The Crimson Dragon Volume 9

## The Future Looks Grey - Issue 1

The war raged on. After the attack on New York a spark to spread through the rest of the mutant community. They realized they should be fighting. Soon, every state was caught up in the war. After the first fight or two the civilian humans started to lose interest in battle. They were losing their lives too fast. So they became mere victims of mutant rage. The US needed more soldiers for their program. All the drafted men were trained, given high tech gear, and told to protect their home. Mutants were still too powerful. Two years into the Great War many have lost their lives, but both sides are content in winning this war.

——————————————————————————————————————————

Kai is in walking to the exit door of the town hall where two mutants are yelling outside.

Mutant: This is a human refuge. We kill a few humans and the boss’ll be happy.

Mutant2: Let’s get this job over quickly before any B.L.A.D.E. Soldiers show up.

Kai walks out of the front door. He has short brown hair, and a filled out beard. He is wearing his old costume but it is torn up. His skin’s a bit darker from the sunlight. Kai stands in front of them with the sunlight shining down upon him.

Kai: Just a few thugs.

The first mutant runs up to Kai. Kai takes his staff and slides on the ground. He whips his staff at the meta’s knee. A loud crack is heard and the man falls to the ground. The other mutant roundhouse kicks Kai. Kai blocks it and then jabs the man's chest with his staff. The man stumbles back struggling to breath. Kai roundhouse kicks him in the head and he goes down.

Kai: Now that’s how you do a roundhouse.

The man with the broken leg tried to crawl away. Kai punches him in the head, knocking him out.

Kai: Pussies.

Kai walks back inside the town hall. He walks down a corridor and into President Bordon’s old office. Kai plugs a usb in and sits back in the chair. Kai can hear typing through the com.

Kai: Max, why don’t you mute your mic?!

Max: Why don’t you stop being happy when we’re fighting a civil war!

Kai: Somebody’s gotta make the jokes, and if the comedians are dead. Who’s gonna do it?

Max: Me, I’m the king.

Kai: The king of my basement.

Max finishes typing.

Max: You can take the usb out now. It has all of Boredon’s files.

Kai: Hopefully he left something important behind.

Max: We’re talking about Bordon. Not likely.

Kai: True.

Kai unplugs the usb.

Kai: I’ll be back at the house soon.

Kai smashes the computer. As Kai is leaving the town hall he sees a room with a door that looks locked. Kai opens up the door by breaking the lock. He sees a group of humans all looking terrified of him.

Kai: No need to worry. Remember me from TV? I’m the Crimson Dragon.

One of the kids stands up.

Kid: Have you come to save us? Like with the helicopter?

Kai walks over to him and kneels

Kai: What’s your name kid?

Kid: James.

Kai: Thats a good strong name. You’ve got the same name as Mr.Untouchable. I can’t do much to get you out of here right now, but I’ll protect you the best that I can.

James: But on TV they are bringing helicopters to save people.

Kai: Helicopters take a long time kid, but don’t worry. I’ll make sure no mutants come to hurt you, and you stay strong. Deal?

James: Deal.

Kai starts walking away to leave.

Kai: Keep this door unlocked just board it up from this side. If it’s locked it’s more suspicious.

Kai leaves the building. As Kai is walking down the street his stomach hurts.

Kai(in head); Kids are just sitting in shelters waiting to be saved. I don’t even know if Bordon wants to save everyone.

Kai gets a call. He picks up the phone, and Remi starts talking.

Remi: B.L.A.D.E. Is fighting mutants over here. I’m going to need some help.

Kai: Alright, where are you?.

Remi: Same place Max told me to go. Now it’s just broken out into another fight.

Kai: I’ll be there in a minute.

Kai starts running down the street. He sees broken down buildings, some small fires. The only thing he doesn’t see are people. Kai runs through the street. Then all of a sudden Kai stops. Soldiers move around him.

Captain: Apprehend the crimson dragon!

Kai: We meet again B.L.A.D.E.

Captain: Hands up Crimson Dragon!

Kai puts his hands up and behind his head.

Kai: How many times have you tried to ambush me again? Is it going on ten?

Captain: Shut up.

The captain walks over to cuff Kai.

Kai: have you even caught one of us superheroes? You seem to always do a shit job when I’m here.

The captain is about to grab Kais hands. Kai teleports behind one of the soldiers. He knocks them out with a kick. The soldiers next to him turn to shoot. Kai grabs both of their arms. They drop the guns, and Kai slams them together. All the other soldiers fire at Kai. Kai grabs a gun from one of the soldiers and teleports to the captain. He kicks the captain in the back of his leg. The captain goes on one knee and Kai puts the gun to his head.

Kai: What are we doing now? Who’s dying?

Captain: Shoot him! He doesn’t kill!

All the soldiers raid their guns. Kai drops the gun he has to the captains head. Kai’s hands light up white. He moves his hands and pushes out on both sides of himself. A shockwave of the white light blasts all the soldiers back. Then Kai knocks out the Captain, and starts running to Remi. Kai stops as he sees Remi grabs the last guys gun, and knocks him out with it. Remi looks around and notices Kai. She walks over.

Remi: You take your time.

Kai: I was busy. B.L.A.D.E. Soldiers are fucking everywhere.

Remi: You can’t handle a few soldiers?

Kai: Oh, shut up.

Remi: Did you get the usb?

Kai: Yeah, but like I told Max. We have no idea if anything important is even on here.

Remi: That’s why we need to check. If something important is on there then we’d be missing out.

Kai: I’ve already heard the whole speech from Max. He doesn’t shut up about it.

They start walking back home.

Remi: He thinks he’s being motivational.

Kai: He’s being repetitive.

Remi: Suck it up.

They make it back home. Max is sitting there watching TV.

Kai: We didn’t tell you we were coming back?

Max: I assumed.

Kai: What if we needed your help?

Max: Then you’d have to wait. The world doesn’t revolve around you Kai!

Kai shakes his head and hands Max the usb.

Max: Thank you, my good man.

Max walks down into the basement. Kai and Remi sit on the couch. They start watching TV. Kai wraps his arm around Remi and she lays her head on his shoulder.

Kai: The worlds shut down, but they still manage to put tv on.

Remi: Of course they do. What else does everyone have to do while they are in a bunker? The government would probably make them have the tvs on so that the people could see the news too.

Kai: I don’t know if the news is really helping too much though. I found a group of people in City Hall. There were kids there, terrified. Everyone wants someone to save them, but there isn’t anyone who can. No one knows where the helicopters are bringing people. We have no way of helping these people.

Remi: We’ll figure out how to help them. If we lose hope and give up then those people won’t have anyone to protect them.

Kai: Your right…

Max’s face appears on the TV.

Max: Get down stairs! I got the information out of the usb.

The TV turns off. Kai and Remi walk over to the furnace, and they hear a helicopter above the house.

Remi: Maybe the helicopter is for City Hall.

Kai: That’s pretty optimistic.

They walk down the stairs and the furnace closes off. They walk up to Max, and Max opens a the most recently edited file.

Max: This file was emailed right before the attack on the votes. Do you think he might have had something to do with it?

Kai: Bordon is hard to understand, but he wouldn’t lead his country into chaos. Especially chaos that might end up with him out of power. It must be a coincidence. Maybe we’ll find out by actually opening the fucking email.

Max: Ok jeez.

Max opens the file. All there is are coordinates.

Max: 48.0934 north, 124.6381 west.

Remi: Don’t tell us the coordinates! Show us where it is.

Max: I’m getting to it.

Max brings up a map.

Max: The coordinates are somewhere on the coast of Washington D.C.

They all hear repetitive shots getting fired.

Kai: A machine gun!

Kai runs up stairs. The furnace moves out of the way and quickly closes behind him closing Remi and Max downstairs. Lines of bullets come down from the roof. The bullets get closer and closer to Kai. People in gear crash through the windows. A mutant runs up to Kai. Kai punches him in the head twice, and then kicks him back. A mutant tackles Kai. Kai kicks him off, and then bullets from the machine gun go right through his stomach and one of his legs. The chopper is still above the house. More of the mutants run at Kai. Kai gets up and puts pressure on only one leg. A mutant shoots electricity at Kai. Kai gets shocked and throws his staff at the mutant. The mutant hits the ground. Another mutant grabs Kai by the throat and runs forward holding Kai. The mutant slams Kai in a wall. A truck appears in the front of the house. On top of the truck is a giant gun that looks reminiscent of an RPG. The gun fires. The rocket hits the wall Kai is pushed up against. Kai hits the ground. The back of his suit is completely burnt off. Another truck appears. This truck is armored like no one has ever seen before. The truck looks indestructible. A man with a giant scar over his eye and along his entire face walks out. He has tan skin and slicked back dark hair. He is wearing a black open trench coat with dark clothes under it. As the man is walking up to Kai he takes out a gun from a pocket in his trench coat. Kai starts picking himself up, and the man steps on his back and puts the gun to Kai’s head.

???: They give you more credit than you deserve. What did I need to take you out? A handful of men, a few “big” guns, maybe even a plan. You didn’t even last a minute.

The man’s phone starts ringing. He picks it up and holds it to his ear.

???: Yeah, that’s 19 today. Soon New York will have no superheroes to protect it.

Kai turns his head to try and see what the man looks like. Kai gets a quick glance. Then man hits Kai in the head with the back of his gun.

???: Yeah, he won’t be here. Regeneration doesn’t mean he’s unstoppable.

He hangs up the phone.

???: I am General Grey. When you wake up. I suggest you don’t return to New York.

General Grey unloades three bullets into the back of Kai’s head. He steps his foot off of Kai, and walks back over to his truck.

General Grey: Destroy the house. Let it fall on the traitor. Then find him and put him in the chopper.

General Grey gets inside his armored truck. Another rocket hits Kai’s house as General Grey drives away. The house falls down into rubble.

## Skulls - Issue 2

Remi is kicking the furnace. Trying to break it open.

Max: You are spazzing right now.

Remi: It’s dead quiet out there! Don’t you think Kai would have tried to open the furnace if he beat them?!

Max: Kai’s fine, he’s always fine. What are they going to do? Shoot him? He has regenerated a whole arm before. He’s fine.

Sparks show up in Remi’s hand. Max sighs. Remi blows the furnace back along with the rubble around it. They both walk out of the basement to see the house completely destroyed.

Max: Maybe he is in trouble.

——————————————————————————————————————————

Later that day A helicopter is flying over Death Valley in California. Kai is in a helicopter. He just starts to wake back up. As he starts to wake back up the helicopter door opens. He is kicked out of the helicopter and starts falling through the air. Kai hits the sand hard. As he picks himself up he spits out sand and wipes off his tongue. Kai looks around. He sees sand and hills.

Kai: Am I in a desert?

Kai starts walking around. He taps his com and tries to talk. He gets no response. He takes out his com and sees it's damaged. He throws it on the ground and steps on it. As Kai keeps walking he finds a road. Kai takes off the shirt torso part of his costume because of the heat and because most of it was destroyed. He walks along the road for what feels like hours. Then he hears a truck driving. Kai dodges out of the way as the truck drives past him. The truck spins and turns around facing him. The truck has no top two men standing up while in the truck. They both look like barbarians. They have skull masks on with mohawks coming out of the masks. They wear muscle black muscle shirts with a skull on them and black shorts.

???: Did he dodge a truck?

???: He’s a mutant! I want to catch a mutant!

???: We’ll hang his head on our truck!

???: And sell his body!

Kai: Who are you.

???: We!

???: Are!

Both ???: The skull twins!

???: I'm a skull!

???: I wanted to be a skull!

Skull: I’m skull and your bone and that’s final!

???: I’m bone!

Skull: Now we’re going to ground your bones to dust!

Bone: Die!

A gun raises up from the back of the truck. A harpoon shoots out of that gun. Kai grabs the harpoon and pulls the car over to him. The car starts moving at Kai quickly. Kai jumps over the truck, and grabs Bone out of the passenger seat while he’s in the air. He lands on the ground behind the truck and slams Bone down. The truck spins around again. Skull presses a button and spikes appear on the front of the truck.

Skull: Now you die!

The truck drives at Kai. Kai gets low to the ground. As the spikes are about to hit him he puts his hands under the truck and lifts the front up. Skull falls out of the truck. Kai puts the front of the truck back on the ground, and gets in it.

Kai: I’ll take this as compensation for trying to kill me.

Skull: That’s the skull truck!

Kai: No, it’s my truck.

Kai drives off. Bone gets up from the ground.

Bone: He stole our truck!

Skull starts laughing.

Bone: What’s so funny?

Skull: He’s not from around here. He’ll end up in New San Francisco, and we’ll be able to get our truck back.

Bone: How?

Skull: He thinks that we’re a joke! He’ll have to learn who the joke is on.

Kai is driving along the sandy road. He takes out his phone, and it won’t even turn on.

Kai: I need to find a phone. Then I could call Remi and Max. I need to find out my location and tell them that I’m not dead.

Kai drives only the road until the sun starts setting.

——————————————————————————————————————————

Back in New York, Max is sitting on the computer. An alert goes off on his computer every few minutes. Remi is pacing back and forth. Each alert testing her patients. The alerts stop for a minute or two. Then they start again. Remi blitzes.

