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The branches above him swayed slightly in the breeze, ruffling his hair a little bit as he leaned against the old oak tree. His breath came in ragged gasps as he held a blood soaked field dressing against his side. Looking out over the battle field before him, a tear fell from his eye. 'How did it come to this' he wondered. 'None of this should have happened' and yet, it had. The bodies of friend and foe alike lay strewn across the fields of battle. Most of his blood gone due to his wound, he slowly closed his eyes as the sleep of death crept over him. And in his final hour, his mind wandered among the memories of his life that had lead up to this point.

Alexander Rodius, though he prefers to be called Xander, had what you would call a normal childhood. Went through middle school and was now into his second year of high school. He had lots of friends, had made some enemies, got good grades, had loving parents, and even had a crush on this one girl in his history class. Normal enough for any teenager, right? Well all that was all about to change, as he neared his 17th birthday.

"Come on Xander, hurry up. Your sister is waiting" called Jessie, one of Xander's closest friends. They had been together since childhood, and were almost like brothers. "If you don't hurry she'll leave us again!" Sylvia, Xander's older and drop dead gorgeous sister, honked the horn of their mom's station wagon impatiently, as if the empathize what Jessie had said. "I'm coming!" Xander yelled as he came running down the hall from the library. "Had to email a report to history, and send my science project to my home computer" he explained as they walked out the front doors of the school. "You could have done that earlier you know. Or were you too busy gazing at Elizabeth?" Xander didn't bother to answer as the tips of his ears turned red. "I thought so. Dude, you seriously need to ask her out. Before someone else does." Xander fidgeted with a pack strap as they walked down the short path to the car. "I know, but it's hard. Whenever I approach her, I get all clumsy and get butterflies in my stomach." Jessie sighed; he had heard excuses like this a hundred times before. "Then you need to find a different approach. Like sending her flowers, or a box of chocolate. Girls always like those."

"Yeah, but she's not like other girls. Some guy tried that with her last year, she had the flowers returned. I need to come up with something original." You see, ever since Xanders sister had gotten her driver's license three years ago, she had been taking off before he and Jessie could get to the car. And, being the determined young men that they were, they would give chase. Running along behind. Trying to catch up. Of course, she purposely kept the car out of reach, going slow, but not slow enough for them to get within five feet of the car. Over the past three years, she would do this every day that she came to pick them up from school. They never knew how far or how long she would have them run, but she eventually tired and stopped the car, letting them catch up. And although there were many downsides to this, there was one positive side; they could now run faster than anyone else at school. Even on the track team, though they never signed up for it. However, today was different. Sylvia, instead of driving off the moment they got within five feet, sat there and waited for the two of them to get in the backseat. "Buckle up you two," she told them as she put the old station wagon into gear and pulled away from the curb.

"Ok Silvia, what's going on?" Asked Xander, "Why didn't you drive off like you always do?" Silvia just looked at him through the rearview mirror and winked. Fifteen minutes later, Sylvia turned off the main road onto the dirt one that lead to their house, which stood a quarter mile away from the main road. This road was in bad repair, with potholes scattered every few feet. Xanders mom had been getting on his dad to go out there and fix it for months. But dad was usually too busy with work and other projects to get it done. So she had Xander do it. Filling in at least five holes every other day.

Pulling up to the house, Xander could hear his dad working out in the barn on another of his latest projects. He made custom parts for various clients that came to him for help. He was pretty good at it too. Dropping their bags on the porch, he and Jessie ran over to the barn, and peek through the cracks. They could see sparks flying from one of the machines as it grinded out a new part. And Xanders dad was at the controls, guiding the machine in the process. Seeing that he was busy at the moment, he didn't like to be disturbed while he worked; Xander and Jessie ran back to the house and went upstairs to Xanders room, grabbing their bags on the way.

"What do you think your dads working on this time Xander?" Jessie asked as he plopped down on the giant beanbag couch. "I don't know. He's been all hush-hush about this latest assignment. He won't even tell me about it." Xander replied as he shut the door. He sat down in his computer chair and swiveled around to face Jessie. "But I do know that it's important, else he would have told me a while ago." Jessie nodded, "yeah, I suppose so." Opening up his bag he began to pull out his homework. "Well, let's get this homework out of the way, so we can get back to other stuff." The two of them set to work on their assignments and were quiet for the next two hours.

