Four days ago…“…Live here in Bonn, Germany as details continue to pour in concerning a hostage situation turned deadly at the Modora embassy shortly after five a.m. this morning. Just hours after the current ruler of Modora, Bito Vladon, made a televised plea to the unknown hostage takers; the entire embassy was leveled by an explosion that was set off inside the structure. There are countless dead and even more injured outside the building as the powerful blast appeared to level everything in a three block radius around the embassy. Most of the area had been evacuated prior to the blast but local and federal police had set up a command center across the street nearly thirty-six hours ago as they attempted to negotiate with the hostage takers. We will update you as we try to piece together the events that led up to this...”A woman reached over and muted the television. “It’s begun.” She looked over and smiled at the other woman who sat across from her. “Let’s see if they take the bait.”
*****************
Now…Somewhere in the California desert-Jefferson Pierce watched as Black Condor circled.
“We need to make a decision here soon, boss man,” Fire spoke while shielding her eyes against the sun as sand swirled around them, “There’s a storm coming. A big one. I can feel it.”
“I know, Bea. Just give Condor a few more minutes. We’re not leaving here until I’m damn sure this compound isn’t the next target.”
Bea watched as Ryan wheeled above them. In the pit of her stomach, she knew they had reached another dead end and that Jeff was losing his patience. She had grown closer to him in the past couple of weeks since joining the team, but he pulled away as his frustration grew.
A minute later Black Condor lowered his wings as he landed in front of them, “Looks like nothing has been out of place for a few days. But, with this wind, it’s hard to tell.”
“Damn it!” Black Lightning cursed, “Tala, anything?”
“I am not picking up any soul signatures outside of our own,” the purple-clad sorceress spoke as she expanded her arms out toward the structure less then thirty yards in front of them, “We are alone here. Of this I am certain”
Black Lightning turned abruptly and stalked away. Fire followed, “You had to expect this, Jeff. This is the third facility in as many days that we determined would be the Sisterhood’s next target. They must be getting wiser after the last few times we nearly caught them in the act.”
“We’re not getting intel fast enough, that’s all. We need to move quicker.”
Noticing that he was visibly upset, Bea gently placed her hand on his shoulder, “We will find Anissa, Jeff. I promise.”
He wanted to believe her but it had become increasingly hard to have faith anymore. He refused to believe that his daughter would take part in a terrorist organization like the
Sisterhood, unless it was against her will. He would cling to that hope for as long as it took to find her.
Pierce looked Beatrice in the eye. She had such exquisite green eyes; the type you could get lost in and never find your way back. He wanted to reach out to her but instead choose to pull away as he reached for his communicator.
“We came up empty here, Harry. There is a storm coming so we camp here for the night and move out in the morning. Do you copy?”
“Negative, Pierce,” a voice crackled through his earpiece, “Hold your position. There’s something heading your way.”
“Heading our...is it them? Black Lightning responded. “Harry?” There was no response on the com-link. “This could be it people! Be ready for…” He was cut off as a black mist enveloped him suddenly forcing him to his knees. He was choking, gasping for air as his body betrayed him just before he blacked out…
He heard distant garbled voices as he slowly came to. How long was he out for? It couldn’t have been for more than a few minutes could it? The world swam back into focus as the voices and his vision became clearer. He was still on the ground unable to move.
“Nice to finally meet you, sir.” A petite girl with dark purple hair sang as she stood over him. Your daughter has told me so many nice things about you. If you haven’t guessed by now, my name is Breathtaker.”
“What have you done with my daughter?” Black Lightning gritted his teeth and continued to struggle on the ground to no avail.
“Well, that’s a loaded question.” Breathtaker giggled, “So should I tell him or do want to, sweetheart?”
Black Lightning watched as his daughter stepped into his view. “Hi Daddy.”
*****************
Three weeks ago…Metropolis
Sundollar Coffee shop-“I heard you had plans to become mayor or travel the world Jeff.” Jefferson Pierce, also known as Black Lightning, turned as a man walked up at sat down at the booth across from him. Harry Stein, a longtime veteran of the NYPD before being recruited to the CIA, now the Presidents special advisor on foreign relations. “Didn’t make it too far on either of those plans did you?” Stein said with more then a hint of sarcasm in his voice.