Remi: What the fuck is going on Max?! Alerts are going off every minute! Is this what always happens?!

Max: I think the computer is acting up. Usually the alert only goes off whenever B.L.A.D.E soldiers or mutants attack. I’m trying to figure out the problem, but there doesn’t seem to be one. It’s almost like there is a group going around attacking random shit.

Remi: Why don’t I go and check it out? I need to get out of this god forsaken basement anyway.

Max: I’ll tell you where to go as you run along the buildings.

Remi leaves the basement. She has to constantly change course because of whoever is attacking. Finally she catches up to them. She sees General Grey dragging a man out of a house.

General Grey: You used to be a superhero. You would try to help humans. Now look where it got you.

Man: I-I-I’m not a mutant. I’m a human superhero!

General Grey: Are you?

General Grey takes out a sticky note. He writes torture on it, and smacks it on the man’s forehead. Before the man can see what it says.

General Grey: Make sure you keep that on, or else no one will know we need to check if you're a human. It says test on it. If you're a human you’ll be free to go.

Man: Thank you!

They put the man in the back of one of the trucks.

Soldier: Sir, we hate humans. You wrote torture on his forehead.

General Grey: He was crying like a bitch. Now he’ll shut up instead of crying in the back of a truck. He should save the crying for when we torture his dumb ass.

General Grey gets back in the truck.

——————————————————————————————————————————

Remi: Your computer wasn’t wrong. It looks like mutants are hunting people down now in one group. They have trucks and weapons.

Max: Why would they have weapons? I thought they only used their powers to fight.

Remi: Maybe they learned that they would be able to win the war easier by using technology.

Max: That’s only going to make them harder to take down. You should come back, and make sure they don’t see you.

Remi: I will.

——————————————————————————————————————————

Kai sees a building. He stops the car, and gets out. He looks at the building's signs. It reads “Death Valley Museum.” Kai walks inside the museum. The place is broken down and battered. Kai moves past the rubble. Two wolves appear from in the building. One wolf launches at him. He easily grabs the wolf and throws it at the other one. They both run away. Eventually Kai finds an old phone. He types in Max’s number. The phone rings for a bit, and then Max picks up the phone.

Max: Hello, who is this?

Kai: It’s Kai.

Max: Where the fuck are you?

Kai: A group of mutants came by. They destroyed the house, and dropped me off in a desert.

Kai hears Remi in the background.

Remi: Was it the mutants in the trucks?

Kai: Yeah, the main guy is named General Grey. He is the one in the black trench coat. I haven’t been able to test out how dangerous he is. Don’t attack him. He’s too smart.

Max: Where are you?

Kai: I don’t know. I read the sign “Death Valley Museum.” So… probably Death Valley.

Max starts typing.

Max: You're in California. Wait, if you're in California then you're close to those coordinates.

Kai(in head): Dropped off in california. Why am I getting Deja vu?

Max: If you travel north west you should be able to pit stop in San Francisco. Then all you’ll have to do is go north.

Kai: How far north?

Max: Only like a thousand miles. So it shouldn’t be that bad.

Kai: You're going to make me run a thousand miles?

Max: You can find a car.

Kai: It would take even longer than! How long is it to get to San Francisco?

Max: Way shorter. That’s only like four hundred miles. You won’t even break a sweat.

Kai: I’ll fucking kill you when I get back.

Max: Take as long as you need.

Kai hangs up the phone.

Kai: Now I’m running across California a second time.

## Quirin - Issue 3

The wheels of the skull truck glide over the sandy road. The wind is whipping Kai in the face as he steadily approaches San Francisco. He sees giant walls with barbed wire along the top of it. The Kai drives over to the gap in the wall. Two guards stand at the opening. As Kai pulls up to the opening the guards put their hands out. The truck stops.

Guard: Is this that fucking skull truck I’ve been hearing about?

Guard2: Yeah, but who’s this chump?The skull twins are usually driving it.

Kai: I took it from the skull twins when they tried to kill me.

They stare at him with murderous intent. Then they both laugh holding their stomach. Soon their laugh becomes a cough.

Guard: Thank god. We hated those two human scum in our mutant paradise. You can come in. As long as your a mutant.

Kai raises his fist and white energy blasts into the air.

Guard2: Welcome to the new San Francisco, or as we call it Quirin.

Kai slowly drives inside. He looks at all the buildings. He sees many different stores and mutants walking around. The city looks futuristic, but dirty and apocalyptic. Kai sees farther away there is one giant skyscraper. Kai stops the car as a little kid runs across the road. Kai sees all the mutant people just being normal citizens. He gets another pain in his gut. Kai mumbles under his breath.

Kai: Why did it have to end up like this?

Kai finds an inn and parks the car. A younger kid is running down the street away from something. He tries to run past Kai shoulder checking him, and Kai grabs him by the back of his collar.

Kai: You should pay more attention. There’s a lot of street here. You had to bump into me?

Kid: What, I can’t run?

Kai: You shouldn’t have to run from anything. So what the hell did you do?

The kid hits Kai’s arm off of him.

Kid: There trying to rob me!

Kai: Really? They are chasing you in the middle of the street to rob you?

The two thugs come in running.

Kai: Yeah, I don’t think that’s the truth.

Kid: Now they’re going to catch me. Look at what you did!

Kai: Shouldn’t run from your problems, kid. I can’t help you.

Kai leans against his car. The two thugs catch up to the kid. The kid tries to run, but one of the thugs punches him in the back of the head. The kid hits the ground hard.

Thug: Where’s the money?!

Kid: I don’t have it.

Thug2: Are you saying you don’t need this finger either.

The thug grabs the kids middle finger.

Kid: No!

Kai: I think that’s enough.

Thug: Stay out of this.

Kai grabs the thug by the back of his shirt and throws him to the other side of the street. The other thug takes out a knife and stabs Kai’s stomach. Kai barely dodged it. He gets a cut on the side of his stomach. As the thug falls forward from stabbing Kai, Kai punches him in the back of the head. Kai looks at the kid on the ground.

Kid: I thought you couldn’t help me?

Kai: I changed my mind.

Kai puts out his hand and the kid gets up by himself.

Kid: Thanks, but I have a question. Why are you walking around shirtless?

Kai: That’s a good question, and not one I’m willing to answer. You got a shirt I could borrow?

Kid: Not one that’ll fit you, but I can buy you one to pay you back for the help.

Kai: Deal.

The kid walks into one of the shops. He comes out, and hands Kai the sweatshirt. Kai throws on the black shirt.

Kai: What was your name?

Kid: My names Luke.

Kai: Thanks Luke, now get out of here kid.

Luke: Why?

Kai: I have a habit of bringing trouble with me, and the trouble I could bring to this city is more than you can handle. Stay out of trouble.

Kai walks back to the inn. When he walks inside he talks to the receptionist. He gets a room and goes up the elevator. Kai walks down a hallway and opens the door. He lays down on the bed and soon falls asleep looking out a window.

——————————————————————————————————————————

Skull and Bone walk up to Quirin’s gates. The guards put out their hands.

Guard: You are not allowed to pass!

Guard2: Never again will you be allowed in Quirin.

Skull: A man stole our car. Just let us get the car and we will never come back, please!

The guards look at each other.

Guard: You may take back your truck, but you must leave Quirin

The Skull Twins look at each other.

Skull twins: Yes!

——————————————————————————————————————————

The next day, Kai wakes up to the sound of the window shattering. Chains move across the floor and Kai gets out of the bed.

Kai: Elecain…

Elecain: You fight off our men for two years and then you decide to come here! The biggest mutant base of them all!

Kai: I can leave if you really need me to.

Elecain: Now that we know you're here you’ll never leave.

Elecain whips his chain. The electric chain wraps around Kai’s leg. Kai gets shocked, and elecain whips his chain at the wall. Kai is thrown out of the inn. The chain lets go and Kai starts falling a few stories. Kai flips around and lands on his feet. Elecain jumps down from the inn. His chain turns into a hammer. Elecain walks over to Kai, and starts throwing hammer attacks at Kai. Kai tries to block the hammer attacks, but the bruises and electricity start to win. Kai pushes Elecain back, and then punches him in the stomach. Elecain gets the wind knocked out of him. As Elecain gasps for air Kai punches him in the head. Kai stands over Elecain. Elecains hammer turns into a knife, and he stabs Kai in the leg. Kai drops down to one knee and Elecain gets onto both feet. Elecain’s knife turns into a sword. Luke shows up and throws a metal bar to him.

Luke: Here!

Kai takes the knife out of him and catches the bar. Then he stands up mostly on one leg. Elecain slashes back and forth with the blade. Kai blocks the sword.

Kai: You want to know something about me Elecain?

Their blades clash causing sparks.

Elecain: What?

Kai: I might not like swords, but I’ve trained enough to be a master swordsman.

Kai moves the bar in a way that flings Elecain’s sword out of his hand. Kai knocks Elecain out with the bar. Kai sees everybody just moving along like it was nothing after the fight happened. Kai walks up to Luke.

Kai: Is this how it always is? Everyone just keeps going on with the day after a fight breaks out.

Luke: Yeah, pretty much. Everyone has powers here so we expect it to happen.

Kai: Kids grow up with people trying to kill each other all the time?

Luke: Yeah, what's the problem?

Kai: Nothing. Now stop helping me-

Luke: No, you have no idea about how to get around this town. I can help.

Kai: You could also die.

A spike comes out from Luke's arm.

Kai: Fine, I guess I can’t stop you. At least you have powers to defend yourself.

Luke: Where are we going?

Kai: The giant skyscraper looks like it will probably be the best place to start.

Luke: Are you sure that’s a good idea?

Kai: You could always not come.

Luke: I’m… going to try to find the best way to escape.

Kai: You do that.

Kai travels to the skyscraper and walks in. The place looks pretty empty. Kai walks right past the receptionist. She yells at him as the elevator goes up. Kai leans on the railing and starts tapping his foot. The elevator stops at the last floor and Kai walks around. He sees an office and he walks inside. He sits down at a chair. A man sits in front of him. The chair spins around to show the man.

Kai: A robot.

Kai sees a robot with clothes on. The robot starts ticking. In its eyes is a countdown. A hologram of a face shows up on the table.

Hologram: You're here and not in New York. What could happen to your city? Maybe you might want to see how much General Grey has cleared out of the city.

A bar that is almost filled up appears below the face. The bar shows 90%.

Hologram: By the time you get back there will be no one left to save.

Kai sees the timer in the robot's eyes has fifteen seconds left. Kai runs out of the room and jumps out a window. As Kai falls through the air he hears the top of the building explode. Kai teleports to the ground and starts running. Kai sees the inn and Luke stops him.

Kai: Where's the truck?

Luke: There are more important things than that!

Luke leads Kai to a tv playing the news. There is a picture of Kai on the screen.

Reporter: This man, commonly known as the Crimson Dragon, has attacked us. He is a mutant traitor who likes humans.

Kai: Get as far away from me as you can Luke.

Luke: Is this what you meant by trouble?

Kai: Yes, this is what I meant.

Luke runs away, and Kai runs to the opening in the gate. The two guards put out there hands.

Guard: Here for one day and you’ve already become a terrorist.

Guard2: You’ll die for what you have done.

Kai teleports behind them and he keeps running.

Kai: Maybe another time.

Kai gets far enough away that he doesn’t hear anyone.

Kai: It’s time to go to the coordinates. North, he said. Alright.

Kai gets in the running position.

Kai: It’s time to run around the country again.

Kai runs as fast as he possibly can. He kicks up dirt as he does so.

——————————————————————————————————————————

Later that day, Skull and Bone are driving.

Skull: We always end up on top Bone. We have our car and our lives.

Bone: That’s not much.

Skull: Living the high life.

Kai runs past them and the car flips over. Kai doesn’t stop running.

Skull: How are we supposed to move this thing?!

## Focus - Issue 4

Remi and Max are in a car with the basement computer in the back. The car stops at the old warehouse The Grandfather was beaten in. They both step out of the car. They carry the computer parts into the warehouse. Max starts setting the computer up and Remi sits down.

Remi: Do you really think they were going to destroy the computer if we stayed there?

Max: Can’t take any chances. This computer is my baby. A father must do everything to protect his baby.

Remi: Whatever.

Max sits back down on the chair. The chair rolls over to the computer.

Max: So, what are we doing about General Grey?

Remi: What can we do? If we attack him then we might just end up getting captured. I think we need to find Owen.

Max: Owen? He has been gone for a year! Remember when he left he said he needed to take down the whole police department in an insane rant?!

Remi: He’s not insane. He just, feels like it’s his duty as an ex cop to make sure the department still stands for justice.

Max: That sounds dumb. How is he going to take down the whole police department? He’s not even a mutant

——————————————————————————————————————————

Owen is hiding behind a police desk reloading his gun. Ryan has a pistol in each hand. Ryan is shooting at the desk Owen is behind. He keeps shooting.

Ryan: You always wanted to be a goody two shoes. Where did that get you?!

Ryan runs out of ammo. Owen stands up and shoots at Ryan. Ryan jumps behind another desk. As he jumps a bullet slides across his leg, giving him a small gash. Ryan lands on the other side of the desk reloading his guns. Owen goes back below the desk.

