Darkness Arrives

[Sebastian Kain]

Date: Nov. 20, 2004
Location: Kings Row, Paragon City
Time: 12:30

The sun was shining ever so brightly onto streets beneath it on a glorious Saturday in Paragon City. The streets of Kings Row were teeming with life, as the inhabitants went about their daily activities for that Saturday. Everyone was outside enjoying life has they knew it, men and women, boys and girls, young and old were taking this day has a time to relax and enjoy one another. Even the local heroes of the city were finding time to bask in the glow of this unusually pleasant day in the city.

Alas, good things do not always last forever and things are about to turn ‘darker’ for the people of Paragon City. A dark storm is brewing and it is about to make its presence felt.

“I can’t believe how amazing this day is Clarissa!” “This day is perfect for a walk in the park!” said Toby ecstatically.

Clarissa stopped and gave him a puzzled look. “What do you mean?” “Don’t you hate the sun and being out in public?” “What’s the matter with you?” she said.

“I know I know, you usually have to drag me kicking and screaming to these kinds of things.” He said laughingly.
“After being on your planet for ten years, a guy has time to adjust.”

She shook her head and smiled back at him. “You’re quite right kind sir.” She said with a giggle as she took his hand and continued their path down the street.

As they continued down the street, Toby began to recap the last couple of months of his life, such as his reoccurring nightmares and his battles with a bounty hunter from his home world. He also begins to explain why his future will be a lot ‘brighter’.

“So after ten years, your parents finally sent some one to retrieve you and your brother huh?” said Clarissa.

“Yea, unfortunately." *Sigh* "Don’t really know what took them that long.” “We have known about Earth for centuries.” “It was the closest planet that was able to suit us outside of our solar system.” He said.

“Perhaps they just did not know.” “Maybe they just were too caught up in the war and all to care.” She said.

His demeanor began to turn cold and withdrawn. “My mother knew.” “From what I remember she is part telepathic.” “If she could have read my brother’s mind.” He said.

“Only if your mind is weak.” She said. “Your brother has a strong mind.” “I’m sure he could have resisted her probes.” She said firmly not willing to give in on her argument.

“Correction, My brother has a strong mind now.” “Not sure how good it was back then.” “To tell you the truth I never really wanted to leave in the first place, I was content.” He said harshly.

“Maybe.” She said. “But this might have been the best for you.” “You might have died at a early age in that war, being the Generals child, that places a target on you from the beginning.”[/color][/b] She replied.

“Whatever!” he said. “At least I have stopped having these nightmares of my parents invading this planet.” He said changing subjects.

“Heck Yeah!” she said. “Your screaming at night was driving me insane!” she said jokingly while elbowing him in the ribs.

She then proceeded to scamper away from him down the street. He was going to give chase, but an alarm going off in a nearby bank diverted his attention.

“Stop, police!” shouted one of Paragon’s finest.

“How about you stop, better yet freeze!” said an unseen voice.

A beam of ice emerged from inside of the bank and it smashed directly into the officer waiting in the entrance doorway. He was frozen solid.

Toby called back down the street to Clarissa. “Clare we have trouble!” as he raced into the bank.

His hair was now completely white instead of its ‘natural’ black color.

[Sebastian Kain]

At the youth center that Marshall and Toby had visited often during there first few years,

"Yeah but that was crazy. Why now? We have be gone for over ten years and they send a bounty hunter after us. Kevin I just don't understand. They could have left us alone but NO THEY HAVE TO TRY A TAKE US BACK!"

Marshall was so upset and emotional that it startled Kevin a bit.
This was not his normal action, Marshall has alway been the more passive of the two brothers. This worried Kevin quite a bit and was afraid given the chance Marshall might just try and pack up Toby and leave again.

"Calm down, Marsh. Listen, maybe it was a fluke and that bounty hunter was just doing recon to check that the Polartarians are not planning on using Earth in their military plans. You just don't know. Maybe there is a general search order for you and your brother and no matter the mission they are currently on, if they see either of you that your return is more important than the mission." Kevin tried to explain something that would put some reason or maybe cause Marshall to think about things a minute and calm down.

"You don't know them, Kevin. It does not matter to them what happens to us just as long as we are found and brought back alive. They will send more of those guys to get us and I don't think I can handle all of that. I like it here. I have a life now that does not involve fighting all the time. I can walk down a street and breathe in with relaxing comfort. UNTIL THAT DANG BLASTED BOUNTY HUNTER SHOWED UP AND RUINED EVERYTHING!"

Kevin kept a police radio in his office at the center so that he could "help" out whenever he could with the youth in the area.

"Officers need assists at Paragon City Bank. Officer dow..... uh frozen. Need back up." The radio crackled out this message during a pause in the conversation.

"Oh no, that bank is near where Clarissa lives. If I know my brother, if he is close enough to it, he has probably jumped into the middle of another 'heroic battle to do good' and need me to fix him up again." Marshall explained as a depressive slant to his tone became very obvious.

[Sebastian Kain]

It was a beautiful day! The sun was shining, it was warm for this time of the year and there were almost no nazis or hideous mutations in sight.

John loathed it so. He loathed it and hated it and despised the day with every fibre of his being, with the fiery intensity of a thousand suns.

He liked rain more. Rain sounded like clapping, it made him feel like he was being applauded, something nobody had ever done in his honor. Now that he thought of it, he started to hate rain too.

He took a small notebook out of his pants pocket and wrote something down:
"Destroy all weather."

There were about a hundred more ideas in there that he was never going to expand upon, but he enjoyed taking notes of his more destructive thoughts and to use the notes to frighten whichever psychiatrist still dared to see him.

He took a packet of cigarettes out of his shirt sleeve. He took out three cigarettes and stuffed them between his teeth. He searched for a lighter, ultimately failing in locating one. He swore. He swore for five straight minutes at full volume. Nobody in the neighbourhood noticed it anymore, the people had gotten used to it.

He was standing in front of the garage he worked for: "Carl's All-Night Car Repair and Superpowered Gadgetry Service Station" It was the only single building on the block that hadn't been defaced by grafitti. John made sure of that, threatening to turn the vandals' spinal columns into bony slinkies. They laughed at first untill he got his book of newspaper clippings and showed them the peaks of his superheroing career.

He used to be a hero. Sometimes he reminisced about all the good times he used to have with some of the buddies that he made while being a hero. There was Offbeat, the psychic mutant who just couldn't seem to keep the same powers for more than a week; there was Energyst, a smarmy young guy, used to give John all kinds of sass, but John liked the guy because he didn't really take his job seriously, much like himself.

He had also met his fair share of some of the more peculiar superpowered individuals than inhabited the land. His thoughts dwelled on the monolithic lizard-like radioactively mutated car mechanic by the name of Mike Katayev, or "Little Mikey" as John called him because he found the irony delicious. Or Joe Green, who was left the living centre of all evil in the multiverse through arcane rituals and mystically charged tatoos.

His mind snapped back to attention when he remembered he still had the three cigarettes in his mouth. He looked around the garage and his eye fell on a blowtorch. He lit it and lit the three cigarettes. He breathed in deep and blew the smoke out of his nose.

He looked around the garage for a drink. The smoke had made him thirsty. Another five-minute string of swear-words followed as he came to the conclusion that he was all out of heavy liquor. There wasn't even any grain alcohol left in any of the cabinets.

He grabbed his jacket and opened one of the garage doors. He struggled to open the car door and nearly ended up ripping it off. However, he managed to restrain himself. After all, this was no ordinary car. No, it was a very special car. It was an old VW beetle, but what was remarkable about it, was the fact that it had tens of two-foot long metal spikes sticking out of it in all directions.

Old Man Carl had purchased the VW beetle from "The Cars That Ate Paris" earlier in the year and made it the company car. John wasn't oficially allowed to drive it because he had the tendency to use moving vehicles under his controll as weapons of mass destruction. Nobody said anything about it, though. They either didn't have the guts to forbid him usage, or they didn't care, or they were deranged to the point of actually believing that Johnathan Herbert Carlson could commandeer any motorized vehicle with the slightest shred of care and responsibility.

He closed the door and looked back. The back seat was stacked with all kinds of sharp pointy things and big heavy shooty things and things that beeped and clicked and banged and exploded and zapped and flayed and sawed and whipped and bored holes.

He looked forward again and started up the engine. He raced out of the garage at full throttle, skidding across the street, nearly imapling a passing mailman. The mailman lazily jumped out of the car's way. He'd gotten used to being almost impaled by things. Mailmen were an endagered species in Paragon City. A great deal of them were tougher than most of the heroes.

After a few blocks, however, the car was immobilized. One of the tires had been frozen and it had shattered as a result. John stopped the car as neatly as he could, or rather, as neatly as he wanted to, which ended up destroying a fire hydrant (noting that the ensueing stream of water was promptly frozen as well) and impaling a mailbox.

He reached back and took hold of his favourite melee weapon. An enormous, rusty claymore sword. He opened the door and stepped out, towering over all of the police officers because his boots added a good inch to his height.

What in the name of sweet Satan is going the hell on here? I'm on my way to purchase several bottles, perhaps even an entire case of hard liquor and what do you sheep-f*ckers do? You freeze my god-damn tires, thereby damaging one of the most glorious vehicles in cinematic history! For that, and for being ugly, I am going to beat you into a state of near-death! John bellowed, just before getting a faceful of ice-beam.

[Sebastian Kain]

Away from the bank robbery and shut off from the world, Frost Cat crouched patiently on a tree limb looking down at the ground below. The only evidence of her presence was a slight warping of the area she occupied as her cloaking device bent light around her body. A slightly overgrown path weaved its way around trees and underneath where she waited. In the undergrowth were planted a number of trip mines, hidden so that anyone walking down the path would be unaware of their presence.

Though the area around her looked exactly like a verdent forest it was all just an illusion. The hard light hologram that she now perched upon was the product of The Stone's state of the art training facility. Every hero team used them, automatons, or a combination of both to simulate real life combat situation. This time though it wasn't a case of hero vs. the machine but rather hero vs. hero.

