Jason Fuller & The Elementals: The Stones Of Olympus (Book 1)

by Andarion The Storyteller

This story is about the adventures of a young mutant named Jason Fuller and his friends as they embark on a journey to save the world from Doctor Doom and the Masters of Evil. Lives will be changed, destinies will be fought, ancient magic will resurface, and for Jason, a question that has plagued him since his parents death, about what it truly means to be a hero, will be answered.

13. Chapter 13: Our Day Off

Chapter 13: Our Day Off

(Jason's Perspective)

Nothing tops off a near death experience quite like a prophetic dream, but i'm getting a little bit ahead of myself. For the record, here's how the rest of my dying went (or as much of it as I can remember). My soul was being taken away from my body, but the angel and the woman on the Pegasus made no moves to grab me, or take me anywhere. They stood across from each other, looking at me intently, and in unison said one word: choose. I immediately understood. The angel represented Heaven (or at least Judgment), and the woman on the horse had to have been a Valkyrie, a one way taxi to Valhalla; they were asking me to choose which afterlife I wanted to go to. Honestly, I was torn between the two. I mean sure Heaven was Heaven, and with that came the promise of eternal peace, my own mansion, and being reunited with my parents, but Valhalla was an eternal Royal Rumble with gods, plus free food, I love free food, especially when it's good. So yeah, big decision to make (I was probably gonna choose Heaven), but before I could get around to spitting out an answer, I felt something like an invisible hand grab me from behind, and yank me downwards. At first I was scared that I was getting dragged into Hell, but thankfully that wasn't the case. I felt my soul being re-anchored to my body, as well as a familiar warming sensation. After that, things went blurry and painful again. I remember spazzing up and being in pain again. I remember getting rolled somewhere, lots of doctors, and the feeling of millions of volts getting zapped into my system, which for some reason was pure agony. I definitely remember screaming for a while before I blacked out, also hearing Allyson's voice saying something in my head; after that, the sweet bliss of unconsciousness rolled over me like a tidal wave.

So yeah, now comes the dream. As soon as the darkness rolled over me, I felt myself being whisked away again. I looked up (because I actually felt someone gripping me), and saw a white guy with a tan, wearing a red cape, golden armor, winged sandals, and a golden winged helmet. I knew it was Hermes, I mean I saw the guy in a vision just a few days ago, but I thought he was supposed to be defending Olympus with the other Olympians. I tried to say something, anything, but my voice wouldn't work, I couldn't say jack. Hermes looked down at me, smiled and waved with his free hand, and without warning, poured on a ridiculous amount of speed, carrying me God knows where. I remember going so fast, it was almost like I was a bolt of light. Then, just as fast as it started, the zoom died down, and I found myself somewhere I knew for a fact I didn't wanna be. For starters, I was in the middle of nowhere, and I mean that quite literally. Darkness was everywhere, there was no sky or ground, no stars or light, it was just hyperspace, pure, uncut, raw darkness. Yet even in this pit of despair, I could see one figure as bright as day. It was one of those Norse halls. Big, rugged looking, ancient, made of some type of dark matter, and really, really big. Seriously, I may have well been standing in front of a church 10X the height of the Empire State Building, and 5X as long as the Titanic, the hall was that big; what the hell could even be big enough to live in there? Hermes dropped me off at the stairs, and for a second, he looked like he was gonna knock on the door and pretend to deliver a pizza. Instead, he pulled a small vial of black liquid out of thin air, opened it, and poured it all over me. It felt cold, foreign, and primal. Unnatural wasn't the sensation I got from it, rather than something so ancient, it was like pure universe being poured all over me.

"A gift from father Zeus," he hastily whispered to me as he started to fade away. "As a reward for your victory, the All-Father permits you a small passage of time in which you will be undetected by enemy forces that you observe. Listen and remember everything you hear, even Zeus cannot know all, and even we cannot stand against them. Find out what you can Jason, and use it to help you on your quest; excelsior!"

Before I could shout at Hermes for being nuts, and complaining about the fact that if gods couldn't face the guy inside those doors, what was I supposed to do, I started to float high in the air, and once I was on the roof, I was thrusted through the dark walls, and inside the buildings. Whatever it was that was keeping me afloat, decided to put me on the edge of one of the support columns at the far end of the room where all the action was. Speaking of which, even if it was probably the center of all darkness, this place wasn't half bad. Fancy support columns held up the Norse structure, and made a nice line right down to the throne room. On either side of the halls, were lots and lots of tables, enough to easily seat millions upon millions of feasters (yeah they were dinner tables, but what the hell could you eat here?). The floors were polished black matter, with highlighted tiles, which had a nice cozy view of a giant swirling black hole at the bottom, giving people like me the feeling of doom, despair, a sudden fear of heights, and the urge to cry for mommy. Still, this was a pretty sweet place to crash for a while, or at least i'm sure everyone here thought so. Yeah, I was not alone. Lining up like a world army at attention, millions upon millions of dark things were lined up, saluting something in the throne room (I didn't turn my attention there yet). My enhanced vision wasn't kicking in, so I couldn't really get a good look at any of them, but I swear I saw horns, tails, and dark centaurs somewhere in the mix; that did not help my mood of them in the slightest. Finally, I worked up the courage to turn and look at the main event, ignoring that feeling in the back of my head saying: "Stop! You do not wanna see that $#!+!" Honestly, my brain was right. These people, whatever they were, were not the guys to f*(# with. For starters, they were the size of skyscrapers, big enough to use flagpoles as toothpicks. They seemed to have some sort of glow to them, like white lights used to define their features, otherwise they would've been as indistinguishable as their dark army. There were five of them in total, three guys and four girls. The guy in the center was big and burly, wearing heavy armor, and something that was like a Thor helmet X10. To either side of him were the two women. The one on the left looked like an older, bigger, more sinister version of Lady Sif (i've seen a few pics of her when she was doing stuff with Thor), on the right…well, I wasn't sure what to make of her, at most she resembled a cross between Dr. Strange, and a Norse queen with a masquerade type mask. Finally, the two other guys on the end were almost as burly and intimidating as their leader. The one on the left had on a lighter set of armor, a greekish looking helmet without the plume, with small horns jutting out of the side, and a long flowing cape tucked back under his back. He was absently spinning his sword on the floor like a spinning top, and the noise was like a million chalk boards being scratched at one time; not to mention the fact that the blade seemed to be making some sort of F3 level dark vortex as it spun around, almost like it was distorting reality. The guy on the right also looked something serious. His armor was just as bulky as his leader, and had the armor to match. He was wearing a helmet that covered most of his face (except his Duck Dynasty beard), that had rams horns jutting from the side, going down, and then curling back over his head. He was also sporting a weapon of his own, a one bladed war axe, with weird looking runes on it, long enough to use as a spear type weapon. He wasn't as restless looking as his friend on the other side, but I still got the feeling of him being someone who'd been cooped up for two long, and wanted to get out and exercise his muscles; except in his case, exercise might mean cutting a few cities in half. So yeah you get the picture, five powerhouses who could easily step on me as if I was an ant. That wasn't the main thing to be paying attention to. The main event, was the fact that on the floor, a good few feet away from the thrones (in their feet), stood Dr. Doom, clearer than crystal. I didn't know how it was that I was able to see him, but I just could. Same green cloak, same armored skin, same arms crossed over his chest, as if he was the one that owned this place; you'll forgive me if I rooted for the dark people to blast him into sludge. It would've made the rest of my life so much easier. The air in the room changed frequency, and I just caught on to the fact that the big guy was starting a sentence directed for Dr. Doom.

"Victor Von Doom," his thunder-like voice resonated through the hall, making me feel like my bones were under siege. "The Ones Who Sit Above In Shadow have summoned you, to reconsider the agreements of our previous negotiation."

I had no idea what agreements, or negotiations he was talking about, but i'd been in school for all my life, so I could interpret teacher talk. Basically, Dr. Doom for one reason or another, was working with, or under the Shadow Gods (I refuse to say the full name), and they were not happy with his results so far.

"What do you do you mean, discuss?" Doom responded, not even flinching at the idea of the fact that he had displeased cosmic dark gods. "Nothing has changed significantly, my plans will still commence on schedule despite the minor interference,why do you waste my time with such banal conversation?"

"BECAUSE YOU HAVE BEEN PRODUCING ACHIEVEMENTS THAT UNDER RANK YOUR PROMISES!" shouted the ram horn guy, ramming the butt of his axe on the ground so hard, he actually caused a blast of air that would've flung me against the wall if I was actually here physically.

"Calm yourself Ragnar!" the head Shadow God snapped at him. "We have matters to discuss, and I will not tolerate more of your temper tantrums! Now be silent, unless you are willing to compose yourself, the way a God of Gods should!"

Clearly this guy was being cooped up in this place for way too long, and was lashing out the way a restless child would, but apparently rank meant something here, because he slumped back on his throne and sighed.

"As you wish Lothrook," he responded. "Please, continue on."

If Lothrook detected that swipe of sarcasm, he didn't let on, and continued addressing Doom.

"Dr. Doom," he responded. "Because of us, you had the power of six gods at your disposal. Your objective was a simple one, use that power to wipe away the current civilizations of Midgard, and remake it in whatever way you see fit, no strings attached. Instead, most of your power is either scattered across the ball of dirt and water, or in the hands of your enemies. What defense do you have to offer us for your nigh intolerable failure?"

"Dr. Doom does not fail!" he snapped back. Clearly he didn't remember all the times The Fantastic Four/Avengers kicked his ass, but maybe he got knocked in the head one too many times. "The deed would have been done by now, if that insufferable Stephen Strange did not scatter the stones quicker than I could harness their power. No matter, the device is complete, and all that is left to do is retrieve the stones, if Fury wants to collect them for me, then all the better."

"And you do not fear the possibility of your adversaries collecting all the prizes?" asked the Shadow goddess with the mask and fancy robes. "Have you even prepared for the possibility that your own power might be used against you?"

"That fool Fury won't know what to do with the powers of gods," Doom responded. "He'd just lock them away somewhere, someplace I would eventually discover and take by force. Men like Fury fear power, I do not, and with his Avengers dogs scattered to the wind, he has no one left to hide behind."

"What of the children?"

The put a microscopic halt in Doom's demeanor, like a spec of dirt had found it's way into his eye.

"What?" he almost shouted at her. "Those adolescent gnats? You would believe that three mutant children, who are just coming into their powers, could ever hope to stand against the might of Doom!?"

"Twice they have battled your forces," the guy across Ragnar said. "Twice they have emerged victorious, even while your warriors were powered by the might of Ares and Hades, it would be unwise to underestimate them, mortal ruler."

"Venom was merely a brute I used to bolster my ranks. Doom said. "He could not even hope to overcome the nuisance known as Spider-Man, much less harness the savage power of the god of war; his defeat offers no consequence. Furthermore, let it be duly noted that you plucked one of my own, Green Goblin, from my headquarters without prior knowledge or preparation. He was also a fool that could not hope to tame the powers of a god; his death will not be mourned, but why did you interfere?"

Damn. Doom was kind of a dick, I mean I killed the guy myself, and I felt more grief for him than Doom did. If this was the guy my friends and I were supposed to fight against, at least I had confirmation that mercy was something that was completely off of the table; if we fought, it would most likely be to the death (assuming it had to go that far).

"Because," said the Ragnar. "Bjornskadi and I grew tired of your false bravado, and pretenses of an easy victory. While the children were fighting the battle you should have been fighting, what were you doing? We needed a test, an experiment to see which faction had the most conviction in their cause. Say whatever you wish Doom, but the boy has the divine favor of Zeus, and single handedly defeated your lackey, even when he was the wielder of death, even when we made his thoughts clearer, and gave him a single mission to accomplish; you do indeed have much to fear, and much to prove."

This time I could see Doom shift ever so slightly (my vision let me see what it wanted me to); clearly, the Shadow Gods were getting under his skin.

"As i've previously stated," he continued. "I was aware of Fury's little play, the instant he instigated Strange to scatter the stones to the wind. True, his little task force is formidable to lesser beings, but not to Doom. I was more than willing to let them walk away with the stone, it will be the last victory they ever achieve. From now on, my cohorts will retrieve the stones by any means necessary. Failures will not be tolerated, and enemies will be dealt with swiftly and harshly; besides, that little display of power did not frighten me at all, i've defeated plenty of storm bringers far beyond the talents of that inferior insect."

Yeah, keep on talking buddy, let's see you say that to my face (yeah, I know he would, and much worse).

