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?

Cyrus Noble Chapter 18

I took a deep breath, calming myself. For a second there I thought we were surrounded by Dr. Ching's Pawns, not these ya-whos. Still, this is a situation. I brushed my hand against Jazz's leg without taking my eyes away from the window. She woke up instantly and looked around. She looked at me with a look of accusation. I ignored it and said, at the intruder, "Do you mind? We're trying to sleep here. Dog." He turned back to his friends. "Man, look at this kid! He thinks he's so big and bad! Why don't you step out of the car and prove it?" Yeah. Like I'm going to do that. This punk ain't worth my time. I looked over to Jazz and nodded. She started the car and stepped on the gas. We heard a bunch of scraping metal, followed by laughter. The others were fully awake by now. The punk outside said, "Yo man, how you supposed to go anywhere without your wheels, man?" He held up his knife in one hand and a slither of rubber in the other. I thought he looked taller than he should have been. They slashed our tires. Crap. I pulled on the door handle to open it, but Jazz grabbed on my other arm. I looked at her and she just shook her head, sending one, clear message. Don't go out there. I gave her a wink and opened the door and stepped out. I slammed it behind me. Punk and I were eye to eye. I could smell cigarettes and alcohol on him. I said, "I'm going to be honest with you. I don't know who you are, or what you want with me, but I know what you are." The gangsters were laughing and snickering behind him, as if everything I just said was hilarious to them. Punk just kept grinning. I continued, "All of you are just insecure kids who don't know how to act around anybody. Your parents might get drunk, they might try to abuse you, hell, they might forget that you're name." I don't know how, or why I was saying this, but it was working. The area became deathly quiet. Most of the other gangsters weren't meeting my eyes. I continued, "That doesn't give you the right to go around and beat up anybody in sight just to show who's the baddest there is. Nobody really cares. Save the tough guy act for people who might actually need it. I bet that if any of you tried as hard in school, or anything else, as much as your doing right now, you'd all be automatic successes." I looked around. They all stood deathly still and deathly quiet. Punk looked around too. He said, "Heh. Look at this kid huh? He thinks he's the pope over here, huh?" Everyone only looked at him, not interested in his jokes. Some of the faces showed shock, others showed pitty. Punk put his knife away and pulled out a revolver in its place. I wouldn't be surprised if he was only borrowing it from his dad's drawer. "Let's make sure his friends, new and old, fear the Chicago Cobras." He pointed the gun at me. He never had the chance to fire it. I grabbed his arm and twisted it, forcing him to drop it. It hit the ground and fired; I felt a pain go through me. I looked down at the bullet hole in my stomach. Blood silently started soaking my already screwed up clothes. I suddenly hatched an idea. I closed my eyes and let myself fall to the floor. Suddenly someone cursed and yelled. "What did you do man?! Let's get out of here!" I listened as they all piled into cars and drove off. When I couldn't here them anymore I opened my eyes. I got up off the floor and dusted myself off, wincing slightly from the pain in my stomach. I looked over to Jazz, who was frozen in terror in the front seat. I gave her a smirk, which made her get a irritated look. I said, "Could you help me with the bullet? Before the hole closes?" She rolled her eyes and got out of the car. She said, "Sit in the passenger's seat so I can work." I did so and I lifted up my shirt to expose the wound. She unzipped the side pack on her belt where she kept her medical stuff. She got a scalpel and a pair of tweezers. She cut the wound open wider to get into it. I sucked in breath at the pain. She didn't look at me, absorbed in her work, as usual. Finally, she said, "You kind of scared me, what you did back there." I looked at her in surprise. I said, "I'm sorry. I just thought I should scare him off." She didn't look at me. She only said, "Just, be a little more careful, OK?" This kind of took me by surprise too. I said, "Whatever you say." She pulled the bullet out and flicked it to the ground. She said, "You need me to wrap that up?" I shook my head. She wiped her bloody tools off her jeans and put them back in her pouch. When she zipped it back I said, "What? No lollipop?" She rolled her eyes and got back into the driver's seat. She said, "What are we going to do without a car?" I said, "Don't worry about it. Just get some sleep. That goes for all of you." I said that last sentance towards the back. Everyone went back to sleep through the remainder of the night.

