Officer Davens is two blocks away from the Cedar House on his way to deliver a ticket to the owner for serving minors during a police sting last weekend. Davens has been on this beat for five years. The Cedar House is slow now, but it’s business will pick up in an hour or so. The Cedar House was the oldest bar in the state was converted from an old farm house and had been standing on that same spot for 101 years.

Settled in the industrial area of the city, it served union workers during the day and pulled in a crowd at night by featuring local bands and attracting folks who enjoyed its friendly atmosphere. The fact that it had been owned by the same family for the past 60 years also helped give it its charm.

Suddenly, in his rearview mirror Davens sees a giant red spotlight shining down on the street behind him about 75 feet behind his car. It’s slowly moving up the street.

“Must be some stupid promotional thing,” he thinks, “this being New York and all. Of course, you’d think they’d be pulling that shit in Times Square, not in the mostly deserted warehouse district.”

He stops, hangs his head out the window, but can’t pinpoint the source of the light that is moving towards him in the darkness and decides to call it in, he can’t be too careful. Whatever these folks are doing, he’s sure you need a permit from the city for it.

As he grabs for the radio, the red light moves ever closer. FSSSSS! He hears terrifying sound of the “light” burning into the street. He takes another look and sees smoke rising from the street in front of what appears to be two huge shafts of red light which encompass both lanes of the two lane road. He fumbles for the gear shift in a panic, but can’t get the vehicle moving before SHOOOM! The light from the sky swallows the vehicle and stops. FRESSS! The paint on the car’s hood begins to bubble due to the extreme heat. VOOSH! The plastic paneling inside the vehicle and the windows begin to warp. VSSSSH! Davens cries out in pain, “ARGGGGH!” as the exposed skin on his hands and face begins to blister. He reaches to open the car door, but the rapid increase in temperature mercifully causes him to pass out almost immediately before FSSSSSH! The heat burns through his clothing and devours his flesh. Seconds later, BAFHOOMP! The squad car is reduced to a cloud of smoke, leaving a smoldering burn mark on the pavement. SWOOOSH! Two large male figures, one whose eyes still glow red with his power, fly through the resulting smoke cloud, continuing on their way to The Cedar House.

Snake was Mr. Bloom’s most trusted associate, but the money was just too good. The life was wearing on him, he needed to move on. These guy were going to do right by him, $50 million for the codes and the location of his soon to be former employer.

They decided to meet at The Cedar House, which looked like a giant barn, but was made of stronger wood. It had two floors. He was to meet them on the second floor in the back corner booth at 8:45 PM. He wasn’t supposed to bring anyone or anything, just tell them what they wanted to know and where he had hidden the code disk. Of course, in a separate car his trusted, armed friend Sammy waited with two other guys they both trusted. The three of them were to enter the bar separately after Snake did and keep an eye on things. Snake saw Sammy’s and the other dudes in their car on the side of the building as he drove up to The Cedar House, everything was in place.

He checked for his gun, which is tucked into the back of his jeans, and walked into the place. The first floor has a few pool tables toward the front, a huge bar to the left, and a big area with tables which are positioned in front of the stage toward the back of the place. The stage is tucked under the floor of the second level. The second level has a bar, some small tables, and booths along the back wall. The second level served as a VIP area on the Cedar House’s dance night and a restaurant with short order fare. Snake was early, so he grabbed a beer at the main bar before heading up the stairs.

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Meanwhile, Sammy and his two goons are chilling in the car. Sammy is in the driver’s seat with his cigarette dangling out the open window. URRPHH! Suddenly, the car is hoisted into the air and SWOOOOSH! Moving at super speed until WUMMP! It drops to the pavement in the deserted alley behind The Cedar House.

The men inside the vehicle are a little roughed up by the quick trip. As they begin to regain their bearings, THWUMM! Something heavy lands on the roof of the car near the rear, KRRNCH! Causing the vehicle’s roof to buckle.

“What the fuck,” mutters Sammy.

SHRRIIP! Two powerful hands tear through the roof and clamp onto the head of the dude in the back seat like a vice. “URRHMMPH!” the goon groans as he struggles for a brief moment before the hands twist and KERRACKK! The goon’s head rotates 270 degrees and his body goes limp as his neck snaps like a dry twig. The hands vanish and THUMMP! The lifeless corpse crumples onto the rear seat.

SWOOOSH! A huge male figure appears next to the driver’s door accompanied by a rush of air, Sammy turns to face the huge man and KRASKOOOSH! Catches a punch to the face that powers into his skull and through the back of his head. Skull fragments, blood mist, and brain bits splatter all over the vehicle’s interior.

