Dedonus

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

@LordDeadpool: Just to let you know, @mentions do not work when you edit a post/message. Just fyi.

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

Christopher Arthur III | Maya Hoffman

A hospital in Virginia

Maya sat in a chair beside Chris’ hospital bed, clinching his hand. Although Chris had survived the Judicator’s attack on his mansion, he did not walk away without a scratch. In fact, he did not walk out of the burning ruins of his Virginian home, since the medical response team had to cart him out. Even though he was able to survive orbital blast by using some nearby tech, Chris was rendered unconscious by the attack, leaving him in a coma.

Unlike the average citizen of the United States, Chris had the best doctors, the best facilities, and the cutting edge medical technology at his disposal. While the medical team had not quite figured out this problem yet, it would only be a matter of time before the doctors had sorted it out, or at least that is what Chris’ loved ones believed. But at the moment, no one had answers.

When she had heard what had happened at Chris’ mansion, Maya dropped everything and rushed over the hospital. Even after Chris’ butler departed with Veronica, Maya still remained behind into the twilight hours of the night. In fact, most of the hospital staff had gone home before Maya was ready to leave. While he appeared to be sleeping peacefully, Maya wished she could do something to help.

“Sorry, but visiting hours are almost closed.” One of the nightshift hospital staff peaked his head into Chris’ room, alerting her to the hospital’s hours policy.

Maya nodded to acknowledge what the man told her. She then started to gather up her belongings and planted one last kiss on Chris’ forehead before turning to leave. However, as she headed for the door, a male nurse walked in with a bag of medicine that was for Chris’ IV.

“I think Chris already received his last dose,” Maya told the nurse who had just entered the room.

“That must be a mistake,” the nurse defended his reason why he was giving more medication to Chris.

“Could you just get the doctor or check his chart first?” Maya insisted, for the well-being of her boyfriend.

“If you don’t turn around and walk away, people will think that you knocked off the sleeping genius,” the nurse threatened once he pulled out his pistol from behind his back and pointed it at Maya.

Had the Hounds returned to finish the job? Maya thought as she backed away far enough where the nurse was comfortable to turn his back to her once more. What could she do? She probably could stop him if she were to revert back to her Nagini form, but that would also cause her to oust herself as not being human. What would Chris think? Would the fact that she saved him trump the shock of the fact that she had a serpentine body?

There was no other choice in Maya’s mind. She had to act. No matter how Chris would react to the truth, Maya knew that saving the man she loved would be worthwhile. Therefore, she yanked off her necklace that repressed her Nagini characteristics and made her move. She launched her snaky tail forward and wrapped the man’s hands, preventing him to connect what she assumed was poison to Chris’ IV. She then began to constrict her tail around his arms so that he might drop what he was holding.

“Drop it,” Maya commanded.

“You’re a meta,” The Hound goon disguised as a nurse gasped. He dropped both his gun and the bag of poison because the crushing pressure of Maya’s constricting tail caused excruciating pain. A chill shot down his spine when he saw that Maya was then wrapping her tail around his body, just like a python would do to its prey.

“You’re staying here with me until the cops show up.” Maya told him while she pulled out her cell phone and started to dial 9-1-1. However, the Hound goon would not allow himself not to have the last word.

“Never,” he barked before he started to crunch on something that had been hidden in his cheek. After a moment or two passed, white foam poured out of his mouth and his lifeless body tumbled to the ground.

Maya was shaken by what the man had just done. Instead of being incarcerated, he would rather take his own life for the cause of the Hounds. She immediately released her snaky grip on the man’s corpse and slid her necklace back around her neck, returning her human form. Once she looked normal again, she rushed out of the room and tried to find someone to report what had happened. Minus the part where she turned into a Nagini, of course.

