"Protectors of the Innocent" (Comic book-style sto
Posted: 2006-02-07 03:25am
A couple of years ago (Oct.-Nov. 2003) I wrote this story as part of the larger "Mistyverse" that is popular on Spacebattles. Mistyverse derives it's name from it's primary creator, Misty (aka LT_Ryguy). It's essentially a comic-themed universe with online persons featured as characters (Misty made me the Incredible Hulk analogue of her universe 
) with a couple other comic styles, like fictional country names and such (the most popular Mistyverse story, "One Man Army", featured the African country "Nibabwe"). And because Misty is so delightfully mad, there are a few silly things too, like Alan Keyes being the President of the US.
Anyway, I wrote this (you may note the timing of the story's creation runs concurrent with the running of Justice League Season 2
) and I today figured, oh, what the Hell, I'll post it.
For those interested in the Mistyverse as a whole, here's a link to a stickied thread in SB's Creative Writing forum that lists the various Mistyverse installments and a couple other things.
Final note: some of these characters are original and not variations of online personas. Those that are variations are in many cases loyal to the original. IOW: there's a preachy Christian character, ye have now been warned!
And, without further ado....
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Prologue
Night was setting in on the great city of San Francisco while a woman of twenty-two years named Jane Doe walked along a sidewalk in an area linking the urban centers of the city to the residential areas. The fiery-haired orphan, given her name as an infant by a rather callous child welfare officer, was dressed in plain clothes and carrying a bag that included, among other things, books from the library for study. An attractive young woman, Jane had spent her entire life moving from one foster home to the next, until finally at eighteen years of age when she was literally kicked out of the system and left to fend for herself. Now a struggling would-be college student, Jane lived with an old schoolfriend and worked whatever jobs she could find to help pay for their basic living needs.
Beyond all of this, she hid a personal secret. Something she did not wish to reveal to others, for fear of being hated and shunned. For Jane was different from other people. She had a curse, or a gift, depending on how one looked at it. It had been three years since the morning she woke up to find her bed blacked by fire with her nightgown and sheet turned to ash. Soon afterward Jane first channeled an aura of fire that surrounded her at command, allowing her the ability to fly and to create and control flame. Jane had become a meta-human. How she had acquired these abilities was a complete mystery to her, but she knew they had to be kept secret if she desired to have anything resembling a workable life.
But Jane was a good-hearted girl. She was not about to waste such abilities when they could be used for a better purpose, so she sometimes acted as, dare she say it, a hero. Not very often, of course, life was very busy for her in general, but when she could, Jane used her abilities to protect others. It wasn't as fun or easy as some might think. She wasn't Omega Paladin or IXJac; the vast financial resources of the world's beloved superheroes were in no way available to her. Her "costume" amounted to a leather vest and pants which, in Jane's opinion, were too tight. Leather was the best she could do; all other fabrics burned up too quickly in her aura, and even leather was burned up over time. Her socks were about the only exception, as they were protected as long as the shoe was on top. She had begun wearing low-heeled socks for just that reason, as well as sneakers instead of dress shoes or usual walking shoes.
She walked from the side of a closed resturaunt toward the street when a large explosion drew her attention, and that of everyone in earshot, toward the bank building some distance down the road. Three large vans had pulled up and a chunk of the building was now missing. She could not tell how many robbers there were at the distance, but Jane could see a lot of movement. In a moment she decided to do something about this. She ducked back behind the resturaunt and into the alleyway. The bag over her shoulders came off, and she reached into one of the side compartments to remove the black leather vest and pants. First she took out the band of leather that she used for a face mask and tied it over her face, making sure the eye holes were properly aligned. She nearly tripped over herself to pull her knee-length skirt off and quickly brought up the pants, latching them into place. Her blouse came off next, revealing the leather halter top Jane wore instead of a bra (preferable should she need to activate her power without getting a chance to change, even if it was uncomfortable). Pulling the short-sleeved vest on her arms, she had barely buttoned it before Jane concentrated and her powers came alive. The aura surrounded her, lighting up the alleyway with fire, and in a moment Jane was airborne.
Coming up over the buildings on each side of the alley, Jane looked down toward the bank and raced toward it. She was overhead within ten seconds of taking off. A stream of fire left her hand and poured over the first van. It ignited and drew the attention of the robbers carrying money bags from the bank. Jane stopped for a moment and remained aloft. "Hold it, boys, this is my town. I don't like unauthorized withdrawals from our banks."
One of the men screamed, "It's a Meta! Shoot the freak!" As one the robbers hefted large assault rifles and began firing. Jane was surprised to see them so heavily armed and zipped upward to avoid fire. As she came back down, she placed her hands ahead of her as if she were diving into water and projected flames from her finger-tips. The flames covered her assailants as she leveled her flight and soared over them. She came back around and looked back just in time for more to keep firing at her.
Jane had finally noticed the emblem on their helmets. A bullseye, which she knew from the news to be the insignia of the terrorist group T.A.R.G.E.T., which as everyone knew was competent and armed enough to be dangerous to civilians and pull bank robberies but stupid enough to always fail in global domination schemes. She hadn't expected such nasty opposition and became quite afraid for a moment. She'd never been shot at. Reacting quickly, Jane soared low and poured it on, setting them on fire as quickly as she could as she swerved and moved to avoid their fire. On a couple of occasions she could almost hear the bullets whizzing by her ears.
One of the men stepped out of the bank with an RPG. He pulled the trigger on it before Jane could do anything but look his way. She came low to avoid the missile, which raced over her head and exploded upon impacting the building behind her. Jane was thrown down by the concussive force of the explosion. She hit the ground hard and had the wind knocked out of her. She thought she could hear a couple of her ribs crack and was certain they were at least bruised.
Jane looked up to see a Targeteer leveling his assault rifle at her. "Lights out, bitch," he snickered.
As the man pulled the trigger, a blast of yellow energy struck him in the chest and knocked him back. Jane watched the others look up and shout, "It's the TJF! Run!" She rolled onto her back, reaching her left arm down to feel her injured ribs, and watched Rocket Girl soar overhead and plow into three of the terrorists. Intrepid and Omega Paladin were lowered by rope from a hover-jet transport with the TJF insignia on the belly. Intrepid formed an energy whip with his free right arm and lashed out at a couple of foes, pulling their guns out of their arms. Omega Paladin pulled his sword out and jumped down, using it to slice through the muzzle of an Targeteer's AK-74 before he punched the man's lights out. Intrepid landed next and formed a massive energy pike with his right arm.
This was the last Jane saw of them. The pain in her body had sapped her strength enough that she closed her eyes and was out cold for a brief while. She opened her eyes in time to see Omega Paladin walk up beside her. He extended a hand. "May I, Miss....?"
Jane didn't know what to call herself at first. She never had a codename or nickname, she just did her thing. But here and now, she thought quickly, and her first thought was connected to her love of Japanese animation.
"Sakura." Jane's arm reached up, allowing the shining paladin to pull her to her feet. "Call me Sakura."
"Interesting nickname." Omega Paladin crossed his arms.
To his right, Rocket Girl walked up, still in full armor. She asked, "So, rookie, how long have you been operating?"
"A couple years. But, I don't do this often, just when I have the chance." Jane winced at the pain in her ribs. "I, well, I'm just a college student."
"And a meta-human." Intrepid came up behind her. "T.A.R.G.E.T. may be led by idiots, but they're still dangerous. It took a lot of bravery to stand up to them."
"To be honest, I didn't even know it was them."
"Nevertheless, you still showed courage, even if you're not living up to your potential." Omega Paladin extended a hand as their hover-jet came overhead. "Why don't you try and hone those abilities of your's? Then, in a few years, we may have a reserve spot in the Foundation for you."
"Um, thanks. Really." Jane smiled sheepishly as they shook hands. She never really expected to be offered such a thing.
"Good day, Miss Sakura." Omega Paladin pulled her hand up to his mouth and kissed her fingers. He grabbed one of the ropes hanging from the jet's drop bay and was lifted up.
"Take care of yourself Red," Intrepid added in a cheerful tone. "I want to see you showing up in a few years." He grabbed the second rope and was brought up with Omega Paladin.
This left Rocket Girl. There was no way for Jane to know what the older woman's facial expression was as she looked over Jane. "You need to get to a hospital," Rocket Girl finally said. "Four of your ribs are bruised and one may have a hairline fracture."
"Oh, um, thanks." Jane nodded at the heroine as her thrusters activated and she was lifted up to the hover jet, where she climbed aboard. Holding her ribs, Jane took to the air again to get to her bags and her original clothes. A hospital?! Who were they kidding? Jane was eating Ramen Noodles on a constant basis just to survive, she didn't have the cash for a hospital visit. But even financial concerns were handily defeated by pain, so Jane grudgingly made her way to the nearest hospital after she finished changing back into her street clothes.
Six Months Later
After the fight with T.A.R.G.E.T. and her meeting with the Truth and Justice Foundation, Jane continued to survive. The medical bills had, thankfully, been taken care of by one of her former foster parents with some cash. It had been hard to explain where she got the scrapes and bruised ribs of course, but Jane had managed.
In her spare time, Jane had tried to do as the TJF had suggested and hone her powers, but it just wasn't working. It wasn't like she could train often anyway. Even leather gave way to fire after a while, and Jane could not afford to replace her leather garments at all.
Then she got laid off when the store she was working for closed down from lack of business. Without work and with a dwindling bank account, Jane made the tough decision to try her luck with the TJF. She pooled what cash she had left, sold off a lot of belongings, and took what was left with her on a bus ride east. Her destination was New York City and the Foundation.
As the bus made it's way through Northern California, they came into the woods. Forests on all sides as far as the eye could see. It was something Jane wasn't familiar with. She stayed at the window, not paying attention to anyone else, and watched the scenery race by.
Something caught Jane's eye. Smoke was coming from directly ahead. Her senses tingled and she stood from her seat and looked ahead. The customers began yelping with fright as the realization dawned on everyone that a fire had literally popped up out of nowhere and enveloped them on all sides. The bus driver was on the radio, frantically making a report, and getting only static in response. A tree feel ahead and came down on the road, trapping them.
Jane had kept her bag with her in case she had need of changing into costume, but there was no time for this. Cursing the fact that her nice blouse and skirt were going to get turned to ash, Jane manifested her aura and went out the rear emergency door. The passengers turned to look out the door, seening nothing but flames behind the bus, while Jane flew over the top of the bus and came down in front of it. She faced the grizzled, middle-aged bus driver and his companion in the seat behind. "It's a meta-human!", someone in the bus shouted.
"She must have caused this!", another screamed.
"I'm going to clear a path for you," Jane told the driver while her blouse and skirt began to burn away, revealing her leather halter top and shorts. "Follow me!" She floated to the front of the bus and extended her arms. First she poured flame onto the fallen tree, causing it to burn to ash quickly. When she finished this Jane reached her arms out in either direction and mentally pushed the fires away from the bus. It was a strenuous task to do this and fly at the same time, but Jane managed.
When they came clear of the fires Jane gained altitude again and watched the bus go on. The consequences of her actions had become clear; they knew what she was now. Her secret was out. But there was no time to worry about that; the fire was spreading and she had to try and contain it. It was too much for Jane to mentally command, but she could cut it off by quick-burning the brush around it. She flew overhead and again reached her arms out and downward, burning dead brush and trees that would soon be claimed by the raging fire. The fire eminating from Jane was hot enough to reduce the items to ash in seconds, robbing the blaze of needed fuel.
Moving in for a second pass, Jane saw movement in the trees. Thinking it was someone who needed help, she came down toward movement and through the upper trees. Jane's eyes widened when she saw a number of black-plated robots milling around the trees. Nozzles on their right arms were pouring flame into the forest. This was no accident. This was deliberate.
Jane reached her right arm out and let flames pour from her fingertips. The fire washed over a nearest bot, a large mechanoid of at least eight feet in height, not harming it's protective layer at first. Jane concentrated and increased the ferocity of the flame until it finally melted through. The robot fell in two.