The dude in the front passenger seat pulls his gun, VZZZZZ! As a burst of heat vision, with the precision of a laser, decapitates him and cauterizes the wounds instantly. His head rolls into his lap WHUP! Smoke rises from the stump of his neck as his head lies lifeless with a terrified expression frozen on the face.

Chaz, not wanting to attract unwanted attention by blowing up the vehicle, hoists it off the ground again with his powerful muscles and OOOOSH! Sends it flying up into the air and KERRASSSH! Through the roof of a currently unoccupied warehouse four blocks over.

Chaz then CRENNKK! Breaks the lock on the rear door of The Cedar House as he rips open the door and SWOOOSH! Races up through the kitchen, to the second floor at super speed to join his partner. Moving so fast that he’s undetectable by normal human senses. Of course, 21 year old bartender Marc wishes he didn’t just see that guy run past him.

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Snake, finishes his beer and heads to the second floor. As he approaches the booth, he sees two men sitting in it, facing away from him. WOOOSH! There’s a sudden rush of air as he approached.

Snake notices that he is dealing with some big ass dudes. The booth seats are about six feet in length, the chests of the two dudes sitting before him are so broad that one of them has one of his muscular glutes hanging off the bench. Snake nonchalantly reaches for his gun for assurance before he sits down. It isn’t there!

“You looking for this,” one of the huge dudes asks, holding up his gun.

The muscle stud flexes his bicep, forming a mountain of muscle and commands Snake to “Sit down!”

Snake obeys.

As he scoots into the booth, the dude with his gun stretches his leg under the table and lays it across Snake’s seat, trapping him between the wall and the muscular leg wrapped in black, skin-tight leather looking pants.

The dudes give him broad smiles, they make him nervous. They look like boys in a man’s body, they can’t be older than 21, but they are huge. Their upper bodies are almost bursting out of their t-shirts. Their voices are authoritative and booming. Everything about these two says power.

The one seated nearest the wall speaks, “Mr. Snake, I’m Cody and this is Chaz. I’m glad you decided to meet with us.”

Snake takes another look toward Chaz who slowly pulses his pecs, stretching his t-shirt a bit thinner as it strains to contain his huge, thick pecs. Snake can see his muscle nipples and the shirt has become sheer enough that he can tell Cody has a hairless, smooth upper torso. Then Snake notices “Chaz was here” has been somehow burned into the wood table in front of Chaz. Faint wisps of smoke trail from the letters, Chaz just smiles broader and chuckles.

Snake pulls out his cigarettes to calm his nerves. He pulls one out and sets the pack on the table. As he and Cody talk, FSOSSH! Suddenly his whole pack of cigarettes ignites. SPOOLSH! He douses the fire with one of the beers the two studs ordered. The waitress brings more beer and gets Snake more cigarettes. Snake overhears Cody telling Chaz to stop doing something.

Snake rats out his boss. Cody listens to and memorizes everything Snake is saying, as he munches on some bar nuts, while Chaz uses his super senses to read the traitor and make sure all of his biological signals indicate that he is telling the truth. Chaz also WZZZZ! Scans Snake with his x-ray vision and gives Cody a little poke, indicating that he has found what they are both after.

Snake talks to Cody and diverts his eyes from Chaz as much as possible as he chain smokes his way through the meeting to calm his nerves. Until one point where Chaz opens his mouth and PSSOUF! PSSOUF! Blows a few nice sized smoke rings around Snake’s head. Snake turns to see where all the cigarette smoke is coming from and POOOF! Chaz lets a huge cloud of cigarette smoke blow out of his mouth which surrounds Snake’s head like a thick, impenetrable fog. Chaz admires the huge cloud of smoke he generated from sucking the smoke that floated by him in the bar into his powerful lungs.

“AUGGH! OOAGH!” Snake goes into a coughing fit. He reaches for his bottle of beer and “EEOOWW!” The glass bottle is so hot it burns his hand. Chaz chuckles as his pupils return to their normal state.

“You asshole!,” Snake shouts at Chaz, who isn’t going to take a puny human calling him names. VREEET! Two beams of heat vision race from his eyes SWOOOSH! Cody’s hand leaps across the table and VVIZZZK! Blocks the beams, saving Snake from being instantly incinerated. Then THWACKK! Cody flicks the side of Chaz’s head with his finger to get his attention and get him to behave. Snake is freaking out, he decides to press on with the meeting and get the fuck out of there.

“…and that’s everything you guys will need to know,” Snake finishes. “Can I have my cash now and I’ll reveal the location of the disk?” The mole gestures toward the duffel bag that is supposed to be loaded with cash that sits near Cody.

