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Chapter II: We are Arsenal

Caleb became painfully aware of a dull throb in the back of his head and the apparent discomfort of his hard bed. A groan left him and he reached over his shoulder, brushing past his ears to rub where the throbbing came from. His fingers touched the cold hard floor and he became aware that there was something terribly wrong. Slowly, he opened his eyes and the afternoon sun blazed in from the cafeteria windows blocked by the concerned faces of his companions looking down on him from above.

"Cale, are you okay?" Lars asked. The pain bugging him quickly faded for another set of throbbing as the sun coloured the hunky Doberman's dark brown fur, outlining the muscles along his neck and shoulders.

"Yeah... What happened...?"

"You fainted," Ben replied, offering him a hand.

Caleb took it, recalling what had caused him to lose consciousness in the first place. "Oh right... I think it was because there was this crazy chick claiming to be the Hound of Destruction and my birth mother..."

Suddenly, a white, lupine head poked through the gaps between his circle of his friends, bright red eyes gleaming and a big grin on her face. "Hi sweetie!"

Caleb froze, his tail fluffing out in horror.

Rhiannon.

"Will you stop that!?" Mary snapped, pressing a hand against her muzzle and pushing her back away. "Caleb, she is the Hound of Destruction but she isn't your mother. She just thought that would be a neat icebreaker."

A faint squeaking noise escaped his muzzle.

"Crap, is he going to faint again?" Ben asked, pulling Caleb to his feet. "Hey, Cale! Blink twice if you're alright. Three times if I should call the nurse." The werewolf frowned. "No... fifteen wasn't an option..."

Caleb turned his head to where Rhiannon stood cockily, one hand on her hip and the other dangling by her side. "So..."

She gestured towards the abandoned lunch room table. The concerned students had long since turned away and all attention was back to the five minutes they had before lunch break officially ended. Caleb gingerly sat back down in front of his cold lunch as Rhiannon leapt on the table, draping one leg over the other casually. The others sat beside him and as far away from the Hound of Destruction as possible.

"Sorry if I surprised you," she said softly. "But what the nosy Empath said is true. I am not your mother. Just your friendly neighbourhood demigod of destruction come to earth upon the instruction of Shin-Lazar to protect and guide you all."

"Why do we need protection or guidance?" Lars asked. "I mean, I've heard of gods interfering with the lives of supers before but why us? We've been capable of handling ourselves with a little bit of help from Arcturus."

Rhiannon's features turned grave and a frown crossed her disarmingly soft features. "Something is coming. I can sense it. Arcturus can sense it and it's even making Shin-Lazar and the entire fur pantheon anxious. As time goes on, the future of West California Island and indeed the world is growing increasingly obscure to us." She gazed off to the distance, placing a paw against her chin thoughtfully. "It's like having long-sightedness. We're finding it hard to see what is directly in front of us from our divine realms but looking into the future seems so clear. However, as time goes by, as the you-know-whos become more prominent, that blur in our vision continues to stretch further and further into the future."

One of the teachers patrolling the lunch room began to approach and Rhiannon immediately leapt off the table and sat down in the designated seats. "The gods have started to rely on mortal avatars or sending their representatives like me into the world to see what is happening. Since we know West California Island has been involved with the Gene Stealers more prominently in the future and that you've all been at the epicentre of their attacks, it was logically to send me here to aid you."

"Why couldn't we have Arcturus?" asked Mary hotly. "He was far more subtle."

"Because the world can do without destruction. It cannot survive without death."

The solemn statement sunk into each of the teenagers' minds, giving them a moment of pensive thought. That moment was interrupted when a cheery voice with the familiar classy British brogue and its own slipped in beside Mary.

"'Ello there, gents." Ashton Smithson smiled at Mary, gently picking up her hand and pressing his lips against her fingers. "Milady."

Caleb found it adorable who Mary actually began to blush, rolling her eyes away from the athletic thespian tiger in a false sense of annoyance.

"Cut it out, Ash," she said. "Not in public."

"Very well." Ashton's green eyes turned towards Rhiannon, bright and sparkling but Caleb knew first had those were frighteningly deceptive. Ashton was a great actor and was more than capable of manipulating people just like Mary. "And who is this fine lady?"

Rhiannon pretended to reel back and cupped her cheek with one hand. "Oh. You flatterer. And are those tattoos?" She pointed at Ashton's arms and cheeks where the lines of an ancient playwright were drawn so thin and so compact that they formed his stripes when seen from a distance. "How dangerous. I like you."

Mary's eyes suddenly flashed with a spark of flame and she immediately leaned forward. "I don't care if you are the Hound of Destruction. He's mine. Back off."

The Hound folded her ears back in apology. "Ah. I didn't mean to offend. It is my experience that all British types these days tend to be rather classy like that. I didn't think it was out of true affection."

Ashton glanced between Mary and Rhiannon before turning back towards the Hound. "You're the Hound of Destruction?"

Batting her eyes, Rhiannon replied, "Why yes, yes I am. And speaking of which..."

Lightning fast and before anyone could react, she reached across the table, yanked Ashton out of his seat and slammed him hard against the lunch room table. Caleb threw his paws back in surprise as everyone else reeled back. The prone tiger couldn't even scream as Rhiannon was suddenly on top of him, cradling his chest with her thighs and her nose pressed against his.

Her lips peeled back in a feral growl, red eyes flashing with merciless menace. "If you or any of your friends so much as blab_about my role and existence to _anyone_without _my divine permission, I will reach into your urethra, pull out those ping pong balls you call testicles, hold them over your muzzle and squeeze out your own semen until you choke on it." Then her mood turned frighteningly cheery, her snarl becoming a bright grin and her eyes shut to accentuate her glee. "Then I think I'll disembowel you."

Rhiannon abruptly straightened, eyes gazing off towards the cafeteria line with a finger pressed against her chin thoughtfully. The next second, she was back to pressing her nose against Ashton's, that gleeful expression on her face. "With barbeque sauce and pineapples, I think. I like pineapples."

"Okay! Okay!" Ashton cried, holding up his paws in surrender. "I swear!"

"Don't lie to me," she responded in a childish sing-song voice. "Because I'll fiiiiiiiiind youuuuuuu!"

"I promise!"

"Good!"

Just to finish her special brand of crazy, Rhiannon pressed their lips together, shoving her tongue into Ashton's stunned muzzle and rolling it around to the point that everyone could see its outline against Ashton's fluffy cheeks. It only lasted about three seconds but in that time, Mary's face had gone from pale, to pink to beetroot red. In the moment before she could explode in outrage, Rhiannon leapt off the Ashton and sat herself back next to Lars who had started to shrink towards Caleb.

"You mortals as so tasty," Rhiannon said, smacking her lips. "By the way..." She turned to Lars whose eyes had gone wide in horror and whose claws were starting to dig into Caleb's shirt. "... I heard about something called 'menopause' that occurs to women my age." Rhiannon inclined her head to the side in genuine curiosity or really exceptional acting. "What is it?"

******

The end of the school day could not have arrived sooner. At three thirty on the dot, Caleb was glad to slam his locker shut, take out his bag and hurry over to the football field where he and the other guys on the team started changing into their gear. Here, he was glad to be away from the superheroes, the deities and complex politics that surrounded the Outsiders. Some good-old, head bashing, bone crunching, adrenaline pumping, testosterone overdosing football was just what he needed.

He grinned broadly when one of the guys on the team swaggered up to him wearing nothing but his football shirt, arrogantly asking him to compare dicks because apparently, after being infected by the Gene Stealers and reverting back, some of the guys had obtained a little extra length and girth. His mind already switching into super-jock mode, Caleb dropped his pants and showed off his sheathed junk.

"Holy shit!" his teammate exclaimed. "Fuck, Halestorm! You're huge! The kind of pussy you're gonna get at the dance!"

At the mention of the Fall Dance, Caleb was reminded of his intention to ask Lars out and he glanced over to the opposite locker to his own. Lars was just about two feet away and already dressed but he was sitting on the bench, back to Caleb with that damnable script in his paws.

"You gonna ask anyone out?" asked his teammate.

Back in jock mode, Caleb grinned and flexed one bicep while the other paw reached down and fondled his own junk. "Like I have to. One look at this tower of man_and the girls come swarming! First day back and I got like fucking _twenty numbers!"

"That's nothing, bro! Norm got fifty after the hyena incident!"

"All from guys, I bet!"

Norm, standing a short distance away, gave a loud, "Hey!" which was met with loud laughter from the rest of the locker room.

Coach Davis stepped into the room, blowing his whistle bringing a stop to all the towel snapping, back slapping and slightly homoerotic teasing. Half the guys already had their gear on and some were naked. Others were in that delectable state in between where it became blatantly obvious that they were buff, strong, virile footballers.

"Boys," the cougar announced, with a grin. "I am pleased to announce that we're going to get a new assistant coach to help us with preparing for the rest of the season."

"Assistant coach?" Caleb murmured. "We've never needed an assistant coach before."

Davis gestured to his right. "I'd like you all to make him feel welcome and you all better damn well give him the same level of respect you do me. Please make welcome..."

Caleb's eyes widened and his jaw dropped when David Hale stepped out from behind the lockers, wearing the hoodie of a coach, a whistle around his neck and a hat that said 'Assistant Coach'.

"David Hale."

Every one of his teammates, Lars included, turned their heads immediately towards Caleb. It didn't help matters when David waved at him in particular, grinning broadly. Suddenly feeling very exposed and _very_humiliated, Caleb covered his junk with his paws despite having been measured every day for three weeks by the very same man who was now apparently going to be helping them practice football. Coach Davis told them all to hurry up and get out on the field.

Caleb hurriedly threw on his uniform, the 27 marked on his back on shining gold against his otherwise blue jersey. He grabbed his father's shoulder before he could escape into the mess, pulling him to the back of the locker room with ears perked just to make sure no one was listening.

"Dad! What are you doing here?" he hissed.

"Helping you and the team, of course," David responded with a broad grin. "We can't let you getting soft not that you're back in school, can we?"

"But -"

"No buts, Cale," his dad answered, patting his shoulder, his features caught halfway between a grin and a proud smile. "Something big is coming so we've got to be prepared." With those words, David turned and happily headed off to the field, tail wagging and the whistle already in his lips.

Left alone in the locker room, Caleb was free to vent his frustration, letting out a loud shout and kicking one of the lockers. He gasped as his strike didn't even make a dent in the metal frame and he was forced to hobble back as his toes began to throb. His foul mood carried him all the way to the field where they started off with their usual drills; running laps, throwing passes and some cardio.

Then they started running through some plays.

As the receiver, Caleb put his speed and agility to good use. With Lars' strong arm - and super strength - it was easy for the offense to get some ground. But, when David suggested they start using the backups and Caleb have some time on the defence, things started to fall apart. Caleb was not a stranger to playing defence. It built good upper body strength and kept him sharp. But when it was Lars who remained the quarterback and Caleb was forced to take him down... things got very difficult. Taking down a superhero with a full bodycheck before he threw the football halfway across the field was not easy.

The defensive team was given free reign on how they wanted to approach the offense. The defensive captain, a big lion by the name of Ralph Nakamura, had Caleb as a tackle, the closest he could get to Lars because he was accustomed to how the Doberman quarterback would move. That was all fine and good if he didn't have the towering 340 pound moose known as Gerrard Locke in between him and Lars. When there was a wall of muscle between him and Lars, his familiarity with the quarterback meant nothing.

It was about halfway through the plays when Caleb had enough of being flattened and he marched up to the slightly shorter Ralph.

"Hey," he said, hiking a thumb over his shoulder. "Set me up as a safety."

Ralph shrugged absently and wiped his brow. The burly lion's mane wasn't fully in yet giving him the appearance of a cub with some massive mutton chops. Everyone called him 'Mister Nakamura' because apparently he resembled a British gentleman. "Sure. Not like your dad will complain."

