Morpheus’s Legacy Universe – Part 22 (25-31)

The Return of Nevermore

by

Morpheus

 

Part Five

 

Chapter 25

Joselyn looked around her, feeling surprised and more than a little confused. She’d expected to step out of the Face’s portal and find herself in the middle of Baltimore, but wherever she was, it was definitely NOT Baltimore.

The ground seemed to be made of some sort of smooth granite, though it had ribbons of glowing crystal running through it. When she looked up and out, instead of the expected Baltimore skyline, she saw an unbelievably vast night sky. It was darkness, marked by countless scatterings of stars and even random swirls of light and color. The scene before her was as beautiful as it was surprising.

“No,” the Face gasped. “Not here…”

Joselyn gave him a curious look. “I take it that you didn’t intend to bring us here…”

“No,” the Face responded grimly. “I certainly didn’t…” He hesitated a moment, then admitted, “I have spent a great deal of time in this place…far more than I want to think about.”

“Okay,” Joselyn said slowly. “Then why are we here now?”

“Because I invited you,” a new voice announced from somewhere behind Joselyn, who jumped in surprise and snapped around to see the speaker. Exile stood there with a faint smile, seeming almost amused. “Welcome to my home…”

“Exile,” Joselyn blurted out in surprise.

“You brought us here,” the Face accused her angrily. “How…?”

Exile gave a dismissive wave. “Come, Richard. You know quite well that every time you travel through your portal, you briefly pass through my realm, even if only for the smallest fraction of a second. It was a simple matter of intercepting you.”

“But I thought you couldn’t use your powers,” Joselyn exclaimed, not sure whether she should be surprised or angry. She glared at Exile accusingly, awaiting an explanation.

“The laws of this realm are quite different from those of your world,” Exile explained as she gestured to their surroundings. “This realm dampens my powers and halts the problematic ripples. In addition, this realm is insulated from your world, so I can feel free to use my powers here without causing any unintended harm…”

“Unintended?” Joselyn asked with a raised eyebrow.

However, at the same time, the Face demanded, “Why did you bring us here? We’re on an urgent mission…”

“Urgency is a matter of perspective,” Exile responded with an expression that suggested that she was humoring him. “But I can assure you, this detour will not be a waste of time.”

The Face was silent for a moment, and Joselyn had the impression that he was glaring at Exile. Finally, he asked, “What game are you playing? Earlier, you were very clear about not being able to interfere.”

“Richard,” Exile said with a sigh. “At one time, you actually enjoyed spending time with me…”

Those words caught Joselyn’s attention, but as surprised as she was over what Exile was suggesting, she was even more amazed by the fact that Exile reached up to the Face’s mask…and removed it. She held the mask in her hand, staring at it for just a moment before looking him in the face.

The Face just stood there without his mask, letting Joselyn see his real face for the first time. She’d never heard of anyone else getting a look at the man behind the mask. He was handsome…and he looked vaguely familiar. In fact, he reminded her of an actor that she’d seen in a few old movies, including one that she’d watched with her mom just a couple weeks earlier.

“You’re Richard Corso,” Joselyn blurted out, staring at the Face in stunned disbelief. He was the actor from that movie.

The Face quickly looked at her, scowling as he did so. “I haven’t used that name in a long time.”

Joselyn just gaped, wondering what her mom would say when she found out that the Face was one of her favorite movie stars, one who’d disappeared without a trace over two decades earlier. She had questions, a lot of questions. However, she was pretty sure that they didn’t have time for all of them.

“I thought you couldn’t take off your mask,” Joselyn pointed out awkwardly.

“Normally, I can’t,” the Face admitted. “I am under a curse that traps me in another dimension…this dimension to be specific. The mask is the only thing that lets me leave this place, and whenever I remove the mask, I return…”

“I created this mask for you,” Exile said in a quiet voice. “I made it so that you could leave…”

Exile gave the mask back to the Face, though she seemed almost reluctant to do so. Suddenly, Joselyn realized that Exile was lonely. She couldn’t imagine how difficult it would be, having someone else, then actually helping them to leave you.

“I know,” the Face responded, giving her a sad smile. “And I appreciate your gift, more than I know how to express.”

“You can express your gratitude,” Exile teased him, “by coming back to visit me more often. It would be nice to have someone to talk to.”

The Face was silent for a moment before nodding his agreement. “I’ll come visit,” he quietly promised her. Then, his expression turned serious. “But I don’t think you brought us here just for a visit…”

“Yeah,” Joselyn jumped in. “I thought you couldn’t interfere…”

Exile gave her an amused look. “I can’t interfere in your world, at least not without serious consequences. However, we are not in your world…” She gestured around them, smirking faintly.

“You’re going to help us?” the Face gasped in surprise.

“In what small way I can,” Exile responded.

“You still can’t help us directly,” the Face said in understanding. “But there are other things…” Exile smiled faintly.

“Baron Nevermore had to gather a great deal of power in order to open the way for his queen,” Exile said.

Joselyn nodded at that as she wryly replied, “Tell us something we don’t know.”

“Nevermore did not have enough power to open the way entirely,” Exile responded, giving Joselyn a flat look. “The Queen of Ravens had to supply the rest of the power from the other side. She had to tie her powers with all of her followers, protecting them from the rigors of the journey so that they would not arrive completely helpless. And even now, she continues to strengthen them…”

“So, that was why she wasn’t joining in the fight,” the Face mused with a thoughtful expression. Joselyn watched in curiosity, still amazed to see any expression from him.

“But I thought the ravens were weak from the trip,” Joselyn said, giving Exile a curious look.

The golden woman nodded. “Indeed, they are, though they would be far weaker if their queen were not supporting them.”

“So,” the Face mused with a faint smile. “The Queen of Ravens is their weak spot… Without her, the rest are helpless.”

“They are reliant on her,” Exile agreed. “However, even now, I would not consider her weak or helpless…”

“You’ve got that right,” Joselyn added bitterly, remembering the way the Queen of Ravens had killed Icarus, with little more than a gesture.

“As of now,” Exile continued with a scowl, “the ravens are at their weakest… They have all expended a great deal of their power, and even more, they are still unstable…”

Joselyn gave her a curious look. “Unstable?”

Exile smiled faintly. “They are not yet…synchronized to your world. You could say, that they are suffering from the dimensional equivalent of jet lag. However, that will fade quickly as they regain their strength, and once it does, each of them will become more independent...less reliant on their queen…and far more dangerous.

Joselyn stared at Exile, having a lot of questions. However, her powers were tickling the back of her mind and providing her with a few answers.

“They’re desperate to spread fear,” Joselyn said as she put the pieces together. “They didn’t even wait long enough to set up camp before they attacked us… They need to make everyone afraid of them as fast as possible so that they can recharge…”

“Correct,” Exile agreed. “And the process of feeding in your world will also help them stabilize…and make them far more difficult to remove. Once this happens, the queen will be free to turn her full power to other tasks, which will make it virtually impossible to stand against her.”

“So,” Joselyn said with a loud sigh. “We either take her out now…or we’re all screwed.”

The Face scowled deeply as he responded, “I already suspected much of this. What we need to know is how to defeat this queen.”

“Yeah,” Joselyn added. “Somehow, I don’t think her army is just going to stand aside and let us take pot shots…”

Exile just smiled faintly, though it was an almost predatory smile that sent chills of anticipation down her spine. “I believe, I may have a solution…”

Gwen stared up at the imposing stone arch, shivering from the dark and malevolent magic that radiated from it. She was caught between the urge to stare at it, and the desire to look at something else…anything else.

Though Gwen had examined the arch and the portal that was still tied to it, she hadn’t been able to learn much. Of course, that shouldn’t have surprised her since she was still fairly inexperienced with magic.

“I hope my dad gets her soon,” Gwen said with a sigh. After she’d examined the arch as much as she could, she’d sent her dad a message, knowing that this was something he was better suited for than she was. “Maybe he can figure out something I can’t.”

“You did good,” Alleycat told her, though she didn’t bother looking at Gwen. Instead, she was looking at their surroundings and keeping watch.

“That thing is pretty damn creepy,” Deadbeat exclaimed. “And trust me, I know creepy.”

Gwen looked to Deadbeat, whose head was flopped over to one side a bit. She shuddered a little at the sight, agreeing with him completely. If anyone knew creepy, it was the zombie hero.

After a moment, Gwen started to look around them, at all the buildings that surrounded the ruined park. She could see them, those nasty little monsters, creeping around the edges and watching. Glamour Girl had chased the monsters away, but not very far. They were still there...waiting for any opportunity or sign of weakness.

Glamour Girl floated up into the air, acting as a beacon to warn away the monsters. So far, it was working, but Gwen didn’t know how much longer before either Glamour Girl got tired, or the monsters became impatient and tried again.

“I hope the Face is able to bring reinforcements soon,” Poison said, also watching the monsters with a wary expression. “Of course, with the way things are going, he may be looking to us as reinforcements.”

“This thing might be a wild goose chase,” Glamour Girl said as she landed back on the ground and looked up at the stone arch. “I can feel the darkness from it…but the real threat is the Queen of Ravens.” She clenched her fists and scowled deeply. “She’s the reason I have my power. I was given them so I can stop her, but I can’t do it here…”

Glamour Girl looked like she was about to say something else, but when she opened her mouth to speak, she screamed instead. Gwen was shocked and a little confused, until she saw the black spike emerging from Glamour Girl’s stomach, and the figure that was rising up from behind her.

“Foolish creatures,” Lady Minuit hissed with a look of pure hatred on her burned and damaged face. Black ooze moved around her charred body, with several tendrils stretching out, one of which had been used to impale Glamour Girl from behind. “Did you truly think that you could defeat one such as I so easily?”

An instant later, another tendril lashed out with incredible speed, slicing through Deadbeat’s head and sending it flying before Gwen could react. Then Lady Minuit lashed out with three more tendrils.

“Look out,” Alleycat cried, leaping at Gwen and knocking her aside, barely in time to save her from being struck. However, Alleycat left herself in the way instead, and a black tendril snapped around her neck and began squeezing.

“IREFAY,” Gwen shouted as she threw a fireball at Lady Minuit.

Poison leapt to the side, barely avoiding the tentacle that came at her, then she immediately charged Lady Minuit. Then, just as Poison was about to punch Lady Minuit with her glowing green fists, another tentacle managed to snap around and grab her ankle from behind, yanking her feet out from beneath her so that she hit the ground face first.

“Reezefay,” Gwen exclaimed, trying to freeze their enemy since she seemed to recover quickly from the flames. However, Lady Minuit used her oozing black tentacles to raise Deadbeat’s body, which blocked the spell. The monster dropped the frozen and headless corpse a moment later.

Gwen gaped with growing fear, realizing just how dangerous Lady Minuit was. If they were having so much difficulty defeating her, how could her father and the other heroes possibly defeat a whole army of beings like this?

Glamour Girl howled in pain, and suddenly, her entire body was engulfed in the swirling multicolored light of her aura. The black tentacle that ran through her immediately burned away and vanished while Lady Minuit yelped in pain and jumped back, now missing one tendril.

“I know that power,” Lady Minuit exclaimed, glaring at Glamour Girl with her glowing red eyes. They were filled with a dark and twisted malevolence. “You possess the power of our ancient foes…”

“And I’ll use it,” Glamour Girl gasped as she dropped to the ground, catching herself on her knees. Blood pooled beneath her, and it clearly took a lot of effort for her to look up at Lady Minuit. “I’ll beat you… I’ll take you all down…for my family…”

Lady Minuit laughed, though it was a cold and cruel laugh. Just as Glamour Girl tried to gather enough energy for an attack, a tendril suddenly lashed out and caught Gwen, who shrieked in terror. A moment later, she was held up in the air by several tendrils, right between Lady Minuit and Glamour Girl. Lady Minuit was using her as a human shield.

“Witch Girl,” Poison gasped trying to come to her aid, though she was too caught up fighting with the tendrils that wrapped around her legs to do much good.

Alleycat frantically fought against the tendril that was wrapped around her throat and choking her, and just as she seemed to be making progress, another tendril slashed out, slicing her stomach open, right before she was lifted up from the ground, being used as another human shield.

“My queen will be pleased if I bring her your head,” Lady Minuit said, her attention locked on Glamour Girl.

She brought Gwen closer to her, close enough to put her hand on Gwen’s shoulder. The touch of the villain sent cold chills through her shoulder and all down her spine. Gwen wanted to scream, but she didn’t want to give the monster satisfaction. Instead, she desperately tried to think of a spell that could save them.

“The rest of you shall merely provide me amusement,” Lady Minuit added with a cruel laugh. Her hand closed around Gwen’s throat. “Now, scream for me child…”

“Never,” Gwen gasped, only to feel the hand at her throat squeeze tighter.

Suddenly, the hand at Gwen’s throat jerked and released, as did the tendrils that held her up. She dropped to the ground, just as Alleycat and Poison did at the same time.

“What,” Gwen gasped, jumping back away from Lady Minuit before she suddenly realized that the woman was now missing her head. Lady Minuit’s headless body collapsed to the ground, as did all of the tendrils coming from her.

“She’s dead,” Alleycat exclaimed in surprise.

“And so are we if Glamour Girl doesn’t get up,” Poison added a moment later, pointing out to the monsters that were once again starting to approach them. Most of them were coming cautiously, though one large one that looked something like a black scaled gorilla was more impatient than the rest and was leading the charge.

“Just great,” Gwen muttered with a wince, taking a deep breath and preparing to cast a spell.

Before Gwen could do anything, the scaled gorilla suddenly came to a halt as his head exploded. His body collapsed to the ground, while the rest of the monsters came to an abrupt stop. One monster took a few more steps forward, only to have a large hole appear through his chest. He collapsed to the ground right behind the gorilla. That was all that the rest of the monsters needed before they turned and ran back to the shadows.

“What the hell just happened?” Alleycat demanded.

