Dedonus

Create-A-Hero: A Superhero RPG Season 2- New Horizons (Closed)

Aubrey Adkins

Pacific Point, California

June (the present day)

After a month since I had moved to Pacific Point, I had already made a few friends. Besides that group of superheroes, who call themselves the Immortals, I became close friends with one of the other eleven models. This girl, Emily Prichert, was also from Ohio, who moved out to California in order to pursue a career as either an actress or a model. However, on the side, she was also taking some night classes to earn a nursing degree so that she might have something to fall back on if her primary dreams did not pan out as she hopped. Although she’s a year or two younger than I am, we still found a way to bond together, sharing our own experiences in the culture shock that was moving from the American MidWest to Southern California.

Emily and I sat beneath a pagoda that was located in the courtyard by our apartment complex, enjoying the brisk morning before the day heats up. I had brought my laptop out with me not only so that I could go through my morning routine, such as emails, social media, and so on, but also so that Emily and I could look up the results of this modeling contest that Viera was running. At the beginning of each month, after the readership had cast their votes for the month, Viera would release the results.

“It looks like the results are up now.” Emily alerted me after she had finished checking Twitter and some other websites. We both therefore huddled in front of my computer as I loaded up the webpage that contained the results. After a quick glance at the screen, I saw Emily’s name in the middle of the pack, around 6th place, out of twelve, of course.

“Hey, look, Aubrey, you’re in 3rd.” Emily pointed at the top of the list. I honestly was kind of surprised by this. Besides maybe two or three of the other models, everyone else was younger than me. And I’m only 21. And I’m not going to even mention how the majority of them are taller, have more experience, and what not than me.

“I wouldn't get your hopes too high, Double A.” We heard Whitney, one of the other Viera models, say from behind us. She, along with Nicole, had been passing by, probably leaving for somewhere, when they heard the two of us. “The last two girls who took their clothes off for their solo shoot only had short term gains. If you don’t believe me, check that list.”

And sure enough, the two models that she had mentioned where in fact in the bottom quarter of the standings. And don't get me started on how that part was optional. Whenever I do find the person responsible for signing me up for this 'job’, I’m going to knock him (or her) out silly.

“Also, some people might have voted for you by mistake if they had still thought Helen was still Ms. May.” Nicole added. She obviously meant the girl that I replaced, who went missing due the events of that whole Pax Metahumana thing. No one really knows where she is.

“Don't worry about them.” Emily told me after the other two had left, “This is more like a marathon than a sprint. Plus, this isn't like American Idol where people get voted off.”

“My self-esteem isn’t tied to their approval, so I don't care what they say.”

“That's the spirit!” Emily said, “So, let’s see what's this month’s theme will be.”

Since next month was apparently when the San Diego Comic Con was scheduled to take place, the theme required us cosplaying any fictional character. At first, I thought I had this in the bag because I am a superhero. However, the obvious soon set in because I couldn't cosplay myself. That probably would let the cat out about my secret identity. This might be a little bit more difficult than I thought.

Later that day, I had agreed to pick Kyra from the Pacific Point airport. A week ago, she had went back east to Tennessee to visit her family and friends, just to spend some quality time with them since she does not see them very often because she had relocated to Pacific Point. While I was waiting for her in my car in the pick-up lane at the airport, I sent a quick text to Will asking for some ideas for the cosplay that I was going to have to do. He’s into superheroes and video games. I’m sure he could suggest something.

I heard a tap on the passenger side door’s window. When I peered over, I saw Kyra standing outside. She had her power-nullifier activated, probably because having nine fox tails would be quite inconvenient on a plane. I therefore leaned over the passenger seat and extended my arm over to unlock the door and push it open. Kyra tossed her luggage in the backseat and sat down beside me.

“So...how was Tennesse?” I tried to begin some small talk between the two of us as I drove away from the airport.

“It was really fun. Sometimes living far away from home can be taxing, so seeing my friends and family back home was really refreshing.” She told me.

