New York, Queens

Crane's Warehouse

20:40

Okay this is seriously not good...

Aaron thinks to himself as he wipes the sweat off his brow, not breaking eye contact with his opponent.

Think Aaron... Think!

He internally screams inside his head as the cogs inside his brain start turning.

I might not have the ability to teleport as of now but there has to be something I can still use to give me the edge... Wait I got it!

He perks up in an eureka moment as he smirks behind his half-face mask. His opponent though is done waiting as he charges at him with a frenzied battle-cry. Aaron, with his newly profound confidence jumps out of the way and points his forearm at the gigantic man's torso, unleashing a series of electric pins. "How about we spice things up, big guy?" The teenager voices but the outcome of his actions, isn't quite what he was expecting.

"You think this hurts me?!" The man angrily voices as he rids himself of the electric pins stuck on his clothes with one swoop of his hand.

"Tch..." Wraith clicks his tongue in response.

I should have figured those small pins won't work on a guy that big... Even my kick didn't faze him... I might need something really powerful to take him down...

As Aaron desperately starts glancing around the room he notices a number of thick cables attached to a machine-like device on the wall. In a matter of seconds something inside his brain clicks and without hesitation makes for his desired destination. While his opponent tries to stand in his way, Aaron swiftly slips past him by sliding in between his legs and gets a hold of the cables. "Come here, boy!" Aaron comments as he waves the cable around with his enemy taking the bait and charging straight at him. The teenager swiftly ducks underneath the mutated man's big swing and jumps on his back while tying and fastening the thick cable around his neck. "What are you doing?!" The giant voices seemingly shocked. "Good boy!" He says before aiming at the device on the wall and unleashing yet another electric pin, before jumping away from the man with a backflip. As the pin strikes the machine, a big electric current overdrives its circuit and sends waves of electricity down the cables, causing even the gigantic man's body to convulse wildly, before hitting the ground with a thud.

"Did someone order a big fried dude, cause your order's ready!" Aaron continues in the same sarcastic tone as he moves to the man still tied in that chair from the very beginning. "NOW, I'll cut you free buddy." He comments emphasizing the first word.

After a few seconds, the captive is finally free as he and Wraith escape the warehouse in one piece. "I don't know how to repay you..." The man with the leather jacket voices as soon as both of them are out of the building.

"Nah I'm just doing my job, really..." Aaron replies with a shrug.

"No! I am in your debt! You saved my life, and as Harry Forman, the leader of the Black Hawks I will never forget that!" The no longer imprisoned man says with a stern look on his face.

"The leader of what now?" Aaron asks with a confused look on his face.

"The Black Hawks are a biker gang operating around Queens. We don't really commit crimes, apart from getting into fights with other gangs so you don't need to worry about us." Harry explains with his deep voice.

"Ah yeah because fighting isn't a crime at all... Well as long as you don't get civilians mixed up on your fighting I won't pursue YOU in particular." The teenager voices with yet another shrug. "Anyway, do you happen to know the reason why you were kidnapped and brought here? And did you hear anything about an "extraction"?" He continues while shifting his attention to the more pressing matters.

"I'm not sure why I was the one being experimented on, but I can hazard a guess. I'm mutated after all. And the extraction part was probably referring to my blood, which they used to create that monster you fought back there." Harry explains as Aaron widens his eyes and falls silent for a moment.

"No way... So they want to apprehend people affected by radiation and use their mutated blood to turn THEIR OWN people into mutated fighting monsters... This is crazy." Wraith voices while tying the pieces altogether. "You also said you were mutated, but you don't look like it to me... Why's that?" He continues by posing a question to the man standing before him.

"At first I thought I wasn't affected much by the radiation but there were times when my ears would just suddenly hurt like hell... As if a grenade just exploded right next to me. After 2 weeks of suffering from sudden pains like these, I became able to hear stuff far louder than any other person can. That's why I'm always wearing these..." The man explained while showing a pair of earplugs. "...I've always had problems with my ears and I couldn't hear all that well, but after the accident back at WalCorp all of that changed." Harry voiced while stuffing his earplugs back in his ears.