The others noticed her and turned their flamethrowers on her. The flame washed over Jane's body, drawing sweat from her light skin but doing her no harm. This was her natural element and the flame was her's to command. Jane sent the flames back at her foes, channeling them up their nozzles and causing several to explode. The rest proved some intelligence by ceasing their use of the flame throwers. One lifted his other arm and a missile appeared from one of the fingers. It launched straight for her and Jane raced toward the sky. The missile followed without pause, staying right with her.
Realizing it was a heatsaker, Jane did a number of evasive maneuvers in mid-air but with no effect. Finally she turned downward and toward the blaze. From her hands she formed trails of fire in the sky, ensuring the missile lock remained. She went back down into the trees and toward the robot that fired the missile. Her left arm reached forward and covered the robot in fire, which the missiles followed. They slammed into their progenitor and destroyed it in an a rather prominent explosion.
Twisting in mid-air, Jane faced her robotic foes again. She concentrated and cried out, flames erupting from her body and showering the strange robots. Even with their protective layer the robots could not withstand the tremendous heat from Jane's attack, and they slowly began melting away.
Jane finally stopped. The aura around her weakened and she panted from exhaustion. She had never pushed her powers so far. Her body was one massive ache. Jane was surprised that she had even begun to sweat, something she hadn't done in a long time. She landed roughly onto the ground and fell to her knees. The aura vanished and steam began to rise from her exposed back and shoulders for a few moments. Jane pushed a strand of hair out of her eyes and looked around her. The fires were still raging and her attack had probably not helped matters. She got to her feet and drew in several labored breaths before restoring the aura around her, weaker than she had evern seen it, and pulled the fires toward her. Trees were left half-burnt as the fires seemed to be drawn into a vacuum, with Jane as it's center. The flame surrounded her, being absorbed by her. Jane groaned and finally stopped, having reduced the fire's area by half. She collapsed onto all fours with another, louder groan. She was completely spent of energy.
"Wery impressive."
For the first time Jane noticed a shadow over her. She looked over her shoulder and gasped. It was a robot, even larger than the others. It had to be at least forty feet in height, as black as the others but with a number of visible weapons emplacements and a camera eye coupled with a blank "screen" for it's face and a large speaker-like grate for the mouth. "I have never seen a meta-human of your power," a Russian voice remarked. "Control and generation of fire. You vill be an excellent addition to my army."
"I... don't know.... what you're selling...." Jane stood up on wobbly knees. "But I'm not buying."
"I have vays of making you loyal to me, young lady," the sinister voice laughed. "You are as veak as a kitten already. You cannot resist."
The robot reached down for her with a massive pincer arm. Jane restored her aura and went airborne. Every muscle she had protested against her actions. Flight, once so easy, had become a strenuous exercise for Jane's over-exerted body. She dared not try to counter attack, she would have to escape. Jane turned away from the robotic behemoth and accelerated.
The robot's pincers widened to their furthest extent and a blast of blue energy erupted from the muzzle underneath. The bolt slammed into Jane. She screamed from pain and lost all of her concentration. The beam shoved her into a tree about ten feet ahead of her. The ground rushed up to her and she cried out as she made impact with hard earth at the base of the massive tree. She fell away from it onto her injured back and looked up. Bruises had begun to form on her back from the impact of the beam. Her left cheek and the front of her limbs, belly, and visible chest were marred by scrapes received from her falling down along the tree. Pushed too far, Jane's body refused to respond to her commands to move. She was in too much pain and had exhausted herself too quickly. She grunted when the robot's pincer clasped her by the waist and hips and brought her up to the robot. She looked into it's camera eye. "Who.... are.... you...."
"I am your new Master." A small muzzle appeared at the base of the camera eye and pointed toward Jane. A single beam erupted from it and enveloped her head. Jane screamed at the pain in her head. "This veapon vas built by the KGB, to deal vith defiant souls like you. Your vill no longer have any free...."
A blast of red energy sliced through the robot's pincer arm. Jane plummeted toward the ground and away from the beam that had been scouring her brain. As the ground rushed up toward her again, she suddenly stopped in mid-air. Jane moved her stiff neck upward to see a man in mid-air next to her. The boots he was wearing were lit up at the bottom, coursing with electricty. His uniform was a mix of blue and black, with a prominent white cross on his chest and another on the forehead of his helmet. Electricity was coursing from his hands and enveloping the severed pincer arm. Suddenly the pincers seperated and Jane resumed her plummet to the ground. She was startled when a man caught her. She looked up at him and realized, to her immense surprise, that it had been the driver of her passenger bus. But now a black visor was fitted over his eyes, hiding some of his wolf gray hair. "You're in safe hands, kid." The man looked up at the robot as it's other arm tried to strike the cross-uniformed hero that had stopped her descent before. His eyes began to glow and a pair of thick red energy beams erupted from them, slicing through the robot's second arm. "You owe me one, Steltek."
The man in the cross-adorned uniform, Steltek, looked back at the robot. "So, Gabooz, you got tired of being defeated all the time by Rocket Girl and the Foundation and decided to come pick a fight with the JF?"
Jane never heard "Gabooz" answer Steltek. Her head fell back as she finally lapsed into unconsciousness.
Chapter 1
There was no way for Jane to tell how long she'd been sleeping. Her eyes slowly drifted open as awareness returned to her. Her stomach began to grumble to remind her that she hadn't eaten lately. Jane sat up and looked down. Her halter top was gone. A pink silk blouse and white dress had been placed over her with more traditional undergarments in the place of her leather ones. She looked back to see she had been sleeping in a King-sized bed. She'd never seen one in person, much less slept in one.
Jane sat up and her bare feet touched soft carpet. She looked down at where the blouse bared some of her chest and neck. The scrapes she knew were supposed to be there were gone, with absolutely no trace left. Her back was free of the excruciating pain that had wracked it after she was struck by the strange robot's energy weapon. She reached for her hair, which had been combed back and arranged into a pony-tail by someone. Stepping up to a nearby mirror, Jane took a moment to get her bearings. She tried to remember what had happened to her.
She faintly caught the sound of feminine laughter, drawing her attention to the open window. She looked out of it and at a river close by. Looking to either side, she saw that she was in a rather large and beautiful-looking mansion. The sky was clear and blue, with surprising warmth for a fall day. Jane looked down at the back porch and saw a bikini-clad young woman, not too much older than she was, laying on a chair and watching a nearby TV. The dark-haired girl was admiring a muscular man on the TV. Jane's eyes widened when a blue-colored aura briefly appeared from the girl's body and formed the same man on the TV. The woman kissed the facsimilie laying on top of her, laughed, and he disappeared as soon as he had appeared.
Not quite understanding what was going on, Jane walked toward the exit of the bedroom. She was greeted by a man of Hispanic ethnicity in a butler's uniform. "Senorita," he said to her, bowing, "did you enjoy your rest?"
"Where am I?"
Before the man could answer, another voice called out from downstairs, "Alberto, please bring our guest here."
"Please follow me, Senorita."
Jane blinked. Seeing no other alternative, she followed the butler to a central room and a flight of stairs that went down into a large receiving room, complete with chairs. From there Alberto led Jane into another side room, a dining room with a ten foot long table and several chairs. At the head of the table was a man clad in a business suit, reading a newspaper. He had dark brown hair and seemed to Jane to be about six feet in height. He looked up from the newspaper. "Ah, Miss Doe. Please, sit." He gestured to the seat across the table. A breakfast meal of fried eggs and bacon had already been prepared. "I hope this will prove to cure your hunger? You had quite a workout yesterday."
"Yesterday?" Jane went toward the seat. The food was very tempting. "What happened?"
"The passenger bus you were on had the misfortune of being drawn into a scheme by a rather unscrupulous individual called 'Gabooz'. Due to your heroism, however, they remained safe, and a possibly devastating wildfire was averted." The man set the paper on the table. "Go ahead, eat."
"Who are you?"
"I am James Hawk."
Jane sat down. "As in the founder and CEO of Hawk Electronics International?"
"The one and the same." Hawk leaned forward in his chair. "Your name is Jane Doe, yes? It's not just a title?"
"Um, yeah."
Hawk nodded. "I was curious as to why your records all have that name. It seems that some child welfare officials in San Francisco aren't very good with tact."
Jane finished her first bite of egg. "You could say that."
The businessman's hands folded in his lap. "Why don't you eat, Miss Doe, and I shall explain something to you." He waited for her to resume eating before he continued to speak. "I am a man of very immense wealth. My business spans the globe. With my network of connections in politics, finance, industry, and defense, I could become a very powerful world figure. Maybe even a leader in my own right. But I choose not to. I am a man of principle first and foremost. I believe very strongly in protecting freedom, justice, and those other high ideals that so many others use as justification for whatever actions they take. That includes bankrolling those like yourself. People who use special talents, such as meta-powers, to help and protect others. Heroes, if you prefer the term."
Jane did not respond, still eating. She tried not to eat too quickly, but it was a chore. She was quite hungry. She finished a strip of bacon and asked him, "What do you mean you 'bankroll' heroes?"
"As you've no doubt learned, Miss Doe, it takes quite a lot of money to sustain yourself in life. Even more to pay for uniforms and medical aid." Hawk watched her continue to eat. "Those two individuals you met yesterday are from my team. We keep an eye on things here in Western North America, or wherever we're needed." Hawk watched her finish her meal. "Still hungry?"
"No." Jane put her hands on her lap and looked across the table at the older man. "So you have your own superhero team, huh?"
"You could call them that." Hawk held his hand out toward her. "And now, Jane Doe, I'm going to ask you to join it."
Jane crossed her arms. "So you brought me here to make a recruitment pitch."
"No, my people brought you here because you were wounded. And because there were just enough people on that bus who claimed you were responsible for the fire that, had they not picked you up, you would probably be in a military stockade right now. The Federal government takes meta-humans very seriously." Hawk's eyes narrowed. "Even those whom are not really threats."
"Yeah, I know, we're all threats to mankind and all." Jane looked away from him. A few tears formed in her eyes. "So that's it, huh? I'm a wanted girl now."
"Not quite. I told you before, I have connections in the US government. They'll leave you alone."
"Provided I join your team?"
"No. I made the phone calls this morning." Hawk grinned at Jane. "You're very paranoid."
"I'm just trying to be careful."
"A wise policy." Hawk shook his head. "No, I wasn't using that as a carrot and stick. I won't force you into anything. I want you to join completely of your own free will."
"And what will you do for me? I'm homeless and all of my money was in my bag." Jane finally brought her eyes back into contact with Hawk's blue-gray eyes. "I've got nothing."
"A home can be provided for you. Here, if you want, or elsewhere, if you desire that. I'll also give you a generous living stipend, you can spend it in whatever legitimate means you like." Hawk slid forward in his chair. "It's not always easy, but it can be very gratifying work. You will come home to a roof over your head, a nice bed, and food in the fridge. In the meantime, you will follow what you know is in your heart."
"What's in my heart?"
"You saved the bus instead of just fleeing from the fire, exposing yourself as meta-human in the process. You chose to fight the fire, and then Gabooz's robots, instead of fleeing. You've showed a great deal of potential, Jane Doe. I'd like to give you a chance to fulfill that."
Jane stared off into space for a moment. There was something in the man's words that struck a chord in her. Without a family, a history, Jane had been trying to forge her own. What better way than to join others in protecting the things she believed in? The chance for some security...
And if Hawk was as well-connected as he seemed to be...
"If I join you, will you help me find my parents?", Jane asked Hawk. "I've always wondered why they abandoned me like that. Without leaving any way for me to contact them."
If the tycoon was surprised at the request, he didn't show it. "I will."
Jane drew in a breath. "Then, yes, I will join this little group of your's. So, what do I sign?"
"Absolutely nothing. In this line of work, we have to be able to trust each other without signing contracts." Hawk stood and walked around the table to Jane's right. She stood as he came close and accepted his hand when he reached it out. "Welcome to the Justice Force."
