Chapter 4 Rebirth III

Alright, diner scene; take three! Michael, get it right this time! Action!"

Michael McKenzie cleared his throat as he stood up from the seat in the booth of the diner set. With his trademark sunglasses on that had a star in the center, he and his character of Zack Bravo were synonymous with each other and recognized all around the world. This may have been the third take but he considered that to be the actress's fault.

After all, as he and the world knew, he was perfect.

"Harmony, it's not too late!" he yelled out forcefully and with passion to the teary-eyed redhead with wet cheeks seated in the booth across from where he stood, "I'll get the money back from your brother!"

"How!? He's probably already out of the state!" the girl screamed desperately, "no... no it's all over! We can't get married because of that thief!"

"You're wrong, Harmony, my love," Michael told her, lifting his shades and transforming her cries into a stunned silence with his resolute and beautiful brown eyes, "I'll catch that scumbag. I know where he's headed."

"I don't want you to fight anymore, Zack! Please... we'll think of something else!"

"No," he told her, sliding his shades back over his eyes and tugging toughly on the collar of his leather jacket, "because, baby..."

Michael thrust his arms up into the air as an over-the-top gesture to her.

"... I'm going to give you the world!"

As those words left Michael's mouth...

... the ceiling above him was struck by lightning that seemed to emanate from his hands! Michael, his co-star, and everyone else on the set beheld in terror as that uncontrollable, rippling white electricity shot through every light in the large hangar where the set was! Massive chain explosions ensued, sparks and shards of glass flying everywhere! Everyone screamed and ducked, fearing for their lives at the sight of such unimaginable chaos!

"Aagghh!" Michael screamed, stepping backward and tripping onto the tiled floor of the diner set. He found himself hyperventilating, sweating as he stared down at his palms! Had that come from him? No, he couldn't have caused that accident! He was too perfect to start something so distorted!

"Michael, what the hell are you?!" the actress playing Harmony screamed at him, ducking under the table to hide from glass shards. Michael shot her a cold look, as if she had just insulted his very pride.

"You idiot, it's not me!" he screamed, leaping to his feet and turning to the crowd of onlookers and holding up his palms to try and calm their shocked stares toward him, "everyone, calm down! I, Michael McKenzie, did not cause the-"

Michael spoke too soon, apparently, as he then began to blast lightning into the crowd from his open palms! He screamed again, louder than ever, staring down at his palms crackling with white electricity. He was repulsed and terrified to beyond the amount of embarrassment his psyche could handle...

... and then everything went black for him, as he was clubbed in the back of the head by a security guard. But his cast and crew would not forget what they saw. Michael McKenzie: star... and freak.

"And now the game begins..." someone lurking up in the rafters many meters above thought. Her blue hair was visible hanging down over her shoulder as well as the gleam in her glasses from the bright lights below; her voice able to be placed as the girl speaking to Yoshino on the street last night. She had plans for Michael McKenzie, as well as two others whom intrigued her.

"... but first I need to collect all the pieces."

ANOMALY; Vol. 1: Rebirth

Chapter III

That same afternoon at CIU, Colonia Imperial University, two girls had just got back from a shaky presentation in their Drama class. Leena Booker and Sophie Briante were so worn out after the events of last night that they ended up having no time to practice for their skit. Sophie was good at acting on the spot, no problems there. Leena however...

"You suck," Sophie told her.

"I do not suck! I was not prepared," Leena tried to defend herself, pressing her hand against her chest as she spoke in a huff. "You never gave me a copy of the script!"

"Huh?" Sophie responded after a few seconds of Leena staring down at her, "sorry, I wasn't listening."

Leena's fists trembled as she tried to think of happy thoughts, anything that would prevent her from punching Sophie in the side of the head. Sophie seemed quite amused despite the fact that they just did horridly on their presentation but then again, as Leena noticed, she always seemed amused.

"So are you coming to my room?" Sophie asked as they entered the dormitories, "I have an hour until my next class: Sociology."

"You could learn some lessons in how to be social..." Leena muttered low enough that she hoped Sophie didn't hear. She then turned her voice back to its regular tone and spoke cheerily, "sure, why not? I don't have to be at work for a few hours anyway."

"Where do you work?"

"Someplace yummy," Leena responded vaguely with an amused grin, "do you have a job?"

"Ah... yeah," Sophie answered after a second, as she struggled to fix the red ribbon in her hair as they walked down the hallway, "I only work a few hours a week though, I need to focus more on my studies. Coming to this University is a privilege, after all."

