The Heroes of Little Springs

"It has been apprehended and detained once again." Captain Freeman explained, "And don't worry, I'll be sure to send an officer your way with your confiscated items."

"Thank you," Quiver said before nodding and taking her leave.

With the terrifying day coming to a close, the corrupt police forces were finally put to justice. Several men, including Corporal Hunt were seen being escorted into cells, via a cameraman and on the news.

Numerous medias were thrusting their microphones into Captain Freeman's face, as photographers all around flashed their cameras continuously. Despite the aggressiveness of the news reporters, whose words seemed to meld into echoing chatter, and the blinding camera lights, Freeman remained calm, not even flinching slightly.

He kept his cool demeanor, which he brought to him wherever and what had made him an essential part of the police force. "What are your thoughts on this current event?" One of the reporters asked, bringing their microphone closer to the Captain.

"We had detained the slime experiment along with the help of the super heroes weeks earlier." He stated, "I would never had guessed that people from our department would had attempted to use it, and I still don't understand why." He explained, leaving all the reporters, cameras, and flashing photography behind, despite their pleas.

"We're currently investigating this incident further, no further comments please." He replied, before fully leaving.

Hours later, all the fires were quenched, and repairs were finally being tended to. It was deep within the minutes of midnight, as a light flickered on within an old abandoned building, in quite disrepair.

Machines and computers were being moved around, sometimes with lifts and handcarts, it almost seemed as if someone had just moved in and was situating everything around. Deep within a large glass pipe, filled with green bubbling fluid, was a blob like body that was hooked up to breathing tubes.

"It's a shame that Hunt was arrested." One of the shadowed men said, as another simply stood by his side. "His sacrifice was needed, it helped our experiment." They explained, with their hands locked behind their back. "The female archer was just a prototype, to see if we fully understood the mechanics. We needed a stronger source for our experiment."

"She wasn't a considered applicant?" The other asked confusedly. "Oh heavens no," The other interjected, before disengaging their hands. "She had no useful powers, we needed it to duplicate her completely and then move on..."

"...And that is where the speedster came in?" They asked, before the other nodded. "Yes, but unfortunately our experiment cannot mimic their unique powers fully with such a body." They explained, before flicking on the light of the large glass test tube, lighting the entire body within.

"But why try to create something entirely, when you can simply modify?" They asked rhetorically, as the one in the tube was revealed to be Jet, who was covered in the gooey experiment he ripped off of Corporal Hunt.

"Gentlemen, we are one step closer." They added, pleased at their results.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sa2jYn3LmlE&feature=related

Summer had came and went, as the eventful and disastrous day known as Corporal Hunt's police scandal ended. Numerous officers were arrested and striped, secret experimentations dismantled and detained, with super heroes gone missing.

However it was thanks to their hard work that the town didn't suffer more casualties and damage then it already had, and corruption exploited. Little Spring's tragedy did not end there, as their speedster's work abruptly ended that day. "It was as if our local hero recognized us as a lost cause." One news reporter put it, as she brought the news. "Crime and villainy so thick, that the line between was too blurred that day."

Despite Jet's disappearance, whether they did not want to be the hero anymore, deal with a lost cause of a town, or whatever it may be, they were gone and the town moved on. Or so that is what the news explained, as well as depicted. Showing the news reporters behind their desks as they spoke, they then switched to show the daily lives of Little Spring's citizens.

It was just a cold winter day, like most, with another coating of soft, white, and fluffy snow. As the citizens walked through the sidewalks, dressed warmly, businesses stayed open, with weak flurries blowing through, and a bright yet grayish white sky to illuminate the day. "However," The female news reporter said in a more energetic tone, indicating optimism in this bleak moment. "It seems Little Springs has a new hero. Our reporter Diane has more on this."

With those words several televisions, displayed at the front glass of an electronic store, switched to another female report who was outside. She eagerly held her microphone in the cold weather, as she stood by a building where several police inspectors were. "Thank you," She replied, before quickly walking towards the scene.