“It seems we have a friendly sniper,” Poison answered, slowly looking around their surroundings with a scowl. When she didn’t see anything, she turned to Glamour Girl, “How bad are you hurt?”

“I was impaled,” Glamour Girl snapped sarcastically, still on her knees and making no effort to get up. Instead, she held her stomach and grimaced in pain.

Gwen rushed over to the injured heroine, trying to think of what she could do. “Ealhay,” she said, trying out a new spell that she hadn’t practiced yet. She hoped that this healing spell worked, because she didn’t know what else they could do. After watching Mannequin get killed, she didn’t want to see anyone else die.

“Incoming,” Poison yelled, bracing herself for another fight.

“Damn,” Alleycat snarled. “They just keep coming…”

Gwen looked up and saw a woman flying towards them. When she was closer, Gwen could make out that the woman had short blonde hair and was wearing a grey and black costume, which had the same design as Poison’s costume.

“Stealth,” Poison exclaimed in obvious relief. She smiled faintly as she added, “She’s a friendly.”

Stealth came in and landed beside them, though she kept a close watch on the monsters. None of them made a move to attack again.

“Agent Briggs,” Stealth greeted Poison with a smile of her own. “Good to see you, though I’m a bit surprised…”

“I’m using the handle of Poison for now,” Poison told her. Then she chuckled and looked around their surroundings again, adding, “At least now, I know who our mysterious sniper is…”

“Harbinger,” Stealth agreed, gesturing in one direction. Poison looked in that direction, then gave a brief wave. “For some reason, she was the only member of our team who could get through that barrier. She came in alone, trying to make her way here so she could take out Baron Nevermore.”

“Unfortunately,” Poison told her with a sigh, “she’s too late. Baron Nevermore has already left this location, along with an even larger threat.”

“Damn,” Stealth muttered.

“Is the rest of Sanction close?” Poison asked.

Stealth shook her head. “No. Harbinger came in alone, then once the shield dropped, I came in to scout the area and provide backup. We heard that your camp was attacked by armed forces, so the rest of my team just went to help.”

Gwen watched Stealth, feeling a little confused about who this woman was, as well as this Harbinger person they were mentioning. However, Poison had said they were part of Sanction, and that provided something of an answer. Sanction was a team that worked for the Developed Affairs Department, just like Poison did.

Poison nodded thoughtfully. “So, you two are the only ones here…”

“At least you are here,” a new voice announced, immediately drawing Gwen’s attention. Gwen gasped in relief as she saw her dad standing there, with Lady Knight right beside him. “And in just a short time, we’ll need all the help here that we can get.”

Chapter 26

“I don’t think so,” Will exclaimed as a raven soldier charged towards her.

The soldier was large and muscular, standing seven feet tall and wielding a massive war hammer that would have been too heavy for a normal person to even pick up, much less swing as easily as he did. For most people, this warrior would have looked incredibly intimidating, but not for her.

“Come on shorty,” Will taunted the raven, who actually seemed short to her. Then again, since she was eight feet tall, pretty much everyone seemed short to her. “Give it your best shot.”

Will didn’t know if the raven understood English since he hadn’t said a word, but he took up her up on her invitation and swung his massive hammer right at her. He caught her in the side with enough force to make her stagger, but not hard enough to do any real damage.

“My turn,” Will said, right before she punched the raven as hard as she could. He was thrown back from the impact, his face smashed in and his neck bent at an odd angle. He landed in the middle of a crowd of other ravens, so she couldn’t see if he got back up or not.

Will snarled, feeling excited and disgusted at the same time. She loved the fact that for once, she could finally cut loose without fear of hurting anyone, but at the same time, her brutal actions also bothered her.

As another raven soldier came forward, she opened her mouth and belched out a burst of green energy, which blasted a hole right through his chest. He collapsed to the ground, though he was already beginning to heal. Even an attack like that wasn’t enough to take one of these things down for good.

Will glanced to the side, where Grendel was charging through a dozen of the raven soldiers, smashing them and letting out a deafening roar as he flung the bodies away. Will smiled faintly at the sight, happy that Grendel was able to do some good for once, and knowing that Aunt Denise would agree with him.

“Grendel,” She called out, pointing in the direction where Baron Nevermore and the Queen of Ravens watched the battle. “Destroy them.”

Grendel roared again, then belched out his own burst of green energy, destroying a group of enemy soldiers. As soon as he’d done that, he charged forward, tossing others out of the way as he followed her directions and went for their leaders.

Will started to follow after Grendel, only to find another raven had appeared in front of her. This one was tall, even taller than she was. He was nearly nine feet tall, though he didn’t have her muscles or bulk. Instead, he was skinny…unbelievably so.

“You look like a damn stick figure,” Will blurted out in surprise. The man in front of her did look almost like a stick figure come to life. He had extremely long and thin limbs and torso, was dressed in a black suit of a very old fashioned style, and he wore a black and white masquerade style mask over the tope part of his face.

The stick figure man spoke, but it was in a language Will didn’t know. He sneered and swung at her, using his clawed hands to lash out. She reached up to block, but his claws tore through the back of her arm, making her yelp in pain and surprise.

“Damn,” she snarled.

She was tough enough that most of her opponents hadn’t been able to hurt her very much, and fortunately, she healed pretty quickly. It was also fortunate that she was strong. VERY strong. In fact, even with all the gathered heroes, she was probably the second strongest person there. The only one stronger was Grendel himself.

“Get out of my way,” Will demanded, swinging at the stick figure man, but he moved faster than she did and was able to dodge her punch. He immediately slashed out with his claws again, using his long reach to tear along her arm and side. “I’m going to break you…”

A moment later, Grendel reached Baron Nevermore and gave a loud roar as he leapt at the villain. However, Baron Nevermore held up his hand and a giant snake made of smoke suddenly appeared between them. The snake threw itself at Grendel and began to wrap around him. To Will’s surprise, Grendel didn’t seem to strong enough to break the snake’s grip.

“You are an interesting beast,” Baron Nevermore commented. “Perhaps I should tame you…”

The Queen of Ravens stood back, watching Baron Nevermore and Grendel, though she didn’t lift a finger to help. Instead, she took several steps away, as if to give Baron Nevermore more room to work.

Suddenly, a burst of golden energy came out of the sky and hit the smoke snake, dispersing it enough for Grendel to break free. “I never thought I’d have to rescue Grendel,” Ms. Miracle exclaimed as she came down, her attention locked on Baron Nevermore. “Now you finally pay…” And with that, she flew straight at the villain.

Will wanted to watch that fight, or better yet, to join in. However, she still had to deal with the stick figure man, who was slashing at her wildly. With each attack, claws tore through Will’s skin, though she couldn’t land a punch. The skinny monster was too fast.

“Stand still,” Will spat out, glaring at her opponent in frustration since she couldn’t even lay a finger on him.

Then, with a snarl, she took a deep breath and belched out a blast of green energy. The stick figure man couldn’t dodge that and yelled in pain as his clothes and body burned. For a moment, Will felt guilty for doing that to another person, until she reminded herself that the stick figure man was not just the bad guy, but that he was trying to help take over the world. That eased her guilt, even as she swung at the raven and finally connected with a cracking sound. The long limbed creature collapsed to the ground, broken and twitching. However, Will knew that he wouldn’t say that way for long, so gave him a swift kick and sent the body flying.

“And these guys never stop coming,” Will grumbled to herself, seeing that another raven soldier was already trying to rush forward to fill the empty space.

In spite of the fact that she was facing an army of monsters, Will wasn’t afraid. After all, she was a monster herself, and had even been named after a famous one. She stretched her body and tensed her muscles, savoring how big, strong, and powerful she was at the moment. She loved that feeling. She loved being Grendel’s Mother…and even being a girl, not that she’d admit that part to anyone else. Of course, she probably would have felt differently if it wasn’t for the fact that she could change back to being a guy whenever she wanted.

“A weak and boring guy,” she reminded herself, right before punching a raven soldier and smashing in his metal armor. She snarled, trying to look scary and intimidating, though that didn’t seem to do much to her opponents. Fortunately, her clawed fists were better at expressing her opinions of them. “Now come to mama…”

With that, Will looked around the nearby ravens, most of whom were backing off and watching her warily, obviously trying to decide how they could take her down. That gave her a few seconds to catch her breath and look around.

Lightning Force had arrived to join the fight a short time ago, and unlike most of those who were already present, they were still relatively fresh and energetic. They stuck close to each other, working as a team, whereas most of the teams present seemed to have become separated.

Hardshell hovered overhead, firing energy blasts at any soldiers who tried to approach Dr. Power or Mindseye. Syphon took care of any of the ravens who managed to avoid Hardshell, acting as a living shield for the rest of his team. And to Will’s amusement, since Syphon was a solid black figure, he could have easily been mistaken as one of the ravens…a fact which seemed to confuse some of their enemies.

Of course, Lightning Force weren’t the only reinforcements to have recently arrived. A short time ago, the government team Sanction had suddenly appeared, immediately launching a full scale attack on the ravens. Several of them seemed to be heavily armed, and they were using their weapons as well as their powers, and probably would have been an even greater help if the raven soldiers didn’t keep getting back to their feet.

Suddenly, the White Knight flew over the heroes and yelled, “We have reinforcements incoming… Everyone, try to fall back and give them room…”

“More reinforcements?” Will mused, looking around and wondering who could be joining them this time. The Protectorate? They could definitely use the help of some more heavy hitters like Vigil and Eclipse.

Then, Will saw the reinforcements, or at least, what he assumed were the reinforcements. And in spite of her previous hopes, this wasn’t the Protectorate…not unless the hero group was arriving in a half dozen black helicopters. As they got closer, she could barely make out the logo on the side of the one closest to her, and she recognized it as belonging to DAD…the Developed Affairs Department.

Will began to back away, retreating towards the camp. She glanced towards Grendel, who was still fighting Baron Nevermore. “Grendel,” she called out. “Come…”

Before Will could finish commanding Grendel to pull back, the helicopters opened fire, raining down a heavy storm of gunfire into the middle of the ravens, along with several missiles. Will’s eyes shot wide in surprise as she saw the massive wave of destruction that tore through the enemy ranks.

Suddenly, what appeared to be a giant black squid appeared in the air, wrapped around one of the helicopters. The monster entangled the vehicle and its rotors, so it fell to the ground where it was smashed into a ruined mess. A burst of green energy hit another helicopter, which exploded, sending shrapnel into a third and damaging that one. Only three helicopters remained, and they were quickly under attack as well. A black cloud formed around one, and a moment later, chunks of rusted metal rained down from it.

“No way,” Will gasped, shocked at how quickly the helicopters had been destroyed. Before she knew it, only a single helicopter remained, and flew away…just barely…and leaving a trail of smoke behind it.

Will stared at the battlefield, and what was left of the decimated raven army. Most of the ravens had been torn to shreds, leaving only a tiny fraction of their total numbers behind. Even though the ravens had destroyed the helicopters, they’d still suffered unbelievable losses. For the first time since the battle started, Will began to grin.

“This was just what we needed,” Will started to say, only to pause as she saw movement among the field of corpses.

To Will’s stunned disbelief, bodies began to stand up. A bullet riddled samurai held a dismembered arm to his shoulder, where it reattached. He wiggled his fingers experimentally, then drew a long and wicked looking katana. A few feet away, what appeared to be a cowboy with a long black duster that was riddled full of holes, absently brushed himself off. And then there was the stick figure man, who seemed almost completely unharmed.

“No,” Will whispered, staring in horror as every one of the ravens got back up, acting as though the helicopter attack had been nothing more than an annoyance. She gulped as she saw all the glowing red eyes, each of which was filled with a dark and twisted malevolence…and many with a cruel amusement. “Impossible…”

For the first time since this battle had started, Will felt afraid…almost terrified. As powerful as she was, at that moment, she actually felt helpless. After all, what could she…what could any of them do against any army that could simply shrug off that kind of damage and keep coming?

            

Daphne hovered in the air, though her attention was focused on the ground and the mass of death and destruction that had been left by the DAD helicopters. Half the raven army had been destroyed, torn to shreds from the heavy gunfire. The attack had been so brutal, that even Grendel had stopped to watch. However, as brutal and destructive as the attack had been, it seemed that the effects were only temporary. The raven soldiers who’d been torn to shreds were already back on their feet and ready to continue fighting.

With a grimace, and more than a little worry, Daphne turned her attention back to the enemy that she’d been fighting before the helicopter attack. Baron Nevermore. To her disappointment, he hadn’t been touched by the attack, nor had the Queen of Ravens who was just a short distance away, watching the entire scene with an unreadable expression. Instead, Baron Nevermore stood there, along with several creatures that he’d summoned.

A large snake that seemed to be made of black smoke, was coiled and looked as though it was ready to strike at a moment’s notice. Daphne wouldn’t have thought the snake very dangerous, except that she’d previously seen it holding Grendel in place. Anything that could stop Grendel, even for a few seconds, was not something to be taken lightly.

While Daphne had been distracted by the attack, two new creatures had appeared beside Baron Nevermore. She didn’t know if they were raven soldiers, or some of those other creatures that he liked to summon. One of them looked like the Grim Reaper, with long black hooded robes and a wicked looking scythe, though his face was covered with a red skull mask. The other one was female, and didn’t quite look alive. Instead, she looked like a freshly raised zombie, one who’d only been dead and decaying for a couple days.

“This isn’t going to be easy,” Daphne told herself, but of course, dealing with Baron Nevermore was never easy. It was even more difficult for her, since she couldn’t stop thinking about the fact that he’d murdered her mother.

Just then, Discharge, the leader of Sanction called out, “The National Guard is mobilizing. If we don’t get this contained soon, then we’re likely to be facing a large scale strike…”

Daphne paused to glance back at Discharge feeling a cold chill go down her spine at those words. She wasn’t completely sure what Discharge meant by ‘large scale strike’, but she suddenly had an image of Baltimore vanishing in a massive mushroom cloud. And the truly frightening thing was, even if they did go to that extreme, Daphne was no longer certain that would be enough to destroy the ravens.

