A Setup

ABONDONED HOUSE

11:05 AM

As the two step out and walk towards the abandoned house with Mr. Kemper behind, he removes a tracker from his pocket and places it in his mouth. They go through a narrow space between two buildings and come out on the other side, halting as a white painted house comes into view. They stand in front of the white painted house then slowly walk to the door which the general calmly knocks. They wait for a while and as they see the doorknob turn, they kick the door and with a bang it goes flying into the persons face sending him to the ground leaving a large lump and cut on his face. A shoot out begins as soon as the two appear in the doorway.

The general and Kemper move left and right simultaneously, guns blazing as they move towards their targets. Bullets pierce through shoulders, blood splatters on walls and floors, some sent flying into walls by empty shell torpedoes, and soon the bodies of all 10 men in there lay lifeless on the floor with the exception of the leader who is held at gun point by Kemper. Looking straight at her tall figure, he moves a few paces towards her with the general behind. She has a slim build with a defined arrow like birthmark stretching from her left cheek all the way down to her neck. Her dark brown eyes rolled around the room as she slowly moves her hand to her thigh.

"Uh, uh, uh, drop it" Kemper says seeing her attempt to pull out a gun. Without any response from her, he demands "Now!". She hesitantly throws it down and Kemper kicks it away then utters "You must be Poison, nice to meet you" he says putting his gun against her head. With a gun to her head, she tries moving her head out of the way but receives a warning "I wouldn't do that if I were you." Kemper says repositioning the gun then continues "I got a couple of questions I was hoping you could help me answer. If you cooperate, I would be sure to go easy on you. Hope I'm clear?" She turns and faces him without a word. "Good" he says removing a photo and sends it close to her face and asks "Who is this?". The one in the picture has half of his face partially burnt, seemingly a burn from hot solution. His hair dyed mauve with an eye patch on the burnt side of his face.

She says nothing. "I will do you the honors of asking again. Who is this and how is he related to these operations?" he asks sternly

"You would see him soon, but not in the way you may be expecting to" she says with a smirk. The android imposter who is directly behind Kemper smashes him in the head with a gun, sending him crashing down. Poison walks to him and puts her foot on his chest and leans in very close to his face. "He would see you soon" she says and stomps him in the face. He passes out.

Turning to the android, she lashes out "Couldn't you have done that earlier? If he had smacked me, you would have been thorn to bits by now" she snaps at the android.

"I'm just a robot, they would just put me back together again. But you on the other hand would have been in trouble for doing that". Out of irritation, she kicks it in the groin while yelling.

"You are aware I can't feel that right?"

"Just shut up!"

"Don't you have something you should be doing?" it asks handing her a phone. She snatches it and gestures to some men who come in to take Kemper away before she makes a call "We have him" she says excitedly.

"Then you know what to do" comes the voice from the phone.

"Sure" She affirms and disconnects the call.

HILLTOP HIGH

2:10 PM

There is a lot of chattering as students are moving out through the main gates, some hopping onto busses yet others being picked up. One girl wears a frown as she see's a car drive to a halt near her and yells "I'm old enough to walk home by myself. Stop treating me like a kid". Zarx who is standing near giggles and turning to leave sees Melanie and Ace as they walk out the gate and walks up to them.

Nearing them, he waves and says "Hey guys"

"Hey, thought you already left" Melanie announces

"No yet, was about to actually"

"Ooh..."

"Wanna walk together?"

"Sure" Ace quickly responds before a chime rings from his pocket as he receives a text. "Again!!! come on" he says in protest and continues "Guys, you would have to go without me. Dad just texted. Gotta go get somethings at his office and send them home. I would catch up with you later"

"Ok see you later" Melanie says.

He stops a cab and leaves. She plugs earphones in her ear as the two walk on in an awkward silence.

"What are you listening to" Zarx asks breaking the long silence. "Matchmaker, by Hazel Smith"

"I love that song, especially the part where she says…" he sings it and she sings along with him. They smile after the singing ends.

"I'm guessing you love to sing as a hobby?"

"Well, I'm not much of a singer. I do more of calligraphy, karate, shooting and a little bit of programing and hacking as hobbies"

"Programing and hacking? we got that in common" "You do that too?" "Yep and as far as I know, every programmer has a favorite program. So what is your favorite program ever written"

"My favorite program? Let's see. It is probably the first program I wrote and actually what got me into programming"

"Mmm sounds interesting, tell me about it"

"So, there was this guy who kept bugging me all the time every day, so I surfed the internet, got a few video tutorials and wrote and sent him a code that reboots his phone every 5 minutes. Regretted it though, because I got detention right after" she says with a laugh then asks "What about you, which would you say is your favorite hack?"

