recently used I cut off his arms at shoulders. Not a whole lot of blood came out but it came out all the same. Because of his new healing factor, he won't die, but he's gonna go through a lot of hell. He cried out in pain until he passed out. I stuck the sword in the ground and left. Outside everyone was silent. They stared at me, except Viktor but his face was in my direction. Megan had her hands to her mouth. I said, "I didn't kill him." She seemed to loosen up, as did the others, not by much, just a little bit. I said, "Let's just get the bikes and get outta here."

Cyrus Noble part 2: Fight of the Cyborg Mutant Scientist

(Read these parts in order, please!)

"What...was....That!?" I asked, almost screaming. "All of you! Viktor, first of all, Why did you go after that explosion? Jazz, You risking our very beings for some, lowlifes that are going to croak sooner or later. The rest of you..." I looked at the guys sitting in front of me. "...actually followed her." We were hiding out in a storage warehouse. All the workers there seemed to be on they're lunch break. Viktor spoke up, "I'm sorry, what was that? I couldn't hear you over all your snarling." Jazz, Megan, and Magnet were suppressing giggles. Sara, Longarm, and even Zeus looked horrified. Sara doesn't usually see me this angry, and Longarm was the new guy, but he knew enough that I'm the boss in this group. As for the bird, scare Most animals anyway. I walked up to Viktor till I was about an inch from his face. Viktor and I are almost the same height, almost. "You want to run that by me again?" He tilted his head slightly and put a finger to his chin, as if he had to ponder about this. "Nah," he said, "Jokes aren't usually that funny the second time you say them." More giggles. I had enough, "Next time you smart off to me, I'll punch you so hard you'll have to face your back to the enemy to shoot your eye blasts." He put his hands up in surrender, still chuckling. That blind thing of his will only get him so far. I walked back to where I was standing and picked up the gear I snagged from that criminal. "Here." I said as I tossed the wired mess on Jazz's lap. "What's this?" She asked. "That is some gear that one of the criminals was wearing. It might be a bit damaged. Examine it and give me the results when I get back." She looked at up from the now opened pack. "Were are you going?" "I'm going to get our stuff from the woods. Longarm, Viktor, come along. That way we won't have to make more than one trip." They got up and followed. "We're gonna take a route that won't run by the bank. So we might be a while."

"Are you telling me, that you and your crew, were compromised by a few CHILDREN?! Even after I gave our newest Hi-Tech weaponry?!" These three welps were shaking and cowering with fear now. The, so called, leader of the group stepped up and said, "Actually sir, I'm not even sure if they were even human. I blasted one, point blank shot, and it...he...I'm not sure how to explain it." I gave him a menacing glare that told him to get on with it. "He seemed to...well.... heal over. We are the only ones to escape." He clearly let this guard down to let that bruise, turning yellow, appear on the right side of his face. "I give you the necessary equipment, to do what ever you like in this blasted city. And all you had to do was report to me how the police reacted, whether or not the weapons malfunctioned, and how successful your runs are." I turned my back to them in my chair. I hate it when I get headaches under stress. "Could you please, describe the one who attacked you? Or are you so incompetent that you can't remember what he looks like?" "He...Uh...had a lot of hair, he had a mouth that was full of fangs, He had claws too." He must be joking. I turned to them again. I pressed the intercom and said, "Professor, activate the self destruct on the missing gear, so they won't be able to track us. Guards take these fools in front of me and execute them in a different room. I don't want their mongrul blood on my new carpet." No one makes a fool of Doctor Ching. I better report to Bishop that the dangerous experiments are trying to play hero.

It was creepy. No one stopped us to interrogate us. No one gave us a second glance. Well, except for a toddler holding the hand of her mother, who gave us a long enduring look. Which I guess is normal. I had to check back on Longarm a couple of times. He looked tired, so I offered help. He didn't want it. Something was up about him, I couldn't help but think it. I guess he's just that kind of guy. I'll have Sara probe his mind when we get back. When we got back to the warehouse, we found that it was empty. Well, I mean It was full of boxes and crates. It was lacking my mutant kid pose'. Viktor whistled and waited. "They're in positions for an ambush." That was smart. Great thinking Jazz. "Yo! Guys! It's just us! You can come out now!" Two tiny heads stuck out from behind a crate. Magnet and Sara. Megan dropped down beside us from a tower of crates that is ideal for an aerial attack. Jazz came from around a corner, holding a wrench like a samurai warrior, with Zeus on her shoulder. "Hey guys. I got your stuff." Everyone swarmed in and got their stuff. After everyone settled down Jazz came up to me. She said, "Cyrus. You are not gonna believe me when I tell you this." "What?" I asked. "I detected a signal on that gear you gave me. I was able to deactivate it, and find out what the signal was for. And after a lot of hacking I was able to block any signals coming in or out." "What was it for? Were you able to track it?" "The signal itself was to set the equipment to self destruct. With just a spark, the device would have lit the building. Oh, and Sorry, I couldn't track it." I had to think about that for a second. "Why would someone want to blow up hi-tech equipment? That is clearly more than enough to handle a police squad." I was rubbing my forehead now. I looked at the watch I snagged of a dead Sci-fi the day I went bezzerk. It was six already. "Guys, we got to find a place to rest for the night. Not to mention something to eat." Longarm spoke up, "Having malleable arms comes in handy." I was thinking 'What?' Oh right 'Longarm'. Duh.

.............Later that evening.................

"I don't ever want to do that again." Jazz said. I replied, "Well, think of it this way, seven kids now get to eat for a day......or two." More like for a few days really. We scored big time. Longarm got the wallet of a guy who must've got his money fresh from an ATM. He had a couple hundred dollars in it. He might've planned to go on a shopping spree or something. Not anymore. "All right guys, roll out the sacks. We had long day and we'll have another one tomorrow."

