[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/iyJuAe0.png [/img][/center][center][h2][b]The Mandela Effect: Part 11[/b][/h2][/center] [center][b]Kyra Muller[/b][/center] [center][b]Columbus, OH, Earth-201[/b][/center] [center][b]October, 22nd, 2011[/b][/center] It was three days before the third anniversary of the events of that fateful Halloween night. Kyra sat at her desk in her apartment’s bedroom. She was intently studying the notes and the pages of her Calculus textbook. She twirled her pencil between her fingers on one of her hands, while she rubbed the side of her temple. “You coming?” Kyra looked up from her textbook and saw her roommate standing in her bedroom’s doorway. She was dressed as if she were ready for a night on the town. “Sorry, I have a big exam on Monday,” Kyra declined the offer as she flipped to the next page in her textbook. “Your loss, bookworm,” Kyra’s roommate sighed before turning to leave. Kyra waited until she heard the front door of their apartment clicked, signaling that her roommate had left before she slammed her textbook shut. Even if Kyra had told the truth, she would not have been in the mood for clubbing or whatever her friends had in mind. Just the memory of what had happened that night three years ago spoiled any desire to do anything fun this weekend. She then scooted her desk chair back and slipped out of her room. After checking that the coast was clear, Kyra snuck into the apartment bathroom. There, she opened up the medicine cabinet and revealed two orange, prescription bottles one would normally receive from the pharmacy. Although the label on the bottle was correctly prescribed to Kyra, the capsules within did not match what was originally prescribed, not that the average person could tell the difference. The first bottle contained a blue capsule. Although she still had her power nullifier to cancel her fire powers, the events from three years ago had replaced her kitsune appearance with something else and the power nullifier did not work on this new look like it did on her old kitsune form. Therefore, the only thing Kyra found that would act as a proper substitute were these blue capsules. Because these pills did not have an on and off switch like her power nullifier, Kyra either had to wait until the effects of the blue pills ended or use the green pills from the other bottle. Kyra grabbed the second pill bottle and emptied out several of the green capsules into her palm. After she then set the bottle on the bathroom counter, she picked one of the pills from her palm and poured the rest back into the bottle. She took several deep breaths through her nose before filling a glass with tap water and swallowed the green pill. Normally, Kyra would never take one of these green pills unless there was an emergency that required some superheroics. That is why the second bottle was still well stocked, while the first only had maybe a couple of weeks’ worth of supply left. Fortunately, she procured some intel that the Shroud Syndicate would be moving a shipment of illegal pharmaceuticals, including these experimental metahuman suppressants, that night. If Kyra did not want her secret to out herself, she needed her powers, all of them, to acquire some more of these pills. She only was stealing from the bad guys. There was no harm from that. Right? After a few seconds from when Kyra had swallowed the green capsule, she began to feel a burning sensation in her hands, feet, and lower arms and legs. This signaled to Kyra that the green capsule was already starting to kick in. Knowing that she only had less than an hour before her powers had resurfaced, she collected herself, despite the pain, and hurried out of her apartment. [hr] Doug Tate had just shut the truck’s latch door and attached a padlock to seal the precious cargo within. His brother, Willie, and Doug had fallen on some hard times and, when they had found themselves in a deep, deep hole, the only way out they saw was taking hold of the hand offered by the Shroud Syndicate. This was the Tate brothers’ first real gig. Their job was simple: just transport some drugs out of the city and across the state border into Pennsylvania. Doug’s brother used to be a trucker until he was laid off. In his mind, this would not be that much different from his brother’s old job, only with a smaller vehicle and some cargo that they definitely did not want to get caught with. “Alright, Willie, everything is secured back here,” Doug alerted his brother. But he did not hear a response from his brother. “Willie?” he asked again. Doug almost leapt out of his pants when he heard a loud bang smash against the side of the truck and a thud against the pavement. He immediately reached for the gun stashed away behind his back, but he fumbled it and struggled to get a grip of the firearm because his hands were shaking profusely. Even when he had the gun in his hands, the barrel wiggled all over the place. When Doug peered around the corner of the truck, he at once noticed the giant dent in the side of the truck. His eyes then glanced down from the dent to the body on the ground; it was his brother Willie. “Willie!” Doug yelled as he hurled himself to the ground next to his brother’s body. His gun dropped from Doug’s hand even before he rushed towards his brother. At first, he feared the worse, but his brother was only unconscious. Doug scanned the area, but he did not see anyone other than his unconscious brother. What could have done this to Willie? People do not randomly hurl themselves so