 
Redeemer

## Special Thanks:

A special thanks to Juanita Roberts, Patsy Cohee and Stephanie Cohee for always encouraging me to go on.

# Chapter 1: English

"Вы думаете, вы могли бы украсть у нас? Никто не ворует у нас" Kimoko Andel said deviously.

Kimoko and his two bodyguards, Live and Syle, stood in front of me.

Most people in my position would probably be nervous about being confront with two beefy guards and their boss...but I am not most people.

They were your average, garden-variety bodyguards, cute but not worth mentioning.

They had caught me in the middle of stealing back a mystical artifact called the Illumutoo. It was a tablet detailing the end of the worlds. When I first heard about its contents, I laughed. The end of the worlds? Last time I checked there was only one and I thought we all agreed the end was nigh.

Kimoko had stolen it from a government installation, very craftily, I might add and stored it here. This was one of his more secure hideouts...guess it's so much for that theory.

I wasn't as stealthy as I had intended to be. Then again, I wasn't intending to be very stealthy. Before this, I was a thief. It was a lifetime ago but I guess some things can't be left behind.

"I speak English. Just English." I smirked as I snatched the tablet off its pedestal.

Kimoko smiled, "You're going to die." He said with glee.

"Really? That's the strongest threat you have? I hear that about sixty times a day." I chuckled.

"Costumed freak!" Kimoko spat, "Hand over the tablet."

I looked down at my costume. It was a cat suit, obviously for stealth, with knee-length combat boots and a slight black mask covering my eyes. I also had on leather gloves and a belt, which housed some of my weapons. This was along with my gun holsters holding two pistols at my side. His words offended me.

"You want the tablet? Come get it." I smiled.

The guards advanced towards me and I smiled, tossing the tablet on the pedestal. I quickly ducked a punch by one of the guards and kicked the other in the chest, causing him to stagger back. I grabbed the first guard's arm and wrenched it, causing him to cry out in pain.

I smiled to myself as I flipped over his head, his arm still in my hand, and threw him against the wall! I quickly hopped up in time to slide out my Eskrima sticks and began hitting him as hard as I could.

When I tired of hitting him, I brought my right hand around and knocked him out with the stick.

Without turning, I could hear footsteps. I spun around, pushing my hand down and pulling out three shurikens and lobbing them through the air! The cracked as they hit the wall, through Kimoko's suit.

I cracked my neck, walking over to him, "And the name's Huma." I said, taking the tablet from him.

I walked over to the window and looked back at him, throwing him a peace sign. I turned to the window, looking down at the city.

I chuckled as I kicked the window out and the air began to pour through the hole. I quickly jumped out, free falling for a few feet before I opened my arms, releasing the mini-capes under my arms.

\--- --- --- ---

I walked into Chateau LeBreon, a restaurant in downtown Helprin district. It was one of the hippest, trendiest spot in Helprin. It was decorated with dark red satin and dark lighting; candle-lit, I noticed.

The place was darker than most restaurants and more intimate, despite its size. After dropping off the tablet with my field agent, I met with Eric Salis, who told me to meet an old friend at Chateau LeBreon. The maître Dee sat me at a booth in the back of the room. The candles were the biggest source of light. When I sat down, I was surprised at who was sitting across from me, reading the menu.

"Dana...didn't think I'd be seeing you this century." I said quickly. She made me nervous, "Why, exactly, am I seeing you?"

Dana Samis was a woman of about sixty. She is a proper sort of woman, who always looked the part. She had his hair back in a bun and a much understated amount of makeup. She wore only the most up-to-date fashion. A real Manhattan woman. Before I was a spy or whatever you want to call me now, I dated her son, Steven. It was a long story. This was during the period when I had been a thief and everything was different. He was running his father's company and running for political office. He died in a fight between his brother, a terrorist group called Medusa, and I. She'd never forgiven me for it. No one had. I guess becoming a spy was my way of atoning for what had transpired. Now, sitting here and looking at her, I remembered how icy things were between us.

"You've been busy. From a low-life thief to a spy of sorts." She smiled, "How interesting."

"Low life? Harsh." I said, "Back to my question: what would prompt you to seek me out?"

Dana smirked at me, "I need someone with your talents." She said quickly, "I'm forming a team, of sorts."

I chuckled. It had to be something like that. To make her come to me, there must be more to the story.

"The world is in jeopardy and I knew the strongest, most capable...heroes." She said quickly, "While you're not a hero, you're quite good at what you do."

I smirked, "That's sweet. But the last time I played with a group, it ended..." I paused.

Her smirk disappeared too, "Do you think I would dare come to you if this weren't important? The very world is at stake." She said direly.

"What exactly is so threatening and why in the Hell can I help?" I asked.

"I'm not sure if I can tell you here. It involves Medusa." Dana frowned.

I paused. Medusa was something I didn't need in my life. Besides, when we killed the last leader, Wynn Iric, I thought it was over. They'd single-handedly destroyed my life and the lives of those around me. It was something I hadn't processed yet, the thought that they were back.

Dana leaned in, "You know how dangerous they are. You know they're everywhere." She frowned.

"I don't believe you." I said, "I don't know what kind of game you're playing, but I'm cashing. See I'm not exactly a gambler. I'm more of a 'take things and leave' kind of guy. You remember."

"You think they're not watching you? That they won't come after you?" Dana asked, "They're already coming for you."

I chuckled, "Now you're paranoid. Look, Dana, they're dead. They're not coming back." I said standing, "And I doubt that they're worried about me."

Dana stood too and grabbed my arm, "You're in danger! As long as you've known me, how many times have I been wrong?" she asked.

I looked at her, trying to understand. She wasn't wrong often. I looked away from her and my eyes caught on a man. He was beautiful. He had light brown hair, cut close to his head and a strong, chiseled jaw. His brown eyes that pierced me. He was watching our conversation with great interest and something seemed to catch on as I looked at him. Dana turned in the direction of the man, who was standing now. Dana stopped. She looked to be faltering.

"Dana?" I asked. I grabbed her arms, "Dana! Who is he?!"

"He's shutting off my powers. We have to go!" Dana said, almost in a trance.

While looking directly at us, he pulled out a small gun and aimed it in our direction. I shouted for everyone to get down and people began dropping to the floor as gunshots rang out in the restaurant. I pushed Dana into the back room and followed as gunshots hit the wall beside my head. Past the corridor to the bathroom and into the kitchen. The staff looked to us as if ask, "what's going on?" but we didn't stop. Not until the back door burst open and two black-clad guards burst in with guns aimed at us. I quickly grabbed a knife that was sitting on the edge of the counter by the stove and threw it at one of the guards. It stuck into him and bounced off the wall and to the floor. The other began opening fire and Dana and I ducked. I didn't have my weapons and I was out-gunned. Dana didn't have any weapons. I heard footsteps move closer and paused. I popped up over the counter and dragged him back down to us. Dana moved away as I punched him and he rolled me over, punching me. I frowned and kicked him off me. Before I can make another move, his gun is aimed right at my throat and I smirk out of nervousness.

"Target acquired."

Suddenly, his head crashed against the stove and there was the sound of blows being landed. I slowly stood up and saw that Dana was with a man. He was taller than both of us and had dark brown hair. He had a six o'clock shadow and was wearing an ear piece along with a tight leather suit, much in the vein of mine. His boots were much shorter and he wore no mask. He also had gloves and a bow, which struck me as odd. He smiled to me as I walked over.

"Peter, this is Archer." Dana said, "Took you long enough."

"Maksim almost got the best of me." He said, extending his hand to me, "You must be Huma."

I looked between them, "Maksim? The guy with the gun?" I asked.

"He's an agent of Medusa." Archer said, "Deadly."

"He scrambles powers and wipes memories." Dana said, "Which is why my powers didn't work."

"Medusa? Seriously?" I asked.

"Do you see why we need you?" Dana asked.

Archer nodded, "They won't stop coming for you. We could use you on our team." He smiled.

"Like the Avengers or something? I don't play well with others." I frowned, "I'm going home and pack my bags and I'm leaving."

"That's your plan? You're going to run?" Archer said, turning to Dana, "I thought you said—"

Dana chuckled, "Run? You're going to run from Medusa? I always thought you were smarter than that." She said.

"You said it yourself, I'm just a thief." I shrugged, "A criminal."

"We've all got stuff in our past." Archer said, "Look, the worlds in danger. There are actual super villains now. I've heard stories about you, we all have, and if you took down Medusa once..."

"Luck." I said quickly.

"Maybe we need some luck." Archer nodded.

I looked around at the chaos. They were right. Somehow, they were right. Medusa was back and they would be gunning for me. And there was also the world-ending catastrophe that was happening. I wasn't a hero, but this seemed worthwhile. Last time I went up against them, I lost everything. I wasn't going to let that happen again. Finally someone was speaking English.

# Chapter 2: A Hero's Welcome

As I walked through the ultra-modern tower in the middle of the city, I was stunned by the gold inlaid angels and glass windows. There had to be close to fifty stories and the view from out of the window was amazing. The city looked beautiful from this high. The floor I was on now had a huge table at the center of it with chairs all around. I walked past the table to the windows to the balcony and looked down. The city looked less dangerous during the day. That was a problem because anything could be going on right now. I wondered what I was doing here. I wasn't a hero and I wasn't on a hero's journey. I was a thief turned spy. Nothing like a hero. I frowned to myself and turned to leave when I saw David Samis, Steven's little brother and Dana's other son. I hadn't seen him since after his brother died. He'd changed up his hair so that it was now blonde and buffer than he had been. I couldn't quite place the look on his face. Our last meeting wasn't a friendly or pleasant meeting. At first we just stared. There was a lot of history between us that didn't even involve Steven. Little brother coveting what big brother has. I wasn't sure what he was thinking and I wasn't really interested in being accosted. I'd been accosting myself for a while now and I didn't need anyone else doing it.

"Before you say any—"

"I told her you'd come. I knew you'd help us." He said, more to himself than to me.

I folded my arms across my chest, "It was your idea? What'd you have to do to get Dana to even ask me back?" I asked.

"Listen, we need the best. You're good with your hands." He nodded, "But I don't think I forgive you."

I looked down, then back up at him, "I don't think I asked for it. Besides, if you haven't forgiven me by now, you probably won't." I frowned.

He nodded.

"Besides, I'm here to save the world." I smiled, "Who better to save the world than a thief?"

He stared at me, as if he wanted to say something, but didn't. I chuckled. What I said about his forgiveness was true and I couldn't be sad about it. I left the sadness behind a while ago. I thought I did until I saw him. I turned back to the window, hoping he'd be moved to leave.

"I loved your brother. I did. The last thing I ever did was to betray him." I said, "I understand why you can't forgive me. Because we both betrayed him."

There was silence. I knew he was either gone or thinking about it. I could still feel him in the room, so he was thinking about it. I let out a nervous sigh.

"When's the meeting start?" I asked.

"Now."

I turned to see Dana entering with Electra Munroe, a friend from the past. Electra was a dark haired girl with green eyes and full pink lips. We'd met around the same time that super humans were exposed. She was running from this guy and found herself buddied up with me. We lost contact after Medusa. Behind them, Jeff Birkoff followed. He was another friend from the past. He was a former detective. I met him through his friend and Partner, Leon Major, codenamed Widow because of his spider-like abilities. Leon died in the battle of Medusa. Jeff was left disfigured, if you could call it that. He had scratches across his dark-skinned face and on a major portion of his body. He was gruff to begin with, but he looked even more hardened. Taller, too. Archer was behind them, walking with a long haired man with strawberry blonde hair. The man was as muscled as the other guys and had almost purple eyes. I wasn't sure who he was. Rounding out the group was a man that looked older than the rest of us, yet he wasn't old. While the others had looked to be in their twenties, he looked to be in his early to mid-thirties, much like Archer. They regarded me with curiosity, all of them except Dana, Electra and David.

Electra ran over and hugged me, something foreign to me, "Pete, how have you been?!" she asked.

I was stunned at first, then hugged her back, "Fine. You?" I asked.

"I'm a superhero." Electra said, "And I haven't been chased anymore."

"I thought you went back to—"

"I did, but after being here...it wasn't the same." Electra smiled, "Then Dana put this group together."

I nodded and looked to the group. Electra took the time to introduce me to Archer, whose real name is Harrison Liah; Leif, the man with purple eyes was an amnesiac man who just appeared one day with the Mjorn of Thor, casting suspicion that he was Thor. The last man was named Harvey Kinser and he used to be a world famous scientist studying the super human genome. Birkoff just stared at me, as if he were waiting for me to say sorry or something. Dana asked that we all sit and we did as she asked. There was a palpable silence as we found ourselves staring at each other.

"I've assembled this team to save the world." Dana said quickly. She looked to us, "The world needs heroes and you're those heroes."

"What exactly are we facing?" I asked.

"Cersai. A race of aliens that—"

I laughed, "Aliens? We're facing aliens?" I asked.

"Superheroes and the supernatural, but you don't believe in aliens?" David asked.

I looked around at them, "You guys think aliens are coming to take over the world?" I asked, "Is there a reason you think this?"

"Medusa. We got intel from a defector." Dana explained, "We asked for cooperation."

"Cooperation? I liked you better when you worked for Medusa. You just out and out called it, 'torture'." I joked, "Cersai? Exactly how am I going to help? I'm sure the rest of these guys have superpowers and they all want to be superheroes. I just don't want the world to end before..." I trailed.

"You can steal more stuff? Betray more people?" Birkoff asked, anger permeating his voice.

I smirked, "We're still here, in this place? I'm sorry about your scars, but I didn't inflict them." I frowned.

"You might as well have." Birkoff frowned.

I watched him. Maybe he was right. There was a lot about that night that I couldn't forget. Leif, Harrison, Harvey looked confused. Dana and David looked to be mulling over the situation while Electra looked to be nervous.

"I'll always be a criminal." I shrugged, "I don't care. This criminal agreed to save the world. Shouldn't that mean something?"

"It means nothing because you'll betray us again." Birkoff frowned.

"This was a mistake." I frowned as I stood, "I came here to save the world. But no one can get past my past."

"We're not here to gang up on you." David said slowly, "They're concerned, you knew it coming in."

"He's human, like all of us." Electra said, "He made mistakes. We all have."

"And I could care less about your mistakes or the mistakes of whoever the Hell! She asked me to save the world." I said angrily, "From aliens."

They all looked at me. I surprised myself. It wasn't exactly what I was saying that was shocking me but why and how I was saying it. This was all insane. Aliens and saving the world and...It was so far from stealing. They were right, I'm a criminal. They were even right about my betrayal, but they didn't know the whole story. They didn't know Steven was working with Medusa even closer than his mother. I composed myself and looked to them again, this time trying to come up with something more to say.

"Look, I'm not here to change anyone's opinion of me. I don't really care. I'm just here to help avoid a world war or a war of many worlds." I said walking to the door, "Heroes are supposed to be heroes, not jerks." I said leaving.

  *

When I stepped into my apartment, I was too overwhelmed to feel anything. I threw my keys on the end table by the door and kicked off my shoes as I walked over to the couch. I plopped down on it and rolled myself to a point where I was looking up. I closed my eyes for five seconds before I heard a creak. I quickly looked up to see a shadow standing above me. Before I could move, the figure grabbed me by the neck and began pressing down on it. As I choked, I kicked violently. I brought my foot up, kicking the figure in the face. He staggered back and I took the time to roll off the couch and over to the end table, where I quickly pulled out a gun. When I stood again, the figure was gone. I took a few steps forward into the dark apartment before stopping. There was another creak before I ducked and twirled the gun around, but a hand grabbed the gun and twisted it, causing me to groan in pain. I quickly elbowed him in the stomach and rolled backwards. As I stood again, I felt a fist go by my head and I quickly spun around, bending the figure over. I brought my leg up, kneeing him in the face. I began towards the door, but the figure pushed me and I slammed into the door. I rolled over onto my back and looked up as Maksim hopped on top of me. He was staring down at me with a blank expression and I frowned. There was a loud whack before the door broke off its hinges. Maksim was thrown off me and skidded to a stop. In an instant, David was standing over me with his hand held out. I accepted it and he lifted me. I wanted to say thank you or something witty but all I ended up doing was staring at him. This was before Maksim made it to his feet and rushed us! David pushed me away and got the full brunt of the attack while I watched as he went through a wall. I quickly stood and spotted my pistol a few feet away. I started towards the gun and stopped when Maksim stood in front of me, his own gun pointed at me.

"Don't make me use this." Maksim said with a monotone voice.

I looked from the gun on the floor to him, "Don't point a gun unless you're going to use it." I frowned.

"If you cooperate—"

"Like you?" I asked, "No thanks."

His gun clicked and I frowned to myself. He wasn't kidding. Somewhere inside, I knew he wasn't kidding. My thoughts were a flurry and every combat plan ended with me getting shot in the face. Maksim was waiting for some kind of reply. I stood, wide-eyed and, for the first time, speechlessness.

"Final chance."

I watched as David appeared behind him and he turned, the gun firing off a few shots. I rolled over to the gun and picked it up. Maksim had taken down David in the chaos and was now looking at me as I pulled the trigger. Maksim moved with a speed no human being should have. There was a blur before he disappeared from the apartment. I walked over to David, my gun pointed at the door.

I bent down to David, "You alright?" I asked.

"Just broke my pride." David groaned. He made his way to his feet and stared at me, "How's it possible that he's that strong."

"Maybe his dad has experimental super-genes like yours." I said, still watching the door, "What are you doing here?"

David looked to the door, "I came to ask you to come back." He frowned, "I don't think he's coming back."

"Yeah, but why? Why was he here? Why'd he leave without what he came for?" I asked.

David frowned and looked around, "Do you hear that?" he asked.

