FSE

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-City of Toronto, basement of unknown building- 09 October, 2015             "Where are the other opium crates?!" The leader of the trucking crew yelled as he arrived and saw, all around him, men who should have been loading boxes of materials into the backs of several disguised shipping trucks, were doing nothing. There were no crates, several trucks were sitting empty, and the men were distressed by the arrival of the crew boss, not wanting to face his wrath at this moment.             They turned, and with quiet stares, wondered who the unfortunate fool who would have to tell him the news. He watched them, quietly fuming as he waited for one of them to give him an answer, until one stepped forward and shakily explained, in their native tongue. "The... trucks from the docks have not come, sir," he said. "We have tried to call them but... they do not answer."             The Arabic fox growled angrily before he punched the jackal across the face, sending him reeling to the floor almost comically. He lay there, groaning as he held his broken nose, two of his co-workers coming over to help him as their leader began to address the rest of the group. "Keep trying!" He commanded, before pointing at three of them. "You, you, and you; come with me! We're going out to find them and, if they are not yet on their way, motivate them to travel faster! The rest of you, arm up and protect what we have; if we lose this shipment as we have the others, the master will eviscerate us all!"             The spurred into action, following his directions. Those set to guard whatever opium they had left hastily armed themselves with firearms from a nearby weapons locker; AK47 rifles and even one with an RPK, fitted with a drum magazine, scurrying about to take up positions, while the leader and his three followers collected their own armaments and headed for the exit door, entering the stairwell and heading up to ground level, pushing open the door out to the parking lot...             A flash of red, and stars exploded across the eyes of the leader followed by a searing pain across his face as his muzzle was crushed by the fist, breaking his nose and, quite possibly a tooth. He was sent spinning to the ground, howling in agony as the pain set in, curling up and putting both paws over his face. His followers looked in horror as their leader hit the ground, and then elevated their gazes to see the white and red clad caribou standing before them, shaking his fist.             "Thanks for showing me the way in," he said in English.             They both screamed something in Arabic, raising their weapons; The Warp vanished in a blink of light, sending their bullets flying into nothing but the concrete wall of the entry ramp for the underground garage. They both felt powerful hands grab their heads from behind, and then grunted as their heads were smacked together noisily, both of them falling to the ground with a groan.             He turned to the downed leader, who was trying to raise his AK47, but Warp seized it, ripping it from his hands and yanked out the magazine, snapped the bolt, and discarded the now unusable rifle. He repeated this for the remaining two, rendering the weapons useless, but the leader was not unarmed yet; he rose up while Warp wasn't looking, drawing his Jambiya with the moon symbol on it -an item carried by every member of the Desert Moon syndicate. Just as practical as it as symbolic, the deadly sharpened blade was ready to draw blood, and with a belly of fury, the Syndicate lieutenant charged at Warp, brandishing the large knife and slashing at Warp's throat as he turned to face him.             Warp brought up his arm, letting the dagger hit his glove; with a metallic clang, it glanced off, and before the fox could bring his weapon back to strike again, Warp non-chalantly punched him in the face once more, reigniting the agonizing pain he already felt and sending the fox collapsing to the ground, practically crying. With that, Warp kicked away his knife, and hauled the fox to his feet, looking him square in the eye.             "Your boss," he said. "I want him... now!" He bellowed.             The fox, despite his pain, let out a weak chuckle. "You are truly a fool... if you think I will betray the master," he said. "What he would do to me is far worse than any of you men of the north-west could ever muster."             "Try me," stated Warp. "How about I drop you off of the top of a skyscraper?"             The fox only laughed again, but the fear was apparent in his voice. "That would be act of mercy," he returned. "Go ahead; spare me his wrath... drop me from top of precious tower. But I will never betray the master."             "If you're so terrified of him, even with him not being here, what's the harm in telling me his name?" Warp asked, changing his approach. "Because if he's as dangerous as you're making him sound, clearly I'd be no match for him, correct?"             The fox eyed the caribou as if he were insane, pulling his head back from him with an expression of disgust. "You say that honestly, yet still wish to pursue him?"             "It's what I do," replied Warp. "So tell me, what is this leader of yours called?"             The fox was silent for a moment, his gaze meeting that of the Canadian's for a moment, silent and still, until finally he released a defiant his, baring his bloodied teeth and bristling his fur. "Never! I will not betray him; long live the Desert Moon!" He swung at Warp with his fist, nicking the caribou across the tip of his nose as he leaned his head back to dodge it.             Warp delivered an uppercut to his jaw in retaliation, knocking the fox out completely. "Stubborn vulpine," he grumbled as the fox went still, shaking his hand to relieve the ache.             "I guess my suggestion about appealing to their egos didn't work either, did it?" Akio's voice buzzed in his ear.             "Not so much, unfortunately," replied Warp. "This is getting ridiculous; I've tried everything to get the name of their leader out of them, and I'm still no closer to finding out his identity." He ran a hand down his face. "Where's a detective when you need one?"             "With how secretive these guys are, I doubt even the greatest investigators in the world could shed any light on the identity of Desert Moon's leader," stated Akio. "Not without resorting to some pretty drastic measures."             "What could be more drastic than what I've tried already?"             "Torture." Akio replied bluntly.             Warp fell silent.             "Hey you asked. I'm not saying you should actually try it."             Warp sighed. "Either way, I'm still no closer to getting these narcotics dealers out of my city," he said, annoyed. "Their leader is probably hiding out back in the Middle East; maybe this whole thing is just a wild goose chase."             "Maybe chasing the leader is, but you've... what's that word? Botched? Yes, botched up enough of their operations that they've ground to a halt."             "They can always get more drugs from their suppliers -I don't even know who those are," Warp pointed out. "Take out a thug, they can be replaced, take out a lieutenant it sets things back but they too can be replaced, but take out the leader, the whole operation comes crashing down. It worked when I took down Takeo Kameyama; it may not have beaten the Yakuza as a whole, but it drove them underground, and since then, J?sh? was the last one to reveal himself; no one else."             "Not yet anyway. If there is one thing I know about my own countrymen -especially those in the Yakuza, is that some of us are prone to bearing grudges," remarked Akio.             Warp rolled his eyes. "Great," he said, exaggerated. "I suppose I better go deal with the rest of these punks in the garage here."             "Hai, you should. But don't forget; you need to finish up early tonight," Akio stated. "You've got a holiday to get to after work tomorrow."             Warp perked up at Akio's words, his ears flicking out and his eyes widening behind his mask. "I completely forgot; thanks for reminding me."             "Not a problem. Want me to cut off the electricity into that garage and leave your targets in the dark?"             "I certainly wouldn't mind it," replied Warp.             The rest of the night went just as planned; Warp got the drop on the other Desert Moon members, ambushing them in the darkness of the underground parking garage. Many of them had flashlights, making it easy for him to zero in on them, carefully calculating the reaction times of each of them as he picked out his targets, and using the flashes of his own teleport to find those who did not have lights for him to track. In the meantime, Akio sent out a dispatch on the police networks, directing them to the underground parking garage, but by the time they got there, all they found was a room full of battered men and broken guns.             With that, Warp returned to the Bunker, appearing as he always did in a blink of light; Akio turned from his station to greet him. "Welcome back, Daniel," he said.             Warp lifted the corners of his mask, retracting the nanites that disguised his fur to their hiding places within the confines of his mask, and when he lifted it free, he was back to his natural colour of brown. "Thanks, Akio," returned the caribou.             Akio turned away as Daniel began to take off his costume, unzipping the sleeves from the collar down to free his arms and shoulders. "So tell me," he began. "What is this Onota... Onotee... Um..."             "Onöta'ke," Daniel corrected.             "Yes, that. What is that place?"             "It's the village where my dad's side of the family comes from; the side that gave me my powers," the caribou explained. "It wasn't until after I got my teleportation that my aunt taught me about it; it's a well-kept secret, to keep the outside world away. Onöta'ke itself sits on a range of privately-owned land, and although is still part of Canada, it's mostly an area of independence; nobody bothers them out there."             "Hai... and this festival you're going to?"             "The Harvest Festival, held every Autumn," replied Daniel. "All Iroquois tribes celebrate it, and ever since visiting the village the first time, I decided it was only right I start attending the festivals whenever I can. I am, after all, one of them."             "From what you tell me, the village elder doesn't seem to think so," remarked Akio.             At the mention of the elder, Warp grimaced. "Ohanzee is from a very old line of thinking, neck-deep in tradition," he said. "Don't get me wrong; he's a very wise man, and knows much about our abilities, but he considers the modern world beyond that village to be the greatest abomination since the dawn of time."             "How can he hate the modern world so much?" Akio asked, baffled. "We've got computers, global positioning, advanced tools that can work at a microscopic level..." He grinned and licked his lips. "And juicy Alberta sirloin hamburgers! How can he hate the modern world?"             "Well... aside from the burgers," Daniel began, eyeing Akio quizzically for a second. "What he hates is how dependant on the modern times we are; fossils fuels remove the need to learn how to make fire, GPS stops us from learning how to navigate the land, and how paved roads tear down wildlife habitats to allow 'mechanical monstrosities' to drive on them."             "So he's an environmentalist?" Akio asked.             "Yeah, more or less. He feels that straying from the old ways of survival and learning make us weaker," replied Daniel. "I've studied the ways of the Iroquois; I've practiced what I could. I know how to make a fire from two stones and I can make a raft out of some vines and logs; I respect the old ways, but the modern times aren't the abomination he thinks. Look at how far medical research has come? There are fewer deadly illnesses in the world every day, there are no longer tribal chieftains or monarchs squabbling for wealth and resources to lord their positions over everyone, machinery has boosted agricultural production tenfold and there are hardly any wars anymore, when centuries ago we lived in ages of endless war; conflicts that just never seemed to end. Modern times are what brought all of that about.             "There are times I can see where he's coming from; if we don't respect the old ways we won't have them when the time comes we need them," he carried on. "But his stance on the modern world is just as naive as how most people of modern times neglect the older ways. He just doesn't believe that he can be wrong."             "And that's his reason for not getting along with you? Just because you live in modern-day cities and live like any average person?" Akio asked.             "That about sums it up, yes," replied Daniel. "If tradition didn't forbid him from doing so, he'd probably never let me into the village. But since I am Iroquois, he can't stop me from going unless I do something criminal while I'm there, and that is never going to happen."             Akio nodded. "Alright. How long will you be gone?" He asked.             "The festival usually lasts a few days, but I'll only stay for one or two; can't leave the city for too long," replied Daniel. "But, thankfully this holiday also grants me a week off of paid vacation; I intend to make the best of that."             "If anyone has earned it by now, it is definitely you," stated Akio.             "Will you be okay without me for that long, though?" Daniel asked.             "It's only two days, Daniel; go! Have fun. Bring me back a souvenir if you can."             Daniel chuckled. "I'll see what they have this year."             Akio nodded. "If any sort of big emergency happens, I'll text you. But I'll make sure it's something big before I consider interrupting your vacation."             Daniel chuckled. "Then let's both hope nothing that big actually happens."             "Hai, indeed," returned Akio.             ~~~~~             The next day, at McKenzie accounting, Daniel Tonraq was hard at work at his desk; he was only working a half day that day, before he'd be leaving for his vacation, and so he urgently made certain that he was caught up on all of his work, ensuring that he didn't leave any pressing issues that would build up while he was gone. He checked the transaction records of his clients, emailing them off to said clients, and then filed away the hard copies into the cabinet behind his desk, locking it securely.             It was almost the end of his shift, so time was running short. He doubled his efforts, cleaning up his office to make it look as tidy as possible, all the while bearing a light smile on his face. He often looked forward to these events, attending the festivals of the seasons; it was gratifying to see the traditional ways of his ancestors, the music, singing, dancing and giving thanks to the spirits of old for their prosperity and continued existence. It was virtually identical to Thanksgiving in Canada, but with a Native American touch.             Finally, he finished. He powered down his computer, packed away some items in his briefcase, and then stood up from his desk. "Done," he muttered, before he began to leave his office.             Halfway out the door, he nearly ran into Colin, who was approaching with two coffee cups in hand. Daniel nearly reacted, but he held back; his persona as Daniel Tonraq was that of a kind yet clumsy caribou, and if he were to display his honed reflexes, he'd risk revealing that he wasn't as careless as he pretended to be; he forced his arms to stay down, and simply let Colin run into him.             Predictably, some hot coffee spilt onto his shirt. "Hey!" He yelped             "Crap! Sorry Danny!" Colin returned.