Ryan: We’re always at this stand still Owen! Why don't you just give up?!

Owen: I don’t give up because out of all the cops, you're the dirtiest, and the one I’m most responsible for.

Ryan: You're my biggest failure too. You did start to change to a worse guy, but you went back too quickly. You should have stayed only caring about yourself.

Three cops run in to protect Ryan. Ryan runs away behind them. He’s limping a little bit from the gash.

Owen stands up and shoots one of the cops. Owen runs and bullets hit the walls next to him. He kicks open the door to the police station. Reno’s car is parked outside with the window down.

Remi: Need a lift?

Owen hops inside of the car and Remi drives off. The cops run outside to see the car driving off. They shoot once or twice and then go back inside. The car drives along the open road.

Owen: Why now?

Remi: Huh?

Owen: It’s been over a year since we spoke.

Remi: We wanted to let you handle your own business, but there’s someone new.

Owen: Is it that guy who’s been tracking down on the “superheroes?” I heard he got Kai.

Remi: He did, and Kai’s fine by the way.

Owen: You need my help to find Kai then?

Remi: Your detective skills must be off today. No, we need you to help us just in case General Grey attacks.

Owen: No..

Remi: No?

Owen: N. O. No.

Remi: Why not?!

Owen: I have my own business.

Remi: What if he attacks you? You’re just going to handle it yourself.

Owen: If I have to.

The car pulls up next to a street corner. They both get out.

Owen: I guess this is where we split ways.

Remi: Hell no. You're at least going to talk to Max. It’s not like you’ve made all that much progress taking down the police department. I think you have some time.

Owen: Shots fired.

——————————————————————————————————————————

Kai is running. He sees a small village and stops. He’s heavy breathing.

Kai: Goddamn! I forgot what it’s like to just run. I fucking hate it. My legs are killing me.

Kai walks up to the village. He sees people walking around. Kai walks up to one of them.

Kai: Is this a human or a mutant village?

Man: Mutant, why?

Kai: Alright, is there any place I can stay?

Man: There is an inn down this path.

Kai: Thanks, I appreciate it.

——————————————————————————————————————————

Remi and Owen walk inside the warehouse. Max spins his chair around.

Max: Owen! It’s been too long!

Owen: It has. What have you guys even been up to, and why aren’t you still at Kai’s house?

Max: We’ve been saving a lot of lives since you’ve been gone. Stopping all the fighting whenever one breaks out.

Remi: And we aren’t at Kai’s house because it exploded.

Owen: What? Someone pay for a hit on you or something?

Max: No, it was that General Grey bastard that took Kai. He exploded the house when he attacked.

Owen: Sounds like he’ll be a real problem. Y’know what? I’ll find out his hideout for you. That should pay you back for getting me out of the building.

Max: You’re not joining us?

Owen: No, I still haven’t stopped the police force. Until I get that done it’s all I can focus on.

Max: Have you stopped Ryan yet?

Owen: He’s the greatest challenge I will ever face. I don’t know if I can beat him. He was always a better shot than me.

Max: You’ll take him down.

They hear trucks driving. The driving stops and they hear footsteps. The door to the warehouse burts open. Owen fires off a few shots, but all the shots are absorbed into their gear. Remi throws sparks at them. A bubble appears around the sparks. The sparks explode. The explosion stays within the bubble.

Captain: Take them out!

Remi runs up into the fight. She knocks one of the mutants back. Owen slowly walks up shooting. As they are distracted one of the mutants sneaks over to Max. Max throws a punch at the mutant. The mutant knocks him out before the punch hits. The mutant steals the usb out of the computer and runs. He makes it out of the building. Remi knocks out another mutant, and gets shot in the stomach by a plasma rifle. She gets shot again. Another mutant knocks her out. Owen’s gun is knocked out of his hand, and then he is shot back by a plasma rifle. Remi, Max, and Owen are all on the floor.

Captain: Let’s head out!

Crumbles of the ceiling fall down.

Captain:...

Everyone looks up at the ceiling. A man falls down and kicks a mutant back as he falls.

Remi: Leo?!

Leo is in his full Arachno costume. He jumps up, and grabs a mutant with webs. He slams the mutant onto the other one. The mutants fall down like bowling pins. The captain shoots a plasma rifle at Leo. Leo dodges the few bullets that are shot. His webs grab the gun, and pull it out of the captains hands. Leo catches the gun, and shoots the captain with it. A mutant gets up and fires spikes at Leo. Leo catches two of the three spikes. Then he uses one of the spikes to knock the third one away. Leo throws the two spikes back at the mutant, and it pins him to the wall. All the mutants start running out of the warehouse. One of the mutants helps the mutant that got spiked to the wall. They all get out of the building, and drive away in the trucks. Leo turns around to Remi and Owen.

Leo: Need help?

Remi: We’ll take all the help we can get.

Owen gets up and walks over to one of the soldiers. He looks at the badge on the soldier.

Owen: Some of these mutants are cops…

Remi: Does that mean you're going to help us?

Owen: I’ll stick around.

——————————————————————————————————————————

Kai wakes up in the inn a little later in the day. He walks out of the inn still stretching. The village is completely dead.

Kai: Does everyone have a curfew around here?

Kai hears a strange noise. The sound is almost that of an animal eating slop. Kai walks inside the building. He sees Azazel with his mask off. There is a human body laying in front of him. Azazel is holding parts of the body in his hand as he feeds himself. Azazel’s dark black hair stands out against the red of the blood. Azazel has black beady eyes. He stares directly at the man he’s eating. Azazel drops the parts of the body, and wipes his hands on the ground surrounding himself in blood. He wipes off his face and puts his mask back on after he finishes chewing.

Kai: What the fuck?! I thought you were just a villain! Not a cannibal!

Kai walks backwards, and walks into a few guys. He sees the guy that told him about the inn. He teleports outside of the building, and gets surrounded by people in the village.

Kai: I thought we might fight again Azazel, but now I wish you were already in prison. Are the rest of you cannibals too?

They all start running at Kai.

Kai: Okay then.

Kai punches one of the cannibals in the stomach. He falls back. A punch is thrown at Kai. Kai blocks it and elbows the man and the chest. Kai is kicked in the back, and he falls forward. He catches himself and spin kicks backwards. The kick hits the cannibal in the jaw. Azazel punches Kai in the head. Kai falls to the side. A cannibal grabs his arms and holds him steady. Azazel punches Kai in the stomach. Kai kicks Azazel back, and headbutts the cannibal holding him. The cannibal lets go to hold his nose, and Kai punches him in the stomach. Kai starts breathing heavy. Azazel teleports behind him, and punches Kai in the back. Kai falls to the ground. He rolls and hops back to his feet. A man tries to tackle Kai. Kai blasts him back with white energy. Only two remain. Azazel, and another cannibal. Kai focuses for a second, and white comes around his hands creating extended arms. Kai punches the cannibal and he goes flying. Azazel teleports above Kai to drop kick him. Kai Starts punching him in the air. Over and over again until he lets Azazel drop to the ground. Kai walks up to Azazel.

Kai: This is it for you Azazel. Once this war is over you will be put back in jail. If I had the heart to do it I would kill you, but it’s your lucky day that I’m not like you. Enjoy the time you have left.

Kai gets ready to run.

Kai: It’s time to make my way to wherever these coordinates lead me. Better be good for all this running.

Kai runs off.

## Camp Bordon - Issue 5

General Grey is sitting at his desk. He is sitting in front of a computer. To his left was a hologram map. The map has a 98% on it. General Grey hears a knock on his door.

General Grey: Yes?

A soldier walks in. He walks up to General Grey’s desk.

General Grey: What is it? Spit it out before I kill you, dammit!

Soldier: I got this when we attacked the warehouse.

He shows the usb.

General Grey: So it might not have been a complete waste, or maybe it is. What’s on the usb?

Soldier: I haven’t checked it sir.

General Grey snatches the usb out of his hand and plugs it into the computer. He sees the coordinates in the file.

Soldier: Is the usb useful?

General Grey: Get out.

Soldier: Huh.

General Grey speaks slower.

General Grey: Get out.

The soldier quickly runs out of the room. General Grey looks at the coordinates.

General Grey: Where are you Bordon?

——————————————————————————————————————————

Kai is running through the grass. The wind whipping his face as his body tires from running. Kai sees buildings in the distance. A shadow of a city under the light of the sun. Kai closes in on the village. As Kai gets more of a sight on the buildings he sees that what he originally thought might be a city or a town is more like a camp. He approaches the gate to see an old “friend.” Kai stops running at the gate, out of breath.

President Bordon: So your hear.

President Bordon checks his watch and looks at Kai.

President Bordon: Right on time. Follow me.

Kai is breathing heavily.

Kai: Give me a minute. I’ve been running all around california. I need a second.

President Bordon: You can get a second when we sit down. I’m the President of the United fucking States. Don’t waste my time.

Kai reluctantly follows President Bordon. They both walk into a tent far bigger than the rest. As they walked around the camp Kai saw guards everywhere. Bordon sits down at a desk. Kai sits in the chair in front of him.

Kai: What is this place?

President Bordon: This is a refuge for any human that comes along.

Kai: What if a mutant comes along?

President Bordon: They either die or they leave. Who cares?

Kai: Have you heard of Quirin?

Bordon cocks an eye.

President Bordon: Why?

Kai: I just went there. It’s terrible, they teach their people that it’s okay to have people destroying buildings all the time. Fighting, wrecking, and putting other people in harm's way is normal because they are mutants. They believe that's just what mutants do.

President Bordon: That’s why we need to take this country back. Every single mutant will be thrown in prison, and they will be kept there until the day they die. Without mutants, the USA can keep everything under control. When you have people that could take down a fleet of soldiers than it is much harder to control.

Kai: Wait, you're going to throw them in prison? Where? How do you even plan to do that?

President Bordon: They will be put back into the slave camps, and kept there forever. I have a certain pain in my side that I'll make help me.

Kai: I guess there really isn’t any other way. You can’t just leave the mutants alone because they’ll try to create another civil war.

President Bordon: Glad you're on board, but how did you find me?

Kai: Your computer had your location on it.

President Bordon: Did you destroy it?!

Kai: Of course I did!

President Bordon: Good. Then there is no way they could ever know I am here.

Kai: We have a usb with the coordinates on it, but my team has it. I doubt General Grey has any idea we have it, and then on top of that, steal the damn thing.

President Bordon: General Grey… What is he doing?

Kai: He is trying to take over New York. He’s killing every mutant there so when he takes it over there isn’t anyone to stop him.

President Bordon: You’ll have to stop him. How many soldiers are left in your area?

Kai: Not to many, but the B.L.A.D.E soldiers are more of a harm than a help. They attack civilians and mutants. They don’t care.

President Bordon sighs.

President Bordon: They are the best we have. The draft brought in spiteful people that didn’t want to put their life on the line for the war so in retaliation they do whatever they want.

Kai: How can you live with knowing that the soldiers you let fight the mutants are creating just as much chaos?

President Bordon: How else will we fight them? I don’t have to “live” with myself because there isn’t any other option. The useless heroes, like yourself, have mostly died out fighting the mutants solo. You're lucky you have a team or you would have already been gone.

President Bordon stands up. He holds his head and stumbles. He falls back into his chair.

Kai: Are you okay? You just looked like you were in pain.

President Bordon: Not pain, shock. Follow me. I have to show you something.

Kai follows President Bordon. Kai sees all the guards giving him dirty looks. They both walk up to the lake. Bordon brings out a remote. He clicks a button on the remote. Something starts coming out of the water. The water rushes to the sides of the dark grey object appearing on the surface. The dark grey object slowly rises up. Then the object stobs. Kai sees the object is more like a dome with an enhanced steel door. Bordon walks up, and puts the password in the door. Both Kai and Bordon walk into the dome. The door shuts and the dome slowly descends back into the water. The dome stops moving, and more doors open. They both walk into a giant armory. Guns hang upon the walls with suits of armor.

Kai: What are you, a supervillain?!

President Bordon: Those guards are going to try and kill us.

Kai: All of them?!

President Bordon: A little over half.

Kai: Is this what you meant by “They do whatever they want?”

President Bordon: No. You think that all those guards would be stupid enough to attack the President of the United States. You must be real dumb then. They were given orders from Nick Fury.

Kai: Who’s Nick Fury?

President Bordon: The leader of B.L.A.D.E. He wants me dead. He’s always wanted me dead, but now he's taking strides towards his goal.

Kai: Of course he is. Now he has soldiers all around you. If there is anytime to try and kill you, it’d be now. How do you know?

President Bordon: When I stumbled back into my seat I saw a vision. I can see the future. I knew the war was going to happen, but not when. I was too late to destroy my computer after I sent the email. I was dragged out of City Hall.

President Bordon presses another button on his remote. The right wall, which has all suits on it, has one suit move into the back of the wall. Another suit comes forward. The suit is labeled Crimson.

Kai: Is that-

President Bordon: Take the suit. Your old one seems destroyed.

Kai puts on the new suit in another room of the bunker. Bordon puts on different clothes too. Kai walks out. He is wearing the same metal red mask over his mouth and black eye mask. He has no sweatshirt. He is wearing a black shirt with red through the middle of the torso. A red hood is attached to the shirt. He is wearing a black belt with red on the right and left side. He has loose black pants. Then he has red and black shoes.

