[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/M3SfSt4.png[/img][/center]

[i]
[color=Coral]"--acting on their own is one thing, but if they start getting together--"[/color]

[right][color=Plum]"--unidentified attacker shot down a passenger plane over--"[/color][/right]

[color=Khaki]"--only knows how many people woulda died if Superman wasn't--"[/color]

[right][color=SeaGreen]"--pursued the metahuman knows as 'The Flash' out into--"[/color][/right]

[color=Salmon]"--worried?  One can bench-press the whole damn continent, the other can outrun--"[/color]

[right][color=MediumTurquoise]"--issued a statement saying that operatives of SHIELD are taking the assailant into--"[/color][/right]

[color=Lavender]"--very seriously consider the implication of the impact a metahuman faction would have on the international--"[/color]

[right][color=Moccasin]"--wanna act together to keep the world safe, I say more power to 'em!  The world could use more--"[/color][/right]

[color=SpringGreen]"--jumping to conclusions; there's nothing to indicate this was anything more than an isolated--"[/color]
[/i]



[hr]



[color=RoyalBlue][b]"Nnnngh....."[/b][/color] I let out a pained grunt as the world starts to come back into focus.  For a while, everything was a cold, dark blur.  Now everything's a warm, bright blur.  I guess that's an improvement.  Pain still shoots up and down my body, which actually gives me some confidence.  It means I'm still alive.

The last thing I remember, the Surfer was trying to blast a hole through my head.  Whatever that stuff was about 'Zenn-La' and 'Galactus' that Reed Richards was banking on, it didn't seem to affect the Surfer at all.  I'm going to have to have a word with him about the veracity of his information-- I don't know if I was actually about to die there, but I'd rather not take another gamble like that.

I sit up and rub my eyes, blink a few times....and see a man pointing a gun in my face.

[color=CadetBlue]"Superman!  Stand down!"[/color] he demands.  He'd decked out in military gear, holding a rifle that looks years ahead of what the average Army grunt carries.  The eagle logo on his tactical vest gives away his affiliation to SHIELD-- but I suppose the giant flying battleship touched down about a hundred yards away would do the trick as well.  [color=CadetBlue]"This area is now under SHIELD jurisdiction!"[/color]

Looking around, I see a dozen operatives forming a circle around me, rifles at the ready.  Another ring of soldiers isn't far off, surrounding the Flash, and a third surrounding.....someone.  By all appearances an average adult caucasian male, but then again, I usually pass off for 'average' too.  It must be who the Surfer is underneath all that chrome.

I stand up, and as I do, I hear a chorus of clicks and clacks as the soldiers train their rifles on me.

[color=CadetBlue]"I....I said stand down!"[/color] the SHIELD agent shouts as I stretch and rub my sore muscles, trying to get some feeling back into them.  [color=CadetBlue]"Y-...you are under investigation for unauthorized metahuman activity, and will be brought in for questioning!  Now.....now stand down, or......or--"[/color]

I don't say "or [i]what?[/i]," but the look I give him sure as hell does.  Turning my back to him, I walk towards the Flash, the soldiers parting for me.  I'd like to think I wouldn't have shoved them aside if they didn't, but nearly having your head taken off and then waking up to someone else making threats would make anyone annoyed.

I focus my vision, seeing past the next row of soldiers and giving the Flash's prone form a cursory scan.  I try not to abuse my abilities when I can avoid it, chief among them my 'X-ray vision'-- it can easily lead to breaches of people's privacy, to put it lightly--so I avoid looking at her face or, well, anywhere else I shouldn't be looking as my vision sifts past the material of her costume and I start to check for injuries.  Nothing major, no internal injuries as far as I can tell.  Some broken bones, which already seem to be knitting themselves back together.  From what I can tell, she'll be fine in no time, as long as the SHIELD agents don't do anything stupid.

[color=RoyalBlue][b]"How about instead of pointing your guns at her,"[/b][/color] I call out to them as I approach, [color=RoyalBlue][b]"You give her a round of applause instead?  Considering she just saved the world and all."[/b][/color]

As the ring of soldiers nervously part, I kneel down to the Flash and see if she's regaining consciousness.

[color=RoyalBlue][b]"You going to be all right?"[/b][/color]