"...I see. Anyway, thanks for the information. Try not to get kidnapped again." Wraith said in a state of shock as he patted his shoulder and was about to leave.

"Hey, Wraith or whatever you're called!" Harry calls after the teenager before he can take off, halting his movements. "I don't know what you are or if we're even on the same side. But I will repay my debt to you. That I promise. From here on you can count on the Black Hawk's help if you need it." The man voices sincerely with a tight smile.

"Having a leader of a biker gang say that, doesn't exactly sound appealing to me... But thanks nonetheless, Harry...'' Aaron says while turning around. "...And try to stay out of trouble, man..." He finally says as he hooks himself to the nearest rooftop and disappears from view, while the gang leader chuckles softly.

Criminal organizations making mutant soldiers... Radiation that instead of killing, heals and enhances physical abilities... I don't know what to make of all of that... I'll have to call Steinn as soon as I get home. Ahh man I seriously wanna see my bed right now...

New York, Queens

Kew Gardens Hills Academy

12:35

"Another day, another fortune" like Dad used to say...

Aaron thinks to himself while walking past the school gates all alone on a Tuesday morning.

"Hey good morning, mate!" The ever energetic JJ voices as he catches up to his friend from behind with William in tow.

"Good morning guys." Aaron addressed the two guys as Will nodded and said "good morning" as well.

"What's with the long face, man? Getting tired of this school already?" JJ asks as he pokes his friend's side with an elbow.

"Nah it's just that I'm not much of a morning person you know..."

"Good morning, Aaron!" A sweet voice cuts the two off, as the three boys turn around to the source of the greeting.

Sarah!

Aaron widens his eyes recalling the events from yesterday, but quickly regains his composure.

Steinn told me yesterday that Sarah is most likely using a fake surname, so as to not get into "trouble" of sorts by declaring her direct affiliation with the infamous businessman and underground dweller Steven Crane. He also concluded that it was highly unlikely that Sarah knew of her father's criminal acts. Thus we decided it was best to act the same around her, so as to not raise any suspicions.

"Good morning, Sarah." Aaron replied with an aloof smile as they passed each other by.

"Hey hey heyyy! What was that all about?! How the hell do you know THE Sarah Middleton!?" JJ almost burst as soon as they were out of range.

"Well she fell of some stairs, I saved her and one thing led to another and now we know each other. That's all." Aaron explains uninterested.

"What?! What do you mean "that's all"?! We need the deets man!" JJ pressed on with the matter though.

"Indeed..." Will voiced as he repositioned his glasses.

"You too, Will?" Aaron sighed. "Okay, I'll give you the deets..." He said imitating JJ's accent.

....

"WHAAAAAT?!" Both of the boys shouted as soon as they heard exactly what happened.

"Dude it's your time to make a move! She's totally into you!" JJ says while putting his arm over Aaron's shoulder.

"Look man I appreciate it, really. But I'm not really interested right now..." He explains as he looks around the classroom, which he had just entered, quickly spotting the person he was looking for.

"Not interested, what are you on about, mate? What is he on about, Will?" JJ asks looking like he just heard someone speak a foreign language, as Will shrugged.

"Hey Olivia!" Aaron says while separating from his group of friends and greeting her.

"Good morning, I see you're not late again. Good job." Olivia replies with a sarcastic grin.

"Hey cut me some slack that only happened once!"

"Well today's the second day so forgive me for not being convinced yet..." Olivia replied as they both chuckled.

"So that's what he meant by "I'm not interested..."" JJ in the background commented with a grin.

As they both laughed, Aaron looked around Olivia and noticed the two girls sitting close by.

She was the one that told me I should talk to her even if she was with her friends so...

