darkSpyro

"Oh, Zodiac? Don't you know it's rude to ask a girl about her secret identity?" She said, flashing a sarcastic looking grin.
"I can't tell you any of my background until you tell me some."

Araya sat there for a moment in the silent, musty room.
I can't reveal it to him yet, not unless he spills some too. She thought. She buryed her hands in her face and let out a deep groan. This whole situation is very conflicting for her. Could she really trust him?

"I guess I'll make this an 'I'll show you mine if you show me yours' situation then. Tell me a bit about you and I'll tell you a bit about me. Just until the cops pass and we're in the clear. Deal?"

..He didn't ask her secret Identity, I know what you mean tho. eh.//

Zodaic rose an eyebrow, though it was hard to tell due to the hood he kept on constantly, it was near impossible to see his face. Ray thought about his past, he didn't want to share it, it was his business, it had nothing to do with the problem at hand. "I grew up on a farm in the outskirts of the city..." He said, a lie. Ray was adept at lying, he had to be growing up, he found it easy to trick even the smartest of people. "I raised animals, and one day...I was born with these powers, maybe due to a toxic leak of some kind, I'm not sure. My dad thought I should use my powers to help people, but my mom was scared that something would happen to me. I moved into the city...My parents live on the farm still. I just want to help people.." He wished he was telling the truth, that way, both his parents would've been alive. "Now you."

"Well, I guess I might as well take this off, since everything I'm about to tell you ties back to my family..." Araya said, sheepishly taking off her mask and looking at Zodiac.

"If you lived anywhere in the state, you heard about how Mayor Preston Reynolds 'Shot his wife and took his eleven year old daughter hostage'. That was all a lie. My father never did any of those things, he was just putting up a fight..."
Tears began to well up a bit in her eyes. It all still seemed so Greg in her mind, even though the horrors of that night were twelve whole years ago.

"That bastard Crane runs an underground crime ring, one my father didn't want to join. So, Crane paid off the entire SWAT team to try to off my entire family. I barely survived, if it wasn't for the drug my doctor gave me to heal from the five gunshot wounds I sustained. So I waited, and I trained, and I finally beat the living **** out of that SWAT team three years ago, but I discovered something when I tried to get to Crane. The whole system is being paid by him. Judges, lawyers, police, even doctors..."
Araya was visibly shaking with rage as hot tears streamed down her face. She took a silent moment to regain her composure.

"So I'm making it my mission to fight the corruption in this city. I can't let innocent families go though what I went through." She wiped a few tears from her face and put her mask back on, hoping to regain some confidence.

"I think I've told you enough, and I think the cops must have bailed out from their search now." Araya said, standing up from the couch and walking to the entrance.
"Is this the only way out?" She asked, not even turning to look at Zodiac.

A regular person probably would've tried to comfort her but Ray wasn't exactly a regular person. "Well, Commissioner Gordon, it sounds like we oughta do something about it then and we can't do nothing about it standing here. I mean, I kinda would prefer to fight Giant crocodiles or a circus ring leader with fire-breathing powers or something but I guess I could punch out a cop or two."

Ray made his way to the ladder which led to the Subway. "Yea, but we can get to the surface faster by just taking the ladder in the Subway, leads to a manhole in the middle of central downtown." Ray had wished he'd had stayed in bed, he was doing so much moving around and it was hurting his lazy nature.

Araya shoved past Zodiac and grabbed the ladder rung.
"No offense, but I need a little time to myself for now." Araya began to climb the creaky, rusty ladder and took one last look down at Zodiac.

"You wanna meet up to help me with this little problem? Meet me at the docks, tomorrow night at 11:30. We're gonna beat up some human traffickers!" She said, lifting the manhole cover and disappearing into the light of the day.

-----

Araya got back into her apartment and changed into an outfit comfortable for the day's weather, that being her usual Triforce shirt, jean shorts, red Converse high tops, and a pair of sunglasses. Whenever she wanted to go out, she usually wore sunglasses to attempt to disguise herself. Even after twelve years, people still would occasionally swarm her, talking about how "brave she was in the face of adversity" and "how she's dealing with the loss after these years." It annoyed the hell out of her.

Where to go, where to go... She thought. She knew she was hungry, but not hungry enough for actual food. After a while, she settled on the coffee shop across the street.

Once she arrived, she ordered a latte and a croissant, and sat at the back near the entrance and the restroom, just in case she had to make a quick escape. The TV above the counter blared about bombs, cats, and other news, but what made her happiest is the "bank robbery thwarted by mysterious vigilante." She took a sip of her latte, and continued watching for any new updates.