            "No problem... good thing I didn't wear a white shirt under my suit today," returned Daniel. He quickly removed his overshirt before the coffee could seep through and dampen his button-down shirt underneath, folding the removed piece over his arm and adjusting his tie before turning to face the fox again. "Did I smell hazelnut coffee in that cup?" He asked.             "You did," replied Colin, passing the partially-emptied cup to his friend, which Daniel graciously accepted. "Just the way you like it; a little send-off for you before you leave us."             "Colin, I'm only gone for the week," Daniel reminded, sipping the coffee in his hand. "I'll be back next Monday."             "I know, but we like having you around the office," replied Colin.             Daniel smiled. "Well, I appreciate that. But I only go to these festivals twice a year and I hate to miss them. I'm proud of my ancestry, and would like to keep at least one tradition in my life. The festivals make for great stress relief too."             "You should take me along sometime, then," stated Colin.             The caribou chuckled. "Would if I could, but I'm afraid the people of the village are fairly reclusive -especially the elder. He's pretty strict about his stance on non-Iroquois and people in the modern world."             "Old bastard," muttered Colin, before looking apologetically at Daniel. "Oh uh... no offense, of course."             "None taken; there are times I want to call him that straight to his face too," admitted Daniel. "But, he is the elder and I must respect him, just as I was taught."             "I guess," said Colin, sipping his own coffee as he walked with Daniel to the door. "Well, see about bringing us back some souvenirs, eh?"             Daniel chuckled. "You're the second one to ask me to do that in the last twelve hours... I'll see what they have this year." He downed the rest of his coffee, and carefully passed the mug back to Colin. "Alright; I better scram. I have to catch the next bus back to my condo to pack up and leave this afternoon."             "You the man, Dan; don't forget about us."             "Just a week, Colin," Daniel called as he headed for the door, waving goodbye to everyone he passed on his way out.             ~~~~~             200 south-east of Toronto, shore of Lake Ontario...             Daniel had long since left sight of the rest stop after disembarking from his bus, trekking between the trees in a high rise overlooking the beautiful surface of the great Lake Ontario. He could see for countless miles across the water, knowing only that the United States lay at the other side. He'd never actually travelled over the border and seen the country neighboring his own, but he'd never really wanted to; Canada had plenty of things to see, for those who knew where to look for them.             He continued up the path... or at least what could be seen of it. The trail he was following wasn't exactly easy to spot, but he knew it well, and it was the only way to Onöta'ke village. He had changed his clothes at the rest stop, adorning a traditional Iroquois garb his Aunt had given him when he had first begun attending Onöta'ke's festivals, although his village made their clothes out of linen or cotton instead of Deerskin -it would seem rather strange for a tribe of caribou anthro's to make clothes from feral deer, wouldn't it?             His garb consisted of a short-sleeved shirt, inlaid with patterns of beads along the sleeves. The shirt was long, hanging down past his waist, where a belt pulled it tight and made it like a tunic. He wore cream-white leggings, and a pair of calf-sleeves around his legs that fit snugly -his calves had developed some muscle since he had last worn these sleeves, and were tighter than last year, but they still fit well enough to make him presentable. The last piece of his costume -and oddly reminiscent of his hero costume, was a red cape inlaid with hundreds of golden beads forming symbolic patterns. He wore it over one shoulder, across his back and over his left arm. This cape was almost weightless compared to the one he wore as the Warp, and he barely felt it swaying as he walked.             His hooves noisily crushed sticks and leaves along the trail as he walked, kicking some dirt with each step. Soon, a smell reached his nostrils; the unmistakable smell of corn porridge with a hint of maple. He smiled; he was almost to the village. Quickening his pace, he broke into a half jog, eager to get to the village to sample some of that porridge, and...             A flash of movement out of the corner of his eye, and he felt himself ducking as something sprang into view, launching itself towards him. Falling into a hand-sprint after dropping his suitcase, Daniel flipped back onto his feet after one somersault, and turned to face his would-be attacker, finding another caribou like himself staring back at him, only this one had slightly dark hue to his fur and a bushier collar of it around his neck, revealed from the inside of his uniform -he was dressed in the clothes of a Park Ranger, minus the hat and gun belt, carrying instead a machete that was still protected by its scabbard. His antlers were trimmed down, smoothed manually by tools to fit through the wide-brimmed hat he wore upon his head.             The other caribou lunged forward, swinging his fist, but it was slow and Daniel easily teleported before the attack reached him, appearing behind the second caribou before kicking him in the buttocks and sending him falling onto his face with a grunt.             "Is that any way to welcome me back, Han?" Daniel asked, crossing his arms.             The other caribou chuckled as he turned over and sat up, looking up at the older and larger caribou with a pair of green eyes much like his own. "What better way to welcome Toronto's greatest hero than with a little adrenaline?" He asked before Daniel helped him to his feet, and the two of them exchanged a one-armed hug. "Welcome back, cousin. Good to see the garb still fits you, putting on all those muscles." He pinched Daniel's arm playfully. "Is that a bicep or a pineapple? It's huge!"             Daniel laughed heartily and gently pushed Han's arm away. "Good to be back," he returned. "How're the festivities looking this year?"             "Fantastic; we had a bumper crop this time around," replied Han as he picked up Daniel's suitcase and walked alongside him, dusting off his uniform with his other hand. "They're making lots of your favorite; you can just smell that porridge, eh?"             "That I can," replied Daniel. "So how's the ranger business?"             "Oh you know... boring. Nobody ever comes around here, so I rarely have anything to do but practice my sneak-attack."             "Spend a week of training with me, and you'll know what a real sneak attack is," Daniel returned, smugly.             "Bragging, Daniel, from you of all people?" Han asked. "Did my head hit a rock when you kicked me over or something?"             Daniel chuckled. "No, not at all," he said. "But sneak attacks are my specialty, you know. It's why they call me 'the Ghost' of Toronto, not just because I'm dressed all in white."             "And you can teach me how to do that?"             "Ever heard of Whiptail?"             "The guy with the rubber tail I've seen on the news?"             "Not necessarily rubber, but more or less accurate," replied Daniel. "I helped train him."             "Really? You never mentioned you had an apprentice."             Daniel chuckled. "We didn't work together for long. Not for lack of getting along, mind you; he just wanted to go his own way. I taught him some of my tricks to get him started, and sparred with him to refine his technique. He's actually become quite famous in the northern part of the city. He's the only 'official' hero from the Bureau operating in the city full-time."             "Why haven't you joined the Bureau then, like he did?"             Daniel's pace slowed a little at that question. "To be honest, the thought has crossed my mind," he admitted. "But... I don't know. The heroes of that group operate globally; they bear the weight of the world on their shoulders. I'm not sure I'm ready for a responsibility that heavy..." He sighed. "Besides, Toronto's become a better place; I'm doing some real good there, I just know it."             "Well, think about it, cousin," urged Han, patting his shoulder. "The Bureau could use someone like you; you already have the skills, the experience, and hell, like you just told me, you've even trained one of their members, without expecting anything in return but an ally of justice like yourself, and you did just that. You've got what it takes, and they need all the people they can get." He sighed. "I'd join myself if I had the skills for it, but my powers aren't exactly special like yours."             "Whiptail thought that same thing about his, and I taught him how to make them special," replied Daniel. "Why don't you let me train you, too? If I could make a hero out of someone fresh out of high school, I can certainly make one out of someone with Forest Ranger training."             "You really think I have the aptitude for it?" Han asked.             "You're twenty-three years old; possibly the youngest Park Ranger in all of Canada, and you've always been a quick learner," replied Daniel. "But you never know anything for certain until you try, right?"             Han grimaced at that, but the tilt of his head was a sign of intrigue. "I suppose I could give it a shot sometime... when should we start?"             Daniel chuckled. "It can wait a while," he assured. "You know where to find me."             Han smiled warmly at him, but then he frowned as another thought seemed to cross his mind. "So, uh... how's my mother been doing?"             "She's okay; I was talking to her on the phone just a few days back," replied Daniel. "Why do you ask?"             "Well... you know how my dad never let me go visit her after they divorced?" Han asked. "It's because my dad was scared of her, once he knew about her heritage despite, just like with your dad, she never showed any sign of having powers. But my dad didn't care; he took me away, and told me to forget I ever had any connection to a 'freak line'."             Daniel scowled. "The day you told me that, made me want to pay my 'uncle' a visit... so I could kick his ass," he said. "How could he be so judgemental?"             "It got worse after that, as you know," Han remarked.             Daniel's scowl turned to a sad frown. "Yeah, I know... when you found out you had superpowers too your dad tried to throw you out, but you were only fifteen, and so doing so was unlawful."             "Moment I graduated highschool, he kicked my ass out the door; told me that no freaks were ever living in his house again," said Han. "Haven't seen him since, and can't afford the money or time to go see my mom."             Daniel put a reassuring hand on Han's shoulder. "If you would like, I could invite her out some weekend; maybe you could book time off?"             Han smiled back. "That sounds like an idea," he said. "Thanks, cousin."             "No problem; we're family after all. Now, let's get to the village. That porridge is calling my name, and my stomach is crying out for it."             Han chuckled lightly. "Right; let's go. I know a few others who are dying to see you too."             ~~~~~             Onöta'ke was just as Daniel remembered it; stepping into the village was like going back in time, to the era of the aboriginal people of Canada. The village was very private, being ringed by a large fence -or maybe more of a wall of upright logs bound together, the inside filled with several longhouses and many dome-shaped hovels resembling old-fashioned wigwams, with some modern improvements, such as tiled rooftops and wooden walls to repel the weather. Despite the upgrades from traditional Iroquois homes, they emanated a feeling of nostalgic wonder of their own.             The entire village was filled with caribou folk like Daniel himself; men, women and children of all ages, many of the latter whom remembered him and flocked over like wild geese to meet him, pawing at him as he greeted them joyously, reminded once again why he loved to come here; a haven away from the noise and frustration of the city, but a place where everyone knew him and what he was -here, he didn't have to hide. They considered him as much a part of their village as anyone else, even if his visits were few and far apart.             After managing to get away from the crowds for a bit he wanted over to the crafter's hut, easily recognized by the fact it had a table outside, covered end to end with various trinkets -necklaces, bracelets and headdresses alike, all made by the skilled hands of one of the village women by the name of Nijlon, who stood there working as Daniel approached, organizing the various items she had lain out across the table.             She looked up as she heard Daniel's hooves crushing the dry dirt of the village, and beamed when she stared into that smiling, green-eyed face of his. "Meoquanee; you have come back to us!" She said gleefully as she walked around the table and approached Daniel, embracing him tightly.             