After a short while of waiting what could best be described as a block of ice moved into view. It was a fellow team mate of hers and one of the newer recruits to the Knights of the Round. He went by the hero name Frost Sampson and had quite a bit of potential though still had a lot to learn. In this perticular exercise, one ordered by The Green Knight herself, she was testing the limits of his ice armor and teaching him how to deal with an opponent who was faster then him and used hit and run tactics. She in turn was learning how to work around the limits of her ice powers by defeating someone with ice armor. To win he simply had to grab a flag that was hanging from her belt and to make things fair he had his own flag that she had to take.

Step by step he drew closer to the ambush spot. She had purposefully taken her time leading him here, snapping the occational branch or letting him catch a half second's glimpse of her before disappearing again. Like any good predator she was keeping the psychological edge in her favor and playing to her strengths. Since she held the advantage in movement and stealth any fighting was going to be on her terms.

When he was just seconds away from the ambush spot Frost Cat's muscles tensed, her claws dug into the holographic branch in preperation for a leap, and she removed another one of her explosives from her belt. Her tail shifted in position to compensate for the change. She was ready to spring the moment the first explosive went off. Then, all she had to do was shatter a hole in his armor and grab the flag or if she was lucky, the concussion mines would knock him out completely and she could take her time getting it.

"5...4...3...2...1..." she counted down the seconds in her head until finally Max moved in range of the first bomb's motion sensor. At precisely zero the relative calm of the forest was shattered by a thunderous explosion. Frost Cat's home made explosives sent out a shockwave that ripped through the surrounding trees and sent Frost Sampson flying in an upward arc and into a second explosive that was placed on a nearby tree.

Meanwhile Frost Cat sprung from her perch and was plummeting toward her opponent. Half way there the second explosive went off sending a shockwave into Max's back and propelling him toward the feline hero. She intercepted him in mid-flight, slaming both of her feet into his ice armored body and changing his course directly for the ground.

"Hope you're enjoying the ride, but we're not quite through yet." she said with a wide grin. With that she slapped the explosive in her hand onto his ice armor, the adhesive attaching it firmly in place. Then, just before they were to hit the ground, she pushed off of Max and flipped backwards to the ground a few feet away. Her claws dug into the ground, slowing her backwards slide as she watched for the continued fireworks.

[Sebastian Kain]

The ringing in his head was still going strong when his body collided with Frost Cat's feet in midair, totally changing his direction and partly knocking the breath out of his lungs. Looking up, he saw her mouth something then grin as she placed what looked like another explosive on his chest. Dirt, grass, and ice shot up around him as he hit the ground, complete with a little extra momentum from Cat launching herself away. In the second it took for him to start gathering himself from the impact, the explosive went off.

Another ripple of pure energy shot through the holographic forest, uprooting and launching trees away from Max, the center of the explosion. Dust flew up, obscuring Frost Cat's vision for a second, forcing her to pull out a pair of high powered binoculars. Leaping gracefully up onto another perch in a tree back a little further she looked through them, trying to see what kind of shape her prey was in after her first set of attacks. Scanning through the dust she could see a crater in the ground where Max had landed. Adjusting the lenses slightly, she zoomed in further and could see her armored teammate laying at the center of the crater.

Slowly opening his eyes, Max shook his head slowly, trying to clear it as the ringing in his ears neared a close. Taking a deep breath, he sat up slowly and ran a hand across his chest where the explosive had been before it went off. His armor there, and in the surrounding parts of his torso was a bit thinner than it was on the rest of his body, but was still mostly intact. Taking a moment to focus, Max refilled the lacking places on his armor then smiled as he rose to his feet. His ribs and chest were a little tender from being at ground zero of the concussion bombs, but other than that he was ok. Trying to be a little more careful, Max walked out of the crater and looked around, hoping to catch sight of Frost Cat to return the favor. "That was a pretty good setup there Frost Cat." Taking a few more steps forward he laughed continuing to be on the lookout for another attack. "So what are the chances of you coming out here and playing tag with me?" he said with another grin.

[Sebastian Kain]

Date: Nov 20. 2004
Location: Galaxy City
Time: 11:00 A.M.

An hour prior to the chain of events at the bank in Kings Row, a wedding was getting ready to take place at the top of the hour. Wealthy businessman Leon Carter Underwood was about to wed long time on and off again girl friend Jennifer Danielle Armstrong. It was planned to be a glorious occasion and many of Paragon’s big wigs were going to be in attendance. Heroes and civilians and other friends of the married couple to be are scheduled to attend. Many of them already on time for the occasion, are already in their seats at the wedding’s location in Atlas Park.

However, as with any plan event, there are some scheduled to be in it that are destined to be late. Lying down on his back with his arms stretched behind his head on his bed and fully dressed minus his tuxedo jacket lies the semi-retired Magnus. Semi-retired from being a hero that is, normal everyday life was something he was just getting used to. Apparently he had a lot on his mind, his gaze was fixated on the ceiling of his two story loft apartment. His best friend’s, of the last three years, wedding was clearly not on his mind.

Within his trance like state he could hear a voice calling out to him. It was coming from the bathroom. An thick Italian woman’s accent was pleading with him to get up and get going since he was scheduled to be the best man.

“Let’s go Hun! It’s time! said Trish coming into the bedroom and grabbing her purse.

Trish was her civilian name these days. She was formerly known as the heroine Vertigo. Those days where however behind her after the tragic events that unfolded with her ex flame Tres (Magnus’s Clone) and the rest of what remain of their former teammates. These days she was dating Magnus and doing pretty good for herself. She is the one of the Senior partners of Underwood and Associates law firm located in Galaxy City. She had every reason to be attending her boss’s wedding along with Magnus.

She crawled onto the bed and began to tap Magnus on his chest trying to awaken him from his state. She gazed into his dull eyes and tried to get him to focus on her and not the ceiling.

“I said let’s go!” she bellowed with fire in her eyes that signaled she meant business.

Magnus’s lone human eye twitched a bit and it’s pupil recognized her.

“Alright.” He muttered. “Let me get my coat.”

She waived her hand and picked up his coat off the rack with her telekinesis. “I got it for you.” She said lovingly.

Magnus arose from his position and unclasped his metallic eye covering and placed it on the nightstand. He grabbed his specially made shades and placed them over his eyes. They were designed to help him see ‘normally’ through his energy induced left eye that began to glow bright yellow after he removed his covering.

“Alright, I’m ready. Grab the keys to the Beamer okay babe on our way out.” He grumbled.

“Is there something you want to talk about? You seem distant.” She said quietly as he grabbed his coat from it’s hovering position.

“I’m fine!” he said with a grunt cutting her off a bit.

She sighed “Whatever.” Following him down the stairs and out the door to the car.

Magnus jumped into the car and started it up. The radio was fixed to the Paragon PD’s airwave talking about a robbery in progress in King’s Row. Vertigo looked over at Magnus has he hesitated for a bit about how to react to the situation in progress now. The time was now 11:45.

“You know you don’t really do that kind of stuff anymore.” Trish said breaking the long silence. “Some one else can handle it, you don’t have the time these days for small things like that.” She said in a somber tone.

Magnus let out a deep sigh and continued messing with the player. “I feel like jazz.” He said ignoring her comments as they drove off.

[Sebastian Kain]

Date: Nov 20. 2004
Location: Independence Port, in a two story building
Time: 4:01 AM

Inside the building

A tall, athletic man dressed in a black suit stood in front of a video screen. The room was pitch black save for the light from the screen that illuminated the man's figure, casting his shadow across the wall behind him. He stood with his hands clasped behind his back in the 'at ease' position which is used often by those with a background in the military.

The man stared intently at the screen before him. A second later the screen blinked with an intense wash of light, and a human head covered by a black veil appeared on the screen.

The man in the black suit snapped a quick solute towards the masked figure on the screen, and just as quickly returned to his at ease position, and spoke, "We are ready to commence with the operation. We only await your command."

The shrouded figure on the screen replied with a dark and stoic voice, "The operation will commence in two hours. Complete the task that has been set before you and I assure you that the 5th Column will reward you well for your service."

"I will not fail. Agent Schneider out."

The video screen blinked once more and the shrouded face vanished, leaving a bright white light to wash over Agent Schneider as it had before. Agent Schneider unclasped his hands and reached into his inner breast pocket on his suit jacket with his left hand. He pulled out his cell phone and lifted it to his ear, "Operations" he commanded it. The phone obeyed and soon began ringing as it made contact with the individual in charge of the operations department.

An audible *click* sounded in Schneider's ear as an individual at the other end of the line picked up the phone, "Eberstark here"

"Eberstark, its Schneider."
"What I can do for you sir?"
"Eberstark, the operation commences in two hours. See to it that we are prepared to move out when the time comes."
"Yes sir!"
Schneider hesitated for a brief moment before he spoke again, "Eberstark..."
"Sir?"
"Activate the sensors on the device. I don't want it to leave the building before we accomplish our objective. If someone comes for it, I don't want them to leave with it alive."
"I'll get on that right away sir."
"See that you do."

Schneider touched the end call buttom on his phone with his thumb, then spoke into it again, "Security". The phone rang only once before an audible *click* sounded and a deep male voice responded, "Vornamen speaking"

"Vornamen, it's Scheider. We set our plan into action in two hours."
"That is good news. Unfortunately I think we might have some problems before our time arrives."
Schneider considered Vornamen's words for a brief moment before answering, "Is our large friend still watching us?"
"That he is. He hasn't moved an inch from his spot on top of the Borloy Towers since he first arrived, which was rougly five hours ago. I think he has been scoping out the building for the best entrance, watching windows for guards."
"Have we identified this individual yet?"
"No sir, we have not. All we know is that he covered from head to foot in black, and he is big. Very big. I doubt he is a hero, because I know that someone as big as this guy would have made the front page more than once, and I read the paper every day."

Schneider frowned. He did not like the unknown, especially given the current situation where his plan was so close to fruition. And he would also finally be recognized by 5th Column as a valuable ally. "Have you attempted to approach him yet?"
"No sir. I thought it might be to risky. It could compromise our facilities true nature."
"Good thinking Vornamen. Set security on full alert."
There was a slight pause on Vornamen's end.
"Is there something else Vornamen?" asked Schneider.
"The watcher, being out in the open like he is, just watching us....its almost like he is daring us.
Schneider mulled over the words for a few seconds before replying, "Just see to it that no one sets foot inside this building.
"Yes sir."