“He telling the truth?,” Cody mumbles to Chaz, his mouth juggling about eight peanuts.

“Yeah, no biological indication of lying, he’s clean,” Chaz responds.

Cody shoves the bag toward Snake, who eagerly pounces on it. He rips it open, only to find it’s filled with about 35 copies of today’s newspaper and no cash. VREEEET! The bag POOOFSH! Is vaporized under the power of Chaz’s heat vision.

With that Cody turns toward Snake, smiles, and puffs out his cheeks. PHHTOOM! PHHTOOM! Cody uses his super breath to launch peanuts like bullets through the Snake’s chest. PHHTOOM! PHHTOOOM! The peanuts rip through the stunned man’s flesh and embed themselves in the wooden booth behind him as they shoot out his back. Blood pours from the multiple holes in his flesh. Snake attempts to cry out for help PHHTOOM! Cody lets another peanut fly. KRIKOOSH! The peanut rips right through the man’s Adam’s apple and his cry becomes a blood choked gurgle.

Chaz SHRRMMMM! Gives the table a super strength shove and KRRRRACKK! The four inch thick, square wood table catches their informant at chest level and crushes him between it and the back of the booth. THUMMP! The portion of the man’s upper torso above the table, which has been severed from the rest of his body, flops over onto the table itself.

Chaz KERRACKT! Rips off the man’s right foot and removes a disk hidden in the heel of his boot. It’s hard to hide things from X-Ray vision.

Cody’s snatches the severed upper torso by the hair and throws it under the table. In their secluded booth in the back corner, no one saw anything. Plus, the band warming up downstairs kept them from being overheard.

The two huge young men get up from their seats. Cody is 5’11” and Chaz is 5’10” and they are both pumped up with fine, hot muscle. They wear jeans and tight white t-shirts, their clothing can barely contain their impressive physiques.

Chaz has blond hair, bright green eyes and a big, white smile. He is built like an ox, his muscles are proportional to his height and are big and huge.

Cody has black hair, brown eyes and a wears a smirk on his face. As the brains of their little operation, he’s always plotting and planning their next move, while Chaz parties with his powers.

About a hundred other people are in the bar, Cody and Chaz don’t really want any witnesses. Some folks stare as the two huge studs make their way out of the establishment.

The band is warmed up to play and people have filled the tables in front of the stage. It’s a pretty good crowd for a week night.

As, the band plays their first set, a series of low roars, like rumbling thunder, from outside are drowned out by the loud music. Moments later the singer stops singing and stares forward in disbelief. Everyone turns, as two smoking, black circles each about a foot in diameter rapidly expand as they burn into the wall of the bar. The band stops playing and BAAOOMM! BAAAWHOOOM! Explosions and bursts of bright orange light can be seen through the windows. Suddenly, BAWHOOM! KERASSSH! The front end of a flaming car smashes through the wall and hangs there, stuck.

Suddenly, the door opens and an obviously terrified man races in, but before the door closes behind him VREEE! A beam of red light races through the doorway and catches the man and “AAEEEEEIIII!” A chilling scream fills the air from the now flaming man. He swirls around like the Tasmanian Devil howling in pain, before collapsing and burning to death as the bar patrons stare in horror.

FSSSSSSSH! The black circles have now grown to ten feet in diameter when SHOOOOOM! The wall burns away and FSSSSSSH! Powerful beams of heat race through the wall and FSSSSHOMMP! Burn through the crowd on their way to consume the band.

“AAAIIIIIEEEE” Screams fill the air, other patrons and staff watch stunned as 50 people and the band are swallowed by the two broad heat beams and are burned to ashes. Clothing, flesh, and bone turns to smoke and ashes in moments. Charred skeletal remains litter the area.

The beams stop and smoke rises from the fire that is now eating through the establishment itself.

The living snap to their senses and scramble for the exits, just as CHOOOM! A muscular figure walks through the hole he burned in the front wall about 25 feet from the main door. Through that hole acrid smoke pours from the 65 burning vehicles outside. One half of The Cedar House’s first floor is being consumed by fire and that fire is spreading. Chaz walks through the flames, they tickle as they lick his invulnerable, muscular body.

A brave, but foolish, young man leads his group of four friends through the debris and thickening smoke to the front door. He makes eye contact with Chaz as he nears his goal, unaware that Chaz is one of the causes of this disaster. The fact that Chaz is standing among the flames and is not at all harmed by them, makes the young man pause for a moment. Chaz smirks at him and turns his head 15 degrees as his eyes glow pink and VRZZZZZZ! The young man watches in horror as heat rays stream from Chaz’s glowing red pupils and FSSSSSHH! Blacken the flesh of his friends, turning their bones to ashes before they have time to cry out.

