Back in Nashville, a group of young E-vs were being pursued by massive devilish dark hellhounds through the mean streets of Franklin. One of the young boys looked behind him and he gasped when he saw those evil red eyes piercing back at him. The hellhound's eyes seemed to be getting closer and closer everytime he blinked his eyes. He heard the abnormally large animal's legs pumping strength against the slick wet ground, causing his heart to beat at a rate a thousand times his usual heartrate. He panicked when he saw the animal gainng on him. His little legs churned out as much speed as they could possibly muster, but when he slipped on that slippery wet ground, all hope of surviving fleeted from his eyes. He watched his friends race away. He watched his only help sprint ahead and it was at that point when he knew that they already knew to go back for him was an exercise of futility. They knew he was already dead and they had set in their minds that he would die alone. When he hit the ground with a hard thud, he looked up and the beast's mouth was agape, hungry for his blood. He held out his arm in defense and closed his eyes, not wanting to see himself become a victim of a mass mauling. The first second that passed was the most excruciating, then the second came and he thought he felt the animal's warm saliva drip on his arm. He welped, coming so close to tears as the next second came that his eyes felt like they were brooding large waterfalls inside of his eyelids. But the next second came and he was still not mauled, so he opened his eyes to see Sheetah battling the large beast in the street a few feet away.
The sight of Sheetah to the young boy who had only seen cheetahs on tv was nothing short of amazing. It seemed like everywhere the beast swung its massive paw filled with claws of mass destruction, she would not only dodge the incoming strike but she would retaliate with her own miracle blade knife sharp claws. The beast became angered as its moves became clumsy and rash. Soon the hellhound went into a beserk rage, swinging around recklessly, but Sheetah retained her calm as she ducked and parried more of the blows, returning a few of her own into the belly of the beast. The beast jumped back, almost mortally wounded. The hellhound knew its time was coming, so it searched desperately for a way to escape its fate, for a way out. Then, those same piercing red eyes fell on the young boy again and at that moment, the young man felt like a feast again.
Sheetah saw the red eyes glow brightly as if it had just seen their dinner walk by him, and she knew that the young boy was in dire peril. Before the beast could gain momentum, her claw ripped into the hellhound's face, ripping out its eye and causing blood to hemorage at an enormous rate of speed. The beast shook its face violently, trying to regain control of its rage, but to no avail, the hellhound couldn't control the blood rushing from its face or the temper that was growing exponentially.
The beast growled at Sheetah while she stood confidently with he claws extended completely. Her smile was just as sharp as the hellhound's but her eyes were filled with focus, her claws shone with a distinct confidence. She knew if the beast made any kind of move that was out of the ordianry, she would kill him. The beast knew it too, so it paced the moves it would take to gain control of the battle. It circled Sheetah, never taking its red eye off of her, unaware of the pain that was coursing through its veins. Her cheetah fur blower softly in the wind as her nose captured the impending death of the hellhound. She figured she could easily open the insides of this monster, but in a way, she felt sorry for the poor beast. She could sense the submissive thought process of the hellhound. She knew that this beautifully dark beast was being controlled by an unknown master and it was sad to see the sad, caged animal fighting for freedom inside of its red pupils. But that was unimportant now. The only thing that mattered was the life of this child. The only thing that stood between the urban youth and a vicious mauling was her, and the battle stance she took could atest to her newfound dedication to protect the unprotected. When the beast lunged toward her, she prepared herself for a battle with a dumb beast with an insatiable hunger for her and the young man's demise.
But apparently she wasn't the only one who stood in the way of the beast's ragefilled attack. Wiz Kid came down with a monstrous elbow to the beast's back. The loud welp that came out of the beast sounded like a shot puppy as the beast's knees buckled. It jumped back a few steps away from the landing Wiz Kid. When the young man saw the heavily tattooed honey skinned tall man land on his feet, questions ran through his head as he wondered, "Why does dude have on a dog catcher's uniform?"
Wiz Kid looked at the young man Sheetah was protecting. He saw the puzzled look on his face and he knew instantly that the young man was confused behind his wardrobe choice. "I guess he didn't get the joke." He said lightly. He turned around slowly to see the beast racing toward them. He didn't pause, didn't show any sense of the word fear. He simply held out his hand and an electrifying force appeared to run through finger as he grabbed the hellhound by its massive throat. He lifted the hellhound into the air as though it were a puppy and not a ten feet monster that dwarfed him in size. The beast looked like it was going into a seizure as the electricity flowed through it. Its hair stood on its ends as the roots and follicles surged with electricity. The wounds began to cauterize including its missing eye. The pain was the last thing the beast felt before taking its final breath.