“They’re like cockroaches,” she muttered bitterly, glaring at Baron Nevermore and remembering how she’d once knocked him through a portal into Hell. If he could come back from that, even a nuke might not be enough to take him out for good. “But I’m sure as hell going to try. For my mom…”

Daphne flew straight at Baron Nevermore, pulling her arm back so she could punch him with every ounce of her considerable strength. But a wall of shimmering purple light appeared between them, and she slammed right into it and was thrown back. She yelped in pain, still hurting from her earlier injuries, and a moment later, she hit the ground where she yelped again.

The red masked grim reaper leapt at Daphne, swinging his scythe overhead so that the blade would hit her as he landed. Daphne saw it coming, but couldn’t react fast enough. But then, a massive blue figure suddenly appeared and grabbed the reaper into a powerful bear hug. Grendel roared menacingly as he crushed the reaper, and mere seconds later, he dropped the broken figure at his feet and stomped on it.

“I was saved…by Grendel,” Daphne gasped in stunned disbelief.

Grendel let out a deafening roar and didn’t even look at Daphne before charging at Baron Nevermore. The black smoke snake sprang at the blue monster, who opened his mouth and fired a blast of green energy. It ripped through the smoke monster, seeming to hurt it, though not nearly enough since it was still there. However, it backed up a little and hissed at Grendel.

Baron Nevermore glared at her with his glowing red eyes and an arrogant expression. He held out his hands, and a ball of dark purple energy formed in each palm, cracking and snapping as if eager to do something.

“You are a persistent foe,” Baron Nevermore announced with a sneer. However, there almost seemed to be a faint note of approval in his voice, as if he might actually respect her persistence a little. “But you shall die, along with the rest of your kind. This world now belongs to the Queen of Ravens…”

Daphne stood up and braced herself to deal Baron Nevermore’s attack, whatever form it would take this time. He raised his hands to unleash his power, but then suddenly paused with a look of surprise on his face. It quickly turned into a deep scowl, and he looked away from Daphne, as though she was no longer his immediate concern.

“Someone is interfering with the portal, my queen,” Baron Nevermore told the Queen of Ravens.

“Yes,” she agreed with a deep scowl of her own. “I feel it…” Her eyes narrowed and she suddenly looked far more threatening. “This will NOT be allowed. I require that portal to call forth the rest of my forces…”

Baron Nevermore bowed. “Then I shall secure the portal and deal with whomever dared to interfere…”

“No,” the Queen of Ravens stated, fixing Baron Nevermore with a grim look. “I shall deal with the portal myself, and bring forth more soldiers.” She gestured around the battlefield and added, “Finish this battle, my consort. Destroy these champions and prove beyond any doubt that you are powerful enough to sire my heir.”

“As you command,” Baron Nevermore responded, giving her another bow. Daphne saw a faint look of satisfaction cross his face.

With that, the Queen of Ravens turned and was suddenly obscured by a cloud of swirling black feathers. And though Daphne had heard no orders being given, a dozen of the nearest raven soldiers all leapt up into the sky, transforming into ravens as they did so. Mere seconds later, a small flock of birds flew off towards the center of Baltimore, led by the largest raven that Daphne had ever seen, one that was the size of a small plane.

Baron Nevermore turned his malevolent gaze back to Daphne, sneering as he prepared to attack. However, before he could do so, Grendel roared and charged straight at him, knocking the zombie girl out of the way and then belching out a blast of green energy. Daphne smiled faintly at the sight, and since she wasn’t about to be outdone by Grendel, she charged forward to deal with her greatest enemy once and for all.

Chapter 27

Julie took another sip from the sports drink bottle that she’d been given and winced. Sure, it was definitely helping her recover, but she was getting tired of drinking the stuff. Then again, she realized just how lucky she was compared to most of the other people in the medical facility. Some of the others were seriously injured, while she only had to deal with a little exhaustion.

“How are you feeling?” Caleb asked her. He was the only person present, besides the DAD doctors, who was in better shape than she was.

“A lot better,” Julie admitted with a pained smile. “But frustrated to be out of action.”

“Tell me about it,” Caleb responded wryly, gesturing to the golden staff that was leaning up against the corner. “I won’t be able to turn into Mystik again for a day or so, and by then, this will probably all be over.” From his grim expression, it was clear that he didn’t expect everything to end in their favor, and she certainly didn’t blame him. She was quite worried herself.

Julie let out a sigh, then looked at the latest patients to have arrived, brought in a short time ago by Counterweight, who’d taken it on herself to evacuate those too injured to fight. At the moment, Counterweight stood beside Catalyst, who’d just been given stitches and some bandages for a large gash along her side. A short distance away, Radiant sat, looking unharmed except for the bandages wrapped around her eyes. Radiant hadn’t spoken to anyone since arriving. A couple others were still in the next room, being taken care of by the doctors.

“You were pretty damn lucky,” Counterweight told Catalyst, giving her a concerned look. “If that sword had gone any deeper…”

“I know,” Catalyst responded with a pained wince. “And if Ladybug hadn’t taken that bastard out before he could come at me again…” She shuddered at that, then let out a loud sigh while shaking her head. “I still have a hard time believing that she’s really on our side now…”

Counterweight just chuckled at that. “Well, I think she’s proven herself more than enough.”

Catalyst grudgingly nodded agreement. “Yeah, she has.”

“Those things seem pretty nasty,” Julie offered, feeling guilty since she hadn’t been able to contribute to this battle. She’d thrown everything she had against Nevermore’s allies, but hadn’t realized that they were just the opening act. Now, her powers had been pushed too far for her to do anything else. Then, with a bitter snort, she muttered, “I might as well be bussing tables at work…”

“Yeah, they’re nasty all right,” Counterweight responded with a look of disgust. “I dropped a car on one guy, and he just squeezed out from under it and continued fighting. It was almost like something out of a cartoon…”

“And my powers don’t work on them,” Catalyst added with a deep scowl. “I found that out the hard way. I just couldn’t shut off their powers.”

While Catalyst and Counterweight discussed the fight, Caleb moved closer in order listen in while Radiant seemed to completely ignore them. Even Legacy, who was on the other side of the room, tilted her head to show that she was listening as well, though she remained just as silent as Radiant.

While Catalyst was in the middle of describing exactly how she’d been injured, Julie’s cell phone began to vibrate. She was so startled by this that she nearly jumped.

As soon as Julie saw that the caller was Glamour Girl, she answered, “Hello?” Julie didn’t have much opportunity to speak as Glamour Girl just gave her a quick message and did all the talking, but once her teammate was finished, Julie responded, “I’ll tell everyone here…but it won’t do much good. We’ve been evacuated to medical...”

“What was that about?” Caleb asked, giving her a curious look.

Julie put her phone back into the pouch on her belt before she answered. “Glamour Girl… She said that they might have a way to deal with the Queen of Ravens…but they need all the help they can get back at the portal.”

“Unfortunately,” Counterweight pointed out, “none of us is in much position to help…” She looked to her injured shoulder and gave a wry smile.

“I know,” Julie grudgingly admitted.

There was a long pause before Legacy abruptly said, “The Seven never walked away in the middle of a fight…” She slowly got up, putting her weight on her good leg. “I’ll be damned if I will…”

“But your leg,” Julie gasped, her eyes going to Legacy’s leg, which was splinted and bandaged.

“These will do for now,” Legacy said, reaching for a pair of crutches that were leaning against the wall. When Julie gave her a skeptical look, she smiled faintly and added, “And I’ve got some great pain killers…”

Julie chuckled faintly at that. “Physically, I’m ready to go, but my powers are kaput at the moment…”

“Ditto,” Caleb added with a shrug.

Legacy stared at Julie for a moment, then reached to the metal bracer on her left arm and touched something. Suddenly, she was holding a high tech looking rifle. Julie recognized it as being some kind of energy blaster.

“This used to belong to Armory,” Legacy told Julie, something in her expression making it clear that this meant something important to her. “I think she’d be happy to have you use it…”

“Thank you,” Julie said as she accepted the weapon. She hesitated a moment, then promised, “I’ll take good care of it.”

“Do you have another one of those?” Caleb asked hopefully.

“No,” Legacy answered with a wry smile. “None of my other weapons would do you much good.”

“Damn,” Caleb said with a sigh. He glanced over to his staff and scowled, clearly wishing that it had recharged so he could turn into Mystik again.

“Your staff is magic,” Catalyst blurted out, getting Caleb’s attention.

“Yeah,” he responded.

“So, you’re not a real developed,” Catalyst continued with a faint smile.

Caleb gave her a defensive look, as though he wasn’t sure if he should be offended or not. “No. I just have the magic staff…”

Catalyst’s smile broadened. “Then I might be able to get you back in the fight…”

“Oh yeah,” Counterweight blurted out with a laugh. At Caleb’s confused look, she explained, “Catalyst can temporarily give powers to people...”

It took several seconds for that to sink in before Caleb began to grin as well. “Then go head,” he told Catalyst.

Catalyst held out her hand, and as soon as Caleb reached out to touch it, there was a golden glow around his body. Suddenly, his body began to shift and change, with his hair growing longer and his features becoming more fine and feminine. Two mounds quickly began to push out from his chest.

“You turned back into Mystik,” Julie blurted out in surprise.

Caleb looked down at himself…at herself and smiled wryly. “It sure looks like it, but I still don’t have my costume…”

“And you’re still changing,” Legacy added a moment later.

Julie stared at Caleb…at Mystik, seeing that Legacy was correct. Caleb had indeed transformed back into Mystik, though she was still wearing Calebs’s clothes rather than her uniform. And in addition, a gold metal coating was starting to spread out over her skin and hair. Mere seconds later, Mystik looked like a gold metal statue.

“You look a little like that Exile chick,” Counterweight pointed out. Of course, they both had gold metal skin, but that was about the only similarity.

“It looks like your staff may have left some kind of imprint on you,” Catalyst pointed out. “How that effects the powers you gained, I have no idea.”

“Since it looks like we’re ready to go,” Legacy announced with a grim expression. “Let’s get going.” And with that, she swung her cloak out wide, opening a path into the dimension known as the Empty.

Roselyn Gettz, more commonly known by her codename of Harbinger, did not look very intimidating. She was short, at 5 foot 2, and with a petite build that made most people overlook her as a possible threat, even if she was currently wearing a black and blue costume, with an ammo belt, sidearm, and combat knife. But in spite of her small size and generally non-threatening appearance, Roselyn was actually one of the most lethal snipers in the world, and had been even before acquiring her powers.

At the moment, Roselyn was positioned on the roof of a tall building, her large rifle pulled tightly back into her shoulders. She stared out through the scope while her finger gently caressed the trigger, waiting for the right opportunity to pull it.

Roselyn’s weapon was called Monster, or more accurately, Monster 2. The original Monster had been lost on a mission, while its replacement…called Gunzilla…had recently been made obsolete by an improved model. Monster was originally designed as a vehicle mounted rail gun, for the purpose of being a long ranged, high accuracy, anti-tank weapon. However, Roselyn found that it was also ideal for eliminating developed threats, even ones with ‘bulletproof’ skin.

Being careful not to take her eye from the scope, Roselyn absently reached back and ran a hand through her black hair, which was pulled into a pony tail. She wasn’t happy about her current firing position since it was too open and exposed from an aerial view. However, it was the best position she had at the moment. None of the windows below her offered as clear a shot at the target area, and at the moment, she also had an ease of movement in case she needed to shift her target area. At least the tarp that she’d used to cover herself, broke up her silhouette and offered at least some camouflage.

Through the scope, Roselyn watched the black stone clearing that had served as Baron Nevermore’s command post during this Baltimore operation. There was a large and overly-dramatic throne, which was currently empty, but which could be a potential obstacle for any shots she needed to take. There was also the black stone arch, which had a shimmering veil of red energy, the still active portal that the Queen of Ravens had come through. Roselyn kept a close watch on that portal, because she didn’t know when something else might come through.

And then, there were the people who were gathered down there, all of them allies. Stealth was her teammate and friend, as was Agent Briggs, who’d come in costume. That alone said a lot about how dangerous this situation was, since Briggs usually avoided costumed work.

Alleycat, Witch Girl, and the Face from Faction Zero were all present, as was Lady Knight and Glamour Girl. And from what Roselyn understood, Deadbeat might be somewhere nearby too…IF he could find a suitable new body.

“Not a lot of firepower,” Roselyn mused as she swung her scope a little to look over the monsters who were still skulking nearby.

Roselyn finally tore her eyes away from the target area in order to look over her surroundings, trying to see any indications of a threat. That was another advantage of her current firing position on the roof, the relatively clear view it gave her of the area. Then, she spotted something in the distance, something…somethings that were rapidly approaching.

“Stealth,” Roselyn called out over the radio. Earlier, the barrier over Baltimore had cut off all radio communications, and even now that com had been restored, it was still erratic and full of static. “We have incoming flyers from the west. It looks like a small group of ravens.”

“Understood,” Stealth responded. “Be ready to back us up.”

Roselyn snorted, not bothering to dignify that with an answer. Of course she was going to back them up. What else would she be doing there?

The ravens arrived very quickly, swooping down where they each transformed into a human shape. Roselyn’s eyes narrowed and she followed them in her scope, ready to take the best shot. The Queen of Ravens was her priority target, but unfortunately, between the throne and the other ravens, she didn’t have a clear shot. Not yet at least.

“Patience,” Roselyn told herself with a whisper. “The shot will come.”

The Face fired a blast of golden energy out of his mask, directly at the Queen of Ravens. One of the raven soldiers threw himself in the way, taking the hit for his leader. Roselyn could respect that kind of dedication, though she doubted that the Queen of Ravens was really worthy of it.

Stealth had turned invisible before the ravens arrived and now appeared, holding out her pistol and opening fire. She put half a dozen shots into one raven’s chest, then snapped around and fired a couple more shots at the next raven. Then, before they could retaliate, she flew up into the air, activating her stealth field in the process so that she once again seemed to vanish.

