A Night To Remember

Siren poured herself a cup of root beer as she listened to Alan's explanation. It was evident even to her that she wasn't getting the whole story. At the same time though, she also knew better than to press the issue, "I understand. If you ever change your mind though, my offer's on the table," She took the pen and wrote on a napkin a type of address before handing it over, "Here. I don't normally do this but for you two I'll make an exception. Here's an  email you can reach me at. Memorize it then burn it."

She poured up a couple more drinks and passed them out before pondering over how to answer their question, "I have family, yes, but I don't really see them too often since I travel so much. That said, like you two I have a Mom whom I love more than anything in this world and would want to protect in any way I could. She's largely the reason I am the person I am today, and she has a kind of inner strength that few people have..."

The songstress downed some of her root beer and swirled the rest that was in the glass, "As for my father? Well, pardon my language but he's a dead beat and a coward who walked out on me and my Mom when I was barely out of Kindergarten. Not a single birthday card or Christmas gift, not even a phone call. I don't know what kind of person he was...but to walk out on your loving family...well, that don't make him a very good one in my eyes..."

When it dawned on her what she was saying, she facepalmed, "Darn it. Sorry, you two. Sometimes, when I go off on my tangents I don't know when to stop."

Adam took the napkin, hand shaking slightly...did this mean?

"Ok, I got you," he started, voice quavering slightly. "So does...actually, nevermind."

She was just a nice woman trying to help out siblings who missed their mother.

As Siren told her tale of her past, Adam did his best to focus on her words and not how she looked. His eyes darted between numerous locations before it settled on her root beer. He should've gotten something to eat or drink while they were at the buffet. Was it too late? Should he get up and excuse himself? But what if she left once he left the table? Why hadn't she left already, actually? Did she want something from him?

You're a fuckin idiot. I hope you know that.

Adam shook his head. That was a dangerous train of thought, and if the voice was interjecting, it was definitely time to focus on something else. Schizophrenia sucks.

"You're fine!" Ariana said. "We asked, we wanted to hear what you had to say. I'm sorry about your father. I never met my father. I'm not even sure if me and Adam have the same father. Our mother refuses to talk about him at all."

"Yeah, I remember getting like vague glimpses of a man in my childhood," Adam said, hand waving around. "It's so weird...I'm 10 years older than Ariana, but I can't remember much of anything about her father...or the guy that might be her father."

"I guess that puts all three of us in the same boat concerning our dads, huh?" Siren downed the rest of her drink before snapping her fingers, "Oh right! Sorry, I should've asked if you guys wanted something to eat. There's plenty of grub over there on the table, so help your-"

However, she didn't even get a chance to finish before a loud scream pierced the evening air. Whirling around in her seat, she stared at what burst forth from the fountains around the area. Large, scaly six-foot tall gators with mostly humanoid bodies and colored various shades of green and brown. Their heads were shaped like gators and they had blood red eyes with sharp claws in place of where their fingers should had been. Rows of spikes ran down their backs and along their tails too.

One of them opened their mouth and spewed a blazing hot jet of flame into the night sky, causing many party folk to start booking it. Siren cursed to herself as she got out of her seat while one of them charged towards her, hoping to bite her in two. She raised her hands and stomped it and its chompers right in its tracks.

As she held back the creature, she called over her shoulder, "You two need to get out of here now! Leave with the others and get help! NOW!"

A piercing scream erupted somewhere behind Adam. Ice flooded his stomach as he turned to locate the source of this woman's distress and found the throngs of people set upon by humanoid alligators. Stuff like this only seemed to happen to him in the few weeks that he had decided to become a reluctant hero. He gripped Ariana's arm instantly.

Throngs of these gators swarmed through the frantic crowd, spouting fire and snapping their powerful jaws. Adam's mouth was agape at the carnage before him, any thoughts he had were seemingly drowned out by the cries of the injured and the war shouts of these humanoid crocodiles. He had to help these people now.

