Black Friday

"My name is Anna Kournikova, and I'm reporting live from the National Treasury Building, where we have just learned of a robbery-in-progress. If you are just joining us, according to our sources, starting at 3:45 this afternoon, a group of five masked individuals forced their way into the Federal Reserve using a large vehicle, which you can see here behind me..." The camera panned out to reveal a dark black 1983 Chrysler Crown Imperial Limousine, which had driven up the large concentric steps of the bank and rammed into the building itself. The rear end of the car hung out over the steps, while the front easily penetrated the barred, protected doors.

"Shortly afterwards, the vehicle caught fire, and attempts by the fire department have been unsuccessful at putting out the flames." The flames themselves were a strange, bright orange color. "No correspondence has been made other than a single demand, which was shouted from that man on the top. They claim that nearly two hundred investment bankers, businessmen, and security personnel are being held hostage inside. No demands have been issued yet, and police have surrounded the building on standby." The beautiful lady paused, holding her hand up to her ear, before speaking into the microphone in front of her once more. "I just have word that the police are going to be breaking into the emergency fire exit in an attempt to enter." The video feed cut to a series of six police officers, holding a battering ram. The Chicago police leaned back, before jamming the ram forward into the door. A cloud of smoke went up and the feed immediately cut off. The entrances were clearly booby-trapped. A few second later, the feed came back, revealing that a thick plate of metal had been welded onto the entrances. It must have occurred only minutes after the initial crash through the front doors. This left only the flaming wreckage of the car, or the welded plate metal, as the only ways out of the building.

Tap. Taptaptaptaptap.

The Man in Black sat in total darkness, far form the crime scene. In his black chair, he leaned back, holding a black pen as he gently tapped it against his black desk. In front of him, four black TV screens displayed four black-tinted images. He saw the news broadcast, the security video, the video from his own men, and an alert system of nearby individuals. He could see heat signatures for the area, projected from cameras he had positioned in nearby buildings. He would know, immediately, if anyone went in or out of that building. He had just made a hefty investment into this bank, and now it was time to see his investment pay off. "...and now, I wait." he muttered to himself.

Inside he could see a group of about 150 people in the main lobby, their hands on their heads, on their knees, while ten men with guns stood over them. Each man was equipped with a federal-issue M4 Carbine, black body armor, and a completely black attire overtop. Their faces were covered with black masks.

The news feed changed again. "It has been confirmed that Harvey Oswald, Gene Cargile, and Michael Booth are inside with the hostages. Harvey Oswald is the CEO of Oswald Technology, a growing personal electronics supplier, Gene Gargile is the primary owner of TransAM railways, and Michael Booth owns Booth, Lee, and Roth, the third largest investment bank in the country. As reports file in, more hostages identities are being revealed. This is Anna Kournikova, reporting live."

He nodded. It was amazing how an investment of a little Iron Oxide, an old car, a portable welder, some explosives and gasoline, and some strong men could appreciate so quickly. "The black king moves forth the pawns. What will White's move be?" he mused.

She wasn't going to make it in time, this was certain. Damn it! Why'd she spend all her bus fare on donuts? They weren't even that good but Bs couldn't help it. If it wasn't for the big machine that made the donuts in front of her she could have held off. That damn thing, she just couldn't stop watching, in less then a minute it took a ring of raw dough and transformed it into a sprinkle and chocolate glazed delight. She adjusted the five boxes of donuts she carried. She had bought alot of donuts, having insisted on trying out every combination she could think of with the machine. Bs had eaten more then even she could stomach and now was hoping she could palm the rest off on Stan. She doubted Stan would understand why she spent her week's allowance like this but then he wasn't there to see it in action. Just four button presses and a thirty second wait was all it took, humanity never ceased to awe her.

Bs sighed in exasperation. With no money, the walk home was still a few hours away. Almost certainly she would miss the preinterview for the brand new drama, Walking Big. It was about a Sasquatch fighting drugdealers and prejudice in the meanstreets of Seattle. She felt this must be a punishment of a sort for her deeds today. Balancing even five boxes was getting bothersome. She considered stopping to finish off another box, but she really didn't want to miss more of her show then she had too. Oh she didn't want to miss it! The Behind The Scenes Looks the In Depth discussion with the lead actors and director, and maybe just maybe they'll let slip a few tidbits about whats planned ahead.. She tried to think positively to quell her rising despair, maybe Stan would record it for her? The man had to have grown some sense in that head of his since the previous incidents! Bs started to feel a little better as she thought up something refreshingly horrible to do to Stan if he let her down again. It was a little while before she noticed how crowded the streets were getting.