'Meoquanee'; a Cheyenne term, meaning 'Wears Red'; a few people in the village knew of Daniel's persona as 'The Warp', but Nijlon was one of the ones who did. In fact, she had been the one who had crafted his original cape before he switched to using the kevlar one he wore in his newer uniform. He still kept the cape around, in case he ever needed it -although 'needing' might have been a strong word, since the cape in general was more symbolic than practical.             "Good to see you, Nijlon," Daniel returned her greeting, both vocally and physically, with warmth, hugging her tightly. "How are you?"             "This year has been well, young one," returned the elderly doe. "I am pleased to see you could attend the festival again this year."             "I always try to make sure I can get here," he assured her. "But, I did promise a couple of friends some souvenirs; what do you have this year?"             "Of course; step over!" She exclaimed, guiding him over to the table. "Maybe they are looking for a nice necklace or bracelet?"             Warp hummed in thought as he examined the hand-crafted accessories, consisting of beads and shiny stones, with different sizes depending on where they were worn on the body; the headdresses he didn't imagine Akio or Colin liking much; they'd look pretty silly wearing them... of course they could always just use them for decoration, but the accessories seemed more practical. "I'll take two of both; whatever ones they take I'll keep the others," he decided, fishing out his wallet.             Nijlon nodded to him, and accepted the payment for the items. Daniel thanked her, and put the items into his pocket for the moment. He once more smell that porridge, and just had to go get some; saying goodbye and thanking Nijlon again, he headed to the center of the village, eager to partake.             Until he heard that voice; the gruff, thoughtless voice coming from his left that had him pausing mid-step. "Daniel... so you're here."             He forced himself not to scowl as he heard that all-too-familiar voice, and slowly he turned to face the owner of the voice, coming face to face with an elderly male caribou, sullen and bent at the back, wearing a mohawk headdress, and a grassy skirt to cover his legs. Around his neck he wore two different necklaces, one that looked just like one of the ones Daniel had just purchased from Nijlon, and the other one decorated with the teeth of a shark -how he had obtained those, Daniel didn't know, but there were two dozen of the yellowed things on the accessory.             Ohanzee, the village elder, with fur paled and eyes wrinkled with age, leaning on a walking stick. Daniel could easily see the male's open disapproval of his presence in the village. As Daniel had spoken of with Akio, he had never gotten along with the old man, his open disdain for the outside world and how Daniel was 'tainted' by it the cause of their somewhat spiteful relationship. Few in the village shared his opposition of Daniel's presence, most of them elders or adults from the same line of thinking, but it was only by tradition that Ohanzee had to allow Daniel into the village at all.             "Hello, elder," Daniel returned respectfully.             "Here to once more defile us with your presence, I see," said Ohanzee.             "And I see your dislike of me hasn't waned in the past year," retorted Daniel.             It was at that moment the young adult caribou noticed the small figure standing at Ohanzee's side. A small female, not even into her adolescent years garbed in a traditional child's garment, looking up at Daniel with tired, bagged dark-brown eyes; she was unhealthily thin and appeared ready to fall over as Daniel stared at her, feeling a pit in his stomach at the sight of the poor girl.             "And who's this?" He asked.             The elder put his hand in front of the girl. "Her name is Kaniehtiio, and she is none of your concern."             "She looks sick," Daniel stated.             "We are taking care of her," Ohanzee retorted. "Now go back to the festivities; the sooner you are gone the better."             Daniel's scowl finally found its way to his face as the elder harshly grabbed Kaniehtiio's arm and turned them both away from him, his eyes burning into the old man's back and his knuckles cracking audibly as he clenched his fist in irritation. "Withered old bastard," he muttered, too low for the elder to hear.             "Daniel?" Han's voice caught his ear, and he promptly turned to face his cousin. "You okay?" He asked, but didn't even need Daniel to answer as he noticed the elder. "Oh... old man Ohanzee up to his usual?"             Daniel nodded. "Yes..."             "And, he's got Kaniehtiio with him again."             "Who is she?"             "A girl from here who just recently started showing signs of her own gifts," replied Han. "Ohanzee and the village Shaman are helping her learn to control them, and see if they can be used productively."             "Why does she look so exhausted though?"             "I'm not sure; Shaman says it's some sort of sleep condition she has. Apparently she doesn't rest very well."             Daniel grimaced. "That's not healthy for a little girl."             "Certainly isn't. But there's not much we can do; there's no place out there that can help her."             Daniel looked at him oddly. "Of course there is," he said, firmly.             "There is; where?"             "In Colmation there's a care facility with supers who need certain treatment for side-effects to their powers," said Daniel. "You really think they wouldn't consider something like that when the Bureau was formed?"             Han scoffed. "Good luck convincing Ohanzee to agree to it though."             "Too true; only way he'd agree is if someone showed up with a court order," said Daniel, rubbing his chin in thought. "But we risk exposing the entire village doing that, and even then, knowing him, he'd use that brain of his to make them forget they ever found this place."             "You really think he'd go that far?"             "I'd bet my antlers on it." ~~~~~             That night...             The first night of the Harvest Festival was just as much fun as Daniel remembered it. The music, the dancing, the chant-like singing, the food and all of the companionship; it was as good as he remembered. Some heroes had hobbies, families and friends to cope with their undertakings, something to help them deal with the stress. This was what the Warp entitled himself to; one to two times a year, at this quiet, peaceful village, where the stresses and dangers he faced in Toronto did not exist.             It was paradise, and it was enough to help him persevere.             He took part in everything; he danced, he feasted on that porridge he loved to eat every time he came here -to him it was like tasting tradition itself... with just a hint of wheat and raisins. It was such a simple dish, yet he loved it for that very reason; it was simple, it was filling and it was made with the hardworking hands of the village cooks, and not by machinery or by boiling the contents of a paper package. He even took part in playing some instruments, shaking a pair of rattles while he danced, working up quite a sweat from the combined effort of movements and playing.             He retired early that night. It had been so long since he'd been to one of these festivals, he had forgotten how much they could take out of him, and proceeded to Han's shack, accompanied by his cousin. The younger caribou got a cot from his closet, and set it down in the corner of the shack, where Daniel was laid down to sleep while Han returned to rejoin the festivities.             It was well into the night by the time Daniel awoke; his early sleep had led to an early rise. He sat up from his cot, noticing Han asleep in his own bed on the other side of the room, and quietly got up to stretch, placing his hooves carefully to nullify the sound as much as possible before rising up to his full height, stretching out his arms and holding back a grunt before he decided he wanted some fresh air and so water. With that, he headed for the door, pocketing the spare key, and stepped outside into the night air.             He glanced up at the sky, and guessed it was probably after midnight if not later. He took in a deep breath of night air, and started to turn his attention towards the lake, when he felt something... strange. Like a strain in his body, not do to a sore muscle or any kind of effort,  but like the very land around him had changed... somehow. Visually, it all looked the same; trees with yellowing leaves, browning grass, dead flowers...             Wait... dead?             Daniel walked over to the flowers, kneeling down and looking at them closely. Daniel wasn't any sort of expert on plants, but these flowers he knew from biology class. They were Asters; purple flowers that bloomed from late summer to late autumn, but the weather wasn't yet cold enough for these flowers to be wilting.             Now that he thought about it... most of the plants around him seemed to be a little premature in their stages; the leaves of the trees were already fully yellowed, and the grass wasn't just dying... it was already dead.             "These plants were healthy when I arrived this morning," said Daniel. "Why're they all dead all of a sudden? It's hardly even cold out here."             Something was very wrong here, and for some reason, the distortion felt stronger towards the heart of the village...             Daniel turned to face the inside of Onöta'ke village, and his eyes fell upon the healer's hut across the heart of the town. Something about it seemed... off. The air around it was shimmering, like heat waves. It certainly wasn't warm enough to cause those this time of night. Furrowing his brow, Daniel teleported, crossing the village in an instant, and stood before the flap that served as the door, suddenly feeling a hundred pounds heavier. He nearly fell to his knees as he stood there, feeling that overwhelming pressure, as though gravity itself had increased the closer he got to the hut.             'God damn it... what is this feeling?' He thought. 'Feel like I weigh a ton all of a sudden and it isn't from all that porridge.'             Through the flap, he heard something. Chanting, and the moaning of a young voice. Curiosity was getting the better of him, and slowly he opened the tent flap and peered inside the hut.             He saw Ohanzee, and the village healer, both knelt down at the head and side of the same little girl he had seen earlier -Kaniehtiio, he recalled, with her shirt rolled up to expose her belly where the healer was applying a salve over her stomach. Ohanzee had his hands upon her head, and the moans Daniel had heard were coming from her, her face contorted as if in pain. Daniel narrowed his eyes in suspicion, watching as the two continued... whatever it was they were doing with Kaniehtiio. He didn't know... but the look on Kaniehtiio's face told him it wasn't pleasant...             Suddenly, Kaniehtiio began to thrash, nearly pulling her head out of Ohanzee's hands as she did. He held firm, even as her moaning intensified to loud groans, as if trapped in some kind of nightmare. Ohanzee muttered something to the healer in the language of the Mohawk, a language Daniel himself didn't speak, and pressed his hands firmer against Kaniehtiio's head, forcing her to go still. Her eyes flared open, and Daniel saw a shocking colour of electric blue emanating from her eyes, followed shortly by a scream and more thrashing, throwing out her arms and trying to pull away from Ohanzee.             Finally, Daniel couldn't take it anymore, and pushed through the flap. "What's going on in here?!" He demanded.             Ohanzee looked up in shock. "Daniel?!" He demanded, before his gaze shifted back to Kaniehtiio. "No! You broke my focus!"             A blue stream of energy seemed to appear out of nowhere around Kaniehtiio, starting to form around her, enveloping her in a field of energy like a shell that seemed to be fighting to take shape, but it could not complete its coverage of Kaniehtiio; it touched Ohanzee's hands, and stopped, unable to push past them. The healer was forced back as the energy touched his hands as if burning, but Ohanzee remained firm, his elderly face becoming ablaze with determination as he continued his efforts.             Kaniehtiio finally stopped thrashing, and the blue energy around her began to recede, cracking like an eggshell and each piece of the 'egg' shrank rapidly until fizzing out completely. In a moment, the intensified atmosphere became more tolerable -Daniel no longer felt like he was in an intensified gravity field, an took in a breath, suddenly realizing he'd been holding one while the spectacle before him was unfolding.             Daniel took a step forward, but then Ohanzee elevated his gaze, glaring at Daniel with a face that would stop the heart of a lesser man, and suddenly the younger caribou felt as though he'd been hit by the explosion from a bomb, sent flying back through the tent flap, through the air and hitting the ground hard, skidding across the dirt as if it were ice. The fall ruined his native dress, tearing open the back and making him grit his teeth as he felt rocks digging into his ribs from behind.             Letting out the warrior in him, Daniel flipped over, throwing his legs over his head and flipping around to land on his hooves, taking a stance in readiness for a fight.             Ohanzee stormed out of the hut, without even his walking stick in hand, crossing the village center where Daniel had been thrown. "You imbecile; you nearly caused a calamity that could have destroyed Onöta'ke!"             "What calamity?" Daniel demanded.             "Kaniehtiio!" Ohanzee barked. "I was trying to keep her powers under control; you distracted me and they nearly got loose!"             "How can Kaniehtiio already have her powers?" Daniel demanded. "Neither Han or I gained ours until we were fourteen; she's too young!"             "Powers manifesting one or two years early is not unheard of," Ohanzee pointed out. "Hers started appearing when she turned eleven years of age, and since then she suffers recurring nightmares that cause her powers to go out of control. I use my telepathy to keep them suppressed; I keep the nightmares at bay, but because of you it almost erupted again!"             "She was in pain; I could see it on her face!" He pointed past Ohanzee at the hut. "How can a little girl be so dangerous she needs to be put through something like that?!"             "If you saw even a sample of the power she wields, you'd know that what I am doing is an act of mercy," retorted Ohanzee. "My first priority is to the safety of the village, and that is what I am doing!"             "And the others approve of what you're doing to Kaniehtiio in the process?" Daniel asked.             "Of course they do!" Ohanzee retorted. "Everyone in the village knows of this!"             Daniel scowled at Ohanzee. "I wish I could believe you, old man, but I'd have an easier time doing so if I didn't know you were a telepath, capable of erasing memories."             "I am bound by the oath of my forebears never to turn my powers upon my own unless necessary," Ohanzee returned, his own scowl deepening. "You, however, are testing the limits of how much I wish to honour that oath."             "Have you seen what was happening while you were in there?!" Daniel demanded, throwing out his arms. "Every piece of vegetation around this village was dying! I know that wasn't because of you, so that means it had to be Kaniehtiio's doing. If her powers are capable of doing something like that they're in a complete league of their own!"             "I will keep them under control, so long as you don't get in the way again," the old caribou returned. But just as soon as he finished that sentence, he grinned widely. "In fact, your act of interrupting my work put this entire village in danger, and I have a witness to prove it; the healer."             "I didn't know Kaniehtiio had powers already; how could I have?!"             Without even answering Daniel's question, Ohanzee continued. "Daniel Tonraq, for your act of reckless endangerment to the people of Onöta'ke, then by the power vested in me by the will of the spirits and the ancestors," his attempt to hide his satisfaction as he spoke was easily detected, as there was still much pleasure visible on his face as he finished. "I now banish you from ever setting foot in Onata'ke again. As of tonight, you are no longer one of us." He then added silently. "As you never were."             Daniel's heart sank, but his rage as still billowing. "You cannot ban me for an accident!" He protested.             "I can, and I have," returned Ohanzee. "Return to the wretched world of the defilers where you belong, and never set foot in Onöta'ke again. If I find you here, the consequences will be dire."             Daniel opened his mouth to protest further, but he knew that this would get him nowhere; the village healer was an elder just like Ohanzee, and after what had nearly happened he would never defend Daniel, and nobody else in the village had seen what had transpired; no one could protect him and allow him to keep coming back to this peaceful hamlet... the one place where he could rest peacefully and enjoy himself. The idea made him feel... empty, and hollow. He considered these people to be his family, as much as his aunt in Ottawa, but now he would never get to see them again. But he pushed those thoughts aside; this was about more than his holiday life, this was about a child in distress and in need of help. With a defiant glare, he faced Ohanzee again. "This isn't over, old man," Daniel warned. "I'll be back, with child services and the B.O.S, to get Kaniehtiio away from you; you can count on that. If it means saving her from you, I'll gladly give up my visits here." "By all means, try," retorted Ohanzee. "One outsider sets foot through the village gate, I will erase their memories of all of this, and leave them comatose and lost in the wilderness." He stuck a bony finger into Daniel's chest. "No one is going to take one of my people from here, not even the mighty Warp, not while I draw breath." His scowl deepened. "Now... begone!" The veins around Ohanzee's eyes pulsed, and once more Daniel found himself sent flying through the air; he was caught so off guard by the telekinetic assault that he didn't even have time to speak again before he was carried out of the village by unseen forces, the ground falling away from him as he soared above the tree line, flapping his arms and kicking his legs wildly through the whole ordeal. At this speed the caribou would have every bone in his body broken when he hit the ground! He had to do something, fast! Once he was out of range of Ohanzee's telekinesis, perhaps he could teleport backward, let his momentum slow and somehow land... He couldn't teleport. Try as he might to activate his powers, they would not work. He couldn't teleport! Suddenly fearful for his life, he screamed. It was all he could do without his powers, no doubt locked out by the old man. On an on he flew for what seemed like a long time, until he was completely clear of the trees and saw shoreline, water, and suddenly knew exactly where he was. The caribou male braced himself, angling his head forward and putting his hands around the back of his neck to brace it against whiplash as he hit the surface of Lake Ontario, skipping across the water like a stone for several dozen feet until he finally slowed and simply plunged into the cold water, feeling it hit him like a sledgehammer. His entire body ached from the ordeal, and continued to ache as he struggled to realign himself and figure out where the surface was in this dark water. He forced himself to calm down; panic now, and he would drown. Keeping his eyes clenched shut he spat out a bubble of air; it was too dark to see clearly even if he could open his eyes in this great salt lake, but he could still hear it moving through the water and followed which way it travelled, letting out another bubble and confirming it was going the same direction he was. Finally he felt his head break the surface of the water, and he took in a deep, filling his lungs with air and coughing out some water he'd taken in. He didn't know which way the shore was; hitting the water had thrown off his bearings, but he knew he couldn't possibly have flown further than his powers could reach. He only hoped Ohanzee could not still block them from this range. Shutting his eyes, he pictured Han's cabin in his mind, and then willed himself to teleport there, vanishing from the lake in a flash of light. ~~~~~             "Ohanzee did what?!" Han demanded. "He threw you into Lake Ontario all the way from the middle of the village?! My god if you'd hit a tree on the way out you'd be dead!"             "So will you help me confront him?" Daniel asked.             "Damn right I will; that old fuck has gone too far this time!" Han said in ready agreement as he went to put on his ranger hat, almost impaling it on his trimmed antlers in the process instead of carefully maneuvering them through the holes. "I'm going to haul him to Toronto kicking and screaming if I have to!"             "Forget about him; Kaniehtiio's the one we need to help," said Daniel. "If Ohanzee was telling the truth, and everything I saw last night wasn't some dream, then she needs help; she's a high class meta-furson, and if we don't get her some help it could lead to disaster."             "I'm still going to make sure he goes down for nearly killing my cousin," Han reaffirmed, and Daniel doubted he could change the younger caribou's mind on the matter.             Out of the cabin they went, and turned towards the village, but they stopped dead in their tracks when they saw that the gate was closed; the door, normally meant for sealing the village at night to keep wild ferals out while everyone was asleep, was closed well into the morning, preventing entrance. Han stormed up to the gate, cupping his hands around his mouth and bellowing out for the door to be opened, but nobody responded to his call.             "Dammit," said Han. "This is definitely the old man's doing; he's locked us out."             "He finally got an excuse to get rid of me; he's not going to let it be compromised while he knows I'm still here," said Daniel. "But he's going to have to do better than a gate to keep out The Warp."             Han grinned. "Then make like a burglar and let's bust in there," he said with enthusiasm, placing his hand on Daniel's shoulder.             Daniel shut his eyes, and began to picture the village in his mind, getting a mental picture of the inside to...             His eyes reopened, and his expression turned to horror. "Oh no..." He said.             Han tilted his head. "What's wrong?"             "I..." Daniel began, raising his hands and placing them upon his head. "I can't remember!"             "Can't remember what?"             "I don't remember what the inside of the village looks like!" Daniel replied.             "What?! But you were just in there yesterday; how could you forget?"             Daniel looked at him. "How else?" He asked, plainly.             It took Han only a second to understand what Daniel was implying. He rolled his eyes, and groaned. "Damn it that bastard thinks of everything!" He exclaimed. "But how?! How could he erase your memory of the village while you were out here all night?"             "He must've done it while I was confronting him," replied Daniel. Try as he might, he had no recollection of what Onata'ke looked like inside; every attempt to remember led only to a black void as he stared at the wooden fence that rose higher than some of the buildings within, preventing him from even spotting a rooftop to teleport onto. "Since I wasn't thinking of the village then I didn't even notice he'd done it." One thing Daniel had to hand to Ohanzee, he was thorough, and precise; to access a memory that Daniel wasn't even thinking of and erasing it like a file from a computer hard drive was no small feat, and only spoke volumes of how strong the elder really was."             "Can you..." Han began. "What about teleporting into the air above?" He suggested.             "I teleport, Han, I don't fly," Daniel pointed out. "The sky looks the same virtually everywhere; I need a mental picture of where I'm teleporting to or it could just send me off somewhere random -or just not work at all."             "So Ohanzee even knows how to stop The Warp," Han stated. "...Maybe, I could knock the gate down?"             "No," Daniel stated firmly. "Someone could get hurt if you use your powers to do that, plus you'll be breaking and entering -your property is outside the village, not in. You do that, and he can ban you from here too." Daniel hung his head, sighing. "There's nothing we can do... he's locked us out of there."             "Then what do we do about Kaniehtiio?"             Daniel hung his head sadly, his ears flattening against his skull. His answer was simple, but his voice was pained as he replied to Han's question.             "I have no idea..."             Defeated, Daniel said goodbye to Han that afternoon as he packed his things and left the village behind. Han was sorry to see his cousin leaving so soon with two days of the festival left, but there was no other choice... Daniel could no longer attend the festival, Ohanzee had sealed the village for the rest of the duration and already banned Daniel from ever setting foot in the village again. His one escape -his one retreat from his stresses back in Toronto, were forever lost to him...             Han promised he'd do everything he could to try and make Ohanzee reconsider, but even he knew it was futile. Ohanzee hated Daniel -hated the world he came from. He'd never go back on his word now that he'd finally be rid of the younger male; the old bastard was probably celebrating in his own way even as Daniel wandered up the trail, back in his civilian attire as he began to make his way home to Toronto.             At the bus stop, the same one he'd arrived in, he used the payphone at the convenience store to call Akio, letting him know he was on his way home. "Already? But you have only been gone a night; what about the festival?"             "I've been kicked out of the village," replied Daniel. "Ohanzee's harboring a dangerous meta-furson and I saw him in the act of trying to suppress her powers; he forbade me from ever coming back and even erased my memory of the village so I couldn't teleport back in."             Akio's response to that was more or less how Daniel expected. "He found a way to stop even you? Kuso, who is this old man?"             "A powerful psychic," replied Daniel. "All the works; telepathy, mind reading, mind wiping and even some telekinesis -he's even got some ability to suppress the powers of others. He actually locked out my teleporting when he launched me out of the village like a rocket."             "Are you okay?"             "I'll be fine, but Kaniehtiio won't be if I don't find some way to get help for her," replied Daniel, leaning his forehead against the phone.             "We'll think of something, Daniel," Akio assured. "How soon will you be back?"             "Bus should be here soon so, hour, maybe more; depends on if they're on time or not," replied the caribou. "I'll swing by the Bunker on my way home."             "Hai, I'll see you then," bade Akio. "Do not be worried my friend; we'll find a way to help that child."             "I sure hope so," replied Daniel.             A voice spoke back through the earpiece that didn't belong to Akio; it was the electronic female voice warning the caller that they were almost out of time. "Quarters are used up; I'll see you soon."             "Safe travels, Daniel."             Mere moments after the caribou hung up the phone, his ear caught a sound; he looked over his shoulder and saw the bus approaching the stop nearby. He took a glance at the illuminated lettering on the board above the windshield, the posted address Daniel recognized for downtown Toronto. At least the timing was convenient that day.             Picking up his luggage, Daniel took only one more look back into the woods in the direction of Onata'ke, knowing he would never see them again... and it made him fight back a tear that tried to creep into his eye as he walked over to the bus, never looking back again for fear of falling into melancholy... ~~~~~             On the bus ride back to Toronto, Daniel took a brief nap in his seat, awakened by a disembarking passenger and realizing that this was his stop. Ignoring the soreness in his neck he scrambled off the bus and waited until it left. He was about to teleport, but then he decided he wanted to sit down for a moment, and reflect on everything that had transpired for the last day.             He was ablaze in emotions at that moment; sad he would never see Onata'ke again, heartbroken that Ohanzee had stripped him of the memory of the village itself so that he could no longer even remember what it looked like, only the faces of the people within -that at least brought him some comfort. He was concerned for Kaniehtiio, her health and safety, and the safety of everyone who lived in Onöta'ke; could she be that much of a threat? And if she was, what would happen to her if Daniel did report her?             