Xander closed his book with a sigh and stretched his limbs, satisfied with his work. Jessie closed his a few minutes later. "XANDER, JESSIE, dinner time." Xanders mom called up the back stairwell. They raced downstairs and took their places at the table. They said grace and began to eat. "So how was school today Alexander?" asked mom. "It was pretty good today. Making progress on my science project, and I finished that report for history." Mom smiled, "that's good honey. "He was almost late for the car this time, cause he was too busy goggling Elizabeth." Jessie smirked as he added in that tidbit. Xander felt his ears go red from embarrassment. "Do you like her Alexander?" "Uh, yeah, kind of. She's in my history class." "Is she pretty?" "Yes mom, she is. She is also very talented in many subjects." "Really? Like wha..." The lights in the dining room suddenly went out, and Xanders dad came in, carrying a large birthday cake, singing the birthday song. "Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you. Happy Birthday dear Xander, Happy Birthday, to you." Xander sat there, speechless for a moment, until he remembered that today was his birthday. His dad set the cake down in front of him, "make a wish son." Xander thought for a moment, and then blew out the seventeen candles. CRAASH! The sound of breaking glass startles them and makes his mom scream in panic. His dad turns on the lights, only to find themselves surrounded by a dozen men, armed with automatic weapons, and tactical gear. "Who are you? What are you doing in my home?" Xanders father demanded of the intruders. "Mr. Rodius" one of them stepped forward, "we have come for the device. Do not bother playing stupid, we know you have it. And we want it now." A hard look passed over Xanders fathers face. "You shall not have it. I would rather give my life then see it in the hands of someone the likes of you," he said defiantly. The man sighed and shook his head, "tsk, tsk. Mr. Rodius. I'm afraid that you no longer have a say in the matter." The man nodded to one of his men, who just happened to be standing behind me, and grabbed me by the shoulders. Fear flicked across Julian's face as his son was held captive. He turned back to the mysterious man, "don't you dare hurt my son." "Oh, have no fear Mr. Rodius. We are a patient people. You have eluded us for eighteen years, but we know when a bit of leverage is needed to get what we want." Julian looked to his son with a pained expression. With shoulders slumped, he turned back to the man, "alright, you win. I'll take you to the device." "Very good Mr. Rodius, and just for good measure, we'll be bringing your son along. To make sure you cooperate." Julian nodded and turned to walk out. "If anything happens Strucker, I will hold you personally responsible, and will hunt you for the remainder of my days." Mr. Strucker cocked an eyebrow, "is that a threat Mr. Rodius?" Julian looked over his shoulder, "it's a promise." With that, he turned and walked out. Mr. Strucker nodded to his henchman and they followed, with Xander in tow. Julian led them out of the house, and guided them to the barn. He took out the key to the large padlock on the door, and proceeded to unlock. Once the chain had fallen away, he pushed open the big door and stepped inside, flipping on the light as he did. The others followed him inside. Julian walked over to a large toolbox, opened the bottom drawer, and pulled out an object roughly the size and shape of a football. "Here it is Strucker, take it and leave" Mr. Strucker took the object from Julian's hand. "Thank you Mr. Rodius, I appreciate your cooperation. However, I'm afraid that I can't leave just yet. You see, my employer wants you to be eliminated. Partly because you made him very upset when you disappeared with the device all those years ago, but also so that you won't go telling anyone else what has transpired here." With that, he pulled out a 9mm pistol, aimed it, and fired at point blank range at Julian. The bullet hit him in his upper right chest. Julian fell back with a grunt as the round hit and punctured his lung. "DAD!" Xander cried as he fought free of his captor and ran to his father's side. "Hold on dad, you're going to be alright. You've got to hold on." Xander held his father's head in his lap. "Alex," his father whispered, "you must not let him get away with the device. You must stop him at all costs." Julian began coughing up blood. "Don't worry dad, I'll stop him for you." He set his head down, stood up and grabbed his grandfather's old bullwhip. It had been a gift to him when he had turned fourteen. Xander had practiced with it every other day since then. He had thought it was cool, to crack it and swing it through the air, like Indiana Jones. Now though, he had a different purpose for it. Letting it play out, he whirled it around his head once, and snapped it forward, catching the large henchman around the neck. Giving the whip a sharp tug, he jerks the large man off his feet. Xander crack his whip, and then lashed out again at Strucker, as he was raising his 9mm to shoot him. The whip caught his wrist and wrenched it. Making Strucker drop the gun. Xander snapped the whip again, and wrapped the tip around the device. And jerked it out of his hands. So fast was Xander with his whip that the whole event was over in less than ten seconds. Xander held the device in the crook of his arm, as he stared at Strucker coldly. "You seem to have me at a disadvantage young man." Strucker said with raised hands, "no one has ever caught me by surprise like that before. I must congratulate you." He clapped his hands, "sadly though, those who do surprise me rarely live to tell the tale." A small pistol popped out of his sleeve and into his hand. Which he then pointed at Xander and fired. Xander, acting on reflex, raised his arm to block the shot, though he knew it was hopeless to. Yet, when he raised his arm, it was the one holding the device. The bullet bounced off of the shell of the device. And, instead of it finding its way to his heart, it lodged itself in his shoulder. And the resulting impact on the device caused it to activate. It began to glow with an inner light, which rapidly intensified. "NO!" Strucker yelled as he realized what he had done. Xander stared in fear at the device, as its light became blinding. "What's happeeenningggg..........?" The light had suddenly intensified into a flash of light, and Xander disappeared. Leaving an empty space where he had previously been. Strucker stared at the spot where Xander had been only moments before. Then, mumbling a curse reached into his jacket and withdrew a cell phone. Hitting speed dial, he held it up to his ear and listened to it ring twice. "Yes?" The voice that replied had a sinister sound to it. Making it sound like the owner was not someone you would want to cross paths with. Strucker winced slightly as he realized that his boss would not be happy about this. "This is Strucker. Sir, we have a problem."