One raven suddenly teleported, vanishing from in front of Alleycat and reappearing behind Briggs. Roselyn pulled the trigger, hitting the raven in the chest and blasting a massive hole through him, right before his mace would have smashed into Briggs’ skull. The raven dropped to the ground, though he was still moving, much to Roselyn’s annoyance. That shot would have killed any normal person as well as most developed, but it seems these ravens were a little tougher than that.

While Briggs snapped around and dealt with the injured raven, Roselyn continued looking over the rest of the field, looking for an opportunity to help. Suddenly, four more people appeared and Roselyn immediately had one of them in her crosshairs, though she quickly realized that they weren’t hostiles. They were reinforcements.

The woman whom Roselyn had in her crosshairs was Legacy, who was associated with the now defunct group known as the Seven. Beside her was Channel of the Slackers and Counterweight, who was associated with the Miracle Men. And then, there was a woman with gold metallic skin and hair, who was dressed in civilian clothes and carrying some kind of staff.

The newcomers caught the ravens by surprise, and Legacy held out her hand and sent three of the enemy soldiers flying back, before they even seemed to realize it. And though Legacy was using crutches when she appeared, she quickly dropped them and floated up into the air in order to continue her attack.

A few seconds later, the Queen of Ravens changed positions, walking towards the large stone arch, almost as though the fighting was of little concern. Roselyn smiled faintly as she saw her opportunity and fired a shot right at the queen’s head. However, there was a flash of purple as her round struck some kind of barrier instead of the target.

“A force field,” Roselyn muttered in annoyance. The Queen of Ravens appeared to be using some kind of force field or barrier to protect herself. Of course, there was the possibility that it was one of the ones with a single charge that used itself up when responding to a threat. Because of that, Roselyn took aim and fired a second shot. Unfortunately, that round was blocked as well. “I hate force fields…”

Roselyn’s shots hadn’t been very effective, but they had been noticed. One of the ravens who’d been standing beside the queen, leapt into the air and transformed into a bird. She flew up, coming almost directly for Roselyn. In mere seconds, she reached the rooftop, where she immediately transformed back to her human form.

The raven looked like a teenage girl, with long black hair that was streaked with purple. She was dressed in a gothic lolita fashion, with a frilly black dress that looked like it should have belonged on a Victorian doll…a somewhat naughty doll.

“Matra deeees mrogka…,” the raven girl exclaimed, speaking a language that Roselyn had never heard before.

Roselyn had already leapt to her feet, before the raven had even landed, and now drew her firearm. The girl appeared unarmed, though Roselyn wasn’t stupid enough to believe her harmless. In fact, her lack of obvious weapons only made Roselyn more wary.

“You were foolish to attack the queen,” the girl stated in oddly accented English. “Now, you will die very VERY slowly…” She gave a cruel smile as she held up her hands, just as her fingers stretched out and formed into long and sharp looking claws.

Roselyn didn’t wait for the girl to attack and immediately opened fire, shooting four rounds into her center of mass. Holes appeared in her chest, with black blood oozing out of them. However, in spite of staggering back, the girl didn’t go down. Instead, she shook it off, then gave Roselyn an evil grin, which made Roselyn realize that the bullet holes were already closing up.

“Oh yes,” the girl exclaimed with a sadistic glee. “This will be a delight…for me.”

With that, the girl swung her arm wide and flung something into the air towards Roselyn. Roselyn leapt back to avoid being hit. A moment later, she saw that four balls had hit the roof and came to a stop. Each unfolded and grew, revealing a doll. Or more accurately, two of them appeared to be ceramic dolls while the other two were marionettes…with glowing red strings that pooled out around them. Then the dolls and marionettes began to slowly advance on her.

Roselyn scowled as she watched the approaching toys, knowing better than to underestimate them. Her eyes especially went to the marionette’s strings, which were glowing and starting to move around on their own, like extremely thin tentacles. For a moment, she wondered if the strings were intended to tie her up or act as garrotes, but it didn’t really matter. She just had to avoid them and deal with the threats.

“I hate close combat,” she muttered under her breath. She was a sniper for a reason, because she preferred to deal with her enemies from a safe distance, not face to face. “No use complaining about it now.”

The toys all charged straight at Roselyn, but she quickly moved to the side, avoiding them entirely. However, the raven leapt at her as well, her claws extended. Roselyn didn’t bother wasting her ammunition and lashed out with her foot instead, kicking the girl in the stomach. The raven let out a loud grunt while Roselyn used her stomach as a springboard to throw herself back, right before several glowing strings swept through the space she’d previously occupied.

Roselyn was developed, with enhanced strength, speed, agility and senses. Individually, none of her physical abilities was nearly as impressive as what other developed might possess, but when combined, they made her a dangerous opponent…even up close and personal.

When the toys charged at Roselyn again, she reacted quickly, drawing her combat knife just in time to slice a leaping doll in half. She quickly dodged one of the marionettes, and nearly avoided the second one, except that a string managed to graze her thigh. Roselyn gasped at the stinging pain on her thigh, though she didn’t let it slow her down. Instead, she kicked the marionette away, then threw the knife, impaling the other marionette and pinning it to the roof.

“Just annoyances,” Roselyn reminded herself, looking at the girl who was the real enemy. “Distractions.”

Roselyn ran back towards where she’d left Monster set up, but instead of grabbing her weapon, she picked up the tarp instead. With a quick swing of her arm, she flung the tarp over the charging girl, covering most of her body, and more importantly…blinding her. The toys all staggered about, bumping into each other as they no longer had clear directions.

“Stupid creature,” the girl yelled, using her claws to slice through the tarp. “You vex me…”

Roselyn didn’t bother answering the girl. Instead, she seized the momentary opportunity and used her sidearm to shoot the girl in the head repeatedly. Then, as the girl started to collapse, Roselyn kicked her, sending her flying over the edge of the building. Seconds later, the toys all collapsed lifelessly.

“That should do it,” Roselyn said, peering over the edge of the roof and looking down at the ground far below.

The girl was sprawled out, her broken and splattered body a complete mess. And as Roselyn watched, what was left of her seemed to melt into a puddle of black goo and fade away. Roselyn stared at her for a few more seconds, just in case she suddenly reappeared whole and unharmed, but that didn’t happen.

Roselyn didn’t bother to celebrate the death of her opponent, or even to silently bask in her triumph. She’d merely done what she had to, nothing more. Then, she looked over the rooftop, knowing that her position had been compromised, but that there was no help for it. In spite of the increased risk to herself, she still had a job to do, and her allies couldn’t afford the time it would take for her to find a new firing position.

With that, Roselyn returned to Monster and her firing position. It only took her a few seconds to lock the Queen of Ravens into her crosshairs again, though she didn’t bother to pull the trigger. That would merely be a waste of ammunition. Instead, Roselyn took a deep breath and prepared to do what she did best…patiently wait for the right opportunity.

Chapter 28

Julie’s hands were firmly wrapped around her weapon, the short energy rifle that Legacy had lent her. At the moment, she was physically tired but still able to function, though her powers were currently down. The only thing she had to defend herself was this energy rifle, so she wasn’t about to risk losing it.

“The Queen of Ravens,” Julie blurted out. “How the hell are we supposed to take her down?”

She looked around, horribly concerned by the small number of heroes compared to the large number of villains. Of course, she reminded herself that the odds were actually much better now than they’d been for everyone fighting at the base camp, but that didn’t make her feel a lot better. After all, most of their heavy hitters were either injured or still fighting back at the camp.

“We were hoping that more people could come,” Lady Knight admitted from a short distance away. “But we didn’t have the time to wait…”

Lady Knight was currently fighting a raven, using a glowing pink spear so that she could do so while staying out of her opponent’s reach. The pink-haired girl lunged forward, slashed through the raven’s thigh, then pulled back. When he tried coming at her with his sword, she used the spear to impale him and push him back.

Julie took a deep breath then shot Lady Knight’s opponent, just grazing his arm, though the blast of energy was powerful enough to burn most of the arm off. “Yipes,” Julie exclaimed, feeling both excited and afraid at the same time. Usually, the spirits that she channeled did all the fighting, so this was a rare experience for her.

“You have to get their heads,” Lady Knight exclaimed. “It’s the only way to take them down for good…”

Then, as if to emphasize what Lady Knight had just said, the raven’s arm began to grow back, reforming at an unbelievable speed. Julie blinked, and it took her several more seconds before she remembered her weapon. She took aim and fired a second time, burning a hole through the raven’s chest, right before firing again. This time, his head vanished and he collapsed to the ground.

Mystik charged forward, using her staff to smack a raven alongside the head. The raven was knocked to the side, though he immediately snapped around and slammed a massive axe right into Mystik’s side.

“MYSTIK,” Julie cried out in horror.

However, to her shock, Mystik was getting back up and running a hand over where she’d been hit. There was no blood…and no wound.

“No fucking way,” Mystik blurted out, tapping the gold metal skin of her arm with her other finger. “I think Catalyst made me bulletproof…or at least axe proof.”

Then with a broad grin, Mystik charged right back at her opponent, letting him hit her in the shoulder with his axe, just so she could get close enough to punch him. Unfortunately, her punch didn’t seem to be any more powerful than it would have been before, indicating that while her armored skin might offer her new protection, it didn’t seem to make her any stronger.

“Damn, it’s hard to focus with this,” Counterweight grumbled, reaching up to hold her injured shoulder. Then she glanced up at Legacy, who was floating in the air. “But if she can fight with her leg, I can fight with my shoulder…”

“Why don’t you go find a car to drop on someone’s head?” Lady Knight suggested. “That should make you feel better.”

“Good idea,” Counterweight agreed as she floated up into the air.

Julie looked around and saw that Witch Girl, Alleycat, and Poison were all fighting back to back against a group of ravens. At the same time, Glamour Girl and the Face were standing side by side, working together in similar fashion. Then, she glanced to Lady Knight and Mystik, deciding that they should probably continue working together as well.

“Why are we fighting here?” Julie asked as she took another shot with her energy rifle. She missed the raven she was aiming at and took another shot, which barely managed to graze his leg. “My aim sucks… Are we supposed to destroy that arch or something?”

“No,” Lady Knight responded, using her spear to knock the legs out from beneath a raven. “We need to push their queen back through it…”

“That’s the plan?” Julie asked in surprise. “Just push her back through the portal?”

“I didn’t say it was a great plan,” Lady Knight replied with a grin. “But it is the only one we have. Besides, it’s the only way to stop her.”

From above, Legacy announced, “I’ll see what I can do…”

Legacy held out her arm and one of the ravens was picked up by her telekinesis and flung towards the Queen of Ravens. However, just as he was about to hit her, there was a flash of purple and he suddenly bounced back instead.

“Now for her,” Legacy exclaimed with a look of intense concentration. When nothing happened, she shook her head, “I can’t touch her directly. It’s like she’s protected from my power…”

“Some kind of magical barrier,” Lady Knight pointed out, though Julie didn’t know if she was guessing or was using her sixth sense.

“Then if anything can get through it,” Legacy announced, pulling out her unusual looking bow, which appeared to be made of bone. “This can. But I only have it in me for one shot…so I’ll have to make it count.”

“That thing did a number on Loki,” Lady Knight responded with a nod of approval. “Do it.”

Legacy raised her bow to aim, and an arrow made of hellfire formed. The burning arrow shot through the air and hit the Queen of Ravens, who was suddenly engulfed in flame, which flickered in and out of being purple. The Queen of Ravens screamed, but it was a cry of anger, not of pain. In seconds, all of the flames turned purple and then vanished, leaving the Queen of Ravens standing there, apparently unharmed.

“I don’t think that worked,” Julie exclaimed in worry.

“Her barrier is down,” Lady Knight exclaimed.

The Queen of Ravens glared at Legacy with an expression that radiated arrogance and distain. “So, these champions may yet have some teeth…”

A moment later, she held up her hand and a ball of black and purple energy shot out at Legacy. Legacy quickly swung her cloak around herself, and she vanished into the Empty just a split second before the attack would have struck her. The ball of black and purple energy passed through where Legacy had been and continued flying until it smacked into the side of a building.

Suddenly, a wave of black and purple rushed out along the side of the building, which began to crumble and disintegrate. Julie gasped as the wall was completely destroyed, and as the process continued. Mere seconds later, half the building had been reduced to rubble and ruin.

“Fuck,” Mystik exclaimed, staring at the destroyed building with the same look of horror that Julie probably wore. “That was one shot. She did that with one fucking shot…”

“And she’s still weak,” the Face called out, his voice grim with concern. “We have to stop her before she regains her strength, and we don’t have much time…”

“These champions begin to bore me,” the Queen of Ravens commented. “It seems that I shall have to destroy them before I call forth more of my warriors…”

With that, something seemed to change and the Queen of Ravens began to radiate a sense of dark power. Julie gasped as a chill ran through her entire body, and she had to fight the urge to turn and run away as far as she possibly could. Every instinct from the primitive part of her brain screamed for her to get away.

The Face began yelling something…casting a spell in a language that Julie didn’t recognize. However, as his mask glowed, the terror began to fade. Somehow, he was fighting back against the aura of fear, giving Julie a chance to breathe and think again. Of course, she was still afraid, but this time, it was her own natural fear.

The monsters that had been gathered nearby, hiding in the shadows of the surrounding buildings, had been coming out and slowly approaching the fight. However, they all now backed away again, as though they were all terrified of the Queen of Ravens.

Julie looked around and was surprised to see that the raven soldiers were no longer fighting. Instead, they all looked weak and tired. Several had collapsed to their knees.

“She’s withdrawing some of her power from them,” The Face called out with a new urgency. “We don’t have any more time…”

The Queen of Ravens began to grow larger, swelling in size and power. She was ten, then twelve feet tall, and still growing.

“This is like that thing with Loki, all over again,” Lady Knight commented grimly.