The sound of an opening door echoed nearby. From a hallway leading outside, the young woman Jane had seen earlier walked in. The two-piece red bikini the girl wore complimented her slender and fit body, most of it showing save for the intimate parts covered by the suit. Her eyes shined a brilliant blue. "Jane," Hawk lifted a hand to point to the woman, "this is Sonya."
"Sonya Samari." The young woman flashed a pleased grin and walked toward the two. She extended a hand toward Jane. "But when we're at work, you'll be calling me Sapphire."
Jane took Sonya's hand and shook it. "A code name?"
"Of course. Don't you have one?"
"Not really." Jane shrugged and rubbed the back of her neck. "But when the Foundation asked, I told them to call me Sakura."
"Sakura? A fan of Japanese animation, I take it."
"It's a hobby."
"Of course. And we all have them." Sonya grinned sweetly. "Mine, as you can see, includes trying to get a tan while living in this dreary region." Sonya gave a sour look to Hawk, who crossed his arms. "Well, might as well get into uniform."
Jane watched with some surprise as a blue aura appeared, following the shape of Sonya's figure much as Jane's fire-aura did her's. In a swift line of transformation that went from Sonya's bare feet to her neck, the bikini was covered by a full-sleeved uniform of startling blue color with black trim on the arms, legs, collar, and waist. A gemstone emblem was etched into Sonya's uniform over her chest. "So you're a meta-human too?", Jane asked Sonya.
"Not at all." Sonya lifted a hand. "This is something entirely different. A few years ago, I found a strange pod by blind luck and it gave me this power. I have to recharge it with power bands every few days. But other than that it's pretty limitless."
"The others are downstairs." Hawk gestured to the next room. "I have business to attend to, so if you would be so kind as to give Sakura a tour of our facilities, Sapphire?"
"Of course." Sonya gestured for Jane to follow. "Come on, Jane, let me show you the others."
Jane followed the older woman out of the kitchen, through a couple of hallways, and into a parlor. She walked up to a wall and slid open a portion of it, revealing a security station with an eye scanner. She got close to it and let it scan her eye. The station screen flashed with authorization for entry. The wall beside the security panel slid open, revealing a stairway leading underground. Sonya and Jane entered the wall panel and continued downward. Five seconds after their entry, the door closed automatically. Jane looked back for a minute. "Don't worry about it," Sonya said. "The good part is coming anyway."
Jane nodded stiffly and continued down the stairway. Sonya led her to a central corridor. "Here we have storage rooms for some of the gadgets and equipment Hawk makes available for us." She gestured to one open room with single beds lined against the wall. "We also have sleeping quarters, a fully stocked kitchen, everything we would need to live down here in case of an emergency."
"Wow...."
"Yeah. That's what I thought when I first came here." Coming to the end of the long corridor, Sonya brought Sakura to the right. "Before I take you to Control, you'll want to meet the others."
About ten meters down the corridor was another room. Jane looked inside while walking by and saw it was a locker room, or something like it at least. "Showers?"
"Yeah. Private stalls, too, for us." Sonya smiled back at her. "It'll be nice having another girl on the team. I've been alone ever since...."
"Since what?"
Sonya looked off into the distance for a moment. "Nah, it's not important. This way."
The corridor ended in semi-circle, in the middle which was a chamber shaped like a square, with a massive door facing the corridor itself. Sonya led Jane through a door on the right and into what seemed to be an observation deck and control room. The chamber was larger than Jane had thought; it seemed to go at least five stories into the ground. "This is our training room. We use holographic targets for the most part." Sonya walked up to the windows of the room. "But on occasion, we have real targets." Jane did the same and looked down to see four individuals in the room, fighting multiple robotic drones.
Sonya pointed toward a familiar face for Jane: the bus driver, now wearing a full-sleeved two piece black uniform. Red energy flowed from the visor fitted over his eyes and sliced through a pair of aerial drones. Leaping out of the way of a third's laser weapon, he adjusted a dial on the side of his visor and fired again, this time with a wider beam. "You probably remember him. He is our field leader, Don Graves. His codename is Tron. Like you and the others, he is a meta-human."
"I figured after I saw the whole energy blast thing from the eyes."
"Yes, his optic beams are quite powerful. The visor acts as a lens, allowing him to change the focus of his eye beams." Sonya went to the next person, whom Jane also recognized; the man with the cross-adorned uniform and helmet. Electricity arced through his arms and through a metallic drone, which he seemed to pull with him to cause it to crash into a drone fighting with Tron. "That," Sonya said, "is Joshua Gramm, or Steltek. His powers are based on manipulation of the Earth's electro-magnetic field. He can manipulate any metallic object on the planet."
"What's with all of the crosses?"
"Josh is a very religious man," Sonya answered. "So is he." She pointed to a male with brown hair moving among targets. His uniform was plain, a long-sleeved black jacket with a V-shaped sliver of red at the neckline. A red cape flowed down from his neck. Jane gasped when she saw him fly through two drones like a ghost, causing them to collide. He gave a vicious punch to a third that sent it flying to the wall, where it disappeared, before he looked up to the observation window. He grinned at them.
Without warning, Jane felt a voice in her mind. Hello, young lady. I am Kristan. Kristan Jensen. But you may call me Provost. Her eyes widened as she watched Provost go back to his fighting. Jane looked over at Sonya, who had an amused grin on her face. "Kristan was one of Mister Hawk's first recruits. As you can tell, he is a telepath. He also possesses strength bordering on super-human, flight, and he can phase in and out to go through most solid objects."
"Wow...."
"He's also one of the most boring human beings to ever live." Sonya crossed her arms over her chest and snorted. "If Josh is an evangelist, then Kristan is a monk."
Jane looked back out into the training area. The fourth and final person was wearing a uniform with white on the arm and leg sleeves and light blue at the collar and torso areas. An icicle emblem was on the man's chest. His red-brown hair was cut short and slightly disheveled. He was jumping among targets to avoid laserfire, kicking back at them when he had an opening. Jane watched as ice began to gather among his hands. He reached out to one and ice formed around it until it finally stopped and disappeared; a clean kill. "Let me guess, he makes ice," Jane said to Sonya.
"Not just that. Iceberg may be his codename, but Mark Berger's metahuman abilities go far beyond making ice."
As Sonya spoke, Mark looked to the other drone. It began to tremble until finally it burst apart from the inside in an explosion of steam. "Mark's meta-human skill is to manipulate the physical state of dihydrogen monoxide. Or water, if you prefer the less-wordy explaination."
"And you?"
Sonya grinned. She reached a hand out and generated a cube and cylinder shape in mid-air, made of the same blue aura that hugged her body. "Some fun kind of alien power. I can use it anyway I want. I can make forcefields, energy bolts, anything so long as I keep myself charged up." Sonya chuckled. "Well, Pyrogal, this is most of the team. Let me introduce you to one last member."
Sonya led Jane out of the control room for the training chamber and back toward the main corridor. This time they went in the other direction. They eventually wound up in a large room with a number of computer screens, including one very large one. A table was in the middle of the room, with multiple seats. On the far side was a second exit. "Jane, welcome to Control." Sonya walked up to the table. "From here, Hawk's contacts filter into our computers data on every part of the world. For instance..." Sonya walked up to a side computed and tapped a few keys. Jane watched a map of the globe pop up on the main screen. It narrowed in on the Mediterrenean, south of the coast of France. A small dot appeared on the map. "One of our contacts in Egyptian military intelligence has informed us that a Libyan freighter left Marseilles yesterday, bound for Tripoli. On board are a number of illegal weapons and a few young women abducted off the streets of French coastal towns to be sold into slavery in the Sudan."
"Oh my God." Jane seemed positively horrified at the idea. "What are we going to do about it?"
"Nothing, Senorita." Another voice called out from the corner. Jane looked over to see a Hispanic man pulling himself out from under one of the consoles. He got on his feet and limped over to a control station. His hands moved as a blur over the keyboard as commands were entered as quickly as the computers were capable of receiving them. "But I am now vectoring this data in to the French Navy. They will intercept the ship in the next hour. If they do not, than I have also sent an alert to Justice Force Europe. They have more than enough time to intercept the ship before it reaches Libyan national waters."
"Jane, allow me to introduce you to Pedro Gonzales. We call him Hack."
Jane stepped up to the Hispanic and shook his hand. "Um, I'm..."
"Jane Doe. Born some time on the 17th of March, 1991. Left overnight on the doorstep of a Child Welfare office in Oakland." Hack noticed the young woman's eyes fall. He put a hand on Jane's shoulder. "You have a good heart, Senorita. I'm glad to see you chose to join us. Here, you are with family."
Jane pulled his hand off her shoulder. She replied to his warm welcome with a blank look. She knew he was trying to perk her up, but she felt as if he had plunged a knife through her back and into her heart by reminding her of an all-too-painful fact.
"So, I take it you're meta-human too, for you to be typing so fast."
"Yes, yes I am."
"Hack was once on the field." Sonya put a hand on his shoulder. "He was a founding member of the JF."
"Did you get tired of fighting?"
"No." Hack slapped his left hip. "We were fighting with Shakkara. One of her sonic screams shattered my hip and leg bones. I can no longer run, so my usefulness as a fighter is gone. But I still had my talents."
"Hack is one of the best in the world when it comes to dealing with tight security systems." Sonya smiled and kissed him on the cheek. "He's also an all-around nice guy."
"I see." Jane nodded. "So, um, what's next?"
"Clothes." Hack slapped his hands together. "Your fire aura burns your garments up, even leather ones don't last. But do not fret, amiga, for we have a solution."
"What kind of solution?," asked Jane.
Hack turned and tapped a number of keys on a control panel. The globe on the bigscreen disappeared and was replaced by a piece of fabric, along with strange symbols and numbers that Jane guessed to be chemical data. "A flame retardant uniform and, I think, some flame retardant clothes." Hack looked back at her and smiled. "Wouldn't want you to be fighting naked, would we?"
"Obviously not."
"It is a material that one of James' chemical companies created several months ago." Hack tapped keys and zoomed out to show a full uniform. "It is four times more effective than asbestos at resisting fire while possessing the material qualities of silk."
"Silk?"
"Do not be so quick to dismiss silk." Hack wagged a finger at her. "It is stronger than you think. The Mongols used to wear silk as a means of keeping arrow wounds clean."
"Okay." Jane crossed her arms. "So, how long until it's ready?"
"By tomorrow, I think."
"That does it for the tour." Sonya took Jane by the arm and giggled. "Let me show you around the estate. Once you've seen it all, you'll never want to move out." She pulled her toward the second exit, and the launch bay there. Several small hoverjets were located around one large one. Sonya's aura appeared again and expanded, encasing them both in a sphere. Jane felt a little wobbly as the sphere left the ground. Sonya reached a hand out and a second beam of blue energy reached down and touched controls. Ahead, the end of the bay opened, revealing sunlight. The sphere accelerated and they were brought out of the bay.
Jane was nervous at first, apparently standing in mid-air, but soon she felt confident in the firmness of Sonya's energy aura and walked behind her. "What was that really big jet?"
"That's Nightwing. It's for major ops with the entire team. It has everything we need to conduct remote operations." Sonya grinned. "Hawk knows how to pick sites, all right. That's the Columbia River."
Jane nodded. "So we're in Oregon?"
"Yup. East of Portland, about ten miles from the nearest town. Gives us a sense of privacy." Sonya pulled them along the banks of the river. "Let's get going, I've got a lot to show you."
It had taken Sonya nearly two hours to show Jane everything there was to see in Hawk's estate. Jane was properly impressed by it. When they returned to the mansion, they went in the front door and back underground. Sonya showed Jane all of the rooms in their underground complex. A room for their wardrobe, with spare uniforms, the storage rooms, and the kitchen were all on the central corridor. Their next visit was to the locker room, where Jane found that they had already marked a locker for her next to Sonya's, complete with her chosen code name etched on the door. A change of clothes was left for her. With Sonya having left for the training chamber, Jane removed her clothes and stepped into the shower stall. After washing herself off she stepped out of the stall. She looked toward a towel before grinning and summoning her fire aura. The flames did no harm to her skin but acted to dry her off almost instanteously. After extinguishing the flames and putting her clothes back on, Jane walked to the training chamber's observation and control room.
