"Yes, but even then conditions are never a.s.sured to grant me more life. It takes time to find suitable replacements, especially ones who are in need of my Lord's redemption."

Jason stopped him, "You're sick Joshua. I-I don't even know where to begin." Do I kill him? Do I have that right? What am I supposed to do?

Joshua set the blade and the notepad he'd kept with him through his tale on the table before him. "I have a list for you Jason." He tapped the notepad twice, "Names and addresses and sins. Find them and bring them to me"

"Why the h.e.l.l would I help you?" Jason snapped.

Joshua remained still and told him he too was chosen. "How is it you believe to be alive? It is because our Lord willed it."

"Your G.o.d has nothing to do with me," Jason told him. "You are delusional Joshua and you need help."

"I need your help, Jason," he tapped the notepad twice more, "You have been selected for a unique task."

"I am not a butcher."

"No, you are a savior," Joshua a.s.sured him. "And I need you to save these people."

Jason shook his head and denied Joshua. "You're done. This stops here and now."

Joshua frowned and asked him if he truly refused to answer his master's call. "You are meant for greatness, my boy."

Jason felt his hair stand on end, "Please Joshua, stop this now."

The elderly man only shook his head and placed his hands on the edge of the table. "I am very sorry for all of this then, Jason. As I said, you were meant for great things, yet you too have squandered your gifts."

"That isn't really for you to determine."

"You may not believe it to be so, but you have forgotten something key boy," the man frowned, "I've studied you, I've dissected you, and I know how you work. And I know your weakness."

"Really? You happen to have a diamond blade with you?"

Todd shook his head, "I wasn't talking about that Jason. I meant the radiation coursing through your veins." He cracked a smile and told Jason the radiation was killing him. "And I believe I have made proper precautions in case you did try to stop me. I am only sorry you have forced me to use them. Goodbye Jason."

Jason heard an extremely high pitched whine from above him and before he could react the roof exploded and buried him in debris. A searing pain crippled him. Jason struggled to remain conscious and failed to understand why he failed to recover. Joshua inspected him as Jason's mind fogged. How? Why wasn't I more careful? How... Jason slowly closed his eyes and blacked out.

4:27 PM.

Kenmore, Washington Jessica cleared the mess from the peanut b.u.t.ter and banana sandwich Michael requested. He asked specifically for a peanut b.u.t.ter and banana sandwich, because he feared bananas might become an endangered species and wanted as many of them as he could possibly get before the dreaded extinction occurred. However, upon being presented with the sandwich, Michael ate the crust and announced his plan to save the middle of the snack for later.

The little boy sat cross-legged in front of the family's small television and enjoyed the commercials before the five o-clock news began. Michael leaned closer and listened intently to an ad for men's shaving cream.

He laughed suddenly and said to his sister, "Knock knock."

She looked at him with a perplexed expression, but played along with his game rather than question him. "Who's there?"

"Boo."

"Boo who?"

"Don't cry, it's a joke!" he told her as he burst into a fit of giggles as the doorbell rang.

Jessica rolled her eyes as she left to answer the door. When she opened it, she was surprised to find Nick on her doorstep, unannounced. She hadn't seen him in over a month, but she felt a definite change in the way he held himself, his confidence, and even his physical stature.

He started their conversation by asking for a favor. "I've got a friend in a..." he paused to think of the appropriate word, but settled, "A situation, that I'm not sure how to handle."

"What are you talking about Nick?"

"I'm not really sure how to say it," he sighed, "But a friend of mine is in a bit of trouble."

"Trouble with the law?"

He shook his head and said it wasn't that simple.

Jessica agreed to help him as best she could and invited him in. They didn't managed to get very far, as her younger brother dashed up to Nick, stopped him, and asked where his coat was.

Nick smiled and told him his girlfriend had it. "Why do you ask?"

Michael frowned and mumbled that he wanted to count the holes in it. He started to walk away and hummed to himself.

Jessica rolled her eyes and asked what Nick needed as they headed into her room so she could access her laptop. "What's all of this really about Nick?"

He admitted that his friend Laruen was a target of the MP3 a.s.sa.s.sin and that he wanted to learn everything he could so he could save her. "Right now we're holed up in a secret base of sorts..." he looked at her, let out a breath, and asked if she could keep a secret.

She nodded, but stopped him before he could continue and told him she was already aware of his ability.

"You are?"

She repeated that she was and mentioned the video of him with Ghost she saw through REFOIA. Jessica hesitated to ask, but managed to find the words to inquire why he was with an a.s.sa.s.sin in the first place.

Nick told her it was a complex matter, and that he couldn't get into it then. "Basically, he's the one who taught me how to use my ability the way I can now."

"Okay, but weren't you terrified just being near him?"

He shook his head and asked why he would be. "Strom isn't that different from anyone else."