(Lol it appears nearly everyone is at the coffee shop right now)

While she couldn't have been searching for more than a few hours, Angela was already at her wits end. 'This is hopeless, I don't even know anything about this guy beyond what his outfit looks like!'She thought as she paused in mid-air. "I'll just have to wait for him to strike again, if that ever happens..." She muttered.

'Speaking of which, I really should be happy that I saved people today, but I really need to think ahead more, it almost came at quite a cost this time, and my powers can't solve everything...' Angela thought with a frown, still discouraged with herself.

She spotted a coffee shop she had went to a few times in the past, landed in the nearby alley and removed her uniform to reveal the everyday clothes beneath, then hid her outfit. And Angela entered just in time to see the news report on the shops TV, subconsciously lowering her head when she was briefly shown on the screen, though she couldn't help but grin while buying a hot chocolate and silently taking a seat by a window, staring outside at the sky. Though occasionally she would curiously glance at the other occupants of the establishment, particularly the one in a frilly, colorful outfit. 'Must be another hero.' Angela pondered, tilting her head in interest.

"I don't think so," Tori said. "I was able to..."

"No, you numskull! Don't tell her I can read minds, that's creepy!" the tapir shouted in his mind.

"I... I was able to tell by the kind of coffee you ordered," Tori said. "We heroes love coffee that's strong and pure. ...Also, I can tell by your clothing. ...Uhhhh... None of that sounds convincing..."

"Keep trying, you'll figure it out," the tapir told him.

Suddenly, more people started coming into the coffee shop, including a familiar face. Tori decided to wave hello. "Oh, hello again Araya," Tori said. "You and Zodiac are quite the escape artists huh? Me and my mind reading tapir familiar had no idea you would... oh wait I wasn't suppose to mention the tapir out loud, was I?"

"It's not that," the tapir mentioned. "It's mostly the mind-reading part I didn't want you blathering about."

"That explains how you know my name then..." Araya said, sighing and leaning back in her chair a bit. She took a sip of her latte to try to calm her mind, but it didn't help. What if this guy already read her mind and discovered all the spilled to Zodiac earlier? It was an unsettling thought, but if this guy did turn on her, it wasn't like she didn't have experience with metahumans before. Unless he used some magic, she could probably kick his ass.

"Well, since you can read my mind then, I assume you can see one of two things. First off, I'm in a mood, and second, I'm waiting to meet with a friend of mine."
That wasn't a lie, so much as an extension of the truth, she was waiting to talk with her friend, Dr. Connors, but it was a simple phone call to talk about a staff replacement.

Araya took a pen from her pocket and scribbled the same information she told Zodiac on it.
"Meet me here tomorrow, we'll fight some crime or something." She said, pushing her sunglasses up at bit and turning her attention to the TV.

Modify went into the male bathroom, since at the moment they realized they appear more like a male with the sweat, pants, and hoodie. They always thought it was weird that people identified other genders with what clothes they wore, why can't people just wear the clothes they want? Now they were in shorts, pastel blue Coverse, and their dark red hair combed neatly so it didn't look like it was under a hot hat the entire day.

Now Modify looked like Taylor, their normal identity. Coming out of the bathroom, Taylor noticed that the coffee shop was a bit fuller now. "Must be the lunch rush, poor baristas" they said to themselves.

Then Taylor froze, recognizing the hero from earlier who beat them up. Then they relaxed a bit, confident that this hero, a rookie hero, won't recognize them. It was impossible, even though Taylor stuck out like a sore thumb earlier their features were still hidden. Sunglasses, hat, even body figure. It was all hidden.

Araya was very confused. Just earlier, it seemed like that guy walked into the restroom, but now, they'd changed their clothes, and looked pretty different. This was definitely something worth investigating, at least for the time being.

But how was she going to get any information out of her? It was a coffee shop, maybe some small talk would help.

"Did you hear about that weirdo and the train?" Araya asked, coming off a bit more nervous than she intended. "Scary stuff, huh?"

Suddenly a girl walked up to Taylor, asking about the train and seemed...nervous. **** Taylor thought, Did this girl see me change and followed me here? Who is she?

"Yes I did," Taylor responded, dancing around their words, "It's really scary, I've never seen that villain around before. What do you think they're up to?"

This was a dangerous situation, and Taylor was pretty sure their girl knew about them as Modify. It's safe to try and steer this stranger, who might know something, off course by acting along.

Demicila glanced at the weirdo who called someone a hero based on their coffee and let out a long whistle. She stood up and tapped him on the shoulder. "I have no idea who you are, but you seriously need to work on your subtlety game. I am getting second hand embarrassment, and I'm the one who shouted at a television set."