He closed his eyes and felt his connection with every bit of technology here: the lights, people's cellphones, the speaker system...that would work! He accessed the speaker system and blasted it, filling the area with jazz singing with the hopes that some of the alligators will be distracted by the sudden loud voice and allow more people to escape. For good measure, he connected with 3 of the lights that were pointed in the direction of the gators and switched them on, hoping to blind them.

Adam turned to Siren to check on her condition only to see her grappling with one of the gators. Up close, he could see now it was taller than he was and built on a foundation of rippling muscle. She must be incredibly strong to hold back a massive gator like that, another superhuman. Adam wanted to gape at her power but did not have time, he had to ensure that his sister was safe. A quick glance at her revealed that she was far more composed than any other 14-year-old would be, simply scanning the crowd with a mixture of concern and concentration. Even now she was trying to figure out how to help.

Siren yelled at them to leave and get help, but little did she know that he was the help.

"Stay close to me!" he said to Ariana and then reached out for his armor with his mind. It was an incredibly complicated work of technology, so controlling it with his technopathy was difficult, but doable for a short amount of time. He connected with the armor, activated it, spread its 13 foot wings, and sent it flying towards the group of them at breakneck speeds.

The Titanium armor slammed into the alligator that Siren was holding back before coming to a standing halt in front of Adam and springing open. Adam sprang into his armor which closed around him. Now he was ready to kick some ass.

Adam's tactics seemed to do the trick. The loud noises from the speakers caused several of the gators to look up in confusion for the source and a couple even put their hands to their ears to try and block out the sound. A few others found themselves temporarily blinded by the bright flashes of the lights. Siren didn't really have time to process all this properly since she was in the middle of trying to keep one of these gators from making her into its dinner.

However, help soon arrived from an unlikely source as suddenly a huge metallic blur flew by and crashed into the gator, sending it flying and causing the songstress to finally get a moment to breathe. She looked up in time to see the young man she had been talking to climb into what looked like a futuristic suit of armor, "Thanks...looks like I owe you one..." Smiling in gratitude at him, she suddenly narrowed her eyes  and turned to face the mob of gators.

Twirling on the spot, her body and attire changed to something much more alien. Pale white skin and green hair cut in a bob cut with a flowing black dress and matching gloves with a crimson chest piece. She flexed her gloves as spikes formed on her knuckles and curved blades shot out from the back end of her feet, "There are still people trying to get out of here. Let's make sure they escape before we do anything else." With that, she used her psychic powers to lift up one of the speakers and crash it down on the head of one gator.

Adam gazed in awe as Siren underwent an incredible transformation. She had gone from a stunningly beautiful singer to a stunningly powerful alien warrior. He didn't even know what he felt at the moment. But he snapped out of his reverie for the benefit of Ariana; he had to protect her.

"Yeah, we gotta make sure everyone makes it out, my sister included," he said to Siren as a speaker levitated off of the ground and slammed into one of the crocodiles, pinning the flailing beast to the ground. He wondered what else this woman could do.

He spread his wings wide to shield Ariana from any stray flame attacks. The wings of his armor were made of heat resistant single-crystal titanium and were treated with tungsten as well; this potent combination of heat-resistant materials was the perfect foil to these gators' fire breath, but he still had to be careful. The rest of his armor was made of graphene to cut down on weight, making his body area much more vulnerable to heat and energy attacks.

"Hang on tight," he shouted at Ariana as he scooped her up in his arms.

"I know, I know," she snapped back. "But let me help!"

"How woman?!"

"I can dismantle your pulse bolts right now and turn it into something I can use."

He ignored her and activated his thrusters, taking off  straight up and out of the venue. The thing is...she was right and he knew it. But he couldn't have her risking her life. He descended several blocks away a couple seconds later.

"You get far away from here and call me when you get somewhere safe."

"Ok," she groaned.

"I mean it!" he pointed at her while he started walking away. "I can't fight without knowing that you're safe. You wanted me to be a superhero, but this is what it takes." With another few-second burn of his thrusters, he was back at the concert venue next to Siren.

"So what's the play? You want me to distract them while you get people to safety?"

