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The light shone in the darkened garage, illuminating the large space enough so that work could be done. The man in the garage, the man formerly known as Dr. Jason Miles; had been working for weeks, getting everything ready for the moment that he would finally make his grand debut to the world. The former Dr. Miles stood under the hood of the school bus that he had acquired during the recent crisis with the Hounds of Humanity, making last minute modifications to the vehicle's engine and other systems.

Dr. Miles had once been a leading doctor in the field of sleep medicine. He had made several major breakthroughs in the study of sleep disorders, and had been on the verge of one such breakthrough which would have changed the lives of millions of people, he had found a cure for insomnia, a malady that he himself had suffered from. He had developed a serum that he believed would finally cure insomnia itself and was about to begin human trials on the formula. Unfortunately, the research firm that he worked for, The Nox Foundation suddenly pulled the funding for his project and confiscated all of his research, which forced him to use the only dose of the serum that they had been able to manufacture on himself. Sadly, the serum did not have the desired effect. Instead of a cure for insomnia, the serum intensified the symptoms, rendering Dr. Miles unable to sleep at all. 

Days went by and Dr. Miles had been able to get a moment's rest. No matter what he did, he could not get an ounce of sleep. He was exhausted, both mentally and physically, with no way to find relief. Days turned to weeks, and as each day passed Dr. Miles began to lose his grip on his mental faculties. He became short tempered and irrational. He soon found himself easily overstimulated, and being out in the world was too much for him, so he stopped leaving his home. 

As the weeks went on, Dr. Miles began a physical, as well as mental metamorphosis. As his mind began to fracture, he became almost physically unrecognizable. His eyes became sunken with dark circles around them. He became sickly looking, his skin turned an ashen gray before turning a jaundiced shade of yellow.

Eventually, driven mad by the inability to sleep, Dr. Miles decided that the Nox Foundation was responsible for her current state, and they needed to pay for what they did to him. So he went to the Foundation's main office and forced his way into a closed door board meeting and began ranting and raving at them for shutting down his research, screaming at them for making him what he had become. When he finished berating the Nox Foundation board members, he produced a Glock  37.

Then he opened fire. 

The board member scattered from the large round table that they had been sitting at when the deranged former employee had entered the room, however Miles continued to fire until not a single board member was left standing. Only when the slaughter was done, did he leave the boardroom, where he was met by security, who had been trying to gain accesses to the room unsuccessfully, but a contingent of the Crown Ridge Police force, who took him into custody without incident.  

He was then taken to one of the best mental facilities in the Northeastern United States, Acadia State Hospital. The doctors there did what they could to treat Dr. Miles, unfortunately, it soon became apparent that he might may just be beyond help. So they locked him away in the darkest corners of the facility, and while they continued to try to help the man, they had little faith that anything they could do would have any effect on his current mental state. However, despite the best efforts of the staff at Acadia State Hospital, they were unable to keep the man who now referred to himself as Insomnia locked away. In a stunning display of brutality and cunning, he murdered several staff members as he escaped the facility.

As demented as he had become, the man now known as Insomnia was still just as brilliant as he had been prior to his transformation. Soon after he had escaped, the Hounds of Humanity had revealed themselves as a true force to be reckoned with, having destroyed multiple American cities with an orbital weapon. With their fevered pursuit of anyone even suspected of being a meta human, Insomnia went underground, waiting until the terrorist organization's downfall to reemerge. 

“Don't worry, you'll be just fine.” Insomniac said as he continued tinkering under the school bus hood. “You're going to help me remind these people just who I am.” He said as he slammed the hood down and met the gaze of “Paul,” or at least that's what the man's name tag had said. Insomnia didn't know Paul, the gas station attendant had just been unlucky enough to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, and now found himself gagged and bound in the driver's seat of the school bus that Insomnia had been putting the finishing touches on. However, Paul wasn't alone. Within the garage, there were five other buses, with five other people bound and gagged in the driver's seat. 