That night, at about three in the morning, we of course were kidnapped. I don't know how they found us, or how they got anywhere near my family. If I didn't hear them, I thought for sure that Viktor would. With his sonar hearing and all. I woke up to muffled screams due to Sara being gagged, tied up, and placed in a sack by.....I honestly couldn't tell. However his scent said he wasn't human. It must've been cold that night, because I could see his breath. At least I saw something before I was blindfolded. I almost can't say it. There was only one guy there. I am humiliated by this fact. Later, I was completely freed. Well, except that a) I was in yet another secret underground apparently recent base, b) On the upper floors I saw Pawn soldiers with snipers and Sci-fis working on other stuff, and c) a man who looked like an agent from "The Matrix" was on one of the platforms across the room with a grin on his grill. Standing with him was a dude who could've only been a few years older than me. He wore a black leather jacket, black combat boots, and black t-shirt and jeans. His skin was blue, his eyes were purely white. Is he...a mutant? Just like us? The Man in the matrix-monkey suit said, "Welcome! Freaks!" The guards chuckled. I looked behind me to see the rest of the gang freed as well. The room looked kinda like an arena. I looked back at the man. He said, "My name is Dr. Ching and this is my assistant, Zero." The one called Zero said, "I ain't nobody's little helper. I'm loyal only to the highest bidder." A bounty hunter. I will kill him for this. I don't know where I had the strength to make a joke, but I found it. I said, "Ching? What, did your parents throw some change on the ground and decided that's what they're going to call you?" From here I could see a vein form on his forehead. "You won't be making any jokes when I'm done with you." I smiled. This egghead wouldn't last two seconds.....

"Oh, you wanna fight? Bring it. We can take you any day." He smiled and responded, "Doctor, prepare our Rebirth Project: #2100." The Sci-fi stammered, "S-Sir, we haven't t-tested it yet......on anything." Ching raged, "I...don't....care. It will be tested NOW!" The Guards, still aiming at us, waited patiently as the nerds prepped up whatever 'it' was. Zero said, "Hey! Doc! You never said anything about kids being involved in this stuff. Not KIDS, kids." Ching called over his shoulder, "Guards, take our loose end over there and put him in his new cell." A Pawn trooper shot him in the leg, as a result, he fell over the railing and fell on his back. That was a story high at least, not enough to kill him, but he must felt like crap after that. A robot hand reached down from the ceiling, hoisted him up, and put him on a metal table where two troopers strapped him down and pulled our bounty hunter friend away. They brought in a table that looked like it was used by Doctor Frankenstein himself. There was a sheet over it before Ching ripped it off. He said something, I could read his lips. He said something like, "Now, step-brother, I will have what I've always, no, the only thing I've wanted." What is this lunatic doing? "Cyrus." said a tiny voice behind me. I turned to Sara. "What is it Sara?" "That man.....he's insane. I mean he so full of hate and jealousy." " Sara not now. We'll talk later, I promise." And there will be a later, I'll make sure of it. The Doc pulled the table up so that we can see it. He said, "Look Now! At the face of your executioner!" The scientific abomination, it wore a green, sleeveless jump suit. The black collar covered his shoulders and reached down to the center of his chest. It had a white oval where the point would be on the chest. It had a symbol in that oval that was, well.....Asian. I couldn't tell whether it was Japanese or Chinese. He also wore black combat boots. He was over six feet tall. His eyes were purely white, as if we were looking at the back of his eyes. He had wide shoulders, really muscular. His left arm was robotic and a four talon robot claw to top it off. He had a robot patch with a red eye over his left eye. He had three different stitches on his face, as if this was the best patch up they could do. Doubtful. Ching continued, "A mixture of genetics, robotics, reanimation, and, above all, mind control. The symbol you see here, is the Japanese symbol of death, appropriately put for this occasion." He snatched a device from a scientist and put it on his forehead. It looked like a mechanical head band. "Now you'll see--" He collapsed and Frankenstein 2.0 sprung to life and said in a cold metallic voice, "--the power I now possess. I will kill you, and we shall reshape the world!" With that he left the ground and ascended into the air in the center of the room. Electricity leaped from the walls and ceiling. I thought he'd be fried by the stunt, but he held. I said, "Guys! Spread out! Make yourselves hard to hit!" His lightning bolts fried some Pawn troopers and the rest were scrambling to escape. Sara was trying to tell me something I scooped her up and hid behind some ruble that fell from the ceiling. "What is it Sara? We're in deep trouble here." She responded, "Cyrus, I can feel a link between the monster and the doctor. I think I can do some damage, but I need some cover." "Done." I said "Magnet! Shield Sara!" He came over and mentally ripped some metal form the wall and held them around Sara and himself. "Viktor! Longarm! Your with me, we got to distract him! Jazz! See if you can sabotage the machine. Megan, give her some protection." Viktor started shooting his emerald green eye blasts at the new Dr. Ching. Longarm was wrapping his arms around ruble and chucking it at him. That made him stagger but that's about it. He said, "Ha! My nerves have been deactivated. I feel no pain." His nerves? He must've been insane, he wanted his brother's life!(or stepbrother, since the undead man could have no bloodline relation to Ching. He's Russian, Ching is Asian.) And now he's got it.

