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[center][b]Christopher Arthur III[/b] | [b]Veronica Arthur[/b][/center]
Chris pressed an icepack against his forehead. Headbutting a giant shark-human metahuman was not one of his greatest ideas Chris had thought of. His actions could have turned out disastrous in numerous ways, such as inflicting a concussion on himself or even placing his head in a position where the “shark-man” could chomp down on his head. Luckily, his gamble had worked and he was able to fight off his opponent.

Chris, trying not to awaken his half-sister, sneaked into Veronica’s room. He pulled up a chair beside her bed and watched as his sister slept. Ever since their parents had died, Chris had taken over as Veronica’s guardian. He was supposed to be the one who protected her from harm. He had the intelligence, the money, even a power suit. But look what good it did. Even with all his resources, Chris could not prevent his sister from being transformed into some snake-human hybrid. For having so many advantages in life, Chris could not do the one thing he most wanted to do: protect his sister.

Veronica suddenly started to awaken from her sleep. She was still extremely groggy as she sat up in her bed.

“I had the weirdest dream,” she began to say, “where I was kidnapped and there were others with me. I remember a dinosaur guy, and a wasp girl, and...”

Veronica would have gone on describing what she thought was a dream had she not seen her tongue flare out of her mouth, even though she did not stick it out. At the end of her tongue, Veronica saw that it was forked, like a snake. She peered down at her hands and beheld in horror that they now had a green hue and an almost scale-like complexion.

She flicked off her comforter and covers, only to discover even more horrors. Veronica saw a tangled mess of green coils that had lurked under her covers. It only took seconds for Veronica to register in her mind that the coils were all one serpentine tail and that this tail was connected to her, replacing her legs.

“Oh God, it wasn’t a dream.”

Once the realization that she was no longer fully human set upon her, Veronica broke out into tears. Chris sat next to his half-sister on her bed, wrapping his arm around her shoulder. He pulled out a small wristband out of his pocket, placing it in her hands.

“I found a similar device on one of the meta’s from the abandoned complex in West Viriginia. I was able to reverse engineer this from it. While it will cause major nausea if you wear it for over twenty-four hours, this device will negate the effects of whatever that madman injected you with. While I don’t have a cure for your condition and while this is only a temporary fix, I will find a way to cure you, I promise.”

After she heard this, Veronica turned her glance toward her brother. Her tears gradually stopped. When Chris saw this, he thought that she was going to thank him, but he was surprised about what she actually said.

“What about the others?” 

Chris immediately looked away from his sister when he heard this. He wondered why she had to ask that question? Wasn’t his aid good enough for her?

“You’re safe now, that’s all that matters right now.”

“But they were trying to help me, to save me?”

Chris arose from his sister’s bed, walking toward the bedroom door, but immediately pacing back and forth. He wondered how he should explain it to his sister. While she did know about Chris’ involvement with the ‘government’, Veronica was not fully aware of the exact nature of this relationship. She did not know about S.T.R.I.K.E.

“They’re in the portion of my property which I lease to the government. Agents will be here shortly to transport them to a more permanent location.”

“Why would you do such a thing? They were just trying to help. What do they get in return for their generosity: they just got exchanged from one kidnapper to another?”

“I don’t have a choice, Veronica,” Chris said, but his sister quickly cut him off before he could continue.

“What do you mean you don’t have a choice? You always have a choice!”

“With the people I’m working, I don’t. Even if I did protest such action, they would just march in here and take what they saw as theirs. And,” Chris paused, thinking how to word what he was going to say, “they don’t know about your powers. If they did, they probably would also demand that I hand you over, too. If I don’t cause them any problems, they won’t cause me any problems. I can’t lose you, Veronica. You’re all the family I have left.”

“Are you doing this for me or for yourself?”

Chris did not want to think about that question, let alone answer it. Fortunately for him, Chris’ cell phone started to vibrate. His personal secretary, Minerva, was calling to alert Chris that the S.T.R.I.K.E agents had arrived in order to transport the metahumans off the premises.

“We’ll talk about this later,” Chris told his sister as he started to exit her bedroom.

“Yes, we will talk more about this,” Veronica pouted, folding her arms.

Chris descended down the stairwell, meeting the couple of agents waiting at the base of the stairs. He then led the agents into the basement levels of his estate, where he had leased several rooms to S.T.R.I.K.E. As they walked, Chris noticed that the S.T.R.I.K.E agents were dead silent. Therefore, Chris decided to break the ice with some conversation.

“So, I heard that you guys were having some in Lost Haven. So, when will you guys be calling me in?”

“Director Anderson will let you know when he decides the time is right,” one of the agents said coldly.

“Oh, so your Director will go all Nick Fury on me, popping out of nowhere in my house just to tell me to suit up?” Chris joked. However, he only saw blank stares because his humor went over their heads.

While Chris was trying to explain his joke to those agents, one of the staff members ran frantically up to Chris. By the way he ran, anyone could tell that something had gone terribly wrong. The staff member interrupted Chris’ conversation, whispering into his employer’s ear.

“What?” Chris asked, not believing what the frightened man said.

“They’re all gone. All three of them!“

Chris rushed into the confinement cell, hoping that this was all just a joke. However, when he entered into that room, he saw that all three cells where empty, lacking their occupants. Chris had no idea how this happened, but he knew only one way to find out.

“Prep the security tapes.”