The Eagle #8 - Among Shadows & Doubts pt. 2

“It just started…reacting.” Dr. Muahitl was trying to explain the anomaly to Alex, who had rushed to the research facility as fast as he could after making a call. “For weeks there was nothing, not even anything during the attack. Yet out of nowhere it started moving and trying to escape its containment unit. No outside stimuli were applied, and no energy surge was detected by the sensors. In fact, even now its energy levels are equal to what they were at rest. You demanded we contact you if the energy exhibited any human characteristics, and quite honestly I’m not sure what to make of this development. My expertise does not cover living energy.”

Alex looked into the little glass box at the darkness within. He could see it swirl around, and every once in a while it would rush to one of the walls, as if trying to ram through and escape. “That’s alright, doctor. I’ve called in someone who is more knowledgeable in that field.”

A short time later, Alex was standing outside of the research facility when he saw a bluish white streak fly towards him. The glowing figure landed in front of Alex, and when the light died Alex smiled. “Good to see you again, Matt. I’m sorry to hear about your falling out with Frontier.”

“Thank you, Alex, but it’s less of a falling out and more of me taking your approach. I’m still there for them; I’m just not officially on the team,” Matt said as the two men shook hands. Matt looked around at the bustle of people going about their days and heavy construction taking place. “I never thought I’d actually be onboard the Eagle. Man, I would love to take a stroll around the place.”

“That can be arranged, Matt. Unfortunately this matter is much more pressing than a tour.”

Matt’s expression grew anxious as he followed Alex through the research facility. Alex explained the situation to Matt, who listened intently. When they finally reached the glass containment unit, Matt gasped. He walked up to the box and lightly touched the glass.

After a moment of silence, Alex asked, “Is it her?”

Matt nodded before removing his hand. “Technically, yes. This little bit of shadow energy is part of Sombra.”

“Incredible!” Dr. Muahitl exclaimed as he moved closer to the box. “You mean to tell me this energy has a human conscious?”

“I’m not sure I’d consider Sombra human, doctor.” Alex cut in. “It seemed like she was more like a natural force given sentience.”

“It’s a little of both, I think,” Matt explained, “Sombra was the darkest part of Jasmine’s psyche. The Mr. Hyde to her Dr. Jekyll. We all have some darkness within us, but due to Jasmine’s…unique powers, that darkness was given a method of materializing. But she only exists through the shadow energy that Jasmine has become one with. If there was a way to separate the shadow energy from Jasmine, Sombra would vanish, in theory. But unfortunately I don’t think that’s possible. And seeing the shadow energy like this, with no physical body…” Matt stopped, not wanting to accept the fact in front of him. Jasmine was gone, yet Sombra survived.

“What do you want to do with the sample?” Dr. Muahitl was growing more fearful with each word Matt said. Not because of the power of Sombra, but because he was afraid Matt and Alex would choose to destroy the sample. All that power and potential, wiped out!

Matt’s response stunned everyone. “We need to let it go.”

Dr. Muahitl started to grow animated, his anxiety heard through his voice. “But, no! Think of all we can learn from this! The power!”

“You won’t be able to control this power, doctor. It is wild and reckless. It already cost one powerful metahuman her life, and she was made to control it. There seems to be nothing stopping it from tearing through more bodies. We need to let it go so I can track it. I need to find where Sombra is and stop her, once and for all.”

Dr. Muahitl tried protesting, but Alex silenced him. “Matt is right. I’ve seen this power firsthand and it is not something we can hope to contain, especially since we know nothing about it. Open the containment unit.”

As a scientist starting entering the code, Alex turned to Matt. “Are you sure you can handle this alone?”

Matt nodded while he stared at the darkness. “Last time I was trying to save Jasmine. But now that she’s…” Matt stopped and took a breath. “I won’t hold back this time. Sombra must be stopped.”

Alex understood, but was shocked all the same. He was holding back? Incredible! Matt doesn’t seem like one to bluff, so he must have even more power than I imagined!

As the containment unit opened, the shadow energy raced out and flew towards a window near the ceiling. Without slowing down, it broke through the glass and escaped outside.

“That’s my cue to leave,” Matt said as he starting exiting the research lab. “It’s time to go face the darkness.”

“Keep any information you have gained so far,” Alex told the scientists. “We’ll never know when it might be of use.”

