HEROES Chapter 6

Cantonese inscribed boxes and empty beer bottles littered the shining surface of the new coffee table. The sun had set, and the two meta-humans sat around bathed in the glow of the television, swapping stories and expressing their views on the world like two old college room mates reunited. Devon couldn't believe that the man sitting adjacent to him was the same surly masked crime fighter and Sigma had never felt more at ease around anyone since he could remember, which was basically all he could remember.

Between uncontrollable laughs, Sigma managed to get out a sentence. "So she picked you up and carried you back to her grass hut?"

Devon shook his head as he drained another a beer, and was unable to suppress a smile at the imagery. "It wasn't one of my finer moments," he admitted, "but in my defense I had just fallen four stories and bounced off a sign."

Sigma sobered for a moment as he pictured the fall. "Shit, that's some pretty serious damage. What the hell saved ya? You invulnerable or something?"

"Man, I wish." replied Devon as he readjusted himself and stretched out his sore hip and ribs. "I can take a good beating, but it's the suit that saved me."

"Really? You mean, it actually has a purpose?" Sigma jeered.

"You're a riot, y'know that?" said the big man as he grabbed himself another beer, "It's nano-fiber, made by Beacon. All the agents had costumes made of the stuff. Fire retardant, insulated and will stop a bullet, although the impact will still get ya."

"I've heard of the stuff, it's self repairing too, isn't it." Sigma commented, then he switched the conversation back to the rescue, "So what happened after you got back to her place?"

Wraith fell back in his chair, shaking his head. "What are you twelve? Nothing happened, I had just survived a fall that would have killed most people. It's not like I was up for anything."

"Too bad." Said Sigma with a disappointed sigh, "What the hell kind of superman are you anyway?"

"An old one." Answered Wraith honestly.


The time flew by as the two men, traded more stories and drank more beer. Devon was surprised to learn about Sigma's memory loss and his strange ability to stave off the prying minds of telepaths. Apparently though, his friend Everet Delved a psychometrist was able to retrieve some of his past, but that was only because his ability went beyond the human mind. Still, he hadn't been able to tell Sigma anything that allowed him to remember anything significant. Wraith wasn't convinced, however, that the man's memories weren't retrievable and promised to see if he could jump start them, if he was willing be part of some experimentation, which Sigma said he would consider.

As Devon went to the kitchen to get a garbage bag, Sigma turned on the evening news and became very interested in one of the articles titled, 'Heroes or Renegades?'. A newscast that discussed the recent events surrounding Green Street and sudden decline of support that the meta-human resistance fighters were starting to build up in the general population. The people they interviewed were all disappointed in the mass destruction the vigilantes caused and many of them sided with R.A.I.D., despite all the efforts the returning costumed heroes were making to assisting in combating the super-human villains plaguing the city.

"Hey there's your savior." pointed out Sigma to Devon while he cleared off the coffee table.

Devon looked up and watched the video footage of a blurry image that really didn't look like anything yet witnesses reported that it was her. When the network apologized for the camera malfunction that prevented the video feed, Wraith was intrigued, since the clips that they played showed the buildings in the background clearly and yet her form was obscured. Some kind of electro-magnetic cloak, he considered, his scientific mind running through everything that could prevent a camera from working.

After the news, Sigma stood and stretched. Despite the fourteen or so beer that he had consumed he wasn't the least bit drunk, although he'd gone to the washroom quite a bit. Devon was hardly effected as well, although he did feel a little lighter; beer had never really had a profound effect on the big man.

"So you up for some night activities?" Asked Sigma and he went on to explain about the corner store near Green Street, which Wraith was already aware of thanks to Snap Dragon's call.

Devon looked at the time, bobbled his head side to side and after some deliberation agreed. "Start a new job tomorrow." he explained.

Wraith emerged from his bedroom dressed in his deep blue costume with the mask not yet on.

"Gotta stop by my place first." Explained Sigma.

Wraith looked out his window, down to the street and asked which car was his, then he told him that he'd meet him down there after he locked up. By the time, Sigma made it down to the street and unlocked the door of the black lexus, Devon was already sitting in the passenger seat, a trench coat hiding his costume. They drove south toward Sigma's garage so that he could change cars and put on his own attire before checking out the convenience store and a few times along the way, Wraith caught himself looking up into the night sky wondering if Amazon was out there and what he would do if they should ever again meet.

Amazon had spent enough time on the balcony. The night was dragging on and she had yet to do anything worth while to speak of. With another leap into the air, she let the cool currents carry her over the city. It was a beautiful night with just enough cloud cover to allow her the freedom to remain air borne for a little longer than she usually did.

As she glanced down at the city, she saw the lights of the area near Green Street indicating the authorities were still swarming all over the area. Her thoughts drifted back to the horrific tornado that had nearly decimated that area of the city and her brows furrowed once more. Nothing like that had happened in Chicago before. So why now, all of a sudden?

Something about all of that just didn’t set well with her. And deep down she had a sickening feeling Apex was involved in what happened. While she would most likely never be able to prove it, what happened certainly did seem to follow suit in all the other things he’d done.

Decreasing her altitude, Amazon traveled just over the building tops to keep from being spotted by any unfriendlies, RAID or otherwise. The last thing she needed right now was to draw any kind of attention to herself but she wanted to get a little closer look at the destruction and perhaps listen in on anything they were discussing.

Landing quietly on a nearby building, Amazon kept herself far enough away from the hot zone to keep from being spotted by RAID. Those plasma guns were doozies and she didn’t want to feel their nasty sting any m ore than the next guy. Not to mention they were about the only weapon the agents could use to incapacitate her.

Keeping to the shadows, Amazon moved to the edge of the building. Carefully looking all around, she made sure the coast was clear before she approached the edge and glanced over. Yellow caution tape had the area directly below cordoned off and several agents were still walking around taking readings on different devices while others, in full tactical gear, acted like guard dogs stopping anyone from gaining access to the area.

Furrowing her brows, Amazon saw the utter destruction the tornado had caused. Surely Wraith wouldn’t have let something like this get out of hand. He was too damn goody two shoes for that to happen. Would he? No….while he was stand offish with her, for obvious reasons, she could tell deep down he had a good heart and would never do anything like this to harm innocent people. Could he?

“FREEZE! PUT YOUR HANDS IN THE AIR! NOW!”

Amazon heard the barked command from behind her and closed her eyes cursing softly under her breath. How could she have been so stupid as to let someone sneak up behind her like this?

“This is Delta Team. We have a hostile on the roof at my location. All units converge.”

Now she was really in for it. In a few seconds all hell was going to break loose and she would have no choice but to fight her way out of it. The LAST thing she wanted to do. Slowly standing up to her full height, Amazon carefully raised her hands and turned around slowly knowing what she was going to see when she looked at her opponent.

The RAID agent was in full tactical gear and had his plasma rifle aimed right at her. She could hear the hum of the charge and feel the energy in the air knowing it was ready to be fired at any moment. Around her she heard the shouts of other agents as they began to come to their team members aid. In the distance she could hear the sound of rotor blades getting closer. Giving the man her best smile, she tried to let him know she wasn’t going to hurt him….yet.

“Now, now….let’s not get our panties in a twist here. I’m not doing anything illegal. I’m just checking this out for myself. Why don’t you put that gun down and we’ll talk this over like rational people.”

The agent seemed to get irritated with her and took a threatening step towards her, pulling his gun closer in preparation for firing it.

“F&%$ you, bitch. Your buddies did a number on some of my friends. What makes you think I’m gonna go light on you?”

Amazon’s smile faded as she heard the man talk. Her window of opportunity was shrinking and fast for any hope of escape. And after hearing his heated words, she knew this was going to end one way and one way only.

“Look…it wasn’t me that did anything to your friends. I just got here. Just calm down and put your weapon down. I’m not going to do anything irrational.”

As she talked, Amazon saw an HVAC ventilation pipe out of the corner of her eye. And just in time. The agent drew a bead on her then.

“Maybe you won’t do anything irrational….but who says I won’t?”

In the next second the agent fired his plasma gun at her and she had just enough time to dodge to the right side and tear the ventilation pipe off the roof into the direction of the plasma stream. Sparks flew all around just as a host of other agents busted through the roof entry door of the building while others ran to the edge of the adjacent building and open fired in her direction.

It was all Amazon could do to tuck tight and miss being shot with bullets and plasma streams. Debris and bullet fragments rained down on her from all over. When the firing paused, she didn’t bother to look back and quickly got to her feet and started running as fast as she could over the top of the building.

Firing at her again, the agents yelled orders at her and each other. Keeping her head low, she used the different objects on the roof as cover until she could get far enough away from the agents to take to the air. But even that would be difficult now since the helicopter was about to close in on them.

There was only one way for her to go, and that was down…as fast as she could. Reaching the edge of the roof, Amazon jumped over the small retaining wall like an Olympic sprinter and disappeared. The agents on the roof quickly radioed for back up on the ground and the helicopter was on scene now to provide a spotlight on the intended target.

