Monster Chapter 3

Cyrus now had the creature's full attention. It moved towards him. I said to Cyrus, in a hushed voice, "What are you doing? Get out of here! Don't be a hero!" His eyes never left the monster. He said, "So they decided to send you, huh?" The creature growled in response.

"Kind of wondered what would happen if I had to fight you." He crouched and glared at the creature. I had to restrain myself from running and screaming my way out of here. There were two sets of double doors across the gym, both of them leading outside. I could escape through there, but Cyrus.......he'll die.

Before I knew it, the creature had pounced on Cyrus, and both of them were rolling across the gym floor. It slashed at him, cutting through his shirt and into his skin. The thing opened it's mouth and let out a hissing snarl. It had fangs like a snake. Cyrus had his hands on the top and lower jaw, keeping it from biting into him. It pushed him across the floor and into the wall.

I had to do something, I couldn't just watch that thing eat him. I looked around and saw a case with a fire-extinguisher in it. Well, this is an emergency. I ran over to it and pulled out the red cylinder. I pulled out the lock and ran over to the thing. I aimed it at the monster and sprayed it. The white foam cover it's eye and it screeched in pain. It turned its head to me so it can look at me with it's other eye. Now I saw anger replace it's earlier coldness.

It took a step towards me, and Cyrus screamed, "No!" He lifted himself onto the back of the creature and lifted his hand to hit it, but his hand stayed open. I saw claws pop out of his fingertips; and then he brought it down, raking it across the monster's back. The monster roared in pain and started to roll over, trying to get him off it's back, but Cyrus hung on and dug his claws even deeper into the beast. The monster finally got back up and ran through the glass double doors, and I literally mean through the doors. I ran after them, with the fire-extinguisher still tight in my hand. They rode through the yard and through the practice football field. I saw Cyrus raise his hand in the air and dug his front two fingers into the back of the head of the slick, black creature.

The creature staggered, and finally fell. When it didn't get back up, Cyrus got off of it. He stared at me, barely breathing heavily; he wasn't exhausted at all. I saw that his eyes were blue, as apposed to the yellow eyes I saw before. I said, "You saved my life." He looked down, and said, "You think I'm a freak now, right?" I immediately said, "No. Why would you-Oh my gosh! You're hurt!" There was blood seeping through his jacket, and dripping down his side and front.

I always hated the sight of blood, it made my stomach twist itself into knots, but I had to be strong, he could be dieing. He said, "This? This is nothing." My jaw dropped. "Are you kidding me? Come here." I mentally prepared myself for the gore I was about to see. I unzipped his jacket and ignored his freaking "tough-guy" act. I lifted his shirt and saw blood, but I didn't see the source. I spun him around to look for some sort of wound, I saw him get cut, I know I did. He said, "I told you it wasn't a big deal." I stopped and looked at him as he turned around towards me. "You could've gotten killed, but you saved me too."

I was speechless, "You've almost killed yorself trying to save me." We stared at each other for a while, then he coughed and said, "You should forget everything you just saw. Tell the police you were outside on the other side of the school and didn't hear anything. I need to hide this thing." He walked to the dead body and started to pick it up. "What was it doing here? Are you, like, some alien or something?" Crapola, why can't I just keep my mouth shut?

He let out a bit of a nervous laugh. "Wish it was that easy. Please, just go on, go home." He draped the paws over his shoulders and started walking over to a nearby brush. Not knowing what else to really do, I walked out front and stared at the road that passed in front of the school. While I was there, I thought about the last few minutes that happened. Did they happen? Am I going insane?

I looked at the red van that drove to the front of the school, I could see an older woman driving it. Cyrus walked from the school to the van, the blood now drying on his clothes. He waved as he entered the van, as if nothing happened ten minutes ago. I waved back and gave a nervous smile.

Soon, Mom came by with the car, and I had to strain myself to not scream about what had happened earlier. "How did it go sweetie?" I felt my eye twitch. "Oh, you know, the usual."

Monster Chapter 2

One Year Later.................

I closed my locker door to see Cindy standing there. "Hey, Jay. You're staying after right?" I nodded. "Yeah, I still have to make up some stupid test. Plus, both of my parents are working tonight, so I'm staying here till, like, five." She frowned. "I'm sorry, Jazz," she said, "You know I would give you a ride too, if my dad wasn't working today, right?"

I smiled at her. "Yeah, I know, I just wish Mr. Waternouse wasn't such a-" I was interrupted by a startling voice behind me. "Excuse me, sorry." I jumped a foot in the air and moved out of the way for the other kid. His voice was gruff, and yet it was barely a whisper. He was six feet tall, and he wore dark clothes, plus a jacket with the hood up. That was Cyrus Williams, he's new to the school and must be the most quiet student in the entire school. He was administered to this school at the last second by his grandmother. He always keeps his hood up, and he only speaks loud enough for the person he's speaking to to hear him. That was actually the most I've heard from him all month. He's probably the one who is most likely to become the killer you see in those horror movies. If he was the spawn of Micheal Myers, or Freddy Kruger, it wouldn't surprise me.

"What is his deal?" said Cindy. I said, "Oh, come on, maybe he's just shy." She rolled her eyes. "Yeah right," she said, "He's been shy for a month, and nobody had a clue he existed before school started. Just, 'plop,' weirdo delivery!" OK, that was a little mean, but I couldn't help but giggle a little bit. I said, "I'll call you after the test, Cindy. See you." She says, "Okay, bye!" She ran off to her bus, and I turned to go to the study hall. I bumped into a wall, and then realized it was that Cyrus kid. I said, "Oops. Sorry." I walked around him and he trudged forward wordlessly.

Okay, I could be paranoid, or crazy, but I could swear I saw his eyes. It's not the eyes themselves, it was the color; they were yellow. I shook it off as part of my insane imagination.

Forty minutes later, I was walking out of class, and away from that crack head of a teacher. I walked down to the library and found that it was locked. I sighed; oh well, I guess I can just waste away my parent's money and talk to Cindy on my cell. What? I rechecked my pocket and checked my other pocket. Ugh! I must have left it back in Study Hall, and Waternouse always keeps the phone until the weekend after the upcoming one!

"Excuse me." I spun around to the quiet voice. It was that Cyrus kid again. "Is this yours?" He held out his hand, and there was my phone, just a rectangle on his meaty hand. As I took it, I said, "Oh, thank you. How did you.....?" He said, "Mr. Waternouse asked me to take it to you." I raised my eyebrows. I've heard what Waternouse does to leftover phones, there's no way he would be that nice.

He then said, "Well, OK, I volunteered." I smiled and said, "Thanks, I really appreciate it. You staying after too?" He nodded and gave a smirk. "Just some test." he said. Then he took a step back, and said, "You be careful now, OK?" I nodded. "Uh, OK. No problem. Uh, see you later." He walked down the hallway, when he turned the corner, I smacked my forhead. Just great, you sound like an anxious, desperate, dork. I looked at my phone, which apparently didn't have any service bars. You can never be sure around this school.

Oh, wait! There's plenty of service in the gym. Before I even entered, I had my phone out and was calling my mom. I walked through the door, talking to my mom; I reached the middle of the gym floor before I stopped. "Yeah, I'm all done. Yeah, I'll be the only one outside. Heh. See you then." I hung up and felt the presence of something nearby. I looked around and then turned around; then I froze.

Next to the door of the boy's locker room, was a big, black, sleek creature. It looked like what a snake would look like if you put it in a panther's body. It looked like it was searching around a knocked over trash can, and it had stopped to stare at me. I was frozen in place, I didn't know what the heck that was; I was too scared to move. My heart was beating faster than a rock drummer on performance with steroids.

The thing stalked in a circle around me, like a cat would with a scared little mouse. A forked tongue slipped in and out of it's mouth, it's snake eyes stared at me coldly. As it got closer, I saw the sleakness of it's black body, how the muscles controlled every inch of it, even the tail. It was five feet away from me now, and it's body was getting low to the ground. I saw plenty of cat fights and I knew what it meant; it was getting ready to pounce.

I closed my eyes. What could I do? I could only wait and hope that it would be swift, and painless. "Hey!" I snapped my eyes open and looked at the door I had came through earlier. Standing there was a kid I didn't recognize. He wore dark clothes, was about six feet tall, and he had fairly long dark hair, and I could swear that there was a flicker of yellow in his eyes. Then I realized that it was the boy from before. It was Cyrus!

Fallen Chapter 31

Although, nobody exactly said that I had to walk, did they? I walked into an alley and used my wings to jump from wall to wall, until I was air-born. I flapped to keep myself generally in the same air space. I pulled the hood of my jacket over my head, then I took to the skies.

It should be illegal, to feel this powerful, to feel this......heh, high. In the city lights below, I could see houses with parties starting to wind down, people talking around parked cars in empty street lots, and people walking in the streets with lit cigarettes. Not the prettiest sight in the world, but still pretty neat that I can get a view like this from this high in the sky!

This was almost taken away from you. I don't know where the thought came from, but I didn't have a response to it. He almost succeeded. Who is to say he won't do it again? This is why you must--What?

Something down below caught my eye. I had to focus on it, but it looked like someone was crouching on the edge of a roof top. He or she was holding something and pulling his arm back. I decided to drop in, literally. I dive-bombed the building and pulled up at the last second, and then flapped my wings for a landing. I probably shouldn't have done that. The person was a girl, and I startled her. She yelped in surprise and turned around with the bow and arrow. She let it fire, and it hit my wing.

Luckily, it was the metal wing and clanged off the metal part. It dropped to the floor as I landed. The girl held her bow at me, as if it was loaded; she was speechless. I said, "So, just practicing some moves up here?" As I looked closer, I saw that it was the same girl from the party a little while earlier. I said, "Hey, I know you. You can't really stay out of trouble, can you?" She shook herself out of the shock and tried to sound ticked. "W-what's your deal? Why do you keep messing up my plans?" I gave her a confused look, "And.......what plans would that be?"

She stayed silent and gave me the usual cold, unmoving glare. She then said, "Here." she pulled a pair of binoculars and pointed to a lit warehouse.

I hesitated, but I got to the edge and looked through the binoculars. After a lot of focusing and refocusing, I could see an operation going on; like, a criminal operation. I felt a tinge of fear, but shook it off; they couldn't see me, yet. I put the binoculars down and saw that the girl had decided to stick around. She was trying to look at my back, to see my wings again, she jumped a little when I turned to her. I said, "So you're a lookout Archer now?" She rolled her eyes. "Did you see those uniforms? Those are not the MMXII guys, that's a feminist group called the Amazons." I did notice the uniforms in variations of black, pink, red, and purple; but mainly black. The girl-what was her name? Right. Carmen- she said, "That girl, the one standing on the crates and watching the other girls, is their leader. That's Katherine Perry. There are a lot of rumors going on about her, and I wouldn't be surprised if every single one of them were true."