Leena nodded thoughtfully, "You're telling me. Everyone wants to come to the new country of Colonia; and the easiest way to get in is by being a student with high potential."

Sophie strode along next to Leena, nodding along in agreement. She was wearing the same black miniskirt as yesterday, though she swapped her gray hoodie out for a pink t-shirt with very short sleeves. Leena was wearing the exact same thing as yesterday; she quite liked her skirt, dress, and tie ensemble so she washed it frequently.

"Colonia isn't much older than us, oddly," Sophie told Leena, though she was sure Leena knew this already, "it's the world's first artificial continent. Though despite it being called a continent, it's only as big as a few American states; close to the Canadian province of Ontario in size. It was born from one man's will... a man named Scott Slade."

"Huh, really?"

Sophie felt sweat form on her forehead, she had expected Leena to know that... but she was not surprised that she didn't. Indulging in the opportunity to sound smart, she continued.

"Yes, really. He found a way to appeal to the UNN and managed to get the project underway somehow. It's never been reported on how; but he's one of the people involved with the mint... so he is very wealthy. The laws here were based on America's but they're different enough to consider it independent; despite being right off the American coast in the Atlantic Ocean. These new laws are the prospect of the new continent that appeals to people greatly, which is why we have selected citizenship."

"You keep saying 'American' as if it's foreign to you," Leena noted, to Sophie's surprise, "where are you from?"

Sophie beamed, "America."

Leena stared at her, "... oh."

"I was speaking for your benefit, since you're not American are you?"

"No... I'm Canadian," Leena answered hesitantly, "why did you come to Colonia, just for school?"

Sophie put her right index finger to her lip thoughtfully as she came up to her dorm room door, fishing for her key in her miniskirt's pocket, "Hmm... I wonder why. Guess you'll never know."

"You suck."

As Sophie slid the key into the door, Leena suddenly yelped out; alarming her! Sophie turned to see a girl had walked smack into Leena's side, both of them backing away from each other in alarm. The girl whom had nudged Leena looked at them, immediately throwing out apologies.

Sophie noticed immediately that she was quite beautiful; with stylish blue hair that was long in the front and short in the back, done neatly and groomed very well. She had curved black-rimmed glasses that served only to accentuate the aura of intelligence and properness that radiated from her. She was also wearing a v-neck shirt that seemed to hug her toned and sexy figure tightly, as well as pink jeans. Her earrings also had hearts on them.

"Pink jeans..." Sophie thought as she noticed them, "interesting...I've never seen that before."

"I'm really sorry," blue-hair apologized to the slightly startled Leena, "I didn't see you there; I was really wrapped up in what I was reading."

"Oh, it's alright..." Leena responded in a dazed tone, reaching down to pick up what their new friend had dropped. It was a magazine about a soap opera that had been airing recently. Leena's green eyes lit up as she saw the cover, which Sophie noticed probably before Leena herself even did.

"You like that crap?" Sophie asked, eyeing the cover with a look of distaste. It was about Tempest Beach, the drama/soap that was set and filmed right in Tempest City. Sophie didn't actually watch it herself but she knew it was getting very high ratings lately and was even being renewed for a second season. The acting of the lead male, actor Michael McKenzie, was especially praised.

And the girls loved him.

"I didn't know this was out yet," Leena gasped, trying to stop her compulsory urge to rip it open and read every article and gaze at every picture. "You... can have it back."

The new girl smiled sweetly and shook her head, "Actually, you can borrow that if you want. I can't read it in my next class anyway, so I can pick it up later."

Leena's eyes began to sparkle as she clutched the magazine to her chest and stared dreamily toward her, "REALLY!? Thank you! I love you for this!"

Sophie held up her hand to her mouth as if she were talking into a tape recorder and mocked her in a smarmy tone. "Observation: Leena will get pregnant very quickly."

Leena slammed Sophie's head into the door with her right palm as she continued talking to the new girl, "Well do you want to trade cell phone numbers then? You can call me when you want it back."

"I was going to suggest that," the girl responded with a smirk, holding up her cell phone, "you're Leena Booker, right?"

Leena cocked her head to the side, surprised. "Yeah... I am. How did you know that?"

"I know things," the blue-haired girl responded mysteriously, handing Leena her cell phone so she could copy her number. Sophie rubbed her head as she leaned against the door... something about this blue-topped chick didn't sit right with her, now that she thought about it. She had no idea what it was about her, though.

