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Chapter I: You're Suffocating Me

Brrring! Brrring!

Caleb Hale growled softly in his sleep, turning away from his alarm clock and burying his head beneath his pillow.

Brrrring! Brrring!

Like every day since three weeks ago, the 7'8'' 310 pound mass of lupine muscle rolled onto his belly and reached absently to his left where the alarm clock sat. His paw balled into a fist and just before the clock could let out its fifth alarm, he slammed his fist straight into its buzzer. It let out a whimpering noise before falling silent.

A soft smile touched his lips as he was slowly lulled back to sleep by -

"Wow! You silenced it in one hit! I'd say that's progress!"

Caleb's blue eyes sprang open in horror. He spun in place, staring through the gloom of his room at his father, David Hale's grinning features.

"Dad!?" he cried. Realising his nudity, Caleb immediately pulled his thick sheets over his naked, muscular body.

"Morning son!" David exclaimed, beaming brightly. His father seized his sheets and immediately yanked them off. Though Caleb tried to keep them over his body, there was no way he could resist his father's super strength. After all, being the son of a superhero meant he had to deal with mornings just like this...

"It's time for our run!" David announced. "But first..." With a loud thwap, his father pulled out a measuring tape. "Time to take your measurements!"

Caleb's ears folded back and he groaned loudly. "But Daaaaad..." Despite his complains, he rolled off bed, still naked and still sporting a semi. Evidence of his previous night's sexual relief still matted the thick white fur that populated his chest, lower jaw and the inner sections of his thighs. With winter rolling around, his winter coat had started to come in making his chronic masturbation sessions somewhat harder to clean up.

"Now, now," his father said, wrapping the measuring table around his chest. "You know this is for your own good."

Glancing at the clock and how it read a miserable 5 o'clock in the morning, Caleb was reminded of that day three weeks ago when his father, renowned superhero Feral Steel, had brought him back home with loud fanfare and announced that he was the proud parent of the Outsider known as Weapons Master. When he presented Caleb to the family's questions with a trumpeting howl, he was met with disbelief. Then he piled on the evidence.

The mysterious disappearances.

The extensive funds that allowed him to buy a customised motorcycle _and_get motorcycle lessons.

Not to mention how, for some reason or another, whenever Weapons Master was around, Caleb wasn't.

Then... it began.

"This is fantastic!" David exclaimed, measuring Caleb's bicep. "You're making some real gains, son! The Minos Strain must've really put some beef in you."

A grimace left the young wolf as his father shamelessly measured every inch of him including his penis. Apparently it was all in an attempt to better understand the effects of his transformations but on some level, he suspected it was to stroke his father's ego that he now had one son who was in the Elemental Alliance and another who worked for the government that had so far managed to beat the Elemental Alliance in the fight against the Gene Stealers.

David straightened after finishing the final measurement, grinning with his eyes shining. He gave Caleb a firm slap on the rump, making the young wolf yelp. "Alright. You're all set. You have fifteen minutes to get out of here, shower and get dressed and meet me out front."

Caleb's shoulders slumped. "Daaaad..."

Betraying his own size and masculinity, his big, beefy father daintily skipped out the door and wagged a finger at him, tail thrashing happily from side to side. "Don't be late."

Then he slammed the door.

And it began again.

Caleb sighed loudly as thick, metal plating suddenly erupted from every corner of his room, covering the walls, floor, ceiling and nearly all of his furniture. He had to step over the plates as they snaked across his carpet like liquid and solidified the moment he set his bare feet on it. His window was instantly sealed, plunging him into absolute darkness that was only barely broken by the light from his alarm clock. As soon as the last inch of his room's extremities were sealed shut in the two-inch thick, platinum walls, a timer sprang up just above his door.

Fifteen minutes.

"Great..." Caleb growled.

A soft ringing broke his mood and he glanced over to his bedside table where his phone rested, softly alerting him to a call from Mary Brightwood, his sounding board and best friend. He snatched the phone from the table and pressed it to his ear.

"Happy Monday!" she exclaimed brightly. "Aren't you just so happy that it's the first school day of the new semester?"

"Strangely... Yes," he answered with groan. "It means less time at home with my dad constantly trying to pump me with steroids in order to compensate for my apparent lack of primary superpowers and more time in a glorified prison having my brain crammed with useless information."

"My, aren't we in a mood today."

"You would too if you were woken up every day at five o'clock in the morning to your father measuring you before locking you in an air-tight chamber and challenging you to 'escape using whatever you have in your room' and with only fifteen minutes of air."

She giggled softly and as she did so, he heard some murmuring on the other line. Something made him suspect that she wasn't giggling at him.

"To his credit, he's cut down the time from thirty minutes to fifteen and he's only given you fifteen minutes to meet him downstairs. That means he's confident you'll leave your room before you suffocate."

"I'm so thrilled," he growled sarcastically. Using the light from his phone, he scanned the room, searching for something that would allow him to break out of his 'prison'. "Damnit..."

"What's wrong?"

"Can't you tell?"

"Your father made sure that those walls are infused with psychormium so they restrict any forms of psychic powers. I can't even tell if you're really depressed or loving the challenge."

Caleb rifled through the multitude of collectibles he had gathered over his years as a scrawny nerd before he shot up, packed on muscle and joined the football team. "Does it ever worry you that you rely too much on your powers to tell what people are thinking and if ever you were stuck in a situation without them, you probably won't be able to tell what's what?"

"Not really. After all, when is that going to happen? Oooh!" she giggled. "Stop it! That tickles."

Making a sour face in the darkness, Caleb said, "Ashton is over there, isn't he?"

"He wanted to make sure that the last day of our holidays was spent with a bang. And boy was it! My dad had to come in and tell us to stop. Then he joined in."

Caleb stuck out his tongue and held his phone out at arm's reach. "Please tell me you're joking."

"Say hello to Caleb, guys."

Two voices greeted him a good morning.

"Mary, that's incredibly disturbing."

"Oh please. If Lars and your father started making out in front of you, I'm sure you wouldn't be able to stop that fire hose you have between your legs. Speaking of which, have you spoken to Lars recently?"

He seized a figurine from an ancient movie from eons ago that had been remade to death but still popular with nerd culture. It was a man burned and maimed who could only survive within a black, robotic suit and who sired twins that would eventually save him from his own darkness. That and he had a laser sword.

"You know my dad hasn't given me a chance to talk to him. He's been taking me to the gym every day, making me run halfway across town and just last week he took me fire walking! Fire walking, Mary! That's not even a sport!"

A sigh left his muzzle as a soft blue light emitted from the figurine. The figurine began sprouting ethereal, blue-white feathers before its entire figure began wrapping around his left paw. As the light from his powers faded, he was left with a bracer of some sort, jet-black as the figurine had been and sparkling with buttons. He pressed one.

"No... I am your father."

"Was that you?" Mary asked.

"Nope. It was Darth Vader."

He pressed another button and a blade of red energy shot from the tip of the bracer, hot and more than capable of cutting through metal.

"Well... Okay. On a positive note, you broke your wall, right? You put on an extra ten pounds of muscle and you've never been fitter."

"I suppose," he grimaced, slowly tracing a hole big enough for him to fit through across the wall. "But constantly keeping myself stocked with shit that I can turn into weapons, not knowing what they'll turn into is really starting to get annoying. I mean, just yesterday I nearly drowned in muffins."

"That's what you get for thinking anything that could come out of a 'My First Oven' could be good."

He shrugged as he cut through the last inch of the the path he had cut through with the laser before with one, swift kick, he knocked down the door and a soft ding announced that he was free. All the metal plating that had miraculously appeared began to shrink back into nothingness, sliding back into the corners of his room and disappear back into the ether, ready for tomorrow when his father would challenge him again. "At least the family didn't go hungry. Plus the local troupe of girl scouts really appreciated the donation."