"Your previous Pyrrhic victories mean little to us," said the dark Lady Sif lookalike. "How many times have you been on the cusp of victory, only to fail due to your arrogance and stupidity. Do not forget, mortal who pretends to be a god, we were the ones who gave you this opportunity at immortality, through your dreams we instructed you about the existence of the stones, and how to corrupt the magic that held them in solitary confinement. We were the ones who coaxed the enemies of the Greek Pantheon to indulge their dark impulses, and wage a suicide attack Olympus, we are the ones who have seen the rise and fall of gods, we are the masters of fate, and destiny; you would be wise to remember that, and fulfill the assignment we have set out for you."

Again, maybe it was the swirling dark voices, the immense size of the Shadow Gods, or the fact that I was trying to hide on my pedestal, waiting every moment for the enchantment Hermes put on me to fail, but I felt the fear of them deep in my soul. I just knew everything they were saying was true. They had scattered the Stones of Olympus, they had sent Grant, Allyson, and I on a death scavenger hunt against Doom, and God knows how many other villains. These guys were bad news, like universe level bad, and I got the feeling that this was just step one. Maybe it was all my experience with bully empires (one bully who runs the whole student body in one way or another), but I knew the sound of a person who offered power, or an opportunity to someone weaker, in an attempt to further their own agenda. Whether Doom knew it or not, he was a tool, and these guys were the real ones running the show. Hell, maybe that's why they chose him; his arrogant, 'I always think i'm king of the hill' attitude, was probably blinding him to the fact that he was way out of his league. Still, Doom stood strong, and exchanged words tic for tac.

"If what you say is true Lagertha," he started. "Then why do you constantly meddle in the affairs of us mortals. You can play Masters of the Universe all you wish, but I see the truth in your eyes. You are all slaves, captives to this realm. You need my aid to escape, you need me to free you, probably to take vengeance on Asgard for whatever reason. Make no mistake, I care not for that realm of primitive D-List gods, all I desire is the earth, and all that it entitles me with. We have a common enemy, heroes and gods alike, those who would defy our rule, our divine right to reshape the realms as we see fit. I will not fail, the stones will be mine, I will burn my obsolete earth away, and reshape it and it's inhabitants into a master race worthy of Doom. As for those children that you fear so much, they will be exterminated if they get in my way again; Dr. Doom is supreme, and he will crush all who opposes him. All.

He just threatened Shadow gods. It was subtle, and they probably didn't catch it, but he just threatened them hard. Also, for once in all the times i've heard Doom open his mouth, he was right about one thing; those guys were afraid of Delta Force. I mean, Goblin wouldn't stop raving about Allyson when the stone of Hades got into his system, and if the Shadow Gods were the ones who ordered the execution, either they had something against the sun (which they probably did), or they thought she was a threat. Dunno why they would (no offense to her), but Doom definitely called them out on their bull$#!+. Furthermore, they didn't even bother to deny it, they just continued on like they didn't even hear him.

"Prove it," said the fancy robe lady. "Finish them, tomorrow, they will be lurking in New York City, hiding amongst the mundane humans, making play that they are still one of them. Finish them where they stand, and you will have regained the respect and the trust of Torvunn, and The Ones Who Sit Above In Shadow.

" I do not engage in battle with ants," Doom sneered at them. "It is beneath me. However, if it will mean fewer of these trivial conversations, I will arrange for their deaths; the little ones want to be heroes? I'll give them the honor of a hero's death, grand and public."

The Shadow Gods looked at each other, looked at Doom, and nodded as one. All of a sudden Lothrook froze, and when he brought his head up, he was looking dead at me, I froze in fear, unable to react or even breathe. his eyes glowed bright, but before he could blast me to atoms, I felt a yanking sensation, like someone was pulling me with a fishing reel, and I was yanked away from the Shadow Gods' presence at what had to be like 100X the speed of light (and believe me, I knew enough about that to make a comparison). I zoomed to parts unknown, my vision nothing but a blur of colors as I drifted into unconsciousness in my own dream.

I opened my eyes and breathed in heavily, taking in my surroundings as fast as possible. I saw tiles, roof tiles, ok I was in some sort of building. I looked to either side of me. There were desks filled with medical supplies, an IV was strapped into my left arm, and I was on some kind of hospital bed. My battle suit was gone (how'd it get off?), and I was wearing a white T-Shirt with the S.H.I.E.L.D. emblem on it; my sweatpants remained undisturbed or changed. I felt all over myself, and breathed in a sigh of relief, I was back at S.H.I.E.L.D., I was alive. Granted, I didn't feel up to scratch. My body ached a little bit, plus I felt like something in me wasn't exactly packing a full tank of gas, but that was a question for another day, probably for S.E.R.A. to answer. Anyway, All of the remaining fear and anxiety I had immediately melted away when my door suddenly slammed open. Allyson stood in the doorway, her face a unique mix of awe, relief, and just sheer joy. The spark in her eye made the sun seem like a candle in comparison, i've never seen anything so bright or full of passion. She was in her pink S.H.I.E.L.D. pajamas (LOL, seriously S.H.I.E.L.D., pink?!), her hair was tied back in a ponytail, her brown eyes were almost like fire, and I couldn't help but smile at the sight of her. She walked towards me really fast, saying my name with joy, and wrapping me in a tight hug. I was still under the pretense that she still hated my guts, so this came as a bit out of left field, but I didn't question it, I hugged her back and decided to go with the flow. Grant came in shortly afterwards (the idiots must have been waiting for me forever), dressed in sweatpants and a blue hoodie, and just like Allyson, he was super hyped to see that I was alive; hell, he didn't even bother with any formalities, he shouted "Dude!" at the top of his lungs, made his way to my bedside, and wrapped me in a huge bear hug, nearly breaking my back in the process.

"What's up man!?" he asked me after letting go. "You're looking well for someone who nearly died!"

"Well you know," I played it off. "Death is overrated anyway, but how are you man, how's everything?"

"It's all good," he said, lifting his shirt to show his unpierced skin. "Allyson helped me out big time, lots of others too."

"It was nothing," she quickly said. "Just did what I could, didn't even save them all, I barely was able to save you, Jason."

"You saved me?" I asked her. "How?"

She told me the story of how she and Grant found me just outside of Garden City. How they used her Sun Healing to patch me up at a molecular level, even going so deep as to tether my soul back to my body.

"It took everything I had Jason," she continued, her voice starting to break. "And even then, I almost wasn't strong enough. You were dying, I could feel you dying, and I just, I almost-"

"It's ok," I said, grabbing her shoulder. "You did it, you saved me, you're-"

There are some things my Speed Sense simply can't prepare me for. Bullets? Easy. Punches, kicks, energy blasts, swords? All child's play. However, when it comes to a kiss, my Speed Sense was dead in the water. Allyson quickly reached out, grabbed my face, and pulled me into a deep passionate kiss. I was surprised as hell, but as soon as my lips touched hers, as soon as that vanilla/spearmint taste made contact, I was lost in the moment, kissing her back with just as much fire and tenderness. It felt so good, like warm fire coursing through every ounce of my body. Her kiss was strong and firm, a little aggressive even, but still soft and sweet. I honestly wanted to pull her in closer, make the contact last longer, but I had to let her make that decision; no need to press my luck when I was already golden. She held the kiss for a good seven seconds (imagine how long that've been in Speed Mode), and then just as quickly as she started it, she pulled away, a look of shock and disbelief on her face. I thought I had f*(%# up big time, I thought she was gonna hit me, or run away in embarrassment; instead, she broke down in tears, and hugged me tighter than before, her face buried in my chest. I held her tight, feeling an odd mixture of butterflies, and awkwardness. Don't get me wrong, I soothed her with my voice, and Grant also stepped in to offer his comforting words (probably knowing i'd fail on my own), but I was new at this, the whole being with other people for more than I had to vibe, it took a little while to shake off; luckily, Allyson and Grant were the perfect gateway into socialness. So yeah, Allyson cried for a good few minutes, not saying a word, just trying to pull herself together, which I was totally fine with; hell, I wasn't in the best mental or emotional state either, I almost died! After she got a hold on her crying, she loosened the grip she had on me, and sighed in relief.

"You...al-almost…died…J-Jason." she gulped. "I was so mean to you, I was so stupid, and scared, and judged you on complete bull. I'm so sorry I shut you out, I would've never forgiven myself if your last thoughts of me were how much I didn't care about you; that is so far from the truth."

"It's ok Allyson," I said while absently stroking some of her hair. "I wasn't the most stand up guy to start out with anyway, I know I get angry sometimes, I know sometimes I may look like i'm just a hood, but you gotta believe me, I….I mean..I just-"

"It's ok. I know."

She did? I didn't even know! Aww f*(# it, it all works out for me in the end, so why question it?

"You two are adorable," Grant bluntly said. "You two are truly adorable, and you're improving, breaking down false perceptions, getting closer, learning to….I ruined the moment didn't I?"

Allyson and I nodded, but she quickly pulled him and myself into a group hug.

"I don't wanna lose any of you guys," she said. "I love you guys so much."

"We love you to Allyson," Grant said. "Right Jason?"

"Y-yeah," I stammered out. "No doubt."

I suck at this.

"Oh guys!" I said suddenly, causing them to break the hug. "I finally did it, I came up with an awesome code name, it might sound odd at first, but give it a sec, it'll catch on. Ready? Storm-Lord."

They looked at me quizzically at first, just like I knew they would, but slowly, the lights started to go off in their head, and Grant dapped me up; Storm-Lord was a go.

"Speaking of which, Mr. Storm-Lord," he continued. "That was some sick show of power back there, I mean sure you didn't exactly end on the best note, but that lightning flying thing, the airbending, that fuzzy punch thing you kept doing, and the tornadoes!? Dude, you were unstoppable, you totally gave Goblin the business!"

I winced at the thought of Goblin, I mean sure it was in self defense, but I kinda killed a guy, that'd have to get some getting used to.

"Yeah well," I responded. "No big deal, just doing what I had to."

"Well you did good man," said Grant. "Thanks for picking up the slack for me, you guys saved my life, cleaned up my mess, i'm sorry I put you in danger, Jason."

"Dude, that was so not your fault, you did your best."

"Wasn't good enough."

"Enough," Allyson stepped in, grabbing both of our hands firmly. "Now you two listen to me now. You both did amazing, we all did our parts as best as we could. There is no 'I should've done better', there is no feeling sorry for yourselves, not on my watch. We saved the world again today, and no matter what else, no matter what happened, even if we didn't save them all…we still saved countless others. We'll get better, we'll be a better team, but please, don't beat yourselves up, we're alive, we got the stone, and we saved tons of people today; nothing else matters right now, nothing."

"Couldn't have said it better, Ms. Grace," said a familiar commander of S.H.I.E.L.D.

Fury walked through the door, followed by Mrs. Kennedy and Storm. They looked remotely ok (especially Storm, and who was undoubtedly caught in the blast), and for the first time since being here, I wasn't under the impression that I was in trouble; they genuinely wanted to check on my well being. Fury took a seat next to me, while everyone else kinda shuffled around where they could get comfortable.

"How you feeling son?" he asked me.

"Pretty ok," I answered. "I still feel...not all here, but i'm gradually feeling better, thanks for the concern."

"Not a problem Mr. Fuller, although truth be told, you should be thanking your friends, not to mention Ororo here. You consumed a lot of Hades energy in you, when you absorbed that nuclear blast of yours, the energy almost killed you from the inside out; your friends kept you alive, Storm electrified the energy out of your system."

I looked at Storm awkwardly, not really able to convey my gratitude towards her effectively.

"Thank you," I managed to get out. "Thanks for saving my life."

Again, it must have been 'let's show Jason love' day, because reached out, gave me a hug, and lightly tousled my dreads.

"You are most welcome Jason," she said politely. "I look forward to teaching you how to control your storm, you are indeed a powerful elementalist."

I blushed, told her thanks again, and turned back to Fury.

"So do you want a debriefing or something?" I asked him.

"Unnecessary," he said. "We've seen enough for today, all that matters is that we have the stone, I just need to ask you something, all of you."

Grant, Allyson, and I looked at Fury quizzically. He didn't have his whole commander demeanor flipped on anymore, now he looked kinda like a dad, who realized he's put his children on a roller coaster they weren't old enough to ride. His face aged like five years in a second, his shoulders slumped, and he actually rubbed his hands over his face, and deep breath before uttering a single word.

"When I started this task force," he started. "I was under the pretense that this mission would always be covert, out of sight. I knew you were all in for some fights against the world's most dangerous super villains, but your powers were off the charts, your fighting abilities were enough to handle even the worst of em', and your teamwork was nothing short of prodigy level; I truly believed that together, you would be strong enough to never be in a position where you would actually be an inch from death's doorstep. Because of my decision, you've all been faced with unimaginable horrors and challenges. You've faced death, seen others die, and now hold the burden of the death of innocent lives, which was not for a single second any of your faults. Forget the Fates, forget prophecies, gods, magic, and whatever else makes an average joe's skin like mine's crawl. We make our own fate, we choose our own destinies, and it was wrong of me to take away your liberty, and your right to say no."

