Cyrus Noble Chapter 16

The commander looked at all of us. Its side was scorched due to Jazz's explosive javelin, and its helmet had a cracked off piece, exposing his eye and part of his face. I said, "Everyone! Hold your positions! We have him now!" A booming voice interrupted my thoughts. "Hold on folks! We seem to be having some technical difficulties!" It was the Announcer. "We haven't had something like this happen in a long time! Looks like you're the lucky audience that gets to see our main executioners! I introduce you to, the Viper-Wolves!" I looked at Jazz in horror. She had a similar look. We both knew what was coming. I looked over to the P. C. and the blue eye that was showing looked watery. He realized, as much as the rest of us, that we might not make it out of this. I said, "Hey! Psycho Trooper!" He looked at me. I continued, "You can still fight! Don't give up! We can all make it out of this!" Jazz looked at me. "Cyrus! What are you doing? This is no time to make nice!" I looked around at the gates. They were lowered, and I could see the faint outlines of those monsters. I could smell them from here, and if there was ever a smell for death...... The same thing was going on at the other gates. One per gate. A pang of fear rattled through my body. I took a stance for a fight, facing the closest of the four openings. The thing stuck out its wolf-like, rattlesnake head, and sniffed the air. Its eyes caught us, and it darted towards us before I could blink. It was twenty feet away from us and already pounced into the air when it was knocked back to the ground by an energy blast. I turned back to the Psychic Commander. The main cannon was still smoking. He looked at me with the one exposed eye. "Ffffffff." He said. He tried again. "Ffffffffff-rrrriieeeends." I nodded and turned back to the downed creature. It was slowly getting back up. A second one has joined it and was prowling around our circle of experiments. I looked over at a third one, and it was snarling at Megan. Before I could do anything, it took to the air in a pounce. A pair of arms lashed out, acting as a whip, and wrapped up the beast around its upper area. The arms slammed the mutated beast on the ground and tossed it at the wall. Megan, her hands covering her mouth, looked at Longarm as his arms shrunk back. He had a fearful look in his eyes. I looked around. Nine of us, verses four highly resilient hunter-killers. Crap. The Announcer lowered himself as low as his little stand would go. "You brats just don't get it, do you? You enter the arena, you die! Its the simplest thing in the world! You are supposed to bend over and-" He never got to finish. Apparently that low setting is a little too low. The last Viper-wolf jumped up and bit and slashed at the arm holding the stand in the air. The stand fell, the Announcer fell out, and one of the Prowlers bit into him and dragged him away. That's when somebody screamed and the room started to clear out. We need to get out of here, now. This entire time I was relaying a plan in my mind, as long as Sara played her part everyone should be good. "NOW!" I yelled at the top of my lungs. The tank-man fired and instantly killed one of the Prowlers, its body flew across the stadium and hit the wall before falling. Magnet focused on the floor. Plates of metal were ripped out of the ground and started to wrap themselves around one of the Prowlers. It slashed and kicked its way out of the wrappings before they could close around it. It darted towards Magnet and Sara. It was tackled by a slightly deformed, scaly, one winged Thing. "Gabe!" Sara called out desperately. Thing ignored her and continued to wrestle the predator. The skin hissed and burned wherever Thing touched. Finally the Prowler snapped back and bit into Thing's shoulder. Thing made an impossible cry of pain, the Prowler reared back and cried out in pain as well. It finally just passed out and died out of the floor. Unfortunately, Thing-I mean, Gabe-followed suit.

Heroes Chapter 16

When we got back I went ahead of Dexter and Jessie. Give them a little time alone, ya' know? Plus I heard Jessie behind me. "Uh, Dexter? Can I talk to you for a second?" I smirked as I left them alone and made my way to the computer room. I passed the kitchen and caught a glimpse of the Oracle. She called out to me, "Back already? You're early." I paused in surprise and then thought to myself, Right. She knows everything, remember?

It was Saturday, so we really didn't miss anything. I got to my room and flopped on my bed to go back to sleep. I just realized how exhausted I am.

Here's a little tid-bit for you when you're living in the Punk Yard. It's big. And when its big like this, the people living here happen to find it a little easier to have phones plugged into the main rooms of the place. So when that phone on my dresser rang, I had half a mind to throw it across the room. I picked it up. "Hello?" I said, slight irritation showing in my voice. It was Kenny. "Dude. Get over to the lab. Now. It's looking for you."

After that ominous comment he hung up. I got back up and lumbered my way to the lab. I opened the door and saw Ares, Mira, Kenny, Jessie, and Dexter all standing and staring at the monitor. Dexter was at the keyboard. On a completely unrelated side-note his cheeks were tinted red, meaning he must have been kissing Jessie when I left. I'll have to congratulate him later.

I said, "Whassup?" Nobody turned away from the screen. It was when I heard my name-my true name-being called out from nowhere when I understood what was happening. The monitor showed the situation as if it was a camera-man was in hiding. There was a monster on the screen.

It looked like a man, except he was deathly pale. He had short, scruffy, greasy, black hair. He was nearly seven feet tall, and was freaking ripped. His hands looked like they could very well be bigger than his head. He had an over sized black leather jacket and black shorts. There were police officers firing their guns at him. In response he put up one hand in front of his face and he gripped a lamp-post that was beside him with the other hand. He ripped it from the ground and swiped it at the police officers, sending them flying. He spotted the camera-man and lumbered toward it. You could tell the man tried to get away, but it was useless. He grabbed him and said, "Tell David Noel that Grunge will kill town. Kill people." He said David like Da-vid "David Noel must come to Grunge. Or Grunge will kill everything at sunset!" He dropped him and made a huge jump towards the sky. He was out of site in seconds.

Dexter muted it. He turned to us. Mira, Jessie, and Kenny looked confused. Ares just looked frustrated. I imagined I must've looked horrified, because Mira asked, "What would a monster like that want with some kid like David Noel? Couldn't he go after someone like Justin Bieber?" Dexter threw in, "He doesn't exactly look like the elaborate hunter type." Kenny said, "Do you think he's working for someone?" "Who cares?" Ares interrupted. "He wants this kid, let's give him what he wants so he doesn't destroy the local grocery stores we need." Jessie stepped in, "We don't even know where this kid is, or who he really is for that matter. He could be just as innocent as we are."

Dexter opened his mouth, as if to say something, then closed it again and shook his head. Mira continued, "Do you guys think we can take on this guy? I mean, we handled small time criminals and those bank robbers that kidnapped Alex, but.............." She stopped when she gave a quick look at me. I felt like there was an anvil on my chest. What am I going to do now? Mira's voice snapped me out of it. "Alex?" I looked at them all, and they looked at me with questioning faces.

Mira continued, "Do you know something about this?" I didn't know what to say. So, I decided to tell them the truth. I sighed and said, "Yes. My real name is David Noel." Jessie gasped and covered her hands with her mouth. "I'm the kid he's looking for."

Heroes Chapter 15

Jessie began again. "I have the ability to take over a mind and make them do as I please. But there's a side effect. If I hold on to them for too long they become uncontrollable and unpredictable, and their mind retreats back to the most basic survival instincts-" A lawyer slammed on the desk he was sitting at. "Objection!" He cried. "Your honor, this female is obviously compromised. She has no say in this."

I did notice the jury basically do a wave of eye rolling when she spoke of her powers. Maybe this was a bad idea. I felt the guards come up behind us, then they stopped. I sneaked a peek and saw that they were hunched over, eyes starring at nothing. They started drooling and moaning. The judge slammed his tiny hammer, what is it called? A gavel?

Anyway, he slammed it to get there attention. "Order in the court! Whatever foolishness this is I demand you to-What in God's mercy......?" I looked at what he was staring at. The jury was up and about, acting like they were mentally impaired. Even the lawyer that spoke up earlier was moaning and groaning. I looked over to Jessie's father, who was sporting a beard, and his lawyer, both of them had a look of utter astonishment.

I snickered at a thought that popped into my head. I whispered to Jessie, "Can they do that one dance from a familiar looking music video?" She flashed a grin and the zombies in the room started doing the dance from the Thriller music video. Dexter and I were dieing of laughter.

The judge struggled to regain control. "Alright. Alright! That's enough! Just-just let them go. Please." Jessie released her control, and her shoulders slumped. She relaxed a little more and the zombie people started waking up from their dream. They looked around nervously, as if they've realized how violated they've been. "Now," Jessie began, "As I was saying before. I was testing my powers one day on my parents. I was unaware of the side effect at the time. It was my fault that my father inadvertently killed my mother, not his."

Every one's eyes were on her. She had a determined look on her face, she didn't look like the scared girl that was crying earlier this morning. "Do I need to demonstrate?" Everyone shook their heads for their answer. She nodded. "I don't care who you convict. Just so long as you know that that man is innocent."

An hour later, we were waiting for the jury to come out of the back room. Jessie was sitting next to her dad, holding his hand. They were talking quietly to each other. Probably catching up on old times. Dexter and I sat a few rows back on the opposite set of pews. We didn't want to intrude. Dexter said, "Do you have any idea how I'm supposed to get her attention?" I respond, "Just keep doing what your doing. I think she likes you more already." He smiled and started fiddling with his thumbs. Then he dug his hands into his pockets and brought out random mechanical pieces and fiddled with them. After a few minutes he held a small disk with a glass case in the middle. I asked, "What's that?" He shook his head. "No clue."