Wiz Kid just threw the great beast down on the slick ground, soft rain pouring on the hellhound, soaking the once burning hair. The look of death was almost peaceful. Wiz Kid walked closely to the beast to make sure it was dead. He felt like a kid poking a dead dog on the side of the road. He shook his head and turned his back on the downed hellhound. He lifted his head up and yelled toward Sheetah, "This the fourth hellhound this week, Sheetah."
She ran with quickness to the side of Wiz Kid and spoke softly in his ear, "Hey! Shut up. That little boy still right there."
He turned around as she turned her head, and they looked at each other at the same time and they zipped toward the young boy. He closed his eyes and lifted his hand up, feeling like they only killed the beast to do worst to him. But much like when the hellhound stood above him, he didn't feel impending death. He felt the warmth of Sheetah's fur wrap around him, picking him up from off of the ground, asking him softly, "Are you okay, honey?"
He opened his eyes to see the warmth coming off of Sheetah's eyes and her smile and a sense of happiness he had never known came over him. He gripped her tightly, not wanting to let go of the moment. In a small, humble voice, he answered, "Who are you guys?"
Joking, Wiz Kid answered loudly, "The Unsung Heroes!"
Both Wiz Kid and Sheetah giggled, the young boy liking how it felt next to Sheetah as she shook with happiness. He clutched her tighter, and Sheetah, overshadowing the young boy ran her gentle fur over the young man's fade. She whispered in his ear, "My name's Sheetah, and that is Wiz Kid." She pointed to Wiz Kid and he smiled while raising his white, dog catcher's hat to show off his lowered eyes.
The young boy looked up into Sheetah's beautiful yellow hinted brown eyes and his voice traveled softly with the wind as he asked, "So are you Sheetah?" She nodded her head as the gentle breeze whipped through her fur. He let her go and a tear slowly came down his face. "Thank you."
Her usual vicious set of teeth were perfect pearls of perfection. The comfort he felt around her astounded him. She could look in his eyes and feel a potential crush developing inside of him. She knew she would never have to worry about him being one of these officers who are anti-E-v. It felt nice for a change to have somebody appreciate what she did. "No problem, honey. It's nice to be appreciated."
He looked up at her and smiled wondering how she could feel anything less than marvelous. The young man had a moment of maturity as his hands fell to her waist. He looked up into her eyes and his young voice traveled to her earlobes. "You just saved my life. I'm pretty sure everyone feels just as grateful as I do whenever you save their lives."
Sheetah shook her large mane. "Sorry, love, it is what it is. People may love what we do but that doesn't mean anything when the people who are supposed to be doing all of the protecting aren't only looking out for our best interest, but they are trying to deter the people who are simply because we're different."
She just shook her head, disappointed in the world around her. Wiz Kid treaded lightly behind her and put his hand on her shoulder. "But even though the haters try to stop what we doing, they could never stop the unsung movement. Sure we may not get no love from authority, but when you protecting people who are considered society's outcasts, you bound to make a few enemies."
The young urban youth took his eyes off of Sheetah and looked directly into Wiz Kid's lowered bloodshot eyes. "So am I....am I outcasted?"
It hurt Sheetah down to her core to hear the young man ask such a heartbreaking question. She knew the answer, the truthful answer, would shake him. She looked at Wiz Kid with hurt eyes that simply asked him, "How are we supposed to tell him he's different so society hates him. Society hates individuals that don't conform to the norm of society and that E-v rights mean absolutely nothing in the world of 2090."
Her eyes started tearing up as Wiz Kid stepped up to the young man. Almost a foot higher than the young boy, Wiz Kid kneeled down in front of him and said softly, "Don't think because they're haters doesn't make us bad. You see when people like them hate us then that's a good thing. You see they would tell you to not be yourself, to do what made the next man successful, to do what made the next man a success story in America, but in the end the only path that you could follow is your own." Sheetah watched the conversation transpire in front of her with tears forming in the corners of her eyes.