“It’s been seven years Harry. I doubt you really want to discuss my latest midlife crisis over bad coffee. Especially after having one of your spook friends make a special delivery to my hotel room last night.” Pierce replied with equal sarcasm.
Harry Stein forced a smile. “Fair enough.”
“I owe you my life, Harry. I still do. But even coming from you, this…,” Jeff pointed a finger down at the large file in front of him, “this I can’t believe.”
“It’s real. All of it. I had this rushed over to you so you’d be prepared for what needs to happen next and…”
“You’re saying my daughter is a terrorist?” Pierce began to raise his voice, “She’s eighteen years old in her first year of college for God’s sake!”
Harry stopped him. “Jeff, Anissa’s gotten mixed up with some bad people and…”
“This isn’t real. This can’t be! If Annie’s with them it’s against her will! Where the hell is she Harry?!” Jefferson slammed his fist down on the table, sloshing dark liquid everywhere.
“We don’t know.”
“What the hell do you mean you don’t know!? First my ex-wife calls me out of the blue last week to say that our daughter didn’t return to school after spring break. No one at the campus or the local police has been any help. Now, the only reason I’m here is because you said you had information. Instead, you have a file delivered to my hotel room with photos of my daughter with a bunch of costumed nut jobs and a document that looks like someone with a sharpie marker had way too much free time on their hands!”
“Please sit down, Jeff. It’s more complicated than that but there is every reason to believe that she is safe… with her powers, she…”
“Powers? What powers?! She never told me anything about any powers!”
“She may not have wanted to tell you. I can’t imagine why,” Stein said drolly before trying to regain control of the conversation. “It appears that they’ve slowly been developing over a period of time. It was likely the reason she was recruited in the first place.”
“Watch your damn mouth, Harry! There is no way Annie would work for those people!” Harry’s coffee overturned and he deftly saved his suit and tie with a napkin as Pierce pounded the table again.
He sighed at the waste of breath and coffee. “I am not saying that she isn’t being forced against her will, but that we just don’t have all of the facts yet.”
“Well you can gather all the facts you want, I am going to get my daughter back.”
“You can’t do this alone, Jeff. That’s the reason I’m here. The President has authorized me to assist you with whatever is needed to shut down this group.”
“Let’s get one thing straight. I do this alone. President or no President.” Black Lightning pointed his finger in Steins face, “I don’t work for Uncle Sam.”
"Neither do I, officially. In the intelligence community, we're the uncles nobody talks about.”
“Yeah, I saw what your
uncles did during the whole Justice League fiasco. I was there remember?”
“We are fixing that. That’s why I am here. We need to put together a group that can take this organization down.”
“If I wanted to work with a group I would have taken up Batman’s offer to join the League. And I sure don’t need a damn league to get my daughter back. And I don’t give a good goddamn about what they’re involved in. I just want my daughter back.”
“Jeff, please, be reasonable for a moment. Your daughter isn’t the only life at stake here. How many other sons and daughters could be affected by what they are doing? The only way to do this right is to shut them down, which is going to take more than just you.”
Jefferson Pierce slowly and reluctantly sat back down, his anger slowly cooling. “Then you better start back at the beginning. And make it fast or I walk.”
“The first strike was almost three weeks ago at a government storage facility in Idaho.” Harry began as he laid out photos in front of Jeff. “Two days later, they struck another facility in Kansas and, later that day, they hit Iowa, each time targeting weapon supplies.”
Black Lightning flipped through the stack of pictures, “Yeah, I read the file already. There were thirteen of these ‘top secret’ facilities hit within a week. Why wasn’t there more security or military there?”
“These facilities have existed for a long time and are spread out over hundreds of different locations across the country, a few even on foreign soil. What made them secure was the fact that only a handful of people knew that they officially existed.”
“Well the secrets out now isn't it?”
“It would appear that way,” Harry conceded. “The only thing we haven’t been able to discern is what their primary objective is. At all thirteen locations there have been massive amounts of property damage but minimal injuries to the workers. And, at every facility, they spray painted the same message on one of the inside walls.” Harry said while sliding over another photo towards Jeff.
The men of this world will no longer be allowed to hide behind their weapons of terror. So say the Sisterhood. “Great! So you’re telling me the government has nuclear weapons stashed all across the country and now a bunch of peacenik costumed whackos are using my daughter to destroy them!” Black Lightning sighed in frustration.