"Just last night here, at Little Spring's local supermarket, there was a heist and hostage situation." They explained, "But this new hero of night managed to thwart the robbers and save everyone." The reporter said, as the cameraman filmed the criminals being cuffed and shoved in the back of a large van, with the ex-hostages in the distance.

"This is just one example of the great deeds of this individual and has been happening almost every night. We don't know who this person is or where they've come from, but they're quickly becoming Little Spring's new hope." The female reporter said, "Which is why the public has named them the Midnight Crusader affectionately."

The scattering sunlight was beginning to fade away across the sky as dusk was settling in over Little Springs. It was a clear sky as the snowfall had passed and some stars were already becoming visible though very faint. Although the city was still busy with people traveling to and fro, the local park was still.

The lampposts were already on, made to appear as though they were Victorian but clearly modern, as they lit the way down the shoveled paved path. A bench was placed every so often in case anyone should want to sit down before continuing their journey through the enormous park. But no one was sitting on any of the benches. In fact, for the most part, the park was completely deserted save for a few idiots who were still moving about.

Although the lampposts were designed to give the park a more eloquent look, tonight, they were far from that. For, on every post was a piece of paper tightly taped to it. Normally, such papers would be taken down immediately by the staff. But not these. Each sheet possessed a warning: a warning strongly suggesting no one to walk through the park at night. In fact, the park would be officially closing soon, much earlier than its normal functioning hours. And guard staff had been doubled.

Over the course of the week, two people had been found murdered and the police had connected a previous murder to these current ones. In short, the police had every reason to believe they may have a serial killer on their hands. But of course, they didn't want to send a mass panic amongst the citizens: the signs merely indicated that three people had been 'assaulted'.

A guard was passing by a heavily wooded area of the park. He hung back extra long, shining his flashlight in every nook and cranny of gathered trees. But clearly he was sloppy with his work as someone sat quietly perched in one of the trees. When the guard was satisfied, he continued along the path while the figure patiently waited.

When the coast was clear, Quiver jumped down from the tree, her bow and arrow in hand. Under-armor protected her from the bitter cold. Still, she let out an exasperated breath, one that she could see in front of her: she was still cold. But she had a job to do. Quietly, Quiver checked the surrounding area from the pavement, not wanting to step in the snow and create footprints. Normally, she'd probably be trying to work with the guards or police or at least let them become aware that she was involved. But since the last incident, she really didn't want to if she could avoid it.

The wooded area: it wasn't very thick but if a serial killer was going to hide and attack tonight, she'd guess it'd be here. Looking down to see where the guard had stepped, Quiver carefully filled in his footprints until there were no more. But by this time, the woods were becoming thick enough where an idiot guard wouldn't notice footprints in the snow. So she took a step and advanced cautiously.

Once the day began to wane, the Midnight Crusader's work was coming to an end. His real job, not this secret identity persona he placed on in order to make Little Springs a better place. That kind of work didn't pay the bills. It didn't pay anything and how the other super heroes managed, he would never know. He assumed they couldn't because word of them slowly died out eventually.

Or perhaps they just wanted to hide and let their latest botched event bury deep in the unconscious mind of the civilians. Whatever was the case, they had become completely quiet. That wasn't his main concern however, as he vigilantly stared at some hoodlums in an alley, as he stood atop a roof.

It was a dirty alleyway, very cramped, with bagged garbage and crates placed tightly to each side. These two thugs held some poor, weary, and old store owner by his shirt, bashing him into the wall forcefully. With a terrified gasp, they cowered in fear at the intimidating strength of these two nobodies.

"Yeah that's him," One of them chimed, "He's the one that gave me a crappy milkshake and didn't give me a refund." They replied, to which his friend then looked angrily at the owner.

"Please sir, you drank it all!" The owner pleaded, trembling. "If you had asked for one before, I would had! I'll give you the money now!" They added.

"It's too late for your chump change." The thug said, holding the owner up against the alley wall. Quickly a extendable blade popped out of a handle, before they rose it to the man's neck. Before they could slit the man's throat however, a metallic disc smacked into their hand, knocking the knife away.

Surprised and in pain, they rubbed their aching hand, as the two backed away from the owner. Dropping below to the alley, they noticed a strange man, wearing some kind of leather armor costume. Unsure what to make of the situation at first, they began to laugh uncontrollably.