Tori took the note and read it carefully. Deep down, he wondered if he just wanted him to come or a whole bunch. But how many heroes would be needed to fight crime?

"Hmmm, to be honest I actually didn't hear anything about the train," Tori said. "Me and the tapir were too busy with the robbery. ...How many heroes did you want to come here? Just me, or can others join as well?"

Araya shot Tori a glare and made a series of complicated hand gestures before realizing that she's the only one who really knew what all those meant. Eventually, she gave up and made a "shoo" motion.
She felt bad about giving a possible ally the cold shoulder, but she felt a weird vibe coming from this person that came out of the restroom. She needed to investigate further. Araya got up from her latte and untouched croissant and walked over to the strange person.

"I don't know what they're up to, but I hope the heroes of the city can handle it." She said, looking straight at the person.
"They were wearing all black, covering most everything. Almost as if they didn't have a true face to call their own."

Taylor clentched their fist slightly then quickly put it in their pant pocket. This person most definitely knows. But I can't give away anything here, so I guess I have to play at their own game.

As soon as this girl had walked up to Taylor, they knew immediatly who this person was. An identity this big simply cannot be covered up by sunglasses, then again rarley anyone seemed to stare at her before this conversation. "Oh sure, in fact that kind of reminds me of this one girl. I'm sure you know her, she used to be the daughter of a politician. Very big, very big. Except...she just went missing one day and has been rumored to have sightings in strange places of the city..."

Taylor looked up at the tv screen which showed a clip of Modify being surrounded by the crowd, and the rookie hero flying over them. "Almost like she has something to hide."

Araya stood there in complete shock. How could this person know so much about me, but I know so little about them? She thought, her heart pounding in her chest.
Great, now two people today had learned about her identity. She couldn't let anyone else find out. What if this person outed her right there in the coffee shop?

Araya wasn't thinking, and panicked. In a desperate gambit to protect her identity, she launched a punch straight at the person's face.

Taylor just got punched. They supposed this would happen, and to be honest they hoped this would happen. While the punch was a standard punch and wouldn't do much harm except a sore face, Taylor decided to make a scene.

Since the shop was full of people, the small talk Taylor had before with this girl didn't certainly go unnoticed. And even if it did, that punch sure made it noticeable now. They simply cannot let this girl win and give away Taylor's identity without even saying it. So Taylor made the scene worse.

They stumbled as soon as the blown was made, and crashed into a nearby coffee table, groaning with pain. The coffee table with the girl who had just woken up and was about to leave because of the recent uncomfortable situation. Of course Taylor didn't know quite that, they just wanted to fall into a coffee table.

What the ****? I'm sure I didn't punch that hard... Araya thought. This weirdo CLEARLY knew more than they were letting on. She backed up a bit.
"I...I didn't mean to do that..." She quietly mumbled to herself, backing into the colorful hero from earlier. She gasped and turned around, heading for the door...

What the hell just happened? She thought.

Taylor groaned slightly, lightly touching their face acting like they were feeling a wound. "Why did you get so defensive?" they called out to the girl, "I was only talking about that person in black clothing at the train bombing threat!"

The crowd of the coffee shop surrounded the scene, mummbling questions and concerns about what was happening in relation to the bomb threat and the train.

Demicila stood and grabbed for of the fleeing woman's shirt. "Hold it! What the hell was that all about?" She said glancing at the person who had collapsed into the coffee table. She blew a strand of her hair out of her way.

Angela had been daydreaming as she stared out the window, and upon hearing the sound of a crashing table she flinched, sparks briefly flashing out her body. She bit her lip at her own reaction, but it seemed that people were turning their gazes on near the center of the shop, and when one of the people involved in the commotion mentioned the train incident Angela leaned forward, her eyes brightening and now intent on the two aswell.

Araya grabbed Demicila's arm and bent it backwards, hopefully breaking the arm at the joint. It's not like she hadn't beat a metahuman before, but it also wouldn't have been her first loss against one either.

Demicila recoiled in pain. It wasn't broken, but **** if that didn't hurt. She narrowed her eyes and gritted her teeth. "Alright, we'll do this your way." She said, Her other gauntlet sparking to life an emitting an extremely loud, high pitched noise which she directed at Araya as much as possible. Would it hurt her ears? Probably. Would it cause any major or permanent damage? Probably not.

Araya screamed out due to the sudden high pitched burst in her ears. She wanted to fall to the ground, she wanted to give in, for it to be over, but she couldn't. She had to escape. She couldn't take the main entrance out, people were already blocking that.