Chaz faces the door and FAWOOOOSH! Blows a huge cloud of his freeze breath along the front wall, blocking the holes he made and the front door behind a 2 foot think wall of ice.

The young man turns to run away from Chaz and back into the building, searching for another exit when WHHUMP! Snatches the whimpering young would-be hero from behind, wrapping his hand around the young man’s neck and hoisting him a foot off the floor, Chaz then KERRKSSST! Pinches one of the lower vertebrae of his victim’s spine between his thumb and forefinger, crushing it to powder; and THUMPP! Tosses the now paraplegic young man to the floor. Then THWMP! Chaz places his foot on the sobbing young man’s shoulder and gives him a “little push” RRRBBBBMMM! The kid slides across the floor under Chaz’s muscle power into a thick plume of flames, VOOOSH! Which engulf him, setting him aflame, granting him a painful death.

Cody, done with all the cars outside, CHOOOM! Crashes through the ceiling and hovers inside the bar, FAWOOOSH! He puffs out his cheeks and a cloud of his freeze breath seals off one of the emergency exits as it solidifies creating a giant chuck of ice.

Chaz then races into the kitchen SWOOOSH! At super speed. Beating the people who are heading to the back door. FAWOOOOSH! A blast of his icy super breath seals the door up nice and tight. Their super ice like substance will hold up well against normal fire.

Chaz then turns toward the crowd of panicked folks rushing his way, puffs out his cheeks and FWOOOSH! Begins to herd them into the corner of the kitchen like cows with his super breath. The people struggle against the powerful winds Chaz super lungs generate, but escape is impossible. Once Chaz has the group of 20 or so people trapped in the corner he VREEEE! Unleashes two broad beams of heat vision that rip through the kitchen into the crowd of people. FISSSSSH! He watches as the people twist about and scream as his heat rays bake them a few at a time, carefully working their way through the group row by row, turning each helpless victim to ash.

SWOOOSH! There is a rush of air and THWAAMM! Chaz catches a surprise punch to the face, which knocks him across the kitchen and CERACCK! Into the far wall. Chaz THWUD! Slides down the wall and hits the floor. VREEEEE! Heat beams slam into Chaz’s pecs VRACKZZZ! Threatening to smoke him.

Meanwhile, Cody races about the bar exterminating people with his various powers as he sees fit. Now that they are all trapped without any hope of escape, he doesn’t need to rush things. The fire engulfs only half of the first floor, the entire area near the bar is untouched, except for smoke damage. Cody WOOOOOO! Inhales the thick smoke, clearing the air, so the smoke doesn’t kill the people before he gets a chance to do so.

Cody KERASSK! KRAASHH! SMASSH! Uses his powerful muscles to tear apart the wooden stairs leading to the second floor of the bar. He grasps and tears and crushes, the wooden tree trunk size supports for the staircase snap like toothpicks under Cody’s mighty muscle power. His action traps 30 people on the second floor and causes the 15 people who were on the stairs to fall to the floor in a pile of people and debris.

As the people attempt to claw their way out of the pile of debris, Cody positions himself 30 feet from the pile within the flames on the other side of the bar and FWOOSH! FWOOSH! FWOSH! Three quick gusts of his super breath blow three large balls of fire into the pile of debris. The people scream as the fire consumes them, but they cannot escape the heavy wood chunks under which they are trapped. The other survivors watch in horror.

Two well built men run to help, but Cody cocks his muscular arm and KABLOOSH! Drives his fist through the chest of one of the would be rescuers. “ACK—“ The man gurgles as Cody’s fist blasts out of the middle of his back, shattering his rib cage and snapping his spine. Blood streams from the man’s mouth and his wounds. Cody stares into the man’s eyes as life begins to fade from them and VREEE! Carefully blasts his victim’s eyes with beams of his heat vision. The man screams as Cody’s heat vision causes his eyeballs to bubble and PALOOSH! Explode, like giant blisters filled with fluid. Then VREE! Cody’s heat vision reaches the man’s brain heating it up like a loaf of bread in the oven. The man spasms and shrieks as his brain comes under attack as Cody’s carefully applies his heat vision to it. FSSSSSSH! Steam shoots out of the man’s ears as the water in his brain evaporates, increasing the pressure within his skull. Finally, KERACKOOSH! The man’s skull bursts apart under the pressure, unleashing a hail of brain matter. Cody withdrawals his fist and THUDD! Let’s the body fall to the floor.