“Welcome to the club” I said, referring to the fact that I too was also far from home. While we were turning out of the main street that lead to the airport, my cell phone began to vibrate.

“You want me to answer that for you?” Kyra offered since I was driving at the moment.

“Oh, no. It’s just my boyfriend. I can text him back after I drop you off.”

“Does he know about your whole, um…”

“You mean the whole spider thing? Yeah.”

“And how does he feel about that?”

“He’s pretty cool with it. Maybe a little bit too cool.”

“That must be nice.” Kyra said as she peered out the passenger’s side window. I was going to press the question further because it seemed like Kyra was kind of bothered by something. However, my car’s radio, which was not even on, suddenly began playing. But it was not music that was emitted from the speakers, but someone’s voice.

“Hello, denizens of Pacific Point. My name is the Game Genie and I only have one demand.” The man on the radio said, “I demand that the Blue Blur face me!”

“Who’s the Blue Blur?”

“No idea.” Kyra responded to me, “There’s so many new heroes popping up everywhere that you can’t always keep track of them all.”

“Until that happens, until the Blue Blur comes and challenges me, my little electronical friends will have some fun with your lovely Californian city.”

“Not another nut job.” Kyra muttered.

“And why isn’t anyone moving?” I pressed my palm against the car horn on the steering wheel.

“Falcon.” I barely heard someone way head of the traffic say, “PUNCH!”

The next thing I knew, there was what seemed like a pink marshmallow with red feet tumbling through the air above the cars that were stuck in traffic.

“What was that?” Kyra asked. At that moment, the pink puffball began floating (or rather flying. I couldn’t tell), back towards whatever had punched it into the sky. It waved its tiny arms up and down as it flew back.

“The more important question is how are we going to get out of this traffic?”

Create-A-Hero: A Superhero RPG Season 2- New Horizons (Closed)

Kelly Brown | Samantha Kadowsky | Zac Wilson

Sammy stretched out her arms as she prepared a bowl of cereal and poured a glass of milk for herself. Since she had just gotten out of bed, she was still wearing a t-shirt and a pair of pajama pants with a ‘Hello Kitty’ print pattern on them. She had her television on as he got her breakfast together, although she was just barely listening to it because the news would normally have some depressing story running. However, when she heard Lyger’s name mentioned by one of the news anchors, Sammy’s attention was snapped back towards the television screen. She hurried over to her couch that had been placed in front of the television.

As she sipped on her glass of milk and munched on her cereal, Sammy alertly listened to the news broadcast. In the city of Crown Ridge, Maine, which was located near Lost Haven, there were riots over a police shooting. Although it was inconclusive whether it was the police acted properly in the situation, the media was pushing the side that the young African-American man was innocent and lost his life because of police brutality. However, Sammy was more interested in the Lyger sighting. She sat on the edge of the couch, and her cat tail swayed back and forth as she listened intently for whatever she could learn about Lyger.

Now knowing that Lyger was also operating in this second Maine city, Sammy immediately grabbed her laptop and booted it up. She then began to search for what there was to do in Crown Ridge. Obviously, Sammy was trying to find an excuse to run into Lyger. However, she had to at least make it somewhat convincing that that was not the sole reason why she wanted to visit Crown Ridge. After a few minutes of perusing the internet, Sammy discovered a handful of museums and even a metropark zoo. Now that she had some actual destinations picked out, Sammy snatched up her cell phone and called her best friend, Kelly.

“Do you want to go on a weekend road trip!” Sammy giddily asked her best friend.

“Where?” Kelly groggily responded to her friend, since she too had just woken up that morning.

“I don’t know. Maybe Crown Ridge?”

“Weren’t there riots there recently?”

“Well, sure, but there are also museums and historical sites we could visit!”

Sammy heard the fumbling of the phone as Kelly’s boyfriend, Zac, took the phone.

“We know that you only want to do this to somehow meet Lyger. We’re not going to enable your obsession.”