I started climbing to the third floor of the arena. I crouched on top of the railing, and sprung after Ching. I landed on him with my arms around his neck. He must've needed to breath, or something. I tried to strangle him, which seemed to work cause he really was choking up. That is until he grabbed me with his right hand and threw me across the room like a ragdoll. "Ouch." I said after I landed, without realizing it. I must've landed close to where Jazz was cause I heard her say, "Cyrus, we have a problem. We can't find a way to shut him down." Which meant that it was either we damage him so badly he won't be able to function, or it was all on Sara to find a weakness. I got up I had to think of a way to beat this guy. Sara came into my mind, Cyrus. I think I can reactivate his receiving nerves. It might take a minute though. O.K. But even with that how am I....Wait. "Viktor! Unload everything you got!" Viktor replied, "That won't do anything!" "Just do it!" He did and there was a new crater in the wall. Rocks and ruble fell on top of Ching's Experiment. That'll hold him for a minute or two. "Jazz! Is there a generator in there, by any chance?" One moment later. "Uh, yeah. Why?" "Start it up. I have an idea." Cyrus, I know what you're thinking, it's risky and crazy! I know. And I don't care. Jazz is charge if I die. I went to Jazz and Megan. When I got there I could here the ruble moving. We don't have a lotta time. I saw a pile of six foot long, wrist thick cables. "Jazz hook up those cables to the generator. Megan, help her out." Zeus, who was residing on Magnet's shoulder this whole time, flew in and snatched the end of a cable and flopped it beside Jazz. "Yeah you two Zeus." They connected all the cables. "Don't plug it in the generator yet. Give one end to me." They did and I ran to the ruble where Ching was. Halfway across the arena I yelled, "Now!" But not before Dr. Ching burst out and shot a lightning bolt at me. It all happened so fast that I didn't have time to react. The cord flew out of my hands. I was unable to move as I hit the wall and fell to the ground. I could hear him laughing and taunting me, "You were going to electrocute and overload my systems? Why, Yes. That would work. I'll fix that when this battle is over." Cyrus. I did it! He can feel now! I guess he doesn't realize it just yet. He will soon enough, as soon as I...get....up. "Your still alive? My, my you are an interesting specimen. I'll have to dissect you to see how your healing works." I could hear him walking across the floor. I heard a voice, that was all too familiar......Longarm, "I got this!" I looked up to see Longarm stretching his arms. His left arm wrapped around Ching, tieing his robot arm to its owner's body. He looked at the cable, now sparking with electricity, and reached out his right arm.....towards it. Before he came in contact with it I heard Megan say, "No!" I wanted to stop him. I really did. But I wasn't able to get to my feet. I watched as the electricity from the huge generator flowed through the cable, through Longarm himself, then right into Ching. Ching screeched out in his newly found pain. Longarm's face told us he was in pain as well, but he didn't cry out. Ching's robot eye exploded in sparks. Longarm was now thrown across the room and Ching was back in his pile of ruble. Everyone else was now behind me. Ching was on his feet again, "I have......my brother's.......life...now. I.....can't die." With that he was surrounded with a sphere of electricity and every machine started to go nuts. I barked out, "Jazz, get everyone out." Megan cut in, "Not without Longarm!" I turned to her. She had tears in her eyes. "Don't worry, I got him." I ran to where Longarm fell. His arms returned to normal length, thank God. I picked him up and ran after the exit the others went through. I saw a flash in my head. I saw hallway passing by fast. I knew where to go all the sudden. After a lot of running and random explosions in the underground base. I eventually got to two elevator shafts. One of them was already being used. I took the second one. As we were going up I looked down the crack of the shaft. Explosions were going on down there, big ones, we need to get out of here, fast. The shaft opened up to a warehouse. Empty at least. I ran out, saw the woods close by and ran toward it. I found the gang a quarter mile in there, catching their breath. Except Megan, who was crying. I laid Longarm down with his back resting against a tree. I stood up and looked at my family. We all stood around Longarm. Megan and Sara crying. Jazz holding back. Magnet did his best not to but a few tears were shed. Viktor didn't shed a tear, but his face said it all. I said, "Wait a minute." I got the first aid kit and got a needle fom it. I took my own blood, despite the horror I remembered before I freed myself. I got down to his level and I injected my blood into his vein. After three agonizing minutes, Longarm took a deep breath and exhaled. Everyone saw it and cheered. "Sorry, Longarm. You can't die just yet. After all you are a part of this family." And Bishop, your lackey failed. We win this battle today.

Corruption part1

A long time ago there was a time were heroes where sought out as protectors of the Innocent. However one by one heroes have either been killed off or have betrayed everyone for their own wants; until there was only one group of heroes left. The Justice Society: people thought they where perfect, pure, and incorruptible. The government thought it would be safer if that same society worked for them instead of on their own. That's when the society went bezzerk. They started to build an army to take over the world and killed all the others who wouldn't join their cause. We are now at war, the land down below is now too dangerous to set up a lot of bases on the ground. There are a total of twelve military bases hidden all around the Earth, four under water, five in the air, two under ground, and one in space: the Mother Base. Thanks to our new security and cloaking systems they have not won yet. My name is Neo, and I was created to fight this threat; for those who can't. I have to fight the force of corruption; I must become the immovable object in it's way. Although, I was destined for greatness, one way or another, what if this is just a trick; who is the true evil and who is truly good? Would my friends still accept me for which I choose or where they my friends to begin with? These are the questions that haunt me the most. If I fight for the freedom and rights of humanity, I will become a true Hero, I can actually help people. If I join the Brotherhood, I will have power of all kinds and everything I could ever want. Which do I choose?
This is all going to hell really fast. BOOM! Another explosion. It is safe to say that I've lost this battle. I was being pinned down behind a tipped car I had no were to go were I wouldn't get hit. The firing stopped. What happened? Then a high tech Brotherhood Hunter-Craft came out of no were and started shooting. All of the shots missed of course. Everything faded away and I was back in the all white Holo-cron Training room. I was officially depressed. How am I supposed to be the saviour of the Innocent if I can't survive a pressured situation like that? The first thing I heard when I walked out of the Holo-cron room and into the hallway was not what I expected. "Jack! Jack!" Little Susan Korona probably the sweetest little six-year-old anyone could ever have, "I have good news. You are gonna get your first, real, Mission!" I was stunned, happy, but stunned. Why was I getting my first real mission? I failed that last program. We walked up to the operations center were Susan's father Dr. Korona, another scientist, a Colonel, and an Admiral waiting for me. They all had what could pass for a smile, which creeped me out a bit. "Congrats, Jack. You are about to get your first true mission." said the Admiral. "We will teleport you to the drone Factory tomorrow." This took a minute to settle in. I said, "Will Bolt come with me?" Bolt was a powerful experiment, just like me. He is also my best friend. The Admiral replied, "Because of his powers and abilities, no. He is being set onto a different mission. At one of the Brotherhood's Power Plants." The Doctor intercepted, "This is a mission that needs a more stealthy character, someone like you." "I Accept."
They said I would start first thing tomorrow morning so I wanted to tell the good news to one of my other best friends, Katelyn Korona. She was in one of the lounges. "Hey, Katelyn. The Drone Factory is gonna get the shock of a lifetime tomorrow, Cause I'm assigned to go there and make some havoc." She replied, "You suck. You AND Bolt get to leave the base while me and the rest of us have stay here." O.K. That made me feel like a jerk. "I'm sorry. Maybe I can talk to the Doc and..." She cut me off. "Forget it. When the war is over I'll get to see the Earth again." She walked off. Unknown to Neo She thought, 'Perhaps Katelyn won't but the new Echo will.' Neo went off to bed after all he has to be at full strength for his first mission tommorow.
When I entered the teleportation room there was not as many happy faces as I thought there would be. Everyone was doing their everyday protocol and triple checking everything on the teleportation device. A scientist walked up to me, "Jack, is it? We are going to begin in just a minute. We will teleport you to the corner of the Factory. Are you ready?" If I didn't know any better I'd say that he was a robot. "Yeah. Let's go." I understand that when teleporting you have to stand completley still. I heard that when experimenting the device one guy ended up with his left arm on the right side of his body with his right arm. I stepped on the pad and one of the scientists started counting down, "Teleportion starting in 5...4...3...2.." FWOOSH! A bright flash of light that was to be considered blinding. After about 30-50 seconds I was on the inside of a hallway that was all too foreign. It worked. I was now inside the factory. Time to begin. I started running silently down the hallway. I sidestepped to the shadows of a secondary hallway and waited as two blade drones walked right past me. I summonded my psychic blades. Yes I can summon glowing purple blades with my mind and a little telekinesis and telepathy. Anyway I snuck up behind them and stabbed one in the stomach and cut him in half from the waist-up. The other turned around just in time to be slashed in half. They both fell. This is gonna be child's play. At least thats what I thought, until I reached a room full of drones of all kinds. There was gunner drones, blade drones, flamer drones, and heli-drones. They were all looking at a screen with a familiar face on it. It was Technorg. One of the original Heroes that betrayed the world. He is a major scientist, thanks to that revealing glass bubble on his head that showed off his computer brain. He's created millions of gadgets and gizmos for every situation. It looks like he's instructing the bots to do something cause he stopped right in the middle of talking and had a funny look on his face. I said something really smart like, "Uhhhh. Am I interupting something?" His first response was, "Intruder! Sound the Alarms! Send in the Tripod! Destroy Him!" The screen flickered and shut down. I am so screwed. I slashed the nearest drone to pieces. And continued to slash, slam, push, and smash any robot in there. I wasn't going to win this battle, not with these numbers. Even with these powers, I'm still human, I'll slip up sometime. I jumped up to slash at a Heli-drone, I missed. In return it shot me right in the chest. Aaaannd I'm falling. Why did I have to step-jump so high? After I hit the ground I couldn't move. I heard Technorg's voice through a moniter, "Good. Make sure he's deeeeeaaaaaaaa-WHAT IS THAT?!" I strained to open my eyes. I couldn't hardly believe what I was seeing. I stayed on my back, I know enough that I was not able to fight. Whoever was destroying these drones might be a possible ally. 20 minutes later I heard a girl say "Hi." I reopned my eyes to see a girl hovering above me. She was wearing some sortta metal suit. Its helmut had her ponytail sticking out of the back of her head. Her visor covered her eyes and part of her nose. She had a speaker on her shoulders, knees, and chest. "Who are you?" I asked. She chuckled."Is that your way of saying 'thank you', Erik?" "How do you know my name?" Her cheeks turned red. "Your...a...really popular." "O.K. Where did you get the suit?" Her suit had a similar design to the one that was......Wait a minute. "Katelyn, What are you doing here?" She let out a big sigh. "What gave it away? Did you read my mind, again?" "No, you're just not very good with keeping a secret identity. And you called me Erik, big mistake number 1." "I'll keep that in mind. You're gonna tell my dad about this, aren't you?" "Nope. You are. Come on since you're here, you can help."