The second man abandons his rescue attempt and runs away. SWOOOSH! Cody catches him in an instant with his super speed and KKRRKT! Hoists the man off the ground by gripping his throat with one of his powerful hands. The man struggles and strikes Cody’s massive, muscular frame with his fists and feet, but his struggling is useless against Cody’s invulnerable, huge body. Cody carries the man over to a giant, eight foot high plume of flame which is consuming several wooden tables and a few bodies. Cody smirks at the man and thrusts him into the flames. VOOOSH! Cody holds him there and feels the flames tickle his hand and forearm as the man screams and struggles while the fire chars his flesh. Finally, Cody just lets go and UMPH! Drops the body into the fire.

Next up is the second level where 30 people are trapped. Cody flies up into the air and VREEEET! Beams of heat race from his eyes and sweep swiftly from one side of the second floor to the other. VOOOOSH! The people burn to ashes and flames swallow the whole area. Whatever Cody’s heat vision doesn’t incinerated, it sets aflame.

Cody’s ready to finish this, VREEET! Broad heat rays stream from his eyes as he seeks to engulf the entire place in flames. He aims at the walls, the floor, and the roof. Setting everything within his sight on fire or burning it to ashes.

Back in the kitchen, Chaz FWOOOSH! Hits his attacker with a gust of super breath that OOOOSH! Launches him KERRASSH! Through the kitchen wall and into the main bar area.

Chaz chest is smoking from the heat rays. His shirt is ruined, his natural invulnerability will protect anything within two inches of his skin, but not from a super powered attack. Chaz’s opponent is 6’1”, two inches taller than Chaz, but his biceps only measure about 15 inches, whereas Chaz’s are 21 inches. Chaz is much more developed as far as muscle size, although the other dude is very toned and cut. The fact is, if the kid hadn’t caught him by surprise, Chaz wouldn’t have been moved by the blow at all.

Marc lies smashed into the side of the bar. He wanted to save his friends. He hated these stupid powers and the first time he wants to use them, they fail him. All his co-workers are dead. KERTHUD! Large chunks of the burning roof are falling into the bar. Marc gets up and SWOOOSH! “Oh no!” Marc thinks as KERWHAAAMMM! Chaz fist, powered by his huge guns connects with Marc chest and RRRRRERRRAACKK! Powers Marc through the entire length of the bar, splitting it in half down the middle.

Marc “ARGGGH!” hollers in pain and coughs up some blood. He’s no match for this dude. He leaps into the air to escape, and VREEETT! Catches two heat beams in the chest as Chaz pours it on. Marc keeps flying though he’s almost to the roof.

“Oh no you don’t,” Comes a voice from behind him. Another power dude!

He feels the dudes hands clamp on his shoulders and FREZZACKK! Yellow energy surrounds his body as the power races through him like an electric shock and he drops to the ground like a stone.

“All yours, Chaz. I scrambled his flight power for you man,” Cody calls out.

Chaz is ready to make this dude pay. Cody’s ability to scramble the power that a power dude is currently using for a limited time actually works this time. Sometimes the dudes he tries it on are too powerful and can resist it.

Chaz warms up to squash Marc, as Cody calls out, “Sky drone, we have to move, now!”

“Fuck me!” Chaz exclaims, he wanted to absorb this punk.

Quickly Chaz flexes both biceps and the huge mounds of muscle swell and pulse with green energy and SHOOOM! SHOOOM! Each bicep fires a ball of green energy that VERZACKK! VERZACCK! Powers into Marc’s chest and fucks him up big time. He collapses and spasms as the green energy rips through him.

KERASSSHHH! BOOOM! The building collapses around Marc as Cody and Chaz fly off at super speed to avoid any forces the drone may have alerted to their presence.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- >>The Cedar House 5 minutes after Cody and Chaz departed the scene

Agent Cole flew over the scene, scanning the burning remains of The Cedar House. A sky drone detected power use in this area by three power dudes, but apparently it had detected it too late, as whatever was here was now consumed by flames that created a great cloud of smoke over the area. Fortunately, the sky drone network would soon be enhanced with the addition of 2000 sky drones to complement the current 150 floating over the United States. In the month since the sky drone network was launched, rogue power dude detections were up.

Although the sky drones initially had the ability to detect the power magnitudes of any power dudes they scanned, that feature had been disabled since the tragic accident. Cole remembered it like it happened only minutes ago, when it had been a few days at least. Cole was about to go into a strategy meeting with Gideon, when the sky drone alert came in, a magnitude 1.8 power dude. Cole commanded three of his excited rookies to bring in the target, except it turned out this dude was no 1.8 and the three of them were exterminated. Cole had yet to track down the bastard who did it, but when he does find him, that animal is going to suffer before Cole grants him a slow, painful death. Since the accident, all retrieval team members had to be a magnitude four or higher and a back-up unit is always kept waiting in the wings and ready to go, in case things got out of control.