The young boy looked up to Sheetah with those same questioning eyes. "But why is it like that? I don't understand. What did I ever do to them? Why do they hate me!?"
Sheetah hurried in front of the young boy and squeezed him tight, patting his back to comfort the heart of the young boy. Pressing her ear against the young boy's chest, she could hear his heart breaking. She looked deep into the young man's eyes and wiped the tears from his face. The question had been bubbling inside of him for a large part of his life. It hurt her that she couldn't answer his question.
But Wiz Kid being the wise man that he was, he already knew the words to say. He knew he had to say it right then for the police sirens that were ringing in the air were coming closer and closer. "Look little homie, it shouldn't matter why they hate you, why they hate us. That's not important to us simply because we can't do nothing but change their perspectives of us by being better than they would expect us to be. As long as you aren't shooting no blocks up or selling nothing that poison the people, than keep doing what you do. Don't be ashamed because you're different, just feel sorry for the people who are destined to be the same as the next man." The young boy smiled. Wiz Kid turned around as he heard the police sirens drawing nearer and nearer. His voice became confident, almost godly. "Now Sheetah, take our little homie home. I'm gonna hold them boys back." Sheetah wanted to interject, but Wiz Kid held his hand up, and turned his head with a giant smile on his face. That smile was the signal to Sheetah that everything was going to be okay, and in her heart, with Wiz Kid's confidence and her faith, she too knew everything was going to be okay.
She rushed to scoop up the young boy in her arms and she smiled back at Wiz Kid. His heart was hers when he caught glimpse of a smile that reminded him of a sunlit angel. He turned around and before he knew it he was surrounded by the police with his hands up with an expression that said, "What the fuck have I gotten myself into!?"
About hundred feet up, Smartz rested inside of Nic Angel's arms, gazing down on the battle below. Her shell's elegant face and highly advanced eyes looked like a still from an old movie where the bad guys always lose and guys always get the girl. In his arms, she didn't even feel part of the universe, she was a swirling tornado in his arms, trying to focus the eye in the battle below while a torrential windstorm of emotion circled around her. "Can I ask you something?" Nic Angel asked her gently in her ear while he inhaled the sweet scent of strawberries coming from off of her neck.
She turned her head very slightly, not taking her eyes off of the battle but looking as though she were giving him her full attention. "Yeah."
"How come when we're out patrolling, when we have a moment like this when we are alone, how come you don't take your mask off? Are you ashamed to be seen with me, a scruffly shit from East Tennessee?"
She felt he had been feeling a little insecure about this since she had accompanied him to that fancy Italian restaraunt. She couldn't even remember the name of the restaraunt. She never wanted to go there anyways, so in her head, in her heart, she knew he had nothing to worry about. But him being a man, his ego was challenged and the thought of whether or not he was good enough for her always migrated to the front of his brain from the back. Tonight, while Wiz Kid stood by himself in front of an army that only had a taste for his blood, Nic Angel needed an asnwer to a question that plagued him for weeks, and the only thing that could quell his desire was an answer. "I can't see without my eyes, Nic, and the shell's face kind of comes with the eyes ya'know. I'm not special like you Nic. My suit provides my super attributes."
He kissed her on her cheek and slowly backed away while whispering, "You're special to me and that's why I have feelings like this. I just want you to think that I'm special too. Everybody needs to feel special sometimes." He shook his head and walked to the edge of the building. She smiled while she watched him walk. In her eyes, he was like a child begging for his attention. He straightened his posture, relaxed his shoulders, and looked into the misty sky. "You ready?" His look was stoic as he read the stars as though he were an astrologer.
She smiled with her eyes closed. Her shell began to retract from the center of her face the wider her smile got. "Nic?" Her eyes and his caught one another's glance at the same time and a falling star was caught in the midst of their gaze. Nic Angel could only return her smile, starstruck. He turned his head back up to the sky. "Nic?" Before he could turn around fully, her apricot lips were on his as her mask began to form around her face once again. Once their lips parted, the only thing that was her's was her beautiful, doe brown eyes looking back at Nic. She didn't need infared or any type of technological advancement to see that she loved him. She jumped off the building while still looking at her love. She looked as though she were reaching out to grasp his smile. She fell swiftly to the ground still looking up at his light green eyes. He looked to the sky and a second later he shared space with the wind rushing over his body. His blazing red hair flapped in the air like a sail as rocket powered rollerblades appeared over his sneakers. And thus the battle was on.