violently against a wall to knock themselves out, and Doug knew that his brother Willie was not hopped on drugs. Their job was too important for them to screw up. The only evidence he found were a couple giant feathers. They were way too big for even the largest predatory birds. While Doug was entirely focused on his downed brother, he did not notice something was swooping from above. Before he knew it, something had grasped his shoulders and began to lift him off of the ground. He only got a brief look at one of the giant bird talons wrapped around his shoulder before fainting out of sheer fright. Once Doug was out cold, whatever had snatched him off the ground descended from the sky. The moonlight illuminated the figure of what had took out the two men. It revealed the silhouette of a slender and fit woman. While she was about to land, this woman beat the feathered wings that were sprouted from her arms, stretching out from right before her elbow to her wrists. When the harpy woman landed, she handed towards the back of the truck. Because she had purposefully avoided allowing her metahuman powers from arising with power suppressants, each step would have looked a little awkward to an onlooker, as she was dealing with the additional joint at the exact transition from her human shin and her avian talons and feet. One could almost describe her movement like a little songbird hopping about. The costumed birdlady found the padlock attached to the door’s latch, but this impediment would not be difficult for her to overcome. She placed her large hands, covered by the same scaly skin on her avian feet, over the padlock. A yellow glow began to shine through the small crevices between her clasped hands. The light transitioned from a yellow tint to an orange until finally settling with a red shine. Once she separated her hands, her palms still glowed red, while the metal that had just a few seconds ago been the foundation of the padlock dripped to the ground in a liquid form. Once she had opened the truck’s rear door, she hopped into the cargo space and began to rummage through the concealed contraband. The Shroud Syndicate was a competent enough not to leave out their goods in plain sight, even when hidden in their transport vehicles. This time they used generic brand candy packaging as their cover. “Where are those blue capsules?” Kyra muttered as she went through the various boxes stored within the truck. Because Kyra was so focused on finding the power suppressants, she failed to notice the noise of someone else also climbing into the back of the truck. With one fell swoop, a crowbar smacked the back of Kyra’s skull and knocked her out cold. Whoever had snuck up on her dragged her unconscious body to the edge of the truck’s cargo space. “I can’t believe that worked,” another shady fellow told the other man, indicating that this was a setup. Doug and Willie were unknowing decoys. “Well, [url=https://www.roleplayerguild.com/topics/135-create-a-hero-a-superhero-rpg-closed/ic?page=15#post-2115176]Catherine[/url] is going to have some fun with this toothpick,” the other man said. “She won’t stay a twig after Catherine is done with her.” [hr] [center][b]"90's" Aubrey Adkins[/b] | [b]Will Grant[/b][/center] [center][b]Pacific Point, CA, Prime Create-A-Hero RPG universe[/b][/center] [center][b]Present Day[/b][/center] [i]Almost home free,[/i] Moon Bunny thought as she dashed across the rooftops of Pacific Point. When she was about ready to reach the edge of the room, a silver light, similar to the color given off by the moon, began to gleam from her legs. With once bounce from her feet, which were a weird human-rabbit hybrid, the bunny girl easily hurdled across the gap between the two buildings. When she landed, she continued her run. However, because it had become dusk, she failed to see the spider silk trip line stretched out across the floor of the roof. As soon as Moon Bunny’s foot got tripped up over the spider silk, she stumbled and faceplanted straight into the floor. Once she hit the ground, she continued to tumble forward until coming to a standstill. Even before Moon Bunny could pull herself onto a single knee, she knew exactly whom she was dealing with. Technically, there was a small chance that that one furry spider girl could have been messing with her, but that was unlikely. When Moon Bunny looked around to see where her opponent was hiding, she finally spotted a silhouette crouched on the roof access enclosure. Although it was still a bit too dark to make out any specific details, even with the lights below, she could still tell that the figure was wearing a scarlet and gray costume, just the colors of Arachne. Without a moment to spare, the same silver light she had used to jump between rooftops surrounded her arm. She then thrust her arm towards the figure, sending out an energy projectile made of the silver light. However, the figure easily dodged out of the way and allowed the projectile to harmlessly pass right by. Moon Bunny hoped her moonblast would be enough of a distraction for her to cross over to the next roof. For a moment, she had thought she had made her escape, as she was able to become airborne. But to her disappointment, she felt herself being yanked backwards, no doubt by a webline. The whole whiplash and impact with the roof had disorientated Moon Bunny. Once she had regained her senses, she found that she had already been wrapped up with spider silk. When she glanced up to see who had apprehended her, she was surprised that a drider was not towering over her, but rather there was a man. He was wearing a costume very similar to Arachne’s, but it was not her. Or was it? “So, I guess the rumors were true that you’ve become a dude,” Moon Bunny finally spoke up to the spider-themed hero standing next to her. “Um—not quite,” the man responded. Almost as if on cue, Arachne pulled herself from the side of the wall onto the rooftop where her boyfriend had restrained the villainess. [color=b22222]“Sorry about that. I mistimed that last jump,”[/color] Arachne provided as her excuse before realizing that Moon Bunny had been restrained. [color=b22222]“I guess you handled her perfectly fine.”