Bs stood on her toes to see over the heads of the people spread out around the government building, trying make out what the commotion was all about. She could see police all around the building pushing back the chattering nervous crowd of onlookers. She saw the smashed up car on the steps leading to the main doors, an accident? She turned to look at the people milling around in front of her, she singled out a kid standing on a newspaper box peering out from his excellent vantage point. Bs liked kids more then other humans, they tended to be more interesting to her.

Hey you what's going on here?

It's a bank robbery! I saw it happen! The car, it went up the stairs and just smashed into the place!

Oh Wow!

The boy went on about the robbers going inside, the police's arrival, the robbers statement and most excitedly describing the smoke that blew out the side from the botched police infiltration. Bs plopped the donuts down on one of the other newspaper boxes and looked on with the kid. Bs sucked on her teeth, there was really no helping it now. She just had to see what was going to happen, and she wasn't going to catch any of it standing here! She had seen plenty of heist movies in her time here but to be in the real thing was something else all together! She hoped she could count on Stan here because it looked like she was going to miss more then just the interviews. Bs turned to the kid again and poked him to get his attention.

Hey watch my donuts for me would you?

Sure, whatever lady..

So you know I counted them, they better all be here when I come back.

The kid didn't seem to be paying her much attention though. He was concentrating on the crime scene not willing to miss a single minute of it. Bs couldn't blame him for it as she headed inside the nearest building. It was some sort of office, she went up to the security guard begging him to let her use the washroom, only to be turned down. After the third try the guard let her though. Once inside, Bs promptly flushed herself down the toilet.

"Ah, the White Bishop and Knight take formation first. Petrov's defense. Predictable, as expected." The Man in Black would have chuckled... if he felt anything except disappointment. "If this is the best that Chicago can bring me, then I wish New York was back." he muttered to himself. He pressed a few keys on the three keyboards in front of him, moving his array of cameras to keep track of the individuals who had presented themselves.

He replayed the part where Silus magically appeared to leave the restroom. He never entered that room, all other hostages accounted for... The Man in Black lowered his hat. Interesting... did he willingly break into the bank to be among the hostages...?

"Tell our dear friend to ask how the boy got into the building, please. Remind him that we checked the restrooms." The Man in Black's light voice whispered into his microphone in front of him. And, if... or when he gets defensive, begin the second phase of the plan."

The man in black sighed contently, and then pressed the "B" key on his laptop, smiling. He kept his distance, letting the men squabble among themselves. All he needed to to was poke and prod the conflict.

---

"Wait." One of the masked men shouted at the large room of hostages. He walked over toward Silus, getting close to him. "How did you get in here?" He stood over Silus threateningly. "We checked the bathrooms. We CHECKED." He leaned forward threateningly.

There was a loud cracking noise. The ground shook a little. One of the gunmen gave a small laugh. "Looks it won't be much longer now, and we can take all of your precious money." This man leaned over to one of the civilians, a frightened woman, and grabbed her by the chin. She made a noise in terror, but was far enough away that Silus couldn't quite see what was going on. "Small price to pay for your lives." The man said.

A third gunmen walked up behind Hocus and pointed the gun straight at his head. "When we get the signal, I'm going to make sure your ass goes first." He muttered in a low voice.

Sewer travel was interesting in it's own way to Bs. Smells didn't bother her much and crunchy rats were in abundance down here. She had first started sewer diving more then a year ago. It was a convenient way to break into houses when their owners inconsiderately forgot to leave windows unlocked. Now don't get the wrong impression here, Bs was not the type to burglar, she just liked to go though their stuff, watch them sleeping and essentially get a feel for whoever she was stalking at the time. She occasionally helped herself to a little something out of the cupboard or fridge, certainly not anything they'd miss!

Bs easily found one of the sewer mains leading inside the National Treasury building. She turned into a checker patterned snake and crawled into the opening. She made use of her sense of smell and taste to navigate the network of pipes leading to various parts of the building. Now where to go from here? Toilets were always a solid option, but even so she wanted to avoid sloshing though solids if possible. Exploring further she found the taste of stale coffee. Coffee could mean a breakroom, breakroom meant food, she really wouldn't mind a doughnut or two.. Bs followed the cold coffee trail, twisting through the pipes until she saw a light. She split herself up like spaghetti to slip through the sink grate in the breakroom. She reformed herself into an appropriate shape on the floor in front of it, layering her noodley body together again in a speedy manner. Once whole, Bs tested out her new form.

