Kihonne: Alright, I'm glad you guys liked the last chapter, and I hope you're going to enjoy this chapter a lot more. Anyway, this chapter gives you a bit more of an insight – you get to see Roxanna's point of view – and you get to learn a little more about our friend Sebastian. Anyway, before we get onto the chapter, it's time for shoutouts!
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Guest: I'm glad you were excited. Anyway, enjoy!
TheGuest481957L: I don't usually pick actors/actresses to play my characters when designing them. I usually just pick a design in my mind, but if I had to choose actors/actresses, they would be… Alex – Colin Ford, Derek – Kevin McHale, Mira – Mackenzie Foy, Rhyder – Devon Bostick, Roxanna – Peyton List, Vivyanna – Lucy Hale.
Dirtkid123: Because I do. Don't worry – it'll make things so much more dramatic when they meet up again.
Arashikageriverflower: Yes, they were the main couple through the past couple of stories, but things have changed for them in the 5 years between Maybank's Revenge and the Return of Heroes. It's supposed to be confusing at first, and then it'll become more and more clear as the characters reflect back on that day.
Candycanelila: I 'm bringing a lot of characters in, but they might not have as big a role as you'd think. They'll still be important characters, but many of them won't appear until the second half of the story. As for Bob, I wasn't planning on adding him in. I just needed a familiar name to drop in the last chapter. I'm going to try and name characters that weren't given important roles (such as Bob and Kate), but they won't receive many lines, if any.
Labgirl2001: I'm glad you agree with her. Obviously, Chase isn't as aware of the damage he and the other Hunters are doing, but she clearly knows more than he does, so I was trying to hint at that. As for your idea as to whom is behind the attacks, I won't give away anything yet, but both Graham and Sebastian have their secrets. And yes, Chase used to be so proud of his abilities, but his love of them has definitely dimmed after the events of Maybank's Revenge. Maybe a certain pyrokinetic can reignite that love.
UrFriendTheNinja: Yes, they're all going to see the memorial. But since New York might be a little far for the ones in Mission Creek, they're going to watch a news feed of it. Long story, it'll make sense if you keep reading. As for Sebastian, he's already come into play, remember? The end of chapter 1? And Graham may be evil, he may not. It really depends on your definition of evil. Anyway, enjoy the chapter.
MoonlitShadowsoftheHumanSoul: Oh, I've seen the Tomorrow People. I could spend two hours discussing the injustice I felt when it was cancelled. I loved that show. I agree that some of the setup for the Hunters was inspired off Ultra from that show, but some of it also came from my version of a very corrupt SHIELD. I'm glad you liked it.
Guest: I'd like to thank you for your input. I always appreciate constructive criticism. I agree that maybe I put Chase's thinking a little too much on the emotional side, and I'll try to keep it more logical and analytical in the future, but part of it will have to be emotional. Don't forget – he lost two members of his family to a war with a man obsessed with Specials. It would be logical, to Chase at least, to want to prevent another war with Specials by removing Specials from the equation. And while Chase is very logical in his thinking, he's always been a bit sensitive too. But I will try to increase the amount of logical he uses in his decision making because you are right – he was a little too mushy in the last chapter. As for the geo-leaping, I'm glad you still remember that. The identity of the person with the geo-leaping will be revealed later, along with some other, new abilities. Almost everyone has developed a new ability, including Chase, but you'll have to wait a few chapters to see what the abilities are.
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Kihonne: Anyway, on with the chapter.
Roxanna: Kihonne doesn't own lab rats. She only owns her characters, this story, and anything else you don't recognize.
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Vivyanna's POV
MISSION CREEK, CALIFORNIA
"I can't believe you dragged me here." I complained under my breath as Sebastian led me through the crowd. As the memorial was in New York, most people couldn't attend. But every news channel would be playing a rerun of it throughout the day, so Mission Creek, like most places, decided to broadcast it in public. This year, it was being broadcast at the school, on a giant white curtain that was tied up over the gym's outer wall. "Seriously, Seb. I don't want to be here."
"I know you don't." He assured me, a smirk on face. "But you need to be."
"Yeah, I know." I sighed angrily. I'd rather be anywhere else, far away from the bad memories and reality itself. I'd rather just pretend that I had a normal life without powers, without the Hunters, without all the crap in my life. But he was right. Adam had been killed because he had tried to protect Rhyder. Davenport had been killed because he was trying to save lives. S-1 had been killed because she wanted a chance at freedom. They'd all fought and died for some of the most pure motives that have ever existed– family, survival, and freedom. It would be wrong not to honour their deaths. They more than earned that respect.