Schneider closed his cell phone and returned it to his inner breast pocket. He clasped his hands together at the small of his back. This individual that was watching his building had him disturbed. Schneider had heard rumors from some of his contacts within the 5th Column about a man as large as a train that had ruined countless plans to either make a large profit, or cause mass destruction. The name was one he would never forget though, because all who spoke it always whispered it as though they feared this man would appear if his name was spoken too loudly. That same fear was beginning to grow in Schneider's own mind.

Schneider opened the top drawer in his desk and pulled out his favorite pistol, a .45 Colt. He checked the clip in it, and saw that it was full, but even holding such a powerful gun brought him no feeling of comfort, no feeling of safety. He had heard that this terror to the 5th Column had wiped out entire platoons, and destroyed numerous city blocks with his bare hands.

Schneider tucked the pistol into the back of his pants. He brushed a nervous hand through his hair, attempted to compose himself and failed miserably. He then walked out of his office with a wary look in his eyes and headed towards the basement where the device was currently being stored.

[Sebastian Kain]

Date: Nov. 20, 2004
Time: 12:32 p.m.
Location: Kings Row

Inside the bank three mutants were making all sorts of chaos has they attempted to clean the place out. There were several hostages scattered around the floor of the main lobby area. A man dressed in a black spandex suit, blue goggles with brown hair was shooting random ice beams at various things in the bank. He was mainly trying to scare any ‘potential heroes’ from doing anything ‘stupid.’ Inside one of the large bank vaults two other beings could be seen filling bags with stolen cash. One was a large muscular brute wearing a white spandex suit that covered his entire body, including most of his face. The other was a young woman wearing would looked like an overly large trench coat. As Darko slithered his way inside using his invisibility to be undetected he could hear the woman barking orders to the brute.

“Let’s go No Face!” she said. “Some hero will be here any minute!” she bellowed nervously.

“Why don’t you chill, Rubber band Woman!” said Ice controller.

“Hell No, Below Zero!” We got to move fast, why don’t you get over here and help him!” she said with an attitude.

“You’re the one with ‘stretchy’ powers!” “You do it your highness!” he sounding very much annoyed.

“Fine!” she replied as she whipped off her coat to reveal a completely red spandex suit.

She began to use her abilities to gather several bags of cash at an alarming rate.

“It looks like we’re going to get away gentle….”

But before she could continue, she was rudely interrupted by a ‘familiar’ voice.

“You losers can stop what your doing now!” said an echoed voice from inside the room.

“Who said that?” said Below Zero.

“I did!” said Darko reappearing behind Below Zero. He gave him a ‘SMACK’ to the back with an enlarged boxing glove made of Dark Energy. “I’m sorry if I’m spoiling you dorks fun.” He said sarcastically.

“You’ll pay, you little brat! Said Rubber Band Girl as she began to stretch her arms out to grab him.

Darko noticed her attack coming from out the corner of his eye and he leaped to the side to avoid her attacks while putting up his Dark Armor shield.

“You can’t touch this, these days! He said with a smirk.

“He’s right!” said a woman from outside the bank.

A metallic park bench came streaming from the entrance and it crashed into Rubber Band Woman. The blow sent her reeling past No Face inside the vault as she crashed into the far wall.

“About time you showed up Magnet Girl!” Darko said looking up at a woman now hovering above him.

“Well you shouldn’t have been gun-ho without me!” she replied sounding upset.

However before he could reply, the trio began to gather themselves and mount a counter-attack.

“That tears it!” “Get them!” shouted Rubber Band Woman as No-Face began to charge the duo.

Has they readied themselves for the on coming attack a large man appeared in the entrance doorway of the bank. He had an extremely irritated look on his face.

“Which one of you Son’s of Bitches, shot at me!” he said angrily.

[Sebastian Kain]

John was huffing and puffing with rage, his shirt and hair were all wet and his face was full of rapidly healing freezer-burn. His eyes fixed on Below Zero whose hands were surrounded by a blue glow.

You! He hissed through a jaw clenched in anger. He pointed at the ice-wielding crook. I'll KILL you! he yelled and flung his sword at the criminal. However, the projectile was intercepted in the nick of time by Rubberband Woman.

John roared out in anger and stormed at Below Zero, only to be intercepted by the monstrously oversized figure that was No Face. John screamed as No Face tried to crush him to death. The giant chuckled softly, but started screaming as John took a good-sized chunk of meat out of the giant's arm with his teeth.

John fell to the ground and landed on his feet. He noticed No Face's other arm coming at him at top speed and grabbed hold of it, using the villain's own momentum to lift him up and smash him into the ground, creating a fairly large crater.

John jumped on the robber's chest and started pounding the man's face, embedding his head into the ground further and further. However, as he raised his arm for the fifth blow, No Face kicked him off of him, smashing John into a wall where Rubberband Woman rushed to restrain him. She wasn't fast enough, however, and John leapt into the wall again as she was wrapped around him in order to shake her off.

Just before he managed to free himself, though, Below Zero shot another bolt of ice at him, freezing his left hand and shattering it as John hit the wall again.

Jesus Christ! John howled, and grabbed an icicle that was lying around on the floor after a few misses by Below Zero. I will cut you! he roared as he leapt towards the superpowered criminal.

[Sebastian Kain]

"Not very likely!" Frost Cat shouted from her perch. Max immediatly turned his eyes toward the location of her voice but she had already lept clear. What he did see was a small cylindar shapred canister flying toward him. He prepared to leap away from the pending explosion but before there was a need the object blew up in mid-air. Instead of an earth shattering kaboom a thick blanket of smoke filled the area.

Using her newly created distraction the feline hero decended from the trees and took to the ground at full speed, moving along Max's right side. "You're never going to win..."

By the time Max turned toward her voice she had already circled another quarter of the way around him. Lashing out with her right hand she froze the base of one of the trees in front of her. A quick kick as she passed caused the trunk to shatter and topple toward the ice armored hero. "....if all you do is...."

Frost Sampson whirled and faced the falling tree. "....stand where you are...." The smoke made it difficult but just before it connected with him he lashed out with a super strength powered punch and shattered the tree into splinters.

However by the time he had done so Frost Cat was three fourths of the way around him and had already frozen two more trees. The first was already on its way down and the second was but a split second from joining it. "....and wait for me...."

While Frost Sampson fended off the two falling trees Frost Cat was busy freezing the next three and setting up for her next gambit. "....to come to you!."

With her last word she kicked the base out from under the last tree in this set of three. Then keeping her momentum she jumped with her feet forward. They dug into yet another tree, causing her legs to bend at the knees in a horizontal crouch. Then like springs her legs kicked her foward and toward Frost Sampson. In the meantime she produced a small thermal bomb, intending to melt a small hole in his armor and take his flag.

[Sebastian Kain]

Date: Nov. 20, 2004
Time: 4:10 AM
Location: Independence Port

On top of Borloy Towers

A man as large as a freight train stood on the rooftop of twenty story building. His titanic weight of over 14 tons had caused the roof to fracture and nearly buckle where his feet were placed. His massive chest heaved heavily with each breath. Each time his chest fell a long billow of steam would escape from his nostrils due to the hot air exiting his body meeting the chilly air of morn, alluding the giant to appear like a beast from some distant archaic time. The slightest movements of his breathing wrought innumerable muscles to ripple beneath his black clothing, giving his body an appearance much like the waves rising and crashing down on the ocean during a hurricane The titan’s brow was bent with anger, his eyes fixated upon a small two story building that lay two blocks away, and eighteen stories below. The man-mountain had business with those who resided inside of that building. Business of the most unpleasant kind. The type of business he enjoyed most.

With little effort, the titan leaped from the rooftop, his trajectory leading him in a perfect arc towards the roof of the destination. When the giant’s feet met the concrete that covered the roof the two story building it shattered. The giant fell through two more stories of the building, neither floor providing any resistance nor slowing his descent. When the titan finally hit the bottom with a resounding *BOOM*!! The entire building shook as though from a small earthquake. Countless objects and people fell to the floor, plaster shook loose from the ceiling, and people screamed in terror.

The titan rose from the small crater he had created, the diameter of which was roughly over fifteen feet. The cement floor was nearly all but destroyed directly beneath his feet, fine particles of pulverized concrete could be seen floating idly in the air throughout the basement. The lights were flickering, apparently due to trauma that the entire building had just suffered.

Several men dressed in overalls slowly stood and looked around, attempting to understand what had just happened and to get their bearings. It all soon became clear when they saw the behemoth of a man standing only a short distance away. Screams of terror and impending doom echoed throughout the hallways of the building. The slaughter had begun.

[Sebastian Kain]

"Marsh, I should go and 'help' out.", Kevin said, "No telling what he is into and I know how you feel about the fighting."

Marshell just shook his head and waved Kevin away.

"And now put on the whole armor of God," Kevin began. As the room filled with light and pieces of armor began to appear and place themselves on his body. "Boots of Peace, Belt of Truth, Breastplate of Rightegousness, Helmet of Salvation, Sheild of Faith, and the Sword of the Sprirt which is God's Word in my heart. I commit myself to Your will and join the battle with the physical form of GOD'S ARMOR!." With a thunderous boom he was gone.

"It's a good thing I can't see or hear his transformation. He has told me only "believers" can see or hear what happens to him and from what he has told me there is way to much light for my liking." Marshall quiffed as he left for the bank area slowly so not to get mixed up in the fighting but hopefully enough time to pick up the pieces again, or so he always thinks.

Reappearing outside the bank, God's Armor immediately throws up two force field over the three heros closest to the action, Darko, a female hovering in the air, and some guy running straight into the building. Figuring if they are that close to Darko and not attacking him, they must be helping.

"What is the sitch, Darko."

"Dang you G A and these force fields! Just kidding, glad to see ya." Smirked Darko as he fires up a dark shroud that covers the area, hindering the criminals from seeing to well but as it was they seemed a little blinded anyway. "Just got a few morons that think they can just rob a bank because they have super-powers."

"Stop!" Was the one command God's Armor gave and the brute coming from the floor started after the little group of heros. Immediately grabbing his head in pain and staggering was hit by a near by phone booth that came pass God's Armor with incredible speed.

"Thanks for keeping that big one still a minute, that should leave a mark." The lady floating in the air spoke down to God's Armor. "Name's Magnetic Girl, how you doing?"