“It’s alright.” Sammy said as she twirled her cat tail with her finger, “You two don’t have to go with me. I’m a big girl, after all. I’m sure that nothing could happen to a single woman in Crown Ridge.”

There was a few moments of silence as Zac told Kelly what Sammy had just said over the phone. After the had a brief discussion, of which Sammy could only pick out some muttering, Zac once again spoke into the phone.

“Fine. We’ll go with you.” Zac begrudgingly admitted to Sammy, knowing that they could not let Sammy go to Crown Ridge all alone.

“Thank you!” After she had ended the call, Sammy jumped up off the couch and onto her feet. She was going to have a busy morning, deciding what she needed to pack and cramming it into her travel bag.

Marvel - Dawn of Heroes

It was a calm, clear night on the Atlantic Ocean. Hercules had sailed past the Pillars of Hercules, otherwise known as the Rock of Gibraltar in the north and the northern coast of Morocco in the south, and had found himself deep out at sea. He checked the constellations in the sky in order to make sure he was in the right spot. Once he had confirmed his location with the stars, Hercules dove into the sea, descending into its depths.

At first, the moon’s radiant light, Artemis’ jewel, provided some visibility in the water as Hercules swam down into the darkness of the ocean. However, as he went further and further down, even the superior eyesight of an Olympian god, let alone a mortal, could hardly see anything at all. But as he continued his journey, Hercules began to catch sight of some ominous lights shining from below. Those were the lights of Atlantis, the lost continent of old.

“χαίρετε, Ἀτλαντικοῖ.” Hercules shouted out once he had entered the city, “Ἡρακλῆς ἥκω!”

But Hercules did not receive a greeting in return. In fact, he realized that strange was going on because the entire interior of the Atlantean buildings were drained of their ocean water, which allowed Hercules to speak in the first place. Something obviously was astray. Zeus, the Father of Gods and Men, had sent Hercules down to Atlantis in order to retrieve the Omphalos, a powerful magical relic that could teleport its user to a parallel universe of the wielder’s creation. It could not be a convenience that someone was attacking Atlantis on the same day that Hercules was sent there to retrieve the Omphalos.

After searching most of the sunken city of Atlantis, Hercules finally found the chamber that housed that powerful relic. A large security door guarded this room and Hercules would have needed to use his divine strength in order to make it budge if it had not already been open. Inside the vault, Hercules discovered the culprits of the invasion of Atlantis.

“Hippolyte” Hercules growled as he saw once of his old enemies.

“Hercules, long time no see.” Hippolyte taunted the greatest of all Greek heroes, “I suppose you are looking for this?”

At that moment, Hippolyte held up an old, cylindrical object that had engravings carved around its sides. This was indeed the Omphalos.

“I suppose that you’ll not going hand over that relic to me.” Hercules asked.

“It’s far too late for that, son of Zeus.” Hippolyte declared, “For on this day, I shall reshape this world in the image of myself and my sisters!”

“You do realize that relic will only create a self-contained universe, right?”

“Silence!” Hippolyte yelled at the lion-hearted son of Zeus, “Do not spoil my final victory!”

The Amazon queen raised the Omphalos above her head. At that moment, a blue light began radiating out of the open top of the relic, while at the same time the same light was slipping out of the carving on the object’s side. This blue light started to swirl around the chamber, just like a whirlpool spinning around is a glass of water. Faster and faster did it rotate around the room until the light filled the entire room. But almost as fast as it had filled the chamber, just as quickly did the light flow back into the top opening of the Omphalos. Once the blue light had finally receded back into the relic, if one were present in that room, you would have been shocked to find that no one else was left in the room.

---

*English translation: "Greetings, Atlanteans. I, Herakles, have arrived!"

