Justin walked up the steps to the door of the small house on the outskirts of town. It was clearly aging and worn out; much of the siding was either missing or weak, one window was missing, and some of the roof was burned away. But still, it was one of the best houses in Gothic City, one which his father had paid top dollar for, though he had no idea how his dad got the money for it. Justin tried to open the door, but it gave him trouble as it dragged along the ground. He groaned, put his hand under the doorknob, and lifted the door slightly as he pushed it open with his body. "House is shifting again!" Justin shouted to whoever was home. There was no answer as he walked into the house, so he called out "Mom? Dad?" "Justin? Are you home?" he heard faintly from the other side of the house. "Yeah, mom. Is dad home?" he replied, as he set his backpack on the couch.

Entering the kitchen, he wrapped his arms around his mother from behind her, surrounding her stomach, and rested the side of his head on her back briefly. "Hi, bud," she said warmly, as she placed a hand on his shoulder. "Your dad's working today. That's all he told me." "Oh." Justin said, his voice slightly hinting at his concerns for his father's safety. "Mom. What do you think dad does?" he asked. Suddenly, she inhaled sharply, and hung her head a bit. "He... nothing, it doesn't matter. He takes care of us, and that's all that matters." she told him, pulling a pot of noodles off of the stove to strain them, exhaling with an expression Justin couldn't see that said If Justin knew, he'd hate him forever.

A few minutes later, the two of them sat round the small circular table in the dining room each with a decent-sized plate of spaghetti. "So how was school, bud?" his mother asked. "It was fine." Justin said, shrugging, looking down at his food he was fiddling with, but not actually eating anything. "Your father should be home soon, you should eat, or he might end up taking your food for seconds." his mother said. Justin chuckled slightly, and said "Yeah, and then he's gonna be like 'Carrie, honey, you didn't make enough, little Justin here didn't get any' as if he didn't just take it" The two of them laughed for a moment, before Richard, Justin's father, abruptly burst into the house. Carrie shot up, and said "Rick, what's going on?" "No time. Justin, go get Melanie." Richard answered. "Okay." Justin replied, as he ran off to his dad's room. He went straight to his dad's dresser, pulled the top drawer out, and quickly tossed it onto the ground. He reached into the dresser and pulled a .45 from right below the top of the dresser. Running back to his mother and father with the pistol, he peeled off the duct tape that was holding it up a few seconds ago, shaking it off his hand into the hall. He handed it to his father, who took it forcefully in his left hand, and pulled Carrie behind him with his right. Justin took the hand of her mother to complete the chain of Lockleys, and the three of them rushed outside.

Ricky led them to the left, running along the front of the house to its corner, and turned to hide his wife and child by the side of his home. Just then, a truck pulled up in front of his driveway, carrying a few of Curve's goons. Two brothers of Nigerian descent jumped out of the bed of the truck, while an Asian man and a common white girl exited the cab. The Nigerians looked as if they spent most of their time lifting, and together, they carried an M134 minigun. The Asian man had a bandolier with several M67 Frag grenades attached to it, and the white girl had two Uzi-Pros latched to her belt. The only thing that they had in common visually was their penchant for leather, nearly every article of clothing they wore being made of it. For some of them, it actually was every article of clothing they had on. "What's the plan, friend?" one of the minigun-toting brothers asked. "Blow it up," the woman replied. "He's not that scary, honestly." "But Elaine, you heard what he did to-" the Asian started to respond, before he was interrupted by her. "Shut up, Jake. Those are just rumors to make sure the newbies don't step out of line. Now toss a 'nade in there, we got places to be." Peeking around the corner, staying just out of sight, Ricky waited for the Asian to pull the pin on the grenade, and just when he did, he shot the man's hand with his pistol, causing the Asian to drop the grenade and scream in pain before it exploded on the ground, killing him and all three of his companions.

"Okay, let's go." Ricky said quickly, running into the street with his family in tow. At first, Justin was terrified of Curve's gang, wondering if he and his family were going to survive, but after his father had made short work of them, he was both terrified and thoroughly confused. Looking back at the dead goons, Justin became even more terrified, and quickly jerked his head forward again, not wanting to look on the horrible sight. "Dad, who were they? Why were they trying to kill us?" he asked, his heart pounding, and his thoughts racing. "Not now, son." his father answered. "We gotta stay safe. No matter what, you gotta survive, remember?" Justin wasn't exactly comforted by his dad's words, but he kept his mouth shut, following behind his dad when several cars surrounded them, each holding a number of Curve's thugs. They all stepped out of their vehicles, and pointed their weapons at the family, none daring to look away from them. Justin was petrified with fear for a moment, but finally, he asked "Why do you guys gotta be so... so evil? We're just an innocent family, why can't you leave us alone?" Both his parents hung their heads on hearing his words, knowing they weren't as accurate as Justin believed. "I take it you don't know your daddy, then," one of the men said, chuckling. "When you two get to the other side, you should get the truth out of him. But then again, he's probably not gonna end up where you're going." He looked over Ricky and the other family members, and said "Nothing? After everything I've heard about you, you're gonna make it easy on me? Come on, man. Alriiiight, fiiiiine. Everyone, just fire whenever you feel like it. He really has gone soft." Each of Curve's lackeys raised their weapons, about to fire. Only a hero could save them now...