With his enhanced vision powers WZZZZ! Cole detects a living being covered by debris within the fire, a power dude, apparently he lost the fight. Cole can see why, this one doesn’t have much muscle mass, although he is quite toned. Cole doesn’t see a lot of residual energy radiating from him that a more powerful power dude would have after a fight.

However, Cole’s mission is to retrieve the power dudes that are detected by the sky drones and this one will be no different. Cole is one of the best retrievers, few power dudes can resist his powers, he is almost as powerful as his master, Gideon. That was because Gideon shared his limitless energies with Cole, giving him a boost now and then. These “boosts” ensure that Cole is a match for any power dudes he comes across. Cole is powerful enough that he doesn’t need to work as a member of one of the three member retrieval units. In fact, as a top commander and Gideon’s right hand man, Cole commanded the retrieval teams and carried out other important missions. He loves field work, often taking most of the calls himself, because he so enjoys overpowering lesser beings.

Cole SHOOMP! Plows down through the flaming remains of the building and the ash that covers his target and lifts him out of the wreckage BOOOFSH! The two of them blast out of the pile of debris, Cole cradling the unconscious subject in his massive arms.

Cole UMPHH! Plops Marc on a large section of the collapsed roof of the building and tapped one of his silver wrist bands, activating his communicator, and calls it in, “Possible magnitude one, commencing final scan.”

“Go ahead, Cube,” comes a familiar voice from the com link.

Cole smiles, “Thad, you jackass. Why don’t you let the computer handle this shit and go do something useful?”

“What? You going to come and retrieve me, big man,” Thad cracks. “I’ll see you when you get back, but Gideon confirmed target #8712F4 is to be dealt with and that is two miles from your current position, so I thought you might want a crack at it. I know you love the civilian targets.”

Sometimes Cole just loves the wise cracking Thad.

“Sure, send the data, thanks,” Cole responds.

“OK, transmitting data to your system now,” Thad replies. “Anything for Gideon’s favorite, Thad out.”

Thad’s other wrist band emits a beep, indicating the data has been received. Cube is Cole’s nickname. He was given it because he had the muscles and power of Superman cubed, the joke went. It was true though, Cole was a powerful man in every way, and he could pass for Superman’s much bigger and stronger identical twin brother. Gideon could not have chosen a more worthy man, Cole took his duties seriously and was loyal to Gideon and the cause. He sets a great example for the other power dudes who have joined Gideon. His displays of supreme power convinced many power dudes to join Gideon’s forces, as opposing any being with this much power would be futile.

In his black, skin tight battle suit, which covers him from the neck down, he looks particularly menacing. The suit was thin enough that every ripple of his muscle body was visible through it. On each wrist are gray metallic wrist bands, that are actually highly advanced pieces of power dude created technology. He also has a band of the same stuff around his waist, which serves as a utility belt. The body suit, the wrist bands, and the belt function as one unit and respond to his mental commands and his touch in various ways. On the left side of his collar are four small metal circles indicating his high rank.

Cole removes two silver discs from his steel utility belt and places them on the young man’s nipples. HUMMM! HUMMMM! As they hum they transmit the readings to HQ and gave the dude a little jolt, waking him up.

“Hey,” Marc takes one look at Cole and SWO—THUMMMP! Before he can get up and race away at super speed, Cole plants his foot firmly on the young man’s chest. The young man struggles and VRIIIE! Fires his heat vision at Cole. Cole POOOF! Puffs out a thick cloud of ice breath that negates the young man’s weak heat vision, freezing his head in a chuck of ice. Cole was ready for that trick, it has been tried before with similar results.

Marc continues to struggle and WHAM! WHAMM! Slams his head into the section of roof below him, attempting shatter the ice.

“Hey, try this,” Cole sneers as he raises his palm over the young power dude and SHRINNG! Blasts rings of blue light into his target’s face. WHAM! The boy continues to bang his head against the roof. VASSHRACK! The energy rings race around his head and lifting his head at all becomes impossible. His head feels like it weighs two tons, he can’t lift it at all, although he struggles to do so mightily. Cole smirks at him, “I have just increased the pull of gravity on your head by 5000 times, fool. Go ahead, try and fly away, your head will stay right here.”

Cole takes his foot off the young man’s chest, as he gets the final reading, his subject is a magnitude one, the lowest classification of homo supreme. Basic powers in this kid, nothing more. What a waste of talent! Given these great powers and he sought not to develop them, to grow them, and to turn his body into a temple of size and strength. The fool!

“Agent, complete retrieval” comes the command from HQ, this time it was the automated computer’s voice.