Create-A-Hero: A Superhero RPG Season 2- New Horizons (Closed)

Aubrey Adkins

Pacific Point, California

late May (less than 1 Months Before IC Starts)

After I had been thrown into what must have been some sort of portal, I landed on a hard, cold cement floor. Once I had recovered from the fall, I realized that I was now in an interrogation room. After struggling for a few minutes to wiggle over to the nearest wall, I finally was able to prop myself up against it. Although I knew it would not work, I again tested the bonds that restricted my legs and arms. And when that failed, as expected, I started to wonder how I could escape. How could I get out of these bonds if I cannot break them with my superhuman strength?

Then an idea hit me. Maybe, if I were to activate my power nullifier, the process that my body would undergo in order to make me look entirely human might at least free my legs. At least that would be a start. While I was trying to locate the ‘on’ button on the nullifier, the clicking sound of a shutting door made me snap my head up to see what or who had just entered the room.

Sitting in front of me was a nine-tailed fox. Its gaze was locked on me, as if it were there to watch after me or something.

“Great, they even have a team pet.” I said aloud.

“I’m not the team pet.” I heard a woman’s voice speak in my head as the fox stood up on all fours and began approaching me.

“A fox that can talk inside my head is not any better.”

Once the fox had gotten near me, its shape began to change. Some sort of red, orange, and yellow clothing began creeping up its front arm, which had what looked like a device similar to my nullifier. After a few seconds, the fox had transformed into a human, although she still had fox ears and the nine tails. From her appearance and the costume that she was wearing, I could tell this was the same girl who had opened the portal that teleported me here.

Momentarily, the woman peered back towards the one-sided glass that probably shrouded the rest of the metahumans who had kidnapped me. Then she took hold of my mask and yanked it off.

“What the hell?” I cursed as she discovered my identity, or at least what my face looked like.

“Um, guys.” Firefox said as she glanced back at the glass, “I think we have a problem. I don’t think this is that Black Widow villain.”

“Oh, I wonder what gave you that idea? Maybe my blonde pony-tail! Or my brightly colored costume! And aren’t respecting secret identities like one of the most sacred values of being a superhero? You can’t just go around unmasking people.”

“Oh, its Vol!” I heard Talus’ voice as the metal man entered the room, who was followed by Odysseus, the Son of Osiris, and a third man who I never seen before. He towered above the others by at least a foot, if not more. But that was not what made this man stand out from the others. Instead, it was that he had an elephant-like face, much like how some of Doctor Diplodoc’s allies had animal-like heads.

“Vol?” Firefox asked her teammate, “When have you seen her before tonight?”

“Oh, ‘Siris and I saved her from some sort of tentacle sea monster thing a few days ago.” Talus explained, “I must not have been able to recognize her sooner because she’s less top heavy than I remember.”

“Of all the possible reasons why you couldn’t recognize her, that’s the one you chose?” Firefox rolled her eyes at her teammate.

“’Siris can back me up.” There was a short pause as their three other teammates turned their attention towards the Egyptian-themed, bird-headed man.

I am not going to humor you with that answer, the Son of Osiris communicated telepathically. After he ‘spoke’, the Son of Osiris took his staff and tapped it against the floor. As soon as he did this, the bounds that had restrained me dissipated into the air. Once those bounds were gone, I sprung to my feet, snatching my mask out of Firefox’s hand and pulling back over my face.

I guess you’re free to go now. The Son of Osiris said in my (and I assume everyone else’s) head.

“You just want me to walk out of here as if nothing happened? You all just kidnapped me. What would stop me from turning you all in for kidnapping?”

The man, who I had tried to incapacitate back on the rooftop, took a step forward in front of his other teammates before speaking. “Well, if you were to try to bring charges of kidnapping against us, we could easily out you as a metahuman.”

“You all seen my face, but you don’t know my name.”

“Well, we technically have the right to face our accusers in courts, so that’s not a problem.” Odysseus responded to me, “And even if it were, the kid here could use his computer mambo jambo to find your identity.”

“Let’s see.” Talus said as he must have been consulting a computer in his suit. “Searching through profile pictures and matching them with her face, it appears her name is Aubrey Adkins. And she’s a…oh my. I’m definitely saving that picture to my hard drive.”