“Well, first off there haven’t been any nuclear weapons stored at these facilities since the Cold War ended. And, secondly, I’m not sure how peace loving these ‘costumed whakos’ are either. It appears that some of the facilities are reporting inventory missing after the attacks.”
“What kind of inventory?”
“Several high-tech weapons that have been broken down and spread out in various locations. But we won’t be sure until each facility can figure out what was destroyed and what’s missing from the main inventory logs. The first few facilities are fairly certain that they are missing several items of concern.”
Black Lightning scoffed, “I don’t care and I don’t want to know unless it’s going to help me track them down.”
“It might, but I have people working on that as we speak.”
“My main concern right now is them.” Jeff spread out several surveillance photos and stabbed his finger at them.
“This, of course, is the Sisterhood.” Harry began as he picked up the first photograph…
Zara, real name unknown. Claims to be a priestess in a new religion called the Crimson Flame. She wields a flaming sword and appears to be able to manipulate and control fire.Giganta, real name Doris Zeul. A brilliant but severely misguided doctor who can grow quite large to say the least. After a recent tussle with Wonder Woman, she was liberated from the authorities en route to Belle Reve by the other members of the Sisterhood. Blackrock, real name Lucia, last name unknown. Ex-drug smuggler and mercenary before she came across a black gem of unknown origins. It granted her immense mystical powers until she was killed a few years back. Somehow her and the gem were reunited and she doesn’t seem to be so dead anymore.Phobia, real name Angela Hawkins III. She comes from British aristocracy, but was rejected by her family for being a ‘bad seed’. She has the power to make people experience their worst fears by using psychic illusions. Jinx, real name unknown. Claims to be an East Indian elemental sorceress. She possesses the power to command elements such as air and water. She can also manifest and manipulate magical energy to dissolve matter and other nasty stuff.Breathtaker, real name unknown. She appears to be an American girl no more than eighteen or nineteen years old. It seems clear that the others take their orders from her. She has demonstrated the ability to literally suck the air from someone’s lungs with just the wave of her hand, hence her name. Nothing more has been learned about her yet.Then there’s Anissa, code name Thunder. Seen in most surveillance photos disguised in a blonde wig. She appears to have the ability to increase her body mass while preserving volume which effectively makes her immovable and highly invulnerable.Jeff looked long and hard at the photo of Anissa before placing back down in front of him. He refused to panic. He refused to let his temper get the better of him. He took a long deep breath before he spoke. “Fine, but I want complete immunity for my daughter.”
“I can make that happen.” Harry quickly replied.
Jeff shook his head. “No. I want the President to put it in writing. And I want it in my hands before the day ends.”
“Jeff, the President doesn’t…”
“Stop right there. You already said that no one has been killed.”
“Yet, but we’re still talking about dozens of crimes that she would be considered at least an accomplice to.”
“Harry. This is nonnegotiable. Make it happen.”
“I will speak to the President myself.” Harry ran his hand through his thinning hair. “Anything else?”
“I take it you have some people in mind for this
group?”
“I do.” Harry slid a list of names over toward him.
“Fine. But I have final say in who’s selected, even if they aren’t on your list. I want people I can trust with this.”
“I wouldn’t have considered them otherwise.” Harry leaned forward, “There is one name on the list I can’t say I trust, but she seems to have information that might be extremely helpful in finding your daughter.”
“How so?”
“It appears that she was recruited by the Sisterhood, but turned them down.”
Pierces eyes widened. “Then we start there first.”
*****************
The following day…Clark County, Neveda
Nellis Air Force Base-“Why did you try and break into a federal facility?” The officer asked, his patience wearing thin after hours of interrogation.
The woman with crimson hair and purple robe adjusted her shackles and smiled, unperturbed by the intentionally cold room. “I have a message to deliver.”
The man turned and began to pace back and forth in front of the woman seated in the middle of the small holding room. “So you have said, several times already. But that still doesn’t answer the question.”
She smiled even more when she began to sense the man was growing frustrated with her, “Perhaps you just haven’t asked the right questions yet.”
“Well
perhaps you would like to cool off in a cell until you decide to answer the questions I have been asking!”