She stood up and crossed her arms over her face, and ran full speed into a window. With a mighty crash, it fell down around her. Sure, she got a hell of a lot of cuts on her arms and legs, but it's nothing her small healing factor couldn't handle after a few hours. She ran into an alleyway, and vaulted up the rusty stairwell and to the roof of her apartment complex. She opened the door at the top, inputted a few numbers into the keypad, and a solid lead door crashed over the inside entrance. With another keypad entry, a wall slid open at the bottom of the stair, closing behind Araya.

Araya collapsed against the door to her sanctum and slid down it, panting. That was by far one of the closest calls she'd ever had. Sure, she could have taken both of those freaks, but that's with her Cell armor and weapons. If she didn't have that tiny healing factor, she would've gotten obliterated.

Just then, the phone across her sanctum began to ring. She took a moment to gather her composure, and walked to the white phone, placed near where she usually puts her costume.
"Hey, Leonard, what's up..." She said into the phone, panting.

"How many times do I have to tell you not to call me that!? Just call me Connors! It's cooler." The voice on the other line was none other than Leonard Connors, Araya's best friend through high school. He was currently interning at Cerebellum Labs, a prestigious government laboratory. He was one of the growing list of people that knew she was Cell, but he'd known from the very beginning. He's how she got such advanced technology for crime fighting.

"Fine, 'Connors'." She said, annoyed. "Why'd you call?"

"What am I hearing about 'Ex-Mayor's Daughter Starts a Brawl in a Local Coffee Shop'!? Please tell me This is like Inception or something, and I'm just in a really bad, multilayered dream!" He exclaimed.
Well, he sounds ****ing pissed... Araya thought. She had to choose her words carefully as not to worry her long time ally.

"You heard about that near deadly bombing on the monorail today, right?" She said.

"Yeah, I did. What about it?"

"I brought it up speaking to some weird person. They changed their face, I swear. Anyways, they basically saw right through me, and kind of hinted they knew I was Cell. So, naturally, I punched them, but they flipped out and blamed it all on me! They actually, genuinely believed I was that weird person in black. People barricaded the doors, and some weird techno freak tried to stun me with sound or something, so I did the best I could to get away."

"You activated Omega Protocol, right?"

"Yeah, it's all locked up. But I'm putting on my costume and going back out there."

"Oh no you aren't! Who knows what troubl-"

"AnywaysIneedaknewstaffbecauseitbrokefightingsomecops, I'mleavingnowloveyoubye!" She rapidly said, quickly hanging up the phone.

-----

After about ten minutes, she finished donning her Cell costume and locked her base back up, and retracted the lead wall.
As she stood at the top of the roof, she knew she had something to do for the rest of the day.

She was going to find that shapeshifter in black, and kick the son of a *****'s ass.

Zodiac retracted the horns from his hoodie and threw off his hood. He unzipped his Hoodie to reveal a white t-shirt with a striped brown unbuttoned shirt over top. He grabbed a pair of jeans and threw them on, tucking his tail inside and taking off his mask.

Ray climbed the ladders up to the surface and stretched out his arms. "I really should think about investing in a hoverchair, then I could be the ultimate level of laziness while still being active, I should get on that." He shook about like a dog trying to get off water and then he strolled down the street. He made his way into the coffee shop and stood in the doorway with a blank expression on his face, he saw all the destruction, broken tables, spilled drinks, broken glass. Ray shrugged and turned around and walked away, not phased in the least. "I wonder where they sell hoverchairs..."

Through all this commotion, the tapir in Tori's body started to go crazy. It was possible that his familiar was susceptible to loud noises, but Tori couldn't help but clench his skull in pain.

"What the heck are you doing in there!?" Tori thought.

"Argh! The pain! The ringing! Make it stop!" the tapir cried through thought.

"Hey, guys, let's stop for a moment," Tori spouted. "We're all heroes, right? Why are we fighting. Maybe it's from too much TV that you think heroes need to fight each other, but hey. Why can't we just all settle down? Araya... Where is she going?"

Suddenly, Araya was gone, but the screeching was still going on.

"This is insufferable!" the tapir shouted.

Suddenly, something happened that Tori did NOT want to happen at this time. Tori was starting to morph again.

"Damnit, tapir! Not now!" Tori shouted.

"ARGH! MAKE IT STOP!!!" the tapir screamed.

Suddenly, Tori found themselves transformed into Shut-Eye again. This was bad. ...VERY bad. In a room full of heroes who didn't know him yet, this was about the worst possible time he could change.

