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Scott Hunter sat on the plush white sofa that sat in the center of Alexa’s living room. On the coffee table before him was the day’s issue of the Lost Haven Daily Globe. He was focused on an article covering the recent murder of the Esper Family, a family of superheroes who had come to prominence in the 1980’s. As a child, Scott had enjoyed the tales of Mr. and Miss Esper as told on their Saturday Morning Cartoon show. He even had their lunchbox and collected their action figures. In fact, when he was a small child, he even had a pair of the Mr. Esper footie Pajamas, and he’d pretend that he was a superhero defending the Earth from the sinister Doctor Fritz. 

“….are you listening to me?” Alexa’s voice broke through the haze that had engulfed Scott’s mind as he read the gory details surrounding the death of an entire super family.

“Huh? Yeah…” Scott said noncommittally as he continued scanning the article.

“Scott, this is serious.” Alexa protested. Scott didn’t have to look to see her pout, he could feel it.

“Yeah, I know. You want to doll me up and parade me around when your parents get here. No problem.” Scott said half jokingly as he put the paper down. 

“Precisely.” Alexa joked as she sat down next to Scott, placing her cup of coffee on the table next to his.

“Not that it really matters, your dad hates me.” 

“Oh he does not…he’s just not sure that you can take care of me.” Alexa said, doing her best to reassure him. The truth was that her father, Jonathan Winstone, the CEO of Winstone International, and by extension, her boss, did not approve of her relationship with Scott.  He believed that Scott, a small business owner, although successful in his own right, was beneath his daughter. He had told both his wife, and even Alexa that Scott was just after the family fortune and that she could do better. 

“No, he hates me.” Scott said flatly.

“Yeah, he kinda hates you.” Alexa said with a laugh as she moved in for a quick kiss. “So, what’s so interesting that you were completely ignoring me?” Alexa said motioning toward the newspaper.

“Oh, just this article about the Espers.” Scott told her.

“Who?” Alexa asked.

“The Espers. They were like the first family of superheroes. I was a big fan when I was little.”

“Oh, so what happened to them?” 
“Someone murdered them. Mr. and Miss Esper, and their kids.” Scott explained.

“Oh, that’s terrible. Do they--?” Alexa’s question was interrupted by the sound fire engines racing through Sherman Square with their sirens blaring. “Huh, I wonder what’s going on.” 

“No Clue.” Scott said as he turned on the television and flipped it to the morning news program. The young newswoman stared deadpan into the camera as she reported on the biggest news story of the morning. A multi alarm fire had broken out in an apartment building in Little Ulster, and fire crews were struggling to battle the blaze, and had not been able to get everyone out.

“I should go.” Scott said as he made his way to the bedroom to get his uniform.

“Do you need me to go?” Alexa asked as she followed him.

“No, I think I can handle it.” He told her as he changed into his uniform in a blink of an eye. “I’ll be back in a flash.” He said as he kissed her on the cheek before bolting out of the window.

[i][b]Moments later…[/b][/i]

The scene of the fire at the Down East Gardens apartment building was a chaotic one. Fire fighters raced around frantically as they scrambled to extinguish the blaze. The police had formed a parameter around the building in an attempt to keep the ever growing crowd of bystanders from interfering with the fire fighting efforts. Icon touched down among the rows of fire trucks on the north side of the building, just behind a group of firemen who were going over the game plan for tackling the growing inferno. Captain Peter Williams stood with one of his men as he was getting reports from all fronts of the blaze. The middle aged fire captain wore an expression of despair as he shouted instructions. 

[b] “What can I do to help, Captain?”[/b] Icon asked as he approached the man from behind.

“Huh?!” The fireman said, looking as if he was about to rip the head off of one of his subordinates who hadn’t been paying attention. 

“Oh, it’s you…thank God.” Captain Williams said as he turned to face Icon. “We’ve got it mostly contained here, so hopefully we don’t have to worry about it spreading from this building. But there’s a family trapped on the sixth floor. We’ve been trying to get to them, but it’s too hot. The foundation isn’t stable and I can’t get my men in there.” 

[b] “I understand, I’ll do what I can.[/b] Icon assured the man.

“Listen Icon, they’ve been in there awhile, I don’t think you’ll just be running a recovery mission.” Captain Williams said honestly, the man’s experience in the field had taught him to hold his emotions in until after the job was done.

[b] “I’ll do what I can.”[/b] Icon told the captain as he took off and made his way to a fifth floor window.

Icon made his way down the hallway of the engulfed apartment building. The sheer heat and flame made it difficult for him to see. He continued down the hallway, calling out for anyone who might still be alive. Unfortunately, he no one answered. Icon moved down the burning hallway as debris fell around him and he began to fear that the captain had been right. 

[i]There’s nobody here. I’m too late.[/] 

Then, just ahead he heard something. A voice called back from one of the apartments just down the hall.

[b] “Stay where you are, I’m coming.” [/b] Icon instructed them as he hastened his pace toward the apartment. 

When he reached the door, it was already open. Icon stepped in and immediately found the bodies of a young couple on the floor. Their bodies were burned badly, and he could only hope that they had died from smoke inhalation rather than from being burned alive.

[b] “Hello?”[/b] Icon called out. After taking another couple of steps, he saw who had called him, and a wave of relief washed over the hero of Lost Haven. A young child, no more than five years old was huddled up in the corner of the living room. Icon approached the terrified child and forced a smile for the newly orphaned boy.

“It’s okay; I’m here to get you out of here.” Icon said, softening his voice as to not frighten the child any more. 

The boy looked up to Icon as he approached and smiled at the hero, glad that someone had come to take him out of this.

“I knew someone would come. I’m glad it was you.” The boy said.

Icon reached down to take the boy’s hand, but to his surprise the boy resisted. He looked down at the boy and was about to reassure him, but before he could say anything, the boy’s features began to shift and change. The “boy” quickly began to grow to the size of a full sized man, and the features of his face changed as well. They were no longer the features of an innocent five year old boy, but the twisted features of something far more sinister. The man before him had long black hair with blood red highlights. His face was slightly elongated, and his pallor was an off grey in color.  The clothes the man wore were all black, except for the red lining of the trench coat that he wore.

“Oh, I am so glad to meet you.” The strange man said as he hit Icon with a hard right hand which sent him through the wall of the burning apartment building, where he plummeted the five stories into the parked fire trucks below.