As he continued with his journey, Gordon charged forth with determination through the unruly storm. The tense waft smacked his face with a dreaded curse, inviting a cold atmosphere into his body. The intense wind, accompanied by an avalanche of snowflakes, painted his face white before falling off his skin. Although that was the case, the cold failed to faze him, for he walked casually, much like a machine.

The compass still pointed north and directed him to his destination. A few minutes later, he stumbled across a tall mountain. For a brief moment, he thought, trying to think of strategies to get inside. Then, a recollection came to him. He touched the wall of the superstructure, and when he did that, an entrance was carved as the wall slid to the side.

He embarked upon a dark cave when he got it. He pressed a button on his gauntlet, enabling an L.E.D. to lighten his path. Once he exited the dark entrance, he came across a room with a large scout ship.

The scout ship had seen better days, as it was covered with frost particles all around. A network of silken threads also garbed the spaceship. When he caught sight of the ship, he was welcomed by a sense of nostalgia.

"Scout Ship Of Ex," he said with a smile as he gazed upon it.

He removed his sword from his back strap and unsheathed it from both sides. Although not like your typical sword, this one had two sharp blades crafted on both ends of the hilt. Not only that, but the blades had incisors from their edges; it's almost as if the killer weapon had razor-sharp teeth, ready to thresh through flesh with ease.

With his hands firmly held onto the hilt, he swung it towards the door and fired an air-pressure projectile slash. The projectile attack sliced the door in half.

He courageously sauntered into the ship while B-22 released cannons from the ceiling.

"Intruder alert, weapon's system ready to engage," replied the A.I.

Right before the cannons were about to incinerate him, he responded by swinging the sword from both sides at them multiple times. Of course, a series of projectile slashes were launched, slashing the cannons in half.

Once he had done away with the A.I.'s first security system, he swiftly walked to the control room before it could send androids his way.

He removed the previous flash drive from the plinth and inserted his own. The flash drive gave rise to a new A.I. which assimilated control of the ship.

"Welcome, Knight of Blood Shed. How may I be of your service?" The A.I. said in a female voice.

"Thanks for the welcome, Foxfire. I need you to trace the location of other Codexians on this planet."

"That might be a bit complicated, sir, but I will see what I can do," replied Foxfire.

*********

The following morning, the trio was on their way to Dallas. They were aboard Sam's jet, inside the cabin.

Meanwhile, Sam sat in front of Harrison and read a book called The Time Machine by H.G. Wells. As soon as he completed the chapter he was reading, he closed the book and put it aside. He stretched his arms and yawned. After that, he scratched his eyes and fixed his gaze on Harrison, who was eating a hamburger.

With each bite he took, the chunk of meat, doused with cheese, graced his taste buds with a flavor that was not like any other. It's as if the gods of the sky anointed this meal.

After swallowing, he closed his eyes and sighed as he fell back on his chair. The hamburger took the young lad on a flavored journey to paradise.

"I take it that you're enjoying your meal," commented Sam while he rubbed his chin.

"You bet," replied Harrison.

"How are you doing, though?" Sam inquired.

"Not fine. I mean, I just found out that I'm not from this planet. And my real parents are from another planet. I can't help but wonder about my real parents."

"Yep, I know. I'm also wondering how our parents were," Sam said.

He stood up and left Harrison. He went over to Diana, who typed rigorously in her MacBook Air.

"May I?" Sam inquired.

"Sure thing," Diana replied to Sam.

He took a seat and intertwined his fingers.

"I read up on you, Ms. Livingston. I must say, you have a colorful history," Sam said with a smirk.

Before closing her MacBook, she scoffed at him and placed her hand under her brow ridges.

"If only you knew, Mr. Austin, what you saw was just a facade. Unfortunately, my resumé isn't as impressive as you think it is..."

Sam nodded with intrigue.

"How so?"

She sighed before continuing, "I released fourteen songs, none of which were a hit. My producer, Mr. Maynard, warned me that if this trend continued, I'd be released from the record label."

Sam paused for a while and looked down. He empathized with her and, in some sense, related to her.

"Before a person can be successful, they will face a lot of failures before they can reach that one miracle that they so long desire."

"Oh, please don't give me that crap! You are an entrepreneur, and your business is thriving like yesterday's industrial revolution." She replied with a witty tongue.

"Even so, Ms. Livingston, what you see is just the icing on the cake. My business is not always successful. Rather we as Industry have more flaws than accomplishments. Society has an insignificant understanding of what goes on behind closed doors."

He looked up to face her and twiddled with his thumbs.