Kai: Feels nice.

Bordon is wearing a tight black shirt. He is wearing baggy black pants. He has a black cloak that is open in the front. There is a long brown belt along the bottom of the cloak. He has black shoes and a sword attached to his side. Kai sees a glow around the sword.

Kai: Why is your sword glowing?

Bordon looks down at his sword and sees nothing.

President Bordon: It’s a Soul Blade. You can see the spirit energy off of it.

Kai: Another Soul Blade.

President Bordon: There are sixteen different Soul Blades. You ran into the tenth soul blade when you fought Cal.

Kai: ...So, when we go up there we’ll be shot at.

President Bordon: Not if you move out of the way.

They both walk into the dome elevator. President Bordon slowly brings the sword out of the sheath. The door opens and bullets fire. Kai teleports outside of the elevator. President Bordon moves his sword, blocking the bullets. The plasma bullets bounce off the soul steel and hit some of the soldiers. Kai runs up to a soldier and knocks him out with one punch. A rifle is pointed in Kai’s face. Kai moves the rifle up as it shoots. The bullets fire up at the sky. Kai grabs the gun and kicks the soldier back. Kai shoots a few bullets off at soldiers, as shots come his way, Kai throws the gun in front of himself. The gun takes a few shots and Kai teleports in the middle of a group of enemies. Bordon runs at a soldier. He slices his sword, cutting a soldier's gun in half. He stabs his blade through the soldier. He quickly slides his blade out of the soldier, and slices down another soldier's chest. Blood spews out of the man. Then Bordon is shot through the back in the heart.

Bordon: Let’s do that a little differently.

Bordon runs at a soldier. He slices his sword, cutting a soldier's gun in half. He stabs his blade through the soldier. He quickly slides his blade out of the soldier, and slices down another soldier's chest. Blood spews out of the man. Bordon turns around and blocks. The bullet bounces off his sword and hits the soldier in the head, killing him. Kai standing in the middle of the group of soldiers punches one in the stomach. Kai puts his hand over a gun’s muzzle. A bullet goes through his hand. Kai pushes the gun back as hard as he can. It’s the man holding the gun in the nose. Another soldier punches at Kai. Kai drops down to the ground and leg sweeps everyone around him. Kai picks up one of the guns that the soldiers dropped when they were falling. Kai stands up and shoots the ground in a circle, hitting all the soldiers on the ground with bullets. Bordon thrusts his sword through a soldier's stomach. He runs forward pushing the soldier into other soldiers creating a shishkabob of dead soldiers on his sword. Bordon sticks his sword in the ground. He steps on the soldier closest to the handle of his sword and pulls his sword out of the soldiers. Bordon sees Kai knock out a soldier while another one sneaks up on him. Bordon goes invisible and runs up to the soldier. He becomes visible again and stabs the soldier in the back. Other good soldiers finish off the rest of the rogue soldiers.

Kai: Is that all of them?

Bordon: Luckily yes, but they will return. Nick Fury will always want to kill me. He wants to have all the power in the United States, but he will never have it when there is a president in office.

Kai: Then he’ll never have power, but I need to go back to New York. I need to stop General Grey from making it a mutant zone.

Bordon: I have a jet. You can take it back whenever you need, but I’d prefer you stay. We don’t have many soldiers in New York. It’s a lost cause.

Kai: I’ll stop New York from falling.

Bordon: You’ll need to find soldiers.

Kai: I will.

Kai follows Bordon to the jet. Kai sits inside the jet, and it takes off.

## Back In Town - Issue 6

A jet flies over New York city. Kai is standing at the door of the jet. The pilot sitting in the front seat sees he’s ready to jump.

Pilot: You don’t have a parachute!

Kai: I’m good!

Kai jumps out of the plane. Kai feels the wind resist him as he falls through the currents. The buildings below him get closer and closer. Kai almost hits the ground, but he runs along a building using the speed to push him forward. Kai runs to his house. He sees it destroyed. Kai walks over to the basement door. He walks down the stairs and sees the computer gone.

Kai: Did General Grey get into the basement? Why did he destroy the rest of my house?

Kai starts digging around in the rubble. Kai finds his staff.

Kai: I missed this thing, and it’s only been gone for like two days.

Kai keeps digging around. He doesn’t find anything until he finds a case that has stayed mostly intact. He opens the case and finds a dusty old coin next to a ring. Kai puts on the ring and puts the coin in his pocket.

Kai: I need to find out where Remi and Max are.

Kai hears a truck driving over to him. He sees the truck as it comes out from behind buildings. It stops in front of Kai’s house. Many mutants with guns come out. Kai teleports behind the truck. He lifts up the truck, and throws it on top of the mutants. When the mutants lift the truck up off of themselves they see that Kai is gone.

Kai: I don’t feel like fighting some goons.

Kai can hear the faint noise of people and vehicles. Kai runs across the tops of buildings. Kai stops once he sees the giant building. Vehicles cover the outside of the building. He sees mutants walking all around.

Kai: They rebuilt the broken down empire state building. Now there trying to make it the city hall of their New York.

A web hits Kai in the back and pulls him down off the building. Kai hits the ground. He gets up and turns around to see Remi, Leo, and Owen.

Kai: Leo! How are you doing?

Leo: I’m fine.

Kai: I didn’t even know you were alive. What have you been doing?

Leo: I have just been moving from place to place. They could never catch me. I have only fought small groups.

Kai: Owen, I’m surprised you're not trying to stop the police.

Owen: We learned that some of the mutants in Grey’s army are cops.

Kai: The cops are still working for the mutants. I thought they would be working for B.L.A.D.E. now.

Owen: I’m assuming they think the mutants are going to win the war and decided to team up with them.

Remi holds her ear for a second.

Remi: Max just asked over coms what the coordinates were.

Kai: It was President Bordon’s hideout. Those coordinates are pretty important, and we need to destroy them. So, where is the usb? Max should have it, right?

Remi, Owen, and Leo all look at each other.

Kai: Who stole it?

They are all silent.

Remi:... General Grey…

Kai: The biggest and only person that we needed to make sure didn’t have the usb, has the usb?!

Remi: Yes…

Kai: How the fuck did he get the usb?!

Leo: A group of soldiers broke into the new base. We let them escape because we didn’t want to kill them and then we realized that they had the usb.

Kai: Now we have to stop General Grey before he goes to the coordinates.

Leo: We had to stop General Grey already. Not much changed there, but we still have no way of doing that. He has an army. Are we going to walk in and beat up the army then kill him?

Kai: No, that’s stupid.

Leo: I was being sarcastic.

Kai: I know, I know. All of you go back home. We don’t have a plan yet, and we definitely won’t be able to sneak inside the building. I have some other stuff to take care of.

Leo: I’m not just sitting around.

Kai: Take out a few soldiers and mutants, I don’t care. Just don’t get caught. Stay together.

They all run off. Kai runs back to his broken down house. He walks down into the basement. He looks at some crates he stored during the war. He sees clothes inside the crates. He changes into regular normal clothes. Then he walks out from the basement.

Kai: Time to meet Lawrence.

Kai walks off. He stays hidden behind the building as he walks through the town. Eventually he gets to a broken down looking building. Kai walks inside to see Lawrence sitting down at a long table. Kai sits down with him.

Kai: How are you doing Lawrence?

Lawrence has a sour distasteful attitude.

Lawrence: You know how I am doing.

Kai: I’m sorry for your sickness, but you shouldn’t be spiteful. Enjoy your last months.

Lawrence scoffs.

Lawrence: Enjoy my last months! I am stuck in the middle of a civil war! My wife is dead! Who do I spend my last months with? The kids that have all gone off to war. They won’t even know I died until they return home. If they don’t die. Just get to business so I can go back to my more important business.

Kai: I think we need to stop selling weapons to B.L.A.D.E.

Lawrence laughs. His laughs turn into hard coughing.

Lawrence: That is where we make our money. The people don’t have the money to buy stuff because they are all off to war or dead. What else will this business do?

Kai: The soldiers do just as much harm as the mutants. I don’t want to be part of that.

Lawrence: Then don’t. Sell your company!

Kai: All that happens then is I pass on what I was doing to someone else. What would be solved then?

Lawrence: What would be solved is your nonbusiness like conscious getting in the way of your good judgement! Now that we have that stupid oppinon out of the way, the business men and woman are going to make a deal with you. You will take the deal.

Kai: What’s the deal?

Lawrence: You will take the deal.

Kai: Remember when I told you to not run my company years ago? When the skyscraper was being built, and you told me that you would let me take the reins.

Lawrence: The skyscraper was never built.

Kai: But you still don’t own the company, do you? I will make the damn decision on whether I should take that deal or not. I will not take a deal without knowing the terms. Especially not from you. You were a good man before the war started, a little obsessed with business, but a good man. Now you're a spiteful, old, dying man trying to save remnants of his lost fortune at all costs.

Lawrence: I want my money back. The money I invested in you when you were still starting. With interest!

Kai: You got all that money back and more when you tricked me. I originally played you all the money back and the percentage of profits you got because you held a share. I didn’t have to pay that. You thought I forgot about that? Legally you hold no weight in this company. I just made you think you did.

Lawrence: This old man still has some fight left in him!

Lawrence takes out a knife. He tries to stab Kai, but Kai grabs his arm. Lawrence drops his knife, and Kai lets go of him. Kai picks up the knife and throws it across the room.

Kai: Every single business you have ever owned went into debt. You lost billions when the stock blummited. You owed billions in taxes. You are running off of scraps. Your scraps can hold you over for a few months. Like I said before. Enjoy the rest of the life you have left. If I ever meet your children, I’ll help them out. Out of courtesy of the man you used to be, but I will not help you.

Kai leaves the building. He walks back to his broken down house. He goes into the basement and changes into his superhero costume. Kai then hears a huge explosion. Kai runs to where he heard the explosion. He looks at city hall, broken and destroyed. Kai looks around for the people that were inside. He sees firemen walk into the building carrying out burnt bodies. He even sees a fireman bring out a burnt dead body of a child.

Kai: No!

Kai looks at the soldier around the building.

Kai: B.L.A.D.E.

Kai teleports next to one of the blade soldiers and grabs him by the neck. He lifts him up. Many soldiers point their guns at him.

Kai: Don’t shoot, or you’ll kill your friend.

Soldier: Don’t shoot, please!

Kai: Why did you destroy this building? There were people inside there!

Soldier: We heard there were mutants in there!

Kai: You didn’t check? You just blew it up?

Soldier: We weren’t going to risk dying to mutants. Please put me down!

Kai drops the man. As all the bullets fire out of the guns Kai teleports away.

## A Fox and A Wolf - Issue 7

General Grey is sitting at his desk. He is speaking into a phone. His face looks as serious as ever.

General Grey: How am I supposed to figure out where these coordinates are. My men need to be in new york! You just want to take over New York yourself General Fox!

General Fox: What if I do? You should try to take over wherever the coordinates are. You know you will die trying to take over New York. You always had high ambitions Nick, and you always succeeded in letting yourself down.

General Grey slams the phone down into the handle. The call ended. General Grey stands up and starts pacing around. He kicks his chair, and knocks all the stuff off of his desk. General Grey walks over to the window. He slicks back his sweaty hair and wipes off his face. As he looks down at the ruined streets he almost feels like he goes back in time to when he was a young teenager.

——————————————————————————————————————————

A kid runs down the streets of Harlem with his friend. The little kid has dark black hair. His friend has light brown hair.

Nick: We should go to Central Park. Beat up some ducks or something.

They both laugh.

Allan: Those damn ducks are always stealing our bread. What could we even do at the park?

Nick: Well, we could beat up ducks-

Allan: Thats a good one.

Nick: Or play with the football we have-

Allan: Bingo. There’s something we can do.

They wait for a bus. The bus stops and they give the driver a bus token before they sit down. As Nick and Allan walk by a seat they see a dark haired man wearing a black cloak. The man smiles at them as they walk to the back. To grab the only seats left.

Allan: That guy's cloak was awesome. He looked badass.

They hear a man yelling right before the bus starts moving. A man walks onto the bus with a token.

Driver: Sorry sir the bus is full.

Man: What do you mean the bus is full?

Driver: There are no seats left. Maybe next time.

The man looks furious. He looks around the bus.

Man: The bus is full! I have shit to do! I have to go to work!

He sees Allan and Nick sitting in the back. He stomps over to them.

Driver: Sir, please step off the bus.

The man stops in front of the kids. Allan and Nick look terrified.

Man: Get up! I have to go to work. You kids wouldn’t know anything about that. Get up before I throw you off this goddamn bus.

The cloaked man was about to stand, but when he felt the bus shaking he sat back down with an eager smile.

The man reaches out to grab Nick. The bus jerks. The man slams into one of the seats. He gets back up, and tries to grab Nick again. The bus jerks and the man falls to the ground. The cloaked man grabs the angry man. He drags him down the aisle, and throws him out of the bus door. The man walks over to Nick and Allan.

???: You two are special kids. What you just did was no ordinary feat. Why don’t you two come with me?

Nick: What’s your name?

???: My name is Ivan Springer.