"They sure did. You wouldn't still have that weapon, would you? My dad loved those muffins. Oh, speaking of which, we're going to squeeze in a little quickie before we have to go to school. Ashton and my dad are going for a hat trick!"

Caleb rolled his eyes. "Goodbye, Mary." He hung up on her and tossed his phone back on the bed through the hole that now sat in his bedroom door.

"Six minutes," came a deep rumble. "Slower than yesterday."

Lance Hale, Caleb's older brother and one of the twins, stood a short distance away, about half a foot taller than Caleb and brimming with more muscle than should be rightly packed into a single wolf. Along with the youngest of the Hale boys, David Hale had also taken Lance along with him on their training sessions, hoping to get both his superpowered boys ready and raring to go for the trials that lay ahead of them.

Lance's enormous bulk was somehow squeezed into a sweatsuit, practically tearing at the seams. Like Caleb and most of the other Hales, Lance had brown hair but his eyes were mismatched, one being green and the other being brown. Though winter was just around the corner, Lance's winter coat didn't add much fuzz to his body, ensuring that his thick, corded neck remained vascular and visible while Caleb had to deal with his muscles slowly being hidden by the thickening fur.

In response to Lance's retort, Caleb pressed a button on his bracer.

"I find your lack of faith disturbing."

Lance's eyebrow rose as Caleb withdrew the energy blade. "So... that thing shoots lasers and shouts out cheesy quotes from a movie that was only recently uncovered and has had so many remakes and reboots that George Marcus must be rolling in his radioactive, zombie-filled grave?"

"It's George Lucas," he corrected, yanking the weapon away and tossing it towards Lance. "And I'll have you know that the Star Wars movies have never been better since the 7threboot. Admittedly, the bizarre time-space distortion and fold in the Force that made the first three episodes never happen in the 5th was pretty cool but -"

Lance held up his paw, demanding silence. "I get it, I get it. It's great." A soft smile touched his features. "Though I've never seen it, if you like it, I'm sure it's great. Hey, what do you say this weekend, we sit down and watch them all the way through?"

Caleb's ears perked up and his tail began wagging excitedly. "Really? That'd be awesome! We'd have to get popcorn and one of those hats with drinks in them because they're fairly long and you don't want to miss a second! Oh and I've got the director's cut edition which adds another one and a half hours of cut content to the movies!"

His big brother laughed, thick, massive pecs bouncing with the gesture. "Sure thing, Cale. And speaking of missing a second..." A wicked grin crossed Lance's features. "You've got about five minutes to take a shower and meet us downstairs."

Suddenly realising that the entire conversation had been a diversionary tactic, Caleb let out a loud yelp and dove back into his room, accusing his brother of being an asshole. He hurriedly fetched a pair of shorts, a muscle shirt and accompanying underwear and dove straight for the shower. A one minute shower followed by two minutes in the fur dryer gave him enough time to get dressed and quickly slide down the bannister to meet his father and Lance out in front of the house, both men ready for their morning jog.

"With thirty seconds to spare," David said with a glance at his watch. "Cutting it close, son."

"I would've made it sooner if someone hadn't promised to watch Star Wars with me," Caleb snarled. Lance's ears twitched slightly which, if Caleb remembered from their brief sexcapades together, was a little bit of a nervous twitch.

"Don't blame your brother. I asked him to distract you." David strode towards the garage and with a mental command, had the rollers start to slide upwards. "I wasn't ready with your present just yet. Honestly, I had hoped you'd take longer in your room. I made sure to take out any obvious things that could turn into weapons." He threw a grin over his shoulder. "Never thought you'd use a figurine to become a welding torch." As the rollers stopped with a click, he added, "Guess it just goes to show that your powers can be both dangerous and interesting."

Ears perked forward, Caleb moved to where his father was standing. "Present? What...?" His voice trailed off. "Oh... Oh wow. Dad..."

His father's big, meaty arm wrapped around his shoulder, pulling him into a close, one arm hug. "These past three weeks have been great, Caleb. I've never felt closer to you boys." His expression suddenly darkened. "Troubling times are coming. I can feel it. I've fought for too long against the forces of evil to know that this is just a taste of what is to come and we're in for a real storm." He gripped Caleb's shoulder tightly and beckoned Lance over. With Lance beside him, he wrapped his other arm around his older son's broader shoulders.

"I want you boys to know that everything I've done hasn't been because you both lied to me, hid a part of yourself from me and went behind my back and put yourselves in danger."

Caleb ducked his head in shame though it was a little hard to keep his eyes away from his present.

"I did it to protect you. To make you both stronger to face the coming storm." He patted Caleb's shoulder and gently pushed him forward. "So, I wanted you give you both a little something. Cale, meet Ballistic 2.0."

Sitting in the middle of the garage in splendorous gold and black was the bike he had never thought he'd seen again. Caleb approached Ballistic, reaching out with a quaking paw like he was afraid to merely touch it. As his palms touched the sharp, vicious curve of its front guards that protected its front wheel, he could not help but quiver in delight. Three weeks ago, his father and taken Ballistic away to prevent him from sneaking off. He thought he would never see it again.

In part, he was right.

He would never see that old Ballistic again.

What he had now was a menacing, sleek, cool speed demon. With his paw, he followed its smooth, curving front to where its handles were folded cleanly on its sides. A loud _click_and a metallic hiss erupted from the bike and the dashboard and handles sprang up, awakening the slumbering beast. The engine hummed quietly. Futuristic, rectangular exhaust ports flanked the rear wheel sitting above a compartment built for storage. A soft, blue light emanated from the ports. Caleb sat in the cushiony seat, feeling the monster beneath him shudder in delight at its master's return. The high-tech display showed more than the odometer and speedometer. There was an inbuilt GPS and what looked like a display for a phone. His eye brows rose when he saw a touch screen button indicating 'Weapons Mode'.

"What's this button do?" he asked, immediately pressing it and awaiting a reply.

The motorbike immediately sprang to life. Two, large metal panels sprang up from enormous front section of the vehicle, sliding past Caleb and linking to a rising box behind him. This same rising box unwound, forming a curving canopy above Caleb that locked in with the dashboard, forcing him to keep his body pressed against the bike. The colouration of the bike also changed, losing its golden tints and turning stark black with twin diamonds appearing to signify his identity as Weapons Master. The panels on either side of him had various displays and when he saw the words Funny Bone and Branding Iron, he realised that they were teleporters of some sort, capable of bringing him weapons from the Facility at a moment's notice.

"Your mother accepted long ago that I could be severely hurt as I put myself in constant danger," David said, leaning against the new Ballistic. "But she would kill me if I let any harm come to either of you boys. She knows you'll fight the forces seeking to disrupt our way of life and she's at peace with that but if I didn't do everything in my power to keep you boys safe... well, let's just say the next time she and I role play, 'Gallanmorn' isn't going to make her stop." He flashed a grin over his shoulder at Lance. "Gallanmorn is our safety word."

Despite the wince that piece of information brought, Caleb was still at awe at his new ride. His eyes roved the dashboard, simply amazed at all the features it brought him. One feature still struck him as mysterious, though. It was a big, blue button with the words 'TSFE'.

"Dad, what's this do?" he asked.

Peering over his shoulder, David grinned. "Ah, that's the experimental Time-Space Fold Engine. Press that button and for about five minutes, you, whoever is riding with you and Ballistic itself will phase out of reality. You will be semi-transparent, invulnerable to harm unless someone has a TSF Disruptor and you will be able to pass through any solid object. Except for the ground. We've configured to engine to maintain elevation in relation to the ground."