He paused again, and I got a pretty good intuition about where this lecture was going.

"Mrs. Kennedy has three of our fastest jets, prepped, and ready to take you to airports nearest to your homes. As S.H.I.E.L.D. interns, you have been on our payroll since you're first mission to the Amazon, receiving 1,000 dollars per successful mission, and extra thousand for bringing in super villains, plus 50 dollars a day; as of now, you all have 4,100 dollars to your names. Should you wish to abandon this task force, all of the money will be yours, and you will never have to set foot on this Helicarrier again. The choice is yours, and I will not hold it against you if you choose to leave, I only hope you can forgive an old dog for bringing three pups into a war meant for grown-ups. Do you choose to stay, or leave."

This was way too good to be true. I could leave now, go home to mom with a wad of cash in my bank account, and not have to worry anymore about a war that I didn't wanna fight. I won't lie, I was an inch away from taking the deal, and making my way; but then I stopped and thought about what I was doing. If I left, Grant and Allyson would be without a leader. I knew them, they were way too strong, resilient, and determined to give up just because things got hard. The Avengers were still scattered, most of the remaining heroes were also apart, or if unfortunate enough to get caught in the blast, were probably not 100% on top of their game. If I left, Fury would be in a bind, Doom would have a bigger jump on the race, and I would probably be responsible for the end of the world (assuming Grant and Allyson actually failed). No, I couldn't leave. I owed it to Grant and Allyson to see this through. I owed it to the world to keep the stones out of Doom's hands. I owed it to those kids to make sure nobody was hurt in the same way they were.

"No," I told Fury after a brief pause. "I started this, and i'm gonna finish it. We all knew the risks of being a part of this team, we've all had to fight for our lives, and we've all had to come to terms with the possibility of death in our own ways. Whether or not destiny is involved, I refuse to let people like Doom or Goblin get their hands on something as powerful as these stones, I refuse to let them hurt anybody else ever again. The answer is no Fury. You won't get rid of me that easy, i'm staying, i'm gonna get the stones, and i'm gonna punch Doom in the face with my best Thunder Fist. I'm staying, and i'll fight until I physically can't fight anymore."

"That goes double for me sir," Grant immediately followed. "Yeah, I almost died, and no that didn't feel all that great, but i'm still here, and i've still got a job to do. Besides, with The Avengers away, you need all the muscle you can get, and i've got plenty of that. We're heroes now, and heroes don't give up, ever. Even if we did go home, Jason and I barely have anything worth returning too, now that we've been outed as mutants. No, i'm not running from it, but I am determined to use my powers for something worthy, something worth fighting and dying for, something that'll make me proud to call myself a mutant. Besides, if we're actually on payroll, even though i'd do it for free, I kinda like the idea of making some more mula before I go home; plus, this'll be some good padding for my resume if I ever wanna roll with The Avengers or The X-Men!"

We all busted out laughing, even Fury and Mrs. Kennedy chuckled a little bit before stopping to let Allyson get her two cents in.

"Well, I dunno guys," she started somberly. "After today, things are different, I dunno if I have the strength to go through another mission like this one."

The entire room held it's breath, all eyes were on Allyson, who had just uttered words that we all never expected to hear from her mouths. She paused for a moment, keeping us in a net of suspense and dread (especially me), and then busted out into a huge grin.

"Just kidding!" she said, grabbing both mine's and Grant's head, pulling us in for one of those selfie hugs. "No way i'm abandoning you guys, not now, not ever. It wasn't even a question Colonel Fury, i'm in this till the end."

I (and probably everyone else in the room), breathed in relief, and laughed a little bit longer, before calming down, and giving the floor back to Fury.

"Alright then," he said, that commander swagger kicking in gear again. "First thing's first, you three need better protection gear, Mrs. Kennedy?"

"Already on it sir," she said, pulling a virtual screen up out of thin air. "I've already arranged for the suits to be dipped in another layer of Titanium/Steel liquid fiber, that'll improve defense and durability tenfold, without sacrificing any mobility capabilities. On top of that, i'm equipping the suits with Mutant Power Dampener Energy reflectors, bioelectric defenses that'll keep enemy power sets from effecting internal biology, mental shield emitters, in about 8 hours, you three will be walking fortresses."

"Speaking of which," I said. "What time is it, how long was I out?"

"It's 12:15 A.M., you've been out for about ten hours," Mrs. Kennedy responded. "I hope you're feeling ok, I had S.E.R.A. run a scan on you while you slept, you'll get those results back, plus another detail of your new abilities in about another three hours."

Ok, that was weird. For the first time since I knew her, Mrs. Kennedy actually showed concern for my well being, like it'd actually ruin her day if I died. Even I couldn't help but feel good about that.

"And until such time," said Fury. "You three need to get some rest. Tomorrow, i'm giving you the day off, as well as access to the money that you have earned up until this point. You have a free day in New York City to shop, eat, tour, whatever you want, although i'd probably make a trip to a tux/dress rental first if I were you."

He pulled out three white tickets, engraved with fancy golden lines, with a picture of a Christmas tree on it. He handed Grant, Allyson, and I a ticket, and my jaw dropped a little when I saw the words: St. Mark's Annual Christmas Ball, Ages 15-17, on it. Why was this a big deal? Every year, on top of donating stuff to the homeless, St. Mark Industries hosted the biggest Christmas bashes in every major city across the world. The parties were separated by age (high school/adults), but they were meant for the wealthy. The only way you got in, was if you were somebody, or if you knew somebody. Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't get excited for some cheesy Christmas ball if it wasn't worth getting excited about, and from the legends and reputation, these parties did not disappoint, on any level.

"Dude," Grant said, a dumbstruck look plastered on his face. "These parties are legit! How'd you get a hold of these, they usually get sold out within the first two months of the new year!"

"Long story short," Fury said. "Stark owed me a favor, and St. Mark Industries owed Stark a favor. The food chain did it's magic, and I got these tickets printed off within the last hour. Thank you Fury, you're welcome children."

We all hastily thanked Fury for the tickets and he took his leave, Mrs. Kennedy trailing behind him.

"So," I said to Grant and Allyson. "Where we gonna get our rentals,"

"Eww," Allyson recoiled. "We are not showing up to a party of this caliber, with average, boring, dress attire. If we're gonna do this, we do it my way, the right way. I know a place in New York that sells suits and dress just right for this occasion, my mom orders stuff from this place all the time. Don't worry, we're still gonna go where you guys want, and I won't make you spend all of your money on your suits, but we do that first, and I have final say on all attire decisions. Besides, if you're gonna be my date, then you gotta clean up, Jason."

"What?" I stammered.

"You heard me. You're gonna be my date, and we are gonna be the baddest couple to set foot in that party, like it or not."

Her face was so sexy, seductive, and the perfect amount of diva. I felt my willpower melt into a puddle, and simply smirked and shrugged.

"Don't worry Grant," she continued. "You're gonna look so good, all the girls will be dying to have a piece of you, I guarantee you'll have a few companions before the night is up. Alright you two, let's get to bed, we gotta eat breakfast at 6, be on the ground at 7, and get a lot of shopping done in at least under eight hours before getting back to the Helicarrier, and getting ready for the dance; by the time we're done with the first half of the day, you're gonna wish we were still on duty. Now chop chop, off to bed now."

She didn't take anything else for an answer. She started shooing Grant out of the room, who flashed me a 'WTF' look, and gave me a kiss on the cheek before leaving herself. Man, that girl could take charge. In response, I turned over, pulled the covers over me, and drifted off to sleep again. I probably should've told them about my dream, about the Shadow Gods, Doom, and the possibility of us actually walking headfirst into a battle; but I was too tired, the mood was too sweet, and I didn't wanna spoil the moment. Hopefully tomorrow, everything would go according to plan, and we'd get a nice peaceful day (or as peaceful as you can be as a shopper in New York, that city will eat you alive for a pair of shoes).

I didn't have another dream, but then again, i'd filled my quota for weird dreams. However, if you count waking up at 5:30 in the morning as surreal, then that totally counts. The infirmary staff (which was always on duty), came by, at Allyson's request, removed the IV from my arm, and put a fresh set of clothes for me to wear on the table. I grabbed the bundle, made my way to my room, took a quick shower, and got dressed. Today, I was wearing an orange sweater, followed by a light hoodie, followed by a medium red jacket, followed by a heavy black jacket, with matching mitts, boots, and a snowcap. If you think this is overkill, you've clearly never been in New York during the holiday season. After getting dressed, I went down to the cafeteria with Grant and Allyson, who were more or less wearing the same attire, except Allyson was wearing all white, and Grant had a red heavy coat. We ate a truckload of food (I was so unbelievably hungry), and after we finished, we went to the deck of the Helicarrier, and waited for our ride. Apparently, we were getting flown into the city, but there were no jets on standby, no pilots scheduled for takeoff, and I doubt Times Square had a parking space big enough for a fighter jet. Still, we waited a good two minutes for our ride, before hearing the sound of some type of flying mobile. Coming in for a landing behind on the runway, was an honest to God, flying mini van. The wheels were turned sideways, emitting some kind of propulsion, but they quickly returned to a natural state as soon as they landed on the pavement. The windows rolled down, and Agent Coulson, dressed in his usual Men In Black suit, looked at us with slight amusement (must've loved this part of his job).

"Shall we get moving?" he asked. "The flight will take about a half hour. Gotta beat that holiday rush, am I right?"

Grant, Allyson, and I grinned while climbing into the car. Again, the mini van wasn't the fastest thing in the world, but it did ok, I mean supersonic was nothing to complain about. Grant claimed shotgun (again), but at least Allyson and I were less awkward around each other now. Yeah, LESS awkward. Sure, the anger was gone, but we kinda made out for a little bit, that was gonna stick around in the air for a bit. Still, the ride to NYC was kinda fun, or at least the pastime entertainment was. Coulson thought it would be helpful to put my updated stats on the TV screens, and I was subject to a 10 minute lecture on the science of my new powers. I won't give you a rerun (you already know about Thunder/Storm Form), but long story short, I had a new energy reserve that absorbed and augmented air, that was why I felt so overstuffed when I was fighting Goblin; I literally absorbed about 10 miles of cloud pressure. Also, when I become a tornado, I release all of that energy at once, meaning if i'm not careful, i'll lose it all, and will be unable to use my Storm Form, or go tornado. After the presentation ended, followed by another 20 minutes of flying, we finally touched down at 100 Hudson Street at some store called Thom Browne. We parked around back, and Coulson deactivated the camouflage device on the car (what, you thought we just flew a visible car down into NYC?). The place definitely looked like a rich people store. It was big, rectangular, and silver. It had a small glass entrance to it's far right. If I wasn't mildly wealthy for a 17 year old, this place would be off limits to me, and even then the building was imposing and intimidating, it was almost daring me to come inside; Allyson was more than up for the challenge, and basically strutted through the doors, leaving Grant and I to trail after her.

The inside was just as imposing. Clean white floors, designer suits, dresses, and other clothing hanging on racks and walls. To either side of the store were changing rooms, and dead in the center, about 30 meters away from the entrance, was a white guy behind the clerking area, who looked like he was in his mid-forties, with thinning brown hair, grey eyes, and a composure so pristine, he was no doubt the owner of this place. As we walked to the counter (making sure to stay behind Allyson), his gaze intensified ever so slightly, it was like he saying: 'Who are these children that dare to enter my realm?' Yeah, I made a note to talk as little as possible, as Allyson stepped up to parley with him.

"Good morning," she said, making me jump in my head. It was like she was a different person. Her voice became much more regal, refined, and a little bit entitled; and this was without her being in Super Sunbird. Hell, the guy at the counter was more surprised than I was, actually deciding to take her half seriously now.

"Good morning indeed young lady," he said with his fancy aristocratic accent. "How may I help you on this fine day."

"My companions and I," she continued, upping the regalness a little. "We've been invited to St. Mark Industries Annual Christmas Ball, for the high schoolers of course."

"Really?" the guy asked her, kinda giving Grant and I looks of minor disgust, like he could accept that Allyson was invited, but not us. "Is this your first time young lady? You know, i've been to five of these events myself, and I can tell you from experience, the pleasantries are to die for."

"Is that so, Mr. Baz is it? Yes indeed, this will be our first time attending such a ball, and it is my sole mission to make sure that we are the center of the show, the crown jewels of the party, and don't worry, i'm certain that I can manage by myself; them included."

Mr.. Baz was actually taken aback by this, almost offended by the thought of an amateur telling him he wasn't needed.