What we really mean is that we are sincerely sorry for trespassing on your privacy. Is there anything we could do for you? The Son of Osiris tried to get back control of the situation.

“I know. Why don’t we invite her to join our little team! She matches the mythology theme that we’ve got running here. Plus, Kyra always complains about being the only girl on the team.” Talus proposed to everyone.

“Really?” Firefox, whose actual name was Kyra, complained to Talus, “I thought we were supposed to only use handles here!”

“Welcome to the ‘my secret identity has just been revealed’ club.”

So, what do you say?

“Why would I ever join a group of people who just kidnapped me?”

“It would be nice having another girl around here…” Firefox muttered in order to sway my opinion.

“Fine! But I’m not officially joining your band of super friends until after I decided that you all are not weirdos!”

Marvel - Dawn of Heroes

@Archangel89: As long as it does not contradict the Cap application, then you should be fine.

Create-A-Hero: A Superhero RPG Season 2- New Horizons (Closed)

@Robeatics: We'll still be here, so take some time to college sorted out.

Create-A-Hero: A Superhero RPG Season 2- New Horizons (Closed)

@nitemare shape: I hope things get better!

Marvel - Dawn of Heroes

Here it is: roleplayerguild.com/posts/3938207

@Byrd Man

Approved.

Create-A-Hero: A Superhero RPG Season 2- New Horizons (Closed)

Christopher Arthur III

Nashville, TN

Many men and women, who were the leader of the fields of business and industry in several states south of the Mason-Dixie line, gathered together gathered together at a cemetery just outside of Nashville. They suffered from the humid Tennessee summer heat in their nicest clothes while the funeral proceeded. That day, Daniel Emerson not only had to bury his brother, but also his sister-in-law and their sole child, Matthew. What was worse was that the three coffins had to be empty, because Emerson family had mysteriously disappeared while they were vacationing in the Caribbean. After a long and thorough search for the Emerson family, officials could only conclude that they were deceased, probably by drowning at sea.

Although he was not anything more than an acquaintance to Mr. Emerson, since Chris’ father were friends with him, despite being a decade, if not more, older than Mr. Emerson, Chris nevertheless attended the funeral out of respect. Along with Chris, his sister, Veronica also went. Matthew Emerson would have been almost around her age. Chris had also invited Maya to come along with him. Once the service had concluded, the attendees began to give Mr. Emerson their condolences.

“Your father would have been overjoyed that you came, if he were here today.” Mr. Emerson told Chris. He then turned to Veronica. “I remember when this one was still in diapers. You all just grow up way too quickly.”

“While she can be a pain in the butt sometimes,” Chris began to say, but Veronica jabbed his side with her elbow, “I would never trade her away for anything.”

“And who is this?” Mr. Emerson said as he gestured towards Maya. “Your new squeeze, I presume? What ever happened to that last girl?”

“She unfortunately turned out to be a robot.”

“The great prodigy of Lexington Arthur was fooled by an internet catfish? How amusing.”

“No, I mean she was a literal robot, like an android.”

“Well, I really don’t know how to respond to that, but I hope that never happens to you again.” Mr Emerson was at lost for words.

“I don’t think I’m going to have to worry about that.” Chris said as he wrapped his arm around Maya.

“Well, it’s good to see you again, Chris.” Mr. Emerson said.

“Same here.”

---

Later That Evening

Emerson Enterprises

Mr. Emerson, with his suit jacket slung over his shoulder, rode down a private elevator in his Nashville headquarters. Even though the floor indicator in the elevator carriage had already stopped at the lowest basement floor, the elevator continued its downward descent. After passing a few more stories underground, the elevator finally crawled to a halt. When the elevator doors slide open, they revealed a room where a handful of scientists were hard at work. Inside this room, there was a second enclosure that had one wall with a couple one-way viewing glass.