She was surprised to see that none of the heroes were in the chamber. Sonya and Mark Berger were watching from the window. They heard her enter and turned. "Mark, this is Jane," Sonya said to her comrade. "Her code name is Sakura."
Mark nodded and offered a hand to Jane. "Mark Berger, at your service, Jane."
"Thank you." Jane looked over the window. "So, what's going on?"
"We're keeping an eye on our boss." Sonya pointed to the window. "He's doing some training himself."
Interested, Jane walked up to the window and saw Hawk standing on the ground of the chamber. A slim sword was in his hands. He was whipping it around at an almost frantic pace, slicing through faux-soldiers without pause. "He's pretty good," Jane commented.
Sonya replied, "He used to be a crimefighter. Then he decided to focus on his business and left that up to others."
"So, where are the others anyway?"
"Kristan and Tron went off on a mission." Mark crossed his arms. "Steltek left to go to Wednesday night prayer services at a local church." His expression softened. "The Old Man was really impressed with you."
"Old Man?"
"That is what the younger members call Tron," Sonya explained. "It is an affectionate term, even Hack uses it."
"Tron and Hack were the founding members of the JF, along with another."
"Who?"
Sonya and Mark looked at each other for a moment, as if to decide what to tell her. The decision was rendered moot when Hawk appeared at the door. Sweat now clung to his brown hair and, to Jane, he looked vastly different than the shrewd businessman she had seen that morning. "I may as well tell you now." Hawk walked up to the control panel and de-activated the room. "My ex-wife was the fourth founding member of the JF."
"Your ex-wife?"
"Helen Hawk neè Fuzuki." Hawk looked out at the training chamber. "I met her when I was in my mid-20s, doing freelance crimefighting work. Helen and I became partners and then fell in love."
"She was a fighter too?"
"And a meta-human. She had superior physical strength and stamina, and some ability to fly." Hawk's eyes lowered. "Shortly after I decided to concentrate on founding and running this company, Helen stopped crimefighting too so that we could marry. We had a daughter, Aurora, who has her mother's abilities and tends to take after her mother in other ways."
"So what happened?"
"We split up," Hawk answered. "An amicable divorce, I gave her over half of my material wealth and she left the company to me. She moved north into Washington State and founded a home for girl meta-humans outside of Spanaway. My daughter went with her."
"Wait, I think I've heard of that place." Jane lowered her eyes. "I was looking into going there after I found out I was a meta-human."
"It wouldn't have been a total waste. Helen would have taken you in and taught you to control your powers. You would have gotten to know other girls. But, I'm not quite sure you would have fit in."
"Why not?"
"My ex-wife's not the woman I married twenty-two years ago." Hawk crossed his arms. "She doesn't care so much about using meta-powers to help others. She trains her girls to defend themselves and offers them jobs with her security company."
"Helen's girls are used as security guards on ships, aircraft, and important corporate warehouses," Mark continued. "She calls her core team the Valkyr."
"Helen no longer has anything to do with us, and I will leave it at that." Hawk walked toward the door. "You should go see Hack. He'll enter your biometrics into our security computer so you can access all of the information you need to know. You would best start by studying the meta-human criminals we have on file. Some of them are still at large, and you never know when we'll have to deal with them."
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It was just past midnight in downtown Ottawa. A dark-skinned teenage girl of nineteen, Cynthia, was walking down a street in one of the city's commercial districts. She had gone clubbing with friends and was now on the way home through what she thought to be a rather safe section of the city.
She turned out to be horribly wrong. Two powerful arms dragged her into a nearby alleyway. Her screams for help were silenced by a large hand over her mouth. "Scream and I'll slice open your fucking throat, bitch," a high-pitched male voice whispered in her ear. He moved around her and shoved her against the wall. He had a knife in his hands, which he ran along Cynthia's cheek. The young woman was struck with fear, unable to move, as the shining blade moved down to her jacket and blouse. "I'm lookin' for a real good time." The man's eyes widened. One of his hands touched her posterior. "Gimme what I want or..."
"Stop."
Another girl's voice caused the man to turn. A young Caucasian woman about Cynthia's age stood, clad in bright winter clothing as she was. She looked tired and haggard. The tanned man laughed at her. "Stop? That's all you're going to say, bitch?! Hey, I'll cut you up too!"
"You're not going to cut me up." The woman stepped closer. Her eyes were intent upon the assailant. "You don't want to hurt me. You don't want to hurt her."
"I..." The assailant put a hand to his face, wiping some sweat off of his forehead and left cheek.
"This isn't what you want," the girl said. "You should go home now. You can have a better life if you live peacefully with others."
Cynthia was quite surprised when her attacker dropped his knife and slowly began to walk away, almost as if he were dazed. Finally he disappeared around a corner. She looked to her savior and threw her arms around the girl's neck. "Thank you so much." She looked at her benefactor's blushing face. "You are wonderful!"
"I try to be."
"You're a meta-human, aren't you?" Cynthia grinned at her. "Don't be afraid. You probably saved my life. I owe you."
"Um, in a way, yeah." The girl nodded again. "It's just that... I was doing that because I really don't want to see someone get hurt. I've got a thing against violence."
"Don't worry about that." Cynthia gestured to an all-night diner. "You look hungry. Want me to get you something to eat."
"Oh, I couldn't..."
"Come on, girl." Cynthia saw the paleness of her savior's face and something occured to her. "Oh, you poor thing, you wouldn't happen to be homeless, would you?"
"Well, I... I don't have anywhere to stay right now, yeah."
"I'll try to find you something. My parents know some people with open apartments and my dad has a small grocery."
"You don't owe me that, I was just doing the right thing."
The girl's pleading with Cynthia only steeled the other woman's resolve. "Let me at least get you a bite to eat and something warm to drink. You look hungry."
The pleading had finally had an effect, and Cynthia could tell the girl's resolve to resist reward had finally been broken by the grumbling in her belly. "Okay, I guess."
Cynthia put an arm around the girl's shoulders. "So, what's your name, girl?"
"My name." The girl looked down at the street. "You can call me Mellian."
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The lights in Control were dim save for one of the computer monitors. Jane was sitting at the seat in front of it, looking at the image shots of a massive muscle-bound creature labeled "Steve". She rubbed at her eyes and looked to the time. It was about one in the morning, meaning she had spent hours pouring over these files.
Jane moved on to the next file on her randomized list. The entry read "Anders, Rollins S.". The figure that popped up was a sinister one. A human with a red power aura that made Jane think of Sonya. His "uniform" was all black and dark red, including a massive black star on the chest surrounded by a field of red. The computer began speaking upon Jane clicking for the audio file; it's emotionless male tone easy to recall for her. "Anders, Rollins. Criminal Alias: DarkStar. Possesses unknown alien power aura. Psychiatric evaluations confirm subject suffers from extreme megalomania. Current Status: At large. Subject has one confirmed kill."
"Confirmed kill?" Jane sat up in her chair. "That's on none of the other files." Her sleepiness now swept away by curiosity, Jane asked the computer, "What's a confirmed kill?"
"Confirmed kill status is achieved when subject is confirmed to be responsible for the death of a Justice Force team member."
Jane's eyes widened. "Oh my God. Who did he kill?"
"Computer, you can ignore that input."
The male voice made Jane turn in surprise. Tron was standing in the doorway, still with his visor. "Hello again." Jane stood up from the chair. "I was wondering when you were going to get back."
"It was a long night." Tron looked to the screen. "So, doing research? Hack called to say you signed up."
"Oh, yeah, I am." Jane shrugged. "Just wanted to get to know everything I needed to know."
"And some things you don't need to know." Tron crossed his arms. "I'd advise you against bringing up the matter of DarkStar to the rest of the team."
"Why?" Jane looked at him with a confused expression. "Aren't we fighting these people?"
"We are, but...." Tron sighed and turned away. "You should go to bed. It's late."
"Tron, what is it? What's so wrong about talking about this?"
The older man looked back over his shoulder. "You've heard of the wisdom about keeping wounds closed, right? Don't re-open this one. It's a very painful one and you'll only get everyone upset."
Jane went to speak before she stopped herself. She was still new. She didn't want to get her teammates angry at her. She drew in a sigh and went back to the computer to shut it down. When she turned back, Tron was gone.
Breathing another, heavier sigh, Jane walked toward the main corridor. As she exited Control, Provost walked by. He stopped her by putting a hand on her shoulder. "Jane, don't let it get to you."
"What?"
Provost turned to directly face her. "I could feel Tron's thoughts as he went by, and I see your's. The matter with DarkStar, you need to let that come as it will. Don't try to push it."
"What did he do?" Jane clasped Provost's forearm. "What could he have done to make everyone so angry?"
"It wasn't just what he did, but what happened because of it." Provost put a hand on her cheek and finished communicating with her via telepathy. I will tell you at an opportune time. But now you must rest, Jane. You have a long day ahead of you tomorrow.
Jane gave a stiff nod and walked down the corridor, leaving Provost to take the night watch in Control.
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In the northern tip of the Canadian Rockies, not too far from the Yukon, a mine belonging to a loosely-attached subsidary company of Sakhirov Industrial Inc. had been constructed to extract important minerals.
Unknown to the Canadian government, which has authorized the sale, the subsidary company was really a dummy corp with a far more devious purpose than mining for minerals. The "Mine" had become a labyrinth of rock, encompassing several square miles between chambers. Inside specially-made tools were assembling hulking metallic figures. War robots, built to fight modern armies and tanks to a stand-still, and to kill the beloved heroes of the world.
Within the main chamber of this facility, a single tall man walked in, flanked by guards wearing the traditional fur caps of the Soviet Army. They had been saved from collections across the globe by one man so that they could regain their former role; with those who were going to fulfill the destiny of the world.
The tall man was met by a doctor, a fellow Russian, Doctor Verbitsky. The wiry doctor, clad in a white suit with thick glasses over his dark-colored eyes, stepped away from a machine he was working on. "Welcome, Comrade Gabooz."
"Comrade Verbitsky." Yuri Sakhirov, aka "Gabooz", stepped up to the Doctor. "Everything is in readiness?"
"Most everything, Comrade. But there has been a problem."
A snarl appeared on Gabooz's face. "What kind of problem?"
"The last shipment of essential communications gear has been compromised. We believe one of the loaders may have been an agent for the Truth and Justice Foundation. If they have found us out..."
"Most of their members are across the globe pursuing other cases," Gabooz remarked dismissively. "I am unconcerned."
"But there is still Rocket Girl."
"So what? She is but one person. Besides, I have had... an idea. We need test subjects, and I know where to get them." Gabooz took a booklet out of his pocket. "One of my agents has opened proceedings to hire these people to protect the shipment."
Verbitsky looked at the booklet. "Hawk Security Company?"
"Run by the ex-wife of Hawk Electronics' founder, no less. She has a team of elite meta-humans, the Valkyr. They should provide excellent test subjects, and guards once they have been properly programmed." Gabooz checked over the table. "So all we need is the empath?"
"Yes. But Comrade..." Verbitsky seemed uncomfortable. "Was it so wise to hire the Horsemen? They are bloodthirsty savages."
"Which means they will inflict a great amount of damage to distract our foes."
"And how will you control that maniac DarkStar?"
"I have promised him some power. Enough that he will do as I ask, until the time comes to rid myself of him." Gabooz looked up upon a screen, a status screen that would soon show him the fulfillment of his dream. A world united under enlightened Communist rule. "I only need them to bring me the empath. Once I have her, my plan cannot be stopped." Gabooz turned to Verbitsky. "Provided, of course, that the equipment has been properly assembled."
"Of course, Comrade!" Verbitsky saluted. "I will get back to work immediately, Comrade Gabooz."