As he left the facility behind Matt, Dr. Muahitl glared at them. He pushed the other scientists away, demanding that he take care of cleaning up. After gathering up the notes, Dr. Muahitl returned to his private office. After locking his door to ensure privacy, he stuck the pages in a folder and filed it away. Taking a deep breath, the doctor pressed a hidden button on his bookshelf, which opened a small panel on the wall. As he took out the vial he smiled, caressing it like a father would a child.

“They might have gotten rid of the larger sample, but they didn’t know about you, did they?” Dr. Muahitl held up the vial filled with swirling shadow energy. “You’re going to tell me all your secrets.”

Frontier #39 - Cursed pt. 2

                “How’s the weather back home?” Steve stood in his suite overlooking West City. The sun was still shining strong, despite it being mid-October. He had just spent the last five weeks in this city helping the new Western Frontier team get up and running, and now that his time was wrapping up he was proud of the team they had become. There was still plenty of work to do, especially for their liaisons, but he could go back to Hopling happy in the work he’d done.

                “Getting cold, and rainy off and on all week. A great time to come back from sunny paradise!” Natalie was sitting in their office at the Frontier mansion, working on reports. She had patrol duty later, but for now she was dressed down in comfy sweats and a sweater, which was more practical for in-house desk work anyway. She was filling Steve in before his flight home, which would give him time to think things over.

                Steve laughed, “Paradise? I don’t think so Nat. These kids needed a lot of work. But they should be all up to snuff now. How are things back home? Is Marian any better?”

                “Oh, she’s still moping around, but every day it’s getting better. It helps that Tony’s keeping his distance.” Steve muttered affirmatively, so Natalie continued. “But there is still the matter of those killings that keep popping up all over Hopling. The GMA is continually looking for any leads, but so far all they have come up with is a scattering of different witnesses and confessions. All we know for certain is it’s a metahuman doing it. And we’ve found nothing ourselves.”

                “Well keep looking, Nat. But have everyone be careful. So far whoever’s doing this has just targeted criminals, but there’s no telling when they will start aiming higher. Anyone who can kill so easily has major psychological issues and cannot be trusted.”

                “I know, honey. We are playing it safe.” Natalie checked the clock, “I must be going now; it’s my turn for the evening patrol. I will see you soon Steve.”

                “Take care of yourself, Nat. I love you and am looking forward to coming home to a complete family again.”

                After straightening up her desk, Natalie headed towards the changing rooms to put on her uniform. Tony watched her walk by, and waited until she was through the door to make his call. After a few rings, the receptionist answered.

                “Yes, hello,” Tony said, swallowing beforehand to regain his composure. “I’d like to schedule an appointment to speak to Mr. Kenneth Bridge.” A pause as the person on the other end replied. “I know he doesn’t normally take appointments, but tell him my name is Tony Wilson, and it’s about that offer he made me.”

                Natalie flew through the air, the cool night sky rushing past. She was excited for Steve’s return; despite becoming the media center of Frontier since the super villains’ big attack, she did not enjoy it one bit. She preferred Steve to be the leader and center of attention, with her providing support. Plus, ever since her injury at the hands of Snake Eyes, she was growing more and more tired of the superhero life. First she was shot, then Tony, and Marian has already almost been killed plenty of times as well. It was getting more dangerous, and she feared something terrible would happen and rob her and Steve of their well-earned retirement and old age. Natalie was ready to step down, let the younger generations take over, and spend the rest of her life with Steve out of their Frontier uniforms.

                While lost in her thoughts, Natalie was shaken by her radio as it crackled out a police bulletin. A mugging had happened only a few blocks away from her, and it had apparently gone bad. Natalie kicked her telekinesis into high gear and flew there as fast as she could, landing a block away. She didn’t want to get to the scene right away; instead she wanted to hang back and look for any suspicious bystanders. The police had a theory the killings were to send a message, and that the killer hung back to watch the public’s reaction.

                While she was looking around the streets, a young woman almost ran right into her. “Oh, I’m sorry,” Natalie said, looking at the girl. She had long dark red hair and piercing, bright green eyes. The woman avoided direct eye contact, but Natalie could tell that she recognized her.

                “Hey you’re Teleka! From Frontier!”

                “Yes, but I’m working, so-” but Natalie didn’t get a chance to finish. The young woman called to everyone, pointing out Natalie. Soon too many were crowded around Natalie wanting to talk, and she needed to excuse herself and take off to a nearby rooftop. After taking a few breaths of air, Natalie started looking around again for any clues as to what happened during the mugging.