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

Aubrey Adkins | Amanda Allen-James

Though Slipstream was more than happy to take out these creeps, as Arachne had suggested, she watched as several more truckloads of the paramilitary jackboots arrived on the scene, which meant to her, that even with the advantage that their powers gave them over these thugs, perhaps a direct assault wasn’t the best course of action. When she saw that the Hounds were advancing on them, she knew that there was no way they could win with a straight up attack.

“There’s too many of them, I think we should put some distance between us and them, then figure out what we’re gonna do.” Slipstream said after a momentary pause.

Arachne peaked over the paramilitary vehicle that the two metahumans were hiding behind. The Hounds were quickly approaching their position. While they could risk it and try to take on the men, the odds for success were against the two women, not only because they were outnumbered, but also since the Hounds appeared to have been prepared to deal with Slipstream, which has neutralized their metahuman advantage over their human assailants.

“I think you’re right. But I need a distraction to escape. I’m not sure if I can dodge the bullet barrage that will be aimed at me while we try to make our retreat.”

“I think I have an idea.” Slipstream said with a hint of uncertainty in her voice.

The icy sheen that glistened on the pavement was a problem. It was a simple fact that she could not run on ice, so in essence, the Hounds should have taken her out of the game. However, since she gained her powers, she had suspected that her speed would allow her to not only cover great distances in a short time, but allow her to travel in ways that were not only unconventional, but impossible just about anyone else. She did not know if the plan would work, but now was just as good of a time to give it a try. She didn’t have much of a choice, if she didn’t distract them, both she and Arachne were dead. If this didn’t work, she and Arachne were dead. The only thing she had going for her, was the fact that the truck they were crouched behind had shielded the area immediately behind it from the ice, which would allow her to get some traction. On the other hand, there was only about a half a dozen feet from where they crouched and the front side of the nearest building Slipstream gathered herself for a split second and began running. She ran from the truck to the side of the building, and then she ran up the face of the building. Quickly she turned and ran along the side of the building to the next one, and then the one beside that one. She little more than a pinkish purple and chrome blur as she ran from building to building, and then zipped off down the street from the Hounds and their deathtrap. She had gotten nearly to St Louis before she turned around and raced back.

Happily, she found that her distraction had worked. Arachne had been able to get away from the Hounds, and was keeping an eye on them from several rooftops away when she returned. Slipstream tapped Arachne on the shoulder, slightly out of breath.

“So...now what?” She asked, panting as she tried to catch her breath.

“I would suggest going home and sleeping in our warm beds, but that would not be very heroic of us,” Arachne told Slipstream after she had returned from distracting the Hounds so that she could slip away without the human terrorists noticing. “I guess we’re going to do the one thing that any sane person would never do: follow a group of men who only moments prior had pointed their military-grade firearms at us. It’s not like someone has already tried to blow my brains out tonight.”

Meanwhile, the Hounds had already finished packing up their equipment and piled back into their paramilitary vehicles. Since their target had escaped via the intervention of a second hero, the Hounds began to speed away, leaving nothing except for the icy street as evidence of their presence. Even though she was a metahuman, Arachne knew that she could not keep up with their vehicles, especially if leave the city. However, Arachne was in luck since the hero she had helped save from the Hound did have the speed to match the Hound’s vehicles.

“Do you think you could trail them without being seen?”

“Yeah, no problem.” Slipstream replied. Though she thought she sounded confident in the plan, she was anything but. These guys had already proven to be more than she could handle alone, and even with Arachne with her, she felt deep down that this was way above her pay grade. “But I think I’ll let you take the lead on this...you seem to do the whole sneaking around thing better than me...I’m more of a straight forward, rush in, rush out kind of girl.”

“We need to figure out where they’re heading. You can run infinitely faster than I can, so the Hounds could never shake you off their trail. Once we have learned where their base is, we can figure out what we should do next.”