“I am here voluntarily. Your restraints can not hold me.” The woman turned and looked directly at the wall in front of her. “I have been waiting for you.”
In the adjoining room Jefferson Pierce looked over at Stein, “Can she see us?” he asked.
“No. It’s a two-way mirror.”
I get the impression she figured out the ‘secret’ mirror, Harry. I want to question her now.”
“Just wait a few more moments.” Harry responded.
“I am prepared to answer your questions now, officer.” She said as the man looked behind him at the mirror and then back at her.
“Fine. Start back at the beginning. What is your name?”
“On this plane of existence I am referred to as Tala. I am a sorceress.”
“Why did you break into the facility on this base?”
“To deliver a message.”
“A message to whom?”
“Jefferson Pierce.”
“And what is that message?”
“His daughter is in trouble. I felt her crying out to me.”
Jeff turned to Harry, his own patience ended. “Open the damn door! NOW!”
Without a word Stein turned and opened the door and entered the room. He nodded to the officer who quickly left without looking back. Pierce stormed past him to confront Tala. “Where’s my daughter, you witch?! What have you people done to her?”
She looked up to see his eyes as they began to crackle with electricity. “I am not
with the people she is associated with. I turned them down. But I sensed her emotions as if they cried out to me.”
Black Lightning took a deep breath as it took everything in his power not to yank her up out of the chair and throw her against the wall. Another breath and he was unexpectedly calm. Was she doing that to him? “Can you locate her?”
“If she is close, yes. But I do not sense her unique energy signature at the moment.”
“Then will you help me find her?”
“Yes. That is why I am here. But, when the time comes, I will require a favor in return.”
“Lady if my daughter is returned to me safely I will do whatever you ask... within reason.”
“Within reason is all I will require.” Tala slowly rose from her chair, effortlessly slipping free of her restraints. “But the task at hand will not be easy. There will be others who must be confronted, who will stop at nothing to ensure their plans succeed. I sense that they are very commanding individuals with unspeakable power at their disposal. I fear that nothing good can come of their plans.”
“I’m working on a plan of my own.” Black Lightning turned back toward Harry, “I want a strong team. One that is equipped to handle
any situation.”
Harry smiled confidently “Well then, time to do some more recruiting. How’s your passport, Jeff?”
*****************
The Arizona Desert-“You sure about this one?” Jefferson Pierce asked as he looked at the broken down trailer home that sat out in the middle of godforsaken nowhere.
Harry Stein shielded his eyes and looked up to the sky. “This kid has power, Jeff. You wanted power right?”
“I want a team strong enough to handle any situation we may come up against. What I don’t want is to play babysitter to some flying kid.”
“You read his file. He can do a lot more than just fly. Perhaps you can mentor him like you did with that kid in Star City…what’s his name?” Harry continued to watch the sky. He smiled when he finally caught a glance of Black Condor.
“Static…and that was different. I
don’t do sidekicks.”
Harry chuckled as Black Condor swooped down and landed in front of them. Harry turned his attention to the young man that stood there quizzical but smiling. “Ryan Kendall?”
“How many other guys do you know who can fly?”
“I know a few.” Jeff shot Harry a look.
Harry ignored him. “Thanks for meeting with us, Ryan. Can we go inside and talk?”
A few minutes later…“I understand why you came to me. But I’ve never seen myself being the superhero type, you know?” Ryan said as the three of them sat in the cramped living room of the singlewide trailer.
“It’s not a superhero team, kid…” Jeff stated.
“Don’t call me kid!” Ryan began to raise his voice.
Harry quickly jumped in. “Ryan. Let me clarify a few things for you. There is no
superhero team. No super villains. We’re looking to assemble a team to take out some terrorists. We aren’t looking for Superman as much as maybe… Jack Bauer.”
“Terrorists, you say?” Ryan sat there for a moment pleasantly pondering the thought.
Jeff glanced over to Harry, who winked back at him and then nodded behind where Ryan was sitting. Jeff glanced next to the TV at the stack of DVD box sets of the television series,
24. He looked back at Harry and rolled his eyes before standing up. “Listen. This isn’t a game or make-believe. It’s a dangerous situation and I….”
“I’m in,” Ryan said, jumping up. “I understand your daughter is involved and you want to get her back. These bad guys have her. I’ll help you.”
