Here's a story I've been writing for about two weeks now, a little here and a little there, while at work during the downtime. Tonight I had an hour so I thought that I would put the finishing touches on it. It's about two superheroes in Paragon City and...well, just read the story.

FYI - These two toons belong to droeblek9 and I. His toon, Khalim Hari (sound it out...) is a Kheldian PeaceBringer and mine is a mutant Scrapper. We've teamed our two toons up quite a bit the past couple of weeks and right off the bat I seen the potential for a story line.

It's a bit long winded so if you don't want to read it, that's cool. If it actually paid, I'd love to write full-time. However, this story and $3.58 will get me a cup of coffee at Starbucks.

Enjoy,

Rob

The October night air was soft and serene. With the harvest moon shining bright overhead, it was the type of night that many neighbors would sit outside in the park with their lawn chairs watching their children catch lightening bugs, discussing the trivial aspects of life over homemade lemonade. A cool, gentle breeze was enough to make the trees in Perez Park come alive, performing a beautiful ballet without rhyme or reason.

However, it was not your typical night.

Instead, the park was littered with the latest recruits for the gang known as the Skulls. Mostly late teens and early 20's, these young men have already abandoned hope and turned to a potential life of crime. Tonight is to be their initiation into the Skulls...provided that they can pass the test. With Marrowsnap, a particularly ruthless and evil boss within the Skulls organization, in charge of tonight's initiation, it was sure to be a "last man standing" competition.

High above on the roof of a building overlooking this gathering crouched a lone figure watching with intense interest. Every muscle was tense and ready to spring as his eyes burned with obsessive concentration. With ever-so-slight shifting of his arms and legs, his muscles twitching in eager anticipation, a slight chirping noise coming from his throat, he suddenly froze at the last possible millisecond.

Without looking around, he growled, "What are you doing here, K?"

"How did you know it was me, Salem?" came a voice from the shadows.

"Don't you know, squid? Cats like seafood so I can smell you a mile away", replied Salem.

"Real funny, half-breed...real funny. What are you doing here? You know the city council forbade you from doing any work unless I'm there to baby-sit you, right?" the shadowy voice said again.

"Yeah, whatever," he replied.

"Sorry, my friend, but what you did was wrong and very unbecoming of you," said Khalim.

Yeah, whatever echoed in Salem's mind. After all, how could any man forget that he killed another man? Ha! What am I talking about? The city's council on superhero activity doesn't even classify me as a man. No, they'd rather call me a mutant and toss me in a cage like an animal. Perhaps that's what I am.

Salem Black was the illegitimate son of a working class mother and worshipper of the Egyptian goddess, Baset. Salem's mother, a rather plain and homely looking woman, had fled from an abusive household in the south of Spain to the newly discovered world in the west. She arrived in the fledgling port of Smithport in the summer of 1822 and quickly found work as a scullery maid in one of the taverns along Patriot Wharf. Her only heart's desire to have a son and her continued devotion in her prayers to Baset did not go unnoticed by the Egyptian god. Her prayers were answered one winter when she discovered she was pregnant. Soon, however, she discovered something was terribly wrong when she came full-term only after two months.

She died during childbirth and Salem entered this world through an emergency cesarean section. The doctor and the nurses were frightened of what they found and would have terminated his life had not a lovely young woman of incredible beauty entered the delivery room.

"What a lovely child this is. His name shall be Salem and he will live with me," she said.

Not one for arguing in disadvantaged situations, the doctor immediately handed the child over to the woman. The woman held the child in her arms lovingly, gave a look of satisfaction to the dead mother, and vanished into thin air. In a state of shock, the doctor thought it best to forge a new set of medical records for the young woman and listed her death as natural causes due to high fever.

When Baset returned to the Egyptian pantheon, the God of All Gods, Ammon-Ra, knew at once that a mortal had entered their plane. He confronted Baset about the mortal and she repeatedly denied his existence. Ammon-Ra soon discovered the young half-mortal child and, although his anger was great towards Baset, took pity upon Salem. He told Baset that as a half-mortal, he could not be allowed to live on their plane of existence and must depart immediately.

Ammon-Ra was not without compassion as he granted the small child with extraordinary gifts. He would possess great strength, long razor sharp claws made of a metal alloy not known before on earth that protract and retract at will from the back of his hands, unusual stealth, and remarkable healing powers. Unfortunately, there was nothing Ammon-Ra could do for his physical appearance. Although the shape of a man, Salem possessed a fine, silky-smooth coat of midnight black hair all over his body, pointy ears, cat-like teeth, and cat-like eyes, for Salem Black possessed the finest characteristics of the wild cat and of a human male.

Salem's existence on the mortal plane for the past 180+ years was not one of comfort. Raised in an orphanage for unwanted children, Salem soon learned that he would forever be different from the other children. Around the human age of 14, Salem left the orphanage and set out to make his own fortune. He soon discovered that the world was even crueler than the other children at the orphanage and went into hiding, prowling the rooftops at night and rummaging through garbage cans at night for food. It was only during the Nazi attack in 1941 that the world knew Salem Black was still living among them when he came out of hiding and fought alongside the other heroes that arose to the occasion. Since then, Salem has been an active member in various superhero groups, never finding one to his liking.