Caleb rolled his eyes and was at least glad that his dad wasn't pouring any special treatment on him or focusing all of his attention on him. Though a quick glance at where the two coaches were working and how his father's eyes were locked on him even as he and Coach Davis were talking gave him the suspicion that David Hale had something planned.

He repositioned himself in the rear of the defensive line, a far safety and crouched down, ready for the call. When the defensive line collided with the offensive, he immediately bolted to join the melee but kept himself low. Nakamura watched him bolt past him with a muzzle wide open in shock.

What was the purpose of a safety if he just ran right into the scrimmage?

Easy.

He became invisible to the quarterback.

Caleb didn't actually slam his body into the offense but hung back low and out of sight. Then he saw the ball soar off to his left towards their left receiver. Grinning, he shot off like a missile, closing the distance between himself and the receiver, a cheetah who was currently trying to avoid their cornerback. John Black, the burly human cornerback, saw him coming and they exchanged a quick nod. Being the faster of the two, Caleb immediately slammed into the cheetah who still had eyes on John. They both went down, giving John the perfect opportunity to snatch the ball from the air and take possession.

Coach Davis blew his whistle.

"Hale! What the hell was that!?"

Caleb grinned and got up, offering a paw to the dazed cheetah. "A cloaking device," he replied with a smirk.

Davis rubbed his chin for a moment and glanced over to David. Caleb's father shrugged as if to say, 'It worked. So why not?' Then he turned back to Caleb. "So have the safeties run into the scrimmage, out of sight of the quarterback, eh? What if the ball goes to the running back?"

On that, Caleb had no idea. He was no tactician, he just knew how Lars worked. He just offered a shrug.

"Play it through!" Davis barked, eyes locked on Caleb, challenging him with a hint of pride in his eyes. "See how it goes. McLeod, pass the ball immediately to either Erikson or Lim!"

The 'Cloaking Device' wouldn't work as Caleb would also lose visibility of the running backs if he shot towards the line of scrimmage. He wasn't a defensive player and had no idea what to do. He moved towards his safety position when a paw tapped his shoulder and he turned to find Ralph.

"You're the middle tackle," said the feline, hiking towards where he wouldn't stood.

"What? Are you nuts? I'll get squished!"

Ralph grinned at him. "Trust me on this one. When Lars passes the ball, fall back."

"But that'll leave a hole..."

The lion winked at him. "I got this."

The two of them traded positions, Caleb standing in the middle of the defensive line while Ralph hung back as a safety. Gerrard was in front of him again, the two of them butting helmets in a show of playful aggression.

"Hey, you goin' with anyone ta th' Fall Dance yet, Hale?" Gerrard grunted, his voice so deep that Caleb was sure he would've needed helium to full understand him.

"No. Not yet. Why?"

"Jus' cuz some of me and the guys were thinkin' of goin' solo and cruisin'. Ya in?"

Caleb shrugged absently. "If I can't pick a decent name from the stack in my locker, sure."

Gerrard grinned at him and bumped helmets one more time. "Cocky fuck."

When the whistle blew to begin, Caleb immediately leapt back, shocking Gerrard as the moose lunged at him only to find nothing there. As Caleb continued to retreat, there was suddenly a blue and gold blur that swept past him. Ralph slammed into the surprised Gerrard, causing a massive gap in the middle of the offensive line. As the two went down, Caleb found himself staring directly at Lars, the quarterback stunned at the sudden surprise play.

Instincts kicked in and Caleb found himself leaping over the tangled mess that was Gerrard and Ralph, shooting straight towards Lars. Though Lars was always one to keep his cool, most of their games involved him managing to throw or pass the ball elsewhere long before anyone got anywhere near him. The sudden realisation that a defensive lineman had crossed their borders and was now closing in on him while he still had the ball caused a moment of panic.

In a moment of panic, Lars snapped his arm back and tossed it straight to the right receiver where Caleb would usually be. Caleb ground to a halt as Coach Davis blew his whistle, bringing an end to the play. Glancing over to the right, he noticed that the ball has fallen out of bounds and the receiver had been occupied with his cornerback.

"McLeod! I told you to toss the ball to Lim or Erikson! Again!"

As the same play would not work twice, Caleb and Ralph quickly repositioned themselves and the rest of the team, making diverse and surprisingly plays that constantly caught the offensive line off guard. Though they rarely got the ball, they disrupted the offensive plays enough that it would've been easy to either run down the clock or make it to the fourth try by still keeping some decent ground.

That five o'clock, Caleb was sweaty, bruised and battered but he was feeling accomplished. He tossed his helmet on the ground when Davis told them to call it a day. A bright yellow paw picked up his helmet and handed it back to him.

"You ever think of joining the defensive line, Hale?" Nakamura asked, smiling at him. "God knows, we could use the Halestorm on our side too."

Caleb laughed as he took his helmet back. "Sorry man. I've a receiver through and through."

The defensive captain wrapped a meaty arm around his shoulder and they both headed towards the lockers. "Yeah but it's nice to have some diversity. Hell, I bet some scouts would love to have someone who can be a star receiver and one hell of a diverse defence too. You played almost every position out there!"

He stopped in mid-step, causing Nakamura to pause and ask him what was wrong.

Apart from his father clearly caring for his wellbeing as an Outsider, he had totally forgotten that the one dream he had for his sons was to have them go into the professional leagues. He had vocally voiced his opinion on the fact when Lance and Leon had decided to take up professional training instead. His attention was then turned to Caleb whom he spent every waking moment possible getting into football. Caleb could rightly blame his father for his enjoyment and participation on the game.

He glanced over his shoulder at where David was chatting with Davis in an animated fashion.

Was this part of his father's agenda to get him into the pros despite Lillian Hale's protests of him going to a non-sporting college?

A broad, yellow paw was waved in front of him. "Halestorm?"

Caleb shook himself away from his suspicions and threw aside the possibility that his father could be that devious. "Just still a little freaked out that my dad is helping coach the team."

Nakamura shrugged and headed into the locker room. "Come on, Halestorm. You're not the only kid that has had their parent work at their school. If anything, this might actually help our defensive line if you weren't always running past us!"

Much to his relief, David didn't decide to slip into the locker room and change with the rest of the boys. It gave him about fifteen minutes of precious time to catch Lars since they hadn't really spoken after lunch. Normally, they would be bumping chests, howling in triumph or giving one another high-fives while slipping in small talk in between each testosterone-charged 'bromantic' act. But, since they were on separate ends of the line, that was absent and Caleb found himself missing it.

He showered and got changed like lightning and was already heading out when his father's scent caused him to halt. David Hale slipped into view, grinning broadly and dressed in a casual set of baggy jeans and sweater.

"Great hustle out there, son. Ever think of switching to defence?"

"I'm a receiver, dad," Caleb responded, wondering in the back of his mind if it was right or polite to slip by his father with just those words. "It's what I'm good at."

"Right! Of course! But we've got to get you out of your comfort zone so that you're more adaptive." There was a sparkle in David's eyes that hinted those words were meant for more than just on the football field. "Come on, we've got important business to attend to in the city."

Caleb's ears flicked forward and his eyebrows rose in confusion. "The city?" He quickly translated those words to mean 'the Facility'. "We were just there this afternoon."

"Business is business, son. Come on."

There was no arguing with him on that point. He followed his father like a pup but a pup whose eyes were constantly roving the steamy locker room for is best friend. Lars was nowhere to be seen and his heart sunk lower than it had been all day.

He jumped on Ballistic while David took the family car back to the Facility. It was with much relief that Caleb didn't have to run the gauntlet of traps and fur-singing lasers this time and he got a smooth, uninterrupted walk to the Facility's interior. As they approached the door, they could hear voices from the other side of the sealed, five foot-thick reinforced, anti-super wall. The two wolves exchanged worried glances and slowly approached the identification panel.

Caleb tentatively pressed his paw and didn't even blink when he was asked for a blood sample and his arm was jabbed.

When they opened the door a vision of hell unfolded before them.

Arms, legs and torsos lay all over the atrium floor, scattered amongst torn shards of colourful clothing. Blank, expressionless faces stared back up at them. Some were speared on metal rods, others embedded halfway into the metal walls while some were even hanging from the ceiling on the remnants of their attire.

Thankfully they were all mannequins.

Caleb bent down and picked up one of the plastic heads that looked like it had been torn and bitten into. Lifting his gaze, he found Mary, Ben, Madman, Elliot and Bren standing off against one another. Mary had what looked like half a mannequin dressed in some tight-fitting, anatomically correct black body armour. Madman was clutching leather straps in one paw while there was a mannequin head in his other. Ben was on his knees, apparently sobbing as he held an arm with what looked like some black and red cloth draped over it. It was surprising to find Bren actually in the midst of the argument, a full undressed mannequin behind him. Elliot was hiding behind that same mannequin.

"What the hell is going on here!?" David shouted. As he spoke, all the cracks and dents in the metal of the atrium began to heal. Mannequin heads that were shoved deep into pillars popped miraculously out as the metal reshaped itself. Claw marks that somehow raked the ceiling closed up. The metal floor began to ripple and smoothen out like water, closing over where a crater had formed where it looked like someone big had fallen.

"We were just deciding on Arsenal's uniform," Bren responded with a sigh.

"I had the best idea," Mary replied, placing a hand against her chest while the other pressed defensively against the mannequin behind her. "But these fashion atrocities wanted to modify it." Her eyes fell on Madman and she shook her head at him. "Seriously? Leather straps?"

"All the supers in Japan love leather belts!" Madman snapped back. "They have it everywhere!"

"And I told you before, you do not want to be taking fashion advice on super costumes from Japan. Most of the time, there's little difference between their every-day costumes and hero costumes. The most difference is that their skirts just get shorter!"

"That's only for the women."

"No it isn't," Mary replied gravely.

David shook his head in disbelief and stepped over the battlefield of dismembered plastic arms and bodies. Caleb followed close by, awed at the brutality of the scenes. Just before it vanished below the floor, there were three mannequin heads stuck on metal spikes. Where the spikes came from, he could only guess. "All this because you couldn't agree on a costume?"

Deciding not to mention that the apparent 'important business' his father had dragged him out of practice in a hurry was to decide on a uniform, Caleb said, "Did you actually decide on anything."

"Yes we did," Mary responded.

"No we didn't," Bren replied. The dishevelled tiger that was clearly relieved that David had arrived, gestured between himself and the three other competitors for Arsenal's uniform. "The agreement was that they would all decide on one piece to put on this mannequin behind me." He patted the naked model. "Then we'd work on it. They started tearing each other apart before they even got here."

David Hale covered his eyes with a paw and growled softly.

"What's wrong with the uniforms we have currently?" Caleb asked. "I mean, Bren went into a lot of effort to make them for us."

"They're not marketable," his father responded, lowering his paws in frustration. "People need to see your face! They need to see more of you without knowing it's you. That's why the classic facemask is still so well-loved. Just some optic jammers around the eyes to prevent actually seeing your eye colour and viola you're done!"

Giving his father a sour look, Caleb said, "No offense, dad, but you really think no one would recognise you just because they can't see your eyes or cheekbones?"

"You didn't."

Feeling his cheeks run hot, Caleb said, "Well, I still like the uniforms we have right now. The hoodie stretches with my current form and I happen to think the fact that edges of Mary's coat is bladed is pretty awesome."

Madman threw the mannequin head he had been holding into the ground with enough force to shatter it completely. "Yeah? What about me then? I don't get any customised uniform. I just kept some skimpy leather daddy outfit!"

"Then why do you keep suggesting belts!?"Ben shouted, his eyes briefly flashing red. "And for fuck's sake! We need something that billows in the wind! It's basically the staple in every super attire!"