"Fine young lady, thank you. I am God's Armor but we better keep our focus on the matter at hand, don't you think."

[Sebastian Kain]

"Well, if that's how you feel then there's no need for me to sit here and play Paul Bunyan with you now is there?" Max called out as he lept straight up, inadvertantly crashing through one of the first set of frozen trees, sending a rain of icy shards crashing down below him. The impact of the frozen tree slightly changed his path but caused him to land shakily near an unfrozen tree. Leaning against it, Max fanned back and forth in front of his armor with his frozen hand, trying to clear some of the smoke to get at least a glimpse of his speedy opponent.

"Max, you're an idiot" he thought as a smile slowly spread across his face. "Now why didn't I think of that before....? Turning back to the tree that had a wet handprint imbedded in it's bark, he wrapped both arms around it, easily pulling it out of the ground. With a bit of positioning he began to twist back and forth using the tree like a big fan, blowing the smoke back further and further. As it continued to clear he could see the remains of other frozen trees, but still no sign of Frost Cat. "Ok, since you don't want to play tag, how about a game of catch instead?" Raising it up above his head with little effort he heaved the tree into the smoke, then turned, pulling up another tree hoping to either hear or see some sign of Frost Cat.

[Sebastian Kain]

The darkness wasn't nearly as disorienting to John as one might think. After all, his 360 degree heat sense still functioned properly, and was as precise as ever. He 'watched' the big brute getting pasted with a telephone booth after being assaulted in some way by a new arrival.

John noticed the ice-wielder directly in front of him, his heat signiature lower than the surroundings. John grinned an unseeable grin and leapt toward to frosty felon, punching him out of the shroud of darkness with his still regenerating hand. He felt for his sword, still stuck in the wall, and pulled it out. With a gutteral roar he leapt after Below Zero, out of the darkness.

The other heroes were interrupted in their doings by this chain of events. They were surprised, to say the least, at seeing Below Zero being launched out of Darko's field and a very large man jumping after him, screaming and waving a large sword around.

John swung the sword at Below Zero, who reflexively blasted it with full power. The metal froze and shattered on Below Zero's arm, leaving a nasty cut. John stared at his broken sword for a second and then threw the hilt at his opponent, hitting him in the face and breaking his nose. Below Zero kicked John in his knee cap, extracting a brief yell of frustration from the angry ex-hero.

John, already being very angry, didn't take well to being kicked in the leg. He picked Below Zero up like a ragdoll and threw him through a window, onto the street. Breaking the door when it didn't open fast enough, John followed his adversary. He walked over to his car and pulled out a large revolver out of a pile of weapons on the back seat.

You little bastard, freeze my hand off will you? I'll show you ya little rat. Gonna stop you from ever reproducing! John bellowed as he loaded the revolver. Meanwhile, Below Zero had regained just enough of his composure to know what was going on again, and fired a bolt of ice at the revolver just as John was about to fire. The barrel was frozen shut, and the revolver exploded in John's hand, shooting tiny shards of metal in his arm and face, as well as ripping the skin off of his palm.

Geeyaaaaaargh! You little ****! John yelled as he picked up a trashcan and deflected another blast of ice with it. He hit Below Zero in the face with the waste disposal and lifted the criminal over his head.

I'll snap you in half! Do you hear me? I'll snap your spine like a twig! He screamed. Rubber Band Woman, however, heard his voice clear enough to determine where it was coming from and promptly kicked John in the head, turning it just a tad too far and snapping his neck.

John growled as he fell to the ground twitching, and Below Zero screamed as he hit the pavement face first. The criminal got up before John did and staggered to the wall while John was still struggling to sit. Regenerative powers came in really handy in situations like this. He finally managed to grab his hair with one hand and twist his head back into place, creating a sickening "pop".

He grabbed Below Zero by the collar and tossed him back inside. John followed again and finally took actual notice of the other heroes.

Hi!

[Sebastian Kain]

Leaping into the air Frost Cat jumped up on top of the incoming tree. Using her claws and tail for traction and balance she began running along the bark covered projectile. When she reached the end her legs launched her foward in a powerful leap. She came flying out of the smoke, thin wisps of the stuff swirling around her. Max took a second to aim with his second tree trun before letting it fly at Frost Cat.

However, the feline hero was not caught unprepared and with a few quick waves of her hand she sent a pair of ice bolts flying at the tree trunk. The first froze the tree solid and the second shattered the tree into thousands of pieces. It looked like the two of them would be going at it for some time when something happened.

Suddenly, the trees and ground simply vanished. The only indication as to what was going on was a single but very familiar voice. "Simulation ended."

The frosty feline quickly looked up at the control room observation window. She recognised the voice but was none too happy. Frost Cat hated surprises unless she was the one springing them on other people. "Hey! What gives G.K.? I was just getting ready to win this exercise."

Victoria smiled, though from up in the control room it wasn't visible to the two down in the training room. "It's simple. You ran out of time."

This only served to iritate Frost Cat even more. "I don't remember setting a time limit on this exercise. It's just one on one."

"I decided to add one. You don't always know the conditions of a fight. You both need to learn how to deal with your opponents faster and waste less time on tricks. That will be all for today. You both take a break. You've earned it." With that said Victoria turned off the intercom into the holo-trainer and walked away from the control room.

"Hmph!" Frost Cat scowled at the reasoning the Green Knight gave, even if it did make a little sense. Expect the unexpected and all that. Still she would have rather kept going. Turning her head to the side she looked at Max again as he took in the conclusion of their training exercise, her expression somewhat similar to a pout. "I so would have owned you."

[Sebastian Kain]

Date: Nov. 20, 2004
Location: Atlas Park
Time: 11:35

In a semi-secluded and sectioned off location in the far regions of Atlas Park, the wedding between wealthy business man Leon Underwood and Jennifer Armstrong was about to take place at the top of the hour. The wedding had been planned to be an elaborate event, and many of Paragon’s impact players had turned out for the event. Business men, politicians, friends, family, children and super heroes all showed their support or were invited to the event. Even though the wedding was far from traditional (the groom and bride were able to see each other long before the start of it), it was closed off the most of the general public, aside from a small band of the media.

Magnus and Vertigo were making their way out of the car has the valet man was coming to take the vehicle. From the open parking lot across from the green field park, Magnus could see several other publicly known heroes attending the spectal. Magnus could see Luke Marshall known has the young hero named Twilight circled by a group of young women, seemingly entertained by his charismatic charm. Luke looked up through his crowd and waved towards Magnus and Vertigo, they both waved back has they continued to make their way through the park. A large buffet table was the center piece for a large amount of the guest. Many were gathering food for themselves and others and the wedding had not even started yet. It was another sign that it wasn't your typical wedding. A young blond haired woman in her late 20's came running up to Magnus and Vertigo has they greeted some of the other guest. She was wearing a white gown, but it was cut at the legs instead of draping all the way to the ground. She was the bride to be, Jennifer Armstrong. Jennifer had only known Magnus and Vertigo for only three months, along the time she fell in love with the 45 year old Leon Underwood. Magnus gritted his teeth a bit has she came running over all bubbly like and hugged both of them together. Her gripe was almost has strong has Leon's himself.

Has she begins to speak, Magnus attention begins to wander as he looks to see who else was invited.

"I'm so glad you two, could make it!" said Jennifer. "This truly means alot to us!" she said with a giggle.

"Wouldn't miss it for the world, Jen!" replied Vertigo tryin to match her for step for step with ethuasim.

She could see that Magnus was clearly not tryin to be preoccupied with the woman's presence, so a bit of concern began to stretch across her face.

Jennifer then turned her attention toward Magnus himself.

"And you, I didn't think you would come out in public!" she said with a giggle.

Magnus smiled down at her and then when she turned her attention he stuck his tongue out and made a face at Vertigo. She smiled a bit has The Bride began to drag her off to meet some of her friends and family members.

[Sebastian Kain]

Max let out a laugh as his icy armor began to evaporate off him into the air. "You own me? Yeah right...." He smiled and wiped away a bit of sweat from his forehead. Frost Cat had definately given him a run for his money but he couldn't help but be a little disappointed too. "Believe me, I had plenty more trees lined up and waiting for ya Frosty, and if you'd gotten close enough for me to get my hands on you..... he shrugged, walking towards the exit, grabbing a towel from the rack, "....well I'm sure that you would have been the one getting owned."

Tossing her a towel he leaned against the door and smiled. The pouty look on her face was a little humorous but it was the closest to a smile that he'd seen on her face when she wasn't freezing a baddie or blowing something up. "Seriously though, it was pretty fun aside from being blown up and all..." he reached down and rubbed his ribs "....you're a lot tougher than you look." Max smiled at her and toweled himself off a bit more when his stomach growled rather loudly. He laughed, clearly a little embarrassed and scratched his head. "So....can I interest you in some lunch? After a shower of course.... he asked, giving her his best 'you know you want to' look.

[Sebastian Kain]

She hovered in the air, it had been a long time since she had been in Paragon. Seven months, actually. She had only just been getting to grips with the ins and outs of the city when she first arrived as a member of the people's favourite Fabulous Five. But when the team disbanded, she returned to England to stay with her father - who'd recently been widowed by her mother. She looked down at the crowd gathering in the secluded corner of Atlas Park, and smiled. She'd been overjoyed when she'd heard the good news, and had accepted instantly when she'd been invited to the wedding.

The glowish tint surrounding her body slowly dispersed as she gently descended to the ground. She was stunning, a beautiful dress, which had been neatly cut to just above her knees, and then a pair of high heels. A diamond necklace dressed her neck, and truely radiated the fact that Jackie Black was a member of one of the powerful and wealthy families in England.

Jackie waited where she landed, looking around for anyone she knew - there weren't that many heroes who she could remember after such a long time away. But it seemed like she was the only other member of the Fabulous Five other than Leon. Alex wasn't there, which was a shame. Jackie had always had a special bond with Alex.

The crowd was bustling, and the shouts and yells of joy and happiness came both verbally and mentally. Jackie was a trained and efficiant telepath - and the noise in this small little area of Paragon was twice as loud to Jackie.

The one dominant thought in Jackie's mind was that she hoped that nothing went wrong today. Being the hero she was, Jackie had grown accustom to things going wrong at the most inconvenient and unexpected times.