                After a couple of minutes, Natalie heard a chuckle behind her. She turned and saw a homeless man leaning up against a rooftop doorway to the apartment building they were on. “You lookin’ for what happened down there, eh?” He pointed towards the block were the mugging happened. By this time a duo of police officers had showed up and were roping off the alleyway.

                Natalie looked him over, and aside from the smell of unwashed human, figured he couldn’t be much of a threat. “Yes I am. You wouldn’t happen to have seen anything, have you?”

                “Oh, I seen it go down all right. Well, at least I think I did.” He shrugged as he grinned, “Maybe I did; maybe I didn’t. It’s hard keeping my memories straight living on the streets like this.”

                Natalie sighed. Hopling didn’t have a large homeless population, but they were still there all the same, and needed help just like everyone else. “What would you like?” Natalie motioned to her suit, which clearly did not have any pockets. “I’m afraid I don’t have any money on me. But I can put in a good word for you. Maybe even get your name in the paper for helping out the investigation.”

                The man thought for a few moments before nodding. “Well usually money is what I’m after, but I suppose a kind word from such a pretty lady will do this time.”

He smiled again and walked towards the edge of the building where Natalie stood. He pointed towards the alley, “I was up here, minding my own business, when I saw a cute little lady walk into that alley. Nothing weird about that, in this part of the city. I figured she wasn’t much of a lady and was meeting someone there. But then I heard a couple screams, and they were definitely not from a little lady. They were a grown man screaming, that’s for sure. Next thing I know, the lady walks out the alley, quickly like, and disappears into the crowd.”

“I know it’s a bit of a distance, but did you get a good look at her?”

“Oh, I sure did. Like I said, she was a cute little lady. She looked around before she walked into that alley and I got a good looksee at her. Dark hair, past her shoulders, and she was wearing a brown coat. Not that that’s a good description, seeing as how everyone’s wearing coats now that it’s gettin’ colder. But there was one thing I just couldn’t believe. Even from all the way up here I could see her eyes. They were glowing and looked all eerily like, as if they were some ghostly headlights of a tiny car. Definitely not a normal human, I’ll tell you that. Ain’t nobody but a metahuman who’s got glowing green eyes like that.”

Natalie grunted, shocked by what she was hearing. Female, dark hair, brown coat; those descriptors weren’t much. But it was the bright green eyes that hit Natalie hard. She looked back towards the disappearing crowd where she was a few minutes ago, desperately hoping to see her but knowing it was too late. The young woman who bumped into Natalie and caused the crowd to gather matched the description perfectly.

The Eagle #7 - Among Shadows & Doubts pt. 1

                Two weeks after the attack on the Eagle, the debris was being cleaned up, the bodies of the fallen laid to rest in the grassy fields, and the reconstruction plans drawn up. The citizens were shaken but their faith in the Eagle and what it represented could not be broken so easily. The Electric Eagle had defeated the giant and saved the city. Although it was a concern that the other villains escaped, most people were content knowing they were still continuing to fly.

                In these past two weeks, Alex had managed to keep the secret of how the Eagle was flying, despite his daily trek to the little room. After a few days John suspected Volt had done something, but after being reassured that everything was fine by Alex, John let it go. He trusted Alex would confide in him when he was ready.

                In truth, Alex was not sure he would ever tell John what had happened. Almost every day Alex ran a test to detect any brain activity, no matter how minor, in Valerie, yet every day the results came back the same. Since that tiny spike when Alex was unconscious in the room, there had been nothing. Was it just a fluke? A malfunction in the monitor caused by Mind Queen’s psychic presence? Alex feared he would never discover the truth.

                One day, after having lunch with Damien in the courtyard, Alex found himself lost in thought as he watched his son run off to go play with some friends. Damien had no memories of his mother, Valerie, outside of what Alex had told him. The incident with her powers happened when he was just a baby. Alex had raised him as best as he could, and was grateful for not only John’s help, but also the nannies and caretakers who performed above and beyond their respected duties. Still, they would never be an acceptable replacement for the mother Damien lost. Alex sighed, wondering if he was ready to devote time and resources into trying to bring her back. He wasn’t sure how far down that rabbit hole he was ready to plunge. Pushing the thought out of his head for now, he noticed John in his study and went to talk with his friend.