"That's you're supervillainy talking," David snarled. "Modern supers don't have capes unless they are associated with flight. Generally, the more things a super has that billows..."He waved his arms sarcastically through the air. "... the more evil they are."

"Dad, stop living in the past," Caleb said. He didn't realise until then that he had actually positioned himself a little ways away from his father, almost an equal distance away from David and the others. Suddenly, what had been a four-man stand-off had evolved into a six-man shootout just waiting for the first person to pull the trigger. "People these days love the fact that we're mysterious and show less of ourselves. They love it!"

David turned to him, eyes half-closed and lips pursed. "They also_love the fact that each of your transformations comes with armour that is like some stereotypical porn star." He lifted a finger. "_Funny Bone is your typical wild, untamed jungle man that has the fur of a mighty beast around his shoulders as a cape and nothing else." Then he lifted a second finger. "Branding Iron is your tough, hardened gladiator with a gruff attitude, chiselled, computer generated abdominals, a sword to strike his enemies in one paw and a shield to guard his broken heart in the other and that delectable_loincloth that just makes you wonder 'what's beneath all that'."_ David crossed his arms. "Face it, Cale, you just love the fact that you're a walking brothel."

Caleb's jaw dropped. He couldn't believe his father had just accused him of that. "That's not true! I mean sure, there' a lot of fanfic about me and more than one of them is pornographic in nature but other supers have that too! Right?" He glanced towards the others for support. "Guys? I'm not a callboy am I?"

Mary gave him a pitying look and even Ben looked apologetic.

"Sorry, Caleb... but you are," she said.

Then Madman said something no one should ever say in front of their friend's father. "I jack off to porn stories about you every night."

David Hale blew up there and then. "That's it!"

He was suddenly in front of Madman, his fist pulled back. Shards of metal collected around his fist, forming an enormous, thick, steel gauntlet with spiked knuckles. Madman was not without his own defences and he caught David's fist in one, gargantuan paw before any damage could be done. The huge hyena lashed out with a foot but suddenly found Mary leaping to David's rescue. She slid beneath the hyena's rising leg and send a crushing kick straight into the hyena's huge, exposed balls. Madman whined and pulled back, cupping his injured genitals. Mary jumped to her feet and turned to grin at David but her features were suddenly frozen in horror. Veins popped all over her body and her fist lashed out at a stunned David, catching him unawares especially as it struck his throat. He gagged and staggered back, lifting his paws up to defend himself feebly. Ben grinned evilly as he forced Mary to strike at David Hale - AKA Feral Steel - once more. That grin was wiped off his features when a huge fist struck his nose and he was sent reeling back, his blood on Caleb's knuckles.

"Leave my dad alone!" Caleb roared, lifting his fist again.

Click-click!

"Caleb, put your fist down!" Bren warned. He had his gun levelled at Caleb. A second warning was never given as the gun suddenly lifted out of Bren's paw and twisted itself into a pretzel shape.

A big, furry blur suddenly appeared between Bren and Caleb. "Don't you _dare_point a gun at my son!" David snarled, seizing the tiger's wrist.

"Yaaaaaaaaah!"

Smash!

David staggered to the left as the mannequin shattered against his side. Elliot stared up at the super in horror, immediately holding up his hands in surrender. "I just wanted to belong!"

Snarling, David advanced on the orca -

Just as a shrill whistle cut through the Mary constantly striking Madman in the balls, Caleb and Ben grappling and Bren desperately trying to pull David away from Elliot. All the combatants abruptly halted and turned towards the lone figure standing beside the mannequin that Bren had been defending.

A white wolf with bright, red eyes and jet-black hair.

"This is the super team that's meant to stop the Gene Stealer threat?" Rhiannon asked, one arm draped around the suddenly dressed mannequin. "Seriously, I've seen more cooperation from the two warring alien species made of either ice or fire."

"And just who are you?" David growled, his ears flattened and his hackles raised. He had Bren lifted off the ground in one paw. "How did you get in here?"

"Moi?" Rhiannon replied. The way she lightly chuckled made Caleb's blood run cold.

BOOM!

Suddenly, her entire figure erupted in a brilliant flash of light so bight that it illuminated every corner of the Facility. The ground shook violently and lightning crackled right before their eyes. Brilliant, white flames sprouted from the ground in enormous pillars that reached the very ceiling. When Rhiannon spoke, her voice shook the entire room. Only her brilliant, red eyes could be seen in the sea of white light that she had become.

"I am the Harbinger of Death! I am The Devastator of Lands, the Desolator of the Skies, the Destroyer of Oceans near, far and wide! I am the Courtesan of Change, the Annihilator, the Obliterator, the First of Shin-Lazar's Children! I am the... the... the... Aw fuck..."

The light, lightning, fire and quaking suddenly faded as Rhiannon looked to her left, rapping her temples with her knuckles. "It's been so long since I've used that damn speech... What was the rest of that... The Courtesan of Change, the Annihilator, the Obliterator, the first of Shin-Lazar's Children..." She was ticking off titles with her fingers. "Damn, you know what? 'Harbinger of Death' is actually one of the last ones... Crap... Can I get a do-over?"

Everyone, including those that had met her previously, just stared at the Hound of Destruction in mute shock. David's grip around Bren slackened and the tiger hit the ground with a loud whump.

"Wait... So... you're the Hound of Destruction?" Feral Steel asked.

"Yup!" Rhiannon exclaimed, grinning brightly. "Shin-Lazar and the other gods thought I should come down and help you guys deal with the Gene Stealers." Her expression suddenly turned grave and she waggled a finger at David. "Now I can't tell you about the future, I can't grant you wishes and I certainly_can't prevent the pain, suffering, agony and humiliation that is to come. But what I _can do..." She stepped aside and waved her paws at the mannequin. "... Is give you millennia's worth of fashion advice!"

Caleb pulled his paws out from around Ben's neck and the werewolf extended the same courtesy. The gathered supers gathered around the mannequin that Rhiannon had presented. It appeared to have a short, figure-hugging sleeveless body-armour like top. Mostly black, the suit had silver edgings and the tell-tale hollow double-diamond emblems of Weapons Master - really a W and an M set on top of one another. A black belt with silver buckle was wrapped around its waist with the same double diamonds but with an extra pair of horizontal lines that made it looked like each diamond was actually two A's linked together at their legs.

On the lower part of body was a set of ¾ cut off black jeans that once again hugged the athletic figure of the mannequin and had silver rims. Even the pockets were lined in silver. A string of filled in diamonds ran down the sides of the shorts while a silver chain of the same design hung from the belt loops. To top it all off was a set of thick, black and silver sneakers making sure to point out the diamonds at littered the rest of the attire.

"Whoa..." Caleb said. "I love it. But... Isn't it a little... I dunno, specific to me?"

"What are you talking about?" Ben asked. "You never go out shirtless and your fur is so thin you'd freeze in winter!" He grinned and gestured at the uniform. "This is so me! Love the scarf!"

"Scarf?" Mary exclaimed. "What scarf? You know that's basically a noose around your neck, right?"

Rhiannon chuckled softly and patted the mannequin. "Thus the magic of this particular get up. I've designed it in such a way that its magic will actually hide your scramble how you appear to others. While you are wearing this, it might make it seem like you have black hair or you have brown eyes. It might change the colour of your fur, alter the shape of your muzzle, ears or lips. It will _never_do anything extreme like change your species or the shape of the actual uniform. Just the bare basics. This way, you can do without the facemasks, hoodies and constant threat of being unveiled but at the same time sow confusion and anarchy into your fans and enemies."

Her grin broadened. "Ah, just imagine it. You'll have the 'Blade Babe is Blonde' Club or the 'Weapons Master is White Fur' Team. People will never be able to agree on what you look like and even if the spell were to fail or someone with immense magical skill were to dispel it, it wouldn't matter because dissent and disagreement will already be sown and they will never be able to truly confirm your true identity."

David inclined his head to the side in curiosity, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. "Huh... that's... actually brilliant. Hide in plain sight but... not really. Why didn't we ever think of that...?"

"What about recording devices though?" Madman grunted. "I mean, everyone already knows I'm a hyena and this huge." He flexed his massive, mountainous biceps. "They've got it on record. There's no hiding that."

It became somewhat confusing as Rhiannon began to unbuckle something on the suit though there were no buckles on it. As she peeled it away from the mannequin, the spell seemed to adjust and the image of his perfect, flexible suit vanished to what appeared to be a thick, black suit of leather armour with two, large bands of belts crossing the chest in an 'X' shape. "The spell extends even to recording devices. Even if two people were to sit still and watch the same recording, they will see two entirely different things."

She held out the suit towards Madman. "I still need to make the other suits but that shouldn't take long. I just thought this one would be good for you."

The hyena regarded the suit and then lifted his eyes back up to Rhiannon. "I don't mean to offend but... No way in hell this puny thing is going to fit me."

"Oh." Rhiannon batted her eyes in mock innocence. "Then I guess I'll have to take your measurements then." The ground cracked and shattered beneath her feet, searing red light spilling out from the depths of some unknown hell. A dark, gaseous aura encased Rhiannon, a stark contrast against her white fur and letting her red eyes simply pop. Within the mist, skulls gaped and wailed loudly. The edges of the aura looked to be shaped like tiny little hands, eagerly clawing towards Madman.

Madman's eyes boggled and he looked at the others for help. Everyone, even Mary and David, began to back away.

From out of nowhere, Rhiannon removed a measuring tape, slowly and agonisingly unfolding it.

"Now then... strip."

******

Caleb returned to the Hale household ahead of his father who had to dash off to the Elemental Tower for some paperwork. Since one of the conditions for heading an Outsider team was that all allegiances to previous superhero teams was forfeit, he had a lot of work to do to make sure the power vacuum he left didn't lead to in-fighting.

The retirement of one of the founders of the Elemental Alliance was no small deal. David Hale had already told his family that he was planning to instate one of the senior supers in his place. Lance would have to work his way back to the level of respect he had and it would be a massive mistake to just hand over the reins to his son. Even Lance agreed to that. The official announcement was still to be at the end of the week but preparations still had to be made.

For his part, Caleb was just glad to have some free time away from his dad.

He parked Ballistic in the garage and heading into the house, shoulders slouched and reminded not only of the brief scuffle he had with Ben but also his afternoon at football training. The smell of dinner was already in the air and his stomach rumbled in anticipation of being filled. Some invisible force pulled him directly to the kitchen where he immediately parked his bubble rump on the stools in front of the kitchen counter, mouth watering as Lillian Hale continued to cook up a storm.

She was a blur in the kitchen and it always amazing her youngest son that she was able to fulfil her job as the assistant to California's senator _and_still be a brilliant mother.

"If you're going to sit there drooling over the chicken, you might as well cut some onions," she said, suddenly yanking the chopping board full of diced chicken breast away from him and replacing it with a chopping board with onions.

Caleb wiped his muzzle with the back of his arm and began peeling. "Sorry, mom. Just kind of out of it."

"Your father driving you hard?"

He winced as the sharp smell of the onions began to make his eyes water. "Yeah. It's like everywhere I turn he's there! I mean, he signed himself up as assistant coach to the team today!"

"Really?" Lillian didn't even turn around though her ears were perked and by the way she was vigorously scrubbing the scales off the fish, he guessed she was a little peeved at that fact. "So he finally did it."

"Did what?"

"Invade your schooling hours so he can turn you into the football star he's always wanted." She glanced over her shoulder and rolled her eyes. "Ever since your brothers were born, he has been obsessed with 'breeding generation of football heroes'. He loves Abby to death but there's still that bit in him that gets hard when thinking about muscular men slamming into one another and the idea of making his mark on the world as the father of said studs just makes him leak a little."

"Mom!"

She waved a paw absently over her shoulder and continued scrubbing. "Oh don't be such a hypocrite. You did your brother. Let your father have his idle fantasies and let your mother talk about it."