"My favourite hack huh?"

"Mhmm"

"A friend pulled a prank on me, so I pulled one on him too. I hacked his alarm and had it ring the entire morning". They laugh. "You should have seen his face when he realized he couldn't stop it" he says as the laughter continues. They meet an ice cream vendor.

"Ice cream?" Zarx asks

"I would like that"

They get an ice cream each and move on.

"Have you ever gone caving?" Zarx asks

"Well maybe..."

"So you did give it a try"

"Yeah I did give it a try but it didn't turn out as expected"

"Then you should give it another try someday. It's really is amazing. Going through tiny holes, emerging into bigger ones, and discovering ancient artifacts. One time we went caving and we found a time capsule."

"A time capsules? Always wanted to see one of those"

"Yeah, it was pretty amazing. When we opened it, it contained a picture of a building from about 500 years ago and its blueprints. It was such an amazing experience"

"That's sounds more fun than mine turned out"

"You wanna erm... talk… …about it?"

"Not today. Maybe another time" she says managing a smile.

'Looks like what happened must have been difficult for her' Zarx thinks to himself.

Melanie's phone vibrates. She removes it from her pocket.

"Excuse me" she says

"Sure". She steps away for a moment.

"ALERT!" is flashing on her phone and she taps it. A map pops up with a flashing red dot moving towards a location. Her black face slowly returns to normal as she walks to Zarx.

"Sorry but I got to get going. Something came up. I did enjoy our time together. Maybe we can catch up again sometime"

"No worries. But if you don't mind, I would like to drop you off"

"I would like that, but…"

"I insist. Let me drop you off, please"

"Okay, if you say so"

"Come with me" they walk briskly across the street to a house opposite the school and he goes towards the garage. He sees a note under the door and picking it up reads 'Went to get some groceries. Left the garage opened, in case I don't return before you close. Love Aunt Jane'. He presses a button on the garage door and it slides up. Going into the small garage, he gets to his motor bike not far from the wall and picks a disk like object and putting it on his left ear presses it.

It molds into a helmet and covers his head. He activates a second one pulls out of the garage and gives the second helmet to Melanie before she sits. "Hold tight" he says and zooms away causing Melanie to hold on tightly to him as the gust threatens to pull her off the bike and the garage door closes behinds them.

MELANIE'S APARTMENT

2:45 PM

Zarx pulls over in the apartment block garage and Melanie gets off then takes off the helmet.

"See you later" she says with a smile and continues "And thanks for the ride"

"It's a pleasure. See you around".

She hands him the helmet and walks off without looking back even once. He leaves as she disappears out of sight.

GAVIN'S HOUSE

2:55 PM

Approaching Gavin's house, deafening clanking sounds ring around the house causing the approaching Zarx to slow down. Stopping for a while, he listens carefully to discover the origin of the noise and once found, he steps off his bike and walks in the direction of the noise. Before him stands tall hedges fencing the source of the noise making it impossible for him to peek at what is happening ahead of him. A feeling of helplessness creeps through him as he frowns and goes back to his bike muttering to himself. He is about to leave when a loud crashing sound resembling an explosion fills the air which is then followed by clanking sounds louder than before.

He picks the helmet Melanie used and presses a button which transforms it back into a disc and attaching two more smaller fan like objects, transforms it into a drone and uses his phone as controllers. He raises it over the hedge to see what was going on. Behind the thick hedges, two teenaged boys are sparing.

"Wait, I think I have met these guys before" he murmurs to himself. "Alex, ID these two".The red beacons on the drone turn blue as it sweeps over the two, Alex searching through data bases to identify them.

"Identified. These two are from Hilltop High…"

"Hilltop High? I remember now. These two helped me with my locker today and we had science class together as well."

***

Shiro and Gavin stop for a moment as Gavin asks "You getting the same weird vibe?"

"Yeah. It's like someone is watching us" Shiro replies and both look around, quickly noticing the drone.

"A drone" he says to Gavin in a dramatic and angry tone who turns and sees it as well. With a swift move of his hands, a shuriken flies out of Shiro's hands and races towards the drone but Zarx's quick reaction gets the drone out of the way in time and the shuriken comes plunging into a nearby pole, almost neatly cutting through. Zarx leaves the drone for Alex to pilot and speeds of as the drone follows and attaches its self to the fuel cap cover. The two come running out of the house but Zarx was long gone.

MELANIE'S APARTMENT

3:15 PM

Melanie rushes in and hurls her bag into the sofa on her way to her room and turns on her laptop once in. She types for a few seconds after the screen lights up and a 3D map of an area appears on her screen with the red flashing dot.