"That is so awesome!" Caleb exclaimed. "I can't wait to try it out!"

David rested a paw over his son's for a moment. "Using it sparingly, Caleb. The TSFE needs a long time to recharge. About a whole day. And you only get five minutes. It should be enough to get you from one end of town to another but only use it when the need is dire. It can be used to charge into danger or get yourself out."

"I will. Thanks Dad." Then Caleb flicked his ears and gave his father a look of canine confusion. "Hang on. If this thing is experimental, wouldn't Mom have something to say about giving me something so... dangerous?"

His father's features grew very still. "Don't tell your mother."

Both Lance and Caleb laughed at his father's expense as Caleb jumped off his new ride. Though it was still dark, he could already feel his day brightening. It was with a bit of disappointment that he shut the garage door and joined his father and brother on their ritual morning run, his veins pumped with anticipation over taking Ballistic 2.0 out for a spin.

He didn't even care that today was the first day of school for the new semester. His mind was fixated solely on bike. He told himself to savour the lead up to the moment when he would eventually be roaring down the streets. Lars would be so jealous.

Remembering Lars McLeod, he recalled that the last interaction they had was back in the hospital where they had kissed and it suddenly became obvious to both of them that there was something stronger than friendship between them. His heart began racing all the more as he realised that in less than four hours, he would be walking back to school and there, he would meet his best buddy who might not be his best buddy after all.

His throat suddenly went dry and the sweat rolling off his brow came from more than just the exhausting run. When they stopped by the park and Lance jumped on the monkey bars to do some of his usual hanging crunches, Caleb took a moment to head towards the water fountain and take a deep, long drink. The cooling water had little effect as his worry and anxiety continued to grow.

"Cale! Pull ups, come on!"

It was with some hope that he could delay thoughts of Lars for a little longer as he lunged at the bars and began pulling his three hundred and ten pound weight up with the sheer force of his back muscles and arms alone. Blood pumped into his arms, causing the veins to pop along his forearms and biceps. But even then, his mind kept being plagued of the three weeks of long silence between him and Lars. Three weeks where they were left hanging on such a crucial turning point. Had he missed the turn? Had the opportunity come and gone?

The conclusion was simple: he would continue to worry until he knew. Not knowing was the worst experience of all and though he was scared of what would happen when they did finally meet, he just wanted it over and done with.

Would he and Lars become a couple or would they fall into an awkward friendship, barely talking to one another and avoiding the obvious elephant in the room?

Those questions he needed answered and he needed them answered immediately.

Both Lance and his dad were utterly surprised when he put all of his energy into the workout, speeding their progress back to the house. When they arrived, Lillian Hale already had a heaping breakfast ready for them. Abigale Hale however had covered most of the breakfast table with dozens of wedding magazines and her wedding planner. As usual, she was self-absorbed and was constantly asking her mother what she thought of this dress or that flower arrangement. When Caleb had come out as Weapons Master, she gave him one day of questions and concern before immediately diving back to her impending nuptial.

"I'm thinking July. July is a nice time to get married, don't you think?" she asked.

"Dear, that's too close to your brother's birthday. How about February?"

She rolled her eyes and gave the sweaty male who stepped into the room a slight wrinkling of her nose. "Mom, everyone gets married in February. I don't want to be just anyone. Oh! How about September when the leaves are just turning gold?"

Caleb shook his head but quietly admired Abby's ability to ignore the troubles of the world and focus solely on herself. He sat down in his seat and shovelled the stack of pancakes in lain with slices of bacon in between into his muzzle. Any thoughts of Lars were interrupted by a loud groan coming from the steps.

Leon Hale, Lance's twin brother and the source of torment for Caleb for what seemed like an eternity came down the steps, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. Caleb watched him like a deer caught in the headlights of a speeding sixteen wheeler. However, Leon's ire was directed at his twin who sat next to David, chatting through a muzzle full of breakfast about the upcoming reforms in the Elemental Alliance and the very structure of the superhero industry in the United States. Leon sat down, his eyes red and his hair a mess.

"You don't look so good..." Caleb murmured.

Leon's mismatched eyes flashed towards him and for the briefest of moments, Caleb thought he was about to get a face full of maple syrup. Then, Leon's features softened and he gave Caleb a weak, but genuine, grin.

"Couldn't sleep," grunted his eldest brother. "Someone was up all night lifting weights!"

Lance's ears flicked back for the briefest of moments before he continued his conversation with their father.

Leon huffed loudly and idly began chewing on his pancake stack. "So... First day back at school, eh? Excited?"

Caleb's suspicions began to rise. Leon had never been nice to him... that is until Lance displayed the ability to grow into a ten-foot muscular, four-armed wolf with more strength than most other supers. Then Leon began treating Caleb like an equal, like they were the two kids in the family that didn't have possess superpowers. Neither of them really counted Abby because she didn't care. The fact that Leon had always been a fan of superheroes didn't help.

Then Caleb was revealed to be Weapons Master and the youngest Hale was glad for one thing about his three week, brutal training with his father - he got to avoid Leon.

"Little bit," Caleb confessed, keeping his eyes on his own food. "I'm a little anxious, to be honest. First time I'll see Lars, Alex, Ben or even Ashton for three whole weeks."

Leon let out a soft laugh and idly began running his fork through the maple syrup that had gathered at the base of his pancake stack. "Yeah, still can't believe Dad managed to pull you from school for that last week. Then again, he is Feral Steel."

There was a twinge of resentment in his voice. Was he jealous?

"Well it hasn't been all fun and games, you know," Caleb replied with a faint, weak laugh. "Dad's whipped my butt every day, trapped me in my room with fifteen minutes worth of oxygen and I'm pretty sure he's been injecting me with growth hormones while I slept..."

That made his eldest brother laugh. When Leon placed a paw on his shoulder, the contact surprised him as it was gentle, even affectionate... brotherly. "Just make the most out of, Cale. Not everyone can have a superhero as a personal trainer."

Comforting the much bigger wolf had never occurred to Caleb once so he only managed to let out a strange, croaking sound reminiscent of a dying goat. Conversation ended there as the wolves got focused on their breakfast and were constantly reprimanded by Abby to stop getting scraps on her wedding planner though she was the one eating voraciously with one hand and using the other to page through different dresses and floral arrangements.

When breakfast ended, Caleb called dibs on the shower and raced up stairs. He got halfway before-

"Caleb, I don't care if you can turn the whole house into a thermonuclear warhead, wear some slippers and keep your claws off the floor!"

He whimpered and raced back down, putting on his slippers and hurrying back upstairs. "Yes, Mom."

When 7 o'clock rolled in, he was already dressed and ready for school. It took all his effort to wait thirty minutes later before he finally had enough of waiting and told everyone he was going to school early. No one opposed him though his mother did warn him to be careful with genuine concern in her eyes.

He quivered with anticipation as he leapt onto Ballistic 2.0, temporarily erasing all fear of meeting up with Lars. The moment he rolled his new bike out onto the street, there was already a black convertible waiting for him and the smoking hot, athletic blonde driver was quietly tapping her hand against the door, bobbing her head to some music with her long, blonde hair billowing in the autumn wind.

"Nice ride," Mary said, lowering her sunglasses. With her other hand, she lowered the music blaring from her car's speakers. She shamelessly ran her eyes over him. "And it certainly looks like those three weeks of intense super-hero level training really paid off, huh? You're looking better than ever, Cale."

"Thanks," he chuckled, shoving on his riding helmet. "Still would've preferred to spend it with you guys. But as my dad said, 'a storm is coming.'"