Cyrus Noble part 1: The beginning

Hello. If your reading this it means that you can heed this warning to anyone who'll listen. My name is Cyrus Noble. (Sara gave the name.) I live with 5 others: Jazz, Viktor, Megan, Magnet, Arsenal, and Sara. Me and Jazz are 15, Viktor is 14, Megan, 13, Magnet, 10, and Sara is 5. We all live and where born in a dam (yes a dam) in southern Canada next to a small town named Ortanoville. It's right next to a giant fresh water lake . We were created by evil scientists that made one small mistake with me, I kill everyone in a white coat in my rage, and I freed the surviving experiments who became my friends. When I freed the five experiments I stored them in an empty room for their safety so I could kill the remaining Scientists, I call them Sci-fis, and find something we'd all be able to eat. I don't know why but I felt that I needed to protect them; anyway after a while I found a room that only had two metal tables; the smaller table had some tools while the other had a strapped down robot. He looked at me and said, "HELLO, I AM PROJECT A-1193, CODENAME: ARSENAL. BUT YOU MAY CALL ME ARSENAL." In response, very slowly, I said, "Willyou...help me...find....food...forthe others." He nodded. When I freed him he took me to what looked like a lounge; we got all of the food we can carry and went back. Now I know what your thinking: Why stay in your worst nightmare? because we tried to find some other good hiding spot with accessible food, shelter, AND fresh water; and we failed at that. Another thing, we are NOT a bunch of savages O.K.? I went into the forest found the nearby town and some young couple took pity on me and practically gave everything I needed. I felt guilty about it later, but I stoll all of what was in their closets, drawers, and kitchen cabinets; leaving a few pairs of everything. Hey, we need clothes too! So how did we become this intelligent? We had special powers already, apparently Jazz is the smartest person on the planet: that's how we got the computers working and the TV in the lounge and she's a mechanical genius! I can't say much about our education but we know how to read, write, and speak; at least somewhat. As far as I'm concerned that's all that's essential for our survival. We've lived here for about two years and we haven't explored all of the dam yet, but we're working on it. I found a work-out room and we had to stay fit so we used it. We keep finding out new things about this place, turns out the seven of us are the only ones alive in here......Cool. The Sci-fies have deleted most of the info on the computer the day I went a-wol. In a nut-shell this is what we found: Jazz learns quickly and has a sonic scream which she generates through the light blue rings in her mouth. Magnet can control metal which is limited by a certain range. Megan has a set of dragon-like wings that allow her to fly and she has allot of strength and agility to top it off. Viktor has super hearing with sonar, so he can just whistle and listen the sound waves bounce off of everything, he also has eyes that can shoot lasers; the Sci-ifs tried to intensify his sight but ended up blinding him and he lost control of his sight blast. He wears a piece of ripped cloth over his eyes: it has a certain material that blocks his blast. (For the record he wanted to wear it in the first place.) Sara has Telepathy, yeah, do NOT play any card games with her. Arsenal is a robot with the brain of a super computer, and the Heart and soul of the kindest of humans; he also has a few weapons on him. Why did the Sci-fis want to shut him down? Ya got me. Me on the other hand, I am an animal. My fingernails extend half-an-inch out. And I have three hearts.......THREE. Which somehow gives me the ability to heal myself really fast. I also have the senses of Superman.