The jury came out of the back room and sat down. One of them stood up holding a piece of paper. He said, "Due to the recent events of today, we have decided that the charges against the accused have been dropped." Jessie gasped and hugged her dad. "However," he continued. I thought to myself, Uh oh. Here comes the real trouble. "The spouse of the accused, Jessie, must sign a legal document saying she will never use her abilities, unless the situation demands it." Jessie came up and signed the written document that they must have written in the back room. Or maybe not. I corrected myself.

We left the court house with Jessie's father right beside us. Mr. Garcia (Jessie's dad) said, "I cannot tell you how grateful I am to see myself as a free man." He turned his daughter. "I am even more grateful to see my brave daughter again." They hugged. He then said, "I only have one question for you my dear." They broke their hug, still in each other's arms. "Will you stay with me?" Jessie looked at her father, then at Dexter and me, then back at her dad. I flashed a quick glance at Dexter and saw a look of complete sadness. He would be crushed if Jessie said yes.

Jessie sighed and said, "I'm sorry dad, but these are my friends. I think I can control my powers better if I stay with them. They aren't the only ones who have special abilities. We have someone watching over us and we can help each other." The father nodded regretfully. "I understand my little flower."

We left the town and made it back to Dexter's really-freaking-awesome Helicopter. And Jessie never stopped smiling for that entire ride.

Cyrus Noble Chapter 15

The Psychic Commander instantly turned his guns to the second group of mutants, for now, away from us. It fired, and there was only a crater where they were standing. The crowd cheered in approval. A bird flew from where it was perched and was now flying around the cage, avoiding the small arms fire from the Commander. I was surprised to see that the shots didn't hit the audience, instead, it faded into an invisible wall. It must have been similar technology to our cages. The bird cried out. I think it was a type of eagle. Obviously, Bishop didn't have a thing for patriotism. The bird landed on my shoulder. I expected the talons to dig into my skin and cause me to bleed, but it didn't. I looked at it real quick to see the talons gripped tightly, but it didn't puncture anything. The talons seemed to go smoothly over my shoulder. I didn't have time to marvel at the handiwork, the tank-thing turned its attention over to us. I had to scream, "Split up guys!" And we all dove out of the way just in time to avoid the blast. I extended my fangs and nails, only to have them shrink back again in response to the collar's shock. These collars are keeping us from fighting. Magnet can't use his magnetic abilities to get them off. Megan tried to rip hers off in the van, but it shocked her so badly she barely had any strength left. I said, "Jazz! We need to get these off!" She looked at me and shook her head. "Its tracking my brain pattern! I can't tinker with it while I have it on me!" The Commander started with the small arms fire, which sent us running in all directions. I had to think. I had to think of some way to get these things off! Wait. Thing could still use his acid thing on the wall. Why didn't it shock him? I yelled, "Thing! I mean, Gabriel!" Thing looked at me with his big yellow eye. I said, "Touch the collars! I need you to touch the collars!" He was on the ground next to Megan since they both dove in the same direction. He looked at her and slithered his deformed hands over her collar and he even swiped his hand over the harness. By the time Megan noticed what he was doing and could freak out, the collar fell off and so did the harness. She stood up and stretched out her fourteen foot, leathery wings. The crowd pointed and stared and asked questions. "What is that?" "Is she supposed to do that?" "Looks like we'll be getting some extra entertainment!" Megan took to the air and swooped in for a swinging kick to get the Tank-man's attention. It worked, and now she was flying around the room, the Psychic Commander shooting everything its got at her. Thing made his way over to a wary looking Jazz, but she let him swipe his slimy, scaly hands over her collar. He then got Magnet, Sara, Viktor, Longarm, and then me. Now we are all in the game. Thankfully, they neglected to take Jazz's belt. She took out a small rod, which extended into a javelin. She threw it at the tank. The Psychic turned his head to the projectile and the javelin changed direction, raising over his head at the same regular speed. It exploded once it passed by. He grunted in surprise and the tank fell over on its side. Jazz said, "I only had one of those! It was my best shot at taking him out!" I turned to her. "Then how about letting us know about it next time?" Sara came to me in my mind, Cyrus! His mind is too strong. I can't do any damage, but I can keep from causing us to panic. OK Sara, keep up the good work. I said aloud, "Guys! Surround him! He's powerless now!" Megan landed behind him. Longarm, Viktor, Magnet, and Thing got on each side of him. Jazz, Sara, and I stood in front of him. We all formed a circle about ten feet away from him in all directions. The Psychic Commander had found a way to righten itself. Now, the real fight begins.

The Fallen (Remake) Chapter 22

We stood on top of the apartment building. Raph was rambling out of nervousness. "Gabe. I don't think this is such a good idea. We are forty feet off the ground! Do you really think you can get this on the first try?" I looked at him over my shoulder. I grinned. "Yes." He stared at me with a look of disbelief, which quickly turned to anger. "I made a promise to a friend to-No, Wait!"

I only half-heard that last part. I jumped off the roof and extended my wings. The wind caught them and I was soon back up in the air. The air was cold, but I did not care. I could feel the permanent smile that broadened itself on my face. I was so tickled by the familiar feeling of flight that I started laughing. I probably sounded a little like a megalomaniac, but, again, I did not care.

I took it up a notch and flew higher. I could see everything from up here. Well, not everything. The ants down there sure looked good to see again. Let me tell you, if you ever have a chance to fly-not like sky-diving-but actually fly or even glide from a high point, do it. Just let your mind go blank and do it. You won't regret it.

I decided to turn around and head back, even though I was dying to stay up here. However, it was getting dark, and Raphael will be worried; if he isn't already. I landed on the roof and looked around. He wasn't here. Must have gone back inside. I tucked my wings back in as tight as I could. I saw a tiny knob that barely showed. I clicked it and the mechanical wing tucked in even tighter. Not even a bulge there. Awesome! I saw two of my shirts sitting on the ground next to the door. They were the set of clothes I had laid out on my bed for tomorrow. A white T-shirt and a yellow, plaid button down shirt. I put both on. I found that the shirt pocket of my plaid shirt had a note in it. I unfolded it and read it.

To my horror, this is what it said: Hello prey,

As you may have guessed by now. I have your friend. If you wish to see him alive you will do as I say. If you do not, I will kill him. It makes no difference to me. Either way, I will enjoy the hunt.

You will met me at this address, and you will surrender.

The address was close by. In fact, it was right next to a local grocery store.

Meet me there at 10:00 am. I do my hunting after breakfast. Hurry now.

With me being thoroughly pissed off, I forced my hands to refold it and put it back in my pocket instead of crumbling it up like I wanted to. How many times am I actually going to put people in danger? I should have learned my lesson at Nicole's house. I have to save Raphael............but how?

The Fallen (Remake) Chapter 21

I was looking over Raphael's shoulder. He got the straps done and was now working on the wing. He said, "OK. This is where I'm going to need your help." I said, "Oh really?" He nodded. "I need to see the length of your wing." I didn't exactly feel comfortable with the thought of him getting close to my wing. There were two people that I new of that got that close. One of them cut of my wing, the other helped in my healing by closing the wound.

Hesitantly, I removed my shirt and sat on the stool he provided. He said, "If you would, please extend it." I still hesitated, but I did it anyway. I jumped a little when I heard the sound of measuring tape being ripped out. I had to remind myself that that's all it was.

I could barely feel the wall with my wing. I heard him talk to himself. "Hm. Almost thirteen feet." He wrote it down on a piece of paper on the table. He then said, "I need to see if there's any way I can get you to move the wing once you have it. I want you to move your missing limb as if it was still attached. Alright?" I grunted and started flapping what wasn't there. He said, "Alright. That's enough. That's more than enough for the pressure sensors to detect."

I folded in my wing and said, "I really hope this little thing-a-ma-jig of yours works." He nodded. "Understood." he said.

For the next week, Raphael worked on the mechanical wing with barely any break. I tried to help with whatever I could. At one point one of our stomachs grumbled and we couldn't tell who's it was because we were both so hungry. I tried to eat as less as I could, but I couldn't fool him. "You must be going through a growth spurt. Don't worry about money, man, just eat whatever."

The eighth day came along, and we finally finished it. He tightened a screw into the base of it and said, "I think we're done." I was a little eager. I ripped the thing from the table and began to strap it on. "Whoa. Easy there, cowboy. Here." He helped in buckling the waist part. There was another strap going over my shoulder. Thankfully, Raphael thought ahead and put a cushion there. Raphael started to explain. "OK. As it turns out, the doctors didn't get all of your wing. There is a bone that acts as a lever for the wing to push outward. That one bone they didn't get. So, when you start flapping the pressure sensors will detect it and push out the wing. When you start flapping, the sensors will send the message and the wing will start flapping too. Go ahead, try it out."

I experimentally pushed with my severed side. The wing opened up and out. The light shown through the cloth and showed where the light, hollow metal pieces were placed where the bones should have been. I willed it to flap and it responded. It was perfect. If I couldn't feel the harness I would have thought I had my wing back. I was in shock and awe.