Slipstream and Arachne watched as the Hounds rolled out of the area. Instead of immediately rushing off after the terrorists, she hung back a bit, allowing the Hounds to put some distance between them. Once they were a few blocks away, Slipstream took off after them, zipping from building to building, ducking into alleys as she moved in an attempt to avoid being seen. Slipstream repeatedly did this for more than two dozen blocks as she followed the Hounds down Ocean Avenue, one of the main throughways in and out of Pacific Point. Slipstream wasn’t sure exactly how far she’d followed the Hounds’ motorcade, as her sense of distance is somewhat distorted when she uses her super speed. A distance of several hundred miles could have seemed to have only been a few miles. However, this did not seem to be the case in this instance. The Hounds led her just outside of the city limits, to an old decommissioned gas station much like the ones you would see while traveling along the old historic Route 66.

The station itself was nothing out of the ordinary. There were a few old fashioned pumps in front of the station, and what had once been a two stall garage. It certainly didn’t look like the secret base of an evil terrorist organization bent on the destruction of an entire segment of the population. Slipstream stayed out of sight as the Hounds pulled into the parking lot. As the vehicles pulled up to the double garage doors, the doors slowly opened, and to her astonishment, the dozen or so vehicles that she had been trailing entered the garage two by two, until they had all vanished from sight and the doors closed behind them.

Once the Hounds had vanished into their hideaway, Slipstream turned around and no longer under the restraints of secrecy, raced back into the city to the rendezvous point with Arachne.

“I know where they are, and if we hurry, we can take them down.” Slipstream said, perhaps sounding much more confident than she actually felt.

“Back already?” Arachne asked as she was halfway finished weaving a spiderweb hammock. Since she knew that it was time to go, Arachne wadded up the spider silk and discarded it. “I hoped I could get a little breather while you were following them.”

“I would have been back sooner, but you know how bad traffic can be on the 73 Freeway.” Slipstream quipped before watching Arachne roll up the web hammock that she’d been building. “Sorry to interrupt your nap.” she said with a smirk before she began to fill Arachne in on what she’d discovered.

Once Slipstream had disclosed the location of the Hound’s base of operations, the two superheroines headed out. While Arachne had enhanced speed that surpassed the regular human, her speed could not match Slipstream’s. Therefore, she essentially played a game of catch up: Slipstream had to periodically stop while she waited for Arachne to arrive. After several stops, Arachne and Slipstream finally arrived at the not so abandoned gas station.

“I have a bad feeling about this.” Arachne muttered to Slipstream, since the gas station seemed unguarded. The two women slowly approached the building, placing the old fashioned gas pumps between themselves and the station.

Slipstream and Arachne watched the double garage doors that the Hounds’ vehicles had vanished behind intently, looking for any signs of life. Slipstream stood up straight, emerging from their hiding place.

“I know that being a spider-centaur thing isn’t the most incognito thing in the world, but you’re not really helping.” Arachne whispered to Slipstream as her new ally revealed herself from their cover.

“Relax, they don’t even know that we’re here.” Slipstream said with a shrug of her shoulders just before the sound of gunfire suddenly erupted. Bullets flew past their heads, barely missing the heroes as they ducked back behind the old style gas pumps, which luckily had been dry for quite some time.

“Yup, they know we’re here! They know we’re here!” Slipstream cried out as bullets ricocheted off of the tanks which kept them out of the direct line of fire, at least for the time being.

“And what gave you that idea?” Although the gas pumps were sufficient for giving Slipstream cover, Arachne’s drider physique made things a little bit more difficult. While her upper body was not a problem, her spider half, especially her legs, could not be hidden entirely behind the pumps. She knew that the two of them had to do something unless they wanted to become swiss cheese. Although the simple solution to this problem was having Slipstream disarm the Hounds, if their confrontation earlier that night taught her anything, the anti-metahuman terrorists were prepared for her. They needed a different approach.