"Of course." A sinister grin crossed the Russian mastermind's face. He barked at his guards, "See about getting some of this place cleaned up. We will be having guests soon. I would hate to make them feel unwelcome..."
) with a couple other comic styles, like fictional country names and such (the most popular Mistyverse story, "One Man Army", featured the African country "Nibabwe"). And because Misty is so delightfully mad, there are a few silly things too, like Alan Keyes being the President of the US. Anyway, I wrote this (you may note the timing of the story's creation runs concurrent with the running of Justice League Season 2
) and I today figured, oh, what the Hell, I'll post it.For those interested in the Mistyverse as a whole, here's a link to a stickied thread in SB's Creative Writing forum that lists the various Mistyverse installments and a couple other things.
Final note: some of these characters are original and not variations of online personas. Those that are variations are in many cases loyal to the original. IOW: there's a preachy Christian character, ye have now been warned!
And, without further ado....
----------------------------------------------------
Prologue
Night was setting in on the great city of San Francisco while a woman of twenty-two years named Jane Doe walked along a sidewalk in an area linking the urban centers of the city to the residential areas. The fiery-haired orphan, given her name as an infant by a rather callous child welfare officer, was dressed in plain clothes and carrying a bag that included, among other things, books from the library for study. An attractive young woman, Jane had spent her entire life moving from one foster home to the next, until finally at eighteen years of age when she was literally kicked out of the system and left to fend for herself. Now a struggling would-be college student, Jane lived with an old schoolfriend and worked whatever jobs she could find to help pay for their basic living needs.
Beyond all of this, she hid a personal secret. Something she did not wish to reveal to others, for fear of being hated and shunned. For Jane was different from other people. She had a curse, or a gift, depending on how one looked at it. It had been three years since the morning she woke up to find her bed blacked by fire with her nightgown and sheet turned to ash. Soon afterward Jane first channeled an aura of fire that surrounded her at command, allowing her the ability to fly and to create and control flame. Jane had become a meta-human. How she had acquired these abilities was a complete mystery to her, but she knew they had to be kept secret if she desired to have anything resembling a workable life.
But Jane was a good-hearted girl. She was not about to waste such abilities when they could be used for a better purpose, so she sometimes acted as, dare she say it, a hero. Not very often, of course, life was very busy for her in general, but when she could, Jane used her abilities to protect others. It wasn't as fun or easy as some might think. She wasn't Omega Paladin or IXJac; the vast financial resources of the world's beloved superheroes were in no way available to her. Her "costume" amounted to a leather vest and pants which, in Jane's opinion, were too tight. Leather was the best she could do; all other fabrics burned up too quickly in her aura, and even leather was burned up over time. Her socks were about the only exception, as they were protected as long as the shoe was on top. She had begun wearing low-heeled socks for just that reason, as well as sneakers instead of dress shoes or usual walking shoes.
She walked from the side of a closed resturaunt toward the street when a large explosion drew her attention, and that of everyone in earshot, toward the bank building some distance down the road. Three large vans had pulled up and a chunk of the building was now missing. She could not tell how many robbers there were at the distance, but Jane could see a lot of movement. In a moment she decided to do something about this. She ducked back behind the resturaunt and into the alleyway. The bag over her shoulders came off, and she reached into one of the side compartments to remove the black leather vest and pants. First she took out the band of leather that she used for a face mask and tied it over her face, making sure the eye holes were properly aligned. She nearly tripped over herself to pull her knee-length skirt off and quickly brought up the pants, latching them into place. Her blouse came off next, revealing the leather halter top Jane wore instead of a bra (preferable should she need to activate her power without getting a chance to change, even if it was uncomfortable). Pulling the short-sleeved vest on her arms, she had barely buttoned it before Jane concentrated and her powers came alive. The aura surrounded her, lighting up the alleyway with fire, and in a moment Jane was airborne.
Coming up over the buildings on each side of the alley, Jane looked down toward the bank and raced toward it. She was overhead within ten seconds of taking off. A stream of fire left her hand and poured over the first van. It ignited and drew the attention of the robbers carrying money bags from the bank. Jane stopped for a moment and remained aloft. "Hold it, boys, this is my town. I don't like unauthorized withdrawals from our banks."
One of the men screamed, "It's a Meta! Shoot the freak!" As one the robbers hefted large assault rifles and began firing. Jane was surprised to see them so heavily armed and zipped upward to avoid fire. As she came back down, she placed her hands ahead of her as if she were diving into water and projected flames from her finger-tips. The flames covered her assailants as she leveled her flight and soared over them. She came back around and looked back just in time for more to keep firing at her.
Jane had finally noticed the emblem on their helmets. A bullseye, which she knew from the news to be the insignia of the terrorist group T.A.R.G.E.T., which as everyone knew was competent and armed enough to be dangerous to civilians and pull bank robberies but stupid enough to always fail in global domination schemes. She hadn't expected such nasty opposition and became quite afraid for a moment. She'd never been shot at. Reacting quickly, Jane soared low and poured it on, setting them on fire as quickly as she could as she swerved and moved to avoid their fire. On a couple of occasions she could almost hear the bullets whizzing by her ears.
One of the men stepped out of the bank with an RPG. He pulled the trigger on it before Jane could do anything but look his way. She came low to avoid the missile, which raced over her head and exploded upon impacting the building behind her. Jane was thrown down by the concussive force of the explosion. She hit the ground hard and had the wind knocked out of her. She thought she could hear a couple of her ribs crack and was certain they were at least bruised.
Jane looked up to see a Targeteer leveling his assault rifle at her. "Lights out, bitch," he snickered.
As the man pulled the trigger, a blast of yellow energy struck him in the chest and knocked him back. Jane watched the others look up and shout, "It's the TJF! Run!" She rolled onto her back, reaching her left arm down to feel her injured ribs, and watched Rocket Girl soar overhead and plow into three of the terrorists. Intrepid and Omega Paladin were lowered by rope from a hover-jet transport with the TJF insignia on the belly. Intrepid formed an energy whip with his free right arm and lashed out at a couple of foes, pulling their guns out of their arms. Omega Paladin pulled his sword out and jumped down, using it to slice through the muzzle of an Targeteer's AK-74 before he punched the man's lights out. Intrepid landed next and formed a massive energy pike with his right arm.
This was the last Jane saw of them. The pain in her body had sapped her strength enough that she closed her eyes and was out cold for a brief while. She opened her eyes in time to see Omega Paladin walk up beside her. He extended a hand. "May I, Miss....?"
Jane didn't know what to call herself at first. She never had a codename or nickname, she just did her thing. But here and now, she thought quickly, and her first thought was connected to her love of Japanese animation.
"Sakura." Jane's arm reached up, allowing the shining paladin to pull her to her feet. "Call me Sakura."
"Interesting nickname." Omega Paladin crossed his arms.
To his right, Rocket Girl walked up, still in full armor. She asked, "So, rookie, how long have you been operating?"
"A couple years. But, I don't do this often, just when I have the chance." Jane winced at the pain in her ribs. "I, well, I'm just a college student."
"And a meta-human." Intrepid came up behind her. "T.A.R.G.E.T. may be led by idiots, but they're still dangerous. It took a lot of bravery to stand up to them."
"To be honest, I didn't even know it was them."
"Nevertheless, you still showed courage, even if you're not living up to your potential." Omega Paladin extended a hand as their hover-jet came overhead. "Why don't you try and hone those abilities of your's? Then, in a few years, we may have a reserve spot in the Foundation for you."
"Um, thanks. Really." Jane smiled sheepishly as they shook hands. She never really expected to be offered such a thing.
"Good day, Miss Sakura." Omega Paladin pulled her hand up to his mouth and kissed her fingers. He grabbed one of the ropes hanging from the jet's drop bay and was lifted up.
"Take care of yourself Red," Intrepid added in a cheerful tone. "I want to see you showing up in a few years." He grabbed the second rope and was brought up with Omega Paladin.
This left Rocket Girl. There was no way for Jane to know what the older woman's facial expression was as she looked over Jane. "You need to get to a hospital," Rocket Girl finally said. "Four of your ribs are bruised and one may have a hairline fracture."
"Oh, um, thanks." Jane nodded at the heroine as her thrusters activated and she was lifted up to the hover jet, where she climbed aboard. Holding her ribs, Jane took to the air again to get to her bags and her original clothes. A hospital?! Who were they kidding? Jane was eating Ramen Noodles on a constant basis just to survive, she didn't have the cash for a hospital visit. But even financial concerns were handily defeated by pain, so Jane grudgingly made her way to the nearest hospital after she finished changing back into her street clothes.
Six Months Later
After the fight with T.A.R.G.E.T. and her meeting with the Truth and Justice Foundation, Jane continued to survive. The medical bills had, thankfully, been taken care of by one of her former foster parents with some cash. It had been hard to explain where she got the scrapes and bruised ribs of course, but Jane had managed.
In her spare time, Jane had tried to do as the TJF had suggested and hone her powers, but it just wasn't working. It wasn't like she could train often anyway. Even leather gave way to fire after a while, and Jane could not afford to replace her leather garments at all.
Then she got laid off when the store she was working for closed down from lack of business. Without work and with a dwindling bank account, Jane made the tough decision to try her luck with the TJF. She pooled what cash she had left, sold off a lot of belongings, and took what was left with her on a bus ride east. Her destination was New York City and the Foundation.
As the bus made it's way through Northern California, they came into the woods. Forests on all sides as far as the eye could see. It was something Jane wasn't familiar with. She stayed at the window, not paying attention to anyone else, and watched the scenery race by.
Something caught Jane's eye. Smoke was coming from directly ahead. Her senses tingled and she stood from her seat and looked ahead. The customers began yelping with fright as the realization dawned on everyone that a fire had literally popped up out of nowhere and enveloped them on all sides. The bus driver was on the radio, frantically making a report, and getting only static in response. A tree feel ahead and came down on the road, trapping them.
Jane had kept her bag with her in case she had need of changing into costume, but there was no time for this. Cursing the fact that her nice blouse and skirt were going to get turned to ash, Jane manifested her aura and went out the rear emergency door. The passengers turned to look out the door, seening nothing but flames behind the bus, while Jane flew over the top of the bus and came down in front of it. She faced the grizzled, middle-aged bus driver and his companion in the seat behind. "It's a meta-human!", someone in the bus shouted.
"She must have caused this!", another screamed.
"I'm going to clear a path for you," Jane told the driver while her blouse and skirt began to burn away, revealing her leather halter top and shorts. "Follow me!" She floated to the front of the bus and extended her arms. First she poured flame onto the fallen tree, causing it to burn to ash quickly. When she finished this Jane reached her arms out in either direction and mentally pushed the fires away from the bus. It was a strenuous task to do this and fly at the same time, but Jane managed.
When they came clear of the fires Jane gained altitude again and watched the bus go on. The consequences of her actions had become clear; they knew what she was now. Her secret was out. But there was no time to worry about that; the fire was spreading and she had to try and contain it. It was too much for Jane to mentally command, but she could cut it off by quick-burning the brush around it. She flew overhead and again reached her arms out and downward, burning dead brush and trees that would soon be claimed by the raging fire. The fire eminating from Jane was hot enough to reduce the items to ash in seconds, robbing the blaze of needed fuel.
Moving in for a second pass, Jane saw movement in the trees. Thinking it was someone who needed help, she came down toward movement and through the upper trees. Jane's eyes widened when she saw a number of black-plated robots milling around the trees. Nozzles on their right arms were pouring flame into the forest. This was no accident. This was deliberate.
Jane reached her right arm out and let flames pour from her fingertips. The fire washed over a nearest bot, a large mechanoid of at least eight feet in height, not harming it's protective layer at first. Jane concentrated and increased the ferocity of the flame until it finally melted through. The robot fell in two.