Anyway I woke up in my bed to find two worried faces staring at me. "You were asleep all mourning", said Magnet. Sara said, "It's about 1:00, Jazz wanted us to check on you." Good ol' Jazz. I looked at them and said, "OK, I'll be right behind you." They left and I slumped outta bed, something smelled good. I got dressed and made my way to the mess hall and saw Arsenal helping Jazz cook. "Uh-oh. Hit the deck, Jazz is cooking." I heard some tiny fake screams followed by laughter. "Oh. Ha ha. You're hilarious." Jazz replied. "I SAW SOMETHING ON THE TELEVISION LAST NIGHT ABOUT COOKING." added Arsenal in his static robotic voice, "I THOUGHT YOU MIGHT ENJOY IT." Jazz continued, "It should be done in about 20 minutes. Sara could you please get Viktor up?" "OK," Sara replied and left. "You sure she won't get lost?" I asked "I won't get lost!" Sara called back. While Megan and Magnet were watching Spongebob and Arsenal and Jazz were cooking I had this wierd feeling, a bad feeling. BAA-BOOOOM! I Hate it when I'm right.

Immediately everyone in the room practically jumps out of the room only to see a huge hole in the wall, leading outside to the once-peaceful valley below. The side of a chopper hovered about 20 feet away from the hole, with the doors open and two strangely dressed men, with masks, stood there. One of them was holding a rocket launcher and was trying to re-load, the other took out (what looked like) a gun and fired. He missed and it was some sortta......laser! Those shouldn't even exist yet! With quick thinking I thought of a plan. I extended my claws and ordered, "Megan, Magnet get to the top of the dam. Jazz, get Sara and Viktor and do the same. Now! Protect yourselves! No matter what!" I looked back at the chopper and said, "Arsenal, how far can you throw me?" "ABOUT SIXTY FEET." "Throw me at that chopper" Jazz looked back from down the hallway with a horrorified look on her face. She heard me. "Cyrus! No!" But it was too late Arsenal hesitated but he already had me at the back of shirt and my belt and had me in the air. I was soaring towards the helicopter. The first guy was done reloading, but he was too late; I landed on the chopper and snatched the rocket launcher before he could even react. I smashed the weapon against the torso of the Second guy and heard ribs crack. I grabbed the other guy by the throat and threw him and his launcher out. The pilot got up from his seat so I snapped the pilot's neck, Smashed the controls, and leaped out of the chopper. I think the tail of it alomst hit my boots. I hit the concrete wall right under the hole with a huge THUD. That was going to leave a huge mark in the morning. Once I clawed myself back in the building, I rise back to a certain humanoid robot waiting for me. "ARE YOU ALLRIGHT?", He asked. "Yeah. Where are the others?" "CALCULATIONS SUGGEST THAT IF THEY STAYED ON COURSE TO THE TOP, THEY SHOULD BE THERE ALREADY." "Then lets go." After fighting are way to the top we met up with the others. The first thing I hear when I open and go through the hatch was "Are You Crazy!?" "Hey, nice to see you too Jazz." I turn to see the worried faces of Jazz, Megan, Magnet, and Sara. Somethings wrong."Where's Viktor?", I asked. Everyone turned to Jazz. She said, "When the troopers attacked, Viktor got separated from us. He told us he can take another way up here, we're still waiting for him." "Crap. (sigh) O.K. I'll go back and..." CRASH! I turned to see another hole in the roof with a little bit of water seeping in, and a dark figure climbing out of it. Instantly we gathered and helped Viktor up. He had some scratches and a bruise on his arm. He had his usual black with thin horizontal white stripes hoody, darker jeans, and, oh yeah, his black blindfold that hides his Bazooka-Emerl-like eyes. "It's a freaking invasion! I can hear it all." Just then three helicopters on each side came out of no were; their weapons primed and aimed at us. We are so screwed. Then a different kind of helicopter landed about 20 feet away from us. I think it was a carrier helicopter, either someone wanted us alive or they where bringing something big into the mix. I looked over my shoulder and whispered, "Be prepared for anything." The back of the chopper door was facing us when it opened there was a white man standing there; he had a white shirt with a black tie, black pants, black shoes, a black trench coat, and ,of coarse, shades. His hair was black and you couldn't see anything behind his shades. Until he moved from his spot I thought he was a statue, I didn't even know someone can be that still. "Hello, children." His voice was.....indescribable: it put a chilling sensation down your spine with each letter he spoke. "What do you want?" I barked, trying to not sound scared. I had to be the brave and strong leader, if I won't who will? "That's right, short and straight to the point. My name is Bishop. I want to make you a deal." "So you attack our home and try to kill us?!", I retorted. "I told the Pawn Troopers to use light weaponry." A lie "You call a freaking Rocket Launcher light weaponry?!" I felt like a screeching banshee. Who or What was this guy? He continued, "Anyway, I think we're getting rather off-topic. You see you want protection for youself and your friends, we want to examine you for study. With no pain at all, we will give whatever you need and/or want and all the protection you want from those who want to destroy you." I thought about it, this guy was spiting lies that's for sure. How did he know about my little agenda? I thought a plan over and over again hoping Sara was reading my mind for once. "You mean people, like yourself? No thank you. I'd rather take my chances with a mad bear: much more of a likely hood to survive." He looked surprised."Is that your final answer?" "Now!", I yelled. Instantly Viktor pulled off his blind fold. FWOOSH! A blast of green light took out a copter. Magnet put out his hands, as if he was holding something, and swiped them across the air; BOOM! Another chopper down. Megan flew to the side of the another chopper, held on to the tail and snapped the it off from the the chopper; she threw the tail of it into the chopper next to her. She then flew back as both of the choppers fell into the water below. While all of this is going on Jazz throws three metallic Javelins at the ground where the four pawn troopers who standing in front of Bishop, after a few seconds an electric-discharge emerged and shocked the living crap out of the troopers. Sara put two fingers to her temples and one hand out in front: in a few minutes the four pawn troopers behind Bishop collapsed, one by one. Arsenal shot and destroyed the carrier chopper behind Bishop, no escaping now. "My turn." I lunged through the air, out to kill, and right before I got to dig my claws into his heart, he reaches out with his right arm and caught me by the neck. There I was hanging there, not even able to touch the floor with my boot. This never happened before, not even in the Testing Room set to the highest level. Who was this guy? What was this guy? "If your answer was no, you could've just have said no; I have no intention to fight you. The troopers were merely to get your attention. You're not yet worthy to fight me." Not yet worthy?! Wasn't he Mr. Modest? I couldn't breathe enough to make a snappy come-back, or to say a few choice words (if you know what I mean). He then let go of me and I fell to the ground gasping for breath. I felt so weak; that's not my style. On my knees, I look up only to see Bishop holding on to a ladder attached to a Helicopter I didn't see before. And just like that we were alone. Jazz and Viktor helped me up, Arsenal broke the silence, "OUR SECRET BASE IS NO LONGER A SECRET." "What do we do now?", asked Megan. Good question. Several minutes later we were at the door of the official entrance. I looked at all of them, "Does everyone have their essentials?" They absent-minded replied, "Yes." The older ones I didn't have to worry about, as for the others, well you know. I was on one knee looking through Sara's back-pack while Jazz looked through Megan's and Viktor looked through Magnet's. Sara surprisingly did well with packing her stuff; she got three different sets of clothes to change into, some food that would give us a week, but she had two many stuffed animals. Who needs seven different stuffed animals while traveling? We didn't want to look like campers, or homeless for that matter: it would attract attention to us. "Now Sara, I know you want to bring your friends along, but we can't. We're on the run now, I am going to make you a deal: I want you to choose two of these animals." She looked at the toys, biting her lip like I did sometimes. "Can it be three?" I looked at her and right into the trap, her secret weapon, the Bambi eyes. This isn't some mind trick the sci-fis installed. It was like as if it came naturally to her. Half the time she doesn't even know that she does it, or does she? Either way, it was too cute when she did it and, it almost never failed. "O.K. three it is, but only three. All right?" "All right.", she said. I turned around to see Jazz folding her arms and shaking her head, a silent message: it said "You sap." I gave a smile and got up to see if the other's were done. Megan zipped up her back pack and put it on, all with a rather disappointed face. Jazz answered my silent question, "She had a lot of her favorite magazines in there." I nodded and turned to Sara. "Sara do you have the three toys, yet?" "Yep." She stuffed see the small blond girl stuffing a toy cat, bird, and squirrel into her pink back pack. I turn again to see Viktor, standing there silent as a ghost, "I felt through Magnet's bag, he's good." I sighed, "O.K. Last question before we go. Does anyone need to go to the bathroom?" A few hands raised. Yeah, that's what I thought. After we left the dam we set out into the woods, looking for a brand new home that would provide shelter, water, and food. So far, nothing. So we had to set up camp for the night. Have you ever camped in the southern Canadian woods? If you have, we know how it is. We could sleep easily knowing we got an awesome friend on watch the whole night.

