Why is this place so busy? (Artemis)

Chicago, Illinois the birthplace of the Chicagodog, Chicago deep dish pizza, windy weather, and a whole bunch of other random crap. Other crap including super heroes, super villains, and as of right now it was the pit stop of one Australian borne Meta Human. This sixteen, nearly seventeen, year old super human went by the name of Darren Cross when running around like a ‘normal’ person, and while under the hood, as he currently was, he called himself the Swordsmaster. A name he gave himself because he at one point had believed himself to be the world’s best swords man. Yet, after meeting an individual by the name of Jack Maroon he was quickly shown otherwise. Now though with all the improvements made to his techniques and styles he was sure the next time the two met Jack Maroon would be stripped of the title and his name would ring true once more.

Of course, this wasn’t the only thing on the mind of the ADHD child and while running across rooftops in his hooded attire his mind was quickly brought back a couple of weeks ago to the alien girl he met in the Kansas Cornfields. This brought a blush to the teen’s face if only because every time he thought of her he thought of wanting to kiss her again, which for him was really strange. Yet she was the one running though his mind once more and this of course lead to other object, or person, during that day. John Capore, also known as Forcewave, and Darren’s best friend who he hadn’t seen sense that fateful day, which honestly was probably Darren’s fault. After the odd kiss with Tiana everything had kind of gone downhill for him and he bolted out of there. Needless to say, Darren wasn’t good with girls; specially alien ones.

Now he was running through Chicago with everything on his mind and nothing too important catching his attention, other than the random distractions now and then such as butterflies and squirrels or him trying to catch birds. Those were always fun things to do, and kept his mind clear from things he’d rather not think of when it was a quiet day. A day like today when there seemed to be no criminal act being committed, or at least no criminal act being committed that Darren could see. Which was good enough for him, heroes needed a break off now and then. Even the greatest hero to ever live…. Which you know he totally was. A smile plastered onto his face and he laughed at his own joke before continuing on with his free running.

Old Chicago was so weird, it was just so lacking. Avacyn could live with out the high tech cars, gadgets and phones but most of the shops she would usually go to and where regulars at either didn't exist yet or just opened. She couldn't just walk in like usual and they would be all buddy buddy. So Avie took to the streets and just wondered around the city. Everything just seemed newer so it was a strange. Avie's eye's wander up and her eyes caught the glimse of a man. This peaked her interest. She took to the sky, it's not like there were many people there anyway. From the sky she was able to get a good look at the man and a grim appeared on her face. She flew as fast as she could to the man.

"Uncle Darren!" said Avie Happily and rather loudly as she crashed into him, hugging him. And then they crashed into a wall. Avie fell backwards onto the roof top. "Who puts a slightly higher roof right next to a lower roof with no gap in them, how are you suppose to react to that." said Avie sadly, her eyes tearing up as she rubbed her nose..

‘Uncle Darren’ "Whaaaaa? As far as Darren was concerned he was an orphan and thus didn’t have any family let alone a niece who could recognize him while he was in costume. This was the thought that was running through his head before he of course had his head rammed into a wall. It wouldn’t have necessarily hurt usually, and it truly didn’t hurt too much, but he had been running around his top speed, so far, of around a hundred and ten miles an hour and so too apparently had the female, it was obviously a female that rammed into him. Moving up from his laying position on the ground into that of a kneeling one he groaned turning away from the building and faced the girl sitting, and crying before him. Oh, no, not crying Darren could not deal with crying; especially from someone who called him Uncle Darren even though she seemed older than he was.

“Oh god… please don’t cry, crying doesn’t help anything like ever…trust me, crying is totally a bad thing.” He said holding out his hand to help her up. “I’m Swordsmaster by the way… but you apparently already know my name which totally isn’t cool sense I don’t know yours even though you called me Uncle and stuff…yo.” He said with a grin on his face, laughing sheepishly before putting on a stern face when she was up. “But seriously,” here his face got sterner at this point which although was not odd for her as this was the Darren she knew, even if he was younger, it was strange for him. “Who are you and why in the world did you call me Uncle, when I mean you’re older than me.” ‘Way to be blunt with it Darren…Real smooth’ He thought to himself with chuckle.

"Don't you remember it me Avacyn, John and-" Avacyn cut herself off before she could finish. Her eyes watered more and then became full out crying. "DAMN IT! Not again, I screwed up and now Mom and Dad won't get married and they wouldn't have me and I won't be able to exisit to come back and..." Avie cut off, her face began blank. Why was she sent back? So some reason she couldn't remember. She sat cross legged and became deep in thought. Why she sent back... after about 5 minutes of just thinking it clicked. "Oh yeah... and if I don't exist to come back I can't fix the hole in space in time but I'm stuck here so I can't go and fix it." said Avie, picking up crying again right where she left off.