In this room, there were the average things you would expect in a teenager’s room: a bed, bookshelves, a television and entertainment center. However, what was peculiar about this scene was that in the center of the room there was a young teenage boy floating above the ground in the fetal position. He appeared to be sleeping in this state.

“How’s Matt?” Mr. Emerson asked his chief scientist tasked to this ‘project’.

“Although he has not awakened yet, his vitals all seem normal.” The woman answered her boss, “We’re not quite sure whether he has any other powers, but this room should be able to handle almost anything.”

“Any discoveries on what caused this?”

“Not as of yet. We’re still running tests.”

“I’m a man of science.” Mr. Emerson said, “I’m not going take some Bermuda Triangle voodoo as an answer.”

Create-A-Hero: A Superhero RPG Season 2- New Horizons (Closed)

Aubrey Adkins

Pacific Point, California

late May (less than 1 Months Before IC Starts)

You know that things have taken a turn for the worse when going on what superheroes would call ‘patrols’ is the only thing left that has not changed in the past few months. When you have moved across the country to a new city and taken a job that you would never thought (or wanted) you have, unfortunately, dressing up in my scarlet and gray tights are the only way to make myself feel like I’m back in Columbus, Ohio. I’m sure Athena would be way too happy to explain the irony in this situation.

Don’t get me started on my job. While it is kind of nice that Viera is offering us some classes, tutorials, and workshops to help us improve as models, I’m pretty much playing catch-up since the other eleven models began working in January. Then this morning, the twelve of us were bused up to a private beach just north of Pacific Point for our June photoshoots. In each issue of Viera, besides the centerfold featuring one of the twelve models, there is also included a code for the company’s website to view these other photos. Since summer began this current month, it was decided that it would be a swimsuit photoshoot. Thank God we had the option to bring our own swimwear because otherwise, if I learned anything from my limited experience with the agency where my old college neighbor, Danielle worked, you would just wear whatever they had in stock.

I leaned against the edge of the roof where I had been sitting, peering down at the traffic on Main Street zipping to and fro. Sure, this is probably not the most effective or efficient method for finding evil doers, but there is just something soothing about looking down and watching over the people below. Also, the calm allows me to clear my head, not having to worry about anything else. Of course, after an hour or so, it does get a little boring, but that’s what my smartphone is for.

While I was messing with my cell phone, I heard some police sirens blaring from below. Glancing away from the screen that I held in my hand, I saw two Tri-PD squad cars speeding north-west on Main Street. When I turned my head in the direction that the police cars were heading, I was shocked by what I saw. In the distance, I could discern small, white specs floating down to the ground, sparkling in the city lights. That couldn’t be snow, could it? We’re in Southern California! It does not snow here, especially during the summer.

Obviously, some sort of metahuman probably was the cause of this unusual phenomena. If this metahuman happens to be a villain, I hope he knows that an unnatural weather like this is basically just asking for someone, either the police or some vigilante, to stop him. He might as well put up a bulletin board saying ‘here I am’. Well, since this is the reason why I’m outside where my scarlet and gray costume, I might as well take a look.

After leaping across a dozen or so roofs, since Pacific Point does not have quite the skyline as New York City, I knew I finally arrived at the right place when I felt the temperature around me drop significantly. I can’t even believe that I can see my own breath in May in Southern California! And it did not take me long to spot who probably was the culprit of this unusual weather. From below my perch on the roof, I saw a Hispanic man wearing a cloth poncho and sombrero.

“Alright, El Niño.” I heard a familiar voice speak from below. God, it was that armored hero who helped save me from that Scylla-like monster a few days ago when Will and I went to the beach. I was hoping I would not run into him again, but I guess that was a fruitless hope. “It is obvious that you love winter, but you’re several months early for that, even for Christmas in July.”