“I’m going to create a distraction. Then you should be able to work your magic.” Arachne quickly told Slipstream once she had made up her mind. She then leaped up and landed on the gas station’s awning that would have been used back in the day by the customers to get their vehicle out of the elements. When she had touched down on the awning, she began running forward towards the building, while the Hounds poured their bullets at the awning.

While Arachne’s “spider-sense” gave her an uncanny ability to anticipate an enemy’s attack. However, she still needed the space to dodge any specific attack. With enough bullets concentrated in a single area, even if she knew that the bullets were coming, there might not be a way for her to move out of the way without getting hit by a different bullet. Therefore, as she crossed the awning, Arachne performed what could be best be described as a dance, since she had to move back and forth, right to left and back so that she would not get hit by a bullet.

She had almost reached the gas station’s main convenience store roof, when one of the Hounds’ bullets grazed Arachne’s hind leg. Due to the pain in her leg, Arachne tumbled forward and fell to the floor of the roof. Even though the wound burned, she had enough willpower to pull the rest of her spider abdomen off the awning so that it would not catch a bullet. She then peered back at her wound. Although her blood stained the cloth around her wound, her healing factor had already started to clout up the wound. While some plain still lingered, she would be fine until it could completely heal in a couple minutes.

Seeing that Arachne had been hit by the gunfire, Slipstream decided that it was up to her to take the heat off of her new friend. She left the relative safety provided by the gas pumps and in a purplish pink and chrome blur, began running literal circles around their attackers, drawing their fire away from the slightly injured Arachne. Slipstream zipped from the pump right to the nearest Hound, who had his gun trained on Arachne, and with a simple shove sent him flying backwards into one of his compatriots. As Slipstream made her way around the old service station, taking out Hound after Hound, Arachne had been given ample time to recover from her injuries and rejoin the fray. As the two women took the fight to the Hounds of Humanity, the thugs began to retreat inside of the garage. The double garage doors began closing behind the retreating Hounds, who had left their unconscious cohorts to fend for themselves.

“They’re getting away!” Slipstream cried out as the doors inched toward the ground. However, she wasn’t planning on letting that happen. She accelerated toward the descending doors. As she approached the doors, they were almost completely closed, leaving less than a foot between bottom of the doors and the ground. As she reached the doors, she went to the ground and slid under the doors like a baseball player sliding into second base. She had barely come to a stop as the doors closed behind her. A cold chill ran down her spine as she realized that she was alone in the garage with who knows how many Hounds of Humanity terrorists, and no way out. She spun around to face the enemies behind her, only to find that there were none. Instead, she found that she was in an empty garage. There was a sloping floor that led to another set of doors that looked to lead to a subterranean level underneath the old service station.

“Great. Just great.” Slipstream said to herself as she looked around the garage looking for a way to get the doors open again. Then, on the far wall she saw what looked like a set of controls hanging down from the wall itself. The controls was about the length of a surge protector and had two round buttons, one red and the other green, on the face of the device. She took the device in her hand and with little else to lose, pressed the green button. The double garage doors creaked and moaned as the began to ascend into the ceiling. When the doors finally came to a stop, Slipstream looked out to find Arachne standing just outside, looking into the empty garage.

“It looks like we’re going down.” Slipstream said as she pointed to the entry to what she assumed was an underground base of some sort.

“Why does it not surprise me that these roaches would have a secret rat nest underneath this place. While rushing down there doesn’t sound like a good idea, I’m not camping out here all night.”

Slipstream nodded to show her agreement. Therefore, the two superheroines descended into the lair of this Hounds of Humanity cell, prepared to react to any sort of ambush that the Hounds might have prepared for them.