I looked at Raph. He was grinning. I felt my eyes getting wet. Then he said the thing I was thinking, "You want to go and try it out?"

I grinned. "Let's."

Cyrus Noble Chapter 14

The Arena was more like a modern day version of the Roman Colosseum. There was a ring of seats, that were filled. The people were different. I saw people of all ages. Most of them were punks, but I saw windows that were probably the VIP sections. I could see the people in suits and dresses staring down at us with high expectancy. This must be where Bishop makes his money. How or why anyone would stand for this is beyond me. I looked around and saw that groups of other experiments were making their way out of cages and hallways similar to ours. They must be the other mistakes, or at least, the other sentient mistakes. I quickly spotted Megan and Jazz to my left. Jazz made eye contact with me, and we understood that we would slowly regroup in a minute. There was an announcer: "Heeeeeellllloooooooooooooo Ladies and Gentlemen! Are you ready for the ruthlessness, the blood lust, the gore of the Omega Colosseum!?!" The crowd roared in applause. The announcer revealed himself. He was standing on a platform with a handrail, it was connected to a metal arm and it was swinging the platform across the arena and the crowd. The man inside it was wearing a crisp new suit with shades. He had blond hair with streaks of gray in it, and he had an ugly scar going down the side of his face. Despite these features he looked quite young and was smiling; and seemed full of energy. He continued, "For those of you who do not know me, you may call me The Announcer! For security purposes I hope you understand. Tonight, we have a very special champion. He's a bit new, so let's give a warm welcome to the one, the only, Psychic Commander!" We looked at the door that he gestured to with his hand. It slid open to reveal a Tank. It was strange, because you could tell that the stinking thing was floating a few inches off the ground. That's not all. The front two corners of the tank had spheres implanted in them, out of the spheres were smaller muzzles that I new were designed to be small arms fire. What I found even more disturbing was the person driving it. His upper half was sticking out of the top of the tank; at the rotating part of the cannon. His hands were latched into the part of the tank in front of him, making him hunched over. He had two rods coming out of his shoulder blades and sticking straight up. There was a metal helmet with a set of cords coming out of the back of the head. The helmet didn't make any sense to me because it didn't have a visor, yet it covered his eyes. The Announcer bellowed, "If he can kill all of these mutants in less than 100 seconds, he will move on and face the King of Killers himself! Do you think he can do it?" The crowd roared in response. By this time I was shoulder to shoulder with Jazz and our group of six-I mean, eight-had assumed battle stances. Megan was a little freaked by Thing, but shook her head and refocused on the, uh, Psychic Commander. "All-righty then! Let's get this show on the road! The one-hundred seconds start..........Now!"

Cyrus Noble Chapter 13

"Bud! Look out!" I yelled. Sara and Magnet turned to look at the thing. It was humanoid, it was covered in scales, the only facial features I could see was one big yellow eye and an ear. One arm was deformed and looked like one or two of the fingers were merged, the other arm only had four fingers and was bulging. It had a patch of hair on the side of its head, which hung down in front of his face, revealing only the eye. I saw a small wing on its back. It made a clicking sound deep in its throat. I was about to watch this freak kill the two youngest people I tried to save. Sara only looked at me and smiled. "Its okay. He's friendly. He says his name is Thing, cause that's what everyone refers him as. Can he have a different name? I think he deserves it." I just stared at her. "He's not going to...hurt you guys?" She shook her head. "Nope. Well, as long as we don't touch him, we'll be okay. So, can we?" I blinked a couple of times and stared at Thing. Thing was so deformed that I wasn't sure if he was going to live that long to begin with. "Uh, sure. Can we go back to the 'no-touching' thing?" She turned back to Thing. "I think you better show them." Thing clicked twice, and swiped his hand on the wall. There was a thin layer of ooze wherever he touched. It started hissing. It didn't do anything but blacken the wall. I said, "Oh." I slid back down onto the bench. Exhausted. I looked at the kid who was still curled into a ball. I said, "You got a name?" He looked up at me, surprised by what I said. Then he looked thoughtful. "The guards called me Longarm at one point. For a while that's what I assumed was my name." I nodded. "Well. I'm Cyrus. I leaned forward with an outstretched hand. He reached out with his hand and shook mine. It was weird because, his arms moved like they had no bones in them, and his arm closed the distance between us, which was about six feet. It just.....stretched. When he pulled his arm back he sat up a little straighter and uncurled from the ball he was in. I said, "So that's why. How far can you stretch them out, man?" He shrugged. "I heard them say once I reached about a hundred feet. Is that good?" Viktor whistled. He said, chuckling, "Dude. You could not trust me if I had that. I would tap a guy's shoulder from a mile away. Or better yet...." I interrupted him. "Dude. Keep it clean. We have a thought reader next door remember?" He put his hands up in defence. "Hey, you know me. Nothing but rainbows and unicorns up here." He tapped his left temple. I rolled my eyes. After an hour or two of just sitting there I must have fallen asleep. I relived the day I went a-wol again: I was running down a hallway. A door opened and a troop of soldiers poured into the hallway, weapons ready. I tackled one and snatched his gun away. I mowed down the rest of them. At this range, with the gun I was using, it didn't matter if they were using body armor. I could here and feel some of the bullets ricocheting of the metal walls and going through me. I ignored the pain, remembering only that I'd live through it. I looked into the room they spilled out of. It was a big room with a bunch of hoops hanging down from the ceiling. There was a girl standing there in a hospital gown. She had black hair, and I could see the dark, leathery wings on her back. I looked around and saw an old man trying to quietly back up to a nearby side door. I felt the claws on the ends of my fingers extend slightly, and the canines of my teeth elongate and sharpen. I lunged towards the man. I woke up suddenly to a hushed voice. "Cyrus. Cy." It was Viktor. "Something is happening. Wake up." I got up and on my feet in an instant. My body doesn't really sleep anymore. I can't really go into a deep, peaceful sleep anymore. Gee, I wonder why. The main gate shut off. I walked warily towards it with Viktor and Longarm close by. I looked to the sides. I saw that one gate was shut off, and the other was still up. Sara, Magnet, and Thing walked out of the opened gate. Good. They're safe, at least for the moment. Sara walked right by me and made her announcement. "Cyrus! Magnet and I thought of a good name for Thing." I wasn't really paying attention to her at the moment. "Uh-huh" I said, listlessly. She said, "His name is Gabriel. Isn't that a great name? Gabriel?" Thing clicked a couple times behind us. As if that was a side comment of approval. I said, "That's great Sara but shush a second alright?" She frowned and looked ahead. We entered the huge arena, and what we saw was not what we expected.

Cyrus Noble Chapter 12

When we we finally paused we were standing in front of a set of doors. The doors opened to reveal a room with a set of benches on each side. On the opposite side were two pieces of a wall on each side, and there was a glowing, see-through wall. Jazz later explained that they were using cold plasma generators to generate a resilient force shield. Cool. What I saw through the shield was something else. I saw a long hallway, and at the end of it, it opened to a huge arena and at the moment someone was getting slaughtered by an android. They pushed Viktor and me in and closed the doors. I lunged for the doors. "NO!" I was too late. The doors closed on me, I could still see there faces. I turned to Viktor. He had a quizzical look on his face. "What're you freaking out over? There's a hallway right there." He moved towards the energy gate, oblivious to what he might be walking into. I grabbed him by the shoulder and said, "What are you, stupid? There's an energy.......watchamacallit right there!" He tilted his head, listening for a moment. He responded, "Is that what that humming is?" He experimentally touched the gate and it zapped him. He sucked in his breath and bit his lip; to keep from cursing I'm sure. He turned to me. "Really hurts." I responded. "Yeah." He went to a bench and sat down. I looked over to the other bench and jumped a little at what I saw. It was another dude, another experiment. He was looking at us with curious, fearful eyes. I said, "Hey. You come here often?" He gave me a questioning look, which then turned serious. He muttered, "We are about to die." I gave a quick glance to Viktor. "Why is that?" I asked. He looked up at me. "This is where they execute the failures. Either you kill or get killed. I got here a little while ago. Now its only a matter of time." He put his head back down and stayed quiet. Conversation over. I looked to the sides of the room. I can see small rectangular windows that led to other cages like ours. I looked through the one that was next to Viktor. It had an energy wall in it just like the main wall of our cage. What was inside didn't like me. It snarled and tackled the window, causing me to jump back a little. It had very slick black skin, it's eyes were yellow like a cobra's, its face was similar to a wolf's, but with huge snake-like fangs. I heard the other guy behind me say, "Viper-wolf. I think they were doing something with dogs and snakes." I looked at the other window and said, "Do I even want to know what's in there?" He looked at the window I pointed to. He shook his head. I heard a tiny voice cry out. "CYRUS!" I looked at the window to see Sara getting her face as close to the shield as she can without touching it. I said, "You okay kiddo?" She nodded, which she couldn't do much with that collar on her. I could see Magnet right behind her. Sara said, "Cyrus. I'm scared." I said, "I know. I'll.....I'll get us out of here. I promise." I wasn't sure how I was going to do that, with these collars on us. I said, "Mag. Is there any way you can bend the metal to get out of here?" He lowered his head so that now I was looking at the goggles that rested on his head. He said, "I tried. The collar. It just......" I nodded. "It's okay bud. Just hang tight for right now, aight?" He smiled a little but then he looked down again. Great. Nice speech, Cy. Just hang tight? What are you thinking? Sara says to me, "It's okay Cyrus. You'll find us a way out. I know you will." My heart was falling apart at her bravery. Then it was consumed with fear as I saw something moving behind both of them.