Amazon hit the ground rather unceremoniously. Unlike her usual graceful landings, this one was far from graceful, sending her tumbling a few feet after she hit the pavement. The jolt left her a little disoriented but as soon as she heard the thumping of the helicopter rotor’s, she gathered enough senses back to drag herself to her feet and try to duck for cover once more.

The helicopter spotlight picked her up just seconds before she ducked into an alley between two buildings. Fortunately the alley was small and made it difficult for the spot light to see her. Difficult, but not impossible. Several times the blinding light found her all too easily and she had to keep moving as fast as she could. Just when she thought she would wind up cornered she found a door and forced it open.

Ducking through the dark store, she moved quickly through the deserted business to the storefront. Her only exit was through the plate glass display windows. As she heard shouts in the short distance behind her, she knew she would have no other recourse. With a quick glance behind her, Amazon took off running as fast as she could and, covered her face with her arms as she crashed through the plate glass sending shards flying on all directions. As soon as she reached the sidewalk she ducked and rolled once more. Jumping to her feet, she took off running as fast as she could finding another alley to help obscure her form once more.

The helicopter was relentless and pursued her where ever she went. Sirens began to wail and she could hear shouts of agents on her trail as they followed her with direction from the helicopter. She HAD to disable that spotlight. It was the only way she could find peace and escape the mess she found herself in.

The next building she forced herself into, she ran up the stairs looking for the roof access. She could hear the sound of the helicopter as it hovered overhead looking for any sign of her. When she reached the roof entry door, she kicked it violently causing it to fly across the roof. Stepping out onto the roof, her hair whipped around her violently as the air current from the rotor blades swirled all around her.

The spotlight was on her instantly and she had to bring her hand up to shield her eyes from it’s brightness. Knowing the helicopter wouldn’t have a plasma gun on it due to the static electricity damage it would cause the motor, Amazon crouched then took off for the light that was blinding her. She heard gun fire and felt something sting her left bicep as a bullet whizzed by scraping her arm in the process but she kept moving towards the light.

As soon as she reached the light, she reached out to grab a hold of it, feeling it burn her hands from the intensity of the heat it generated. Pulling with all of her strength, she grunted then gave a yell as she felt the light begin to budge and eventually come off the helicopter.

As Amazon worked to get the light off, the RAID agent with the gun in the helicopter leaned over the rails to try and shoot her from this close range. Unfortunately, Amazon’s movements caused the helicopter to jerk unexpectedly. The agent was thrown off balance and lost his footing, tumbling out of the helicopter. Hearing his screams as he fell out of the helicopter, Amazon quickly dropped the spotlight and dove for the RAID agent. Her hand clasped around his forearm at the last possible second she could slow him down. They still landed with a rather hard shock to both of their bodies, Amazon positioning herself so she took the brunt of it all, but at least he was still alive. Stunned and injured, but alive. It took a few seconds for Amazon to regain her senses and drag herself to her feet again.

As the RAID agent groaned as he began to regain his senses as well, Amazon stumbled to her feet and headed off in the opposite direction. Once again she found a dark alley to slip into. Knowing the other agents would pause to check on their comrade, she used their pause to escape as quickly as she could.

Slightly disoriented, Amazon stepped out from the alley into the street on the other end of the alley. Headlights of an oncoming car blinded her again and she quickly brought her hand up to shield her eyes from the bright light as she heard the screech of tires. Just as the car came to an abrupt stop, she placed her hands on the hood and lowered her head as she tried to shake the cobwebs free.

A crimson stain covered her left bicep area and her usually pristine leopard print outfit had several dirt blotches on it. A thin red line appeared on her forehead just over the outside corner of her right eye. She lifted her head and blinked at the two male occupants then headed away from them again. She had to get away from here…..

Upon entering the base, Shawn made such a beeline for his room that one might have easily mistaken him for having restored his sight. He knew exactly where he had left his books and quickly snatched them up like a father rounding up his children after a long separation. Pulling his bag up and hanging it around his shoulders, Shawn proceeded past the speculations and discussion in Morgan's room, and into the living room. There, without even noticing anyone else that might be sitting there, he collapsed onto the sofa and pulled one of the books lovingly out of his bag.

There, he leaned back, resting his head against the arm of the couch and pulling his feet onto the couch with his knees bent. Laying the book on his body, he barely propped it up against his knees in an angle that no one would be able to read comfortably. His fingers, however, had longer reach. With his head tilted upward and his eyes gazing emptily toward the ceiling, half-hidden by his eyelids, Shawn disappeared into the immortal words of the hardened philosophers. It felt like forever since he'd been this happy.
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Grey paused, sitting in the car beside Scavenger and tapped the wheel in thought. Finally, he sighed, well aware that his friend wasn't anywhere near as fun in the daytime. Honestly, he preferred night himself. Opening the door, in a defeated sort of way he stepped out and waited for Scavenger to follow suit.

"Gettin' f%&@ed up sounds like a good plan," he said resolutely, his eyes drifting over to Scavenger's storage places for drugs.

The man that Wraith had learned was Slate Morrison quickly transformed into Sigma. His placid blue grey eyes, dulled and darkened when that leather mask was pulled up over the lower half of his face and even movements and mannerisms seemed altered when he donned his blue trench coat.

Wraith who had been meandering about the garage, inspecting the various projects that the inventor had on the go took note of the change in his new friend and instinctively fell into 'hero-mode' as he strode by him. They got in the beat up, blue Cordoba and drove out of the stall toward the Green Street area.

Sigma parked in his usual spot which was several blocks away from the warehouse district and the two costumed crime fighter proceeded on foot. The poorly lit neighborhood provided good cover but it wasn't exactly deserted so they stuck to the back allies, Wraith ready to vanish at first sign of a civilian. With his collar up and chin down, Sigma could blend in at a distance, but Wraith would stand out like a sore thumb so he had to remain vigilant and not draw any attention to them and have some law abiding citizen dial, 000-RAID.

A few times they ran into people; drunks staggering down the street, a guy walking his dog, a bum searching though a garbage bin. They easily avoided arousing suspicions, as Wraith turned into the wind and Sigma stayed in the shadows with his head down and eventually they made it into the cordoned off area, still teeming with RAID operatives. They slowed their pace, and moved more cautiously through the darkened allies not wanting to run into any of the enforcers and things were going quite well until one of the surveilling helicopters began sweeping the streets nearby them.

Sigma and Wraith ducked into an alcove and pressed themselves into the shadows at first believing that they were spotted but then it became quickly apparent to the two of them that the helicopter was chasing someone else.

"Looks like someone started the party without us." Mused Sigma as he stepped back out into the alley and watched the chopper as it swept low over the buildings then hovered directly over the one directly above them. Then there was a loud crash and the sound of twisting metal. "Whoever they are they're fightin' back." he described.

Wraith stepped out of the alcove and joined his partner looking up when he heard the noise, curious what kind of meta-human was attacking a helicopter, in what sounded like close range combat. He then duck slightly when he heard the sound of shots being fired. "Maybe we should help." mentioned Wraith.

Sigma, unmoved by the sounds of gun fire or the plight of another meta-human shot Wraith a disconcerted look. "Easy there boy scout, RAID might be taking down an actual villain. Don't want go rushing in guns a blazing and help some son-of-a-bitch get away."

Wraith a little embarrassed by his impetuousness nodded in agreement and continued to watch the roof top, where they could just make out the the tail of the helicopter as it swayed side to side. A moment later there was a blood curdling scream round the other side of the building and the two heros instinctively ran around to check what happened. They ran around the back side of the building and took a detour through a narrow alley and as they rounded the corner they slowed their pace when they saw the crimson glow of tail lights illuminating the passage. Approaching cautiously they could clearly see the familiar form of a tall woman in a leopard printed suit in the head lights of a stopped car.

Both of the crime fighters recognized her right away and Sigma exclaimed, "What the hell is Amazon doing here?"

"I don't know, but it looks like she might need some help, she's running back toward the RAID enforcers." Wraith replied.

Both of the car doors swung open and two men armed with a bat and crowbar stepped out briefly. "Told ya we'd find one of those freaks! And this one's fine!" Shouted one of them to the other and when Amazon turned to run, they jumped back into the car and gave chase.

Sigma stopped to access the situation but Wraith kept on going, his powerful strides pushing him beyond world recording setting speed until he caught up with the car, slowed by the narrowness of the alleyway. When he had generated enough speed, Wraith launched himself into the air, and flew high above the vehicle then descended rapidly, crashing down on the hood of the car, his feet sinking into the metal. The impact was so great that the radiator cracked and the panicked driver slammed on his breaks, hurling Wraith through the air, where he gracefully rotated backwards, slowing his flight with his wind powers and landing lightly in the path of the steaming vehicle.

Wraith stood at the mouth of the alley, exiting directly on to the street which the RAID enforcers were running down. They hadn't spotted him yet, but they soon would unless he used his disappearing act, but before he did he looked around for Amazon wondering where she run off to. He wasn't sure if the enforcers had seen her or not, but they were definitely drawn to the loud crash of his crushing stomp on the hood of mutant hater's car.