 “They said I'm insane, but the truth is, everyone else is asleep at the wheel. I'm the only one who is awake. I'm the only one who knows what's really going on.” Insomnia said as he checked the C-4 explosives that were backed into the passenger compartment of each bus. He then pulled what looked like some sort of remote control from his pocket and presses a button. With that simple press of a button, each of the six school buses roared to life and began to roll out of the garage into the city of Crown Ridge. “But soon enough, everyone will see the truth.”


[b][i]***[/i][/b]

Officer Jim Dawes had just finished a long shift and was getting ready to call it a night. Once he put the finishing touches on the report that he was working on, he would finally be able to go home and see his family. To Officer Dawes, it couldn't come soon enough. He had been on a long, sixteen hour shift dealing with all kinds of low-life's and gang bangers, and he had had just about enough for the day. In fact, he had wanted nothing more than to get a job somewhere else, Crown Ridge had always been a dangerous city, but between the organized crime syndicates and the costumed freaks, as he referred to them, the city had gotten even worse than it ever had been. Officer Dawes had finally finished his paper work and filed it for the night and made his way toward the department exit. 

“G'night Jimmy.” Leslie Jenkins said from behind the reception desk.

“ Night Leslie.” Dawes replied as he stepped toward the door. However, he did not open it.
 
As Jim looked out the door, he was blinded by headlights coming straight toward him. He stood frozen in shock as he looked upon the school bus that raced toward the entrance of the 16th Precinct. Though his brain was screaming for him to move, to get everyone away from the front of the building, he feet refused to move. Finally, he was able to snap out of his stupor. He turned back toward the reception desk and started to run toward the back of the room.

“Everybody move!” he yelled. However, it was too late. The bus crashed through the front door of the precinct and ran into the reception desk before anyone had time to get out of the way. Upon impact, the explosives in the back of the bus detonated, sending a fireball ripping through the 16th Precinct.

[i][b]***[/b][/i]

Kyle lay on his side, holding Sam tightly against him. It had been a hard couple of months for them. Sam was still having a hard time dealing with losses suffered during the Hounds of Humanity attack at LHU. Thought she had been on her way to the school when the attack broke out, one of her favorite professors had been killed in the attack, as well as several acquaintances. Fortunately, the attack had occurred during the school's summer session, which meant that only a fraction of the student population was on campus that day.

 Then there was the Sammy incident. Kyle had been shocked to find that she had come to Crown Ridge from Upstate New York under the impression that Kyle and she were engaged, snuck into the house and into the bed that Kyle and Sam shared, ambushing him while wearing nothing but a tee shirt. Kyle had immediately contacted Sam to fill her in on what happened, and even though they both were able to laugh about the situation, Kyle could tell that it had bothered Sam. However, that was all in the past. 

Kyle squeezed Sam, pulling her closer against him as he leaned in and kissed the back of her neck. She turned and craned her neck slightly, meeting his gaze and smiled. He leaned in to kiss her, and just as their lips met, the entire house shook. They lay in bed for a moment longer, shocked by the sudden commotion, before a second explosion rang out. Kyle jumped up and ran to the window, even as more explosions could be heard in the city. He was horrified by what he saw, multiple burning buildings in close proximity to one another. Though he didn't know exactly what was going on, he knew what it looked like, a coordinated attack.

He ran over to the closet and opened the door, then put his hand on a black panel on the side wall of the closet. A green light on the panel flashed, and the back of the closet opened, revealing another small closet. It was a security measure that Ash had installed soon after Harry had brought her in to replace him, and although he thought that it may have been overkill, he was gratful for the added security. When Kyle emerged from the closet, he was dressed in his Lyger garb. He looked to Sam as he put the mask on.

“You need to go.” Sam told him.

“Yeah, I'll be back as soon as I can.”

“I know. Just be careful.” She told him as he threw himself out the bedroom window, rushing headlong into danger.

“I love you.” She whispered as he vanished from view.