Cyrus Noble Chapter 17

Jazz floored it and we were driving around the lot. "How do we get out of here?! Where's the exit?!" she screamed. Just up ahead, as we turned a corner, the wall was opening up inward, like a bulky garage door. "There!" I yelled. There was a black van coming through it, and it hadn't seen us yet. I said, "Viktor! We need you here!" He got up from his seat in the back, and started to open up the side door of our van. I said, "Everyone! Buckle up!" Everyone but Vik clicked their seat belts. Viktor grabbed onto the handle overhead and hung halfway out the van. He ripped off his head band and the strange energy was released from his eyes, causing a huge green flash. Jazz yelped as it was unleashed. It went passed the driver's side of the van and hit the other van head on. The vehicle went flying through the garage and hit the wall on the far end of the room. Jazz did a sharp turn out of the hole in the wall and into the daylight, as Viktor put his headband on and slammed the door closed. He sat down. "Did it work?" He asked. "Better than I hoped." I replied. We made our way out of an alley-way and onto the streets. We had some angry people honking their horns and giving us the bird, but nothing was shooting at us. We drove to nowhere for an hour. The daylight was getting darker, the end of the day. No way to tell how long we were down in that hell-hole. Nobody seemed to pursue us. I looked over to Jazz. She was staring straight ahead, wide eyed and white knuckled. I said, "Hey." She looked at me with a nervous look. "Take it easy. We lost them." She nodded and turned her attention back to the road. We drove around the town, I saw a lot of things. The people, the buildings. I said, "Jazz. Take a right up ahead and go up to the mall." I looked out the window, rubbing my forehead with my thumb and finger. I could feel every one's gaze on me. Well, everyone but Jazz and Viktor, but Jazz did look a little puzzled. Jazz spoke, "And, uh, how do you know this?" I didn't speak for a while. Finally, I said, "I....I'm not sure." Nobody spoke after that. Jazz got to the mall. At this time it was late and dark, and everyone was leaving. I said, "Go into the parking garage." Jazz did so without question. She parked into one of the far corners. She put the thing in park and looked over at me. She said, "Have you been here before?" I didn't answer. I didn't know. I ignored her question. I said to the gang. "Get some sleep guys. We have a long day tom-" I stopped there when I saw that stupid bird sitting there, in between the first row of seats. "What is that thing doing here?" Megan piped up, "What? I thought you wanted to keep it." I shook my head. That's all I need, to steal a bag a bird seed too. I said, "Let it go." Viktor opened his door, and the eagle hopped over his legs and onto the pavement. It flapped and flew out of one of the openings in the parking lot, and out of sight. Sara spoke to me. "Cyrus?" I looked over to her tiny, innocent face. Her blond hair was a mess, and her blue eyes looked watery. "Yes?" I responded, trying to sound nice. She said, "What about Gabe?" Crap. "We......we'll have to worry about him tomorrow. OK bud?" She nodded and rested her head on Magnet's shoulder, who was already half-passed out with his head on the window. Longarm, who was sitting beside them rested his head on the other window. Megan curled up in her seat, Viktor leaned back a little in his. Jazz and I did the same in our seats. I eventually fell asleep with questions still buzzing in my skull. Who was I? Did I live here? Did I have a family before? How did I know this place? Was I a human after all? I don't know how long I was asleep, but I didn't feel at all rested when I was awaken by voices outside the van. "Well look what we got here guys!" At the first word, I jolted myself awaken and rubbed whatever was in my eyes. I looked at the windows and saw a bunch thugs had surrounded the van. One of them was holding a knife and had used it to tap the window. He grinned. "When was the last time I saw you? Now you show up? Only after we wiped out your crew? That's cold, man." He was Caucasian and wore clothes that hung on him loosely. He wore a bandanna, like a pirate, and a cap on top of that, turned sideways. Did he say he knew me?

Heroes Chapter 18

I can't believe I am watching my friends do this. I stared up at the screen, watching that monstrous thug stomp through town. Jessie and the Oracle were standing behind me; watching the monitor with me.