Realizing she had run right back towards the agents that had been following her, Amazon uttered a soft curse under her breath. How the hell was she going to get out of this mess? For the first time in a long time she was actually a little scared. Those plasma guns hurt like hell not to mention the fact they would weaken her abilities making her nothing more than your normal human.

Her ability to fly was severely hindered right now. For starters it was difficult to get the right air currents in an alley this time of night and secondly she was in a weakened state from the injuries she had suffered from dodging bullets and preventing one of those lasted operatives from winding up a bloody mess on the sidewalk.

Amazon heard the sound of crushing metal and free flowing steam behind her just before she ducked into a dark entry way in the alley she had moved towards after nearly being hit by a car. She heard the shouts of the RAID operatives as they came charging towards the sound of the car’s demise. Thinking she was seeing things, she shook her head once more then looked again. Sure enough, Wraith was there.

”What are you doing here? Go! Before they spot you!”

Her voice was nothing more than an urgent whisper as she barely stepped out of her hiding place. Her brows were furrowed deeply and her brown eyes settled on his handsome face just before she looked in the opposite direction and saw the tell tale lights moving indicating the RAID ops were almost there.

To one side there was the crushed car with the meta hating vigilantes. To the other were several well trained, pissed off RAID operatives. And mixed in with all of those was Wraith. Amazon couldn’t just leave him there. He was completely innocent in all of this. Then again, so was she. Her only crime this night was going to see if she could find any evidence Apex was there earlier in the day to make a tornado happen in the middle of Chicago. Now she was fighting for her life and trying to avoid capture at the hands of an agency that would just as soon see her dead than pay the money to keep her locked up.

Seeing that Wraith wasn’t moving, she got a sudden sinking feeling in her gut and took on a defensive stance. She should have known. Those good looks of his would get her in trouble eventually.

”If you’re going to try and turn me over to them, I’ll fight you with every last ounce of energy I have. And even then I’ll keep going until I’m cold and stiff. I’d rather be dead than imprisoned.”

Curling her hands into fists, Amazon lunged out at Wraith in an attempt to punch that handsome jaw of his with her left fist and knock him back a few feet but when her fist hit nothing but empty air she felt herself stumbling then falling forward. How could she have been so stupid? He didn’t get the name Wraith from being like a brick building. Great….the final insult before she was ‘killed in a shoot out in the street’.

Wraith took a stand against the men in the car, both of them to cowardly to step out and face him. They had good reason though, as they considered what the costumed meta-human could do them if he could crush the hood of a car and bust out the radiator. The car was still running, however, and the driver thought that before the engine ceased up he was getting as far as way from the freaks as he could. The man pinned the accelerator, which was what Wraith was waiting for but just as the tires began to squeal he caught sight out of the corner of his eye a fist flying at his head. Instinctively he assumed his wind form and the knock out punch passed through him, followed by the body of Amazon, carried forward by her own powerful inertia. As she stumbled forward, off balance by her missed hay-maker, the car lurched ahead directly at her and in the narrow alley there was hardly enough room to get a door open, let alone dodge a speeding vehicle. They were, however, at it's mouth and all Amazon had to do was round the corner, unfortunately that put her directly in line with RAID.

Floating in his unseen wind form, Wraith watched the event unfold before his eyes. He considered fleeing down the alley, back to where Sigma lurked in the shadows and leave the villain to the authorities but the fast approaching men weren't police they were RAID. They cared nothing about justice, just that she was a meta-human and that was wrong. Wraith made a split second decision and propelled himself toward, Amazon, his ghostly form appearing in the darkness as the extremely quick movement caused him to become luminescent. As the woman stood in the pathway of the car, a transparent blue coloured shape came toward her and solidified into Wraith, who grabbed her arm and pulled her round the corner and directly in the path of the RAID enforcers. The car burst out of the alleyway, crossed the street and carried on into the next alley behind them, while before the two meta-humans several operatives pointing both plasma and conventional firearms closed in.

It all happened so fast she didn’t have time to even blink. Amazon was tumbling forward then she caught a glimpse of a blue streak and felt a cool rush of air just seconds before she felt a strong hand close around her arm and haul her up then spin her around a corner. All the while she heard the sound of a racing engine getting closer to her and knew she was going to get run over before she could right herself to give any sort of protection against the impact. The car rushed past her so close she could feel the mangled metal brush against her. Instinctively she flattened herself against the wall of the building as much as she could and buried her face in her hands as she felt the cool brick brush against her forehead. Of course she was about to thank her savior when she heard the unmistakable sound of booted feet stomping on the pavement followed soon after by the sound of guns being readied for firing.

“FREEZE! HANDS IN THE AIR NOW!”

Amazon slowly lifted her face from her hands and looked over to see the handsome, blond haired Wraith standing beside her, facing down the RAID operatives. She was down right pissed at him for getting involved in this but now that he was, there was nothing she could do about it now. Furrowing her brows, she spoke to him in a frustrated whisper.

”Way to go. Now you’re up to your eyeballs in this crap…….”

Her features softened a little then.

”…..thanks…by the way.”

She moved to turn around when she heard an operative yell at her again.

“I said FREEZE! One more move from you and I’m going to light you up like a Christmas tree.”

There was something about his tone that told Amazon he meant every word he said. Her brown eyes locked onto Wraith’s then and she whispered softly again.

”I don’t suppose you have any fire crackers on you, do you? If ever we needed a distraction, now would be the time. Something loud and flashy works every time with these knuckleheads.”

Seeing the look on Wraith’s face, she sighed softly.

”Can’t blame me for asking.”

The RAID operative yelled again.

“SHUT UP! NO TALKING!”

Amazon furrowed her brows again and glanced over her shoulder as best she could without moving her head too much.

”You told me to freeze not be quiet. You should be more specific next time.”

The RAID operative raised his gun to draw a bead on her.

“There won’t be a next time, bitch.”

Wraith sure didn't have any explosives hidden away in his tight costume, but Sigma always carried a few for just these kind of situations. Creeping down the darkened alley, keeping to the shadows, he could see the two tall, costumed fugitives illuminated by the streetlights shining into the mouth of the alley. A few RAID agents were slowly working they around them, and one cautiously approached the alleyway checking to see if they had any accomplices lurking nearby.

The enforcer pointed his plasma rifle into the dark corridor while the other two men bringing up the rear kept their weapons trained on the metas. He raised a hand to his helmut, activating the thermal vision of his visor and scanned the alley, thoroughly, then satisfied that there was nothing down there, turned and gave an "All Clear....GAAAHHH!"

Sigma descended from above, swinging on a long, stretchable whip attached to a small black baton. He plummeted like a bungey jumper and as the whip slowed his fall, he swung right into the RAID enforcer, kicking him full force in his helmut, knocking the man into the air and toward the other two. Simultaneously, the masked man, tossed two grenades, one in front and one behind Wraith and Amazon which instantly exploded as soon as they hit the pavement. Behind them, orange coloured smoke erupted, obscuring the vision of the officers and before, a yellow cloud of noxious gas quickly filled the area.

Wraith didn't hesitate. As the enforcer behind him fired a bolt of electromagnetic plasma energy, he became the wind and moved quickly to the side, his physical form transforming into a transparent ghost. Even in his wind form, the electricity would effect him, so he had to avoid it. He managed to dodge the blast, that licked out and almost struck another operative while the old super hero, re-materialized at the man's left and through a vicious right, ploughing into the man's helmut, snapping his head back and launching him off of the ground.

Sigma followed through, as his first victim tumbled before him, and as his whip detached he lashed out with it, striking the weapon of the third and last of their opponents at the rear. The black, tendril like weapon, wrapped around the man's rifle and Sigma wrenched it from his hands, disarming him as he landed in a full out run toward the man.



Further up the street, their sight obscured by the yellow tear gas, the five remaining RAID enforcers switched to thermal vision and were able to easily see their targets. Their helmets also had emergency filters allowing them to breath in hostile environments, so the tear gas had no effect on them. Targeting their weapons, the leader shouted one more word of warning before opening fire. "You are all wanted for crimes against the Riggs Act. Wraith, Amazon and Sigma Seventeen, lay down on the ground with your hands behind your backs or we will open fire!"

Sigma and Wraith ignored the warning and continued to pound the RAID enforcers, following through in order to ensure that the three men would not remain a factor in the battle, giving the others little choice in their actions. "Fire!" Ordered the Sergeant.

The distraction Sigma provided was just the opening Amazon was looking for. The added bonus of the tear gas was something unexpected and to her delight, she used it to its fullest capacity. As Wraith and Sigma handled the three forward points of the RAID operatives, Amazon, with the aid of Wraiths wind currents, was able to launch herself far enough into the air to escape from the precarious situation she found herself in. While she wasn’t strong enough yet to get any real height, she was able to get high enough to get a birds eye view of the situation.