Okay, this chick was definitely off her rocker; even more so than Darren ever was. “John and who? John and what? What in the world is your crazy talk about?” Darren asked with a questioning look struck on his face. Then of course came the crying, more and more crying. It was as if this girl just did not know how to stop crying, which in all honesty was not cool. ‘Did she seriously think crying was going to help her remember her memories or something? I mean come on.’ He groaned scratching his head underneath his hood before tapping his foot at a very fast pace. Staying in one place for too long was not something Darren was good at, which was why by around the third minute of her just sitting there staring off into space he was snapping his fingers in her face. “Earth to weirdo, hey lady person, come out come out wherever you’re from.”

About two minutes later, when Darren was anticipating just taking off and leaving as this was no fun anymore, she decided to wake up. “Great welcome back, fix a whole in space and what now? Space and time seem perfectly fine, so what exactly would you be coming back from and heeeey you said mom and dad, who they be? Sorry lots of questions, I know, but your different and woa woa woaaaa! Come on no more crying!” He ‘spazzed’ out the questions and remarks all in a matter of seconds before kneeling down and looking her in the eyes, hood still on of course. Always gota keep the secret identity secret even if the person knows who you are…others might be watching. At least that’s what tyuki and john both had told him at one point.

"What does it even matter I already screwed everything up." said Avie, wiping the tears her eyes. "I'm John and Tyuki's daughter. I was suppose be be sent back 25 minutes to stop a hole in space and time from opening but I got sent back 25 years, I'm not even born yet and parents aren't even married. I screwed up, they know who I am and I'm just waitng for the point that I just disappear from never being born." Avie began to cry again, what did it matter, she kept screwing up.


(Bad post is bad but I have to go to work)

"Mess everything up? Come on now lady, if you really do know me than you know messing everything up is a job reserved for me and only me. I mean jeez it is practically my middle name; Darren Mess-Everythig-Up Cross." He said with a laugh which expected to be a long winded laugh only to be cut short by what she said next. John and Tyuki's kid? "Whaaaaaat? John and Tyuki? There is no way they aren't even dating... Wait are they? But there's no way I mean... You are like five or six years older tha-oh." He stopped as she explained herself as to how it was possible she was here in the first place. Time travel was apparently possible twenty five years in the future, which you know is really cool and all, but apparently not for her. "Well...come on it can't be all that bad; you are still here you know. Maybe you can pull the whole back to the future thing and make them get married or maybe seeing you is the whole reason they get married any way. Which by the way talking about two of my best friends getting married is awwwwkward..." His face though of course lit up like a tree during Christmas at this point, and a devilish grin made its way onto his face. "What happens to me in the future by the way? You can tell me one liiiiitttle thing right? Pleeeease for Uncle Darren? Heh I'm an Uncle."

"I'm not born for another 3 years, but you can't tell them that though." said Avie. "I wasn't exactly planned." Avie sniffed a bit more but was doing her best on holding down tears. Darren tried to comfort her but wasn't really doing very well. But as soon as he tried to get her to tell him about his future she suddenly got very serious. "What! Hell no, are you crazy. It's bad enough talking about others but telling someone directly about themselves could totally screw you up. You could be come homeless with a 20 foot beard or something!"

“Not born for another three years, not exactly planed? Well… I guess John would be about twenty then…but not planned.” Darren takes a second to laugh here, “that really doesn’t sound like John…and oh…oh eww gross, could we stop talking about them and…yea thanks…” shaking his face to mentally get rid of images he didn’t need Darren he heard her finally talk about his future. Although it wasn’t exactly the talk he was expecting to get. Darren was hoping to hear how he had become the world’s greatest super hero or some sort of crap like that, but of course that wasn’t exactly what he got, go figure. Nope, she just yelled at him about how if she told him his future it could totally mess him up and he would end up homeless with a twenty foot beard, which to be honest didn’t sound so different than how he lived now; minus the beard of course.

“So, what you’re saying is in the future I’m not homeless? Sweet! I’ve never had a real house before, besides the orphanage and Talon Head Quarters of course, I wonder what it feels like to get to sleep in your own bed every night…” Darren thought aloud with a silly grin on his face, in his mind he had won. Just by her telling him how he might end up if she told him how he would end up meant that he didn’t end up homeless and with a twenty foot beard, although he could have certainly been okay with a twenty food beard. It would have probably gotten itchy though and because of that even if he ever got a beard of any sorts he would from now on shave it. Therefore her telling him how he might have ended up had she told him how he ended up, actually made him not want to ever have a beard and thus now he will never end up with a twenty foot beard let alone a two inch one. “But enough about me let’s hear about you. Got any crazy cool powers like your mom and dad? Because let me tell you your ‘old’ man’s lightning shiz hurts.”