I said, "What, she owes you money or something?" She glared at me, and I swear to you, I felt a shiver ripple through my body. Carmen snapped at me, "She killed my father." Oh. After a minute of awkward silence, she said, "Yeah. Oh. She killed my dad just to intimidate my neighborhood. She took him away from me....Mom.....Zach." She gulped down, and her softening face became hard and cold again. "At first, I thought the rivalry between the Amazons and the MMXII thugs would get me close enough for me to kill her, but that was three months ago. I'm not going to let some...... some........ angel, or whatever you are, stop me now."

I didn't have a response. I handed her back the binoculars I had been fiddling with. Then I heard my voice say, "Can I help?" She showed her second emotion tonight, and it was surprise. She said, "I'm going to kill her, you know that right? There's nothing you can say to-" I held my hand up and interrupted her, "Yeah. I know. Believe me, you and I are in the same boat on this one." She looked at me skeptically for a few minutes, then she said, "Okay. I guess I could use your help. What I need, is a distraction............"

Fallen Chapter 30

When we got back, everyone went to a door that opened up to some stairs. I followed them all up and there were a line of rooms, like an apartment building. Everyone claimed a different room, quick glances revealed that they were small bedrooms with, uh, really small beds. Scrat said to me, "Uh, you can share a room with me. I got a bunk bed anyway. You want the top bunk?" I nodded. "Sure. Whatever is good with you." I said.

Eddie knocked on one door and waited for an answer. "You guys back already?" Carrie called through the door. "Yeah," Eddie said, "Just checking in on you. Goodnight, baby." "Goodnight, Bubby." she said through the door.

Eddie looked at me as I couldn't help but stare, halfway in the door to a room. "What?" he said all the way from other end of the hallway, "You got a problem with Bubby, as a name?" I ducked into the room to see Scrat already passed out on the lower bunk of the bed. I asked, "Is this how it usually works?" He raised his arm up and made a thumbs up sign. I guess so.

I climbed the tiny ladder and lied down on the bed. I looked down and saw that my shins dangled off the end. "Are you kidding me?" I whispered to myself. I layed there, no pillow, no blanket, no... anything. Just waiting for time to pass. I looked around at the trashy little place. It may not be much, I thought, but it's something.

Something occurred to me. "Scrat." I say. He grunted in response. "Why does everybody stay here, instead of actual....well, houses?" He was silent for a while. Then, he said, "We all messed up, man. Our parents kicked us out, 'cause we all got involved in one thing, or another. Riff-raff kept getting in fights when he went to school. Once, a teacher was actually picking on someone in the class, Richie- I mean, Riff-raff- stood up for the kid, and got slammed with charges of assault. When he got out, he met us." He sighed.

I said, "What about you, and the others?" He responded, "Otis is my best friend, my wing-man, ya know? I got the bullies off of him, and he helped me out with passing the fourth grade." Then I heard Eddie yell through the rooms. "Man, what are you talking about? You still in the fourth grade, man!" I could imagine Scrat was rolling his eyes. "Anyway," he said, "Otis and I got mixed up with the wrong people. We got the blame for transporting freaking marijuana!" He cleared his throat and calmed down. He said, "We call ourselves the Chain Gang because we all made mistakes that landed us in the wrong place at the wrong time, we are trying to keep others out of things we got ourselves into."

We sat there for a long while. I sat up on the bed, my legs dangling off the sides now. I noticed the old digital alarm clock, sitting on a nearby table, click to midnight. I asked, "What about Eddie?" The door swung open and Eddie stepped in. Eddie said in a quiet voice, "I actually killed a kid." The information hung in the air, I felt like if someone lit a match right now, the entire building would light up. Eddie then continued, "I was part of a gang. Small little group. Not much harm. We would vandalize a bowling alley, or start talking smack to someone, but that all changed. One day, we were given an offer by a hard core criminal. They were going to actually rob a bank. The police were on to us though. Before I knew it, we were in a shoot out." He paused, and I could swear I saw the shiver run up his spine. I also saw Carrie walking behind him, in a robe, and she put a hand on his shoulder for comfort.

He continued, "Things get pretty rough in a shoot out. I walked out with my hands up, hoping if I just gave up now, consequences wouldn't be as bad." He bit his lip. "I can't remember what happened next, it was like a blur. I think a friend got mad at me and started walking right towards me. He looked like he was ready to kill, man, I didn't know what...." He stopped, and shut his eyes tight. "I got off lucky. I only got five years in juvey for manslaughter, I owe a good friend for that. I even got out early for good behaviour. I met these guys," he gestured to everyone who was now standing silently at the door, "and Carrie, and we try to help whoever we can, however we can." Carrie was now hugging Eddie from behind. Otis and Riff-raff were leaning against opposite door frames outside the room. Eddie then said, "Well, now you know. Get some sleep guys, we're going on a little patrol at six tommorrow night."

Everyone cleared out and went back to bed. I laid my head back down and tried to get to sleep; which I considered was hopeless when I saw it was almost two in the morning on the alarm clock. I listened to see if Scrat, or any of the others, were still awake. Light breathing revealed that nobody in their right or left mind was awake at this time. Well, nobody but me.

I quietly let myself down and walked right out of the building. On the way out I was stopped at the door by a voice. "Try not to stay out all night." I spun around to see Carrieat the base of the stairs in her robe. She then turned around and walked back upstairs.

After a moment of thinking this over I walked out into the night.

Fallen Chapter 29

It wasn't long before something happened. There was a call at the desk, the girl there answered it. She said, "This is the Chain Gang front office. We knock 'em up and lock 'em up, just tell us who 'em is. This is Carrie speaking, how can I help you?"

I looked around and saw that everyone was looking at her, waiting for the news. After a series of "uh-huhs' and 'yes, we do have a special on that this week,' she finished the call with, "Alright, we'll be right there." She hung up and spoke loud enough for everyone to hear. "We got violent party crashers on 1046 Mayday Drive. You guys better get there, sounds like those M-M-X-II thugs." The guys sprang up and started grabbing stuff. I didn't exactly have anything to fight with, so I just put on my shoes and waited by the door.

Eddie walked over to a closet and pulled out two bats. One wooden and the other aluminum. He tossed the wooden one to me. "Try not to break that, that's my lucky bat after all." I nodded. "Alright," I said. The tall, skinny one, who introduced himself as Riff-raff, grabbed a five foot chain and roped it up to put under his jacket. Scrat grabbed a crowbar that was leaning against the wall. I rubbed my head, these kids are looking for a war, aren't they? The other big guy, Otis, went into a back room and came back out a minute later. He was holding anything, just wearing a big black jacket.

I asked Scrat, "What about him? Isn't he going to use anything?" Scrat looked over at Otis, and he grinned. He said, "Oh, don't worry about him, he's got something special to fight with." He looked back at me, I don't know what my face said, but he then said, "Oh, it's not a gun, or a knife, or anything like that. Just wait and see. Considering that this might be the MMXII crashing this party, you just might see some action."

Oh, this is just getting better and better.

Riff-raff drove a silver Durango with Eddie riding shotgun, Otis and Scrat sat in the back passenger seats, I was scrunched into the very back set of seats. I could rest my chin on knees if it weren't for this bat. "I'm getting claustrophobic back here." I said. Riff-raff exclaimed from up front, "You say what now? I did not know you went that way, man." There was a moment of silence before Scrat said, "Uh, Raff? You know Claustrophobia means a fear of enclosed spaces, right?" Riff-raff didn't answer for a minute. Then he said, "Oh, uh, yeah, um, yeah. I know."

Now, we were all snickering, even Otis was making silent laughter. I said, "It's a fear of enclosed spaces, love," in a stereotypical gay voice. We arrived at the address of the party, the sun was way past set, and I looked at the clock to see it was 9:20. We left the car with suppressed laughter. The people that were hanging out at the front porch looked at us with worried faces and silent pleas of help. In my head, I knew that this was a little more serious then what I was expecting. Eddie went in first, followed by Scrat, Riff-raff, and me. Otis brought up the rear.

When we first entered we didn't even have to ask where the trouble makers were, we could hear them. "What do you mean, we're not welcome here? This is an all around party, right?" We entered and I saw three huge kids. Two guys and one girl. The girl clacked her gum and twirled the knife in her hand with uninterested, the guy talking was using one hand to gesture with his screaming voice while he held a crowbar in the other. The third was grinning like a possum and held an actual gun in his left hand. I guess that's why someone got enough sense to call someone.

Eddie said, "Yo! Scuz-buckets!" The trio of gangsters swirled around to us, and there was a moment of utter silence. The girl clacked her gum and Eddie began again, "I suggest you leave before things really have to get ugly." Everyone who was a guest at this party started to inch their way out the door, except for one kid, who I guessed lived here. I readied my bat and stepped up, "Just walk on out guys. Nobody has to get hurt."

The trio glared at me. The big talker says, "Boy, you even know who we are? We the MMXII! That's roman numerals, bud, for 2012. We are your doom!" I rolled my eyes and looked over to Eddie. "I guess this is the part where we beat the crap out of them?" He shook his head and said, "This is where Otis steps in." We all moved aside and Otis stepped up. He swung his arm like he just threw something, and a small ball on a chain streamed out of his jacket sleeve and landed smack in the bigger guy's face. He yelled and cursed as he held his now bruised eye. The ball and chain returned from the air back into his sleeve.

My jaw probably hit the floor before I decided to close it. "Last chance," said a deep and low voice. It took me a minute to realize that the deep and powerful voice came from Otis. The guy he hit got back up and cursed at him. He ran and tackled him, rolling him into the other room. Scrat went after him. The Talker looked slightly nervous now that their biggest player was tumbling in the living room. He turned to the girl, "Carmen?"

She looked at him coldly. She merely clacked her gum. Eddie and Riff-raff ran after him, leaving the girl to me. I said, "You aren't going to be too much trouble are you?" She shrugged. Then she said, "I've been looking for a way to dump these geeks anyway." She started to walk out. I decided to let her go. What could I do anyway? I went into the living room and landed a solid blow on the gangster's back with the bat, knocking him out cold. The other two came back with the other guy and tied them both to a nearby lamp post.
The dude of the house called the police and thanked for our services. Eddie pulled out a slip of paper and handed it to the kid. He said, "That's the bill. The address is on there, we're giving you a full week to pay that off, that should be plenty of time. You take care, aight?" He nodded, and thanked us a hundred times more. We left the house and went back to the Chain Gang base.

You know? I just had a thought: I kind of like the idea of helping someone like this.

Monster Chapter 1

I stepped out of the car with my parents. My mom says to me, "Honey, get back in the car. Stay with your sister. We'll be right back."