As Wraith and Sigma continued to deal with the thee RAID ops where she’d just come from, she could see the other RAID ops straggling behind. From her vantage point in the air, Amazon saw they were getting ready to aid their soon to be fallen comrades.

Hearing the RAID ops leader order them to surrender because of crimes against the Riggs Act, Amazon knew she had to do something and quick. Get a few more feet of height she then turned and nose dived gaining speed by holding her arms straight out in front of her and making herself as streamlined as possible. At the last possible second, she pulled herself up and just as the command to fire at Wraith and Sigma was uttered, the RAID ops were suddenly struck form the right side so violently, they hit each other and fell like dominos.

Their helmets clanged together, some of them dropped their guns and all of them were knocked away a few feet from where they originally stood. Her energy expended, Amazon landed a few feet away and immediately fell to her knees. Forcing herself up, she held her breath as she ran towards the noxious cloud. Blinking as the gas began to sting her eyes; she found Sigma and Wraith and pointed behind them.

”Come on! Let’s go before they have the chance to come at us again!”

The gas burned the back of her throat causing her to cough, it stung her eyes causing them to tear up but she knew these things were only temporary as opposed to being another victim of RAIDs need to eradicate all meta’s off the face of the earth.

As well trained as the RAID enforcers were, they could not match Sigma's fighting skills nor Wraiths sheer brute strength in hand to hand combat. They double teamed the last man, who had been the first to go down from Sigma's sneak attack and just as he made it back onto his feet, the enforcer was thrown into air by the large meta-human then punched into unconsciousness before he hit the ground by the other.

Unaware of the five other men who were about the fire, Sigma and Wraith slowly backed away as the yellow tear gas began to merge with the orange smoke. Generating a field of air currents around the two of them, Wraith ensured that they were would be spared by the effects of the gas, then they heard a loud crash of bodies striking bodies and then hitting the pavement. Before they knew what was happening, Amazon emerged from the gas, urging them to flee between coughs.

Sigma took the lead and bolted down the alleyway, which the mutant-haters had sped down. The smoke was thickest around its entrance so it seemed a good bet and Wraith was right on his heels. Checking over his shoulder to make sure Amazon was with them, the large man maintained Sigma's sprint with ease, gliding across the ground. They eventually reached a junction and Sigma instinctively headed the direction that would take them away from the RAID operatives, deftly scaling a fence, barring their way while Wraith simply passed right through it. A few more sharp turns, and hurdles and the masked man began to reduce his pace, content that they were well away, unfortunately they were hardly around Green Street anymore.

Stopping to catch their breath, Wraith placed his hands on his hips, opening his lungs, while Sigma collapsed against a wall and slid down to the pavement, placing his head between his knees. It was then that Wraith saw the blood flowing from a wound in the man's chest.

"You're bleeding, Sigma." Announced Wraith.

"Yeah, I caught a couple." Sigma replied in an unconcerned manner.

"You should let me take a look." Wraith offered.

"I'll be fine." Growled Sigma, "I just need some time."

Going against his better judgement, Wraith left Sigma alone and turned to Amazon, "How 'bout you? Any injuries?" he asked, "Oh, by the way, thanks for taking out those enforcers back there, you saved our asses." he thanked her then proceeded to stroll over to where his partner was sitting to perhaps get a look at the man's wounds.

Amazon was able to keep a few paces behind the two men but it was all she could do to maintain that speed. It had been quite some time since her energy had been depleted this far and she had to remember it was mostly caused from the fact she used most of her energy to make sure the RAID enforcer form the helicopter didn’t end up a stain on the pavement below.

When they finally stopped to catch their breath, Amazon was winded and took several deep gulps of air. Glancing behind them several times to makes sure they weren’t tailed, she snapped her head around when she heard Wraith say Sigma was bleeding. Furrowing her brows, she let her brown eyes rest on both men giving them a disapproving look.

”You two….could have saved….yourselves all this trouble….I would have found a way….out of that pickle…..”

While she didn’t admit it to the men, she felt bad they had gotten hurt on her account and now she felt responsible for their injuries. Hell, if Amazon had just stayed away instead of trying to be nosey, she would have been able to avoid all of this mess in the first place. But fate obviously had other plans tonight. When Wraith thanked her for taking care of the operatives she scoffed.

”Yeah….well….don’t expect me to keep showing up all the time. I have things to do and places to go, ya know.”

Looking at Sigma again, she felt another wave op guilt wash over her. Her features quickly showed her concern when she saw the blood staining the masked mans chest.

”You really should let Blondie here take a look at those, Siggy. At least help stop the flow of blood until he can get you someplace safe. Speaking of safe…..the place you used last night is still available if you guys want to use it. I’ll be able to fly in a few more minutes and we can get Siggy there lickity split. That is….if you two won’t see it as fraternizing with the enemy. I know how you goody, goody type can be….”

Wraith folded his arms across his chest and smiled, unintentionally striking one of his usual iconic poses when Amazon sassed him. He was about to say something in response when Sigma bent over, lifted the bottom of his mask and spat out a wad of blood.

When, Amazon tried to encourage the man to allow Wraith check him out he flashed his cold greyblue eyes at her defiantly. "Siggy", he said to himself, "Did she just call me, Siggy?"

Keeping his eyes trained on her, he slowly rose, sliding his back up along the wall for support. Then surprising both onlookers, he straightened up, rolled his neck a few times, wiped the sweat from his brow and seemed good to go. He was still noticeably weakened, but no more so than Amazon, despite the fact that he had taken a slug to the chest and abdomen.

Curiosity got the better of Wraith and he impetuously grabbed at Sigma's blood stained trench coat to open it, but the man clamped a hand on his wrist and held it firmly. "I told ya, I'm fine." he sternly reminded the doctor. He then pushed Wraith's arm to side and took the lead once more, walking with no signs of the injuries that would have incapacitated, even killed an ordinary man. It seemed then, at least to Wraith, that Sigma was anything but normal.

Wraith looked apologetically at Amazon. "I guess he's declining your offer." he said, then an awkward silence ensued as the super-hero realized that he was conversing with a villain. A thief that should be brought to justice if only to pay for the damages she inflicted on society. Then the horrible reality of the damage and lost lives he was responsible for the other night washed over him. He was slipping. Wraith had seen it happen to meta-human's before, seen them fall from grace, only to become that which they fought against. Was that his ultimate fate? Was Apex Fusion really the cause of the other tornado, or did he just nudge Wraith on the path that he was already destined for? Wraith took a step back from Amazon, then and clenched his jaw.

"Com'on!" Hollered Sigma impatiently, "Write it an letter, it'll be quicker. Those RAID bastards, are gonna be sniffing around like sharks on a blood trail. We gotta keep movin'."

Sigma's deep, raspy voice pried Wraith's glare away from Amazon and as he started to take a few steps toward the self proclaimed leader said what was on his mind.

"I am 'good'." he told her, more to hear him say it himself, "We should stick together until we're outta this." he mentioned and right at that point the sound of a helicopter flew overhead, it's spot light widely missing them, but then others could be heard in the distance all running search patterns.

Wraith looked up, then back to Amazon. "Flying may not be that safe right now. We stand a better chance together for the time being." he suggested then looked ahead to Sigma who was near the end of the alley. "He seems alright, but if he goes down, I don't think I'm going to be able to get him out of here on my own."

Wraith left it at that and started jogging to catch up with Sigma. He couldn't bring himself to openly ask for help, but then he didn't feel that he had to. It was Amazon's decision, right or wrong and it wasn't his place to sway her one way or the other. Doing the right thing was what separated heroes from villains.

Amazon glared right back at Sigma when he glared at her for calling him Siggy. It was just her way and they would have to learn to deal with it. Like it or not. Still, when Sigma slowly brought himself to stand up straight then head off away form them, she was impressed. His wounds seemed quite significant, especially when he spit out some blood onto the pavement.

As Sigma marched off leaving her alone, so to speak, with Wraith, Amazon saw the way Wraith regarded her. The instant he realized he was consorting with the ‘enemy’ she saw the change in his eyes and saw the muscles in his jaw flex and was ready for him to say something snarky to her. But all he did was affirm he was ‘good’ after Sigma yelled for them to get moving.

As the helicopter flew over head, Amazon quickly cast her gaze skyward. No spotlight illuminated the area but she knew damn well they had other technology that would lock in on them if they stayed in this spot too long. Looking back at Wraith when he old her flying might not be such a good idea, she had to agree with him. And she couldn’t argue with his logic in why they needed to stick together. While she didn’t think Wraith would have much trouble getting Sigma anywhere if he had to, she decided to stick with them…just in case. As she jogged up beside Wraith, Amazon let him know this wasn’t her usual way of working.

”Ya know, Blondie, I usually work solo. Don’t get used to my company. Besides, I don’t think Siggy likes me very much. Just ‘til we get out of this powder keg….then we go our separate ways.”