"Hey." I looked at Sebastian suddenly, remembering what I'd wanted to talk to him about earlier. "Where were you last night?"
"Huh?" Sebastian looked at me, confused. I gave him a look.
"You didn't come home last night. I wasn't sure what happened to you.." I reminded him. He chuckled guiltily.
"Sorry about that." He apologized, rubbing the back of his head. "Tank had a fight with his girlfriend and needed to blow off some steam, so we had a few drinks at that bar he likes in Welkerville. We decided that neither of us was sober enough to drive, so we crashed at a hotel. I should have called."
"No, it's fine. I'm glad you weren't driving." I replied, shrugging. "I just thought…you know, with the Hunters being so…"
"I should have called." Sebastian cut me off, stroking my face gently. "Next time, I will."
"Thank you." I smiled at him. Suddenly, a picture appeared on the white screen, showing a large stage in front of the Empire State Building. "Let's get this over with."
Roxanna's POV
MANHATTEN, NEW YORK
"I hate speeches." Chase grumbled under his breath. I laughed lightly, adjusting the sleeves of my jacket. Although I was never one for a uniform, I did like that our mission suits were black leather.
"I know. Just get through this, then we can get out of here and hunt down that terrorist of a Special. Alright?" He smirked at my optimistic tone.
"You act as if it'll be easy." He replied. I sighed.
"Why can't it be easy this time?" I asked. "Every time, there's some sort of complication. Alex can't make it because of school, the guy's got friends, someone gets hurt. Why can't it be totally uncomplicated this time?"
"Here's hoping." Chase replied with a small smile. He looked at the stage where the opening ceremonies were beginning. It wasn't much – just a video of the wreckage, then Graham would list the names of those who had died in the battle. Neither Adam nor S-1 would be among them – Adam had died too early for them to count and as far as the world was concerned, S-1 was just another soldier fighting against us.
"Do you think they'd be proud of us?" I murmured suddenly. Chase frowned.
"Who?" He asked, baffled.
"Adam, Mr. Davenport, S-1…hell, even Mira. Would they be proud of us for hunting down Specials?" I asked, not looking at him. "I know we're just taking away their powers and that we're stopping bad guys, but…I don't know. Would they really approve of us being soldiers?"
"We're not soldiers, Roxanna." Chase shook his head. "We're heroes, just like they wanted us to be. If we didn't do what we did, there'd be hundreds of Specials out there, hurting people, stealing, worse. We're saving lives by doing what we're doing."
"Yeah, I know." I agreed softly.
"Hey." He grabbed me by the shoulders. Not roughly, but enough that I knew he was serious. "You're not thinking of following Vivyanna's road, right? Because she's on our list of people to capture, as are Marcus and Bree. They shouldn't have left."
"I know." I agreed. "We should have stuck together. They should be here, helping us. I was just thinking that if Adam, Mr. Davenport, S-1, and Mira were alive, things might be different."
"But they're not." Chase retorted. "And we're doing this because of them. So that nothing like that ever happens again."
"Agreed." I nodded. I noticed that Graham's speech was almost done. "You're up."
Chase nodded, heading for the stage. I knew that he was fully committed to his job and that he felt that taking down Specials and removing their powers was his way of honouring his fallen family, but sometimes I wondered…could all these Specials really be as bad as we made them out to be?
Vivyanna's POV
MISSION CREEK, CALIFORNIA
"There's Chase." Bree muttered from beside us. I hummed in response as Chase walked onto the stage. They were in New York, obviously, in front of the Empire State Building. It was funny – the entire time I spent in New York, I'd never visited the Empire State Building. Chase and I had planned to, but…
"It's starting." Marcus dragged me out of my thoughts. I glanced at him and Bree. He was hugging her from behind, his head resting on her shoulder. I couldn't help but smile – despite everything we'd been through in the past years, they were still together. Good for them.
I looked back at the screen just as Chase began to speak.
"Five years ago, New York suffered a tragedy never seen before in history. It wasn't a tragedy caused by nature, nor was it a tragedy caused by humans. No, it was caused by something much more dangerous than the human being. New York was attacked by these…people with special abilities that no one could have ever imagined to be real." He began strong, looking out at the crowd. "It was attacked by these Specials who thought that they had more rights to this city than everyone else. Because of their greed, many lives were lost. Many of us lost loved ones, myself included."
I glanced at Bree, but she refused to meet anyone's gazes. Adam's death had hurt both her and Chase hard, and while neither of them would ever forget him, or stop feeling the pain of his loss, Chase used his grief to fuel his hatred of those with powers.