"Maybe it's because she's always smirking... but I'm always doing that too. I wonder if I come off as suspicious to people. If not, I'm not trying hard enough."

"Kay, and your name?" Leena asked.

"Mia Auria."

"Kinda rhymes with mine," Leena noted as she punched the numbers into her cell phone. "Leena, Mia. Well, you know."

"Haha, yeah," Mia agreed as she took down Leena's number for herself and snapped her flip top cell phone shut, "I think this is the start of a great friendship, name buddy. I'll make sure to call you later, about the... magazine. I need to get to class now though; those essays aren't going to write themselves."

"If only they did, we wouldn't need students," Sophie commented sarcastically from her position leaning against the door. Mia looked at her and forced a smile as she waved goodbye to Leena and walked off down the hall. Leena held the magazine with happiness as Sophie glared after Mia.

"I didn't like her."

"You don't like anyone," Leena told her junior as she opened the magazine. She raised an eyebrow as she stared inside it, which caught Sophie's attention as well. Leena had apparently seen something she didn't expect to, judging by the shocked expression on her fair face.

"You were so happy a second ago, what's your problem now?" Sophie asked in a condescending tone, "they gonna kill off someone?"

"There's a pic of Michael McKenzie here."

"He's the star. If there wasn't a picture of him, I'm sure he'd march his rich butt down to the editor of the magazine and knock his coffee onto his lap. Or pay someone to. That's what I'd do."

"No, no, Mia wrote something on his face."

Sophie glanced over, pressing her head against Leena's shoulder as she tried to see. It wasn't something a girl would normally write in a magazine, that's for sure. The words scribbled in black felt on his grinning, sunglasses-sporting face read: 'DIE.'

Back at the studio, shooting was of course halted for the day and the whole area was being quarantined by law enforcement. However, it was not the men in blue that normally visited a crime scene. Once it was determined that it was an Anomaly problem, a gag order was issued immediately and the men in green paid the good people on the set a visit.

The men in green being APS: the Anomaly Police Squad. Their existence wasn't too well-known but they in fact had much higher authority than the regular police. They answered directly to the mayor of Tempest City himself; whom in turn was the son of Colonia's president. Anyone who knew of them knew that they were a big deal.

One of APS's highest ranking officers, Alex Burrel, was questioning the director on the set right at this moment. Alex was a fairly muscular young man, aged 24 and sporting short and spiky black hair; as well as a hefty looking green APS uniform with the number 7 on a patch on his shoulder. Green was by far his favorite color, so he loved the uniform. He also had dog tags hanging around his neck and his eyes were very squinty, you could hardly see them at all.

"... he just cast out his hands and lightning shot from them!" the director exclaimed to the concerned APS officer, it was frightening and incredible at the same time! To have those kinds of special effects for free would be-"

"Stop right there, citizen," Alex addressed the director, holding up his right palm and pushing it against the director's chest, shoving him gently, "do you have any idea what you're saying?! You and your crew were nearly killed!"

"I-I know, but it was still amazing! How did he do that?" the balding director inquired, staring eagerly at Alex from behind his thick-rimmed glasses. Alex's thick black eyebrows narrowed as he appeared to be squinting even harder at the director.

"Citizen, you are delusional! What you saw Michael McKenzie do can never be created in special effects nor can it be described as 'amazing'! REALITY IS HERE AND IT HAS A FISTFUL OF JUSTICE TO STRIKE YOU WITH! HAHA, FISTS!"

"Aaah!" the director screamed, flinching as he feared getting punched when Alex raised his fist. Alex shook his head at him, before grinning widely with a bright white smile, serving only to further frighten the poor man.

"Not a literal punch, a punch of knowledgal justice!"

"Knowledgal isn't a-"

"You must swear, all of you must swear, to never speak of this! Colonia's laws are strictly enforced, if you know what I mean. That's why you've never heard of these phenomenons before... and will never speak or hear of them again! Understand? HAHA, comprehension!"

The director, frightened for his life, meekly nodded his head up and down. Alex laughed heartily and patted the man hard on the back, knocking the wind out of him as he kept laughing loud enough to echo throughout the large hangar the destroyed set was in. The other two APS officers on the scene just stared at their commander, embarrassed by him.