——————————————————————————————————————————

Kai walks into a large room in normal clothes. There is a long table with people in almost every seat. All of them are business owners. They are all looking at Kai as he sits down.

Kai: I’ve heard that you have a deal for me.

One woman speaks up first.

Isabella: We want you to set up new buildings to make even more weapons. We need more for our soldiers!

Kai: At the end of the war. No, that would be an awful idea. I would spend millions to set up buildings for a few months. Then I would lose millions once those months are over and the buildings are useless.

Isabella: We all will pitch in for you. We will fund most of the cost. The construction workers will build the building far faster than they do any other buildings. B.L.A.D.E’s best construction workers will be on it. All the buildings will be done within a month.

Kai: And how are you going to afford that? Isabella, you own a movie company. You have absolutely no revenue.

Isabella: If we set up the buildings B.L.A.D.E. is going to send a fleet here that they believe will be able to take back New York.

Kai: When will that fleet be here?

Isabella: As soon as the construction starts.

Kai: No.

The business owners look confused and angry.

Business man: You better take this damn deal you slimey fucking idiot! Most of the people in this room are decades older than you! We know more than you! Why the fuck would you pass on this! You can’t lose!

Kai stands up.

Kai: Lose? How many people lost their lives because the B.L.A.D.E. soldiers have no care for human life? Just yesterday they blew up City Hall because they heard rumors of mutants. What they didn’t know was it was a hideout for humans. Children died in that explosion because they were too scared to check who was in the building. I’m not taking the deal.

Kai starts walking away.

Business man: You will come back tomorrow! Think about this! Your making a big fucking mistake! We’ll run Adara Incorporated into the ground!

Kai stops. The business man finishes talking and Kai continues on his way out of the door.

——————————————————————————————————————————

Nick and Allan get thrown into a jail cell. Ivan closes the door and dusts off his hands.

Ivan: This will be your room. Cozy right?

Nick: I thought you were a good guy!

Ivan: Good and evil are fake constructs. It comes down to nature. Human nature. Violence breeds within ourselves. Why cure it?

Ivan walks away.

Allan: What are we going to do?

Nick: I don’t know.

They both sit down in silence.

Nick: W-we have to break out!

Allan: They have iron bars! How are we going to do that?

Nick: I could move a bus. Buses are made out of metal.

Allan: It’s worth a shot, I guess.

Nick holds out his hands at the bar. A kid a bit younger than them is in the cell opposite of them laughing.

Nick: What are you laughing at? Who are you?

???: Everyone around here just calls me Fever, and I’m laughing at you. You can’t use your powers here! You're being held prisoner by a smart woman who has dozens of these camps with hundreds of thousands of mutants like us. There haven't even been ten breakouts. You're not getting out of here.

Hours later, Ivan walks up to their door. He unlocks the door, and drags Nick out of the room. He shuts the door on Allan.

Nick: Wait!

Ivan: He has no powers. He’s useless.

Ivan throws Nick into a metal room. Ivan steps into a padded room. There is a machine that is normally used for shooting baseballs to Ivans side. Ivan walks over to it.

Ivan: This machine will be shooting a certain object at you. Do you know what it is?

Nick: Baseballs?

Ivan: Close. Balls of metal. You can use your powers here. Just a heads up. Thinking you might want to use them. Hands up.

Ivan presses a button on the machine. Metal balls start firing out of the machine. Nick holds up his hands terrified with his eyes closed. When he opens his eyes he sees the metal balls are in front of him still in the air. Nick pushes his hands forward. The balls are sent back at Ivan. As soon as the metal balls get close Ivan takes out his sword. The metal balls are cut in half quicker than Nick can even see. The metal all falls to the ground.

Ivan: This is a training exercise. Shouldn’t you be thanking me?

Nick moves his hands. The machine flies at Ivan. Ivan grabs it. Nick moves his hands, but the machine won’t loosen from Ivan’s grib. Ivan slowly walks over to Nick. Nick punches Ivan in the stomach. Ivan felt nothing.

Ivan: We’ll try this again later. I wonder what you fear most…

Ivan grabbed Nick. He could do nothing against Ivan. Something happened. Ivan invaded his mind. He saw visions of his Allan being killed. His parents being hunted down and slaughtered like dogs.

Ivan: Try to kill me again and I’ll make your nightmares reality.

——————————————————————————————————————————

Kai is sitting on the couch. Remi is walking around the living room.

Kai: They want me to take the deal. I met one of the kids in City Hall. They just want their businesses up again so they can make money.

Remi: Can you blame them? They don’t just want their business back Kai. They want their lives back. You said there were a lot of older business men there. They probably want their kids to come back home.

Kai: People will die for their wants.

Remi walks behind Kai. She leans over the couch and throws her arms around him.

Remi: People could also be saved. General Grey has an army. Why don’t you get your own army?

Kai: They won’t let me lead them though. They could end up causing more harm then they even help.

Remi: Make them think they are leading. Tip them off so that they come to conclusions.

Kai yawns.

Kai: Remember back when you first became a superhero? I basically told you what to do all the time, and now you’re leading me to better ideas then I even have.

Remi: You could have come up with that idea. You just didn’t want to.

——————————————————————————————————————————

Nick and Allan are outside kept in by a high wall with barbed wires. Everyone outside has cuffs on.

Nick: We have to find a way out.

Allan: We have been here for months. Everyday you try to find a way out. They have been training us like dogs for months. You think they want to just let their dogs go?

Nick: They don’t have a choice. Everyday I come up with a new idea to make it out of this hell hole.

Allan: And everyday you fail. Stop with the hoping.

Nick: Not today. This time I’ll do it.

Allan shakes his head.

Nick sees a stack of metal storage containers near a wall. Nick runs up the wall, and grabs onto the ledge before the barbed wire. Nick pushes off the wall and grabs onto the top storage container. He pulls himself up onto the container. Now he stands level with the barbed wire. Nick smiles. He runs and jumps. A bullet hits him in the stomach. He falls down to the ground.

Nick: Ahh!

Nick’s stomach gets covered in blood as Allan runs over. Ivan walks outside. He sees blood on the top of the container. Ivan shakes his head. He walks over to the kids.

Ivan: Ah, now what did you kids get yourselves into?

Allan: I didn’t do anything.

Ivan: Guilty by association.

Ivan looks at Nick bleeding.

Ivan: Let me help you. This wound will take a while to heal.

Nick and Allan end up in solitary confinement. They both sit in separate rooms next to each other.

Nick: Allan, I’m sorry.

Allan: No, not anymore. You’re the only reason I’m here. You’re the mutant. Now I’m stuck in solitary confinement without food because you won’t give up. Don’t say another word. I never want to speak to you again.

Nick:...

——————————————————————————————————————————

General Grey snaps back into reality. It is starting to become dark. He stares at the moon appearing in the sky. He sees an army walking up to his front door. A soldier walks inside General Grey’s room.

Soldier: It’s General Fox.

General Grey: Let him in.

Minutes later the elevator to the top floor stopped. The door opened. General fox walks out of the elevator.

General Fox: Nick.

General Grey: Allan.

——————————————————————————————————————————

The next day Kai sits back down at the table. Business men are staring at him as he sits down even more eagerly than last time.

Isabella: Do we have a deal?

Kai: It’s a deal.

## Coward And Traitor - Issue 8

Kai and Remi are watching General Grey’s base.

Kai: Their army doubled overnight.

Remi: Do you think they brought in reinforcements to fight something?

Kai: Why ask me?

Remi: You worked for A.R.G.U.S.

Kai: I’m just pushing your buttons. No, I don’t think they called in reinforcements. B.L.A.D.E.’s fleet was just called upon. There is no other threat to them. So there wouldn’t be a need for reinforcements.

Remi: Then they are planning to attack soon.

Kai: Bingo. That’s what I think they’re doing. They have cleared out just about every single person who could fight back. We’re just about the only ones left. They’ll most likely use their numbers to clear out the city. Soon mutants will be moving in.

Remi: I think I was wrong. I don’t see how the B.L.A.D.E. fleet could have the men to take on this army.

Kai: Then we get more soldiers.

Kai smiles.

Kai: I think we need a vacation.

Remi: What?

——————————————————————————————————————————

Kai and Remi travel back to the warehouse. The boxes that were in the basement are now in the warehouse along with a refrigerator and a few makeshift beds. The couch on the second floor with a tv.

Kai: Max, Remi and I are going on a vacation. Tell Owen and Leo when we leave.

Max spins his chair around.

Max: Are you sure this is the best time?

Kai: Yeah, when else would we go?

Max: After the war is over maybe!

Kai: Well then going wouldn’t help.

Max: Help? Stop playing dumb. Where are you going?

Kai lifts up his hand to show the ring.

Kai: The League of Assassins.

Max: What the hell is the League of Assassins?

Kai: They are a group of highly skilled ninja that perform assassinations without anyone knowing that they even exist. We need an army. They have one.

Max: Why have you never told me about this before?! I could be a ninja!

Kai: You’d have to go outside.

Max: You’re right. It’s too much to handle.

Remi: Kai, you’ve talked about them before. You trained under them didn’t you?

Kai: That’s right.

Remi: And you also betrayed them.

Kai: Well, I betrayed them. Then when I was supposed to be leader I made someone else take the mantle. Then when she died I left them leaderless. We better hope they don’t have hard feelings.

Remi: What if they try to kill us?

Kai: They won’t be able to kill us. Years ago I was able to take down ten of them at once. Now I would probably be able to take down all of them.

Remi: If they are that weak, how do they help us?

Kai: They are only weak because they are humans. Give a human a gun, and they can kill a mutant.

Remi: Then let’s go on a vacation.

Max: Let the door hit you on your way out.

——————————————————————————————————————————

Kai and Remi walk up to the old A.R.G.U.S. base. They walk inside and see few soldiers left. A woman walks up to them. She holds herself up proudly. When she speaks there's power in her voice.

Waller: Kai Adara. I thought the last time I would ever see you again was when you stole my vehicles to travel back from the mountains. After you failed to complete your mission.

Remi whispers in Kai’s ear.

Remi: How many people hate you?

Kai looks at Remi.

Kai: Most.

Kai turns back to Amanda Waller.

Kai: You’re forgetting most of the story though. You sent me to kill my father. He died when he was on the mountain. Granted not from me, but technically the mission was complete. Then your men tried to kill me. So I had to steal helicopters to get back to New York from Asia.

Kai looks around.

Kai: The place is dead. Have they finally cut your funding?

Waller: They have cut me off completely. Almost all my soldiers were given to B.L.A.D.E. to stop the mutants. If you want something, leave. I don’t have it.

Kai: Do you have a jet?

Waller: Why?

Kai: I need to get to the League of Assassins.

Waller laughs.

Waller: Of course you would come to me. I was the one who brought you there in the first place. Fine, but you need to dispose of them for me. If they help the mutants we’ll have an even bigger problem on our hands.

Kai: I have a better idea.

Waller: What’s your idea?

——————————————————————————————————————————

Kai and Remi are sitting in a jet.

Remi: What’s this place like? On a remote island, or-

Kai: I’ve been to remote islands. Not fun. No, this place is on the top of a mountain.

Remi: Wouldn’t that be, you know, cold?

Kai: It’s not on the top of mount everest, but it’s not tropical warm. It’s kind of like New York with a constant breeze. Tell you what? When the war is over we will take a month long trip to wherever you want.

Remi: We’ll need to by the end of this.

Pilot: It’s time to jump!

Kai: You taking a parachute?

Remi: You trying to look cool without a parachute?

Kai: No, just trying to break my ankles.

Remi puts on the parachute. Kai jumps out of the jet. Remi follows soon after. Kai hits the ground. The ground cracks under his feet.

Kai: Was that the ground or my ankles. Doesn’t matter.

Remi lands and throws her parachute bag off the mountain. They both walk off to the door of the League of Assassins base. Two ninja jump out from the shadows. Kai punches one in the stomach. He drops to the ground. Remi kicks the other one back. Kai flashes the ring and the two shinobi move out of his way. They both walk through the league doors and into the corridor. They walk down a long path. League members move out of Kai’s way when they see who he is. Kai and Remi walk into the throne room. An asian man sits on the throne.

Kai: Sarab.

Sarab gets off the throne and walks a few steps down.

Sarab: You have finally returned, Ra’s al Ghul.

Sarab kneels before Kai.

Sarab: May I ask a question?

Kai: Of course you can, and get off your knees. I don’t want someone to bow to me. You used to be above me, remember?

Sarab stands up.

Sarab: I was never above you. That was an illusion. Ra’s always wanted you to be the next heir. My question is how did you get the ring.

Kai: When I took down Cal years ago I took it off of him. Since Luna was just holding my place she shouldn’t have been able to pass the ring to anyone, but I have won the ring as the traditions hold, if that’s what you're asking.

Sarab: Good. It must have been a long flight here. Why don’t we have dinner?

Kai: Remi?

Remi: We would love to.

——————————————————————————————————————————

Kai, Remi, Sarab, and a child all sit down at the table.

Remi: Who is this little guy?

Kid: My name is Genki.

Remi: How old are you Genki?

He holds up three fingers. Remi keeps talking to Genki.

Sarab: That is my son. My wife is on a mission.

Kai: You really held this place up all this time.