She flapped her Armani jacket, she pinched her suit pants and wobbled her turkey neck, so far so good she thought. She had decided she would have a receding hairline, her hair would be a touch more salt then pepper, standing at around 5'6 and built wide. She formed an eye in her hand to examine herself. Not too bad she thought, she changed her tie to yellow with pink polka-dots though. She had decided to go with Superior Frown No.17 as her expression at least until she met up with anyone with a gun. And at last she was all set to go out and get herself a front row seat to tonight's feature presentation! She stopped herself just before stepping out into the hallway, turning wistfully back toward the breakroom. But then, she thought, but then whats a show without refreshments?

Bs shortly realized that this was in fact the Upper Management Breakroom. Someone had left the Chocolate fondue fountain on, probably for hours with the robbery ongoing. The poor neglected thing, Bs couldn't just leave it like that. She headed for the fridge. Opening it up, she nearly whistled at the glorious sight of prepared food platters, maybe she should take up banking one day. Bs picked out a few things she wanted to try with the fondue. No need to rush, she was sure she had plenty of time. She certainly wasn't missing anything important this early on.

How does one keep something a secret when even the most common things are agents of Loki? The men were getting commands from someone, someone who had control of the camera system. Loki didn’t need an “agent” to figure this out. That much was apparent when the man jerker forward, like he was going to shoot him. The man just so conveniently mentioned checking the bathrooms. Silus wanted to smile so bad, they had just given up more information that they realized, though even if they hadn’t said it…Silus still knew. These men were only pawns, and this was a dangerous game. Silus smiled a little, knowing that all of natures little creatures, both big and small were on his side. Mice, wolves, bears, elephants, sharks…even the tiniest fly was his ally...or more specifically THAT fly that found itself landed upon a guards shoulder. Though it was not something he would make apparent through his affinity with animals, and his ability to commune with them, he heard a voice prompting them to ask about his miraculous appearance. Silus wanted to groan. There were more layers to this than he thought. Not more than he expected though.

      ”Wow…ugly AND stupid…. When was the last time you SAW an Atterrius on camera? They all have that alien techo-see crap.” Hocus glared at Silus for a second. ”Wait, how DID they see you walk out?” He asked. Silus shrunk up a little.

”I-I washed my hands and-”

”Got it wet…god kid, you’re almost as dumb as this guy!” Hocus said, still keeping on the anger of the third gunman. Hocus gave the third gunman a lok, one that said “Do it” almost tempting the man to shoot him.

      Abra, get in position. Kaisses, are you ready? He sent the message out in his mind, the wolves all hearing.

      I‘m here.

      I am…SO bored right now Kaisses lazily thought. That was typical Kaisses, still trying to keep with the human times. Doesn’t he get it? He’s not a human anymore, he needs to come to terms with that. Silus took in a shallow breath and looked around. It had to be the perfect time…it had to be perfect….it had…to be…Perfect. There it was, he saw his moment.

       Do it now Abra. He thought. Without a second’s hesitation, Abra used his power to conjure a figure made of pure light, while Abra himself could not be seen, he was able to give the appearance that another “hero” one of pure light had entered the bank, floating through with arms out, and as the “person” passed camera’s Abra blackened out the camera’s sight. A disc of black light in front of the lens. Kaisses yawned and waited for his cue. Silus felt his heartbeat slowing down…things were coming to a new level of excitement, Silus could feel his mind clicking, processing whatever it could. Granted there wasn’t too much supernatural about the situation here but…there could still be something he could use to his advantage. The last Abra’s light person had been sighted by a camera, it was headed of the second story.

Alright. It‘s done…for now.

I am SOOO bored in here. Kaisses groaned, waiting with patience anxiety and a desire to jump into the mix. Silus soaked in everything that was going on…and his heart returned to normal rhythm. He trembled…with anticipation. Silus however was just left to wonder. How many layers were there exactly? Surely the voice he heard wasn't the one in control, that was too easy a mistake....Just how far back into the shadows does this plot go?

The white knight sees an opening, and moves toward the black bishop. The white queen is poised to defend. But it is a false opening from Black, deepening White's failure. We are now playing the Italian Game, and white is to lose. The man in black thought, as the cameras were disabled. Phase two shall begin, as we enter the middlegame. The man in black nodded. There would be no more correspondence between him and his pawns. They were now alone. Now, to wait for the recording to begin. His median, the one who was relaying their messages from an alternate location?

His median was already dead.