"Is that so?" he asked her. "Well then madam, what did you have in mind for you and the gentleman? As i'm sure you know, this ball is one of the most anticipated celebrations of the year. Not any hoodlum can be invited, and as such, showing up in anything other than the best garments will not demand the attention you seek in the ballroom."

Shots fired. Shots were fired, but Allyson didn't miss a beat.

"I am quite aware of that," she responded. "Which is why i'll be requesting outfits from your Christmas Season Exclusives for this year. I need something in red. Supple yet sexy, and completely unique. When all the girls see me, I want them to wish they'd have bought the dress, but didn't because they both overlooked, and didn't look high enough for it. Also I need it to be comfortable to dance in, i'm not one of those girls who just sits and models, I wanna have fun."

Mr. Baz nodded, obviously Allyson was off to a good start.

"For my date Jason," she continued, turning her glance to me. "Something black and red will suit him just fine, but again, something supple and unique; something that says 'i'm handsome, i'm fun, but i'm taken'. Silk would be nice, it'll be just right for his build."

"And for the other gentleman?" Baz asked her, obviously consenting to the idea that she had the game on lock.

"White," Allyson said. "Snow white if you please, silk as well, it'll compliment his skin just nice, and more so, it'll make him stand out to the crowd more; he's going solo this evening, lucky for the ladies. A green shirt and striped tie will finish the combination off nicely. On top of the holiday colors, green also seems to be his color. Finally, give him a fedora with a green strap, I just have a feeling he can make it work beautifully."

"Very well then," said Baz. "If you three will follow me, my employees will get your measurements, and i'll escort you to the Exclusives afterwards."

Measurements took freaking forever. From the arms, legs, waist, even feet, those assistants didn't mess around, it took like 10 minutes a person. Still, I would've preferred the measuring, compared to what came afterwards. Baz led us to the back of the store, into something that resembled a really big closet, or a small warehouse. There were suits, and dresses galore. From black silk tuxedos, to bright blue with glitter patterns, and everything in between. I was no fashion expert, but even I could appreciate the sheer amount of designer gear, even if I nearly fainted when I walked by a pair of pants worth 500 dollars. Allyson and Baz walked straight to the right side of the room, where all of the designer dresses were, and this is where things started to suck. When I heard the color red, I immediately thought that Allyson would only have a handful of outfits to pick, meaning we'd get out of here in record time, and avoid all the changing, complementing, changing again, and complementing again. Yeah, when I saw a rack that had over 50 dresses on it, each with it's own design, color variation, and set of heels, my heart sank, and I got ready for what was sure to be a long and painful exercise; Allyson did not disappoint, and here's a little tidbit of what I had to go through for 10 DIFFERENT DRESSES!

Dress #1: Red, fluffy, had green glitter Christmas tree patterns, made her look absolutely stunning.

Allyson: How do I look?

Me: Great!

Allyson: What do you mean great?

Me: Just great?

Allyson: So i'm only great, i'm not beautiful?

Me: No you are, I meant-

Allyson: I knew this wasn't the one, the frills throw my shape off, I look fat, plus who puts trees on a dress, this isn't a rainforest convention. I need to change, don't move!

Grant and I were just sitting there (she refused to let us pick out our own clothes), and when she left, Grant looked at me like 'seriously dude?'

"What?" I asked him. "I thought she looked good, she did look good right?"

He shook his head in disbelief, and went back to playing games on his phone; clearly there was a grand lesson that I was not getting, and Grant was not gonna save me any time soon.

Dress #2: Slimmer than the first, highlighted her figure, had glitter snowflakes running down the sides, made her look sexy as hell.

Her: Ok, is this better?

Me: Yeah, it really highlights your figure.

Her: Highlights my figure?

Me: Yeah, you know…makes you look...sexy?

Her: It's too tight isn't it? I look like a holiday hooker!

Me: No, no, no,! You look-

Her: I know what I look like! You don't have to rub it in, i'll find another one!

She stormed off to the dress rack, grabbed another dress, and stormed back into the changing room, swearing excessively. Grant busted out in laughter, grabbing my shoulder for support.

"What!?" I asked him. "What I say!?"

He just continued to laugh in my face, clearly not ready to end my suffering, that amused him so. Five minutes later, Allyson came out of the changing room, and stormed over to me.

Dress #3:Had a Mrs. Claus type look to it, slim yet frilly, with a white fur pelt around her shoulder area, looked kinda cliché, but she made it work.

Her: How about now? (so much venom)

Me: Great! Absolutely stunning, kinda like a hot Mrs. Claus.

Her: I look like a grandmother!?

Me: No, you look like the embodiment of the Christmas spirit!

Her: So I look like a walking novelty?

Me: Yes? Is that bad?

Her: Yes! When people see me, I want them to think i'm hot for this century! If anyone above the age of thirty calls me 'cute', i'm too PG. Ugh, let's try this again.

It just didn't stop, it was an unstoppable runaway train. Every dress was either too big, too tight, not the right color, not Christmasy enough, too Christmasy, too conservative, too revealing, it was just a nightmare; and Grant was just loving it.

"Dude," he said as Allyson was scanning the rack for another dress. "You suck at this, like so unbelievably hard."

"What's the deal though?" I asked him. "I mean she looks great in all of the dresses, why is this so hard for her, why can't she see how hot she is?"

"Because you sir, can't spit any type of game."

"What!?"

"Look bro, girls need to feel above and beyond all the others, it has to be them at the top, with nobody else even close to their level. Now, you're right, all of her dresses have been top notch, but your compliments are lagging. Calling her beautiful, sexy, great, that's not enough. There too generic, too anybody, it's gotta be more exclusive, tailored just for her. In fact, follow me, let me show you how it's done."

He got up and walked to Allyson, who was still in between dresses 11-30. I followed, trying to remain as invisible as possible.

"How's it going Allyson?" Grant asked her.

"Terrible," she said. "Everything's all wrong, it's not me, it doesn't fit."

"Well then what is you? Describe you to me."

"I'm hot, i'm fun, i'm sexy, stunning, beautiful, and gorgeous, but i'm still a sweet, southern, good, but not too good, girl who won't turn you away just because you may not be the most attractive thing on the planet. I just wanna feel beautiful and sexy, without striking fear into everyone, I don't wanna be unapproachable, just exquisite."

"Ok, then. How about…this one?"

Grant pretended like he was making an extremely complicated decision, but I knew he just picked the dress at random. Still, it wasn't a bad choice. It was blood red, with snowflakes made of rhinestones dancing across the length. It was tight around the torso, but evened out into a smooth, mediumly ruffled leg area, also decorated in multi colored rhinestones, that probably would've turned into miniature stars under the dance floor lights. In other words, this dress was perfect for showing off, perfect for dancing, and perfect for Allyson; all Grant had to do was sell it to her.

"That one?" Allyson asked him. "What about it?"

"What do you mean what about it!?" Grant exclaimed, kinda activating his own inner fashionista. "It's so unbelievably totally you! The blood red is an automatic win, because let's face it, you're gonna leave a trail of bleeding hearts in your wake. The snowflake patterns, the way they cascade from the head top to bottom, cleverly made of clear gems in the midst of a shower of multi colored ones, you're gonna be a walking Rihanna song tonight. The frame of the dress is slim, and hugs your torso just right, yet it covers your legs in a multi million dollar frame, perfect for dancing too. Also, let's face it, the dress and the accessories that come with it, are nothing compared to the one thing that'll make this dress above and beyond."

"And what's that?" Allyson asked him, her voice extremely wistful.

"You," I automatically burst out.

Allyson whipped around, her face an odd mix of shock and delight. Grant freaking pumped his fists in the air, mouthing the words "YES, FINALLY!" Obviously, I did something right, but now it was my turn to sell it.

"You really mean that Jason?" she asked me.

"Of course," I said. "I don't know much about fashion, dresses, etiquette, to be honest, I probably wasn't gonna go to prom this year, but i'm tangeting. The point is, you are too beautiful for words to accurately describe. Your personality adds to it by several infinity, and that's what this dress has, that no other girl's does. Because of all the girls that are gonna be at this dance, none of them will ever come close to replicating your radiance. Even the sun can't hold a candle to you; believe me when I tell you, this dress is just an appetizer, the star of the show, you, is gonna be the one that brings it all the way home."

Allyson teared up a bit, and tackled me with a hug. If I wasn't as durable as I was, she would've snapped me in half, cuz that 2,000 pound strength was definitely working my spine. She grabbed the dress, a few other accessories, and made her way into the changing room. Grant clapped me on the shoulder, and guided me back to our sitting booth.

"Dude!" he said. "That was great, great, upselling, and just on time too, because I honestly didn't have anywhere else to take it."

We sat down again, and waited for another 10 minutes. This time when Allyson came out, I didn't even have to pretend to be stunned. Grant was right, the blood red made her skin pop. The dress was tightish in the torso, but not too tight. The rhinestone patterns were simply miniature stars orbiting around the big one (her). They made a slight twinkling rainbow pattern as she walked, and I had no doubt she'd end up blinding some people tonight. She was wearing fancy red long gloves that stopped just past her elbow, encrusted with diamonds all over them, plus a snowflake pattern on the back of the hands. Also (just because she had to), she was sporting a tiara, made of interlocking snowflakes, which was slightly overkill, but only slightly, I mean I wasn't gonna start calling her queen or anything like that already; that's how you get whipped. She smiled so wide, I thought her face was gonna fall off. Grant and I burst into applause to help her on her way towards us. No opinions were needed, no debates were had. Allyson had finally found her look, thank God.

"You look a zillion bucks Allyson," Grant said. "Way to go."

"Thanks," she said, blushing so unbelievably hard. "You guys really helped me find my look, thanks so much, let me put this thing on standby, then we'll get started with you two; Jason, you're first, Grant sit tight."

She walked over to an assistant, got her attention, and after grabbing her regular clothes, and after about five minutes in another room, Allyson came out holding a black dress bag. She hung it up next to Grant and I, grabbed me by the hand, and pulled me along for a fashion trip. The good thing was that my outfit picking probably took about 20 minutes tops, compared to Allyson's whole hour. Granted, we already had 50% of my outfit figured out, we were looking for a black suit, a red shirt, and probably mixed colored vest and tie. All that was left was to figure out, was the details. It only took about three suggestions before we found the perfect fit. It was a black silk tux with a large snowflake etched into the right side of the jacket. It was subtle, only visible if the light caught it just right, but it looked cool, especially with the other snowflakes lightly scattered around the suit. We picked out a plain red dress shirt, a black tie with red snowflake patterns on it, and a black vest with red snowflake patterns cascading all over the thing. After that, all we had to do was pick out a nice pair of shoes, and I went in the changing booth. I got changed into my suit quickly, and marched out of the booth, putting on my best attempt at a prince charming. Based off of the way Allyson had her hands over her mouth, i'd say I was doing it pretty good.

"You look amazing!" she said.

"Just amazing?" I said, frowning (I was just messing with her).

"What?"

"I can't do this, I can't be just amazing, I need to be, I have to-"

"No, no, no! Jason, you look fantastic, perfect, a total…jerk, you're kidding aren't you!?"

I smiled and laughed, reveling in her confusion.

"What?" I asked her. "You were totally like that."

"Was not!"

"You totally were," Grant jumped in. "But that's not the point, can we get to me now, it's my turn to get all male modeled up, then at least we can hit the mall."

"Humph," Allyson said. "Whatever, and by the way Jason, can you pull your hair back for the dance? I think it'll make you stand out even more."

"Sure," I said, as I went to get changed into my regular clothes, and get checked out.

It only took about ten minutes to get everything situated, and I still almost passed out when I swept my debit card (courtesy of S.H.I.E.L.D) to pay a 1,500 dollar bill. Afterwards, it only took about five more minutes for Grant and Allyson to wrap up with his dress gimmick. I won't lie, the guy came out pretty good looking. His suit was kinda like mine, just in reverse colors. White silk hugged his muscular body just right, etched with a giant Christmas tree on all of the right side, that spread around to the back. He wore a white vest etched with a single white snowflake pattern, a solid green shirt, a solid white tie, and a white fedora with a green strap around it. The guy even did a small Michael Jackson dance on the way out; oh yeah, he was gonna kill it at the dance.

"Not bad for a farm boy huh?" he asked me, giving me a fist bump.

"Not bad at all bro," I said. "You almost look like a challenge."

"Yeah, almost he says."

"Ok, ok," Allyson intervened. "You two can fight later, let's get out of here, these stores always bring out the worst in me, let's bail."

Grant and I suppressed the urge to say 'oh really?", and he changed back into his clothes, and went around back to pay for his suit. Afterwards, we finally got out of that fashion death trap, and went back to the van.

"Find everything you needed?" Coulson asked us.