[Sebastian Kain]

While Frost Sampson's armor disolved, Frost Cat unhooked the buckle that held her shoulder plates on and let them drop to the floor. She rotated each shoulder at the socket five times as she adjusted to not carrying around the extra weight. They were mainly part of her costume for show but they also served as a good buffer for high speed shoulder tackles and when she mis-calculated a turn and skid into a wall. Not that she mis-calculated often but even a genius had an off day now and then.

"Heh, you better believe I'm tougher then I look." Frost Cat grabbed the towel out of the air and slung it around behind her neck. She wasn't about to be out done when it came to boasting. Of her few virtues, modesty wasn't one of them. In the blink of an eye she sped past Max to his other side and reaching up with her right hand flicked his ear. By the time the electrical impulse from his nerve endings reached his brain and he reacted, she had already moved back to the first side and flicked his other ear. "Besides, me being close dosn't do you any good if you can't touch me Mr. Frosty."

Turning her back to Max she casually stroled down the hall, her tail slightly raised and softly curved. Frost Cat, however, kept her ears angled around behind her just incase of reprisal. "Since you're being so nice, sure you can take me to lunch. I'll see you downstairs after I wash up. Judging by the sound of your stomach you might even finish faster then me for a change."

[Sebastian Kain]

Max walked around the lobby area for what seemed like the sixth time. He hadn't exactly rushed when he showered and changed, but had hoped Frost Cat would have been ready pretty quickly. Glancing up the stairs he sat down, looking at his watch with a soft laugh. "I guess even with super speed it takes a while for women to get ready...."

After Max had walked for five more minutes and completed another revolution around the lobby, Frost Cat finally appeared. She was now wearing a dark purple colored top that left her mid-section exposed and a pair of blue jeans that were cut to accomodate her tail. She actually didn't take nearly as long to get dressed as she wanted Max to believe. However, she wasn't about to destroy the old joke about how long it took women to get ready. She enjoyed having the excuse to make him wait. "Hey Max. You look like you've been pacing. Hope I don't make you nervous."

Max slowly stood up, smiling as he looked Frost Cat over. "Heh yeah I've been waiting a little bit, but it's ok, it let me catch up on a little of the rest I missed this morning." Reaching into the pockets of his black cargo jeans he pulled out a pair of shades and slipped them on casually, giving her a look the whole time. "Frost Cat, what would make you think that you make me nervous?" Walking towards the door he messed with his belt some, finally untucking the dark blue t-shirt he was wearing with a grin. Since she was dressed casually and from what he could tell, comfortably, he may as well do the same. "So, do you have a taste for anything specific this afternoon or should we wonder around till we find somethin we can agree on?" pulling the door open, and motioning for her to head out first.

"Despite what people say about felines, I'm not that picky." she said as she walked for the door, her tail fliping back and forth in long slow sweeps. "There's plenty of nearby places. Some even give a discount to the Knights since we keep this area under constant watch."

"Hmm.....I didn't know that." shrugging, he steps out the door and closes it behind them. "So, since the places are nearby that means there's no point in getting the car huh? We could just walk and enjoy the weather and each other's company." Smiling down at her he put one hand in his pocket and took a few steps forward. "You didn't answer my question FC, why do you think you'd make me uncomfortable?" Glances around after they come to an intersection, "And...uh...which way?"


"First off, don't lay it on too thick with the enjoying of each other's company lines. Save that for Bree. It's something she enjoys. Second, it seems like the logical reaction someone would have." she steps out into the street with Max when the 'walk' signal flashes on and then takes a left when she gets to the other side. "I think we'll hit this little Deli I know. Great sandwiches."

Max shakes his head, laughing while keeping pace slightly behind her. "I didn't mean anything like that. It's just that of all the Knights, we've never hung out too much so this'll be a chance for us to sorta get to know each other when we're not being shot at. And no, with everything in this crazy city, you don't make me uncomfortable FC.....now a Freakshow Tank, *that* makes me uncomfortable." Nods slowly, fixing his shades with his free hand. "A Deli sandwich or two sounds like it'll definately hit the spot. Lead on."

"Heh, then you don't know me as well as you should. I'm far more frightening then any Tank with the exception of some of their really high ups." she commented with a flat tone, ignoring the bit about getting to know one another while not being shot at. "You might not want to eat two. They can come as big as your head."

"As big as my head...? Hey...what's that supposed to mean?" smirks, looking a little insulted, a snowball forming in his hand. "Idunno about being more frightening than a Tank, but you're definately faster than one..." lightly tosses the snowball at the back of her head with a growing grin.

"It means exactly wh..." Frost Cat never got to finish her sentance before she heard the snowball hurtling through the air toward the back of her head. Her ears angled backwards instinctively in responce. Unfortunatly, super speed does not always equal super reflexes and the frozen ball splattered right between her feline ears. The slush slid down her back and surely would have sent shivers throughout her body were it not for her own control over ice. Keeping her back to Frost Sampson she asked a simple question. "What made you think that was a good idea?"

[Sebastian Kain]

Date:Nov 20, 2004
Time: 12:42
Location: Kings Row

The robbery scene was beginning to get out of hand for Toby and Clarissa. They had it under control long before other heroes began to show up. This big brute of a hero was a madman and he was not going to stop until he had wiped Absolute Zero off the face of the Earth completely. Or so he thought, he had never really met the guy before. Armour of God was there apparently on the behalf of his brother's wishes and that really annoyed Toby more than anything that was going on at that point. Toby was tired of Armour of God and his brother butting into both his heroic and personal life. One way or another he was determined to show them that he was no longer a child. He began to focus his powers full throttle now, while trying to find a way to end this battle before anyone seriously got hurt. As he began to find away to make his plan count, he noticed that Magnetic Girl had her hands full with Rubber Band Woman.

“I’m going to **** up your pretty little face you wench!” screamed Rubber Band Woman as she flung piles of debris at Magnetic Girl.

Magnetic Girl did everything she could to keep the debris from hitting her, but she was still learning to deal with her powers and her in experienced showed in the her efforts. She managed to keep the bigger chucks of rocks and other shattered remains of the bank from hitting her directly by using a force field. It was visible straining to her and she could lose focus at any given moment. Darko looked up towards the second level to the bank were they were now fighting at and screamed at her to not lose focus.

“Please! Help me! She cried looking down towards him.

Rubber Band Woman saw her window of opportunity and flung a nearby desk at the helpless young heroine. For that split moment Magnetic Girl guard was down and Rubber Band Woman’s attack was not noticed until it struck through her force field. The blow sent her crashing into the main office window and adjacent wall within the room. The concessive force alone knocked her out cold and she was an easy prey for anymore of Rubber Band Woman’s attacks. Like a rocket Darko raced up the stairs to his fallen girl friend, but No Face leaped into his path. The bruiser was a whole four feet taller than Darko and he blocked the entire stairwell with his extreme girth.

“Out of my way you bastard!” He bellowed angrily.

No Face just stood his ground and waited for Darko to attack him head on. Darko attempted to power up some more but Armour of God raced in and tackled No Face from the skies.

“I’ll take care of him Darko, you go get the girl.” He said while fighting with No Face in midair.

“I had it under control! I wish you guys would just stay out of my life sometimes!” he screamed now being visibly upset with Armour of God’s latest antics.

Out of the corner of his eye he could see the large brute and Absolute Zero beating each other senseless. He could feel the situation getting more and more out of control by the minute. Magnetic Girl was down and there was chaos all around him. Rubber Woman stood in front of him taunting at his next move. He could feel himself shaking uncontrollably with anger and frustration. Something deep within him began to come unravel at the seams, and Rubber Band Woman was teetering dangerously towards ‘it’s’ attention….

[Sebastian Kain]

Date: Nov, 18, 2004
Time: Unknown
Location: Outer Rims of the Milky Way Galaxy

From space, the Earth appears to be a beautiful site to the outside eye. It’s peaceful and teeming with life and in a world all of it’s on in it’s solar system. However, there is an eerie presence in the air. For the peaceful planet known has Earth is about to be threatened by an outside force that it’s inhabitants have never seen before.

Two days prior to the events on the morning of Nov 20, 2004 and the events that followed throughout the rest of the day, an intergalactic conflict was bowling out of control. In the other regions of the milky way galaxy, and in the solar system known has Vangar Solar System, two warring worlds have drawn to a violent and chaotic climax. For One Hundred Years the beings known has the Quintarians have been at war with their rival beings the Polartarians from the planet in Polaris. In the Vangar Solar System the planet Polaris is located next to the solar system’s twin suns. The Polartarians are controllers of white light. They are able bend it to their every will. The Quintarians on the other hand are the farthest away from the center of the solar systems and are beings that control dark light or dark energy. Their planet Quintarus, is the home world of Tobias and Marshall Matthews. Or has they are known by their birth names Nartarus Kasisus Narturma and Alexander Mecka Narturma.

The planet Quintarus is a dark, barren and brooding wastleland. The was at one time teeming with life. That was a thing of the past. These days the planet had been torn apart by the on going war between the Polartarians and the Quintarians. Many of the creatures that used to inhabit the planet have been long exict. The few that were left had been domesticated and turned into beast of burden and instruments of warfare for the Quintarians.

Has one looks upon the happenings of the planet and it's populace. A meeting of sorts is going on outside of one of the government buildings. Apparently another battle has been fought on the fields of the planet again. And the apparent 'spoils' of it are being placed on full display for the general public. However, this variety of spoils aren't riches or any other material position. They are P.O.W.'s, victims of todays battle. All three of them are soldiers in the Polartarian army.

They know that this will be the end of their lives. Considering that the Quintarians like to execute their prisoners in public.

One of them is the prince of the Polartarians...

People of Quintarus! I present to you our spoils from our hard fought victory today! said a rather large looking Quintarian.

He was wearing a different uniform from the audience before him, establishing that he must have been a high ranking officer in the military. He was an extremely hulking figure and commanded a fearful presence has he spoke. He was voicerous and stickly straight forward with his message. He was holding a sword of some type. He was clearly today's executer.

He paced back and forth and maintained a devilish grin over his face as the Quintarians rejoiced and screamed for the deaths of the prisoners towards him.

In the background behind him there were two other figures wearing the same exact garments that he was dressed in. One was a Quintarian Woman and the other was another male. Both small in stature compared to him and a bit uninterested in his outrageous antics. Something that they seemed accustomed too.