"What?" I asked.

David walked over to the fridge, "A ticking."

He pulled the fridge out with ease as I walked over. I stopped when I saw what he saw. It was a bomb rigged to explode in seven seconds. David and I looked at each other before he grabbed me and rushed to the window, throwing both of us out of it. As we crashed through the window, the explosion blew everything out and we sped towards the ground. David pulled me over him and when we hit the ground, he absorbed the impact. This knocked him out. I groaned as I looked up at the debris coming down at us. I rolled over the top of David and pulled him out of the way of the remains of my charred couch. I looked up at the place where my apartment used to be to see a blazing inferno. I felt fearful. This was the first time since the Medusa battle that I had felt so fearful. I looked over at David, who was starting to regain consciousness and sighed. People were beginning to come out of their apartments and run out of my building. I couldn't find the words...all my stuff was gone.

# Chapter 3: Shelter

I'd been taken back to tower and set up in one of the rooms there. All my stuff was gone, but luckily I'd go shopping in a few days or something. My mind wasn't on any of that. My costume, my weapons, and my stylish yet affordable living space were all gone. Luckily I kept an extra costume and some weapons downtown in an abandoned building. I meant to swing by and pick it up, but I was still stunned. While exploring, I found on the training floor. I walked into a room that could only be described as an athlete's dream. There was everything someone wanting to get into shape could want. I quickly spotted David boxing with the punching bag. He was hitting is so hard that dust was flying out. I looked to his right to see that there were already four burst bags on the floor. He was too into punching the bag to hear me come in, so I stood there watching him.

"Practicing for the aliens?" I asked, leaning on the boxing ring beside the punching bag area."

David willed himself to stop and turned to me, "You okay?" he asked.

"Thanks to you. What about you?" I asked pointing to his exposed bicep, "You don't bruise easy."

He ran his hand over the bruise, "Yeah. I'm fine. Taken bigger falls." He said, turning away from me.

"I wouldn't have survived without you being there." I said quickly, "So, uh, thanks."

Even from the back I could see him smile, "Peter doesn't say thanks." He chuckled.

"Huma doesn't. Peter is learning." I said slowly, "Besides, you had every right to not save me. To let me die in there..."

"It's time we leave the past where it should be." He shrugged, "I won't hold it against you. Neither will any of the rest of the team."

"You sure? I mean Birkoff is doing a pretty good job of it." I chuckled.

"Birkoff's been touchy ever since..." He trailed.

"It always comes back to that night." I frowned, "I knew that being a thief was something frowned upon, but..."

"What'd you expect?" David asked with astonishment, "Look, I don't mean to be...You want to prove yourself? Help us protect this world."

"That's it. You've known me. I shouldn't have to prove myself to you." I said angrily.

"No, you don't. But your teammates, they don't exactly trust you." David said, "There are still people who don't know you. Prove them wrong. Show them what you did in that apartment."

"What we did in that apartment, it was teamwork, just like that night." I said.

"Exactly. Teamwork." David smiled, "Can't be about you." He said, heading to the showers.

"But, it's always about me." I smirked.

He stopped and looked back at me, "Just when you're vulnerable, Huma shows up. You can't play both sides, not this time." He quickly left.

I stood there, trying to bring myself to realize what he was saying. I wasn't Huma and I wasn't Peter and trying to be either one was useless, I learned that at the battle of Medusa. I was an amalgamation of both of those people. It's something Steven figured out and accepted about me, but something David would probably never understand. I smiled to myself and turned, stopping at the sight of Dana.

"You just don't stop." Dana frowned, watching me intently, "It isn't enough that you corrupted one of my sons..."

"Corrupted?" I asked.

"...Please stay away from my son. I only say please because it's proper protocol." Dana said, "The last thing he needs in his life is you."

I chuckled, "I wouldn't worry about it. He can barely stand to be around me." I said quickly.

"You just make sure you stay away from him." Dana said looking me over, "And do clean up." She said, disappearing through the door.

I watched her leave, noting that she was indeed a bitch. But she wasn't wrong. I needed to stay as far away from him and the team as I could while still being on the team. I wasn't a teamwork type of guy, especially if the past was any indication.

  *

I turned the key and stepped into the dilapidated apartment. It was, for the most part, clear of furniture except for the kitchen. There was also a murphy bed in one of the bedrooms and a few moldy boxes. I walked into the bedroom and headed for the closet. I opened the closet and bent down, rummaging through some clothes I had left in case I needed to make a quick getaway. I smiled to myself and reached over the bag, pulling out another bag with weapons. I nodded and stood, turning to see Inik Bonkino, a former agent of Medusa. Inik was a tall, dark-skinned man from Africa. He was wearing a silver suit with expensive shoes. His special talent happened to be soul and power-sucking. Not necessarily soul-sucking but stealing their essence. I hadn't seen him in a while. He wasn't on my friendly list. I quickly sat the bags down on floor and took a fighting stance.

"Relax. I'm not here to fight you." His voice boomed, "It is not safe here."

I groaned, "I'm figuring that out more and more." I said, "How'd you find me?"

"Dana." Inik said quickly, "I work for Inashi, as Dana's second-in-command."

"You followed me? Dana has spies on me?" I asked.

Inik walked over to the boarded up window, "Get down." He frowned.

"Now, why would I do that?" I asked walking over to him.

When I got to the boarded up window, I saw something very large outside the window. The instant I saw it, I turned and ran, jumping behind the Murphy bed. Inik was close behind, just barely avoiding the gunfire. It was a helicopter firing the bullets. Inik looked to me, nodding to the weapons bag. I nodded and rolled as the machine gun bullets sprayed into the wall! I grabbed the bag and rolled into the bathroom, ducking behind the tub. I quickly fished through the bag and pulled out a couple of shurikens, smoke pellets, two pistols and a pair of Eskrima sticks. I strapped holsters to my sides and stood up against the wall, pistols in hand. I peeked around to see the boarded up window were completely wide-open. With as much speed as I could muster, shooting as fast as I could. I took off running and tossed a gun to Inik. As another gun was rising, I threw down smoke pellets, causing smoke to spray all around the room. Inik grabbed my bag off the floor and pulled me out of the room. As we got down the hall, the room exploded from the inside, a missile of some sort. We continued to run down the hall and out of the door, onto the street. I only looked back when I saw bullets hitting the street. People began to panic and run around, making it hard for them to focus on us. We ran down the streets, occasionally turning to shoot at the helicopter. As we came to an intersection, I spotted a subway station. I pulled Inik down into the subway and jumped the turn style. As we came to a stop at the train, I noticed that Inik was breathing pretty hard. Or maybe it was me.

"You're still pretty good with a gun." Inik said, "A burglar never forgets, eh?"

"That's broad daylight! How are they able to shoot at us in broad daylight?!" I asked angrily.

"The same way they were able to blow up your apartment." Inik frowned, "The new Medusa is much more powerful and aren't taking any chances where you're concerned."

"The first time was a fluke." I said, "They've got to know that."

Inik shook his head, "They don't. And you don't believe that either." He said.

"Now _you_ know what I believe?" I said, folding my arms, "Did it ever occur to you that you're wrong?"

"No." He said, looking around, "There may be more."

"More agents? Exactly who else is on this little dream team?" I asked.

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you." Inik frowned.

The silence that followed stumped me. He wasn't usually Mr. talks-a lot but something about how he'd just said that was concerning. The train stopped in front of us and we quickly boarded it. I looked around at the empty car, noticing the kids sitting at the back, playing some sort of game. A man sat on the opposite side with his hands interlaced. He looked to be on the far side of thirty and had silver hair. My eyes stayed on him. It felt like Maksim in the restaurant, but worse. There was a spooky familiarity. The train started moving before I pull Inik out and he looked at me, asking me what was wrong. I cocked my gun and handed it to him, to which he looked at me with fascination.

"What is going on?" Inik asked, surveying the gun.

"I think we just got herded like cattle." I said as I slipped out my Eskrima sticks.

There was a low chuckle as the man with the fingers stood, "It is, of course, a pleasure to see you again." He smiled.

His face was awkward and unbalanced, yet there was something beautiful about him. He reminded me of someone, but I couldn't place who it was. It wasn't until that moment that I noticed that his skin was yellowing.

"Do I know you?" I asked.

"I'm hurt." He said, "I thought we were old friends."

Inik pushed me behind him, "Go to a different car, now!" he ordered.

I turned to see that the kids were blocking the exit.

The man laughed again, "Don't leave. It's not nice to walk away from a conversation." He smirked.

My eyes darted to him. In an instant, it was returning to me. In Medusa, there was this guy, a scientist who happened to be evil. His name was Cypress. He was, until that night, a beautiful man. Hidden behind sunglasses, yes, beautiful. I'd met him through Steven.

"See, you were always a smart boy." Cypress smirked, his teeth now jagged and serrated.

"I thought—"

"Nothing is as it seems." Cypress smiled, "My greatest experiment."

"I'm not your experiment." I frowned.

Cypress chuckled and looked to Inik, "Inik, of course Dana would send you to protect him. Traitorous!"

"Medusa really is back and let me guess, you're leading it?" I asked.

"No. I have my orders." Cypress said quickly, "I've followed your progress. I could have never known what you'd turn into."

"What I turned into? Look at you!" I protested.

Cypress lost his smile, "Of course, there is something about free will." He looked between us, "Only you could get out of the life or death situations we've put you in."

"I have friends."

"I'd imagine not too many." He snapped, "Not after what you did."

"Yeah, and I got out of it without looking like a total freak." I spat.

"Freak? Look at yourself clearly and say that again." He said slowly, "Normal people don't dress up in costumes and fight bad guys."

"I'm getting bored. Can we please fight?" I asked.

"I'm afraid it's the end of the line."

"How long were you sitting on that one?" Inik asked.

"Long enough to see the end coming." Cypress smirked.

I stared at him blankly. It was something he'd said before. Or something I'd heard. The lights flickered and when they came back, Cypress was gone. There was another group of kids with weapons. I quickly turned myself so that I was back-to-back with Inik and he seemed to be checking the gun. I twirled the Eskrima sticks and looked to them with a smirk. I took a count of about six men on my side and let out a subconscious-driven growled. Each guy had a different color on. There was a red, a blue, a green, a yellow, a turquoise and a pink jacketed kid. The guys advanced on us and I bounced off the glass window, kicking the blue guy in the chest. I swung around one of the poles, using the window as a running base, kicking down green and yellow! I stood face to face with the red kid, wondering what I was going to do. He was way bigger than me. He threw a punch, to which I ducked, and grabbed me into a bearhug. I groaned in pain as I brought around one of my sticks, clobbering him in the head. He dropped me and staggered back. I took this opportunity use the sticks on the turquoise and pink, sliding it across their stomachs and faces. The pink one fell to the floor and his hat fell off to reveal his long dark hair. He was a she!

"You're...a girl?" I asked.

She smirked and tried a footsweep, but I jumped over it. And flipped backwards, avoiding what looked like an ax. The red guy had gotten back up and was forcing himself to me. I also noticed the three other colors coming at me. Without warning, I jumped into the air and waited to come down. I didn't hit the floor. I looked around at the amazed faces and saw that they were just as stunned as I was. I quickly used the momentum to do a backwards flip, kicking yellow, turquoise and blue to the floor of the train. I dropped to the floor and looked to Red. He was still in shock. I turned my head and saw that pink was stumbling back, looking at me with astonished eyes. I looked over to see Inik struggling. One of the kids had him from behind. I quickly stood and threw one of my sticks at the back of the kid's head, causing him to yelp in pain and let go. Inik blocked a few punches, laying out a few guys before staring blankly through the window into the upcoming cars. I turned back to red and took off running as fast as I could. I jumped into the air, wrapping my legs around his head and spinning, causing him to flip over and roll against the floor. I turned in time to see Inik running towards me. He quickly grabbed my arm and pulled me through the door to the next car! I heard a rumbling and a crunching noise, not bothering to look back. I didn't ask. I didn't want to know. When we got to the last car, I finally looked back to see an explosion up ahead. The girl in pink was beside us now and followed us as we threw ourselves off the rail of the train and onto the tracks. It felt excruciating when we hit. It was the last thing I felt before fading into darkness. I awoke when I heard footsteps and saw the lights shining down the tunnel. I moaned as the light got closer, wondering if they were friend or foe. It was too dark to see anything, beside the fire and wreckage. I chuckled as I sat up, grabbing my stomach and doubling over in pain. I think I hit the rail and until I stopped. There was bruising all over my body, I could feel it. The lights flashed in my face and someone shouted, "Stay where you are!"

"Well, I'll be..." A familiar voice said indignantly.

The fire only illuminated his mechanical arm. Colonel Anderson was standing before me in all his Fury-like glory. Another face from my past. He used to run a team, much like Dana's, shortly after the emergence of superhumans. As far as I knew, he was promoted after our dealings with Medusa. He was an African American man in his forties with a bald head. He had hardened features and bright brown eyes He'd once worn an eye patch. He liked to look like Colonel Nick Fury, his favorite comic book hero. I guess he'd exchanged it for the metal arm, which he lost at the battle of Medusa. Needless to say, like the others, I hadn't stayed in contact.

"Why is it that every time there's trouble, you're not far behind?" Anderson asked, surveying the scene, "This is going to cost you."

I tried to stand but couldn't, "Yeah, you can put this on Medusa's tab." I frowned.

"Are you not able to stand?"

"Give me a minute." I said looking around, "Inik? There was...and there was a girl!"

"Relax. Bonkino is fine." Anderson shrugged, "Maybe not fine, but alive."

"Cypress—"

"Long gone. Those kids died." Anderson said, "Agents in training for Medusa."

He walked over and helped me up. I nodded, "They start young." I said with obvious pain.

"We should get you to the tower unless you can magically heal yourself now." Anderson said.

"The tower? Are you going to explain your job?" I asked.

"I work with Dana. You didn't think the government was just going to trust her to run a whole division, did you?" Anderson smirked. He looked around one last time, "Let's get out of here. This place is depressing."

I chuckled, leaving with him. My leg was hurt as well as my side and shoulder. I felt terrible and I had a feeling this was just the tip of the iceberg.

# Chapter 4: The Ones who never forget

I am strong. I always told myself this because if I didn't tell myself, how would I know? With all the thoughts running through my mind and all the chaos happening to me, it wasn't hard to see that Medusa was back. And they were gunning for me. It's crappy. I mean, you wake up one day with an adrenaline rush and a need to steal things and suddenly you're wrong. Maybe that was wrong. Then you do something so horrible that you decide to change. And, when you change, you realize that nothing around you is changing how people look at you. I'm still trouble. I'd been shot at, blown up and stuck on a dead end train. Fun was back and here to stay, apparently. Cypress' appearance was just another in a long line of screw-updom that was my life. Cypress is a dangerous man because he's not muscle or strength, he's fear and smarts. Cypress scares me the most. He's cold and calculating and will do anything to know everything. It's the worst sort of evil: Evil with the goal of knowledge. His evil, and knowledge, had set him free from the constraints the rest of the world followed. I'd seen some of his creations when we were at Medusa. Besides being appalled, I was impressed. There was only one mind that could rival his and that was Dr. Kinsler. I haven't seen much of him, or any of the team members, since I got here. It was intentional. It was okay. I was still stiff and bruised from the trainwreck but I was moving around now. The room was pretty big, probably a suite in itself. I found myself in the shower when I heard a noise. I quickly stopped the shower and reached out, grabbing a gun I'd borrowed from the weapons cache. I quickly slid on underwear and wrapped a towel around myself as I latched onto the side of the wall. The noise came again, from the living room. I quickly turned the corner with my gun pointed at the long-haired figure. Leif. I was shell shocked as I held the gun up at him. He put his hands up, cautioning me that he was a friend.

"You can put that away. I am no threat." Leif smiled in a non-threatening way.

I sighed and put my gun down to the floor, "What are you doing here?" I asked.

"You're not accustomed to teamwork, are you?" Leif asked.

I chuckled and sat the gun on the coffee table, "Can't be too trusting with Medusa on my ass. Besides, most of my 'teammates' think I should be locked away." I said.

Leif nodded and watched me, "What do you think?" He asked.

I laughed as I disappeared into my room. I slipped on a t-shirt and jeans before returning to him, "The question is, 'what do you think?' and why should I care?" I asked.

"You seemed to care."

I chortled, "Everyone thinks they're the expert on me because they've read a dossier or heard rumors...Without knowing. I guess you got that too since everyone thinks—"

"I'm not Thor!" He said angrily. He calmed himself before he spoke again, "I do not know why I have Thor's Mjorn."

"Is that what it's called?" I asked.

"I don't know where I come from. I can't remember." He said, "I'm not a metal man or super-soldier..."

"Thank God." I smiled.

"You are peculiar." He smirked, "You've been through many things. I've heard about the battle of Medusa. I don't blame you. You did the heroic thing."

"I shot my fiancée. I betrayed him." I said.

"You vanquished Medusa." He said, "You're no ordinary man."

I smiled at him. He was definitely cute and everything he said had a nice ring to it. I began to wonder how he could be amnesiac. He looked so strong and unyielding. I guess everyone has a weakness. As I stood at the door, I realized that I hadn't moved. I had been stationary talking to him. Something about him made me nervous, but not regular nervous. I'm never regular nervous. I moved to the bar and grabbed a bottle of scotch.

"Ale?" He asked.

"First thing about figuring who you are, decode the language you use." I said, "Are you sure you're not from the past or...possibly a Shakespearean future?"

"I don't think so." He said quickly. He walked over and sat the scotch back down, "I don't think this will help."

I groaned in pain and cracked my neck, "I just got my ass kicked majorly and a mad scientist tried to kill me. I think that this bottle isn't enough."