Law enforcers had set up cameras and gunmen on top of the buildings. They watched as the thug left feet shaped craters in his wake. The creature who called himself Grunge stomped through the streets, looking from side to side. Looking for me, no doubt. He stopped at an intersection and bellowed, "Where is him!? I want boy! I want Noel boy!" The policemen have not fired yet, but they had primed their weapons on the monster; and they weren't taking their scopes off him.

From somewhere off screen, I heard a voice being called out through what sounded like a set of speakers. The voice belonged to Ares. "Hey. Scud-bag!" Grunge turned towards the voice. The Camera-man focused his lenses onto the source of the voice. Ares stood there with a set of black goggles with a red visor, and a black and red baseball cap. He stood there with a microphone and a speaker, in the middle of the street. I heard something about the city being cleared out for the event. Everyone got out, all twelve of them.

Grunge stomped his way over to Ares, until he was twenty feet away from him. Grunge grunted out, "You not Noel boy. Where Noel boy?" Mira and Kenny came out of different alley ways. The police warned them to step away but it was a wasted effort. Mira and Kenny were wearing hoodies, hiding their faces. Kenny said, "You have till the count of three minutes before we decide to kick your butt. Leave now or suffer the consequences."

I did a face-palm. Nice one Kenny. Very nice. "I can't take this." I said. "I'm going out there to put an end to this." I started to walk out the door. The Oracle put a hand on my shoulder and I stopped. She said, "Wait and see." I didn't meet her eyes. I took a deep breath and went back to where I was standing. I grabbed a nearby stool and sat on it to watch the monitor.

The Grunge creature stood there, staring at the unknown super-powered kids. Then he said, "Boss no said fighting. Boss only said retrieving job. But no fight job." Mira spoke up, "That's right! So get out of here before we-" Grunge bellowed, "Grunge loves fighting!"

I face-palmed. This was going worse than the "Marvel Team Up" issue between Namor the Sub-Mariner and the Human Torch. Way worse. "This is going well." I said. Oracle said from behind me, "Don't lose faith yet Alex. You have yet to see them fight." I turned my attention back to the screen. You can save them. I looked all around. No one looked like they were talking to me. Am I hearing things?

No. You are not. You may call me Sarabell, and I am here to help you fulfill your destiny.

Heroes Chapter 17

You could hear a pin drop in that room. Then Ares charged me. He had my shirt in his fists and he slammed me against the wall. He started cussing me out. Dexter and Jessie tried to pull him off. When they finally did, Mira got in between us, both hands glowing different colors. She said, "Now settle down! All of you! Let's see what he has to say!" She looked at me, and I saw that her eyes were glowing yellow. Her faced showed anger. She said, "Alright. Explain."


I took a deep breath. "I am David Noel." I paused for a second to look around. Ares was glaring at me and twitching. Mira's eyes were now an icy blue, and she had a sorry look on her face; as if she was watching the scene of Old Yeller where they kill the dog. What? I can't have favorites? Kenny, Jessie, and Dexter had sorry looks, like they were just realizing what they were looking at.


I continued, "The media tends to over exaggerate......pretty much everything. A new style of Yellow Journalism. People these days only want to hear rumors. They want to hear fake stories that have absolutely NO truth behind them!" I didn't realize that my voice was rising. I settled down and continued, "Yeah, yeah. I'm declared the most evil person on the Earth because I knew about my Dad's plan to kill the President for months and didn't turn him in for it. I'm the most evil person on the planet for trying to protect my father!"


Mira's face saddened. As did Kenny, Dexter, and Jessie's. Ares still looked at me like I was the Devil. Jessie said, "Is it true that your Dad...." I interrupted her in a snap, "Can we drop it already?" Dexter put a hand on Jessie's shoulder, to tell her not to get too upset. Mira asked, "The question is, why would that freak what you? Something tells me he's not exactly the good Samaritan he might sound like."


I shrugged. Then a thought came to me. There's only one snake I know that would endanger others just to get to me. "Walker." I growled. "He's the one who's been giving me hell since day one. He's convinced everyone that I'm some sort of threat to society. He's started the rumors that evolved into the rumors of me that you most likely have heard. He probably hired someone to do the dirty work while he takes all the credit."


