Tales from the NOVUS Universe #1

 Phillip Phoebus watched the live feed from the security cameras, as the US military rolled through the jungle up to his fortress compound. His crew had already begun moving valuable equipment and information to another lair. They carried crates and hard-drives into a large pipe, where they disappeared in a flash of light. Once they moved all the important equipment, they set mini-charges that destroyed the inner-workings of the "transport-tube", making it look like a regular large pipeline, then they took guns and set out into the jungle.

As Phillip studied the live footage, he recognized Zack and Janet among the US soldiers. He knew them better than they knew him. Phillip was a shadowy and mysterious looking figure. He always wore his custom trench coat, matching fedora dark sunglasses, and sported a full-trimmed beard. He rushed down the steps to the basement, where he found his own superhuman, in a resting position. Solaris laid out straight on the concrete slab, in hibernation mode. Phillip spoke in a dull tone. Solaris' eyes popped open. He whispered into the super-soldiers ear. Solaris' pupils constricted.

Outside the compound, the second-rate mercenaries were getting slaughtered by the US Army, on the false pretense that their families would be cared for by Phillip's "vast fortune". As the battalion moved forward, they heard a deafening boom as Solaris busted through the brick walls of the fortress, and flew into the sky. All Zack, Janet, and the soldiers could see was a burning man, flying through the sky.

"I've got him," Zack said, as he zoomed away into the air. The military focused their efforts on breaking down the wall of the concrete base with their explosives. Janet began to glow as she built up a reserve of energy, then channeled it forward in a destructive beam. The beam destroyed the wall, leaving a big opening.

Zack covered himself in a totally opaque energy force-field, as he flew towards his opponent. The opaque field protected him from the strong radiation that he could detect with his quantum vision, coming from the flying-burning man. Zack sped up until he ran into the opponent, knocking Solaris off balance. He then grabbed the burning man and chucked him into the upper atmosphere. Zack zoomed upwards again, intending to play "don't let the burning-man hit the floor". Solaris turned around and punched Zack square in the jaw. Zack "stumbled backwards" a bit. The punch had created an explosion of heat. Solaris rushed towards Zack, they grabbed each other and rolled around in the air.

Inside the fortress, Janet walked down the empty corridors, followed by a squadron. Suddenly, a beam of energy hurled towards her, knocking her backwards as a concussive blast. Phillip has appeared in the hallway, aiming a futuristic pistol. The soldiers instantly lit up the shadowy figure with all of their artillery. But the shower of bullets were simply deflected by a force-field dome around him.

Janet recognized the energy signature of the energy-shield. It matched that of her own force fields. Janet leaped to her feet. Phillip fired at her, but she dodged it and started to rush her mysterious opponent. Phillip continued to fire, and she continued to dodge. She projected a force field and used it to send him flying.

Her super vision (aka quantum vision) acted not only as X-Ray vision, but also a limited precognition. She saw Phillip reach into his trench coat for two throwing stars. She started to dodge them, but one lodged into her back as she turned around.

Janet fought through. She flew forward, and punched Phillip in the jaw. Phillip only laughed at the minor inconvenience. He head-butted the super-heroine, which surprised her. Then he swept her out at her feet. She fell to the ground, and he pinned her down. He whispered something in her ears and her eyes glazed over.

The soldiers rushed into the room, just in time to see Phillip disappear in a flash of light. They found Janet lying on the floor, in a trance. After shaking her to no avail, they said her name and she snapped out of it, with no memory of the last 5 minutes.

Back in the air, Zack zoomed towards his flying opponent, and released a succession of rapid-fire punches Although he was still covered in his energy-shield, Zack could feel the heat and the radiation. Solaris eventually lost consciousness from all the hits to the head. At that point, he stopped burning, to reveal a regular guy in a black jumpsuit. Solaris began to fall, until Zack reached out to catch him. Zack landed them both gently on the ground, where the medics came and took him away.

Janet came out of the base, accompanied by the soldiers. She held her head and possessed a look of bewildered confusion. Zack rushed up to her and asked "What happened?"

"She doesn't remember," the captain responded. "She went off to fight the leader. When we got in, he disappeared, and she was in a trance. When she woke up, she didn't even remember entering the base."

"What do you mean, he disappeared?"

"There was a flash of light, and he was gone."

Just as Zack and Janet were puzzling over this, they were able to witness a demonstration. Off in the distance, Solaris was laid out in a stretcher. His whole body began to glow brightly. Zack and Janet could see his sub-atomic particles unzipping, as he disappeared in a flash of light, possibly to reappear elsewhere. It was like Star Trek.