"No! Now look what you've done!" Shut-Eye thought before turning to everyone to request mercy. "Okay, okay, I know it looks bad right now. Boy turns into big hideous monster, he he he. No offense tapir. But I didn't change on my will, and I didn't change to attack anyone. It's something that just happened. I'm still a goodguy, don't attack me!"

The noise stopped as Demicila's gauntlets died down. She stopped to rub the joint that had been attacked and winced. She turned to the person whose table got wrecked by the flying person. "I, uh, sorta used sound to attempt to stun the person who punched... who ever that is. Don't worry, no one here should experience any hearing loss or anything. Probably." She said in her best 'rest assured , citizen' voice.
Her glanced turned to the... thing that just transformed in the room. "And, seriously, subtly game. Work on it. It's also REALLY naive to assume that everyone's a hero. No offense. I am, though. You get points for that or something, I don't know."

Araya jumped across the rooftop, wincing at the impact. Even though the cuts were already healing, some of them were deep enough to still sting. In the side alley below, an old, black abandoned van waited. This was the drop off point for any new gear Connors developed for her. If anyone besides her or the scientist touched it, they'd get pumped full of twenty thousand volts.

She jumped down to the car below, and let out a small cry.
Damn, that still hurts a ton... She thought, slowly taking the time to get up. She placed her hand on the hidden scanner embedded in the trunk, and a green light glowed in the brake lights. As she opened the van, she noticed her new gear; an upgraded staff, fresh and unbroken. There was a sticky note stuck to it.

Try not to **** this one up.
-C

She smiled at the sentiment as she collapsed the staff and attached it to her belt. The new staff could apparently deliver a taser strength shock from the tips, but each end only had three uses, so she had to use that ability sparingly.

With her new equipment in tow, she hopped up the side of a brick building and headed back towards the coffee shop. If any one was still there, she was certain she could take them, but she wasn't looking for a fight. She needed to find out where that person in black was heading before anyone could get hurt.

Taylor noticed that as soon as the girl had fled, a boy had transformed into a monster. However they had known about this other rookie hero and their power to transform into a beast. Not a lot of people did, but because other superheroes had similar powers they just assumed this boy transformed to help out the brawl but was too late. So the people didn't mind at all.

While some other people did come over to Taylor and asked if they were alright, Taylor responded that they were sore so it was about time to go home. So they made their way home with their briefcase in hand, other hand stuffed into their hoodie pocket, and the hood over their head. The sun had started to slowly descend, bringing about cooler weather. Taylor took out their phone and checked the time:

4:49 PM.

"Today was just full of excitement," they said to themselves in disgust, putting away their phone.

It was an absolute DUMB mistake to don their Modify costume and try to diffuse the bombs. It was a good thing they were able to disable most of them around town, but because of Taylor's attempts to hide everything as part of the costume people assumed that Modify was a villain instead of a hero. Not even a vigilante! They didn't blame the public either: it made sense to think that and perhaps Taylor would have thought that themselves.
Taylor reached the near border of Downtown Rowland when they got to their apartment building. It wasn't the nice, fancy apartments in the heart of the city, nor was it a run-down dirty one in Downtown. It was pretty standard, which was what Taylor liked and could afford. When they walked into the lobby the clock had read 5:01, and the desk manager was sleeping on duty like always. Taylor took the elevator and arrived at the 3rd floor, the one before the top floor, and walked to room 367.

Taking out a key, Taylor fumbled a bit with the lock and walked inside once unlocked, revealing a normal apartment. There was a somewhat dirty kitchen with dishes still in the sink, and living room filled with a sewing machine, wigs, TV, couch, etc., a bath, bedroom with a queen bed and a desktop computer, bathroom, and a big window that had a small view of Market Square.

Araya had no leads. At all. She couldn't remember if there was any blood, any hair, ANYTHING at the crime scene. She probably couldn't even check, seeing as there were probably still people there, or worse, police investigating.

She touched the white bluetooth in her ear. It connected to the private line she had set up to Dr. Connors.
Gotta love those government secured phone lines... She thought as the phone rang into her ear.

"Hey Araya. I assume you got the staff?" He said, his voice crackling a bit over the line.

"Yeah, I did. Thanks!"

"Don't mention it. You want something, don't you? Is that why you're being nice to me?"

"Whaaaaaaaaat? Nooooooo! Why would you ever think THAT?" Araya said, her voice brimming with sarcasm. "I need you to run some matches for me."

"Fine. Who do you need to beat up now?"

"Look up a registry for people with apartments and run those names in a list of known government aliases."

"Government aliases!? Like spies and ****!?"