I sighed and sat back in the car. We were suppose to be going out for a family dinner. At least before school started and ended spring break. Sara squirmed in her seat. "What's happening?" said the four year old. I said, "Looks like a little, uh, train accident. Um, big boo-boo." She looked around and saw the cars that aren't going anywhere anytime soon. She also also the red and blue lights flashing everywhere from the emergency vehicles that were filled with people looking for survivors. I think the train was mainly for cargo, but there must have been employees somewhere, cause the police were trying to explain that all of this has been going on all afternoon.

Sara folded her tiny arms and pouted, "I wanted to go to Pizza Castle. Mom said she had a coupon for that!" I reached over and stroked her blond hair. "I know, Biscuit." That's what we all called her. I could never figure out what the name meant, but it was cute little nick-name for her.

I looked out her window while stroking her hair. There wasn't much to see. It was late, like almost ten, and the flashes of light from the cars ahead gave me a small flash of images. A tree, hedges, small and curious animals, a boy? I shook my head and blinked. A boy? I said, "Sara. I'm going to lock the doors, OK? Don't open it for anyone except for Mom, Dad, or me. Alright?" I had training in a lot of martial arts, I even teach some classes; and I always keep some pepper spray with me whenever I go out. If someone was hurt out there, he might need a hospital; and if he was some creeper, well........

Sara nodded and said, "Where are you going?" I smiled at her. "Just going to look at something. I'll be right back." I left the car and walked around to the bush. I noticed at the corner of my eye, Sara was squirming in her seat, trying to see where I was walking to. I stood in front of the bush, still standing on the pavement and in the light. I felt like I was crazy. "Hello? Is, uh, is there anyone there?" Nothing; no movement. "Are you in trouble? Do you need help?" I saw movement in the darkness. I could make out a humanoid figure.

I was about to reach out to the thing, but I heard my mom from behind me. Back at the car, she said, "Jazz! Honey! Come on! What are you doing?" I turned around to her. "Nothing, Mom! Just, uh, I thought I saw something! Just a rabbit!" I looked back at the bush. The silhouette was gone. Where did he......?

"Jazz! Get over here!" I spun around and ran back to the car. "Yes ma'am!" I said.

The creature watched as the girl ran back to the car, at the order of her mother. It reminded him of the guards that abused him. Except, the parents didn't beat her or slam her against anything, they just seem to give her a wary look and got back into the car.

The being wanted to reveal himself. Maybe she could help him. He shook his head. No. He could not. Any contact with a human would mean death. They would make sure of that.

He left the hiding place from the brush and ran into the woods to look for food and water.

Heroes Chapter 23

Although, what was incredibly unlucky was that the building she stepped into was a Police Station. What could she possibly be doing in there? My mind went wild with imagination. Is she turning me in? Is she turning herself in? Is she secretly meeting with Walker? She just walked out, then she pulled out a bundle of papers from her bag, and a roll of tape.

She then walked over to the closest telephone post, and taped one of the pieces of paper to it, humming one of her favorite songs while she does this. I know this because she constantly blares it on the headphones of her ipod.

After she applied a couple pieces of tape, she walked away to another lamp post. I made sure she was out of sight before I read the paper. It was a Person Missing poster. The boy on it had to be at least eight or nine. He had black hair and his eyes were different colors; one being green and the other being blue. The poster gave more information. What number to call if spotted, he was last spotted at a local restaurant......last year. It also says that he should be about ten by now.

Mira was looking for her little brother! And she didn't tell anyone? Well, maybe she didn't want us to worry about it. Should I go to her? We could help, after all. No. If she wants our help, she'll come to us. I'll just have to have faith in her.

Now, to tell Ares not to.....huh? I turned around to see Blair talking to a boy. The boy's back to me, and Blair had an irritated look on her face. I stood and watched from afar; if Blair needed help, I'll be right here. I could hear the boy say, "Aw, come on, Blair! I'm not all that bad!" The boy's voice was obnoxious and unnecessarily loud. Blair snapped back at him, "Zack, you put three people in the hospital because they made fun of your greasy hair! Then you lied to me about it! Saying that they were making fun of me! I'm nothing put a get-out-of-jail-scot-free card to you!" She started to walk back to Norman's car; she wasn't five feet from it when she was talking to Zack. Zack grabbed her by the arms and spun her around to face him, which caused her to yelp in surprise. "I'm not done talking to you," he said in a dark and low voice.

I put a hand on his shoulder, saying "Yes you are." I hadn't realized it, but I had moved across the street without even looking to see if there were any cars. Zack turned around to me, showing that Blair had a face of relief. "Oh, Alex, could you call the police or something?" she said. Zack asks, "You have five seconds to leave with your arms still attached, buddy." I could tell he had been in fights before. His left eye even looked like it was finishing up from a bruise. I had no experience in fights.

I glared at him. "You want a throw-down, Bunch?" Now, Blair had stepped between us. "Guys, please don't. I don't want to see you guys fighting." Zack snapped at her, "How could you?! You're freaking blind!" That did it for me. I threw my fist into face with all the strength I had. He stumbled back and fell on his butt. I resisted the erge to shake my hand, I hadn't thought that a punch might actually hurt me. Zack looked up with a look of rage. "You're gonna pay for that." he snarled. "No. He's not." Norman stood over him with his arms crossed. Zack looked up at him and tried being all friendly, "Norman! My man! Remember the time I took that hit for you in-" "Shut it! You piece of garbage! Get out of here before I turn you inside out." Zack scrambled away, and Norman looked at me. "Thanks." he said. I said, "Anytime."

Norman looked over to Blair, "I really can't take you anywhere, can I?" She rolled her eyes and faced me. "You didn't have to do that." Norman and I looked at each other, and we both said, "Yeah. I/He kinda did." Blair smiled at me, then pushed down on my shoulder so she could lift herself up to give me a peck on the cheek. "Thanks anyway." she said.

After a minute of my face burning, Norman cleared his throat and said, "Well, anyway, the store doesn't have the kind of Construction Paper we need either Blair. Sorry." She sighed and said, "Oh, well." I asked, "What kind of project are you doing?"

She said, "Just something about the eyes. I thought it would be kind of interesting."

Norman laughed, "Yeah, mainly because you're going to get your eyesight back any day now right? They found out that her eyesight is curable, they just need to do a certain kind of surgery."

Asylum Chapter 1

I swung a wide right hook to his side; he blocked it and swiped his foot under me before I could blink. I was on the floor and panting, exhausted. My sensei stood over me, his hands behind his back. "Sloppy. Always sloppy, little girl." He said to me, "You still need better foot work!" He was always a ball of old Asian sunshine. Just as red sometimes, too.

He took a deep breath. "And yet," he said, "You are one of my best students Miss Myers. I will miss you the most when you graduate." He offered his hand and I took it. He pulled me up and said, with a grunt, "I can only wish you luck, from here on out." I gave him a small smile and gave a respectful bow. "It's been an honor to train with you, sensei." He left, probably to eat his "1 Minute Noodles!" he's got waiting for him. I went to my gym bag and pulled out a tiny green box with a purple bow around it. It was hard, trying to find a gift for him, after all he's done for me. I might not ever see him again. I took the present and went to the back, private room he always said was off limits.

I creaked open the door, and I saw him kneeling in front of a small table. It had lit candles close to the edges and a few pictures towards the center. I knew the pictures were of his son, his wife, and his grandchildren. I knew the tragic story behind them all. I think he helped me because he reminds me of them. He still misses them, I can see it in his eyes when we spar. I put the present on the little table that was next to the door, and slowly closed the door. I said my own silent goodbye, and left his private dojo to change in the fast food restaurant next door.

I am Molly Myers. My story is unlike any other. Once my life was a simple and happy one. I had a Mom, a Dad, and my fraternal twin brother, Jason. That was a long time ago. Dad died in a car accident. After that, Mom found some lawyer jerk. She explained to me that she was only dating him for the money, but soon she must have seen something in him. They married.

Ever since we met each other we hated him; both Jason and I. He mostly had a thing against Jason, he could have cared less about me. He called Jason a monster once, and I defended him by saying I could say the exact same thing about him. When Mom died he found a way of framing Jason. Some sort of "He's assaulted so many people" bull. Jason was protecting me from a long line of jerks. As for me, he disowned me. I was stuck in an orphanage until Jack adopted me. Jack was a close friend of my Dad. Whenever he's over we called him Uncle Jack.

Jack had heard what had happened, and he thought it was a total load too. He's a good friend. He helped me with the classes and always gave me support. He also helped in my plans to break my brother out.

Yes. I plan to break my brother out of his prison. His frame landed him in an asylum. The Brother's Grimm Asylum for the Peculiarly Disturbed, to be exact. The Asylum has so many legends and stories behind it. Any majorly traumatized or disturbed youth gets sent there. They say this is only a rumor but, some say that once you enter the asylum you never leave.

Well, I'm about to change that. I studied chemistry and learned how to make both bombs and makeshift bombs, and I was trained in three different forms of unarmed combat; Karate, Judo, and Boxing. Well, Dirty Boxing actually, but hey, this is war; and all is fair in love and war.

Anyway, you get the idea. I'm freeing my brother, one way or the other....

Cyrus Noble Chapter 27

The police immediately started shooting. I'll tell you right now, those things looked more pissed if anything.

The bigger of the two swiped the cops into the air. I half turned to the guys, "Guys! Work on the shorty! I got the big guy!" I turned back to see the big guy standing in front of me. He was glaring down with hatred; all contained within his in grey eyes. I said, "Hey. What's up? Other than that big ego of yours." He raised his clawed arm above his head to strike down. I rolled out of the way for the blow. I took a shot at the ribs, and I heard a crack. The thug grunted and swung around. He got a good hit to the side of my head.

I struggled to get back up. I felt my throbbing temple with my fingers, and I felt blood. I was then slammed into the ground by the boot of the monster. I let out a cry without meaning to. I could feel the base of my spine shatter.

I heard Jazz cry out to me. "Cyrus!" I opened my eyes. Through blurring tears I could see Jazz running to me. Viktor took off his blindfold and unleashed his power to the monster above me. The thing staggered and fell back. Magnet had bullets floating around him, still spinning and still hot from leaving the muzzle of the soldier's gun arm. Magnet focused the bullets to start going through the shooter, not that it did much. The bullets started bouncing off of him.

I could see Sara hesitate, but I watched as she put her arms out towards the bigger soldier, who was trying to get back up. The smaller of the two swiped Magnet to the side and started walking towards Sara. I tried to call out to her, but I could only make a little strained noise. Luckily, Longarm shot his arms out and hit the Gemini soldier, knocking him down.

