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Slipstream watched as the Iron Knight fired grapple lines around the mountain of a man’s ankles, and then struggled to fly off with him, only managing to get several feet off of the ground as he took off out toward the ocean.

“Well, that’s not something you see everyday…” Slipstream said to herself as she watched the almost absurd scene play out in front of her. “Unless you’re me, of course.” she finished her thought as she remembered the captives in the van. She made her way over to the van and opened the back door, revealing about a half a dozen people tied up and gagged on the inside.

“Didn’t your parents warn you about strangers in creepy vans?” Slipstream quipped as she went about freeing the captives inside. Once she was able to get a better look, she noticed that four of the victims had animalistic traits, or otherwise obvious meta human traits. Once she had freed the six captives from their bonds and climbed from the confines of the van, several of them immediately ran off in different directions, while the others remained.

“Who were those guys, and what did they want with you?” Slipstream asked the remaining metas.

“I-I don’t know.” a young girl of about fifteen years of age confessed. “I was walking home from a friend’s house and they grabbed me. Mentioned something about ‘The Hounds.’ I don’t know what they were talking about.” 

“Why don’t you guys get out of here? You’ve had a long night, get home and stay safe.” Slipstream told them as she was suddenly aware that the iron suited hero had returned from taking the man-mountain to wherever it was that he had taken him.

“Took you long enough.” she said as he touched down behind her.

[color=c0c0c0]“Well, things got hairy there when he started to recover from that energy burst and to tug on the cable. But it wasn’t anything a cold, salt water bath in the Pacific Ocean couldn’t solve. Then I had to wait for STRIKE to send down a containment squad. What’s the point of taking him down if he can just run off right after you have left the scene? But now that’s done with, the only question that remains is who are you? You wouldn’t happen to have two speedster cousins in Lost Haven, would you?”[/color] 

“Lost Haven? What?” Slipstream asked completely taken off guard by the Iron Knight’s line of questioning. “No, I don’t have any speedster cousins...you’re strange, did you know that?”

[color=c0c0c0]“Me? Strange? It never crossed my mind!”[/color] Iron Knight chuckled after he heard Slipstream’s response. [color=c0c0c0]“The only speedsters I have known were siblings, so you can’t blame me too much for assuming that the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.”[/color]

“Oh, I didn’t know. I just assumed I was the only one.” She told him. “They call me Slipstream.” she said as she extended her hand.

[color=c0c0c0]“Well, I’m Iron Knight, if you didn’t already know who I am.”[/color] Iron Knight accepted Slipstream’s handshake, although he had to be careful not to crush the poor girl’s hand because of the mechanical nature of his armor. [color=c0c0c0]“So, any ideas who these creepers are?”[/color]

“I have no clue. But they did say something about someone called ‘The Hound, or Hounds.’ Mean anything to you?” she said, ignoring the first part of his introduction. Although she had never really been into superheroes, she did know a few of them, and he was certainly one of them. He was too high profile to not know who he was. And because of that, she hoped that he might know something about what was going on.

[color=c0c0c0]“Hmm…”[/color] Iron Knight pondered for a few moments,  [color=c0c0c0]“That does not ring a bell, unfortunately. They obviously must be a new upstart group or have been operating in the shadows for quite some time. I wish I had some more answers, but I need to look into it a little more.”[/color]

“Yeah, that’s probably a good idea. Something tells me that this won’t be the last we hear from them.” she agreed, then a disturbing thought came to mind. “They were rounding these metahumans up for something, but what could that be?” 

[color=c0c0c0]“It is not entirely clear, but it must be sinister in nature.”[/color] Iron Knight concluded, [color=c0c0c0]“Metahuman Trafficking is a likely possibility, although it is not the only explanation. A human weapon is probably quite the commodity on the black market.”[/color]

“Whatever it is, I don’t like it. We have to find these guys and put an end to it before it escalates any further.” Slipstream said, the thought of someone dealing in metahuman trafficking sent chills up and down her spine. 

[color=c0c0c0]“I’ve got the feeling that these guys aren’t going to hang up a sign saying ‘we’re right here’ for us. ”[/color]

“Of course not, don’t be ridiculous. But with your connections, I’m pretty sure you have the best shot of finding these guys.” Slipstream told him.

[color=C0C0C0]“I’ll see what I can do.”[/color] Iron Knight promised Slipstream, [color=C0C0C0]“I doubt this problem can be solved overnight, but that shouldn’t deter us from trying to solve it.”[/color]

“Exactly. We should hurry though, I think that this...whatever this is, is just getting started.” she sher voice accented with a slight edge of worry.

[color=C0C0C0]“I’ll get my peeps to start working on this ASAP.”[/color] Iron Knight told Slipstream as he prepared to depart. [color=C0C0C0]“In the meantime, I have some prior obligations that need my attention. Can’t keep the nightlife hanging!”[/color]

Without any delay, Iron Knight rocketed up into the sky, soaring away from where Slipstream and he had apprehended these unknown criminals. While he was departing, he sent a data report on the situation, alerting S.T.R.I.K.E. to the situation at hand. However, instead of personally overseeing the investigation, at least for that night, Iron Knight allowed S.T.R.I.K.E. to start digging into the problem. As he said, Iron Knight had other places to be.

Slipstream stood in the middle of the roadway near the van which had held the captive metahumans. She watched as the man known as the Iron Knight vanished from sight, and all she could think about was how cool this whole experience was. Not only had she saved the metas, but she had done so with the help of Iron freakin' Knight. However, her excitement was tempered by the fact that they still didn't know who was behind this ordeal, or what they might be planning next. All she could do was hope that she would be ready when the time came. And with that last thought, she began running. She didn't know where she was going to go, or what she would do when she got there, but nonetheless, she was gone in a flash.