Isabel

It had been quite the party. Isabel woke up on the floor of the small apartment with the worst hangover she had ever experienced. Ten other people were sprawled out over the apartment, all of them had been wasted out of their minds. Isabel sat up slowly, trying to remember events from the night before. She stumbled around the apartment looking for some missing... belongings, but the screaming pain was making it too hard to bear.

She collapsed and fell on the floor, before she remembered a remedy for this situation. She could reconfigure the molecular structure of her brain to remedy the hangover. She stopped looking for her missing clothes, and instead her skin morphed into the missing garment and was shed from her body. She looked in the mirror, at the mess that was her face. Her hair was in disarray, and her makeup had smeared off. No problem. By simply shifting the molecular structure of her face and hair she looked as fabulous as she had last night. No shower needed either, just transform dead skin cells, dirt, and such into clean body mass. Finally, she emitted a fragrance of perfume she had formulated internally.

She quietly left the apartment, and quickly left the building, finding herself in downtown Island City. Isabel was a freshman (or fresh-woman, as she would say) at the Island City University. Her powers had turned her from a shy and reserved high school girl, into a bona-fide model with a hedonistic philosophy. Isabel's alluring dark eyes were complemented by her brunette hair and her perfect tan. She could stand at any height that she chose, but her legs were... well you get the idea. She used her powers of shapeshifting and elemental transmutation to embody feminine aesthetic perfection.

Isabel caught the bus, and showed a bus pass that she "stole" from the apartment. As she sat by the window, a stranger came up and sat next to her. One doesn't need spider-senses or visions to see this guy was bad news. He reached out towards her. She wasn't sure what he was reaching for, but she wasn't about to find out. She grab his arm and his fingers.

"This isn't the Please Touch Museum!" She exclaimed, because all crimefighters need catchy one-liners. She bent his fingers backward until they broke. He screamed, and the bus stopped. With his free hand he took out a switchblade and went to stab her. She grabbed the blade and didn't flinch. Then she headbutted him. Embarrassed, he fled off the bus. Isabel reconfigured her forehead and pulled the blade out of her hand, then healed her hand. She gave the bus driver a thumbs up, and he continued driving.

*****

Earl got out of his car in the parking garage next to Redmond Tower. He was dressed in a suit and tie, over-coat, with short, neatly trimmed, dark hair and glasses. His whole appearance exuded his position in the Upper-middle class. As he turned, he saw Isabel, in her more casual dress with a short skirt.

"Can I help you?" he asked.

"I don't know. Can you?" She said as she moved in. She grabbed his neck, sticking a pin in it. Earl blacked out, but Isabel caught him. Holding the man in her arms she got a good look at him. She took a survey of him with her molecular vision. Now his DNA, form, and clothing would be stored in her "memory" for a period of time (which she had not yet tested the limits). Isabel also needed to be careful not to stay in one form for too long. This would result in her being stuck in that form permanently.

Isabel grabbed the keys out of Earl's pocket. She opened the trunk of his car, and then carried him and stuffed him in. Then Isabel turned into Earl. She walked toward the elevator to complete her mission.

Isabel had received intelligence that the formula which had given her powers had come from Redmond Enterprises. The company was also the only distributor of shiftogen, a key element in the formula, which can transmute into any element. Isabel was determined to get every last trace of the element out of the hands of this company.

Once in the elevator, she opened the secret compartment (behind the elevator buttons), which revealed and hand scanner. She pressed her hand on the scanner. With Earl's brain she could access his memories, which came to her as they were relevant (hence how she found the scanner). The elevator started to go down. It went down three levels to the ground-level, then continued to plummet downward. Finally the ride came to a stop, and the doors opened to a small hallway with more security checkpoints. Earl's motor-memory kicked in, and Isabel passed all the checkpoint, without any suspicion.

The final doors opened to reveal a huge, state-of-the-art laboratory. Isabel walked around, and none of the technicians were any wiser. Some addressed her as "Earl" and she even responded with some nicknames when appropriate.