But most of all, he was angry. What he was angry about needed no explanation, he felt. There was only one to blame for his sadness and Kaniehtiio's suffering, and it was no supervillain this time... Daniel had fought thugs, crime bosses, a destructive monster and a samurai warrior faster than the eye could see, and always through might, willpower and determination he had overcome them as The Warp, but never had he felt so defeated before; even fights he had lost hadn't felt as bad as he did now...             Well, moping here at the bus stop would get him nowhere. He stood up, picking up his belongings, and after checking to make sure the coast was clear, he ducked into a nearby alley, and teleported before anyone might have seen him, reappearing inside of The Bunker, where he saw Akio in his usual place. The weasel looked up at Daniel appeared, his face sympathetic as he folded his hands across his lap.             "Are you okay?" He asked.             "Not really," replied the caribou.             Akio's gaze shifted off to the side, and Daniel suddenly heard a footstep to his left. More out of reflex than concern he turned to face it rather swiftly, wondering who or what could be doing in his bunker. The person approaching him was a casually dressed brown salamander with dark green eyes that hard big, round pupils. The salamander was slender, most of the musculature focused to his legs, and he had an unusually long tail swinging about behind him as he stepped into view, hands in his pockets.             It took Daniel less than a second to recognize the smooth skinned face looking back at him with a friendly smile. "Pierre," he said.             "Bonjour, Dan," the salamander replied before approaching Daniel. The two hugged each other tightly, in a brotherly manner, and Daniel felt a little better. "Akio told me what happened; I'm sorry your holiday got ruined."             Pierre Chappelle, better known to the public as a salamander who sold movies and video games at the local shopping mall, but secretly known as Whiptail, a new member of the Bureau of Superheroes in Canada, and once short-term sidekick to The Warp while they were training together. It had been a few months since Daniel had seen Pierre, and it felt good to see his young friend again, especially at this time when he needed him most.             "I'm glad you came," returned Daniel before they pulled apart. "But don't you have work today?"             "It's Sunday, Dan, and tomorrow's Thanksgiving," Pierre pointed out. "I got the day off. And good timing too, no?"             "I called Pierre thinking he might know someone in the B.O.S who might be able to help Kaniehtiio," said Akio. "I also figured you might need a couple of extra ears to listen, even if one set of those ears can't be seen."             Pierre eyed Akio incredulously, but still had a light smirk on his face. "Akio, leave the jesting to me; it just sounds wrong when you do it."             Akio scowled, and not even Daniel could hold back at laugh at the weasel's expression -god how he needed that laugh. He looked at Pierre hopefully, and asked, "What do you know?"             "Not much, sadly," admitted Pierre. "I'm afraid I'm still too new to the B.O.S to give a suggestion. Taking possession of the little girl is going to require nothing short of a court order, and they'll want proof of what's happening there."             "There's a telepath who's watching Kaniehtiio's every move," explained Daniel. "And anyone who tries to take her, he'll probably wipe their memory to keep her away."             "If a meta-furson is involved, then I'll have to ask Mighty Moose how we'd proceed," replied Pierre. "Hell, maybe she'll go down there herself."             "You think she'd be able to handle Ohanzee? He's powerful, you know."             Pierre arched a brow. "Daniel, she's not called 'Mighty Moose' for effect; she's powerful too, and there's a hundred other heroes she could call in as well. Somewhere out there, there's got to be a Psionic at least as strong as Ohanzee if not stronger." He clapped a hand on Daniel's shoulder. "Trust me; we'll get that girl away from that old creep."             "What will Mighty Moose do if she finds out the whole village is inhabited by meta-fursons though?" Akio asked.             Pierre looked over. "Say what now?"             "Akio!" Daniel barked, making the weasel cringe. "Wrong time to mention that!"             "Sorry!" Daniel let out a sigh before turning to face Pierre again, and saying plainly, "superpowers aren't uncommon on my dad's side of the family. I have a cousin who lives out there, named Han; he has powers too." Pierre blinked a few times before he grinned. "Awesome." His smile then faded. "Wait... the entire village is full of unregistered supers?" "Well to be accurate only half of the villagers there actually have powers; Han, Ohanzee and of course Kaniehtiio are three such people. The rest don't really use their powers for anything; they have them, but they only scarcely acknowledge them. I actually don't know who else there has any sort of superpower; they've never shown them." "I'll... try to keep that to myself," promised Pierre. "Right now Kaniehtiio's our focus, right? Not to mention making Ohanzee answer for his crimes." He nodded. "I'll contact Mighty Moose as soon as I get back home and see what she says."             Daniel nodded gratefully. "Thanks, Pierre," he said.             The salamander nodded back. "Anytime, Dan."             "How about we all head out for some lunch? My treat," said Daniel.             "Sure I should be going out?" Akio asked, warily.             "Akio, the Yakuza are not going to come after you," assured Daniel. "By now they've probably forgotten all about you. Even if they haven't, both Takeo and Masaru are in jail and you said yourself Ren, who's probably the one leading them right now, is a coward." He looked at Akio with a serious expression. "You can't hide here for the rest of your life. Lack of sun and proper food is going to kill you sooner than the Yakuza will."             Akio swallowed nervously, but Daniel knew the weasel missed being able to walk out in the open, and the idea was clearly tempting to him. He tapped his fingers on the desk in thought for a moment before he eventually shrugged a long shrug, sprang up from his chair, and walked around to join the two.             "Alright, you talked me into it; where we going?" Akio asked.             "There's this diner a few blocks away that serves an amazing breakfast," said Pierre.             "Was thinking the same thing," said Daniel. "I could really go for some pancakes."             "Oui."             "Hai." ~~~~~             The following morning...             Daniel had set his alarm clock to radio when he had retired at home for the day. The police scanner was quiet that evening except for a few robberies, and so both Akio and Pierre encouraged the Warp to take another night off. Normally Daniel might've refused, but he felt oddly tied that day after the recent ordeal, so he took them up on it, and went home. He watched a few movies he'd been saving for a night in before he'd retired to bed and slept through to the morning.             "Happy Thanksgiving, people of Tor-on-to!" The voice chimed. "This is your favorite voice on the radio, Zackie Zone! That's Double-Zed for those who want to keep it short!"             "Ugh... wish they'd fire that guy," grumbled Daniel as he rolled onto his back and sat up, yawning as he stretched. "His voice is more annoying than whining clients at the firm."             "Going to be a cold Thanksgiving tonight as our temperatures, though not too bad for this morning and afternoon, drop into the negatives tonight at a low of minus five degrees Celsius. Winter's coming folks, and tonight will be our first taste of it. Try not to let that block out the taste of turkey for those of you who didn't celebrate early this year. Oh! And speaking of early celebrations, I have a interview here today with someone  sounding like something out of science fiction. Apparently some boaters who were out celebrating on Lake Ontario had an uninvited guest to their little get-together!"             "Teenager driving his dad's overpowered speedboat?" Daniel asked rhetorically as he stood up.             "I-I-It was unnatural; there's no way this thing was a living creature," a new voice spoke over the radio as Daniel went through his drawers to pick out his outfit for the day. "It was huge; it looked like some kind of shark but it was way too even for a great white; it ate one of our boats -swallowed it whole in one freaking chomp. I see that look on your face; I'm not exaggerating -this thing was huge! I can't believe something that big is in freakin' Lake Ontario I mean what the beep!"             The voice switched back to the regular anchorman. "Please excuse the interruption; appears our interviewee hadn't recovered from his traumatic experience yet. Now, I won't lie to you, people; normally we might pass this off as some wild imagination brought on by a certain drug we all know can cause hallucinations like this, but I don't believe that was the case." Hearing the man's tone, Daniel stopped what he was doing and listened. "Six youths, all of whom were confirmed by witnesses to have been out on the Lake with our anonymous interviewer -nine people total, only three of whom returned. One of our own field reporters even went down to the civilian docks and was shocked to find that the docks were damaged, like something had run through them, and nobody believes it was a boat! Ladies and gentlemen we may have our own Loch Ness Monster living in the lake." Then the man laughed. "If you believe in such things that is! We'll be right back after we delve a little deeper into this mystery."             One minute he sounds like he's being serious, the next he sounds like he mocking the superstitious, thought Daniel with a scowl. One thing Daniel knew for sure, not everything was as it seemed, and after encountering The Gremlin some time ago, the lines between reality and fiction were starting to blur for him. There were mysteries the world had yet to solve, and this unknown creature of the lake could be one such mystery. Of course, it was out of Daniel's field to be concerned with; whatever this creature was he would not be the one to find it.             The phone rang, catching his ear. He stepped over to the cordless, cradled phone on his nightstand, picking it up and holding it to his ear after tapping the talk button with his thumb. "Hello?" He asked.             "Dan, it's Pierre," the voice on the phone replied. "You watching the news?"             "Listening to it, more like; that stuff at the Lake?"             "Yeah. What do you make of it?"             "I fail to see if it's a concern of ours," said Daniel.             "The B.O.S thinks it's a Kaiju," replied Pierre.             "A... what?" Daniel asked.             "Kaiju. What, you don't watch Japanese monster movies?"             "Only ones dubbed in English."             "At least tell me you know who Lionheart is."             "Sure, she's a B.O.S agent."             "She's a Kaiju Fighter," Pierre explained. "And Mighty Moose just called her over from Japan to be on standby in case their suspicions are right. There's some evidence the news didn't mention; some of the remains of the boats returned. They were bitten right in half, and the patterns of the bites suggest all three were bitten simultaneously with teeth marks big enough to belong to a Megalodon Shark."             Daniel looked at the phone curiously. "Pierre, that's impossible; the Megalodon has been extinct for millions of years," he stated. "And Lake Ontario isn't big enough to support a creature that size, especially not for so long."             "I'm just repeating what the investigation team uncovered," Pierre replied. "I shouldn't be telling you all this to begin with, but I thought you'd want to know that Lionheart's coming to town." He then mumbled something to himself that Daniel couldn't quite pick up, but he had little doubt it was something like 'Hope she signs an autograph for me' knowing Pierre; he idolized many heroes in the Bureau not the least of which being some of its most famous heroines, Lionheart included.             "What's that you said, Pierre?" Daniel asked.             "Nothing! Anyway, just thought you should know to keep your head down. Remember, you're unregistered so by law, she has to arrest you if she sees you. Mighty Moose isn't exactly a big supporter of that law herself, but I don't know if Lionheart is or not, and you don't want to get into a fight with a Lioness that can grow to fifty feet tall."             "I have no intention of picking a fight with any B.O.S Operatives, Pierre," assured Daniel. "If she ends up fighting some... monster shark, I'll stay out of her way, I promise. Let's just hope that there isn't really one out there in the lake."             "Oui; I'm getting shivers just thinking of it," replied Pierre.             With that, Daniel, said goodbye to Pierre and hung up the phone. Although he'd expressed disinterest in investigating, he knew he should however much he didn't want to; he knew why. He was still letting the events of the day before bother him, but he was not so weak as to let his own anger stop him from doing the right thing... even though he had failed to do the right thing yesterday...             No! Don't think about it that way, he thought. It was out of his hands; there was nothing he could have done... was there? No... Don't think about it...             Before he allowed his thoughts to betray him any further, Daniel decided that he would go down to the docks that night, and see if he could collect any evidence of his own... ~~~~~             Lionheart slowed her steps to allow the investigators accompanying her to keep pace with her as they approached the docks where she saw the damage caused by the suspected Kaiju attack. Though it was not yet made public knowledge in order to avoid stirring panic, as a veteran Kaiju fighter herself, Lionheart knew the signs. Destroyed docks, trails of debris leading out to the lake even though the water was calm that day on account of the still weather, as if something large moving through the water had dragged them out with the current caused by its movement.             The initial reports she had read stated that the bite marks from the wrecked boats, found further along the shore beyond the city limits, were unlike any creature known to exist in the modern world today; some initial experts had claimed the bite marks matched fossilized records of a long-extinct shark. Lionheart was no marine biologist, but she knew that was very unlikely; such a massive, prehistoric beast could never live in one of North America's great lakes, not even the massive Lake Ontario. If one had, why had it waited this long to appear?             