Siren ducked to avoid a gator's claw swipe and delivered a nasty uppercut to its jaw before grabbing the dazed creature's head and slamming it face first into the concrete before spotting an elderly man about to have his own head bitten off and so she launched herself forward and kicked it in the side of the head while in mid-air, sending it flying. She turned to the elderly man, "Go!" With a nod, he booked it for the nearest exit.

Seeing that Alan had gotten his sister out of harm's way put the heroine's own worries at ease somewhat. At hearing his question, she didn't hesitate to answer, "Yeah, that's a good plan. To be honest, you look a bit more well-equipped for dealing with multiple foes at one time than I am. You keep them busy, I'll clear a path for the people to get out of here. Once that's done, we can really cut loose."

To prove her point, she turned to where several gators were coming towards her and let loose a sonic scream from her mouth, the blast sent them all flying off their feet and smashed a large hole through the concrete wall, "Everybody, out this way!" She started ushering people through the new exit.

"Roger that!"

If he was going to take out these gators while they were in the midst of a swarming crowd of people, he needed a better vantage point. Adam switched his thrusters to the lowest setting in order to hover several feet off of the ground. Giant humanoid gators were easy enough targets, but they moved much more swiftly than their size suggested; he really needed a targeting system. In fact, the armor was in need of numerous upgrades.

But for now he'd make do; he had enough experience firing his pulse bolts to do so accurately at this point. He picked out a gator; the bastard was making a beeline towards a solitary woman.

Not today.

With an incredible crack, a white burst of energy erupted from his wrist and slammed into the gator, sending it skidding limply across the floor. He took aim with his other fist at a second gator who was attempting to corral a family. The family's father ran erratically left and right, desperation on his face while the family cowered several feet behind him.

No worries.

With a second crack, the gator slammed into the wall, headfirst, leaving behind a massive crack as it slumped to the ground. The family escaped.

Just gotta keep playing guardian angel, keep these guys busy.

With Adam doing his part, Siren was free to continue escorting people out through her makeshift exit. As she did so, a couple of the gators broke away and made a beeline for another family. However, the heroine would have none of that and picked up several large pieces of debris using her telekinesis and hurled them at the gators, managing to knock out at least two and get the attention of the rest.

As they made their stampede towards her, Siren psychically lifted as much debris as she could into the air, gathering it all into a giant twister. Sweat streamed down her brow as she focused on keeping it suspended, "Wait for it...wait for it...NOW!" With that, she launched the cyclone towards them, battering the gators from all sides and leaving them in a bruised and battered heap. The heroine took a moment to gather herself, but when the family came over to check on her, she simply smiled a little and gave a dismissive wave, "Just go...don't worry about me..."

Hesitantly, they nodded and went on their way. However, the moment they were gone, one of the gators who was still conscious breathed a stream of fire in her direction. Acting on instinct, she used one of the tables as a makeshift shield only for it to burn to ashes and for its tail to come lunging forward and wrap around her wrist before slinging her up and down on the ground several times, leaving craters all over the place before launching her into a wall hard enough to leave an indent. The beast made a beeline for her as did several more.

Adam continued to provide covering fire for the escaping crowd. However, a series of crashes behind him stuck out from the general din of the chaos before him. He turned his head, searching for Siren among the river of people streaming out of the hole she made in the wall.

However, the search for her didn't last long. One of the alligators twisted suddenly and with that, was slung into the roof.

Shit! Gotta help.

Adam cut the thrusters and landed on his feet. He was going to need a bit more oomph to go hand-to-hand with these giant alligators. Adam glanced around quickly and then folded his wings around himself as he activated his Heavy mode. Bolts rotated and armor plates shifted, as the six-inch thick wings first encased the main body of the armor and then slid into place around it, forming a very bulky but angular new form that granted Adam incredible heat resistance and strength. He could bench press an elephant now.

Every time I gotta get used to how tmuch slower this shit moves.

But time was a luxury Adam didn't have at the moment. Siren was being charged by at least three alligators. Adam used a one second burst from his thruster to boost him in position in front of Siren as quickly as possible. And, with both hands outstretched at chest level, Adam halted the beast's charge, barely giving up an inch in the process. The alligator froze for a moment, confused before it opened its mouth and Adam's view was engulfed with a dancing rd flames.