----

The man with the gun stared at Silus as if the kid was absolutely insane. He threateningly pointed his gun at the child's head. "....you..." He then paused, realizing what he was doing. A grin came over his face. "...no, not you." He then walked over toward the hostages, and pointed the gun instead at a young child, a girl in a small dress, about Silus's age. He looked at Silus. "Her. That will keep you in line."

*Snap*

*Bang*

A bullet shot from his gun right at the child's head. There was no dramatic tension, or epic speech, or even fearful struggle like one would expect in a film. The kid simply fell over, dead. The man didn't even blink, or flinch, he just stared right at Silus's own eyes with his. The crowd of 150 hostages shivered in panic, a few screams coming out. It was disgusting.

There was silence in the room, until suddenly the light person appeared. There were screams of terror, and the other two men, still only three of about seven robbers in the room, started shooting at it immediately, scared. The man who had shot the child just stared at it, confused. The sounds of gunfire filled the room.

*splick*

Three individuals in the crowd fell down, dead from the wild, scared gunfire that the soldiers sent over their heads at the light figure. They continued to shoot at the light figure, until they realized it was causing no harm. By then, five people had been shot, bringing the remaining hostage numbers down to 144.

Just a few more Bs was thinking to herself, a few more and she'd be on her way. She had almost exhausted the fridge's vegetable supply and had long since moved on from plainer combinations of fruit and cheese. Bs dunked a caeser wrap into the fountain and popped the thing into her mouth, sucking off the excess chocolate from her hand. She took a moment to appraise the flavor, finding it a little lacking in something.  She rummaged through the cabinetry. Maybe they had hot sauce or wassabi or something.. She sighed in exasperation when she came up with nothing, these execs sure had dull palates. She turned back to the fridge to consder her next move. Perhaps she could take the club, slather it in dijon, put a couple of pickles inside before dipping it in-

*Bang*

Bs stopped fiddling with the fridge at the sound. That was clearly a gunshot. This wasn't right, something bad must have happened. She hadn't expected anything so soon, she cursed herself for losing track of what was happening, the food here wasn't even that great! Bs tossed the club sandwich to the ground and hurried out of the breakroom. Her original intention was to mingle with the other hostages but now she wasn't so sure that was an option anymore. She stepped to the nearest vent and knocked it out with a swift blow. She needed to find out what was going on without putting herself in harms way, she really didn't want to spend the rest of the day pretending to be a corpse.

Bs  hoisted herself into the vent and slithered quickly along the shaft. While she didn't exactly drop her current appearance she had stretched herself out and gave up all pretense of human motion, instead moving like a disturbingly fast slug. She could hear more shots being fired, rapid bursts punctuating the air. Between shots bs could now here screams and even sobbing as she drew even closer. It seemed to Bs that the situation was quickly degenerating, what more it was becoming increasingly apparent that this wasn't playing out like in the movies she was so familiar with. On the plus side though, all the screams and gun fire made t pretty easy to locate where all the action was happening. When she arrived, Bs spread herself out more to reach several other vent grates so she'd have a more reasonable view of what the hell was going on here.

The kid was dead for only a second when Silus felt his heart sank. A few other shots rang out. Silus counted them. Each and every one. One…two…three…four…five…six. Silus wanted to scram, but he didn’t. The one robber thought he was so clever…he thought they had won. Silus knew otherwise. He wasn’t going to let them win. They couldn’t win. But it wasn’t them winning that Silus worried about. There was someone pulling the strings. Common criminals didn’t have this kind of leverage, this kind of mind. There was a master hand pulling the strings, and Silus couldn’t see it…but just because you can’t see it…doesn’t mean it’s not there. Just because he couldn’t see the Man in Black, or know his name, or even what to call him…didn’t mean Silus didn’t know he was there.

       Silus began wondering why whomever organized this would do this. It didn’t help that he didn’t know their personality. Or did he? The gear these men wore were rather up on the notch. It would have cost a pretty penny, wealth. When Silus thought of wealth he thought of monarchs, high-horsed who thought the common man was beneath them. Silus stopped shivering, and he swallowed. The saliva running down his scratched throat, giving an uneasy itch to it, but still letting him accomplish his goal…getting himself to speak.