Ares said, "So let's just give him to the monster. What's he to us?" Mira snapped, "Austin!" He glared at her. I guess he doesn't like his name. I said, "No. He's right." Every one's eyes were on me again. "I'll just go on to jail and no one will ever have to worry about me again." Ares smirked, contempt with my decision. Dexter cleared his throat. He said, "Actually, I don't think that would be necessary." I raised an eyebrow. Jessie said, "Dex, what do you mean?" He laced his fingers and cracked them, facing his palms outward. He grinned as the light in the room caught his glasses.


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


Walker screamed into his phone. "This wasn't the deal! The deal was for you to find the kid and bring him to me! Then you get enough money for you to finish your freaky little underground project! Not to threaten an entire town and destroy half of it!" The man on the other line replied with no emotion in his voice at all. "My tactics may trouble you, Agent Walker, but it was a necessary one. Have you noticed that no one was reported seriously hurt? I simply shook the town so much that they'll have my demands met before the next day." Neither of them said anything for a minute. Then the man on the other line said, "Have my money ready, Mr. Walker." He hung up. Walker closed his phone let his arm drop. What.........what was he doing? He took another swig of his Vodka, and sat on the edge of the hotel bed.

The Fallen (Remake) Chapter 24

I woke up before I could actually enter the office. The alarm went off. 5:30 am? Who gets up that early? I need to start waking up anyway. I got less than five hours to fight that.....what did he call himself? Whatever. Doesn't matter. I got up and grabbed something to eat, despite my thinking that I should be sick to my stomach over the situation.

I put the wing harness back on. The....uh....I need to think of a name for this thing. Just something to call it. A Handicap? Fine. I strapped on the handicap and did a quick test with it. All good for right now. Which means I'll be able to fly in my battle with that sick maniac. I put on my clothes over it. I looked at the clock: 9:00. I better leave for that address.

I took off on the roof, feeling like my heavy heart will bring my hurtling towards the ground, but it didn't. I stayed up in the air. I flapped hard to gain some altitude. It was nice feeling the warm sun on my wings.......I mean, wing; rather than the cool night air for once.

I found the address down below. I came in for a soft landing, nobody was really out this morning. Did they sense something bad was going to happen? Or, is it something simpler like nobody really feels like going out today? I sighed. I wondered what my old friends are thinking of me right now. Are they worried? Are they thinking that I'm just some bratty kid that ran away from home for no reason? I certainly hope not. I knew my friends for three years now, whenever I was getting pushed around by another student, or even a teacher, they stood by me.

I shook my head. Those days are over. I looked around. There's the store across the street. The separation between it and the building to its right made a small alleyway. In the alley, I saw a shadow leaning against shadows. The bounty hunter, no doubt. I walked across the street, clicking the setting on my handicap to the folded-in setting. I could feel it close closer to my body. I pulled my other wing in tight.

I entered the alley way like the idiot I probably was. I said, "You the knuckle head that took my friend?" I could see him grin. I could tell that he sharpened his canine teeth to look like fangs. Then again, maybe he didn't.

Hey, I'm a kid with wings who (so far) fought a mechanical porcupine man, a high-tech hill-Billy, and a Russian mercenary who gave herself a freaking comic book-worthy-name.

Right now, anything is possible.

The man revealed himself from the shadows. He was wearing a black, sleeveless jumpsuit. He had a mechanical bulb on the left side of his chest, with wires reaching over both sides of his neck, and under his left arm. He had extremely long, blond hair; tide in a ponytail. It reached his waist. The guy easily reached seven feet. I felt like a small child going against an adult.....an adult with very big muscles.

Here's the kicker: his forearms had bronze mechanical gauntlets on them. They looked like they covered his arms from the elbow, all the way down to his finger tips. I could not imagine what he would need those for. For gutting whoever pissed him off enough?

Oh, wait, yes I can. He said, "You don't appear to be all that threatening. How is it, I wonder, that you were able to avoid three of those mediocre Bounty Hunters?" He stood there, examining me for a moment. "However, like I said, they were the mediocre hunters. I, however, realize how valuable the hunt is, how pleasurable the prey is when they struggle underneath your grasp." He tilted his head back, closed his eyes, and licked his lips. When he opened them again he smiled. "It's delicious."