Leif chuckled, "We need to be at our best." He said.

"Yeah, but how is a beat-up ex-criminal going to help?" I cackled, "You don't get it. I'm just a guy. The rest of this team is super-powered human beings. My special skill set is that I can pick a lock in seconds and I'm extremely good in combat."

"Are you sure that's your only talent?" He asked. I stared at him before he started again, "I should go. There are many things I need to learn about my own powers before the inevitable war." He sounded so proud.

"And that war doesn't scare you?" I asked.

He chuckled and walked to the door, "No, I relish it." He said, walking past Dana and David.

"Making new friends?" Dana asked.

"Why didn't you tell me about Anderson or Inik?" I asked, "Could have been useful."

"Who told you to stray from here? Haven't we stressed upon you the gravity of your situation?" Dana asked angrily.

"I had no things. No clothes, no weapons..."

"We have weapons." David said slowly.

"Not my weapons." I frowned, "Not my clothes."

"I didn't save you to have you die in an explosion or a train before..."

"Before it's time, Dana?" I asked, "Look, I enlisted in your little team. I'm here with you, but if we do it, we do it my way."

"This is not your team." Dana said angrily.

"And from what I hear, neither is it yours." I said.

There was an uncomfortable silence. Dana was appalled and I was holding my ground. David moved between us, trying to diffuse the situation, "How are you? Physically." He asked.

"I probably look like a steak after Rocky gets done." I frowned, "I jumped out of a moving subway train, how do you think I am physically?"

"Mentally?" Dana asked.

"What am I, your project?" I asked.

"This is no project. The fate of the world..." Dana began.

"You can let yourself out." I said, turning from them. I turned when I felt someone still watching me, "You know, I meant you too."

"It was dangerous." David frowned. He was standing with his hands behind his back and a concerned pair of eyes on me.

"Was it?" I asked, "Why do you even care?"

"You're my teammate."

"I'm not even going to ask why it's so hard for you to say you care, tiger." I smirked.

David tensed at the name, "It's—It's not that simple."

I laughed, "Relax. The man who cared about me was killed...ironically by me." I said more sadly than I meant to.

"You had to, we both know it." David said quickly.

I looked to him seriously, "It made me a thief. A true thief. Material things can be given back." I shrugged, "Stealing gets easier after a while."

David slowly walked over to me and put a hand on my shoulder, "We chose you, me specifically, because you spared my family shame and took it upon yourself. It wasn't your betrayal that I have a hard time accepting, it's this family's. You're a constant reminder that my brother got lost in the war of evil, which my mom did too. What _we_ did...doesn't compare. That's the hardest part of being around you. I don't see your betrayal. I see ours."

I stared at him, sincerely feeling him. I hadn't understood the fullness of his emotion. Why he couldn't stand to look at me. I thought it was because of my actions, but it wasn't. He felt shame for his brother and mother. He felt his own brand of guilt and shame. I'd taken on the shame so that his family wouldn't have to. I took the blame so that they're family wouldn't have to. Everything they said I was, I was. But I wasn't cold or remorseless. I couldn't help but smile, standing in front of one of the most moral people I knew. There was a reason that his favorite comic book hero is Captain America. He was a hero, through and through. My hero.

I snapped out of my gaze, "An alien invasion is coming and I can't get past these issues." I frowned, "Being a badass has a price. Like a guy named Marvel not being able to look at you."

"He's learning." David smiled. He watched me this time with a look I'd known too well. I'd seen it on his face before on the night that changed everyone's life.

"I may not know how to love, but I know what it looks like." I chuckled, "Let yourself out." I said, heading to the bedroom.

  *

Being cooped up in that suite all day was the most annoying part of all this. I felt as if I left the room, Medusa was going to attack me again. I wasn't feeling one hundred percent yet but I had to train. Crazy thing is that before I started my life as a thief, I'd never trained a day in my life. It was like one day I woke up a different guy. I hoped that no one would be in the training room, but no such luck. As I walked into the training room, I was aware of Electra and Birkoff training in the corner. While Birkoff merely sneered, Electra waved before going back to her training. Birkoff's appearance used to be primal a viral and sexy and it still was, but his scars gave him a rugged, worn look. I'm sure his scars looked worse to him, but they weren't that bad to me. They'd been made by an Ansai knife, one of the strongest knives on the planet due to the steel that makes them. He was also one of Cypress' experiments, for it was Cypress who had done this to him. His own personal brand of torture. I saw Archer, or Harrison Liah, standing at the archery range. As I walked over to him, I watched as his strong arms pulled the bow back and released it, causing three arrows to shoot out and each hit one of the circles of the target. When he finished he turned to me and I looked at him intently. He looked like a video game character, Leon Kennedy, from _Resident Evil_. From the hair right down to the weird smirk and strong arms.

"Hey!" He said quickly, "I heard you were on the trip from hell."

"More like the trip to Hell, but—"

"You okay? I mean...you're not seriously injured are you?" He asked.

"Nah, just bruised on eighty percent of my body and I think my neck is a little broken." I frowned, "At least I know my spidey sense works."

"Inik says you handled yourself well, which I knew you could."

"Why, cause it's in the files?" I asked shortly.

He chuckled, "No. I've seen what you can do." He smiled, "Healing isn't one of your talents, though."

"First rule of being a thief: Never get hit." I chuckled, "Well, maybe's it's not but it should be."

I noticed that his smile was fading and his gaze was behind me. I turned to see Birkoff staring at us with angry eyes. But that wasn't what Harrison was staring at. His eye was on Electra, who was hitting the punching bag with so much force it nearly buckled.

I turned back to him, "What'd you say? I was—"

"Staring at Electra?" I smirked, "I noticed. Why don't you say hi?"

"Same reason you don't exactly speak to David."

"You killed her brother?" I joked. Even the joke hurt.

He looked at me suspiciously, "The past really is the past. I'm not going to lie and say no one blames you for that night, but you did what you had to."

"Everybody says that. And it may be true, but I can't help how I feel." I said, "If I could go back, I wouldn't do the right thing. The right never pays off."

"Maybe it does." Harrison nodded, "Maybe it just takes a while to see it."

"I could still be running from Medusa...oh, I am!" I chuckled.

"Only because they know what we know: You brought them to their knees and you can do it again. Maybe not alone, but that's why you're on the team." Harrison said.

I looked around to Birkoff, "With teammates like this, who needs enemies?" I asked.

"Exactly what I was thinking." Birkoff said as he walked over to us, "I thought this was a team for heroes, not two-bit criminals."

"Says the guy who fought by my side." I said with more cheer than he liked, "No one remembers that."

"We tend to forget our bad ideas." Birkoff frowned.

"Tell you what, while you think about it, I'll save the world." I smirked.

"How many people have to die in order for you to save the world this time?" Birkoff asked.

I frowned. Electra stood by, just as Archer did, watching the exchange. Neither one of them knew what to say to even begin to diffuse the situation. I think, honestly, it was too late to diffuse the problem. Every situation has that one obstacle. It was too early to tell if he was the leader of the team, but he very well could be. I had to assert some kind of dominance. I wasn't just going to let him do or say whatever he wanted.

"Why don't you go and put your spiffy new suit on, Iron Man, and we'll see exactly what you've got." I said casually.

"To deal with you? I don't need a suit." Birkoff said angrily.

"Usually, I don't do this but you're a dick." I said, punching him in the face.

He staggered back, surprised. But he smirked as he wiped the blood off his chin. I tossed another right hand, to which he ducked and punched me. I grabbed my chin. This is what I had been waiting on. He lunged at me, tackling me to the floor! I used his energy to roll him over and punched him until he pushed me off. From the ground, and with lightning fast reflexes, he brought his foot around and I nearly flipped over his foot, missing it by half a second. I quickly flipped backwards, avoiding another kick. I stopped on one knee, looking up as he quickly picked up a barbell and chucked it at me. My eyes widened as I dove out of the way. The barbell smashed through the wall and into another part of the tower and I stood, now thoroughly pissed. He could have killed me. I ran over to the wall and jumped up it, grabbing an old Chinese katana and running towards him. As I got closer, I threw the katana and it spun around until it stopped in mid-air. Something told me to stop running, but my body kept going. I jumped into the air, ready to knock the jerk off his feet but stopped in mid-air, hovering there beside the katana. It was then that I wondered how the knife had stopped in mid-air. It wasn't Birkoff. He couldn't do anything like that. It was only when I turned my head that I saw her.

"Sofia Sangaria." I panted.

Sofia Sangaria was a woman I'd come in contact with just before the battle at Medusa. She'd helped me solve the mystery of Medusa. She was a record-keeper at the USA government records office in D.C. and was pregnant the last time I'd seen her. She wasn't now. She had developed the power of psychokinetics, or more precisely, telekinetics. This power was only manifested when the rest of the superhuman powers were manifested. She was a short, Latino woman in her late twenties. Her hair was, as always, cut short and close to her head and her beautiful hazel eyes were centered on me. Not only her eyes, but Anderson, Dana and David's also.

"How's the husband? The kid?" I asked, still hanging in mid-air.

"What are you doing?" Dana asked impatiently, "Look at the damage! You could have killed each other!"

"Skirmish?" I gave a nervous chuckle, "It's not as bad as it looks. I just wanted to maim him...well, more."

Birkoff growled and moved closer, only to be grabbed by Electra. David stood with his arms across his chest, looking ever more like a superhero. All judgmental and self-righteous. Anderson, who hadn't spoken a word looked around in astonishment and whistled, eliciting a grim look from Dana.

"Do you know the damage you have done?" Dana asked, turning to a smiling Anderson, "You can't condone this! This is not what we're about!"

"I'd say they were training." Anderson shrugged.

Dana looked even more enraged, "They could have killed each other before the invasion has even started!" she frowned, "Then where would we be? Two men down? What if someone else had gotten hurt?!"

"But they didn't. I like what I see. It wins wars." Anderson smiled, "Next time, save it for the real enemies." He said, turning and leaving without another word.

"Can someone let me down?" I asked.

Dana nodded to Sofia, who looked to be concentrating hard on us.

"I'm not doing that." Sofia said, "Not Pete."

Everyone's attention turned to me and suddenly, I dropped from the sky. When I picked myself up off the floor, I was surprised to see that they were still staring. I dusted myself off and grabbed the katana from mid-air and tossed it at Birkoff's feet.

"They're not going to be around to save you always." I said, leaving. As I got outside, I noticed someone following me. Instinctually I thought of David, but when I turned I was surprised to see Sofia, "Sof. How's life?"

"I helped you take down Medusa for a reason. Not so you could screw up your life, but so that you could find new meaning." Sofia said, "You were a thief and nothing more when we came to you."

"And you were pregnant. We all change." I motioned, "How is the kid?"

"Dhalia is doing great. I miss her."

"Then why are you here?" I asked.

Sofia smiled to me, "David thought you needed someone you felt was on your side." She quickly nudged my shoulder, "And they thought of me."

"Go figure." I said.

"Few people know what you did that night. In fact, about three of us." Sofia said, "I'm thinking that you're starting to forget."

"This is cute and all, but you have a family. A husband, a Dhalia...probably even a dog by now. They need you." I gestured around, "If you haven't heard, I'm living high off the hog."

"They told me about your apartment. And Medusa's back. That can't be easy on you." Sofia said softly, "It brings back memories of that night, doesn't it?"

"Peeing brings back memories of that night." I said, "Look, I understand, you've got a BA in psychology or something, but don't psychoanalyze me. We're better than that."

She chuckled, "Aliens are coming to Earth...didn't that make you want to help?" she asked.

"You believe this whole 'alien' thing?" I asked.

"You don't?" Sofia asked, "After everything we've seen, you don't believe?"

"In aliens? Not really." I said quickly, "If Medusa's back, it's not long until there is a war so I figure if I stick around long enough, I'll get to see some action."

"You don't like action. You're stealth and cunning. Why are you really here?" She asked.

"Atonement. Redemption. And because he asked me." I said quickly.

She smiled at me with a knowing smile.

"Don't smile at me." I said quickly, "Before I did all this, he was my friend. I owe him and his mother this."

"Are you going soft?"

"I don't know, ask your husband." I chuckled, "You need to protect your family, to be with them. Medusa's not going to stop at just me, they're going after everyone who had a hand in it. I'd say bring them here."

She looked at me with fascination, "This whole self-less thing you're doing is really attractive on you."

"Don't get used to it. I just can't imagine where I'd be without a mother." I replied, "I mean, I'd still be stealing but I'd be so much more messed up."

"How could you get anymore messed up?" She asked.

"I could murder for fun." I shrugged.

# Chapter 5: Riots

I found myself back in the room with the oval table again. We all around the table, looking at each other. It wasn't the friendliest table to be at. We were waiting for Dana and Anderson. The calm of the room wasn't necessarily the best thing in the world. It was more like the eye of a hurricane. I noticed quickly that David was absent. I wondered if he would come with Dana and Anderson. I then frowned to myself when I realized that I was wondering about something that wasn't my business. We all had lives outside of this. Well, they did. All I did was work. And there was the added fact that I couldn't exactly leave the tower. It was like the tower was sanctuary or something. I was glad to have refuge from the many dangers. I could have used this two years ago. It wasn't too long before Dana and Anderson walked in with very stern looks on their faces. I'd been waiting for this; the start of everything. I was going out of my mind here.

"We've assembled this team, as you know, to combat terrorists against our nation." Anderson said, "Against anyone who threatens our world. Anyone or anything."

"Especially cute little smushy aliens?" Harrison joked.

"Have you seen Cersai?" Dana asked, "I can assure you there is no smush to them."

"You have?" I asked.

"Yes." Anderson said, "And you will soon too."

"How soon?" Electra asked, "They are not of this world."

"If I recall, neither are you, darlin'." Birkoff smiled.

I could see frustration and anger on Harrison's face. It was the first flicker of anger I'd seen from him. It was nice to see someone else off their game. I quickly looked back to Dana and Anderson.

"That is different. I am the daughter of a God." She frowned, "It's not the same."

"You can expect to see a Cersai tomorrow. It's classified and as such takes time to authorize security measures. If this gets out, the world shuts down."

"When you say...shut down..." Sofia asked.

"Everybody running around like chickens with their heads cut off." Birkoff frowned, "Not a pretty sight."

"Mass chaos?" Doctor Kinsler asked, "An interesting notion. Chaos on a global scale could be..."

"More than disastrous." Dana said, "If it were ever to get out that this invasion was about to occur, the panic in the street might be more dangerous than anything Medusa could do."

"Thus the importance of security measures." Anderson smirked, "The world is about to change in a monumental way."

"Like the existence of aliens?" I asked, "I mean heroes...aliens were pretty much a given, right?"

"We've already begun preparing for the fallout of this event." Dana said, "We handle one crisis at a time."

"Along with the emergence of superheroes, there are people who want to be equal but opposite of us. They strive to cause this chaos, to rule the world they think is theirs. I believe that these people have been conspiring with the aliens, maybe even bringing them here." Anderson frowned.

Something snapped in my mind and I quickly said, "Medusa." Without even thinking.

"Yes." Dana said, "They are the USA's biggest threat, but you won't find them in history books or on the news. Key funders of Medusa come from all around the world, but the most prominent founders come from a little closer to home."

"How do you know this?" Electra asked.

"Because her family is one of the top investors." I frowned.

There was an audible silence as everyone's eyes snapped to her. The only ones who weren't surprised were Anderson, Sofia and I.

"Alert! Colonel Anderson, Dana Samis, there is an emergency at the Samis Corp. rally."

"Who in the Hell is that?" I asked.

"ACI." Anderson said, "Advanced Computing Intelligence. Sort of like Siri, except more human."

"What's the emergency?" Dana asked softly.

"There is a riot of sorts. David is under attack." ACI said quickly.

"What?" Dana and I said simultaneously.

"His identity has been revealed." ACI continued.

We all looked at each other, not sure what to say or do. ACI brought up a screen showing David giving a speech about the company he jumped from behind the podium as bullet whizzed past his head. I heard a gasp from Dana and couldn't imagine what she was feeling.

"How long ago?" I asked.

"A few seconds, I have been monitoring the situation." ACI said.

"Alert the drivers that we're sending a team." Anderson said quickly, "Suit up."

Everyone nodded and moved out of the door. I was walking when Dana grabbed my arm, turning me. She looked to be searching for the words. I didn't need her to say them.

"I'm not going to let anything happen to him." I said quickly.

"You do and I'll never forgive you." Dana said with anger. But behind her anger was terror. I could see it.

"I thought you weren't forgiving me anyways." I said, leaving the room.