"Nick, he kills people for a living."

He reddened and admitted that Strom was guilty of that, but he stood by the belief that Strom wasn't as evil as she perceived him to be. "He's not a bad guy."

"But Nick"

"Jess," he stopped her, "Could we just move on?"

She blinked and slowly agreed. "I'm not sure what you need from me Nick. We ran a search for the a.s.sa.s.sin about a month ago and I doubt the information's changed at all."

"I know." He scratched the back of his head and asked what she thought he could do to protect Laruen. "She's back in Seattle with Strom, and I think she'll be fine, but she can't stay there forever. And even so, if Daltonthe a.s.sa.s.sin, ever found us, I'm not sure if I could save her."

"What do you mean?"

He told her about how the charlatan attacked and killed Lauren's parents, how he had an opportunity to kill him, but didn't even try to stop him. "I don't know what I'll do when he actually finds her."

Jessica looked away from him and asked whether Lauren had an ability, which Nick told her she didn't. "So there's no way for her to really defend herself, is there?"

He shook his head, "No, not really."

"What about Strom?"

Nick asked if she heard about the Dafu attack at the Seattle Art Museum, which she had, and explained the part the media left out. "Strom was there, with this group of people I amwell, a group I was a.s.sociated with, but Dalton attacked and wounded him."

She frowned and asked why it wasn't in the news. Jessica ran a search for the Dafu's attack of the Seattle Art Museum through REFOIA and it didn't even have the information Nick revealed to her. "But he's injured?"

"Yes."

"Badly?"

"I doubt he could hold a gun if one was presented to him," he admitted.

"Then why do you think Lauren's safe?"

He mentioned that the hideout was well secluded, locked from both the inside and outside, and that unless someone told Dalton about it, he'd never find it.

Jessica asked if he could get her out of the country, but he said it wasn't an option, as her mother and father were well respected individuals, and wherever she went there would be a news article about it and eventually Dalton would catch up with her.

She paused a moment and gave Nick's situation some thought. "You said you know for a fact that the MP3 a.s.sa.s.sin and this mystery killer are in league with one another now?"

"Yes."

"Then do you think they were involved in your brother's murder, as well as that of whomever that woman was that was killed at Jordan's work?"

He nodded and said he did. "Why?"

She frowned and said he might have a larger problem than he realized. "If the MP3 a.s.sa.s.sin and the unknown killer are a partnership, then you may have to deal with both of them if Laruen is ever attacked." She looked at Nick's sudden melancholy and asked if he thought he could still protect her.

"I don't have much of a choice, do I? I mean, I can't leave her to deal with all of this on her own," he muttered. He rubbed his eyes and told her it was his fault he didn't save her parents in the first place.

"Nick, you can't place the blame on yourself. You didn't kill them and I'd like to believe that you've never done anything like this before, right? So I'd say it's a miracle he didn't kill you and this girl as well."

Nick nodded, but still said he felt responsible. "I've got to figure this out though."

"Well, are you willing to kill either of these two murderers?"

He said he didn't want to.

"Then how can you ensure her safety from these two without killing them?" she asked. "If you stopped them from killing her, but left them alive, they'd only return to try to finish the job so long as someone wanted to pay them for the deed. Which raises another point Nick, you'd have to find and stop, or kill, the person who hired them."

"And I don't have a clue as to who that might be."

"Then this isn't the easiest situation to rectify Nick." She didn't want to say it, but told him that in order to save Lauren he might have to step beyond his moral code to save his friend. "I don't want to sound harsh, but this isn't something you can take lightly and base all of your decisions around a moral code. These people don't follow what you believe and will kill you if they know you're not up to killing them."

"I know, but that doesn't change anything."

Jessica looked at him and asked why he thought it wasn't justified to fight for someone's life like that. "If someone tried to kill my brother, or any one of my friends or family for that matter, I wouldn't hesitate to kill them first, so long as I could save whoever I wanted to protect."

Nick asked her if she thought murder was ever justifiable, which Jessica said she didn't believe it ever was.

"This is different Nick. This is something people debate over in ethics courses around the world, and you're in it. There isn't a right or wrong answer in my opinion, and I truly doubt there is anyone who knows." She waited a moment before she told him this situation was entirely in his hands. "You've got time to think this over too. It's not as if they're knocking on your door."

"I know," he said. "It feels like they are, but..." He stopped and simply told her he never thought he'd have to make this decision.

Jessica frowned and told him it wasn't fair, but he still had to choose. "If you asked me Nick, I'd say signs point to you killing these guys." She explained her reasoning by reminding him that his ability consisted of his creation and duplication of firearms, his ability to be bulletproof, his a.s.sociation with one of the most notorious a.s.sa.s.sins in the world, and the fact that his brother was killed by an a.s.sa.s.sin. "I don't believe in G.o.d," she told him, "But I would go so far as to say it almost looks as though someone from above is giving you the okay here Nick." She added that she was sorry she couldn't help more, but told him it wasn't something she really had a hand in. "Just think it over and do what you feel is right."