“Negative,” Cole answers. “Commander Cole override code A-4-Beta-7.”

“Acknowledged, finish and continue your patrols, Agent,” The computer responds.

Cole closes his com link and removes the disks from the young man’s nipples, placing them back in his utility belt. Cole then sits on the dude’s stomach and straddles him, “ARGH!” the young power dude cries out as his midsection bears the full weight of Cole’s super dense two ton physique. Next, VOOSH! A quick blast of Cole’s heat vision swallows the young man’s head, burning away the ice chunk and FSSSSSHH! All of the young man’s hair in a brilliant flash, apparently his powers of invulnerability are too weak to fully protect him from such an intense blast of heat ray. Smoke rises from the dude’s super heated, bald head as he moans in pain.

Cole places both of his hands on the dude’s pecs and HUMMM! HUMMMM! Pulses of pale blue energy flow from Cole’s hands and wash over his victim’s toned, muscular body. Marc spasms as the energy rips through him, then Cole feels himself sink through the young man and soon stops the energy pulses. It is done. Cole has reduced his victim’s density to the point that he is now a living ghost. OOOSH! Cole’s hands and powerful glutes phase right through the dude’s now intangible body. The dude is glowing with a faint blue hue and he’s a living ghost! He’s so freaked out, he doesn’t know what to do. Cole’s power has reduced his molecular density and mass to almost nothing.

Cole heaves his monstrous pectorals and FWASSH! The huge muscle masses unleash a bright blue energy flash which freezes Marc in stasis. Marc can’t move under his own power, he’s a living ghost, frozen in place.

Cole has a gleam in his eye, this one is too powerless to be useful. Cole opens his mouth halfway and slowly, deliberately draws in a deep breath WOOOOOOOSH! The ghost dude feels horrible pain as he watches his stomach stretch toward Cole’s waiting mouth. He screams, but there is no sound. He struggles, but his body simply passes through everything. He watches his body being pulled into Cole, like smoke being pulled into the back of a fan. He feels his body coming apart. Soon he no longer feels his legs, since Cole’s powerful inhalation has torn his midsection from the rest of his body, pulling it into a thin stream of matter that is drawn quickly into Cole’s mouth. Cole stops inhaling, stands up, and smirks at the ghost dude, who now is separated into three parts: His head and chest, his legs, and his entire midsection (which has been swallowed by Cole).

Cole puckers his lips and makes it quick for the legs, WOOOSP! One sharp, precisely targeted inhalation and his victim’s legs vanish between Cole’s lips like a dust bunny pulled into a vacuum cleaner.

Next Cole opens wide and WOOOO! Creates a weak suction force, just enough power to slowly pull the head, chest, and arms of his victim up into the air about six feet, a foot in front of and level with Cole’s huge mouth.

Cole opens his mouth wide and inhales slowly, not even using his super lungs, AAAAHHH! The ghost dude feels his arms and chest being pulled away from him, he watches in horror as his ghostly body disperses and floats past Cole’s lips and down into his throat. It looks like Cole is inhaling a cloud of multicolored steam. The pain is unbearable as more of his body is drawn into Cole, his head floats closer and closer to the unforgiving Cole. FLIPPSSH! Cole closes his mouth, after finishing off the dude’s neck, only his head remains and Cole’s face is phasing through his mouth and nose right now. Cole stares into the young man pleading eyes, gives him a tight lipped grin, as he places the tip of his index finger against one of his nostrils and presses it shut, and NNIFFIIISHHH! Without warning, inhales deeply through his nose. VIISSPP! Marc’s head is snorted up Cole’s right nostril and he is no more.

Cole enjoys feeding, that was the only thing this power dude was maybe good for, worthless wimp. The “buzz” lasts a paltry ten seconds, Cole looks at his wristband computer which indicates that his digestion of this magnitude one increased his overall power level by an insignificant amount. That was one of the problems the labs were working on-how to significantly decrease the amount of the victim’s power that is lost during the absorption process. The fact that there are so many methods of absorbing a power dude, only complicates matters. Right now the highest recorded conversion rate by Gideon’s researchers is about 40 percent.

Suddenly, a police squad car pulls up in front of the disaster scene. The cops call in on their radio before they exit the vehicle.

Cole steps through the flames and billowing smoke of the still raging fire over to them, “I am Agent Cole, I have Federal jurisdiction over this area.”

The cops are a bit taken aback, they have never encountered one of these special fed agents in the field before, but they know these guys are not to be messed with.

They also see that the dude walked right out of the fire unharmed and isn’t wearing shit for protective gear.