"Captain, We are going to need to consult someone about this."

Zack and Janet looked at each other, and started to rise into the atmosphere. Before the oxygen started thinning, they surrounded themselves in a force-field. The energy-bubble containing the two superheroes zoomed out into the exosphere. They approached a specific satellite orbiting Earth's atmosphere: the base of the Super Corp. This satellite was a perfect cube, one side was simply a membrane energy-field to keep the oxygen in. The bubble passed through the membrane and Zack and Janet landed in the loading bay.

They exited the loading bay into the empty corridors of the base, and took an elevator to the second floor, which was the laboratory. Inside "Doc" as he was only known, hid away from the rest of the world to unravel the mysteries of science. Doc had once been a protege of Arthur Redmond, and was one of the greatest pioneers in the science of neo-particles. He left Project NOVUS at Redmond Enterprises to become the resident scientist of the Super Corp.

Doc was working in one of the corners of his lab. As Zack approached him, he called out "Hey Doc."

"Yes Marty," Doc responded sarcastically.

"What?" Both Zack and Janet were confused, having never seen Back to the Future.

"Never mind, what is it?"

"Haven't you been working on a global teleportation system?"

Doc looked at Zack and Janet. His eyes suddenly got wide. Zack had never seen fear on Doc's face before.

... To Be Continued

Zack Powers

After a career of studying neo-humans, humans who had unlocked their dormant potential for superpowers, Doc spent a decade trying to create synthetic super-humans. When the Super Corp Project offered him an avenue for this pursuit, he left Redmond Enterprises and took the position of the Super Corp's head scientist.

Zack Powers was the prototype of the Synthetics. His super-powers did not originate from his dormant, natural ability, but from procedures that warped his subatomic structure. Zack's core power was the ability to shift his subatomic structure. This could manifest in a number of different super powers, but currently only manifested in flight, projection of force fields and energy blasts, and super vision.

Zack was joined by Janet and Dexter, two other subatomic anomalies, as they undertook covertassignments from the United States military. Janet's powers, at this juncture, were identical to Zack's, although she would later develop unique powers. Dexter could heal himself, and also transform into any energy on the electro-magnetic spectrum.

*****

Heavily armed looters ran through the African village (small city). The insurgents sprayed bullets freely, taking casualties. They gathered together a group of hostages, into a circle in the middle of the road. They would not let the hostages go until the demands were met. 

A unit of SEALS had begun to move in, positioning themselves to move into the village, but the President decided to use this opportunity to test the Super Corp first.

Zack projected a force field around the hostages, and he landed gracefully on the ground. The surprised gunmen opened fire, but the bullets bounced off the force field and hit some of the gunmen instead. The remaining gunmen changed their aim to the young man in a black jump suit, who eyes were hidden by dark black shades. At that moment, Janet entered and projected a force field in front of herself and Zack. The bullets bounced off of this one too.

A bolt of lightning came streaking through the village, hit one gunman, and bounced from that one to the next. The looters, in confusion, began to run. As the lightning bolt came out of victim number 2, it began to retake it's human form of Dexter. The Super Corp immediately split up. Janet went to the hostages, projected a orb-like force field around all of them, and flew with them to safety.

Zack projected a skin-tight force field around himself for protection against bullets. Zack and Dexter chased after the remaining four insurgents. They ran through the empty streets, trying to find a place to hide, or hostages to aid their escape. Zack decided it was time to use his super vision, which was also called "quantum vision". Quantum vision allowed him to see down to the subatomic level, to observe events happening in other locations, and to visually dissect macroscopic objects. Zack was even still testing the limits of this ability.

He used the quantum vision to follow two of the gunmen, far out ahead of him. They ducked into a shop and hid inside the building. Zack's quantum vision traveled through walls to follow them, as they traveled all the way to the back door exit, where Zack was waiting for them. They ran the other way, but Zack overtook them. He grabbed the one that had unfortunately fell behind in a sleeper hold. The other one turned around in amazement. Zack pulled out a small tranquilizer gun and fired a sleeping dart at him. Finally the one in the sleeper hold passed out, and Zack let him down easy.