In a watch tower high above the mob scene. Two figures watched the whole scene unfold. All the way to the epic demise of the two of the Polartarians and the torturing of the young prince. These two beings were known has the lead generals of the Quintarian Army, and apparently they were in total control of this sector of the planet. They were known has Kelmar Sanslar Narturma and Talana Iris Narturma, the estranged parents of Tobias Matthews a.k.a. Darko. Or has they know him Nartirus Kasisus Narturma.

"This never gets old my lord." said Talana with a smile.

Kelmar arose from his seated position and gazed down at the brute, who was now looking up at him for a confirmation to what to do with the young prince. He gave a signal and the brute nodded and turn his attention back to the prince.

"It's over Prince Jaline..."He said with an gruesome chuckle.

The young prince had a look of terror in his eyes that he's probably hadn't never felt before. He tried to remain strong in his efforts by replying back with an answer...but before he could reply, he was executed in the most evil way possible...beheaded...

The giant took picked up his head and presented to the mob. They began to chant some name that could be heard all over the planet.

"Gilgamesh! Gilgamesh! Gilgamesh!"

"Odd that they chat his name, instead of ours my lord." Said Talana.

"Well he did capture the prisoners....it was his battle to win. Besides we all have other matters to attend too. The retrieval of our offspring."

She nodded and followed him into the darkness of the tower...

[Stan Walker]

Dect. Stan Walker had just finished his shift, he meandered down the main strip of Kings Row in search of two things. A butcher shop, and a liquor shop.
The sun beat down on his brow, true the sunglasses and the recent "change" had helped him deal with sunlight immensly, but he still was not a fan of it.
He had just departed the liqour shop when his radio crackled to life alerting all officers in the Kings Row area to respond to a robbery in progress. Walker lit a cigarette and continues his stroll he promised himself he was not going to get into this. Although it was only a few blocks away from here.

"OK..I'll just breeze by..make sure the uniforms are handling the situation then get home." he thought to himself, hoping yet knowing full well he was going to get caught up in something.


He picked up his pace, first a trot, then a jog, then a sprint. The city ran before his eyes in a blur, he briefly heard the sound of breaking glass and looked to the now ripped paper bag his brew was in as he continued toward the bank.

"Oh of alll the @#!#@#@ &#)%^!! somebody is paying for that!" he cursed as he approached the bank.

Upon arrival he surveyed the scene, his suspicions confirmed. A bunch of superyahoos were duking it out while Paragons finest scrabled about like chickens with their heads cut off.

Walker shook his head, he was going to find out what was going on. He uttered not a single word and crept into the bank silently. It was amazing how the dead could move so effortlessly, and silently. He watched as the tights duked it out, paying particular attention to the one they called Darko.

Walker stayed in the shadows observing as A G tackled the brute, and Darko shouted at him. The kid had moxy he'd give him that. He followed the kid to cries of help coming from another woman. Should he help? No, better let junior handle his own problems. The kid seemed sick to death of help as it was.

Walker turned on heal a little to quickly albeit and nearly tripped. A G and No Face's bout had them tumbling towards Walker. Walker quickly crouched down into a leap, putting all his effort into remaining being unseen. He nearly pulled it off, all was seen was a whip and ruffle of his black trenchcoat as he faded back into the shadows.

[Sebastian Kain]

Date: Nov 20, 2004
Location: Atlas Park
Time: 12:45

Dearly Beloved, We are gathered here today.... said the Rev. presiding over the wedding.

The priest was the only traditional thing about the wedding, but it was simply beautiful nevertheless. The big galoot Leon was notably nervous as the priest went through the vows of matrimony. Jen on the other hand was extremely impatient, and it was written all over her face as she scowled at the 'slowness' of the priest, who was now struggling to wrap up the ordeal.

In the audience, Magnus was not even in this reality. He was else where, his timeline with his family and friends. A smile stretched across his face as he was greeted by visions of his wife and their son. At this moment he was happy, and he longed for them once again. Vertigo was seated next to him and she noticed that he was clearly not mentally there, she sensed it even. It both brought her joy and pain, joy because he was happy for once and pain because she wasn't able to provide him the happiness that he desired. She would never be able to and that hurt her more than he would ever know. This was the man she had come to love, even before Tres's demise. He snapped out of it trance and his demeanor quickly changed to an unpleasant tone. He grumbled to himself and spit on the ground beneath him as the priest finished up with the last lines...

I now pronounce you man and wife...you may kiss the bride. said the priest to a standing ovation.

Leon bent Jen back and planted an enormous kiss on her, she then returned the favor and tilted him all the way back to the delight of the audience. However, all of the peace and happiness was short lived because something began to incase the entire scene in darkness. An eerie feeling sweated over the entire city.

Has he looked up to the sky, Magnus eyes widen with complete horror he gazed at what was above them in the sky...

My God...What is that thing?... he said.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Location: King's Row

Darko's raged had boiled over and he began to let loose with every fiber of his being. His powers spiraled wildly out of control, damaging everything in its path. Rubber band Woman was directly in his path and she was doing her best to shield herself form all of his forms of attacks, that wasn't good enough. Her guards fell and she was hit relentlessly over and over again by a barge of attacks from Darko's Dark Rage. AoG and No Face came barreling back into building only to be shot with sporadic attacks from Darko. No Face was knocked unconscious, but AoG managed to get up a force field that stopped part of the attack, however it still hurt. Magnetic Girl was able to get up her force-field and she flew into the center of the Darkness to talk some sense into Darko. His face was stern and his eyes grew extremely white with energy. He was in a complete daze with the current situation.

Come on baby, please you got to stop this mindless destruction. Come back to me Toby, please?she pleaded...

Apparently her prayers were answered, the darkness started to fade away and a calm began to fall over the bank once again. The robbers had been apprehended and everything seemed like it was going to be okay.

Are you okay Darko?she said has his demeanor began to come back to him.

His hair turned back to black and his eyes became red again.

I'm fine.he said leaving her where she stood as he walked outside of the hole where the door used to be and onto the street.

Armour of God and John stood next to Magnetic Girl with complete looks of bewilderment at the events that just unfolded with Darko.

As Darko walked outside, horror swept across his face has he gazed across the skies and over into the wall of the next zone. His deepest and darkest fears were finally upon him...and it spelled only one thing. It was time.

What the hell is wrong with you?said Clarissa trying to hold her ground and talk some sense into him.

However she was having little effect as her gaze turn towards the skyline behind her.

Wow...what on Earth?she said.

[Gaia]

John Colton was seated at a screen watching the proceedings down on Earth. Ever since the Realms Between had gone high tech all the latest amenities had been installed in the homes of the spirit incarnations. He had held his job for practically for ever it seemed. It was almost the truth.

A servator was dispatched everytime there was a major insinuation against peoples basic rights to truth, freedom, and justice. He was the "old guy" as some of the others refered to him who had to back up the newer incarnations and show them the ropes. Victory and Valor were especially untried. The previous two versions had died in the Rikti war under undisclosed circumstances.

Now he saw another invasion fleet headed toward a certain city that he had a fondness for. The shining example to all other places on the planet, possibly in the universe, of those empowered individuals working together.

The screen shifted to show a blinding white cloud that vaguely resembled a face. "Well son. You are going to be the man for this job." It said. "The invading ships you were just looking at have come for a couple of individuals. One especially. I would suggest two courses of action on your part."

"With due respect Sir I thought my clan was not to interfere. Guide people yes. Interfere no."

"Times change. And besides it could foster your agenda as well. Now listen. Course of action number one is to get the target into custody of his parents. Ingratiate yourself to them or something. You're good at the charm bit kid."

John smirked at that. The Boss always called him kid no matter what. "You want me to ingratiate myself to the leaders of a non-terrestrial invasion?"

"Exactly. As for the second course of action. Once they have trusted you, you need to gain the trust of the target. You're going to help him escape. For that you're going to get some power up and down grades. Step over to the mirror. I think you'll like what you see."

He had not even felt anything but no matter it was just routine to him. Powers were reconfigured for each situation. Heck in WWII he actually had to submit to a human supersoldier program as one set of orders. Vietnam he had to help protect several of what the American factions said were enemy villages. He had driven off the troops with various illusion and diversion tactics. Desert Storm and the latest conflicts he was watching out for civilians caught in the middle. It wasn't an accident there had been a lot of sandstorm activity. Rikti Invasion he had been down on the street helping move people out of the main parts of the fighting and to hospitals.

Now he stood there looking in the mirror. New body and powers as ordered. Just his spirit powering everything as always. The white tights/shirt and other patriotic looking accompanyments went well with the look. Blonde hair and gold shining eyes. He waved a hand and it trailed a green vapor. Snapped his fingers and blue-white lights formed. He smiled. A hero license was on the floor. He picked it up in one red and gold gloved hand. "So you had them put my real name on it this time huh?"

"Yeah kid I did. Figured you're going to be there awhile. Your new code name is Independence Day, ID or Indy for short. You have a mansion to live in. Money to back you up. A couple of trustworthy servants. A reputation to uphold. Now go onto that ship and get to work."

"Okay Boss anything else?"

"Yeah. Stay safe. I don't want to have to replace you like Vic and Val. Out."

He looked over at his two household servants. They nodded knowing what he needed. Then gestured to the teleport pad. It had been programed with coordinates to the bridge of what was thought to be the command ship. He was going to go onboard as a battle stratagist. They pressed the big red button and in a flash he popped into existance some where else. . .

[Stan Walker]

Walker crept out of the building after witnessing the mass destruction. Thinking to himself if it wasn't for the lack of control, he really liked the kids style. He had power no doubt about it, then again who was he to talk about control.

He smoothed his jacket. Adjusted his sunglasses a bit and blended back into the crowd with the "mundanes". He was about 4 blocks from the nearest liquor store. He figured he could stop there grab a beer, a fresh pack of smokes and call it a day. As he got closer to the store he noticed that people were staring at him. No not him, behind him. Walker turned around slowly, knowing whatever it was, he was not going to like it. He was right as he stood in near awe of the monsterous ship creeping across the skyline, covering the city in a blankett of shadow. He sighed.

"Awww hell."