Smartz was the first one to land in the form of a beautiful, toned, graceful white woman with brilliant red hair and an even more brilliantly revealing red dress. Then Lucky No. 7 came down on his rollerblades, sending puddles of rainwater into the air before he stopped and stared at the apparent seargents of the police department. Their stoic faces didn't change as rainwater was reintroduced to their blue and black uniforms. Wiz Kid could easily see the fear in some of the rookies's faces, while the more established veterans were ready to finally overtake three of Nashville's more known vigilantes.
Three stood against many, only being illuminated by the stars and the lone working streetlight. Then the large raid lights the huge raid truck held on its roof shone the intense light, blinding the three for an approximate three seconds before defeaning their ears by screaming through a small megaphone, "Put your weapons down or you will be fired on." They all looked at each other, realizing that none of them had any armaments. Not yet anyways.
The lead sargeant began to countdown but his words became inaudible as Lucky No. 7 and Wiz Kid watched Smartz glide through the rain as the electromagnetic force emitted from her fire red fingernails allowed her to not be touched by the precipitation. Soon the rain turned into bullets and bounced off of the forcefield she formed around her. Wiz Kid followed slowly after her, unsure of whether or not the bullets were truly bouncing off of her forcefield or simply missing. Lucky No. 7, being no stranger to danger and a child of everything extreme, rushed ahead of both Wiz Kid and Smartz. Smartz just watched with intrigued eyes as his rollerblades screamed through deep puddles and random potholes. The bullets were no problem for him to avoid. Neither were the other obstacles that were in front of him. He was the picture of exactly what a leader should be. Fearless. Courageous. Beautiful.
The police released a set of hellhounds on Lucky No. 7 in hopes that the gigantic beasts with teeth the size of toddlers would quell Lucky No. 7's courage, but when Smartz saw the beasts coming toward him, she raised her hands above her and the electromagnetic force coming from her fingernails subdued the beasts, stopping them dead in their tracks. Then, with Olympian athleticism, Wiz Kid jumped over the force field and threw a small ball at the first beast. The beast seemingly disappeared from existence as the electromagnetic cage struck out at the policemen behind the beast. Her fist closed tightly, squeezing the power inside of her palm. Her green eyes flickered with excitement as Wiz Kid captured the other beast inside of the small ball, landing in front of her and beside Lucky No. 7. Wiz Kid rose from his crouching position, while Lucky No. 7 stood in a nonchalant stance staring at the opposition ahead of him. Without looking back at Wiz Kid, he asked, "You ready?"
Wiz Kid turned his head slightly and smiled mischievously. "You wanna see something cool?" Without waiting on a response, he snapped his fingers and summoned a gigantic white replica of the hellhounds he had just summoned. Wiz Kid's beast came rushing toward the battle with glaring red eyes and streaming white hair. The. nine foot behemoth ran until it stood with the front end of its body protecting Wiz Kid. Wiz Kid walked while petting its massive wavy mane and looked at Lucky No. 7. "You like? I haven't exactly given him a name yet, so I just call him Sparky." Sparky licked his face.
Lucky No. 7 snapped his finger, hoping to snap Wiz Kid out of his own world and back to reality. "If you're through with show and tell, we do have people with guns pointed at us."
Wiz Kid threw his hands up, "Okay!"
The sarcasm in his voice was not missed by Lucky No. 7, but he chose to ignore it. He faced the hordes of policemen with his fists clenched, knowing that the end of the day, the only people he needed, he already had. He didn't need Gun Man. He didn't need Gun Shadow or Bonnie Bad Azz. Heroes? The only heroes that were with him were Wiz Kid, Smartz, and Sheetah, and with them in mind, he smiled, knowing that he was shining in the brightest light of them all. The light of shining justice.



While Lucky No. 7, Wiz Kid, and Smartz stared down into the odds, Sheetah ran with the young boy holding on to her back tightly as they raced through the urban jungle, jumping over obstacles, clinging to walls as the police came around, and enjoying the view of the shining stars beaming down on them. Even though the light gave their position away, Sheetah liked the feelin of running under the stars.
