The Beginning (open)

The sun hung low over a heavy set of nimbus clouds, you could feel a storm brewing. Cars zoomed down highways as the Earthlings went about there busy little lives blissfully unaware of everything going on around them. "How can they be so blind?" Karn thought to himself as he puttered about in his space ship. It had been a month since he landed on Earth and discovered they had a central hub for all of the worlds information known as the Internet, here he found everything he needed to know about the meatbags that populated this blue marble. They were infatuated with the lives of people who were rich for lying about who they were or so deeply consumed by media that they couldn't see the world for what it truly was. A system designed to keep them slaves to paper, a dystopia hidden amongst shiny technology and superficial needs. While this wasn't the first time Karn had seen a world enslaved it was the first time he saw it with the population not even being aware. "Maybe there just to close to notice or maybe they are afraid to ask questions...." Karn let his sentence trail off as he saw a flat spot on a higher up building to careful set down his ship.

Dust kicked up as he landed softly on the rooftop, in the distance he saw what he was looking for. An old factory that had been used for research and development on bio-mechanical advancements of the human race. It now sat dilapidated and abandoned but there was bound to be some machinery or technology left behind. If he was going to make himself a temporary home here then preparation was needed so he could sustain a life outside his tiny space shuttle. Pushing a sequence of buttons the latch opened as he slid out just in time for it to close and the cloaking device to do it's job.

Carefully climbing down a heavily rusted fire escape his thoughts trailed back to the enslaved masses. "There fascination with these plastic human beings must be a form of brain control." As he passed a open window he heard high pitched squeals come out of a television, more fake people that glued the masses to these infernal televisions. It disgusted Karn to see a world that started out with such a noble idea and resource rich planet kill itself and crush the life force of it's citizens.

Dropping down into the street Karn threw the hood up on a black sweatshirt he had stolen from the back of a store, despite the many oddities of this world a green man still seemed like it would cause more attention then he wanted at this time. The streets were filled with sweaty people rushing around with no notice of there surroundings in the slightest. Traveling with long strides Karn quickly came to the factory he had his sites on and breathed a deep breathe as he pushed open the creaky metal door....

"Well it's not that simple..." µrsine said with a sigh as he kicked the can down the alleyway, turning and then letting his back crash against the wall. Across from him was an old friend of his and their father, someone who had been trying to help them for quite some time now. µrsine was dressed in jeans, no socks and a gray zip up hoodie that he left unzipped without a shirt on. The overall jacket was a size or two too big for him, one of the bonding factors that he had with the little trickster, save for the color and actual size difference. Now the man helping him, on the other hand was dressed more for success than one might have expected to be dealing with a young man in an alleyway. Granted their ages were only a year off in physical means, however the sheer fact that this raven haired young man just happened to be in a white button down shirt with black slacks and spit-shined dress shoes made them look all the more apart.

  "Well it may have to be. You may need to bring him out to Canada so I can examine and preform surgery." Of course the moment the young man in the urban-camo spoke up Zell placed his hand up, stalling the young man where he stood. "All information will be immediately released. You're more than welcome to take any information I find...but your physiology is just...too different from ours. Christ look at you. You're basically an ET trap. Your family all has good looks, you're all stronger, faster and smarter than human beings, and some of you even have these...astral-druidic powers. Let's face it...your Atlantians from space... Your genome is too different from ours for me to just randomly plug and pray genes into him." He tried to explain, the young man groaning as he flailed about. It didn't take long for silence to fall upon them, the only real break of it being the occasional car passing by.

 "My dad knows what he's doing. I promise." The little brown headed boy stated with a smile, indigo eyes beaming up and making the were-alien uncomfortable before finally giving in with a little growl, a click and chattering of inhuman noise before looking to Zell and sighing.

 "Hɇtallos is gonna be pissed..." The young man said before looking about and shaking his head, uickly transitioning to a new tone and attitude. "Just...whatever you do, bring my brother back. This has never happened to any of us and we need to know why it's happening to him...we need our Kaxkain...because without him...." the young man just let out a rather grim sigh, the look on his face twisting. He was talking treason here, just to do the right thing. His brother had grown to bitter, done too much to be reasoned with. Now the only one who could stop him was Tsxero... but that's only if they could rouse the were-alien from his comatose state.

 Leaning back and sighing Zell realized just how nice it was out tonight. This was one of the few nights one could see the stars in the distance. The smell of the city life was a little on the repulsive side to be entirely honest. Excalibur city was much cleaner, much more efficient. This place...it was almost rancid. Especially this part of town. True Zell did have an LA residence...but it was in the much more wealthy area. Less crime to threaten his family there.