  *

My mind raced as I watched building after building pass. After leaving the briefing room, I followed the team to the changing rooms where I found my new suit. This one was pretty much all leather and black like my last one. Down the chest of it, were laces that tied up to tighten it around me. It came with a pec-length jacket. It was much in the vein of what I'd worn before. This jacket, however, had an emblem of a bird of some sort. The boots were knee-length, but tied up in the front, just like the front of suit. The suit felt very _Matrix_ meets _Catwoman_ but it worked for me. My weapons had been restored, or upgraded. My pistols were now black with golden trim and a higher caliber. My Eskrima knives were now made out of a very hard metal. The other little odds and ends, like smoke pellets and the likes had been upgraded as well as some things added. My favorite had to be scrambler. It allowed me to open safes without using a combination. Another favorite was the zip line. It made scaling building much easier, or so I've heard. I also had a rather large knife, which I probably wouldn't use. I felt like a superhero, even if I wasn't one. It kept my mind off thinking about David. It was only about six minutes from the tower, but it felt like it was taking forever to get there. When we finally got there, the police were trying to keep the riot in check but were having little luck. I prepared myself for what was to come, but I had no idea. When we opened the doors and exited the SUVs, the sound was the first thing to catch my attention. The voices of the people were loud and they were all shouting. I stepped out into of the SUV I felt something was off. I took note of the costumes around me. Birkoff's metal suit was orange and blue, as his old costume had been, making him more robot than human. Electra wore a short green skirt with a matching corset and calf-length green and golden boots. Harrison's costume was a close fitting golden bullet proof vest with matching pants and darker calf-length boots encrusted with silver. His bow was also silver and gold. Leif's costume was something more medieval. He had bullet-proof rust-red armor as well as pale blue, durable lycra pants with kneepads grafted onto them. The pads were made of the same metal that his armor was made out of and his boots continued down from them. On his shoulders, he had something only a Norse God would wear, like metal shoulder pads and a flowing cap. I figured that he had embraced his inner Thor. He was the only one besides me that I knew had a weapon, the hammer. Inik, Sofia and Kinsler stayed behind with Dana and Anderson. As the five of us made our way to the front of the unruly mob, I noticed someone was standing onstage. It wasn't a person I'd seen before, but Maksim was at his side, holding David on one knee while guards with guns stood around, making sure the mob stayed a comfortable distance. The person onstage was wearing a Greek ceremonial mask and matching robes with the Medusa insignia on them. It seemed he was waiting for something. I made a move towards the stage but Leif held me back. It was as if the masked man's face saw this and a gurgled voice began to speak.

"Fear not, citizens, for your protectors have come." The masked man said gesturing towards us, "You know them. They've protected you from threat after threat. Spire, Norse, Archer, Leif, and Huma." He gestured to David, "And he, David Samis, is called Marvel."

There was a distant chatter as the wall behind him darkened with a hologram. The hologram showed all of our personal information, including our real names and photos. There were murmurs through the stunned crowd as well as gasps.

The mask man waited until it landed on my photo, "Your protectors are nothing more than murderers and thieves, sometimes both. This is Huma a.k.a Peter Robertson. His was responsible for the death of Steven Samis and the theft of many priceless objects. He is also a spy, a double agent." He said curtly, "Are these the people you want protecting you? What about Mr. Samis here? He aligned himself with a criminal and kept his identity a secret."

"You're not going to get away with this!" David spat.

"Oh, but I am. And I have news that your _protectors_ neglected to share with you: The aliens are coming."

There was a silence as everyone looked to each other. The team stood, watching each other. We weren't sure where we'd go next. Our secrets were being displayed in front of the whole city. It wasn't just these people, this was televised and if we saw it at the tower, imagine how many others saw were watching it now. I was no longer just a thief, I was a criminal. I'd never wanted to pummel someone more than I did now. Leif had relaxed his grip on me and I started to the stage but I noticed the crowd turning to me, whispering and pointing.

"An invasion is coming. And they wanted you to be surprised so that they could be the heroes, but our anti-terrorism group, Medusa, sees through them. We want people to be in control of their own destinies." The masked man said, "We put their fate in your hands." He said, bowing out. He whispered something to Maksim before disappearing.

Behind me, Electra, Leif, and Birkoff took off the ground and flew through the air, after the masked man. The guards began firing at them and the citizens ducked. Taking this time to run, I began running as fast as I could. Maksim saw this and began pressing down and contorting David like a pretzel. I quickly stopped and watched Maksim smile at me. An arrow shot from behind me and Maksim moved to catch it, dropping David. I smirked as I ran as fast as I could, jumping on the backs of crouched citizens, and jumping onto the stage.

"Jig's up." Maksim said with a thick Russian accent, "Now we all know. Make it easy on yourself."

I shrugged, "I'm a hard kind of guy." I jumped into the air, bringing my foot around to meet his face!

He staggered back before spitting out the blood. It was amazing how ethereal he looked. He was a beautiful...human? He couldn't be human. Not entirely. He moved with such speed that he seemed to blur at some points. He quickly moved behind me, grabbing me by the neck. I rolled him off my back and twisted his arms. He quickly, and elegantly, kicked me and knocked me off my balance. He got up with ease and stared at me with an unreadable look on his face. I quickly punched at him, to which he blocked it and bent over, kicking him again. I jumped into the air and he grabbed me slamming me down. I swung my foot around, taking him off his feet and we both stood, pulling out our guns. We both stood slowly, our guns aimed at each other.

"We're evenly matched." He panted.

"Are we?" I asked.

I tried to avoid looking, but David was behind him, again. Maksim looked down very quickly and turned his gun to David and shot him in the arm before turning it back to me. By this time, I had moved closer and spun around his arm into an armbar and taking him off his feet. He crawled to his gun as I put my foot on it.

"You should watch your toys. Might hurt someone." I said angrily. I kicked him in the face and picked up his gun. As I walked over to David, he was applying pressure to the gunshot wound. I quickly placed my hand over the wound and looked at him, "Are you alright?"

"It'll heal." David said with an ample amount of pain, "Medusa's going to pay."

"I think we've got other things to worry about." I said, looking out onto the citizens, "They know."

David sighed, "It'll be okay. You're not a thief anymore."

"You're still a murderer." Maksim said behind me.

I turned to see him standing before me. He didn't even look tired, just a little worn. I put my hand on my Eskrima but he hit me so hard and so fast that I couldn't prepare myself. I was thrown off the stage with such force that I went through the back and skidded across the floor. I slowly stood and limped back to the stage after regaining consciousness. An absorbant amount of time must have passed because it was now twilight. The scene was a mess and everyone was gone. I stepped onto the stage and looked around. I paused and looked around when a light hit me in the face.

"Stop! Peter Robertson, you're under arrest!" A voice called.

I growled in frustration. So much for a team.

# Chapter 6: The Price of Fame

Besides pissed, I felt majorly betrayed. They left me at the rally and anything could have happened to me. The superheroes abandoned me. I was a thief and sort of a murderer and I wouldn't have left them behind. I put it on the backburner of my mind because now I was faced with Agent Zack Landry. He was a curious man in his early thirties, with greying hair and pale blue eyes. His skin was tanned. He had almost caught me many times before. We'd played cat and mouse for years. He was smiling, so I guessed that he was going to try and nail me to the wall. I wouldn't be surprised, not after the rally. My body felt as it had been put through a really large, really powerful strainer. He had me handcuffed to a wooden chair. Their first mistake. Little did he know that he was about to make his second.

"Peter Robertson, also known as Huma. After you disappeared off the map, I thought I'd lost you." Landry smirked as he sat down on the table directly opposite me.

"Awww, did you miss me?" I sneered, struggling under the strain of the handcuffs, "A little tight, don't you think?"

"Not for you." Landry said, obviously fascinated, "I'd never have guessed. I mean, the fiancée of a billionaire is a dirty thief. The best dirty thief. Guess I should have expected as much, but the murdering...Something you never see coming."

I exhaled angrily but then smiled, "You don't know what you're talking about." I frowned.

"You're going away for a long time." He said with a smirk, "They're going to throw you under the jail, where not even your superhero friends can find you."

"Why does it feel like you're taking pleasure in this?" I asked.

"Because I am." He said leaning forward in his chair, "I've been on this planet for years, watching and waiting, seeking out the most capable. I didn't overlook you. I waited for the precise moment."

I searched his face for meaning. I'd narrowly caught the words that he said. He'd been on this planet for years...where had he been before that? And something inside me snapped. I found myself, wide-eyed and staring at him, trying to decide if I should kill him or not. Whether to believe him or not. If he was telling the truth and Dana was right...Everything was about to fall apart in the worst way.

His smirk was never more prominent, "I am the first of many. The end of all you know. You can never hope to understand what I represent." His eyes shone with a purple light before returning to pale blue.

"What are you?" I asked.

"Hadassa. The oldest or the old." He said, "The king of all my subjects, the Cersai. Bringing forth destruction and chaos to worlds born of it."

I was speechless. I'd met him before and to reveal this now seemed like he was dropping a huge bombshell on me.

"I merely want the destruction your people have caused my planet." Hadassa said quickly, "To know the pain of losing something that cannot be replaced."

"And exactly, what is that?" I asked.

"Security. Take that away and we are the most powerful race again." Hadassa said, looking me over, "It's so strange that something so small and useless can be so durable and...brave."

"I take it that's not your natural form." I said tentatively, "What did you lose?"

"My family. They landed here many years ago and your people slaughtered them without just cause." Hadassa said with venom, "Your people slaughter without cause. This caused a battle for power amongst my people. Many lives were lost, friends and loved ones, and none of that can be given back."

"Hey, I'm all for an eye for an eye, but these are different people. They haven't done anything to you. You're about a few decades too late if your people are who I'm thinking of." I said quickly.

"The cruelty goes beyond...You murder each other's young, attack each other in the street, take things that never belonged to you." His eyes, which had been looking around, centered on me, "It is excruciating to watch."

"But you did."

"And I learned. And somehow, I adapted."

"How'd Medusa come into this?" I asked.

He gave a light chuckle before explaining, "I went to them at their weakest. Or they came to me. It shouldn't make sense. Your world is paradoxical and confusing. It shines and glistens but is quick to bring the misfortune back onto itself. Imagine humans waging war on themselves. There is no honor among you. Or there wasn't." He smiled.

"The Superheroes?" I asked, "The emergence...that was you?"

"One of my scientists long ago destroyed the power of humans, took them away through a bioweapon." He said with a more serious face than I'd seen from him, "Your women and children would need protectors from themselves."

"You gave us back our powers, knowing that you wanted revenge? Is that smart? And why don't some of us have powers?" I asked.

"I am many things, but honorless is not one." Hadassa said with a hint of annoyance, "Then there was you. A shining example of why humans needed heroes. To protect them from people like you. People who take and never give. It was you who took the life of an even more corrupt man. You brought down an evil bigger than yourself. Someone with so little morals or power brought down something that took generations to make. When you murdered him, your lover, you undermined everything I assumed about this world."

I stared at him, "You've been here for years? Who's leading your planet?" I asked.

He smiled, "You ask logical questions when you're anything but logical. You dress up in a costume and fight heroes and citizens and on your new kick, you fight villains. Sooner or later, your logic will have to bring you back to what we both know is true: You can't be both, so which are you?"

The question seemed to bring itself back into my mind. I was hesitant to move. His view on us, Earth, as a whole was binding to say the least. It was the negative aspects of us. It wasn't the whole truth. I couldn't help but feel that his words about me were. It was the same thing everyone was saying.

"What are you going to do with me?" I asked, "Jail? You going to force me to join your side?"

"What choice do you possibly have? Your team abandoned you." He said with a voice like silk.

"I won't let you come to my planet and take it." I frowned, "I'm not joining you. I maybe be a thief and a murderer, but I don't betray my race or my world."

His eyes were glassy and looking me over, "Do you know what a Huma is? It's a bird. A phoenix to be precise. A bird that never dies, but is reborn. " he smirked, "I wonder, if I eat you, if you will be reborn within me and I shall never go hungry again. They say birds on this planet are truly delicious."

I began to struggle with the cuffs more blatantly and stopped when I heard his hearty laughter.

"Don't break my furniture, I do hate that."

There was a short, timed explosion as I quickly broke the leg of the chair and spun it around, knocking Hadassa back, "Sorry." I said while breaking the arm of the chair. The cuff was still attached to my wrist and it had cut into me deeply. I walked to the door and turned to see Hadassa with a small cut on his face. Beneath the cut was an orange layer of skin that was reptilian. Before I could move, he jumped into the ceiling, disappearing into the vents. I quickly turned and ran out the door and down the hall. When turning the corner, I bumped into someone who grabbed me, almost shaking me. It was Archer.

"All the superhumans and they send the regular human?" I chuckled.

"We're not normal." Archer said looking me over, "Are you okay?"

"Since you guys left me at the rally?" I asked, "Peachy. Where's the evidence room."

"Here." He smirked, tossing me my holsters and weapons. I smiled to him and he chuckled, "We didn't leave you...okay we did, but we were watching the whole time."

"What?" I asked, "You used me as bait."

"Got what we needed." He frowned, "We knew he wouldn't kill you, not right away."

As we turned a corner, we were confronted by bodies. Archer looked as if he'd already seen it, so I figured that it was his work. I didn't even want to ask how, probably an arrow with sleeping gas or something. There was a loud his above us and I told him to move faster. We rounded another corner where blood and entrails littered the floor. Archer covered his mouth in disgust; this was obviously not one of his jobs. There was a beat as we lowered our guns, looking at the carnage before a rumbling caused us to turn our attention back to the scene and raise our guns once again. I looked at him, signaling him that we should walk forward. We barely took two steps when something giant and orange fell from the ceiling. A giant, scaly orange creature stood before. Landry. Hadassa. The creature had glowing purple eyes attached to a long, vine-like neck and slender body. It's arms gave way for its large claws, both on its feet and on its hands. I chanced a look to Archer, who stood watching the creature in awe. He looked to me, expecting me to share the same fascination. I just shrugged.

A loud growl came from Hadassa, Cersai King, as he warned, "You will not escape me."

I chuckled, "Keep thinking that cupcake." I smirked.

"What is that?" Archer asked, his bow already aimed.

"Meet Detective Landry. Or you could call him, Hadassa, King of the Cersai." I said quickly.

"They look like that?" Archer asked.

I nodded, "They do."

"You could never understand our grace and elegance. To see past your own visions of beauty and splendor!"

"I think he's angry you called him ugly." I scoffed.

Hadassa growled, lunging forward. The good news was that he was angry and no good decisions about fighting come from anger. The bad thing was that he was mad and lunging for me. With the first thing being said, you don't always have to do the smart thing to win a fight. Archer began firing multiple arrows of different consequence. Some of them were normal, but others had grenades and other means to stop a large creature. He roared, pain obviously hitting him but not stopping him. I quickly began firing off rounds before ducking his initial attack. I rolled out of the way and smacked against the wall, barely moving in time to avoid his large hand. Archer pulled a rather large arrow out and shot it with such speed that it whizzed through the air and stuck into the creature's side! Hadassa roared in pain as Archer grabbed me and pulled me towards the door. There was a quick fluctuation before I quickly dove out of the way of the acid he spit. Archer's exposed arms weren't so lucky. The acid clipped him, causing him to stop and groan in pain. Our temporary stop gave Hadassa enough time to catch up with us and he grabbed me, throwing me through a glass window pane. I groaned as I rolled around the broken glass, trying to find the strength to stand. I heard tussling outside the room, apparently an office, and found the strength to roll into an upward position. I pushed myself off the ground and walked to the door, slowly opening it and walking into the hall. It was now that I was worried. I pulled my gun up to me, ready to fire whenever I needed to. There were footsteps and I turned in time to see Archer running forward with Hadassa close behind him. Before he even got to me, I began running to the exit. As I exited the police station with Archer, I was made aware the world, in those few hours, had changed. People were looting and rioting on the streets. It was a riot scene. It looked like the end of the world. I turned to Archer, who nodded for me to follow him. His gaze past me and went to the police station and I turned to look with him. The whole front of the police station was rumbling before the whole wall flew off! Hadassa, in his alien form, stood at the opening of the police screeching into the air.

I looked to Archer, "What's going on?" I asked.

"It's time. We've run out of time." Archer frowned, looking to the sky.

I looked up too. It was as if his screeching was tearing the sky apart and bursts of lights shoot through the sky like lightning! The chaotic people on the street stopped and looked up to the sky, in as much shock as we were. I gasped, trying to discern if my eyes were seeing things or if little dots were moving towards us. I looked to Archer, who strapped his bow to his back and grabbed my hand, leading down the street. It was cold in the city today, even in my leather suit. As we ran, I felt mist hit my face. I put my hand up to my face as we ran and it smudged black. I stopped running and looked back into the sky to see that buildings were on fire. The debris was falling everywhere and I felt like I flashed back to years ago. A young girl was standing across the street with her mother. Her mother was screaming in fear as fiery debris was coming down towards her. Archer saw this too, but I was the first to move. I was swift and cunning, moreso than I could have dreamed. As the time passed, I wasn't sure if I was going to make. The adrenaline was pumping through me...I could feel myself moving in slow motion before I sped up and tackled the girl a second before the debris hit her! The girl yelped and I sighed, looking up. At first, there was nothing...there was something, but I figured it was the adrenaline. As it moved closer, I grabbed the girl and moved out of the way as a desk smashed into the ground and shattered, splintering everywhere. The girl's mother ran to us and hugged her child tightly. She thanked me and ran away. I stood there, thinking about what I'd just done. As I stood, silent, an arrow whizzed by my head and slammed into something rough and hard, but wet. I looked back to see Hadassa was making his way to me and I quickly ran for Archer, who turned to run too. I could hear a roar behind me but didn't turn to look as I ran. Quickly, Archer turned to me and grabbed me, spinning with me as a beam of energy clipped his shoulder! We ducked behind a car and I saw that he was wounded. I quickly applied pressure to it, causing it to smolder. I took my hand away quickly and looked at it. The wound was bluing already and he was panting hard.

I nodded to him, "When I do this, you're going to get to the tower." I said quickly pulling my guns from their holsters.

"What—"

"Trust me. I'll be right behind you." I said seriously.