Jeff looked up at the kid who stood a few inches taller than him. “No games. You do what I say when I say it. Understand?”
“Yes sir,” Ryan said with a grin, putting his hand out. What am I doing here? Jeff thought. This kid is barely out of high school. His hero is a character on TV. He isn’t much younger than my own daughter… Anissa…This was for her. He would do whatever it took to get her back. Jeff reluctantly shook Ryan's hand.
“Alright then.” Harry stood up. “Let's get ready to move out.”
“I can be ready in five minutes.” Ryan replied, reaching out to shake Harry’s hand.
“You may not be back for quite some time. Is there anyone you need to contact before we go?” Jeff asked.
“No sir. I’ve been on my own for quiet awhile now and I sure as hell ain’t coming back here ever again. Let me just pack a bag and we can hit the road. Where’re we going anyway?”
Jefferson Pierce looked down as he unfolded a small piece of paper he had been carrying. “Costa Rica.”
A big smile grew on Ryan Kendall’s face. “Cool!”
*****************
Costa Rica-[/I]
“You are messing up my tan.” The woman stated to the two men who stood directly in front of her pool-side lounge chair.
“Beatriz DaCosta?” Jefferson Pierce asked as he studied the woman closely. She didn’t look like the same woman in the file.
“Yes, handsome, it’s me. Now can you both move out of the way,” she said, casually waving her hand.
“Bea,” Harry finally spoke. “You know why were here.”
“Do I?” she replied playfully.
Harry took a deep breath, “Of course you do, otherwise you would’ve been long gone before we reached the hotel.”
“This is true.” She pulled her sunglasses down enough to give Jeff a wink and a nod. “I knew the second your plane landed. My guy at the airport said you two stood out like girls at a all boys school. I mean, really, you two look like Crockett and Tubbs.”
Harry looked down at himself and then at Jeff and shook his head. “Regardless, is there somewhere we can go to talk?”
“Why? We can talk here. Besides, what makes you think my answer is going to be any different this time?”
“This is different,” Harry quickly replied.
“Why? You aren’t looking to recruit me for a superhero team?” Bea smiled as Jeff shot Harry a look.
Harry ignored Jeff, but knew he wouldn’t let that one slide for long. “I said it was
different, but it does require your special talents…as well as your friend over there,” Harry pointed over to a white-haired woman lounging on the other side of the pool.
Bea quickly stood up. “No way, Harry! No way! I will not allow you to use her like you used me. She doesn’t live in the same world as we do and…”
“Save it Bea. You already took it upon yourself to introduce her to
our world." Harry handed her a PDA he fished out of his jacket. Bea flipped through the images on the screen as Harry continued, "Those are satellite pictures from the past few months. It seems that two female costumed 'heroes' have been wrecking havoc up and down the Columbian Coast. Three major drug cartels were raided. One, by the way, blew a three-year sting operation by the U.S. government to capture the eighth biggest dealer in the world. It seems while this 'Fire and Ice' were taking down the bad guys, some pretty big fish swam away. And...each of those raids coincided with times you and your friend were in between modeling assignments."
Beatriz bit her lower lip hard enough to feel the skin begin to break. "So, this is blackmail, huh Harry? I will not..." she began to raise her voice.
Harry quickly interrupted, "This isn't blackmail. You've done your time for the U.S. government. This is something entirely different. We are offering you a chance to be a true hero, Bea. Not a crusader who is going to end up getting herself killed and anyone who is with her." Harry glanced over at her friend who began to walk over towards them.
"You've got five minutes to give me your pitch," Bea looked directly at Jefferson Pierce, "but I will not speak for Tora. She can make up her own mind."
"Fair enough." Harry smiled, "Let's talk."
*****************
Later that evening-30,000 feet over the Atlantic Ocean on a private jet…[/I]
Jefferson Pierce unbuckled his seat belt, rubbed his eyes and stood up to stretch. “I want a complete breakdown of all the Sisterhood’s previous targets, plus the missing items from each inventory manifest. There has to be some way to narrow down when and where they will show up again. I want to be ready to make our first strike against them in two days,”
Harry Stein tried to smile at the man next to him but realized that his friend was tired. They had spent the last several days non-stop recruiting for the team. Now wasn’t the time to argue with him about battle plans. He knew it would take more then just anticipating their next move to bring down the Sisterhood. The question that still lingered in the back of Harry’s mind was, when push came to shove, would Jeff be able to do what needed to be done, or would his only concern be for his daughter. It was another thing that Harry wouldn’t confront him with.