TL&TOHJ~Hope: A New Hero

The free criminal flew across the sky, looking for other super powered beings to recruit. His guide flew beside him, invisible to all but him. "You must gather as many as you can. You are strong now, but there is strength in numbers. You will need every advantage for the upcoming battle." The voice was so quiet, so indescribable, it might as well be a breeze. Devlin said back to the breeze, "I know. Haley will be hard to destroy, but she'll get hers yet. I learned how to control this darkness, and pull it out of any person. I can even grant people their own set of skills through the darkness. Darkness will rule, with me as its king."

The see-through guide did not respond. It merely disappeared. Fine then, Devlin thought, You were getting boring to talk to anyway.

He stopped and floated down to the drain pipe that held his man. "Thomas. I know you are in there somewhere." A figure appeared. He appeared to be covered head to toe in gauze wrappings. He muttered, "You know my name? How?" Devlin grinned at the being. "I think we can strike a deal, Thomas."

Meanwhile..............

We hid in the rafters of the room. It was Candy, Angel, and me. The Doc and Joey went to another part of the base. They said they were retrieving something that could help us. The others were discussing something down there. Wasting time. Idiots, all of them. Angel turned to me and said, "Okay. We need you to open the top of that hatch, and then cause a distraction so I can lower Candy down into the reactor." I sighed. "Are you sure this is going to work?" She looked at the giant machine. Then nodded. "Yeah. I can feel the energy in that thing." I said, "Alright guys. Get ready. Set. Go!"

We flew over to the machine. The others started shouting and moving towards us. I found the top lid and, using my super strength, forced it opened. I could see the shining light down at the bottom, I was mesmerized by the sight. I would have stood there all day if Angel didn't come up beside me. "Haley! The Trinity!" I turned to see Goliath, Gemini, and Blurr were coming up to us, using their powers. I said, "I'll hold them off, just go!" I flew down to eye level with Goliath. He tried to swat me but I flew down his arm and gave him a right hook. He fell back to the ground and shrunk. Blurr ran up to me and lunged at me. I put up a purple, see-through sheild while he was in mid-air. He slammed into it and fell. I caught him and threw him onto one of the many rafters that circled the interior of the room. Gemini was using his electric abilities to cling to the side of the reactor. He split into three and looked at me. He said, "So what? You're attacking us now? What did we do?" I said, "We're not attacking. We're taking another step in saving my brother."

Just then the reactor shook. We both stopped and stared at the top. Two figures popped out. One of them was Angel. The other was slightly different. It was Candy! She dropped down beside us. She was wearing a black T-shirt with the picture of a gold shield, she had a pair of short jean shorts, white boots, and a short cape that was black on the outside part, and glittered gold on the inside.

She looked at herself. "Huh. New outfit." I nodded. "Let's get Joey and get outta here." With Angel close behind, we flew out of the room through the main door. I could hear Paul's cries from behind, but I didn't want to listen. He isn't the greatest big brother that I thought him to be after all.

We met up with the Doc halfway out. I said, "We got it. Where's Joey?" She said, "He's already outside and waiting for me to come and get you. I said, "Well, let's go." I picked her up, and the four of us flew on out of the base.

TL&TOHJ~Hope: You can't be serious

I said, "Doctor. Is there any way-" "NO!" Everyone turn to him at his out burst. "I will NOT become a part of the world's destruction! The energies he asks for is astronomical. I am surprised that all of the energy gathered in this room has not willed all of you to implode!"

I stepped closer to him. "What else can we do?! My baby brother is being held hostage! I am going to do whatever I can to save him! Right, Paul?" I looked to Paul for support. He stared at the ground, and said, "Haley. If they get their hands on your powers, they'll destroy the city. They'll kill everyone. We have to think this though before we take any kind of action." I couldn't believe what I was hearing. I looked at everyone else. Goliath, Gemini, Blurr, and Boom weren't meeting my eyes. Doctor Monroe only stared from afar. I looked down, letting my bangs hang in my face. I said, "Fine." They all looked up and at me the same time I looked up. "If your not going to save Butch, I will. I don't need any of you." I stormed out of the room.

After walking for a bit down the hallway, I heard some running behind me. I ignored them until I heard Candy call out from behind me. "Wait! Haley!" Joe Joe was there too. "Hey, wait up!" I stopped and turned to them. I said, "There is nothing you can say that'll change my mind." Joey said, "Not here to. We're going to help you Haley." Candy nodded. "Where you go, we go. We're your friends Haley." My eyes felt misty and I gave them a quick swipe with my arm. I said, "Thanks guys. I couldn't ask for better friends." I heard a new voice from the hall. "Wait!" We looked and saw Angel and Doctor Monroe coming up to us. Angel said, "We want to help too. And we know a way we can."

We looked at each other and turned to Angel and the Doc. I said, "Uh, Okay. Shoot." Angel spoke up, "Okay, you know when those Wright brothers came up on the screen and all? Well, while you guys were talking I, uh, well, knew that there was some power in that reactor. Not a lot of it, but enough to spike some one's power, or, better yet, give someone else powers. Like your friends." I smiled evilly and said, "Then what are we waiting for?"

The Life and Times of Haley Jones~Hope: The Ransom

"Okay, we need a name." Everyone turned to Joey. Even Doctor Monroe had a quizzical look on her robotic face. He shrugged. "I'm just saying. How about.....The League of Light! Eh? Eh?"

Candy shook her head and everyone just ignored him or just rolled their eyes.

I put a hand on his shoulder. "Maybe you should just keep the name thing to me." He looked at me. "Excuse me? Who had a three-year-old choose a name for her? Not I." I punched him lightly. "Hey! She was a cute, innocent, and at least four, you dork!" He was snickering now.

Everyone was in the old base. The Doc (Doctor Richards) was over the terminal when he said, "What? That can't be right." The Trinity, Paul, Doctor Monroe, Candy, Joey, and I stood behind him. "What is it?" I asked. He said, "We have an incoming message. Normally that's nothing, but the military currently thinks that I am as deceased as everyone else."

He stared at the screen as it appeared on one wall. It flickered on, a bit fuzzy at first, but it showed one of the Wright Brothers: David. I could see veins getting ready to pop out of his head. He grinned evilly at us. "Paul Jones! Still working for little sisters I see?" Paul stepped up to the screen. "David? What...what happened to you?" He smiled. "Oh, you have our assistant to thank for that. He shifted the camera so that it showed Brody, then Shockwave. He looked human....sort of.

He still had that jump-suit, but you could see his hair and face. He was bald, his eyes glowed, and electricity danced across his skin every once in a while. I could see a few veins getting big on Brody's forehead too. He had a sleeveless shirt on, which would have scared me for life if my attention wasn't drawn to his arm. It was robotic, and it had a big bulb on the wrist of it. The camera swerved back onto David. I could see his robotic shoulder, and guessed the rest of his arm followed suite.

I stepped out from behind the crowd. "What do you want?" I said that with every bitter emotion I can conjure for these guys, which is a long list let me tell you. David said, "We know your secret Haley Jones. We know who you are, and we want the power."

I gave him a funny look. "What? What are you talking about?" He was glaring now. "Don't you toy with me! The power that courses through you, and the rest of you freaks. Mr. Keith, I mean, Shockwave, has provided us with some energy to improve our intellects to an incredible extent! It is, however, not enough. We need more." He shift the camera to a tied up boy in a seat. He had duct tape over his mouth, and his short dark hair was a mess. "Butch!" Paul and I said in sequence. David shifted the camera back. "You have one week, Haley Jones, to gather all the power in the city and present it to us. I believe I won't have to explain what happens if you don't."

I screamed at him. "You Monster! How could you do this? Why would you do this?" He sneered. "For more power of course! That's all that matters in this life. That use to come from money, but now we have a new balance of power. And for your other question: It's as simple as pushing a button. Nobody will care if a simple citizen, child or otherwise, would perish."

He paused and then said, "Three days." The screen shut off, and we stood there in silence.

Heroes Chapter 14

Dexter was flying us. Jessie was in the front seat, staring straight ahead. Obviously trying to dig up a little more courage within her. I was trying to figure out why I was doing this. I am risking exposing myself to the world. I don't know what came over me. I don't exactly have any feelings for Jessie. She is cute, but she's not my style. Mira looks good though, she's actuall really nice.

Wait, I can just put on my hood! That way, as long as I keep my head down, no one will recognize me. Dexter broke through my thoughts, "So, Jessie, what is the mental state of your father now? I'm only asking because, well...." She didn't look at him, but responded, "You don't want to waste this mission? I'm 100% sure, but the article in the paper, and the article online said that he denied several times of the....charges. So I'm assuming that he should be conscience enough." Dexter nodded.