He studied my face, trying to gauge my seriousness. I stood and aimed my gun over the car at Hadassa, who seemed to be stunned, and began firing. This got his attention. I quickly ran from behind the car and over to a building. I looked up to see that those dots were aliens, coming through some rip in the atmosphere. I smirked when I caught sight of Archer running down the street a few blocks, towards the tower. Hadassa roared again, charging for me. I pulled out my zip line gun and aimed it into the air, shooting. It caught on one of the vehicles that the aliens were riding and I was pulled into the air. I pushed the zip line and began zooming up until I popped over the edge of vehicle. There were two aliens on the vehicle that looked like Hadassa, only smaller. Man-sized. Just my speed. One of the aliens turned to me, speaking in his alien language. I shrugged. What didn't villains get about heroes speaking English? He quickly pulled up a gun, a laser gun. Out of impulse, I pulled a shuriken from my belt and threw it at the alien's head, causing the shuriken to stick into its forehead and it fell off the vehicle. The other slightly turned before yelling in the language and turning back to driving the vehicle. I smirked and pulled out my gun, thinking this would be too easy. I stopped at a roar behind me and turned to see Hadassa flying behind us, his mouth wide open. I groaned before turning back to the alien. I had neglected to watch exactly where we were going. When I saw the tower, my eyes bulged a little and I frowned. They were attacking the tower! I ran over to the alien and punched it in the back of the head, causing it to turn and roar at me, to which I put my gun in its mouth and pulled the trigger. The gun exploded as pieces of his head splattered everywhere. I quickly grabbed the controls, trying to figure them out. They were, of course, alien to me. Cersai to be exact. The vehicle was slowing down and Hadassa's mouth was getting closer and closer to me and the vehicle. I quickly started punching buttons until I hit one that jettisoned me forward. I grabbed onto the pad used to steer the contraption and pressed my palm against it, not fully knowing what would happen. Nothing. I pushed my hand to the right with frustration and the vehicle jerked right. I smiled to myself and pressed the button to speed up again and soon I was over the tower, where helicopters were battling off the aliens. I could see some of the team in action, some in the air, some on the roof. I looked behind me as I heard another roar and when I looked back there was a helicopter in front of me, ready to fire. I cursed loudly as I jumped off the vehicle and spread my wings, per say, gliding downward. I heard the explosion but didn't look back up, there was no time because when I hit the roof, and I rolled and tumbled to a stop.

  *

I rolled over onto my side, watching the alien vehicles race away from the helicopters and the heroes. I could hear a roar in the distance. Hadassa. I could see Inik and Colonel Anderson, along with other agents, firing at aliens. Some fell from their vehicles and others fired back. I looked to Archer, who was shooting off arrows quickly, but slowly for him. I tried my best to pull myself up, to continue forward, but I wasn't fully healed from any of the other assaults on my body. I reinjured my arm. It didn't cause the reaction one might expect. It pissed me off. I used my good hand to push myself up and off the ground. Dana helped me up, to my surprise, and I steadied myself. I could see the alien coming, but I doubted that anyone else besides Dana saw it. The alien was coming behind a billboard. I quickly pulled out my guns and began firing away at the vehicle. It was aiming its lasers and I looked to where it was aiming to see David fighting against six of the aliens at once, oblivious to what awaited him. I suppressed the need to shout out his name, to confuse and distract him, and aimed the gun as clearly as I could with a bad arm. I fired one bullet and it sped through the air like a missile and knocked the alien that was driving off the vehicle. There was a different problem now: the vehicle was still barreling towards us at mach speed! I grabbed Dana by the arm and pulled her off the side of the building as the vehicle crashed into the building, shattering the glass windows and catching fire on the roof. As we began to fall, I quickly pulled out my zip line gun and propelled us to the safety of a window below, but not an open one. We rolled through the broken glass and found ourselves looking at the ceiling. Dana sat up, pulling glass out of her hair while I sat up pulling glass out of my elbow. I needed elbow pads or something. I stood this time, helping her up.

I sighed, "Well, at least we're safe in here." I smiled.

Dana looked at me with agitation. I knew why I just really didn't want her to say it. Before she could, the window on the far side of the door shattered inward as Hadassa landed beside the broken glass. Dana looked unfazed by his appearance while I immediately grabbed my pistols.

"Those won't kill me!" Hadassa cackled.

I nodded, "But they'll hurt." I said quickly firing into him.

He roared in pain as I fired. Dana took the time to walk over to the desk and press a button. The building began to shut down, the windows sealed themselves and Hadassa looked just as surprised as I did. I stopped shooting and looked to Dana, who smirked. Her plan was now obvious to me. Trap us in here. But what about the outside world? There was an alien attack going on.

"Precisely, without someone to lead them, how far do you think they'll get?" Dana asked.

I cursed her empathic nature, "World domination?" I asked.

"Without him, they will retreat back to their home planet." Dana explained, "Without him, their plan is null and void."

"I thought this was a team? Why am I always bait?" I asked.

"Force of habit?" Dana asked.

Hadassa's screeching filled the room as a tendril protruded from his chest and knocked me back against the wall! From the floor, I looked up to see Dana standing in front of Hadassa. His screeching didn't seem to affect her. She only moved when one of his tendrils grabbed her by the throat. I screamed out her name and got to my feet in time to see a shield fly through the air and slice the tendril, causing Dana to drop to the floor, panting and coughing. I didn't even have to look to the door, instead I grabbed my Eskrima sticks and launched myself forward at Hadassa. He was quicker than me, however, and sidestepped my attack, running right into David's attack, which consisted of punches that would have shattered a punching bag. I threw myself forward, flipping over a tendril and doing a back-flip to kick the monster. I was inches from him when a shockwave sent both, David and I, rushing backwards and skidding to a stop. I got to my feet within seconds, but saw that he was out of the room. He'd gone.

David walked over to the wall, where his shield was stuck, and pulled it out with ease, "Where'd he go?" he asked turning to us.

Dana looked over confident, "He can't have gotten far, can he?" she asked.

I frowned at her, "You should really be more worried about the alien roaming around where we store our information." I quickly looked to the door, "He's like a bulldozer."

"Here," Dana said walking to the wall and throwing a kitana to me, "Pure Alta metal. Made from the alien material Ishara, of the Attilian race."

"There's other aliens?" I asked.

"Many." Dana said, "Now find him. Dispose of him, if you can."

I looked to David, who nodded. I was immediately angered by their secrecy. I shook it off and headed into the hallway, which looked like an actual bulldozer tried to make its way through them. You would have thought the inside of the tower would have been the main place of attack. The ceiling lights were hanging out of their sockets, the walls were scratched and bent, and there was a trail of slime down the hallway.

"Guess we don't have to try and guess where he went." David said, standing beside me. I ignored him and walked down the hall. He pushed forward, walking with me, "I know, but the plan was need-to-know and so was the alien information."

"You used me as bait." I frowned as I walked, "I thought..."

"What? You thought what?" He asked.

"Nothing." I said coldly.

"You thought we'd get back to that place? We'd be back there like neither of us remembers anything." His voice was stern, "We're teammates. The best we can try for is..."

"I don't think I can be your friend." There a thud up ahead. I stopped and looked to him, "The alien race wins or loses and I'm out of your little superhero club. I don't fit and being this close to you is—"

"Painful."

I stared at him again. It wasn't hard to see that his uneasiness around me was more than bad history. It was becoming ever more evident to me that I wasn't mean for this team. I wasn't meant to save the world and I wasn't meant to play second fiddle to someone's destiny as a hero. As long as I'd known him, he'd been a hero. There was no changing that. He needed someone just as heroic, just as good as him and that wasn't me. Without words, I turned to the sound of the noise and raised my kitana, ready to fight whatever was up ahead. David readied himself with his shield and some kind of gun, maybe a tranquilizer. I quickly moved to the corner and noticed that this slime had led us to a cylindrical room made with hard, cold metal. The room felt dissimilar to the rest of the rest of the tower, even colder than Cypress' laboratory, if possible. The moment I stepped into the room, I was overcome with a sense of dread. There wasn't a fiber of me that wanted to stay. The slime trail stopped at the center of room, but I could see footsteps stopping at the wall. David saw them too and took point. He walked over to the wall and placed his hands on it, then his ear, as if he was listening for something. Vibration. I stood a few feet away, trying to process the room. I stared around at the metallic walls, trying to find an inch of this place that didn't severely creep me out. I didn't see it, but there was a snap and the wall began rising. I was shocked at what I saw behind the wall. David stood amazed, too. He dropped his shield, not taking his eyes off the sight. Hadassa, in his human form, stood in front of a glass tube filled with water and the body of Steven Samis. Steven was nude except for some kind of underwear. Within seconds of us seeing this, Hadassa turned and Steven's eyes popped open. Shock. It was all I could feel. I couldn't move, I couldn't speak...I could only feel. The tube began to shake and rumble as the metal peeled off the walls and shot in crisscrossing patterns through the tube. The glass shattered and the water quickly drained as Steven hovered above it. He quickly descended and stood beside Hadassa, who smiled joyfully. It was then that I saw his chest. It was metal spiraling and moving around, causing a beautiful, albeit disturbing pattern.

"Steven?" David asked, still in shock.

Steven raised his hand, causing the shield to levitate into the air and strike David with such force that it knocked him backwards, into the wall and kept him there above the floor.

"Steven!" Dana's voice came from behind me, "What are you doing?"

Steven looked at his mother, unshaken, "Hello mother." He said in a dark voice, unlike him.

"You must stop this! He's your brother!" Dana shouted.

Steven cackled, "No. He's not." His eyes fell on me, causing me more trauma than I welcomed, "Well, it's been far too long. I missed you. Come give us a kiss."

I took a step back. My shock was almost palpable. I could feel darkness radiating from him, a subtle anger just below his surface. I wasn't sure if I was more bewildered or scared. After all, I thought I killed him a long time ago. To see him in the flesh and blood...and my mind couldn't wander too far, not with him standing in front of me with telekinetic powers.

His gaze shifted to David, then back to me, "You haven't been a naughty boy have you? Gays." He smirked.

"You can't be alive. I—"

"Killed me? Yes, I remember. That one hurt." Steven said, "I've had a year and a half to think about it, stuck in this damn tube while they tried to keep me alive, make me respond. It seemed like an eternity. Could drive a sane man mad, but of course, I was never sane, was I?"

"I didn't have a choice." I said softly.

"There's always a choice. You chose wrong, but I forgive you. After all, you're just a thief." Steven said, "It was hell keeping my little secret. Being in two places at once."

"Two places at once?" Dana asked with the first sign of shock, "How..."

"Magic, mother, magic." Steven smirked.

"We have to go." Hadassa said, "The final stage approaches."

"You're not leaving." Dana said angrily, "These windows are..."

"Metal?" Steven asked wistfully. His eyes again found me, "You could always come with me."

I just stared at him. I'd loved the man. I'd also watched him die. To see him in front of me, giving me a real choice was something I couldn't really deal with. I looked away from him, at the ground.

Steven chuckled, "You'll come around." He said, whipping his hands toward the metal-covered window. It rumbled, like the tube, before breaking off the entire window, letting the sight of the charred city come into view. He walked over to the hole, "Beautiful." He said, turning to us, "Medusa...forever." He said, jumping onto the floating metal window and floating away. Hadassa jumped out of the window, converting into his alien form and flew out beside him. David and his shield fell from the wall and I turned to look at Dana, who looked away from my eyes. I threw the kitana at her feet, sweeping past her.

  *

I found myself at the Harper Hilden Cemetery. It was where they buried all the businessmen and politicians. The whole world was going to Hell and I was standing before what I assumed was an empty grave. There were still bits of cinder and ash falling from the red sky, but the beauty was lost on me. Beauty was gone. I should be happy that I didn't kill Steven. It was my biggest accomplishment and my biggest failure and I couldn't figure out which was the biggest. This erased that. I hadn't killed him, I hadn't saved the world. But I also hadn't become the murderer I thought I was. I wasn't a hero or a villain anymore, I was just another crook again. I breathed a sigh of relief.

"All the chaos and you come here?" Dana's voice asked.

It was the voice I least wanted to hear in the whole world. I could kill her right here and now for what she did. She lied. She made me think I'd killed her son when I didn't and she'd made my life harder than it should be. I joined her team to save the world and she'd used me since the beginning. Hadassa may be a monster, but at least he knows he's a monster. Dana was the monster you never feared because she was just a bureaucrat, an Upper East Side princess. It never dawned on me that after redemption, or while in redemption, you never really change. Some people can't change. She's a bitch, a true blue bitch and she has so many secrets. I didn't care to know any more of them. I didn't care to look at her.

"To lose a child..."

"Shut up." I said coldly.

"What?" came an appalled question.

"You just lie and lie and then you want people to feel sorry for you. I don't." I chuckled angrily, "You kept this from us. You kept this important fact from us!"

"I didn't have a choice." Dana said, "If they...if anyone knew..."

"I can understand a mother wanting to keep her son alive. I can even understand some of the secrecy, but I'm the closet person to him. You made me feel like a criminal for killing him." I said through gritted teeth.

"But you are a criminal."

"Not for murder. You made me feel like I was soulless and downright bad for something I didn't do." I whipped around at her, "Even if I had killed him, it wasn't my fault. It was never my fault, it was yours."

She looked as if she was about to show actual emotion. Then she was about to speak.

"You brought him to Medusa. You raised him to be that man. My love made him a better man...your love made him a monster." I said quickly, "And I can't blame him because you're a monster and how else could he be?"

"Perhaps. But that's not relevant. He's gone rogue. He's become head of Medusa and is causing all of this!" Dana said, gesturing at the city, "It doesn't matter if he died or not, you tried to kill him."

"If I had, if you would have let go, we wouldn't be standing in the ruins of our city, awaiting an alien invasion." I chuckled angrily, "You have all this wealth and power and brains but underneath it all you're insecure and frankly, stupid."

"I am sorry for everything I've done, but my faults can be dealt with later." Dana frowned, "The world is more important than this."

"I'm just a criminal." I said, turning back to the headstone, "If the world mattered to me, if any of this mattered to me, wouldn't I be trying to save it right now?"

"You do not fool me. You're a good criminal," she said quickly, "But you are a great superhero."

She was right. I am a good criminal. The question was obvious: Did I want to be a great superhero? Was I really cut out for that? I'd never thought so before, what changed now? Why, all of a sudden, did everything seem so unclear? As much as I hated to admit it, she was right. I did care. I cared very much. I didn't want to see the world end in fire. But how badly did I want to see it continue? All the lies you tell yourself just to wake up, just to go on...and when you're confront with the truth...it's never how you envision it. These lies kept us alive. But I couldn't lie about this. I couldn't lie to myself about saving the world. This was too important. I found myself wondering who is possessing my thoughts. I'm not a guy hung up on saving the world, that's David's thing. But I wasn't a guy that was going to stand by and let this happen. Crap! I'm the bad guy with a heart of gold. So much wrong with that.

"Where do we start? Can we even still save the world?" I asked.

Dana cleared her throat, "The team. You've faced my son before, but they haven't."

"The team doesn't even like me." I said with an unbelieving clutter in my voice.

"That may be true," Dana said clearly, "But they need you."

"Why didn't you say anything? He was a bastard and a dick but I loved him." I said, "I killed him to save him."

"Exactly. You don't know a mother's love." Dana said, "It's stronger than that, it drives you to do things that you know you shouldn't do."

I stared at her.

"My husband, God rest his soul, was a good man. He fell to his dark side during the end of his life, he backed Medusa. Loving him, I went along with him. I loved him with my whole heart and I would have followed him into the depths of Hell." Dana stopped with a bated breath. She quickly regained herself, "David was never like my husband. He is good and honorable. Steven is honorable but there's always been darkness to him. The fact that he loved you...never quite struck me. It didn't register. Not until..."

I coughed at the ash falling, "What exactly is the plan?" I asked.

"We save him."

I chuckled, "You think he wants to be saved? I want to save him badly, but I know the only way is to—"

"If it comes to that, I will help you. But we need to reach him." Dana said solemnly.

# Chapter 5: Hunting Ghosts

Dana and I walked back into the briefing room, noticing that a briefing was already going on. Anderson stood with another woman who was shades younger than Anderson and Dana, but properly older than the rest of us, barring Birkoff and Inik. She was a short, average woman with long raven hair and imperceptive green eyes. I immediately sensed her "no non-sense" attitude and wondered who she was. She was dressed in a blue suit, not unlike Anderson's. The rest of the group was gathered around the table. Their costumed looked as if they had been the worst of the exchange. They looked to me as I walked in; David stood, probably trying to assess my mood. I avoided his gaze and stared at the woman, who looked just as disappointed as I felt. She seemed to be looking to Dana now, with an emotion just shy of contempt. While avoiding the awkward situation, I took notice of the cityscape tonight. Fire and darkness had split the world in half.

"I thought he'd run away, left the team." The woman said with utter contempt. She turned fully and walked over to me, "I was getting a little tired of harboring a known felon."

"He's not really a felon anymore." I said quickly. She looked at me with disbelieving eyes, "The person I killed, not really dead."

She scoffed, "But you're still a thief." She said.

I folded my arms, "Who are you again?" I asked.

"Orita Coronas." She said quickly. There was some odd twitch in her eye which I was sure only she noticed, "My status is none of your business at this point."

"Because I'm not a real superhero?" I smirked.

"Because it's not time for you to." Orita frowned. She turned back to Anderson, "These are the people who protect us? Well, now I see how the Cersai kicked our asses."

There were murmurs around the table, objections to her statement. We hadn't done such a crappy job, considering it was our first time out and we weren't expecting a full-on invasion. I had questions. I had stuff to say. Her flippant attitude towards us spun me for a loop. It took a minute before I regained any sense of what I should say.

"We did our best and we fought like Hell." David frowned, "How were we supposed to know that an alien invasion would take place?"

"You should always be ready for that to happen." Orita said coldly. She looked around the table and back to me, "We don't have time for weak performances!"

"Performances? Lady, we're fighting for our lives." Birkoff said angrily.

"You're not doing it well." Orita spat. She turned to Dana, "I knew we shouldn't have trusted you. You used our tech to keep the head of Medusa alive."

Dana looked at her with just as much contempt, "He's my son. I would die for him." She said.

