:Arabella:

            Having superpowers was fun, but I bet having your own costume was even better.

            Apparently everyone still thinks that I'm too unstable to be a super or something. Though no one says it, I'm pretty sure that's the reason. I mean - I haven't even had a headache in two days.

            Now I know what you must be thinking, 'Oh, I thought they stopped after you figured out who The Marvel was,' but, no. You see, apparently my subconscious either doesn't like me very much or my headaches and nightmares have nothing to do with whatever my subconscious is trying to tell me.

            The only person I've told this little problem to was Lacey, seeing as she was one of the only non super powered friends that I had left. I knew that Cassie would freak and tell MASKED and Ricky wouldn't know what to do. Connor would've probably have taken me to MASKED as well while Archer would've told me to just live with it.

            Now you see my dilemma?

            We were all sitting in a black sedan on our way to Iris City, though we were taking the back roads. The back roads meant that we were going to go about a mile around the two cities through the surrounding desert.

            The desert that laid outside the city's' boundaries wasn't large at all. It was only a couple square miles, with a couple dirt roads leading from our city to the rest of California.

            We were currently on one of those dirt roads. I hated whenever we had to drive through here because there was nothing to really to see or do.

            We also got to miss the startling sight of Styx River that separated Iris City and Empire City. I wondered for a second if swimming in that toxic river did get some people their powers.

            There were two cars on their way to Iris City, one was full of agents and I was riding in the car with Ricky and Cassie, seeing as Connor and Chase were riding in a separate car in a separate direction on their way to talk to little miss psycho at the super prison, Alcatraz.

            Many of you might think of Alcatraz as a washed down tourist spot, but not in today's time. Super Villains could easily break out of regular prisons, so the super powers of the world got together to decide a new place to keep them all. Alcatraz was the perfect place, surrounded by ice cold, shark infested waters, and a new, high-tech electrical current fence.

            (The only super known to break out had been Smith.)

            (Granted, it was also within twenty four hours of his being there with the help of Nemesis's colleagues. )

            That reminded me of the mysterious circumstances of Smith's death and The Avengers disappearance.

            It also reminded me of the reason so many people had been afraid of Smith at the time. Smith hadn't worn a spandexed costume like the rest of the supers did. Smith had worn a pinstriped suit and a fedora, much like the mobsters and gang leaders of the 20s in places like Chicago. The only thing that separated him from the crowd was his black mask.

            Smith had looked like a seemingly normal citizen with his suit and hat. I guess that's why people were so scared of him. He reminded us of ourselves.

            I always used to wonder who had really fell down into the ocean after the super battle. Everyone always assumed that it had been The Avenger, saving the world. It was still weird of me to think of my real father like that, a hero.

            But what if it hadn't been The Avenger who fell? What if it had been Smith and he had miraculously survived? What if Smith was Nemesis?

            These were all the questions that I would've liked answered, but I knew I wouldn't get to see answered anytime soon.

            The car suddenly shook as something hit the side. The driver of our car looked at the side window, confused. "What the-"

            And that was when a shining metal arm punched through the car's door, grabbed our driver, and pulled her out into the desert.

            I screamed and held onto my seat as the car started to swerve. Cassie, though, she kept a cool head and slipped over an into the driver's seat. Cassie took control of the wheel and set us back onto the road.

            I looked back at the car behind us, only to see a cloud of dust and robots swarming up behind it. I watched as a robot landed on top of the car behind us and ripped open its top. I could practically hear the screams of the agents in the car as the robot caused chaos.

            Then, more robots, or, rather, humanoid androids, shot a something at the sedan and it flipped over. I flinched as it rolled until it crashed, taking the robot on top with it.

            I didn't realize that I was screaming until Ricky shook my shoulders.

            "Arabella, stop screaming and let Cassie drive."

            I watched in fear as even more of the metal men came towards us. The car shook again as they piled on top of the car and punched its sides. I saw as one set its eyes on me and they were all soon centering their banging on my side of the car.

            In short, I was freaking out. When is the last time you ever had robots trying to kill you?

            Yeah, not fun.

            I closed my eyes and leaned on the door. I could feel my powers surfacing and I felt a sinking feeling in my stomach. I opened my eyes as I fell out of the side of the car and onto the road.