Sarab: The members of the League are my brothers. They need guidance. I watched Ra’s lead for years. I knew how to take care of this place. Even if I wasn’t the strongest head of the dragon.

Kai: You were always the best choice Sarab.

Sarab: No, you just never tried.

Kai: I was too young, too naive. I believed I had better things to do with my life then lead a group of killers.

Sarab: Do you still not kill?

Kai: I do it when I have to. I avoid it as much as I can.

Sarab: You will never truly be fine with the Leagues ways.

Kai: Your right, but I’m still young. Things have time to change.

Sarab: Why are you here then? You are speaking as if you don’t want to lead us.

Kai: I have a job for you.

Sarab: What is this job?

Kai: I need you to help me fight mutants with the league's army.

Sarab looks disgusted.

Sarab: You're leading them to die.

Kai: No, we will win.

Sarab: You cannot expect the League to just give you men.

Kai: What’s the deal then?

Sarab: You will have to return as the leader. Then you will have all the say in what the League does.

Kai: Why don’t I split it with you. I am immortal. I don’t need the lazarus pit. I can lead the League from New York. Have you ever heard of facetime?

Sarab looks reluctant.

Sarab: Fine.

They finish up dinner. Kai and Remi walk to Kai’s old League room.

Remi: The food was amazing.

Kai: They have chiefs that know how to cook anything.

Remi: We should come here more often.

Remi looks around the place. She sees the medieval looking walls with torches lighting up the room.

Remi: This place looks like a fantasy world.

Kai opens the door to the room. Remi quickly gets on the bed.

Remi: A real bed! I hate the beds at the warehouse.

Kai closes the door. Remi sees the beautiful old style of the room.

Remi: This place does look like it’s a fantasy world. Do you know what I want in my fantasy?

Kai walks over to Remi.

Kai: Less corny jokes.

Kai kisses Remi.

Remi: You love me.

Remi is pushed down on the bed.

——————————————————————————————————————————

A man creeps into Kai’s room holding a knife. He stands above Kai. As he stabs down Kai kicks him back. Kai quickly gets out of bed and throws on boxers. The man swings the blade at Kai. Kai blocks the man’s arm, and punches him in the chest. He hits the floor and Kai turns on the lights.

Kai: Sarab!

Remi wakes up. She sits up in bed holding the blankets over her naked body.

Sarab: You don’t deserve to be Ra’s! I was his disciple the longest! I had to take over as the head of the demon when no one wanted it! You cannot return to take it back from me!

Sarab runs at Kai. Kai grabs his arm. He moves Sarab’s arm, making him drop the knife. Then Kai breaks Sarab’s arm by grabbing two parts of his arm and twisting. Kai pushes Sarab to the ground.

Kai: Sarab, you are no longer Ra’s. You may have been one of Ra’s disciples for the longest, but you were always the weakest one. The only reason the league is still alive is because you're a coward. When I killed Ra’s, where were you? You ran away just like everyone else.

League members walk in.

Kai: Carry him away. Thrown him in a cell.

Sarab runs over to the knife. He picks it up with his good arm. The league members run over to him. Then he stabs himself.

Sarab: I would rather die than to serve another day in this sufferable life. You call me a coward, maybe I am, but I sure as hell am not taking orders from you.

The League members grab Sarab and drag him out of the room. Kai shuts off the light and gets back into bed.

Remi: One hell of a vacation.

Kai: Your welcome.

——————————————————————————————————————————

The next day groups of league members get inside a few planes. Kai and Remi get to sit in the back of the cockpit.

Remi: It was so short lived.

Kai: I thought you needed to pick another place to go because this place sucked?

Remi: I changed my mind. I liked it.

Kai: I knew you would.

## Ready - Issue 9

The planes fly over New York city. Kai and Remi look out the window to see the city in ruins below them.

Kai: You’ll land at one of New York’s airports.

Remi: We’ll have to fly over General Grey’s base. Won’t he try to shoot us down?

Kai: Pilot, can you avoid General Grey’s building?

Pilot: No. He’s in the shot of the runway.

Kai shrugs.

Kai: Hopefully we don’t get shot down.

They can hear bullets being fired. A missile flies past the plane.

Kai: That was close.

Another missile hits the plane's wing. The plane starts losing altitude rapidly.

Pilot: We’re going to crash! Brace yourselves!

The pilots pull up on the steering. The plane still losses altitude quickly. The ground approaches, the closer it gets the more anxiety takes over the pilots. The plane smashes on the ground. The wheels break off, and the metal of the plane slides across the ground of the runway. Sparks fly off the plane. The plane spins to its side before it stops. Kai runs to the back of the plane. He opens the door and jumps out of the plane. Remi follows him.

Remi: What are you doing?

Kai: The plane is in the way. The other planes will crash into this one if we don’t move it.

Kai grabs the plane. He starts pulling it. The plane moves little by little. Remi grabs the plane and pulls it with Kai. Kai sees another plane incoming.

Kai: We won’t be able to move it in time. Everyone! Get out of the plane!

The League members jump out of the plane. They all run away from the plane to a clear area. Kai thinks to himself for a second.

Kai: I’m going to make a spirit hand. When I make it, put sparks in the hand.

Remi: Alright.

White energy covers Kai's arm. It extends out twice Kai’s arms length. A glowing white hand appears at the end of the energy. Remi holds sparks in her hand creating more and more. She drops the sparks into Kai’s energy hand. Kai slams his hand into the plane. The spark goes off, and the explosion propels the plane to the other side of the runway. The other plane hits the runway. Both Remi and Kai jump to the side dodging the plane. They both look at each other.

Kai: How the hell does General Grey’s soldiers have that kind of aim?!

Remi: I told you not to fly over his building!

Kai: What’s in the past is in the past. We should move on.

Remi: I’ll move on to smacking you.

One more plane comes in. The group of League members all get together. Kai and Remi stand before them.

Kai: Alright, listen up. You guys are normal humans. You aren’t very powerful. You have stayed mostly out of the war. You are untrained in the new territory that is the US. Your swords aren’t going to do anything because the mutants have ranged attacks. They have superpowers and guns that could take down mutants pretty quickly. That’s why we are going to get some of these guns for ourselves.

Kai mumbles under his breath.

Kai: Now that we’re in range the coms should work.

He taps his ear and walks a little away from the League members.

Kai: Max, where can I give a fleet of ninjas guns?

Max: The soldier base off in east harlem. You could ask them nicely.

Kai sighs.

Kai: Yeah, I’ll use my manners.

Kai shuts off com’s and walks back over to the League members.

Kai: Follow behind me in the shadows. I’ll signal when you can come out.

The League members nod. Minutes later Kai is walking down the Harlem streets.

Kai: My old neighborhood has really gone to shit.

Kai looks around and remembers that everyone is hiding.

Kai: The one time I have a good joke.

Kai sees the building. Soldiers are outside the building. Kai walks up and soldiers point their guns at him. Kai raises his hands.

Kai: I’m here to talk.

Soldier: Are you a mutant?

Kai: Let me say this again. I’m here to talk. Where’s your captain?

Soldier: You better leave mutant! You’ll get a bullet through your skull.

Kai: Do you think I really would have come here if I was afraid of being shot? Open the fucking door.

One of the soldiers reluctantly opens the door. Kai walks in and the fleet of soldiers all point their guns at him. The captain steps forward. He is wearing glasses and smoking a cigarette.

Captain: Good to see a mutant with some common sense! There's not many of em, right men?

The captain lets out a laugh.

Kai: I’m not here to turn myself in. I need your guns.

The captain stops laughing.

Captain: Excuse me?

Kai: I need your guns.

The captain takes off his glasses.

Captain: Are you trying to tell me that you think I’m just going to let some mutant scum take my guns for himself?

Kai: Well they aren’t for me.

The captain looks so confused and disrespected that his cigarette drops out of his open mouth.

Kai: See, I’m guessing you’ve heard of General Grey. He has an army more than double the size of yours. Now you could stay in New York and do nothing about him until he inevitably kills you, or…

Kai taps coms.

Kai: Remi.

Kai turns off his com.

Captain: What are you doing?

The League members show up outside. Kai walks out the door.

Kai: You’re going to need a bigger army. If it helps, they're all human.

Captain:...

——————————————————————————————————————————

Kai travels back home as the captain gears up the League members. Remi returns home with Kai. When they walk inside Leo is walking on the roof and Owen is talking to him.

Owen: Blood doesn’t go to your head or anything? You’re just kind of, fine.?

Leo: I’m cold-blooded.

Max spins around in his chair.

Max: Oh Kai, you’re back.

Leo: What happened with the League of Assassins?

Leo jumps down from the ceiling.

Kai: I recruited a lot of the members. They’re gearing up with B.L.A.D.E. soldiers.

Owen: What? I thought you hated B.L.A.D.E.

Kai: Sometimes you have to work with the ones you hate. Speaking of, I think I have one last call to make.

——————————————————————————————————————————

Kai is sitting down at Bibble and Sip with a coffee. The Bibble and Sip building is in shambles. The only thing not destroyed is the walls and ceiling. A woman walks inside. She has armor, she has a full chestplate now, shinguards and gauntlets. and long hair, with a black undersuit. She has a belt with two portugues falling down on each side.

Terra: Hey Kai. What do you need? You wanted me here fast.

Kai: Do you know of a man named General Grey?

Terra: Oh yeah, he’s been terrorizing New York since the war started!

Kai: I’m staging an attack on his base. B.L.A.D.E. soldiers, League of Assassin members, my team, we’re all going to fight him. I can’t afford to lose this battle. So I’m gonna need, your help…

Terra: First of all, you have a team?

Kai: A man with powers like a spider. He goes by Arachno. An ex cop fighting back against the corrupt department. His name’s Owen. Lastly a woman with powers to create explosions. Her name is Remi.

Terra: I’m guessing you need as much help as you can get, I can get my friends involved.

Kai: How many friends?

Terra: Like five. Maybe more.

Kai: Are they like you?

Terra: Like me? I mean some are.

Kai: In what way?

Terra: What do you mean like me?

Kai: You know, loving explosions. Terrorists like behavior. You know, like you.

Terra: I’m getting pretty tired of the term Terra the Terrorist. I’m trying not to do shit like that anymore.

Kai: A terrorist who turned a new leaf is still a terrorist. If you’re trying to stop being like that. Then your friends should be trustworthy enough. Call them up. We’ll meet at the warehouse.

Terra: I bet you can agree that this war’s my fault. I have to put a stop to it somehow.

Kai: We’re all trying to put a stop to it. Until the war does stop, there are still more lives we can save.

Terra: Yeah, I’ll call them, where’s your base?

Kai: We can go there now.

——————————————————————————————————————————

The pair walked into the warehouse.

Terra: And then she blew a huge hole the Brooklyn Bridge! How did you not notice?

Kai: I was fighting off W.A.T.K.H. at the time. I was busy with other stuff.

Terra: Well after Delta destroyed the place I found out she wasn’t that bad. A radical feminist. But when you look past that she’s alright.

Max: Was that the last call? Pretty anticlimactic.

Terra’s friend walked in. She wore full body armor and short hair. She wears a short blue sweatshirt over her armor.

Terra: This is Delta

Kai: It’s alright, I guess. Terra, did you fill them in yet, or do I have to give Delta a briefing?

Delta: We’re acquainted with General Grey. So what’s the plan to take him down? I doubt a skinny guy like you could take him down.

Kai: We’re mutants. The hell does muscle mass matter? By your logic you can’t take him down because you're a woman.

Delta: I have the power of the gods. You’re a mutant. We all have different power sets. What can you do?

Kai: Regeneration, teleportation, the ability to control energy-

Max: We all know you have a little dick. What’s the plan?

Kai: Tomorrow B.L.A.D.E. soldiers and League of Assassin members will be on the front lines attacking General Grey’s base. They will have more trucks and military weapons then the B.L.A.D.E. soldiers. Leo, Owen, Remi, and Delta will help fight against the mutant soldiers. Terra, and I will climb the stairs of the building. We’ll attack General Grey and hopefully take him out.

Kai: Delta has to stay back. We’ll get in each other's way. It’ll do more harm than good and we can’t let anything get in the way of taking down the fight.

Terra: We’re going straight for Grey?

Kai: Waste no time. I don’t know how powerful he is. We can’t let him get the drop on us.

Delta: Why don’t we get the drop on him? Put a bullet between his eyes.

Terra: Why don’t you teleport to him and shoot him?

Delta took one of her guns out of it’s holster and handed him the weapon.

Kai: I have a bad feeling about this, but it’s the plan.

——————————————————————————————————————————

General Grey is sitting down at his desk. Fox is sitting in the chair in front of him. They sit in silence.

Fox: I thought you would have been gone already. You should just let me take this place over.

General Grey: You have no ambition. You only try to do something when you know you’ll win. You never think outside of the box.

Fox: You’re going to end up dead because you still haven’t come back to the box. Fine, I’ll settle with taking it over with you. It will be both of us together. Just like the good ol’ days.

General Grey scoffs at Fox’s comment.

General Grey: Good ol’ times. You’re a greedy bastard that doesn’t want to put in work. I’m not settling for taking half the credit. If I have to Fox I’ll kill you. You’ve been nothing but a bane to the mutants.