Finally, she approached six liter-sized tubes of shiftogen. She looked around to see if anyone was watching. She quickly stuffed each of the tubes into her over-coat, into which they were absorbed. Then she left, as calmly as she came... until someone else walked into the vicinity. It wouldn't be long before they discovered the missing vials. She walked faster, out the main entrance, passing a security guard and all the security check-points, making it all the way to the elevator. The elevator had started to close, when the alarm sounded. The technicians had realized that the tubes were gone, and they sounded the alarm. The guard stopped the elevator doors from closing.

"Sorry, sir. You know the drill." The guard went to pat Earl down, and found nothing. "I'm going to need you to stay here until I get the OK from inside."

Isabel didn't have time to wait. They would look at the footage and find Earl was the culprit soon enough. She jumped the guard. Now, Isabel had done many things in her life that she regretted, but this would make it quickly to the top of her list. The guard pulled his gun out and shot her in the stomach. Awfully close to the liver. She grabbed onto the lattice on the elevator ceiling, pulled herself up, and wrapped one leg around his neck, all in one swift motion. With the other she knocked the gun out of the guards hand. She squeezed Earl's meaty leg, dressed in suit-pants, around the guard's neck just until he passed out. Then she pushed a light fixture upward, to reveal the emergency exit. She jumped up, and climbed her way out.

*****

Miles Redmond reviewed the footage over and over again to learn everything he could about this new opponent. Security found Earl in the trunk of his car. Only those in the NOVUS Project knew about the break-in, or even the existence of shiftogen. They were studying the element to engineer practical uses.

Miles needed to find a way to locate this chameleonic shapeshifter. This person was the key to the answers they were seeking.

Prince Kon

Day Four on the alien planet, the planet known to you and I as home. Prince Kon (which would be the English equivalent of his title, and the phonetic spelling of his name) stood head and shoulders above any human, looking like Marvel's incredible green rage monster, but with dark brown skin (we would call black). He was dressed in only war paint and a loin cloth. His footsteps thundered through the forest where he roamed, in middle America.

Hunters in the woods fired at the giant, but the bullets bounced off his rhino-like skin. When they realized the futility of their attempts, they ran away. Kon growled at them with a mighty roar, and continued walking through the forest. He had never seen trees or grass in the desolate place he came from.

As he continued his thunderous stroll, helicopters came into view. Suddenly he was surrounded by armed men, dressed in black and camo. Some had hid themselves in the foliage, others came down with helicopters. They were expecting him, with high-power artillery and armor-piercing bullets. They began to fire all at once. Kon could feel his super-adrenaline kick in, as he accessed the Kinetic Force.

The Kinetic Force is the field of kinetic energy which spans the entire universe, generating and distributing that energy as needed. Kon could see the bullets coming at a slow speed. He ducked away from some, but could not avoid being hit by others. He managed to avoid hitting any major organs or arteries. He caught one bullet with his hand. Then, with strength and precision, he threw it back at the one of the gunmen.

He ran away from the center, as gunmen perched in trees fired high-power automatic weapons with armor-piercing bullets, down at the center of the circle. He grabbed one of the trees, where a gunman was perched. He pulled the gargantuan tree up by it's roots, and used it like a gigantic bat to swing at the other gunmen. The gunmen fell to the ground. Kon ran around to make sure that each one was knocked out. Only the helicopter and it's pilot remained. The pilot started to fly away. Kon found a bullet lodged into a tree. He threw the bullet at the chopper, but missed (as the bullet flew into outer space). Next he picked up a small log. He needed to adjust to this planet's gravity.

He wound up for a wind-mill pitch and launched the log right into the chopper. As the chopper started to plunge, Kon leaped into the air to grab it. He grabbed the chopper and brought it down with him, steadying the landing. Once he landed, the door swung open, and the pilot began firing. As soon as he had begun firing, though, Kon had disappeared. He was already miles away.

Kon had full access to the Kinetic Force. Running from one place to another was basically like transportation. His body would break down into a field of energy, that could take him anywhere in the universe. Kon arrived in the city, stopped moving, and returned to his bodily form on top of a building on the outskirts of town. It was at this point that he heard a sound like one that he hadn't heard since arriving on this planet. It was a sound in hyper-time, silence to the ears of you and I.