Grimacing, Caleb returned to peeling. He made the mistake of wiping the tears away with his paws, only rubbing more of the onion scent into his fur and making the tearing worse. He took several deep breaths before returning to the task. "If you don't mind me asking, mom, how in the world did you ever manage to snag a gay superhero?"

Lillian Hale threw her head back and let out a laugh. She held the limp, descaled fish in one paw. "Honestly? Sometimes even I don't know. Your father goes on and _on_about Ryan and on some level, I know he still loves him. But I know he loves me too." A soft sigh escaped her lips and she set down that fish in exchange for another. Her scrubs were slower this time as she fell in love with David Hale all over again.

"We met in college."

"I thought he went to college in Australia?"

"I was in college, dear," she responded. "He was the up-and-coming superhero that had made it to West California Island. We didn't have a superhero team back then. We were mostly defended by the team in Nevada but they had their paws full and could barely defend us. When your father came in, it was like the first time dawn had come to the island in a long time."

Judging by her sigh, that was more from a personal perspective than a social one.

"One day," she continued as she moved to another fish. "My college was held under threat from a terrorist cell. They held me personally as a meat shield. Then, Feral Steel comes charging in on his motorcycle -"

"Dad had a motorcycle?" Caleb asked.

Lillian turned and smiled at him, her eyes soft and caught in the distance. "Yes. It's one of the reasons we didn't throw our paws up in the air when you got one. I guess we both saw a little bit of his early days as a budding super in you. Now look at you." She chuckled softly and continued with her story. "He charged in and told the terrorists to put their weapons down. By then, most of the island knew about Feral Steel and they came prepared, using plastic weaponry instead of actual guns and bullets. More fragile but it stopped him from twisting their guns in their hands or paws and stopping bullets in mid-flight."

With all three fish descaled and gutted, she carried them over to the counter. There, she took some of the onions from Caleb and stuffed them into the insides of the fish with some olive oil and capers. Her paw skilfully picked up a knife and scored the sides of the fish. Between each cut, she rubbed some lemon rind, salt and pepper.

"Despite that setback, your father still found a way to save me," she said with a sigh and a shake of her head. She was smiling at the distant memory. "Your father threw the terrorists aside. But when one of them got up and tried to shoot me, he flew to my side and carried me off to safety." Her eyes lifted to meet Caleb's. "It was the first time he flew."

Caleb finished with the onions and pushed them away from his tearing eyes. "I heard that a super's powers are tied to their emotional state. They can abruptly develop new powers in the head of the moment."

Lillian nodded and set aside the fish to be cooked later. "That's what your father told me too. When I asked him why he got so emotional about me, he dismissed it as..." She suddenly lowered her voice, furrowed her brow and spoke in an imitation of David. "... part of the job. It'll look bad if someone died." Back to her usual voice, she shook her head and began chopping up some greens. "I didn't believe him, of course. I became determined to discover what made him fly."

Her bright laugh suddenly filled the room. "Of course, that usually led me to getting into trouble."

Curious and amused, Caleb leaned forward, arms crossed and leaning against the counter. "What kind of trouble?"

"Oh, you know," came the answer with a delicate wave of a paw. "Target of supervillains, constant kidnapping, somehow being at the wrong place during a disaster. The usual superhero-and-damsel relationship."

"Please don't tell me you two kissed while he was hanging upside down hanging from the ceiling or something."

Lillian Hale laughed as she brushed aside the vegetables. "No, no. Our first kiss was actually purely by accident. We were fleeing from his then-archnemesis Zip-Zapper who had the power to control electrical currents. Any metal your father summoned to fight him could instantly be electrified and your father isn't shockproof."

She chuckled softly, covering her lips with the back of her paw. "We were flying away from him and he was berating me for getting into trouble. Then Zip-Zapper struck him on the back and we fell. As we fell... well... We kissed. We crashed into a building, he protected me with his body and..." She closed her eyes and took a deep breath as if she could breathe herself back into that beautiful moment. "It was magic, Caleb. I just can't describe it any better than that. Simply... magic. Of course,he didn't feel that way."

Caleb reeled back, surprised. "Really? It wasn't love at first kiss? You didn't tear off each other's clothes and made sweet-sweet love while Zip-Zapper patrolled the ruins of the building around you?"

"Of course not," she said, swatting his paw lightly. "Your father was still hung up on Ryan and he was conflicted. He told me that he was gay and that it was eating him inside that in that moment when our lips touched, he actually felt happy and had forgotten entirely about Ryan, forgotten that he was a superhero and that we were in constant danger. In that moment, he felt that he was just a wolf in a woman's arms and that very same woman gave him wings."

Her dreamy smile widened. "I knew then that I was the reason he could fly."

Those words reminded Caleb that beyond the overprotective, obsessive and slightly psychotic parent that David Hale was, he was really just another guy. Sure there were extreme circumstances around him but he was just another wolf.

"Now for a few months after that we thought that was it," Lillian said with a shrug. "He was gay and though what he said to me was sweet, I knew I could never make him love me as he loved Ryan." She carried the fish and the rest of the feast that she prepared nightly towards the stove where she kicked up the oven. "We became friends. I found a job at the government office under our now senator and he told me his secret identity as mild-manner freelance writer David Hale. I could slip him secret correspondence about movements of supervillains that the government knew and he always ended up saving me from it."

As the pan began to heat up and sizzle, she turned towards Caleb with a smile. "It was when the supervillains started taking notice of his antics and feeling that he needed to be get rid of that I pushed him to form the Elemental Alliance."

"You got him to make the Alliance?" Caleb repeated in disbelief. "No way!"

Waving a paw absently, Lillian said, "Oh your father was stubborn. He didn't like being a lone wolf but it was how he had gotten through life. His parents kicked him out for being a super. He loved Ryan and lost him and then he was flying solo through West California. He didn't want to get close to anyone. I don't think he even _consciously_considered me close to him. I was almost a tool to him."

That made him frown. "Mom, that's horrible."

"Ah, I know. But look at us now." She smiled brightly. "Anyway, when the Alliance was formed there was naturally a big stand off against the Brotherhood of Oblivion and them."

Caleb lifted an eyebrow. "The Brotherhood of Oblivion? I've never heard of them."

"I wouldn't be surprised when their organisation's name had an acronym of 'BO' or 'BoO." She shook her head with a smile. "There were four of them." Lifting a paw, she began counting them off. "Let's see... there was Runaway, a human with the power of super speed. Apparently, if he ran fast enough, he could travel through time but that's never been proven. Then there was Assault. Not really a super but he was this rich, bored rich kid that owned this powerful suit and a gallery of weapons that could be instantly teleported and attached to his suit, making him a walking armoury."

The pan began sizzling and she gently rested the fish on their sides, letting them crisp up while she switched on the oven. "Then there was the Deleter."

"The Deleter?" Caleb echoed. "Is that even a word?"

"Now don't tease him," Lillian warned, wagging a finger at her son. "The Deleter's power was that he could completely and utterly obliterate something from existence if he could delete every reference of that thing in every form of written media."

Caleb narrowed one eye at his mother. "So... if he went around and rubbed out every reference to my name I'd just be gone?"

"Yes," she answered gravely. "And he wasn't even the worst of them all. The worst... was Halcyon."

Caleb shook his head at mention of the name. He had never heard of any of these supposed supervillains. "Who was he?"

Lillian flipped over the fish. "Halcyon had the power of peace."

"Peace?"

The door to the garage suddenly opened and David Hale stepped in, a bright smile on his face. "He could induce a sense of peace onto anyone within a certain radius."

Caleb let his father greet Lillian with a loving embrace and a kiss on the cheek before he spoke. "How is a guy that can make you feel really peaceful be worse that a guy that can delete your very existence?"

David's eyes shone with pride as he said, "Because Halcyon could make even the most aggressive person into a prone pup. Any super going after him with suddenly feel the unnatural calm Halcyon brought and all aggression would leave him. He could literally stroll into a bank, blow up the vault and steel everything and no one would be able to do anything but stand there and watch. It wasn't full mind control. People still knew what was happening but they just couldn't resist not doing anything."

David shook his head with a growl. "He was a tough one to beat especially with the rest of the Brotherhood."

"How did you defeat them?" Caleb asked, ears perked forward. He found it a little hard to believe that he was curious about his father's previous escapades as a super.

"Ah, that's tale for another day," David responded, waving the question absently. "All you need to know is that after that issue at Bal-Mordain, those villains have been relocated to secure bunkers away from one another." He nodded at Caleb. "Now why don't you go and wash up? We'll call you down for dinner."

Feeling like a little pup again but momentarily being lost in the imagery of his father fighting against the Brotherhood of Oblivion, Caleb took the order with a shrug and turned. He was halfway up the stairs before he was reminded of his claws and had to go back down and put on sandals. In his imagination, he was thinking of the founders of the Elemental Alliance fighting the dreaded Brotherhood of Oblivion and how epic such a fight would have been. The Alliance fighting against the super-fast Runaway and the heavily armed Assault while fighting the dulling powers of Halcyon and working against the clock as Deleter slowly began to erase them from existence. He guessed that was their tactic; get their foes constantly distracted while Deleter did his thing.

It wasn't until he was in his room that and the walls began sealing up again that he realised he had just fallen into another of his father's traps.

Caleb spun around and slammed against the metal door of his room with a bang.

"DAD!" he screamed.

The display above his door lit up, showing he had exactly fifteen minutes of air left.

"Fuck..." he growled.

******

His name was Zachariah Zulkowski otherwise known as Zip-Zapper. At one point, he had been one of the most feared supervillains in all of West California Island. His control over electricity had been the bane of many superheroes even the great and powerful Feral Steel. On record, he had robbed 45 banks, only 10 of them successfully but that was still more than most, killed over two hundred people, destroyed over 40 million dollars' worth of infrastructure and even slain a superhero; a weakling known as Aquarius who had hoped to start his own Zodiac-related superhero team but that didn't work out after his death.

Now in his fifties, the middle aged man with a balding pate stepped out of his California home and looked hobbled over to his mailbox. It was well into the evening but he had only gotten up at 3 PM when the school busses had begun to drop of children again. It took him another two hours to actually _feel_like pulling his overweight mass off the bed and into activity and only then because he was getting hungry.

Checking his mail was the last thing on his agenda before he would go back into his home, watch reruns of his old escapades and then go to bed the sad, old, fat man he had become. It wasn't his fault. Feral Steel turned a large portion of his left leg into pure metal. If he so much as tried to conduct some electricity, he would be electrocuted as well and possibly die.

That was the thing about his powers; he could control electricity but he was just as vulnerable to being electrocuted as anyone.

Go figure.

He picked up his mail and in the dim light from his front yard flood lights, he scoffed at the electricity bill. If he had so wanted, he could siphon off the electricity from other houses into his own, putting the cost on them instead. It left a bitter taste in his mouth that he would even think of such a petty crime.

A soft buzzing filled his ears. He recognised that sound. It was the noise of one of the street lamps dying. Lifting his gaze, he watched as the lamp on the corner of the street flickered in and out before eventually dying.

"Cheap fucking government," her rumbled bitterly. He turned back towards his house, remembering fondly his first victim; his high school bully by the name of Norman Lewis. Watching that big fat ass scream for mercy and run down the street with tears flowing from his eyes and snot coming out of his nose as Zachariah turned out the lights one by one had been thrilled him to no description. It was even better when he wasn't caught.

Flick!

Another lamp went out.

He jerked towards the two lamps that now filled the street with darkness. A frown slowly pulled at the corners of his lips as another lamp went out... and then another... and another. Lamps on the other side of the street began going out as well. It didn't take a genius to know where this was going and Zachariah began quickly hobbling towards his door.

Flick! Flick! Flick! Flick!

