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[center][b][color=forestgreen]HEROES FOR HIRE
in
A SNAKE IN THE GRASS[/color][/b][/center]

While the weather is starting ever so slightly to turn towards spring, the night New York air is still cold against the light fabric of my Iron Fist robes. Luke’s always making fun of me for picking literally the worst possible costume for the bitter New York winters, and he’s totally not totally wrong. The green kung fu outfit adorned with golden hand and foot wrappings, and a golden mask is as sparse as you’ll find in the vigilante world.  Still, training in K’un-Lun helped me prepare. The mountainous regions it appeared in, not to mention the ones that it occupied in its own dimension, made sure I was fighting in the snow more often than not. The Thunderer wasn’t an easy master, to say the least.

Underneath the garment, the scare where I was burned by Shou-Lao the Undying feels warmer than the rest of my body. The Scholars of the city figured it’s imbued with some of the dragon’s Chi, leaving it imbued with its energy.

I take a deep breath and center myself, feeling the city move around me. Most people see cities as lifeless and inhospitable to the natural order of things. While modern cities are a bit behind on the whole pollution thing, the multitude of human life in the immediate area is powerful, making them a hotbed of natural power. It’s why madmen, conquerors, and despots all focus on conquering cities. That’s where the human power is.

Once centered, I take off across the lower-lying rooftops of New York. Free-running has been adopted by the masses, at least by some of the more adventurous members of the masses. Still, they can’t compare to a truly trained martial artist. During my training, I was though how to traverse the city like the wind. It’s the kind of training the ninjas of old would learn, but I’m not trying to assassinate anyone. 

As dumb as it sounds, the secret to good free running is paying attention. Yea, not crap, right? Still, most people see it and think it’s about speed and strength. But without the correct site, you’re just going to fall out get stuck. But when you do it right, there’s nothing like it.

I kick off the ledge of one rooftop, fly easily through the air, and land in a roll on the next, which just happens to overlook Central Park. Everyone always tells me I’m crazy, but I swear the air smells better out here.

As I take in the view, something catches my eye from the top of the Natural History Museum. A solitary figure slinks across the roof before disappearing through a door.

[color=forestgreen]“Well, that’s interesting,”[/color] I say to myself and take off towards the museum. Once I’m on the roof, I follow the way of the interloper. Inside, there’s no evidence anyone has broken in save for the door I entered through.

That is, there’s no sign until a guard comes screaming around a corner towards me. His face is a crimson mask with blood flowing from a cut on his forehead. He screams unintelligibly about spiders while running headlong into me. When the shock wears off, I use the same sleep technique I used on the doctor earlier on the guard. 

While the doctor was merely confused, the guard’s fear is radiating off him like a tidal wave. It’s a frothing, rabid type of fear, the kind that only comes from the deepest, most primal parts of our brain. I can see in his eyes, bulging so much they seem to be trying to escape the skull, that there’s nothing going on inside besides the fight or flight instincts. I have to work a lot harder to put him asleep, and it takes more out of me.

My Chi abilities aren’t unlimited. Not even close. The more I use the higher level abilities, the quicker I’m going to tire myself out and leave me open to attack. It’s a double edged sword, for sure.

Once the guard is out, I take out the burner phone I keep in my suit, and call Luke’s. When I hear him pick up, I don’t waste any time, [color=forestgreen]“Luke, I’m at the Museum of Natural History.”[/color]

Groggily, he responds, [color=gold]“Never took you for the learning type.”[/color]

[color=forestgreen]“Funny,”[/color] my tone shows I’m not messing around. [color=forestgreen]“Someone broke in. A guard attacked me. Seemed to be some sort of berserker poison in a cut.”[/color]

[color=gold]“I’ll make a call,”[/color] he responds. [color=gold]“Be careful.”[/color]

[color=forestgreen]“I will.”[/color]

Following the frantic path the guard took towards me, I find myself in an exhibit dedicated to ancient religions of the world. In the darkened hallway, I pass by shadows of the past. Druid masks leer out at me with dark, dead eyes. Carved idols watch as I slink silently towards whoever the hell broke into the museum.

I find what I’m looking for at the end of the hallway. There, carving into the glass of one of the cases with bladed fingers is a short-haired woman clad in what looks like snakeskin. The circle of glass comes out, and she grabs some sort of rock from the display, and turns to face me. She has dark paint around her eyes, which seem to be...snake like. 

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[color=forestgreen]“You know, you’re not even supposed to tap on the glass, let alone break it,”[/color] I smile at her.

Her eyes narrow as her tongue darts out in a quick lick of her lips, [color=darkorange]“Well, well, well. I wasn’t expecting to see you tonight.”[/color]

[color=forestgreen]“Yea, well, I wasn’t expecting to run into weird...snake...claw lady either,”[/color] I shake my head at how lame that is.

[color=darkorange]“You can call me Copperhead,”[/color] she hisses. [color=darkorange]“Now...time to die.”[/color]

Crap.