"Kon, I think it's time we met."

Kon was already gone: an invisible field of energy, searching the whole city.

"Not so fast," the voice said, as Kon arrived in an abandoned warehouse. He found the device that had been broadcasting the sound. "If you take one more step, I will blow this whole building, before you have a chance to move."

Nothing could move faster than Kon. So Kon started to leave the warehouse at light-speed. Suddenly as flash of light filled the room, pushing Kon backwards as if it were solid matter. Kon felt paralyzed, and the world around him began to slow back to regular speed. The boxes then detonated, blowing the whole building up. Without his supernatural shield from the fire, Kon was roasted by the flames.

Kon could still hear the mysterious voice saying "I run this town." He sat in agony, as the flames licked him. Heat itself was not something his body was used to. His home planet was the coldest inhabited planet in the Universe. It was more than Kon could bear. He laid down, and accepted defeat.

Across the street was a fire house. In a short amount of time (relative to us) the fire department was on the scene. Ten men went inside, and carried Kon out. They did not question the fact that he was a giant to them, they simply did their job. The medical team had a bigger challenge with his non-human form. Kon's whole body was suffering from second and third degree burns. Shrapnel was lodged into him. He was also in shock.

Soon the Kinetic Force kicked back in. First it went to work in his brain, sorting out the trauma of almost dying. Luckily, Kon was born a warrior, so this didn't take too long (relatively). Next it went to work on his flesh. His skin healed quickly, harder than it was before. He stood up, to the surprise of the service men and women watching, and began to pull the shrapnel out. He continued to heal. Finally, his full speed returned to him, he transformed into a field of energy and zoomed away to find the one who had done this.

Maria Wright

Maria Wright was a beautiful, young lady. Tall, with long thin legs, flowing black hair, and alluring dark eyes. She was modest, not just in her dress, but also that she didn't look threatening. She just happened to walk into the wrong alley at the wrong time.

Men came out of the shadows to meet her, with... less than well intentions. One pulled a gun, and the others pulled knives out. Maria charged the gun-man. He was shocked at first, but then pulled the trigger. Maria flew backwards. Her body dropped to the floor, a gaping hole in her forehead. The men gathered around to loot through her stuff and leave. They opened up her purse to find nothing but trash.

Then, in an instant, the hole in her forehead was gone. She leapt up, and slipped two knifes out of her sleeves. The knives were lodged into the two biggest men. A well-placed kick in high-heels put out the gunman's eyes. Maria took the gun, broke the gun-man's hand, and disassembled the gun. He swung at her with his remaining hand. She grabbed that arm, and with surprising speed and strength, twisted it behind his back. She pulled it up, breaking it. Another man approached her, and she punched him in the face.

He recovered immediately, and put his fists up. Maria decided to show off her kick-boxing training. He swung first this time, missed and left his face wide open. She took the shot, and several subsequent shots. A few well-placed kicks and her opponent dropped to the ground. Another opponent rushed her, and she jumped up, catching onto the fire escape. She pulled herself up a bit, and kicked him in the face. He jumped, and followed her up the fire-escape. She stood at the top of the fire escape and waited for him. He rushed at her, but she simply stepped out of the way. He grabbed her, but she pushed him against the low railing. He was dangerously close to dropping.

With a simple push from Maria, they both plunged to the ground. Maria land on her attacker, who was dead. Her bones, which had broken, instantly began to heal. She stood to face her final opponent.

He pulled a knife, she grabbed the blade, then his wrist. In one fluid motion, she turned the knife in on the attacker, lodging it into his shoulder. Then she punched his lights out.

Maria stood in the middle of the scene. When she heard the sirens running, she grabbed the shoe out of the one attacker's' eyes, and then another shoe, and she fled the scene.

Was this the scene of an attempted rape and mugging that was thwarted, or the scene of a murder? Was this young woman in the wrong place, at the wrong time? Or had she intended to do this all along?