    ”It’s not the money…it was never the money. It was obvious when the doors were welded closed. It kept people from coming in, but it also kept them from going out. Someone wants us here…to keep us here?” Silus asked himself under his breath, he looked up towards the ceiling, only to see nothing but the vents…and intercoms. Why would someone want to hold a bank hostage? Wait…Silus was onto something a thought. Well honestly he was on to lots of thoughts, but the two that stuck out most were things he though of just from being the son of two villainous figures. The first…was anonymity, something Ouro would do. This heist was either a total distraction…or a way to draw attention to this place. But why would a shadowy figure try to draw attention to himself? That makes no sense…or very little. Unless he’s going for that “Big Brother” approach….warning people that he is there…reminding them they are powerless to do anything about it. Perhaps he was attempting to frame, or pin blame upon another? Or maybe it was--oh…no! A loud bang and Hocus was face first in a pool of his own blood.

   “NO!” Silus called out. He felt it, a flush of power. His fear, his anxiety, everything overwhelming him. Silus clenched his hand, and instantly the blood in the room came alive. Slithering across the ground, pooling from the bodies of the dead, whipping up like snakes and pulling the guns from the robbers hands, disarming them. Silus stood up. The figure of light approached form behind Silus, who stood up, Hocus’s blood on his hands. His shaggy brown hair covered his eyes, that were forming tears. The light figure dissipated and the prismatic wolf, Abra appeared behind him, looming while the light itself converged on Silus, keeping his identity rather secret. The blood impaled the robbers, killing them virtually instantly, save for the one who had just shot Hocus. Silus placed his two fingers together, both hands together. "Abra Kadabra"

       The Prismatic wolf smiled, it’s eyes came alight with life, and suddenly it flaked away into the air, fur flying off in pastel colors, as the wolf seemed to bleed into the air, like the corpse upon the ground The prismatic fur began to solidify, and soon the large Draconian figure of the ever illuminated Abra had formed. Silus had used his powers, and broke the curse upon Abra, unleashing his full form.

      ”Abra, Give 'em a little magic Resurrect the fallen, wait to resurrect the robbers though, I gotta tie ‘em up.” Silus said. Abra then breathed out and light spread across the room, blinding light. All onlookers would promptly look away, unless they wished to be blind. It looked as if the sun itself had settled upon the room. The Blood of the room pooled, dragging the three criminals and binding them. Hocus struggled and then shot up, his auburn eye glaring into the eyes of his ex-killer. He licked the blood from his lips as the hole in his right eye healed over.

      ”Hocus Pocus” He said sniggering.

Uhm…yes…so…Can I do something now? The wolf, Kaisses asked.

JUST WAIT FOR THE SIGNAL!

JUST WAIT FOR THE SIGNAL!

JUST WAIT FOR THE SIGNAL!

       The three roared in telekinetic union. Kaisses, from his station yelped as he flew back over the executive’s chair and scampered under the desk, trembling for a minute. Poor Kaisses was just bored and wanted something to do. Though Silus had a plan for him. This guy wanted to be seen and heard without leaving the comfort of his mansion, or house… If he really wants it, who is Silus to deny him?

The three killers stared in horror at the events that had just transpired. As Hocus jumped up onto the bound killer, still alive, the killer tried to form words from his mouth and failed. He was absolutely terrified. There was a fear in his face unlike many people had ever seen. The group of 150 hostages cowered in sight of it.

The man knew who did it though, he knew who was in control. The one who had been given them instructions was part of the crime syndicate. He was a shadowy figure, one that brought fear into his enemies, and only when he wanted it. The man that had caused this bank robbery, the one who had organized it from a distance, and spoke only through proxies, the one who told that man to shoot, his name was clear...

... he called himself... the Phantom... And then, with that, the man's eyes rolled back and he fainted, unable to tell Silus a thing more.

The room was silent. Not a single hostage made a sound. They stared at Silus, confused, afraid, and unsure of their safety. Was this guy going to harm them? Was he actually working with the robbers? He was clearly not human, what would he do to them...?

And then, a small girl, around Silus's age, stood up from the crouched hostages. She was wearing a small hoodie and blue backpack, with light red hair and little blue eyes. She stood up slowly, hesitantly. Her mother reached forward and pulled her arm back down. The girl fought for a second, and the mother hissed some words at her before the girl sat back down. Then, a large, rotund man in an expensive suit, Harvey Oswald, stood up instead. He raised both of his hands, and started clapping.

The little girl sprung up again and started clapping along with the older man. It spread, one by one, until the room had erupted with cheering. They didn't move closer, but they stood up and hugged eachother, reaching for cell phones and calling the police to let them know that they were okay. They were spreading the word, letting everyone know that they were just saved by a little superhero kid and his wolves.


And everyone in that room was completely unaware of the broadcast that, during their cheering, had just ended, far outside of the building.