  "I'll go with Maxie and talk to his brother... We'll meet in that old factory building in three hours. We'll talk over the next move there? 'kay?" Peter Pan asked as he turned to his once-omnipotent father. Zell turned to the little boy, shrugging with a little smirk. No matter what he said... the boy would do what he thought was right. His determination to what was good was admirable, though often times heart-attack inducing for a father. Though watching Peter Pan dispatch of a gravity manipulator was more than inspiring and comforting. With that, the boys head off, immediately vanishing into thin air as a void was ripped through reality and special contortions were thrown off for a sheer second before a lapse in time set them back three seconds before it happened...but the boys were still not there. Zell himself had not forgotten it...truthfully that was the pleasure he had at perceiving reality at a speed much greater than any other person... everything in slow motion allowed him to recall thousands of thoughts up to the moment it happened...preparing him for what was going to happen...a reminder before it even happened.

  Shaking his head form the experience he turned his attentions to where he was supposed to be going. Not too far from here. A good walking distance, no need to call in an exosuit...unless he wanted to be lazy. With the slight smell of alcohol on his breath he buried his hands into his slack pockets before walking.  He'd get there early, though honestly when he got there he wasn't exactly sure he was at the right place. Looking to the metal door and seeing it was slightly cracked, Zell immediately began to fear the worst. Of course he remembered that with Peter Pan's power he would simply bypass the door. No need for opening it. His hand looked to the knob Immediately he observed for prints, moistures, any form of condensation or sign of visible interaction. Reaching and pressing a button on his watch he cleared his throat and stepped in, moving the door and causing a familiar metallic shrieking noise in the process. The handle wasn't overly warm, but then again it's not too cold out.

Dust and foul smells filled the open rooms of the factory, it was clear no one had been here recently but that didn't deter Karn. There was lazy underpaid workers everywhere who simply were tasked to clean out a workspace ignorant to there surroundings, somewhere there was bound to be something of value that was left behind. The building was quite large , 4 floors all stacked neatly on top of each other with stairs to the next floor on each end so a search would take several hours.

"Time to get started" Stretching his arms over his head while taking a deep breathe Karn went off in search of a map. There was always something relaxing about searching for something when you weren't sure what it is your looking for.

On the third floor after a short hallway that was suddenly to clean for its surroundings Karn was confronted by a large metal door that read research and development in bright red letters across it. "Subtle" he thought as he wiped a cobweb away from the control panel before quickly typing in a variety of combos hoping to get lucky. This was not the first door to attempt and keep him out. After several attempts With a loud beep the door slid open to reveal a perfectly clean room filled with bright neon white light.

"Not quite what I expected" peeking his head into the room Karn quickly noticed the signs of recent activity by workers, Coffee and blueprints laid scattered around the work space. "Jackpot" Standing in the doorway the stranger to this planet knew he found what he'd been searching for. Karn quickly made his way inside searching for a bag to hold his haul.

The bottom floors looked untouched for years so there must be another exit out of this place Karn thought as he scavenged around. Also the lack of people was ominous, something like this was never just left unguarded.

Alex stopped her car near the corner, and turned off the radio which was broadcasting the recent news. Just the same boring stuff over and over again: strikes, terrorist attacks and baseball, accompanied by the latest r'n'b hits. She wondered how she could listen to this channel whole afternoon. She picked up her bag and checked its contents. She had to make sure to get the stuff she wanted. She was planning this small robbery for weeks now, and didn't want to make any mistakes. She knew of course, that a superhero should restrain herself from, well, how to say, unlawful measures, but she figured stealing a few unused tubes of chemicals from an old abandoned lab won't do any harm to anyone.

She parked on the corner just outside the large factory building, which looked like it's soon gonna be eaten by the rust and simply melt into the crampy terrain without a trace in the orange sunset, then got out of the car, and proceeded to the entrance with careful but quick steps, making sure noone heard or noticed her. I just walk in, grab the stuff and get out, the whole thing won't last more than five minutes. I'll even have time to pick up Rebecca from the ballet lesson and go dine out with her in a Pizza Hut. However, as Alex approached the large metal door, she noticed something strange: the door was already slightly open, indicating that someone got into the building not so long ago. She also noticed slight crakcs on the massive metal door. Someone got in before her, and is probably still inside, she figured. Another scavenger hunter around? Damn. Or could it be some poor homeless guy trying to find shelter for the night? She hoped for the latter as she put down her bag to the ground, hiding it behind some rocks, and decided to sneak in.

Alex quickly got out of her casual clothes, and put them next to the bag, now wearing only her 'hero-ish' leotard outfit made out of 'super-silk', closed her eyes and concentrated on getting smaller. A few seconds later, as her body gradually decreased in size, she ended up standing besides the door, now being about 4 inches in height. Opening her eyes, she looked around, finding the whole world now being gigantic. Sneaking through the small opening, the tiny woman walked around the colossal first floor of the dusty abandoned lab building, searching for any signs of the other intruder's whereabouts. The whole floor was dirty and literally rotting, especially from the perspective of a rodent, which she now had the 'pleasure' to enjoy. The miniature Alex passed through among pieces of trash and miles of dust, feeling like if she were taking a hike among a vast junkyard, probably the largest one in the world. She suddenly heard large booming footsteps in the distance. She was right: someone was here. She quickly hid behind a crate and listened to whatever was going on. Whoever the other intruder were, she had to make sure he won't ruin her plans.