Curve's goons were just about to dispose of Justin and his parents when a large metahuman walked up onto the scene by happenstance. Luckily, he was just what they were hoping for, and he came to their aid just in time. For at least a moment, the family was safe from the gunfire, being covered by the man's large frame. "Whoa, you're.. You're a superhero, aren't you?" Justin remarked, his face wearing an awestruck expression. "Awesome!" Caroline breathed a sigh of relief, holding her child in her arms, only a moment ago thinking it would be the last time she ever did. Richard, though grateful, gave no indication of such, and immediately focused on the thugs.

All of this happening in only a few seconds was too much for one of the thugs, who ran away, shouting "He's got a meta!" His escape was cut short by the leader of the group placing a bullet through his brain. "You run, you die," he declared to his fellow goons. "Pump some lead through that thing's pretty little eyeballs, see if those are so bulletproof." Ricky ducked out to the side of Joe, effectively treating him like a wall, and shot at the ringleader. Just missing the loudmouth, he responded with gunfire from an AK with better aim than Ricky, placing a few shots in his left shoulder. Ricky arched his head back, and grabbed his shoulder, shouting in pain. Caroline quickly pulled him back behind the strongman's cover. "Hold your fire!" their leader commanded. "He's gotta turn around eventually." And so they waited for Joe to turn toward them, so that they could attempt to pierce his eyes with gunfire, hoping it would prove to be a weakspot.

The sudden silence from the vagabonds was unusual, but not without explanation. They'd never come up against a metahuman before, and they only had one idea to go with, one that required the meta to make the first move. Shaking in their boots, they knew that if this didn't work, they didn't have much chance of surviving the ordeal. Finally, he dropped to his knees, which, at first, they thought was submission, but they soon realized he was giving the Lockleys an escape. The thugs watched as he stood, and when he spoke, it caused their hearts to race. He grabbed a lamp post and ripped it from the ground for a weapon, and then he swung behind him. They let him have all their bullets straight in his face at that moment, but with his eyes closed, the idea was a bust. Even the bullets that actually managed to hit his eyes were deflected by his eyelids. Joe's attack was not so unsuccessful, however. He'd managed to bash in the head of one thug, and send three more flying back into the ground with extreme chest wounds. Four down, ten to go. "Ramirez! Gray! Taze that freak!" the leader said, shouting out his last idea. Two of the gangsters pulled tasers from their belt, and fired them at the meta. If this didn't work on him, they knew they were screwed.

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Justin was still trembling, and it wasn't helped by the fact that he thought he could see fear on Joe's face. Then, for a moment, the bullets stopped, and he started to gain a bit of calmness. It didn't take long for that calm to shatter, though. Suddenly, and without warning, the hero smashed through the street, causing him and his family to fall through into the sewer, at which point he began to scream. He was plummeting straight into the water under him, as was his father, but his mother was headed right into a concrete platform next to the waterway. Ricky quickly jerked her to the right to ensure she landed in the water as well, but had to do so with his left arm, irritating his gunshot wounds in his shoulder further. And worse than that, he was about to get sewer water in those wounds. Hitting the water, he tried to float, but the pain in his shoulder caused him to go under. Justin and Caroline quickly dived to pick him back up above the water, and lift him up onto the side of the sewer.

The three of them got onto the side, and started fleeing as quickly as they could. After a while, they decided to go above ground again, and found a manhole to climb back up. Ricky went first, having to climb with one arm, while Caroline helped him up. Justin followed closely behind the two, and stopped as Richard poked his head out to see if anyone was coming. Seeing no one, he weakly lifted himself out of the sewers, his family following closely behind. He looked either way, and saw no one, so he said "Good. Curve's people should be in for it now." Caroline was off-put on hearing who it was that chased them. "Curve?! What are they chasing us for? You said you had it figured out!" Dumbfounded, Justin said "Figured what out?" Looking down at him, Carrie shouted "Shut up, Justin!"

Ricky and Carrie argued for a bit, until Carrie finally said "That is it, You're on your own. Come on, Justin, we're leaving." As Carrie walked away from Ricky, Justin hesitated, prompted her to say "Justin, you get over here right now!" He shook his head, and said, "No! Daddy needs us!" "Yeah, well we don't need him!" she replied. "He's just a no good, dirty, lowlife, and we aren't putting up with it anymore!" "That's not true!" Justin shouted, tears soaking his cheeks. "If you're gonna leave, then fine! But I'm not coming with you! I'm staying with dad." Her lip began to tremble, and she looked at Richard. "Caroline, please..." he managed to say, but nothing else would come out. She turned, and ran off by herself, sobbing uncontrollably, the city now hard to see correctly through the lens of her tears. Soon, she was gone, and Justin couldn't stop crying about it. Clutching the side of his father, Justin said, "Why did she leave, dad? Why does she hate you?" Richard hung his head and lied "I don't know. Let's go, Justin. I know a safe place." And together, the two of them ran off to Jurassic Tower.