------

Outside of the bank, far away from Silus's own eyes, away from those individuals trapped within the building, away enough that Silus would have to leave the entire building, alone, unprotected, for ten minutes in order to witness the event... an event was happening.

The display monitors downtown, the broadcast stations throughout the city, videos all across the internet, began to display an image. It was fuzzy, unclear, for a minute, before suddenly sharpening into to focus.

"Chicago." He began.

The figure, cliche' as ever, was of a man wearing a thick, black scarf, a black hat, a black coat, a black tie, a black vest, and black gloves. His eyes were covered with circular black glasses, as he spoke into the camera.

"I am the Man in Black."

By now, many people in the streets had stopped to stare. The internet was buzzing as this video streamed and was spread to other sources. His voice was calming, and very light. It was not the voice of a criminal, or of a monster. It was a fireside chat, the voice of a close friend explaining something very serious. It enraptured and held civilian's attention and curiosity.

"You may have just witnessed unusual happenings at the Federal Reserve. That is my champion." Citizens nearby looked toward the building as the light from Abra's movements caused the many windows to shine brightly. "Within that building, some of our own citizens are under duress, at risk of losing their lives to serve the needs of the selfish few. As I speak now, those individuals are being saved. For those of you who are unaware, there is currently a robbery, a robbery disguised as a hostage situation, in progress at the Chicago Federal Reserve. I believe this is the work of the Crime Syndicate. With the hero I have provided to you, the robbers will be stopped, and the citizens will be returned, unharmed. I exist to serve the people, and so, upon learning of this robbery, I have enlisted a champion of light. Once the citizens are safe, and the police can resume their jobs, I will find who is behind this. I will find them, and I will bring them to you, my dear city, for you to decide as a democracy, what to do with them. If my hero is successful, then you know that I shall help you. But I assure you, there is still someone else, someone yet more elusive, that has organized this. We will find them, and together, my champion and I will bring society the strength it needs, in its time of need."

A quick video clip replaced the speaking figure, showing Silus, crouched on the ground, watching the figure of shining light proceed. Before the gunshots were fired, the camera cut out.

"Even now, my champion has entered the building. As I deliver this message to you, he is stopping those who would harm their own kind for their own gratification. You see, my champion has a power greater than that of a normal human. It is not a power to be feared, but to be understood and controlled, so that we many save many lives today, and when we find out who did this, who is really controlling the situation, we will stop them. Whether it is the Crime Syndicate, or not." The man in black's voice was reassuring, and strong.

After another pause, he continued, but this time his shoulders had dropped. He was showing disappointment, even sadness. "But this is not merely about saving those hostages, or protecting the civilians, you, from those who are uncontrollable. It is about our way of life, it is about our fear, and it is about the great mistakes that normal humans, such as myself, have made."

"Mankind has always been the pinnacle of nature. We are the only species on this planet that does not seek our survival, but only seek our own comfort. Those of us with special abilities, they rise to become astronauts, firemen, CEOs. They are powerful, and we accept them because their strength works within the systems that we have built. We can work with them. As a species, together. In harmony with nature around us. We use Penicillin to cure disease. We use lightning to illuminate our homes. We use radioactivity to provide power to the world."

"But in recent years... something has changed, and there is now a great shame among the citizens of the United States. Those five-thousand year old systems of control, Language, literature, the financial system, morality, social etiquette, and the military, allow us to no longer fear those smarter or stronger than us. These systems that allowed us to work together without violence, they were our protection, and for five-thousand years they allows us, together, to raise the greatest empire this planet had ever seen. But, as nature continues, as time marches on, the world around us adapted. We did not respond. And, as a result, our securities, our systems, are now regrettably obsolete."

"Without my champion today, the police would be in hostage negotiations. Lives would be lost, and money would be stolen. That is because our own systems can no longer effectively protect us in this world, no matter how much we cling to them. Those systems have become our true enemy."

"It seemed to happen overnight. We lost New York, our greatest city." It was then that the figure paused, giving a moment of silence. "And as a result, we are scared, scattered, and scarred. Yet, we still cling to the past." The figure lowered his head. "I am here to reveal unto you, an unfortunate truth. We did not lose that city because it was taken from us. No, we lost the city, because in our pride we did not realize, no matter how strong the warning signs were, that it needed saving. The greatest tragedy in the United States's history was caused by decades of ignorance, from our failure to see things clearly, not from some evil enemy."