"Lot of good that does the world." Orita said harshly, "Your son is a criminal!"

"Hey, you can't talk to her like that!" David said furiously.

Orita looked taken aback, "I think I can. She just let one of the most dangerous criminals back into the world!"

"He's not a criminal." I said quickly. I found her icy gaze, as well as the rest of the team's gaze, on me. I fidgeted for a second before continuing, "I don't know what Medusa did to him, but that's not him."

"What do you know about not being a criminal?"

"I know him." I said angrily, "I know him more than anyone in this room." I looked to Dana, then back to Orita, "You can't just label someone a criminal or a hero! The world's not that black and white. You can come in and be a bitch to us all you want, but the truth is, we spared a lot of people's lives. In all the fighting, I didn't see one inch of you fighting."

Orita's eyes flashed with anger, and then her mouth began to move, "The world is black and white. The grey area is for bad people who've just found out they're bad and want people to feel sorry for them. He's a criminal. It's who he is. Whether they made him a criminal or if he was born one, like you, he is what he is." She frowned at me, "And as far as not fighting...you don't see anything your mind won't let you see. For the last six hours, I've been fighting."

Electra chuckled, "Fighting what? Against or for us?" she asked.

"Why would you ask that?" Orita asked, "What are you insinuating?"

"We're here, fighting for the world and you're here berating us for not giving more than we have to give. We're giving all of ourselves and more." Harrison frowned. I noticed that a scar was forming on his arm and it looked to be getting worse, "You don't get to pass judgment on us, not unless you save the world at least once."

"Verely!" Leif added, "Some of us are but mortal. Our validity is not in question."

"Insubordinate." Orita said with disbelief, "You do know that I'm of a higher rank than you. That I could have this little trick and pony show pulled."

"You don't have that authority." Dana said quickly.

"You'd be surprised." Orita smiled, "Get this together. Or I swear by the hear on _Thor_ 's chinny chin chin that I will shut you down." She said, leaving.

Dr. Kinser coughed, "I like her. I think she brings that white girl attitude." He joked.

"I think she brings the bitch." Electra frowned. She looked to me, "How are you doing?"

"Not sure." I nodded. I walked over to the table and stood before them, "Look, I know you share her sentiment about me being a criminal. Even I share it. But the facts are that I was fighting side-by-side with you, helping and risking my life to save the world right along with you. I wasn't lying when I said I knew Steven better than anyone. Given, that was before Medusa opened up his inner crazy, but I know he isn't evil...immoral, yes. Evil, no."

"He's been running Medusa from under our feet." Birkoff said quickly, "I don't care about his immorality or your feelings for him. I could give two shits. I want him dead."

Dana walked forward, "We're not killing him. We do not seek to destroy him, only bring him back." She quickly looked over to Anderson, "He's more valuable to us alive. We can do something about him."

"What if there ain't a way?" Anderson asked stoically.

"There's always a way." Dana said.

"Did you see him? Exactly which one of us is going to take him and that big alien down?" Kinser asked.

David walked to his mother, "I'm his brother. I need to be there to either help him or destroy him." He said dutifully.

I looked between them, "We need to take them on. His 'family' unit. He won't be alone. The rest of you need to do what you can to stop the invasion." I said quickly.

"Who died and made you leader?" Birkoff asked.

"He's right," David agreed, "Familiarity is key to our winning."

"He almost destroyed the world last time, he scarred more than half of us, and the bastard killed my partner. I have no plans on letting him live." Birkoff said with a dry growl. He watched Dana's reaction, "I get that he's your son, but he's a lunatic now."

I could feel Dana's heart breaking just from standing beside her. David's hands were clenched into a fist. I felt as if I should feel more...as if I should be more disgusted or sadder. The only thing I could feel was confusion. Nothing I'd come to believe about myself or the world was true. My world wasn't exactly steady before, but now...aliens and heroes and resurrection...For some odd reason I couldn't really find my voice. It seemed lost now.

Birkoff quickly stood, staring at me, "Looks like you're not a murderer like we thought. You didn't kill your fiancée because he's a murdering psychopath. You saved the world." He said.

David's anger was apparent without any speech, "Shut up! Don't you ever talk about him like that again!" he frowned.

Birkoff smirked and walked over to David, "Look at the boy scout, getting all mad about his psycho brother." The sound of his voice oozed disgust and distaste.

Within seconds, David was on top of Birkoff, punching him. It all happened so fast: the initialization of Birkoff's suit, the two of them flying into the wall, the fight bouncing them around the room! The other team members were up, watching the fight, and trying to react fast enough to stop the fight. When the two broke apart and when spiraling their separate ways, David rolled over and took his shield in his hand. He quickly propelled the shield at Birkoff, who raised his metal arm and knocked it backwards! I bounced off the golden walls and I ducked as quickly as I could to avoid it, but a fraction of my head was clipped, knocking me to the floor.

  *

I awoke to the smell of cleaning products and an underlying sound of fighting. It threw me back into many nights since I'd grown up. I sat up quickly, looking around the ornate room, almost blinded by the golds and silvers that were being kissed by the red sky outside. It was nearly dark again. While I'd lived for so long in the darkness, I couldn't help but feel that the darkness would swallow me. I quickly slid off the bed, a little less gracefully than my usual self and wobbly stood. I could feel warmth on my head and I reached up to feel the bandage. The shield. I could hear voices outside the door, arguing about something. I didn't much care about what. I was trying not to barf all over the floor. As my head began to calm, I heard a rush of footsteps and a voice, Ebella, the receptionist saying something is happening in the lobby. I hear the footsteps run away, leaving me alone. I walked over to the nurse's station and sit, trying to bring up the feed from the lobby. I tune in in time to see the team standing, facing a lone man, who was surrounded by guards. The other workers watched on as the madness continued, as did I. There was no audio, I just watched. I wondered what the man was doing. He was a regular guy, could have been anyone walking down the street. It took a few minutes before I noticed he was holding something, a canister. Before my eyes, he lifted the canister over his head and with one small, graceful sweep, he sparked a flame, setting himself on fire! The fire spread so fast that I would have sworn it was some sort of magic. The man did not scream and he not flail, he merely fell to the ground, crisping in front of us. I let out an audible gasp, turning from the screen. I stood from the chair and backed away from the screen.

"Overkill?"

I turned to see Maksim standing at the doors. I stared at him, his eyes calmer than anyone's in the whole building. The disgust must have registered because he smirked and tilted his head to me.

"But tell Steven that...you know him." Maksim said quickly, "It was easy to get in here...might want to check that security."

"You bastard." I spat. I walked toward him but he put his hand up, causing me to stop, "You're stupid for coming here because there's no way I'm leaving."

"Correction." He smirked, "I'm going and so are you, kitty cat. You see that fire, that poor man? In just a matter of seconds, he's going to explode."

I stared at him, plagued by the thoughts and repercussions of these next few seconds.

"There are men just around the corner, waiting for an explosion to march right in and begin killing all your friends very slowly." Maksim said. He was no longer smiling and there was something in the way he was staring at me, sort of imploring me to do as he was told. I took a look back at the screen, then made my decision.

"If I just disappear, they'll look for me." I frowned. I sighed, "Find me in an hour."

Maksim nodded, "You do know that if you don't come...he'll come in my place." He said.

Maksim smirked and disappeared through the door, leaving me to catch my breath.

  *

"Breathe." A cool, husky voice said into my ear. My eyes are already closed, my breath shallow. I can feel him walk around me, I can smell his cologne as he moves brusquely by me. Vaughn, my oldest friend now and mentor, walked around me, testing me again. I must admit that he liked to push me to my limits. He is one of the best burglars I've ever met. He was gorgeous, too, which seemed to escape me most days. He was older than me, a little scruffy and had short, orangish-red hair. He was classically handsome from the bridge of his nose to the dimples. His eyes were penetrating and deep, soulful even. He had this who _Kevin Mckidd_ thing going on. I sighed, annoyed by the thought of him, "To see with only your eyes is to be blind to everything else that's there."

"We've been at this for hours, Confucius. I thought they're be some cat burlaring." I frowned.

"Great thief, lousy with patience though." Vaughn said with a sideways smirk, "I've been at this for years...You'd do well to learn to listen."

I smirked as I opened my eyes, "That would me like ignoring everything I am." I shrugged, "Besides, I'm your sense of entertainment."

He sighed, "Entertainment? Why couldn't you be a hero?" he asked.

I paused, turning to him. I guess my face conveyed my confusion, "Nobody wants to be the hero. That's boring and, on the whole, too much work." I smirked.

"Perhaps its deeper than that." He smiled.

"What, oh what, do you mean?" I asked. I looked around at the apartment and notice how run-down it is. Of course he doesn't live here, but it's one of the places where he stores his weapons in case he has to make a quick escape. I learned that from him, to always be ready to go. He'd told me that he'd once lived here, back when it wasn't such a dump and when the place wasn't damn near condemned. He remembered the docile greens and the vibrant blues that decorated the then ornate apartment. But like everything and everyone else in the neighborhood, it had rotted and decayed under the filth of this part of the metropolis, "I should get home." I frowned, standing.

Vaughn nodded, "Do you want me to walk you?" he asked.

I shook my head, "No, it's fine." I smiled walking to the door.

"It's a dangerous city." He said, causing me to stop, "You're walking into the heart of it."

"As romantic as that is, I can handle myself." I smiled. He chortled, "Besides, I'll just pull out the villain card and show them." I turned and walked out of the door, into the hallway and descending the stairs. As I entered the cold air of the city, I felt as if his words were beginning to have some sort of effect on me. I could never be a hero though, it wasn't part of my nature and I just wouldn't be any good at it. Now stealing, that was the thing I was good at. It was what I'd come to know. Before the existence of heroes was known, I would have never thought of becoming a thief. Now it felt as in my nature as anything I'd ever done. My thoughts, as I walked, swirled with questions of if I was doing the right thing. My questions quickly turned to resolve. As I passed house after house, my resolve continued to build. Thinking about all this poverty while the less noble men lived in Penthouses rubbed me the wrong way. To see such injustice...I found myself looking around at the crack dealers and prostitutes and all the crime going on; taxis rarely stopped here, knowing what could happen if they did. I paused as I passed an alley. Through the darkness, I could make out three shadows. People walked past, as if they couldn't or wouldn't see what was happening. Looking back, I could have never left the scene with helping. As I walked closer into the alley, I noticed that a young teen was standing in front of two men, two typically suped-up thugs. Wifebeaters, tattoos all over, snapback hats...flashbacks to the guys I had dated. One was Caucasian and the other was Puerto Rican. I frowned to myself and they turned to me, eyeing me.

"What do you want, pendejo?!" The Puerto Rican thug said quickly, staring at me.

"Please, help me!" A teenage boy said. The boy was barefoot. I had seen him around and his name was Maurice. He was known as " _Whedontown Homo_ " and brutally picked on for his flamboyant nature. I could easily decipher what this was about. They wanted his shoes, but also something else.

"This don't concern you!" The Caucasian thug drawled.

I smirked, "No, It doesn't." I frowned, "Take a hike, kid."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, you're not running things." The Puerto Rican thug frowned. He withdrew a large knife, "Guess we're just going to have to settle for two. Pick the one you want, amigo."

"I wouldn't get too comfy with that knife." I said.

The Caucasian thug chuckled, "Walk away and we won't treat you the same way we're about to treat this faggot." He said with a serious tone.

"I like it when thugs talk dirty...makes me all warm." I smirked, "But don't talk that way in front of the kid...he's very impressionable."

Their eyes snapped to me. The realization hit them and I smiled to myself. It crossed my mind to ask myself why I was doing this...I wasn't a hero. I'm a thief and what's more, I was starting to think that maybe this was a mistake. Not that I couldn't take these guys, but it wasn't my job or my calling to save anybody.

"So, you're a fag too? This should be fun." The Caucasian thug purred, "Never had me a black boy. I think I'll fuck the gay out of you."

"Your dick will never be big enough, but I do agree about fun." I said quickly.

His face contorted into anger and humiliation. He pulled out his own knife and advance towards me. Both thugs did. With more grace than one cat burglar should have, I whipped around him as he lunged forward, kicking him into the wall as I flipped over the Puerto Rican's knife. In his surprise, I backhanded the knife from his hand and pushed my palm forward, most likely breaking his nose. As he stumbled back, the Caucasian thug's fist came at me again. I leaned back, grabbing the fist and sending it into the opposite wall! I heard his whole hand crack against the wall and turned to the Puerto Rican in time to grab his fist and sweep him off his feet, punching him as he hit the ground. I walked over to the kid, who seemed to be shivering and watched the thugs running away from the alley like scolded dogs. Maurice's breathing slowed to a normal pace and I rolled my eyes.

"This the point where I say thank you?" Maurice asked snidely. I smirked, there was hope for this kid yet, "Look thanks but getting gangbanged by two very attractive thugs is..."

"Rape. Statutory if I'm not mistaken." I smirked. In this light he seemed so young, "Besides, you should have more respect for yourself...they didn't even have guns."

"They will now."

I made a mock pouty face, "Not my issue. Next time you're looking to get gang-raped, wear different shoes." I said, walking away.

# Chapter 6: Pick Your Weapon

I stood at the entrance of the alley, watching the trashcans squeak and move. Normally, I'd be disgusted, but something about this alley made me feel at home. Whedontown was still the same sort of crime infested section it had always been and now it was possibly more dangerous. Somehow I didn't feel as out of place standing her as I should have. People were too distraught about the red sky and the world burning around them to notice me. There was too much fear and paranoia to notice even me.

"The alley where you first sought out heroics."

I shivered at the voice. I looked down, not daring to stare back at the source of the voice.

Steven's lips brushed the back of my neck, "Remember when we knew nothing of each other. How fun it was getting to know each other?" he purred.

"I was supposed to meet Maksim." I frowned.

His husky chuckle chilled me even more, "His failure caused me to come myself." He stood beside me, looking into the alley now.

"You attacked my team."

Steven chuckled, "Your team? You don't do teams, remember?" he asked.

"You almost killed people." I frowned, "Good people. Look, normally I wouldn't give a rat's ass, but..."

"I understand. You're seeing in yourself what I've always seen, what attracts me to you. The goodness." Steven said proudly, "The world will bow to me, wouldn't you like to be on the side that wins?"

I stared him, "No. As much as it pains me to say this, I'd rather be on the side that does the right thing." My eyes traced the scars on his face and I paused at the over-the-moon look on his face, "Medusa did this, not the world. Can't you see that you've changed...you were never squeaky clean but destroying a city?"

"This city has been destroyed for a long time. This whole world...is falling to pieces." Steven said, "And you're trying to save something that is already damned. It is noble...but it is not a smart move."

It was then that I noticed that his guys were surrounding us. His eyes never left me, even as I was realizing this.

"You will come with me, do what we do best...and I let my brother live." Steven said slowly, "At this point, we know I have no qualms about killing him."

"I feel sorry for you." I said just as slowly, "I'm not going to help you destroy anything else."

Steven nodded, "The first invasion will look like a walk through the theme park." He said, "Capture him."

I twirled around, throwing smoke bombs at the ground around me. While his men were dazed, I ran and jumped on the hood of a car, hopping off and onto the neck of one, spinning and taking him to the ground! I crossed the street and began to run as fast as I could when I saw a black van whip around the corner. I stopped and ducked into the alley before spotting a fire escape. I pushed my hand into the air and let my zip line shoot out and snap around the ladder, bringing it down to me. As I was about to crawl up the ladder, someone grabbed me and threw me into the wall opposite the ladder. I groaned as I hit the wall and turned to the person. Steven. I gasped as he grabbed me by the throat, muttering some quip about rough sex, which I ignored as I slipped from his grip. I landed behind him, kicking him in the back and grabbed the ladder, swing from it to kick him in the face. He chuckled and looked back at me as I swung a fist, but missed. He pushed his palm out to me and hit me in the chest, knocking me off my feet as I flew backward and smashed against the chain link fence. I looked up to see him advancing slowly towards me.

"It didn't have to be this way." Steven said softly, his voice conscious not to scare me, "You're not one of them. You're a thief. You're the bad guy."

I picked myself up slowly, staggering to stand, "I'm beyond it." I said breathlessly.

"I've needed you. I've always needed you." Steven's face became a shadow of itself. I felt fear within him, "What's the use of saving the world from itself if you have no one to revel with?"

Without another word, there was a strike of lightning overhead and he looked to the sky, as if he were surprised. I used this opportunity to use the zip line again, this time to take him off his feet! I quickly grabbed the ladder and began to climb as fast as I could, reaching the roof. I ran to the edge of the roof and stopped. I turned back in time to see Steven glide onto the roof and land in front of me. I looked to the edge and took off, full sprint, jumping across the gap. I rolled to a stop and watched as Steven prepared to jump it too. I frowned as he jumped, reaching for any weapon I could but I didn't find anything. To my surprise, a bola shot out from behind me and wrapped around Steven as he crashed to the ground below. I turned quickly to see Vaughn, my former mentor. He was just as I remembered him, if not a bit cleaner. He swept over to me, quickly helping me off the ground. I told him to follow me as we quickly climbed down off the building and we made our way back to the tower.

  *

Vaughn stood at the door while one of the doctors checked me out. His stance told me that he hadn't change, with his arms folded and his face contorted into a smirk. I looked away from him and down at my leg as the doctor dressed the minor scratches. I frowned. I only looked up when Steven came through the door and stood between Vaughn and I. He looked perturbed and somehow I could tell it wasn't just at me. His eyes found Vaughn immediately and a look of pure disdain flashed across his face.

"Where've you been?" Steven asked. He looked to Vaughn, "What's he doing here?!"

