[center][img]http://i.imgur.com/yKiyn0i.png[/img][/center] [center][img]http://i.imgur.com/4r3SdfD.png[/img][/center] Lyger stood there for a moment in shock at the sight of Sam sitting in the car before him. However, he quickly snapped out of it as her words registered in his mind. Realizing that their pursuers were closing in, he jumped into the passenger seat of the car and motioned for the others to follow suit. Once the other three heroes had jumped into the back of the car, Sam pulled away from the curb and began driving down the seat. “You might want to lose that.” Sam said, motioning towards Lyger’s mask. Lyger just looked at her, then to the three heroes in the back. He shook his head, and realizing that she had been right, reluctantly removed his mask. “Sam, what are you doing here?” Kyle asked, genuinely shocked by the absurdity of the situation. “I heard about what was going on and thought I’d come bail you out.” Sam said, then, not waiting for Kyle to respond added, “Who are your friends?” “Sammy, Zac, and Kelly.” Kyle listed the three friends one by one. “They’re the people that Iron Knight sent me to recruit in Albany during the whole Pax Metahumana crisis. I’m not exactly sure what they’re doing here though.” Sammy gazed at Lyger as he introduced her and her friends to a girl whom she assumed was Sam that Lyger mentioned back when he was under the SIlver Sorceress’ enchantment. How she looked at the cat-themed hero probably could have answered his question about why the three of them were even in Crown Ridge. When Zac noticed her almost obsessive stare, he quickly nudged her with his elbow in order to get her to cut it out. “See. Looks like I was right.” Sammy whispered to Zac as she rubbed her side where he had elbowed her. Although she did not elaborate on what she meant by saying that she was right, but it was obvious to Zac and Kelly that she was referring to Lyger’s sexuality and Sam’s gender. [color=peru]“Whatever.”[/color] Zac mumbled to his girlfriend’s best friend before turning back towards Lyger. [color=peru]“So, where are we headed?”[/color] “I guess we’re going back to our place.” Lyger said to Zac, unconvinced that bringing three relative strangers into the home he shared with Sam was the best idea. “I don’t think we’ll be able to do anymore tonight. The CRPD is going to be on high alert looking for us.” [color=peru]“Well, I guess seeing your place is fair, since you broke into our apartment last time.”[/color] Zac mentioned. [color=peru]“But getting shot at is all the action that I can handle for one night. You won’t be seeing me running back out there anytime soon.”[/color] [color=khaki]“We really appreciate the hospitality.”[/color] Kelly tried to make them seem a little more grateful for being rescued and all. [color=khaki]“I guess things will cool down tomorrow so that we can get back to our hotel and get our stuff.”[/color] “You broke...You didn’t tell me you broke into their apartment.” Sam chided Kyle. “That’s kind of a dick move.” “It was easier than ringing the doorbell.” Kyle told her, and an image of he and Radiance walking up to the front door of the apartment that the three meta humans shared popped into his mind and a slight grin crossed his face. “Kelly’s right, it’s probably best for you guys to crash with us tonight. You might want to put on your power-nullifiers, they’ll be looking for me and three animal like metahumans.” Zac and Kelly both activated their power-nullifiers, which both returned the two metahumans to their full-human forms while replacing their superhero costumes with their regular human clothes. However, since Sammy did not have a power-nullifier, she could not do the same little trick. “So not fair.” Sammy pouted. Lyger watched as both Zac and Kelly activated their nullifiers, returning them to their normal state. However, he also noticed that Sammy did not seem to have one. “Don’t you have a nullifier?” Lyger asked Sammy. “Nope.” Sammy muttered. [color=khaki]“Well, these bands were designed to hide powers that were caused by that Doctor Diplodoc’s serum.[/color] Kelly tried to elaborate on why Sammy did not have one. [color=khaki]“Since Sammy’s powers were not created by that same serum, the nullifiers don’t affect her.”[/color] Kelly momentarily pulled off her band, which caused her to revert back to her wasp-like appearance. Then, she reached over Zac and slapped the power-nullifier around Sammy’s wrist and activated the device. However, even though the nullifier was active, it did not cause Sammy to lose her cat ears and tail. [color=khaki]“See?”[/color] Kelly said as she took back the wristband and placed it back on herself, returning her again to her human form. Upon seeing that the nullifiers did not work for Sammy the way they had worked for her friends, Lyger felt a sudden pang of sympathy for the girl. However, he also knew that several private companies, such as Midas Industries as well as military organizations had been making progress in next generation power nullifiers that would work for metas that may not have gotten their powers through Dr. Diplodoc’s nefarious experiments. He knew that with Harry’s connections, he could probably help her get her hands on one. “No promises, but I might have some connections that can help you with that. I’ll make a call.” Lyger told Sammy as the car slowed in front of the brownstone that Kyle and Sam called home. Sam pulled the car into the driveway and stopped. “We’re here. Let’s get inside before someone sees us.” Sam announced to the others. “I’ll wait here until you have unlock the door.” Sammy said as she leaned against her side of the car. “Having a catgirl standing in front of your house in her superhero costume is a little too conspicuous.” “Good call.” Sam told Sammy. “Kyle, go get the door, I’ll stay with her until we can get her inside.” Kyle nodded at Sam in agreement. “Right.” He said as he turned to face the other two. “Follow me.” Kyle said to Kelly and Zac as he motioned for them to follow. He led them up the front steps of the brownstone and unlocked the door. Once the door was opened, Kyle turned to Sam and Sammy, who were still standing near the car and let out a sharp whistle while motioning for them to get inside. [color=peru]“Lyger.”