But an even bigger question, if the B.O.S was right and this was a Kaiju, perhaps having been lying dormant at the bottom of the lake for thousands of years, then why hadn't it come ashore? Why had the damage only been confined to the lake shore, when clearly the creature could navigate in shallower waters- like those of these docks? One of the investigative agents handed her a written record of the witness statements, which she read over again. All of the statements were consistent, but made little sense. They described the creature as a humongous shark, with a body glowing bright blue like a giant neon light; no two Kaiju were ever the same but this was like nothing she had ever seen before.             "Ms. Lionheart," one of the investigators spoke to her, catching her attention and waiting until she turned to him before continuing. "Our divers arrived too late; the sun will be down in an hour or so and the water will be too dark to navigate. What should we do?"             "If the creature didn't appear during the day, it may have returned to the bottom of the lake," replied Lionheart. "Far too deep for them to travel; tell them to pull back for now please, and they may try again tomorrow."             "I'll relay your instructions to them," the investigator returned before heading off.             She had only just arrived in Toronto, she still suffered from some mild jet lag, but she didn't let that stop her from doing her job. It was dusk, the sun was already beginning to set again, and since the shark-creature hadn't reappeared during the sunlight hours, if it intended to make another appearance, it would be at night. It made sense, actually; if the creature had been dormant at the bottom of the lake for a long time, or was some sort of deep water dweller, it stood to reason light would bother it.             But now, the sun was almost down, and if her theory was correct, it would soon emerge again...             She walked along the pier, examining the scene from afar. The wrecked boats and docks didn't seem to suggest a deliberate attack, as nothing had any severe damage. It simply appeared as though a fish too big for the area swam through, possibly thrashed about trying to get back out to deep water. No boats were bitten or torn up, just flipped over and the hulls dented. It hadn't come here looking for food; it had simply been wandering, maybe looking for deeper waters or naturally drawn to try and find its natural habitat.             Time passed, and not much seemed to be happening, but suddenly Lionheart began to feel strange. Her shoulders ached, like she had overworked her arms, but she hadn't done anything strenuous that day; an after-effect of jet-lag? Well, that didn't make any sense. But as she looked around, she noticed other people showing signs of it as well. Some were even leaning on one another for support while others sat down, catching their breath.             Something struck a chord with the lioness. A foreboding sense of familiarity... hadn't the witnesses of the previous attack mentioned feeling tired just before the creature had appeared the night before?             Lionheart turned her gaze out towards the water, and saw something that immediately set her on high alert. There was a wave in the water, coming towards the dock -not a wave like a tsunami, but like something big was moving through the water, just beneath the surface, and it was coming fast.             Immediately, the experienced Kaiju fighter in her took over. "Everyone, away from the docks, hurry!" She called with concern, trying not to sound too excited so that nobody panicked, while she remained where she stood. The investigators and police who had quarantined the area reacted immediately to her call, spotting the approaching mass in the water and knowing what was coming, they backed away as much as they could. The creature was returning, and it was up to Lionheart to stop it if it turned violent. She watched it closely as it approached, the red-pink lioness staring with her sky blue eyes, waiting. The strain she felt seemed to increase as the creature came closer and closer to the shore. At one point, she saw the head of the monster emerge from the surface of the water just briefly before it started to thrash slightly and disappear below the water again. As Lionheart had thought, the beast was too big for the shallower waters close to the shore. But that brief glimpse confirmed the reports; a creature with a body ablaze in a blue glow like a neon light, resembling a shark-like beast and larger than a pair of buses sitting side-by-side. It wasn't a Kaiju as she knew them, but it was a monstrous and terrifying thing none the less. Still, as long as everyone was away from the water, they were safe... What happened next had Lionheart's jaw dropping in shock. The shark-creature dispersed as though it were nothing but mist, but in its place, a whole new creature sprang out of the water, flying through the air as if coming out of a mighty leap before landing on the street and landing with a thunderous crash onto top of one of the police patrol vehicles that were parked near the docks, with only one foot needed to do the deed. The beastly creature was huge, standing more than thirty feet tall at least, stand on short, muscular hind legs and bearing disproportionately long arms, each one ending with a powerful hand much like that of an ape, but skinnier and with longer fingers -three on each hand - and thumbs, each one ending with scythe-like claws. It had a head like an ape, witch a slightly elongated cranium, and covered in fur, including a patch growing like a beard from its chin, and a mouthful of fangs, including tusk-like ones protruding from the bottom row of teeth at the front. It maintained the previous, seemingly incorporeal form of the shark -a creature the glowed blue as though it were actually made out of condensed energy. People backed away in terror, Lionheart stood her ground. It wasn't the largest creature she had ever fought, but it was still big -more than big enough to cause tremendous damage to the city if she didn't stop it. Furthermore, from what she had just witnessed, this creature could instantaneously change its form. Shapechangers, Lionheart knew of, but had never fought one that could change shape and size at the exact same time. "Everyone, get off the streets!" Lionheart called with assertion as she activated her powers, and began to grow. What changed first was her size, followed immediately by her overall girth, planting one foot and shuffling the other to the side as she continued to grow larger by the moment. Her outfit expanded with her, stretching to match her increased size, and she continued to grow until she was roughly the same height as the creature, where she shifted her stance to a combat-ready pose. The creature opened its mouth to roar, throwing out its arms as it did, but the sound was dull and drawn out, more like a long moan than an actual roar, but the gauntlet was thrown, and the massive, muscular monster charged at her. It attacked like a primal beast, swiping at her with a claw as it drew close; she dodged, and waited until at attacked again before catching it by the arm and executing a Judo throw, flipping the beast around and slamming it down on the street. The behemoth seemed to cry out in pain, once more only coming out as a moan, before it swiped at Lionheart with its other hand, going for her legs. She let go of its arm to instinctively dodge the attack, and the creature flipped over, pushing itself up on its hands before using them as well as its feet to propel itself at her, tackling the giant lioness. Were it not for her super durability, she would have had the wind knock out of her, but she held firm. Though her eyes soon widened with shock as the creature reared back and threw back its head, launching Lionheart through the air; she yelped as she was sent soaring over four city blocks before she neared ground again, spotting people who had failed to clear the street. Placing her hands carefully, she caught herself on the office buildings on either side of the street, ignoring the concrete and glass shards that poked her hands like slivers, and landed on both feet, successfully stopping her from landing on the street and accidentally crushing innocent civilians. "All of you, get off the streets!" She barked harshly at them, more out of her stress from the current situation than out of anger; she was afraid for their safety. This creature she battled was stronger than she had imagined, and if this fight was to end without too many civilian casualties, they had to get clear of the danger zone. Turning to face the beast again, she saw it was already charging her way, both arms out as if to grab her in a tight embrace, but the flexing claws at the end of its fingers told another story. She stood sideways, shifting weight back into her back leg, and when the creature came near, delivered a powerful kick right to its face that immediately sent it careening backward, stopping its charge completely as it fell onto its back. The creature was cross-eyed and dazed from the kick, and Lionheart quickly pounced it and tried to hold it down until she could find some way to incapacitate it, but she would soon regret this decision as, very suddenly, the creature went still and dispersed again, as it had when it first became the creature she was already battling. In its place was a beast not quite as big as its previous form. It had turned into a monstrous snake, longer than she was tall, and with a mouthful of hooked teeth as it hissed at her. Sliding out of her hand it threw itself around her arm, and immediately she felt powerful muscles constricting the limb. She stood up, and tried to shake the creature off as it squeezed her arm, gritting her teeth from the pain. She remembered something she had seen on television in a historical documentary about constrictors; how to get them off of you if they managed to coil themselves around any part of your body. Finding the creature's head, she seized it with her paw, squeezing its neck to hold it in place before readjusting her arm to unwind the coils from around her limb. But she had failed to notice the tail while doing this, and suddenly felt both of her legs pulled together by it. She lost her balance and cried out as she fell over, landing on her back and then again in pain as she felt the powerful muscles of the giant snake squeezing her legs; she held onto its head, refusing it let it coil more of itself around her. It hiss, spat, even tried to bite her several times as she held it by the neck, but it was a losing battle; if she didn't get out of this situation soon, it was going to completely crush her legs, and then she would be helplessly pinned... ~~~~~             With the news ablaze about the clash near the docks, it was only a matter of time before The Warp would appear on one of the buildings overlooking the street where the fight was taking place. He looked around, and quickly spotted the ensuing battle, shocked to see what was happening. Instead of Lionheart battling with a huge shark as he had expected, or a massive ape-like creature like the news had reported, he found the giant lioness wrapped in the coils of a snake, her paws around its neck desperately trying to keep it from coiling her any further. In her current position, she was in a losing battle, and soon the snake would gain an advantage.             He had to do something!             "Warp!"             The caribou looked over his shoulder in time to see a figure swinging by their tail off of a nearby flagpole, launching themselves through the air where they performed several somersaults before dropping onto the rooftop nearby. He spotted a salamander clad head-to-toe in a form-fitting, flexible body suit covering every part of him, including a pair of cloth 'boots' that seemed to merge seamlessly with the rest of the suit, and gloves to match the rest. He wore an eye mask, actually similar to Warp's but clearly nothing more than a piece of fabric, and after landing, his oddly long tail seemed to retract back to his lower body, becoming a more average length.             "Whiptail," said the caribou.             "I told you to keep your head down; what if Lionheart finds you?" He asked.             "She's the one in trouble right now!" Warp replied, pointing down to the street.             Whiptail followed Warp's finger, and his eyes bugged wide open as he saw Lionheart pinned on the street by a larger-than-life snake, still fighting for her very life. He shook off his shock and turned back to Warp. "What do we do?"             "You say she has the ability to grow and shrink at will, right?" Warp asked.             "Yeah."             "I need you to try and distract that serpent -any way you can. I'll take care of the rest," instructed Warp.             "What'll you do?"             "No time for questions; just go!" Warp snapped before he teleported away.             