"This sucks," an APS officer with long red hair done back in a ponytail groaned to his partner. He had a red tattoo under his eye and was fairly scrawny, though he had a sort of a punkish-tough edge to him. His partner stood much taller than him or Alex, and was also the most muscular of the three. He had large shades on his face, and he was a very muscular and bald black man. He was also wearing an APS uniform and was clearly the muscle of the trio. He had a gold stud in his right ear and clean stubble forming a very short mustache that ran down either side of his mouth into a beard.

"Quinton," the black APS officer stated in a stern, calm tone, "you are always complaining. I wish you'd stop it just once."

"I have to complain, Sergeant!" he yelled up at his buddy, pointing his right index finger up at him as he leered at him, "complaining keeps me sane! If I didn't complain, I'd have to listen to Alex talk! So you shut- AAGH!"

Quinton screamed as Sergeant grabbed his outstretched finger and began to crush it, bringing him to his knees. Alex continued laughing as he walked away from the civilians, thumbing through the notes he'd written down while questioning them. He walked up to Quinton and Sergeant, whom were standing near the vehicles they'd brought: a regular green APS squad car and a larger armored car they'd brought to transport the Anomaly in. They had already locked him inside of it and were just waiting for Alex to finish up.

"What are we going to do about the mess here?" Sergeant asked Alex. Alex kept grinning as he looked over toward the totaled set.

"We'll get some LOCAL COPS to clean it up! HAHA, local cops!" Alex seemed to enjoy himself as he spoke, clapping his gloved hands together loudly as he walked toward the squad car, "okay, we're done here. The Commander will be interested to find we have a new Anomaly in our hands... a famous one!"

"He's not famous for that...!" Quinton hissed as he rubbed his poor finger after Sergeant finally let go of it, "so we should bring him back to headquarters, then?"

"That would be EXCELLENT!" Alex bellowed loudly as he flung open his car door, looking back at them, "driving commences! HAHA, JUSTICE!"

Quinton grumbled as he made his way into the driver's seat of the armored car, while the naturally silent Sergeant went around the other side and hopped into the passenger's seat. The two vehicles pulled out and made their way onto the street where they headed in opposite directions. Sergeant looked over at Quinton, wondering where he was going.

"Why aren't you following Alex?" Sergeant wondered. "We can't hear him in here... unless he uses the communicator."

"I'm hungry and there is a severe sausage fest occurring here," Quinton complained in his usual rude tone. "I'm going to 7-11 for food and dirty magazines; preferably Playboy. Why couldn't it have been a hot, troubled, confused teenage girl Anomaly? Then I could've gone and consoled her in her cell and who knows what could've happened! Why, Sergeant, why?!"

Sergeant sighed deeply. He was the only one of the trio whom could barely tolerate BOTH of the others in his squad. He shook his head and leaned back in his seat, turning up the radio and putting headphones in his ears so as to drown out Quinton's babble and Alex's occasional 'inspirational' yells through the communicator.

"Where are you taking me?!" Quinton heard Michael's panic-stricken voice scream through a small hole that connected the cab to the transport area of the vehicle. "I didn't do anything! I NEED TO FINISH MY SCENE!"

"Finish your scene?" Quinton repeated into a mic that he picked up off the dashboard, allowing him to speak in to their prisoner. "Kid, you have no idea what you've gotten involved in, do you? You're never finishing that scene."

"What the hell are you blithering about, you idiot?!" he screamed back, his voice sounding raspy and hoarse as he was pouring all of his energy into his screams. "I am Michael McKenzie! A nobody like you can't tell me what to do! I'll have you sued!"

"Kid, do you even realize what you did? That lightning you shot out when you totaled the set and nearly killed everyone there? That registers you as a confirmed Anomaly and you're a danger to the public if you're allowed to roam free."

"EVERYONE LOVES ME! I swear it wasn't me, I didn't shoot any lightning! Nothing happened, let me go! My fans need me! I need them!"

"Wow, you're getting annoying. Bye, shithead," Quinton suddenly told him, hearing an enraged gasp from Michael before he closed the vent connecting the two halves. He shook his head; every time they apprehended an Anomaly they reacted differently but this was the first one whom actually claimed he didn't do it. He knew his type though; spoiled and rotten. The public would be better off without this guy in their eye.

"... I wonder... why she wrote that. She must really hate him for some reason..." Leena mulled over the black writing as she sat on Sophie's bed with the magazine now closed in her hand. Sophie was sitting in the chair at her desk, where her computer was, turning to face her teal-haired senior.

"What's even weirder is why she lent you the magazine with that in it. Does she have no shame? You don't just forget about things like that," Sophie stated curiously. "She didn't seem like the type to be a ditz and forget about something like that... unlike you."