On the other side of the town, Dexter chased two other gunmen, a little more closely. Desperate they grabbed a civilian and held him real close, gun to the temple. They yelled out in their native tongue at Dexter. Probably threatening him not to come any closer. In the blink of an eye, Dexter had unzipped every one of his atoms into a stream of electrons. Quicker than the speed of thought, the lightning bolt leaped at the two gunment. It went through the first one, with only enough juice to stun him, and then leaped to the second one who was holding the hostage. Same result. The gunmen dropped to the floor, civilian unharmed. At this juncture, the military had begun to move in. Zack landed next to Dexter, picked him up, and they flew away.

The Shadow

Ten men, in masks, considerably armed, all worked together to carry crates from the warehouse to the big-rig. None of them knew what was in the packages, only that a big pay day awaited them after the job. Two men carried one crate at a time, and they moved in and out of the warehouse like clockwork... until the lights went out. Everyone stopped. Nick started to back up, his partner (Jerry) followed, until Nick backed into something that wasn't there before. Nick dropped the crate onto his feet. Jerry was paralyzed in fear. Behind Nick stood a dark figure, wearing a dark cloak with a hood. The hood masked his face with a shadow. No one had ever seen the face of the Shadow, as he was called. The image was haunting. The Shadow covered Nick's mouth with his hand until he passed out.

Jerry finally came to and pulled out his gun and aimed for the figure. The Shadow opened up his cloak and a thick cloud began to envelop everyone. The doors of the warehouse closed trapping everyone inside momentarily.

Outside the building, the driver and four movers panicked. The engine was not starting up, and no one could see anything in the dark. As the all started to run, the Shadow showed up. He came out of nowhere, hitting the leader of the pack in the jaw. Instant knock out.

The next thug pulled out his semi-automatic and fired, but the bullet bounced off the mysterious cloak and hit another thug instead. The Shadow rushed the thug, enveloping him in the cloak then spitting him out. It all happened at lightning speed. Shadow then attacked the thug to the left as the thug began to draw his gun. Shadow turned to his two remaining opponents. He approached slowly, as they lowered their weapons and laid down on the ground.

Back inside the warehouse, all the thugs had their weapons drawn. All windows had been sealed off and no light came inside. Jerry's eyes were adjusting, as one of his comrades was thrown across the room into him. Jerry went to scream, but a hand covered his mouth, emitting an interesting smell that he wouldn't remember when he woke up.

The remaining four thugs waved their guns around. One saw something move. He fired. Missed. Fired again. Kept firing until he was out of bullets. One of the other thugs screamed. He had been hit by one of the bullets, and fell to the ground. The trigger happy thug didn't see Shadow behind him. Shadow covered the thug's face, until he too passed out. Outside, one could hear the police sirens. The remaining two thugs saw the wraith-like figure standing over their comrade's body. Just a simple, ghastly, dark cloak with a face engulfed in the shadow of the hood. The thugs watched the Shadow float upwards and away. Then floodlights came on in the warehouse, blinding them, and the doors opened up, letting the cops in.

Thirty minutes later, the cloaked figure landed on the roof of an apartment building. An identical figure was already there. They both removed their hoods to reveal... two regular guys. No names would be needed. They could have been anyone. Both were under 45 years of age. Both of them were upper-middle to upper class economically. Both in shape. Both males. Both happened to be Caucasian.

"What brings you to Island City," asked the shadowy figure whom our short story follows.

"Inspection," answered the other man, who was superior in rank to the first. You see, the Shadow was not one man, but a national association of vigilante crime-fighters, each under their own jurisdiction. Each of them was trained and groomed from a young age to be the people they are today. Each of them takes flexible and high-paying jobs. They then combine their wealth to fund their crime-fighting network.

"Well, you'll find I run a tight ship here, even in the absence of my local ally."

"Well, then I'll get right to it. We are concerned with your careless behavior. Two of your opponents were shot tonight."

"Not by me."

"No, but you could have avoided these things. This isn't the way we taught you. We don't kill."

"That was not my hand."

"But it was a product of your carelessness. It could have been avoided."

"I'm not sure that's necessary."

"Listen, if you can't comply to our code, we are going to need to enact disciplinary measures."

The superior stepped out onto the ledge of the building and then plunged over the edge.

Meta-Man

"Look! Up in the sky! It's a bird! It's a plane! It's Meta-Man! Symbol of hope and humanitarianism. Protector of all life forms. The Ultimate Champion of Justice and Equality. And he's quite an opponent for anyone who would stand opposed to those virtues. Those who perpetuate injustice and inequality beware. Meta-Man is on the move. With powers of flight and super speed. Skin indestructible to an Atom bomb. He has not only physical strength, but also moral strength to oppose all evil doers. A new day is dawning for justice, and Meta-Man is waking early to see this sun rise."