"Are you serious?" The first thug asked, holding his gut, as he pointed to the newcomer. "You're challenging us?" However they did not reply, and a blade simply extended out from the top leather compartment on their arm.

Now more on edge, the thug's stiffened their posture, as they stared worryingly at this newcomer. Several minutes later, they exited the alleyway, out in the dark streets of the city. Casually blowing in the wind, they caught a flier.

Or so it seemed like it was, before they glanced over it more. It was a warning for a curfew date, because of past murders. They knew about these disappearances and murders through the news, but there were really no leads. Not that they knew of at least.

"Maybe I should pay the park a visit..." They pondered aloud, before heading in that general direction.

Quiver listened intently for any signs of movement. She heard a few here and there but they were clearly coming from some sort of an animal so she ignored these.

An owl hooted and the moon was now above her head as she walked through the area. For the most part, she was quiet but every so often she managed to step on a branch. And every branch made Quiver's heart jump followed by a series of her quickly glancing around to see if anyone had heard. But there didn't appear to be anyone in this area. Or any guards bothering to investigate.

She could now see just ahead of her the woods were beginning to come to an end. Yet, there was still no sign of any person or potential serial killer. When she reached the edge of the wooded area, she found herself by a lake in the shape of an eight. It was a rather large lake but clearly man-made with a bridge arching from one side to the other where the lake was at its smallest.

Clouds were now covering the moon and while there were lampposts lighting the area, they were mostly lighting the bridge where the path was. Yet, even so, Quiver could see on the other end of the lake a silvery figure that appeared to be illuminating a faint light. But before Quiver could make out what it was, it had vanished. The clouds had moved and the moon was showing once again as it reflected against the lake.

Still, Quiver stared at the spot where she had seen the figure as if it might return. But when it didn't, she realized she had no choice but to head in that direction. It was the only sort of lead she had after all.

With the curfew flier stowed away in one of their compartments, the Midnight Crusader trudged through the snowy sidewalks, towards the park. Someone didn't bother shoveling this section obviously, but they didn't mind.

They didn't care for their hero nickname however. The public choose it for them, but they needed a hope. And if a name they coined themselves would give them that false sense until they could be of more use to them, so be it. They preferred a different name to go by, but what that was, they weren't entirely sure.

Once they entered the park, it was clear that most had heeded the curfew warnings. It almost seemed barren, especially with all the snow laying on the ground, except for them, and maybe a few distant flashing lights from scouting guards and police.

Noticing a footprint on the side of the park's sidewalk, they slowly walked over to it, before kneeling down to inspect it. Rubbing their fingers in the imprint, they observed it in greater detail. It seemed to be a smaller size, maybe a female's foot? They weren't too sure, but it surely wasn't imprinted by any authorial figures footwear.

Although it could had just been a dumb citizen, who ignored the pleas for their safety. This is stupid, what am I doing here? They thought, but despite what they thought, they still followed the trail. Even if this was just a dumb citizen, they were straying off the park, and that wasn't a good thing to do at all.

The trail of the mysterious woman's footprints led to a wooded area. But the blanket of snow allowed for anyone to see where the woman had stepped. It was clear however that her steps were graceful as if she knew where to step to make the least amount of noise possible.

Meanwhile, Quiver was heading towards where she had spotted the mysterious figure. Currently, she was backtracking from where she had been prior in order to go around and ultimately cross the bridge. A part of her was aggravated because she knew by the time she got there, the figure would be long gone. And, who knew if there would be any sort of useful clues left behind. It was because of this aggravation that she was making a few more mistakes than usual. While she was still quiet, there were a few more snaps of branches than there had been previously.

The clouds had settled over the moon once again making it more difficult to see in any wooded area where there were no lampposts. Although one could make out the figures of a person, knowing exactly who they were looking at would prove to be difficult.

Cautiously and slowly observing some of the snow footprints, and where it was headed, they followed inside the prints so as to not create their own. However doing so was taking too long, and it was a wooded area, so why bother? Instead they followed the trail, as they slowly and silently climbed through the thick trees, which were close together.