The others noticed her and turned their flamethrowers on her. The flame washed over Jane's body, drawing sweat from her light skin but doing her no harm. This was her natural element and the flame was her's to command. Jane sent the flames back at her foes, channeling them up their nozzles and causing several to explode. The rest proved some intelligence by ceasing their use of the flame throwers. One lifted his other arm and a missile appeared from one of the fingers. It launched straight for her and Jane raced toward the sky. The missile followed without pause, staying right with her.
Realizing it was a heatsaker, Jane did a number of evasive maneuvers in mid-air but with no effect. Finally she turned downward and toward the blaze. From her hands she formed trails of fire in the sky, ensuring the missile lock remained. She went back down into the trees and toward the robot that fired the missile. Her left arm reached forward and covered the robot in fire, which the missiles followed. They slammed into their progenitor and destroyed it in an a rather prominent explosion.
Twisting in mid-air, Jane faced her robotic foes again. She concentrated and cried out, flames erupting from her body and showering the strange robots. Even with their protective layer the robots could not withstand the tremendous heat from Jane's attack, and they slowly began melting away.
Jane finally stopped. The aura around her weakened and she panted from exhaustion. She had never pushed her powers so far. Her body was one massive ache. Jane was surprised that she had even begun to sweat, something she hadn't done in a long time. She landed roughly onto the ground and fell to her knees. The aura vanished and steam began to rise from her exposed back and shoulders for a few moments. Jane pushed a strand of hair out of her eyes and looked around her. The fires were still raging and her attack had probably not helped matters. She got to her feet and drew in several labored breaths before restoring the aura around her, weaker than she had evern seen it, and pulled the fires toward her. Trees were left half-burnt as the fires seemed to be drawn into a vacuum, with Jane as it's center. The flame surrounded her, being absorbed by her. Jane groaned and finally stopped, having reduced the fire's area by half. She collapsed onto all fours with another, louder groan. She was completely spent of energy.
"Wery impressive."
For the first time Jane noticed a shadow over her. She looked over her shoulder and gasped. It was a robot, even larger than the others. It had to be at least forty feet in height, as black as the others but with a number of visible weapons emplacements and a camera eye coupled with a blank "screen" for it's face and a large speaker-like grate for the mouth. "I have never seen a meta-human of your power," a Russian voice remarked. "Control and generation of fire. You vill be an excellent addition to my army."
"I... don't know.... what you're selling...." Jane stood up on wobbly knees. "But I'm not buying."
"I have vays of making you loyal to me, young lady," the sinister voice laughed. "You are as veak as a kitten already. You cannot resist."
The robot reached down for her with a massive pincer arm. Jane restored her aura and went airborne. Every muscle she had protested against her actions. Flight, once so easy, had become a strenuous exercise for Jane's over-exerted body. She dared not try to counter attack, she would have to escape. Jane turned away from the robotic behemoth and accelerated.
The robot's pincers widened to their furthest extent and a blast of blue energy erupted from the muzzle underneath. The bolt slammed into Jane. She screamed from pain and lost all of her concentration. The beam shoved her into a tree about ten feet ahead of her. The ground rushed up to her and she cried out as she made impact with hard earth at the base of the massive tree. She fell away from it onto her injured back and looked up. Bruises had begun to form on her back from the impact of the beam. Her left cheek and the front of her limbs, belly, and visible chest were marred by scrapes received from her falling down along the tree. Pushed too far, Jane's body refused to respond to her commands to move. She was in too much pain and had exhausted herself too quickly. She grunted when the robot's pincer clasped her by the waist and hips and brought her up to the robot. She looked into it's camera eye. "Who.... are.... you...."
"I am your new Master." A small muzzle appeared at the base of the camera eye and pointed toward Jane. A single beam erupted from it and enveloped her head. Jane screamed at the pain in her head. "This veapon vas built by the KGB, to deal vith defiant souls like you. Your vill no longer have any free...."
A blast of red energy sliced through the robot's pincer arm. Jane plummeted toward the ground and away from the beam that had been scouring her brain. As the ground rushed up toward her again, she suddenly stopped in mid-air. Jane moved her stiff neck upward to see a man in mid-air next to her. The boots he was wearing were lit up at the bottom, coursing with electricty. His uniform was a mix of blue and black, with a prominent white cross on his chest and another on the forehead of his helmet. Electricity was coursing from his hands and enveloping the severed pincer arm. Suddenly the pincers seperated and Jane resumed her plummet to the ground. She was startled when a man caught her. She looked up at him and realized, to her immense surprise, that it had been the driver of her passenger bus. But now a black visor was fitted over his eyes, hiding some of his wolf gray hair. "You're in safe hands, kid." The man looked up at the robot as it's other arm tried to strike the cross-uniformed hero that had stopped her descent before. His eyes began to glow and a pair of thick red energy beams erupted from them, slicing through the robot's second arm. "You owe me one, Steltek."
The man in the cross-adorned uniform, Steltek, looked back at the robot. "So, Gabooz, you got tired of being defeated all the time by Rocket Girl and the Foundation and decided to come pick a fight with the JF?"
Jane never heard "Gabooz" answer Steltek. Her head fell back as she finally lapsed into unconsciousness.
Chapter 1
There was no way for Jane to tell how long she'd been sleeping. Her eyes slowly drifted open as awareness returned to her. Her stomach began to grumble to remind her that she hadn't eaten lately. Jane sat up and looked down. Her halter top was gone. A pink silk blouse and white dress had been placed over her with more traditional undergarments in the place of her leather ones. She looked back to see she had been sleeping in a King-sized bed. She'd never seen one in person, much less slept in one.
Jane sat up and her bare feet touched soft carpet. She looked down at where the blouse bared some of her chest and neck. The scrapes she knew were supposed to be there were gone, with absolutely no trace left. Her back was free of the excruciating pain that had wracked it after she was struck by the strange robot's energy weapon. She reached for her hair, which had been combed back and arranged into a pony-tail by someone. Stepping up to a nearby mirror, Jane took a moment to get her bearings. She tried to remember what had happened to her.
She faintly caught the sound of feminine laughter, drawing her attention to the open window. She looked out of it and at a river close by. Looking to either side, she saw that she was in a rather large and beautiful-looking mansion. The sky was clear and blue, with surprising warmth for a fall day. Jane looked down at the back porch and saw a bikini-clad young woman, not too much older than she was, laying on a chair and watching a nearby TV. The dark-haired girl was admiring a muscular man on the TV. Jane's eyes widened when a blue-colored aura briefly appeared from the girl's body and formed the same man on the TV. The woman kissed the facsimilie laying on top of her, laughed, and he disappeared as soon as he had appeared.
Not quite understanding what was going on, Jane walked toward the exit of the bedroom. She was greeted by a man of Hispanic ethnicity in a butler's uniform. "Senorita," he said to her, bowing, "did you enjoy your rest?"
"Where am I?"
Before the man could answer, another voice called out from downstairs, "Alberto, please bring our guest here."
"Please follow me, Senorita."
Jane blinked. Seeing no other alternative, she followed the butler to a central room and a flight of stairs that went down into a large receiving room, complete with chairs. From there Alberto led Jane into another side room, a dining room with a ten foot long table and several chairs. At the head of the table was a man clad in a business suit, reading a newspaper. He had dark brown hair and seemed to Jane to be about six feet in height. He looked up from the newspaper. "Ah, Miss Doe. Please, sit." He gestured to the seat across the table. A breakfast meal of fried eggs and bacon had already been prepared. "I hope this will prove to cure your hunger? You had quite a workout yesterday."
"Yesterday?" Jane went toward the seat. The food was very tempting. "What happened?"
"The passenger bus you were on had the misfortune of being drawn into a scheme by a rather unscrupulous individual called 'Gabooz'. Due to your heroism, however, they remained safe, and a possibly devastating wildfire was averted." The man set the paper on the table. "Go ahead, eat."
"Who are you?"
"I am James Hawk."
Jane sat down. "As in the founder and CEO of Hawk Electronics International?"
"The one and the same." Hawk leaned forward in his chair. "Your name is Jane Doe, yes? It's not just a title?"
"Um, yeah."
Hawk nodded. "I was curious as to why your records all have that name. It seems that some child welfare officials in San Francisco aren't very good with tact."
Jane finished her first bite of egg. "You could say that."
The businessman's hands folded in his lap. "Why don't you eat, Miss Doe, and I shall explain something to you." He waited for her to resume eating before he continued to speak. "I am a man of very immense wealth. My business spans the globe. With my network of connections in politics, finance, industry, and defense, I could become a very powerful world figure. Maybe even a leader in my own right. But I choose not to. I am a man of principle first and foremost. I believe very strongly in protecting freedom, justice, and those other high ideals that so many others use as justification for whatever actions they take. That includes bankrolling those like yourself. People who use special talents, such as meta-powers, to help and protect others. Heroes, if you prefer the term."
Jane did not respond, still eating. She tried not to eat too quickly, but it was a chore. She was quite hungry. She finished a strip of bacon and asked him, "What do you mean you 'bankroll' heroes?"
"As you've no doubt learned, Miss Doe, it takes quite a lot of money to sustain yourself in life. Even more to pay for uniforms and medical aid." Hawk watched her continue to eat. "Those two individuals you met yesterday are from my team. We keep an eye on things here in Western North America, or wherever we're needed." Hawk watched her finish her meal. "Still hungry?"
"No." Jane put her hands on her lap and looked across the table at the older man. "So you have your own superhero team, huh?"
"You could call them that." Hawk held his hand out toward her. "And now, Jane Doe, I'm going to ask you to join it."
Jane crossed her arms. "So you brought me here to make a recruitment pitch."
"No, my people brought you here because you were wounded. And because there were just enough people on that bus who claimed you were responsible for the fire that, had they not picked you up, you would probably be in a military stockade right now. The Federal government takes meta-humans very seriously." Hawk's eyes narrowed. "Even those whom are not really threats."
"Yeah, I know, we're all threats to mankind and all." Jane looked away from him. A few tears formed in her eyes. "So that's it, huh? I'm a wanted girl now."
"Not quite. I told you before, I have connections in the US government. They'll leave you alone."
"Provided I join your team?"
"No. I made the phone calls this morning." Hawk grinned at Jane. "You're very paranoid."
"I'm just trying to be careful."
"A wise policy." Hawk shook his head. "No, I wasn't using that as a carrot and stick. I won't force you into anything. I want you to join completely of your own free will."
"And what will you do for me? I'm homeless and all of my money was in my bag." Jane finally brought her eyes back into contact with Hawk's blue-gray eyes. "I've got nothing."
"A home can be provided for you. Here, if you want, or elsewhere, if you desire that. I'll also give you a generous living stipend, you can spend it in whatever legitimate means you like." Hawk slid forward in his chair. "It's not always easy, but it can be very gratifying work. You will come home to a roof over your head, a nice bed, and food in the fridge. In the meantime, you will follow what you know is in your heart."
"What's in my heart?"
"You saved the bus instead of just fleeing from the fire, exposing yourself as meta-human in the process. You chose to fight the fire, and then Gabooz's robots, instead of fleeing. You've showed a great deal of potential, Jane Doe. I'd like to give you a chance to fulfill that."
Jane stared off into space for a moment. There was something in the man's words that struck a chord in her. Without a family, a history, Jane had been trying to forge her own. What better way than to join others in protecting the things she believed in? The chance for some security...
And if Hawk was as well-connected as he seemed to be...
"If I join you, will you help me find my parents?", Jane asked Hawk. "I've always wondered why they abandoned me like that. Without leaving any way for me to contact them."
If the tycoon was surprised at the request, he didn't show it. "I will."
Jane drew in a breath. "Then, yes, I will join this little group of your's. So, what do I sign?"
"Absolutely nothing. In this line of work, we have to be able to trust each other without signing contracts." Hawk stood and walked around the table to Jane's right. She stood as he came close and accepted his hand when he reached it out. "Welcome to the Justice Force."
The sound of an opening door echoed nearby. From a hallway leading outside, the young woman Jane had seen earlier walked in. The two-piece red bikini the girl wore complimented her slender and fit body, most of it showing save for the intimate parts covered by the suit. Her eyes shined a brilliant blue. "Jane," Hawk lifted a hand to point to the woman, "this is Sonya."