Twenty minutes of pure running brought the unlikely couple back to the boy's run down house. She put the young boy down and stared at the lights beaming brightly in the house. She saw a silhouette pacing back and forth, pausing to see if a young boy was standing outside. She could tell that he was simply waiting for the police to come to his house with bad news. She never wanted a human being or an E-v to ever go through the pain of not knowing where their children were or any loved one for that one. To her the worry was equivalent to knowing that you were going to die as soon as death spoke the word. Knowing that every minute, Satan was watching every move made, waiting on the perfect opportunity to simply say, "Die." That's what it felt like to her to have to wait to hear the news of a loved one being found dead on the side of the road. She'd seen too many parents, uncles, aunts, brothers, and sisters grieve over lost loved ones. She decided she was not going to let that poor family wait any longer to know that their young boy was safe.
She picked him up into her arms and began to walk toward the dilapidated house blazing the street with bright yellowish warmth pouring out of the windows. He started to struggle the closer she got to the lit house. She paused and looked dead into the young boy's eyes and asked with soft compassion, "What's wrong, little boy?"
He clutched on her shoulder tightly and buried his face in her soft fur. "They're going to be mad..."
"Why?" Sheetah asked curiously.
"Because I snuck out. I just wanted to play with the big boys. I didn't know those big dogs were gonna come chase us. But my Grandma ain't gonna understand. Neither is Uncle Ronnie. How am I going to explain to my grandma that while I was out with the crew, I almost got killed by this big ol' dog, and got my life saved by a cheetah chick. My grandma ain't goin' for that."
Sheetah smiled and just envied the child's innocence. She shook her head and kissed the boy's cheek. She felt closer to the innocence she had herself as a young woman, scared to tell her father about the first boy she liked, the first time she ever used her powers, and the first time she realized she wanted to be just like him. She pulled her mane back and answered with that motherly tone that he had been without almost his entire life. With the soothing voice coming from her, she made it next to impossible for him to resist her. "Baby boy, I know it's gon' be hard to tellthe truth, but honesty is always the best way to approach to any situation. When you're honest, it's like you're already asking for forgiveness and showing the inner strength because it builds confidence and courage. You are about to learn exactly how hard it is to tell the truth." He gasped, but her smile relaxed his expression. "Don't worry. You won't have to do it alone."
She carried him to the front steps and knocked on the door. The young boy's uncle and grandmother ran to open the front door to find their nephew and a beautiful, exotic stranger standing on their front porch. The uncle's first reaction was to grab his nephew from her arms and clutch him tightly. "Boy where the hell you been!? You had us worried half to death! Where you been boy!?" The uncle yelled as he shook the boy at first before bringing him back into a tight embrace.
The grandmother walked bravely toward Sheetah. The fearlessness of the grandmother made Sheetah feel uncomfortable. This woman had to be in her late sixties with eyes of an Amazonian warrior set on a battle. Even though the woman looked as though she hadn't used her muscles for raising a fist in decades, Sheetah still knew not to underestimate the old woman because of appearance alone. After all, she knew E-vs came in all shapes and sizes.
"So how did you come across my grandson?" The straightforwardness of the elder woman made both of the women's age more evident. The grandmother seemed like she was the same age as the first wife of Eden, while Sheetah felt like she was just born.
Sheetah cleared her throat and answered with as much respect she could muster. But in the end, she couldn't help but think about the friends she had left to battle against impossible odds. Her mind wandered as she began to explain how she came across the young man. "Well me and Wiz Kid were out looking for these rabid beasts that had been terrorizing Franklin and sure enough, I saw yo' grandson being chased by what we call the Black Puppies. We've been doing some research and it seems like the Black Puppies are only attracted to our scent."
"Does that mean we're not safe, because of Freddie?" The grandmother asked, clearly concerned about the child's welbeing. She turned around to look at the young boy sleep in his uncle's arms. She shook her head, disappointed in the world around her. Venom ran from off of her tongue as she began to state her opinion on the world that seemed to be revolving without her or her family. "The world is a real different place than I remember it child. I never imagined in my life that I would have to be worried about my grandson whenever he went outside to play. I know who the people are that hunt my grandson. I know they hunt you too, and it's simply disgusting." Sheetah shook her head, agreeing with the old woman. The elderly lady began to fall into her peaceful memories of 2040. The peacefulness. The lasting life that was portrayed in the movies she used to watch to escape the reality of living in a town that suffered from overpopulation, high crime rate of all kind, and anger toward the government that abandoned them. She had to admit to herself that times back then were simpler than they were now with her in her late sixties. One thing she had to agree on was the fact that both her and Sheetah felt abandoned by the government organization that swore to protect and serve them. The only difference between her and her grandson was that he had heroes to protect him. Unsung heroes. "Back in my day, we just got beat, now they tryna kill my people every chance they get." She shook her head. "But I'm sure you don't want to sit here and listen to an old bat like me."