"Your brother is more powerful than I thought." I said quickly. Steven looked at me in shock, "Vaughn saved me. I was blackmailed and after I didn't do what he wanted, things got really violent."

Steven nodded and looked to me, "Why'd you go alone?" he asked.

"I didn't have a choice." I frowned.

"All clean." The doctor said, "I've got half the building to attend to." She said, nodding before leaving.

"What's he planning?" Steven asked. He walked over, "Are you okay?"

I nodded, "I'm fine. Ego's a little bruised though." I looked to Vaughn, "Thanks. What were you doing there?"

Vaughn, who'd watched us intently, now pulled himself off the wall and smiled to me, "The whole city's going to Hell...I knew I had to find you. I knew you'd be helping." He said quickly, "I saw you on television. Figured I can help."

"An ex-con and ex-espionage agent?" Steven asked, "You expect us to allow you anywhere near us?"

"Way I see it, you need my help," Vaughn said with a defiant smirk, "You're not going to let pride get between you and justice, are you?"

"If you guys are going to have a pissing contest, can it not be now." I frowned.

"No contest." Vaughn smirked, "I taught you most of what you know. The good stuff anyways."

"Is that what you'd call it?" Steven asked, "Stealing and espionage?"

"It's part of him." Vaughn said, "That's the reason you and him never worked and your brother and him always will."

I looked over and saw Steven's face, "Why is my romantic history the topic of conversation?" I asked.

"It's not! He's fine. You can leave now." Steven barked, "Tell him you're okay."

"I am okay, but we could use his help. He's connected to the streets, he knows things." I said, eliciting an angry gaze from Steven, "Steve..."

"Fine. He's a temporary addition." Steven said turning and leaving.

"Steve!" I said loudly. I closed my eyes and turned back to Vaughn, "He's—"

"Territorial." Vaughn replied with a smirk, "Nothing's changed. It always did surprise me that you even entertained the idea of being with someone so...uptight."

"As opposed to who? Mega-evil man?" I shook my head, "The whole world went to Hell, perfect time to find redemption, huh?"

"Exactly what do you have to be redeemed for?" Vaughn laughed, "Petty theft?"

I smirked in his direction.

"Okay, grand theft, but if the world is going to Hell, you need to learn the lesson you never learned." Vaughn frowned, "You're a good person. You'll never be able to do what they need. It's why you were never a true criminal."

"And what's that?" I asked.

Vaughn sighed, "You're not a murderer. You can't end it. Even when you got the nerve to do it, to save the world, you didn't get it done." He said with what sounded like disappointment.

"You seem pissed for me not killing people."

He shook his head, "I stand in reverence." He said earnestly, "I knew the minute you stepped into my life that you weren't fit as a criminal. I knew what you'd be."

"And what am I?" I asked.

"A hero." Vaughn said with his most serious face. He'd lost his fun energy, "To be working with these heroes, to be brave enough to step foot outside after what happened on the TV makes you a hero."

"How am I supposed to kill him?" I asked, "As you've pointed out, I'm not a murderer."

"Why does it have to be you? You're on a team. You don't have to do it alone." Vaughn smiled. His face brightened, "You...on a team...it's just so bizarre."

"Why are you really here? It's not coincident that you were there." I said quickly. I folded my arms and leaned on the slab, "I didn't want to say it with David in the room, but he's kind of right."

Vaughn nodded, "I don't have a heart of gold, that's true, but I do look after people I care for, no matter how limited they may be." He smirked.

"You're speaking another language...like those kids on _Dawson's Creek_." I said quickly, "You know, in some circles, this conversation wouldn't exist. I wouldn't have to ask you that question."

"It's the reason we couldn't be partners." Vaughn said, "You and those grabby hands."

I stared at him, "Is this it? We're going to ignore everything." I said without a question.

Vaughn lost his signature smirk, "Some people steal the things you never show. That's how I know you're a good thief." He said, his gaze penetrating me.

"Maybe if I didn't have to 'steal' it, I wouldn't have taken it." I said angrily, "You're so frustrating! You're supposed to be older...much older."

Vaughn's eyebrow arched, "Maturity? You just referred to _Dawson's Creek_." His voice was grating and condescending, "Look, don't turn this into an argument. Just don't. I helped you and I didn't have to...I—"

"Don't finish the sentence!" I said quickly, "It taints the whole image I have of you."

He folded his arms and looked to me angrily, "Image? I have an image? Is it bad-ass?" he asked.

"No, it's cowardice."

"You think I'm cowardly?" Vaughn asked.

"Why say this now? What are you trying to get at?" I asked, "Why are you really here."

"I told you—"

I put my hand up, "Stop! I heard you lie once, please tell me the truth." I snapped.

"You think you're the only one who needs redemption?!" He said stoically. I took a step back and pressed myself against the wall, closing my eyes, "I've been contacted to steal something from your group."

I opened my eyes and looked to him, seeing him hold a dart, "What were you going to steal?" I asked.

He fingered the dart, "You." He said, "He wants you, for better or for worse."

"Is it coming down to this?" I asked. He looked at me sardonically, "So, this is what you're going to do? This is why you saved me?"

"The minute I hit him with the bola, I was fired." Vaughn said quickly. He placed the dart on a metal tray and looked up to me, "I've been a caged bird. It's no fun. What he wants to do with you...it isn't what you deserve."

My anger rose and a lump filled my throat, "Wh-wh-why does he—"

"He's going to torture you, to control you. He's going to make you his puppet and he's not going to stop." Vaughn frowned, "I've got minutes until he tracks me, until we're both in trouble. Until this whole building is in trouble. He's dangerous. He wasn't a peach before, but now he's got no morality. The Steven you knew died when you stabbed him."

"They wouldn't attack again." I said softly.

Vaughn shook his head, "Who said they attacked before? That wasn't an attack. That was the beginning. Some of those _agents_ never left. He always has a fallback plan." He frowned.

"Why are you telling me this?" I asked.

"Because if there's one person who can defeat him, team or not, it's not his brother or mother, it's you." Vaughn said, "They won't do what needs to be done. You've proved that you will."

There was another blast and I ducked rubble falling from the ceiling. Vaughn and I looked up at the same time, with severe ambivalence. With a swift motion, he pushed me out of the room as the ceiling fell down in front of us. As I climbed to my feet, I was very much afraid of the world falling down on me. I ran down the hall and ducked into the stairwell, looking up. People were coming down, running past me, and I could see that the floors above us were crumbling. The breaks were about two floors up and my heart jumped into my throat. There was no way I could get down the stairs, much less help everyone get down the stairs. I looked to the railing and pulled my zip-line, wrapping the top around it and clipping the main attachment around my waist, falling over it. As I dropped, I was very aware of the gasps and I had the very distinct feeling of fear as I neared the floor. A few meters above the ground, I flipped myself in an upright position, landing quickly in a kneeled position. I stood, and looked up, pained at the thought that I couldn't save them. The walls around us were crumbling and I stood in awe. I turned and was about to leave through the door to the stairwell when some unseen force knocked me on my ass!

I rolled over and looked at a man in a black leather jacket with a red lightning bolt on it, "I bet you didn't expect this." He smirked.

I stared at him for a second, taking in the sight of him. I'd seen him on the news. He name was Lamb and he was a speedster, which meant that he had the power of super speed. He was lean and tall, though his frame was covered by the leather, both jacket and pants. His hair was pulled back, kept in place by what I assumed to be a boatload of hair gel, and his blonde hair was streaked with red. He had a pair of silver gauntlets on his wrists that looked very familiar.

"You're not so tough." Lamb chortled. He began walking towards me and stopped, "Can't be this easy."

An arrow flew through the air and pierced his arm, causing him to spin to the ground, "You're right, douche." Harrison said weakly. He was pale and his infection had spread up and down his arm, causing a slight pulsation. He walked over and helped me off the ground, "Get out of here."

I nodded and headed for the door. Without warning, I looked up and noticed that the crumbling was getting closer. It caught Harrison's attention, too. I looked back at the scene. Harrison was prepping an arrow when Lamb literally ran through him. I reacted quicker than I thought possible by throwing a series of miniature mines on the ground in front of him. The explosion blew him backwards and I ran past him, helping Harrison out of the room.

As we ran through a corridor, I helped him and he groaned, "I thought I told you—"

"Yeah, yeah. Save it. The tower is coming down." I said as we hobbled along. We took a sharp turn, "Where are the others?"

"Fighting."

"We should help them." I panted. He looked over to me, "You weren't sent just to help me, were you?"

"Cameras. You're a freaking burglar and you don't notice cameras." Harrison chuckled breathily, "We heard everything. They sent me to get you out."

"We have no place to go." I said letting go of his arm. I let go because Steven's guards were coming up the hallway. He wobbled and I took off at a gentle pace before pulling my Eskrima sticks and sliding on my knees, taking out four of them, leaving four. I put them back quickly and grabbed one guard's arm, flipping back and sending him flying into another with, perhaps, a broken arm. I kicked a guard coming over to me and brought my leg around, round-housing the last. The guard with a broken arm kneeled down and I ran, using his arm as leverage to jump into the air and bringing my leg down on the other guard's neck. I looked up to see an arrow whizz past me and sink into the last guard behind me. I smiled and looked to him, but it faded when I saw that as he breathed in, he was falling.

I ran to him, kneeling beside him, "No, you're not going to save me and die. It doesn't work that way." I said angrily, propping his head up.

Within seconds, he began coughing up blood. I stared at the blood, unwilling to believe that this infection was real. It was alien, probably more advanced than we could perceive. Screw that! I pulled out a medical spray, something I use when I get minor scratches. I was pumping it into him as fast as I could and it was doing nothing to help.

"It's terminal." Harrison said quickly, "It works faster than normal. It's meant to disarm their race, but it's highly deadly to humans."

"I see." I said, distraught. I pushed my hand to his arm and he twitched, "Is it contagious?"

"Yes." He said, his breath becoming labored, "Look, I need you to tell Electra...how I feel."

I stared at him, trying to come to some sort of realization. He was staring at me, waiting for my reply and I was trying to understand him. I understood the request, but I didn't understand why he didn't just tell her. Why he'd waited until death. My thoughts were interrupted by the people running down the hall, they had been. I looked back the way we came and saw that the stairwell had come to a stop and large chunks of debris and cement were coming down the hall.

"You have to hurry."

"I'm not leaving you!" I said frantically. I looked down the hall and back at him. I stood and looked down at him, trying to reconcile leaving him. My heart broke into pieces and I did the only thing I could. I turned and began running, heading to the lobby. I turned one corner and was about to turn another corner when an arm came from nowhere and clotheslined me. I looked up, breathing so hard that my chest felt like the skin and bones were expanding. Lamb looked down at me with a superior smile. I felt enraged for more reasons than one. The rage had built up to a level where the pain wasn't going to stop me anymore. I rolled over onto my knees only to receive a kick to the chest that knocked me back against the wall. I moved as I saw a blur coming at me and the blur stopped to reveal Lamb with his hand in the wall. I quickly stood and kicked him beneath the knee, causing him to buckle.

"See how fast you can run now." I said angrily. I grabbed his head and put it through the wall before taking a step back. Lamb fell to the floor and I tried to feel sorry but I couldn't, "Nope...no compassion." I said, turning and jogging away.

# Chapter 7: More than Towers Fallen

As I got to the lobby, Electra came flying through the glass ceiling and crashing to the floor. The indention in the floor was astounding and I ran to her and looked up at the hole to see a figure hovering downward towards us. It was robed, sheathed really, almost skeletal, but with darkened skin. Its face was shrouded by the hood and the robes dangled in the air, showing no sign of legs at all. It scared the crap out of me. It opened its mouth, letting out a screech so loud that I was thrown over the security desk. I peered over the desk, watching as the figure hovered above Electra, sucking the soul out of her. My hand slipped on something and I looked at the desk to see a taser. I smirked to myself as I aimed the taser and the two diodes launched out, attaching themselves to the specter and shocking her. She raised her head, screeching so loudly that the glass ceiling began cracking and shattering. I looked to Electra, who was trying to stand. I ran to her and pulled her out of the lobby just as the ceiling starting falling in. The screeching could be heard from outside. Electra and I looked back at tower, which was now reduced to rubble. She looked at me, staring.

"He didn't make it." I frowned.

Electra took a sharp breath, stifling a large sob in her throat.

I stared at her for the first time, "He wanted me to tell you something. He wanted you to know—" I paused and she looked to me with a look of understanding.

"I know." Electra said quickly, blinking and allowing tears to fall.

Of course, how could she not? The sound of thunder and lightning caused us to look to the sky, seeing Leif fighting off some winged beast. It was dark green and horned with fangs protruding from its closed mouth. I could feel the tension as Jeff flew back with some kind of robot in pursuit of him. There was a faint rumbling and Electra and I looked down the street to see cars flipping as something big and grey came towards us.

"This isn't _Marvel_ comics, is it? _Rhino_?" I asked quickly.

"Kinser." Electra said, "He must have been set off."

I watched him coming, "What do we do?" I asked.

"I thought that would be obvious." Electra said, wiping her face. She hovered in the air, ready for a fight, "You can run, if you want."

"That's what you think, isn't it?" I asked angrily, "That I'd abandon you? Just run away and leave you?"

Electra looked at me quickly, "You can't fight him. You don't have any power." She said reasonably.

"Not that you can see." I said quickly. I withdrew my pistols, "These work sometimes, but I think you know that I have more power than this."

She nodded and turned back to Kinser, the Destroyer. I took a step out as she called my name. I took a few more steps, stopping a few feet away. He was only about a mile away. He jumped into the sky and moved faster than a jet towards us. Before he could stick his landing, a shield flew through the air and bounced off his head, knocking him over a fire hydrant and into a nearby store. The shield flew back into the hands of David.

"You've got to stop doing that." I panted, "But thanks."

"I told you Vaughn was trouble." David said, wiping his shield off. He looked to Electra and tossed a capsule up at her, "It's the formula to turn him back. After, get him back to the safe house." He commanded.

She nodded curtly and flew into the store, apparently administering the cure. She emerged with Kinser in her hands and flew off into the air.

David turned to me, "They took my mother." He frowned.

"Common theme for them." I frowned, "How'd you know I'd be here?"

"I didn't." He said quickly, "We need to get out of here before they find us."

I took a look back at the debris, "There goes my team status." I looked at him, "How many got out?"

"I don't know."

"He's going to pay." I said angrily walking forward. I knew where I was going and I needed to go there before Steven got there.

David followed, "Where are you going?" he asked.

"Sanctuary." I said quickly.

  *

I walked down the hall of another abandoned apartment over Park Place, on the outskirts of the city. The place was no better than the last place, nor was it any worse. It was on the endangered list and a definite candidate for destruction. I would have had to come and retrieve my stuff anyways. I walked over to the door and noticed that it was locked with a pad-lock. I withdrew my last bola and sliced at the lock until it was weak enough and kicked the door open. In all this time, I hadn't looked at or talked to David. I couldn't believe all this was happening. How many people had to die before this was over? How many of my...friends had to die? I walked into the room and headed to the bathroom, moving the defunct toilet and pulling my weapons and suit out of a hole. As quickly as I could, I slipped off my clothes and slipped on my leather costume with matching leather combat boots. I stood in the mirror and slid the mask over my face, my goggles giving me a closer view of my surroundings. I looked to the mirror and began using the eyeliner to shade around my eyes. I stopped when I saw a figure standing behind me.

"I'm sorry about Harrison." David said quickly. My eyes left him to apply more eyeliner, "And Vaughn. I never meant for you to be hurt like this. If I had known..."

"You were right." I said coldly.

"What?" He asked, shocked at my use of actual words.

"Vaughn. You were right; he wasn't there out of the pureness of his heart." I frowned.

"I don't know about that." David said, causing me to pause, "He warned you. He saved you."

I chuckled angrily, "I'm so lucky. Didn't die in burning rubble with the rest of the tower." I turned to him, "We need to get out of here now. They'll come for us here."

"Then what? Run forever?" David asked. He frowned and looked at me, "We need a plan, a good one."

I knew what he was suggesting immediately and frowned at the thought.

He produced a coin-sized tracker and waved it in front of me, "I'll know where you are. I regroup the team and you'll lead us right to him." He said quickly.

"I'm bait now?" I asked.

He scoffed, "Never. He wouldn't hurt you and I have faith in you." He said with an unforgettable certainty.

I frowned and let him stick the tracker on the inside part of my leather suit. I felt intensely hot and suspiciously familiar. David's eyes found mine and I noticed that he was staring at me. Somehow, I didn't want to take a step back or shy away from the moment. I think it was the first time I actually initiated a kiss between us. I leaned in, pressing my face into his. His surprise was obvious but he ran with it, took it over. In the heat of passion, I pushed him against the wall as our lips twisted around the other, fighting for control. I stopped at a creaking sound. I wasn't the only one who heard it because his head turned to the sound.

"Stay out of sight." I said quietly.

He nodded, grabbing my head and kissing me again, "Be careful." He whispered.

I looked at him one more time and turned, walking into the hallway to see Cypress standing down in the living room. I swallowed a lump and scoffed at his appearance. I wasn't expecting Steven to send him after me.

"Did you honestly think you could run? You're not the kind of guy that gets out of this situation, even if you are a burglar." Cypress smiled. His smile was disconcerting, especially with his new appearance, "I have to thank you. I could never have become this if not for you."

"Not shocking they'd send you. Send the hounds, right?" I asked. His smile didn't move, "Okay, now that's really creepy."

I watched as three men entered the room behind Cypress. The men were super-soldiers. I'd seen his plans for them before, but it wasn't until now that I actually took note of how looming they were. I didn't have nearly anything big enough to take them out, not on my own. I eyed Cypress, who seemed almost giddy. He'd had some major bank-rolling...Steven, I guessed. I slowly pulled out my eskrima sticks and twirled them, leaning my head to the side. I had to initiate this because we were wasting time and the longer we were in here, the more chance that David would do something evil.