The hat and attached head tilted in concern. "What did we do wrong? We feared. Like all powerful things that we do not understand, disease, disaster, famine, our first reaction was fear. Those systems that kept us from destroying ourselves, they became our destruction. Fear blocks reason, it clouds judgement and logic. Fear turns something real into something that exists only in the mind. Fear is why the doe runs from the hunter, and into his trap. We are afraid of the power we don't understand. Because of that fear, we will never be able to use that power for real good."

"We birthed a temperamental prodigy, and because of our fear, we raised it with nothing but contempt and hatred. We were given the key to our success, and because of our fear, we met it with gunfire. We were offered Salvation, and because of our fear, it turned into Armageddon. We took a real thing, something real that could help us, and turned it into fear, something that existed only in our minds."

"What is the answer? Now that we know the problem, how, my citizens, do we eliminate it? We must give up our fear. We must look into the blackness, away from our abstractions and illusions, and watch those who operate in the darkness. They take the greatest sacrifice. They are the ones who live in fear, they understand it, they use it, and they control it. We spent so long looking at the sun of prosperity, that we were blinded. And now, darkness has fallen, and the only safety we have, is with those who live in the darkness themselves."

"Our comfort, stability, our way of life, our beliefs and conceptions, these are abstractions. The men who are being held, against their will, inside that building. They are real. And as I speak to you today, I am guilty of harming your abstractions. I am guilty of making your day uncomfortable, and unstable. But I assure you, I am equally guilty of saving and protecting the real lives within that building."

The figure gave a small sigh of relief, and made it obvious that the video was nearing its conclusion by leaning back from the camera and nodding slowly. "If you believe as I do, if you have faith, then we shall see those great men brought safely home. I ask for your trust, but I offer you their lives, their security, and your safety as a gift. And plrease remember, the actions of my champion, good or bad, they are mine to bear. I trust my champion to save those people, and do to the right thing. The only way I fail, is if he fails first."

"I ask you, I beg you, to look toward these individuals with a clear mind, unconstrained by fear or prejudice, so that we may grow. I ask you be a scientist, not a general, so that never again may we have the catastrophe that occurred in New York.

Thank you, Chicago, and enjoy the rest of your day."

And that was that. The video cut out.

The Man in Black had recorded the video, saving only the segment which he had recorded off of the cameras earlier, a deliberate attempt to get some supernatural reaction out of Silus to acquire that footage, so that he could give credence to his claims. If Silus got suspicious and went looking for the real culprit inside... he would find the second hero who had made it into the restrooms. Upon questioning the killers, they told them the truth as they knew it: The Phantom had put them up to the task.

Black queen moves in front of White King. Fool's mate, young boy. It has been a fool's mate. The Man in Black thought to himself. Everything you do, now belongs to me.




The Man in Black had taken on The Phantom, a well known criminal's, persona.

Reaching out to new criminals, he provided them with weapons, enough weapons to build their hubris, under the premise that a successful job here would induct them into the crime syndicate.

He had organized a crime that would pin down police and trap the citizens within the building.

He had pre-recorded his message, and waited for a hero to show up, baiting them.

Once there, the Man in Black's message would take credit for the hero's work, pinning the Crime Syndicate as a great evil, and himself as the harbinger of justice, starting this mock war.

There were now over 150 witnesses to Silus's heroism, and millions of witnesses to the man behind the hero, the Man in Black, behind the Man of Light. Silus, now in public camera, would be unable to go anywhere without being seen as a hero, specifically, The Man in Black's hero!

Thank you, for playing, white. He thought. I look forward to our next game.



And with that, a man, who had all day been wearing a brown coat and bright blue shirt with jeans, walked down the the sidewalk, looked up, and saw the broadcast and the lights coming from the Federal Reserve. He gave a small smile at the heroism on display, and turned to leave.

Well.. That was interesting Bs wasn't entirely sure what t make of the situation. She had made it in time to see the weird mage mop the floor with the terrorists.. And then it was over. Bs felt robbed, that was too fast! She barely had time to register what was going on before the bad guys hit the floor. She pressed herself closer to the grate trying to catch the words of the last one standing. Phantom? Wha telse! What else!? Unfortunately the man fainted away before he could say anything more. Bs gritted all her teeth in frustration ooh if she could only reach through here and shake the becthuly out of him, she hated open endings! Well it seemed there was nothing she could do about it, she sure as hell wasn't going to expose herself to him and his slaves and in any case the climax was good and over now.