Cole despises worthless civilian forces. Before they know what he’s doing, Cole’s huge pecs FWASSSSH! Explode with a wave of blue light that washes over the two cops and their car. The light burst blinds the cops for a moment and causes them to glow with a faint blue hue. Temporarily blind from the flash, the cops step backwards a bit as Cole approaches them, but the force of their steps pushes them up off the ground and they begin to float in the air. As their sight returns, the cops are freaked out to find themselves helplessly floating a few feet off the ground.

Cole speaks, “I have reduced the pull of gravity upon you to zero. Thus, the slightest force applied to your bodies will result in you floating helplessly into space. Like so.” With that, Cole WRENKKT! Presses his hand through the car’s sheet metal hood, this feat barely requires any effort at all, it’s like pressing his hand through pudding, and reaches in deep, grasping the engine, then OOMPP! He lifts his arm up and raises the car in the air along with it. Then RENNKT! Cole withdrawals his hand and the cop car continues to float on an incline about ten feet off the ground. PLINKK! Cole flicks the floating car with his index finger and OOOSH! It shoots into the sky like a rocket, vanishing in the distance under the power of his super strength and the lack of gravitational pull.

The two cops take this scene in and freak out as they slowly float higher and higher into the air, closer and closer to certain doom. One cop pulls his gun, while the other cries out. Cole puckers his lips a bit and PSSSFFTT! Gives the noisy one a head start on his journey into outer space with a “little” puff of his super breath. OOOOSH! The gust propels the cop into the sky where he soon vanishes behind the clouds. BLAM! BLAM! The other officer fires away, but the bullets PLING! PLING! Bounce harmlessly off of Cole’s thick pecs and, much to the cop’s horror, each time he pulls the trigger, the recoil propels him further into the air. Cole’s eyes glow with a purple light and he smirks at the officer as XZZZZZ! Inside the officer’s chest cavity super charged sub-atomic particles manifest in a small swirling purple cloud of light. For a couple seconds the officer feels the effects of Cole’s photon vision, it’s like there is a thunderstorm swirling in his chest and lightening shooting through his veins. The officer’s body contorts in pain and BLOOSHH! Blows apart in an explosion of gore, as if a grenade has gone off inside his chest cavity. The resulting cloud of blood, flesh, and entrails floats upwards into the air as it is still under the power of Cole’s gravity altering abilities. Cole smiles at the gore cloud, he enjoys using his photon vision.

WE-OOOH! WE-OOOH! A fire truck appears down the street, sirens blaring, racing toward the scene. Cole SWOOOSH! Races down the deserted city street, stopping 20 feet in front of the two ton fire truck. The driver has no time to stop, Cole stands with both hands on his hips and waits KERASSH! Metal twists and bends as the fire truck slams into Cole’s pecs and compacts against his muscular frame at 60 mph, the powerful impact compresses the entire cab, shortening the trucks overall length by six feet. As the metal buckles and twists, the four firefighters in the front cab are SPLUUSH! Crushed into flesh pancakes.

Cole remains standing in the same position, although the wreckage of the fire truck is smashed against his huge body, the front half of his body in actually embedded in it. THOOOOM! Cole bounces his pecs in unison and WHOOOM! The fire truck is launched back down the street, through the air, at about 150 mph. It travels for three blocks before it KERBASSSHH! Crashes into the stone façade of a building and BA-DOOM! Explodes in a cloud of flame, ending the lives of two other firemen who were still on board.

Three firemen, who were hanging on the back of the truck and were knocked off by the impact with Cole, now lay 15 yards in front of Cole in the street. Cole’s hand reaches out and SHRAKKKT! A huge beam of green energy streaks from his hand and FRAZZKT! Swallows the three men FHOOMP! In an instant, Cole’s power reduces them to vapors and CRUBOOM! Leaves behind a ten feet wide and two feet deep crater in the street.

WE-OOO! WEE-OOO! Suddenly more sirens cut through the night air. An ambulance is racing toward Cole. Cole’s cheeks puff out like boat sails and FAWOOOSH! A stream of his freeze breath streaks towards the vehicle. WOOOSHH! The gust of deadly blue vapor slams into the ambulance, dropping its temperature and the temperature of its passengers to several hundred degrees below zero as it launches it through the air and KERBASSSH! Slams it into the same stone building the fire truck hit, where it BOOOSH! Explodes in a cloud of ice dust.

Cole SWOOOSH! Leaps into the air, puffs out his cheeks, and FAWOOOOSH! Turns his head from one side to the other, blanketing the burning remnants of The Cedar House and the burning stone building with a huge cloud of his ice breath, instantly snuffing out the fires as his breath solidifies and encases the area in ice, before he SWOOOSH! Flies off to begin his next mission. •