September 29th, 2029 12:36 PM.

London, England Although Ian still felt like a tourist, he already loved his new home. He spent a good amount of his spare time sightseeing and trying local cuisine, as well as photographing his expeditions across London. His gallery expanded much faster than he initially expected, but it was what he loved and soon enough it would be his livelihood too. Ian found a job at a small photography shop where his primary duties were taking portraits and handling prints. He didn't start for another week so naturally he tried to use the rest of his freedom to its full extent. However, Ian's double life as Voltage kept him sleeping through most of the day, so when Ian did venture out into the afternoon, his time was limited. His social life hardly existed either. Beyond occasional video calls with Coop and Wally, Drake was the only person Ian had contact with. Drake constantly wanted to transport him to Dubai or Tokyo for exploring or lunch, but Ian always refused. He wanted to make the most of the little time he had left before he started his job.

Ian's nights were always filled with patrolling the city as Voltage. When he first started he was lucky and managed to have an eventful beginning, saving people from various degrees of peril. The nights were dull since then, which made Ian think he might be wrong in a.s.suming London needed any super powered help at all. His other concern was that crime thrived and he failed to see it. Ian patrolled every evening, sometimes for a few hours and other nights until the sun rose.

Ian hovered above the River Thames and scanned the surrounding area for any mischievous activity, but failed to find any. He let out a breath and continued to scour the area.

Drake told him he thought vigilantism was a futile act, as caped crime fighters only had enough power to prevent acts of violence against someone or something, which Drake felt happened too rarely. He also believed that guarding the city as a form of savior reminded the public that there was crime, as there was a need for those heroes. Drake pointed out some of Voltage's compatriots, such as the Human t.i.tan, were trouble seekers, heroes who went around beating the bushes for anything they could use to fuel their legitimacy. He still wished Ian the best at what he wanted to do though.

Ian hadn't heard a word from anyone other than Drake, Coop and Wally, and his mother since he moved. From what Drake said Nick was off the deep end and hadn't been seen since he changed schools and Jordan and Rachel went through a pretty bad breakup, though Drake told Ian he tried to push Jordan into calling him. Ian usually felt fine on his own, but some nights he wondered how fast he could fly and how long it would take him to get back home. At those times he tried to convince himself that he truly was home.

Ian glanced about and nearly decided to turn in when something caught his eye. A figure, a man, came out of what looked like an old condemned apartment complex. The man carried something Ian couldn't make out, but he hovered and watched as the man walked over to a manhole plate and quietly shift it open. He slipped inside and at the last moment Ian saw what he carried, a young woman, unconscious or dead.

His heart stopped for a moment as he watched a potential killer escape into the sewer and recover the manhole plate. Ian collected himself and dashed to the place where the figure vanished from. He used all of his strength to lift the cover open and quietly slipped inside.

The stranger was nowhere in sight, though the dark tunnels could have hid him right before Ian's eyes. He took a reaffirming breath and started down the tunnel in search of the man, a body, or light. Ian kept his right hand pressed against the wall and his left arm forward as he felt his way through the shadows. He wanted to run, to dart forward and escape the corridors once and for all but he felt any rash decisions could spell his demise.

As Ian walked he suddenly hit an acrid stench that hung in the air. He stopped momentarily to collect himself while he imagined what it might be. After he summoned the courage and stomach to continue, he pressed onward, still with one hand on the wall and his other covered his nose. The further he walked the more pungent the air grew. He soon found a light far away from him and hurried to meet it, though he believed the source of the odor lay in the same direction he marched toward.

Ian heard the sound of running water as he reached an opening with electrical lamps that illuminated the wide room around him. He searched the room quickly to find multiple tunnels, an underground river, and the man who escaped him with a young woman on the cold floor at the opposite end of the room.

"Stop! What do you think you're doing with her?" Ian called out.

The figure remained still. He breathed heavily and quietly asked who he was. "You are not familiar to me..." the man turned and faced Ian. He showed his scarred and disfigured, gray face. His breathing remained uneven and short when he said, "You need to leave hero, this girl is a sinner, a traitorous harlot and must be destroyed, otherwise she will infect and corrupt our world."

Ian, unsettled, asked for an explanation, "What has she done?"

"This one," the elderly man sighed, "This one has lied and cheated and stolen and defiled so many hearts of both men and women..." He continued to list her crimes and sins with clarity.

Ian finally stopped him. "So what if she's done such horrible things? She's human, leave her alone."

The stranger shook his head and regrettably told Ian he could not. "This girl must die. She will be made to atone for her crimes and sins."