Then I heard a rooftop door slam shut from behind me. A man with a full, but not quite bushy, beard had rushed onto the rooftop. I was surprised to see that under his black leather jacket, the man wore a Greek-styled breastplate. Somehow, he did not notice that I was also on the roof. With a bow in his hand, the man pulled an arrow from the quiver on his back and notched it in his bow. Once he started to aim at the man, so-called El Niño, I sort of freaked out and instinctively shot some webbing at where the bow met the arrow. When he released the bowstring, he was surprised that his arrow did not fly forward but was instead stuck to his bow. Well, now I got his attention.

“Ah, I haven’t fought against multiple metas since I faced those kids in Albany.” The man said as he turned to face me. He then pressed the arrow point against the rooftop and sliced through the webs on the bow with a sword that he drew from his belt.

“Wait. You have met those guys, too? How do they get around so much?” I expressed my disbelief that this man has faced those metahumans from Albany.

However, he did not respond with words, but rather a volley from his bow. If I were not a metahuman, that arrow would have struck me right between my eyes. However, my enhanced reflexes allowed me to snatch the arrow out of the arrow before it could hit its mark. After this attack was not successful, the man then rushed up directly towards me, drawing his short sword from his belt as he ran. Although he swung his sword at me, my metahuman advantage over him again allowed me to effortlessly dodge his sword slashes. When I saw the opportunity, I reached out and grabbed hold of the sword hilt.

“Can we please put the pointy objects away and settle this like mature adults?” I said as I effortlessly held back his sword arm. However, since I was underestimating my opponent because he did not, as I assumed, have superhuman powers, I did not expect him to throw a left hook right at my face. I barely had enough time to catch his clinched fist with my other hand.

“Alright, if that’s how we’re doing this.” I exclaimed as I began to squeeze his sword hand with my spider-strength, causing him to drop the sword. One of my arachnid legs immediately kicked the sword away from us across the floor of the rooftop. I then used my forelegs to pull the man off his feet. After that, I immediately began to wrap the man up in webbing, in the same way that a spider would incase its prey in its own silk.

“Alright, Odysseus. I got things under wraps down here. No thanks to you, of course.” The iron-suit hero, who I think was called Talus, said as he hovered up to the rooftop where Odysseus and I were, holding El Niño in his hand, who was wrapped up in a cord-like rope. However, this armored hero was surprised to see that I had almost entirely encased Odysseus with a coat of webs.

“A little help here, kid.” Odysseus barked at his ally, a little annoyed at the sticky situation he was in.

“Um, guys.” Talus said as he pressed what must have been an commlink on the side of his head. “I think we might need some backup.”

“Hey, he attacked me first.” I tried to explain myself.

“Bullshit.” Odysseus harshly replied.

“Alright, I might have webbed up his bow, but that was only because it looked like he was to hit that guy with an arrow.” I pointed at El Niño. “Being judge, jury, and executioner is a little extreme.”

However, before we could continue this little conversation, something, without physically coming into contact with me, pulled my arms behind my back. No matter how much effort I exerted, for some strange reason, I could not break whatever was holding back arms back. Then, the same force pushed my eight spider-like legs together, causing me to fall to the rooftop’s floor. When I peered down at my legs, I saw a golden light in the form of a ring was wrapped around my arachnid legs.

“Would you please oblige us with a portal, Firefox?” I heard a third voice. Again, this voice sounded familiar to me, especially since I heard it in my head instead of my ears. I think that must have been that Falcon-headed mage guy. Son of Osiris, if I recall correctly.

I then saw a fourth person, this time a woman. For a superhero, she looked pretty normal: a red superhero bodysuit that also had yellow and orange accents and a red domino mask. The only thing that looked out of the ordinary, besides being a superheroine, was the two fox ears that crowned her head and the nine bushy fox tails that sprouted from her tailbone and almost were arranged in the same way as peacock’s train of plumage. The woman, who seemed to be no more than a year older than me, took a deep breath before she extended her arms in front of herself. Then she moved her arms apart, which created a purplish-red energy portal.

“Hey, why can’t we just forgive and forget and go our separate ways?” However, I noticed that I began to hover above the ground, no doubt because of the Son of Osiris’ powers.

“I guess that’s a no, then.”