Next morning I was the first to wake up. I decided to get the others up to start a new day to search for a new place to crash. After everyone was awake and accounted for and eating breakfast I thought I should make the announcement. "Hey guys I think we should go south into America." Silence. Viktor decided to break the silence, "Ain't we supposed to be Canadian, eh?" Megan ignored him and said, outraged, "Awesome. We might actually go to a concert in the U.S." "Guys. Whoever 'They' are they will not be able to track us as easily if we go to a different country." Arsenal chimed in, "ACTUALLY, CYRUS, I THEORIZE THAT IF WE GO TO DOWNTOWN TORONTO WE MIGHT HAVE A BETTER CHANCE OF EVADING WHOEVER IS TRACKING US, IN THE CROWDS." I looked at him astonished. Jazz beat me to the punch, "Toronto? Are you positive?" He nodded. I was shocked, I didn't know what to do. Thankfully Jazz did, "OK. Who's up for wondering in America?" I raised my hand and looked around(trying to NOT look menacing.) Magnet and Megan had their hands raised, too. "OK. Who's up for ever-so-closer Toronto?" Viktor, Arsenal, Sara, and Jazz raised their hands. I hate a democracy. "Lets go." It took like three freakin long days going east, scavenging for food, stealing needed things (only if it was necessary), and finding some sortta shelter to sleep in. This is not as easy as one might think. Anyway we eventually ended up on the edge of Toronto Ontario, Canada. "I still say this a bad idea." I tried to urge them. Jazz reconvinced them, "Come on, Cyrus. You lost fair and square. Besides, I'm sure we can have some fun and be safe at the same time." I took a deep breath. "I still have a bad feeling about this." We entered the city looking for some hole in the wall or some abandoned building to hideout in. It was the end of the day and we decided to go to the homeless shelter for tonight. It was like a big dome and inside there was mats all over the floor. When we got there, there was a bunch of people inside as well as a family giving out sandwiches and other types of food. I don't like this at all. I'm not a fan of tight spaces, it brings back nightmares. There was however stairs leading into a restricted attic. Why is there an attic in a homeless shelter? I don't know, I didn't design the place. Anyway I locked the door, so we don't have any uninvited guests. We got out our sleeping bags and set up for the night. Everyone said their goodnight and eventually went to sleep. I wasn't gonna get a wink of sleep tonight: my family deserved better than this rat-hole. We survived an assault from Helicopters, Pawn troopers, and some sortta...Whatever he is. I need to know Who or What was Bishop (a.k.a. source of the song "Secret Agent Man"). Sara was reading thoughts again, and decided to give some news, "Cyrus, I don't like Bishop." I chuckled a little. "Neither do I Sara. He's like that monster I have to scare away." "No. That's not what I mean. I can't read his mind. It's like He's dead." I sighed. "He's not human that's for sure. Come on Sara let's just go to sleep."