"Yep, those ones." She said with mock enthusiasm. She knew this would be more than a little illegal, but she supposed it would be okay to bend the law so others can't break it.

"Jesus, why!?"

"That person in the coffee shop didn't have high end clothes, but didn't look poor enough to be homeless. Plus, with that whole face change thing could mean they're a spy. If I know anything about spy movies, they usually get apartments when in deep cover."

"**** it. I'll start now. But I'm not doing anything this illegal ever again!"

"Love yooou!" Araya said hanging up. There were a hell of a lot of people in this city, it could take hours. For the time being, she decided to go on a patrol before it got too dark. Maybe she'll have a chance to find that weirdo before it got too late.

Ray had walked down the street quiet a bit, he was on his way back to his apartment. Eh, thought today would've been less boring... He had wanted to get in a fight but the mood had passed and he was now tired and in want of his comfy bed. He could see his apartment in the distance. Ray let out a yawn and threw his hood up. He shoved his hands in his pockets as it was getting chilly and he walked towards the door of his apartment complex.

//Short cuz I'm tired and I have literally nothing to write about atm//

OOC: I CAN DO ZAT I CAN DO ZAT

God, he will NOT give up on that purse, will he? Araya thought, as she chased the robber down the street. Just a few blacks back, the mugger had pushed over a poor old woman and stolen her purse, and she was sure lucky Araya was making her rounds. This guy was clearly good at purse snatching though, seeing as most muggers would cower in fear of a superhero on their tail.

But, unfortunately, Araya didn't see quite where she was going, and bumped into a man walking into her apartment complex. She recognized him, it was her neighbor, Ray, who usually seemed to be out. He didn't know of her identity though, she she had to keep going.

"Watch where you're going next time!" She yelled as she stepped up her pace to match the robber's.

Shut-Eye watched in horror at all the people in the coffee shop. ...Acting like they didn't even care there was a large Baku in the shop.

"I... I don't get it," Shut-Eye said. "I thought people would still be afraid of me before they gotten to know me. Is this really that usual?"

Suddenly, a smile lit up on Shut-Eye's face. "Oh, he he, of course it is. I knew that. I was just making sure just in case."

"Stop, you're embarassing yourself," the Tapir reminded.

Tori still kind of wanted to help Aspen, so he transformed out of Shut-Eye and went to talk to her. "So... I guess now you know what we are," Tori said. "We are Shut-Eye, and we're also an upcoming hero. I... already mentioned the fact my tapir familiar can read minds, didn't I? That's how I knew you were a hero. ...Sorry."

After a few more moments, Araya had gained enough momentum to tackle the purse snatcher, and go return the purse to the old woman.
As the sun began to set, she climbed back to the top of her apartment complex and sat on the ledge. Today hadn't really been a good day. Not by a long shot.

Two people already knew her secret identity, she broke one of her dwindling number of staffs, and she cause headlines because of that face changing person from the coffee shop. None of that could classify as a good day. At all. As she sat on the roof, she looked across the street to the destroyed coffee shop. She doubted anyone could see her from the top of her apartment building, but it would be just her luck if someone saw her.

No one said the path of a hero was an easy one.

She sat back up and took a minute to breath in the air before going back to running across the rooftops. For now, until Dr. Connors called back, all she could do was wait.

Night was drawing closer over the city of Rowland, and at this time most of the villains start their prowl. Murders, robbers, and super villians start to scout, plan, and engage in heists. Currently there is a gang fight over at Downtown Rowland, over in Uptown there is a house that is currently under attack by a small gang of robbers. In Market Square there is a high speed chase and an insurance building is on fire by a mysterious arson.

All of these events are broadcasted over the news and gossiped among the towns folk. It seems news reaches fast when it comes to Rowland!

~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~

Taylor turned on the TV, throwing their breifcase on the near by 90's brown-leathered couch. Their legs were sore from running, but they wouldn't mind doing some hero duties before going to bed. There they saw the news cast of all the different events happening right now.

Araya leaped down to the streets below after hearing the news report about tonight's crime wave. The gangs would probably take each other out anyways, leaving the streets a little safer from the gang violence, as terrible as it sounded. Plus, as much as she hated them, the city's law enforcement could probably handle the chase and the fire. She reckoned the firefighters would do a good job putting that fire out, they probably weren't that corrupt. Firefighters were never corrupt.

The most logical thing to do was go to the home invasion.
With that, she began to run down the sidewalk, and into Uptown.