The street was suddenly plunged into darkness save for the lights coming out of his floodlights. Every step up his veranda was pain but he managed to reach his front door with his breath still held. Zachariah felt relief as he managed to twist the doorknob and step into his home. Out onto the street, standing cloaked in the darkness where five pairs of eyes, all watching him closely. He snarled at them and shut his door, not knowing how much that would save him. It didn't really matter. There was an emergency call button in his kitchen and bedroom that would send the government running. As much as he hated to be calling the authorities for help, Zachariah treasured his life too much to go down like this; in some grim ironic mimicry of his first murder.

He turned -

Flick!

And all the lights in his house went out.

"Fuck!" he cried, shaking softly.

He glanced around, desperately waiting for his eyes to adjust.

Then... in front of him, a single blue eye opened, glowing against the darkness.

"Hello Zachariah Zulkowski." The voice was deep, calm and judging from the height of the eye that hovered in front of him, it belonged to a fur that was well over seven - maybe even eight - feet tall.

He snarled at the intruder. "Whoever you are, you have no idea who you're messing with!"

"I know exactly who you are, Zip-Zapper. In fact, it is because of your previous crimes that I am here."

"And who the fuck are you?" snarled the former supervillain.

"I?" There was a momentary pause. "You may refer to me as 'Chimera'."

"Chimera?" repeated Zachariah. "You mean that crazy fool going about trying to bring about another Gene War? The guy giving people superpowers and turning people into hyper-sexed, muscular furs?"

"Is that what they're saying about me?"

The sarcasm was disgusting. Zip-Zapper was no mastermind. He was just a villain. He didn't have some grand plan or scheme. He just stole, killed and did whatever he wanted for the hell of it. Villains like Chimera disgusted him, always plotting, always having layers upon layers of convoluted strategies. It would all go to naught in the end when the superheroes beat them. What was the point of all that effort?

Zip-Zapper preferred to have the momentary thrill of the heist, the knowledge that the lives he took would forever be stained on the heroes' paws and hands and that they could never get them back.

That was priceless even if he lost in the end.

Deciding to humour the supposed mastermind, he said, "If not to start another war, what the hell do you want?"

"You wouldn't be interested," answered Chimera. "You wouldn't care about my plots or schemes. You prefer to live in the moment and experience the thrill of murder, the rush of defiance and the ecstasy brought on by bringing about mass panic and anarchy."

He snorted loudly and started moving towards his lounge room. Standing on his metal leg for too long hurt. "So you've read about me then."

"No. I just know about you."

The former supervillian sat down on one of his lounge room seats. When he glanced back to where Chimera had been standing, the mastermind was gone. He heard claws dig into the headrest of his chair. Chimera was right behind him. "What do you want from me?"

Large wings seemed to wrap around Zachariah, blotting out any light streaming in from the windows and slowly. "What I want is to return you to your former glory bigger and better than ever."

"You want to turn me into a fucking fur with superpowers?" He snorted derisively. "Don't make me laugh. I don't need your charity and I sure as hell am not going to play a part in your twisted fucking game whatever the hell it is. You want a patsy, find someone else."

Pushing past the wings, he found that they had the oily texture of feathers. This was odd as all avian furs' wings were effectively their arms. Chimera seemed to possess wings like an angel...

"Not even if I could offer you Feral Steel?"

That made Zip-Zapper freeze just as he was halfway off the seat. Blood pumped through his veins at a speed he hadn't felt in a long time. A slight burning already began deep beneath his cheeks and images of crushing that arrogant wolf's neck beneath his heel flashed before his eyes. The couch found his fat rear back against its leathery surface.

"Keep talking."

"By the end of the week, Feral Steel will be retiring from the Elemental Alliance to head the Outsider group known as Arsenal based here in West California. This group consists of Weapons Master, Blade Babe, Blood Wolf, Flare Blue and Madman."

A snort left the overweight former villain. "So that's what you want. Take out their sponsor."

"No sponsor. No group. Few in the Alliance would be willing to assist _Arsenal_after the animosity between them in the past. Those that are willing would have to seriously consider their position if someone as legendary as Feral Steel fell in their defence."

Zachariah leaned back in his seat. Though it thought of killing Feral Steel left such a sweet taste in his mouth, his gut told him there was more to this than simply obliterating the one team that had thus far managed to thwart all of Chimera's plans.

"What's to stop those Outsiders from defending their sponsor? Blood Wolf is a full-blown super just like me and no matter how much electricity I throw, his control over blood will outdo me. Fuck, there's even Flare Blue, also a super despite his inexperience. I'd even seriously consider Blade Babe."

"Not Weapons Master?"

The villain shook his head and slammed a fist into the armrest of his chair. "Don't make me laugh. He moves like a brick and from what I gather, he doesn't know what he's doing half the time. When he changes, his moves become predictable." Zachariah shook his head. "I don't consider him a threat."

Chimera chuckled softly. "Then what if I told you I had a way of occupying them?"

Zip-Zapper turned slightly, eyes fixed on Chimera's one, blue eye. "So you guarantee that it will only be Feral Steel and I?"

"I swear that neither Blood Wolf, Flare Blue or even Blade Babe will interrupt you."

He turned away, still shaking his head. "You must think I'm dense. So you give me all this power and I take down Feral Steel. So what? They'll toss me into some prison like Bal-Mordain. Might even freeze me and leave me in space. Why the hell should I go along with that?"

Chimera suddenly moved away from him, moving soundlessly back towards the door. "Because your life as is now is little more than a joke. Not even a good one either. It is either you stay here and live the rest of your life in the past or you take my offer and give yourself one last rampage. Surely, Zip-Zapper deserves one last comeback?"

Zachariah Zulkowski weighed his options, mulling over the thought for all but one minute. Then, with all his strength, he pushed off his couch and stared directly at Chimera.

"Sign me up."

Through the shadows, he could see Chimera grin, his pearly white fangs. His one, blue eye shone with an unearthly glow.

Zachariah braced himself for incredible pain. When the tingling around his belly started he held his breath, his heart suddenly racing. Cold sweat began pouring down his brow as the tingling intensified, spreading further and further from his belly and up his chest, down his legs. Every fibre of old, unused muscles began rubbing against one another, flexing and relaxing rapidly. No pain came, just the unusual sensation of being massaged from beneath his skin. It was a gentle, pleasurable experience especially as it began to seep deeper and deeper into his muscles, reviving old strengths that had long since remained dormant.

The vibrations crept over his shoulders, making him roll them one at a time. A loud groan left his lips as it seeped down his back, causing the rolls of fat built from nearly two decades of inactivity to shake and shiver. He hunched forward, letting his arms dangle in front of him. The loose skin covering his saggy back began to grow taut, stretching loudly with the sound like a rubber band being pulled to its limits. For a moment, there discomfort as his skin was pushing back his plump rolls.

Fire seems to erupt deep within his muscles, erupting violently to greedily consume the warehouses of stored fuel within his back. Saggy flaps across his back began to bubble away, quickly overtaken by thick lats and mountainous traps. His spine became visible for the briefest of moments, every vertebrae being massaged and realigned to be rid of decades of bad posture to give him the perfect, upright spine of a man proud to stand tall. Then, those bony lumps vanished between the valleys of his muscular back.

Zachariah straightened with a gasp, throwing his head and arms back as the sensation began intensifying across his chest. His shirt fit for a man over two hundred pounds of fat suddenly hung loosely on his shoulders with the added space given by his back. That did not remain the case for long. Each shoulder began to strengthen, every piece of loose flabby skin being stretched and thinning out with the sudden expansion of the gelatinous muscle into rock-hard, corded steel. His muscles burst from the sleeves of his shirt, a thick vein running down from his shoulder and across his biceps spearheading the expansion.

He flexed his arms, face caught in an expression halfway between the joy of becoming so powerful again and the grimace of a power lifter flexing during a bicep curl. Sagging, almost wing-like arms began absorbing every ounce of fat that hung from them, converting them miraculously into muscle. Large, cannonball sized biceps bulged out from his arms coupled with even bigger triceps. Veins traced a path down the mounds of his upper arm across his lower, pumping them fresh with nutrients and turning the glazed hams his forearms had become into thick, lean slices of beef.

A new sensation suddenly filled him as the vibrations worked in two directions - across his chest and down his thighs. His changing body was stimulated in a whole different way it crept across his balls and cock. The groan that left his lips was louder than anything he had ever made as his long, muscular arms worked their way around his big belly and over to his hardening cock. His right hand seized the hard bulge there and his left seized the remnants of his shirt and tore it away. His thick, hairy chest covered in greying curls that had once been a golden blonde began to shake, his man-boobs jostling everywhere almost comically.

His groans turned into moans of lust as thick wads of precum began seeping through his thin shorts and leaking into his big hands. That lust was doubled as his nipples began stiffening beneath the thick layers of chest hair. His flabby chest began to tighten and he looked down with his tongue out and panting as the drooping points that had been his pectorals straightened out like someone had taken an iron against them. They hardened, filled with fresh, strong muscle and grew outwards to block his vision of his belly with his rock-hard nipples jutting out proudly.

Though he could not see it, he could feel his belly fat ebbing away, shrinking rapidly to supply the much-needed resources the rest of his body needed to grow. As his right hand was busy rubbing his hard, leaking cock against his shorts, his left rubbed his belly, enjoying the transition as the oblong shape began to start developing the tell-tale lumps of a six pack. A lewd grin crossed his features as he imagined how he would look now with his belly disappearing into six, hard, perfectly square shapes and his waist began to compress into the lean, V-shape that every bodybuilder strived for. He licked his lips, absolutely loving the _manliness_of his six-pack tampered with his thick belly hair.

Glancing down, his eyes widened when the strands of grey hair across his chest began to lose their silvery colour. Starting from their roots, the same golden colour he had enjoyed as a child began seeping up to the tips of the soft curls. People always said it was an unnatural gold, perhaps something to do with his origins as a super. A faint tickling scraped the bald spot on his head and he reached up with his left hand in awe. Beneath his fingers, he could feel strands of forgotten hair start to push out of his head.

The urge to see the changes happening to him became overwhelming and he rushed straight towards the bathroom. Every step he took doubled the vibrations in his legs, eating away at the fat that had gathered there and turning it into massive, chiselled quads. His calves bulged, straining his socks to their limit until even they began tearing at the seams. The metal that had been bound to his leg fell off like the pieces of his clothing revealing the firm, muscular flesh beneath. The shorts around his legs gave one last groan of effort before they tore away, falling in a trail of shredded cloth as he reached the bathroom door. His feet exploded out of his sandals but he barely cared.

He flicked on the lights the moment he stepped inside and turned towards the mirror. The man staring back at him was someone he did not recognise. Even at his prime, he had never been this fit, this buff or this handsome. His jaw popped and locked into a new chiselled, angled shape. His cheekbones were amazingly high and his green eyes shone like they had never before. The full head of hair helped as well.

Zachariah found himself going incredibly hard and with one feral growl, he tore off his underwear, awed at the eight inch tool leaking pre in his big, meaty hand. He smirked to himself, taking some of that pre and running it up his thick plump pecs, smoothing the chest hair there. As he reached down for another coating, the tips of his fingers began to feel a little strange.

He held his hand up at eye level. Black claws began jutting out from his fingers and following them was a layer of grey fur that slowly began to spread all over his arm. Though he knew this was coming, he was nonetheless surprised as the fur crawled up his big, meaty forearm and covered his entire arm. Longer strands of fur sprouted on his forearms, turning gold just like his chest hair. He immediately thought how manly it made him look. The fur rolled over his chest, thickening his golden chest hair but leaving its colouration. As it spread up his neck, it gently cupped his chin and stopped there for the briefest of moments.