"So is winter but you don't hear me giving out new motorcycles to my kids."

He balked and spun towards her. "You have kids?"

She returned a disbelieving look at him. "Of course not. Have all your brains been converted into muscle?"

Through his helmet, he flashed her a big grin. "No, it's just the way you and Ashton do it practically every night very loudly made me think otherwise. Seriously, that kitty can roar."

Mary Brightwood stuck her tongue out at him and she started her engine. "You're just jealous because you haven't gotten to bone anyone in three weeks and every time you masturbate, your dad is there to measure your dick."

"At least my dick doesn't have barbs."

She giggled softly, a faint blush appearing on her cheeks. "Oh yeah... He loves it when I play with those. You know there's this thing I do with my tongue that -"

Caleb started Ballistic and was a little saddened that its quiet engine couldn't drown out Mary. To compensate, he started shouting, "La-la-la-la-la! I'm not listening! La-la-la-la-la!"

Ballistic had never run more smoothly or accurately before. He loved how it could turn on a dime and stop within a moment's notice. It took some getting used to but by the time he was halfway to West California High School, he had quickly gotten the hang of it. As was per the norm, the roads were packed as the citizens of the small island off the coast of California state began its morning ritual. Businessmen and women poured out of their homes and took their cars or public transport across the two bridges that led to California proper. Those that worked within West California's CBD packed the roads like sardines. Alarms blared here and there when emergency services in hovercars zoomed overhead while the citizenry was still stuck on the ground. The suburban landscape of the western suburbs where both Mary and Caleb lived soon then gave way to the more urbanised areas of the island where they had to wait minutes before they could run across an intersection that had only two seconds of green before it switched to amber.

"So tell me of the outside world," he said as they waiting on one such intersection. "What's been happening while I've been having my training montage?"

Mary's voice came out of his helmet, transmitted through Ballistic's dashboard straight into the little communicators. "I'm sure you now know that the Outsider Initiative has been disbanded, right?"

"Yup. What's going to happen to the other teams?"

"Well, it's not like it's going to happen in three weeks. We're in a 'transitionary period' according to the politicians. Outsider teams are still operating in the other states and will remain operational until the Outsider schools open up fully. However, right here in West Cali..."

"Yeah, I heard," Caleb responded with a roll of his eyes. "We're too popular. We're like one of the global faces for Outsiders in the States. We _can't_be just shoved into a school and forgotten. The government won't allow it."

"Us along with Consul in D.C., Pride in Florida, Vanguard in Tennessee and Roid Rage in Alaska."

Those names meant nothing to Caleb. "What?"

"Oh right. Well, since the other Outsider teams are already well-established, they're making team names to be more... marketable."

"Seriously? And who the hell calls themselves 'Roid Rage' and operate out of Alaska of all places?" The lights turned green and Caleb zoomed ahead, Mary right on his tail.

"Hey, Alaska is a hotspot for supervillains with icy lairs. And to their credit, Roid Rage has all big, beefy guys and gals."

"Well, are we going to get a team name?"

"It's been the discussion at the Facility for the past three weeks. Ben has officially joined us and Madman too. Lars' loyalty was never in question. They all have their ideas. We were going to make an announcement at the end of this week. Press conference has been called and everything."

Caleb shook his head in surprise. "Don't I get a say in this?"

"Well... to be honest, after your father outed you and lined your walls with psychic-proof paint, none of us were sure that you'd be returning. Though I guess from the fact that your dad just gave you a bike capable of summoning weapons to your side, I'm fairly we have our answer."

He huffed softly. "Yeah, I guess my future was a little ambiguous for a while back there. Though I will be glad when I get back to the Facility away from my Dad."

Mary... Mary strangely had no response. He took it as the fact that they were rolling into West California High. The high, red brick walls and brick buildings were a stark contrast from the cool, metal and glass monoliths that made up the rest of the surrounding buildings but it had a rustic, homey feel to it, a venerable garden of learning and education in the midst of cold, hard corporate backstabbing and hostile takeovers. They were forced to split up at the gates as Caleb headed for the football player's parking spaces and she went over to the usual student parking.

"How's Lars by the way?" Caleb asked before he shut off Ballistic.

"Busy. Ever since the whole Minos thing ended, he's been practicing for_Les Miserables _every hour of the day. Sure he's had football in between but when he's not, he's reciting lines with Ash and practicing with the rest of the cast."

Caleb frowned, unsure if he should be hurt or worried. "Really? Has he... mentioned me? Even thought about me?"

"Of course he has. He was worried about you. But... well... I think he's found his way of blocking me out." Her voice sounded a little annoyed. "Whenever he doesn't want me probing his mind, he recites lines from Les Miserables over and over again. Oh, and FYI, your dad lined your helmet with the same anti-psychic material. I can't hear your thoughts in there."

A soft smile touched his muzzle. "Really now?"

"Yes and I don't need my powers to know what you're thinking right now, Cale." Her voice dropped to genuine worry. "Please don't leave us like that again. We were really worried."

He took off his helmet and set it down into the compartment to the rear of the bike.

"I won't, Mary. I promise."

*****

The sight of Caleb Hale back in the hallways of West California High School was met with cheers. Halestorm was back and the fact that he had selflessly sacrificed himself to protect his family from the Minos infection three months ago did not go unnoticed. Though none of them knew his true involvement as Weapons Master, they knew that he was hospitalised, cured and was now just back to tear up the football field... and apparently, he was fair game for something else.

As Caleb began taking his school issued tablet from his locker, he heard a soft giggle from behind him and the tell-tale sensation of someone slipping a note into his back pocket. His tail began to wag a little as he turned towards the crowd of students. Whoever had provided the note had vanished into dozens of faces of fur and human alike.

He allowed himself a smirk and reached into his pocket for the note. It came as a surprise that he found three and all of them were along the same lines.

'Will you go to the Fall Dance with me?'

"Fall Dance...?" he asked.

"Yup!" came the sharp reply and the soft bang of a deceptively lanky, nerdy body resting against the locker beside his.

Benjamin Connors looked up at him with bright, brown eyes, grinning broadly. His bright, red hair was as messy as ever and it seemed nothing had changed about him. Even the ridiculous videogame-related T-shirt he wore still remained around his scrawny frame.

"In about a month, right after the big fall game, there's the Fall Dance," Ben said, waggling a finger in the air. "There will be balloons, undoubtedly spiked punch, careless fornication and maybe even a little bit of love." He wrung his hands together in anticipation. "It's also the time where I get to bone someone and induct them into the pack." He elbowed Caleb. "Whatdya say, Cale, wanna howl with me?"

Even after three weeks of absence, it seemed that Ben's hope to bring Caleb into the criminal organisation known as the Alpha Pack had not waned. The dreaded werewolf also known as Blood Wolf was, oddly enough, one of Caleb's closest friends. A fellow nerd and an ally in the field of battle, Ben was a welcome sight.

"I think I'll pass, Ben," he responded, shutting his locker shut. "Besides, I've been away from three weeks. I have a lot of catching up to do."

"You mean with Lars, don't you?" countered the shorter - in his current form - werewolf. "Did you get to speak to him yet? Have you two... tied the knot?"

He rolled his eyes but was unable to keep from grinning. "No. I haven't seen him since my dad practically abducted me. I was hoping to catch him before class." Ben's eagerness was slightly suspicious and he gave his friend a curious look. "And why are you so eager for us to be together?"

"Well," Ben responded with a shrug, "if you're together, that means I just have to convert one of you and I'll get the other! It's win-win!"

"Right. Of course it is."