"A group of us fought against this threat, and we won. Now, my team and I have dedicated ourselves to prevent such a tragedy from ever happening again." Well, some of the group, anyway. While neither Leo, Rhyder, nor Alex was present, I could easily see my sister standing near the back of the stage. "No Special will ever even think of trying something like that again. Having powers like that doesn't give you more of a right to live than those who don't. Rest assured that criminal acts done by Specials will not be tolerated."
"Hypocrites." Sebastian hissed angrily. I tightened my grip on his hand, leaning closer to him for comfort.
"And if any Specials are listening to this memorial right now, give yourselves up. I can assure you, any one of you who comes quietly, anyone who chooses to do the right thing, will not be harmed." Chase finished. Ha! That was a lie, whether he knew it or not. "But if you think that you're above everyone else because of your powers, you're wrong."
"What bullshit." Sebastian grumbled as another person from New York, the mayor I think, started to speak. Nobody was really interested in that part – most people just came to hear the names of the dead and the part about us Specials.
"C'mon." Bree sighed, pulling Sebastian and I out of the main crowd. Spin and Marcus followed us, glancing over their shoulders to make sure no one noticed us leaving. Not that anyone would really care if we did.
"Well, that was boring." Spin complained as we reached the outskirts of the town hall.
"Rest assured that criminal acts done by Specials will not be tolerated." Sebastian mimicked angrily. "What utter bullshit."
"Sebastian-" I began, trying to calm him down before he caused a scene.
"I'm serious. They say things like that, but all they do is kidnap innocent people and kill the ones who try to run."
"They don't kill everyone." Bree told him. Sebastian gave her a look.
"Tell that to my father." He growled. I stepped in front of him, rubbing his arm.
"Look. I know, you're angry about what happened to your father, Sebastian, but I'm sure they didn't mean to kill him." Though I seriously didn't like the Hunters, I knew for a fact that Sebastian's father wasn't killed on purpose. I didn't like keeping secrets from Sebastian – he was so open with me about everything – but in truth, I had been there the day his father had been killed. And I knew, without a doubt, that it had been an accident.
"What about the kidnappings?" Spin retorted. "They tried to kidnap me. And they would have succeeded if it hadn't been for you guys. What gives them the right?"
"Oh, they have no right to do that, or anything else they've been doing." I agreed with the kid. "But there's no point in accusing them of cold-blooded murder when we can't prove that it wasn't an accident."
"Vivy…Vivyanna," Marcus corrected himself at the sight of my glare, "is right. And it's not like we can do anything about it."
"Unless we join that rebellion." Spin grumbled. Bree looked at him like he was crazy.
"That rebellion?" We'd all heard the rumours. A new Anti-Hunters Rebellion was forming to end the fight once and for all.
"Spin, the only thing that rebellion is going to do is get you killed." Marcus told him. "Joining them would be suicide."
"But-" Spin began to retort, but I cut him off.
"Honestly, from what I've heard, they sound like a bunch of idiots trying to cause trouble. The Hunters will be after them before too long." I told him. "I don't want to get caught up in any of that."
"Fine." Spin grumbled. "I won't bring it up again."
"Hey, chin up, Spin." Sebastian patted the kid's shoulder. "Things will get better."
I nodded encouragingly, hoping that Sebastian was right. "Now, I don't know about you guys, but I'm hungry."
"Yeah, me too. Dinner at that Mexican place you love?" Sebastian suggested. I grinned, nodding. "Bree, Marcus, Spin, you guys coming?"
Spin shook his head. "Nah, there's this girl at the arcade. Her name's Kate and her shift is supposed to start soon."
"Good luck with that." Marcus joked as Spin walked away, heading towards the arcade. Bree elbowed him.
"I was thinking of going home and watching a movie." She replied. Marcus nodded.
"Me too. I have the night off because of the memorial, so I'm going to be taking advantage of it." He replied. He nodded at us. "See you guys later?"
"Yeah, okay." I smiled at them as Sebastian led us away. I glanced at him, noticing how his jaw was still clenched. "Hey, are you okay?" I asked, assuming he was still mad about Chase's speech. He smiled at me, brushing some hair from my face.
"Perfect." He replied.
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Kihonne: I know, kinda boring. But next chapter, the Hunters go to Mission Creek. I wonder who they're going to run into first. And how they'll react too? Plus, what will they find out about the Special attacking the facilities? Anyway, I'll be updating on Friday, the 28th of August, so I'll see you all in a few days.