Sheetah shook her hands in an apologetic manner, "Oh no, ma'am! You are perfectly fine."
But the old woman was wise far beyond Sheetah's comprehension. The old woman could read signs of apprehension just like she could read the love in the form of love letters and purple hearts floating around her head. "Bull....I know it may not seem like it, but for an old woman, I am quite observant. Always been that way. I knew since I seen you that no matter how glad you were to return him to us, you had to make a tough decision to bring him here. I know you had to leave somebody behind who you really care about. Stop me when I'm getting close."
"Mama!" The uncle whispered as Sheetah blushed and shied in her cheetah spotted fur. "Stop it." He looked at Sheetah and sighed while his mother just raised her hand and lowered her head. She was at the age where she could say whatever she wanted and no one would say anything negative to her. "I'm sorry about her, sometimes she could really make people uncomfortable."
Sheetah smiled, trying to relax the tension. "Oh no, you're fine."
The young boy's uncle turned his head slightly to the side and looked at his mother with the corners of his eye. "Sometimes, it can be embarrasing, but growing up, I've come to realize that she only means well, ya' know." Sheetah nodded her head. He extended his free hand to shake hers. "But aside all of that, thank you for bringing our little Freddie back. We would've went insane if he would've stayed missing for much longer. We owe you everything and so much more." He stared deep into her yellow tinted brown eyes as he continued on, giving her the same face his nephew had given to her mere moments ago. A look that was simply overjoyed to see something as beautiful if not more beautiful than watching a sunset from space.
Then, as if she couldn't help but embarass her son one more time, she pointed out the fact that her son was massaging Sheetah's hand by yelling, "I think you've molested her hand enough don't you think, Frankie?"
He immediately withdrew his hand from hers and smiled in embarassment. Sheetah was embarassed as well but not nearly as embarassed Frankie was. His high cheek bones rose, his dark brown eyes became small and playful, and his laugh grew nervous as he looked at Sheetah to see if she took any offense. She simply smiled, hiding whatever emotion behind a set of vicious canines and the most angelic smile ever seen on a jungle cat lady. He couldn't help but feel more comfortable in her smile. He returned not only her smile, but the soft voice that came with it. "I'm sorry, I hope I didn't make you feel uncomfortable in any way, it's just that well, I kind of got lost in your eyes for a second."
Frankie's mother laughed quietly into her hand, embarassed by her son's playboy mannerisms. She just smiled and replied, "Happens to me all the time."
He liked her inert confidence. "I bet it does," he said while licking his lips. "You are a remarkable person, and words can't describe how grateful I am to have my nephew back."
"He's a sweet kid, just at the wrong place at the wrong time. I'm just glad I was there to make everything right."
He smiled and answered back, "Me too."
The grandmother interjected in, "But I'm sure you have other things to make right, right?"
Sheetah formed a mixture of a sad expression and a disappointed shoulder shrug. "Yeah I really do, but I wish I could stay longer, it's nice to be around people who appreciate us."
Frankie's mother walked up to Sheetah and even though Sheetah stood at a remarkable seven feet and made the grandmother look like a dwarf, there was still a sense of respect that was given by Sheetah to the older, wiser woman. Frankie's mother gently grabbed Sheetah's hand and cuffed her hands over Sheetah's and she said with a voice softer than cotton, "Honey, no one in this house will ever forget what you done for this family. Knowing that should be motivation enough to never stop what you are doing. You are a gift from God to us and you made a difference tonight. Without you, my grandbaby wouldn't be here right now, so no matter what anybody says, you have made one family's life better." Sheetah nodded her head. "Now go make sure other families are as safe as you made us."
After the grandmother hugged her, Sheetah turned on her heel and left, ready to face what ever obstacles cane her way.