He shook his head and moved towards his first class. With Ben by his side, they entered the classroom alongside the other students, taking up seats near the window but far from the back of the class. It was with a bit of worry that he noticed Lars had not come into class yet. Mary took up the seat behind him and when he gave her a puzzled look, she mimed that Lars was practicing. He nodded in understanding but his heart felt weighed down by lack of a conclusion.

When the final bell rang announcing the start of class and Lars had yet to enter, he felt a great weight on his shoulders, almost bringing him down completely crashing into his table. Their teacher introduced himself as Mr. Cornbarrow. The human took up position in front of the class and took out his lecturer's wand to write his name on the hovering holographic board.

"Okay, class," announced Cornbarrow. "Time for roll call. Andrew Aaronson."

One by one, his recitation of the class' names were met with bold announcements of 'Here'.

"Caleb Hale."

Caleb lifted his paw. "Here."

A few murmurs came from the class and more than one girl batted her eyes at him. As he lowered his paw, Mary tapped his shoulder and he turned around. A note was handed to him and she hiked her thumb over her shoulder at Jerry Ikisamawa, a Japanese Akita who winked at him slyly.

Caleb offered the canine a grin and a wave, turning back to the front of the class as Cornbarrow continued to call roll.

The note said, 'You. Me. Fall Dance. It'll be wild.'

"Wow..." he whispered softly.

"Lars McLeod."

Caleb's ears perked up and lifted his head from the very blunt note. No one shouted 'here'. When Cornbarrow moved onto Michael Paulson, Caleb's heart sank even further.

BANG!

Only to leap up to his throat as the familiar, spicy scent of the Doberman burst through the door alongside an athletic tiger.

"Sorry we're late," Lars announced, panting heavily. "We were in practice for the school play."

Cornbarrow nodded and gesture towards the only empty seats remaining which was far from Caleb, warning them both not to let it happen again. Despite the distance, Caleb's tail wagged excitedly upon the sight of the huge, three hundred pound plus Doberman who had both surprised him and caused his heart to flutter. Even as Cornbarrow began the introduction to the course going over the fact that this semester's curriculum involved reviewing the events that led to the effective restart of society itself up to the arrival of the furs. Caleb was barely listening as his heart was soaring at the sight of the sweaty canine, wiping his brow with the back of his hand, muscles bunched and white shirt wrapping tightly around those thick muscles of his.

"Mr. Hale."

Caleb straightened and snapped towards the front of the class.

"Can you tell me of the first of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse?" Cornbarrow asked, staring down at him past thick, round glasses.

"Erm..." Caleb began. "Biblical or historical?"

"This is a history class, isn't it, Mr. Hale?"

The class let out a soft chuckle. Caleb stole a temporary glance towards Lars but the Doberman wasn't paying attention. It looked like he had a script in his paws and his lips were constantly moving to the lines.

He needed to get Lars' attention somehow. He needed to know that the Doberman could at least register his existence.

"The first of the Four Horsemen was the Great 404 Not Found Disaster of 2070," Caleb replied, using only the memory he had from various lectures from Elliot. "In March of 2070, the company known as 'Google' had taken over the internet completely and utterly. They owned every server, every internet provider and basically every source of information the world had. In an attempt to better their service, they made the bold step to deploy a massive patch to all their services globally at the same time."

Lars was still not paying attention so Caleb began to raise his voice just a little bit. "The patch had a terrible flaw, however, and it caused all of its services to crash in that one instant. Globally, Google and the internet, went down."

"And what was this terrible flaw, Mr. Hale?" Cornbarrow countered.

"Erm..." That piece of information escaped him.

All knowledge before and during the event known as the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse was scarce at best as it effectively heralded the resetting of society and Earth as a whole. Most of the history told from that dark century was mostly through worth of mouth and legends. Finding any _accurate_information was difficult and even superheroes who could travel back in time never spoke of the horrors of that time.

"It was a critical bug that caused any server that the patch was applied to enter an infinite loop upon start up," Mary suddenly announced, loudly. Lars' ears twitched ever so slightly but he continued to read. "This loop crashed servers and prevented the internet from coming online."

"Thank you, Ms. Brightwood," Cornbarrow said. "But I was addressing -"

Mary suddenly got out of her seat, standing up with her fist against her chest. "Without the internet, programmers could not discover the solution to their issues as society had become entirely reliant on 'Googling' solutions instead of learning the actual answers to their problems. Without the internet, students could not access learning materials and teachers could not dispense it."

Her voice began to rise, loud, proud and severe. "Without the internet, corporations could not make payments in time and the greedy traders inflicted massive penalties on each and every one the world's companies, big or small. This caused a collapse to the economy."

Suddenly Ben got up as well, fist against his chest. "Without the internet, all sources of entertainment left the world bored, witless and incapable of knowing what was happening around them. Without the internet, they were left blind to natural disasters, deaths on the streets, mandates handed down by governments and the statuses of their loved ones. Without the internet, all pornography left the world and those seeking quick, easy sexual gratification were left wanting."

Another chair was pushed back and the tiger that Lars had come into the room with also stood up, pressing his paw against his chest and speaking in his thick, British accent. The tattooed stripes on his body outlining his athletic forearms perfectly. "Without the internet, there was rioting in the streets and people went mad. Without the internet, hunts were executed by mad mobs on renowned internet trolls who could no longer hide behind anonymity. Without the internet, police, armies, navies and air forces could not scramble to keep the peace as even their equipment were disabled."

One by one, students all over the room stood up, hands or paws balled into fists and pressed against their chests.

"Without the internet, the world was blind."

"Without the internet, people were isolated."

"Without the internet, everyone was without knowledge."

Even Mr. Cornbarrow stood and he finished the tried and true mantra, a tale mixed and mashed since over a thousand years ago but its message still standing the test of time. He held his fist against his chest and Caleb was compelled to join the announcement, a loud eulogy repeated on August 27th of every year

"Without the internet," Cornbarrow said, "people all over the world lifted their voices as one and proclaimed..."

In complete unison, every student in the class lifted their clenched fists, unfurling four fingers and holding it beside their head. "Four-Oh-Four Not Found."

An entire minute of silence passed as each and every student commemorated the five months of darkness when the world was deprived of the internet and its dependency on such technology was revealed for the world to see. Millions had died in the rioting. Millions more in accidents due to poor training and lack of communication.

It was a dark time for humanity as at the time, furs had yet to arrive. But it was only one of four apocalyptic scenarios that struck planet Earth in rapid succession...

Caleb sat back down with the rest of the class as Cornbarrow took a deep sigh, wiping a tear from his eye and continued to lecture on the Great 404 Not Found Disaster. There was great detail spent on what led the mega-corporation Google to make such a foolish mistake and how Google had acquired every piece of net technology, both internal and external.

But through it all and even the solemn mantra to the dead, Lars continued to read his script, never once looking up from the pages displayed on his tablet.

A painful hour and a half later, the bell rang heralding the end of the class. Lars was one of the first to get up and head towards the door. So engrossed was he in his script that he actually missed the door and had to double back before he left.

A low growl left Caleb and he pounded his fist against his desk. He got up... and felt someone seize his tail.

"Cale, he's just really stressed about the musical," Mary pleaded. "Please don't do something overly confrontational. You'll get to talk to him eventually."

"Not good enough," he growled, yanking his tail away from her. He stormed through out of the classroom, hackles raised and ears folded back. Everyone gave him a wide berth and watched his massive, broad back as he homed in on Lars. Without warning, he seized the hunched Doberman's shoulders and threw him against the nearest locker. It was only through sheer surprise that he caught Lars off guard for he knew that with his super strength, the teenager who masqueraded as Flare Blue of the Outsiders could easily throw him back.