"Come over here and take a look at this."

From out of the shadows strode what appeared at first glace to be your average costumed hero. Upon closer inspection, you realize that this hero is anything but average. His name, or rather, "their" name was Khalim Hari. You see, Khalim Hari is from the alien race known as the Kheld. A Kheld is able to merge into a symbiotic relationship with another being and as with the case of humans, they merge into what they like to call "Peace Bringers".

Not every Peace Bringer is special; however, this one has a very special story.

Frank Meyers was your neighbor no matter where you lived. He was a fairly successful psychologist who loved to drink beer and watch football on Saturday afternoons...if he wasn't mowing the yard, of course. Frank was always quick to help out a neighbor and never asked for anything in return. He was, as you could say, the kind of guy you'd enjoy being friends with.

One night, Frank was accosted on his way home by an Eidolon, a lieutenant of arch-villain Dr. Vahzilok. It seems that the good doctor wanted to employ Frank in helping to augment his army of Eidolons. When a corpse is reanimated, there is the possibility that it retains its former memories. More often than not, this process goes horribly wrong and the corpse remains a mindless minion rather than a dangerous asset. It was in this that Dr. Vahzilok wanted to retain Frank's services.

Fortunately, Frank's life was saved when a passing superhero by the name of Nyte Bane intervened. Once Nyte Bane had dispatched the Eidolon, they struck up a conversation and immediately hit it off as good friends. With the help of Nyte Bane, Frank quickly organized a neighborhood watch that put a huge dent into Vahzilok's operations.

Unfortunately for Frank, Dr. Vahzilok took personal offense to Frank's little operation and sought to take out Frank personally. Dr. Vahzilok staged an attack on an unsuspecting homeless person in an alleyway with the sole purpose of attracting Frank's attention. Frank, being the man that he was, could not run from the terror. With great bravery and courage, Frank activated a special emergency beeper that sent out a distress signal to the emergency super hero switchboard, picked up a wooden 4x4 from a nearby trash bin, and came to the aid of the homeless person. Suddenly, the two Abominations grew to 20 as a few of his Reaper's herded them from the shadows of the alleyway. Frank quickly succumbed to their repeated attacks.

Across town, Nyte Bane was assisting another one of Paragon's City's heroes, Storm-King, with the discovery of a secret Malta lab underneath Brickstown when the call come out for help. Nyte Bane arrived just in time to drive away the Vahzilok before they dealt the final deathblow to poor Frank. With Frank's body quickly growing cold and Frank no longer responding to his repeated attempts to keep him talking, Nyte Bane, in an act of desperation, called upon a being from another dimension known as a Kheldian for his assistance. With death slowly enveloping Frank, his only hope of survival was to merge into a symbiotic relationship with the Kheldian. Nyte Bane knew that he would lose his friend, Frank; however, there was nothing else he could do.

Some would say that Frank Meyers died that night; however, a few know of his true fate. When a Kheldian merges with another human, the human loses all sense of individuality and, in essence, ceases to exist. In all actuality, the human mind becomes nothing more than a servant to the Kheldian, obeying their wishes without question or hesitation. Their personality continues as it did before; however, it is the Kheld that adapts the host's previous behavior through accessing their memories. Although the Kheldian maintains the dominance of the relationship, the people who knew of his true fate and knew him the best see him shine through from time to time.

Khalim silently walked over and knelt down next to Salem, taking in the scene below.

"If you're going to hang out with me, Khalim, you're gonna need to get a cape to wear over those special metal PJs you call a suit...you reflect light worse than surface water," complained Salem.

"Take a look again, my friend. There is more to this set of 'pajamas', as you call them, than meets the eye."

Sure enough, Salem looked over and noticed that the metal suit was no longer reflecting the moonlight; rather, it appeared to be 'absorbing'...if that's the word, the light around it. Even with Salem's feline night vision, his friend Khalim seemed to be growing more camouflaged the longer he looked at him until it was almost impossible to detect him. Salem suddenly slammed his eyes shut and shook his head clear, then looked back at where Khalim was still kneeling beside him, clear as ever.

"Neat little trick there, bud. How'd you do it?" asked Salem.

"I'd rather not say," replied Khalim. Noticing the discomforting look, he quickly added, "not that you wouldn't understand, it's just that you don't speak Kheld."

"Whatever," replied Salem in an indifferent voice. His attention had shifted back to the gang activity below as it appeared that Marrowsnap was explaining that there were no rules to this contest. After he demonstrated the proper way to break an axe handle across the jaw bone of a recruit, it was clear that something was going to have to be done and soon.

"Remember to control your anger, Salem. The city council forgave you once for your misdeed, I fear they will not be so forgiving again" reminded Khalim.

"Just don't fall down, Khalim, and everything will be fine. I hate feeling squishy stuff between my toes."