"Eventually," Grant said. "The lady had to go through the motions before she found the right dress."

"Everything takes time, especially if it's a job done right. Besides, a girl only gets one chance to make an entrance, am I right?"

"Thank you Agent Coulson!" Allyson said, throwing her biggest "Hah!" face at Grant and I.

"No problem Ms. Grace," he said. "I was young once too, and my prom date was just as meticulous about her dress choice. Alright, where to next kids?"

"Flushing Avenue, Brooklyn please," I said. "I've got my own fashion craving to sate."

This earned a few quizzical looks from Grant and Allyson, but Coulson, turned us invisible, took us sky high, and flew us to my directions. Ok, quick confession, I love leather jackets. Ever since I saw a cool Lakers one, with an all purple coating, the logo plastered on the back, and the multiple championships dotted around the back, I knew I wanted one and more. Mom, would always promise to get me one, but for one reason or another, kept putting it off; not today. Coulson dropped us off in front of a small store called Hip Hop Closet. This was the place to go if you wanted custom, one of a kind leather jackets, T-Shirts, etc. The store wasn't anything special on the outside, but inside, it was a beehive of shoppers, presses going off, and multicolored leather jackets getting tossed around like footballs; I loved this place. I made my way through the masses, making sure not to lose Grant and Allyson in the mix, because (no offense), but this was a pretty black store, and even though they could take care of themselves, I didn't want them getting hassled by the thugs that sometimes come here. Finally, after what seemed like forever, I made it to the counter, and was so happy when I saw Jimmy Johns at the front. He was a burly guy (like Mark Henry burly) with long black dreads that reached down to his mid back, tied back in a ponytail; fun fact, this guy was the whole reason I grew dreads. He was a friendly guy, always made nice with the customers, helped them out in whatever way he could, and most importantly, didn't overcharge. Seriously, at their base, each of the multi colored jackets in the store were only about 250 (he sold them by the lot), if you wanted more custom ones, you might pay 500, but never more than that, unless you ordered everything on your jacket. Because of this, Jimmy outsold a lot of designer stores in the area, the only reason he didn't go pro was because of tax reasons, and the threat of local gangs that might wanna shake him down (although he had a few shotguns that would say otherwise). Long story short, good guy, close friend, sold cheap, sold quality.

"Yo!" he said as I made it to the front. "Is that my boy Jason, stinking up my shop!"

"You're one to talk Jimmy!" I retorted. "At this point, I bet you got mice living in your hair!"

He dapped me up. Yeah, Jimmy and I usually get into a one-shot name calling contest, it was just our thing.

"Good to see you man," he said. "Where you been at?"

"Depends, what you hear?"

"Word around the streets is that you're some kinda super freak, put some kid in the hospital."

My face must've gave it away, but like I said, Jimmy was cool, if you had something you wanted to keep under wraps, he wasn't gonna be the one to spill.

"Hey man," he said. "No sweat, never liked that rich boy anyway, he needed to get his ass busted."

"Jimmy?"

"Don't worry Jason, I know you, I know you wouldn't do him like that if you knew what you were doing. Listen, you obviously came here on business, and we'll get down to it in a sec, I just want you to know, you should probably stay low for a good while, your mom is all good, but you? I'd stay out of sight for a while, probably relocate until the heat cools down."

"That bad huh?"

"Yeah, sorry little man. But hey, you've been one of my favorite little hoodlums running around here, even helped me out a bit when I was short staffed. Tell you what, I give you one free choice, any jacket you want, on the house."

"For real?"

"You know it, just make sure you tell folks where you got it from, you know, as you run away from em'."

We laughed for a bit, and then moved on to business. Allyson didn't want anything here (apparently leather jackets weren't her thing), but Grant was eying an Oakland Raiders one, plus a few superhero ones (totally fanboy). I went ahead and used my freebie to get the Lakers jacket I so desperately wanted for so long, saving myself a good 400 bucks; afterwards, things took another sharp turn for the worse, concerning my wallet. I looked through the many different variations of the Philadelphia Eagles jackets he had, and finally picked one with an all black back, green running down the outer arms, with a white square under the elbows. The Eagles logo was plastered on the back and arms, with the word 'Eagles' stretching across the chest. The jacket only cost me 450, but that was one of the cheap ones. Like I said, you can make your jackets ridiculous, and I decided to get creative with my Mighty Ducks one. I went over to the customizing booths, where you could basically make your own jacket, and have it printed out for you in an hour. Because I didn't wanna leave her on her own, plus to give me an excuse to stay near her, I invited Allyson to help me (she didn't do much except compliment my choices). So how did my jacket look? Remember the jersey that the Mighty Ducks were rocking at the final game of D2 and D3? Well, I took that design, and literally dragged it on the tight jacket (I always prefered tighter jackets rather than lose and bulky), color for color, logo for logo. I put the number 96 (favorite number) on the arms and back, gave myself a captain's C, and put my last name across the back. To print this out would be 650, but it would totally be worth it. Finally, because i'm an uber Power Rangers nerd (laugh at me, and i'll take you for a spin in an F3 tornado), I decided to get creative with that. My favorite season was Wild Force, I loved the costumes, characters, everything, so I decided to use those designs for my jacket. I definitely couldn't afford to do them all at once, so I picked the red, blue, and black rangers for my designs. I picked out three base color jackets, put the custom sashes across the respective jackets, including their custom symbols on the left chest. Also, I put the custom jacket images on the back (the ones they had on their civilian jackets), with matching words and phrases. These jackets were 400 dollars each, and by the time I was finished with this store, I only had 550 dollars on my card, but again totally worth it when I got my awesome new gear an hour later (nobody ever used the customizers, so I got all three of the printers to myself). Grant also got to have some fun too. He bought his Oakland Raiders jacket, two Spider-Man jackets (one in color, one in black), and a red, silver and gold Iron Man jacket that was so loud, I could practically hear Stark echoing from the fabric. Still, he had a little more than 500 bucks more than I did, so I couldn't say he wasn't financially responsible. We were going to leave just then, but then Allyson did that thing where she remembers to think of others.

"Guys!" she said. "We gotta get Coulson something!"

"Huh?" Grant and I asked. "Why?"

"Because he's driving us around all day, not complaining about sitting in a car for hours at a time while we play tourist, and we need to get him something to show that we appreciate him for all he's doing for us."

"Damn," said Jimmy. "That's a pretty good argument, you got any rebuttal boys?"

Grant and I were shot down, Allyson could really pull on those heartstrings, plus the guilt tripping was so real.

"Ok," said Grant. "We know when we're beat. So, how about a Captain America jacket?"

"Why Captain America?" Allyson asked.

"Word around S.H...arron's place, is that Coulson is a fanboy of Cap, bet if we give him one of those, it'd make his day."

We all agreed on it, found a good looking one worth 150, and spit the bill three ways; we even had time to gift wrap it.

"Alright Jason," Jimmy dapped me up one more time. "You stay safe, and be good, same goes for y'all white kids too, alright?"

"Thanks for everything Jimmy, i'll order the rest of the set when my wallet can take the hits ok?"

Thank God, Grant and Allyson weren't all that big on political correctness, and we were able to leave the store, and get to the car without causing a fuss.

"All done with that fashion hunger of yours Jason?" Coulson asked me, actually smirking at me.

"All done," I said, not even a little ashamed.

"We got you something Agent Coulson," Allyson said all sweet, as she gave him the gift wrapped jacket.

"Really?" Coulson asked, kinda confused as to why we'd get him something. "What is it?"

"Open it and see,"

Coulson tore open the wrappings, and for a moment, light up like a school boy. Grant was right, the guy was a total Captain America fanboy, it shone through for a moment, before he quickly recomposed himself.

"Thank you all," he said in his monotone voice, but he wasn't fooling us, even through the shades, I could see the light in his eyes. "So, where to next?"

"Any good malls around here?" Grant asked. "Oh, and while we're at it, after we hit the mall up, let's get something to eat, i'm wasting away here."

"I second that motion," Coulson said.

"Ok," I said thinking for a bit. "Well, Manhattan Mall is pretty good, and after that, we can go for some pizza or something, I know a place, sound good?"

Everyone, agreed, and we set off towards the mall. Because we were in a small driving area, plus there was no place to hide and take off, we made our way to the mall the old-fashioned way, driving. It took about an hour (NYC traffic is brutal), another 10 minutes to actually find a parking space, but we made it to the mall alright.

"Why is it that when I want to do something, we have to be all slow about it?" Grant asked as we walked through the doors.

"Stop whining," I said. "We're here aren't we, plus we are so far ahead of schedule, we needed to burn some time anyway."

"Whateves. Alright this way you guys, GameStop, and Champs are calling my name."

"You guys go on ahead," Allyson said, looking intently at the directory. "I've got other places to shop at, preferably without boys, i'll meet up with you here in about an hour, no you can't come with me. Bye."

She took off in a power walk, leaving Grant and I in the dust.

"Uhhhh," I said looking to Grant for some type of explanation. He shrugged.

"Either face care products, clothes, tampons, or Victoria's Secret, don't question it, girls are weird like that, now come on let's get a move on."

Grant and I went to the stores he wanted to. In GameStop, he bought a handful of new action, fighting, sports, and Call of Duty Games, but I didn't buy anything. For one, I was almost broke. Besides, I either owned most of the games, or mom was gonna get me them for Christmas, so there was no need to spend anymore money; although I did pick something out for her in Spencer's as we made our way to get Grant some new shoes. I'll give it to him, Grant loved him some shoes. He tried on five different pairs of Jordans, each worth no less than 150, and bought every one of them; hell, if we'd have stayed any later, we'd be late to meet up with Allyson again. She came back carrying a pink bag, and two bottles of cologne, which she gave to me and Grant.

"What?" she asked us. "We gotta smell as good as we look."

"Yeah I know that," said Grant. "But Rue21 cologne? Seriously?"

"Shut up Grant, you'll thank me later. Now if we're all done here, shall we leave?"

We walked back to the van, and I was so glad that the shopping was over with. When it came to dresses, Allyson was a nightmare. With leather jackets, you might as well stick a harpoon in my wallet and bleed it dry; and the mall is just whatever, I don't care about them either way.

"Well," said Agent Coulson. "By the looks on your faces, i'd say we're all ready to eat, are we not?"

"So much," said Grant. "Where to Jason?"

I searched for the address for Best Pizza on my iPod.

"33 Havemeyer Street, Brooklyn," I finally said. "You guys will love it."

This time, we actually did get to fly, and made it to the restaurant in less than five minutes.

"Best Pizza?" Grant asked as we got out of the van. "Kinda pretentious don't you think?"

"Trust me," I responded. "It lives up to the name, mom and I eat here together all the time."

"Your heart's bleeding all over my shoes bro."

Everyone laughed (even Coulson).

"Whatever," I recovered. "Now you wanna eat or what?"

We made our way inside, took a seat in the window booth (the manager never cared where people sat), and made small talk until Tony (the manager) came by to take our order.

"Well, well, well," the smiling old man said. "If it isn't little Jason, how are ya son?"

"How many times I gotta tell you Mr. Tony?" I joked with him. "I haven't been little since I was eleven, i'm a man now."

"Well you'll always be little to me, no matter how tall you get. So who are your friends?"

"Oh, Tony, meet Allyson, Grant, and-"

"Phillip," Coulson interrupted me. "I'm Philip, their driver for the day."

"Driver?" Tony whistled. "You get adopted by some rich folk Jason? The only driver I remember you having, was old Doris. Speaking of which how is she?"

"She's fine," I said. "Probably out Christmas shopping or something, you know how she always has to get things done a week in advance."

"Always was one step ahead of the ballgame she was. But enough small talk, what can I get for you all this fine day?"

After a bit of collaboration, we all agreed on getting three 2 liters of Sprite, Pepsi, and Sunkist for our drinks.

"Ok," said Tony, and for your meal?"

"Lemme get one large meat lovers, a large supreme, and a large pepperoni pan pizza."

"Alright, and will the bill be split three ways or-"

"I've got it covered," said Coulson.

"Ok then," said Tony. "Pizza should be out in 30 or less, i'll go get your drinks."

After Tony left, the table kinda filled with an awkward silence; naturally, Grant was the one to break it.

"So," he said to Coulson. "How's it like, you know, working with The Avengers?"

Coulson's face morphed into a small smirk.

"Well Mr. Jackson," he started. "Mostly, I work with a covert team of S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, but occasionally I work with Hawkeye and Black Widow."

"Really!?" Allyson spoke up. "What's she like?"

"She's…dedicated, funny, charming, basically whatever you want her to be."

"And Hawkeye?"

"He's polite enough, but he prefers to work from a distance."

"But the other Avengers," Grant persisted. "Come on dude, I know you've met the big four at least once."