"Oh I forgot!" Olivia perks up as if she read his mind. "This is Aaron..." She pointed while turning to her friends. "Aaron this is Lindsay...." She then pointed to one of her friends, with long brown hair, brown eyes and tanned skin. "...And this is Rachel." She finally pointed to the other girl, which had her hair cut short in a bob style, wore circular glasses and had green eyes.

"It's nice to meet you, girls." Aaron said with a polite smile as they exchanged handshakes.

"Likewise." Lindsay voiced with the same smile, as Rachel shyly nodded.

"So what brings you here?" Olivia asks while noticing the tension on his gaze.

You can do this Aaron... You can do this... Just like you practiced yesterday... Say "Are you free this Saturday?"

"Uhm... Saturday..." He voiced as the words caught on his throat.

"Saturday?" Olivia repeated in the form of a question.

You idiot! What are you doing!?

"Yeah... I mean, no! I mean yes, ah dammit!" Aaron said while fighting with his self all the while shaking his head. Before he could make amends though, his watch started vibrating and he took a look at his phone. "Sorry I need to take this..." Aaron's expression turned serious as he saw the name "Dr. Steinn" as the caller.

"But class is about to start..." Olivia voiced confused.

"Make a good excuse for me!" He said as he was already outside the classroom.

"That idiot!" Olivia said with an exasperated sigh.

"You never told us about a boyfriend, Oli..." Lindsay quickly voiced with a grin on her face.

"B-Boyfriend?! Please!" Olivia replied with a slight stutter.

"You looked really close to me too." Rachel joined in while leaning closer.

"I'm serious... He's... just a friend." Olivia explained, somewhat disappointed.

"That's a shame. Well he was cute so can I have him?" Lindsay said as Rachel pouted.

"No fair Lindsay!" She said as Olivia glared at them, the aura around her getting significantly heavy.

"It was a joke Olivia, chill out!" Lindsay reassured her before both of them apologized.

....

Aaron on the other hand had just walked inside the empty men's bathroom and shat himself inside a stall. "Hello?" He voiced while picking up the phone.

"Kid, I need you to come over the lab as soon as you're done with school. I've got some things I need to talk to you about, including that malfunction in the teleportation unit on your suit." The scientist cut to the chase without wasting any time on formalities.

"Got it, I'll be there." The teenager nodded to himself as the call disconnected and sighed to himself. "You could have just messaged me you know... now I lost my chance!" He complained while stepping out of the stall. Before Aaron could step outside though the door of the bathroom violently swung open, while the young man masterfully avoided colliding with it.

"Get out of my way, loser!" A tall, brawny dude, in fact taller than Aaron, with short blonde hair pointing upwards and a mean pair of brown eyes voiced as he glared at Aaron. He was wearing a college-style jacket with the school's crest on it and a plain white T-Shirt underneath it as well the standard pants of the school uniform and a pair of torn all-black leather sneakers.

"Hey chill out, man." Aaron threw his hands up in response.

"I ain't gonna chill out so get the hell out of my sight." The brawny student said as he made way with his elbow and stood in front of the mirror.

"Hey-" "Aaron there you are, mate!" JJ cut Aaron off before he could say anything and pulled him out by the shoulder.

"Why'd you stop me, man?" Aaron asked as they walked back to the classroom.

"I stopped you cause you were gonna get your ass beat! You don't wanna get involved with him, trust me." JJ voiced while shaking his head.

"Who is that guy?" Aaron simply asked in response.

"That's Brad Wilson... The school's number one troublemaker. He always gets into fights and stuff like that and word has it he's got powerful friends outside the school, too." JJ explained as he lowered his voice.

"So he's basically a bully... But I guess with a name like Brad you can't become anything else in this day and age, huh..." Aaron commented as JJ chuckled.

"Anyway let's get back to class, Will's waiting."

"Lead the way, mate!" Aaron voiced while imitating JJ once again.