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

Create-A-Hero Season 2 Awards Results

Best Hero:

Winner: (tie) Icon, Pendragon, Voyager (2)

Runner-up: (tie) Arachne, Rune (1)

Best Hero without Powers:

Winner: Nicholas Church (November) (4)

Runner-up: Iron Knight (3)

Best Walking-the-Line:

Winner: War-Pulse (6)

Runner-up: (tie) Alchemyst, Nicole MacNamara (Walker) (1)

Best Walking-the-Line without Powers:

Winner: Fletch (5)

Runner-up: Legate (3)

Best Villain:

Winner: The Ambassador (5)

Runner-up: Umbraxis (2)

Best Villain without Powers:

Winner: The Cowl (uncontested)

Best NPC'd hero:

Winner: Sewer Gator (4)

Runner-up: Kelly Brown (Wasp) (3)

Best NPC'd villain:

Winner: Doctor Diplodoc (3)

Runner-up: (tie) the Hounds of Humanity, Puck (2)

Best New Character:

Winner: Gum (4)

Runner-up: (tie) Nicole MacNamara, Siren, Slipstream, Terra Firma (1)

Best Origin:

Winner: Mandate (3)

Runner-up: Katarina, Siren (2)

Best Shipped Couple:

Winner: That which shall not be named (4)

Runner-up: Every other ship (1)

Most Interesting Use of Powers:

Winner: White Witch when she helped create the Soul Stone (3)

Runner-up: Equilibrium dropped a news-copter on War-Pulse, Psionic Nexus (first landing) (2)

Most Angry Character:

Winner: Nicole MacNamara (4)

Runner-up: Cabbie (3)

Most Property Damage:

Winner: War-Pulse (vs. Evergreen and Nemesis) (5)

Runner-up: Game Genie (3)

Best Team-up:

Winner: Rune and Pendragon (3)

Runner-up: (tie) Raptor Pack and Lyger, Nemesis & Evergreen (2)

Most Unexpected Team-up

Winner: Raptor Pack and Benjamin Reeves (4)

Runner-up: War-Pulse, Evergreen, & Fletch (3)

Best Fight:

Winner: War-Pulse/Equilibrium vs. Nemesis/Evergreen (uncontested)

Best Post:

Winner: Hounds of Humanity Introduction Post (6)

Runner-up: This post written by Byrd Man (2)

Best Comedic Post:

Winner: Ben's adventures with drugs (3)

Runner-up: Evergreen & War-Pulse (2)

Best Story Arc:

Winner: Pax Metahumana Crisis (3)

Runner-up: (tie) Hounds of Humanity, Witch Hunt (2)

Most Fun Story Arc:

Winner: Hounds of Humanity (5)

Runner-up: Game Genie (3 - i.e the people who were actually a part of the story line)

Best Story Arc with a Tear Jerking moment:

Winner: Heist Arc (ambassador, Silence, Mandate) (4)

Runner-up: Death of the Esters (3)

MVP:

Winner: DearTrickster (5)

Runner-up: Dedonus (2)

Most Improved:

Winner: (tie) Phil (aka Alternax), VATROU (3)

Best Newbie:

Winner: Indiana Cooper (6)

Runner-up: Crosswire (2)

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

<Snipped quote by Dedonus>

It doesn't. Because I'm a moron and didn't understand what it was all about, so, uh... let's say her powers triggered when Fran was about to die in the VCI explosion? And leave it there?

@Legion X51

Accepted.

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

Character you have created:
Arielle Françoise Lerroux, prefers to be known as Françoise, or just Fran to her friends.

Alias:
Rubis - Her most common alias
Jeanne Friant - Alias known to NYPD
Helene Daladier - Alias known to LHPD
Louise D'Entrecasteaux - Alias known to FBI

@Legion X51

Before I accept this CS, could you explain how the Pax Metahumana event has any ties to Rubis' powers?

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

Create-A-Hero Season 2 Awards Voting

Now that we have received quiet a few nominations for the rewards, it is now time to start voting! Just fill out the template below and PM it to @CAHStaff before September 13th, when we, the GMs (aka maybe just Dedonus), will tally up the votes and announce the winners. Please let us know if I missed any nominations.