[/color] “Oh my God! You two are wearing matching costumes! That is, like, so adorkable!” Moon Bunny blurt out when she saw Arachne arrive on the scene. Once she got a better look of the drider heroine, Moon Bunny continued with her prattle. “Oh, and I dig the [url=https://i.imgur.com/SkZEXkK.png]costume change[/url]. If you got the goods, flaunt them, girl.” “Alright, it’s time to find the nearest police officer,” Will interrupted as he pulled Moon Bunny off the ground and onto her feet. [color=b22222]“Go ahead without me. I think I just need a short break while you [i]*hiccup*[/i] turn her in,”[/color] Arachne told Will. “Care to share your thought on your squeeze’s new look?” Moon Bunny whispered to Will. “Great views, right?” “Are you okay? I did lose you back there.” Will asked his girlfriend while ignoring Moon Bunny’s colorful commentary. [color=b22222]“There’s nothing to [i]*hiccup*[/i] worry about,”[/color] Arachne poorly tried to convince her boyfriend. “Are you sure you’re fine?” Will asked again. “She sure is,” Moon Bunny quipped with a smile on her face, knowing her comment would bug Will. “Don’t make me push you off this ledge,” Will threatened before he propelled down the side of the building with the bunny villainess in hand. However, before he went, he turned towards Arachne for a brief moment. “After I turn her in, we better head back home.” [color=b22222]“Fine,”[/color] Arachne yielded as she watched her boyfriend descend down the building. Once Arachne knew that her boyfriend was out of sight, she reached into the inside of her bomber jacket and pulled out an almost empty pop bottle. She unscrewed the bottle’s cap and drained the last gulp of the caffeinated beverage. [color=b22222][i]Maybe I should make a quick pitstop for a refill,[/i][/color] Arachne thought as she held the now empty bottle. However, before she could even make a single step, she heard something land on the roof access enclosure. [color=b22222][i]Why didn’t my spider sense warn me? Have I really consumed too much caffeine?[/i][/color] When Arachne turned, she saw a costumed woman crouching on the roof access enclosure. This woman had pointy, elf-like ears. If it were not for her avian arms and feet, she would have had a modelesque physique. Although she was not as well-endowed as Arachne was, she could still give the drider heroine a run for her money. [color=b22222]“Should I know who you are? I feel I should, but I’m drawing a blank.”[/color] “Black Widow,” the harpy lady finally spoke, “I didn’t know the bottle was your vice, though I am not quite surprised.” [color=b22222]“How can you get us confused? Besides being driders, we have nothing in common. I’m blonde and she has black hair, for crying out load!”[/color] Arachne responded, [color=b22222] “Plus, I’m only drinking pop!”[/color] “A rose by any other name would still be a rose,” the bird woman quipped back. Arachne was not sure whether she was double downing that she’s really Black Widow or she somehow knew overdosing on caffeine was like getting drunk for her. There’s the possibility that it’s both. [color=b22222]“You obviously don’t have eagle eyes, because you need your eyes checked.”[/color] “I’m not surprised by the ad hominem attack. That’s what a villain would do.” A standoff ensued, as the two women prepared for the other to pounce. But something felt so wrong to Arachne. If she were really facing a villain, her spider sense would have been blaring like the worst headache in the world. But it wasn’t. “Hey Aubrey, I’m—” Will finally broke the tension in the air after he crawled back up the side of the building and onto the roof top, “back?” Both women immediately turned their attention towards Will after he had spoken up. Then, almost as soon as the harpy lady seemed to recognize who Will was, she turned and dove off the side of the roof. After several beats of the wings on her arms, she soared away and disappeared into the nighttime sky. “Who was she?” Will then asked after he saw the harpy woman had flown away. [color=b22222]“She felt so familiar, like I should know her.”[/color] “Her costume reminds me of Firefox, but she has fox ears and nine tails.” [color=b22222]“Maybe we should follow her, just in case.”[/color] Will paused for a moment. He knew they should really head home, since he could recognize the signs of caffeine overdose in his girlfriend. Heck, she was still holding an empty bottle of pop in her hand that she probably just finished. Yet, at the same time, Odysseus had mentioned to both him and his girlfriend’s friend, Emily, that he had not seen Firefox ever since all of the parallel universe doppelgangers began popping up and replacing their counterparts. If they had a lead on Firefox’s whereabouts, they needed to follow up on them. “Alright, here’s the plan. We’ll try to follow her for a little bit longer. But after that, we [i]have[/i] to head back to your apartment.”