"Sonya Samari." The young woman flashed a pleased grin and walked toward the two. She extended a hand toward Jane. "But when we're at work, you'll be calling me Sapphire."
Jane took Sonya's hand and shook it. "A code name?"
"Of course. Don't you have one?"
"Not really." Jane shrugged and rubbed the back of her neck. "But when the Foundation asked, I told them to call me Sakura."
"Sakura? A fan of Japanese animation, I take it."
"It's a hobby."
"Of course. And we all have them." Sonya grinned sweetly. "Mine, as you can see, includes trying to get a tan while living in this dreary region." Sonya gave a sour look to Hawk, who crossed his arms. "Well, might as well get into uniform."
Jane watched with some surprise as a blue aura appeared, following the shape of Sonya's figure much as Jane's fire-aura did her's. In a swift line of transformation that went from Sonya's bare feet to her neck, the bikini was covered by a full-sleeved uniform of startling blue color with black trim on the arms, legs, collar, and waist. A gemstone emblem was etched into Sonya's uniform over her chest. "So you're a meta-human too?", Jane asked Sonya.
"Not at all." Sonya lifted a hand. "This is something entirely different. A few years ago, I found a strange pod by blind luck and it gave me this power. I have to recharge it with power bands every few days. But other than that it's pretty limitless."
"The others are downstairs." Hawk gestured to the next room. "I have business to attend to, so if you would be so kind as to give Sakura a tour of our facilities, Sapphire?"
"Of course." Sonya gestured for Jane to follow. "Come on, Jane, let me show you the others."
Jane followed the older woman out of the kitchen, through a couple of hallways, and into a parlor. She walked up to a wall and slid open a portion of it, revealing a security station with an eye scanner. She got close to it and let it scan her eye. The station screen flashed with authorization for entry. The wall beside the security panel slid open, revealing a stairway leading underground. Sonya and Jane entered the wall panel and continued downward. Five seconds after their entry, the door closed automatically. Jane looked back for a minute. "Don't worry about it," Sonya said. "The good part is coming anyway."
Jane nodded stiffly and continued down the stairway. Sonya led her to a central corridor. "Here we have storage rooms for some of the gadgets and equipment Hawk makes available for us." She gestured to one open room with single beds lined against the wall. "We also have sleeping quarters, a fully stocked kitchen, everything we would need to live down here in case of an emergency."
"Wow...."
"Yeah. That's what I thought when I first came here." Coming to the end of the long corridor, Sonya brought Sakura to the right. "Before I take you to Control, you'll want to meet the others."
About ten meters down the corridor was another room. Jane looked inside while walking by and saw it was a locker room, or something like it at least. "Showers?"
"Yeah. Private stalls, too, for us." Sonya smiled back at her. "It'll be nice having another girl on the team. I've been alone ever since...."
"Since what?"
Sonya looked off into the distance for a moment. "Nah, it's not important. This way."
The corridor ended in semi-circle, in the middle which was a chamber shaped like a square, with a massive door facing the corridor itself. Sonya led Jane through a door on the right and into what seemed to be an observation deck and control room. The chamber was larger than Jane had thought; it seemed to go at least five stories into the ground. "This is our training room. We use holographic targets for the most part." Sonya walked up to the windows of the room. "But on occasion, we have real targets." Jane did the same and looked down to see four individuals in the room, fighting multiple robotic drones.
Sonya pointed toward a familiar face for Jane: the bus driver, now wearing a full-sleeved two piece black uniform. Red energy flowed from the visor fitted over his eyes and sliced through a pair of aerial drones. Leaping out of the way of a third's laser weapon, he adjusted a dial on the side of his visor and fired again, this time with a wider beam. "You probably remember him. He is our field leader, Don Graves. His codename is Tron. Like you and the others, he is a meta-human."
"I figured after I saw the whole energy blast thing from the eyes."
"Yes, his optic beams are quite powerful. The visor acts as a lens, allowing him to change the focus of his eye beams." Sonya went to the next person, whom Jane also recognized; the man with the cross-adorned uniform and helmet. Electricity arced through his arms and through a metallic drone, which he seemed to pull with him to cause it to crash into a drone fighting with Tron. "That," Sonya said, "is Joshua Gramm, or Steltek. His powers are based on manipulation of the Earth's electro-magnetic field. He can manipulate any metallic object on the planet."
"What's with all of the crosses?"
"Josh is a very religious man," Sonya answered. "So is he." She pointed to a male with brown hair moving among targets. His uniform was plain, a long-sleeved black jacket with a V-shaped sliver of red at the neckline. A red cape flowed down from his neck. Jane gasped when she saw him fly through two drones like a ghost, causing them to collide. He gave a vicious punch to a third that sent it flying to the wall, where it disappeared, before he looked up to the observation window. He grinned at them.
Without warning, Jane felt a voice in her mind. Hello, young lady. I am Kristan. Kristan Jensen. But you may call me Provost. Her eyes widened as she watched Provost go back to his fighting. Jane looked over at Sonya, who had an amused grin on her face. "Kristan was one of Mister Hawk's first recruits. As you can tell, he is a telepath. He also possesses strength bordering on super-human, flight, and he can phase in and out to go through most solid objects."
"Wow...."
"He's also one of the most boring human beings to ever live." Sonya crossed her arms over her chest and snorted. "If Josh is an evangelist, then Kristan is a monk."
Jane looked back out into the training area. The fourth and final person was wearing a uniform with white on the arm and leg sleeves and light blue at the collar and torso areas. An icicle emblem was on the man's chest. His red-brown hair was cut short and slightly disheveled. He was jumping among targets to avoid laserfire, kicking back at them when he had an opening. Jane watched as ice began to gather among his hands. He reached out to one and ice formed around it until it finally stopped and disappeared; a clean kill. "Let me guess, he makes ice," Jane said to Sonya.
"Not just that. Iceberg may be his codename, but Mark Berger's metahuman abilities go far beyond making ice."
As Sonya spoke, Mark looked to the other drone. It began to tremble until finally it burst apart from the inside in an explosion of steam. "Mark's meta-human skill is to manipulate the physical state of dihydrogen monoxide. Or water, if you prefer the less-wordy explaination."
"And you?"
Sonya grinned. She reached a hand out and generated a cube and cylinder shape in mid-air, made of the same blue aura that hugged her body. "Some fun kind of alien power. I can use it anyway I want. I can make forcefields, energy bolts, anything so long as I keep myself charged up." Sonya chuckled. "Well, Pyrogal, this is most of the team. Let me introduce you to one last member."
Sonya led Jane out of the control room for the training chamber and back toward the main corridor. This time they went in the other direction. They eventually wound up in a large room with a number of computer screens, including one very large one. A table was in the middle of the room, with multiple seats. On the far side was a second exit. "Jane, welcome to Control." Sonya walked up to the table. "From here, Hawk's contacts filter into our computers data on every part of the world. For instance..." Sonya walked up to a side computed and tapped a few keys. Jane watched a map of the globe pop up on the main screen. It narrowed in on the Mediterrenean, south of the coast of France. A small dot appeared on the map. "One of our contacts in Egyptian military intelligence has informed us that a Libyan freighter left Marseilles yesterday, bound for Tripoli. On board are a number of illegal weapons and a few young women abducted off the streets of French coastal towns to be sold into slavery in the Sudan."
"Oh my God." Jane seemed positively horrified at the idea. "What are we going to do about it?"
"Nothing, Senorita." Another voice called out from the corner. Jane looked over to see a Hispanic man pulling himself out from under one of the consoles. He got on his feet and limped over to a control station. His hands moved as a blur over the keyboard as commands were entered as quickly as the computers were capable of receiving them. "But I am now vectoring this data in to the French Navy. They will intercept the ship in the next hour. If they do not, than I have also sent an alert to Justice Force Europe. They have more than enough time to intercept the ship before it reaches Libyan national waters."
"Jane, allow me to introduce you to Pedro Gonzales. We call him Hack."
Jane stepped up to the Hispanic and shook his hand. "Um, I'm..."
"Jane Doe. Born some time on the 17th of March, 1991. Left overnight on the doorstep of a Child Welfare office in Oakland." Hack noticed the young woman's eyes fall. He put a hand on Jane's shoulder. "You have a good heart, Senorita. I'm glad to see you chose to join us. Here, you are with family."
Jane pulled his hand off her shoulder. She replied to his warm welcome with a blank look. She knew he was trying to perk her up, but she felt as if he had plunged a knife through her back and into her heart by reminding her of an all-too-painful fact.
"So, I take it you're meta-human too, for you to be typing so fast."
"Yes, yes I am."
"Hack was once on the field." Sonya put a hand on his shoulder. "He was a founding member of the JF."
"Did you get tired of fighting?"
"No." Hack slapped his left hip. "We were fighting with Shakkara. One of her sonic screams shattered my hip and leg bones. I can no longer run, so my usefulness as a fighter is gone. But I still had my talents."
"Hack is one of the best in the world when it comes to dealing with tight security systems." Sonya smiled and kissed him on the cheek. "He's also an all-around nice guy."
"I see." Jane nodded. "So, um, what's next?"
"Clothes." Hack slapped his hands together. "Your fire aura burns your garments up, even leather ones don't last. But do not fret, amiga, for we have a solution."
"What kind of solution?," asked Jane.
Hack turned and tapped a number of keys on a control panel. The globe on the bigscreen disappeared and was replaced by a piece of fabric, along with strange symbols and numbers that Jane guessed to be chemical data. "A flame retardant uniform and, I think, some flame retardant clothes." Hack looked back at her and smiled. "Wouldn't want you to be fighting naked, would we?"
"Obviously not."
"It is a material that one of James' chemical companies created several months ago." Hack tapped keys and zoomed out to show a full uniform. "It is four times more effective than asbestos at resisting fire while possessing the material qualities of silk."
"Silk?"
"Do not be so quick to dismiss silk." Hack wagged a finger at her. "It is stronger than you think. The Mongols used to wear silk as a means of keeping arrow wounds clean."
"Okay." Jane crossed her arms. "So, how long until it's ready?"
"By tomorrow, I think."
"That does it for the tour." Sonya took Jane by the arm and giggled. "Let me show you around the estate. Once you've seen it all, you'll never want to move out." She pulled her toward the second exit, and the launch bay there. Several small hoverjets were located around one large one. Sonya's aura appeared again and expanded, encasing them both in a sphere. Jane felt a little wobbly as the sphere left the ground. Sonya reached a hand out and a second beam of blue energy reached down and touched controls. Ahead, the end of the bay opened, revealing sunlight. The sphere accelerated and they were brought out of the bay.
Jane was nervous at first, apparently standing in mid-air, but soon she felt confident in the firmness of Sonya's energy aura and walked behind her. "What was that really big jet?"
"That's Nightwing. It's for major ops with the entire team. It has everything we need to conduct remote operations." Sonya grinned. "Hawk knows how to pick sites, all right. That's the Columbia River."
Jane nodded. "So we're in Oregon?"
"Yup. East of Portland, about ten miles from the nearest town. Gives us a sense of privacy." Sonya pulled them along the banks of the river. "Let's get going, I've got a lot to show you."
It had taken Sonya nearly two hours to show Jane everything there was to see in Hawk's estate. Jane was properly impressed by it. When they returned to the mansion, they went in the front door and back underground. Sonya showed Jane all of the rooms in their underground complex. A room for their wardrobe, with spare uniforms, the storage rooms, and the kitchen were all on the central corridor. Their next visit was to the locker room, where Jane found that they had already marked a locker for her next to Sonya's, complete with her chosen code name etched on the door. A change of clothes was left for her. With Sonya having left for the training chamber, Jane removed her clothes and stepped into the shower stall. After washing herself off she stepped out of the stall. She looked toward a towel before grinning and summoning her fire aura. The flames did no harm to her skin but acted to dry her off almost instanteously. After extinguishing the flames and putting her clothes back on, Jane walked to the training chamber's observation and control room.
