[center][img]https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/290977655627448341/292171024986800128/coollogo_com-163531103.png[/img][/center] [b]Location: Lost Haven Time: Afternoon[/b] “Fair enough.” David replied, after Fletch declined his gesture. Something about abused trust, which he understood, and assumed it was related to her current persona. The superhero role was dangerous enough, what with the super villain encounters, and this sudden rash of terrorism from the Hounds. But to be betrayed by someone you trusted, that was an entirely different kind of scar compared to what a bullet would leave, and potentially more painful. David thought of himself as fortunate that nobody but him knew of his secret. And so he spent the next few minutes helping to clean up, he circled the area helping to make sure more Hounds weren’t waiting around in the shadows, and retracted the stone slabs he had erected across the square. [i]Hopefully they were of some help. [/i] The time came to help with the helicopters, his take down of the military vehicles was sloppy at best, but he considered himself lucky that he managed it at all. Apparently he had the strength for it, but he had never fought genuine military aircraft, let alone any sort of dogfight. He had just finished helping bring in the helicopter crew when a nearby policeman caught his attention. “Phew, almost one o’clock now, glad we got some help with this though, things were looking pretty rough for me earlier.” The officer said while checking the watch on his wrist. [color=ed1c24]“Did you say one o’clock?”[/color] David’s head swiftly turned towards the man, the speed might have given him whiplash if he was a normal man. “Y-yeah, almost.” The officer stuttered, completely surprised by the sudden question. [color=ed1c24]“I’ll trust you guys with the rest, good luck!”[/color] David quickly shouted as he burst into the air again. In his experience fights never lasted too long so he had expected to wrap up and return home before anyone missed him, but he never stayed around to help clean up, a bit irresponsible on his part he admitted. But what he did should be more than enough, apparently most other heroes didn’t bother to stick around, and hopefully nothing he bought would have spoiled by now. David took care to pick out a discreet location near his car, somewhere he could change back to normal in private. He had the advantage of not needing a mask or costume, but slipping up could lead someone like the Hounds right to his doorstep, and that was something he could not allow. But lucky for him, the area happened to be cleared out, all thanks to those men working with Broadway and Tiamat. He thought back to that mess for a moment. [i]Are they really so strapped for help they’d bring in a kid? Someone that could barely keep her powers in check at that, although, granted it might have been due to her panicking, but she would never have been there normally. [/i] He willed for his human body again, Terra Firma’s body burst into embers that slowly dissolved into the air, revealing David Jones, who suddenly fell onto the alleyway wall. A sudden heaviness had formed in his chest; sweat began to bead around his forehead and chest, and he started gasping for breath, as if he’d just ran a few miles back in gym class. [i]It’s happening again, just like after the LHU attack, what the hell’s going on? My body didn’t react like this at all back in South America, so why now? [/i] David was starting to catch his breath, and his body slowly returned to normal. “Damn.” David muttered as he took in another breath. [center]----------[/center] David drove the family SUV up the driveway, and didn’t bother messing with the garage. He had left the groceries sitting in the car for close to an hour, and with the summer heat, he could only hope the milk and eggs were still good. As soon as he walked in he called for his daughter to come help, Maddie of course agreed to help, it was either that or lose out on some allowance money, or maybe something worse. [i]Heh heh, it’s pretty nice having someone else carry around all the heavy stuff for once. [/i] Later today they planned on attending a special summer time festival, a music concert, special seafood events, and all sorts of attractions were supposed to keep them entertained for a few hours, maybe even make a few new memories; you can never have enough of those. According to the website it was supposed to run a little late, almost till midnight, but since it was summer David and Cicely decided to ignore that and stay out all night. Although his stomach was soured a little by the Hounds today, he did his best to ignore it. For the next few hours David spent his time on the sofa, eager to put recent events out of mind, he settled in for a session of “TV and chill”, as he called it. But Maddie was quick to tell him it meant something else. “Huh, just sitting down and watching TV is what it means right?” He asked, but he had been ignored. [i]Kids these days and their slang, have I really fallen that far behind? [/i] David wondered as he gave his chin a rub. There was a special on TV, the pilot episode of some kind of hero show, the fights felt kind of fake, but apparently the selling point was that the actors all used their “real” super powers. He could only assume their powers were the useless kind in fights, or they were lying, but either way, his daughter was enjoying it, and it wasn’t that bad anyways. [center]----------[/center] The time had come for them to start getting ready to leave; David had just put on a fresh shirt, when his body suddenly felt weaker, his chest grew tighter, and the faint echoes of people screaming reached his ear. He dropped his mug onto the floor as he stumbled over to the kitchen table and braced himself on a chair. [i]Like a thousand people, screaming out in terror, what just happened![/i] “David!” “Dad!” David looked back up at his wife Cecily, and his daughter Maddie, they weren’t reacting to the voices at all, just him. His mind paced about, wondering what those voices could have been, he hadn’t even called for the Earth’s power, so it couldn’t have been that, right? But he didn’t have to wonder for very long, a breaking news alert appeared on the television screen. The faces of the Jones family all reflected horror and fear. Three cities had just been attacked, [i]no[/i], destroyed. The news station began to play traffic camera footage and cell phone videos from those that happened to be recording at the time. Images of the destroyed cities appeared on screen. “Everything was...” David started to mutter, but quickly cut himself off. [i]Burned to the ground, incinerated… [/i] The news anchors were desperately trying to say something relevant, talking about government news sources, helicopters attempting to get a closer look, but they were interrupted, replaced by a shadowed man. Like before. “We warned you. We told you that compliance was non-negotiable. Yet you chose not to listen.” “The time for talk has past. From this moment on, you are either with us or you are against us.” “We are coming, and you will either stand with us, or you will burn with them.” The news station was allowed back on, and they frantically tried to report the situation as best as they could, including their sudden hijack. David’s mind went back to the vision the Earth had given him at the very start, images of the ground burning, people dying and screaming all around him. His face went pale and a cold sweat broke out along his body. [i]Was this why you gave me your power, Gaia? Was I meant to stop this, was I supposed to fight this? How, dammit, how? [/i] David’s face contorted as fear, anger, and confusion raced about in his mind. His body collapsed onto the chair he had been leaning on. David briefly thought about going into space, if he even could, and combing the skies for that satellite weapon. His mind filled in the gaps with his imagination as he thought about confronting it, a giant mass of metal, circuitry, and human engineering in the form of a giant gun barrel. His body would immediately fly forward as fast as he could, his fist aimed right down the middle, but then fear took over his thoughts. The gun suddenly lit up with a glow stronger, and brighter than even the sun, as it fired. The resulting beam completely engulfed him, overpowered, and erased him in an instant. His mouth went dry, and his heart began to beat heavier. [i]No, that is, something I can never fight! [/i] Concern for the safety of his family shook him out of his self-induced nightmare. The Hounds hated metahumans, and they didn’t even bother sparing a thought for innocents getting caught in the middle. He had to get his family away. David briefly thought of the Moloids, he remembered them hinting at a stronger power base elsewhere, maybe some kind of city; could he keep his family safe there? His face frowned even further. [i]No, they must hate me after that time, they’d never help. [/i] The only choice left was to move, to fly his family elsewhere, away from the heroes and villains. He struggled to say something, and after a few more seconds, he managed to open his mouth. “W-we have to go, we have to leave Lost Haven.”