                John hadn’t pushed for information yet, but Alex knew he deserved at least an explanation. “Take a seat, John.” Alex pulled a folder out of his drawer and opened it on the desk, revealing multiple medical tests. “Let’s see what you think of all this.”

                “Oh, that can’t be good.” The scientist quickly jotted down some notes and checked to make sure the recorder was on. “Dr. Muahitl!” he called as he ran over towards the lead scientist. “You’re going to want to take a look at these readings!”

                John placed the pages of tests on the desk and sat in silence for a while. Alex gave him all the details concerning Valerie’s spike, and was waiting patiently for his friend to draw a conclusion on his own.

Finally John spoke. “You’ve been torturing yourself mentally for two weeks over a tiny spike, Alex. If you want my advice, it’s this: relax. There are multiple reasons this could have happened. Just the presence of the psychic in the room could have interfered. Or it really could have been Valerie. Either way, there’s nothing happening now. You already monitor her brain activity. Just leave it at that. Check it once a day if that will soothe your conscious, but I honestly don’t believe anything is going to happen. Now if it was at a constant elevated rate, then this would be a totally different conversation. But for now, let her rest. Going off of what evidence you have before me, she’s not coming back any time soon.”

Alex nodded, taking in every word and considering it. “Thank you, my friend. What you have said I’ve been trying to convince myself of, and it is good to hear it from you. I just had a glimmer of hope…”

“I know you want her back, Alex. Not only for you, but also for Damien. And perhaps one day she will come back to you. But for now, you must focus on other things. Rebuilding the Eagle, for one.”

“Yes,” Alex glared out his window at the half-destroyed city, “and finding Volt to deliver a just punishment. I still have no idea how he discovered her existence.”

John nodded. “I don’t believe anyone will deny you that request. Plus I think if you manage to bring him back up here, the council will have no qualms about throwing him overboard this time.”

The two friends chuckled at the dark humor before John continued. “As for how he found out, I don’t think that’s something we’ll ever know. We are the only two people who know of her, and unless that psychic was probing our heads from miles away, she couldn’t have found out through us. But look at the positives, Alex. At least he didn’t destroy your world like he threatened to.”

Alex lowered his eyes to the desk with the scattered test pages. “He almost did, John. This was too close for comfort.”

“I agree. That’s why I’m glad the enrollment for joining the Eagle Men has more than doubled. Of course you’ll have to start calling it something else given the increase in women joining. Something like the Eagle Squad?”

Alex laughed, but the two were interrupted by a phone call.  Alex’s eyes went wide after he answered it.

“What’s wrong?” John asked concernedly.

“I need to get to the research facility immediately.” Alex stood up to leave and grabbed his communicator. “Something has happened with the shadow energy project.”

Frontier #38 - Cursed pt. 1

                Tony hated the rain. Even though he had his super speed, he still became wet and the slick surfaces caused him to slip more than once on his afternoon patrol. Coupling the rain with the chilly October breeze blowing through the city and no action whatsoever made Tony’s day miserable. When he finally returned home to the Frontier mansion it started down-pouring. As he walked towards the changing rooms to undress out of his wet uniform he saw Natalie getting ready for her evening shift.

                Lucky, he thought to himself as Natalie put up a telekinetic umbrella before saying goodbye and leaving. She’s only got the cold to deal with.

                After changing into dry clothes and grabbing some food, Tony walked into the rec room to watch some TV. He checked his step when he saw Marian curled up on the couch watching a movie. He stood watching for a bit, trying to figure out how far along the movie was, and it was enough time for Marian to turn around for a drink and notice him.

                Tony nodded to the movie, “Almost done?” He tried to sound as cheerful as he could, but it was hard after a rainy patrol day. Obviously his voice conveyed his annoyance more than he had hoped.

                “Guess so,” Marian said as she stood up and turned the movie off.

                “Hey, I was just asking. I can go watch TV in my room, no biggie.” Tony had heard all about the botched mission Marian and Matt went on two weeks ago from Natalie and Francis, including how Matt up and left the mansion afterwards despite the budding relationship between him and Marian. Tony felt a twang of jealousy whenever he thought about Marian and Matt together but he pushed it down. Either nobody knew why or nobody was saying exactly what happened down in the Caribbean, but Tony knew with certainty that it must have been something bad to push Matt away so suddenly. He hadn’t had a lot of time to get to know Matt, and that was one thing Tony had looked forward to when returning from his break. Still, nobody was more hurt than Marian, and she was shifting between anger and sorrow ever since.