Fox: But I’m still alive. Can’t say the same for a lot of the other mutants. When are we taking this place over.

General Grey: Get out of my office.

Fox: Of course. You have our work to get done. I’m going to go take a nap. Tell me when we have to do something.

Fox opens the door to leave. A bullet goes past his head.

Fox: You missed.

General Grey: A warning shot.

## Warmongers - Issue 10

Kai is sitting in the back of a B.L.A.D.E truck with League members covered in gear. The truck moves up and down over the bumps of the old street. The truck is silent except for the sound of the engine. The League members' faces are as still as ever. Leo sits on the opposite side of Kai.

Leo: Who would have known.

Kai: Known what?

Leo: When I first met you I was still in highschool. Now I’m an adult and we’re fighting a mutant warmonger.

Kai: Your welcome. Look at all the stuff I did for you.

Leo: Not much.

Kai: Take what you can get.

The truck stops.

Kai: It’s time.

Everyone gets out of the truck. Other B.L.A.D.E. trucks show up with soldiers. Terra, Delta, Owen, and Remi all jump out of trucks. Everyone charges into General Greys base. Mutants run to the wall around the base. Remi throws sparks at the entrance. The door explodes and launches off its hinges. Bullets fly across the air. Mutants and humans both get hit by the plasma bullets. People start falling to the ground. Remi threw sparks and caused a huge amount of metas to blow away. Kai runs through the battlefield with Terra and Delta in tow. Terra and Delta had taken off pieces of armor and surrounded the group with a barrier. They stop in front of the building.

Kai: We’re going to the top floor.

Kai puts his hand on both their shoulders. They teleport into the building. General Grey and General Fox stand before them. Kai shoots a bullet. The bullet stops in the air right before it hits General Grey.

General Grey: Shouldn’t you be in California?

Kai: I came back. With a little help from the President.

General Fox: I thought you had this placed cleared. Now some low lives are fighting back.

General Grey: We kill them and take this place over. The plan hasn’t changed.

Terra: You remember me?

General Grey: Terra the Terrorist. A pleasure to meet you in person.

Terra: You tried to take over all of New York! What would you even gain?

General Grey: It should be damn clear what I gain. New York is one of the biggest cities in the US. People learn that New York has been conquered along with San Francisco they’ll lose hope. We kill off the last few soldiers with spirit and we’ll take the victory. You think small. You take it to personally. It’s war. Everyone has set out to win it.

Terra: It’s a war that I started! I can’t let you take New York too.

Terra and Delta jumped at Grey. He instantly froze them in the air. Their armor shaking, and slammed them down a couple floors.

General Grey: Fox, take them.

General Fox jumped down to Terra and Delta.

Delta fired a shot at Fox. A huge blast of dust shot straight at the pair. They protected themselves with their armor. Terra flipped up close and hit him with a kick. He threw a punch at her head but she dodged. She slipped off her gauntlet and hit him in the head. He slapped the gauntlet out of the air. Delta shot more at Fox, He shot a blast of dust at her. She jumped out of the way. He fired a blast of dust at Terra’s open arm. She got a huge gash on her arm. Fox fired a blast of sand into her mouth. Delta grabbed Terra and pulled her back.

Delta: You alright?

Terra coughed up sand.

Terra: Not really. But who cares.

Fox: Stand and fight! You said you wanted to fight for your home. Right?

Delta: Be careful Terra. You’ve got no range.

Delta shot a bunch of gunshots at Fox. He made a shield out of dust. He took his gun off it’s sling and shot a barrage of bullets. Terra and Delta took off parts of their armor and blocked the bullets. Fox shot a blast of sand. Which got past them. Both of them were hit with huge amounts of high speed sand. They fell down, and quickly put their armor back on. Fox pointed his gun right at the pair.

——————————————————————————————————————————

Kai runs at General Grey. General Grey puts out his hands. Kai’s metal mask covers his entire face. General Grey punches Kai in the stomach twice then kick’s Kai back. Kai rips off the metal mask.

Kai: You can control metal. Good I don’t have too much of that.

Kai hops back to his feet. Kai starts running forwards again. The ground comes up into a wall. The wall slides at Kai. Kai teleports to General Grey. Kai superman punches. A piece of metal appears in front of Kai’s hand. Kai’s hand hits the metal hard. It dents it, but doesn’t break through. Kai lands on the ground. General Grey punches Kai in the forehead. The force pushes Kai back. Kai falls back to the ground. Metal covers Kai.

General Grey: Die.

General Grey closes his fist. The metal slams down. Kai elbows General Grey in the back. General Grey stumbles forward. He turns around.

General Grey: That damn teleportation. You forgot one thing.

——————————————————————————————————————————

Bullets still fly through the air. Leo knocks out a soldier. He shoots a web. It grabs onto one of the soldiers. He spins the soldier around, knocking into the soldiers around him, and then throws him. A punch comes at Leo. He kicks the man back. Leo shoots two webs and pulls a soldier over to him. Leo knocks the soldier out with a punch. A stray bullet hits Leo in the shoulder. A soldier runs up to Leo and hits him with the butt of the gun. Owen shoots two bullets. They go through two soldiers' chests. Owen gets hit with a bullet. His vest absorbs the shot. Owen shoots another bullet. It goes through two of the mutants heads. Three shot at Owen. His Vest protects the first few shots. Then the last one goes through his stomach. Remi throws sparks into the crowd. Mutants are blasted back. The cleared area is soon filled up with more mutant soldiers. Remi is surrounded by soldiers shooting at her. Bullets hit her arms and in her stomach.

——————————————————————————————————————————

Kai’s metal staff wraps around him holding him tight. He is floating in air, being held up by the staff.

General Grey: Should have gotten rid of all your metal.

Kai:...

Kai struggles to get out of the metal.

General Grey: No words. Okay.

One part of the staff pulls away from him for a second. A giant blade forms and stabs Kai right through the chest. Kai falls to the ground bleeding.

General Grey: Your luck has run out. You may be able to regenerate, but you can only go so far.

General Grey puts out both of his hands. A metal ball surrounds Kai. General Grey cliches his fist. Spikes stab through the center of the sphere. Blood comes out of the metal sphere. General Grey looks at the sphere for a second, zoning out, he snaps back. General Grey moves his hands. The Metal Sphere flies out of the building with Kai in it.

——————————————————————————————————————————

Delta kicked up and hit Fox in the face. She took out her axe and swung it down at his neck. He moved out of the way and hit her back. Terra thrust forward with her spear. She stabbed straight right through Fox’s stomach. But there was no blood. He had turned himself into dust.

Delta: Terra, I’ve got a plan.

They got close to each other.

Delta: Pin him down.

Fox: How do you kill someone you can’t even hit? Show me!

Terra jumped out and kicked him in the face. He shot sand at Terra’s foot. Pinning her. She started glowing a vibrant red. And she got out of Fox’s grip. He tried to hit her in the head with his gun. But Terra took it and threw it off the building. Delta came out of nowhere and blitzed Fox. She cupped her hands forward. Her gloves protected against the gigantic line of sand coming at her. A mask covered her eyes. And she advanced forward. She grabbed his face. And turned part of his face into stone slowly. He put his hand up to her mouth. Terra sliced his arm off. He grabbed his arm and yelled out in pain. Delta turned his face to stone and backed up. His body fell, and his face shattered like glass.

Terra: I hope Kai’s doing alright.

General Grey: Me too.

General Grey jumped from the top floor to Terra and Delta’s level. Terra threw her spear straight at him. He froze it in the air and turned it around and fired it at Terra. He stabbed Terra right in the stomach.

Terra: Not again!

Delta flipped over to Grey and slammed her axe down at him. He squatted down and grabbed the axe. He ripped it out of Delta’s hand and kicked her in the stomach. He threw the axe off the building. Delta unloaded the rest of her clip at Grey. He froze it in midair and shot back at the two. They chinked off of Delta. She shot more. But this time they were red energy bullets. Grey walked forward. The bullets did nothing. He grabbed both Delta and Terra by the armor. He picked them up and slammed them into each other.

General Grey: You’re like puppets. I control your every move.

He slammed them into the wall. And wrapped a metal beam around them.

General Grey hears gunshots. He takes the elevator down to the first floor. He walks out the door to see soldiers fighting. He puts his hands out. Smaller pieces of metal wrap around the human soldiers arms like handcuffs.

General Grey: That was all you had. Your last stand to save a city and you couldn’t even put up a fight. Pitiful. Your city deserves better.

General Grey walks inside.

General Grey: Allan still got himself killed. He was dead to me a long time ago.

## The Coin - Issue 11

The giant metal ball hits the ground. It rolls through the street destroying everything in its path. It breaks through a few walls, slowing down. The final wall of a building stops the metal ball in its tracks. Kai is inside the metal ball. The ball moving around made the spikes go in and out of Kai. Now the entire inside of the metal ball is covered in blood. Kai moves his arms. He pushes both of his hands onto spikes. The spikes go through his hands, but his hands touch the metal ball’s shell.

Kai: Aaah!

White energy builds up in the metal ball. Slowly it feels like more and more wind is circulating around Kai. Kai releases the energy, and the metal ball breaks in two. The two large pieces fly off in opposite directions. The spikes are still stuck in Kai. Kai hits the ground and the spikes are pushed farther inside his body.

Kai: Fuck!

Kai slowly rips out each metal spike one by one. He even has to rip one out of his head. Kai gets up off the ground. He’s slowly limping off. Kai falls back to the ground. A coin falls out of his pocket.

Kai: I lost. I led everyone to their deaths. Why am I the one that survives? I should have died with them.

Kai sees the coin on the ground. Kai grabs the dusty old coin. He brushes off some of the dust with his thumb to see a L print on the gold coin.

Kai: One more shot.

Kai holds the coin tight. He picks himself off the ground. Kai starts limping over to the port.

Kai: I need to get to the water.

——————————————————————————————————————————

Owen, Remi, and Leo are all in a prison cell. Owen is using his shirt as a cloth to put pressure on the wound in his stomach. Remi is helping him put pressure on the wound. Leo is standing in front of them.

Remi: Do we have anything else to help him Leo?

Leo: I don’t know.

Leo looks around as Owen is still steadily bleeding. Leo looks at his web shooters.

Leo: Webs. That’s it. They will only hold for an hour or two, so we’ll have to re-patch him up.

Remi: Use them!

Remi takes the shirt off Owen's wound. Leo shoots a few webs on the wound. They stick on. They all hear footsteps coming down the hall. A man stands in front of their cell.

Ryan: This is where you’ve been. I thought you had finally decided to give up on taking down the police. Looks like I've given you more credit than you deserve. You’re way dumber than that.

Owen: I don’t see our leader anywhere in this prison. Who do you think is the real dumb one?

Ryan: You don’t see him because no one would put a dead man in prison. He died before General Grey came out to stop you. Don’t you think General Grey would have been busy fighting the Crimson Dragon if he were still alive?

Owen: When I get out I’m going to kill you.

Ryan: And I wish you the best of luck at it. Ya’know, because you won’t succeed. You’re going to die here in this cell, bleeding out.

Ryan walks away.

Leo: Is Kai really dead?

Remi: Kai never dies. He’ll come back one way or another.

——————————————————————————————————————————

Kai falls onto the port. He pulls himself over to the edge of the deck, and he throws the coin into the water. Kai waits for a minute, but nothing happens. Then as Kai is looking down into the water, glowing yellow eyes stare back at him. A spiky serpentine head rises from under the water. It raises its head until it is level with Kai. Kai hears a faint hissing. The snake opens its mouth. It’s tongue falls out of its mouth with the golden coin Kai threw into the water. Kai takes the coin off the beast’s tongue.

Leviathan: I thought I told you to never call upon me.

Kai: This is a one time thing. It’s important. I need to see the Beast.

Leviathan: You need to go to Hell. Why should I allow a mortal man to travel across the eight dimensions freely?

Kai: You did give me this coin.

Leviathan: But I make the decision on whether you're fit to travel to another realm, and your body looks destroyed. You may not even make the journey.

Kai: I’ll take the risk.

Leviathan: You should know that if you die when you are traveling through realms you won’t end up in any of them. You’ll be in the astral plane, or your soul will be destroyed.

Kai: I’ll take the risk.

The leviathan opens its mouth. Kai climbs inside and it shuts its mouth. The serpentine head slowly returns to beneath the water’s surface. Kai can feel the force of the Leviathan swimming down to the bottom of the ocean. Kai feels cold and he can’t move. The ocean’s pressure isn’t only on the leviathan, but on Kai’s body too. Kai feels like he is being ripped apart. Then the cold starts to change into heat. The pressure starts to lessen and the temperature changes. Then the Leviathan stops moving. It opens its mouth and Kai limbs onto Hell’s ground.

Kai: Where can I find the Beast?

Leviathan: Ask Lucifer.

Kai: This isn’t the southern kingdom?

Leviathan: It’s the east kingdom. You know how to call me when you need to return.

The Leviathan travels back down into the deep lava. Kai’s body starts healing as he walks through Hell. He is avoiding the East Kingdom's geysers. He walks to the gate of the East Kingdom. He walks past the human guards and into the kingdom. He follows down the path until he reaches the palace. When he walks inside he sees Jaik and James sitting on their thrones.