Like he was growing hard all over again, his cock began to throb with blood. Even without looking, he felt it and his balls grow in size, thickening in his newly created paw. It stretched higher and higher up his chiselled six-pack abs until its tapered tip became visible in the bathroom mirror. Zachariah licked his lips. With one finger, he ran the leathery pads of his paw over the bare, red tip of his new bestial cock until he touched the tip of his sheath, shivering in delight. Briefly, he wondered if he would get a knot like a canine but that thought was feeling when he felt the brush of the bathroom fan's wind against his furry rump and the growing tail there.

Unwilling to let go of his twelve-inch monster meat, he leaned forward, catching his weight on the skin while he feverishly began stroking his cock. From behind him, a thick, fluffy tail sprouted. It was grey just like the rest of his body but this grey was broken by stripes of black. Most of his body finally transformed, the change seeped up his face, pushing his jaw and nose forward. Zachariah closed his eyes, the building pressure in his cock coinciding with the lengthening of his face into a long muzzle. He let out a building moan, wildly thrusting into his own paw as the fur spread over his features, turning his nose into a leathery black. The fur around his eyes became black just like the stripes of his tail and as his ears became triangular and pointed, the transformation completed.

"Fuck yes!" he shouted, throwing his head back. Thick wads of cum erupted from his fourteen inch cock, splattering all over the mirror. No inch of the reflective glass was left from the load coming from his massive, furry balls.

Zachariah fell back, his thick, bubble rump cushioning the blow entirely. He was in bliss and as he lifted his thick bicep, awed at the enormous muscles there, he grinned.

Even as the lights went out, he did not care.

"Now you are ready, Zip-Zapper."

He grinned at the one, blue eye of Chimera. "I'm not Zip-Zapper anymore."

******

Dinner at the Hale household was always a battle one way or another. Whether it was which of the boys could snatch the last pork chop, who hadn't eaten enough vegetables or who had splattered some gravy on Abby, the Hales were figuratively at each other's throats constantly. It was thirty minutes in and Lance and Leon were snarling at one another over the last fish when a soft ringing hit everyone's ears.

At first, they all turned to Caleb thinking that it was another call from Bren and the Outsiders. Caleb held up his paws showing that it wasn't coming from him even as he hand a string of noodles hanging from his muzzle in mid-slurp. When the ringing came again, the Hale patriarch stuffed the corn cob he had been munching on in his muzzle and reached into his pocket. Everyone, even Abby who had been loudly talking about her upcoming bridal registry through a mouthful of fish, stopped in her tracks.

David looked surprised as he regarded his phone. He pressed it to his ear and took out the cob.

"Hello?" David's brow furrowed in concern. "You're kidding me." He paused and a frown crossed his features. "Really?" Slowly, David Hale began to rise from his seat, his eyes finding focus on his half-eaten stack of food. "That's impossible." Then he rolled his eyes. "Yeah, I suppose... Alright. I'm on my way."

He hung up and gave an apologetic shrug to his family. "Sorry everyone, duty calls."

"Duty?" Lance repeated. He too was rising out of his seat. "Dad, you're not meant to be on call anymore."

David shrugged helplessly. "I know, son. But I've been called out."

Perking his ears, Caleb slurped up the noddles and asked, "Called out? As in you've been challenged?"

Lance gave his little brother a sad smile. "It's kind of an unwritten law when it comes to heroes versus villains. Villains get to challenge any super they want and that super must always fight. No excuses. No proxies. No stand-ins. If you don't, it's sort of like being outed as a chicken."

"So it's high school."

David pushed his chair back against the table. "It's just how things are, Caleb." He took a deep breath, looking nervous. Lillian Hale put down the fork she barely used and regarded her husband with concern in her eyes. David gave her a brave smile like a soldier going to war knowing the chances of him coming back were pretty much 50-50. David leaned down and kissed her on the cheek before hurrying towards the garage. "Finish your dinner, kids. I'll be back before you know it."

Leon winced loudly and even he shared in the worry that had fallen upon the family. "Dad, you know anyone who says that doesn't..." His voice trailed off.

Caleb slammed his paws into the table and got up. "We're coming with you."

David turned around, face firm and pointing a finger at Caleb. "No. You're not. Zip-Zapper is no push over."

Lillian looked up in surprise, practically spinning in her chair in the process. "Zip-Zapper? But the last time you faced him, you bound metal to his flesh! He couldn't use his powers without risking electrifying himself! How did come back from that?"

Shaking his head, David said, "Who knows? Maybe he got a skin graft or something. I don't know. And that's what makes him even more dangerous." He pointed again at Caleb, this time gesturing that he sit back down. "I'll take care of this. He's my villain. You boys stay here." His eyes snapped towards Lance. "That includes you."

Lance was halfway out of his seat, the "But I -" just out of his muzzle when David Hale growled at him. As the alpha of the house, all the pups had to obey and even the titanic Lance sat back down, ears folded and head ducked in apology.

David's fierce expression softened and he gave them all a courageous smile. "I'll be back. Count on it."

Then he was rushing out the door, no doubt flying to the Tower to get his gear and hurry to wherever Zip-Zapper had resurfaced. Caleb waited all but sixty seconds before he bolted out of his seat. His mother's protests died in her throat as he headed straight to the lounge room and flicked on the 3D TV. He didn't need to surf through channels very far as most stations were being interrupted by an emergency broadcast.

"Notorious supposedly retired supervillain Zip-Zapper has returned new and better - or worse - than ever."

"Yes, Diane. Over fifteen years ago, one of the founders of our very own Elemental Alliance and former outspoken anti-Outsider activist, Feral Steel, fought the electricity wielding supervillain in our very streets. Defeat was handed to the man when Feral Steel fused metal into his leg, ensuring that should Zip-Zapper ever attempt to control electricity again, he ran the risk of electrocuting himself if that electricity got close to him.

"Now this villain, supposedly deemed harmless by the Alliance and constantly monitored in his home in the southern suburbs, has returned not to his former glory but as something more. Our correspondence, Trisha, is on the scene in downtown West California."

The rest of the Hales had crowded around the couch with Lillian seating beside Caleb and gripping his paw tightly. The scenes shifted away from the two anchors of the news to a scene of devastation seen from a helicopter above.

"Tom, I'm here above the devastation that Zip-Zapper, now calling himself Zigzag-Zapper, has caused. Over four city blocks have been devastated by his new powers. And what's worse, he seems to have changed species!"

Caleb exchanged glances with Lance and they quickly turned back to the scene in front of them. No fire seemed to have started, thankfully but bolts of electricity were erupting from a single source - an incredibly buff, completely naked racoon hovering in the middle of the street. The bright yellow arcs of lightning lashed out wildly around him, shattering windows and cutting through concrete where it became focused enough.

"Come on, Steel!" the racoon shouted, throwing his paws up into the air. Twin bolts of lightning erupted from his paws, big and thick enough to cut through the sky. Even from their distance, Caleb and the rest of the Hales lightning could be seen through the window. "Come face the new and improved Zapper!" He brought his paws slamming down and like twin blades, the lightning crashed through the adjacent buildings, cutting through them like a hot knife through butter.

"Every minute you spend cowering in your Tower is another minute I destroy your precious city!"

Lillian shook her head, eyes wide in horror. "That can't be Zip-Zapper. He was a lean, skinny human. Okay, maybe he was athletic at one point but the last time he was checked on, he was a bald, fat man! That's... That's a fur!" Her voice was rising into a panic. "And he certainly couldn't fly! He was never that powerful either! What's going on here!?"

Caleb seized his mother's paw firmly just as Leon did the same with her shoulders. "Mom, remember there are Gene Stealers out there. This might be part of their plan." He didn't dare mention the fact that previously, Gene Stealers had never been able to infect other supers. But now, they had managed to change a supervillain and bolster his powers.

He quickly exchanged a glance with Leon, flicking his ear towards their panicked mother. Leon nodded in understanding, leaving Caleb to rise out of his seat and quickly walk around the back couch where Lance was standing. He firmly gripped Lance's beefy forearm and pulled him away from the sight. Abby took his place beside their mother but not before she cast a worried glance at them both.

"The Gene Stealers could never infect supers before," Lance hissed softly. "Is this their doing?"

"We can't rule that out," Caleb responded with a shake of his head. "And if it is part of their plan, dad is out there."

His older brother visibly blanched and his lips quivered in horror. "I am not going to let dad turn into some hyper-sexed, super-buff coon."

"Neither am I."

A shout erupted from couch and both boys turned in time to see Feral Steel, in all his glory, fly into the battlefield. The camera focused on the spandex-clad wolf as he came to hover about ten feet away from the electrified racoon, keeping his distance from the dancing bolts of electricity.

"Zip-Zapper, huh?" David Hale asked, his voice loud for the cameras and microphones a safe distance away. "I find that hard to believe."

The racoon smirked and spread his arms wide, showing off the thick bushes of golden fur jutting from his armpits."What's wrong? Is it so hard to believe that I could be the same weakling that you didn't have the conviction to put away and just left to slowly rot away in American suburbia!?" The fur pressed his fists against his hips. "Go ahead. Ask me anything that only I_would know."_

Their father's expression was unreadable from the distance but the mere pause spoke volumes. His lips moved but he didn't shout out his response as he had done previously. It was impossible to hear what he was saying especially from the distance of the watchers. Returning the favour, Zapper said something in almost a whisper.

Feral Steel's mask-like expression broke in shock and the decorated hero took one staggering step back.

"It really is him..." Lillian Hale whispered.

Caleb's heart plunged into a pool of fear. "We've got to go out there and support dad." He briefly glanced over at Lance. "There's nothing in your unwritten code about family coming to support their own, is there?"

Lance shook his head. "No." For the briefest of moments, Leon looked up and Lance flicked his ears back and forth in a strange pattern. Leon returned the gesture with his own display. "Come on. We've got to be quiet."

Keeping his head low, the two boys quickly moved out of the lounge room and straight into the garage. Both of them held their breath as the garage door slid open, waiting for that moment when their mother would come charging in from the kitchen demanding to know what they thought they were doing. For whatever reason, she did not come and Caleb hurriedly wheeled Ballistic out into the driveway, shoving on his helmet.

"Get on," Caleb said, leaping onto his new bike.

Lance smirked at him gestured at his watch. Caleb had never noticed before but the watch was definitely new. "No thanks. I got my own ride."

The bigger of the Hales pressed a button on the side of the device and for the briefest of moments, there was a green light that sparked from the face of the watch. Then, a soft, blue light erupted from the device and bathed Lance in its embrace. A moment later, the light faded and where his brother once stood, now was the official son of Feral Steel, Feral Fang, dressed in his tight-fitting, spandex uniform complete with extra holes for his four arms. Lance pulled his watch to his lips while holding down another button.

"Breaker, breaker. Come in. Pick up for priority one incident." He flashed a grin at Caleb. "I don't really have to talk like that but it's just _so_awesome."

It only took a moment but then a soft roaring filled Caleb's ears followed by a sudden, powerful breeze coming from above. He lifted his paw to shield his eyes from the gale while glancing upwards Right before his eyes, a bright, electrical light flashed over an invisible shape. His jaw dropped as a sleek, black aircraft phased into existence and slowly began to descent on the street. The folded wings were positioned perfectly to allow for the powerful turbines that allowed it to vertically move without hindrance. The snug two-seater cockpit was already occupied by a kangaroo who gave Lance a big thumbs up.

"What the...?" Caleb began.

"Remember how Dad said that he gave us both a gift?" Lance said, grinning as he leapt up onto the side of the small plane. "Well, he gave me a VTOL jet." The bigger of the Hale twins flicked his tail. "Jealous."

"Little bit," he admitted, awed at the sleek, mean shape of the vehicle. It didn't look armed, though. "Who's the roo?"

As the cockpit sprang open, the marsupial waved a paw at him. "Hey there, mate! Name's Cory. I'm seein' yer bro."