Ace rushes in panting and asks "Melanie is everything okay?". His hair is a bit disheveled and his face sweaty "I saw you rush in, which is unusual" he adds.

"No, he's gone" she replies, the tension in her voice very clear.

"Who's gone?"

"My dad. He's been taken. He seems to have activated his tracker before hand. Tracked him to a secret abandoned military base a few miles from here"

"That's a lot to take in but... Have you informed the general yet"

"No, my dad told me not to inform any one if something like this happens. The possibility of their involvement in whatever's going on is high. As of now, no one can be trusted"

"What are you going to do now?"

"Not me, we are going to get him"

"Melanie, are you crazy? I know this is hard for you but this is not the way. Last time we couldn't even defeat a warehouse full of henchmen on our own, and now you are thinking of infiltrating a military base?"

"I have infiltrated bases before. This one is no different"

"With your dad Melanie, this is different…"

"Don't you get it? If I don't do this who's going to?"

He walks closer to her and says in a convincing manner "I do get it Mel. But the two of us infiltrating a base on our own, that's just risky and now I got to admit, Rex is right. If we want to pull of something like this, we need a team".

She takes in a deep breath and sighs, saying in a relaxed tone "You might be right, but we would still have to do this on our own. There is no one to turn to at the moment. We got no choice. And whoever Rex is, and wherever he is, I guess he has to come to our aid again"

"And how can you be so sure he is going to show up"

"I think he is also unto these people and is probably keeping tabs on them, possibly us too. And also… …because we need him, …I need him. Put on your gloves. Let's go"

"We are not suiting up?"

"No, we are not. It would draw too much attention"

He puts on his gloves. "I'm ready"

"Okay, let's go" she says as she picks up her phone and a cap.

WELLS MANOR

3:30 PM

Zarx enters the hall through the garage side door. The news attracts his attention causing him to stop and watch for a while.

Clad in a white striped yellow suit, the news anchor announces "There have been reports of mysterious sightings of a strange figure dubbed by many as the 'Shadow Man' after an attack on an alleged illegally operated warehouse last night. Our sources confirm from witnesses at the scene and a description was given. According to description given by witnesses, it had green eyes and had a monstrous look like a monster from a fairy tale, except... this is not a fairy tale. This is real."

***Anchor Room***

A middle aged man in blue shirt with pants sweeping the floor glared sternly at the news anchor with his body fidgeting as though to move and knock her senseless.

The elegant news anchor however seems unfazed by the threatening look of the man and continues, totally ignoring him "Some have theorized this 'creature' has been sent to punish criminals as they have terrorized people for too long. Others however believe it is a demon that has awakened and decided to wreak havoc on the city. We are joined on phone by one of our correspondents from the scene" pausing for a second or two, she continues "These are pretty interesting theories If you ask me, what have been the peoples reaction…"

"Mute" Zarx says.

"Oh Zarx, you're back. Get me some carrots from the garden" his mom calls from the kitchen.

"Okay mom" 'Does she have eyes everywhere or something? She always notices when i'm back' he thinks to himself, dropping his backpack in the sofa and goes to the garden through the backdoor. He gets the carrots and send them to the kitchen.

"Wash them and make the salad. Also make the juice once you are done. But first open those tins for me" his mom says

'And here we go again l. Multiple task, no break' he thinks to himself before replying "Okay".

BASE X

3:50 PM

Behind a large wall two figures are crouching and peeking around the edge of the wall from time to time. The area within the walls is not too large but spacious enough. There are henchmen pacing about and a construction seems to have gone on as there are several piles of papers and tiles at one side of the base.

"Isn't this place too small to be a base?" One of the crouching figures questions.

"Not all bases have to be huge Ace, and better be quiet before they hear us" Melanie warns as they slowly stand up. She removes her phone and checks the map. "I think he is in this building" she says pointing to an uncompleted 3 storey building in the base then says "It shouldn't be too far from the gate so we just have to get in, and get him out"

Ace's face pales and bit as he murmurs 'You make is sound so easy'

"Did you say something?"

"Nope nothing. Great plan by the way... erm so how do we get in".

"About that..." she says and scans the area, noticing two men walk out and stand in front of the base for a while before moving away in the opposite direction to them. "I think I just found our entry tickets. Take this and attach it to their neck. It should knock them out come on" she says handing him a small pin like device.

The two move quietly and quickly and are soon behind the two men. Attaching the device to their necks, a jolt of electricity passes through them thus knocking them out.

"That was close, thought i was gonna get caught" Ace says with a sigh

"Shhhh"

"Sorry" he says in a low tone.

"We have to disguise as them. Let's be quick" she mentions and they take off the methen clothes, put them on and drag the men to the side of the wall. They pick up their guns and walk in.