"What the hell man!?" Caleb shouted, spittle flying into Lars' face. "This is the first we see each other in three fucking_weeks and you completely ignore me!? What _the fuck!?"

Lars blinked at him as if seeing him for the very first time. "Cale... I -"

Caleb slammed his forearm against Lars' throat, forcing the canine's muzzle upwards as he pinned the bigger footballer against the lockers. "No excuses! Why have you been avoiding me!?"

"I'm not avoiding you!" Lars snapped back, pushing him away. Given his super strength, the push that sent Caleb two feet back was little more than a light shove. Lars lifted his tablet and smacked it with the back of his paw. "I've been focused on the fucking play. Do you have any idea how many lines Jean Valjean has? How many scenes he's in and how many songs?" Lars ran his paw through his hair. "Fuck... Opening night is in two weeks and I haven't memorised half this shit! Ashton has been helping me but it's no use!"

Faster than anyone of his size could rightly move, Lars spun in place and slammed a fist against the lockers. He must've held himself back at the last moment because though the impact made a loud bang, it did not cause a dent. Around them, the students shrugged and dismissed it as more teen angst. Some watched curiously for a few seconds but then got bored and moved on.

"It's no fucking use..." Lars murmured, almost sobbingly.

Caleb instantly felt terrible and self-centred. The more he thought about it, the more he realised that he had been selfish to think the world stopped just because he was gone. Lars had his own problems, Mary and Ashton were moving quickly in their relationship and probably the only person that ever stayed the same was Ben. He sighed heavily and gently gripped his friend's shoulder.

"Hey... I'm sorry I blew up at you like that. I... I just missed you, that's all."

Lars glanced over his shoulder, offering a small smile. "I missed you too, bud." He lowered his gaze. "I was worried... but we all have our own lives to live, right? I don't have my parent's support anymore and though they gave me back my savings, I can't live on that alone. Sure I have that job but I've gotta get good grades, get as much extracurricular credit as I can. It won't be long before we've got to be out there."

The depths of Caleb's insensitivity and the mounting weight of his guilt grew. Lars had been disowned by his parents for supporting the Outsiders and while he had willingly accepted the consequences, it looked like they were starting to worry the teenager. Without his parents for support, he was on his own. Whilst working as the superhero Firebrand, he had been given a large sum of money for his image and that was returned to him thanks to the intervention of David Hale. But those funds would not last long, not with living expenses, schooling and whatever else he needed to survive. With the fate of the Outsiders relatively unknown, Caleb wasn't even sure if Lars was still even being paid to be Flare Blue anymore.

"You know I'm always here for you," Caleb reassured. "Except when I'm being held hostage by my dad," he added lightly.

Lars finally managed to turn around and offered Caleb a lopsided smile. "Yeah. How'd that go, by the way?" He shamelessly appraised Caleb, his smile slowly growing stronger. "You're looking really good, Cale. Bigger than you've ever been before."

"I blame trying to catch up with my dad and Lance. They're super."

"Yeah," answered his weary friend. "Their training can be intense." Lars ran a paw down his face and let out a sigh. "Listen, I know you and I have a tonne to talk about but -"

Caleb held up his paw. "You've got the musical. I understand. You don't need this -" He gestured between himself and Lars. " -weighing down your mind." A slight angle of his head to the right and he gave Lars one of his trademark, dazzling smiles that could light up a room. "We've put it off for three weeks. We can wait another two."

"We've put it off for a lot longer than that," Lars admitted, his eyes cast down for the briefest of moments. As his eyes lifted, so did his smile. "Thanks Cale. I'll see you at lunch?"

"Provided you can get out of practice. We've got a lunch date with Bren and Elliot, remember?"

The Doberman nodded. "Yeah. Yeah!" He suddenly grew a little more animated. "I think Elliot missed you. He keeps calling you a lazy asswipe and has a picture of you on his wall embedded with daggers but really, I think he missed having his verbal punching bag around."

"Oh, I can't wait."

******

When lunchbreak was finally upon them, Caleb left the school alongside Mary, Ben and Lars. The four all jumped into Mary's convertible as she drove them twenty minutes from West California High to the FBI Headquarters on the island. As they had done many times before, they overshot the bland, white, blocky building and travelled to a parking complex two blocks down. There, they found the same janitorial closet that they always had, slipped behind the unused shelf and pressed a hidden panel that opened a secret passage. Beyond was the white, booby trapped hallway leading to the Outsider home base known simply as the Facility.

Caleb checked his watch and let out a low whistle. "Damn. We've got about thirty-five minutes before we've got to be back in class. We better hurry."

Mary rolled her shoulders, ominously, her bones popping. Ben massaged his knuckles while Lars did a few stretches. Their methods of preparation puzzled him especially when Lars flicked his paws and a short burst of flame erupted from between his fingers.

"Uh... Guys? What am I missing here?"

As Mary stretched her arms, she said, "Your dad has rigged the hallway. Sometimes it'll force us to run a gauntlet of booby-traps, death machines and timed explosives. Sometimes, it won't. Other times, there are bees. We've made it a point to always be prepared."

"My dad?" Caleb repeated incredulously. "He's even made his way here? Into the Facility!?"

"We couldn't really deny him after he found out your secret," Ben replied. "Besides, it's made sure we aren't complacent. He did make the point that if ever the place went haywire or we were being chased by bad guys, we wouldn't make it through the gauntlet. So, it's been a learning experience."

"Are you two nuts!? This place has lasers! Explosives! Bees!"

Lars patted his shoulder comfortingly, a weary smile on his muzzle. "Don't worry, Cale. If we can make it, so can you."

"But... But... Bees!"

Mary suddenly bolted down the hallway. She didn't get two metres in when two panels in front of her abruptly sprang open and fired twin, red lasers between them. The beams swung straight towards her and made Caleb cry her name out in shock. Mary threw herself between the beams, flattening her body with her arms spread out to her side. Searing red, focused light just _barely_passed over her head and chest before trying to swing back at their missed quarry.

"See, your dad pointed out that while Mary is awesome against things that can think, against machines, she basically sucks," Ben pointed out. "If it doesn't actually, organically think, she her efficiency in combat is severely limited."

Mary dodged through a wide variety of lasers in various formations, even managing to slide beneath a lattice of beams that would've cut her into cubes. When she reached the end hallway, she turned to the others and gave them all a haughty bow like she had just pulled the performance of her life. She turned towards the identification panel and pressed her palm against it.

"Mary Brightwood. Welcome to the Facility. Good night."

"Good night?" Caleb echoed.

WHAM!

In what must've been the cruellest of his father's jokes, a novelty, red boxing glove equipped on a spring shot out from the a hidden panel on the door and clocked Mary right between the eyes. She dropped loudly like a sack of potatoes against the cold, hard, metal floor. The boys winced as he slipped into unconsciousness.

"Case in point..." Ben muttered. He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "Okay... Okay. My turn."

It was strange to see Ben actually nervous. He set himself up like a sprinter readying himself for a 100 metre dash. On some unheard cue, he bolted down the hallway. Caleb expected more lasers to start shooting at him but instead, strange guns erupted from the walls and began spraying a light, greenish mist into the air.

"Ooooh..." Lars winced, pulling back away from the hallway. "I hate that version."

Caleb regarded Lars curiously as Ben's initial quick progress began to slow as the werewolf began coughing. "That version?"

"Yeah. As a werewolf, Ben has enhanced senses, more so than any fur. At the end of the obstacle course there's a scoreboard and we get scored depending on our performance. Ben is only about half as fast as a super when he's in human form but still has the enhanced senses." Ben banged his head against one of the walls in his tearful panic through the mist. Caleb caught a whiff of the scent and instantly recoiled, covering his nose with a paw. "If he can make it through the whole course without transforming while being assaulted by something that hits his senses, then he gets big points. Otherwise..."