But he was now almost completely fire resistant due to the composition of the armor now surrounding him. In addition to the heat resistant single crystal titanium, the tungsten finish acted as a heat shield and angular shape redirected much of the flames away from him. He reached up with one hand and gripped the creature's neck, cutting off the supply of air and, subsequently, the flames. He then lifted the creature and unleashed a powerful punch that sent it bouncing all the way to the opposite wall.

"Alright, who else wants it!"

The two approaching alligators paused as if they were trying to consider a new plan of action.

Siren grunted as she pulled herself free from the indent in the wall. Sure, she was built like a tank but that still didn't mean she couldn't feel pain or get injured. As she saw Alan come to her aid, she managed a small smile of gratitude, "T-Thanks. Looks like that's two I owe ya now," She looked over to the exit and it seemed like everyone had finally gotten out, "That's the last of them. Now, it's just us and the freakshows,"

Seeing a bunch of the gators heading for the exit as well, Siren waved her hand a ton of debris landed in their path sealing off the exit. She now stood with her back to Alan as the remaining gators surrounded them on all sides, "Ok...and by the way? We're getting out of this together, so don't go pulling any Leeroy Jenkins on me, got that?" With that bit of advice given, she let loose her sonic scream which knocked several off their feet before she leaped into the air and choke-slammed two of them into the ground before morphing her arm into a whip and using it to wrap around a gator's mouth, sealing it, "Sorry, but the same trick won't work twice."

Jets of black smoke escaped from its nostrils before its eyes rolled back in its head and it fell over,unconscious. She then grabbed the fallen one's ankle and using all her strength, swung the whole beast around so it slammed into one of his buddies.

Adam stood back to back with Siren, watching as the lively crowd of alligators surrounded the two of them, ready and eager to rip the two of them apart; that wasn't going to happen.

He chuckled at her reference. "Yes ma'am. I'm here listening to the plan."

With a collective war cry, the Alligators charged at the pair, intent on avenging their brethren. Adam raised his fists, located the two closest alligators and fired pulse bolts at into their chests, knocking them into their comrades. One approached him and swiped. Adam ducked it and followed with a vicious uppercut that rocketed it into the ceiling.

There was a flash of green to his right and he felt himself forced backwards off of his feet. He rolled with the blow and ended up on one knee as the gator that tail swiped him pressed the attack. Adam unraveled the electronic whip from his right hand and slung it forward, wrapping it around an alligator who howled in pain as the electricity locked it in place. Adam then raised his left hand and fired a pulse bolt at its head, knocking it out.

"Come on!"

It seemed that the pair's efforts were finally paying off as the gators rank were beginning to thin out, with those who remained choosing to keep their distance rather than charge at them. Breathing a little heavily, Siren's gaze drifted over those who remained, "Had enough? If your answer is yes then I suggest you grab your buddies and hightail it back to wherever you came from. Party wreckers like you aren't welcome here."

There was silence for several seconds, as if the pair's enemies were actually considering her offer. However, that didn't last as suddenly, the ground beneath them began to shake wildly, and then parts of the earth cracked and split open before a monstrous roar echoed everywhere with the force needed to actually shatter glass windows. The remaining gators backed off even more, before a large patch of the earth exploded upwards and something emerged from below.

This gator was huge. Easily twice the height of its brethren and wearing what looked like some sort of armor forged from bones. Its body was so muscular it would make even an Olympian athlete look feeble in comparison. A pair of jagged horns emerged from its forehead and its face was covered by a bone mask though one could still make out the fierce red glow in its eyes. It dragged out of the earth what looked like a very large bone that had been forged into a sword.

"I...guess you're the one in charge, huh?" Siren quizzed, now suddenly not liking their odds. The new gator simply raised its sword up and brought it down on her, forcing the hero to roll to the side. However, the force of its swing still cut a giant gouge in the earth.