The mourning didn't start like I expected. I guess I should get used to that. We left the building at sunrise. We had to find breakfast, and a heading. When the sun was no longer touching the land, that's when everything went to hell. We were walking through an alley seeing if there were any leftover food from restaurants. When an explosion came from behind. "Ah, come on!" said Magnet. I couldn't have said it better myself. I extended my claws. "Everyone, prepare for battle." I saw what was attacking and I knew I was going to make a new enemy today. The guy was standing on a building. It was at least seven feet tall, It wore cameo shorts, a sleeveless white shirt. It had robotic arms that were to big for its body and robotic boots that seem to be connected to his knees. It also had a small circle of metal in the center of his chest. He jumped down and made a crater were he landed. Then he made a b-line for us saying, "I am the Ann-i-ha-lator. I am made to cap-ture you." I don't remember much after that, except for a lot of pain. When I woke up I was tied up and in the back of some van. I looked around even though there was not much to look at. The others got hog-tied as well, except Arsenal, he was no were in sight. Victor had a bloody spot on his arm, Magnet had cuts and bruises. Megan was looking everywhere, panicking, and chained rather than roped. Once she saw that I was awake she calmed down a little, she was still scared out of her mind. Sara is....is....oh....good, she's still breathing. Jazz had a giant bruise on her for head. Now I'm pissed. They, He, IT did this, The Annihalator. He is dead, as soon as I get free he is dead. I shot a look at Jazz, hoping she got my message: Are you O.K.? She nodded, but that bruise told me other wise. I decided to get some answers from these...Pawn Troopers. "Yo!", I said. One of them replied, "Shut Up!" "I was wondering were we are. And were is the big tough walking tin-can?" The one in the passenger seat replied, "You mean the one that kicked your butts? Don't worry, you'll see him again once we get to base." They were wearing masks with slits for eyes and mouth, so I couldn't see their faces but I knew by their tone they were smiling. So, we get to meet up with Bishop again. Finally. It was maybe thirty minutes when the van slowed to a stop. The back doors opened to a herd of more Pawn Troopers. They stuffed us into body bags and dragged us to a room. Once they let us out again, Bishop was sitting at his desk, with his fingers laced as if he was waiting for us. The only other people besides him and us were the four Troopers that dragged us in. "Leave us." Bishop said. They left, unfortunatly they had handcuffed me with some kind of cuffs. Two pairs. The outer pair was for covering my claws, the other was for restraint. They thought of it all, or well most of it anyway. If we can just get Viktor's headband off or if Jazz would be willing to screech for us, unlikely. Jazz saw the destuction her super voice did in the training room and since then she kept working on her little utility belt, stuffing it with shurikeins, javelins, grappling hooks, power disks, anything you can actually fit into an oversized belt; and they didn't remove the belt. Bishop said, "I'm guessing the trip was pleasurable." I responded, "Shut up and tell me were Arsenal is, so I can kill you and everyone else and get out of here quickly." "Straight to the point. I like that. Well, I'm going to be honest with you. My scientists will study you from the inside out, to see what makes you tick." "No surprize." He continued, "For now we will let you stay in your own rooms. One for each of you. We have a separate room for you."Aren't I special? "Bite me." I said.

Later, I don't know how long. Perhaps an hour or two. There I am, pacing the 'room' actually it's a cell with Nothing in it but a vent and the Titanium Door I came through. Wait, the vents they are on the ceiling. I tried to pull them off. It pulled off allright, the screws must've been titanium. The vent itself wasn't. Those idiots have no idea who they're dealing with. Whoever the ventalation system as clean as it was in those spy movies was an idiot. This is just disgusting, not that I'm complaining. Anyway I made my way as silent as I could possibly be. Just looking for the rooms that had my friends, my family. Eventually I looked through what must've been my 96th vent, and I saw a familiar blonde haired girl sitting in the corner of a room. Jazz! I almost yelled. Instead I gave a little 'pssst'. She looked around a bit confused. I gave another 'pssst'. She looked up with a start as she saw me. I just smiled. She mouthed 'Cyrus'. I put my fingers to my lips, telling her to keep quiet. She moved over to the other side of the room. I unscrewed the screws on the vent. It fell and I caught it as soon as it left the ceiling. I lowered myself down to the floor and put the vent piece on the bed. I said, "What's up?" I was tackled with a hug from Jazz. After she let go I led her up and into the vent with Jazz first. I made a slight klang by accident as I slid the vent piece back into place. A minute later I heard a loud 'CRASH!' I looked down at the vent I hovered over. I saw Victor and Magnet run by. I heard Viktor's signature whistle. "Wait." he said. Magnet was freaking out. "Viktor! We don't have time to wait! We got to find the others and get out of here!" "Found two of them." He replied and pointed to the vent I hovered over. I punched in the vent three times before it fell. I fell through. I rolled as I hit the floor so that I was up on my feet. I said, "What? You were gonna start the party without me?" Magnet got excited, "Cyrus! You're O.K.! We have to get out of here. Gaurds are everywhere." Just then the alarms blared and a voice came up, 'Warning! Warning! prisoners have escaped!' and so on. I said, "Viktor, can you use your sonar to find the other and a way outta here?" He responded, "Already done." He did his signature whistle and waited. "This way." He finally said. He led us down a hallway and kept whistling every minute or two. Eventually he stopped abruptly. "Megan and Sara are right here." He said, pointing to the two titanium doors to his left. Jazz got out to boxes covered with wires. She stuck them on the locks on the doors. "Take a few steps back." The doors blew up, Probably scaring but not hurting anyone inside. A thirteen year old girl and a five year old girl came out of the two rooms. "Cyrus?" Sara asked innocently. "Yep! Now let's get out here." She got wide-eyed. "Wait! We need help out the others." What? "The others. I can sense them........please." I knew what she was talking about. Since she could read minds and send thoughts she can tell what emotions someone is feeling. She must be sensing a lot of pain, fear, death. I nodded, "O.K. We'll help 'em out." She smiled and I heard his voice in my head. Thanks Cyrus, I promise you won't regret this. 15 minutes later we were standing at the end of a hallway that had a bunch of electical gates on both sides. Each cell had a experimental mutant of some kind trying to see us through the bars without electrifying themselves. Megan spoke first, sounding like she was going to cry, "How do we free them all? There's no emergancy switch, or anything." I thought about it, Jazz could pick the locks. But that would take up to much time. "Jazz, throw an electric shurikien at each box. Magnet, after she's done, see if you can charge the projectiles." They both nodded. Jazz threw one projectile at the closest terminal and Magnet held out his hand. Sparks flew out of the terminal box. The gate closest left of it fell and a freaking Eagle the size of Sara flew out and landed on my shoulder. It was a goldish brown with small black streaks in its feathers. I was about to reach out to snap the bird's neck when Sara said, "Awwww! It's sooooo cute! Can we keep it? Please, please, please, please?!" Jazz shot me a glance that said 'If you let her keep this, I'll kill you.' To stall for later I said "Uhhh. I'll think about it. Come on lets free the rest of them." Less than 10 minutes later, we had a bunch of mutants on the loose. I said, "Everyone! If you just listen and follow us, we'll all get out of here safely!" Just then new voices arose from the crowd. " 'The mutants escaped!' 'How'd they get out?' 'Kill them all!' " Gun Shots (Sorry, Laser shots) can be heard. Everyone scattered. The eagle started shivering on my shoulder from fear. Everyone piled out into a secondary hallway. Viktor said, "No! This Way!" Only one of them seemed to hear him. I yelled, "There's no time to get them all out now! I'm sorry, Sara." The gang didn't look to thrilled about abandoning these guys. They came along anyway. I called out over my shoulder, "Viktor! Which way?" He whistled and listened. "Take the third right, then the second left then let me know when we get there." I looked back to see Viktor holding Jazz's hand, follwed by Magnet, and Sara who was holding the hand of the guy who heard us earlier. He had an almost shaved head. He wore a sleeveless grey jumpsuit with black boots. He looked really scared. Ahead of us the Eagle was leading the way turning where we were about to turn. When we got there, there was a big metal door. I snapped my fingers twice to let Viktor know we were here. He whistled again and a scowled, "This is it." He said. "Alright lets go." I replied. I ripped off the console with wires flying everywhere. The door opened and we ran through. We were in an abandoned wharehouse. Nice hiding place.