She was surprised to see that none of the heroes were in the chamber. Sonya and Mark Berger were watching from the window. They heard her enter and turned. "Mark, this is Jane," Sonya said to her comrade. "Her code name is Sakura."
Mark nodded and offered a hand to Jane. "Mark Berger, at your service, Jane."
"Thank you." Jane looked over the window. "So, what's going on?"
"We're keeping an eye on our boss." Sonya pointed to the window. "He's doing some training himself."
Interested, Jane walked up to the window and saw Hawk standing on the ground of the chamber. A slim sword was in his hands. He was whipping it around at an almost frantic pace, slicing through faux-soldiers without pause. "He's pretty good," Jane commented.
Sonya replied, "He used to be a crimefighter. Then he decided to focus on his business and left that up to others."
"So, where are the others anyway?"
"Kristan and Tron went off on a mission." Mark crossed his arms. "Steltek left to go to Wednesday night prayer services at a local church." His expression softened. "The Old Man was really impressed with you."
"Old Man?"
"That is what the younger members call Tron," Sonya explained. "It is an affectionate term, even Hack uses it."
"Tron and Hack were the founding members of the JF, along with another."
"Who?"
Sonya and Mark looked at each other for a moment, as if to decide what to tell her. The decision was rendered moot when Hawk appeared at the door. Sweat now clung to his brown hair and, to Jane, he looked vastly different than the shrewd businessman she had seen that morning. "I may as well tell you now." Hawk walked up to the control panel and de-activated the room. "My ex-wife was the fourth founding member of the JF."
"Your ex-wife?"
"Helen Hawk neè Fuzuki." Hawk looked out at the training chamber. "I met her when I was in my mid-20s, doing freelance crimefighting work. Helen and I became partners and then fell in love."
"She was a fighter too?"
"And a meta-human. She had superior physical strength and stamina, and some ability to fly." Hawk's eyes lowered. "Shortly after I decided to concentrate on founding and running this company, Helen stopped crimefighting too so that we could marry. We had a daughter, Aurora, who has her mother's abilities and tends to take after her mother in other ways."
"So what happened?"
"We split up," Hawk answered. "An amicable divorce, I gave her over half of my material wealth and she left the company to me. She moved north into Washington State and founded a home for girl meta-humans outside of Spanaway. My daughter went with her."
"Wait, I think I've heard of that place." Jane lowered her eyes. "I was looking into going there after I found out I was a meta-human."
"It wouldn't have been a total waste. Helen would have taken you in and taught you to control your powers. You would have gotten to know other girls. But, I'm not quite sure you would have fit in."
"Why not?"
"My ex-wife's not the woman I married twenty-two years ago." Hawk crossed his arms. "She doesn't care so much about using meta-powers to help others. She trains her girls to defend themselves and offers them jobs with her security company."
"Helen's girls are used as security guards on ships, aircraft, and important corporate warehouses," Mark continued. "She calls her core team the Valkyr."
"Helen no longer has anything to do with us, and I will leave it at that." Hawk walked toward the door. "You should go see Hack. He'll enter your biometrics into our security computer so you can access all of the information you need to know. You would best start by studying the meta-human criminals we have on file. Some of them are still at large, and you never know when we'll have to deal with them."
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It was just past midnight in downtown Ottawa. A dark-skinned teenage girl of nineteen, Cynthia, was walking down a street in one of the city's commercial districts. She had gone clubbing with friends and was now on the way home through what she thought to be a rather safe section of the city.
She turned out to be horribly wrong. Two powerful arms dragged her into a nearby alleyway. Her screams for help were silenced by a large hand over her mouth. "Scream and I'll slice open your fucking throat, bitch," a high-pitched male voice whispered in her ear. He moved around her and shoved her against the wall. He had a knife in his hands, which he ran along Cynthia's cheek. The young woman was struck with fear, unable to move, as the shining blade moved down to her jacket and blouse. "I'm lookin' for a real good time." The man's eyes widened. One of his hands touched her posterior. "Gimme what I want or..."
"Stop."
Another girl's voice caused the man to turn. A young Caucasian woman about Cynthia's age stood, clad in bright winter clothing as she was. She looked tired and haggard. The tanned man laughed at her. "Stop? That's all you're going to say, bitch?! Hey, I'll cut you up too!"
"You're not going to cut me up." The woman stepped closer. Her eyes were intent upon the assailant. "You don't want to hurt me. You don't want to hurt her."
"I..." The assailant put a hand to his face, wiping some sweat off of his forehead and left cheek.
"This isn't what you want," the girl said. "You should go home now. You can have a better life if you live peacefully with others."
Cynthia was quite surprised when her attacker dropped his knife and slowly began to walk away, almost as if he were dazed. Finally he disappeared around a corner. She looked to her savior and threw her arms around the girl's neck. "Thank you so much." She looked at her benefactor's blushing face. "You are wonderful!"
"I try to be."
"You're a meta-human, aren't you?" Cynthia grinned at her. "Don't be afraid. You probably saved my life. I owe you."
"Um, in a way, yeah." The girl nodded again. "It's just that... I was doing that because I really don't want to see someone get hurt. I've got a thing against violence."
"Don't worry about that." Cynthia gestured to an all-night diner. "You look hungry. Want me to get you something to eat."
"Oh, I couldn't..."
"Come on, girl." Cynthia saw the paleness of her savior's face and something occured to her. "Oh, you poor thing, you wouldn't happen to be homeless, would you?"
"Well, I... I don't have anywhere to stay right now, yeah."
"I'll try to find you something. My parents know some people with open apartments and my dad has a small grocery."
"You don't owe me that, I was just doing the right thing."
The girl's pleading with Cynthia only steeled the other woman's resolve. "Let me at least get you a bite to eat and something warm to drink. You look hungry."
The pleading had finally had an effect, and Cynthia could tell the girl's resolve to resist reward had finally been broken by the grumbling in her belly. "Okay, I guess."
Cynthia put an arm around the girl's shoulders. "So, what's your name, girl?"
"My name." The girl looked down at the street. "You can call me Mellian."
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The lights in Control were dim save for one of the computer monitors. Jane was sitting at the seat in front of it, looking at the image shots of a massive muscle-bound creature labeled "Steve". She rubbed at her eyes and looked to the time. It was about one in the morning, meaning she had spent hours pouring over these files.
Jane moved on to the next file on her randomized list. The entry read "Anders, Rollins S.". The figure that popped up was a sinister one. A human with a red power aura that made Jane think of Sonya. His "uniform" was all black and dark red, including a massive black star on the chest surrounded by a field of red. The computer began speaking upon Jane clicking for the audio file; it's emotionless male tone easy to recall for her. "Anders, Rollins. Criminal Alias: DarkStar. Possesses unknown alien power aura. Psychiatric evaluations confirm subject suffers from extreme megalomania. Current Status: At large. Subject has one confirmed kill."
"Confirmed kill?" Jane sat up in her chair. "That's on none of the other files." Her sleepiness now swept away by curiosity, Jane asked the computer, "What's a confirmed kill?"
"Confirmed kill status is achieved when subject is confirmed to be responsible for the death of a Justice Force team member."
Jane's eyes widened. "Oh my God. Who did he kill?"
"Computer, you can ignore that input."
The male voice made Jane turn in surprise. Tron was standing in the doorway, still with his visor. "Hello again." Jane stood up from the chair. "I was wondering when you were going to get back."
"It was a long night." Tron looked to the screen. "So, doing research? Hack called to say you signed up."
"Oh, yeah, I am." Jane shrugged. "Just wanted to get to know everything I needed to know."
"And some things you don't need to know." Tron crossed his arms. "I'd advise you against bringing up the matter of DarkStar to the rest of the team."
"Why?" Jane looked at him with a confused expression. "Aren't we fighting these people?"
"We are, but...." Tron sighed and turned away. "You should go to bed. It's late."
"Tron, what is it? What's so wrong about talking about this?"
The older man looked back over his shoulder. "You've heard of the wisdom about keeping wounds closed, right? Don't re-open this one. It's a very painful one and you'll only get everyone upset."
Jane went to speak before she stopped herself. She was still new. She didn't want to get her teammates angry at her. She drew in a sigh and went back to the computer to shut it down. When she turned back, Tron was gone.
Breathing another, heavier sigh, Jane walked toward the main corridor. As she exited Control, Provost walked by. He stopped her by putting a hand on her shoulder. "Jane, don't let it get to you."
"What?"
Provost turned to directly face her. "I could feel Tron's thoughts as he went by, and I see your's. The matter with DarkStar, you need to let that come as it will. Don't try to push it."
"What did he do?" Jane clasped Provost's forearm. "What could he have done to make everyone so angry?"
"It wasn't just what he did, but what happened because of it." Provost put a hand on her cheek and finished communicating with her via telepathy. I will tell you at an opportune time. But now you must rest, Jane. You have a long day ahead of you tomorrow.
Jane gave a stiff nod and walked down the corridor, leaving Provost to take the night watch in Control.
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In the northern tip of the Canadian Rockies, not too far from the Yukon, a mine belonging to a loosely-attached subsidary company of Sakhirov Industrial Inc. had been constructed to extract important minerals.
Unknown to the Canadian government, which has authorized the sale, the subsidary company was really a dummy corp with a far more devious purpose than mining for minerals. The "Mine" had become a labyrinth of rock, encompassing several square miles between chambers. Inside specially-made tools were assembling hulking metallic figures. War robots, built to fight modern armies and tanks to a stand-still, and to kill the beloved heroes of the world.
Within the main chamber of this facility, a single tall man walked in, flanked by guards wearing the traditional fur caps of the Soviet Army. They had been saved from collections across the globe by one man so that they could regain their former role; with those who were going to fulfill the destiny of the world.
The tall man was met by a doctor, a fellow Russian, Doctor Verbitsky. The wiry doctor, clad in a white suit with thick glasses over his dark-colored eyes, stepped away from a machine he was working on. "Welcome, Comrade Gabooz."
"Comrade Verbitsky." Yuri Sakhirov, aka "Gabooz", stepped up to the Doctor. "Everything is in readiness?"
"Most everything, Comrade. But there has been a problem."
A snarl appeared on Gabooz's face. "What kind of problem?"
"The last shipment of essential communications gear has been compromised. We believe one of the loaders may have been an agent for the Truth and Justice Foundation. If they have found us out..."
"Most of their members are across the globe pursuing other cases," Gabooz remarked dismissively. "I am unconcerned."
"But there is still Rocket Girl."
"So what? She is but one person. Besides, I have had... an idea. We need test subjects, and I know where to get them." Gabooz took a booklet out of his pocket. "One of my agents has opened proceedings to hire these people to protect the shipment."
Verbitsky looked at the booklet. "Hawk Security Company?"
"Run by the ex-wife of Hawk Electronics' founder, no less. She has a team of elite meta-humans, the Valkyr. They should provide excellent test subjects, and guards once they have been properly programmed." Gabooz checked over the table. "So all we need is the empath?"
"Yes. But Comrade..." Verbitsky seemed uncomfortable. "Was it so wise to hire the Horsemen? They are bloodthirsty savages."
"Which means they will inflict a great amount of damage to distract our foes."
"And how will you control that maniac DarkStar?"
"I have promised him some power. Enough that he will do as I ask, until the time comes to rid myself of him." Gabooz looked up upon a screen, a status screen that would soon show him the fulfillment of his dream. A world united under enlightened Communist rule. "I only need them to bring me the empath. Once I have her, my plan cannot be stopped." Gabooz turned to Verbitsky. "Provided, of course, that the equipment has been properly assembled."
"Of course, Comrade!" Verbitsky saluted. "I will get back to work immediately, Comrade Gabooz."
"Of course." A sinister grin crossed the Russian mastermind's face. He barked at his guards, "See about getting some of this place cleaned up. We will be having guests soon. I would hate to make them feel unwelcome..."