Thinking quickly, Whiptail looked around and spotted an anchorpoint for him to grab with his tail. Whipping it over his head like... well, a whip, he snagged the flagpole of neighboring structure, before he leapt off the building and went into a swing, keeping the rest of his body still and straight as he swung himself towards the ensuing battle. In an amazing display of acrobatics he hurled himself into the air, catching himself on the leg of a water tower before he swung around again, planted his feet on the leg of the tower and, after uncurling his tail, leapt away again, sending himself flying towards the snake, where he took careful aim before performing another aerial somersault, and lashed out his tail sharply, striking the snake in the eyeball with the snapping appendage. Likely more out of instinct than actual pain, the serpent recoiled, realizing that it had another threat to contend to and was quickly distracted. Warp, who had teleported to a building nearby to get a better view of the situation, teleported again down to Lionheart herself, appearing next to her head; the flash of light emitted by him caught her attention, and she turned her head to look at him. He cupped his hands around his mouth before he called out. "Brace yourself!" He called before running up to her and placing his hands upon her collar. The flash of light that emitted from the teleporting Lionheart was enough to blind the snake; its coils fell askew and tangled as, instantaneously, the figure it had been constricting had simply vanished into nothingness, leaving the serpent disoriented and forced to try and right itself again. Lionheart, along with Warp now hanging off her shoulder awkwardly, reappeared up the street, and Lionheart fell to her knees as the soreness of her legs caught up with her. Her lowered height let Warp drop back down to the ground harmlessly, where he turned to her with concern. "Are you okay?" He asked. "Yes... just need to let some feeling get back into my legs," she replied. Whiptail suddenly dropped down from above, landing next to them and addressing Warp as he started at the fluorescent creature in bewilderment. "First it was an extinct shark, then a behemoth and now freaking Titanoboa -what the hell is this thing; how does it keep changing shapes like that?!" "I wish I had an answer," replied Warp. "But there's something... familiar about that creature; I can't place it but it's like I've seen it or something like it before." He rubbed his chin in thought. "But I can't remember where." Lionheart began to stand up, taking in a deep breath before rising fully to her feet. "Regardless, this fight is not over yet; I still have to stop this thing before it hurts anyone else," she stated with firmness. "We'll help however we can, Ms. Lionheart," Whiptail offered. She looked down at him, having to lean forward slightly to see him better. "Then do what you can to get all civilians clear of here; we can protect ourselves from this beast, they can't. Can you do that for me?" She gave him a smile, and the reaction from the salamander had Warp arching an eyebrow at him as he spastically readjusted his stance to a straight-up salute to the giant heroine. "Yes ma'am!" He returned. 'Seriously, Pierre? Have a little pride,' Warp thought to himself. "Good," returned Lionheart, before elevating her gaze. "It's changing again!" She warned. Warp and Whiptail turned, and saw that once again the creature had transformed as its previous form literally turned to mist and vanished as though it never were. This time, it had taken an avianic form, nearly reaching the height of the ten story office building it stood next to, with wingspan so massive they dwarfed even that of a Boeing-777 Airplane, covering entire streets in shadow as it stood, flexing out its wings and threw back its head as if to shriek, but again there was only that moan. It had a muscular body, built like an Olympic furson but made larger than life by whatever force comprised the creature. Growing from its head was a huge mane, like a lion, so dense that it covered its entire neck and even part of its back, and when it turned to face them, it had the head and face of a feral hawk. It 'screeched' again, before expanding its wings and flapping them, shattering the windows of buildings with the sheer wind emitted by the wingbeats, forcing the three heroes to brace themselves as it carried itself skyward, flying above the buildings. "Now what the heck did it turn into?" Whiptail demanded. "It's a Garuda," replied Lionheart. "This is something I'm more familiar with." She began to grow again, continuing to increase in size until she reached a total of fifty feet in height -Warp estimated anyway- and then her expression once more turned to that of determination before she stated, "Here I go again!" and then she took off, surprising both of them as her body was practically a blur as she sped towards the beast, making a mighty leap at it before it could get too high and seizing it by the legs. The Garuda beast flailed its arms as it tried to keep control of its flight, but no bird was built to carry multiple body weights, only their own; Lionheart successfully dragged the winged kaiju, even if it wasn't a real Garuda, down from the air above the buildings and back to ground level, where she forcefully attempted to throw it to the ground. It caught itself on a pair of structures before lunging at her and delivering a heavy-handed punch to her face, sending her reeling, but not enough to knock her down. She wheeled herself around and charged, slamming into the Garuda with her shoulder, slamming into the creature and sending it stumbling backward. At some point, the Garuda's feet found no purchase, and instead continued to drop into ice cold water; the fight had moved back to the shore of the lake, and the Garuda, losing its balance, fell backward and plunged into the water, soaking its feathers -if such physics applied to a creature evidently not composed of organic matter. Lionheart stepped into the water as well, flinching from the cold but she didn't let that stop her as the Garuda emerged from the water, glaring at Lionheart. The battle of fists was on, the two giants -the Garuda still the larger but not the stronger- trading powerful punches that seemed to shake the very air upon meeting their targets. Large waves were thrown onto the shore as they moved, sending boats crashing onto the pier and on top of a few cars -even the boat rental house was not spared as Lionheart fought to defeat the Garuda. Warp and Whiptail used this time to do a sweep through the blocks closest to the battle, making sure everyone had evacuated to a safe distance from the lake, checking everywhere they thought people might be hiding. After finishing their sweep, they returned to the shore and watched the unfolding battle. Lionheart seemed to have the upper hand; the Garuda was big, but she was stronger and faster; its advantage was when it was airborne and she had already robbed it of that edge. But the fight still took a turn. As Lionheart moved to punch the Garuda, and the creature itself was in the midst of taking a swing at her, it suddenly changed again, causing her to pause mid-swing as she beheld the horrifying thing that emerged from the haze where the Garuda had once been. A monstrosity, bigger than even the Garuda, with a body of smooth skin over powerful anthropic musculature, with hands ending in clawed fingers, shorter than the Behemoth form it had taken before, and legs proportionate to its size equally muscular and straight. But it was above the shoulders where the terror emerged. The creature had a head like a giant octopus, with a dozen short tentacles growing from its face. Two bright eyes, these ones actually a different colour than any of the forms before, glared out in bright orange at Lionheart. From the creatures back, a dozen more tentacles, these ones as long as the giant snake that the beast had been earlier, extended into view, waving and writhing about behind it as though each one had a mind of its own. Lionheart stared, paralyzed, at the eldritch horror staring back at her, and failed to react as those tentacles lunged forward like striking snakes, whipping around her upper arms and her thighs; she started to react, but then a fifth wrapped around her neck, squeezing tightly and blocking air from reaching her lungs. She grasped it with a hand, trying to pull it free, finally a sixth lashed around her belly, all of these tentacles squeezing her tightly, and beginning to pull her towards itself, those lifeless, blazing eyes all the while glaring at her as the tendrils growing from its face elevated, waving towards Lionheart's face like grabbing fingers. Whiptail stood, jaw wide open, at the spectacle as he and Warp stood helplessly watching as Lionheart was reeled in by the creature's numerous tentacles; it was too big for them to help her this time, and Warp wasn't certain he could teleport Lionheart at the size she was currently -even when she was at only thirty feet height it had been a gamble, but now that she was fifty feet he wasn't sure his powers would affect her. "Mon dieu is there no end to what this thing will change into?!" Whiptail demanded. "That thing is like something out of a recurring nightmare!" Warp's eyes shot wide open, those two words -recurring nightmare- ringing like alarm bells in his ears. Before his very eyes, memories began to flash before him, playing like a movie in fast forward as he relived memories he had somehow forgotten. The night of the harvest festival, he peeking into the doctor's hut, seeing a little girl strewn out across the floor, suddenly surrounded by an energy barrier, only for it to recede again within seconds, and the angry face of Ohanzee glaring at him, and just as suddenly the memories stopped, and the caribou still stood, mouth hanging open and eyes wide in horror. "Warp? Warp!" Whiptail exclaimed repeatedly. "DANIEL!" Akio's voice screamed in Warp's ear, the pain of his eardrum this time enough to snap him out of his trance. "Ow! Damn it; quit screaming at me!" He snapped. "Quit standing around like a post and I will!" Whiptail retorted. "What the hell is wrong with you; you're standing around all..." he imitated Warp's previous position, but exaggerated it strongly with crossed eyes and his tongue hanging out, letting a long-drawn out 'duh' before he shook his head and resumed what he was saying. "While Lionheart is getting strangled by fucking Cthulhu! Get your head in the game man; think of something! We have to help her!" Warp turned to look at the glowing, blue creature, the memory of that girl flashing across his mind again, before he said plainly. "I know what," he caught himself, "I know who that thing is." Whiptail's face fell to a blank expression. "Say what now?" "You know what it is?" Akio asked. "Yes... that night at Onata'ke, I saw her; she was surrounded in an aura just like that creature," explained Warp. "It didn't have a shape; it was just enshrouding her like a protective shield, before Ohanzee suppressed it. But I remember the colour and the light exactly, and this feeling of suppression the creature emits... there's no doubt about it; that monster is Kaniehtiio." Whiptail looked at the Cthulhu creature incredulously. "You're telling me that abomination is a twelve year old girl? Warp, that's impossible! No child could have that much power!" "Look, I have no time to argue the point," stated Warp. "I know I'm right, and I have to save her; Lionheart doesn't know what she's fighting!" Before Whiptail could protest, Warp vanished, his name being called out by the salamander falling on deaf ears as the caribou teleported down to the short, staring up at the creature desperately. He was running out of time; Lionheart was only inches from those reaching, short tentacles, where the creature would surely end her. He squinted his eyes as he stared at the creature, trying to find where Kaniehtiio could be inside of it. It wasn't likely he could spot her, but maybe there was some way -some trace he could follow, back to the source of the strange beast's life. "Daniel, even if you are right, what do you plan to do? That thing is too big for you to fight," Akio warned. "I'm not going to fight it," replied Warp. "I'm going to teleport inside of it, I'm going to get Kaniehtiio." Akio's response was garbled as the weasel was no doubt screaming his protest into the microphone. "You have no idea what could happen to you; just being near that thing feels like being in intensified gravity -you said so yourself! We don't know what the inside of it could be like; it's too risky!" "I failed Kaniehtiio before, I won't fail her again!" Warp asked. "I may not be her family, but I should've stopped Ohanzee when I had the chance; I should've just grabbed her and left! Right now I'm the only one who can save her, and I'm not going to let her down again!" He calmed, and then spoke calmly into his communicator. "If I don't make it back, Akio... it's been an honor." "DAN...!" Warp shut off the communicator before Akio could continue to try and talk him out of it, before he looked up at the creature again. After searching carefully, he spotted it; deep inside the distorted blue body of the Cthulhu-cloning beast, he saw a dark silhouette at the very epicentre where the heart was located in the body of a living being. He fixed on that spot, not sure what would happen to him once he did what he was about to do. He wasn't aware of Whiptail coming up behind him, moving at full speed as he ran at the caribou from behind, and sprang at him to tackle him. Whiptail hit nothing, simply falling to the sandy beach awkwardly as Warp disappeared just before he reached him. The instant he appeared out of teleport, Warp felt as though his body was being bombarded with small explosions, bursts of kinetic energy assailing his very fibre of being. His head pounded, his organs hurt -places where he didn't even realize he could feel pain were hurting. He couldn't see; any attempt to open his eyes was met swiftly by an invisible fist right to the orb itself, and despite feeling no ground or air around him, he wasn't falling.