"Hey!" Leena exclaimed, taking offense to Sophie's remark.

"Hmm..." Sophie thought, folding her arms around her knees as she tucked them up to her chest. "Maybe we're better off not thinking about it. You seem a little disturbed."

Leena shifted her gaze away from Sophie's, setting the magazine down on Sophie's bed away from her. Sophie realized Leena's mood was very easily affected by things; therefore she was going to have to try and get her mind off of it.

"So let's talk about what happened last night," Sophie suggested.

"I thought you wanted to pretend that never happened."

"Come on, seriously, how can we pretend that didn't happen?" Sophie asked of her new friend, "I'm pretty sure the reason we're both still hanging out today is because of that. It looks like we're kind of wrapped up in the same mess."

"Too bad we have no idea what this mess is about," Leena responded, still looking off blankly as she spoke, "I couldn't make heads or tails of what that perverted god told me. All I know is we have powers... but why?"

"Hmm," Sophie stroked her chin as she tried to figure it out, "sadly my 'god' only gave me vague narration as well. Are we okay with calling them gods?"

"That's what they claimed to be. I assume they didn't mean in the religious sense."

"I wonder if they're watching us right now."

"Who knows," Leena sighed distantly, picking up her backpack and heading for the door as Sophie stared after her. "I'm going to work. I'll talk to you later on msn."

"Kay."

Leena left and Sophie heard the door click shut behind her. The brunette glanced over at her well-made bed, where Leena left the magazine. She fished some candy out of her pocket and popped it into her mouth as she made her way over to the bed and picked it up, staring at it as if she were beholding some mysterious sign from above. She could sense it; something about this Mia girl... was dangerous.

Not long after, at around 4:15 PM, a single white and black police car was making its way down the main freeway heading out of the West District of Tempest City where CIU was and toward the Central Downtown District; where most businesses and corporations were located. As the car sped its' way onto the bridge amongst the afternoon traffic, the two tallest corporation towers in the distance of Tempest City were easily visible: Scofield Tower and Hypertech Tower. The two represented the opposing major rival corporations in Tempest City and were actually quite famous landmarks. Not to be outdone, the massive City Hall building stood nearly as tall in the center but much wider. At night, it was lit up with hundreds of LED lights but it wasn't quite time for that yet.

"Thanks for giving me a ride to work," Leena muttered restlessly from the passenger's seat, now clad in her work uniform. It was a red and white uniform complete with a t-shirt and a skirt, as well as a visor she had sitting on her lap. Her green eyes were fixated blankly out toward the beautiful and glimmering lake that the bridge transcended across.

"No problem," Hayley responded, eyeing her suspiciously while still managing to keep her eyes on the road. Hayley, like Leena, was dressed in her work uniform; her blue police uniform. Her hat was off as well, letting her stylish streaked brown hair hang down past her shoulders. "So are you going to tell me why you're so mopey today?"

"Just a weird confrontation I had earlier," Leena answered, being more generous with information to Hayley as compared to her friend of one day Sophie. "A girl I met that I thought I could be friends with turned out to be kind of weird."

"Oh? Who?"

"Mia... what was her last name, Ausa? No... Auria, I think."

Hayley's arms seemed to tense up as she gripped the steering wheel upon hearing those words exit Leena's mouth. "You met Mia...?"

Leena's point of interest was now guided to the disturbed-sounding Hayley, "Uhm, yes."

"I'd stay away from her if I were you," Hayley told Leena in a very serious tone, "she's not normal. She's really... weird."

"How do you have this info?" Leena wondered. "Inquiring minds demand to know."

"She's my roommate in the dorms at CIU," Hayley told her good friend, though she didn't sound happy about it. "Don't get me wrong, Mia is very pretty and also smart which makes me quite envious of her. Also, she and I used to be very good friends... until her ex-boyfriend dumped her."

Leena raised an eyebrow. This was new.

Hayley continued. "She and her boyfriend dated for nearly five years. Mia's 23 now, right? That means they started dating in their last year of high school. Now you might have heard of her boyfriend..."

"Michael McKenzie, the star of Tempest Beach," Leena stated immediately, wondering just how the idol she admired on TV was going to play into this story. She certainly didn't like where it was going.

"Yeah, they were very, very close... until he landed the role of Zack Bravo earlier this year. He then just... cut off all ties with her. He dumped her over the phone and hasn't spoken to her since, he's been basking too much in his newfound glory as well as many other hot girls, I'm sure."