It's getting kinda bright outside the windows. Morning already? I looked at my watch. Yup. 6:54.

We landed in an open field, with a bunch of confused cows. Dexter calculated that it would be a forty-five minute walk to the town from here, and since the trial starts at 7:30.....

We started running. I yelled to Dexter, "Hey! Won't it be kind of obvious that there's a big Helicopter in the middle of the field?" He hit something on his watch and yelled over his shoulder. "Look at it again!" I looked over my shoulder, I could only make out a slight outline of the ship now. I was about to ask how he did that, but I decided against it. Not the time or the place.

We never stopped running. We never slowed down. Jeez, all we need is some epic music. Yeah. I'm still a dork.

We finally reached the town. I pulled up my hood to make sure nobody saw me. I was a little conscience about who saw me out here, in daylight hours. We had to ask for directions to the court house. All said and done, it took us till 8:00 to get there. There were guards in our way.

"I'm sorry kids, no one is aloud in the court room." I thought we would end up in a huge fight, until Jessie stepped ahead of us and said, "I am Jessica Khan. Daughter of Robert Khan. The man you are about to sentence to death." They escorted us through the hallways and practically shoved us into the court room. There was the judge, the jury, the security guards, and the accused. Luckily enough, there was no audience. The Judge glared at all of us. "What is the meaning of this? This isn't a field trip." Jessie stepped up in front of us, look at that judge in the eye, and said, "It was me. I killed my mother."

After that statement you could hear a pen drop in the room.

Heroes Chapter 13

She was leaning against the wall, trying to hold herself up. Dexter put a hand on her shoulder. "What happened? Maybe we can help." She slowly lowered her hands, and looked at him. She looked between us, and I saw a glimmer of hope in her eyes. She said, "Come in here." We entered the bedroom and she closed her door. She got her chair that was in front of the dresser-probably a make-up station- and sat it in front of the bed. We sat on the bed and she said, "You have to swear to me, that you will not tell anybody about this. Okay?" Dexter said, "Promise." I followed up, "Cross-my-heart."

She took a deep breath, as if stalling to find more courage. She started, "Remember when I tried to explain how my powers worked?" We nodded. "Well, I don't even understand them all the way. When I was thirteen, I found out what I could do when some guys jumped me and drug me into an alley. When I was fourteen, I learned how to control people, and get them to do what I want them to. I didn't use it much, because, to be completly honest, it creeped me out.

Anyway, I needed to test it out for a second. I tried to do something small, like change someone's mind." She bit her lip. She sighed and said, "I tested it on Dad. I just wanted to try to convince him to give back my phone or whatever." Her eyes were getting watery. "Mom came into the kitchen at the wrong time." She was choking back tears. "I watched as.....my Dad, my father.....ate my Mom." She was crying again. "The more I tried to stop him......the worse he got! Some neighbors called the police and......" She couldn't even finish.

I was fighting back tears myself. I gave a quick glance to Dexter, he brushed his eyes. I said, "I'm sorry, Jessie. Is there anything we can do?" She was still sobbing a little, but this time she got a look of determination. "I'm going to save my father. Even if it puts me in that sentence. I don't care. I'm going to go and save my father"

I looked at Dexter, and he smiled. He said, "Actually, I do have something that can get us to your dad in almost no time."

He lead us quietly into the lab, since its still the middle of the night. He lead us to a huge room through one of the doors. Jessie said, "Dex. You said that none of the vehicles we have works to begin with, and even then we can't drive all the way to North Bridge Falls." Dexter looked back at us and smiled mischieviously. "Who said anything about driving?" He turned on the lights and revealed a Helicopter. It had two propellors sticking out of the top, and it had thrusters on the bottom of it. It looked like something you would see in those futuristic movies that have a setting on other worlds with giant people.

I looked at Dexter. He said, "If you're going to travel, why not in style, right?" Jessie smiled and said, "Let's go."

Cyrus Noble Chapter 11

After what felt like two hours on this trip, the truck finally stopped. I looked at the driver. It just occurred to me, but he hadn't said a word or shifted in any kind of way since we woke up. The Annihilator picked up the gun in front of him and started to get out. His gun hit the side of the driver's head....and it fell off. The head fell to the floor and rolled towards us. Megan screamed. This close, I finally caught the scent of the driver, and it wasn't human, it wasn't even organic. I picked up the head and examined it. "Plastic." I said. Viktor started snickering. "So, what you're saying is, a dummy was driving us? I want to see his licence!" I rolled my eyes. Jazz said, "More importantly, they had this van under remote-control. They don't trust humans." The back doors opened up. We spun around to see the Annihilator and a bunch of those soldiers we saw back at the dam. Behind them I could see what looked like an underground parking garage. The Annihilator said over his soldier, "Pawns. Escort these experiments to Dr. Ching. He wants to deal with these failures personally." Viktor needs to learn to shut up. "Pawns?" he said, "Really? That's what you guys call yourself? Why not the 'Tools', or maybe the 'Bodies-Bishop-throws-to-keep-his-butt-safe'?" The Annihilator took his arm and squeezed. Viktor gasped in surprise. I moved to help him but I froze in place when a hundred red dots flashed themselves on all of us. Mostly on me, but a few were on Jazz and the kids. The Annihilator let go. "That is your only warning. Now step out quietly so we may restrain you." They put these big metal cuffs on us, one at a time. They put a plastic set on Magnet and they put a leather harness around Megan: pinning her wings to her back. Crap. They know our abilities. And they're not taking any chances, even with these collars. They shoved us down a few hallways and into a big room. The room was a rectangle, with the door on one of the longer sides. The opposite end showed an aquarium, filled with exotic fish. There were filing cabinets on each ends of the room. There was a desk shaped in a semi-circle, it had a computer and probably a lot drawers in it. Behind it, in a roller chair was a little Asian man. He had glasses, a white coat over a Hawaiian shirt and khaki shorts. He was reading a sheet of paper and barely registered us when we came in. He put his paper down and said, "I trust your hunt was successful?" The machine man behind us gave a quick, "Yes sir." The Doctor looked at all of us. He got up from his chair and said, "Not an impressive lot is it?" He walked around us, examining us. He regarded us and returned to his desk. "Nothing special worth saving. Where is their pet robot?" The machine had no emotion in his voice. "It is being broken down and examined as we speak." I gave a quick glance at the guys. Megan's, Sara's, and Magnet's eyes just about popped out of their heads. Jazz cast a worried glance at me. Viktor's face saddened. I felt the same. That robot was our best friend after all. I said, "I don't know who the heck you are, but I swear when I get out of this, I'll rip your spine out and beat you with it." He looked at me with raised eyebrows. Then he smiled, as if I was a pitiful child. Which, I'm not. He said, "Still a little fight in you. I like that. You and your friends will be the main targets in the Arena. Annihilator, take these failures to the hold." The machine put his right fist over his left shoulder and bowed slightly, like in a bad Japanese movie. The Pawns dragged us away, further into the facility.

Cyrus Noble Chapter 10

Cyrus? I groaned at the voice in my head. I'm sorry you're hurt, but you need to wake up. Now! I bolted upright, awake and alert. I quickly realized that the others were sitting around me. They had metal collars around there necks. The only one that was awake was Sara. She was harboring a black eye. Now I was pissed. "Sara. Are you OK?" She nodded. I could tell she had been crying. Her cheeks were still wet. I felt my neck and saw that I had one of those metal collars too. It was when the tiny space we were in bumped up a little, that I realized that we were in a van. I looked at the driver's seat. The driver stared at the road ahead. The passenger's seat held a full grown bald man, who had a piece of metal exposed on his head. I said, "Yo! Ugly!" The metal man turned in his seat to reveal that he had full robotic arms, a red robotic eye, and most of his torso. His legs were probably robotic too. He said, "You will be silent or die." I glared at him. "What? No food? No entertainment? No destination given? I want to speak with your manager, sir!" He pressed a button on his arm and I felt a million volts of electricity go through my body. I fell face first on the floor. After a few minutes, it stopped abruptly. The robot man droned, "Consider that a warning. Its designed to get worse with each shock. If one of you dies, then you all die. Your choice." I looked around and saw that the shock effected everyone, waking them. Sara was slowly getting up. I can't risk doing anything. I might survive the shocks, but they wouldn't. I said, "OK. You win, Mr. uhhhhh, what's your name?" He turned back to face forward in his seat. Then he droned on, "I am a prototype for Project: Annihalator. Manufaction Number: 1397. So far the first success of the Annihalator series." The others were waking up. I looked at Sara. Can you do any damage? She shook her head, then mouthed 'Too much computer' and tapped her temple. I growled to myself. I thought When did you guys get caught? She shivered. A little while after you guys left. I read a thought from that guy. Only a little word or two. Before I could say anything he knocked us out with those darts, and that's the last thing I remember. I sighed. I sat there in silence, while Sara mentally filled in the others on what happened. I felt hopeless, helpless, and just plain stupid.

The Fallen (Remake) Chapter 20

Raphael sat there and drummed his fingers. I sat there and glared at him. I said, "Do you have wings?" He responded, "Hm? Oh. Oh, no. No I do not. I wish I did though. Nicole showed me hers when she was younger." He smiled and laughed a little as he said, "She used to have a crush on me." I was starting to not like this guy more and more.