He could not breath, he could not move from where he was, only shift his body about as if floating in zero gravity. What brief glimpses he got of the space around him were all blue, but it was not the blue of the sky. Every passing second felt like he was enduring a beating from an angry mob of thugs wanting payback for him bringing about their arrests in the past, but he felt nothing but force hitting him -no sound, no shape of fists impacting his body, no feet kicking his ribs. It was all simple force assailing him from every direction... He flailed his arms about instinctively, vainly trying to ward off his billions of invisible assailants, until his hand landed on something warm... Soft fur -baby soft, a bony hand, muscles tense and stiff. The hand was not his own, but based on where he had teleported, there was only one person it could belong to. In his mind, he saw a flash memory of her again, remembering Kaniehtiio's restless, sleeping form the night he'd first seen her. He knew it was her; it could be no one else. With renewed vigour filling him, Warp grasped that hand tightly, and once more he teleported, vanishing from the inside of the beast... Lionheart was nearly seeing black as she began to rapidly run out of air in her lungs, trying desperately to pull off the tentacle from around her throat as the other slimey, cold appendages dragged her closer to her opponent, who spread the tentacles of his face out wide to reveal a beak-like mouth, opening wide enough to engulf her entire head as she was pulled closer. The sight of that mouth made her realize what it was about to do; it intended to take her head, and eat it like a morsel. Pure survival instinct drove her actions; she did not even notice as the creature suddenly froze, its countless appendages immediately falling limp as it stood unmoving. Lionheart did not hesitate for even a second, delivering a mighty fist to its chest, only for the creature to... explode. Or, not so much explode, as simply burst, its blue body turning to a powdery haze reminiscent of a bag of flour being broken open in the air, and the blue 'powder' simply fell towards the water, but never touched it; it continued to get thinner and thinner until there was nothing left. And just like that, the creature was gone without a trace, no sign of it having ever existed remaining except for the red spots on Lionheart's body where its tentacles had bound her, or the bruise her cheek now sported from the punch she had suffered from its Garuda form. She placed her hands on her knees to steady herself as she gasped for breath, panting desperately to refill her starved lungs with air. Though her mind was nagged with questions, she needed to recover from her ordeal, barely able to remain standing as she carefully turned about and began to limp back to shore, one hand rubbing her neck. Whiptail stared, shocked, by what he had just witnessed... the creature had vanished, as if it had been nothing but an illusion all along, but the damage to the city behind him was real enough to remind him that what he had seen was not some cheap trick. It had been as real as himself and everyone in Toronto... A cough caught his ear; he spun around, and saw Warp down on his knees nearby, clutching something to his chest. Whiptail strode over as quick as lightning, literally stirring up sand as he crossed the beach full-tilt over to caribou, falling to his side and seizing him by the shoulders. "Daniel! Are you okay?" He'd mentally kick himself later for accidentally using Warp's real name, but for now he was just glad to see his friend was alive. Warp was panting for breath, his face showing he was still in a lot of pain. There was actually smoke coming off of his suit, and yet nothing was burning, but everything was damaged; pieces of his antlers were missing, he had dozens of little welts on his face reminiscent of being shot by airsoft guns over and over again, his gauntlets were misshapen and damaged, and his cape was torn in places. He looked as though he had just walked through the middle of an active gang war, despite having not even been gone for more than a minute, and the fact he was even still conscious was a miracle. Meanwhile, the young female caribou cradled in his arms was completely unharmed, garbed in a night dress. She seemed somehow at peace in her dreams, as if pulled out of her very nightmares by The Warp, but most of all she was unharmed, and the rest of the crisis was averted... Warp eyed her with pain in his eyes, a tear finding its way to his eyelid as he whispered to her, "Kaniehtiio, I'm sorry," and held her tightly against his chest. "I'm sorry I didn't save you sooner..."             "Mr. Warp?"             Warp didn't turn, but Whiptail did, and he saw Lionheart standing nearby, looking keenly at Warp with a firm stare. She walked around him slightly, and it was then she saw the child in the arms of Warp. The sight of Kaniehtiio made Lionheart's brow furrow, and Whiptail saw her hands tighten into fists again when she saw the child. "Who is that girl; what did you do to her?"             "Ms. Lionheart..." Whiptail began, but stopped as Warp abruptly stood up, turning to face Lionheart with a hard stare.             "This girl," he said plainly. "Is what you were just fighting."             Lionheart's eyes shot wide open as those words left the mouth of the caribou. "What?"             "He's telling the truth, Ms. Lionheart," Whiptail defended Warp's statement, stepping forward. "This little girl... her name is Kaniehtiio. She's the..." He paused. "The beast you were fighting."             Lionheart cupped her paws over her muzzle in horror as the truth of Warp's words were backed by a fellow Bureau agent -she had no actually met Whiptail but she knew of him, and knew that it was him addressing her. She stared in shock at the unconscious girl as suddenly she felt weak in her knees and collapsed, landing on her knees in the sand as she mumbled something incoherent behind her paws.             Warp looked at Kaniehtiio again, before he turned to look at Lionheart once more, and slowly, he approached her, cradling the child protectively, and though his face was firm, Lionheart could see the pain in his eyes as he approached her. "Can the Bureau help her?" He asked.             Lionheart barely even hesitated with her answer, springing to her feet again and nodding. "Yes. I can arrange to have her taken to a proper care facility. The people there are specialists; they'll take care of her."             "I will not allow that."             The three supers spun towards the voice, and saw a figure with a wooden mask hobbling over the three, crossing the beach and leaning on a walking stick with every crooked step he too. The mask was in the likeness of a hawk, covering his face with a wooden beak over his muzzle and also over his eyes, with a mohawk of feathers over the back of his head, covering his face and neck. The untrained eye would be unable to see the antlers growing from the skull of the stranger were natural and not part of the mask, but Warp didn't need to see the face of the man to know who it was.             "Ohanzee," he growled with spite. "How did you here?" The decrepit old telepath could never have made such a journey on foot; the way he moved, he would take several days to travel to Toronto, yet here he was...             Without even answering Warp's question, Ohanzee spokehis response in a commanding tone of voice. "I'll be taking Kaniehtiio home with me now," the old caribou, hidden behind his bird-mask, stated plainly. "Bring her here, Daniel, now."             Warp held Kaniehtiio protectively against his chest and took a step back. "Over my dead body, old man," he retorted. "You have put her through enough; she needs help."             "And she'll get it," returned Ohanzee. "But she will be helped by her people, not the Defilers of the land."             "Your old ways don't work, Ohanzee!" Warp shot, losing his patience rapidly. "If they did, this would never have happened! I'm not going to let you risk the lives of innocent people just because you hate the outside world!"             Though Warp could only scarcely see Ohanzee's eyes, he could see the hellfires raging in them as their gazes met, the tension between them reaching boiling point quickly. Warp didn't care if every bone in Ohanzee would shatter by the effort; he would not hesitate to knock the old man down if he didn't back off...             But it seems he didn't need to, because Lionheart stepped in, placing herself between Warp and Ohanzee. "This child is under the protection of the Bureau of Superheroes now, and I can have child services here in less than an hour to put her under their care. Don't think I won't."             "Go ahead," returned Ohanzee taking a step forward. "Your idle threats are nothing to me, she-cat; they'll come, and then they will forget about everything they were doing, while I leave quietly and take the child home. Now step aside, else I will erase your mind and leave you no more intelligent than an infant.             Whiptail stepped in to stand beside Lionheart, crossing his arms and keeping his gaze firm as both he and the lioness stared back. "If you want her, you'll have to go through both of us first," he warned.             "You underestimate me, boy," Ohanzee retorted as he raised his hand. "A mistake that will cost you dearly..."             Before Ohanzee could do anything, however, there was a clap of hands, and the very air itself seemed to distort as Ohanzee was stricken by an unseen force that sent him careening to the ground, falling to the sand in a heap and grunting as he put a hand on his mask to keep it from falling off his face. He shook his head to clear it before he turned to face his assailant, seeing a rather oddly garbed figure had arrived on the scene, wearing a casual clothes including a button-down shirt and jeans, but his face was wrapped in cloth to conceal it as he shook his hands around, relieving the pain of what had to have been a very hard clap.             "Ow, that hurt," the masked stranger remarked, confirming the suspicion.             "Hania! You dare attack me?!" Ohanzee snapped as he lifted himself back up.             "Damn straight, old man," retorted the masked stranger, who now Daniel knew was none other than his cousin. "I'm not going to let you take Kaniehtiio back to the village."             "She belongs with her people!"             "She belongs where she can be cared for; I spoke to her parents. They agreed!" Han retorted. "Let the lady take her where she can receive the proper care until she's mature enough to control her powers!"             "I will not let her be defiled by this wretched outer world!" Ohanzee retorted, waving his hand towards Toronto. "These fools have evolved into abominations, forsaken their ancestors and continue to cover the world in filth; does she belong with such people?!"             "The only monster I see here is you, Ohanzee," Warp stated. "You're so stuck in the past that you refuse to believe there is anything good about the modern world. Whether you like it or not, as long as Kaniehtiio's parents approve of us doing so, we are giving Kaniehtiio the proper care she needs, and you are not her legal guardian, therefore by law you have no say in what happens to her!" He pointed harshly at Ohanzee. "I don't care if you are the elder of the village; if you don't stay away from her, don't think I'll even hesitate to take you down, do you hear me?"             Ohanzee clearly realized the advantage was not his. It was him, an elderly psychic well past his prime, against four youthful -and angry superfurs; he may have been able to handle one or two of them but all four of them would easily be able to overcome his powers. His eyes stared into those of Warp for the longest time, the dead-gray orbs of the younger caribou filled with spite, and no indication that anything would change his mind...             Ohanzee scowled deeply. "So be it," he said. "Kaniehtiio leaves with you... but know that if you ever set foot near Onata'ke again, Daniel..." He pointed his staff at Warp. "It will be the end of you."             "Not so fast; you're not leaving!" Han protested.             "Yes I am," returned Ohanzee plainly before, very suddenly, he shot skyward, carried up by unseen forces and hovering forward as he angled his body to a horizontal position, and with that, he flew, straight and true, away from the scene, across the lake and to the wildness beyond, leaving four baffled heroes to stare after him... ~~~~~             With a few calls, Kaniehtiio was soon to be on her way to a care facility endorsed and supported by the Bureau of Superheroes; Lionheart claimed the place was reputable and reliable, and assured Warp and Han that Kaniehtiio would be well cared for there, until a way to help her control her powers could be found...             First, though, she had to be taken to the hospital for examination, to find out just if any harm had been done to her physically during the ordeal. The three heroes and the fourth, who kept his mask on, watched as Kaniehtiio was loaded onto an ambulance gently by paramedics; Warp wished he could go with her, but he had to stay out of sight, simply watching, and silently hoping the best for her.             Lionheart was standing nearby, watching with her hands folded over her chest as the ambulance doors closed and the paramedics got back on board. Warp waited until it was gone before he turned to her. "Will she be okay?" He asked.             She looked at him and nodded. "She'll be well-cared for," she promised. "But since she'll have to be relocated to Colmation, I imagine there'll be some complications in her parents visiting her."             Warp sighed. "Sad, but true... but it's for her own good."             "You did a good thing, Warp," Lionheart complimented.             The caribou eyed the lioness warily. "I suppose now is when you try to arrest me?" He asked. "I warn you, I cannot be restrained."             Lionheart smiled at him. "I'm not going to arrest you," she returned.             "You're... not?" Warp asked.             "I don't support the B.O.S's stance on unregistered superheroes, especially not after what I saw here today," replied Lionheart, honestly. "You've shown you are not a risk to anyone here in Toronto; you're willing to lay your life on the line to help those who cannot help themselves. I think that makes a hero, not whether or not they work for the Bureau." She folded her hands behind her back. "I'll be heading back to Japan soon."             Warp smiled warmly at her as she glanced back over her shoulder at him, and said softly, "thank you, Lionheart... for all your help."             "And thank you for yours," she returned. "If you ever consider joining the Bureau, I'll make sure to sign a recommendation for you."             "I second that," Whiptail piped up.             Lionheart smiled at Whiptail as well, before she looked at Warp again. "Good luck, and goodbye for now."             Warp, too moved for words, answered her only with a wave, and watched the lioness as she departed. He smiled again as he noticed Whiptail following her -probably to ask for an autograph, and when they were out of earshot, he turned to Han. "What happens to Ohanzee now?" He asked.             "Somehow I doubt the old bastard went back to the village," returned Han as he finally decided it was safe to take off the wrapping he used as a mask. "He knows I'll arrest him the moment I get back; probably long gone by now."             "Would he really leave Onöta'ke, though?"             "I doubt he'll venture far," replied Han. "He loves the village, but not enough that he'll be incarcerated for it. One day, I'll find him, and I'll bring him down."             Warp nodded to his cousin. "Be sure to call me when you do; I want to see him brought down too," he returned. With that, Warp adjusted his posture, crossing his arms and giving Han a wry smile. "So... decided to make use of your powers, have you?"             "What makes you think this isn't a one-time thing?" Han asked, rhetorically.             "Because you seem to have a knack for laying the smackdown on scumbags when the need arises," replied Warp. "My offer still stands, cousin; if you're willing to learn then I'm willing to train you. I can help you become a hero."             "And my job as a Park Ranger, for a village a hundred kilometers away?"             "Part of being a hero is to manage a double-life," replied Warp. "It's not an easy living, and you certainly don't get paid for it. But to some... the justice you serve can be its own reward."             Han chuckled. "Well, I've never been one to knock something without trying it," he returned, smiling broadly at Warp. "So when do we start, boss?"