Ben managed to reach the end of the hallway and slammed his hand against the doorway, coughing and spluttering.

"Benjamin Connors. Welcome to the Facility."

The doors to the Facility beyond sprang open and Ben staggered through. Before they shut, however, he reached down and grabbed Mary by her feet, dragging her through the doors.

Lars sighed and stepped forward, a red flame in his left paw and a focused, blue flame in his right. "Okay... My turn." He flashed Caleb an apologetic grin. "Good luck."

Caleb watched his friend bolt down the hallway in a haste. As he ran, Lars was assaulted by guns that fired a thick, inflating, white goo. The moment the goo struck the ground, it expanded like it had a life of its own. When one such blob struck Lars' shoulder, it quickly grew to consume a large portion of his shoulder, making it difficult to run. His progress was slowed as it seemed that the goo also weight an enormous amount. Lars took a moment about halfway through to give a frustrated roar. Flames erupted from his entire body, consuming him and eating away at the goo. As the ashes fell to the ground, he was struck again by two more blobs, one on his chest and the other on his leg.

Lars staggered forward but another two blobs struck both his knees and he toppled, falling to his paws and knees. He turned to look over his shoulder, looking so apologetic towards Caleb. He ducked his head as more blobs struck him, almost completely consuming his body.

"That's it!" Caleb growled and he took off down the hallway. The goo-firing cannons immediately turned towards him, sending out slow shots that threatened to consume him entirely just like Lars. He purposefully caught one on his right paw and just as it began expanding, he channelled his powers through it. White feathers erupted from the blue glow that consumed the entire, expanding orb.

The orb and its glow suddenly erupted, wrapping around him and forming an enormous, semi-transparent orb around him with him standing at its centre. One of the gun's projectiles struck his ball from behind, instantly sending it rolling forward.

"Oh shit!" he cried, scrambling forward in what was effectively a massive hamster ball. "Crap! Crap! Crap! Crap!"

Despite his shield, the goo still stuck to the surface of the orb and he was with the sudden uneven balance of the orb, he was sent tumbling and crashing forward.

"Lars!" he cried before his face crashed into the floor and he was hurled forward. "Look -" His back slammed against the ground. "Out!"

Somehow still able to move in his cocoon of white goo, Lars looked up and his muffled scream could be heard in the hallway. Caleb's orb slammed into the encased Doberman, the white goo sticking to the surface of the ball and carrying both young canines straight towards the Facility door.

Caleb braced himself as best as he could before -

SMASH!

The orb smashed right through the Facility doors and shattered like glass. He was sent crashing into the ground, landing face first on the polished metal floor bearing the FBI's emblem. Behind him, Lars groaned beneath his goo-covered body.

"Well, that was unexpected."

Through bleary eyes and despite being slightly nauseous, Caleb managed to lift his head slightly... to see David Hale standing a short distance away, smiling at him with arms folded.

"You weren't meant to help Lars, you know," his father said. "We have a whole set up lined up for you. It would've tested your physical skills without a reliance on your weapons or powers."

"Dad..." Caleb growled, rising to his feet. "What the hell are you doing here!?"

David grinned and spread his paws wide. "I'm your team's sponsor!"

"Sponsor? What sponsor?"

A short tiger wearing the typical black FBI suit approached, pulling down his black sunglasses to reveal bright, green eyes. "He means that as part of the agreement between the all existing superhero groups in the States and the US government, he has a say on the missions we undertake, our training routine and we must consult him with whatever information and supervillains we may encounter."

Bren, the former handler of the Outsider team in West California Island, did not seem too pleased with that development. However, it was with some smugness that he said, "Of course, all of this must come into consideration and ultimately he is just a consultant. I ultimately have the final say."

"I haven't heard you say 'no' yet," countered David.

Bren rolled his eyes and nodded towards the semi-conscious Lars. A _huge_hulking hyena, barely contained in his black and silver spandex suit that perfectly accentuated the lines of his muscular mass moved towards Lars with Ben by his side. Together, they sprayed some black fluids onto Lars, dissolving the goo instantly.

"But... Why?" Caleb demanded.

"It's part of the reforms with the Outsider Initiative," Bren responded. "It was discussed that there was too much of a segregation between the Outsiders working with the government and the supers working independently. So, in order to bridge that very same gap, key locations like ours are being tested on how well they can work together. David is to officially retire from the Elemental Alliance and is working with us."

"Well, as of this weekend when we make the official announcement," added David, with a wave of his paw. "But in reality, I've been with you guys since three weeks ago."

Caleb ran through his daily ritual of being woken up at five in the morning, challenged to survive and get out of his room with a decreasing time limit per day and then being whipped through obstacle courses, a back-breaking training routine at the gym and stuffed with so much protein-rich foods that he was surprised he wasn't just one big bicep.

"How did you find time after running me ragged for all that time!?"

David shrugged with a hint of smugness. "You were out by pretty much dinner time at seven, son. I always had at least an hour or two afterwards to spend with your friends here, organising them and getting them ready for the big reveal."

Bren lifted his paws and stepped forward, waving Caleb's rising protests down. "I know what you're thinking Caleb. What's this 'big reveal'? Well, the fact is we're no longer funded by the government." He spread his arms to indicate the Facility. "This whole place is technically on loan from the FBI. We've got some friends in the upper echelons and I've used some of my personal funds to keep us aloft but it's also mostly because your father used his pull that we still have this place."

Caleb turned to his dad with a look of surprise. "We do? Thanks dad..."

"No superpowered team should be without their own headquarters," his father responded with a grin. "But as Bren was saying, we can't go on charity alone! We've got to make a name for yourselves! Really reel in the funding." He slammed a fist into his other paw. "Defence contracts. Protection duty. Commissions, public appearances, book signings and publicity stunts."

Caleb's awed expression turned rather sour. "No offense, Dad, but that sounds awfully... commercial."

"It's the only way we're going to keep Steel Arms up and running."

He lifted an eyebrow and regarded his father curiously. "Steel Arms?"

"It's what we're calling your team." David's tail was wagging excitedly. "Catchy, isn't it?"

Bren stepped in between them, holding up his paws. "Now hold on. We haven't agreed on that yet. And we certainly haven't agreed on the uniforms either."

"He's right," rumbled the enormous twelve foot tall hyena that lumbered over, Lars by his side. Madman, a former cohort of the Gene Stealer known as Gnoll and now an ally of the Outsiders, snorted loudly and crossed his arms. "I thought we were going to go with Tank? You know, on the account that you've got a real tank on your team. AKA, me." To prove his point, Madman flexed his muscles. Even with his arms crossed as they were, veins popped all over his huge forearms and biceps. His quads hulked out, tearing the seams of his shorts. Bren groaned at the expense.

"Wait a second!" Mary shouted, pulling the icepack from her forehead. "Last time we agreed we would go with Btichslap? Considering how I'm the only female on the team, I thought I'd have a greater say in this than anyone else!"

"Weren't we going to call ourselves 'Full Moon'?" countered Ben.

"What happened to Auto Fire?" Lars added.

The argument quickly rose from there as the entire team and their consultant began arguing about team names. For some reason, Caleb had the sneaking suspicion this was exactly what they had been doing for the past three weeks, arguing about the trivialities of their team. Uniforms, team names... he wouldn't have been surprised if they spent an entire night trying to come up with cheesy team battle cries.

"It's a little sad, isn't it?"

Caleb turned to his right where a portly orca wearing some thick glasses peered at the arguing mass in front of them. That this very same orca was wearing pants meant that Elliot was in no mood to join in the verbal melee.