Instantaneously, Salem leapt from his crouching position high into the air. With precision capability, he landed on all fours with a loud thud right in the middle of the gathering, facing Marrowsnap. The gang was momentarily stunned into inaction until Salem unleashed a loud battle roar that sent most of the recruits running away. However, about a third of the recruits remained rooted to the ground much like the trees of Perez Park.

Khalim stood watching his protégée for a moment, wondering if this time was going to be much like the last time. Salem must be testing me, he thought. He knows that the Skulls have taken to attacking the Vahzilok over in King's Row and any enemy of theirs...*sigh*.

With unnatural grace and beauty, Khalim leapt high into the air and with a thunderous crack, mutated into his Bright Nova form causing a few of the potential Skulls to look skyward while causing others to take cover. Marrowsnap and his crew, however, weren't intimidated as they continue to focus upon the large black, cat-like animal growling in front of them. That's weird, Salem thought, they should be running for the hills now that they know a PeaceBringer's joined the fight.

"GET HIM!" Marrowsnap screamed, "I want to see his lifeless body pinned up on our wall!"

Acting with experience, the Skulls advanced in mob-like fashion towards Salem, drawing out their guns, knives, baseball bats, and other "tools of the trade", looking to score some standing points with Marrowsnap should they be the one to take this hero down. With inhuman speed, Salem suddenly jumped up and extended his razor-sharp claws while assuming a battle stance. This obviously prepared hero gave the Skulls pause long enough for Salem to register that Khalim had entered the battle behind him against the recruits.

All it took was for one shot of his Solar Flare at the largest group of recruits to change their minds about joining the Skulls. Those not knocked to the ground dropped their weapons and fled screaming into the night. The ones that were knocked down took a few moments to regain their senses before they staggered off.

That's got to be the Frank in him, always seeing the good side of people, thought Salem. One day he'll learn the hard way that you've got to really bust someone's skull open to get the point across. I just hope that.....NO!

While Salem was keeping his keen eyes on the Skulls that were surrounding him, he caught out of the corner of his eye another shape step from the edge of the trees. It was what appeared to be a tall human form with glowing eyes and a large cannon of a rifle. Normally, this would have excited the blood lust in Salem; however, this human male form was emitting a dark energy never before found on Earth prior to the Ritki invasion.

The figure was a Void Hunter. More specifically, it was a Slayer. Slayers are the deadliest class of Void Hunters that existed. Pure evil to the core, these mercenaries would destroy anyone in their path, be it hero or villain, to kill Khelds...and Khalim doesn't see him, Salem realized.

Knowing that he would only have one shot to take him down, Salem extended his claws towards the Slayer and sprang with all the force he could muster. He was temporarily awarded a sense of satisfaction when he felt his claws sink deep into the chest of the Slayer and seen his eyes grow dim. However, that was short-lived as he soon discovered that his attack left his rear unguarded, an advantage that Marrowsnap pressed by unleashing a torrent of negative energy at Salem.

Screaming in pain, Salem sank to the ground with his claws still buried to the hilt into the dying Slayer's chest. Salem began to rapidly lose consciousness as he felt the cold, purple blood of the Void Hunter seep down through his fingers. Damn that hurt like a son-of-a-bitch, he thought.

Salem's scream rang out across the night, striking terror in the heart of Khalim. As he turned, he saw that Salem was down, lying on top of another person with Marrowsnap and his gang advancing rapidly upon him. Khalim sprang into action, sending multiple incandescent strikes on the attackers until only Marrowsnap himself was left. Fearful that his friend might be seriously hurt, or even worse, dead, a rage never before felt by a Kheldian rose up inside him, possessing him with such anger that could be physically felt by anyone in his presence.

Khalim unleashed the most devastating Dawn Strike ever, hitting Marrowsnap full force in his chest. The concussion from the blast sent Marrowsnap hurtling across the open lawn until he collided with a large oak tree. Marrowsnap hung suspended for a brief moment, then slid slowly to the ground. Unsure of whether or not he was still alive, and honestly not really caring at that point, Khalim turned his attention back to Salem.

Mutating back to his human form, Khalim ran quickly to his fallen compatriot. Gently, he started to turn Salem over when he noticed who was underneath him. Terror gripped his senses momentarily as he realized that it was the most deadly of all Void Hunters...the Slayers. Seeing that he did not have a negative energy aura, he realized that the Void Hunter was dead; therefore, he was safe...for the moment. When one Void Hunter dies, you can rest assured that another will be along shortly...they somehow feel each other and when one dies, it doesn't go unnoticed.

"Salem...Salem, speak to me, my friend," begged Khalim.

From behind closed eyelids, Salem retorted weakly, "you know you smell an awful lot like what I had for dinner last night?"

Kheldian lack the capacity for humor; yet, Khalim found himself chuckling at Salem's quip. Judging from his retort, Khalim knew that Salem was going to be o.k. His assumptions were proven correct as he felt the wounds on Salem's back slowly closing as he lay there.

"You know," said Salem, "if we're going to be a team, you gotta back down some. Those mercs only send out the Slayers after the big players and I'll be damned if I'm gonna save your ass every time we go out."

"Whatever you say, half-breed," smiled Khalim, "whatever you say."