Click. Once the recording stopped, the announcer took a deep breath, got up and left for his coffee break. Behind him stood Meta-Man, clothed in full body armor and complete with a cape, next to his producer.

"I don't know about this," Meta-Man said, "It's all very cheesy."

"This cartoon is an excellent way for you to reach kids with your message of hope and equality for all. This is a way for you to expand your impact on the world."

"It's all so simplistic, with all that talk of good and evil. The world is far more complex than that. And for all my powers, I'm still a human who makes mistakes."

"I know that, but kids deal in black and white, so we need to simplify things for them. We need someone to represent good, and who better to do that?"

"Thanks for this, Rob."

Rob nodded and Meta-Man super-sped out of the room. Mystery surrounded the Champion of Mankind. His real power was telekinesis, from moving large objects, to manipulating matter. This power allowed him to make his skin indestructible, fly, and manipulate temperatures in the surrounding area.

Many believed that he was like Superman, a super-powered messiah from another planet. Meta-Man neither confirmed nor denied these rumors. The truth, however, was that Meta-Man was simply a human. Born and raised on a small farm in Iowa, he and his friend John developed superpowers in their early teens. John could communicate with others mentally, and Clark (Meta-Man to us) could lift things with his mind. Their powers continued to develop and expand, and when they turned 18, they went separate ways. John joined the military and Clark traveled across the country on a motorcycle. This was before the existence of superheroes was public knowledge. As he traveled the country, he used his powers in secret to help others. When superheroes emerged from the shadows, Meta-Man led the charge, becoming prominent in the hero community.

As Meta-Man flew through the sky, he received a call on his ear-piece about a six-story robot, that was terrorizing downtown Manhattan. Cheesy? Maybe. Generic? Yeah, but this sort of thing only happened about once a month. Mad scientist comes up with an experimental model for a giant robot and uses it to terrorize a major city. Luckily, Meta-Man was in New York City. He flew at top speed, to the scene of the attack and landed with a dramatic entrance, but the robot had already taken it's toll. Civilians were running away screaming, but some of them had not made it.

The robot sprayed bullets from a large machine gun mounted on it's "arms". Meta-Man ran in front of the bullets to protect citizens. He then rushed the robot and dismantled the guns. The robot punched him in mid-flight. The force knocked him to the ground. The robot cupped his hands over Meta-Man and began to crush him with extreme pressure. The weight actually started to become more than he could handle. He used his telekinesis to access the Kinetic Force, and it's vast resource of kinetic energy. He summoned as much energy as he could and redirected in towards the robot.

Next Meta-Man was on his feet, pushing back the hand of the robot. After failing to squish the hero in his mechanical palm, the robot grabbed him and tried to squeeze him with both hands. Once again the pressure became too much on his exoskeleton of "virtually impervious" skin. It was about to crack like the shell of a crab. So he started to warm up. Using his telekinesis, he warmed up the surrounding molecules, melting the robot's hands until he slipped through them.

Meta-Man put his hands out, and from them, blast of searing heat were projected at the robot, melting it's metal exterior. He rushed to the robot and picked it up by the ankle. With full control of the kinetic energy in the area, he kept the robot perfect balanced, lifting it up with only one hand.

Then he took to the sky. He shot straight up, holding the robot in front of him. Then he moved eastward, towards the Atlantic Ocean. He chucked the robot forward a bit, and then flew into it with a punch. With one touch, he disassembled the giant android. It shattered to pieces, and fell into the ocean, deep into Davy Jones Locker.

*****

Meta-Man returned to the scene where the attack had started. The carnage was great, and the scene was tragic. Meta-Man vowed that he would never let this type of attack happen again. Never again.

Dr John Reyes

Doctor John Reyes woke up, on time, without an alarm, and immediately began his morning workout regiment. Dr Reyes was like clockwork, the most disciplined man you've ever met. At 30 years of age, John was not only in the prime of his life, but also in peak human physical and mental condition. A true polymath and Renaissance man.

After a full workout and a quick shower, he joined his lovely wife for breakfast. From their humble abode in Chicago, you would never guess that this couple was comprised of two of the smartest living people in the world. There were six doctorates between the two of them. John had the most. They two had met as undergrads in the pre-med program, before being accepted by Redmond Enterprises for an accelerated learning program. While in the program, after finishing their second doctorates, they were married. They had a son, and Martha decided to become an online professor.