"After everyone got over the reforms, this bullshit started." The orca gripped the side of his head and shook it. "Book signing, public appearances, contracts and deals... Urgh... What happened to the good old days when we were fighting for what was _right_and not the money?"

"That's pretty rich coming from a guy who uses a multi-billion dollar supercomputer to look up and store his porn," Caleb countered.

"Well, it's called fringe benefits," replied the orca. "But I see your old man's point. The supers were pretty pissed that the very government they were protecting hid the Outsider Initiative from them and there was a major breach of trust. It's good that the supers are setting up schools but the reforms have left the established Outsiders sort of high and dry." Elliot turned his beady black eyes towards Caleb. "Especially famous Outsiders like yourself. Local governments wouldn't want to take risks on those that aren't 'fully qualified' so having an actual super vouch for you is a plus."

"So my dad is basically our agent." He sighed and shook his head. "Great... just great. Do I have to sign a contract or anything?"

"Not so far..." Elliot rolled his eyes and absently waved at Caleb. "Though it wouldn't surprise me if one of the stipulations is that 90% of your brain is spent entirely on the maintenance of those grotesque hams you call arms."

"What's the other 10% spend on?"

"Chronic masturbation."

Caleb smirked. "I missed you too, Elliot."

The orca didn't reply but there was the faintest shadow of a smile on his lips as the argument on the team name suddenly took on a new route.

"We haven't heard anything from Caleb," Mary suddenly announced. All eyes turned to the young wolf. "Caleb, what do you think our team name should be?"

"You're asking me?" Caleb asked, pointing at himself. "Erm... Well... uh..."

"It should be something short and sweet," his father said. "Easy to remember."

"But it should be tough and strong!" Madman shouted at the top of his booming voice.

Ben waved his hands through the air. "It should also encompass parts of ourselves too. Make sure that it looks into each of our unique origins." At this, he gave a pointed stare at David who narrowed his gaze at the criminal werewolf.

"And subtle," added Mary. "We don't want to be shoving our powers into people's faces like 'Roid Rage'." At the sound of the Alaskan Outsider branch, everyone present rolled their eyes.

"So Cale?" chimed in Lars. "What do you think?"

Caleb rubbed his chin. "Short and sweet, tough and strong, considers all of our origins and subtle... Well... Apart from Gene Savers..." He got universal sour looks and jeering for that. "... all I can really think of is... Arsenal."

There was a moment where each of the team members considered the name.

"It's short and sweet," David mulled. "Easy to remember and it can be easily marketable. I like it."

"You're just saying that because he's your son," Madman grunted. "But... I do admit. It has a nice, tough ring to it. Arsenal. Arsenal..."

"We're an arsenal of heroes, all different powers and origins," Ben said, nodding to himself quietly. "Yeah. It works."

"And it's subtle," finished Mary. "I love it!"

Elliot suddenly snorted, making every turn to him.

"Something the matter?" Caleb asked, almost growling.

"Nothing," Elliot responded with a big, toothy grin. "I just thought of your battle cry. 'We'll kick your Arse-n-all!'"

******

The team members of Arsenal quickly rushed back to West California High and got there with ten minutes to spare. Ben and Mary were already chatting about potential uniforms that they could design together. Their views were rather conflicting with Mary wanting something subtle and obscure while Ben wanted to make sure that their design incited fear and intimidation in their foes to make sure they were remembered. Lars had gone back to his script though his eyes were a little brighter now and there was actually a smile on his muzzle.

Caleb was just happy to see his friends again.

When they arrived, they all quickly bought some lunch and sat down at their usual table. Alex Connery, another friend of theirs and former victim of Gnoll, was absent - probably off on his own considering how the team had left almost the instant the lunch bell rang. Ashton was also elsewhere but the four knew they would be seeing the two again before the end of the day.

As Caleb was munching on his meal, Ben spoke about their upcoming assignment for their history class.

"The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse," he said, shaking his head while gazing absently off to the distance. "The four events that crippled mankind, practically resetting their society back to the dark ages and with only scraps and fragments having survived it all. That is, of course, until furs came and saved their hairless asses."

"Hey," Mary countered defensively. "The furs just had to flee a terrible xenophobic race of aliens out to destroy them. Humanity had to endure an Internet Apocalypse, a Robot Apocalypse, a Nuclear Apocalypse and then a Zombie Apocalypse all in rapid succession. That we survived at all is a miracle." Then she inclined her head at him. "Speaking of which, what do you identify yourself as? Human or fur?"

"I don't care for such labels," Ben replied, holding his nose up high and waving away her question. "I am above such concerns." Then he immediately lowered his head and sighed heavily. "So, I say we take one Horseman each, collate the data by the end of next week and then mix up our analysis with our own words afterwards. What do you say?"

A new voice interrupted their conversation, smooth, silky and quite elegant. "Ah, the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. One of my _favourite_topics."

A tall, athletic white-furred wolf suddenly occupied the seat beside Ben, leaning her tall frame against the table. Her brilliant, red eyes regarded the werewolf with mirth as her short, brown hair tumbled just past her cheeks. There was something strangely... familiar about the wolf but Caleb couldn't put his finger on it. Something about the way her ears were pierced with industrial type piercings, she had three small hoops on her left eyebrow and there was a stud on her lower lip just reminded him of...someone. Or rather, the opposite of someone.

"Uh... Okay..." Ben began, eyeing the newcomer cautiously. "You like the Four Horsemen?"

"Of course!" the female exclaimed, waving one paw into the air, several black bangles jiggling around her wrist. "One of the best work I've ever seen and I had nothing to do with it! It's simply fantastic the levels of destruction mortals are capable of without divine intervention."

Mortals? Divine intervention?

Caleb suddenly found his heart starting to sink and the only one not staring at the new wolf with horror was Lars who was still engrossed in his script while absently eating some mash.

"Who are you again?" Caleb asked.

Her eyes sparkled at him. "Oh, where are my manners. My name is Rhiannon Descartes. But that's just a cover. In reality, I am Rhiannon the Hound of Destruction, Herald of the Fur God of Life, Shi-Lazar and the sister-slash-lover of the Hound of Death, Arcturus." She grinned broadly. "In light of the recent events, Shi-Lazar has found it fit to send me amongst you mortals to help guide and protect you as much as possible with my severely limited powers while Arcturus takes up both mine and his duties."

Caleb's eyebrows rose. "Wow... So the God of Life thinks there we're worthy of protection." He straightened, finding his ego to have been just a little stroked. "The Gods are taking note of us. Maybe I should stop using Jesus' name in vain..."

"Ah, he's cool about it," Rhiannon replied with a dismissive flick of her paw. "Besides, why wouldn't I take care of my own son?"

Everyone spun to face her and even Lars had stopped in mid-chew to turn his attention towards her.

"Your... son?" Mary repeated.

"Of course!" answered the semi-divine wolf. She got up out of her seat and suddenly positioned herself behind Caleb. "I mean, can't you see the resemblance?" Her paws fell on Caleb's shoulders. "He has most of Arcturus' fur and his eyes but he has some of my fur too. Plus my hair my muzzle, I like to think."

Caleb's jaw began to slowly drop in horror.

Lowering her voice to a whisper, Rhiannon said, "Oh, and let's not forget the fact that he has unexplainable, almost divine powers that has the potential for both death and destruction." Her arms wrapped around Caleb's chest, holding him tight as their cheeks rubbed together. "I'm sooooo glad to finally get to meet you."

Lars' fork dropped to the ground. "Wait... do you mean to say that you're...?"

"Yup! I'm Caleb's birth mother!"