She was preparing to leave since it seemed like all the fun was dying down. She didn't like wizards very much, the less time spent around them the better. while shifting her position, she accidentally put too much weight on one section of the vents and popped it out of the ceiling. A second later she heard it clatter on the floor below, it couldn't have been more then a foot or two from where the wizard was standing. ahh.. Bs rocketed through the vents at top speed. Along the way she changed again, resembling a tallish masked man in a black bodysuit. She punched out a grate on the otherside of the building and hopped out looking for a room that would suit her needs. She just had to make it to a toilet or a sink and she'd be home free!

He knew it... Silus knew it, the bastard wanted to put his name in lights. Silus was sill caught in the blinding light, the message played on...Silus cursed himself. He was caught. Sudden fear rose up in him, what if Ouroboros saw this? Ouroboros already knew him to be innocent...but if Silus ever turned against his daddy....he'd never be able to go home. Ouroboros wouldn't do anything probably...but Silus would know that he knew...and he'd never be able to look at Ouro honestly again. He had to do something...he needed to...and of course there was only one thing he could think to do. He tapped into himself. The area around him began to age, centimeters around him accelerated through time by eight years, and as it accelerated, Silus began to glow with Ethereal energy. When he emerged, he went right onto the ground and moved position.

      Now Kaisses! He thought. The Cameras would have seen nothing but light, Kaisses phased through the roof and dropped form the executive chambers into the lobby, landing directly where Silus had been standing. Abram, Hocus scram! the thought, and without a moments hesitation, Hocus vanished, Abra then disappeared into nearby light. Kaisses was left there alone.

      "What? Can't a werewolf get some love?" Kaisses asked, Silus in his older form was on the ground, counted as just another hostage in the incident. For all anyone knew, the wolf was really the supposed child they saw. Silus looked about, keeping in the same position as most of the remaining hostages.

     "Is it true?" one of the hostages asked.

     "Yup...I work for that guy...and I do stuff..." He said, basically like it was a half assed rehearsal, that or he had some form of attention disorder. He began to look around the room. "Special thanks to the human who let me borrow his looks....and uhh....no puppies were harmed in the making of this production." Kaisses announced, there were cheers all around...it was hard for Silus to cheer, but he did...for appearance sake. The Man in Black... did he really count on Silus to be there? Why would he help Silus, or try and lead him there? Sure, he used it to his advantage to make this entire debut possible...but there had to be something else...

    Silus walked out of the bank, and was dismissed after being rescued. He promptly made his way back to his little rented out hotel, only to summon forth an Ethereal Arc to teleport himself back to the Ethereal Isle...his home. He walked through the walls of the palace, the large estate known only as Valhalla. The second his sneakers touched the floor, golden crackles of beautiful golden lightning and ethereal energy spiraled up his leg, transmuting his current ragged looking mortal clothing into his elegant and dashing robes, fitting for the Ethereal Prince. In a second of a beautiful and regal light display he went form rags to riches. It was an ankle length robe of several portions. Primarily consisting of a deep alluring purple color with silver trim and the silver insignia of the Ethereal embroidered on the back, a wine red colored sash across his waist, and black and silver metal clad metal vest that was strung together with black leather strings, and his feet now covered in Black boots. Silus walked through the corridor, and made it to the large spiral staircase, the one that reminded Silus of James Camreon's Titanic. He realized that he was still in his aged form, and panicked. When he finaly managed to calm himself, he was able to revert himself to his normal age again, just in time too. He opened the door to his stale white room, stepping in and the color of the room bleeding into his robes, turning the alluring color of royalty into a stale common white. He stepped intot he room and immediately noticed that there was something wrong... the wards on his wall were scratched...interrupted...

     "Boo" A voice said, it's intent to scare Silus. Silus jumped a little, only to turn around and glare at the dark-brown hair of his older brother, Michael. Silus' eyes flashed blue, and he frowned, shirking away from his tormenting sibling, who just seemed to smile ever so slightly more, taking a sheer satisfaction from his power over Silus and his fear.

     "W-what do you want?" Silus snipped, his stutter not of his usual fear, but of a certain loathing shock. Michael arched an eyebrow, immediately finding the uncharacteristic aggression in his younger sibling.

     "Wow, when did you grow a pair?" Michael said back, a taunting little chime in his voice. Silus rolled his eyes and walked over to his drawer, pulling the top drawer open and shifting through his boxers, eventually finding what he was looking for before leaving. It was a book, but nothing of importance really. Silus left the room...he just left Miachael there... Apparently Silus didn't have time to be bothered...not that it would stop Michael any. Silus made his way to the Ethereal waterworks, under the palace, hopefully to research a little magic, and enjoy the beautiful Ethereal waters... That was until Michael followed him.... Just another day in paradise.