Best Hero:
-Arachne
-Evergreen
-Icon
-Pendragon
-Rune
-Voyager

Best Hero without Powers:
-Iron Knight
-Lyger
-Nicholas Church (November)
-Vigilante

Best Walking-the-Line:
-Alchemyst
-Nemesis
-Nicole MacNamara (Walker)
-Silence
-War-Pulse

Best Walking-the-Line without Powers:\
-Fletch
-Legate

Best Villain:
-The Ambassador
-Mandate
-Parasite
-Umbraxis

Best Villain without Powers:
-The Cowl

Best NPC'd hero:
-Doctor Holliday
-Kelly Brown (Wasp)
-Jordan Fletcher
-Mai Hagatzu, Leader of the ZETA squad (Parasite vs. Hunter)
-Sewer Gator
-Indy's Western Hero group

Best NPC'd villain:
-Doctor Diplodoc
-Game Genie
-The Hounds of Humanity
-Puck

Best New Character: Character who appeared in Season 1 cannot be nominated
-Gum
-Katarina
-Nicole MacNamara
-Pantheon
-Siren
-Slipstream
-Terra Firma

Best Origin:
-Katarina
-Mandate
-Siren
-Tiamat

Best Shipped Couple:
-Icon & Radiance
-Icon & Umbraxis
-Katarina & Ben
-Nemesis & Richard Midas
-Sammy (Bast) & Lyger

Most Interesting Use of Powers:
-Equilibrium dropped a news-copter on War-Pulse
-Nemesis
-Psionic Nexus (first landing)
-Raptor only using his knuckle claws once in two seasons
-White Witch when she helped create the Soul Stone

Most Angry Character:
-Cabbie
-Nemesis
-Nicole MacNamara

Most Property Damage:
-Game Genie
-Richard Midas
-War-Pulse (vs. Evergreen and Nemesis)

Best Team-up:
Church and Cabbie
-Nemesis & Evergreen
-Raptor Pack and Lyger
-Rune and Pendragon
-Urksis and Terra Firma (Mole Money Mole Problems)

Most Unexpected Team-up
-Raptor Pack and Benjamin Reeves
-Siren and Terra-Firma
-War-Pulse, Evergreen, & Fletch

Best Fight:
-War-Pulse/Equilibrium vs. Nemesis/Evergreen

Best Post:
-This post written by Byrd Man
-Hounds of Humanity Introduction Post

Best Comedic Post:
-Ben's adventures with drugs
-When Ben tossed Yeong into the pool and then vanished
-Evergreen & War-Pulse
-Hound55's first returning post.
-Siren in Wally World
-Raptor Pack Vol. 2 #1

Best Story Arc:
-Pax Metahumana Crisis
-Demon Invasion of Lost Haven
-Hounds of Humanity
-Witch Hunt

Most Fun Story Arc:
-Game Genie
-Hounds of Humanity

Best Story Arc with a Tear Jerking moment:
-Death of the Esters
-Heist Arc (Ambassador, Silence, Mandate)

MVP:
-DearTrickster
-Dedonus
-Fallenreaper

Most Improved:
-Phil (aka Alternax)
-VATROU

Best Newbie:
-Crosswire
-Indiana Cooper

template

[b]Best Hero[/b]:
[b]Best Hero without Powers[/b]:
[b]Best Walking-the-Line[/b]:
[b]Best Walking-the-Line without Powers[/b]:
[b]Best Villain[/b]:
[b]Best Villain without Powers[/b]:
[b]Best NPC'd hero[/b]:
[b]Best NPC'd villain[/b]:
[b]Best New Character[/b]:

[b]Best (most original) Origin[/b]:
[b]Best Shipped Couple[/b]:
[b]Most Interesting Use of Powers[/b]:
[b]Most Angry Character[/b]:
[b]Most Property Damage[/b]:
[b]Best Team-up[/b]:
[b]Most Unexpected Team-up[/b]

[b]Best Fight[/b]:
[b]Best Post[/b]:
[b]Best Comedic Post[/b]:
[b]Best Story Arc[/b]:
[b]Most Fun Story Arc[/b]:
[b]Best Story Arc with a Tear Jerking moment[/b]

[b]MVP[/b]:
[b]Most Improved[/b]:
[b]Best Newbie[/b]:

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

Not the flu!