The new joint, FBI and RAID task force, stationed in downtown Chicago was a buzz. Operatives worked around the clock to quell the mutant uprising in the windy city which had become a stigma to the nation. Meta-human activity was on the rise coast to coast as costumed crusaders were becoming bolder and once more taking to the streets. RAID had to smash the rebellion once for all and make an example of Chicago's meta-human problem and to accomplish their goal had been granted the resources of the Federal Bureau as well.



Special Agents, Henkel and Jameson had promised the full cooperation on the matter and since their arrival in Chicago had been working to bring themselves up to speed on the situation at hand by reviewing hundreds of case files received in trade for their own information. Only one, however, had slipped through the cracks, one that Henkel buried for his own personal reasons, the case file on 'Wranger', a.k.a. Cowboy, otherwise known as Tim Rutherford. It was wrong to withhold the information, Henkel knew it, but his instincts told him to keep his knowledge of the meta-human's identity secret until he worked out all the details of the case.



A paper airplane sailed through the dim office. It cruised from a corner cubical, across the hallway over the dividing wall and just skimmed over Henkel's bald head. "Right on the runway!" exclaimed Jameson, raising his arms above his head triumphantly.

Henkel picked up the plane, tossed it trash and spun around in his chair to face his partners work area. "What the hell time is it anyway?" he asked, taking his glasses off and rubbing his eyes wearily.

Jameson leaned back in his his chair and looked at his watch. "Late. Really, really, really, freakin' late." he answered. "Wanna coffee?"

"I want a bloody vacation, but a coffee will do." Henkel replied.

They were the only two agents from the bureau left in the area. Henkel didn't know how it happened but for some reason they got stuck with the graveyard shift. He never got the the graveyard and something told him that his eager beaver partner had requested it. Damn fool. All he cared about was impressing Birkshire, hoping that the guy would put in a good word for him when he applied to transfer to R.A.I.D. Enforcer, division. He felt he could make more of a difference chasing down meta-humans, and although Henkel couldn't dispute that he would be an asset to the agency, he felt that his younger partner's talents would be wasted with those Nazi's. He'd seen too many promising FBI recruits fall in the RAID's bullshit and get thrown into a meat grinder, dealing with unknown perpetrators that they were totally unprepared for. Well that was going to change, now that he had a say in RAID's affairs, he was going to make sure the enforcers knew everything about their opponents and practice safer tactics, rather than rushing in guns a blazing.

The tall familiar figure of Supervising Agent Birkshire glided across the office, casting a glance over to Henkel and waving for him to follow. He was impressed to see the old man working late, and curious what prompted such a late night meeting. He got up and made his way to the commander's office, intercepting Jameson and his coffee on the way. "Birkshire wants to see us." he told Jameson, and they both strolled through the door together.



Birkshire stood before his windowed wall his hands in his pockets, looking out over the office area, focusing on one man in particular. He turned, to the agents both wondering or not to sit down then turned back to the window. "Do you see that enforcer?" he asked them, and the two men approached the window and studied him. A young man, who face reflected much more than his years could contain. A handsome face, weathered and scarred stared blankly ahead, anticipating nothing, but the intensity of his eyes told a different story.

"Agent Lance Garret of the REG-MET Division, codename, Hangman." Birkshire informed them.

"REG-MET?" Questioned, Henkel not understanding the term.

"Registered Meta-human Division." Explained Birkshire, his eyes flashing toward the older FBI agent, anticipating his criticizing glare, knowing too well that, Henkel would be the first to accuse him of being a hypocrite, "He's a registered meta-human and an Enforcer, one of the best."

Henkel was confused. "You mean, this guy hunts his own kind? And you trust him?"

"Implicitly." Answered Birkshire, "He alone has captured more meta's single handedly than the combined efforts of any task force. Agent Garret is a patriot. He lives to serve his country and believes in what we do. He has sworn to uphold the law and capture or even kill any meta-human that opposes the registry. In return for his service he receives special privileges, but he asks nothing more than any other registered meta receives."

Henkel and Jameson both shared a look then stared back out at the focused man who was apparently waiting for Birkshire to summon him.

"So what makes this guy so good? What powers does he have?" Inquired Jameson.

"The most powerful one of all. He's an inhibitor." Birkshire informed them.

Henkel screwed up his face. "So what, he cancels out super powers?" he questioned in disbelief.

"Yes." Birkshire simply replied, "Mind you he can't rob a meta-human of their physical attributes, but he prevents any extraordinary powers from working. He himself is stronger and faster than normal and so by eliminating a meta-human's special abilities he is often more than a match for them."

Birkshire turned and sat down at his desk, gesturing for Henkel and Jameson to take their seats. He pressed the intercom button on his phone and requested that Agent Garret be shown into his office.



Agent Garret entered the room and stood before Birkshire's desk like a soldier awaiting command. He had been participating in tactical exercises prior to his summons and hadn't had time to change, not that he would of if given the chance, he spent more time in his uniform than out and preferred it.

"Agent Garret, this Special Agent Henkel and Special Agent Jameson." Birkshire introduced.

The men stood and exchanged handshakes then resumed their places. Birkshire then motioned for Garret to sit and with a, "Thank you, sir." he joined the two FBI agents.

Birkshire then proceeded to brief the men on why he wanted them to meet. "I want you three to work together starting this minute. I believe we have an incredible opportunity not only to pool our resources but to unite our expertise as we work together for the common goal of apprehending these rebellious meta-humans." he told them, then paused to access the computer on his desk and a large wall mounted monitor to the men's left came alive with a picture of the meta-human, Apex Fusion.

"Apex is our foremost concern, but I would like you to concentrate on the capture of the following unregistered metas." he began, and picture of the mutant Amazon flashed up on the screen. "This is an artistic rendering of the thief, since she has some kind of ability that inhibits her image from being captured. I believe that Amazon is a bigger fish than anyone suspects. She has ties with Apex that might be able to be exploited."

The image changed to another artistic rendering. "This is a depiction of the criminal known as Cowboy to us and Wrangler to the general public. He has been encountered in Chicago and I WANT him caught and brought to justice once and for all." Birkshire ordered, then he changed the screen again and went over the profile of the meta known as Sigma Slayer or Sigma Seventeen, briefly then concentrated on the final outlaw known as Wraith. "This guys been kicking around since the seventies," Birkshire began, "He's always been crime fighter, but it looks likes he's taken a turn for the worst after the destruction he caused to the city by producing a tornado in the warehouse district. Several RAID operatives would killed, not to mention civilians and damages estimated to be in the millions."




As Birkshire plotted, he had yet to be alerted that some of his men had encountered the very meta-humans he targeted and would be surprised to find them all in the same company, at least until they managed to evade the RAID operatives.

Wraith smiled when Amazon mentioned that she didn't think that Sigma liked her. "I really don't think he likes anyone." he told her beofore they caught up with the surly crime fighter. When they reached him, Sigma quickly skipped down a flight of stairs that lead to a basement door and picked it in a matter of seconds. He stepped through leaving the door open carrying on into the darkness without a word. Pulling out a flashlight he shone it ahead revealing a long corridor, lined with shabby doors in disrepair. Paint was peeling off of the old walls and the ceiling and floor had seen better days, leaving the group to believe that they had stumbled into an abandoned building but after ten paces or so, that theory went out the window when a small boy, that appeared to be Hispanic walked across the hallway from one door to another. Their was no place to hide, so Sigma just froze and thankfully the five year old was focused ahead of him and remained oblivious of their presence, but another problem suddenly presented itself as the sound of a flushing toilet echoed down the hall behind the group of renegade meta-humans.

They were in a non-residential area, so the people were squatters and however things went, Sigma doubted they were going to end well. He had his doubts the people were just squatters, since places like the seemingly abandoned basement were usually the dwellings of gangs and drug dealers, and to make matters worse there was at least one innocent child around and who knew how many more. If things got violent they'd have to consider the fact that not everyone would be a hostile and that could be used against them.

Special Agent Henkel, returned to his desk carrying a stack of new case files. As he dropped them down on his desk the top one flipped open revealing the picture of two young punks that Birkshire had also wanted him to concentrate on. The one with the wild hair, known only as Scavenger supposedly had ties to one of the escapees from the RAID detention centre, the one known as the Highwayman, a.k.a. Lance Strauss. "Two Lance's in one day," Henkel commented to himself, "gotta be a joke in their somewhere."

Speaking of Lance, he peeked over the wall of his cubical to see where the newest edition of his team was and found him cornered at the coffee machine by his over zealous partner. Jameson looked like he was he was trying to 'kung fu' the coffee pot, so no doubt he was trying to impress the hotshot enforcer with one of his stories where he saved the day. "Everyone needs a hobby", Henkel thought to himself, and Jameson's was trying to become a RAID agent.

Returning his eyes to the open file, Henkel perused the details of Scavenger and his associate listed under the name Grey Pyre, a small time, New York mob assassin and felt that was probably a good place to start. Yawning, the older agent, stretched and wondered where two drug fiends would be at that very moment...