---------

When she got to the address listed in the Heroism Reports, it seemed as though she was the first one on the scene. The house was an okay size, nothing huge, but nothing to really write home about either. Araya extended her staff and snuck around the perimeter. From what she could see through the windows, there were 2 guards with assault rifles pointed at the door. Two others were pointing pistols at a family; one that consisted of a an African-American male in his mid thirties wearing casual business attire, a Caucasian woman also in her mid thirties in a floral dress, and their little girl, who was clutching a stuffed rabbit, completely terrified.
The last robber was using what looked like a thermal drill to crack open a huge safe in the bedroom. He had a very strange weapon on him, shining silver and emitting a strange green light.

Araya thought for a moment. What would be the best entrance?
She snuck around back and noticed a small window into the bathroom. She slid it open and crawled inside, landing near the tub.

Taylor decided that the house invasion over in Uptown would be the better choice. It was happening now, and who knows how powerful the family was. So Taylor decided that since getting there in their Modify costume would be practically a suicide pact, they would dress up as a busniess man on his way home from a meeting.

Modify placed on a light blue busniess suit, a black tie, a brown combed wig and a bushy beard that isn't too long. They gave themself a he/him pronoun under the name of Bob Busyton. They weren't the best with names.

He left the apartment building and called a taxi. So far so good. When a taxi finally arrived there were no questions as to why Bob Busyton was at an apartment near Downtown, nor why his last name was Busyton. Modify liked to wonder why people were so stupid sometimes. When Modify arrived at a house near the address, they thanked and paid the driver, and waited till he drove away to quickly change into Modify. Now they blended into the shadows, and noticed an open window by the side of the broken-in house.

Perfect. They climbed in, but were stunned to see someone they didn't expect to see there: the girl at the coffee shop in costume.

Araya slowly opened the door, oblivious to the person in black behind her. As she moved through the house, she got to the living room, out of sight of the guards at the front. While the heads of the two hostage takers were turned, she snuck up behind one of them and struck her staff into his neck, and activating the taser bit. He screamed in pain, and fell to the floor in a crumpled heap.

Araya would have been proud of herself if he hadn't screamed. Now, the ones by the door sounded like they were closing in, and the other hostage taker stood there in shock. Araya turned around, and vaulted off the wall and into a kick, one that landed into the hostage taker's shoulder with a loud snap. He cried out in agony, but not for long, as Araya's staff knocked into the side of his head, knocking him out cold.

By now the door guards were in the living room, rifles pointed at Araya and the family.

****ing ****... She thought.

Modify felt a slight relief when the girl from earlier didn't notice them. They were tempted to leave, however they had the question about wether or not this girl really was some kind of villain or will fail at saving the family. It would be smart to stay and help in some way.

Modify dropped down and silently followed the girl, wacthing as they took out two guards but in the heat of the action, one guard screamed which alarmed the others of her presence. As the other men surrounded both the girl and the family, Modify reached for a pistol with a silencer on and shot one man with a rifle on the hand and the other in the leg

The man with the shot hand dropped his rifle while the other man grunted and fell in pain. Suddenly the man who had dropped the rifle reached for his knife, seeing Modify and trying to chase. But Modify shot again in the man's shoulder, crippling him to the ground. "Are you all alright?" Modify asked in a whisper, making sure not to alert the last man to the commotion.

The family nodded, clutching each other not sure what to think of what just happened.

//reserved for later tonight when I'm not lazy.

But I don't have acting anymore so I'm free all the time now so yay.//

OOC: Ayyyy Lunarz same! I'll RP with you later too.

Araya couldn't believe it. As she sat there, preparing for her demise, the person in black just saved her!? They were planting bombs all around the city earlier, and now they're saving lives in a home invasion? Why were they doing this? She didn't even know what gender they were, let alone their intentions. She did see a faint resemblance to someone very famous, however...

"Carmen Sandiego!" Araya said, slowly getting up. "Where in the world were you?"
Then it hit her. There was still one robber in the bedroom.

"I saw you with the bombs earlier, so I don't know what to think of you, but right now, lives are still on the line. In a room over, there's a guy trying to crack a safe, but he has a weird gun. I don't know what it does, or why you're even here, but we have to stop them. You in?" She asked.

Araya knew there wasn't much reason to trust this weirdo, but she had to appeal to any sort of pathos they had.

Modify realxed their shoulders a bit when the girl didn't recognize them: only as the supposed train bomber. "I'm here to help, and I'll do what ever it takes," they replied to the girl's proposal.

"Do you know what the gun does? Perhaps we can find a way to get to stop working if it doesn't have normal bullets."

