Hal Townsend was making his way home after a successful outing in the city. Nothing eventful had happened, but he had observed some interesting folk and then had gone exploring in the storm drain system under the city. He had it nearly completely mapped out by now. Perhaps one or two more trips would do it, assuming he did not uncover a whole new section of drains. Wouldn't that be exciting? He thought he should make use of some of the never-visited portions of the subterranean system. Perhaps some kind of spy device, or expand it into secret tunnels, or maybe even--
Wait, did that guy across the street only have one arm? More importantly, what was that thing on his face? Hal slowed his pace, his head bowed against the snow drifting lazily from the dark clouds above, and tried not to stare, watching as best as he could from his peripheral vision. It was not as though seeing a human missing a limb was unusual. He saw it now and then, and pitied them for their inability to regain their lost limbs. As the thought was fleeing his mind, he saw more movement, and turned his head to watch as a large-bodied man with a pistol was making his way quickly toward the crippled man.
Oh, this won't end well. I wonder if I should help... He began to remove his backpack, but had only gotten one strap off when something uncanny happened, and he would presently find out that the "crippled" man needed no help. A mechanical hand grew out of the man's shoulder, attached by a stream of blue electricity. The assailant's gun was swept away and the hand wrapped around the thug's neck. The thug reached for the hand and electrocuted himself. Hal thought that whatever happened next would be brutal and violent, but instead, the mechanical-armed man simply dropped his assailant to the ground and continued on his way.
Hal was stunned by what he had seen. He had seen plenty of electricity, and plenty of mechanical parts, but never anything quite like this.
What was it? He had to know! His curiosity would have it no other way. He let his backpack slide all the way off now and pretended to dig through it in search of something, waiting for the intriguing electrical man to gain some distance. Once that happened, Hal replaced his backpack on his shoulders and continued onward, but this time to follow the man with the visor.
But then, another individual approached the man. This individual had grey skin and red eyes, so definitely was no normal human. Hal thought that the visored man was about to be assaulted again, but instead the newcomer seemed to be greeting him. Hal narrowed his eyes slightly. This just got even more interesting! He ceased his pace for the moment and withdrew what looked like a large cell phone from his pocket, and he busied himself with "texting" on it, which was of course just another excuse for him to remain in the area without being suspicious.