[/color] Zac addressed the hero, not sure whether he should address him by his superhero handle or by his real name that his girlfriend had just used. [color=peru]“Could we have a word? Alone.[/color] Meanwhile, Sammy turned and peered down both ways down the nearby street, checking to make sure no one was watching. Once she confirmed that the coast was clear, she darted towards the house, stopping right in front of the front door. “Well, I guess it’s ladies first.” Sammy said before grabbing ahold of Kelly’s wrist and pulling her inside of Lyger and his girlfriend’s house, much to the embarrassment of Kelly, who did not think that they should be barging inside like that. Once the ladies were inside, Kyle looked to Zac who had asked to speak to him in private and nodded. He motioned for Zac to go inside and led him in through the living room and into the kitchen. Once they had gotten into the kitchen, Kyle led Zac down a narrow hallway and into the room that his father had used as a home office before he took off for the West Coast after Kyle’s mother had died. Since then, Kyle had used the office as his own, spending countless hours in the room doing research for classwork. “You can call me Kyle.” He told Zac. “What’s up?” [color=peru]“Well.”[/color] Zac began speaking after he had checked to make sure they were out of earshot of the others. [color=peru]“I don’t know whether you have already guessed why we’re here, but I just wanted to give you a little heads up.”[/color] “Actually, I was trying to work that out.” Kyle told him honestly. “What are you doing here? Don’t you guys know how dangerous Crown Ridge is?” [color=peru]“Of course we know that it’s dangerous. But if Kelly and I didn’t tagged along, Sammy would have come here by herself. We couldn’t let her wander around the city by herself!”[/color] “Why would Sammy come here….oh.” Kyle said as the reason for the visit suddenly dawned on him. He had suspected that Sammy had developed a bit of an attachment to him during their time together in West Virginia, but he hadn’t realized that her feelings were quite this strong. [color=peru]“Took you long enough.”[/color] Zac commented on Kyle’s epiphany. [color=peru]“She’s obviously here for you. And while I do believe it would be good for her to hear from you that she’s being a little obsessive about this, please don’t be your usual blunt self. You can determine how hard she takes the news. Plus, since my girlfriend is her best friend, I’m going to be the one who will have to listen to the aftermath.”[/color] “I wouldn’t…” Kyle started, trying to choose his words carefully. “Look, I like Sammy. She’s a good kid, and the last thing I’d want to do is hurt her.” It was true, in the short time that he had spent with Sammy and her friends, he and the girl-cat had developed a bit of a bond, one that was strengthened when they took turns saving one another during the final battle with The Silver Sorceress and the other Pax Metahumana terrorists. However, it had been a platonic bond, at least on Kyle’s part. “Alright, how are we going to do this?” Kyle asked, perplexed by the predicament. [color=peru]“Well, for starters, you have to explain that you have a girlfriend and are, if I am assuming correctly, in a committed relationship.”[/color] Zac explained. [color=peru]“She can’t keep going on believing that she can somehow win you over.”[/color] Kyle had been taken aback by the sheer absurdity of the situation. Of all the things that he has prepared himself for, this was not among them. “I’ll take care of it.” He finally said after a momentary pause. [color=peru]“Just make sure you do it [b]right[/b].”[/color] Zac responded to Kyle, placing special emphasis on the last word that he said. “I got it.” Kyle said, his tone not giving away anything about how he was planning on letting Sammy down. However, the fact that he was here in his home with three other heroes instead of out on the streets tracking down the Winter Park Gang seriously irked him. As far as he was concerned, his “visitors” took a very big risk to come to Crown Ridge. This city wasn’t like others, it did not take kindly to people acting outside the law. Shortly after the emergence of meta humans, the Mayor Betsy Hoffman went about setting a strict “No Capes” policy, which naturally, was disregarded. However, the CRPD enforced this order fervently. They arrested every vigilante that they could get their hands on. Unfortunately, some of the interactions between cop and cape did not go as smoothly, and deadly force was used. Naturally, the tactics used by the CRPD and Mayor Hoffman were effective, and after a short time with the exception of Lyger and a few other determined individuals, Crown Ridge was mostly vigilante free. Not only had the arrival of Zac, Kelly, and Sammy cause Lyger to lose valuable time to stop the Winter Park Gang, and by extension The Shroud Syndicate, from doing whatever it was that they were planning on doing, it put them on the radar of not only the CRPD, but the Shroud Syndicate as well, and the Shroud were not known to simply forgive and forget. “But we’ll deal with that later. You guys have no idea what you’ve gotten yourselves into.” Kyle told him. [color=peru]“No, not later. Now.”[/color] Zac snapped back. [color=peru]“This cannot wait. If we’re in so much danger, you don’t want Sammy to keep failing all over you when we’re in trouble.[/color] “That won’t be an issue.” Kyle told him. He knew that Zac was right, if they were going to be out in the field with him in Crown Ridge, he would have to lay it all out in the open. Otherwise, Sammy might get too distracted while out there with him, and that could lead to a fatal mistake. “You’re done, you aren’t going back out there.” Kyle said after a brief pause. [color=peru]“Yes, telling Sammy, ‘don’t do this,’ is so going to work. I mean, we wouldn’t be here if she would take no as an answer.”[/color] “This isn’t up for debate. You don’t know this city, and believe me, what you don’t will get you killed, and I’m not going to have that on my conscience.” Kyle told Zac as he turned to go back to leave the room. “It’s nothing personal, this place just isn’t safe for you.”