Stefan woke up in a fog. Slowly as his eyes came into focus the revolving blur became a ceiling fan and he was suddenly aware of something warm across his abdomen. Glancing across his bare, white chest he sighed in relief when he saw that it was some teen-age tramp and not Grey passed out on top of him. The evening that followed a sluggish day was slowly coming back to him in flashes. Lots of drugs, lots of alcohol, he had no idea where in the hell the skanks came from but felt satisfied. As he scrutinized the quality of the passed out, half naked girl, he became aware of feint noise buzzing in his ear. Looking around him, it became clear what the sound was when noticed his cell phone vibrating on the bed side stand.

"F&%$! Who set my freakin' phone to vibrate?" he cursed as he roughly threw the girl off him and onto the floor so that he could reach it. "Yeah.", he answered.

"Scav! Where the hell are you? I've been trying to get a hold of you for two bloody hours." Said the caller.

"What the f&^# man!" Shouted the girl as he she climbed on the bed and slapped Stefan in the side of the head just as he was about to explain himself to the Highwayman.

"Get the f&$% off me, you f^%$ing whore!" Scavenger hissed and lashed back at her with a furious elbow to her face. Blood erupted from her nose, spraying across the wall as she flew backwards and fell against the bed on which Grey and another young girl were still sleeping. As girl tried to stop the blood and began to sob uncontrollably, he rolled his eyes and quickly made his way to the bathroom of their motel room for some privacy.

"Shit, sorry man." He apologized to the Highwayman, "Y'know I sleep in the day, I guess we slept in."

The girl began to wail, and Scav rounded the corner and tossed a towel at her. "Shut the f&%$ up!" he angrily whispered while muffling the phone, then pulled one his knives and menaced her with it before returning to the bathroom.

"You better get your shit together." Highwayman told him, "Where are you right now?"

Scavenger thrust his hand against his forehead as if trying to squeeze the information out his head then he remembered where they were. He gave the man directions and just as he exited the bathroom and was about to tell the girl to stop whimpering like a dog there was a knock on the door.

"Who and the f&$# could that be?" Scav said, noticing that Grey and the other girl were starting to stir, both of them obviously still on something.

As he walked to the door, with only his leather pants on he menaced the girl by raising the back of his hand and told her to, "Shut-up or I'll cut your f&*$#ing tongue out." He then peered through the spy hole in the door and couldn't believe what he saw. "Holy shit!" he exclaimed when he saw that it was the Highwayman, looking a little out of breath as if he has just ran over from somewhere.



Standing at the door to the motel, catching his breath, that was precisely what the Highwayman had done. He had just ran over from another area of the city, moving too fast for people to see nothing but a blur, and most forgot about what they saw before they even registered what it might have been. His patience was wearing thin and he knocked on the door again, this time harder and louder.

Inside the room, Scavenger was panicking. "Grey! Grey! You gotta get the door man!" he shouted, while struggling to get the dazed and bloody girl into the washroom and out of sight. Thankfully the other girl was still passed right out and wouldn't be a bother, but he didn't want to give a bad impression to his new employer.

Something echoed painfully through Greyson's head and screwed up his face, squeezing his eyes shut a little tighter as though this would drown out the sound. When it only got louder and more jarring, he suddenly realized it was Scavenger's voice . . . and then realized it was his name. Groaning, Grey pulled his eyes open. The sight of... anything, really... made him acutely aware of one thing and one thing only: He felt like shit.

"Grey! You gotta get the door, man!" Scavenger was shouting. Grey's first thought was "what door?" though only a muffled grumble escaped his lips as he sat very slowly up and rubbed his head. His curly hair was scruffed around his head and his gray eyes were mere slits as he squinted over at Scavenger. His head was still in a hazy mist that felt fluffy and made his drowsy, hungover face break into a wide, stupid grin. A stoned-sounding giggle escaped him, oblivious to Scavenger's panic, much to his frustration. "Grey! Seriously!" Scavenger insisted. Grey continued to giggle until a loud tic shook him and he shouted "ASSHOLE!" so loudly it seemed to shock himself a little out of his haze and caused the passed out girl on the bed to stir just slightly. The tic knocked Grey's idiotic smile into a look of confused seriousness, but at least he was a bit more tuned-in. He suddenly looked up at Scavenger as though he had only just noticed his presence but yet had somehow expected it all along.

"What?" he asked, peering up at him. Scavenger looked ready to throttle him.

"GET THE DOOR!" he shouted as something pounded through Grey's brain making him wince until he connected it to the front door. There was a slight pause that felt to Stefan like an eternity before Grey finally moved. When he stood up, the twisted sheet dropped away from him and revealed his friend in all of his glory. Stretching, Grey seemed utterly unaware that he was completely naked as he strode hazily towards the door, reaching out to open it.

Sasha awoke the next morning late and Henry and Emma had let her sleep in, knowing that if the gang members showed up, she would awaken immediately and take care of the problem. For her to still be asleep at this late hour of the morning meant that something had happened and she apparantly needed her sleep.

Rising, she headed to the small bathroom and after rinsing her mouth out and running her fingers through her hair she headed out to the storefront to make sure that everything was okay. Emma was smiling at her holding out a chocolate cake donut and a small jug of chocolate milk for her, which she took enthusiastically, wolfing down the donut and chugging the milk before saying her thanks.

"Are you okay, Sasha? Do you feel okay?"

The mothering had started and Sasha simply smiled at the elderly woman, actually enjoying it as she remembered her own mother having turned her back on her.

"Yes, Emma, I am fine, just overdid it last night, that's all. I'm going to head out and check out the area, but I'll be within shouting distance and if not, I have friends watching the place. They will get me if you need me."

Emma smiled, unsure as to what friends Sasha was speaking of, but knowing that she could trust the girl, she didn't worry too much about it. Henry then made his appearance from the upstairs apartment, a worried look crossing his face when he looked at Sasha. Sasha gave him a smile and assured him that she was okay.

As she headed out the door, she wondered if she should head for Green Street. Deciding to do just that but take the long way around so that she could scope the area and make sure all was quiet, she headed out, taking her time so as not to miss anything.

Snap was up bright and early to talk to her plants, eat breakfast, and head for the medical lab to check on her patients. She saw Cowboy sitting up and smiled at him before heading over to Totem. She unbandaged his eyes and smiled when she saw how well they were healing and knew that he would be okay. She had grabbed some of her herbal poultices from the fridge in the kitchen before she came and slathered some onto a bandage. Setting it to the side, she then gently opened Totem's eyes and placed two drops of colloidal silver into each eye before placing the bandage over his eyes once again. The colloidal sliver would aid in the healing and alleviate pain and infection.

Next, she checked on Cowboy's injuries and did the same with him, making sure that she put the colloidal silver directly on his wounds and bruised ribs before rebandaging him. Then she went over to Morgan and shook her head. She checked her wounds and felt Cowboy standing behind her. Morgan's legs were the worst and even though the infection was all but gone, the wounds just weren't healing like they should have been. She treated Morgan's legs and rebandaged them, then asked Cowboy to help her roll Morgan over so that she could check the wounds on her back.

Snap untied the back of Morgan's hospital gown and took off the bandages to look at the girl's back and once again shook her head, her eyes filled with worry. These were not healing as they should have been, either. She treated them, rebandaged them, and then had Cowboy lay her back down gently. Snap didn't know what else to do for the girl, even with her knowledge of herbs, she had no idea what to do. When she checked her vitals, she noticed that her heart rate was the same as the day before. It could have been stronger and more normal, but with what was going on with her, Snap figured that this was okay.

She looked up at Cowboy and was going to say something when Mikala came in, her eyes going straight to Morgan.


Sasha was making her way around the block and heading for Green Street when another memory hit her and this time she was out in the open. It took everything she had not to drop to her knees and just keep on walking until she could get somewhere safe.

She was with a woman....a Native American woman who was having her call to animals out in the woods, commanding them to bring her certain things...a specific shape of rock, an acorn, a leaf from a white oak tree. The woman had the kindest, dark brown eyes and the young girl was with her again, practicing right along with her.

Then she was at a farm house....sitting in a chair on a porch..the man from the alley was kneeling next to her, talking to her.....she could feel her heart speed up just at seeing him...hearing his voice, but her heart was heavy and she was sad....planning on leaving to keep him safe. She saw a tall blond woman whom she knew was a friend then an overwhelming grief as she walked away from the house while the man was gone, all to keep him safe.

Sasha could barely breathe, the sadness so overwhelming at leaving this man that it took her a few minutes to catch her breath and get her bearings. She saw that once again, she was in an alley, somehow having made it to some sembilance of privacy. She was so confused at what she had seen inside of her head that she didn't even know which way to go. She couldn't call animals, only insects. And who was the woman and other girl? Why did she keep seeing the man from the alley? And why did she have the urge to go to Green Street?

Morgan's eyes slowly opened when Mikala walked in and her gaze went to Cowboy before looking away. She still felt guilty over everyone's injuries. Mikala, feeling Morgan's guilt, approached the girl and smiled down at her.