Julie had been unconscious during the final fight with Loki, but she nodded in agreement anyway. However, she had absolutely no doubt that the Queen of Ravens was far more powerful than the Loki monster had been.

The Queen of Ravens stood about twenty feet tall and now towered over everyone present. She radiated a sense of arrogance and power, somehow seeming to have become a dark goddess. The very sight of her was enough to make Julie want to cower, even with the Face’s spell.

“This world now belongs to me,” the Queen of Ravens announced in a booming voice that seemed to come from everywhere at once. “It will feed my children for centuries, and none shall change this…”

As soon as she finished speaking, the Queen of Ravens held out her hand and fired another ball of black and purple energy, this time aimed at Glamour Girl. Glamour Girl dropped from the air and slammed into the ground with a loud grunt, while the blast missed her and continued until it hit a building.

“Not again,” Mystik exclaimed, clenching her staff tightly.

Julie stared at the building which began to crumble and disintegrate, just like the previous building had. However, she quickly saw that this time, there was a noticeable difference. This time, the entire building crumbled away to ruin, not just half of it.

“If my staff was charged,” Mystik said in obvious frustration.

The Queen of Ravens held out her hand again, this time looking down at all the heroes. Julie gulped, knowing that this wasn’t going to be good. None of them could survive a hit from that kind of power. Even Grendel wouldn’t stand a chance against it.

“IREFAY,” Witch Girl yelled, sending a ball of fire at the giant raven queen, though it seemed to have no effect, other than to signal everyone else to attack.

The Face fired a blast of golden energy at the Queen of Ravens from his mask while Poison and Alleycat rushed forward to attack directly. Julie hesitated only a moment before she took aim and fired her blaster, being careful not to hit any of her allies. Unfortunately, none of their attacks seemed to hurt her.

“My turn,” Glamour Girl stated with a look of fierce determination. “I’m not going to let you hurt my family…or my world.”

Glamour Girl flew straight at the Queen of Ravens and punched her in the face, causing the massive queen to stagger back. However, it wasn’t the punch that had the greatest effect, but the swirling colored light of Glamour Girl’s aura. That actually seemed to burn the queen’s skin.

“Blast her,” Lady Knight yelled. “Hit her with everything you’ve got…”

Glamour Girl didn’t answer, at least not in words. Instead, she screamed out a war cry and blasted the Queen of Ravens with her light energy at point blank range.

The Queen of Ravens screamed in agony and tried to swat at Glamour Girl, forcing the heroine to pull back a little, though she continued her attack. Blasts of light, which looked like swirling rainbows, burned into the queen’s body, tearing away at her dark power.

Even though she didn’t think it would add anything, Julie opened fire with her energy rifle, shooting the Queen of Ravens so that she could at least feel like she was contributing to this fight. And as far as she knew, every little bit was helping.

One of the ravens seemed to overcome his weakened state enough to leap high into the air, straight at Glamour Girl. However, a car suddenly fell on him from the sky, smashing him into the ground. Counterweight hovered above, giving a wave of acknowledgement.

Other ravens started to return to the action as well, or at least they tried. Lady Knight sliced at one with a rapier, then used a shield to block the return attack. At the same time, Mystik charged another of the ravens, swinging her staff so it smashed into the side of a raven’s head. Julie turned her attention from the Queen of Ravens, and instead shot at these warriors, who seemed easier to take out.

The Queen of Ravens shrank down under Glamour Girl’s assault, reducing in size until she was merely human sized again. Still, Glamour Girl continued blasting her, or at least she tried to. Glamour Girl was clearly straining, and the light was flickering and sputtering. She was using up all her powers.

“Glamour Girl,” Lady Knight called out in warning, right before the glowing heroine abruptly fell to the ground, having pushed herself too far.

It was with a look of pure hatred that the Queen of Ravens stood up straight and glared down at Glamour Girl. Black feathery wings suddenly burst out of her back, making her resemble some kind of dark and twisted angel.

“It has been centuries since anyone has hurt me so,” the Queen of Raven’s exclaimed with a sneer. She bent down and grabbed the now unconscious Glamour Girl and picked her up by her throat. “You will pay for this with greater suffering than you can imagine…”

“Let her go,” the Face commanded, though the Queen of Ravens ignored him.

The Queen of Ravens just lifted her arm higher, raising Glamour Girl further off the ground. Glamour Girl began flail around helplessly as the queen choked her.

“Get her,” Poison commanded. “Hit her hard…”

Julie aimed the rifle at the Queen of Ravens, but she couldn’t shoot without hitting Glamour Girl. The same was true of all the other heroes, all of whom glared at the Queen of Ravens, hesitating because of the hostage.

Suddenly, the Queen of Ravens’ head exploded in a burst of black droplets. She released Glamour Girl, and before her body could even collapse to the ground, two large holes appeared through her chest.

“Harbinger,” Stealth exclaimed with a smile. “About damn time.”

“Glamour Girl,” Julie gasped, running towards her fallen teammate.

However, before Julie could reach Glamour Girl, Alleycat and Witch Girl were already pulling her back, away from the Queen of Ravens.

“She’s alive,” Witch Girl announced with a grin.

Glamour Girl groaned and grabbed at her throat, muttering something that Julie couldn’t make out. The Face raced to her side to check her out, and his approving nod gave Julie a sense of relief.

“SHE’S NOT DEAD,” Lady Knight yelled, making Julie look back to the Queen of Ravens.

“No,” Julie gasped in horror, seeing that black tendrils were sprouting up from the queen’s neck and that her head was starting to reform.

For a brief moment, Julie just stared at the Queen of Ravens in horror, remembering what Lady Knight said earlier…that the only way to stop her was to get her back through the portal. Julie’s eyes darted to the portal that was such a short distance from the queen…almost right behind her. Then, Julie suddenly knew what she had to do.

Ever since Julie had gained her powers, she’d been using them to call on other people for help…to have spirits of the dead do her fighting for her. This time, it was her turn to fight the villain. This time, it was her turn to actually do something for herself.

Julie dropped the energy rifle and charged straight at the Queen of Ravens, grabbing hold of her and pushing her back to the nearby portal. She thought of all the spirits who’d fought on her behalf and whispered, “Maybe I’ll finally meet you all face to face…”

A moment later, Julie and the Queen of Ravens hit the portal and everything exploded into agony and then darkness.

“CHANNEL,” Joselyn cried out in horror as she watched the young heroine disappearing through the portal with the Queen of Ravens.

“No,” Witch Girl exclaimed, staring at the portal for a moment before snapping around to her father. “Bring her back…”

“I…I can’t,” the Face gasped, the pain clear in his voice.

Joselyn winced, already knowing that the Face couldn’t do that. No one could, not after what he’d done to the portal.

“The portal is a one way path back to where they came from,” the Face explained in a grim tone. “Nothing can come back form it now…”

Witch Girl gasped, staring at her dad with a look of shock. “But Channel…”

“She…couldn’t survive the journey,” the Face admitted quietly. “Nothing human could. Its...already too late.”

“No,” Glamour Girl gasped, sitting up and staring at the portal in stunned disbelief, which quickly turned to horror and grief. Tears started to form as she cried out, “Channel…”

The Face put a gentle hand on her shoulder. “She sacrificed herself to defeat the Queen of Ravens. I’m sorry…”

“The queen is gone,” Alleycat snarled. “But what about these guys?”

Joselyn had been staring at the portal, hardly able to believe that they’d just lost Channel. However, Alleycat had a good point, making her look at the raven soldiers.

All of the ravens looked weak…exhausted. With their queen gone, she could no longer reinforce them and give them the strength to fight. However, several of them were trying to get back to their feet to continue fighting anyway.

One of the ravens glared at Glamour Girl with an expression of pure hatred. He raised a nasty looking spear with a barbed black metal tip. From his body language, it was clear that he fully intended to use it on Glamour Girl.

“I don’t think so,” Joselyn exclaimed, forming a spear of her own and stepping between them.

For a moment, the raven looked like he was going to try charging her, even though he also looked like he could barely even strand. But then, he suddenly had a look of surprise on his face. A moment later, he was yanked off his feet and went flying through the air, straight into the portal where he vanished.

“What the fuck?” Mystik exclaimed, raising her staff in preparation to fight.

Another soldier leapt into the air and transformed into the form of a raven, but the black bird was suddenly pulled backwards towards the portal. He flapped his wings frantically, but it did no good. He vanished unto the portal, just like the other one had a few seconds earlier.

“It…it works,” Joselyn blurted out in amazement.

All the remaining ravens present were all pulled back towards the portal, though several of them fought it as hard as they could. However, it did little good as each of them was quickly pulled through.

“What the hell is going on?” Alleycat demanded.

“Dad?” Witch Girl asked.

“The Queen of Ravens was magically tied to each of the soldiers she brought with,” the Face explained, staring at the portal as he spoke. “She’s still connected to them…and is unintentionally dragging them all back with her.”

“That was your plan,” Poison said in surprise, giving the Face a thoughtful look.

“Yeah,” Joselyn responded with a forced smile. “We weren’t completely sure it would work.”

The Face nodded faintly. “If the queen withdrew her power from her followers, then she would have been too powerful to push through the portal...and even if we could…her followers would have been left behind.”

Joselyn nodded agreement, remembering her own skepticism when Exile had suggested the plan. However, as it was the best plan they had, there hadn’t been much choice.

“So,” Witch Girl asked, looking to her dad. “Does that mean its over?”

“Almost,” the Face answered grimly. “Thanks to Channel, it should be over soon.”

Chapter 29

Daphne hovered in the air as she tried to catch her breath. Every inch of her body ached, especially her stomach where she’d previously been impaled, and she was completely and utterly exhausted. She didn’t have the energy to keep fighting, but neither did she have a choice.

While she took a brief respite, she looked around the battlefield, wincing at all the violence and chaos. Good people had died today, some of whom she considered to be her friends. And from the vicious fighting, she knew that she was probably going to lose even more friends before this was all over.

A small group of heroes were trying to hold the ravens back from the camp, creating a powerful defense that managed to at least keep the ravens from overwhelming them completely. Lady Hexx was so exhausted that she could barely stand, yet she still managed to create a sink hole right beneath the advancing solders. Standing right beside her was Neon, Daphne’s newly discovered uncle, who was protecting Lady Hexx and keeping her from being overrun.

Further down, Daphne saw her own team, the Miracle Men, fighting to protect the camp as well. Quartz, Surge, and Splash were working together to push the ravens back, while Rumor kept sneaking around and attacking their enemies from behind. Of course, there were other heroes within the camp, who were dealing with the few ravens who managed to get past the defenders. Figment, Velvet, and Impact had taken this task for themselves.

And then, there was everyone else. Mega was thirty feet tall as she charged through the mass of enemy soldiers, kicking them out of her way. Circuit, Nike, Marvel, and Praxis were all attacking from the air, which mostly consisted of dive bombing the ravens, though Circuit kept opening fire with her energy weapons and causing a great deal of damage.

The White Knight, Daphne’s biological father, was trying to keep everything organized, alternating between issuing commands and fighting the ravens himself. At the same time, he was obviously concerned with his family, many of whom were fighting. That thought drew Daphne’s attention to the area where Target, Agony, and Shuriken were trying to fight.

Sanction and Lightning Force, the two latest groups to arrive, were also the most organized at the moment. Each group remained together and worked as a team, rather than getting spread out like nearly everyone else had. However, Mindseye seemed to have been injured, while Sanction’s leader Discharge, had just been grabbed by a flying creature with long tentacles.

Daphne took all of this in, and though she wanted to help some of the others, she had her own opponent to deal with. Her attention locked back onto Baron Nevermore, whom she’d been fighting. Fortunately, she hadn’t been fighting him alone. It was only the fact that Grendel and his mother were keeping Baron Nevermore occupied, that gave her the opportunity for this much needed break.

Grendel gave off a deafening roar and charged straight at Baron Nevermore, swinging his massive clawed fist. However, he smashed into a glowing green wall and was flung back.

While Grendel was trying to attack Baron Nevermore from the front, Grendel’s Mother had been taking advantage of that distraction to come at the villain from behind. However, Baron Nevermore seemed to see her coming, because he snapped around and fired a blast of red energy which caught the blue skinned amazon in the chest…and sent her flying back with a howl of pain.

“Just go down already,” Daphne snarled, glaring at the monster who’d murdered her mother.

Deciding that she’d caught her breath enough, Daphne flung herself back into the fight, opening up with some golden energy blasts, then switching to her fists as she got close. The green barrier that had stopped Grendel, suddenly appeared in front of her, blocking her from the villain. She punched at the barrier as hard as she could, though she already knew that if Grendel couldn’t break through that way, she certainly couldn’t.

But as dangerous as Baron Nevermore was, the fact that he wasn’t alone made him even more so. He still had his smoke snake, as well as an army of ravens. It was only the fact that most of those ravens were being kept busy by the other heroes, that gave her and the Grendels a chance to go after Baron Nevermore himself.

Baron Nevermore held out his hand and a blast of purple energy shot out and hit Grendel. Grendel howled in rage and agony as his skin burned and melted away, the sight of which made Daphne sick. She grimaced and fired another blast of energy at Baron Nevermore, trying to take his attention away from Grendel, and it worked.

“You cheap copy,” Daphne yelled at the villain. “Everything you do is ripped off of from Edgar Allan Poe…”

“The writer?” Baron Nevermore asked in surprise, then amusement. “I knew the writer well…”

Daphne glanced to Grendel and was relieved to see that he was already healing, and that his skin was mostly regrown. Grendel was nearly as resilient as these ravens, and for once, Daphne was thankful for that.

“The writer was my protégé,” Baron Nevermore continued, his arrogant expression radiating a sense of dark amusement and even…pride. “I taught him the power of fear. It was I who inspired him…”

For a moment, Daphne just stared at Baron Nevermore, surprised by his claims to not only have known Edgar Allan Poe…but to have been his teacher. She’d always thought that Baron Nevermore had been obsessed with Poe, but if what he said was true, then he was actually the source of Poe’s stories…or at least, a strong source of inspiration. Of course, Daphne had no way of knowing if this was true, or if Baron Nevermore had simply made this up.