[Radical Dreamer]

Max stopped smiling and gasped watching the snowball slide down her back. Part of him wanted to do nothing more than laugh but he knew that would only make the situation worse. "Well.....to be honest, I thought you'd dodge it Cat. You've dodged everything else that I've thrown at you today." he added with a nervous smile, scratching the back of his head. "If you want I can wipe that off for you..." Taking a step closer to her, he slowly reached towards her to get the remainder of the slush out of her hair and off her ears....

Frost Cat's right ear flicked twice once, sending a few bits of snow through the air, and her tail twitched side to side in an agitated manner. "That won't be necessary." She started to lean to her left as if pivoting on her foot but instead of facing Max she continued to spin. Within a second she was a whirling dervish, sending the remaining snow in all directions. Frost Cat didn't stop there. While still spinning she formed a snowball of her own and sent it flying, followed by another, then another, and so on. It was like watching a snowball machine gun and they were all aimed for Max.

Max stepped back as the first snowball came flying at him, watching it whiz by. When he turned back to face the spinning blue blur that was Frost Cat a snowball hit him directly in the face with a loud 'SPLAT!' It stung for a second but he couldn’t help but smile as he whipped the slush away. At least he was smiling until he got pelted by a barrage of high speed snowballs. "Hey.....ow.....what are you....Ow..." Raising his arms to cover his face he zigzagged to cover behind a nearby tree. "That's it! I hope you realize....this means war!" While she readjusted herself to his new position he formed a snowball in each hand then lobbed both of them in her direction like grenades. "Snow in the hole!" he yelled with a grin.

"Oh no. Whatever shall I do?" Frost Cat said impassively as the snowballs arced through the air. She might have been hit while she was off guard but now it wasn't going to be so simple. Stopping her spin she planted her right foot and kicked off to the side as the two balls of snow splattered on the ground where she was standing.

"Give up? Or are you....ready....for.....more?" Her normally confident voice began to trail off slowly as her eyes trailed skyward.

Max had leaned down and was in mid-move to launch his next volley of snowballs when he saw the look on Cat's face. "Hey what's wrong..." Following the path of her eyes he stepped from under the tree, his jaw dropping as he watched the ship make its way across the skyline, the large shadow reaching out and enveloping everyone on the ground beneath it.

"I think lunch is officially canceled. In fact I wouldn't make long range plans of any kind." she answered dryly as the initial shock wore off. Not since the Rikti war had an honest to goodness space ship darkened their skies. With her super sensitive hearing Frost Cat could hear the voices of citizens rise up in panic. It looked like the days of the protective war walls was at an end.

He sighed to himself. They were actually having an ok time and of course an alien invasion would be the thing to stop it. "Yeah....I guess I'll have to grab something really fast on the way back to the Stone." He turned to head back the way they'd come then stopped and looked over his shoulder at Cat. "You're the genius here....what're the chances that that thing is friendly?"

"At best they just want a look at us. If they were a benevolent race they wouldn't have made such a grand entrance. They would have worked with the world governments for a gentler introduction. If they were hostile they would probably have more ships and the first strike would have happened by now." she said as she mulled over the situation. "That leaves two other thoughts. One is they want something from us and they probably want to use the shock of their appearance to gain an advantage when they ask for it or they aren't sure of their chances in a straight up fight. Two they could also just be curious."

Max was busy looking around as he listened to Cat's take on the situation. "Well....I hope you're right...." He walked over to her. "But, speaking of just getting a look, why don't we do the same?" Holding his arms out in a truce he smiled some. "Here....I can carry you and hop up on a skyscraper or something easy."

"Couldn't hurt but it'll be hard to discern much from the surface. At least we'll be able to see if they're running with any exterior weapons pointed toward the city." Frost Cat said as she stepped over to Frost Sampson. "If you use this to grab a cheap feel I'll freeze you solid."

Max gave her a look that showed he was a bit hurt. "Cat....c'mon you know me better than that. Tell you what I'll just keep my hands still and you figure out how you want to be held." Giving her a genuine friendly smile he held out both his arms to her. "Alright...just hop up here and hold onto me." He chuckled softly. "I guess I should say something about you getting cheap feels, but it'd probably happen so fast that I wouldn't notice it."

"Hmph. One thing I've learned is that everyone is capable of anything given the right opportunity under the right conditions. How else do you think Statesman can be the same person as Tyrant in another dimension?" she commented as she held onto Frost Sampson. "Alright, lets go."

He shrugged. "Well...guess you have a point there. Don't worry....I won't do anything you don't want me to." Making sure he had her secured in his arms, Max crouched down slightly then shot high into the air, landing on the rooftop of a nearby building. Several leaps later and the pair were standing on the roof of the tallest and closest skyscraper in the area beneath the alien craft. "Thanks for riding the Frost Express. Hope you enjoyed your trip." He grinned and leaned down, slowly sitting Cat on her feet.

"The ride was good but the lack of peanuts is a major negative." she shot back as she walked to the edge of building and observed the alien vessel. "What I wouldn't give to take that thing apart. I bet there's some technology that could make my bombs even more powerful." Her tail twitched back and forth at the prospect.

He laughed quietly, trying to take a view of the whole ship. "Sorry there ma'am we didn't have time to get peanuts before takeoff." He slowly strolled over beside her, his bigger frame a sharp contrast to her smaller, more agile body. "So....all desires to take it apart to see what makes it tick aside....do you see anything that looks like it could be a weapon? If so we might want to start moving people out of the area.."

"I don't see any yet. I would assume they had to pull them in order to enter the atmosphere, if they are even normally visible. We could be dealing with some unusual technology." She continued to observe the mothership, not knowing what to expect.

He nodded slowly then peered down below them. Several crowds of people had begun gathering and stood around the buildings in the area, staring up at the craft. Turning back to Cat he gazed up at the ship again. "I really hope they've come in peace.."

[Spectre-x]

John was bleeding. One of the bursts of energy unleashed by Darko had hit him in his left eye and had completely removed it from his skull. His shirt also suffered badly, as it was now full of holes, exposing several deep cuts which were slowly turning what was left of the blue shirt into a deep crimson.

John didn't notice being fatally wounded, however. Or rather he didn't notice he was wounded in a way that would have been fatal for any normal person. This was everyday stuff for John, and he'd had far, far worse. Once he'd been almost reduced to a skeleton by a lake of boiling acid.

The attack had snapped John out of his rage, which was a good thing. Before Darko snapped John was about to snap Absolute Zero in half. He was perfectly calm now, for some reason. He came to his senses and saw what had happened.

Whoa hey, did I do this?

And then he noticed that it was a little dark for this time of day. John looked outside. He remained silent for almost a minute as he kept staring at the monstrous space ship hovering over Paragon City.

Oh this you have got to be kidding me. Screw this noise, I'm going into the vault of this place. I'm gonna go into the vault and I'm gonna punch the door as hard as I can because this is total ****! John yelled, and stormed off.

[Sebastian Kain]

Date: Nov 20, 2004
Location: Atlas Park
Time:1:15

What should have been a joyous conclusion to the ending of the wedding in Atlas Park, quickly turned into one of confusion, panic, fear and uncertainty. Not because of the had transpired on the ground...but what was now above them. Covering the entire city of Paragon in its presence. Some scratched their heads in confusion, others talked away on their cell phones to their love ones and friends looking for other 'odd' occurrences that might be happening across the globe. Apparently this was the only known sighting, and Paragon City, Rhode Island was ground zero for its arrival.

The sun began to darken as if there was a solar eclipse occurring. However the moon was still in its rightful place. And the state of 'darkness' was only occurring over Paragon. A powerful force was at work here, and whatever it was it meant business. Heroes, civilians and everything else in-between could only watch and wait for what was in store for them below the vast ship that graced their once blue skies. Their entire world was now engulfed in Darkness and it was only 15 minutes after 1 o'clock.

Jen began to cry and buried her head into Leon's enormous chest. He did the best he could comfort her as he looked over at Magnus, who was now clutching the hand of a frighten Vertigo. She looked over at him and they stood ready for whatever was before them.

"I'll protect you, Vert." he said to her in a whisper.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

The doors of the vessel began to open and an transparent platform began to materialize around it. It was made entirely of some sort of dark energy. Several beings began to make their way out of it and onto the platform to address the world below them. All of the figures were humanoid in appearance, but their skin complexion, facial features, and hair colored proved them to be from another planet or time perhaps.

The beings ranged from a middle aged looking male with short gray hair and a long cape attached to his garment suit, made of material not native to Earth. Another, younger looking male, with long white free flowing hair and some sort of goggles that shield his eyes. A long and slender, but elegant female, younger in appearance to the male she stood beside. Her entire bottom was encased in a shadowy silhouette. She could possibly be the wife or second in command to the male that stood before her. To the outsides of the trio on the front of the platform, was a large menacing brute to the left side, wearing some sort of Armor and another young woman with her hair braided back in a ponytail. She was equipped with an array of gadgets, including a bow and arrow set attached to her back. The arrows glowed in black & white light. She was incased with a dark silhouette as well, like the other female before her.

All of the beings looked down on the populace in Atlas Park, with a bit of arrogance to them. The braided female turned up her nose in disgust as the apparent 'leader' began to speak to the public...

"People of Earth, We are the Quintarians from the planet Quintarus. You have something that we want back. We've come to retrieve to beings that belong in our custody. Some of you 'heroes' might know them by their Earth names of Tobias and Marshall Matthews. Tobias also goes by the tag name Darko." he says as he scans the crowd.

The chatter below them begins to stir and someone chimes in with "What would you do if we don't comply?"

"That's easy. We'll destroy your planet!" replied the woman standing next to the man, much to his dismay.

"My name is Talana, this is Lord Kelmar, and these three are Nimbles, Alanica, and Gilgamesh. Get to know us...We'll be here for a while." she said in a sinister tone...

[Sebastian Kain]

Date: Nov 20, 2004
Location: Atlas Park (Quintarian Ship - Bridge)
Time:1:20

The bridge of the Quintarian vessel was buzzing with activity. Even though it wasn't very large and it didn't hold many Quintarians, most of the action was right here and things were about to get far more interesting. Two young Quintarian females were pounding away at some sort of master computer. There were monitors lined up in front of them, that were capturing the events that were unfolding outside. They both looked to be around the age of teenage girls of Earth. Both of them identical in appearance with grayish skin and long white following hair and similar clothing styles except for the words RAIN and LAIN spelled out across their chests. Their eyes glowed white with energy has they typed at a feverish pace. However something was about to break there steadfast pace, with its un-welcomed arrival.