John was accepted by Arthur Redmond onto the top secret Project NOVUS, and quickly became one of the project's head scientists. These days, their son was in boarding school, and Martha was a leading professor at the University of Chicago.

After finish his breakfast, speed reading the news, and conversing briefly with his wife on topics from personal life to scientific discoveries, John got up and kissed his wife goodbye. He grabbed his bike, headed out the apartment door, and carried the bike down the narrow staircase. Once outside, on the sidewalk, he set down the bike and pulled a ring out of his pocket. This was not a wedding band, but instead a far more intricate device. This ring would grant the wearer with enough energy to allow them to move at lightning speed.

John slipped the ring on and rode his bike all the way to a warehouse at an undisclosed location. Unbeknownst to John, he had been watched, by a couple of guys who saw him slip a ring on and disappear. John rounded the corner of the supposedly abandoned warehouse. He walked through a back alley, guarded by security personnel dressed as thugs. John discreetly flashed his ID, and walked through the back door. He ventured through the warehouse, until he found what appeared to be a random large "wooden" crate. After pressing his hand on the crate, a device read his handprint, and the crate swung open revealing a large elevator. John stepped in the elevator, which descended deep into the ground. Once exiting the elevator, John passed through a hallway of security checkpoints, before finally making it to the laboratory.

John was the head scientist at the Chicago laboratory, and the foremost authority on the mysterious subatomic “neo-particles”, as well as the superhumans called neo-humans. John's current top secret project was working to unravel the mysteries of the Kinetic Force. The ring was made to charge a person with a surplus of Kinetic Force, giving them superhuman speed.
He observed the plants, which he had left charging with Kinetic Force energy overnight. They had aged overnight and withered away. He took the ring out and put it in a special lead box, determining it was safer to keep sealed. Exposure to the energy seemed to cause rapid aging. He would need to develop the neo-human longevity powers before doing any more human testing with the Kinetic Force.

*****
Martha walked down the staircase to her Prius parked just outside. Once she sat in her car, two men emerged from the back seat and put a gun next to her head.

"You are going to take us to visit your husband at work", they said in a thick accent that she had never heard before.

"I don't know where his office is," she protested.

"Well then, you are going to need to bring him here."

*****
Back at the lab, John received a message on his device. It was not a cell phone, since he couldn't get reception underground, but instead a special device his wife used to contact him while at work.
"Need you back at the apartment. Hurry!"

John rushed for the elevator, up to the warehouse, out the back door, to the cab which was already waiting for him. The cab was called in by an intern. John hopped in, gave his address and a stern order to "step on it".

John paid the cabbie and lept out of the car. He opened the door to the staircase, to find his wife and two thugs inside. One of them holding a gun to her.

"Let her go," he said, "it's me you want."

If only he hadn't left the lead box in the lab. The man with the gun pointed it at John. The other man motioned for Martha to go upstairs. John walked with them out the door, into their car. They put John in the driver's seat, the other two sat on the bench-seat next to him."Now drive us to your secret lab, and let us in, or I'll put a bullet in you head."

John started up the engine and began to drive. He knew that once he got to the warehouse, the guards in the alley would kill them all. John had sworn an oath to protect the lab, even with his life. He started to pick up speed as he drove down the streets. Then, came a red light. John slammed his brakes. The momentary shock paralyzed the man holding the gun. John could see, like being in slow motion, as the shocked gun man flew through the windshield.

His partner, like John, had put on his seatbelt. Both rushed to unbuckle, and the man began to reach into his jacket. John grabbed the man's hand, first. He bent the fingers back, breaking them, then reached for the gun. The man grabbed John's hand, but that backfired when John broke his other hand. The man opened the door with his (broken) right hand, and they both climbed out. He tried to pull out the gun with his left hand, but a well placed kick from John caused him to drop in. The man stood up and aimed a few kicks. John blocked them with his hands.

The man quickly turned around and reach down towards the gun lying on the floor, but John grabbed both of his arms and pinned them behind his back. John pushed the man to the floor, picked up the gun and pointed it at the man with his right hand. With his left hand, he pulled out his phone to call the police.

The scene was a mess. The first guy laid out in the crosswalk, either dead or severely injured. The other man laid down on the sidewalk. Both he and John were bleeding, but John had no broken bones. It was a long day... and it wasn't even lunch time yet.

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.