Gators dropped left and right as they were felled by the combined efforts of the metal man and alien songstress. Adam took advantage of a lull in the onslaught to run diagnostics on his armor.

Alright, armor integrity is fine; no damage to anything...but only 43% power left, need to make sure there's enough left to get home. Not sure where I can charge this thing in freakin Canada.

However, the gators had actually fallen back, apparently as per Siren's request. They remained in a circle around the duo, but refused to advance, only snapping their jaws in the air and breathing fire, all in a celebratory manner.

"Wow...was it that easy?"

Suddenly, Adam felt as if the ground beneath his feet was sliding back and forth like it was under the control of some massive machine. He stumbled backwards just as an inhuman roar called from below them. A jagged crack in the concrete rapidly reached for either wall of the building and soon widened into a chasm. Before either of them could look inside, a massive green hand emerged; muscles visibly tightened as its owned lifted the rest of its bosy out of the chasm.

Another gator, this one at least double the size of its brethren and decked out in bone armor, roared at the pair while it brandished a behemoth bone sword. which was now reared back.

"Oh shit."

Adam pulsed his thruster, sending him to his left in order to avoid the sword. He raised his fists to fire off twi oulse bolts that glanced off of his armor.

"We're going to need a bigger attack!"

The new armored gator  snarled in annoyance at Adam's attacks. It rose its sword again and appeared to be aiming it in his direction. However, before it could do so,  it heard a voice, "Hey ugly! Over here!" It turned in time to see Siren zooming through the air and slammed both her fists into its armored face only for that to do jack squat  and to be plucked off and slammed into the earth hard enough to uproot the ground around her.

It rose up its foot and brought it down, only for Siren to push herself back up and stop its  stomp with her bare hands. She felt her feet sink several inches into the ground just from having to support its weight, teeth grinding together to the point one might wonder if they would break. However, Siren stayed strong  and  pulled one arm back, letting it morph into a large curved blade. With a mighty cry of defiance, she swung upwards and left a giant cut in the bottom of the beast's foot.

The gator roared in pain as it stumbled backwards. Siren pressed her advantage and launched a barrage of debris forward using her psychokinesis , causing it to stumble even moreso only to finally let out its own blood-curdling scream and release a giant fireball in Siren's general direction. She booked it though the explosion it generated was still enough to throw her a nice way's. She winced and looked up at Adam, "T-The armor...aim for the areas that aren't covered in it...and please use something that can deal actual pain..."

Shit shit shit. This is getting out of hand.

Adam used another burst from his thruster to avoid a double-fisted slam that crushed the concrete where he had been standing. Even with in his Heavy mode, a hit from this guy would be brutal. He backed up, sizing up his opponent with a number of rushed calculations. But he didn't have long enough to formulate a solution since the mega gator had now turned its attention to a weakened Siren.

Welp...looks like it's the tried and true method.

"Hey fuckface!"

The mega gator turned to locate the source of the shout, but Adam was already sprinting towards it as fast as his armor would allow. The mega gator was faster than anything that size should be and had already began the process of releasing an intense stream of fire at a charging Adam. He wasn't going to make it in time.

The mega gator unleashed a stream of fire, but Adam trusted his armor. The flames engulfed his figure, the force of the attack pushed back against him, but the armor allowed him to continue advancing. But even with the extreme heat resistance Heavy mode granted him, heat still managed to radiate inside of his suit. Sweat beaded on his forehead, he could only see between the waves of flames, but he wasn't stopping.

Once he got close enough to the mega gator, he set the thrusters behind him to the highest setting and a one second pulse sent him level to the creature's head, allowing him to unleash a vicious uppercut that staggered the beast. While he was still in the air, he aimed his wrists at the reeling behemoth. With twin cracks, pulse bolts hit its eyes, causing it to cry out in pain. Adam landed on his feet and looked up to examine his handiwork. The mega gator was shaking its head violently and unleashing a mangled roar of fury and pain.

But Adam wasn't done. With another pulse of his thrusters, he slammed into the back of the mega gator's leg, throwing it off balance. He hoped that Siren saw this and took the opportunity to finish the combination on the now off-balance beast.