I simply glared at him, then felt a flicker of a smirk appear as I thought of a joke. "Your mother never hugged you, has she?" He only smirked. He replied, "Such jokes will not help you this time young Gabriel. If you wish to see your friend, follow me." He ducked back into the shadows. I followed him until I saw him jump down an already opened man-hole.

A fight, in the sewers. This is just asking for trouble.

Reguardless, I dropped into the sewer.

The Fallen (Remake) Chapter 23

I didn't know what to do, but I knew that there was going to be a fight tomorrow morning. I went ahead and made myself a sandwich for dinner and went to sleep. I had a dream:

I was woken up by my mother. She smiled and said, "Morning honey. How's my little angel?" She had no idea how ironic it was. She called blond haired, blue eyed children angels because that what she was reminded of when she saw them. So, she called me her personal little angel. She also had no idea how appropriate that was.

I covered my head back in sheets. "Mom. Its a Saturday. Why?" She said, "Well, your father and I are going out. You think you could behave long enough to let us be gone a few of hours?" I let the sheets fall, and I sat straight up in my bed. "Your letting me stay here? All by myself?"

She gave me an evil look, "If you even think about having one of your little friends, or girlfriends, over here, you will have the tale beating of a life time. I don't care how old you are. Understand?" I nodded, ecstatic that I got to actually spend a Saturday to myself, and I didn't even have to get sick!

I did what every other thirteen (almost fourteen) year old would do. After they both left, I took off my shirt and let my wings stretch out far and wide. I decided to measure them both, using a yard stick. I measured they are about, um, eleven feet? Sweet!

I flopped on the couch and continued to watch Saturday morning cartoons, wings fully extended on the couch. Yep, living the dream. I flipped through the channels. The TV seemed to follow what I've been trying to avoid. Wings.

Cartoons, sitcoms, reality TV, sheesh even the commercials had something to do with a character flying, or some mutant or angel that joined the drama or action. I turned off the TV and looked up at the ceiling, as if I was looking at the big guy upstairs. "Okay. Okay! I'll go and tell him alright?" Truth be told, I was avoiding the subject for as long as I could, but at the same time its been eating away at me.

Ever since my wings, well, kinda popped out of me, I've been meaning to tell him. Both of them, Mom and Dad. I mean, they have to be some kind of understanding, right? That's what they're supposed to do, understand problems. Hey, maybe he has wings too and he's been hiding them all this time.

Yeah right.

Anyway, I got up and got a shirt that I've been hiding for a special occasion. I sliced a couple of holes in it, big enough for my wings. It was a nice spring-ish day, so I ended up deciding to fly to my Dad's main office building.

When I got to the area I landed in an alley way and tucked my wings in tight, pulling my light jacket over them. I walked the rest of the way to the building. I walked by a lot of friends in the building. "Hello Mrs. Jackson, is that a new haircut?" "Hey Phil. How's Jimmy?" "Whassup Ted? Don't worry about that driver's retake, man. You'll do fine."

Needless to say, I was a people person. I finally made my way to the top floor, my dad's office. The floor had two rooms on it. OK, five. Two of them were public bathrooms, one was a personal bathroom next to Dad's office, and one was a lobby with the personal secretary's desk. The enormous lobby's purpose was that it was designed to be so big, that it acted as a vacuum, sucking the air out of your lungs. I walked across the field of lobby to the secretary's desk.

She smiled at me. "Hey there Gabe. How was that math test? You study like we agreed?" I smiled. That test was last week, and I was a little surprised that she remembered. "Hey Jane. Yeah, passed it with flying colors." Jane had blond hair and green eyes, and always dressed nicely, whether she was at her job or not. She always acted like a secondary mother, and I considered her one of my closest friends.

I bit my lip and got right to business. "Jane. D'you know if Dad is busy right now? I really need to talk with him." She looked thoughtful. "Hmmm. No, I don't think so honey. He even said that if he gets done with this little bit of paper-work, he'll be going home early." She smiled as she said it. I said, "So that's a green light to go in?" She nodded.