"Nice new face. I thought the old one was a little...bloody." I smiled.

The smile left his eyes, but not his lips. He stared at me with that twisted smile and slowly and gently twitched his arm, "Get him." He said in a low, tempered voice.

I inhaled as I slid under the first guard's right fist and began attacking him with the Eskrima sticks, but he barely flinched. I stared at him, shocked at his tolerance of pain. With one elbow strike, I was sent flying to the floor. I groaned in agony before picking myself up. And ducking two more amazingly fast attacks. I neglected the others and one hit me from behind, causing me to pause. I felt both my feet leave the ground when I was fully upside down in the air, I felt myself slam into the ground! I felt a stick in my neck before trying, in vain, to open my eyes.

"We've secured him. We will be back sooner than anticipated." Cypress' voice said. I could feel him smiling, "Take him to the craft before the rest of his team can get here."

It was last thing that I heard, besides grunts and groans, before going totally black.

# Chapter 8: Myths and Realities

The room was pitch black except for the light shining above me. I was tied in a sitting position with no weapons to speak of. I kept finding myself in this situation, which never seemed to make my ego feel better. I swore I was going to kick somebody's ass when I got loose.

"Rope's not going to break."

I looked to the unfamiliar voice in front of me. One of the guards walked just into the light and I could see his uniform and that he wasn't wearing a helmet.

"You'd have to be some sort of super soldier to break those ropes." The voice said jokingly.

"Every super-genetically enhanced soldier is a comedian." I frowned, "I was expecting someone more official, like the leader and not one of the...are you even considered a pawn?"

There was a light chuckle coming from him, which chilled me to the core more than I would have liked.

"You're a pet project. Get over yourself." I frowned.

"Yes, I am, but I'm not just a pet project. I'm the ultimate project." He said, "I'm the pinnacle of super-soldiers."

"Tell that to my ex." I said quickly.

"I plan to. I'm assuming he followed you." He said. My eyes shot to him, "It's time to end your little group. The world waits for no one."

"You want to be more than a pawn...what're you going to do? Take it in your own hands? Kill me?" I asked.

I saw him withdraw a knife and walk over to me, pushing it to my neck and down to the ropes, searing them. He took a step back, disappearing. I swatted the ropes away and stood, looking around the room. I heard a click directly in front of me and began walking towards the light shining through an opening. I pushed the door, only to hear footsteps. With a sudden inhalation of air, I jumped into the hallway, rolling ahead into two guards with my fists out in front, catching them in the stomach. I quickly grabbed their weapons and threw them to the ground I pushed myself off one knee and standing. I began walking when I heard a clattering and turned to see one of the soldiers on the ground, pointing a gun at me. Before I could move, a shot was fired and the gun fell to the floor as he slumped over, bleeding onto the floor. I looked over to see a beautiful woman with orange and green hair.

"Sloppy. I'd expect better." She smiled, reloading her gun.

I tilted my head and watched her walk over to the guards. She pushed her gun in front of her, shooting the other guard before holstering and looking to me.

"You shouldn't take unnecessary chances." She smiled, "And always make sure they won't get up."

"And you are?"

"Just call me you're welcome." The woman smirked, "You better get moving before any other guards come this way and they will."

"What about—"

"Don't worry about me. I've got a certain way of dealing with these guards." She turned and disappeared down a hallway.

"I would be so much more badass if I were able to kill." I frowned, turning and running the other way. I quickly ran down a very dirty metal corridor. I couldn't get the chick out of my mind in a purely "who in the Hell is she" type of way. I also had to ask what she was doing here...I mean, she didn't seem like she was one of the people who'd work here. I pondered this as I turned another corner, elbowing a guard in the face and flipping him over unto his back. A man called out from the room he'd just come from, the room with the weapons. I quickly made my way inside as he was working on the computer.

"What are you doing out there?" He laughed into the computer screen, "I thought I heard—" he paused as he turned to me. I quickly kicked him into the wall before punching him and leading him to the door, where I threw him out.

I walked over to a gun sitting with a lot of other guns and picked it up, aiming it at the keypad by the door and fired a single shot, causing the door to lockdown and alarms to go off again. Without another second of hesitation, I walked over to the computer and began typing an S.O.S. to anyone that could receive it, ensuring that more of us could be along shortly. When I was done with the transmission, I walked over to the plethora of weapons, seeking out my own. When I'd gotten my weapons and enough ammo to take out everyone in facility, I noticed a rather large knife. I grabbed the knife and stuffed it into my boot before heading for the door. I stopped when I noticed bombs. I picked up a few and smiled to myself. I paused at the commotion of people coming from outside. They'd found me.

The computer flickered, "I knew you'd find a way out." Steven's voice came through the speakers in the room. I turned to the computer screen, "My men won't hurt you if you come out now. I think we have a lot to discuss. Once inside the hall, follow the lines to the laboratory. I think you'll be impressed." He said as the screen went black.

The commotion outside had subsided. I considered going out the door, but with Steven in his new state, I was unaware of what he was capable of. I wasn't willing to risk his loyalty. I wasn't even sure he knew what that was anymore. I walked over to one of the bigger bombs and touched its interface, pressing ten seconds into it. I looked up at the ventilation system and smiled as I lifted my zip line. I fired it, causing it to stick into the grate and pulled with all my strength, letting it fall in front of me. I hit the timer and ran, bouncing off the wall and up to the vents. I quickly rolled inside and began crawling towards the light of the hallway. I was little more than halfway there when the explosion happened, sending me propelling forward and out the ventilation grate and onto the floor of the hall. I coughed and rolled onto my back, looking towards the door. Problem was that there were no more doors, just a huge, fiery hole in the wall with the bodies of the guards scattered in front of it. I closed my eyes for a few seconds to catch my breath but moved when someone grabbed me off the ground. I opened my eyes, ready to fight, but I smiled when I saw David looking at me through his mask.

"Impressive." David smiled, "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, heroboy, could have used some help just then though." I said as I finally noticed that the black line was now glowing a light green color.

David looked down, "Why is that line glowing?" He looked back to me, "The team is already disabling this place and looking for mom."

"I think I know where she is." I frowned, stepping out front. I looked to him, "We're late."

"Steven?" David asked with hesitation.

"We can beat him." I said quickly.

"You don't believe that. He's superhuman now."

"So are you."

"He's my big brother. I don't know if I can." David said quickly.

I nodded, "I can." I said as he looked at me with despair, "It's the only heroic thing I'd done to that point. If you end up hating me, I'm fine with that. He can't live anymore."

"I wouldn't hate you." David said quickly, "You have more guts than I do."

I smiled, "Always have." I smirked, "Now, let's go." I said, leading him down the hallway.

  *

As I entered, I was aware of an argument going on. It was Dana and Steven. They were arguing about Steven Sr., David and Steven's father. I was walking slowly, so I could catch some of what they were saying. Dana was arguing that something he did was inexcusable, while her wayward son argued that he was a horrible dad and person. Dana tried to rebuff him, but he ignored her words and harshly accosted her. His demeanor changed the second I was within range. He saw me. I don't know how but he saw me and turned.

"Sorry to get you in the middle of our family dispute...you are, of course, family." Steven said staring at me, "You amaze me at every turn. I didn't not see the explosion coming, nor did I expect for you to come up with such strategy on your own."

"You shouldn't have come here alone." Dana said softly, "He's not the man I birthed. He's been warped."

"Oh mother, you wound me." Steven smiled. In the blink of an eye, he disappeared from in front of me and I felt a poke in my neck and fell to the floor. Steven walked around in front of me before he began talking again, "You see, our family's sordid past has recently come to light. Those 'heroes' you've been trying to fit in with are not the original heroes. They are simply the new generation."

"What are you talking about, nutso?" I groaned. The pain was starting to penetrate my mind at this point, but it didn't feel like regular pain after a while. It felt like once the pain got to my brain...it was subsiding. My eyes opened to a clearer view of Steven's shoes, "What did you do to me?"

"My father had this nasty habit of sleeping with the enemy, clearly." He gestured to his mother before continuing, "We are not simply human. We are superhuman. We are evolution, the next stage in life. My father, ashamed of this for some reason unknown to me created a vaccine of sorts with Cypress. It spread, taking away the abilities of evil men and good alike. It was he who came to me and my family through Medusa, saying he had a way to undo his mistakes."

I stopped in realization and looked up to him, "The Awakening of the Heroes was you?" I asked.

"Yes, only I didn't get my powers. I was permanently stripped as well as my father." He turned to his mother, "She tricked him and never got hers stripped, leading David to have power and..."

"Leaving you powerless?" I chuckled. I stood, "Now that's funny. Then what? Cypress made you a super superhuman?"

"Exactly." He smirked, "For some unconceivable reason, Cypress was looking into your DNA. What he found was astonishing."

I wobbled on my feet, "What exactly did he find?" I asked.

"Power." Steven said quickly, "But the 'cure' was an airborne cure and eliminated something within your 'powerful' genes. I simply gave you what you needed to realize your potential."

I stared at him, aware of the connotations he was throwing out. The story was far-fetched, though. How could Cypress and Steven Sr. get this _cure_ into the air? And why was none of this advertised in my family tree? I quickly glanced at Dana, who seemed braver than I gave her credit for.

"Doesn't matter." I frowned, "All of this is irrelevant because I'm not here to know my genetic family tree."

"Ah yes, you're here to kill me, is that right?" Steven asked stepping back towards his mother, "I would ask if you could do that but you've done that already, haven't you? The only problem with that line of thinking is that you felt remorse. You felt as if you should have never done it."

"I used to feel remorse." I said quickly, "I changed my mind."

"My little woman." He smiled even bigger, "I know how much you hate that. You are beautiful when you're angry."

"I feel sorry for you." I said withdrawing a gun and letting it fall to the side, "Last time I stabbed you. Didn't take."

"I can't help but feel like it never will." Steven said sadly, "I hoped that you would come and see me and be filled with the love I feel for you....but you don't, do you?"

"You asked me to become the villain again...if you love me at all, you wouldn't ask that of me." I said softly. I raised my gun, "Just because I've changed, it doesn't mean I don't love you. It doesn't mean I'm not torn up inside, but I'm not the morally ambiguous thief anymore...I don't think I can be that."

His face turned to rage, "You can murder me, in cold blood. Don't you think that is just a little morally ambiguous?" He asked angrily, "I don't think you broke my heart when you stabbed me. I don't think you have...until now."

"I can't save you." I sighed, "I chose me this time."

"You have changed...I've always chosen you. I won't make that mistake again." Steven said angrily, "Goodbye, lover."

With lightning fast reflexes, he disappeared and I raised my gun before turning with it. Steven grabbed my gun, wrenched my arm and threw me across the room and into a console, causing a light blast of electricity to sizzle over my head. I groaned and rolled over in time to see his shoes walking towards me. He picked me up with ease and stared at me.

"You used to be so much more fun. Then again, I was screwing you." His deep voice said, "I doubt either of our fathers new this was coming."

I stared at him with confusion.

"Why do you think both of us needed an extra kick?" Steven asked, "These secrets, that woman," he turned me to see Dana, "has lied to us since the beginning. She's watched you since before we've known each other."

My eyes centered on her and Dana, who seemed to be keeping her calm despite the situation. Someone who didn't know her better would have said that she was unshaken, but I knew better than that.

"She doesn't hate you. She never did." Steven said angrily, "She thought you were too good. She felt guilty for your situation because she allowed you to become what you are. A clueless, hurt child. You've never needed saving before...now is different. Now, in the presence of this family, you're something different."

This line of conversation infuriated me. My mind began to go in several different directions at once as his grip loosened on my throat. His expression was of surprise, yet he acted as if he expected this to happen. Once his grip was loose enough, I kicked off his chest and dropped backwards to the ground. Without a second thought, I hopped to my feet and looked around. In my head, there was a soft whisper. The whisper warned me to move and as I did, a fist went where my head had once been and I grabbed the fist, wrenching it down over my shoulder and whirling with a kick to the chest. He stumbled back and looked at me dangerously.

"You talk entirely too much." I said massaging my neck.

"Interesting." He said quickly. He moved closer, stopping when I pulled out a second gun, "I can't tell me you didn't feel that. It's happening."

I pushed my hand forward, causing him to levitate slightly and smash against the wall, hanging over the ground. I used my other hand to wave at a steel bar, which parted in one long jagged piece and flew over to him.

"Stop!" David said running into the room with the team. He looked as if he were worried for us, "Don't do this."

"I know he's your brother...I know, but he cannot be saved." I said loudly.

"If you kill him, I'll never be able to save you." David said quickly, taking a few more steps towards me.

"It's not your job to save me!" I said angrily. I looked between the brothers, "Neither one of you. He's right."

"Right? He's a psychopath!" Kinsler said, causing me to see for the first time that he was wearing ripped shorts.

"I was stronger without this team. I was strong enough to do what I had to do before and I can't stop now. If he doesn't die..."

"He won't," Cypress said, appearing beside Dana with Maksim and guards, "Like Mr. Birkoff here, he's got a retarded aging ability. It was exciting to play with his genetics. I can only hope that yours will be just as exciting."

"Mom..." David said, turning to her.

"He must. Killing your brother would destroy you or I, but it's the only way to save him." Dana said as Maksim jammed a gun to her side, "Do not worry about me."

"You'll lose your family." Steven smirked, "You don't have the power to kill me."

"On the contrary," Cypress smirked, looking between us, "Your power is indeed formidable, but his powers have the potential to outgrow yours in every way possible. To attempt to kill you, even at his current level, would be easy. The only reason you can beat him is you are experienced in your powers."

"You lied!" Steven roared as he began to try and fight his way out of my hold.

The energy around my hands began to turn bluish white and grew intensely to the size of a large wave of energy. I was concentrating so hard that when I heard a gunshot, I immediately dropped him and looked to my chest. When I had checked myself thoroughly, I looked to Cypress and Maksim, who held the gun and it was askew. I turned to Steven and saw that there was a red dot on his forehead. The dot was dripping red fluid and his eyes fluttered.

"Oh God, NO!" Dana's voice cried out.

"Merely a loose end." Cypress smirked. He turned to the team with a device in his hands, "I guess there's just one more thing that has to be done. As the new leader of Medusa, I commit myself to the destruction of this base and the threat of Steven Samis, RIP." He clicked the button and Steven's body exploded into a million pieces, bringing down the ceiling in front of Maksim, Dana and himself.

"Come on!" I said running and grabbing David, who looked borderline comatose. I pulled him away from the sight, following the team out of the self-destructing base. David seemed to be straggling and I knew why. Somehow we got cut off from the others and I turned him around to see me, "Snap out of it! We've got to go!"

"I'm so sorry."

"Shut up!" I said angrily, "Now's not the time! Place coming down around us...I need you to snap out of this and help me save you!"

The words brightened his eyes and he blinked at me, "Save me?" he actually chuckled at the thought.

Above us, the ceiling above the exit caved in and we looked between each other. David was about to say something when I turned to the wall and threw my hands at it with a swift gesture, causing it turn into molecules and shatter outward. I pulled him out of the hole just as the complex caved in on itself.

# Chapter 9: The Hero

As I closed the door to David's room, I felt more out of place than ever. I stood facing the closed door for minutes, trying to decide if I should leave him alone. I was afraid of Medusa now. Cypress wasn't just some nutty scientist. He's a full-blown mad-man and now he has a new idea of fun. I turned, about to walk away when I bumped into Birkoff, who frowned and took a step back.

"Look, if you came..."

"I didn't." Birkoff said quickly, "I was wrong about you. I was coming to see our leader, but I saw you standing here and—"

"Are you saying you forgive me for everything?" I asked with a smile.

"Not a chance." He said with a wry chuckle, "You're dangerous. Luckily for me I can't die easy. Can you say that about David? Or the rest of his family? You're an asset to the team, but...you're a bigger liability."

I stared at him, taking in his words. He wasn't being snarky or rude, but honest. I nodded to him and scratched my head.

"Medusa is after you. We're after Medusa." Birkoff said, "They have something of ours."

"Is this a goodbye or what?" I asked. He sighed, causing me to roll my eyes, "I'm sorry. I can't leave. Not now. Not when all of this is happening."

"I'm not going to give you a hard time," Birkoff said slowly, "But I'm not excited to have you here." He said, turning and leaving.

"Tight-ass." Colonel Anderson said standing next to me, "How's our boy?"

I looked to him.

"Of course." Anderson said, "Dana's a tough lady. I happened to have known her for a long time. Her, her husband, her kids...your father."

My eyes bulged.

"Where do you think the idea of superheroes or superhumans came from? Comic books, really?" Anderson asked, "I've been in this business for years. I've seen things that I can't explain. I wasn't keen on you coming to this team for two reasons...you're a recovering villain, and any way you attempt this, it's going to be hurtful."

"When did this conversation become about me?" I asked, looking forward again, "I don't need a rehash. Hadassa is still out there, Medusa just kicked into high gear and we lost two people..."

"Did you save the world? Have you learned anything about the past that you didn't know before?" Anderson asked, "When you came into the program, you were a murderer and thief with so much edge you could cut someone to shreds by standing next to them. Now, you're a hero, though you couldn't see it before."

"Are you going soft on me?" I asked.

"No. You're a soldier. Your dad, being the person he was, gave you something he couldn't give anyone else: a reason to fight. You gave him the same."

"Definitely mushy." I nodded. I looked at him, "Where is he?"

"That, I don't know." He smiled, "If you leave, remember that you're welcomed here. You're part of the team no matter what."

"So much is left unanswered. I just...I want to know so much."
