Alan sat on the corner of his bed, looking down at the floor. He was in his Nex 'costume' from the neck down, as he held his empty mask with his right hand.
Alan stared at it for a while, before raising to his head, and pulling it onto his face. He stood up from his bed, and headed for his window. He felt sneaking out of his apartment's window was the best way for him to go slightly unnoticed, since his apartments window overlooked a dark alley.
Alan scaled down the side of the building, before reaching the ground.
"Tonight's gonna be my night!" Alan yelled as he stared at the moon in the sky.
Mad as a hatterMeanwhile, Touma got a call from someone to bring out some roses from his shop to the house, apparently it was involved in a romantic night. He was not used to delivering things at night on his motorcycle, so he'd have to be careful.
A floral shop open all hours, that was what he needed to do to survive now. He barely managed his apartment and it was looking more and more like he'd need a room mate.
He went off at high speeds to deliver his gifts, and as he went out through a dark alleyway toward a door at the back, someone jumped down, forcing Touma to stop his motorcycle in a hurry.
"Huh..." He looked over the person, "What are you supposed to be?"
"Hmm, well, are you gonna be trying to go for the big and known type of hero with all the...endorsements." He managed to keep his loathing for the corporations in control.
...Though I doubt anyone could take a badger seriously.
He supposed this guy had to have something going to put together this suit, even though it looked a little weird. He had to have NEXT powers, if he wanted to pursue a heroic career.
edited 6th Nov '11 8:50:07 PM by NickTheSwing
Touma went over to deliver his flowers, and found the door loose, open and not well closed. He looked conflicted, but after nudging it too much, the door went open all on its own.
It looked like a tornado had hit the place. Tables and chairs ripped apart, claw marks all over the walls...wait, Touma thought, what kind of tornado leaves claw marks? Just what had invaded this place?
He set the flowers down and started looking around. Desks and drawers were raided and left all over the floor, papers and books shredded.
"What the hell happened here?"
edited 9th Nov '11 6:29:19 PM by NickTheSwing
Touma did not argue. He definitely didn't want to get caught up in that hero business again, especially not when he was just getting into a normal life. He started to walk off, but decided to keep a close watch on this anyway. This woman had hired him to bring her flowers, specifically for her boyfriend, as they were getting married soon.
He could not allow that woman to die, or at least not unavenged before such an important event.
And inside the little place, it seemed like a lot of the force was directed toward trying to find something. And going by how the bed was shredded, the things that did this were very thorough.
A whole section of the wall, opening to another alleyway, was torn away, possibly serving as an exit point. Which left the question of: what sort of monster was strong enough to do all this and then bust through the wall? And leave all of those claw marks...
edited 9th Nov '11 6:58:36 PM by NickTheSwing
Mike looked at the carnage, paying special attention to the bed and dressers. "Someone wanted something pretty badly." He muttered to himself. He picked up a bloodstained shirt off the floor and frowned. "Whoever this belonged to, they put up a struggle." He then pressed a button on his belt. "This will summon the police." He explained. "Whoever was here left through this hole."
Touma meanwhile got back on his motorcycle and decided to scan the surrounding area. This was definitely something that he could not afford to ignore. If it had come crawling out of his past...he would silence it.
On the other side of the building, there were some tread marks to indicate something had drove off from the area.
On the side of the wall, near the hole broken there, it looked like someone had written something in marker.
"Arto1234 Licens Plt. Beware snake."
It looked like the treads led off into an area which would certainly be more treacherous for a large vehicle.
And it looked like it had been wildly swerving all the while.
Touma meanwhile was also following the trail, having discovered it in his search. He made sure to stay behind the other superpowered person, and not make any noise.
Eventually, a truck came into view. Evidently, whoever was inside had to stop momentarily before they started up again moving out at a fast pace.
"Now, stop struggling! That hero had to interfere back in that apartment, only because you manipulated him into coming there and having to protect you."
Inside the truck were six men, and one woman tied up and bound, held in place by one of the larger men. All of them seemed young, they all wore suits which made them look dressed to kill.
Lia, the woman who had ordered the flowers and was now kidnapped, tried to move and struggle, but she was knocked out by another of them.
Mike saw the truck and pulled up right behind it. "I can't believe I'm about to do this." He said to himself. He got ready and jumped onto the bumper of the truck. Holding the door handle with one hand, he drew his katana with the other. The katana began to glow with a blue energy. He slashed one of the doors open and jumped into the truck. "Hey guys!" He quipped. "I was in the neighborhood and thought I'd say hi!"

Starting Post
Touma was managing his little floral shop, when he noticed that his aid, a rather frail and good natured young woman by the name of Alessandra was outside and apparently dealing with three toughs. He had no idea why she would associate with them, but decided to investigate anyway.
As he listened in, one of them said, "Now, you got the money, or do we have to pay your cute little brother a visit tonight?"
Alessandra sobbed, "N-No, please...don't, I have it right here...here's all the money I owe."
She took out an envelope and one gang member took it, opened it and scanned through the money.
Touma wanted to intervene now and get those goons away from her, and then things took a turn for the worse. One of them let a dollar fly out and on to the ground, "Go pick that up, will ya? I don't particularly feel like it."
She walked over, bent down to pick up the dollar and let out a shriek when one gang member grabbed her from behind, the two others grabbing her arms.
That was the last straw for Touma. He rushed out and shouted, "Leave her alone!!"
The head gang member swaggered over, kicking Alessandra to the ground from where he grabbed her, "Oh, the pretty little flower princess wants to act all spunky."
He threw a punch, which Touma caught in one hand, and then he looked up at the gang member, who struggled to try to remove his hand from Touma's surprisingly hard grip, "You asked for it!"
He punched at Touma's face, and the young man dodged easily and then put one palm to the guy's elbow and pushed with enough force to shatter the arm at the elbow, resulting in the gang leader collapsing to the ground, screaming.
The other two abandoned Alessandra and ran at Touma. He kicked one of them high, near the diaphragm, and then dodged a few clumsy strikes with a knife. He then grabbed the blade by the flat edge and sent an electric current up through the blade. That sufficiently dropped the last guy.
Touma looked at Alessandra, "You're okay, that's good."
Alessandra looked down, "I am sorry you had to save me, Touma. I know you hate fighting, and..."
He sighed, "Yeah, but I can't ignore one of my friends being hurt, either. As long as I have to, I'll fight."