[b]May 10th, 10:00 am...[/b]

Gary Frank, Director of STRIKE, sat in a secure room facing a large monitor. Frank was currently stationed in the mountain fortress of STRIKE hidden in the Appalachian Mountains on the outskirts of New Athens.

[img]http://static2.comicvine.com/uploads/scale_super/11/117763/3081648-vault.jpg[/img]

When the monitor came to life, on the other side there was Frank's friend from the Marines Bill Hadley. If not for his lighter colored hair and eyes, Hadley could pass for actor Gary Sinise. The two of them served together in the Marines and were on the ground floor during the early days of STRIKE in the 70's. Both men were well into their seventies age-wise, but either of them could pass for an in-shape forty-something. 

"Bill..." Frank said aloud at the screen.

"Frank... it doesn't look good. On his way out of the Quad, Liberty Son set off a telekinetic wave that fried every electronic device on that side of the building. It also made a vegetable out of Soldier of Fortune..." Hadley responded with a grim look on his face, "He's completely broken contact."

"Yesterday that bastard Shayd destroyed most of Westman Chemical. Tore up Highland Park too, that's where Lady Liberty decided to take her dog for a walk. Bad news travels fast even with friends in the media. Damn shame too, Bella was a doll." the STRIKE Director reminisced.

"Couple of aliens were found torn apart, and the hero Sentinel was hospitalized as well?" Hadley asked.

"Yeah, we're not sure if it was Bella's boy or not. He may be looking for Shayd. Witnesses described the man as wearing red white and blue, so there's a chance it's him. He may have just gone completely off the deep end. Over four dozen confirmed deaths at Westman Chemical, at least another two dozen in the hospital. The only fatality at the park was Bella." Frank continued.

"Almost looks like somebody [i]wanted[/i] her dead and used the destruction to their advantage..." Hadley commented.

[b]2:11 pm, same day....[/b]

"You are practically a God, you HAVE to have battled Shayd! Tell me what you know!" the blonde haired former hero screamed unleashing his telekinetic fury on the American legend in the flesh. 

The telekinetic energy poured a yellow color from his eyes under the hood of his twisted suit as he broke the manifestation of Paul Bunyan in a field of energy. The two men were in the wreckage of Highland Park that had been sanctioned off from the general public and only city workers and volunteers had access in the clean up process. Those civilians though had already ran off minutes into the misunderstanding. Only rumors and a crappy phone video recording made the news headlines in the Olympian Gazette. 

[b]May 12th, 4 pm. New Athens...[/b]

Hadley and an entourage of plain clothed STRIKE agents stepped out of a car parked outside one of the many Silver Dollar Coffee Shops around the city, and entered into the cleared out building. 

"You've got to be kidding me right?" Hadley said as he looked at the table where a small cardboard box sat atop it, "This," he motioned to the box as he looked at the agents accompanying him, "This turtle is suppose to be what gets a giant morphing chocolate monster on our government sanctioned super team?" 

He turned to stare back at the agents once again. 

"Seriously?" he said with an exasperated sigh sitting down at the table with the box and putting his head in his hands, "If this is some joke it's not a funny one..." he muttered.

[b]May 12th, 10:46 pm...[/b] 

The half human half alien Polaris searched the woods for an alien container with no idea what it really held inside. Luxe just knew the United Planets put a big enough bounty on the container for the woman to come back to this mudball in the Milky Way Galaxy. Her pulse rifle drawn, she looked down a bit of a cliff to see the metallic container. With her Starlord-like mask/helmet she could see that the container had been breached. And that there were parts of another starship floating up the Kirby River. A flicker of light caught her attention and when she focused her headgear's lenses she saw it. 

[img]http://static7.comicvine.com/uploads/scale_super/11111/111111230/3498395-zzzak.jpg[/img]

An energy creature had escaped from the container and bolted in and out of existence with incalculable speed. He eventually bolted into a powerline and an electrical surge could be seen heading into the city. More specifically the empty Mercury Mall...

"Damn..." Luxe said under her breath looking onward.

[@MsMellow] [@rocketrobie2]

~KL~