"Just a year ago, we were almost bankrupt. For three months, we tried multiple ways to stabilize our finances through different projects. We failed, nonetheless. We even reached a point where we nearly retrenched half of our staff so the business could continue. However, we did not. We devised another strategy, and eventually, we found our breakthrough."

He leaned forward and held her hand, "I'll let you on a little secrete. Before you can ride a bike, you will fall continuously until you can finally ride it."

A tear drizzled out from her left eye, and she quickly wiped it before he could see. She then masked her vulnerability with a stern expression.

"I'll take your word for it."

*************

Dallas, TX

At a local Bar

Dan sat on a seat and overheard a couple of guys talking.

"Did you hear what happened to the Road Hogs?" One of them asked.

"Yeah, boy. They were fighting someone who can control fire," another replied, in a Southern accent.

"Yo Tony! I need my usual. " Dan said.

The barman passed a single malt scotch for Dan. Dan gulped the entire drink with much ease. Tony gaped his mouth wide with shock.

"I know I've seen you chug down a lotta beer, but I always wondered how you do not get drunk?"

"I got an iron stomach," Dan replied with a smile.

Tony nodded in appreciation.

"Hit me with another one."

Dan passed the glass to Tony, who poured another drink. He passed the glass back to Dan.

Dan lifted the glass and admired the drink.

"You're a good man Tony." 

He chugged the drink once more and put the glass down.

"Put it on my tab." He said and walked out of the bar.

When he got outside, he found a beautiful grey Mercedes Benz AMG GTR parked beside his truck.

"Damn, that's one sweet ride. "

"That's because it's mine," a voice said from behind.

Dan turned around to face his back. When he saw both Sam and Diana, he was shocked to the core.

"Mr. Austin, what brings you to these parts?" Dan asked.

"You," Sam replied with his hands tucked in his pockets.

"Me?" Dan asked, shocked.

"Why the hell would you wanna see some crazy ass farmer. I mean, there's nothing special about me. Maybe you've mistaken me for someone else. Whoever they are, they could be inside," he replied sarcastically, pointing at the bar behind him.

"Nah, I came to see you, Dan," he said with a smile.

"Mr. Austin, there are a lot of Dan's in this state. So you gotta be a lot more specific."

"He's talking to you, pea brain. If we were looking for another Dan, we wouldn't come here in the first place," replied Diana.

"Hey, hey, shut your cry hole, lady. I wasn't talking to you," He retorted.

Diana smiled and asked, "What are you going to do about it?"

"Look, I was raised well at home. My father told me not to lay a hand on a woman...But I can whoop a bitch's ass any time." 

Diana tried to approach Dan, but Sam held her wrist.

"C'mon man, we just wanna talk," Sam said.

"Look, Mr. Austin, you got a nice car and a good life. As me for me, I would like to be left alone. So if you can excuse me, I'll be on my way now."

He entered his truck and drove off.

"He's an ass," Diana said.

"I guess we'll have to do this the hard way, " Sam said.

"Okay, what about your car?" Diana asked.

"Don't worry about it. " 

When she looked around, something unusual occurred. The car drove off on its own.

"What, wait? Where is it going?" She asked, perplexed by its departure.

"It's going straight for my jet while also observing the rules of the road, of course."

"Let's go then," She said.

Dan whistled pleasantly to himself while driving the vehicle. Then, as he turned to look to his left, he noticed an ultraviolet ray soaring in his direction through the side mirror. When the beam struck his tires, he lost control of his equilibrium. He attempted to steer the truck in the right direction by turning the steering wheel to the center. Unfortunately, since losing control, he drove the vehicle to a nearby store window.

During the truck's collision, the customers who were inside fled in terror. 

Then, Dan pounded on the car's door. He stormed out of the building while he worked himself to a boil. When he stepped outside the building, he marched towards them. He pulled his sleeves up and cracked his knuckles.

"I'll only say this once. Which one of you was responsible for that?"

Sam would step forward to confess his sins until Diana stepped forward and took the bullet for him.

"It was me. What are you going to do about it?"

He removed the straw from his lips and threw it on the floor.

"I might've said that I don't hit women, but when a bitch stands in my way, we've got a serious problem."

Sam attempted to break up the duel between them, but Diana shoved him aside and excitedly approached Dan. The two had a stare-down while they closed in on each other. Her eyes flashed violet-purple while his flashed orange. When they closed the gap between them, she responded by tackling him to the ground as he lunged at her. 

After falling victim to a vicious assault, he grunted with agony. Then, she began hitting his head with the edges of her elbow. After several strikes from her elbow, his forehead began seeping with crimson blood.