"You have no reason to feel the guilt you are feeling Morgan. We've all made our share of mistakes that have caused others to be injured. It is a part of learning and accepting that you are not alone any longer. Let go of your guilt and begin to heal."

As Mikala laid her hand on Morgan's head, her eyes went to the brightest blue they've ever been and she staggered back, Snap having to catch her before she fell.

"There is another......one who is a part of her and yet not. She is the missing piece that Morgan needs in order to be whole again....the part of Morgan that was formed from her. They are the two halves of the same whole."

Snap got Mikala to a chair and looked over at Cowboy, confused as hell. They need Wraith but Snap didn't know where he was.

Mikala looked at Cowboy then at Morgan who was still pale when she shouldn't have been.

"This other half must be found and brought here. And Wraith needs to be here when this other and Morgan are brought together for I feel that he is the only one who can figure out what to do once they are together."

"F&%$!" was all Stefan screamed while he watched in horror as Grey stumbled to the doorway naked as the day he was born. He tried to get to his partner before he reached the door, but the bloodied girl's self pity suddenly turned to anger. She spun around in his arms, trying to claw at his face and Scavenger had to grab her wrists and wrestle her into the bathroom. The young girl was probably all of eight pounds, so he tossed her back easily and as she lunged at him once more he popped her once right on the chin, driving her back into the bathtub where she flopped down like a rag doll.

By the time Scavenger, made it out of the bathroom, it was too late. Grey opened the door, his daisy waving in the night breeze. "Who the f&%# are you?" he greeted, futilely patting his skin, his hands searching for a pack of smokes.



The man was older, probably in his late thirties or forties, Grey really couldn't tell, he just knew that man was old. Taller than himself, with keen blue eyes and dressed in stylish black leather jacket, designer jeans and tight fitting low soled boots with elaborate red and black workmanship. When the nude man answered the door he was surprised to the say the least, although he didn't show it. Standing before the man's naked body, glowing in the lights of the motel lot, the comely man was cool and collected. "You would be Greyson, I presume." Said the man in a fine English accent.

"Who wants to fucking to know?" Responded Grey, then his words were immediately followed by an uncontrollable diatribe of profanity, to which the stranger seemed neither surprised nor offended by.

"Quite." Replied the man politely, and before Grey could react (or start grabbing at his ass for a cigarette), the man retrieved a cigarette, placed it in his lips and was lighting it in but a second. "I know of you condition Grey. May I come in?"

The Highwayman had actually thought it more appropriate to say, "Dare I come in.", but his line of work made strange bed fellows and he was accustomed to dealing with all sorts. Grey took a long drag and strolled back into the room a blue cloud trailing behind him as the visitor followed him in at a modest distance. Grey sat down on Scav's bed and crossed his leg in a most unflattering manner and savored the sweet nicotine, partially staving off another colorful display of his most unfortunate condition as he concentrated on keeping lips around the filter.

"Hello, Scav." the man greeted.

Stefan apologetically moved to the other bed and sat down, timidly waving to the man. When the girl behind him stirred slightly he sheepishly smiled and tossed a sheet over her. "I'm really sor...." The Highwayman raised his hand, cutting off his words, and cast him a disappointed look that could be best placated by his remaining silent.

The man then turned to Grey. "Mr. Pyre, I am the Highwayman. Your associate has told me quite a bit about you and my organization has a need for your particular skills."

"Who do you want me to kill." Muttered Grey, chewing on the tip of the cigarette, his lips still numb from the drugs.

The Highwayman smiled. "Well, it's not those skills we are particularly interested in." He clarified as he leaned back against the dresser, folding his arm across his chest, "You have a particular gift that allows you to disrupt technology," his eyes scanned the room around them, "and you have yet to use it to its full potential I see. So, if you're interested we would like to utilize this ability you have to, how do you say? Glitch, things?"

The Highwayman stared at Grey awaiting a response and recognized that contrary to his mannerisms he was shrewd and calculating, pushing him to see how much he would take to gauge his own importance. If they didn't need him, he wouldn't have come the distance but the man's skills were necessary, so he was forced to indulge the new recruit. "So what do you say, Mr. Pyre?"

Grey puffed on the cigarette for a while, turning away slightly to try to hide his facial tics. Even in the fog around his mind, he was calculating, considering. Unfortunately, the drugs were still very much clouding his mind and a thought fell across it making him begin to giggle uncontrollably. Scavenger placed his head in his hand as his naked friend turned to the Highway man, snickering with squinted, bloodshot eyes.

"It's like . . . it's like . . . someone figgered out I wuzza meta," he snickered, his speech just slightly slurred. The Highwayman simply blinked expectantly at him, his expression calm and unfazed. After another moment, Grey's sniggering stopped abruptly and he blew a puff of smoke into the Highway man's face. "How much?" he asked. Then before he could respond, Grey shivered and rubbed his hands together. "Damn, it's f$&^in COLD in here!" he shouted, much louder than he intended, or was aware of. His cloudy vision then drifted down to himself and he broke into a wide grin, another round of giggles taking over him. "Oh shit," he said, his face twitching before he turned and looked blearily up at the Highwayman. "Yer tha guy who we're a-supposedta meet . . . and you just saw my dick!" Grey collapsed into drugged laughter again, sticking the cigarette into his mouth and wandering across the room past Scavenger. There, he pulled on a pair of boxers and his worn pair of cargo pants, cackling the entire time.

Half-dressed, Grey stood, scratching his backside and grinning over at the Highway man with the cigarette still hanging out of his mouth. A moment passed in which both Scavenger and the Highwayman began to wonder if Grey even remembered the proposition. Grey's face ticked a few times and a few obscenities tumbled in a string out of his mouth, muffled by the cigarette. When it passed, he took the cigarette out of his mouth and finally spoke through a cloud of gray-blue smoke.

"Look," he said, still grinning, his words still slurred with laughter and high, "I'll do whatever the f$*& you want, but only fertha right price. Name your price. I'll tell you if I wanna help."

Standing before the naked man, his hands tucked into the pockets of his jacket, the Highwayman's mind was a complex matrix of plans within plans. Grey's words languorously trickled to his ears, his own thoughts by comparison racing by at sub-light speeds, allowing him to think faster than just about anybody, but the distracting display before him was making his mind dwell on one particular thought, looping over and over. "Why would such a powerful gift be granted to such a man?". He then smiled at his own private joke, a smile that lingered on out of politeness as to not offend the two-bit hood with his high morals, although that may be an act in futility, he figured.

He had thought to explain, how simply his mutant ability was discovered but at that very moment, Grey rocked himself off of the bed and shuffled across the room where he mercifully slipped on a pair of boxers. Then during a pause, which to the speedster felt was more like half of an hour the moaning of girl could be heard coming from the closed bathroom. The Highwayman's eyes quickly flicked to Stefan, sitting innocently on the bed pretending that he couldn't hear the noise. He couldn't believe that they shared the same blood, "What a fool!". He almost said the words aloud, while awaiting Grey to snap back into the moment, then the words he had been waiting for finally reached his ears, "How much?", which immediately prompted him to reach into his breast pocket and toss the contents to the young man. A stuffed, brown envelope landed in Grey's, surprisingly steady hand and there was little doubt that he wouldn't know what was in it.

Grey knew the drill, guys like him were used to getting a taste of the honey before the bees cleared and it flowed freely. The contents of the envelope was just an incentive, something to draw him in and the real money would follow the job. "Ten thousand." The Highwayman informed Grey and Scavenger, "It's yours free and clear, whether or not you take the job, but much more awaits, if you throw in with us."

It was obvious to the Highwayman, that his cousin was all in, but Greyson was not yet convinced. He was a complex man, one that had learned to use his disability to his advantage, but Lance was never for one moment misguided by Grey's behaviour. Despite his condition that man was bright and not one to underestimate and even while inhibited by the drugs in his system he knew what he wanted.

"I'm going to let the two of you think on it." Offered the Highwayman, "You have my card, just give me call when you have arrived at a decision. I just need to know by tomorrow." he said casually.

The Highwayman then exited the room and a few moments later, Grey and Scavenger could hear a loud bang outside the door; the sonic boom left in the speeding mutant's wake as he accelerated to cruising speed.

Grey stood still, holding the cigarette in one hand and the envelope in another. He watched the Highwayman leave and flinched just slightly at the sonic boom that followed. Saying nothing to Scavenger, he the flopped back down onto the bed and shoved his hand with the envelope underneath the pillow. Laying on his stomach, Grey put pushed the cigarette out on the already stained bedside table and drifted off to sleep. Scavenger stood up, looking a little incredulously over at his partner.

"Well?" he asked expectantly.

"Ung..." Grey grunted, his face half-buried in the pillow. Scavenger's knowledge of how deadly Grey was was the only thing keeping him from throttling his partner.

"We gonna do it or not?" he demanded. Now Grey lifted his head a bit from the pillow, peering over at Scav out of the corner of one bleary eye.

