Burglary

[True Arrow]

After an evening at Galaxy Girl, Anthony headed home just to discover an horrible sight. He noticed his front door was open and he never forgets such things like this, even tho he is a bit absent minded now and then. When stepping into his home he stepped over a piece of broken mirror as he glanced around his living room, that opens right after his small atrium, with a horror and hatred in his eyes. Everything was trashed... everything. All the trouble he had seen to make him feel home in this new place were gone or broken into pieces.

Something still was not right, this seemed not like an normal burglary he himself had stopped over the months of living here at Paragon City. Something was not right in this sight he saw, searching for clues of the burglars he stumbled over a small piece of paper on his livingrooms desk, which said:

"We know who you are Anthony or should we say True Arrow. You have been slowing down our plans for too long now and this shall be a small reminder of who you are messing with. Do not try to search for us we have your mother with us, yes... your sweet old fragile mother, and she will get hurt if you try to come after us. However we might be able to do and transaction. The M.A.G.I. has something that has gotten our intrest... Just check the safe, you will understand then.

If you are willing to do this, IF you want to get your mother back alive, come to Striga Island to the Big toe Terrys warehouse in 2 days... The very same palce you trashed few weeks ago and bring the item of our intrest.

DO NOT! Take any of your fancy friends with you or your mother will surely be harmed... and come unarmed, that spiffy bow of yours will only get you in trouble

With love: Big toe Terry"

Anthony dropped the piece of floor and burst into tears. He had no other choice than obey their commands, he could not stand if his mother would be hurt. He looked around his apartment once more for the destruction Family had done and decided it was time to visit the M.A.G.I. vault.

[True Arrow]

Getting inside M.A.G.I. vault would be harder job than you would think for a hero, since he was not classified to have a permission to enter the vault. Anthony needed a plan how to get in there un-noticed, it should be an in and out gig, so he sit down to his drawing board and come up with a trincket for the purpose. After hours and hours of work without any sleep he managed to pull together a device of cloaking, using LCD coating on his suit and using nano cameras, he could use it to make himself partially invicible which should give him enough cover. Just a few more adjustments and he would be ready to go...

Anthony stepped out of his apartment and sighed deeply as he activated the device. He headed towards Hero Corps headquarters, no one seemed to see him, the device worked better than he thought it would and was supprisingly happy about it. The contact... He had forgotten that, they never move from their position when Hero Corps is open, they were like a watchdogs that never sleep or eat, it reminded Anthony from a myth of Cerberus the gatekeeper to the underworld. Now he understood what kind of mess he had gotten himself into as he stepped in from the doors and walking onfront of the vault and opening it silently.

There it was, a dark red ruby, just waiting for its taker on a platform around chest height from the floor. When approaching in he felt a slight pain in every part of his body, but he still took the ruby to his hands and the pain kept growing stronger and stronger by minute. This wasnt something he had prepared for and there was another issue that he had not thought about... How was he going to get the ruby out without getting caught? It was his body that was invicible not the ruby.

He heard how the contact turned around and started walking toward the slightly open vault door and Anthony paniced. Starting to run towards the still open vault door he pushed it wide open knocking down the contact and few artifacts. Running towards the exit of Hero Corps he was not thinking anything, the goal was to get out no matter what was the cost, just running and he was not going to stop. Jumping through the doors of Hero Corps and the sight of multiple heroes underneath drove him closer to hysteria as he flew towards his home.

As he arrived to his home he put the ruby on top of a desk and decided to visit Galaxy Girl once more, to see his dear friends... He didnt feel that well, the pain was gone, but something was troubling him. Nothing that wouldnt be solved with some fresh air and company of good friends.

[True Arrow]

Anthony arrived to Galaxy Girl statue once again as he had the habit to, this time as True Arrow, and noticed his good friends there immediately walking to them. They discussed about this and that, as they used to, but suddenly True Arrow felt and strong pain on his chest again. Collapsing to the ground and yelling from pain others got worried what was going on, still he could not reveal what he had done. He was getting worried gazes from the heroes around the statue and that did not help him acting to be okay.

Pulling himself away from the crowd he sat on the grass a bit further from the statue and held his chest waiting just when the pain would go away. His worried friends had gotten suspicious that what was going on and their interrogations certainly pushed his nerves to the edge. The guilt started to suppress his mind and he could not hold it inside any longer. Bursting into tears as he told his friends what had happened with inextricable sentences.

His feelings overwhelmed his head as he snapped. Suddenly True Arrow had become a walking time bomb ready to explode, and he dumped it all upon his friends that he admired so much. Saying things he would've regretted if he would've been his normal self as he dropped his communicator on the ground and breaking it into thousand pieces, then fleeing from the scene with confusion and hatred inside his head. It seemed he was heading over at Striga Island making a pit stop over his apartment to fetch the ruby the Family wanted so much...

[True Arrow]

There he stood on front of the warehouse of Big Toe Terry, True Arrow stepped inside cautiously making sure he would not arrive into an ambush. Heading deeper into the warehouse he soon came into a large hall that had boxes lying all over the place. True Arrow glanced around nervously and saw Terry, the bastard who stole her mother from him, he started running to-wards Terry aiming a punch right into his face. Hit landed beautifully, right onto his nose, suddenly True Arrow heard a sound of gun loading... "That was a stupid thing to do my friend", Terry said while waving a hand in the air to signal his minions. True Arrow looked around himself and saw himself surrounded by tommy-guns pointing to his face. "Now, shall we get to business? Do you have the rock?", Terry tapped his food to the ground and extended his hand to True Arrow. "Not so fast Terry, where is my mother?", True looked deep into Terrys eyes, "I swear if you have done something to her....". Terry interrupted him, "Oh that old hag, boys!", few minions dragged an old woman taped into a chair to the other side of the hall. "Now give me the stone!" Terry yelled and True Arrow unwillingly gave the ruby into criminal hands. "Finally! Our plans can proceed as scheduled. You fool hero, you are so easy to trick", then True Arrow heard a gunshot as he saw his mothers head explode like watermelon from the force of the bullet. True Arrow tried to run to his mother, but Terrys minions kept him in his place, then collapsing to the ground on his knees, "What have you done! We had our deal!". "The Family don't make deals with heroes you fool... Kill him!", Terry replied quickly and walked away to-wards the exit.

As the guns were ready to go off True Arrow stood up in rage. Busting the heads of the minions around him he took a tommy-gun to his hands, "This will be for my mother". The minions quickly realized the situation and started firing to-wards True Arrow as Terry run behind a box for cover. Taking hits from all directions True Arrow walked to-wards Terrys location and pointed the tommy-gun to Terrys head. That was when it happened, the box beside them got hit by a bullet and it exploded, a chain reaction of explosions from box to box. True Arrows eyes started to dim as he fell to the ground seeing Terry without his head holding a few pieces of the ruby rest scattered all over his body. True Arrow felt nothing, his sight went darker and darker, he only saw fire around him and a figure approaching him grabbing his hand. "Mom?", he said, then he passed out.

True Arrow opened his eyes and the the light he saw was like a hammer blow to the head. "... .. .. .. ....... ...", he tried to speak, but could not form even a one word. He heard the doctor say outside his rooms door, "This is a miracle that he survived, his excessive bleeding and throat getting pierced... It should have killed him, unfortunately he might not be able to speak ever again..." then the voice faded into the distance as the doctor walked further away. True Arrow looked to his right arm and so nothing there, then he fainted...