On the path the new hero was currently traveling, the noises of the person stepping on branches grew louder as they drew closer.

Quiver groaned in agitation as she stepped on another branch. She paused, taking a deep breath in order to calm herself and focus on the task at hand.

Whoever the mysterious person was, they had currently stopped moving as they looked around. The clouds were once again moving away from the moon, providing the necessary light once again. The person, who was now visible, appeared to be clearly lost. They spun around in a circle as if trying to deduce which was the correct path to take. Not too far from where the new hero was, a raccoon snapped a twig. Thinking that this might have been a person, the woman, who was wearing a long brown coat, spun around to find the source. She didn't see the Midnight Crusader but continued to stare in the direction of the raccoon as if waiting for something to appear.

Taking notice of the noisy trespassers below, Midnight Crusader observed both a raccoon scurrying along the woods, and another peculiar person in a robe.

He wasn't quite sure who they were, why they were here despite the curfew warnings, and why they were dressed in such a weird costume, but he didn't want to jump to conclusions. Just because this strange person was out in the middle of the woods didn't mean anything, except that they were putting their well-being at risk.

Both from the cold and this supposed murder(s), but that didn't mean they were affiliated in this murder situation in anyway. In fact the whole thing seemed silly now, why would someone want to come back to the scene of the crime, especially with such fliers and guards posted everywhere. For now he merely spied on this stranger, hidden and camouflaged within the dark trees.

After not seeing anything, the woman cautiously began to walk again to where she thought the correct direction of the exit was. She was trying to step as quietly as possible as if she felt uncomfortable knowing that someone could possibly hear her. The woman reached into her pocket and took out a small cartridge of pepper spray yet managed to conceal it within the sleeve of her coat. By this point, it was clear the raccoon noise had scared her and she wasn't very fond of being alone in the woods at night.

Elsewhere, Quiver had finally made her way to the bridge and was quickly coming to the spot where she had seen the figure. However, just as she expected, there was absolutely nothing there, not even footprints in the snow. Perhaps it had just been a trick of the light.

Quiver began to expect the surrounding path to see if she could find any sort of clue or if the figure had decided to linger after all.

Noticing this skittish women, they immediately realized she was just some overly paranoid citizen. But why come out in the park at this time, especially on a curfew, if you're this worked up? It didn't really make sense, but then again it wasn't much of his concern. Chances were she was going to be fine. People always overreact and the worst case scenario, or even the mildest, never even remotely happened.

With that in mind, he figured it was time to call it in. Besides with such a curfew going on it meant the police force was upping their strength even more. They could handle the petty thieves from here on out. It was time for him to enjoy what hours he had left, until work came again tomorrow. And with that, he slowly made his way away from the park and forest, by traversing further through it.

The last thing he wanted was to confront this jumpy women, who also had something up her sleeve. Whatever it was, he didn't really want to find out. So he just continued traveling through the path he picked.

As the Midnight Crusader left the desperate woman behind, continuing his path through the woods, the area around him became unusually still. It came to the point where the sudden snapping of twigs in front of him appeared to sound ten times louder than they actually were. Walking towards him was the woman he had left behind in the woods just moments ago.

She didn't say anything. Instead, she merely stared at him as if trying to figure out why he had decided to leave a defenseless woman in the woods alone. However, this apparent thought process quickly subsided as if she came to the conclusion that his reasoning was unimportant. Before the Midnight Crusader had time to do anything, her face contorted and her mouth seemed to open larger than any normal human mouth would. A piercing screech soon followed, one that would send anyone on their knees filled with excruciating pain.

In fact, the screech was so loud and terrifying that Quiver could hear it from where she currently was. She desperately covered her ears at the sound as she looked towards where the potential source could be. Quiver forced herself to remove her hands from her ears as she quickly made her way in the direction of the agonizing sound.

After the woman had unleashed the first bloody curling cry, her appearance had completely altered. She no longer appeared to be the average citizen but was instead a partially transparent silvery figure who floated just a few inches above the ground. With a swift motion, she glided towards the new crusader.