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

Create a Hero RPG Application

Character you have created: Jock Sturgeon

Alias: James Stitcher, Jack Scott, Martin Sullivan, etc.

Character Alignment: -Walking the Line-

@Byrd Man

Glad to see you back, Bryd.

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

Kyra Muller

The hostage negotiator waited as the phone inside the Bed, Bath, and Beyond rang. He had called several times, yet the criminals within the store were not responsive. When it was clear that no one was coming to the phone, the police officer disconnected his call and walked back to where Talus and Gajana were standing. He alerted the two superheroes, along with the other high-ranking officers at the scene about the current situation before taking up the standard issue electronic megaphone.

“Pick up the phone,” the hostage negotiator commanded. “We have the premise surrounded. It is in your best interest to answer us!”

However, two separate bursts of gunfire suddenly exploded from within the store. The SWAT team hastened to their positions at all of the entrances and exits to the Bed, Bath, and Beyond, prepared to storm in if necessary. The SWAT team positioned at the rear of the store saw the first action. Right after the second round of gunfire, the back doors swung open. If the SWAT team there were just a little more trigger-happy, they might have gunned down the hostages by mistake. Fortunately, they realized that the three individuals rushing out of the building were the hostages and not the robbers before they could make a mistake.

“The hostages are free,” one of the SWAT members reported into his walkie-talkie. “I repeat. The hostages are free.”

“You have a green light.”

---

Kyra hid behind a shelf display where she had landed after teleporting away from the armed robbers. Now that she was out of sight, Kyra now had an opportunity to plan her next move. Since the intruders clearly outnumbered her, the safest approach would be laying low until the authorities took care of the situation. Kyra would not be any use to the police if she was shot and killed. She just had to make sure that the villains did not escape.

Then, Kyra heard another barrage of bullets. Since she was behind the display, Kyra concluded that the robbers must have been aiming at the person who they were attacking before she intervened. From the far end of the building, Kyra saw a person of short stature round the corner as he dodged out of the way of some more stray bullets aimed in his direction. As she got a better look at this individual, she realized that he had to have been a kid. She was even more shocked when she spotted a gun in the kid’s gloved hand. However, before Kyra could do anything, she heard Talus’ voice over her communicator.

“Look out, Firefox,” Talus warned her. “The S.W.A.T. is coming in.”

In preparation for any flash grenades that the police would surely use, Kyra closed her eyes shut and instinctively pressed her hands against the side of her head. However, since old habits die hard, Kyra swiftly shifted her hands to the top of her head, where her fox ears were located, and pressed them against her head.

Suddenly, several flash grenades penetrated into the building at the breach points that the S.W.A.T. had picked for their entrances. Blinding flashes of light, followed by clouds of white gas filled the air as the S.W.A.T. personnel entered the Bed, Bath, and Beyond, with their weapons at a ready position. The sound created by the explosion of the flash grenades made Kyra’s ears ring, despite her attempt to shield them with her hands. When she turned to face the S.W.A.T. unit nearest to her, she could tell that they were saying something because their lips were moving, but she could barely hear what they were telling her. Therefore, she just raised her hands above her head and allowed them to escort her out of the building.

While she was being lead out, Kyra turned her head to see what happened to the kid during the S.W.A.T.’s breach. She caught sight of another S.W.A.T. unit that had their rifles pointed at both the boy and presumably the other armed robbers. Since her ears were still recovering from the flash grenades, Kyra could barely make out what one of the SWAT members were barking at them.

_{^{“Put the gun down and get on the ground! Put it down, now!”}}