Jaik: Kai? Did you finally die? How long has it been, a millenia or two?

Kai: It’s been a few years.

Jaik: You look like shit.

Kai: I’m healing as I do best. I haven’t died yet. I used the Leviathan to get to Hell. I need to speak with the Beast.

Jaik: Only Lucifer has the power to speak with him. I’ll escort you there. You can cover for me, right James? We have business with Lucifer anyway.

James: Go ahead.

Kai and Jaik start walking through the kingdom.

Kai: Has it really been a millenia for you? I know Hell’s time is different then Earth.

Jaik: Yes it has. We have had a time of prosperity for everyone since you've been gone. The archangels don’t patronize the demons anymore because they are afraid of Lucifer's wrath and demons don’t attack humans anymore because they are afraid of Asmodeus.

The guards at the gate wave as Kai and Jaik walk by.

Jaik: The problem wasn’t apparently with the people in Hell. It was the leadership. Azazel and Beelzebub were always out for blood.

Kai: So what has been going on with you? Have you just been busy with the kingdom? Do you have a wife? Can you even have kids in Hell?

Jaik: I have remarried. She’s a splendid demon.

Kai: You married a demon?

Jaik: Now that demons and humans are together it happens often.

Kai: So you're going to have little fire breathers running around.

Jaik: I already do. Enough talk about me. What have you been up to?

They stop at the lava lake. Demise shows up on his funerary boat. Both Jaik and Kai get on as he rows the boat.

Kai: Recently I have been busy with the war.

Jaik: War?

Kai: The US is in the middle of a civil war. Mutants were released from camps all over the US. I think it was like forty million. They eventually waged war on humans with all the rest of the mutants that weren’t even captured. They want to rule the US. So for the last two and a half years I have been dealing with that.

Jaik: You solved Hell’s problems when they were going to war. I think you’ll be able to solve the US’s problems.

The boat stops. They both get out and walk to the northern kingdom. As they walk into the kingdom and along the road they see all the archangels.

Kai: It’s just weird not having them want to kill me.

Jaik: You’ll get used to it.

They walk into a giant palace. They see Lucifer sitting on the throne.

Lucifer: Jaik, what can I do for you?

Jaik: We have business, but that will be after you talk to Kai about Kamaitachi.

Lucifer: Why do you want to speak with my father? Do you want to go back to the realm of the living. I thinks it’s better down here.

Kai: No, I want to ask him a favor.

Lucifer: I grant favors better than anyone else. I am Lucifer. I invented favors, but if you need to talk to my father-

A door opens to the right of lucifer.

Lucifer: He’s right down there.

Kai walks through the door and down the long staircase. Kai mumbles under his breath.

Kai: My body has healed up. I’m not all better, but at least I’m not limping.

At the end of the staircase is a giant room. Kamaitachi stands in front of Kai. He is the same size as Lucifer's Palace.

Beast: Kai, why have you returned?

Kai: I need your power again. I’m not strong enough to fight someone.

Beast: Then I will grant you your wish. I’ve been down here far too long. It is time for me to see the world again. Your body is much more powerful than the last time we met. You will know power that you did not dream of the last time, but since your body is not used to this power you may only have it for five minutes.

Kai: I accept it.

Beast puts his hand above Kai’s head. A red aura is absorbed into Kai’s body.

Beast: You now have my power. Return to the realm of the living. You shall not be in Hell any longer.

Kai travels back up the stairs.

Jaik: Did he give you his powers?

Kai looks down to see that he is completely healed.

Kai: Yeah, and it’s doing wonders.

Jaik: Then goodbye old friend.

Kai: One day I will come here. When I do I hope we can have fun reminiscing about old times.

Jaik: One day.

Kai runs out of the kingdom and to the lava lake. The Leviathan peaks its head out of the lava.

Kai: How long can you stay out of the lava?

## A Brighter Future - Issue 12

A snake head slowly rises above the water. The long snake-like body slithers over the buildings of New York. The weight of the Leviathan destroys all the buildings below it. The serpentine slithers around General Grey’s base, blocking off all exits. The serpentine head raises above the building. Kai is standing on top of Leviathan's head.

Kai: You know the plan L?

Leviathan: You have five minutes before I leave you behind.

Kai listens for General Grey’s position.

Kai: I found him.

Kai slams his fists together. His normal white aura changes to a raging red.

Kai: Time to go Beast mode.

Kai jumps off the Leviathan’s head. He slams through the roof of the building. He lands on General Grey, grabbing his neck. Kai smashes General Grey through three floors. Then General Grey knocks Kai off of him with a piece of metal. They both hit the ground. Soldiers look at Kai surprised. Kai stands up. The soldiers shoot at Kai as he stands. The bullet stop as they hit his aura. Kai pushes out his hands and the bullets fly back at the soldiers. A beam of metal control by General Grey flies at Kai. Kai catches the beam. The force pushes him back. Kai throws the metal beam out the window. All of the soldiers' guns fly into the air. They all point at Kai.

General Grey: Die.

A barrage of bullets fly at Kai. Kai jumps out the window. His arm extends with a red aura. He grabs onto the side of the building and swings through a window. He lands on the floor with soldiers staring at him. Kai teleports next to the soldiers. He puts a hand on both their faces and slams them into the ground knocking them out. He hears a jingle as one of them falls to the ground. He grabs a key off of them. A beam comes through the ceiling. Kai sees a button next to a keyhole. He teleports next to the button dodging the metal beam. He puts the key in the hole and presses the button. Alarms go off and cell doors open.

Kai: Good enough.

Kai listens for General Grey, who is on the floor above him. He figures out his position. Kai extends his arm with red energy. He punches at the ceiling. The hand goes through the ceiling and hits General Grey. Kai jumps up slamming through the ceiling. General Grey rolls out of the way. Kai grabs him by the collar and throws him into a wall. His back slams into the wall and he slides down it. He falls to the ground on his knees. Kai mumbles under his breath.

Kai: One more minute…

Kai’s staff turns into a spear. Before Kai can react it stabs into him. General Grey has his hands on the ground.

Kai: You think a spear will stop me. You covered me in metal spikes.

Kai rips the spear out of himself. Red aura fills the hole in him. Kai’s wound quickly heals.

General Grey: I wasn’t trying to kill you. I just needed a little more time.

A water tower flies through the building knocking Kai into the air. As Kai is falling, the metal of the water tower wraps around him. The water falls to the ground. The metal keeps Kai floating in the air. General Grey floats over to Kai on a piece of metal.

General Grey: This is where it ends.

——————————————————————————————————————————

Remi, Max, and Owen all hear the alarms. Red lights are shining throughout the halls. Their cell door opens.

Owen: Kai’s back!

Remi: I knew he would, but we have to get out of here. There are still soldiers.

Leo: Remi, go find Terra and all them. I’ll handle Owen.

Remi runs out of the cell and Owen stands up. Owen uses Leo as a crutch to walk. Remi finds Terra and Delta.

Remi: We have to go!

Delta: What the fuck is that thing?

Delta pointed at the Leviathan.

Remi: It’s the reason we’re free!

Terra: Yeah. Let’s go.

The group all ran out of the base. Remi threw sparks all around. Blocking off the B.L.A.D.E soldier’s paths.

——————————————————————————————————————————

Leo and Owen are walking through a corridor. They are both stopped by a man holding two guns.

Ryan: Did you think you were just going to be able to leave? You're not getting out of here, and after I kill you I’ll lead the police force to help the mutants take this place back over.

Owen: It’s been you this whole time. You were leading the police into corruption. I thought it was the commissioner, but he’s been killed. It was you this whole time.

Ryan: What can I say? Getting paid to do good work and bad work at the same time makes a lot of profits.

Ryan shoots at them. Leo pushes Owen behind a wall. Leo shoots a web at one of Ryan’s guns. Ryan shoots Leo in the leg with the other gun. The web on Ryan’s gun goes loose. Ryan tries to hit Leo with the gun. Leo punches Ryan in the chest. Ryan falls to the ground and shoots bullet after bullet in each gun. Two of the bullets go through Leo’s side. Leo grabs Ryan with a web and slams him against the ceiling. When Ryan hits the ground he lands on his feet with both guns pointing at Leo’s head. Owen is standing there with a gun to Ryan’s head.

Ryan: If you weren’t so wounded this would have been a hell of a battle Owen.

Owen: When you become partners with a cop you become brothers. You look out for each other. You do everything together. Nothing hurts as much as betrayal from family.

Leo shoots webs at both Ryans arms. He pulls Ryan’s arms to the side. Ryan shoots his guns, but the are no longer aimed at Leo.

Owen: Goodbye.

A bullet fires out of Owens gun. The bullet flies straight through Ryan’s skull. Ryan’s body drops to the ground. Owen stares at Ryan’s dead body.

Leo: C’mon, let’s go.

Leo helps Owen down the stairs.

——————————————————————————————————————————

General Grey is floating in front of Kai.

General Grey: Let’s take care of the overgrown snake, shall we?

As the snake moves closer to General Grey a tower slams into its head The Leviathan falls to the ground. Kai mumbles under his breath.

Kai: I gotta stall.

General Grey: You were never supposed to come back from California. I thought that you were a smart enough mutant to realize that you would die if you did that, but unfortunately, I was wrong. Now I’m going to kill you for the second time. This time I’m going to watch you die. Make sure it happens.

Kai’s red aura disappears.

General Grey: Has your little power up red bull worn off? That’s okay. It wasn’t doing much for you anyway. You will always lose, why? Because you're an inferior mutant. Your powers are useless for anyone but a grunt.

Kai: Every power is useful, but what you were born with doesn’t give you your power. Humans will win this war. Whether you think so or not. When you're born with power you don’t need to search for it, and when you search you find powers so strong there unimaginable. I don’t need to be a superior mutant. The red aura I was beating you with isn’t even one of my powers. Do you know what kind of snake that is that you just threw a tower at?

General Grey: Why would I care?

Kai: Because it isn’t a snake. It’s a Leviathan. That beast is one of the only creatures that can travel between dimensions without some power. It can survive at the deepest center of the lava lakes in hell. Do you really think a tower would kill it?

The leviathan’s head shoots up from the ground. It swallows General Grey in one big bite. The metal surrounding Kai stops holding him up. Kai starts falling through the air. Kai teleports to the top of General Grey’s base. The leviathan looks at Kai.

Leviathan: You humans are a strange species. Your greatest strength is also your greatest weakness. Goodbye Dragon.

The leviathan slithers away. Kai looks down at the ground. He sees his soldiers leaving the building. Kai smiles.

Kai: We won.

——————————————————————————————————————————

After the escape of General Grey’s base everyone meets back up at Kai’s warehouse. The League members go back to the B.L.A.D.E. base to drop off their gear. Kai talks to Terra on the second floor of the warehouse.

Kai: Thanks for helping me take down Grey. If you weren’t there Fox and Grey would have ended me.

Terra: Fox probably could’ve killed you easily. Delta and I only did good because of our armor.

Kai: I wouldn’t say easily, but he would’ve killed me. I have to ask you for one more favor though.

Terra: What’s up?

Kai: I have to protect New York from being attacked again, and I don’t have the power to take on stronger General’s in the army. You need to end the war.

Terra: That’s what I’ve been trying to do the whole time. It’s gotten so blown out of proportion that I don’t know what I can do to stop this.

Kai: You have to cut the head off of the snake. End the war at its source.

Terra: Are you saying General Grey was taking orders from someone even more powerful than him?

Kai: He is a general. Someone has to give him orders. You need to figure out who that is.

Terra: I can try. Delta and I make good detectives.

Kai: Alright then. Let’s hope you can keep to that.

They both walk downstairs.

Terra: Delta, let’s roll out.

Delta came over to Kai and Terra.

Delta: Guess we got off on the wrong foot. Old habits die hard.

Terra: Remember the radical feminist thing? She’s taken a turn for the best.

Kai: Okay… Good luck and all that.

Terra: Yeah, I’ll do my best to stop all this fighting.

Terra and Delta leave.

Max: Are they even human. They’re so weird.

Kai: There… Different. It’s time to switch bases. We can’t just live in a warehouse.

Remi: The whole city is destroyed. Where else will we stay?

Kai: Now that all the mutants are gone soldiers will make sure that this place is clear. We can operate away from here. We’ll move to the League of Assassins mountain. It has enough room and we have planes to get back and forth. We can stay there until the war ends.

Max: Yes! I get to see real ninjas! It’s going to be like an adventure.

Kai: Why do you care? You won’t leave your room to see anything.

Max: It’s the thought that counts.

Kai: Everyone pack up. We’re moving.

——————————————————————————————————————————

Months later Kai is walking through the hallways of the League.

League member: Ra’s, the League members don’t like the no killing rule. They believe that it takes away the precedents that the other Ra’s have set.

Kai: They’ll get used to it. Did one of the members get my staff back?

League member: Yes they did. There are also League members patrolling New York city. They will report as soon as they see any mutants.

Kai walks to the door leading into his room.

Kai: Good, now please leave me be for the night.

Kai walks in and closes the door behind him. The door to the bathroom is shut.

Kai: Remi?

Remi opens the door with something in her hand.

Kai: What’s going on?

Remi: Kai, I’m pregnant.