Coulson sighed, clearly he was not getting out of this one any time soon.

"Yes Mr. Jackson, I have met Thor, Stark, Captain America and Hulk on multiple occasions. Long story short, Thor is brash, but good hearted, Captain Rogers is the most stand up guy you'll ever meet, Stark is….a piece of work, and Hulk is many things."

"You ever help them on missions?" Grant asked him.

"Well, there was this one time with a-"

Coulson went into detail about his exploits with The Avengers, and even I couldn't pretend like I wasn't impressed. Still, it was a lot to take in, what with all the Hydra bases, alien invasions, robots, and city brawls. As Coulson was telling the stories, I got a new perspective on the heroes. Beforehand, I assumed they were just to lazy or didn't care enough to worry about us small timers, but from what I was hearing, they did the best they could 100% of the time; they simply couldn't be everywhere at once. It made me feel a little better/worse about yesterday, sure I was basically a hero now, sure I was saving the world, but at what cost? What good was saving the world, if you failed the people who lived in it? I was probably gonna sit in thought forever, but then Tony came back with the pizzas, and I snapped back to the living.

"Dude!" Grant said. "The slices are bigger than my face!"

"Welcome to New York my friend," I said.

"Welcome indeed, alright let's dig in!"

"Not before we bless the food!" Allyson said as she slapped his hand away from the pan pizza.

She blessed the food quickly, we all said 'Amen", and THEN we dived into the pizza.

For thirty minutes we ate and drank to our heart's content, Coulson still telling us tales of The Avengers' greatest battles (he was really getting into it). He didn't have that many to tell, just average stuff about battles against Red Skull, Loki, Dr. Doom, etc., nothing we haven't all heard about before. So once he ran out of Avengers stories to tell, he went back to fanboying out over Captain America, telling us about his WWII days. I loved history, it was my best subject, so I actually helped him out with his missing points, helped him expound on them even further, and generally show off my geniusness to Grant and Allyson. Everything was fine, until I actually got a listen to the news.

"And emergency teams are still working hard to clean up the damage at Scott City, and Garden City, Kansas, where a battle between famous heroes, young metahumans, an army of zombie-like creatures, and some type of green monster, not the Hulk, caused a crevice of damage to the cities' apartment districts, a local community college, and the agricultural district. Casualties were light, but damage to both cities are heavy, leaving hundreds without homes, and for 8 year olds Chloe and Mordecai Brooks, who lost their parents and younger brother, we'll-"

I stopped paying attention after that, I couldn't bear to hear anymore. Allyson gripped my hand.

"It's ok, Jason," she whispered to me. "It wasn't your fault, you did your best, remember what Fury said."

I nodded, gripping her hand for support, I was not gonna break down, not here.

"Yeah bro," Grant continued. "Remember, you saved the world. Nobody can take that away from you, nobody. Besides, it's not just you, this one's on all of us, we're a team, that means we take the wins, AND the losses together. And believe me bro, we ARE going to win, that's just the end all be all; the good guys always win."

"Listen to them Jason," Coulson said. "Take it from someone who's been there, no good comes from taking all the weight of the team on your shoulders. You're a good kid, you all are, and even though it wasn't fair of us to drag you into this, you've displayed remarkable skill, teamwork, and adaptiveness. Use that, because you may be strong as individuals, but together, you're going to be a force to be reckoned with. If this is the start of a new team, a new addition to the generation of heroes, i'm proud to say I was there at the beginning."

Grant, Allyson, and I nodded our heads, but I still wasn't entirely convinced.

"But do you really think i'm cut out for the whole hero thing?" I asked him. "Up until yesterday, the only thing heroes were to me, were the cause of my parents death. I held that anger in for so long, up until I did the same thing to those kids, that they did to me. Now, I don't know what to think. My anger is gone, my perception's been dismantled, I just don't know what to think about them, or myself anymore."

"Sounds like you need a new perspective on what it means to be a hero, Jason," said Coulson. "And it seems to me, it's nothing that can be taught or told to you, it's something you need to experience for yourself, luckily, you won't have to do it alone."

I smiled. If I was on the path to being a hero (which was debatable), at least I had my friends to keep me company for the ride.

"Speaking of which," said Grant. "We need to work on making our team a bit more official."

"Like how?" I asked him.

"Well, we already got the team plays down, we almost got the names down, we're still working on the overall team name, but what about our gear? We should totally name those."

"Why?"

"Thor's hammer has a name, it was always common for ancient warriors to name their weapons, why not us? I mean, I would start first, but i'm still working on my hero name, you two however, you should totally get on that."

"Dude, that is so not even-"

"Sun Knives, Solar Sabers, and Solar Spear!" Allyson blurted out. "How was that?"

Grant gave her a fist bump, and they both looked at me expectantly. I sighed, and face palmed them; sometimes I couldn't tell who was leading this team.

"Storm Sword…Thunder Spear…Sky Shield, happy now?"

Grant and Allyson clapped for me like it was my birthday; idiots. Again, everything seemed like it was going fine, then the TV burst into static for a few seconds, before flashing back on with something that was definitely not the news. Some guy, dressed in a uniform that looked like a mix between the U.S. Army and dark green snakeskin, that looked strong enough to deflect bullets, was on screen. The image was definitely hacked, I mean it was obvious he had someone filming him, plus he was surrounded by hundreds (probably more) of his 'snake army', for lack of better term. They were in some kind of lobby, couldn't tell where, but the place looked familiar, as in like i've been there familiar. The scary thing, there were people, innocent civilians, being taken hostage, tied and gagged, and then thrown to the floor like sacks of potatoes. Whoever these guys were, they meant business, which meant the people in the building were in some serious $#!+.

"Good morning good citizens of New York City," The snake man said in a thick Hispanic accent. "As you can see, i'm in the middle of a big withdrawal here from the lovely local Bank of America, however, my men and I seem to have hit a minor snag. The safe, doesn't seem to wanna open for us, despite our best efforts with hacking, drilling, even highly concentrated acid, what is you make your safes out of these days, Adamantium? Not the point. The point is, there are several hundred million dollars in that safe with The Serpent Society's name on it, and we'd like in, as in right now. You have thirty minutes, get whoever you need to on the horn, the CEO, the President, whoever, just get us the code to unlock this safe within thirty minutes, or i'll put a bullet in the heads of all the civilians here fore every minute that we don't get the code. The guards are already dead, don't know how many more, this is a very big tower, just get us the code, or little miss Katy Perry here will be the first to go. I don't wanna see no cops within 100ft of this place, and no f*(#!% heroes. Also, just for a bit more incentive, i'd hurry up with that code, because once we run out of people to shoot, we'll bring this damn building down with a bang, don't worry, we have our ways out."

He pulled his fist up, and I accidentally made the TV overcharge and explode, but i'll never forget who that was. That pink hair, the light caramel skin, that look of terror and pleading in her eyes. Now I know why that place looked familiar, that was the bank mom and I went to, and that guy had my mom's hair in his fist; he was gonna kill my mom!

"Jason," Allyson whispered to me. "What's wrong, what's happening."

"My mom!" I barely got the words out. "He has my mom, they're going to kill her!"

Apparently my whisper was loud enough for Grant and Coulson to hear, because they leaned in closer.

"Dude!" Grant hissed. "Are you serious? They got your mother?"

"Yes!" I hissed back at him. "Coulson, we have to help, my mom, the people, we're fast, we can be in before they know it, we can-"

"Go," Coulson said. "We don't have the manpower necessary to counteract them, and the signal won't have been enough to broadcast anywhere outside of the state, you're their only chance. Don't go for the obvious way in, don't be too careless, but don't be too careful either, and above all, do not kill them. This is your first official outing to the world, make sure it's a good one. Now as you would say Grant, is it not morphing time?"

We exited the restaurant, made our way into a nearby alley, and made sure nobody could see us as we shed our heavy winter jackets (didn't want them to compact on us while we were in our suits) .

"Ready guys?" I asked them.

"Ready." they said.

We pressed the red button on our communicators.

"It's Morphin Time!" we all shouted (not too loud).

"Super-G!"

"Sunbird!"

"Storm-Lord (I changed it)!"

Our battle suits flashed on our bodies, and after a quick half a second to plan our strategy, I shifted into Storm Form, and the three of us took off as fast as we could into the air. The idea was to fly extremely high, so high and fast, that we could make a rooftop landing without the Serpent Society knowing that we were there. Yeah, you could make the argument that we could've run there, but streaks of blue and yellow are really hard to miss, especially considering the fact that this was gonna be an assault from the roof down no matter which way you spun it. I led Grant and Allyson right over the Bank of America skyscraper (although I was still pretty slow in the air compared to them), then I used my enhanced vision to scope out the scene. Keep in mind, we were up in the stratosphere, which is roughly 31 miles above the earth, my enhanced vision was so on point (after I made it focus to an extreme degree), that even from 31 miles away, I could see twenty armed Serpent Soldiers (official name) with extreme detail, guarding the perimeter of the roof. They were equipped with sniper rifles, machine guns, even a few Gatling guns, none of which were any real threat to us. Still, this had to be done quickly and quietly, if they even got half a chance to radio to their buddies, my mom, and everyone in that building who wasn't robbing it, was dead.

"Alright guys," I said to Grant and Allyson (in Storm Form, I sounded like something out of Darksiders). " There are twenty guards on top, all armed with guns, the snow around us cover our attack, but we have to make it fast and quiet. You two go ahead, you're a lot faster than me at flying. Super-G, start with the ones on the right, Sunbird, on your left, after that, take out all the remaining ones as fast as you can. Do not let them get a chance to call in for backup."

"Understood Storm-Lord," said Grant. "By the way, love the whole demon voice, makes you sound like a bad ass."

"Super-G," Allyson warned him.

"Don't worry," he said. "I'm totally serious, just trying to lighten the mood a little bit."

Everything in me wanted to snap at him for trying to find some humor in something as serious as a rescue mission, but I couldn't blame him, comic relief was kinda his thing; the team needed a bit of that every now and then. Still, Grant sombered up, and after a second to prepare, I unleashed the hounds. In overall time, the first part of operation rescue didn't take very long. Grant and Allyson zoomed to the top of the building in less than a second, and commenced to systematically wipe the soldiers off the board. Grant knocked half of them senseless with halfhearted swings (we all agreed that thugs for hire were not high enough for the sword list), and Allyson plowed through the other half with a combination of punches and kicks. I flew down after them, shifted back to normal, and helped them round up the bad guys with instant handcuffs, courtesy of S.H.I.E.L.D. tech. This was where things got tricky. I could sense all of the electricity coursing through the building, and while it was giving me a rough map of the area, it wasn't clear enough, I needed a clear schematic of where everyone was, and how we could incorporate our strategy to fit the need. I was starting to get frustrated, but then I noticed a fuse box on one of the walls of the roof, and got a crazy idea.

"Hang tight you guys," I thought to them. "I got an idea."

I walked over to the fuse box, cut through the lock with my sword, and grabbed a handful of the circuitry. I didn't know what I was going for exactly, but everything fell into place. Suddenly, in an intense rush, it was like I was one with the power grid of the skyscraper, anything that used electricity to function, anything that was within 100ft of anything electrical, I could sense it with extreme accuracy. Still, what I sensed was disheartening as f*(#. There were fifty floors in the bank, and every last one of them were filled with a good handful of hostages, surrounded by 20 thugs on each floor, not counting the lobby, which had over 30. The real problem? Something wasn't natural about this. Even on TV, I struggled to comprehend how a heist could be so pre planned and effective, that a large group of militia could take it with so few casualties, or signs of damage to the building. With my Thunder Sense, I could feel foreign energy in the air, like a wave of fire had just burst on every floor of the building. Even more, all of the soldiers had traces of this 'fire' on them, like they were in the middle of it; that's when it hit me. This was something that literally happened in the blink of an eye. It was like all of these soldiers materialized out of thin air, and systematically put this place on lock. Given the fact that I had a dream about Doom setting up a challenge for us, not to mention the fact that this seemed to have a bit of magic in the background, I resigned to the fact that this wasn't your average bank heist (you wouldn't believe how common they are in New York), and that this was probably just the tip of the spear that Doom had planned for me and my friends. Snatching all of the soldiers wouldn't be too much of a threat, except for the fact that I could feel all the way down to the security guard room, where ten guys were keeping constant eyes on every floor of the building. They were on the second floor, and while they didn't hold much of a threat, they had to be the first people that were dealt with, otherwise all the citizens in the bank were gonna get a bullet in the head for Christmas. Still, even in this almost unsolvable situation, I could kinda feel myself dissolving, becoming pure electricity, becoming one with the power grid, which meant that….