We got out of the warehouse and ran to the nearest forest. I looked at everyone. "Everyone here?" I said. Everyone responded, even the Eagle squawked to reply, all eccept the new guy. I put my hand on his shoulder, which seemed to make him jump, "Hey, you OK dude?" He nodded. Megan came over, "Hi. My name's Megan. What's yours?" He thought about it. "Th-the gaurds. They called me Longarm." Longarm? Seriously? "All right, Longarm. My name is Cyrus. Welcome to the the group. Megan here will introduce you to everyone." He smiled a little as I shook his hand. I walked away to Jazz to discuss our next move. That's when the bird landed on my right shoulder. "OK. What are we going to do with this bird?" Sara answered my question. "We keep it, of course!" I looked at her trying to think of way I could say no. "Even if we could," I started, "what would we name it?" Yeah that's good. That's basic logic, as far as she knows. "Zeus." she said after thinking for 5 seconds. "Zeus?" I asked. The bird squawked, as if to say 'I love my new name!' "Why Zeus?" Her response was, "Well, He is big, and goldish and he could like rule the skies. I thought it was a good name for him." Well we have nothing else to call him soooo.... "OK. Zeus it is." Sara cheered and clapped her hands. Jazz was giving me a evil look. "We need to find out what city we're in and where Arsenal is. Longarm did you see any resent robots being dragged through the hallways?" He thought about for a while. He looked up at me and said, "I'm sorry but no. I don't know where your friend is." I sighed. "Lets go find some sign that'll tell us what city we're in; and get Longarm some actual clothes. So he can blend easier." We all agreed, I looked at Jazz to see if she agreed. What? She's not here. I took three sniffs. Got her. I ran towards the scent. Everyone followed. I burst out of the woods and saw Jazz a couple of feet away, talking to some shadey dude. "OK, Thanks." she said. The guy just nodded and walked away. She turned around and said, "Oh. Hey Cyrus. We're in Jasonsville, North Dakota." I was trying to slow my breathing so I wouldn't have a heart attack. "What!? Do you know how worried I was? I thought you were takken." She chuckled, "Ooohhh. Cyrus, I never knew how much you cared." I rolled my eyes. "Let's just... go, OK?" "Go where?" said Megan as she followed up with the others. I was interupted with an explosion.

It came from down the street. And Viktor, being so smart ran toward it; and the rest of them followed! This is just not my day. We ran down the street to see an armored van in front of a bank. Not a usual good sign. Megan sneaked up against the wall next to the bank window. She peaked in just a bit. She gasped. "There's a robbery going on. Right Now." she spoke quietly. Jazz crouched down under the window and, with one hand got Magnet down with her. They were at the opened door when Sara spoke to me in my mind. Cyrus. Jazz is going to have Magnet use smoke pellets on the men to distract them. I'm going to confuse the gaurds while you, Megan, and Longarm take them out.Viktor is going to use his sonar to get the hostages. Zeus can stay with me. I blinked. Have we all forgotten who is the leader here? No but Jazz feels that she needs to help these people, and she won't take no for an answer. Great now we all have to risk our existance for people we don't even know. Jazz rolled out her smoke pellets and Magnet pushed them in. 3...2....1...FWIIIIISSSSHHHHH! Bombs away. The rest of us piled in Longarm saw a couple of goons in a clearing. He lashed out and smashed their heads together. Megan flew and did a air kick to a dude looking the other way. She turned around to do a Roundhouse on another guy's head. I caught a glimpse of Viktor leading someone out. I knocked out three people in a row with a chop, kick, uppercut. I saw another guy walking out of the smoke, coughing and wheezing. He was wearing some sortta tech. A Helmet with a Visor, a gun that looked like a Hi-Tech Ravioli-can with a handle, a green belt, and a purple vest. He saw me and started firing his weapon, which caused miniature explosions wherever it hit. I dodged three of the shots, when I got five feet away from him when the fourth one hit my stomach. I stood there stunned. The guy did an evil grin. I looked at him and waited a few seconds. I learned that my healing factor is conected to my breathing, so as long as I keep my breathing under a steady pace I'm good. I looked down, it was a bad burn spot or at least it Was a bad burn spot. I looked back at the man, who's smile faded into a look of confusion. I said, "That....Hurt.....Dude." He didn't get a chance to respond. I knocked his lights out with one punch. I took his helmet, belt, vest and gun. I darted out to see untied civilians panicking and wondering whats going on. I accedently bumped into a startled girl. "Sorry!" I called back. I was outta there and around the corner of the next block just in time to get outta sight of oncoming Policemen.