“Either way,” Daphne exclaimed with a fierce determination. “I’m going to stop you…once and for all.”

Baron Nevermore just sneered, obviously not impressed. “You have already hurt me once,” he said, his eyes locked on her. “You trapped me in a very dangerous realm and cost me my body…”

“You murdered my mother,” Daphne snapped back.

“I will not give you such an opportunity again,” Baron Nevermore finished.

Daphne yelled out as she charged Baron Nevermore again, only to have him throw a ball of purple energy at her. She’d seen what that had done to Grendel, so quickly dodged the attack. The ball of purple energy struck a raven warrior instead, and he screamed in agony as his body began to melt and dissolve into a puddle of black goo. The sight of it made Daphne shudder.

“Swear your fealty to me and my queen,” Baron Nevermore announced, as though he was making a generous offer, “and I shall allow you to live…”

“How about I kick your ass instead,” she responded, firing a blast of golden energy at him, only to have it miss.

“You are persistent,” Baron Nevermore commented. “I was fond of the writer, so I shall do you the honor of laying your bones beside his…”

Grendel gave a deafening roar and charged straight at Baron Nevermore again, not seeming to consider the fact that the villain had already stopped his previous charges and had hurt him. Grendel was a creature of near mindless ferocity, and at the moment, he seemed absolutely determined to tear Baron Nevermore to pieces.

Suddenly, flaming chains burst out of the ground around Grendel, grabbing hold of him and entrapping him. As the flaming chains wrapped around the massive monster, Grendel’s Mother came charging in again. She opened her mouth and fired a blast of green energy at Baron Nevermore. A quick thought flittered through Daphne’s mind, and for a brief instant, she wondered what that would taste like.

The giant snake made of smoke began to wrap around Grendel’s Mother, though she fought it frantically, blasting energy at it from her mouth. The snaked kept breaking apart as she did this, but quickly reformed. Though she was able to keep it from fully entrapping her, it seemed to take her full effort just to do so.

Daphne flung herself at Baron Nevermore, trying to catch him while he was distracted by the Grendels. However, he saw her coming and turned, sending a wave of green energy in her direction. She flew straight up, just barely avoiding the attack.

Suddenly, an eerie howling sound began to fill the air, and when Daphne looked for the source, she was shocked to see that it was coming from the army of ravens. Most of them were crying out, and every single one had turned to look towards Baltimore, with looks of shock and pain on their faces. Something was happening, something that was disturbing all the ravens.

“My queen,” Baron Nevermore exclaimed, turning to stare at Baltimore as well with a look of stunned disbelief.

Daphne was confused by what was going on and tried to decide if it was a good thing or a bad. Before she could decide, nearly the entire raven army abruptly turned away from the heroes and began to fly away.

Everywhere Daphne looked, enemy soldiers transformed into ravens and flew into the air, starting to head in different directions. However, Daphne quickly realized that no matter which direction each raven started to fly in, each and every one of them quickly changed direction towards Baltimore, even when the birds were clearly flapping as hard as they could to go in the opposite direction. Some force was pulling them towards Baltimore…dragging them kicking and screaming.

“What the hell?” Daphne gasped.

Baron Nevermore remained standing where he was, making no move to transform and fly away like all of the others. He stared at them with an expression that seemed to be a mixture of anger, confusion, and even fear. And while he was distracted, Grendel smashed into the ground at this feet, tearing himself free from the flaming chains. The massive blue monster ignored the charred wounds that the chains had left and rushed directly at Baron Nevermore.

“Get him,” Grendel’s Mother yelled out, just a moment before Grendel hit Baron Nevermore.

There was a loud cracking sound as Grendel’s fist connected with the villain, and Baron Nevermore was sent flying back, where he smashed into the ground. Seeing her opportunity, Daphne flew straight at Baron Nevermore, determined to make sure he stayed down.

“No,” Baron Nevermore exclaimed, gesturing with his hand and a mass of flaming chains burst out of the ground and shot up to wrap around Daphne’s legs. She howled in pain but continued to fight against them, determined to get to her enemy no matter what. “I have not the time to deal with you… My queen requires me…”

Baron Nevermore fixed Daphne with his glowing red eyes, a sneer forming on his lips. He held out his hands and balls of purple energy formed in each. She gulped, suddenly realizing that this time, he fully intended to finish her off. She struggled against the chains, hoping that Grendel or his mother would hit Baron Nevermore before he could kill her.

Suddenly, a new figure dropped out of the sky, right in front of Baron Nevermore. “You won’t harm her,” the White Knight announced, already swinging his glowing white sword at the villain.

Baron Nevermore tried to blast the White Knight, but Daphne’s father raised a glowing white shield, which deflected most of the blast. The purple energy hit his glowing white armor, which broke apart and dissolved, though the shield and armor managed to protect the man beneath.

“You will NOT hurt my daughter,” the White Knight exclaimed, taking another swing at Baron Nevermore, who twisted to the side and was struck in his upper shoulder.

Baron Nevermore snarled in pain, but didn’t cry out. Instead, he glared at Daphne’s birth father with a look of pure hatred. “I will strip the flesh from your bones and feed your soul to the pit…”

Daphne was grateful for the rescue, yet embarrassed as well. She was no damsel in distress that needed someone to rescue her. She was Ms. Miracle…leader of the Miracle Men and a hero in her own right. With a deep breath, she charged at Baron Nevermore once again.

“You are a monster,” Daphne yelled.

Just as Baron Nevermore turned to face her, she used her left hand to fire a blast of golden energy into his chest. Baron Nevermore took the attack with a grunt of pain and a snarl, though Daphne had never meant it to truly hurt him. Instead, that had just been a distraction while she focused all her remaining energy into her right hand, using a newly learned trick to form a sword from this energy. Then, as Baron Nevermore reacted to the first attack, she swung her sword right through his neck.

Baron Nevermore’s head went flying while his decapitated body collapsed lifelessly to the ground. Seconds later, Daphne watched as both head and body began to melt into puddles of black goo. She stared at this for a moment, then collapsed to her knees, no longer having the energy to stand much less continue fighting.

“Are you all right?” the White Knight gently asked. Daphne didn’t answer. He came over and put a comforting hand on her shoulder, though he didn’t say anything else. Instead, he just stood there in awkward silence.

Daphne was vaguely aware that the fighting was over, that the last of the raven solders were in the process of departing. There were cheers from the other heroes, though not from her. Instead, her heart and mind were both racing yet confused. Finally, Daphne looked up into the sky, and with tears pouring down her cheeks, she whispered, “Rest in peace, Mom…”

Gwen stared up into the sky with a cold dread, unable to tear her eyes off the massive flock of ravens that was flying towards them. She wasn’t the only one who was concerned by their approaching enemies.

Lady Knight had her hand out in front of her, and several glowing pink bubbles kept floating around it. She was prepared to form a weapon the instant it was needed, though she was keeping her options open for the moment.

Alleycat, Poison, and Stealth stood guard by Glamour Girl, who was still sitting on the ground since she didn’t have the energy to stand yet. Instead, she kept staring into the portal with a look of grief and guilt on her face, as though she blamed herself for her teammate’s death.

Legacy had reappeared, having come back out of the Empty after the Queen of Ravens had been thrown through the portal. Like Glamour Girl, she kept looking at the portal. And like Glamour Girl, she couldn’t stand on her own, and had burned out most of her powers. She would have been sitting on the ground too, if she wasn’t leaning against Mystik for support. Counterweight stood on the other side of her, as though offering her own moral support, if nothing else.

“I don’t know how much longer I’ll have these powers,” Mystik reminded everyone. “Catalyst said that they’d only last for an hour…” No one paid her much attention.

Then, Gwen looked off into the distance, trying to guess where the mysterious Harbinger was hiding.  Wherever she was, Gwen was pretty sure that she was watching them…ready to shoot someone else if she had to. Normally, Gwen would have been concerned about someone pointing a gun in her direction, but Harbinger had saved Glamour Girl’s life, and had helped them against the raven soldiers.

“They’re coming,” Lady Knight pointed out.

As the ravens came rushing down on them, Gwen braced herself to cast a spell, even though she wasn’t sure that she even had enough magical energy left. But as the first raven arrived, it flew right past all of them and directly into the portal. The second raven ignored them too, as did the third.

“They’re not fighting,” Gwen said in relief, letting out a faint sigh.

“I don’t think they can,” her father commented. “Without their queen, none of them has the strength to fight…even if they could escape the portal…”

Gwen watched the ravens being pulled into the portal and saw what her dad meant. Some of the ravens were flying straight into it, but most were trying to escape it, flying as hard as they could in the other direction, though it did no good. They fought, and they shrieked, and they flailed, but they were still pulled backwards into the portal where they vanished. The air was filled with a cacophony of their cries, making it difficult for Gwen to hear anything else.

For several minutes, Gwen watched the ravens with a morbid fascination, then she looked around at the other monsters who’d been surrounding them. To her surprise, they were no longer hiding near the surrounding buildings and lurking in shadows, they were coming out into the open…and dying. Something that looked like a bald and mangy lion staggered and collapsed to the ground, where his body quickly began to crumble to dust. All of the other monsters were doing the same thing.

When the ravens finally stopped pouring into the portal, there was a loud cracking sound as the stone arch shattered and crumbled. Gwen jumped in surprise, letting off a loud gasp as the entire arch imploded in a flash of red. A moment later, there was nothing but a small crater where the stone arch and portal had been.

“The portal is closed,” Gwen’s dad announced unnecessarily.

“Well, duh,” Counterweight commented wryly.

“But, Channel,” Gwen whispered with tears in her eyes.

“Channel sacrificed herself to stop the queen,” her father told her sadly. “She was a brave young woman…”

“She did it herself,” Glamour Girl said quietly. “This time, it wasn’t one of her spirits. It was all her.”

Poison bowed her head and said, “I’m sorry for her loss. But unfortunately, we can’t grieve just yet.” She looked directly at Gwen’s dad. “You said that only the ravens that the queen brought with would be pulled back. That means we still need to deal with Baron Nevermore…”

“Um,” Lady Knight said, holding her hand up a bit for attention. “I’m pretty sure that Baron Nevermore has already been dealt with. You know…sixth sense and all.”

Poison stared at her for a moment before nodding. “Maybe, but we still need to make sure.”

“I’ll open a doorway,” Gwen’s dad said with an exhausted sigh. “But it looks like this is finally over…”

Chapter 30

The woman in red and white armor carefully peered around the edge of the stone wall, scowling deeply in frustration. The heroes had created this wall to protect their camp during the battle, though she found that it was equally useful for hiding herself from their prying eyes.

Once, her name had been Megan Hayes, and she’d been a normal young woman…interested in attracting male attention, having fun with her friends, and making enough money to pay the bills. However, that had all changed when she’d met Ebon. The cat had opened her eyes to just how pitiful this life was, and had shown her the only thing that really mattered. Power. The more power one had, the less they could be controlled by others and the more they could exert their own will and desires. Power was everything.

Ebon had given her a taste of real power and a hunger for more. But now, Ebon had been taken from her by that hero, along with the power he provided. She could still feel Ebon through the link they shared, but it was faint and distant. And though she could sense that Ebon yet lived, she knew little more of his fate than that.

Still, the Scepter smiled, though it was a cold and bitter one. The heroes had underestimated her, thinking that without Ebon, she was completely helpless. It was true that she’d lost her power, but she still had a few tricks hidden within her armor, tricks that had allowed her to escape the shackles and cage that the heroes had locked her within. Now, while they were distracted, she was making her way to freedom.

“They will pay for this,” the Scepter promised herself. They would pay for taking Ebon away, for locking her in a cage, and especially, for humiliating her. “Oh yes, they will pay…” Of course, the Scepter had already made another promise to herself, one that would come before even her well-deserved vengeance. And with a snarl of fierce determination, she swore, “I will recover my power, no matter what it takes…”

The Scepter was going to reclaim her stolen power. She was going to become even more powerful than before. More powerful than Nevermore. And even more powerful than the Queen of Ravens. One day, the entire world would kneel at her feet.

“But for now,” she bitterly reminded herself, “I have to get away…”

The Scepter continued her escape, careful to not be seen by any of those self-righteous heroes, especially the ones who could fly. But then, she paused, seeing something sticking out of the ground. She reached down and picked it up, with a triumphant smile forming as she realized what she’d found.

“Loki’s staff,” the Scepter mused, looking at the black staff.

Loki had been a fool, and she felt little but contempt for him…her. However, Loki had also been a powerful fool, all because of this staff. This staff was a tool of immense power, and if it could be wielded by someone more competent than that idiot, then there was no telling what they could do.

Suddenly, the shaft of the staff began to shrink, becoming shorter and shorter. In mere seconds, the item in her hand looked less like a staff and more like a scepter. The Scepter smiled with a dark satisfaction, pleased that the staff seemed to acknowledge her as its new mistress.

For a brief moment, the Scepter was tempted to turn the power of her new weapon against the unsuspecting heroes, but she quickly restrained the impulse. As satisfying as might be, it would also be foolish. That was the kind of thoughtless action that Loki might perform. At the moment, she was far outnumbered and wielding a weapon that she had yet to even test. No, she would wait until she’d gathered more power, until she could crush her enemies with ease.

“I think it is time to rebuild the Black Guilt,” the Scepter mused aloud as a cruel smile formed on her lips. The Black Guild would give her a nice base of power. She stared at her new scepter for a moment with a hungry look, then commanded it, “Take me home.” A moment later, she vanished in a flash of red.

Sam sat in a chair, leaning forward her face resting in her hands. At the moment, she was exhausted, and not just physically. Emotionally, she was racked with guilt and grief.