A large figure materializes right in the middle of the bridge of the Quintarian vessel....it is immediately incased in a force-field by the Quintarian defenses.

"Whoa, this isn't what I was expecting so soon!" said Independence Day.
"Ship, destroy the intruder!" replied Rain while signaling to the other members of the bridge to come over to their position.
"Hey! I come in peace! I came to cut a deal with you guys!" he said now pleading with them..
"Wait Sister, Let's hear the worm out... replied Lain.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Back Outside..
Location: Atlas Park (Wedding)

Talana had a look of sheer confidence on her face, while the rest of the Quintarians stood behind her as she spoke. The trio of Gilgamesh, Alanica, and Nimbles traded blank stares amongst each other. They were just as bewildered as Kelmar himself, at the willingness of his second in command to step forward and threaten the people of Earth so easily. As she continued to spoke to humans below her, she explained that the two boys birth names were Nartius Kasis Narturma and Alexander Mecka Narturma, and they were to be turned over to the Quintarian Authorities immediately. She continued to rant on threat after threat about destroying each and every individual one by one in the city. She was quite aware that many of the beings below her were superior humans of their race, she just didn't care about it. In her mind, his or her powers did not even come close to anyone that was of Quintarian decent. However, the will of some individuals below her...were not to be cast a side so easily by her bully mentality...

"Who do you think you are!? Coming into our world with your mightier than you mentality!?" bellowed a grumpy Leon Underwood growing angrier by the second.
"Silence, you fool!" said Gilgamesh right on cue.
"Make me tough guy!" replied Leon as he was taking off his jacket and rolling up his sleeves.

Some of the other heroes were gearing themselves up for a fight as well, while many of the innocent by standards began to turn tail and run from the upcoming conflict. This isn't what the leader of the Quintarian army wanted so soon, he wanted to attempt to make a deal with the people of Earth. However before he could make his peace, a young inexperienced hero shot out of the corner of his eye.

"One Shot will make you pay for invading our home!" roared the young hero has he flew with a head full of steam towards the unsuspecting Quintarians.

Magnus, Vertigo, Jackie Black, Leon, Twilight and Jen all watched the next few scenes in complete horror and dismay at the shear might of the Quintarians. It was like something out of a bad movie and it was in total slow motion..

Before Gilgamesh could step in and stop the incoming attack, Talana stepped in front of Kelmar and demonstrated her incredible prowess.

"Your fear plagues you!" she yelled as One Shot was beginning to meet her head on.

Suddenly, One Shot was engulfed in a cloud of Dark Energy. He couldn't see where he was going and appeared to have been transported to an alternate reality. He could hear the cackling of the menacing Talana, and is apparent doom was upon him. He began to scream in terror as his face began to melt away from his head. His limbs began to give way and fall to the depths of the abyss below him. He was dissolving away into nothingness...

In our reality, his face was petrified. Talana's powers were turning him into a blackened statue of his former self. Before anyone could react, he plummeted like sack of potatoes, to the ground beneath them. His life force was long extinguished. Leon and the others raced towards to the falling object, but it shattered into a thousands pieces upon impact.

...The remaining heroes looked above at the heartless act that had just took one of their own...

..Talana's eyes glowed white with fire as a devilish smirk appeared upon her face. Kelmar glared at her. And then turned his attention back to those below them.

"You have 72 hours to either help us or be against us. Choose wisely heroes of Earth. As you can tell, we aren't to be taken lightly. If you need us, we will use that building over there as our base of operations." he says pointing to the City Hall in Atlas Park.

"Farewell for now."he said in a somber tone as he turned his back on them and re-boarded his ship.

After everyone was onboard, it hovered slowly across to zone and over to the City Hall. Like magic the City Hall was transformed into a Castle made completely of Dark Energy. Those that were inside were transported outside of the walls of a Dark Light barrier that kept anyone and everyone from getting back in or out.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Location: Kings Row

They watched it all unfold. Everyone that was at the bank robbery scene..and witness perhaps the most unthinkable act of horror they had ever seen in their lives. Well everyone but Darko, he had seen these types of acts before as a child. And his confidence quickly dissolved into fleeing and fear of what was upon them. Unknowingly to the others....he disappeared in a cloud of Darkness. He had to get away somehow..

"I won't let them take you back Toby..." said Clarissa, but her reassurance wasn't heard by Darko at all.

She turned around to notice that he was nowhere to be seen..

[Spectre-x]

John gritted his teeth. He never liked extra-terrestrials coming to earth and showing off their power. He had some fairly terrible memories of the Rikti invasion. War brought out the worst in John. It did something hideous to his mind. His emotions would be ignored and his mind would switch to kill mode, all thanks to the brilliant minds who participated in the project that created him. However, these minds weren't brilliant enough to prevent John's brain chemistry from becoming unstable because of all the alterations, and because of all the things he had done and seen over the past few years, he would become even more mindless in his quest to eliminate whatever caused his mind to turn.

And thanks to the Rikti invasion, he began to associate enormous spacecraft floating over the city, and their passengers wreaking havoc on the population with war.

John's eyes were strangely empty. He left the bank and started walking back to his workplace, shoving Magnetic Girl out of his way, but otherwise completely ignoring everything else happening around him.

[TopHat]

It all happened so quickly. A moment before the King of Spades had been half paying attention to a wedding ceremony and half flitting about the minds of its guests, the next there was a spaceship full of hostile extraterrestrials and an easy death.

“How incredibly boorish,” mumbled King lazily, “these aliens have no manners at all. I don’t even have to read their minds to see they are far more arrogant then they deserve to be.” He spoke to himself as he made his way calmly through the crowd of screaming civilians and bewildered heroes.

The event - strangely enough for Alex – had no one that he knew besides the groom. He was outside of his regular social circle. He had only come because Leon was good business associate and had invited him. In truth, King hated weddings. Regarding them he always said, “They are one of the most dangerous things life has to offer.” When door of that ship had opened and the Qintarians made their entrance, Alex did not even wait to hear their demands – he looked into their minds.

“They were easy enough to read,” he thought as he made his way to the fringes of the crowd. “For all their boasts, they let their defenses down while they indulged themselves in grand speeches. Why is it extraterrestrials are so full of themselves?”

While in the mind of the one named Talana he had found he could tap into any of the others of her race through her. When they mentioned Darko, King read her and found him in King’s Row. Once he had a connection to Darko's mind, it was easy to see where he was running. The place was a haven to Darko and was loudest of his thoughts second only to the fear that made him run to it.

A man at attention stood waiting at the door of a black Bentley to which King of Spades was nonchalantly making his way. The man quickly opened the door and said, “Hello, sir.”

“I’m glad that little spectacle didn’t scare you off, Rupert,” said King with a smile.

“Of course not, sir. When caring for you I do believe I’ve seen worse.”

Alex chuckled and said, “I certainly appreciate the loyalty and as a reward, I’m giving you the rest of the day off.” As the King said this his feet left the ground and he floated an inch higher than the servant’s head. “I have someone to meet in a restaurant and I cannot be late…he is in quite the rush.”

The chauffer gave a quick bow and said, “thank you very much, sir,” before closing the door and getting back into the driver’s seat.

King of Spades watched the car drive slowly through the packed street and then looked up into the sky, slowly rising higher and higher over the crowd.

“I will have to find this Darko fellow for better or worse,” he thought. “Then I will make my decision on which it is when I hear his side of this story. I look forward to it. If the introduction is any indication, this is quite the story.”

Then the King of Spades was in full flight.

[Stan Walker]

I moved at blinding speeds, covering the circumference of the underbelly of the ship. How long had i been at this? One? Two hours? There wasn't an entrance to be seen. Something below caught my eye. City Hall, at least what was City Hall. Looks like the asshole brigade here had done a presto chango and turned it into some kind of fortress. Ten to one they are using that as thier base of operations. I let the currents glide me to the ground and approached what I thought to be the front of the structure. As I walked towards the entrance I was cut short, something was stopping me from progressing any farther. Wasn't that just great? I extended my hands attempting to push on this energy, it would bend with the pressure but wouldn't give way completely. It was time to try something a bit more suttle.

I clasped my hands around each other in a tight fist and twisted back swinging at the energy field with all my might. Again the shield didn't break, yet it rippled all around the building followed by a thunderous "BOOM". That should at least get thier attention. I lit a cigarette and stood waiting.

"Knock Knock assholes..." I muttered

[Gaia]

John was immediately incased in a force-field by the Quintarian defenses right after he had materialized. The bridge of the vessel. Drat I had told them I wanted a hallway somewhere. Okay Colton you can deal with this. He had actually expected something like this though, so feigned his surprise.

"Whoa, this isn't what I was expecting so soon!" said Independence Day.

"Ship, destroy the intruder!" replied Rain while signaling to the other members of the bridge to come over to their position.

"Hey! I come in peace! I came to cut a deal with you guys!" he said now, pretending to be pleading with them.

"Wait Sister, Let's hear the worm out..." replied Lain.

Worm am I. Sister you do not know who or what you are dealing with. He made his stance a bit more submissive but not enough to appear weak. It was obvious from the arrogance during the aliens' little speech that they liked someone with strength behind them. "Well, like I said I'm here to negotiate with you. Its for the common good after all that I've been sent."

"You make pretty speeches human. But we have come to retrieve that which is ours and shall not be stopped." said Pain touching a couple of keys on the ship's interface. "Now you die." The forcefield started closing in on Independence Day.

He waited a bit as it became smaller. Turning his back toward his captors John said, "I know how to possibly retrieve this person. I believe he code names himself Darko."

"Hold a moment sister let the human talk some more. If he truely knows how to get him back then maybe. . ." said Lain.

"Bah, he is a human. They are beneath us. We do not need their assistance in this matter."

A sound almost akin to shattering glass and an electric ozone smell fill the deck. The guards yelp in surprise and begin firing weapons. "You know you should really design a better forcefield system." said John. The blue energy encased his hands and he pointed at the twins with one held like a gun. "Now. Let's negotiate. And for the record. I'm not human." He smirked as a bolt of energy sizzled past him.