Longarm yelled over to Sara, "Girl, you better start moving!" Sara was straining to do something, but what? I looked over to the other Gemini soldier. Jazz was by my side, asking me if I was alright. I was too stunned to answer, because I was watching the monster float in mid air.

He was flailing. Then I had an idea. "Viktor!" I said, struggling to get back up. My bones are taking their time in fixing themselves. "Stand under the big guy and unleash everything you got!" He looked puzzled, but he whistled to get his bearings and ran over to the Gemini soldier. I said "Megan! Throw the little guy at the big one!" She flew down from her position in the sky, picked up the soldier and tossed at the big one. Viktor got to his position and slid his blindfold off. The blast caught the soldiers and sent them tumbling into the sky. They must have reached sixty feet before Viktor put his blindfold back on.

They began to fall. We ran to one of the buildings for cover. I felt through the floors the impact of their descent. I ran back out with the others behind me. The big guy had fell on top of the little one. They were both on their backs. The big guy's eye piece was cracked, so I looked over to the little one.

I said, "Two to nothing, Bish." I kicked the soldier's face with the heel of my boot. I hopped off the Gemini Soldiers and out of the crater they made.

The police officers were staring at us, they had obviously gotten out of their daze, because a few helicopters were hovering above us, and we were surrounded by FBI trucks within seconds.

Heroes Chaper 22

Mira walked into town with her backpack over her shoulder, occasionally taking a swig from her water bottle. Gee-wiz, I feel like such a stalker! Why am I doing this?

Because your heart is filled with compassion.

Oh, great. The voice again. Compassion? For who? Mira? Ares? Oh, and what the heck are you? Seriously!

The stupid voice didn't answer. Instead, it said, You must choose now. You have to choose, it is your destiny.

Whoa, hey. Personal, much? I don't have to do anything, and, as for my destiny, the Oracle already told me my destiny. I'm suppose to save this team, and I guess I started with Jessie, and now I'm working on Ares and Mira.

I pulled out of my daydream long enough to see Mira step onto a bus. I ran after it, but it didn't stop. Great, what am I suppose to tell Ares now? That's when I heard a car honk behind me. I turned and saw Blair, and her brother, Norman, drive up to the curb. Blair was in the passenger's seat. She rolled down the window and said, "Were you trying to catch that bus?"

I looked over to Norman and he nodded, confirming that he had let her know. "Uh, yeah. I was hoping I could get to Hamburg." I said, remembering the name of the next stop on the bus lights on the back. Blair smiled, "Well, your in luck. We had to go to Hamburg to get some supplies for a school project. What about you?"

"Uh, same thing." I lied. I didn't know how to explain that I was following a girl into another town for a scary looking guy. Blair said, "Get on in."

I sat in the back seat. Norman started driving and talked casually, "So, I heard you're new in town. Where you from, exactly?" I said, "Trenton, Virginia. Close by to D.C." He said, "Wow. Long way. There a lot of things different around here?" I said, "Yeah, it's not as crowded." Blair and Norman laughed.

Blair added, "Yeah, that's Ohio for you, every town consisting of twenty-two people. Oops. I mean twenty-three." I said, "It's still a nice little town." Now that I got a better look at Norman and Blair side-by-side, I saw that they both had strawberry blond hair and grey eyes. Blair shrugged, "It's nice, I guess."

Norman cleared his throat. After a few minutes, Blair said, "Uh, Alex?" I said, "Uh-huh?" She was twirling her hair and I could see that she was biting her lip. "I was wondering....well, um, if you would want to come over to our house for dinner on Friday?" I saw Norman adjust the mirror so that he could see me, or maybe so that I could see him. I said, "Uh, Ok. Sure. That would be nice."

She perked up and said, "Oh, okay. Um, you can ride home with us after school, is that okay?" I said, "Yeah. That would be just fine." She said, "Great." We got to the store and Norman stopped the car. I said, "Thanks guys, really. I'll see you Friday?" She said, "Yep. See you." I got out and waved by to them. After they drove off, I spotted Mira entering a building.

Wow, that was lucky.

Heroes Chapter 21

Anyway, after going through the school day, and hanging out a little more with Blair, I was walking home with a grin on my face. Then, it dissappeared when I reached the Punk Yard. I found Ares on the couch in the lounge, blowing his nose into a tissue.

He said, "Alex. Wait up." I froze in mid-step. What could he want with me? I mean, I haven't even seen Mira all that much, and I certainly wouldn't be caught alone with her. I went back into the lounge. "Yeah? What's up?"

Ares sat up and snorted. He kept staring down at the floor. He sighed, then said, "I want you to follow Mira." I blinked a few times. "What?" He looked up at me. "Look," he began, "it's not that I don't trust her, but......she just......" He tried to gesture with his hands, but he gave up and threw them down. He sighed and said, "She sneaks off everyday, right after school, and I have no clue about what she's doing." I said, "Maybe she's going to see a friend?" He responded, "She doesn't tell anybody anything. I asked some of her friends at school, and they don't know anything either." I tried to compromise, "Maybe she just feels controlled, man. She needs to feel like there's some aspect in her life that she controls." He looked at me. "She doesn't come back for hours. Once, she wandered off and didn't come back till nine at night."

I shrugged. He sighed, got up, and wiped his nose as he walked towards me. He said, "Listen man, just humor me, alright? I need to know. I'm starting to think that she's....." He shook his head and said, "I don't know, man." I think I understand now, he thinks she's having an affair. Ugh, when did I step into this soap-opera? I must have taken a wrong turn back there somewhere in the Punk Yard hallways.

I asked, "Why can't you do it?" He put two fingers in the air. "Two reasons." he said, "One, she'll spot me a mile away. She's seen me too often. Two,......" He sneezed into his tissue. "Ach-CHOO!"

I nodded. "Good point." I said. He said, "She's stops by the kitchen to grab a snack before leaving. She'll be here any minute." I nodded and started to leave, when Ares called out after me again, "Alex." I turned around. "This never happened. Understand?" I reluctantly nodded. I just know, with my luck, I'll end up as target practice.

I went to the kitchen and grabbed an apple. I got out a book and opened it on the table to look busy, and waited for Mira. Eventually, with Dexter and Jessie passing through, Mira came on in. She smiled and said, "Hey." She then grabbed a water bottle and walked on out.

I sighe. This was going to turn out so well.

Fallen Chapter 28

I told Scrat that I was a runaway, which was the truth, and I was looking for a new place to crash. I thought he could point me out to an abandoned building or something. Instead, he said, "Hey! My guys can hook you up, man! Ever here of the Chain Gang?"

It did sound familiar. I shrugged. "I'm from out of town, remember?" He laughed. Then he said, "Stop me if you've heard this before; four guys who perform a legitimate public protection service to the area. Just call us up, tell us your story, and we'll take care of it. Well, for a small fee of course."

I took a minute to take this in. "You're...." I began, "a rent-a-cop?" A flash of anger appeared on his face, then he calmed down. "That's under-mining it a bit. Did you notice I didn't actually pay for any of the food you're eating?" Now that I think about it, I saw a lack of greens being exchanged at the counter when we were up there.

He smiled. "We saved this place from getting totally trashed. They repay us with some free grub, eh, well, once a day at least. We can't completely clean this place out." he finished, chuckling a little at the end. "But, you get the idea right? We're like those, uh, 'Hero for Hire' guys in the comics. Like Luke Cage, ya' know?"

I did kind of know. This kid wanted to be a hero, to seize the moment, like I did when I was trying to save the people in that building so long ago.

After a minute or two of silence, he said, "So you want to hang with us, or what?" I nodded. "Let's go. Right after I finish these fries."

We walked to what looked like a condemned apartment building, when he stopped, turned around and said, "Double M-X-two." Actually, he almost screamed it at me. I gave him a funny look and said, "What?" He looked at me for a long time and said, "Sorry. Just testing you. I had to make sure you weren't a spy or something."

This sounded interesting, "Spy for what, exactly?" He sighed and said, "There's been a gang running around that seems to like causing havoc. Been giving us crap since they formed." Then he opened the door leading into the condemned building. "Wait." I said. He stopped and half-turned to me. He smiled and said, "Trust me for a sec, will ya?"

I was reluctant, but I followed him into the building. The room looked like an over sized living room. The floor was all carpeted dark blue, except the little square where we entered. The square was surrounded by shoes of every kind. I saw one pair of girl shoes. The far right of the room had a fair sized TV surrounded by old couches and lawn chairs. On the other side, there was a brown wooden desk with filing cabinets against the walls. The desk was cluttered with papers, a phone, and an old computer. There were three other guys and one girl in the room. The girl was behind the desk writing something down with one hand, and typing something else with the other. The guys were watching a football game. Everyone froze and stared at me; not at Scrat, but me.

Luckily, Scrat knew what to say, "It's okay guys. He's cool. He saved my butt from some Double M-X-two thugs." Within seconds the guys were standing in front of me, checking me out. Scrat was the shortest of them, the black kid was in the middle, and the other two were competing with height. The black kid stood in front of the rest. "How we know if he ain't a spy, or something?" he said. The Hispanic girl called out to him, "Eddie...."

Eddie turned to her and said, "What? It happened before, and we lost-" He shut his mouth. A sense of dread swept the kids and hung in the air. I sighed. "Scrat," I said, "I appreciate the offer, but I don't think this is going to work. Thanks for the meal though." Scrat grabbed onto my arm. "Wait up, man. Guys, he ain't a spy. He doesn't even know the gangs around here." The skinnier of the two tall ones said, "Is he from out of town?" Scrat and I looked at each other. "Something like that." We both said.

Eddie pulled Scrat aside and they both started talking in hushed voices. The stick and the giant blocked my view from them. After a minute of just scuffing my shoe on the floor, Eddie and Scrat revealed themselves again. "OK." Eddie said, "We'll let you crash here, but only if you help us out a little bit. No free-loaders here. Got it?"

I nodded. "Fair enough." I said.

Fallen Chapter 27

After I escorted Raphael to the hospital, I took to the streets. I didn't even go back to the apartment building.

I was just wandering around now. That went so well, can I just hang out somewhere and not get someone almost killed?

I was walking in some park downtown. I was in my own little world, imagining what I could do next. I looked around, there were nice families around, a teen couple just walked by, holding hands. I looked over to an alley way. There I saw a short kid being shoved into it by three other guys. He had a second of sight, and he used it to give me a look of panic.

The smart thing to do: act like I saw nothing and don't attract attention to myself. The right thing to do: go after them.

I sighed. I darted to the alleyway from the seat. Cars honked at me as I ran through the street. I ran into the alley and ran into an opening. It must have been a docking bay for trucks, but right now, it was the sight of seven different gangsters with hoods. When I entered, everybody stopped what they were doing and looked at me. The kid looked at me in disbelief, as if to say, "Why didn't you go and get help?" I cursed silently.