                “It’s fine, it was a stupid movie anyway.” Marian stormed past him and went up the stairs to her room.

Tony sighed as he sat down. Things were still rough between them, given the fact that these past four months have been insane for the superhero team. The vast increase of super villains in Hopling had led to a drastic decrease in communication between team members. Tony remembered when almost every day they were all at the mansion, doing one thing or another. Sometimes they’d even go out on patrols in pairs. Now the patrols were more frequent and only rarely did they go out in pairs, and if that never to the same area. It was a different era for Frontier. Tony wasn’t sure what Steve was going to do about it, but after returning to a quiet, tense mansion, Eternal’s offer was sounding nice.

I could be a GMA agent, Tony thought as he turned on the TV and flipped through some channels. After a moment he looked around the empty rec room absently and took in the heavy atmosphere of the mansion. But if I leave now, what would happen to them?

“What’s gonna happen to em?” A young tattooed man looked at the three women lined up against the wall. Out of the three, only one looked somewhat decently fed and taken care of; the other two were undoubtedly whores who lived on sex and drugs. The decent one was staring at him, her green eyes pulling at his conscious.

“What does it matta to you?” The big man behind the desk, dressed exactly like a stereotypical pimp, tapped his cigar ashes into a tray with one hand and pushed a bag across the desk with the other. “There’s your pay.”

The younger man opened the bag and started trying to count the money as he attempted to ignore the green eyed girl’s stare.

“It’s all there, champ. But next time, when I say no whores, I mean no whores.” The pimp pointed his cigar at the two drugged up women. “And those two are most definitely whores.”

“Look, your man didn’t tell me no whores.” The younger man started stammering out an explanation, but found it was difficult to speak. “He-he just said three gir-women. Three women.”

“You tripping on something yourself?” The pimp stood up and towered over both the desk and the younger man. “I think you better leave my office before I show you why I don’t need any guards to protect me.”

The younger man turned around and took another long look into the girl’s eyes before stumbling out of the room. The pimp cursed under his breath at the younger man and then walked over to the women. The first two he quickly went over but seemed unimpressed. However he spent more time looking over the other girl. She couldn’t have been older than twenty, was of medium height, in between five and six feet, with long dark red hair and a natural beauty that was hidden underneath a layer of grime and dirt. Her green eyes shone with an eerie light, and he felt drawn into them as he stared.

“You’re gonna make my boss very happy,” he tried to say, but instead could only mumble. Suddenly the pimp crashed onto the floor and started convulsing. The girl slowly straddled the big man’s chest and held his head forward so she could stare into his eyes.

“You should have made your living in an honest way,” she said quietly. The convulsions increased until, with one last heave, the man was dead. Only then did the girl break her stare. She got up and walked over to the two women, who were cowering in fear by the door. “Change your lives around, or I’ll come for you too.”

As the two women burst out of the room running, the other girl followed at a slower pace. When she reached the front door to the ratty old apartment they were in, she saw the younger man crumbled on the floor. She turned him over and saw he still had a bit of life left in him. “Tsk tsk,” she said as she held his head straight and stared into his eyes. “You’ve been a bad boy.”

Less than a minute later the girl left the apartment building and started walking down the desolate road. It was dusk, and the street lights were starting to turn on. She put away the wad of cash she took from the now dead man and pulled out her cell phone to check the time. “Perfect,” she said to herself as she stuck her phone away. “Just enough time to clean myself up and grab a bite to eat before the real work starts.”

As she walked down the road she couldn’t help but start humming a song. She felt so alive after finishing a job, and it was a welcome feeling. Much better than the self-hatred, sorrow, and disgust that used to follow one of her uncontrollable episodes. Now that she’d been using her powers more frequently, she had gained some sort of handle on her powers and could actually use them when she wanted, at least for the most part.

Though it was a dirty, dangerous job she had; but somebody had to do it. With the rise of super villains in this city, the superheroes were too occupied to deal with the little crimes. Someone needed to clean up the dark streets and back alleys of the city of Hopling and make them safe. And as far as she could tell, there was nobody better qualified to kill the criminals of this city than little ol’ Laura.