He cleared his throat and spoke. "She was in a car accident once. No one was hurt, but I got to thinking: what would happen if she had to get one of her limbs amputated? There aren't too many Bird People Doctors, are there?" He gestured to the blueprint. "This was one of those, 'Just in case' things that I forgot to hide when cleaning out the storage room." I looked at the blueprint. I asked, "Could this thing let me fly?" He paused. Then he answered slowly, "I don't know. I haven't built a prototype of it yet."

I stared at the picture. What my eyes were telling me, was that there was a chance for me to fly again. My heart was aching to put this thing on. My head was saying that this was near impossible and could not happen. But I had to try. I knew that if I didn't try, it would haunt me for as long as I lived.

"Congratulations." I said, "You found your test subject."

Meanwhile.......

The bounty hunter put his X-Ray goggles down. He knew where his target was. The others were pushovers to him. The "International Criminals" were nothing but jokes. The FBI were still trying to confirm if this guy even existed. He gave a wicked grin towards the building that held his prey. To him, this wasn't about money, or respect. This was about the hunt. The thrill you get when you chase someone down. The way they squirm or scream under your grasp, sometimes they do both.

This boy, Gabriel, he eluded some hunters, how he did so was sketchy, but it was enough to catch his attention. He would wait for just the right moment. Right when he let his guard down. That was the time to strike.

He grinned and even started laughing to noone in particular. He was so tickled that he may have found the most enteresting prey yet.

Cyrus Noble Chapter 9

When we finally sat down at a fast food restaurant, I started digging in. Jazz was eating slowly. I asked, "Something wrong?" "Huh?" "You're not really eating anything." She glared at me. "I'm trying to eat like a normal human being and not like an animal like yourself." I looked around and saw that one or two people were staring at us, I mean, me. I straightened and took not so big bites. Ugh. This is killing me. Jazz was looking really sad after we finished. I looked over to where she was staring. There was a family sitting there. A dad telling his wife and two kids something funny, and the kids were giggling. I looked down at the table. I said, "Come on. We better get that map so we can get back to the others." She nodded. "Right. Of course." We walked to a visitor's center and looked at the map displayed on the wall. We were in Canada. Oh, I guess that explains the french accent I heard every now and then. I told this to Jazz and she just raised an eyebrow at me. Okay, jokes are not my speciality. We bought a map of the immediate area and walked out. We were walking across town to the other side of the town so we could get back to the others. And so the awkward silence could stop. We didn't get that far. Jazz thought it would be a good idea if we made a short cut in a back-alley. She might have been right if there weren't gunshots to be heard as soon as we entered. Jazz fell first, with a dart in her arm. I felt an impact in my arm. I looked to see a dart in my arm too. I plucked it out and staggered, leaning against the wall. I heard a voice and saw something emerging from the shadows. "Target still standing. Reloading weapon." I tried to focus again, but I was fading. I felt another impact in my arm and everything blacked out.

Cyrus Noble Chapter 8

Once we left the dam, we just just started wandering. We travelled for three days towards nowhere. We were settling down for camp at the end of the third day. Jazz said, "This isn't working, Cyrus." I spun around from the finished tent and said, "What? We just got everything set up." She rolled her eyes. "Not what I meant. We can't just wander around across wherever we are and just hope we find a cave or something. Winter will be here before we know it. We need to find a town, get a map, and find some decent shelter of some sort." I thought about this. She was right. As usual. I said, "Arsenal, do you know what's the closest town here?" Arsenal straightened and stared out into the air in front of him. He droned in an electronic buzz, "Public satellite cameras show that closest town is Orlandoville. Due East by half a mile." He pointed to the woods next to him. It wasn't dark yet. Still light. I said, "Viktor, you're in charge. Jazz, you're with me." Megan perked up. "Where are you guys going?" I said, "We're just going into a nearby town and getting a map. We should be back by dark. If we aren't back before morning, then just go on without us." Great. That's leaving off on a cheery note. I said, "But that's very unlikely to happen. Right Jazz?" She looked at me like, "What?" I sighed. "C'mon Jazz. Let's go." We started walking in the direction Arsenal told us. Neither of us talked much. To be honest, I didn't know what to say. We both seemed too different. I didn't see anything to talk about. Plus, she wasn't exactly trying to start up conversation so...... We made it to the town. When it came into view, Jazz said, "Try not to kill anything." I wasn't laughing. "No promises." I responded. I didn't think that we would be getting hungry while we were out. We left our camping stuff back with the others. When Jazz mentioned this, I did a mental face palm. "Crap. I forgot. What are we going to do?" Jazz looked around and bit her lip. "We could.....pocket some money." As she said it, I noticed a purse on a bench. Nobody was standing by it. I walked by and picked it up while walking into an alley; knowing Jazz was close behind me. I opened it up and started to dig around. Jazz said, "Cyrus, I'm not to sure about this." I ignored her. "It's fine." I said, "If money was so unimportant that the lady would leave it, then we deserve it more than she does." She bit her lip some more. "I guess." That's when I heard a lady going around outside of the alley. "Has anyone seen my purse? I left it here just a second ago. Please? Has anyone seen it? I left everything I had in that purse!" Jazz and I made eye contact. Before I could say anything she grabbed the purse and left the alley. I made a silent curse. I just found the wallet in that thing too. She walked out and looked around. She walked off to her right and said, "Excuse me mam, is this what your looking for?" I could hear the excitement in the woman's voice. "Oh, yes! Thank you so much. Here, you deserve this." "Oh. Uh. Thank you. It was no problem, really." She walked back into the alley and flashed the ten dollars she had in her hands in my face. "Let's just get something to eat, get a map, and get outta here."

The Fallen (Remake) Chapter 19

The next morning, I woke up in Raph's bed. He had a pretty nice place, as far as apartments. I looked at the clock. Nine already? I'm usually up earlier than that. I went to the bathroom and ran a hand through my hair. It felt thick and messy. Then I remembered that I cut my hair and dyed it black. I looked at the mirror. I felt like crap again.

I walked into the one other room in the apartment and was a little confused when I didn't see Raph around. There was a note on the fridge.

Gabe,

In garage at the bottom of the building. Leftover Bacon and Eggs in fridge in glass container. If you r still hungry then help yourself to whatevers there.

-Raphael

PS. Nuke them if u want but the buttons 7, 1, & 3 r broken. Press them twice

I set the note down and did my best to calmly rip apart the leftovers he left in the fridge. I didn't bother microwaving them. I just grabbed a fork and helped myself.

After I was done I put my plate and such in the sink. I grabbed my jacket and left the apartment. What did that note say? The bottom of the building? Easy. Just go down.

When I got to the bottom of the stairs I looked around. I didn't see anything that popped out as BASEMENT. I walked around the building and saw a door that had a sign nailed to it. It was a "Men at work" yellow sign. I knocked on the door and heard a clang and a scuffle of shoes to the door. It opened to Raph, who was wearing the same clothes as yesterday, with goggles on his head.

He said, "Oh, hey, you're up. C'mon in." I walked in behind him and closed the door. There was a set of stairs that lead to a fairly big room. There were tables with tools and metal pieces. Blueprints covered one table, and covered most of the walls. The blueprints showed of things that couldn't possibly be in the military yet. I said, "What'cha got going on down here?"

He said, "Different projects of mine. Once I actually complete one I can sell it to the highest bidder and become the Tony Stark of real life." I gave a low whistle. I saw a blueprint that showed a small cockpit with chicken legs and missiles on the thing's back. "These are....weapons." I stated.

Raphael shrugged. "One or two of them are. Most of them are for handicap improvements. You would not believe the studying I had to do between biology and mechanics to even come up with some of this stuff."

I looked around at some of the blueprints. Some were stacked on top of the others. There was one that was under a bunch of stuff, and the only reason I saw it was because of the name on the side of it. Project: Re-Aviation.

I pulled it out looked over it. I couldn't believe what I was looking at. The blueprint showed a piece of clothing that covered half of the font and back of the torso. It showed pressure sensors on the upper back. It had a series of metal jionts and limbs that made it look like a......

"Raph!" I yelled at him. "What is this?" I slammed the blueprint on the table. He said, "Oh. um. I can explain......

The Fallen (Remake) Chapter 18

I was sitting in the passenger's seat of a car, that belonged to a guy that I didn't even know. Am I insane? Did I leave my brain somewhere back at the church? Or the Miller's home? I just stared out the window. Then I realized that's what I was doing before I got myself into this mess, so I crossed my arms and stared at the floor board.

Raph looked as uncomfortable as I did. So he tried to start conversation. "You, uh, want something to eat? I'm buying." I didn't answer. "I'll take that as a 'no'."

He tried again, "How old are you? Fifteen? Sixteen?" I was getting really good at saying nothing. He sighed. "Look. I know you're a little bummed about this situation you're in, but my Dad had this saying." Bad choice of words. "I don't care what your dad said!" I said. "Right now. That is the last thing I want to hear! What your father said. Fathers are nothing to be proud about! They are going to fail you! The only thing they want is a miniature wersion of themselves to take over when they're said and done! Don't tell me some wise crap your dad force fed you!" I crossed my arms again and sat there looking forward.