"Lost?" one of the gangsters said. I said, "Sorry. Just realized that kid owed me some money, and he can't really pay me back if he's laying in a gutter somewhere, right?" The gangsters were all on their feet and walking towards me, reminding me of zombies.

I said, "Now, guys, I'm sure we can work something out." I slowly pushed both my wings out. When they saw them, they stopped in their places. I said, "After all, I came here from out of town to deliver a message." I flapped them once and was now hanging from a metal staircase that was above me. I finished. "God doesn't like what y'all doin' here. Go home and start rethinking your lives." Everyone started freaking out and running. Everyone but the short kid. He stood in place, staring at me in awe, or maybe fear.

I said, "Now's the time for you to leave in fear, but still be thankful that I saved your-" He interrupted me, "Dude! That was awesome!" Okay. Not what I was expecting.

"Uh..." was all I could say. He continued, "How did you do that? Aw, it doesn't matter. I owe you big time angel kid!" I dropped down and tucked my wings in. I tried to settle him down, "Shh. Hey. Settle down kid." He nodded, but was still grinning like a possum. "So. With those wings. Can you seriously fly?" I sighed. "Well, yeah. I'm not like a ostrich or anything." He laughed.

He then said, "Listen dude, I need to do something for you, just name it. Anything." I was about to answer one of those modest, bull-crappy answers you would say to sound like a hero, but my stomach roared in hunger. The kid looked at me and laughed a little, "How about a meal? On me?" I smiled, shyly. "Sure. That would be great."

When we started walking, he introduced himself as Scrat. We walked our way to a nearby fast-food restraunt, then he bought us both something and we sat down. He said, "So. You live around here or what?"

Cyrus Noble Chapter 26

I dropped down to see my guys taking the offensive. Magnet made two of the Drones smash together. Longarm actually wrapped his arm around one and made it go flying into one that was coming his way. Megan flew up and kicked one into the wall, causing it to be blown to bits. Jazz had her staff out. It was a thick handle that shot out a rod out in both ends. She swung it as a drone was flying right at her. The drone was hit and went flying out and over the wall. "Home-run!" I yelled. She looked at me and smiled a little. Then she looked scared. "Cyrus! Look-" I was hit in the back and fell to one knee and my hands. "-out." Jazz finished. I got back up as the burns on my back healed over. The Drone was flying right at me. I said, "Get ready to start hot-wiring. I'll be right back." I jumped onto the Drone and held on tight. After getting on top of it, I tilted it to the right again as it was going up. I caught a flash of a huge bird flying by. I dropped with the Drone and spun to the ground. I somehow got it to glide and skid to a stop. I yelled over at Magnet. "Bud! Hold him down!" Magnet had it facing a wall. Jazz popped his head open and went to work. I looked over my shoulder to see Viktor and Sara hiding behind a vending machine. I looked over to Jazz just in time to see her slap down the little hatch. She said, "Done. Let him go Magnet." Magnet let his arms down, and the Drone turned around and eyeballed us. Then it looked at the other Drones in the sky. There must have been four left. The Drone flew up and shot down a Drone. The other Drones looked at it, as if in astonishment. Megan grabbed one of them by it's guns and ripped them off. Then she kicked it out of sight. Jazz threw a knife from behind me and it stuck to one of the last drones. I should have known better, thinking it was a knife; because I heard a high pitch screaming, followed by an explosion that took out the last two Drones. Magnet pumped the air with his fist. "Yeah! That'll teach them to mess with us!" Megan landed and tucked her wings. She exclaimed, "Go R2-D2!" The Drone whirred around, purring almost as if it were a pet. Viktor and Sara came out from hiding. Sara ran up to me and said, "Cyrus! We got more trouble!" I said, "I know. Let's get outta here before the boys in blue get a spine and....." Sara stamped her foot and said, "No! It's not that! There's-" "Freeze!" We spun around to see the female cop holding a gun at us, backed up by several other cops. The female continued, "Hands where we can see them! All of you! Right now!" How's that for gratitude? I didn't get a chance to dog her out, because a helicopter was getting close to the ground. It wasn't landing though; the back door opened. I could see Dr. Ching standing there, holding to the side of the door. When he saw me he grinned wickedly and, I'm not making this up, started laughing like a megalomaniac. Two men ran out of the chopper and dropped to the ground without so much as a word. The first one was huge. He had robot legs and a robotic left arm. The hand was a claw with four talons. He looked up at me, and I saw that he had a mechanical headpiece covering his eye. He was at least seven foot. The second guy was barely six foot. He had a similar looking headpiece, and a robot right arm. They both stood up straight, and started to walk towards us as the helicopter flew away. Jazz said beside me, "What the heck are those two supposed to be?" I suddenly got a headache. "Ah. Ow. They're the Gemini Project. Two soldiers that are supposed to have the same thoughts at the same time." Jazz looked over at me in question. I shook my head to say that I didn't have a clue on how I knew that. The smaller of the two held out his robotic arm, and it flipped into itself, switching places with a gun muzzle. Then he aimed it smack on us.

Cyrus Noble Chapter 25

We shortly found our way out of the building. We were walking around in the town. Let's see, bright sunny day, bright and tan people, palm trees, tourists. I'd say we're in California. I picked up a newspaper off the ground. The title at the top said, San Diego Post. Okay. So we're in San Diego. I looked at my guys and showed them the paper. "Check it out." Jazz looked at it and said, "Huh. Intruder calls nine-one-one for fear that Home-owner may have a gun." Viktor nodded behind her. "Wow." he said. I gave Jazz a look and she smiled. She then said, "Yeah. We're in San Diego. How did we get all the way here from Chicago?" Megan piped up, "That stuff must have been stronger than we thought." I looked over to the younger two. They've been quiet for a while. I saw why. They were both staring up at a big sign. It said, "San Diego Zoo. Free Kids Day!" There's was a date right under it. I knew by the newspaper earlier that it was today's date. The sign showed different animals; zebras, monkeys, lizards, some birds at the top. The biggest animal on the sign was a lion; big, prideful, and powerful. Sara turned to me with those big, adorable eyes. "Cyrus?" she said. I just about melted. I said, "You guys want to go to the zoo?" Magnet turned to me, and they both nodded. I dug into my jacket pocket and pulled out the wad of cash I........withdrew from the bank. I looked at the other guys. Viktor was smirking, knowing my decision. Megan looked hopeful, although she tried not to show it. Longarm looked confused, though I'm not sure why. Jazz had her eyebrow raised in question? I gave a big sigh. "Let's go to the zoo." I said. The kids cheered. We started to walk away to find where the zoo is, when I heard Longarm behind me. "Uh. Guys?" We turned to him. He asked, "What's a zoo?" Anyway, we made it to the zoo. The admissions lady said that Magnet, Sara, and (thankfully) Megan were able to get in free. The rest of us had to get in with the small price of 24.99. Very nice. The place was jammed pack. I felt like I was in a claustrophobic nightmare. The kids had a blast. When we made to the reptile section, Megan didn't want to go near the cases. Longarm slithered his arm over her shoulder and made a hissing sound. She yelped, and smacked him as he laughed. Nobody noticed that he was actually four feet away from her opposite shoulder, except a little four year old, who eyed him in amazement. We were back outside when Viktor stopped suddenly. He looked up and his face turned from a slight smirk, to a look of horror. Dare I ask? "What's up?" He turned to me. He shook his head. Then he snapped his look at a set of buildings in the distance, that's when I heard it. A low whirring sound, and it was only getting louder. I could tell that the other people started hearing it too. Magnet muttered something to himself. Probably a curse; or a lite curse, him being ten and all. I could see little dots appear in the distance. Then the dots became metal spheres. They had one big red eye; they had a little metal stub, which probably served as the hovering mechanism; they had guns on their sides. I'm only shooting in the dark here, but I'm guessing those shoot lasers too. Yippee. They started flying towards us. They found us! The robots, drones, whatever they are, started shooting at the crowd. Luckily, as soon as the first shots were fired, the people started freaking their ways out of the zoo and nobody was really hit. We scattered too, diving in all directions. We couldn't be left alone couldn't we? Is one day of fun too much to ask? I could feel my fangs piercing my lips slightly. My claws were about ready to pop out of my fingers. I was truely pissed. I got up from behind the hotdog stand and started running. I waved my hands like an idiot and screamed, "Hey! Yo! Fresh experiment right here! Come and get it!" All of the Drones changed their course and came right at me. I started running hard towards them. I jumped into the air only to be tackled by a drone. I held on tight. The wind slashed my face as I almost fell off, twice. I actually somehow found myself on top of it. I beat on it with my free hand. Useless. I fought to put my feet on its sides. I leaned to my right and that sent the thing spinning out of control. I could see ground coming up fast and let go. I fell into a bush and saw the Drone go down into a car. I realized that I was on the outside of the zoo. People were still running away. Some actually got their phones out and started filming. I started to get out of the bushes, when I heard a voice scream at me. "Freeze!" I looked up to see the police coming at me with their hands on their guns. The cop that yelled at me was female, and was leading the way. Oh please. I got more important things to deal with than these jokers. I use my claws to climb effortlessly over the wall.

Heroes Chapter 20

Deep underground hides a lair. Deep underground, the air reeks of hopelessness, greed, and a sense of inhumanity. This is the workstation for the master of science, Dr. Connor Technocoir.

He was wielding something when one of his servant's came up to him. "Sir." he said. The Doctor stopped and slowly put down his tools and removed his mask. The man continued with a British accent, "I was watching the tube, seeing how the bulking bloke was doing, yeah? Some kids took 'em down." The Doctor turned to him. "What? Are you sure?" He nodded. "How so?" The servant shrugged. "Don't know how exactly. Just some kids with powers." The doctor's eyes flashed a look of excitement for a moment. "Like us?" The servant shrugged again, slightly irritating his master. Then he added, "They wouldn't have beaten him without that bloody robot with 'em."

"Robot?" Dr. Technocoir asked, shoving his irritation down deeper. "Yeah, some robot. You couldn't tell whether it was from space or what. It actually looked a lot like your handiwork, Doc." The doctor turned back to where he was working. You could hear screaming echoing off from somewhere in the holding chamber. A few sets of special projects he's been working on. Nothing unusual. "How is the Drill Project going?" He asked. The servant said, "Slowly, but surely." The Doctor nodded. So his theory was true. Superhumans are attracted to it.

........................................................

I sat in the library by myself. I don't usually hang-out by myself. I was known as the class clown, the joker, the guy that never really took anything seriously. Now, since I had to leave, I figured it would be best if I just stayed quiet. Keep to myself. Do NOT back talk to any of the stupidly mean teachers. I sighed. This act was killing me.

Now that I am (almost) alone, I think I'll address some important business. Such as, what is this voice in my head?! Am I going insane? Am I losing it? Who are you?

