Story 1: My Hero!

Alya Cesaire looked at the nearby clock, glad the day was nearing an end. It hadn't been a great day for the 'Ladyblogger'. First, her apartment had a small power outage, which resulted in her arriving at her workplace late. Then, one of her flash drives had been corrupted, meaning that the hundreds of documents she had created concerning the masked heroes of Paris was gone. She had a backup-but she kept that one at home. Then, the chief editor informed her of a new deadline-instead of the 4 days she usually had to crank out a new story, she was given only 2. Then, another coworker left early because she wasn't feeling well. So, her work was passed to the other editors.

Despite all of this, Alya still had made headway and turned the day around. Now, she was exhausted and wanted nothing more than to soak in a nice warm bath and fall asleep. So, she turned off her computer and headed out. As she hit the street and headed home, she was unaware she was being followed…

…until she was forcible grabbed and pulled into an alley. Before she could scream for help, a smelly, grimy hand covered her mouth. She was spun around-and she saw three thugs there. One of them said, "Well, well…a pretty little lady like you shouldn't be out this late by herself…who knows what kind of trouble she could get herself into?" The trio laughed-and Alya tried to fight her way out, but the leader was too strong for her.

She saw the glint of a knife-and the knife worked its way up her shirt, cutting it open. She could hear the thugs saying, "Oh, yeah!" She had managed to get her mouth free and said, "No…please…I have money…"

Meanwhile, Nino Lahiffe had been waiting near the building. He wanted to talk to Alya. He had something of a crush on her…for a long time. They went to the same school together…but they had drifted apart when he went to school for music, and she went to school for journalism. But a few weeks ago, he saw her in a café. It wasn't hard to miss her-especially with her vibrant red hair. So, they talked and rekindled their friendship. But Nino wanted to move out of the 'friend-zone'-they would go out when they had free time and hang out on occasion, but he felt their relationship would stay in its current state.

However, Nino had a secret. He had been given a special tool-one that could change him into a hero. And he would use this to protect the people of Paris. Because the power was resembling of a turtle-with the outre shell he could use as a shield- he called himself 'Carapace'. And he'd been out protecting the citizens of Paris for many months.

He looked up and saw Alya coming out of the building. She had her head down, looking at something on her phone. He came up to her-until he saw the three thugs grab her and pull her into an alley. He could see the fear on her face when she was grabbed and how she valiantly fought. Nino felt an emotion rising-righteous anger surfaced. He reached into his pocket and put on a green, hexagonal-shaped pendant.

Rather than the being that inhabited the trinket materialize physically, the being communicated telepathically. Nino-what is your need?

Nino mentally replied, I need your power, Wayzz… Nino then said, "Shell on!"

Meanwhile, Alya was tearfully awaiting what was going to happen…she knew she couldn't stop it…but she prayed that they would do what she thought they would do…and not kill her. The leader, the one with the knife, traced the blade over her bronzed skin and said, "Just relax, baby…we've got all night for our fun…"

A voice from the end of the alley shouted out, "So, is this what you think is fun? Taking advantage of a woman?" All eyes turned-to see Carapace standing there. The leader said, "I ain't scared of no turtle…hold her, boys, I'll be back." One of the other thugs held Alya while the leader brandished his knife. Carapace, meanwhile, had pulled his shield off his back. He swung the shield and hit the thug's knife hand with the shield, then continued in a spin and connected with the shield against the thug's face, knocking him out.

The other two saw this, and said, "Screw this! You can have her!" They pushed Alya towards Carapace, who gently took her in his arms. They then ran off. Carapace said, "Creeps…" in a low tone. He then turned his attention to Alya, and said, "All you all right, ma'am?"

Alya was overcome with emotion...hell, she was just on a rollercoaster of emotion-she went from fear to relief. She then embraced Carapace, who returned the embrace. It's everything I thought it would be…

When she could speak, Alya said, "Oh my God…you saved me…that could have been terrible…"

Carapace replied, "No problem. I saw you in distress and rushed to help you…"

Alya smiled, and said, "Well, how about a reward for my hero?" She leaned into him and kissed him-gently pressing her lips into his. After the kiss, Carapace said, "Well, then…how about an escort home?"

Carapace escorted Alya to her place-where she gave him another kiss. As she went about preparing for the night, Carapace retreated to change back. He de-transformed, and he could recall what happened-especially her soft lips against his. He then heard his phone buzz, and saw it was Alya's number. He answered, "Alya, what's up?"

After a few seconds, he replied., "Oh, wow. I'm glad you're OK…sure, I don't mind…I'll be there soon." As Nino disconnected the call, he wasn't sure where his relationship with Alya would progress…but he knew that he'd do anything to protect her…because even if their relationship didn't move past friendship, he knew he had something special by being her hero…if only for one night…