It was a few minutes of silence before I said anything. My face was hot with embarrassment and regret. I wiped my watery eyes and said, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean that. Not all dads are like mine." He shrugged. "Hey. I understand. I'm sorry for my poor choice in words." He laughed it off like it was nothing, and I've been sitting here like a big cry baby.

I said, "How do you know the Millers?" He smiled and said, "My uncle was a college friend of Mr. Miller. He met my dad at his funeral. Our families met up with each other ever since. Its like my dad said: Every dark cloud has a silver lining."

I had to think about this. I found that he was right. If my parents hadn't been such D-bags, then I would have never had to motivate myself in school, and such. If I hadn't had my wing knocked off, then I wouldn't have met Nicole. Crap. Bad feelings all over agian.

The car stopped. We were sitting in front of an apartment building. Raph turned off the car and said, "You can sleep in my bed. I'll go ahead and take the couch."

We got out of the car, and I said, "Please. Don't give me the special treatment or anything." He gave me a look. "What special treatment? The couch has lesser lumps in it." He walked up to the building, and I was struggling to keep from grinning like an idiot.

Heroes Chapter 12

I laid there in my bed. Why was Jessie so bothered by that article? Dexter kept that one paper Jessie was looking at and I got my own to read it over. The man murdered his own wife, and his daughter. He was there, at the scene, covered in blood. He was even suspected for eating part of the spouse. They didn't give the name of the man because they claimed to be "protecting his identity". More likely the website they got it from wouldn't give out the name.

Did Jessie know that guy? How could she? Was that her uncle or something? I looked at the alarm clock: 11:30. O.K. That's it.

I got up and got dressed. The guys gave me my own room, the guest room I guess. I went into the hallway, and towards the direction of Jessie's room. I got a couple of questions.

Of course, when I got there, I was beaten to the punch. I was about to round the corner, when I heard someone muttering to himself. I could barely hear him. I stopped and listened closely. "C'mon. Just do it. She needs your help. What if she's upset? She's already upset, that's why you're here!" I came around and saw Dexter rubbing his hair in frustration. I said, "What are you doing?"

He jumped about a foot in the air and spun around to face me. He then got a look of anger. "Me? What about you?" he said, speaking in a whisper. I said, "I'm tired of this mystery crap that seems to follow through in my life. There are a lot of things that I never bothered questioning. Well, a friend that took me in needs help, I just want to try and help."

His expression softened. He said, "I just think I needed to help her." His face said more though. I said, "She's pretty cute, right?" He laughed a little and said, "Yeah. Ya' know she....aw crap."

He lowered his head in embarrassment. I snickered a little and said, "Don't worry, I won't make any move on her. She's all yours." He looked up and I saw a flash of cheer in his eyes before they turned serious again.

He said, "Right, lets get her up."

Before Dexter could knock on the door, it slid open to Jessie. She was shouldering a mesh bag of supplies. She jumped back a bit and then she said, "What do you two want?" She isn't usually this hostile, all the other times I've seen her she was happy and joyful. Although, given the current situation......

I said, "I'm sorry. It's just, you've been acting strange all day, and Dexter thought it would be a good idea if we-" She just broke down and started crying. "checked on you?" I said, "Are you okay?"

She burried her head in her hands and said, "They're gonna kill him! They're going to kill my dad, and its all my fault."

Heroes Chapter 11

The Oracle signed me into a local school. That ought to be fun. I started the next day. I noticed that I had a lot of the same classes as Dexter. I shared two with Kenny and Jessie and only one class with Mira. Ares I only saw during lunch, which is fine by all means. When lunch came around the next day, everyone was sitting around a newspaper. I asked, "The school paper?" They nodded. Kenny said, "I can't believe we're losing these teachers, man. They're the good ones, and a few of them are coaches." Mira intervened, "Forget that! Look, they might actually shut down the cheerleaders squad."

At this, we stared at her. She folded her arms, "Oh C'mon! You all know that Brianna Wakeman keeps harassing me because of what I wear. I can only imagine the look on her face when-" she was interrupted. "WHAT?!?!" Everyone stopped and looked over to the red headed cheerleader clutching the school paper like she was trying to strangle it. She slammed the paper down and stormed out of the room, anger was rolling off her like steam off of hot metal.

Mira said, with a smirk, "Never mind." Ares was sitting on the opposite end of Dexter and I, and he was the first to laugh. The other people started laughing and talking when he did. Jessie was eerily quiet. She hadn't looked up from the page it was opened to, even when Brianna stormed out. Her hair was hiding her face. She got up quietly and left.

Dexter and I were the only ones who noticed. We looked at each other, and then at the paper. There was a small article that mentioned somebody who was being given the death sentence. Apparently the first death sentence in fifty years in that county. I couldn't tell how far away the town was. There was a picture, and......

The man on the picture looked a lot like Jessie.

The Ultimate Prize Ch. 16: Jason and Molly

Molly opened the door just in time to see the head of a criminal be wrapped in living shadows, and melded with the floor. Once he was completely submerged the floor looked like it went back to normal. She looked at the second person in the hallway. It was that weird wizard kid. He looked at her and said, "He came to do you harm, he won't bother you any more." Molly had her hands around her mouth, she put them down and looked directly into his eyes. They were yellow, and seem to fade back into a deep blue.

Just then Jason burst out of the door on the opposite end of the hallway. He looked around, panicked. He looked at Vector and Molly, and started to move towards Victor. Molly stopped him, "Wait. Jason. I think he just saved my life."

Vector explained what had happened. He sounded really honest. Jason kept his eyes on him. After he was done, he nodded to Molly. "Sorry for the disturbance." He then nodded to Jason and then went on his way. Molly called after him, "Wait." Vector turned towards her. She hesitated, but she said, "Thank you." Vector only blushed. "No problem." he said. He then left.

Molly stood in her doorway, with the image of the man being absorbed by the floor was still burned into her mind. She looked at Jason, who had a sorrowful, worried look on his face. Molly said, "Go back to bed Jason. I'll be okay. I promise."Jason hesitated but he went back to his room and shut the door.

A minute later Molly went back into her room, knowing that she wasn't going to sleep at all. Not even a little.

The Ultimate Prize Ch. 15: Cain

He laid there, in his bed. thoughts going through his head. Questions without answers. Who was Selina? Your former girlfriend who was murdered. Murdered by who? Obviously, the people who hired Doc to begin with. Why did Doc want us to be trained for this tournament anyway?

Cain had to steal his last two shards. There was a thug who was waving it around and bragging about it, probably looking for respect. The last one was in a pawn shop. No casualties. He doesn't know why though, he doesn't know what to think about the humans. They looked so similar to the other experiments. They didn't have powers or anything. In fact, when he punched the thug, his nose broke almost instantly, it almost surprised Cain. He always pictured humans to be fighters of some kind. According to the Doc's plans, he didn't want to have any chances of the humans winning.

Speaking of fighters, he saw Banshee. She was in the line up along with the others. There was Noland, Banshee, Knuckles, Shank, and Whip. Doc sent his best. He was better, but there are a lot of others who he didn't know. Like that, so-called, wizard, or that Vessel. He wasn't quite ready to believe in magic yet. All of this was a type of technology. Incredibly advanced, but not impossible.

He took a deep breath, and closed his eyes for a long, restless sleep.

The Ultimate Prize Ch. 14: Vector

He watched as Jason and his sister, Molly, walked away from the Guardian Agent. Victor was watching the fights as they happened, and he wasn't happy with the results. This was exactly the kind of thing his pastor was talking about. Victor shook his head in disgust. Brick sat next to him and said, "She's trying to make a team." Victor turned his head to him. "A team of human fighters against us. But it won't work." Victor asked, "Why not?" Brick had a sad look on him, "Because our Host will know, and he'll set them up against each other."

Later that night, Victor was reading his Bible. He sensed something. He closed his book and sat up, trying to focus on this new sense he discovered. There was someone walking in the hallway, he could hear it somehow. Passing his room. There was a certain smell to the stranger. He smelled.......desire, lust. He grabbed his shirt, and his spell book and walked out of the room.

Once he was out of the hallway, he ripped the staff off his necklace and it magically grew into its regular size. He crept down the hallway, tracking the perpetrator's path. He heard the intruder stop, and he listened to his breathing. He tried to open the door, and found that it was locked. Victor watched as he pulled out something sharp and picked the lock. The door opened, and he was about to enter before Victor did something completely stupid.

"Hey." The man spun around and locked eyes with Victor immediately. He was the prisoner that was watching the match with the rest of the competitors, except, Victor suspected that he wasn't watching the games exactly. Victor said, "You wouldn't just-so-happen to be lost, would you?"

The prisoner cursed at him and started to step into the room. Victor only had one word. "Telepatron!" The door slammed on the prisoner and forced him back into the hallway. Victor then had a feeling, deep in his core, he started chanting:

"You walk in places you should not dwell,

With evil intentions, you need not tell,

For that, you shall dine with Lucifer,

IN HELL!"