I am Sarabell. I am the Chooser.

The Chooser? Of what? Whether or not to envade someone's personal space?

The Chaos is growing. The Chaos, it's going to-

"Hey there stranger." I jumped about a foot in the air and my eyes shot open. I looked at the source of the voice. It was a girl with long brown hair and pretty gray eyes. She had a perky, confident smile. I said, "I'm sorry, can I help you?" She shook her head. "No thanks. I just always sit here every mourning, and I wasn't expecting to run into someone. Are you new here?"

I didn't realize it at first, but her eyes didn't focus on me until I uttered a word. I said, "Uh, yeah. I'll go ahead and get out of your seat." She put a hand on my shoulder as I was getting up. "That's OK. I'd enjoy your company." I looked around. Not everyone was looking towards us, but some were. "Are you sure you want to do that?" I said as she was sitting down. "You're kind of out of my league here." I heart felt a little lighter. Where had those words come from? I mean, sure it was true, but were had the courage come from?

She smiled and said, "That's so sweet of you. Do you say that to all the blind girls, or am I that special?" I was about to say one of two things, A) you are that special; or B) you're blind?

Either way, someone came up behind the girl. He said, "Blair. It's about time to go." The blind girl faced him and said, "Okay. Just give me a minute, OK?" The boy interrupted, "Blair. Now."

Blair looked at me. "Sorry, older brothers and all that. Am I right?" I nodded and said, "Yeah." like I totally got it. Then I added, "I'm, uh, Alex." She smiled. "I'm Blair and the needy one is my older brother, Norman. I guess I'll hear from you later?"

I said, "Uh, yeah, we have fourth and fifth period together." She smiled, but as I was talking, her older brother was dragging her away. I sat there for a moment, stunned by what had just occured.

I think I really like her.

Heroes Chapter 19

My what? No. I can't start going crazy just yet. My friends need me. I can't have voices floating around in my head.

As you wish.

I shook my head and gave my full attention to the screen. Mira had her hands glowing and blasted Grunge point-blank. The creature showed no pain, in fact, it seemed to be grinning. "Tickles." He growled. He charged them.

Kenny unleashed a full telekinetic blast on him, but it only slowed him down little to nothing. Ares pulled an automatic shotgun out of the air, and fired multiple times, but made no mark. Grunge swiped his arm and sent the trio doing flips in the air.

Then you can hear another voice through a speaker. From off screen, "Hey! Meat-bag!" It was Dexter's voice. The camera had to turn and refocus on his voice. There, in the middle of the street, was a robot. It had to be about ten feet tall. The main body of the thing was a bowl, with a dome over it to make a complete ball. The dome was darkened, so you couldn't see whatever was inside. The arms and legs had to be seven to eight feet from shoulder to fingers and from hip to foot. The forearms/ shins of the machine were a bit bigger than the upper arms/ thighs. The right hand had three fingers and a thumb, the left hand was a three fingered claw instead of an actual hand. The machine stepped forward and, in Dexter's voice, said, "Pick on someone your own size!"

Grunge looked at the machine man. He grinned his crooked teeth. "This be fun fight all-ready." He stumbled and charged towards Dexter. Dexter and Grunge connected, and they tumbled through the streets, slightly denting metal and still not doing any damage to the monster. I heard Jessie behind me suck breath in a hiss. Dexter somehow ended on top of his back, he used his claw hand to pick Grunge by his head and fling him through the street. Grunge got up without a scratch.

Grunge stumbled forward suddenly, and I could see that Kenny had gotten up with Ares and Mira. Ares was now holding a grenade launcher and shot it several times. There were scorch marks on Grunge's shoulder, chest, and stomach area due to the barrage of grenades. He fell back only to get back up. Mira put her cupped palms next to each other and faced them towards Grunge. The blast was an undescribable mixture of colors. It hit Grunge in his face and hit the ground, hard.

The trio and Dexter approached the creature cautiously. The creature was out cold. The police saw it was safe as well. Someone shouted, "All of you! Put your hands in the air!" The guns were now pointing at my friends. I honestly didn't see that coming. Jessie gasped and covered her mouth with her hands.

Fortunately, Dexter was a quick thinker. He scooped up Mira, Kenny, and Ares and used the Treadmills on the bottoms of his feet to speed away. The police called after them, but not a single shot was fired.

I took a deep breath. Now, to figure out the freaking voice floating around in my skull.

Cyrus Noble Chapter 24

Shortly after I instructed Sara to call for help, the body guards ripped us from our chairs and started to shove us out of hallways. I guess that bounty hunter doesn't listen to voices in his head after all. I flinched slightly when I heard Sara's voice in my head. Cyrus. Jazz needs a distraction. I grinned. One distraction, coming up. I saw a set of knights coming up, and we are about to pass a secondary hallway. I was in front of the small marching line. I darted down the secondary hallway. The guards called out after me. I stopped and turned around just in time to see Jazz's smoke pellets go into effect. The guards started coughing. I dove into the smoke, again, using senses other than my eyes. Judging by the gruff coughing, I placed punches here and there to take out the body-guards. The smoke was clearing, and I could see my guys standing over a downed man of one kind or another. Even Sara. It was pretty funny. I turned to the other end of the hallway and, to my horror, I saw the knights with shields and swords drawn out. They had stayed there until the smoke had cleared. I barely heard Magnet yell, "Duck!" when I hit the floor in front of me. The air heated above me, and I almost went blind as I saw the beam take out the Kights in front of us. Viktor put his head band back on and we all stood up. I said, "Now that we have that taken care of, how about a well deserved McDonald's snack? I'm buying." Magnet raised his hand. "Oh! Oh! Me please!" Sara followed up. "Me too! Me too!" I turned on my heel and headed out, with my family right behind me. .................. "They. WHAT?!?!" "I'm sorry sir. The guards found it necessary to leave them as they were for the meeting with the bounty hunter. We had no idea that the girl could even construct-" Dr. Ching interrupted. "Enough!" He paced from behind his desk. Master Bishop was going to give him hell over this. Bishop was not the "second chance" kind of leader. The Doctor forced his voice to be calm, not gentle but, calm. "Could you make sure that you are compitent enough to come back here with the other body guards that were on duty at the time? All of you are about to be reassigned." Without another word the soldier got up from his kneeling position and left to fetch the other "body guards". Dr. Ching was now alone. He went to his desk drawer and pulled out his fully automatic pistol. He loaded it, cocked it, and hid it under his lab coat. He then sat at his desk and waited for the guards to come back, the guards who would have no idea with what was to come.

The Fallen (Remake) Chapter 26

I would have to worry about the body and the gates later, I have to get Raph out of here and to a doctor. The chair was facing the watery area. I started to work on them. I'm not exactly a boy-scout, but I'm pretty sure I can........Ack! Something had grabbed the back of my neck, then it threw me to the other side of the room. I got enough of a glimpse of the attacker: it was Predator. He was still alive! That was the last thought I had before I hit the wall. I hit the floor and I struggled to get back up. I pressed against the wall and forced my eyes open. I couldn't see him. Where did he go? Then, as if he were a ghost, he appeared in front of me. He was furious and the side of his head was bleeding badly. His eyes said that he was clearly pissed. "Enough games! You will die today!" He lunged at me, and I pushed against the wall to dodge him. I whipped out my mechanical wing and slashed it along his back. He howled in pain, and I fell. The light around him shimmered and he disappeared again. I figured he must have had a cloaking device of some kind. Sheesh. Did I just get thrown into a comic book? I stood up just to feel a kick to my stomach and a punch to my face. I felt blood in my nose. I was now on my knees and elbows. I spat the little bit that got in my mouth and screamed, "Predator! You coward! You use invisibility against some punk kid?" I gave a kind of weak laugh. "Face it. You're just as pathatic as Hunter! Or maybe Spyker!" Off to my right I saw the light shimmer again, and Predator was standing there. He kicked my side and I went into the wall. Predator spat at me, "It's about time I finished this! And end your endless talk!" He walked towads me. I looked around me for something, anything I could use against him. I saw a pipe with a sharp end. I grabbed for it. Predator grabbed for me. As he turned me around, I must have.........I don't know, but it's a sound I'll never forget. He had me by the scruff of my shirt. He looked at me with anger at first, then it was look of confusion. He looked down and saw the sharp piece of pipe in his chest at an angle. He slowly looked at me, he struggled to say something, but it died in his throat. He fell to his side in the water, and I stood over him. What......have I done? I felt like I was going to pass out, or throw-up. Maybe both. I leaned against the wall. Everything hurt, including my head. I don't know how long I stood there, the only thing that snapped me out of it was the sound of Raph groaning. "Gabe? What........Where are we?" I walked over to him and started working on his ropes. I still had the knife from that punk in the alleyway. I got it out and started cutting the ropes. "Long story." I said. "Let's get you out of here first. I'll explain everything on the way to the hospital." From here you could see the blood starting to gather around Predator. A minute ago I thought he was dead, but there was also the possibility that he survived. Which, he obviously had, but now.........he's gone for good. Oh boy, I feel so sick right now. No. Not now. Don't think right now, just do it. "Gabe?" Raph said. He sounded tired, worn out. He needed to be at that hospital now. "Is he.......dead?" Raph asked. I looked at the corpse over my shoulder. I didn't answer for a while. I got the last of the ropes and we both stood. "Yeah. Can't worry about that right now. We need to get out of here." Using what strength we both had left, we lifted the gate enough for each of us to go under it. Then we made our way out of the sewer tunnels. The whole way, only one thought was going through my head; and it disturbed me. You have what it takes to kill someone.

The Fallen (Remake) Chapter 25

It took just a moment for my eyes to adjust to the dark. The first thing that hit me was the smell. I didn't overreact or anything, but holy cow something died down here!

I could see the freak walking ahead, not bothering to see if I was with him or not. He is an overconfident son-of-a-gun, huh? I followed him through the sewers. Eventually, we reached an opening. The sewer tunnel was now fifty feet in all directions. There were sometimes pipes that reached from wall to wall every now and then. The bounty hunter looked over his shoulder with a grin. "Follow me, if you can." He said. Then he jumped over to the other wall and clung there.

He continued to jump from wall to wall. Swinging on pipes and such. I unfurled my left wing and clicked out my right. I took to the air and flapped my wings. I followed the animal.

Okay, seriously, I need a name for this guy. "So what do I call you? Killer-Claw? Savage Man? Kitty Kitty Pow Wow?" No answer, just the slight tap of his claws and boots hitting off the walls and pipes. Then he finally answered, "I have no name." he responded, "Police reports call me the Predator." I ducked and tucked my wings in as I flew under a pipe, then let them stretch them back out again. I responded, "I knew it. Your mom genuinely hated you didn't she?"