            I didn't have time to think about how I had exited the car, only the fact that I was now skidding on the side of the road as the robots started to take notice of me. The sedan skidded in a sharp U-turn as Cassie noticed my disappearance from the car. In response, she also shook a couple of them off the hood of the car.

            I quickly got up and got in a fighting stance, even though I had no idea how to stop robots. I couldn't stop them the way I had the Terror Trio, seeing as they had no need for oxygen, and, therefore, I could pressurize the oxygen out of their general area.

            I decided on a whim to use my training sessions with Cassie as a guide.

            As the first one charged at me, I got ready with a quick uppercut and a round house kick to the gut. Even though the attack had been quicker than the blink of an eye, the robot was unfazed.

            I, instead, reached for its head. I knew that robots in the movies usually had some sort of control panel or something on the back of their necks or their heads, so I was aiming for there.

            Too bad that Mr. Robot was fast enough to throw me forcefully a couple feet away. I skidded on the rough sand and caught my breath. Time slowed as I observed my companions. Cassie was fighting off two robots while Ricky's super suit was slowly building its way up his body.

            I looked to the sky to see two robots hovering in front of another one. But the one they were protecting looked different from the others. He wore a black hooded cloak and  seemed more human. He seemed to be staring straight at me under the dark hood.

            I snapped out of my break and time went back to normal speed. I headed straight towards the robot I was fighting before and tackled it to the ground. I reached around its head and peeled back what looked like a panel. I vibrated my fingers and put them in the small hole of revealed wiring. The wires fizzled and snapped at the friction I was placing on them.

            I pulled back my fingers after the friction made my fingers red with heat and the robot stopped twitching on the ground.

            I was immediately picked up by another robot by behind and I tried to use my speed to flip him. After peeling out another control panel, I was already tired. There were still more robots and not nearly as many of us.

            That was when a gust of wind blew away the robot I had been currently fighting with. I looked up to the sky and saw a tornado heading our way, with a purple blur standing at its center.

            "Thank god!" I say in exasperation as Archer flew down in front of us.

            "About time you joined the party, " Cassie yelled at Archer right after taking off the head of her robot.

            "What can I say?" He smiled. "I just couldn't stay away from all of the fun."

            With Archer by our side, we were able to take down twice as many robots. Soon the only ones left were the ones protecting the hooded figure who now stood only a couple yards from where we were standing.

            I heard the strange man chuckle at us as we stood, breathing hard. We were exhausted and the man knew it.

            "Who are you?" Ricky asked, his voice scrambler working from his suit's mask. It made him sound older, somehow. Maybe even intimidating.

            The man ignored Ricky and stared right at me. "You're doing good, Arabella." His voice was deep and dark. He sounded like the big bad wolf from your old favorite bedtime story.

            Was this guy creepy or what? I thought.

            "You know that we can just obliterate you if we wanted? You're nothing scary to us, Strange Hood Guy." Archer said, taking a step in front of me.

            "It is true," the man said, "I'm not a super like you, arrogant boy," Archer scoffed at the man's name calling, "but I can destroy you and everyone that you love if you don't hand over Arabella. She's my creation, after all."

            Recognition must've passed through all of our faces, Archer's showing the most.

            "Nemesis, " Cassie sneered.

            "Yes, that is a good name that I've given myself, don't you think? I am, after all, a 'nemesis' to all super kind."

            I took a shaky step forward. "If you're so much of a nemesis to supers, then what do you want with me?"

            It didn't make sense, why wouldn't he have just taken me earlier? Why did he let me go back during the incident where he forced Archer to inject that stupid serum? What could he have possibly gained from waiting so long to kidnap someone as insignificant as me?

            "All will be shown in good time, but, for now, you aren't ready." He turned to Archer and said, "the clock is ticking on her return to me. Bring her by three days time and no more supers will be harmed."

            And, with that, the two robots took his arms and flew off into the sky with him. Archer started to go after him, but I held him back. There was no way to know how many more robots that Nemesis could send after them if Archer went after him.

            But, in the end, there was no question. Nemesis wanted me, and he would do anything to get me back.