“Channel,” she whispered with an ache in her heart. “I’m so sorry…”

When Sam had been given her powers, it had been for the purpose of fighting the darkness…of fighting the Queen of Ravens and her army. She’d thrown absolutely everything she had at the Queen of Ravens, but it hadn’t been enough. If she’d pushed a little harder…if she’d managed to take out the queen like she was supposed to, then Channel wouldn’t have had to do it for her. If she hadn’t failed, then her teammate and friend would still be alive.

“It wasn’t your fault,” Witch Girl said, putting a gentle hand on her shoulder. “If you hadn’t stopped the Queen of Ravens when she started to go nova… If you hadn’t weakened her when you did, she would have killed all of us.”

“And if I’d done more,” Sam admitted, “then Channel wouldn’t have had to finish her…”

Sam looked up at her remaining teammates, who were sitting in chairs nearby. Nike, Zero Kay, and Chrome all had a number of minor injuries, but nothing too serious. Deadbeat had a new body, one that looked like it had belonged to some housewife. And for once, she wasn’t goofing off. She was just as quiet and somber as everyone else.

After the final battle, most of the heroes had returned to the base camp where they could debrief, rest, and get medical attention before returning home. However, even though they’d just saved the world from an invading army, the mood was quite dark. There had been too many deaths and injured.

Sam knew that they’d not only lost Channel, but also Icarus, Warchild, and Mannequin…and perhaps more. And that didn’t even count all of those who were seriously injured, some of whom would never be able to return to active duty.

“It wasn’t your fault,” Witch Girl told Sam again. “The only reason we were able to stop her was because you did your part…just like Channel did hers.” Sam looked Witch Girl in the eyes, realizing that the young hero was trying to convince herself of this as much as she was Sam. Sam could see the guilt reflected in her eyes.

“She was a hero,” Sam finally said, giving a forced smile.

Witch Girl nodded and returned to where the rest of Faction Zero was gathered. They were currently mourning their fallen leader, yet simultaneously celebrating the return of Circuit. Sam almost felt jealous of them, having one of their dead friends return, and she couldn’t help but being reminded of the fact that Circuit’s resurrection came about because of Channel.

After watching Faction Zero and the reunion with Circuit, Sam looked over to the Guard, or what remained of them. They’d lost Warchild and Mannequin, while Interface was in critical condition and Radiant was probably blinded for life. Diamond was the only one left, and was sitting by herself in the corner. And though Sam knew that they had a couple of reserve members who’d been left behind, she didn’t know if the group would even still exist after this.

And then, there were the Crusaders, or at least that was what she heard them calling themselves. Counterweight, Kaboom, and Catalyst were all injured, though they seemed in fairly good spirits compared to most of the other heroes. After all, they hadn’t lost any members of their team. In fact, Dodger and Ladybug both seemed completely uninjured, though Ladybug’s armor was pretty banged up.

“Too bad Guardian Girl and Charger couldn’t be here,” Dodger said.

The others nodded agreement and Kaboom said, “Damn, I really miss Kyle.”

“Me too,” Catalyst admitted.

“Then, to Charger,” Ladybug said, raising a can of diet Coke in a toast. “He was a worthy foe, and I imagine a good friend.”

“To Charger,” the rest agreed, holding up their own cans of soda or bottles of water.

Sam was startled to see that one the Sanction members who was standing near the Crusaders, turned and gave them a curious look. Harbinger was short and she didn’t look all that dangerous, but there was something about her that made Sam a bit nervous. A large part of it was the look in her eyes, which spoke of someone who could kill without hesitation. Unlike most of those present, Harbinger wasn’t a superhero. She was a soldier.

Harbinger was intimidating, but she’d also saved Sam’s life. Just when the Queen of Ravens had been about to kill Sam, Harbinger had taken her out, or at least, she’d removed the queen’s head. Sam would have nightmares about that moment for the rest of her life, but thanks to Harbinger, at least she’d have the chance.

“Excuse me,” Harbinger said to the Crusaders. “Who is this Charger?”

“A former team member,” Kaboom answered with a deep scowl. “He…quit the spandex business a couple years ago and joined the army. He…died a couple months ago…”

“The details are classified,” Dodger added with a look of disgust, “so even his family doesn’t know what happened…”

For a moment, Harbinger just stared at the young heroes, then she carefully said, “I knew someone with the call sign of Charger…who was killed in action a couple months ago. I believe, he was from the same area you operate out of…”

“Really?” Kaboom blurted out in surprise.

“Six foot one,” Harbinger offered. “Dark brown hair, fond of Dr. Pepper, and had the first name of Kyle.”

“That’s him,” Dodger gasped.

“You really knew Kyle?” Catalyst quickly asked.

Harbinger hesitated for a second before nodding. She glanced around her, then continued, “We served in the same unit. He was a good kid…a good soldier.” Then she paused with a strange expression passing over her face before adding, “I was there when he died.”

There were gasps from the Crusaders, who were all staring at Harbinger with looks of burning curiosity. They clearly expected her to tell them what happened to their friend, regardless of whether it was classified or not. And from the look on Harbinger’s face, it was just as clear that she was tempted.

“Maybe we can share stories over drinks sometime,” Harbinger finally said, giving them a faint smile. “I’ll bring the bourbon.”

Sam slowly stood up and rubbed her temples, deciding that she needed to get way from everyone for some fresh air. As she started to walk away from the gathering of people, she noticed Lady Knight, sitting in a chair between Velvet and Impact. She looked like she was asleep, with her head leaned over onto Impact’s shoulder.

“They’re too young for this kind of thing,” Sam said, pained to realize that those three kids were about the same age as her son Todd. She couldn’t imagine him fighting in this kind of situation, which made what they’d done all the more impressive…and disturbing.

Once Sam was out in the open, away from everyone else, she let out a sigh and stared up into the darkening sky. Stars were starting to come out, providing a beautiful scene that almost seemed wrong after all the horror she’d seen. However, it was relaxing, at least a little.

She tore her eyes from the sky and looked off in the distance, towards Baltimore, or at least what was left of it. From what she’d heard, the death toll was supposed to be at a couple thousand, though she tried not to think of that fact. The National Guard had arrived to take control of the city and help the survivors, but they had a lot of work ahead of them.

A few minutes later, Sam noticed that the White Knight and the Face had left the large grouping as well, apparently to have a private conversation. The two of them were far enough away that Sam didn’t feel like they were intruding on her privacy, at least not by much, but the wind carried their words to her.

“Its hard to believe,” the White Knight commented. “That we both have daughters who…changed.”

“That is quite a coincidence,” the Face responded in an even tone.

“In my case…two daughters,” the White Knight added a moment later, giving a forced chuckle. “Of course, I recently discovered that it runs in my family. Apparently, my father had been born female…”

“I knew that there were two gender changes within my own team,” the Face admitted, “but I had no idea that there were so many others.”

The White Knight nodded at that. “It is surprising. Extremely so. What are the odds that there were so many gender changes within our small community…and that of the two dozen that showed up…only two changed from female to male?”

“That we know of,” the Face pointed out in a strange tone. “For all we know, there may be others that we still aren’t aware of.”

“True,” the White Knight agreed. “It boggles the mind.”

There was a long pause before the Face said, “All those gender changes, and nearly all of them male to female… This is more than just coincidence.”

The White Knight turned to stare at him, his voice sharpening as he demanded. “What do you mean?”

“What I mean,” the Face answered carefully, “is that the odds are extremely unlikely. I believe that there is another factor at play. One that we aren’t yet aware of.”

“Impossible,” the White Knight blurted out, looking and sounding shocked. “How…?”

The Face shook his head. “I don’t know who or what is responsible, and that worries me a great deal.”

The White Knight let out a sigh, then admitted, “Now you have me worried…”

Sam hadn’t intended to eavesdrop on their conversation, but the topic was very personal to her so she hadn’t been able to help herself. She’d been rather shocked upon discovering just how many of the heroes had changed genders, the same way that she did when she used her powers, but she hadn’t given it much thought until now.

It really did stretch believability that so many heroes had switched like that. And like the Face said, almost all of them had been male to female…like herself.

“Not to mention the villains,” she mused, thinking of Nevermore, Circuit Monger, the Sinner, and Loki. The Scepter didn’t count since she had just taken the original’s name, but the numbers were surprising. “What the hell is going on?”

But as interesting as this line of thinking would normally be, Sam was too distracted to really give it much more thought. Instead, she looked back up at the sky, and tears ran down her cheeks as she thought of her fallen teammate and friend.

“I’m sorry I wasn’t good enough,” Sam whispered. “I’m sorry that you paid for it.” Then, she choked, and barely managed to finish, “Rest in peace, Julie.”

It was late afternoon as the 8-year-old girl sloshed through the swampy area behind her parents’ house. Heather was annoyed by how wet and muddy her shoes currently were, but she couldn’t do anything about that yet, not until she found her prize.

Just yesterday, Heather’s brother Nick had captured a frog, and he’d been bragging about it ever since. There was no way that Heather could let this continue, so she was determined to find her own frog, one that was even bigger and more impressive than the one Nick had.

Just then, Heather suddenly noticed a large black bird, which was perched on an old stump. It looked like a crow, but was bigger than any crow that she had ever seen.

“Hello, mister bird,” Heather said, deciding that a giant crow would be even more impressive than any frog. “I won’t hurt you…”

Heather slowly moved closer to the bird, talking in a gentle voice as she did so. The bird watched her as though it understood what she was saying. And for a brief moment, Heather almost had the feeling that it was about to speak to her. Then without warning, the bird abruptly flapped its wings and flew away.

“Darn,” Heather muttered in disappointment. However, that was quickly forgotten as she heard a frog croaking in the distance. With an excited grin, Heather started in that direction, calling out, “Oh mister frog…”

Chapter 31

Sara Meadows sat in a world of darkness. Though her eyes were wide open, and she knew the room was well lit, she saw absolutely nothing. It had been this way for nearly a week, ever since that battle with the ravens.

As Radiant, Sara was extremely strong and tough, but she could also fly and fire powerful beams of energy from her eyes. Unfortunately as she’d long ago learned, her eye beams came with a cost. Each time she used them, it put immense strain on her eyes, causing her eyesight to slowly fade. After years of being a hero, she’d been forced to use heavy corrective lenses just to see, and she’d refrained from using her eye beams as much as possible, because she didn’t want to keep paying the price they required.

“But I paid it anyway,” Sara whispered, holding her hand in front of her face. She’d overused her eye beams, and as a result, she’d lost her vision entirely. “I’m blind.”

An image flashed through Sara’s mind, of Warchild, dead on the ground in front of her. The memory made her heart clench up in her chest and her eyes began to water. Warchild had been a teammate and friend, and seeing him die in front of her had been extremely traumatic, probably made even more so due to the fact that he looked…had looked like a kid. She’d lost it, and had pushed her power way too far as a result. Now, she was dealing with the consequences and would continue to do so for the rest of her life.

“I always knew it could happen,” she reminded herself. Sara had known what would happen if she ever pushed her powers too far, but in a moment of grief, she hadn’t cared.

Sara clenched her fists, knowing that she still had her powers. She was still strong, tough, and could fly. She could probably even use her eye beams, not that she’d tried them since losing her sight. Still, the rest of her powers were nearly useless when she couldn’t see. She couldn’t go back into the field like this.

Her thoughts turned to her team, the Guard. Now, Sara strongly doubted that the Guard would survive. Over half their members were either dead or out of commission. She grieved for her team nearly as much as she did Warchild and Mannequin.

Just then, Sara heard footsteps coming towards her. She tensed up, listening carefully, even though she already had a good idea of who it had to be.

“How are you feeling?” a familiar voice asked. Sara smiled bitterly, relieved to find that she was right about who was there.

Though Sara couldn’t see Genius, she knew exactly what the girl looked like. She was eleven, with brown hair that was usually pulled back into pigtails. Freckles splattered her cheeks and the bridge of her nose. And, Sara was pretty sure that Genius had her usual tool belt, along with the goggles she often wore on her forehead.

In spite of her young age, Genius was one of the smartest people on the planet. But because of her young age, she was also only an unofficial member of the Guard, or at least on the inactive reserves. That was why Genius, along with her guardian Father Time, had both been left behind during the Nevermore affair.

“I’ve been better,” Sara finally said. “Have you figured anything out?”

“Well,” Genius responded, drawing the word out. “I’ve already told you that your eyes were pretty messed up. I mean, there are surgeries that MIGHT restore SOME of your vision. Your best bet, as far as that goes…complete replacement might be the best option. I might be able to create some workable synthetic eyes…”

“Ugh,” Sara grimaced, not really happy with that idea. The MIGHT and SOME left her less than hopeful.

“But I also found a specialist who might have a better option,” Genius added in a cheerful tone.

“Really?” Sara asked hopefully.

Sara was about to ask who this specialist was and when she might be able to meet them, when a woman said, “Hello…”

“Hello,” Sara greeted the woman back, wondering why her voice sounded vaguely familiar.

“I’m going to try fixing your eyes,” the woman explained in a gentle voice. “But I can’t guarantee anything.”

Sara nodded at that, trying not to get her hopes up. Suddenly, Sara felt a tingle rushing through her eyes, and when the darkness in front of her began to lighten up, she let out a gasp of surprise. In mere seconds, she could see the room again, at least in general. Everything was still a bit blurry, but when she looked at Genius, she could make the girl out pretty well.

“I…can see,” Sara gasped in amazement.

Then she turned her attention to the other person who was standing in front of her, a beautiful young woman with raven black hair and a costume that was gold and purple. In her hand, she was holding a long golden staff with several gems set in the head.

“Mystik,” Sara said, trying to hide her surprise. “Thank you.”

“I’m glad I could help,” Mystik answered with a smile. “I’ve spent the last few days traveling around and trying to heal everyone who got hurt, but I can only get three people a day…”

Sara suddenly straightened up at that. “Interface…”

“Was the first one I healed,” Mytik quickly assured her.

“I already checked on him,” Genius told Sara, grinning broadly. “He’s doing fine, but he’s still at home resting…on doctor’s orders.”