He retaliated by launching a fire blast at her. The attack sent her flying across the block.

"Diana!" Sam yelled with concern.

While Dan arose to his feet, he dusted himself and wiped the pool of blood from his forehead.

"Where did this freak learn how to fight?"

After an impactful landing from that attack, Diana stood up and approached a nearby car. Since Dan was at a further distance from her, she lifted the vehicle and hurled it at him from behind as he walked away. He was pancaked when the car fell on top of him. Her abdomen had a deep burn, and the lower portion of her shirt was charred. She was enraged by this. After that, she strolled over to the car while it caught flames. Dan emerged from the furnace and blasted her with a flame beam. In response, she repelled the beam of fire by erecting an illusive wall made of rotting matter.

Dan's eyes widened with shock when she performed this outlandish move.

"What in tarnation?"

He then launched many fireballs at her. By changing course, she managed to avoid the fireballs. She attacked him by launching three air-pressure projectile attacks. He also sidestepped the attacks by moving in different directions. A section of his clothing began rotting away as the projectile attacks passed him.

When he realized this, he reached for the bottom half of his shirt. She then approached him by propelling herself from the ground through the use of her wine-purple aura. As she launched herself to him, she suddenly kicked him on the side of his chest when she closed the distance between them. He fell and landed on his back. Then, when he finally crawled to his feet, she punched him across the bridge of his nose. He was further repelled into the air by the punch's intensity.

He crashed against the closest pole. Once again, he crawled up to his feet. He looked behind and saw the street pole he collided with. A sinister idea occupied his mind. He grabbed the street pole and ignited it. Then, when she lunged at him at once more, he struck her with it.

"Take that bitch!"

After being struck by that powerful attack, Diana collided through a building and landed on the fourth floor. She felt her left shoulder, which was burnt. When she sat up, she took off her black leather jacket, which was almost completely charred. 

She used her wine-purple aura to levitate the furniture. However, the items began to degrade at the intensity of her might. Therefore, she took advantage of this and molded them into balls of decaying matter.

She then leaped from the building and tossed the objects at him. 

Meanwhile, he jumped into the air and hit each ball with the fiery pole as he approached her. When they were in close contact with each other, Dan dropped the fiery pole and clenched his fist, which was engulfed in flames.

They both struck each other at once as her fist, coated with a wine-purple aura, collided with the left side of his face. His fist landed on the right side of her face. Once they punched each other, the incision of their attacks repelled them apart.

Her landing carved a pothole in the opposite direction as she fell on her back. His landing also incited another pothole from across the street. Since Dan struck her with a flaming fist, the left side of her face developed intense red blotches.

Also, her fist caused Dan's skin cells to deteriorate faster. This was evident through the orifices forming on the right side of his face. Slowly but surely, the first layer of his skin began peeling off.

Once the two touched the injured sections of the features and realized what happened, their rage intensified astronomically.

"He's gonna pay for that!"

"She's gonna pay for that!" They said at once.

Once they crawled up to their feet, they charged at each other with incredible speed.

Since their wrath blocked their sense of judgment, they released powerful air-pressure waves around them as they made haste toward each other. The pressure wave around Diana caused the matter on vehicles, asphalt pavings, and the concrete on the buildings to deteriorate.

Meanwhile, the pressure waves set everything behind him into a conflagration.

Sam charged into the fray and stood between them as they were about to strike each other. He fired two U.V. rays at them. The rays separated them as they collided on the ground on their backs.

"Thats enough! The two of you are behaving like shitty brats!"

She stood up and held her head to soothe it, "Well, he started it!

He arose to his feet and placed his hand on his gut. "Oh no, you chose to start a fight with me! You little runt!"

Sam then raised his voice at them, "I don't care who started this first. Don't you realize the damages that you caused with your destructive tendencies?! Who is going to pay for all of this?"

"Well, you. I mean, dude, your dripping in gold," retorted Dan with a chuckle.

"How funny, guess what? No one is laughing," retorted Sam.

"I guess he does have a small brain after all," Diana chuckled.

He glared at her and retorted, "No one is laughing either."

Sam focused entirely on him, "Look, Dan, I apologize for your truck, but you forced our hand. We came here to talk to you about your powers. To answer all your questions concerning who you are? And where you come from. If you could please come with us, all your inquiries would be put to rest."

Dan looked down while he spoke. For a brief moment, he reflected before replying.

Once he concluded, he answered, "Fine, I'll come with you. Just this once. Afterward, I'm out."