[center][img]http://i.imgur.com/klHHPfB.png?1[/img][/center]
[center][b]Christopher Arthur III[/b][/center]
	Isaac was abruptly jolted out of his sleep from the blaring noise of his alarm clock. Instinctively, he reached over and slammed the snooze button on the clock. Once his wake-up call had been silenced, he closed his eyes for a few moments before he tried to place his arm around his wife. However, as he reached over where he thought his wife was sleeping, Isaac suddenly felt his hand brush against a wall. Since he was startled from this, he immediately sat up in his bed and was shocked at what he saw.

	He was sleeping in a full-size bed instead of a king, as he had remembered. He also could tell that he no longer was in the quaint home where he lived with his wife and daughter. Instead, he found himself in a cramped apartment. It was furnished in a Spartan style, since there was barely any furniture. In his confusion, Isaac threw off his covers and searched around the small abode, calling out his wife and daughter’s names, although in vain. 

	Thinking that he might have gone crazy, Isaac went to the one place that probably had all the answers: the internet. However, when he booted up the laptop in his apartment, he was surprised that the operating system was Windows 10 since he knew that it was several years old now. Once his desktop had finished loading up on the screen, the date at the bottom right corner seemed impossible. Although he did not believe it, the computer said that he was a decade in the past. Either the computer’s internal clock was just ten years slow or he had somehow gone back in time.

	Next, he typed his wife’s name, Caroline, into the search engine. He was horrified at the results. He knew that in two years, Caroline and he were married and had their daughter, Lizzy, only a year later. But if what Caroline’s obituary said was true, she somehow died in a demon invasion of Lost Haven. Denial began to set in as Isaac came to terms with what he saw. This could not be true. But what could explain this? Could he had slipped into a parallel universe or something? But was that not just a fantasy made up by fiction writers?

	Isaac’s mind raced in his head. He wondered how he could fix this situation, if it was even fixable in the first place. He racked his brain in hopes of thinking of anyone would could possibly know how to fix it. Finally, he found one name: Christopher Arthur. He remembered that Mr. Arthur was a technological genius and, if anyone could help Isaac get home, it would be him. After he learned about Mr. Arthur’s whereabouts for the night, he scavenged around his apartment for his costume and equipment. He had not donned those tights for almost a decade. He promised Caroline that he would give up the mercenary work, especially when he had a daughter to take care of. Normally, his wife would have been furious if Isaac had taken up his old job. But since he was doing it to get her and his little girl back, she would just have to allow this one to slide.

[hr]

	Chris stood in front of a mirror while he finished adjusting his bow tie. He, along with many other people of great importance, had been invited to a private event in Pacific Point. Although he was socially obligated to make an appearance at the event, it never specified [i]when[/i] he had to do so. Sure, there was an official start time, but who arrives at parties right when the doors open? Chris indeed had other plans in mind for his arrival time.

	“So, how do I look?” Chris turned his attention away from the mirror towards Maya. She wore a red dress that matched her fiery hair, along with the ruby that hung on a necklace around her neck.

	[color=c0c0c0]“Words cannot describe how magnificent you look.”[/color] Chris sweet talked Maya. [color=c0c0c0]“I guess that’s why people say that a picture is worth a thousand words.”[/color]

	“So, what thousand words would you use?” Maya joked with Chris.

	The luxury hotel where they were staying in Pacific Point not only had a beautiful view of the city, but also the sea front, too. Even though it was already growing dark, Pacific Point was still bustling with activity. This, however, was not a surprise to Chris and Maya, since they were going to a party latter that night. The dazzling skyline was just a marvel to gaze at. It seemed the two were having a moment together, until George, Chris’ butler appeared.

	“Master Christopher. You have a call from S.T.R.I.K.E.” He interrupted Chris and Maya.

	[color=c0c0c0]“I swear they always come crying for my help at the most inopportune times.”[/color] Chris sighed, knowing that he needed to ditch Maya for a while as he dealt with whatever S.T.R.I.K.E. wanted. He could tell from Maya’s sad expression on her face that she knew that he was going to be busy for a little bit. However, he tried to console her for this inconvenience. [color=c0c0c0]“Don’t worry. While punctuality isn’t my strong suit, I am a man of my word. I’ll be back as soon as I can.”[/color]

	With a kiss goodbye, at least for now, Chris went with George so that he could make his way to the local ST.R.I.K.E. headquarters, leaving Maya behind.

[hr]

	For the last month or so, S.T.R.I.K.E. had been trying to track a new speedster on the West Coast. Not only are speedsters difficult to track, but they are also potentially dangerous too, especially if they’re not playing for the good guys. The effectiveness of the process that S.T.R.I.K.E. used to follow this new hero could be likened to the technique that astronomers used to discover exoplanets. Since you could not see the exoplanet with one’s naked eye, astronomers have to rely on the miniscule dimming of a star to locate one of these extraterrestrial planets. In the same way, since this speedster was moving so fast, S.T.R.I.K.E. could only see short blinks of where this metahuman was.

	But tonight, STRIKE seemed to luck out this time. Through their massive intelligence resources, they learned that this metahuman was in Pacific Point. Agents on the ground was able to quickly confirm the sighting and call in for backup. Regular agents would be no match for a lot of metahuamns, let alone one who can run at supersonic speeds. This was where Chris came in.

	When he arrived at the scene of the sighting, Chris discovered two peculiar individuals next to a large, white van: a girl wearing a neon-purple wig and a giant of a man who probably would put the Kingpin from Marvel comics to shame with his muscle mass. He made an educated guess that the man was probably not the speedster.

	“Heh. Too easy. I’m embarrassed for you sweetheart, but the Hounds are just gonna love you.” The burly man taunted the girl, who was lying on the pavement of the street.

	[color=c0c0c0]“Hey, haven’t you heard? I get first crack at the ladies around here, so get in line!”[/color]

	“Finally, a [i]real[/i] challenge.” The man boasted.

	[color=c0c0c0]“Actually, can you just surrender now and go quietly? I’ve got places to be and stopping street crimes is a little overkill for me. What do you say?”[/color]

	Instead of saying anything, the man instead began to charge towards Chris. Although it took him a little bit to get to running speed, Chris could tell without all of his technology in his armor that he had quite the weight behind his momentum

	[color=c0c0c0]“Well, I guess that answers that!”[/color]