Lance's fur fluffed out and he immediately leapt into the cockpit, big paws wrapping around his boyfriend's muzzle. "Dude! He doesn't know yet!"

Cory mumbled an apology just as Lance gave Caleb a look of regret.

"Erm... Uh..." Lance began.

"This isn't the time or place," Caleb said, waving his paw at them both. "I'm going to head over to the Facility to grab my gear. Go support dad. Make sure neither of you get infected! I'm the only one allowed to transform into big, hyper-sexed beasts."

Whether that was relief or panic on Lance's face, the youngest of the Hales couldn't tell. The cockpit to the jet shut and the entire vehicle lifted off the ground, smoothly and quietly. It jetted off towards the city, vanishing from view as its cloaking field came active once more. Caleb spent a minute longer than he should have watching the couple go.

Cramming his helmet on his head, he jumped onto Ballistic and revved the engine. His heart was pounding in his chest but not because he was rushing off to save his father. The blood that bubbled in his veins was angry but he didn't understand why. The cause was obvious but he questioned why he should be so angry at Lance for having found Cory. He sat up on Ballistic and took a deep breath, knowing full well that it was a mistake to be riding through the city angry.

"It's because he found someone else so soon."

Rhiannon's paw gently landed on his as she leaned against the front of Ballistic.

"What are you doing here?" Caleb demanded, his voice dripping with more venom than he had intended.

Her cheery, semi-psychotic smile was gone. Her features were shaped in a look of genuine sympathy. "Though my powers have been limited, I can still sense sources of great destruction. Whether that is a volcano erupting, a supervillain on a rampage or..." Those red eyes of hers lowered to Caleb's chest. "... a heart breaking, I can sense them."

Unwilling to speak of his heart, Caleb said, "Just what are your powers, limited as they are?"

"For the most part, illusion," she responded with a shrug. "Little bit of matter conversion, teleportation and, as mentioned before, the ability to sense danger." She waved her paw at him, Caleb suddenly felt his shirt and pants grow tighter and when he looked down, he found himself staring at his uniform as Weapons Master.

"Go," Rhiannon urged. "Your father needs you."

Nodding, he switched Ballistic to Weapons Mode, ducking as the canopy pressed him down against the sleek shape. "One thing," he asked. "Was this caused by Chimera?"

The Hound of Destruction shook her head sadly. "I wish I could say but Chimera, the Gene Stealers and indeed most of their spawn are opaque to our foresight. I wish I knew why but that's just how it is. We have to deal with it."

"That's pretty much was Arcturus said," he grumbled.

Now a little calmer, Caleb kicked up Ballistic and drove fast and hard. As he drew closer to the site of battle, he could see bolts of electricity bigger than anything nature could conjure shooting through the air. Sirens were wailings and every now and then, someone screamed. He switched on the radio and the news was inundated with panicked and worried reports of how Feral Steel found his match in Zigzag-Zapper.

"Wait! What's this? What's that falling form the sky? Look!"

Even through the radio, he heard the thunderous crash that Caleb suspected was Lance leaping out of his cloaked plane and entering the battlefield.

"Invisible plane," he scoffed loudly. "Stupid idea..." He instantly felt guilty for the comment, knowing it came from spite.

"It's Feral Fang, Feral Steel's son! Will this father-son combo finally beat this naked, lightning-shooting racoon?"

He listened intently to the commentator's blow-by-blow run through of how the two Ferals were dealing against Zapper. From all appearances, it didn't sound good.

"Zapper has the perfect mix of ranged and melee combat. Though not as big as the titanic Feral Fang, he is fast and his blows strike just as hard as the four-armed behemoth. At the same time, he can keep Feral Steel at bay with his lightning bolts. God... This is a massacre! They haven't landed a single hit!"

As the city came into view, Caleb found several police officers blocking roads. The moments they saw his black and silver bike, however, they began ushering people to move aside. Still, they weren't moving fast enough. As the commentator began speaking of how Zapper somehow manifested pure electricity into a hand and had just smashed Lance into the ground, Caleb threw aside all thoughts of anger and flicked on the experimental Time-Space Fold Engine.

There was brief shimmering across all of Ballistic and the crowd gasped as it showed no signs of slowing. The bike itself became semi-transparent and as it moved, it left a faint, vertical trial of blue light. Caleb's heart skipped a beat as drew close to the barricade, fighting the urge to stop. He shut his eyes briefly at the moment of impact... and when he didn't feel the pain of a crash, he opened them again, watching the faces of people pass _through_him as he zoomed towards the battlefield.

"Awesome!" he laughed. "Way better than an invisible plane."

He growled at himself for the comment and hunkered down, watching the power left in the engine. A bolt of lightning arched above him, slamming into a nearby building and shattering the windows. Shards of glass the size of Ballistic came crashing down around him, passing through him harmlessly. The air sizzled with electricity causing his fur to stand on end.

"Wait! What's that noise? Is that -?"

Caleb shot right through the section of newscasters trying to push past one another and the police barricade to get a better view of the battle. The police officers gawked as Weapons Master passed through them and came to a screeching halt right on the edge of the electrified battlefield. He pushed back the canopy and slammed his fist against the panel on his right. There was a soft musical chime followed by delicate traces of soft, blue light that erupted from the panel. The light stretched out towards him even as he pushed the left 'wing' of Ballistic open and stepped off the bike. The gentle tendrils of light wrapped around his shoulders and arms, quickly forming the familiar bone-white arm armour and spotted cape of Funny Bone.

"Holy shit! I think that's Weapons Master! And he doesn't have his hood! Norm! Are you seeing this? Is that what Weapons Master actually looks like!?"

Ignoring the awed expressions of the police, newscasters and probably all of West California Island. In front of him was a scene right from hell. Zigzag-Zapper hovered about ten feet in the air, encased in an orb of pure electricity that arced and lashed out around him. The asphalt was cracked and shattered, often speared by large slabs of metal where Feral Steel had attempted to skewer the villain. The buildings all around them were warped and twisted, smashed in certain areas where Feral Fang had crashed through it. Beyond the grey and black racoon, Feral Steel crouched beside his injured son, both of them bleeding profusely. Feral Fang had one eye shut, blood dripping from his brow and barely holding himself up on his paws and knees.

Zigzag-Zapper turned in mid-air, catching sight of Caleb. The racoon looked momentarily surprised. "So... Weapons Master. The kid who thought he could be a hero. Don't you know you should never show your face to the public?" Zapper's features split in a grin. "I might just end up going after your family next!"

A white figure suddenly stepped up beside Caleb. "Don't let him shake you," Rhiannon said. "He doesn't know who you are."

"Rhiannon?"

The Hound of Destruction winked at him. "Don't worry. He can't see me. Remember, I'm here to help. I'll be your second pair of eyes." The Hound smiled at him, not crazy, evil or hinting any sort of malice; genuine. "And just call me Rhia." She pointed at Zigzag-Zapper. "Now look forward and wipe that shocked expression from your face. You don't want to look crazy."

Caleb readjusted his features and lifted his armoured fists, ready to engage in battle.

"I need to see how he fights before I can give you a proper analysis," Rhiannon said. She leaned forward slightly, pressed a finger against her ear. She had a communicator there. "Elliot says that Zapper, in his prime, was capable of shooting out over 10 million volts of electricity if he focused really hard. So far, he's only discharged about half that. He might be holding back."

With Elliot and Rhiannon on his side, he suddenly felt a little more secure about fighting a souped-up supervillain. The thought of this being the first time he actually fought a real super left a pit in his stomach but one glance as this battered father and brother filled that pit with grim determination.

"Nothing to say?" Zapper scoffed softly. "Wannabe hero indeed. Go home to your family, kid. Leave this to the real supers."

Caleb snarled. On either side of him, large, ethereal hyenas sprang from the ground. Their dark laughter filled the air and even Zapper seemed perturbed by their appearance. "I don't need to be a super to beat you."

That seemed to spark the villain's confidence and he slowly descended to the ground, his bare paws landing on the shattered asphalt. "We shall see." He pulled his paw back, lightning gathering between his fingers to form a single bolt. "Dance, kid, dance!"

Zapper threw the bolt. Caleb was already moving before it even left his paws, dashing to his left with large spikes of pure white bone erupting from the ground ahead of him at his mental command. The bolts easily crashed through the bones but dissipated upon contact. He kept running, making a beeline for his family. Zapper laughed as he purposefully kept shooting bolts that missed the Outsider, enjoying the hunt.

Caleb skidded to a halt beside Feral Steel, resting a paw against his father's back.

"What are you doing here?" David growled. "It isn't safe."

"Steel," Caleb snapped back, "you've been training me for a day like this. We're in this together." His eyes locked with Lance's. "All of us. It's not safe anywhere." Then in a whisper so that the cameras couldn't hear, he added, "Not for us. Not for mom, not for Leon, not for Abby, Arthur or anyone else. But with us together..."

David's eyes lit up and he gave Caleb a weary grin. "We can make it safe."

"Actually I was going to say we can make sure it's not safe for assholes like him too but sure, your way works too."

Lance let out one laugh which was echoed by Zigzag-Zapper.

"Now that you're all in one, nice group," laughed the racoon, electricity forming into balls between his fingers. "I'll give you the shock of your life!"

Caleb suddenly got up. "Hey Zapper!" The villain balked, frowning at him. "You're an asshole."

The villain looked startled then he smirked. Whatever cocky remark building in his throat died there. An ethereal hyena's powerful jaws clamped hard on the racoon's ass, its ghostly visage unaffected by the lightning emanating from him. The racoon let out a loud yelp and leapt into the air. He didn't get far as several more hyenas pounced, their jaws wrapping around his legs and dragging him back down.

"Now! Now! Now!" David shouted. "Surround him! Move!"

"Fang!" Caleb shouted. "Toss me!"

"You got it!" Lance replied, cupping his lower set of arms. Caleb jumped onto the offered vault and braced himself. Lance's super-strength threw him clear over the struggling Zigzag-Zapper. He somersaulted twenty feet through the air and called upon the power of Funny Bone. A whole staircase made entire of the white bone erupted from the ground, catching his descent and allowing him to dash down its length back to Ballistic.

He hit the panel of Branding Iron and spun back towards Zapper.

The racoon let out cry of fury, lightning erupting from his body. His mighty fists slammed into the hyenas as they began to vanish, _Funny Bone's_power receding. The bulky villain got to his feet, blood dripping from the various wounds on his body. They healed right before Caleb's eyes. Worse, thick veins bulged across the coon's body around the wounds. Muscles that were already big enough to put bodybuilders to envy grew even bigger. Showing no shame whatsoever, Zapper's cock rose to full attention, springing up between his massive, valley-like pecs and spewing precum like a faucet.

"I'll kill you all!" Zapper roared.

A massive, steel pillar suddenly sprang up from the ground beside the electrified supervillain, jabbing at him from an angle and causing him to stagger to the right. Momentarily stunned, Zapper didn't see Lance rushing at him. The massive, four-armed lupine caught Zapper around the waist, shrugging off the bolts of lightning that emanated from the coon. Lance slammed Zapper back into the metal pillar, his upper arms descending over and over and _over_again in crushing blows. The force of these very same blows cracked and shattered the pillar behind them.

Lance let out a thunderous roar. He lifted the dazed and limp villain over his head and sent him crashing down against his knee.

Caleb could hear the back-breaking blow make impact from where he stood and the crowd behind him joined in his wince.

Zapper was allowed to slump to the ground, all arcs of lightning around him fading at his defeat. Lance let out a sigh of relief, massive, cannonball sized shoulders sagging. Feral Steel flew over to his son, panting and wiping away the blood that draped his brow. Both Ferals looked over to Caleb, grinning brightly.

The media would have a field day of this.

"Caleb! He's not down!"