"Alright guys," I thought to Grant and Allyson, cancelling the transformation. "We're dealing with fifty floors of armed soldiers, there are a lot of hostages, so once we strike, we can't stop until every floor is clear, if they even get a single seconds to realize what's going on, it's all over. Also, this wasn't just some average hostile takeover, these guys didn't just dress up as janitors and wait for the right moment to strike, they were flashed in, as in probably magical teleportation flashed in, which brings me to something I really should've told you this morning."

I quickly told them about my dream, the Shadow Gods, Doom being on their payroll, their hand in the messing with the stones, and how they were distracting the Olympians from helping clear the situation (I also let it slip that I was the X50 great grandson of Zeus).

"Jason!" Allyson mentally screamed at me.

"Storm-Lord," I corrected her.

"Screw you! Why didn't you tell us about this? We could've prepared for this!"

"I doubt that, but yeah i'm sorry, it's not that we were having so much fun, plus I was praying that the dream wasn't real. I just didn't wanna scare you guys."

"Why would we be scared?" Grant asked me. "We got a son of Zeus on our side, we are so golden!"

"It's just up until now, we haven't been on Doom's radar, now we have his full attention."

"Then let's give him something to pay attention to bro! But can we do it after we finish this time sensitive rescue mission right now?"

"Deal," I said, "I'm gonna go directly to the surveillance room and take out their eyes, when I give the signal, you two take out the floors in descending order, i'll work from the second floor up, you guys should reach me before I even get to floor ten."

"How you gonna do that?" Grant asked me. "Plus, how are we supposed to get in?"

"I have my ways, and just phase through the roof."

"We can't do that yet."

"Then use the windows, and learn how to later."

I walked back to the fuse box, grabbed the wiring, and let myself dissolve into a massive surge of electricity. To be honest, it felt amazing, like having an ultimate sugar rush, but it was one of those abilities where I had to sacrifice my sight, and rely purely on the electricity in the building to act as a map. In half a second, I was already down to the second floor, literally inside the surveillance computer screens. I gave it three seconds, and then gave the signal.

"GUYS, GO NOW!" I mentally roared into their heads, as I rushed out of the computers in the form of ten high voltage, but non-lethal, bolts of lightning. I knocked them out and restrained them before they knew what was happening, and started my journey upwards.

The second part of the operation couldn't have gone any smoother even if we'd have tired. For ten floors, I ran at Mach 5, punching and restraining bad guys (making sure to dial back the punches), or blasting and restraining bad guys. It was always amusing to see the absolute cluelessness on their faces as I decked them cold, the sheer bliss of ignorance that shielded them from the fact that they had gotten their asses kicked faster than they could blink. In what almost added up to a single second, all fifty floors were secure, although we left the people tied and gagged for now; it was for their own protection, we'd be back for them.

"To the second floor," I thought to Grant and Allyson, and we raced down to the security room.

"Damn Storm-Lord," Grant thought to me as he surveyed the damage. "What you do?"

"They're not dead, if that's what you mean," I must've put more venom in that than I wanted to, cuz Allyson gave me a 'are you cool?' look.

"I'm fine Sunbird," I thought to her. "Let's just get this over with now, I don't wanna let my anger get the best of me."

She nodded, and the three of us surveyed the lobby area, which was undoubtedly the trickiest part of the rescue. The area was the size of a cafeteria, about 40 or so soldiers had machine guns pointed at dozens of civilians, the only real problem was that the soldiers were more clustered together, meaning instead of 40 soldiers spread out across the room, it was more like 10 in one area, 10 in another, 5 in another, and the rest spread out in such a way, that maneuvering between them was going to be way too hard to attempt. The natural solution would be to just barrel through them all, but there would be no guarantee that the civilians wouldn't get hurt, especially if we went at it with more than 10% with our powers. Again, it seemed like I was in an unwinnable situation, but then my brain just poofed me the answer.

"Alright," I said to Grant and Allyson. "Here's what were gonna do. I'll rush in and create storm clouds over the two heavy groups, a few low level lightning strikes to the head should take the fight out of them. Sunbird, you focus on that group of five, take them out fast, and then move on to all the other scattered soldiers. Super-G, I know this is gonna be really selfish of me but-"

"Don't even sweat it Storm-Lord," he cut me off. "I'll make sure to uppercut that guy through a wall, he deserves it for messing with your mom."

"Thanks bro," I said, giving him a fist bump. "Ok team, let's do it."

Again, it was an almost flawless rescue. I rushed in, created two mini storm clouds over the big groups, and before they could even look up, they got pelted in the face with 2,000 volts from above. If the thunder was supposed to give us away, we were faster than it. Allyson created five sun blasts out of thin air, kinda like my Phantom Bolts, blowing five guys away, and then ran around punching the rest of the soldiers accompanying the lobby. Grant kept true to his word, and went immediately after the ring leader. Honestly, it may have well as been his own mother at risk, because he roared like a bear as he decked the guy so hard in the face, his helmet shattered, and he flew into a wall, cracking the plaster. We rounded up all the bad guys, freed all the civilians in the entire building, and met back at the lobby.

"Is everyone ok!?" I asked the civilians.

They gave me a general consensus of being ok. I walked over to my mom, who was still shaking from the experience, and knelt down next to he

"You alright ma'am?" I asked her.

She nodded her head.

"Thank you for saving us Mr…."

"Storm-Lord, and I hope this experience hasn't deterred you from this bank, it's still one of the best in New York, plus bigger banks are always much more trustworthy."

She smiled, and I gripped her shoulder lightly.

"Storm-Lord!" Super-G called over to me. "Look over here!"

I turned around, just as a flash of green light burst in the middle of a room, which spread into an extremely HD projection of a real time event. There were 17 people on screen. A tall muscular Beth Phoenix like woman, with long blonde hair, wearing a mix of skin tight snake patterns, and pieces of armor. Another Egyptian looking girl, wearing a white dress with snakes wrapping around the fabric (how was she not freezing?). There was another girl, wearing black snake army fatigues, with long black hair, with a green streak. Yet another girl, wearing a skin tight black suit that covered her face, but also had long green hair. There was some guy who looked like a mix between Mark Henry size, but with Rey Mysterio skin. He was wearing a green jumpsuit, which had a bunch of NASCAR LIKE patches all over it, plus a Rey Mysterio-like mask. There was black guy, with a shaved head, wearing, a snake suit. Literally, the guy was in a green and yellow snake suit with a tail where his legs should've been, with long snake fangs extending from his arms; he was kinda intimidating to look at. Back to the girls, there was another wearing a long yellow shirt, with yellow snake pants, holding electric whips. There was some guy, wearing a mix between a medieval knight chainmail suit, and orange snake scales, whose skin was orange, and he was wearing some type of snake head wear, he also had a cape. There was another black guy in a purple and yellow snake suit (he had legs), with the serpent's mouth acting like a helmet. There was a green Reptile (Mortal Kombat) looking guy, wearing a purple battle suit, with some wicked sharp talons. another white girl wearing a brown and yellow snake battlesuit, with snake fangs extending from her arms. There was a big green guy, wearing green snake armor, and a King Cobra headpiece. Another girl with red hair, wearing green snake scale tights, and accompanied by a giant python, as in Voldemort's pet level. There was another black guy wearing an outfit almost identical to the guy with the purple snake suit, except the suit was dark green, light green, and blue; plus, this guy was twice as bulky. There was another guy wearing an orange snake suit, with a robotic tail extending down his back (he still had legs); he was also wielding some kind of weird looking rifle. There was….I wanna say another guy, but he looked like an orange man snake, with a puffy lizard collar, wearing red breastplate armor, and god awful long purple boots and gloves, the guy should've been spending 25 to life for his outfit alone. Finally (I apologize for the fashion show), there was a quite literal 7 foot tall giant green man snake, with huge talons, thick arms and legs, and some killer fangs. Basically, these 17 snake clad fashionistas, were the big leaguers of the Serpent Society, and if that wasn't bad enough, they were standing in the middle of the Brooklyn Bridge. None of the cars were moving, all of the traffic seemed to just stop, and it was definitely these guys' faults. Especially considering the fact that they were all glowing with a devastatingly familiar orange aura, that made them look like a group of Super Saiyan bad asses. The blonde muscular chick stepped forward, and started speaking in a harsh, brutish voice.

"Hello children!" she said in a voice so loud, it was definitely being enhanced, cuz i'm pretty sure everyone within a mile of the bridge could hear it. "I do hope you've enjoyed our little game, it's nice to give the next generation of do gooders a little bit of experience in the field, you're welcome. But, the jig is up kiddies, you see, Dr. Doom has this big plan, and lately you've been annoying him, causing him to have migraines, and headaches and such; not good for the big man's health. So, he sent us to…intervene, if you will, and that's what we're doing."

She grabbed two SUVs by the tailgates, and lifted them above her head like they were pillows.

"WE'RE INTERVENING!"

I could hear the families in the cars, their screams almost deafening to me, as well as the roar in my ears, the rage I felt at those snake freaks for putting innocents at risk for something that was completely between us and Doom.

"Here's the deal, mini masks!" she continued. "Come to the Brooklyn Bridge with the stones, give yourselves up without a fight, and maybe, just maybe, Doom will go easy on you! Oh, and to give you a bit more incentive to cooperate, for every minute you don't show, two vehicles take a dip, starting now!"

She threw both SUVs to either side of her, and they careened about 100 meters out and down; the team and I called for a Team Meeting (official for when we speed up to strategize), and pulled S.E.R.A. up.

"How may I be of assistance, Master Storm-Lord? she asked (cool how she used my code name while I was on duty).

"Scan the transmission," I frantically told her. "Cross reference images with everything related to the Serpent Society."

Her face went slack for a moment, and then she refocused.

"Scan complete," she said. "Files uploaded and stored, would you like me to review them in alphabetical order, or by personal preference?"

"Just flash some holographic profiles please," I asked her. "And can you limit information down to names and powers please?"

"As you command Master Jason, one moment."

Her face disappeared, and half a sec later, a lot of holograms appeared in mid-air; Grant, Allyson, and I started studying.

The blonde chick who threw the cars, was named Anaconda (because they all had to have snake related names), her deal was super strength, Elasticity (Mr. Fantastic's power), and apparently, water breathing.

The Egyptian looking girl with the white snake dress was Asp. She could shoot bolts of Venom out of her hands.

The girl with the green streak in her hair was Black Mamba. She could use the Darkforce (whatever the hell that was), plus breathe underwater (were they snake-like or merpeople?).

The girl in the all black and green hair was Black Racer. She had was super speed, but she could only reach speeds of 700 MPH, not even fast enough to be on Quicksilver's radar.

The giant luchador in the NASCAR suit was named Bruiser. His powers were super strength and gravity manipulation. Apparently, he could make his fist hit as hard as a wrecking ball, or make himself unmovable; he was definitely on the top of the list.

The black guy in the cyber snake suit was Bushmaster (lame!). Aside from his cyber snake suit, plus his snake fang sabers, he was pretty much an average joe.

The blonde chick in the yellow shirt and snake pants was Coachwhip (lamer!). All she had going for her, were electric whips; that's it.

The orange medieval snake knight was Copperhead. He had gloves that could shoot energy blasts, but that was it for him.

The black guy in the purple snake suit was Cottonmouth. He could spit acid from his mouth, and could also unhinge his jaw, apparently to bite his victim's heads off.

The discount Reptile was Death Addler. He had super strength, enhanced agility, and poison claws and fangs.

The lady in the yellow and brown snake suit was Fer-De-Lance (so f*(#! % dumbass!). She had super strength, endurance, and snake fang sabers.

The guy in the King Cobra suit was (you guessed it) King Cobra. He had super strength, super speed, and energy projection abilities; damn, he kinda earned his name.

The red head with the giant pet snake was Princess Python. Aside from the python, she had no other special abilities, except the ability to control it.

The black guy in the green, and yellow snake suit was Puff Adder. His powers were acid spit, and the ability to increase his size.

The guy in the brown snake suit, with the cybernetic tail extending down his back, was Rattler. His ability was to create vibrations with his tail.

The orange snake man with a bad fashion sense was called Sidewinder. He couldn't do anything, the guy literally had no powers or gadgets.

Finally, the green man snake was called Slither. He was a mutant with super strength, Elasticity.

Now, even with the numbers and powers, these guys wouldn't be much of a threat, I mean we fought thousands at a time since this team started. But the thing was, these guys were juiced up on energy from the stone of Hercules; the aura gave it away, plus Anaconda literally threw those SUVs like they were water balloons. So whatever these guys had, god-like strength and durability was added to the list, even more so to the ones who already had super strength and durability in their bag of tricks. This was bad on the grounds that not only were we outnumbered and kinda outgunned, but also that Doom had at least one stone in his possession already; even scarier, he knew how to use it. The team and I went back and forth, analyzing our powers, comparing it to theirs, and creating fight plans. Ultimately, we boiled down to the fact that our greatest assets were our speed, energy projection, and strength. We were all crazy fast, Allyson and I were pretty good at using our energy powers, and we all had some form of enhanced strength, or at least the ability to make our punches go from zero, to BOOM BAM! in a heartbeat. So we incorporated that into our plans.