I heard a low growl, but not much else. I kept talking, "By the way dude, what up with that hair? Didn't you hear? Short is in, long is out. So, either get a hair-cut, or start looking for your type of gay-" Predator stopped on a ledge and turned to me in a fury. "Will you shut your intensive babbling?!" He took a deep breath, then continued, "We are here."
He walked over to a pipe entrance and went in. I landed and followed him in. I tucked my wings in, but I didn't hide them. Don't really need to.

We entered a fairly large room. I couldn't tell what it was for, except that it had four different entrances. The two on the far side must have led off to different sewers throughout the city, and they were fenced off, but the fluid was still passing in and out of the room. The little sidewalk of a platform we were standing on had two doors on opposite ends of it. A gate had locked one end, and a gate just fell behind me as I entered. Trapped with a psychopath. I looked at the other door to see Raphael tied to a chair. He was passed out, and there were cuts and bruises everwhere I could see.

I spun to Predator. "What did you do to him?! He looks like he got hit by a car!" Predator only grinned. He jumped to the far side of the room, revealing that the sludge was only knee deep. He said, "Shall we begin?"

I crouched and lunged at him, using flight to cover the distance. He ducked my punch and I had to kick off the wall with my wings tucked to keep from crashing. I landed in front of him. I saw that the gauntlets on his arms popped some claws on his fingertips. He swiped at me and I barely dodged them. I stepped in and punched his abdomen. OW! I jumped back a few steps, shaking my hand. Did I hit his stomach, or a wall?
He grinned again, exposing those sharpened canines. He said, "Perhaps this won't be as enjoyable as I originally thought, but I will enjoy your screams of mercy non-the-less."

I just shook my head in disgust, "Dude. Do you know how wrong you sound?" He continued to slash and even grunted for a second. I fell back with my hands on the ground (and in the sludge water) and curled my body into a spring-loaded ball. I unloaded it and sent my feet into his head. The momentum caused me to pass through the air and land on him with my feet implanted in his head. I stepped off and watched as the monster got back up. He laughed a little. "Barely felt a thing." He said. Crap.

I ran to some nearby machinary. It looked rusted and dated, more importantly not running. I grabbed a pipe that was left dangling. I was able to work it out of its socket I swung it blindly and felt impact. I heard a rather satisfying crack and some vibrations through the pipe. I saw Predator staggering to the side, almost fell, but he stood up strait and glared at me with cruel, colorless eyes. Blood had started running down the side of his head.

He lunged at me with his claws. I dove under his arms and hit his back with my elbow. I heard him scream and I turned around to see him dig his claws into an electric fuse box. No time to think, I used my wings to push myself out of the water (if you can call it that) and onto the ledge. I could only watch as Predator was electrified. He finally fell and he didn't get back up.

I almost didn't want to believe it.

Predator was dead.

Cyrus Noble Chapter 23

I don't know what happened. I feel........cold. Was I dead? Am I in some kind of spirit realm? A spirit, waiting to be judged? Do experiments go to heaven? I tried to move, I found that my muscles are sore and stiff. I just stood in this strange position and receded into my own thoughts. After a while I could hear something. Panic. A scream. I felt the vibrations of an impact, but nothing else. I struggled against whatever force was holding me down. The invisible weight that kept me from looking around. Not that I could see anything anyway. It was dark. Now I'm freezing. I struggled to hear something. If I listened hard enough, I could hear a muffled sob. For the longest time that's all I heard. Over the next hour or so, my sight got brighter, then it got darker, back and forth again, teasing me with sight. Then I could feel something warm. It was beating down on my head. My body was fighting against this mysterious force to go towards this warmth. I could feel this thing around me; disappearing, melting away. Wait.......Melting? I'm encased in ice! How did that happen? As more of my body was freed from the ice, I went limp. I was drained, I could barely breath. They threw me into a dark room. I heard a shout and a scuffle of feet. I felt a warm and gentle hand on my face and I struggled to force my eyes open. I saw Jazz, and I smiled. "Hey." Jazz smiled too, "Hey." We stared at each other for a minute. Viktor snapped us out of it. "I'm sorry, do you two need to be alone or something?" We both stood up, blushing. I stretched out and said, "What happened?" Magnet answered for me. "We all just woke up in the back of a truck. We found you in that block of ice, and we thought that they somehow...." He drifted off. None of them wanted to say it. I said, "OK. So once again, we have been kidnapped, ripped out of where ever we were staying at, and we have no idea where we are. Am I right?" Everyone nodded. I grinned. "Nothing we can't handle." The door slid open to reveal someone dressed as a knight. No. I'm serious. I mean legit knight. Armor, shield, sword in its sheath at his side and everything. He spoke through his helmet, "Doctor Ching will see you in his office now. You will behave or you will suffer the consequences." I glared at him. "Or what?" I retorted, "You'll perform a series of training courses, mind games, testing serums and painful pills on us? Or, better yet, shove us into an arena and try to kill us with snake-wolf-hybrids!" The Dork Knight ignored my near out lash. He stepped aside and I could see big bodily men in suits. They lead us down several hallways, and put us in a storage elevator. Unfortunately, it fit both us and the guards. They lead us down more and more hallways, and into a office. It was big enough to hold seats for all of us. and then some. The desk in the center was occupied by Ching. After a minute or two of silence, and the guards and Doctor watching us, the door opened. A man in entirely black clothes came in. He had his hood up and his hands in his leather pockets. I glared at him. He shook it off. I could swear I could see his breath. It wasn't cold in here at all. Doctor Ching acted like an over-excited child. "Ah! Zero! Thank you so much for bringing back my beloved children!" Huh? The man replied, "It wasn't a problem. The equipment you provided helped a lot." I interviened, "What? What are guys talking about?" Ching shot a glare at me, then hid it. Zero looked at me and removed his hood. His skin (including his hands), were blue. His hair was black, and his eyes are purely white. He then responded, "The name is Zero. I'm a special kind of bounty hunter. I look for run aways such as yourself and return them to their parents. Whatever it is you guys dissagreed on, I'm sure it can be worked out. Right?" He looked to Dr. Ching, who nodded. "I have already scheduled a family class for us. Thank you again for bringing back my little adopted family." He pulled out an envelope from his coat pocket and handed it to Zero. "Here is the money I promised. Now take care, Mr. Zero." As he left, Dr. Ching ran-off into a lecture; faked no doubt. Something about our "mother". I wasn't paying attention. I thought towards Sara. Bud. I know this goes against my "stay hidden" idea, but I need you to contact that Bounty Hunter. Tell him the truth. Tell him what they are really going to do. He may be our only hope of getting out of this. Out of the side of my eye, I saw Sara nod, and then close her eyes in concentration. I could only sit there and hope that he will listen to that random voice in his head.

Cyrus Noble Chapter 22

We walked over to a nearby hotel, which must of been a hangout for me. Because my head is going to implode. I'm serious, I've never had a headache this huge before. I gave the money to the cashier and she cocked an eyebrow. "Not going too good at home?" I looked at her. "Excuse me?" I said. She put her hands up in defence. "Sorry. None of my business. I'll give you the usual room." Usual room? When she came back with the keys, I asked her, "Uh, mam? This may sound strange, but what do you know about me?" She looked at me and laughed a little. "What? Are you......No. I guess you're not." I gulped. Am I going to find out who I was, all from this lip pierced, short haired young woman? She shook her head. "I'm sorry, but I only see you around here so much. All I can say is that whenever you're here is whenever something wrong went on at your house. I know you have parents somewhere around here. But that's all I know. Sorry." I let out a breath that I hadn't realized I was holding. I muttered a "Thank you" and left the counter. I heard the lady, Cher, call out after me. "If there's anything I can do to help...." I didn't hear the rest, but I got the picture. Jazz came up beside me. "Hey, maybe being up in that room will trigger something. You never know." A little hope sparked within me. I tried to shoot it down, not get my hopes too high. "Doesn't matter who I was. I got new responsibilities now." She saddened. We exited the elevator five minutes later. We found the room. I read the room number aloud. "Room T-42. This must be it." I opened the door and saw that it was pretty much crap. Chipped paint, trashy furniture.... This was my "usual room"? Great. Just, great. The entire place had three rooms: a bathroom, a bedroom, and the main room/kitchen. After everyone had their much needed showers, the girls claimed the bedroom. They can fit. The guys just slept wherever. Magnet got one end of the couch, while Viktor leaned on one hand on the other end. Longarm slept on the floor with his arms folded under his chin, acting as a pillow. I turned off the last of the lights and I sat up against the wall, on the floor. I closed my eyes and let my mind wander. I couldn't take these nightmares anymore. I couldn't take not knowing anything about my freaking childhood. The only thing I remember is pain. Nothing but pain. Something smells. I opened my eyes slowly and looked around without moving my head. I listened hard, and sniffed the air. I could hear hissing, and I could smell some funky kind of gas and......ice? Was that the crappy freezer? The window was suddenly shoved open, the intruder not bothering to be stealthy. He crawled in and cracked his knuckles. He muttered to himself, "OK. Let's get you kiddos out of here." He started fishing in his pockets for something, and I chose this time to stand. His back was towards me. He was clothed in black clothes. Boots, jeans, jacket, leather coat, everything. His hair was black too. I folded my arms and said, "Can I help you?" He spun around to face me. He was about my height. He seemed very surprised. "How are you not clocked out, man? They told me that stuff would knock out anyone." That must of been how he snuck in without Viktor, or anyone else for that matter, hearing him. Knock-out gas. I started grinning and cracked my knuckles. "I needed an excuse to let my anger out. So thanks for stopping by." I extended my claws and fangs. I doubt he could them in the darkness of the room. The intruder only said, "Sorry kid. Not here for a fight. It's time you guys went back to where you belong." He stuck out his hand and I was hit by something hard, and cold. I blacked out after that. Before I did, I could have sworn that.............his hand was blue.