Rhiannon's cry made him glance towards Zapper as the racoon's huge arm bulged with renewed strength, growing even bigger than it already was. It was like looking at mechanical crane's arm given flesh. It reached up, seizing Feral Steel's leg and yanking him clear off the ground. Zapper rose, coming to tower close to Lance's height. He held a stunned David Hale by one leg in the air.

"You won't defeat me again!" shouted the villain and he swung Feral Steel over his head, sending him crashing into Lance like one would throw a sack of potatoes. His eyes, bright and glowing yellow, turned towards Caleb. "I'll crush you like a bug!"

"Run!" Rhiannon shouted.

Caleb instantly swung the gladius of Branding Iron. At his mental command, four crystal minotaurs sprang up to flank him. Zigzag-Zapper rushed at them, each of his steps shaking the ground. Turning, Caleb let his minotaurs act as a distraction as he bolted towards a nearby office building. Despite being made of crystal, the minotaurs were surprisingly durable and the managed to use their combined strength and their massive axes to halt Zapper's charge.

That would not last long as bolts of lightning erupted from the racoon, shattering them one by one.

Caleb entered the darkness of the office building and immediately threw himself over the receptionist's desk. The soft whump of his rump landing on the tiled floor was followed by the loud _boom_of Zapper charging through the automated doors and shattering them completely.

"Where are you, little pup!?" Zapper snarled. "Let me show you what _real_supers are capable of!"

Rhiannon appeared in front of Caleb and she quickly pressed a finger against her lips, ushering him to silence.

"Listen to me," she said softly. "Something is strange about Zapper. I've observed that he seems to gain more bulk and more power the more damage he takes. Elliot has done the math. The growth is not proportionate to the damage. Regardless of how much damage you deal, he will grow at the same rate."

"You know what I'm going to do to you?" growled the racoon, his thunderous footsteps growing closer. "I'm going to rip open your ass with this big, motherfucking cock of mine until you're split in two! I'm going to wear you like a fucking broken condom and spray my load all over your buddies out there so they can watch just what a fucking, useless, _wannabe_you are!"

"He seems to be losing his sense the stronger he gets as well," Rhiannon said with a frown. "Before, when your father and brother didn't even hit him, he was playing safe and fighting tactically. Now, he's restored to vulgarity and brute strength." She nodded at him. "Find some way to deal as little damage as possible. Play to his arrogance."

Caleb glanced at Branding Iron. It was too powerful. He handed his gladius and tower shield to Rhiannon and quickly scanned his surroundings for something, anything, that would help him.

Pencil... He seized it and it was wrapped in the soft blue light of his power. When it faded, he found himself gripping what looked like a pencil-themed rocket launcher. One shot.

"Damnit..."

Stapler... He took hold of it and like the penicil let his unique power funnel through it. A chain wrapped around his arm and linked to it was a brutal, fanged gauntlet. Shaking his head, he tossed it aside and reached for the computer.

His eyes fell on the printer stocked full of paper beside the console.

Shrugging he pressed his paws against it, channelling his power through the squat machine. A soft, blue light erupted from the contact, quickly engulfing the entire machine as blue-white feathers sprang from it. The silhouette of the printer reshaped itself, landing securely in Caleb's paws as a chalk-white Tommy gun with a strange, wide, rectangular barrel.

A shadow suddenly fell over him and he glanced upwards, staring directly into Zapper's blazing, yellow eyes.

"There you are!"

Not knowing what else to do, Caleb levelled the gun upwards and pulled the trigger.

There was no muzzle flare, just the soft whooshing of several paper shuriken shooting out of the muzzle and striking Zigzag-Zapper across his face. The racoon pulled back, screaming in agony as the sharp edges of the paper cut into his fur and caused very small paper cuts.

Caleb bolted around the receptionist's desk and out of the office building. He stole a glance over his shoulder. True to her word, Zapper's body bulged, growing stronger and bigger. His head was almost completely consumed by his thick shoulder, looking comical amongst the sea of muscles. Curiously, he had stopped gaining height.

The massive racoon let out a roar, catching sight of him and charging. Though his steps shook the earth, they were slow and cumbersome. What super speed he may have possessed seemed to have been cancelled out by his sheer mass.

Caleb spun, levelling his gun at the charging fur. "Paper Cut Power!"

Hundreds of tiny, paper shuriken shot out of the tip of the gun, somehow maintaining their trajectory and momentum even despite the distance. The racoon was peppered with the seemingly harmless projectiles, cutting into his flesh and causing even more growth. Huge muscles began to consume the extremities of his body. His paws seemed so miniscule against the thick forearms that could have doubled over as a vascular, stone pillar. Every step he tool looked like his feet were getting crushed by his weight alone.

Caleb easily scrambled to his left as the villain's progress slowed almost to a crawl. Zapper tried to snatch him from the ground but even his thick arms that could have played a full grown feral cow like an accordion couldn't reach past the huge, mountainous pecs with nipples hard and erect, as big as Caleb's head. Zapper turned but it was like trying to watch the world spin on its axis. There was obvious progress but it was slow.

Almost pityingly, Caleb walked a circle around Zapper, shooting paper shuriken at him. Zapper tried to summon lightning, thick bolts of electric yellow energy lashing out like a vicious serpent. However, Caleb was still faster and by the time the lightning manifested, Caleb was behind him. Zapper threw his head back with a frustrated roar. Desperate to strike his aggressor even though he was out of sight, Zapper unleashed a dome of electricity erupted from around him, spreading outwards rapidly but it fell short of Caleb, dissipating before it could even reach him.

Caleb fired at Zapper one last time. The racoon's balls grew so big that it would have taken a snowplough to carry them. With a cock so big and thick that it reached well past his head, the racoon gave in to his sheer mass and toppled backwards, falling on his big - admittedly muscled - rump and flailing his overly muscular limbs feebly. His electrical powers were still immense, bolts of lightning shooting out of him capable of devastating entire buildings but his control over it seemed to have waned. There was only rage and animal instinct in his eyes and each attack was uncoordinated, lashing out at Caleb who just took one step away from the predictable strike.

Weapons Master tossed his paper cut gun to the ground. "It's over," he declared.

******

The media had two things to go nuts over.

First was the fact that Feral Steel and Feral Fang worked cooperatively with an Outsider and they seemed to acknowledge it. Even with the reforms that had started three weeks ago, Feral Steel had been quite on his stance on the Outsiders so everyone assumed he was quietly fuming in the background. However, seeing him and his son working alongside the notorious Weapons Master and being saved by the very same Outsider sent them into a frenzy.

But even that was dulled by the fact that Weapons Master stood in front of the impromptu press conference without a mask or a hood, his identity supposedly revealed.

"Weapons Master! Weapons Master!" shouted a human woman near the front of the crowd. She was thrusting a microphone at him, trying to get as close as possible despite the lines of police trying to keep her back. "Amanda Bryden from the Channel 10 news. Can you tell us why you've chosen to go without any form of disguise?"

Cameras flashed everyone, obviously trying to permanently capture the face of Weapons Master. On some of the few televisions that still worked in the shop windows, Caleb could see if his face. Though he appeared normal, as he always did, he wondered what everyone else saw.

"Why have chosen now to reveal your identity?" bellowed another informant.

"Aren't you scared for your family and loved ones?"

"Is this some protest against the supers and the Outsider Reforms?"

Lost for words, Caleb was unsure what to do.

Thankfully, his father was there.

Feral Steel stepped up beside him, resting a paw on his shoulder. "Let me ask you all a question," he said, holding up his other paw. "What does the wolf before you look like?" He pointed at Amanda. "You, Ms. Bryden. Describe Weapons Master's appearance."

Amanda frowned briefly. "Well... He has brown-red fur, blonde hair and blue eyes. Why?" There was a moment of silence... and then confused murmuring. Amanda glanced around her in confusion. "What?"

"You," David said, pointing at someone else. "What do you see?"

"He's got black fur all over."

"No he doesn't! He's got white and red!"

"What? That's not true! He's golden blonde!"

Before the media could throw themselves into a riot, Feral Steel held up his paws, a smile on his muzzle and gestured them all to silence. "Ladies and Gentlemen, what you see before you is no trick. Yes, Weapons Master does stand before you without a face mask or a hood but rest assured his identity is still very well defended." He waved a paw at Caleb's sleeveless body armour and shorts. "The garb you see before you in fact scrambles your perceptions of his appearance. Some of you will see him as having blonde hair, others brown. He might have white fur to some and red to others. All of you will be wrong."

Proudly, Feral Steel puffed out his chest and said, "This is just one of the changes Arsenal is making to their public appearance as West California Island's official Outsider team. It makes them more approachable and ensures that the public does not see them as some hooded vigilantes skulking about in the shadows going behind the Alliance's back." He clapped Caleb's shoulder proudly. "They have our complete blessing."

The crowd immediately erupted into another barrage of questions.

"What inspired you to come up with the name Arsenal?"

"When will we get to see the other members?"

"Who is your sponsor?"

Feral Steel grinned broadly and he pointed at the male cougar who had asked that last question. "Ah excellent question there." He turned to Caleb, beaming brightly. "Though I had hoped to save this moment until the end of the week, I suppose this is the perfect time to announce my retirement from the Elemental Alliance..."

Caleb had to hand it to his dad, he knew how to milk the crowd with that dramatic pause. Off to the right, supervising Zigzag-Zapper's incarceration, Lance gave Caleb a big thumb's up and a proud smile.

"... and my new role as sponsor to Arsenal."

******

"And that is why, despite my ability to infect other supers, we do not."

The Gene Stealers, all of them gathered in their hideout, watched as the police officers and clean-up crews shackled the prone and raging Zigzag-Zapper with special, anti-super devices. The racoon had eyes only on Weapons Master, constantly trying to attack the wolf and completely ignoring all else.

"All his brain turned to muscle," Spider Queen scoffed with, lifting her hand delicately to her lips. "All testosterone and nowhere for it to go. He's disgusting."

Dragon Knight turned slowly towards Chimera who remained forever in shadow. "I do not understand. What happened to him?"

It was Shark Tamer, the scientist of the group who answered. The geneticist grinned, showing of his big, sharp teeth. "Our Lord Chimera gave Zachariah Zulkowski a raw dose of what we are trying so hard to refine. It is the problem we faced with our Generation 1s. They became animalistic, incapable of rational thought besides fornication and population. They were hard to control. But this is worse..."

Wendigo growled, his wicked claws scratching at the black surface of the table in front of them. "Every time he was struck, he grew. That has never happened before."

Shark Tamer chuckled. "That is because his regeneration was doubled. He was already a super to begin with and that meant he had baseline super powers. However, our Lord Chimera has the power to grant these very same powers to others as you've seen but they stack_on what is already there!" The shark threw his head, laughing. "Whenever he was struck, his regeneration not only repaired the damage, but it built _more muscle on top of what is already there!"

On the far end of the room, the newest member of the Gene Stealers, Gnoll, nodded slowly. "And the more he changed, the more of his sanity left him. Again, the same issue with the Gen 1s." His eyes lifted to look straight at Chimera. "So why not just grant this power to Outsiders or the normal people? Why do we have to go through these tests?"

For the first time during the whole meeting, Chimera spoke. "Because power cannot simply be granted. It must be earned. We have already discerned the importance of emotion in the development of superpowers. Zachariah had nothing behind his actions. He didn't want vengeance. He didn't want justice. All he wanted was just to destroy for the sake of it. Without purpose, power is equivalent to handing an armed gun to a child. They will play with it and they will just hurt themselves and everyone else around them."

Slowly, the leader of the Gene Stealers rose. "Our subjects must refine their own powers, grow strong on their own so that we may discover the way to temper the gift that I grant in such a way that it does not lead to maniacs like that."

Chimera turned, his big, black wings causing those beside him to veer away.

"Continue the experiments. Deploy Ursa."