"Hey, think they are gonna make us out?" Ace asks.

"Keep it down. You are being too talkative right now"

"Ok shhhs"

They enter the building and go on through the passage ahead making a stop almost at the end of the passage. She takes out her phone and checks the map before they continue and make a right turn then descend a flight of stairs, stopping on the last one. She looks around the corner to the left, noticing three men standing guard. She signals Ace and they close the lid of their masks which they took off earlier and proceed cautiously. They walk past the first man but are brought to a halt by a stern demanding voice which asks "Pass code".

"Pass code" Ace replies quickly. The men look at each other and pointed their guns at them. Reacting quickly, Melanie holds one's gun in the air as he is about to open fire and kicks him in the tummy, then strikes him in the head with her elbow sending him down with a thud as the helmet behind his neck flies towards Ace who rolls forward and kicks one's feet of the ground and uses his body as shield as the last one starts to shoot at him. Melanie shoots him in the leg and whacks him in the head with a gun. Ace knocks him out as the torrent stops. 'I'm glad this guys have pretty good bullet proof vest' Ace deducts.

"What was that for?" Melanie asks.

"Usually the pass code for most of these guys is pass code. You're welcome".

An alarm is set off and soon henchmen come swarming in. The two take a left and moving quickly, they hide behind a door as some henchmen come rushing by. They come out as there are no more men passing by and they proceed on to a large door.

"I guess we are almost at our destination?"

"Lucky guess"

"Let's go then" Ace says and pushes the door open and the two go in. It leads them to an underground facility, pretty large and full of empty crates and containers. They explore the facility and she finds her dad strapped to a chair with his mouth tied. Melanie takes off her mask, drops it on the floor and runs to her dad. Ace joins her, mask still on.

"Dad are..."

Her speech is cut short as a soft voice interrupts "Well, well daughter to the rescue. What a pleasant surprise. I didn't expect an Owl to come flying out during the day". They turn and see a lady behind them. Melanie points her gun towards her.

"Come on now, don't be hostile" she says with a smirk. "I'm Poison by the way. Your dad and I were just getting to know each other. I believe this belongs to him" She says tossing her dads tracker to her. It bounces off her and lands on the floor. She peeks at it and focuses back on the lady in front of her.

"Meeting you is the worst thing that ever happened to me. I hate you" Melanie says.

"No hard feelings" Poison says snapping her fingers. Henchmen soon flood the room. Ace stands frozen watching as Melanie begins to turn around looking for a target. "Drop the gun, else I will blow out poor daddy's brains out right now" she threatens. They both drop the guns without protest. She walks to Ace to take of his mask. He struggles, but is knocked to the ground. She removes the mask as Melanie rushes to his side. "Your boyfriend I presume" she says. "Lock them all up. Including Kemper" she adds. They are seized and thrown into a nearby cell.

WELLS MANOR

4:40 PM

Zarx picks his bag from the sofa and makes his way to his room.He puts it on the table and lying face up on the bed picks up a manga from his pillow and starts reading.

"Sir, Melanie and Ace's trackers place them at a location out of the city. They have been at the same position for almost 30 minutes. Getting satellite view now" Alex says. Zarx drops the manga and picks up his phone. A satellite view of Melanie's location is displayed.

"These two just never listen, do they?" Zarx says.

Alex performs an IR scan of the area and reports "They appear to be imprisoned in an underground facility and the entire place is heavily guarded"

"How many henchmen are we looking at?"

"100 men. There is a large container in the underground facility but I'm not able to identify its contents. The walls of the container are hindering my sensors". Everything is displayed on the phone as they are being mentioned.

"I can't go in there alone. It's suicide" Zarx says.

"You might consider recruiting Shiro and Gavin to help you. I have been running background checks on the two. There's not much information on Gavin but Shiro on the other hand is a member of one of the only surviving ninja clans in history. The Komodo Dragon clan. He is popularly known among the clans as the Death Stalker. Though his existence as the Death Stalker is only myth to most people"

"That explains why he is never talked about"

"Judging by their skills from the sparing today, I have no doubt that Gavin is a samurai. His skills are superior to those of Shiro's, though he lacks the experience Shiro has"

"They might not be welcoming, especially after I spied on them earlier"

"They certainly won't be, but they are your only hope right now as the Snow Tiger is currently unavailable to assist you"

"Snow Tiger, I miss him already. Even if they won't be welcoming, I gotta give it a shot" he says as he leaves for the workshop. "Okay Alex, let's see that armor". A cylindrical pod comes up from the ground in the middle of the room and Zarx walks towards it. He stands in front of it and smiles as his reflection overlaps with the armor helmet.