"So this has made Mia..."

"Bitter. She hasn't been the same since. Sometimes I get the feeling that she's become dangerous," Hayley muttered sadly, regretting that this ever happened to her good friend. "She always goes right to her room when she comes back and locks the door. We barely hold conversations that go for a few sentences... and when I can hear her watching Tempest Beach in her room, I get creeped out."

"Creeped out... why?"

"She seems to watch the episodes repeatedly... there almost isn't a time I don't hear her watching it. Sometimes I hear scraping noises too coming from inside the room... like she's cutting into the wall with something. Like I said, don't get involved with her."

Leena stared wide-eyed at Hayley. She'd just exchanged cell phone numbers with this girl. Perhaps she could talk to Mia and help her out; she'd definitely want someone to help her if her boyfriend of five years had just split with her.

"Leena, you keep secrets, right?" Hayley suddenly asked of her teal-haired friend. Leena nodded, which Hayley saw out of the corner of her eye. Hayley then nodded as well, as if she had just made up her mind about something. "I need to get something off my chest. I can't talk to anyone else about it because it's police classified..."

"Does it have to do with that bank robbery last night?" Leena asked, catching on pretty quick to things in this conversation. Hayley spat out a stray strand of hair that she was chewing on nervously, nodding in response.

"Somewhat, but that's not exactly what I mean. It also concerns Michael McKenzie, our fabulous star. See, I'm heading to the scene of his arrest at the request of my good friend Alex... since he's a jerk and is making me and some other cops go do some damage control there."

"He was arrested?!"

"Yeah but keep that on the DL, no one is supposed to know. The terms of his arrest are part of what frustrates me, they won't tell us regular cops why. They never do when this happens... I hate it. I study so hard in Criminology and worked so hard at the Boot Camp so I could become a policewoman and make a difference. But there is something going on that the law enforcement is shoving us aside for, giving command to the new APS program!"

"Wait, slow down," Leena told her, "what's APS? And what happens that you hate?"

"Leena, have you ever heard of an Anomaly?" Hayley asked Leena, the word that immediately made her break out in goosebumps. Of course she had heard of it, she was one! She wondered what Hayley would think... but Hayley didn't even check her reaction and kept talking. "No, of course you haven't. It's being kept a strict secret; most info doesn't even reach us. Last night's media breach was not a good thing for the public to see, luckily since no one has any clue what it's about it's going largely ignored."

"What's an Anomaly?" Leena asked, wondering what Hayley's definition of it would be.

"I don't know much myself but it's a person with powers. Yes, magical powers like you'd see in movies or anime. I know it sounds ludicrous but how do you explain the ice from last night? Also, I've seen one in person... it was scary."

"Scary, why?"

"What's not scary about it!?" Hayley exclaimed as they pulled off the bridge and onto an exit that led in the direction of Leena's workplace. "A person who can shoot fire or people who can make swords appear out of thin air! I don't know exactly how one becomes an Anomaly but they could completely screw up the whole world if left to their own devices! There's already this underground organization called Eclipse that's trying to make assassins out of them!"

"Assassins..." Leena thought, recalling Alexis, "like that girl from yesterday. But she didn't have the eyes of a killer... and she did say Eclipse was prone to using force. I really hope they don't know who I am..."

"I want to find out about Anomalies on my own and help catch them but APS always stops me and it just makes me so mad! If I'm a cop, I should be able to help with the real problems, right!?"

Leena stared over at her worked up friend, wanting to get off the topic of Anomalies as the reality of what she had become started to dawn on her. "But... it's important to help out with the standard things as well, as a cop. After all, APS keeps this Anomaly whatever thing contained... so you get all the glory by being a cop in the public eye, right?"

"It just makes me mad..." Hayley sighed, as she kept driving, "I want... to do so much more. I want to know what's really going on in Tempest City and about this darkness that is starting to creep over it..."

Hayley's car sped along the next street, nearing Leena's workplace. It zoomed past one girl whom was clearly waiting for them to show up, gazing from the sidewalk to her right in the direction Hayley's vehicle traveled. Mia smirked as she saw them... everything was going down just as she'd predicted.

"Now..." she began, speaking aloud to herself as she leaned back, relaxed, on a bench that was situated under a lamppost; continuing to watch the street with her green eyes staring out from behind her transparent glasses frames. "I just have to wait for one more vehicle to show up before the show begins..."