"Whatchoo mean this 'we' shit?" he grumbled, "I din't hear him talkin' to you." Scav rolled his eyes and said nothing, waiting for the inevitable (he hoped) serious response. Grey took several seconds however, his eyes drifting over to the girl next to him, only barely stirring but still quite passed out. "Sweet," he muttered, grinning mischievously before lowering his head back to the pillow and mumbling something that sounded a little like consent.

Grey awoke far more cognizant later in the day and finally counted the money in the envelope. "Shit," he muttered. Though he kept his face calm and knowing, anyone who knew his past might be able to discern his true thoughts. He had never in his life seen that much money. His work before the mob blackmailed him had been small time petty things that only just supported him. For the first time in ages, Grey's mind drifted back to his family and their methods of protecting their vast income. Mumbling something to Scavenger, Grey drove over to a bank and reluctantly opened an account in his name having no other alias. That would be dealt with later. Dropping the money off, he drove back in a storm of ticking from having to hold it back for so long at the bank.

Finally, he pulled back into the hotel, still twitching slightly, making some exiting patrons shoot him a disconcerted look. Tossing the cigarette outside, he climbed the stairs only to abruptly toss open the door, startling Scavenger and lean in.

"Let's go," he grunted and without waiting, started back down the stairs. Pulling up in front of the old house, Grey turned to Scavenger, pausing in the car. "They here?" he asked. When Scavenger nodded, Grey got out of the car, cigarette still hanging from his mouth and pushed the door open, his eyes immediately darting around for Highwayman.

Wraith couldn't believe their luck. He didn't blame, Sigma, 'How in the hell could he know people would be living in the basement of the abandoned warehouse?'. Unfortunately, their luck only got worse, when a portly, Hispanic man came wandering down the alley from the location of the washroom. When the man's eyes raised from the floor to the long hallway he stared in disbelief. Standing before him was a tall woman in a leopard print body suit and two masked men, then as the reality of the situation set in, he screamed profanities in Spanish and quickly reached behind him for the gun tucked in the back of his trousers.

As the crime fighters reacted much quicker than the two-bit hood their was a loud noise behind the man and a team of RAID operatives burst through the door way plasma rifles a blazing! The man was struck by two bolt of plasma energy, set far too high for a man to survive. He quivered as blood was squeezed out his eyes from his violent convulsions before striking the floor dead, but before that the meta-humans were on the move.



Sigma lead the way down the hallway and as he rushed past an open doorway caught a glimpse of the little boy running toward him and into the path of gun fire. "Wraith!" he screamed, unable to stop in time to intervene as ahead of them he saw two other men appear in the corridor ahead of them, cocking their automatic weapons.

Wraith saw the boy and to prevent a collision occurring with Amazon on his heels he dematerialized, allowing her to pass through him, then becoming flesh as he grabbed the child and dove into the room.

As lightning blazed through the corridor and shards of plaster filled the hallway from the missed bullets of the RAID operatives, Sigma sprinted toward the two gunmen. He lashed out with his retractable black whip, slashing one of the men across the face then slid along the floor, making use of the debris to carry his momentum forward and under the gun fire of the other. He hoped that Amazon would be able to react as he didn't have time to warn her. Sliding along the floor, he drove his foot into the man's knee, snapping his leg. The man cried out and a chaotic spray of gun fire, shredded the ceiling, then Sigma sprang to his feet and laid out the other with a full force right cross that snapped the man's neck, driving him to the floor in a crumpled mass.

Sigma kept moving, leaving the gun man with the broken leg for Amazon while he drove forward, his senses alert for any other adversaries or friendlies lurking in the dark rooms. He had to find a way out. One should be coming up shortly as they were getting close to what he figured would be the other side of the building and sure enough, he caught sight of a stairwell going up.

"This way!" he alerted the others, not looking back to see if they were following. He sprinted up the stairs and through the door at the top.

All around him, chemists stared in shock as the masked man burst through the doorway, a long black whip in his hand ready to strike. Sigma's cold eyes recognized that he was standing in a crystal-meth lab and immediately located the the gun toting rooster among the hens at the end of the room.

"Get out of my f&^%ing way or I'll take your f&^%ing head off!" he roared and as the man went for his gun, the black whip crashed through, beakers and vials as it extended and swept across the room, seeking out the gun man's throat.

_________________________________________________________________

Nearly blind in the light of the day, despite his dark glasses, Scavenger trailed behind his partner to the front door of the large early 1900's house, which he felt was a little reminiscent of the Adam's Family. Grey rapped on the door, while musing to himself about something, then the two of them waited.



A beautiful blonde haired woman answered the door and smiled coldly. "Come in gentlemen. N-ice to see you both." she greeted as he opened the door wide then strutted away down the hallway. Then men followed and she brought them into a study, where they saw the Highwayman and two others playing pool on the table in the center of the room, while a fourth lurked in a shadowy corner of the room.



A dark haired man with pale skin, wearing an expensive suit glanced over at Grey, then focused once more on his cue and pulled off an amazing bank shot, that surprised the Highwayman.



"You see," said the tall black haired woman in the provocative black body suit, "he never misses."

The Highwayman smiled, reached into his pocket and passed the slick dressed man a few bills, then when he noticed Grey and Scavenger enter the room behind the blonde haired woman, passed his cue to the woman and approached them.

"Grey. So good to see you." he said extending his hand. He only offered Scavenger a glare and the young punker scurried over to sit by the window, where he pecked at a bowl of nuts set on a nearby table. "Let me introduce you to the family."

The Highwayman, first pointed to the woman who answered the door. "This is Deirdre White, known as Snow Angel." he introduced and the woman blew a kiss to Grey and her frost breath hung in the air. He then, gestured to the taller woman who introduced herself as Door Knocker, "But you can call me Jen, sweet cakes." she said with a seductive grin, then the Highwayman looked to the creepy looking man, "And this is Roulette.", he said and the gangster nodded. He then turned once more to Grey, "Call me Lance and..." he was about to say something else but the shadowy figure in the corner cut him off by clearing her throat loudly.

When Amazon saw the Hispanic man, their eyes met for a brief moment and in that moment, she knew he was NOT a meta sympathizer. The look in his eyes went from surprise to panic to anger to hatred in a matter of seconds. Even as he started cursing them in his native language, which Amazon knew rather fluently, the tall woman knew they would have their work cut out for them.

Of course when he reach to pull his gun to fire at them, the noise behind him drowned out his ramblings of how he was going to kill all of them and get rich from the reward money. When Amazon saw what was causing the noise, the last thing she wanted to see were more RAID ops.

She had opened her mouth to yell at him to look out when the plasma guns were fired, striking the man and killing him painfully. Amazon had a split second of shock before she was on the move with Sigma and Wraith once more. As they barreled down the corridor in an effort to escape their pursuers, Amazon just did see a quick glimpse of a small figure just a second before Sigma yelled at Wraith. As the meta dematerialized and she ran right through him, she gasped at the strange feeling.

As the corridor lit up with electricity and bullets became deadly projectiles in the narrow space, she saw Sigma drop down and begin to slide along the floor which left her only one way to go: into the room with Wraith and the boy. Without a second thought, she used her long legs and strength to launch her into the room Wraith had dove into trying to shield the boy from the over zealous RAID agents.

The place quickly became cloudy with sheet rock dust as bullets from the chaotic gun fire pierced the thin walls and came damn close to striking her and Wraith. Amazon couldn’t help but cry out as she felt the heated projectiles come so close to her body as she curled into the tightest position she could while covering her head. It only lasted a brief moment before she quickly scrambled to her feet and practically pulled Wraith to his by the back of what would be the collar to his suite.

”Come on! We have to get the hell out of here NOW!”

As the frightened child looked at both of the tall metas, she tried to give him a reassuring smile before talking to him in fluent spanish.

”Sorry, kid. We didn’t mean to crash your party.”

As she moved out of the room, the RAID op that had the broken leg attempted to reach for his gun. When he did, Amazon quickly landed a hard kick to his jaw making sure he was knocked out for a good while and unable to use his gun on them.

”I don’t THINK so, gimpy!”

Quickly following Sigma’s lead, she practically shoved Wraith ahead of her and up the stairs making sure she was right on his heels. When they found themselves staring at the frightened, hollow eyed faces of the women cooking the meth, Amazon let out a series of soft curses. Of all the places to end up, this was one of the most dangerous.

When the rooster went for his gun and Sigma reacted with his whip shattering beakers and vials everywhere, Amazon gasped again. The last thing they needed was for any sort of spark in this literal powder keg. Quickly assessing the situation, Amazon pointed to a closed window that was boarded up.

”THAT WAY! It’s the only way out of here in a hell fire hurry!”

As Sigma let the rooster feel the sting of his whip, Amazon charged towards the boarded up window. Tucking her head and shoulder, she crashed through the boarded window as shards of glass and splinters of wood went flying out into the street beyond. Her shoulder smarting, she dragged herself to her feet as quickly as she could just seconds before she heard the screams of the hens in the meth lab warning of the extremely high risk of explosion.

”SIGGY! Come on! Get the hell out of there!”