As a parent of two boys himself, he would never tell another father to sacrifice his children for anything or anyone. On that same note, he also wouldn’t tell another parent that his child might have willingly gone down a dark path. Regardless the reason Anissa was with the Sisterhood, he would do everything in his power to ensure Jeff had a chance to get his daughter back.
Elsewhere on the private plane, Ryan Kendall walked down the narrow aisle back toward his seat. He moved slowly as he neared seats occupied by Fire and Ice. They had only been together as a ‘team’ for a few hours and Ryan hadn’t had a chance to talk to either of them. Frankly though, the one with the green hair scared him, but, from the moment he saw Ice, he knew he was going to enjoy being on this team. Of course, he had to get up the nerve to talk to her first. Instead, he just stood there staring at the back of her head as she sat quietly looking out the window of the plane.
“What are you supposed to be, kid?” Bea turned from the aisle seat and looked up at Ryan.
“Huh?” he started.
“The wings and the whole get-up, are you like Hawkboy or something?”
Ryan looked at Fire and then at Tora who looked up and giggled, “Umm…no…I mean…Condor, Black Condor. I’m not related to Hawkman.”
“Too bad,” Bea shot back as she stood up. “Have a seat, kid,” she motioned to the seat next to Tora, “She won’t bite…I promise.” Ryan quickly sat down without looking at Ice. Bea just shook her head, “I’m going to go see if Harry has a liquor cabinet on this plane.”
It would be nearly ten minutes before Ryan Kendall was able to look up at Tora. Another twenty minutes before he was able to say anything other than “hi.”
Tora Olafsdotter sat back in her seat and smiled. She was going to enjoy being on this team. She just hoped she wouldn’t have to leave too soon, but she’d already been away from home for far too long already.
After Bea poured herself a stiff drink, she began to wander back to the front of the plane. She gave Tora a sly wink as she passed by. Fire found Tala seated in the front row. She wasn’t sure exactly why the woman gave her the creeps. They had only been briefly introduced on the airstrip before taking off. But Bea knew if she was going to go into battle with someone she should at least try to get to know them a bit first.
Tala turned and smiled as Fire sat down next to her, “May I ask when you lost your faith?” Tala asked causally.
What the hell kind of a question is that? Bea thought before responding, ”I’d rather not talk about my faith.”
“You don’t have it anymore do you? But you used to, didn’t you?”
Bea quickly went from being creeped out, to pissed off, “I don’t see where that’s any business of yours. The only reason I came up here was to…”
“But you want it back don’t you? It is there waiting for you if you want it. Whenever you want it. But you know that don’t you?”
Without looking at Tala, Bea got up and headed back to the beverage cooler in the back of the plane.
There aren’t enough little bottles on this flight to put up with a crazy woman. Makes me wonder what the Sisterhood is like if she turned them down.*****************
Now…“Hi Daddy.” Anissa Pierce squirmed as her father continued to struggle helplessly on the ground.
“Annie…” His daughters name burned as he tried to speak.
“Don’t try to talk right now, Mister Pierce.” Breathtaker said fidgeting. “I thought we needed to talk a bit but decided you should just listen ‘cause I have two things I want to tell you since you’ve been so hot to track us. We come to you since, you know, you were never going to catch us. Ok, here goes…wow! I am so nervous! I never thought it’d be this hard. I mean, I knew it wouldn’t be easy but I practiced it like a thousand times but it never seems to help …”
“…Going to kill you…” Black Lightning choked.
“No.” Breathtaker put her hands on her hips and scowled at him. “That’s not a nice thing to say to someone who is in love with your daughter. Wow!” She began to dance around again, “That was easier then I thought! Good for me! Yes! Now you know and your daughter feels the same way about me.”
“Can we finish this and get out of here?” Another woman out of Black Lightning’s view asked.
“By all means.” Breathtaker waved her hands in the air, “Thunder, my love, tell your daddy goodbye.”
Black Lightning began to see spots as he felt the air sucked from his lungs. Then he saw nothing.