"Ok," I said after what seemed like 10 minutes of strategizing. "Let's go over this one more time. First thing we do is rescue and remove. You two grab those vans, and move them to safety, i'll become a massive cloud, and move all the other cars on the bridge to safety. We regroup as fast as we can, and Sunbird releases a massive blast wave that'll knock the Serpent Society off guard, and melt all of the snow and ice off the bridge, cuz ice and running don't mix. By the way, you sure you can do that without, you know, melting the bridge?"

"Yes Storm-Lord," she said getting an attitude. "Snow melts when it gets hot, but metal will hold up a lot better. Besides, i'm actually focusing the blast wave on the road, not a big one that'll engulf the entire bridge. Wait a minute, is that what you thought I meant?"

"No...maybe...yeah, so, not the point. After the people and the snow have been cleared, we move in fast and hard. I'll take out, or at least occupy the weaker ones, them being Asp, Black Racer, Bushmaster, Death Addler, Fer-De-Lance, Princess Python, and Rattler. Sunbird, I need you to go super, and take out Anaconda, Black Mamba, Copperhead, Cotton Mouth, and Slither. Super-G, you got Coachwhip, Bruiser, King Cobra, and Puff Adder. Remember guys, we're faster and more versatile, if you need to switch, or need a team up, just give a shout out. Also, I think this goes without saying, but our plans hardly ever go as well in real time as we'd like them to, if you find yourself in a tight spot, don't get caught up on one opponent, mix it up, and look for a new angle. Ready team?"

"Hold on," Allyson said. "I know this might seem like a no brainer, but let's try and avoid busting out the weapons. Like Agent Coulson said, this is gonna be the second time the world sees us. We've already come off as dangerous kids, this'll be our one chance to show them that we're heroes, we can't do that if we issue public executions."

"But what about cutting through the cybernetic stuff?" I asked her.

"Storm-Lord, you can create lightning constructs, Super-G, you can crumple steel like paper, need I say more?"

Grant and I exchanged a glance, and nodded to each other. Don't get me wrong, I wasn't actually thinking of killing them, but the sword did start to become the default answer to me now; that was something i'd have to put a cap on every now and then.

"Alright then," I said. "Now are we ready?"

Grant and Allyson nodded, a bit of excitement in their eyes.

"Ok then Delta Force, let's go, we got this!"

I activated my Storm Form, and took off with Grant and Allyson as we raced for the Brooklyn Bridge.

"We got this?" Grant asked me as we flew. "Seriously? That again?"

"F*(# you, I like it!" I snapped back at him.

"Storm-Lord!" Allyson thought at me like an angry mother.

"Sorry," I thought back to her. "But it's not like you haven't cussed before."

She didn't answer, but we didn't have time to banter anyway; the bridge was in sight. As Grant and Allyson zoomed straight for the SUVs, I took off directly upwards, and bonded with the dark grey snow clouds, making them/myself expand and condense into thousands of hand constructs. Grant and Allyson zoomed the falling vans to safety, faster than the Serpent Society could react, and as thousands of cloud hands rained from the sky to pick up the ones on the bridges (I put them on the nearest stretch of land I could place them on), I doubt they could've done anything, except pray that it wasn't actually Thor that they were dealing with. Rescue only took about 20 seconds (it takes time to become 1,000 hands, you try it!), and I landed next to Grant and Allyson, as we stared down the Serpent Society from about 50 meters away. They were kinda intimidating in the way that circus clowns are scary to kids, but nothing more. Anaconda was especially pissed. Her nostrils flared, she screamed 'KILL THE LITTLE F*(#$!", and she and her squad charged mine. I noticed how they were kinda fast (like faster than supposed to be), and were even treading on top of ice and snow like it was a baseball field, but Allyson quickly put a stop to their hype. She glowed really bright, and released a wave of golden fire across the bridge, knocking all but Bruiser off of their feet, and melting all the snow and ice into small puddles of water. We charged full steam ahead.

Grant barreled into Bruiser, giving him a massive flying punch to the face, and getting a nice little combo off on him for a bit; that is before Bruiser actually blocked one of his punches, forcing Grant to double back and attack from a different angle. I didn't know what was more surprising, the fact that those hits didn't knock the big guy's lights out, or the fact that he was fast enough to block a punch from Grant, who was going at about Mach 4 on the speed scale. I looked ahead, and yep, my fears were confirmed. The downed members of the Serpent Society were already up and at em' when they should've been frozen in mid-air; whatever Doom had equipped them with, it clearly included liquid speed.

If you think that this was a bad thing, don't, things could've been much worse. Besides, they weren't even that fast, if Grant, Allyson, and I were a 10, these guys were a 6; fast enough to notice, but not enough to be a threat. Speaking of which, Allyson went Super Sunbird, tackled Anaconda, took her airborne, and proceeded to beat the ever living hell out of her; even when Anaconda managed to wrap around her,(so she WAS tangible in Super Sunbird) Allyson just powered out of it, and continued beating her to a pulp. As a bit of a bonus, she created Sun Warrior constructs to keep her end of the Society at bay. The constructs were getting systematically trashed, but at least it gave me time to focus on my people. I created a thunderbolt, zigzagged between various snake people, and gunned for Bushmaster and Rattler, slicing off their bionic tails, and hitting them with a rapid succession of Vibration Punches. This helped me get a good feel for how tough the empowered Serpent Society members were. For one, even though they had the power of Hercules, it was too spread out for it to be overly effective. While Bushmaster was down, I hit him with two Vibration Punches to the face, and the guy was out cold. Rattler tired to take advantage of my kneeling state, and it was so cute, the guy actually thought he was attacking me off guard. I snapped my fingers, knocked him back with a Phantom Bolt, and hit him with a running Vibration Punch, which was so hard, he actually dented one of the support cables (just a little bit) on the bridge before falling on the ground, as unconscious as a sleeping baby. I felt a thud a little bit away from me, and saw Anaconda in the same position. This was a good start, only about 30 seconds in, and three Serpents were down, we were on a good pace. My Speed Sense went off behind me, and I ducked as a venom bolt sailed over my head. Asp was charging straight for me, throwing a right cross at my face. I dodged it, side flipped over her, and just barely managed to get a body shield over me, blocking the brunt of King Cobra's energy blast. The blast itself wasn't that strong, and was only barely enough to knock me back a few feet, but the Serpent Society attempted to capitalize on the opportunity real quick. As soon as I could even get in a rough sitting position, I felt Asp, Sidewinder, King Cobra, Princess Python, Death Addler, and Black Racer either blasting at me, pouncing at me, or sicking their big ass snake on me. I quickly raised a barrier around myself, actually cutting the giant snake's head off in the process, and before they could try to break down my barrier with their strength (which may or may not have been possible), I swept their legs out from under them, by creating a small tornado around my barrier. As I was taking them for a spin, I noticed Allyson fighting Black Mamba, who was balancing on what looked like a pillar of swirling black liquid. They were in a power battle, with Allyson's energy blast slowly but steadily over taking Black Mamba's. By the looks of it, Allyson wasn't hard pressed in this fight, she was just trying to get to the right power level to steamroll Black Mamba, without melting most of the bridge. I decided to help her out, by making a small spark of lightning flash in Black Mamba's face, making her drop her blast, and get decked by Allyson's. She rocketed off into the distance, but Allyson caught her, punched her hard in the face, and dropped her limp body on the ground. Grant wasn't doing that bad on his end either. Like Allyson and I, he probably could've crushed Bruiser with a few all out punches, but the sonic booms would probably damage the structure off the bridge. Instead, Grant was playing a game of dodge, block, and then beat the $#! out of his opponent. Bruiser couldn't fight to save his life, but he could take a punch, and barely even moved while Grant piled the cross punches, uppercuts, and power kicks, on him. Bruiser did manage to block one of Grant's punches, and send him soaring backwards with his own counter, but after a quick recovery, followed by Grant beating the hell out of Copperhead, who also fell for the whole 'thinks we can be easily tripped up' act, Grant rocketed into Bruiser, hitting him with harder punches and kicks (the guy knocked teeth out of the poor sap's face).

"Hey guys!" I thought to them. "You're doing a good job, but I have a problem here. I got four Serpents in a tornado merry-go-round, and I don't know what to do with them."

"If you can get Bruiser off my tray for a little bit," Grant responded. "Then i'd be glad to help with the solution."

"Don't worry about that Super-G," Allyson (who single handedly knocked out Fer-De-Lance, and pulverized Slither with train constructs) responded. "One gravity enhancing Sunspot coming up."

Bruiser suddenly fell to one knee, unable to move as a golden circle of molten light held him to the ground. I immediately launched the twirling Serpents into the air, activated my Thunder Form, and flew after them, with Grant and Allyson. It was basically a vortex of pain, lasting around 1-2 seconds. The three of us flew around frantically, taking shots at whoever's head was in range. We might've gave Princess Python a minor concussion (most likely), and I was pretty sure King Cobra was never gonna see straight again, but hey, we were down four more serpents after the incredible display of aerodynamics, so why complain? Puff Adder tired to make up for his teammates failures. He started to grow, up to about 30 ft tall, and roared as he charged us; he was absolutely adorable.

"Delta Cannon?" I asked Allyson.

"You know it." She responded eagerly.

We combined our respective energies together, and after a one second charge, we released the blue/gold Kamehameha on Puff Adder's face. The blast knocked him hard, like a punch from God, but it didn't knock him out entirely; Grant took care of that with a hard flying punch to his forehead. Now, the only Serpents left, were Bruiser, Coachwhip, and Copperhead.

I went straight after Coachwhip, who thought it was a smart idea to slash at the guy who was wreathed in lightning, with electric whips. I caught them, absorbed them, and flicked my finger, sending her sprawling back with a high focused bolt of electricity (don't worry, I had it set on 'not Goblin' level, she was fine). Allyson proceeded to uppercut Copperhead 20 ft in the air, knock him back with a giant bat construct, and plant him in the ground with a meteor construct from above, when that didn't take him out of the game, Allyson pulled him back with a grapple hook construct, and punched his lights out, with one more uppercut. Now, Bruiser was the last man standing.

I'll give it to the guy, he could take some hits. Grant had him under siege with punch after punch after punch, and the guy still wouldn't go down.

"Need some help?" I asked him. "We're not busy at the moment."

"Ha ha, real funny," Grant responded. "And for the record, i'd have this guy in one shot, but if I go too hard, I might blow a hole in the bridge, if this guy was in the air, that'd be a different story."

"Is that all you need!?" Allyson mentally laughed at him. "Why didn't you say so? Here, lemme help."

She snapped her fingers, and a wave of light erupted under Bruiser's feet, sending him rocketing into the sky.

"Much better!" Grant shouted, as he took off after Bruiser, and decked him with an uppercut so hard, I could actually feel it from the ground.

"Thanks Sunbird!" he thought to her, as he flew back down with Bruiser's unconscious body. "This guy was starting to get annoying, let's hurry up and chain these D-Listers."

We quickly summoned and put cuffs on all of the Serpent Society, and then I phoned S.H.I.E.L.D. for further instructions.

"Yo, Fury," I said once he answered. "We just bagged the Serpent Society, what now?"

"Leave them there," he responded. "We've got agents on jets coming to bring them in, all you need to do is get back to base before the news choppers show up."

"Got it," I said. "On the way."

"Report back to base?" Grant asked. "Avoid the news choppers? We are so gonna miss out on valuable face time here!"

"We did our job, Super-G," Allyson responded, as she came down from Super Sunbird. "We saved the people, rounded up the bad guys, and nothing got destroyed, let's quit while we're ahead here."

"Fair enough, but can we at least fly off into the distance a little bit before warping back to base, it'll send a good message to the public, show them that we're not one of those Daredevil-like heroes, who kick ass, and then leave without a trace."

Grant and Allyson looked at me, and I shrugged, I mean, it couldn't hurt. I activated my Thunder Form, and took off with Grant and Allyson.

"So," she playfully thought to me as we flew. "Getting closer to enjoying being a hero?"

"Shut up," I thought to her. "It's not like I enjoyed that or nothin."

"Then why are you smiling?"

"I'm thinking about my leather jackets."

"You know Power Rangers count as heroes, right?."

"Whatever."

"You two totally like each other," Grant thought to us both.

And on that awkward note, we teleported back to the Helicarrier.