“That’s good,” Sara responded with a smile, relieved that Interface would be all right. She wiped away the tears that were starting to form.

Genius nodded agreement, then over to look Sara in the eyes with a thoughtful expression. “How is your vision?”

“I can see again,” Sara answered with a faint chuckle. “But everything is a little blurry…”

“I’m sorry,” Mystik apologized, looking a little disappointed. “I did all I could…”

“Don’t be,” Sara quickly assured her. “My vision hasn’t been this good, at least without correction, in years. I’ll just have to go pull some of my older glasses out of storage.”

Mystik smiled at that. “Glad I could help.”

Sara watched as Mystik turned to leave, grateful that the young woman, who didn’t even know her, had come to restore her eyesight. Sara wished that Mystik could bring back Mannequin and Warchild so easily, but she knew better. Bringing someone back from the dead was a very different thing than healing injuries.

Then on an impulse, Sara called out, “Wait.” When Mystik turned to give her a curious look, she asked, “Have you ever thought about joining a team…?”

Joselyn paced back and forth across her bedroom, feeling nervous yet excited at the same time. Attempting to distract herself, she slowly looked over her bedroom, mentally taking catalog of everything within. Because of all the feminine touches and pink décor, most people never would have guessed that she’d ever been anything other than a girl.

Sometimes, Joselyn had a hard time believing that she really was a girl now, yet at other times, she found it equally hard to believe that she used to be a boy. There were times when she’d wake up in the morning, feeling momentarily confused by her new body and gender. However, more and more often, she could look at herself in the mirror and forget that she’d never looked any different.

While growing up, Joselyn had always known that she would probably develop powers of her own one day, but she’d never imagined that her powers would come with a gender change. She smiled wryly as she formed glowing pink bubbles in the palm of her hand. The powers that she had developed were odd, weak in some respects yet powerful in others. And of course, the side effect was a doozey.

“But it could have been much worse,” Joselyn said, looking down at her breasts and blushing slightly. Being a girl had been a hell of a shock at first, but she’d gotten used to it. And as a benefit, she’d not only become closer to her mom, but to her sisters as well. Even her relationship with her dad had changed. With a roll of her eyes, she muttered, “I never thought I’d be a daddy’s girl…”

Suddenly, Joselyn paused as she ‘knew’ it was time. Without hesitation, she turned and left her bedroom, heading straight for the living room.

“I’ll get it,” Joselyn called out.

“Get what?” her mom asked, just a moment before the doorbell began to ring.

“It is so annoying when she does that,” Evie commented from the couch.

Joselyn opened the front door and immediately found herself looking at a gorgeous blonde woman, who had a somewhat nervous expression on her face. Standing beside her was a somewhat shorter brunette, who had short hair and a small ring through her nose. Joselyn immediately recognized Ms. Miracle and Rumor…or Daphne and Beth since neither was in costume.

“Come on in,” Joselyn told them, opening the door wide and stepping aside.

“Thank you,” Daphne responded, hesitating just a moment before entering.

Daphne had been to their home once before, or at least, to their old house. However, the last time, she’d come as Ms. Miracle, while this time, she was coming as Daphne. From her nervous expression, Joselyn suspected that she’d brought Beth along for moral support.

“Daphne,” Joselyn’s dad exclaimed from the living room. He had a smile on his face and a gleam of excitement in his eyes, but he was also nervous. “I’m glad you could come…”

“Thanks for inviting me,” Daphne responded. Then she quickly gestured to Beth. “I hope you don’t mind that I brought my girlfriend…”

“Not at all,” he assured her.

“Mom always makes plenty of food,” Joselyn added.

Her dad nodded agreement at that, then awkwardly said, “You already know Joselyn and Evie…”

“Eve,” Evie corrected him.

Joselyn rolled her eyes. A couple days earlier, Evie had abruptly decided that she wanted to be called Eve instead of Evie, because it sounded a little more ‘grown-up’. However, it wasn’t really catching on well among the family just yet.

“And this is Katie,” he continued, gesturing to Joselyn’s youngest sister, who jumped off the couch and hurried towards them.

“Are you really my sister?” Katie demanded of Daphne.

Daphne gave a self-conscious smile. “It looks like it…”

Katie just stared up at her with a skeptical look before breaking into a broad grin. “COOL. Ms. Miracle is my big sister…”

“So, I’m not cool enough?” Joselyn asked her in mock offense. Katie just gave her a look that made it clear that she wasn’t impressed by Joselyn, so Joselyn let out a long and exaggerated sigh of exasperation. “You’d think that taking out Force TWICE would get me some respect…”

Daphne laughed at that while Beth had a look of amusement. “I never had a little sister before,” Daphne finally said. “I can see that it’s going to be interesting…”

“Like a train wreck,” Beth added with a smirk.

Then, Joselyn’s dad gestured to the last family member in their home, her mom. Joselyn gulped, and she could see Daphne suddenly look even more nervous. “And this is my wife, Ellen.”

“We’ve met before,” Joselyn’s mom reminded them.

“You have a very nice home,” Beth announced, obviously trying to ease the tension.

“Thank you,” Joselyn’s mom told her before fixing Daphne with a thoughtful look. Then, she abruptly broke into a broad smile and said, “Welcome to the family.”

Daphne looked a little startled by that, and by the hug that followed, but she quickly responded, “Thank you.”

Joselyn was still surprised by how well her mom had taken the news of Daphne’s existence. In fact, she took it a whole lot better than she’d taken the news about Jessica. Of course, unlike Jessica, Daphne had never tried to kidnap or kill any of them. Still, her dad had spent a couple nights sleeping on the couch, just out of principle.

“I hope you like salmon,” Joselyn’s mom told their dinner guests as she gestured to the dining room. “We’ll be ready to eat in about twenty minutes, so if you want to sit down and relax until then…”  She gestured to the living room.

“Do you want something to drink?” Evie asked.

Daphne and Beth sat down on the living room, while Daphne looked a little nervous from the attention that Katie was giving her. Joselyn watched with some amusement, then after a few minutes, she went over and said in an almost conspiratorial voice, “If you think a family dinner is nerve racking, wait until you see a full family gathering.” Then, she gave an ‘innocent’ smile as she mused, “Of course, during our last family gathering, we were all attacked by a group of villains… And by the way, did anyone warn you about our supervillain sister, Jessica?”

“Or the fact that our uncle is a vigilante who kills people,” Evie added with a smirk.

Joselyn grinned at Daphne’s look of apprehension, as she clearly wondered what she’d gotten herself into. Right beside her, Beth had a hand over her mouth as she tried to hide her snickering. “Oh yeah,” Joselyn thought to herself with a smirk. Having a new sister to mess with was going to be fun.

The ‘click click click’ sound of high heels striking the tile floor echoed down the long and empty hallway. The woman who wore the heels appeared to be in her thirties, and was both fit and attractive, with raven black hair. She strode down the hallway with a definite purpose, and when she reached her destination, she paused just long enough to absently straighten her expensive suit before stepping through the door.

As soon as the woman stepped into the room, her eyes quickly scanned the sterile research lab before locking onto the only other occupant, a slightly overweight man in a white lab coat. “You have something for me,” she stated.

“Yes, ma’am,” Dr. Baumgarten responded quickly.

Dr. Baumgarten quickly turned to a metal box that was sitting on the work bench beside him. He undid the clasps on the box, fumbling nervously as he did so. As soon as he was finished, he removed the top of the box, leaving behind the bottom half along with the contents.

The woman stared intently at the severed head in front of her. It looked like it had belonged to a woman, and a beautiful one at that. Her hair, or what was left of it, was blonde and badly singed. One of the eyes was missing, along with the skin around it, revealing that instead of bone and muscle, there was something else beneath…something metal and artificial.

“The head was found beneath a car,” Dr. Baumgarten explained. “Approximately thirty feet from the point of destruction.”

“I see,” the woman responded. “Was anything else recovered?”

“Only what we already possess,” Dr. Baumgarten answered.

With that, the woman turned her attention to the next work table, which was covered with similarly grisly pieces. There was a burned and melted torso, or at least what little was left of one, along with a severed left arm, a right foot, and a few small pieces that could have come from nearly anywhere.

“So,” the woman said, “this is all that remains of Mannequin.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Dr. Baumgarten replied.

For a moment, the woman just stared at Mannequin’s head, then she ordered the scientist, “Leave the room. I want privacy.”

Dr. Baumgarten nodded his understanding and turned to do as she’d ordered, without saying a word. Once he was gone, she slowly looked over the destroyed android body, considering this recovered technology and just how much profit it could make for Darklight Industries. It was easier to think of that than what else these parts meant.

Just then, the woman saw something from the corner of her eye. She snapped around to stare at Mannequin’s severed head, noticing that the remaining eye had just moved. It had flickered, just a little. And as she watched, the eye did so again.

After only a moment of hesitation, the woman pulled out her cell phone and made a quick call. “Hello, Genius,” she immediately said. “This is Alexandra Darque. My people found something…someone…that you might be interested in…”

Exile floated through the empty space of her realm, staring out at the specks of light that were scattered about in the distance. With human eyes, the sight would appear to be a night sky that was filled with stars, though it had been a long time since she’d seen with that perspective.

After what seemed like an eternity, Exile finally located the glimmer of light that she’d been looking for. It was with some satisfaction that she pointed to it and announced, “That is the one…”

Though Exile could have flown to her destination with ease, she chose to take a more direct route instead. With just a thought, Exile instantly found herself floating beside the source of light. From a distance, it might resemble a star, but up close, it looked like a brightly glowing crystal, that was less than two feet across. Of course, she knew better than to judge by appearances.

             

Each ‘star’ in the night sky...each ‘crystal’ floating in space…was actually a solidified point in space/time, a permanent marker for every intersection of another reality into her realm. And after having spent a very long time looking, Exile had finally located a very specific one.

Exile held out her hand and reached out with her power, grabbing hold of a section from the Empty, which was a lower layer of her realm. A moment later, she brought part of the Empty to her, and suddenly, she was standing on a large chunk of stone that was flat on top and appeared to just be floating in space.

“Much better,” Exile mused. Technically, she could work quite well without having something to stand on, but even after all this time, she always felt more comfortable to have solid ground beneath her feet.

Then, Exile held out her hand again and called upon her power, forming a sword of glowing green energy, the same energy that comprised her ‘hair’. Her eyes remained locked on the ‘crystal’, along with her other senses.

Exile knew that what she intended would be difficult, and that it required absolute precision, so she wanted to make sure that she knew exactly where to strike for her desired results. She had an extremely small window of opportunity, less than two seconds. If she was even a second too soon, the consequences of using her power could be dire. But if she was even a second too late…then all of this would be for nothing.

“Now,” Exile exclaimed, swinging her sword at the ‘crystal’ and slicing through it, creating a momentary rupture in space/time.

Suddenly, a large mass of black goo burst out of the rupture, an instant before the rupture sealed itself. The blob hit the ground, then began to rise up. A pair of red eyes formed, glaring at Exile with an unfathomable depth of hatred, right before a dozen black tentacles lashed out.

Exile stood her ground without flinching, having no fear of this creature. She slashed out with her glowing blade, slicing through the foul being, which was immediately torn apart with the powerful energies. A moment later, all traces of the black goo were gone.

“Disgusting,” she mused, releasing her sword, which immediately vanished.

Exile looked at the ‘crystal’ for a moment, seeing that it was completely undamaged, then she looked down at the ground and what the black creature had left behind. A girl was sprawled motionless on the ground.

“Hello, Channel,” Exile said with a smile as she bent over and put a gentle hand on the girl’s cheek.

For a moment, Exile held her breath, even though she no longer had to breathe. Then, she saw that Channel was still alive, though barely. Humans could not survive that particular journey between realms, and if Channel had remained for even a second longer, the stress would have torn her body and mind apart. She deserved far better than that, and for once, Exile had been a position where she could help.

“Rest and recover,” Exile told the unconscious girl with a gentle smile. “It’s going to be nice having company again…”

In a quiet neighborhood of Boston, there was an old but well-kept house, with a covered porch in front. A slender woman sat on the porch, with a book in hand and a cup of tea sitting on the table beside her.

There was no sound or flutter of air to mark its sudden arrival, yet the slender woman still looked up and stared directly at the raven, which now perched on her porch railing. The black bird bowed its head slightly, yet still made no sound.

After several seconds, the woman finally greeted the bird. “Alan.” She fixed him with a steady gaze and asked, “And where is your partner?”

The raven looked straight at her and shifted awkwardly before letting out a single, ‘caw’.

“I see,” the slender woman responded. She carefully set her book aside and picked up her tea cup, taking a slow and deliberate sip before asking, “And your master?”

‘Caw,’ the raven responded, turning to look away from her, as though unable to meet her eyes.

“I see,” she repeated. “And you’ve come to offer your services to me.”

With a thoughtful frown, the slender woman took another sip of her tea, staring off into the distance as she did so. She took her time, finishing the cup, then she carefully set it back onto the table beside her.

“So, my father is finally dead,” the slender woman mused with a cold smile. “Good. That will certainly simplify things a great deal for me…”

 

THE END

 

Baa Baa Black Sheep is listed as number zero because it is a story that was written several years before the first Legacy Universe story. I originally had no intention of Black Sheep being part of this universe, but at the time I was writing The Knight is a Lady, I ended up tying him into the Legacy continuity.

 

00-Baa Baa Black Sheep

01-The Miracle Legacy

02-A Change of Heart

03-Hardshell

04-The Praxis Crossing

05-Mannequin

06-The Vengeance of Lady Hexx

07-Glamour Girl

08-Counterweight

09-Grendel and Beowulf

10-The Dark Legacy

11-The Witch Seed

12-Marvel and Meyhem

13-The Infiltrator

14-The Return of Red Blade

15-With a Golden Staff

16-The Knight is a Lady

17-Kaboom

18-The Legacy of the Seven

19-Invincible

20-A Velvet Touch

21-Harbinger

22-The Return of Nevermore