"I'm not saying you aren't homeless! It's just an example." said Avie, although her lie wasn't exactly convincing. Her face was flustered "I-I." However Avie didn't finish the thought but instead just let out an agitated groan. "Now I understand why mom and dad said you could be frustrating." She then let out a defeated sigh.

Avacyn simply poked Darren, sending a shock of electricity through Darren's body. It wasn't full power, she didn't want to really hurt him but it should still hurt like hell. "And unless you are blind I inherited my mother's wings." Sighed Avacyn. "Don't get used to the lightning thing, even looking back to my childhood you seemed like a guy who would be into weird stuff like that." That last bit was a joke, but the way Avie said it, it wouldn't sound like on. Call it revenge, and if for some reason it turned out to be true... well just eww.

“Did anyone ever tell you you’re a terrible liar? I mean jeez, Johnny Boy is a better liar than you; and that ain’t saying too much.” Darren replied with a chuckle as he thought of all the times John tried to lie about things, which honestly wasn’t that many times but the times he did lie they weren’t that great of ones. Of course he wasn’t too great at lying himself, but at least he was better at it than anyone in the Capore family it seemed. Guess not being good at lying was something hereditary in that family, although he’d have to meet John’s parents first to find out if it really was that hereditary. Laughing at the idea of him meeting John’s parents Darren shook his head realizing Avie had said something else only to feel himself get shocked.

After standing there, well shocked, for a couple of seconds a grin ran across his face. Just now noticing the wings of course, and well what could he say he had some serious case of ADHD. “Wowza…that was...he come on do it ag-oh. That is most totally a disappointment even John would have shocked me a couple more times, well now that I think about it he woulda done it just to get me to shut up or something. Of course, he’s also not the talkative sort which you are meaning you totally got that aspect from Tyuki, and my god do you realize how weird it is talking about you being their kid when last I saw they weren’t even a couple…well actually now that I think about it last I saw was at Tyuki’s concert and I passed out before the end of that one.”

Darren said all blabbing on and on, until he of course realized he was blabbing and stopped scratching his head. “I was blabbing wasn’t I? Oh well…so, how do you like it here?” Que boyish grin, he thought to himself as he ran a hand through his hair, knocking his hood off in the process. Only for him to scramble to put it back on of course, because 'secret identities' are important and stuff, or at least Force and Tyukie tell him that.

Artemis just simply shocked Darren again, with a bit more force behind it this time. "Yes you were blabbing... and I don't really know I just got here. Well it's going to be an adjustment considering the stuff i am used to will be non-existent. But I should manage, the hardest part is that meta's aren't welcomed yet." Avie looked out over the city, then a thought popped in her head. "Oh how's Aunt Ashlynn doing?" asked Avie, not realizing that Darren might not of met her yet. But it was around the time the two did meet if she remember what aunt Ash told her. Although her remaining memories of her aunt were... not the best. She remembered her aunt not getting along with a lot of people and even then being a bit abrasive. She never really talked much either, usually she just avoided people.

“Ouch!” Okay so that ‘little’ shock actually kind of hurt, at least it hurt a bit more than the first shock she gave him. But of course it was still nothing like Forcie boy loved to give him, those shocks usually ended up with Darren’s hair getting all staticy and him falling over or feeling woozy. “Just arrived you say? I assume you mean here in the Windy City,  but that of course could also mean here as in this time line being that you are from the future and all that lovey dovey bull shiz. Speaking of which, what do you mean by ‘meta’s aren’t welcome yet’? Are you saying in some not so distant, yet still a ways a way future, that Superhumans are actually welcome and accepted in the world again? Wicked…at least that means Forcie and his group of whatchacallem’s that he has been trying to get me to join finally worked out their goals and stuff.”

Here the blabbering nut job that is Darren Cross finally took a chance to breathe allowing Avie a chance to get in any words or sentences that she could. Just from the few minutes she had been around Darren it would have been quite obvious to tell the Darren Cross she knew and called uncle was nothing like the teenager that stood before her. If only because in the current timeline the man he becomes had yet to come about just yet, reality to him was still all just a game. “I for one do not know an Ashlynn therefore I could not tell you how this Aunt of yours is doing.” Well that was of course until he finally caught onto her mentioning something else….something that made Darren stop and think.

“Wait…did you say Aunt? Why would you say…” And Bingo, the light in his brain flicked on as he finally caught on. “You  Called me Uncle Darren….Aunt Ashllynnn or whatever her name is would imply that in your timeline I am either married or have a girlfriend!” Grinning he thrust his sword into the air, “Huzzah!” The Boy blunder shouted with a grin, not only because he has a girlfriend, pretty soon it sounds like, but also because she just revealed more of his future.