Cyrus Noble Chapter 21

We joined Jazz at the windows and door of the bank. Jazz didn't show anything at my partake in this, she only said, "We need to get these people out of here." A low growl raised in my throat. I said, "You got those smoke pellets?" She nodded. "Use them." I ordered. She dug in one of her pouches and brought out a small handful of pellets. She rolled them out on the floor and they spray out smoke with a tight hissing sound. I said, "Viktor, you and I will take out the thugs. Longarm, help Jazz get the civilians. Magnet." I hesitated. "Uh. Watch our backs." He nodded, glad that he could help in some way. He put on his goggles and took a stance, ready for anything. We jumped in through the windows and headed into the smoke. Viktor and I took right and I had to rely on everything except my eyes. I heard coughing to my left. I charged and tackled him to the ground. He tried to fire the rifle in his hand, but it was way too close, and I swiped it away. I punched him in the chest till I heard ribs crack. He sat there in a state of shock, not fighting back anymore. I got up and left him there. I caught a glance of arms being shot out and slamming two heads together to my left. I almost ran into the robber's leader. I could hear someone in the room yell, "Roman! This wasn't part of the plan!" Roman saw me, and ignored everything else. He said, "You trying to play hero, kid?" He primed his turret and faced the barrel to me. "I guess that makes me the villain. Now say goodnight." Roman's weapon clicked, but didn't do anything. He cursed. "How is this thing jammed already?! This tech is bul-" I didn't let him finish. I threw a fist at his throat, choking his words. I jumped, doing a roundhouse kick to the head. I really hope Jazz didn't see that. She would be teasing me to no end. A roundhouse? Me? When landing, I caught a glimpse of Viktor leading a brown girl by her hand out the door. If he wasn't taking out the punks, then wouldn't that mean.... I rolled to the side as a maniac swung a electrically charged baton at me like a poser samurai. I stood up to face him, and he swung the baton like a bat, I blocked it with my forearm. I could feel the surge of electricity go through me. I extended my claws and swiped them across his chest. He fell back in pain. I snatched the gear he was wearing and bolted. I paused when I could see the door. I just had another idea. I went back and sprinted into the vault. It's gotta be here somewhere. Ah. Here it is! I grabbed two wads of hundreds and stuffed them into my coat pocket. Then I sprinted out and made out the door and almost ran into Jazz. She turned to me. "I count fifteen people here. Everyone is out." I said, "Then let's get out of here. I think I hear sirens." We ran down the street and away from the madness. I almost ran over the brown girl I saw earlier. She yelped as she jumped back and out of our ways. Megan and Sara ran up behind us, and we rounded the corner and into an alley before the police ever came around. As we all caught our breath, I looked over to Jazz. I whispered to her, "If you do that again, I will personally throw you off the tallest building I can find." She looked at me, and smiled. She retotrted, "Why so mad? Looks like you got some profit out of it." She flicked the little green paper sticking out my pocket. I shrugged. "Well, you know...." I said, leaving it at that. Longarm thought aloud. "You guys are insane, you know that?" Viktor responded, "Just one of the perks of being us." I stood up straight and counted. Magnet, Sara, Megan, Longarm, Viktor, Jazz, me. OK. Everyone accounted for. I said, "Okay, now we need to find a place to stay." Megan asked. "But, where?" I suddenly got a headache. "I.....I know a place." I said slowly. I walked deeper into an alley, my feet moving by memory not comand. I heard Jazz behind me. "Whatever you say........Chuck Norris." I felt my face get hot and I kept walking ahead, embarrassed.

Cyrus Noble Chapter 20

We walked around and about the streets of Chicago. CHI-CA-GO. We made it all the way across the border-line between Canada and the U.S. The Archer Corporation must be international. They might even be world-wide. Crap. Well, what are we going to do now? Come on leader, lead already! I looked at the guys. Sara looked at me from the slide she was on. I gave her a smile and waved, but I don't think it worked. After walking out the back of a local clothing store with some new duds, we stopped and took a break at a playground, just so I could get my head together. My only rule was to always stay within my site, and they knew it. Viktor was leaning back, next to me; listening to everything around us. Sara was now at the sandbox, building little castles with Megan's and Longarm's help. Jazz was pushing Magnet on the swing. My gaze hovered on her for a second. "Dude. Just talk to her." I jumped at Viktor's words. "What?" I said. His face was turned towards me. "I'm not repeating myself, dude." I sighed. "Is it that obvious?" I asked. He smiled. "Tsk. If a blind guy can see it...." "I get your point." I interrupted. We didn't say anything for a few minutes. "What am I exactly going to say to her? 'Hey. I'm the only guy you ever had a chance with, ya know, us being lab accidents and all. Wanna go out?' I mean.....ugh." Viktor nodded like I made some sort of sense. He said, "Well, just hang out with her more. Be yourself. Oh, and don't be gay, that helps too." I rolled my eyes. Then I jumped again when I heard an alarm go off. Everyone stopped and looked at the Bank that, for some reason, was placed across the street from the playground. Everyone started backing away from the bank and into their cars. I saw no cell phones being pulled out. I focused on the Bank. The robbers were in regular street clothes. They had thin, back-pack looking things on, with matching helmets. Whatever weapons they were holding had a cable connecting their packs with the handles of their weapons. About three of them had rods that were shaped like swords, and they had electricity dancing along them. A few of them had rifles, and some merely had pistols. The one who was carrying a huge turret next to him was calling the shots. "Everyone! This is a bank robbery. Now everyone just behave and we'll all get back home before dinner." The robbers watched the panicked people while the leader approached the bank vault. He fired his weapon at the four corners of the huge vault door. The spheres of energy stuck to where he fired and, after he took a few steps back, exploded only when he pushed a button on his wrist. The door fell flat on the floor with a loud thud. I looked at Jazz to find that she had disappeared. I looked back at the bank to see her leading Magnet by the hand over to it. I said, in a horsed voice, "Jazz! Don't..." It was useless. She was against the wall of the building next to the huge windows of the bank. "That girl is going to get us killed!" I stood there and crossed my arms, muttering to myself. "Fine. Fine. She wants to get killed, she can get killed. I will not risk my neck for a bunch of......" I watched as Jazz pulled out three disks and said something to Magnet over her shoulder, holding the disks out to him. He held his hands over them and said something. She nodded, ordered one more thing to him, and walked up to the doors. She opened them threw the disks into the room and ran back to Magnet. Before the robbers could do anything about her, the disks stuck themselves to the opposite ends of the walls. One of them stuck to the floor right under the leader. A few of the others were too busy stuffing money into bags to notice, that is, until a terrible, high pitched screeching noise arose. The sound shattered everything glass. The people inside covered their ears at the sound, but robbers caught the worst of it. The leader was now on the floor, clawing at his own ears. Then, as suddenly as it started, it stopped. I let out a deep, aggravated breath. I said, "Megan. I want you to stay here with Sara. When you see us running away, follow us. OK?" She nodded. I said, "Longarm. Viktor. Follow me." And, for some ungodly reason, we ran towards the commotion.

Cyrus Noble Chapter 19

I was back in the Dam. It felt like it was years ago. I lead the black haired, leathery winged girl by her hand down a hallway. Alarms were still blaring. The poor girl was still confused, she had no idea what was going on. I made a turn and stopped immediately. There were at least four different squads of troopers. They were wearing strange armor, different from the others I faced. They were whitish, gray and they had clear plastic clubs. Somewhere in between them there was a scientist with his hands on the shoulders of a boy with red hair. The boy looked at me with conflicted feelings of joy, fear, and awe. I could see it in his eyes. With my claws and fangs extended fully, I charged the soldiers. I could feel Megan behind me, ready to fight with me. I woke up before I confronted the soldiers. I looked around and saw that the sun was peaking over the horizon. I sighed. A new day. I looked over to Jazz and tapped her shoulder twice. She woke up and started rubbing her eyes. I tapped Megan and Viktor's knee to wake them up. I said, "Wake up guys. We have something we need to do." I got out and went to the back. After opening the door, I lifted Gabe up enough to open the floor board under him. It had a tarp for whatever reasons it was in there. With Jazz's and Longarm's help, we lay Gabe out the tarp and wrapped him in it. All before any kind of mall cop could see us. I saw a graveyard across the street from the mall. I carried Gabe's body across the street with the guys close behind me. At the graveyard I saw a church behind it. I thought of something. We don't have shovels. Crap. Viktor says to me, "Cyrus. We have company." I looked over to the church again and saw that we've been spotted by an old man. He couldn't have been a threat, but we all took a battle stance, just in case. He came up to us and said, "Is there something wrong?" Sara stepped out in front of me. I sent every thought of urgency, panic, and anger towards her, but she shut me out completely. Her voice was small and almost made a tear come down my cheek, "Our friend needs a funeral. But we don't have any shovels." She looked down and sobbed quietly. It was sprinkling lightly. The old man looked at me and all I could do was nod, confirming his questioning face. He asked, "Did he have a family?" I shook my head. "No. We were all he had." He looked puzzled. "No relatives?" I shook my head. He looked at all of us. He said, "I have a few shovels you can borrow. If you'd like, I could recite a passage for the funeral to be proper." I was going to say "That's not necessary." but after a glance from Sara's teary eyes I said, "That would be great. Thank you." Jazz and I dug the hole. Within the hour, we were lowering Gabe's body into the hole. Megan came back with flowers she must have found nearby. I didn't even notice that she left. She handed one flower per person. Sara went up to the grave and said, "I'm sorry you were like this Gabe. You were a good person. I'll miss you. But don't worry, I'll see you in heaven before you know it." She dropped the flower in and ran over to me, hugging my leg. I felt a tear run from my eye. It was amazing to me that she had such bravery in her. Magnet went to the grave. He said, "I'm sorry I couldn't save you Gabe. You were a good friend. If it means anything, I think of you kinda like a cousin, or maybe a brother. I don't care what those crazy scientists say, you were a somebody. You were a hero." He dropped his flower and walked over to Jazz. She comforted him while Megan went over to the grave. "I didn't know what you were when I first saw you. I thought you were a monster of some kind, but you're not. Farthest thing from it. Without you, we would have never have made it out. We'll never forget that." She dropped her flower in and walked over to a hug from Jazz, Magnet, and Sara. Viktor's turn. He kept his head down and just felt the flower in his hand. He said, "You did good with what was given to you." He dropped his in and joined us. Jazz's turn. "I wish I could have gotten to know you better. I would have been more than happy to include you into our little family." She dropped her flower and joined us, wiping a tear from her eye. OK. Here I go. I walked over to the grave. I looked at the tarp, imagining the deformed corpse under it, then I looked at the small flower in my hand. I said, "There's not much I can say that hasn't already been said. You were all of those things, Gabe. Despite of what you were, and what they did to you, you turned around and done something that no one else would have done. You will always have a special place in our hearts. Thank you, Gabe. Thank you for saving us." I dropped the flower and watch it flutter to the ground with the other flowers. I told the pastor that we appreciated his assistance and that we would also appreciate if he could not tell anybody about us. He only smiled and said, "What happened is between you and the Lord now. I was never here." He walked away to the church. I probably shouldn't have trusted him, nah, he seemed pretty cool. I finished filling up the hole. We walked away from the grave and down the sidewalk. The sun came out and was shining brightly on all of us. Sara was holding my hand as she walked. In my mind, she said, Cyrus? I responded, Yeah bud? I feel.....good. Or, at least, better than I did before. Is that normal? I nodded. It has to be, because I feel the same way. And I'm sure the others do too. She beamed at me and we continued to walk in..........did that Punk say we were in Chicago?