I took a deep breath and walked through the ridiculously huge doors that made me feel like a mortal stepping into Zeus' work station on Mt. Olympus.

Cyrus Nobe (Remake) Chapter 17

Sara almost ran out to him, but I held her back. I said, "Stay here! I'll get him!" I called over my shoulder, "Jazz! Lead the kids out of here! Viktor! Watch my back!" I turned to Sara. "Bud, I need you to tell the Psychic Tank to blow a hole in the wall so we can leave. OK?" She looked at me with big, tearful, pleading eyes. She said, "OK." I ran out towards where Thi-GABE wrestled the creature away from us, Viktor was close behind.

I could sense the last two Viper-wolves charging towards us. Viktor turned and let his blindfold fall. The flash of green light cut the mutant in half, I won't go into details. The other one was on me I slashed at it with fully extended claws as we wrestled each other to the ground. I found a way to wrap my arms around its neck. I forced the beast's head into a direction that, judging by that crackling sound, wasn't supposed to go like that.

I got to Gabe. I slid my arm under his head and the other under his legs. I turned and bolted towards the others. I noticed that my hands did not burn, but I couldn't think about that right now. The Commander fired at the wall, causing it to fall and become rubble. There was a hallway behind it. A way out! The kids piled through it. "Do not let them get away! Release all of the Viper-Wolves!"

I turned to see Bishop on the giant screens, looking majorly peeved. I might have had a grin on my face, but it would have disappeared at the site of more of those monsters pouring out of the cages. My heart sunk into my stomach. How are we supposed to out-run all of those? The Commander made himself known. He uttered, "Go." I hesitated. "Go!" He yelled. Viktor went ahead through the hole, saying, "C'mon Cyrus! We don't have time for this!"

The Psychic Commander had fired his main cannon and its front turrets, getting the attention of the new Viper-wolves. They started pouncing him, overwhelming him in almost an instant. The tank thrashed and spun to shake them off. I was already down the hallway feeling like I lost my best friend, even though I'd met him less than an hour ago. He had the Prowlers' full attention for now. We need to escape before they're done.

The bird was on Jazz's shoulder, and Jazz was thirty feet ahead of us with the kids. I got flashes in my head of where they were heading. Viktor said to me, as we were running, "We need to make a left up here." I got a flash in my head showing the gang taking a right. I shook it off and screamed ahead, "Hey! Guys! Wrong way!"

Sure enough, Jazz and the other kids ran across the hallway and we caught up with them. Viktor guided us through the maze of hallways. Dr. Ching's voice came through the speakers. "You think you can escape? There is no escape from this! The Archer Corporation will hunt you down and kill you like the dogs you are! What you have seen today will be nothing compared to what's coming!" Jazz threw a small disk, which flew to a nearby speaker and exploded. I looked over at her. "Can't stand it when people ramble." was her only response.

We burst through a set of double doors. We found ourselves standing in the parking garage. I looked over to Jazz. Without me asking my question, she answered, "I watched Tokyo Drift enough times." That's a real motivator. We ran to a nearby van. I could see the keys inside. I said, "Everyone, pile in." They did so. It looks like the van was made to carry a number of troopers. We fit inside just fine. That dang bird even had its own seat. Jazz hopped in the front seat, grabbed the keys and started the truck. I opened the back and genitally set Gabe in the trunk. I'll have to worry about our fallen comrade later.

I closed the doors, making sure I didn't hit Gabe. I made my way to the passenger's side of the van. "You are not authorized to take that vehicle." I spun around to a familiar, robotic face. "Annihilator." I snarled. I extended my claws and my fangs. The Annihilator only looked at me with a bored expression. "The last time, you could not defeat me." I never took my eyes off him. "The last time, it wasn't a legit fight."

It shrugged. "Then allow me to kill you with my bare hands." We both got into a fighting stance and we started to circle each other, both of us taking steps to our left. Not even five seconds into it, the van jerked backwards and hit the Annihilator. Through the open window on the passenger's side, Jazz screamed, "Are you done playing around? Let's go!" I jumped into the passenger's side of the van. Jazz floored it before I could even close the door.

We are on our way out.