The shadows danced around the prisoner and Victor. As he finished the rhyme, arms formed out of shadow and began to pull down the prisoner. Hands covered his mouth, so he couldn't curse any louder. The prisoner was being pulled into the ground, and as the last of him was disappearing, Victor saw that they were not alone. Molly was standing at the door of the bedroom, in one of the night gowns that was provided. Her hands covered her mouth. She was horrified at the scene.

Victor said, "He came to do you harm, he won't bother you any more."

Heroes Chapter 10

Meanwhile.....

Agent Walker was in his car. He finished the last of his vodka an hour ago, and was waiting for the effects to wear off. He was also trying to think of ways to get that Alex kid.

He knew what he saw today. That kid had help. He was taunting him, just like his dad use to do. He'd known and had to live with that kid's father throughout high school, throughout college, and throughout his services in the air force. And, after all this time, he has nothing decent to say about him. That man.....he never changed, and that attitude of his is freaking generic.

He looked at the bottom of that bottle. He had no support. Not from any friends, not from his co-workers, not from from anybody.

He just had a thought. That is, if you can have a thought while being drunk. What if he just had someone else do the work for him? Not any civilian, or public bounty.......

That's it. A bounty hunter. Yeah, he could hire a bounty hunter to bring him in, and Agent Walker would get all the credit.

He started his car. That kid would get his yet.

Greendale: Jeremiah

Butch and Doc went to try there hand at the gun game. Antonio went to act like a pig at the food tables, Bell went to stop him the best she could. I went wandering around, looking for that Flower. That's when I met that gun-slinging kid. He introduced himself as Dwayne Myers. I said, "Whadaya want?" He gave one of those cocky grins and ran a hand through his dark hair. He said, "Well, you kids are those Greendale folks, ain't cha?" I nodded. He said, "Well, I'd like to join." I raised an eyebrow. "Listen kid, what we do is serious. We avenge our parents, and we hunt down every man who dares call himself a cowboy. Now, unless you got something serious to stand for, get out of my face." I stepped around his skinny, tall frame and walked off.

I walked around a little bit more when I heard an explosion in the distance. I spun around to see a fire ten feet high at the entrance of the fare, where the guests are supposed to drop off their guns.

I heard laughter.

And the voice sounded familiar.

By this time everyone stopped and stared as the man stumbled on in. He looked like he walked out of the fire itself. I recognized him. It was Jeremiah. His eyes were white, and rimmed with black. His big beard was smoldering, the ends of it caught fire and died out almost instantly. He had a bottle of whiskey in one hand.

He screeched at the crowd, "Charlie Greendale! I know yur here! Come out where I can see ya. Ya yellah bellied lizard!" I reached into my sleeve and pulled out a special gun. It's very small, and it only has one shot, but if you get close enough that's all you need. I said, "Jeremiah!" He turned to me. The people in between us have parted like the Red Sea. I said, "You look different." He said, "I made a deal with the Devil, boy! I'm here to kill you and take your head to Lucifer himself!" I heard someone in the back say, "Eew."

I really wish I had my guns right about now.

The Fallen (Remake) Chapter 17

I was walking in downtown Bristow. With nothing but some clothes and a weeks worth of food. All wrapped up in some old backpack, now slung over my shoulder. I know what I need to do, but the rage that fueled me before turned cold. Don't get me wrong here, I'm still going to kill him. But now, I guess it became more like a mission. I could use some help. I looked up at a huge, castle like building. A church. Maybe the Big Guy Upstairs will hear me this time.

I entered the building, trying to look casual. Nobody gave me a second glance. I sat down in one of the pews, with my backpack sitting beside me. It's been forever and a day since I've been in a place like this. I remember going to church when I was little, but since Herald became CEO we haven't exactly made time. I bowed my head and laced my fingers, like I had a long time ago. I admit, I've lost faith, but maybe just this once.......

Uh, hey God, it's, uh, me, Gabriel. Look, I know I haven't exactly checked in with you lately. You see, um, I have this problem with my father. As I'm sure you know, I use to be able to fly, like one of your other creations. He did the job halfway, and now I am forever tied to the ground. I only have one wing, God. I want it back God. If that's too much, I can settle for something else. I want you to please kill my father. Give me the strength to kill Herald Collins. "Pretty dark prayer, don't you think?"

Startled, I stood up and took a couple of steps back. My body tensed up, preparing for a fight, because that's what I've been doing for the past couple of days. Fighting. There was someone just standing there. He looked a little older than me. He had dirty blond hair, wore a simple set of jeans T-shirt and grey hoodie. He wore glasses, that now hung on his nose as he put his hands up in defence. "Whoa, hey, settle down there. Me: friend, Okay?"

I glared at him. I said, "Why should I believe you? For all I know, you could be another Bounty Hunter." He sighed and muttered something under his breath. I only heard him saying "paranoid". He turned back to me and said, "Look, what you were whispering, I could here it on the other side of the room. Nickie told me a friend of hers was in trouble. She told me what you looked like and said that you would need my help." I glared at him some more.

I said, "I still don't know who the heck you are." He said, "I'm Raphael Anderson. I'm a friend of the Millers."

Heroes Chapter 9

When we got to the hallway, there was no one there. I saw Dexter walk by and the Oracle called out after him. "Dexter, honey!" Dexter back-pedaled a bit and looked up from his workbook. She said, "Could you get this young man here set up?" He nodded. The Oracle turned to me and said in a low whisper, "Your destiny is tied with theirs. They need you Alex, whether or not they believe it." Dexter came up before I could explain to her that what I did was a fluke. Dexter escorted me back to the lab. The Oracle stayed behind in her room.

When we got to the lab, Dexter pulled up a little questionnaire. He said, "Okay. What do you want to go by?" He said it so quietly I could barely hear him. I looked at the screen. It had a bunch of white boxes. The address box was already filled out. I said, "Alexander, uh, Smith."

Dexter started typing and said, "Are you sure? Smith is a pretty common name. I mean, I'm only suggesting...." He acted like I was going to snap at him. I said, "You're right. Too obvious. What would you suggest?" He didn't say anything. Then he said, "Rhodes?" I asked. "That's a last name?" He nodded. "I met a Mr. Rhodes once. He was one of those road-trip-family-fathers. It's a fine name, if you ask me." He muttered that last part.

I said, "Okay, Alex Rhodes it is."

After about thirty minutes of filling in stuff, Ares came in. He saw the screen and said, "So, you staying after all?" I said, "Yeah, I guess." He gave a cocky grin and said, "Just stay away from my girl, city boy. And you should be okay, for the most part." I smiled and laughed a little. He left and I let out a sigh of relief. "He scares you too?"

I looked at Dexter. "No idea what you mean." I responded. He didn't make eye contact. He said, "Its okay. He has this thing for intimidation. Most people are scared of him. He's a pretty cool guy, sometimes." A thought came to me. "Is he a bully?" He didn't say anything. I think that pretty much covers it.

He printed out a bunch of federal looking papers. He picked them up and said, "This is all of your stuff. Jessie or Kenny will show you to your room." I took the papers. I said, "Where do you guys live? Down here?" He shrugged. "Yeah, pretty much. You'd be surprised on how many people don't notice the secret passages leading to the Punk Yard."

I had one more question. "Did you build this place?" Dexter sighed. "Well, sort of. This was a secret facility of some kind. I just added on to what was here. I think it was government stuff, like, from World War I."

Cyrus Noble Chapter 7

We sat there long after the helicopters left. The others surrounded me and got down next to me. We were all breathing hard as if we were all holding our breath for the entire time. Sara sounded small and scared. "What do we do now?" I stood up and walked back to the hatch. I said, "We leave." "Magnet! Would you please hurry?!" Jazz called out to him. We were all standing at the hatch. We've packed up what we considered ours. As far as clothes go, we only had two or three sets of clothes, so, no real worry there. We each packed enough food that will last the whole group three days. So, that would make.....eighteen days of food. We would have to steal again, eventually. Arsenal didn't have any clothes, so it was easier for him to pack. He packed some tin foil and a skillet with all the other stuff. He said that he could come up with a thousand possibilities of food with those two items and any number of edible items. Whatever. Magnet was the last one up. He was followed by Viktor. Viktor said, "Sorry, Mag here tried to sneak a doll with him." Magnet protested behind him. "Battle Ready Batman is not a doll! It's an Action figure!" I cut in, "Well, either way, toys are going to slow us down. We need to pack lightly." He pointed at Sara. "She gets to bring toys!" I sighed and got down to his level. I whispered, as if I needed to keep this a secret. I said, "Believe it or not, I need you Mag. Sara is still a little kid. She needs to be entertained at times. You, I need you to focus on what's at hand, Okay? You're a big boy right? Now you get to really show how big you can be, Right?" He stared at me with a look of determination. Then, he nodded and said, "Okay. You can count on me Cyrus." I gave him a quick smile and stood back up. Truth was that Sara gave me her bambi eyes, and I didn't have the heart to say no to that girl. Jazz gave me a nod of approval. He's a kid still, I'll cut him a break every now and then, but with his abilities, he is our best bet in a fight. Not a whole lot of places where you won't find metal. Before I started up the ladder and through the latch, I thought of something. "Oh, right. I forgot, who here has to go to the bathroom?" Hands were raised. "That's what I thought."