This person is here to help? What the hell!?
"I'm gonna go out on a limb and guess you have some ulterior motives, but that's okay! The enemy of your enemy is your friend, even if they are a psycho bomber, and even if the guy who said that got betrayed and killed..." She said, pondering the next move. She only had her staff, EMP, some flashbangs, and a few smoke pellets on her.

"I have an EMP, but that would disable all the electronics in this house. I don't think this family wants that. Maybe use a flashbang and go in there while he's stunned?"

Modify just decided to ignore....all of that. But the gear that this girl was interesting and handy, but not in this situation.

"You would be right about the EMP but the flashbang...while it would take away his hearing and seeing which is a good time to move in, this man brought that strange gun for a reason. He might be prepared should that happen, but if not he will most likely shoot blindly. That might hurt someone or something,"

They felt at lost, and looked over at the room where the other robber was. The door was slightly ajar, and the hallway was empty except for another door at the end and a painting. There was nothing that could give them a vantage point, and the only option left was..

"If we can't bring us near him, we have to bring him to us," Modify began to take the gun out of their pocket, took the silencer off, and aimed it at the floor.

"Alright Dad, lead the family out of the house through the back. Call the police...this might not end up well," Modify ordered.

The father nodded, helping his family up and quickly escaping the house. Modify shot the floor three times, and the robber immediatly came out.

"Are you insane!? 'Call the police, dad! Let's both get arrested for being wanted fugitives!'" Araya said, mocking the stranger's voice.

As the man came out of the room, Araya saw he had some pretty heavy armor, almost like riot gear. There were a few points where he was uncovered, however. His inner elbows were exposed, as was the back of his neck. As he rose the strange pistol, Araya quickly turned her staff into two smaller sticks, and jumped to the side, avoiding his first shot. She grabbed his arm, and bent it back at the elbow, nearly breaking it if it wasn't for his sturdy elbow pads. He let out a groan and fired again, missing Araya by inches. She wrapped around him, and flipped around to his back, digging one of the sticks into his hulking neck, pumping his body with an electric shock. He let out a scream and backed up into the wall, throwing Araya through the window.

She landed outside, in a bunch of rocks. She didn't break anything, but **** if that didn't hurt. She hoped the person in black could handle the man, but it wouldn't be too bad for the city if they couldn't.

Araya watched as the family escaped the house, before running into the night. There were other crimes to stop and she didn't really want to get caught by the cops tonight.

As soon as the girl made the couple blows, it was now Modify's turn to make the final ones. They quickly ran to the robber while they were stunned from the shock of the blows made, and Modify made a couple of punches under the man's lower jaw.

Then they grabbed the almost fainted man and threw him to the ground with ease, bringing his arm to the lower of their back to help dislocate it. Once Modify felt the man go limp into sleep, they quickly left the scene without making sure the girl was okay. Soon after, the police arrived to take away the robbers.

//I decided not to read the posts cuz I doubt they involve me and I don't want to cuz I'm lazy so I'm just gonna type. eh.//

Ray stood his ground as the girl plowed into him. 'Watch where you're going!' She said, made sense since she was the one who ran into him. "Why can't my life be more like Flash or something...Why can't I have a cool base with sidekicks helping me out and dozens of supervillains plaguing the city each day that I will face off against once or twice and lose to but then I discover something about myself or there's a deus ex machina that helps me save the day?" He took a breath after he had finished talking. Ray didn't care about the small time robberies and such, he wanted something big, he knew if he went to save someone another hero would get there faster, that's always how it was, but if he had an arch-nemesis, if he had rivals and villains who wanted to kill him, his life would've been so much better, as ironic as that was. Ray took a sigh and walked up to the front door. "Still nothing exciting..."

Ray made his way inside his apartment, it was fairly new, not too run down, pretty good living conditions, but some of the tenants could've been nicer. Slowly Ray approached the mailboxes, he took out a key from his hoodie pocket and opened it up to reveal, ta-daa, no mail. He huffed and closed the box. Ray seemed to be an incredibly peppy and happy guy but in reality he was fairly miserable, he had no friends, no significant other, his job sucked, and he never really got to use his powers due to the lack of villains and using Kangaroo legs on measly robbers, wasn't exactly needed nor fun.

Ray walked up four flights of stairs to his floor, he made this walk everyday as he was terrified of getting in an elevator, superheroes had fears aswell. Ray had decided to make his way to the small arcade room his complex had and waste a couple of minutes away on the pinball machine. He lost of course, quite fast. "If I only I were deaf, dumb, and blind...Eh." He shrugged it off and made his way towards his apartment door and then sat against his door in the hall. He sank to his knees and wrapped his arms around them.