Disclaimer
: MASK and all recognizable things belong to DIC Enterprises. Only Evadne Hathaway and the things around her are mine.Authors note: I am not super familiar with MASK and the characters. Please forgive my mistakes. This story takes place after the episode "Raiders of the Orient Express", but the race episodes never happened.
Wind Chaser
Eva
Chapter 1
A new member
The man was in his late thirties looked around the table. The table was filled with ten men and one woman. "The reason I have called you here is a bit unusual. Today we don't have a mission. As you know, some time ago the PNA has given us several new resources. And as a part of that Bruce, Alex and I have been working on a new mask and car. These have been finished recently. We have now started the process of finding another agent."
"What kind of car and mask have you thrown together?" Buddy Hawks asked.
"Alex, would you like to show it?"
"Certainly. The new car is Wind Chaser. It has a large wind generator which can create dust or sand storms. Also it has four machine guns and missiles at the rear." Alex showed them a holographic model of a pink Ferrari 550 Maranello, decorated with white streaks. Then the car transformed into battle mode. The headlights disappeared, revealing machine guns. On the roof also two guns appeared and the rear of the car lifted up, showing two small missile launchers and the exhaust of the wind generator.
"The mask is named Psylocke. It's different from our masks. We activate our masks with a voice command and further we control it with our minds. But this mask goes a step further. This mask allows two or more minds to interface through the mask. With Psylocke the user will be able read minds when necessary, communicate speechless or the user can influence people with it on a small scale by forcing her will. The more practice, the more the user can do." The holographic image showed the pink with white streaks decorated mask. The visor extended from the bridge of her nose where it was small to the side of the face where it was wide. It looked a little bit like butterfly wings and the visor was colored a darker shade of pink.
The group studied the designs. "Now I understand why you used a name from the X-men comic for the mask. And I pity the guy with all the pink." Brad Turners comment was.
"Who said it was gonna be a new male team member?" Matt said. "We have been looking for several persons who would be suited for the new instruments. This afternoon I have an appointment with the person from which we thought that is the most qualified. It is a woman. And many of the others also. But with some luck you will meet the new member this evening."
***
Evadne glanced at her watch with a pissed look. "Today had to be the day that a big car accident would have to happen." she murmured while she placed the final stitch in the arm of a little girl.
Finally she could leave and she was left without hope that she could change from her uniform to her normal cloths. She toyed a moment with the thought to take her car, but she decided against it so she could fix up her hair and make-up in the taxi.
She hurried outside and signaled a taxi. When the taxi was driving, she pulled out a hairbrush and some make-up and she managed to get her face and hair in alignment.
The taxi stopped for a big manor. Evadne paid the cab driver and arranged her uniform. Then she made her way to the door and rang.
The door was opened by a boy about twelve years old. He looked with surprise at her nurse's uniform and Evadne smiled. "I am Evadne Hathaway. I have an appointment with Matt Trakker."
Suddenly a woman with grey hair appeared behind the boy. "Miss Hathaway, Mr. Trakker is expecting you. Please come inside."
Evadne smiled again when she stepped inside. "Would you please follow me to Mr. Trakker's office?"
Evadne followed the man though richly decorated hallways to a spacious office where she was offered a place.
***
Matt carefully scrutinized the woman before him. She had long black hair, which was styled in a simple bun in her neck. Her eyes were a clear blue. Her face was tanned and she seemed to have some oriental blood.
"My excuse for the way I look. There was an emergency at the hospital. I didn't have the time to change."
"Do not worry about you appearance, Miss Hathaway. I know that you were completing you're duties."
"Mr. Trakker, I was wondering why you wanted this appointment with me. I remember that my father spoke about you, but I never met you personally."
"That is a long story. But first I have to tell that everything we will discuss here is confi-dential. Breaking the secrecy can lead to incarceration."
"I understand."
"Miss Hathaway, are you familiar with the organizations MASK and VENOM?"
"I am."
"I am one of the people who arrange everything that is going on around the MASK organization. Momentarily the group has twelve members. But the group also gained a new car and mask recently and that means that we have to find a new member. We have done research on several people. You came out as one of the best candidates."
It stayed silent for a few moments. Evadne was staring at him with an open mouth. She shook her head and scraped her jaw of the floor. "Me? A MASK agent? Why me?"
"You have several skills. You have medical training and you're father taught you a lot what he learned in his spying career. You know your way in the higher classes and you have excellent martial arts skills. But the most important thing is that you have the training to work with the mask…" Matt explained about how her training and upraise were necessary to control the mask and answered a few of her questions. But at the end he had a question: "Do you want to join us?"
It was silent for about ten minutes. "I accept it… But what do we do now?"
She was surprised when Matt walked over to the wall and keyed in a code on a small console. Evadnes mouth fell open when a small piece of the wall shoved away to show an elevator.
"Please come with me." Matt said while turned towards her. Evadne scraped her jaw of the floor again and followed Matt into the elevator.
***
They arrived in the MASK headquarters at Boulder Hill. Matt gave Evadne a tour and showed her Wind Chaser and the Psylocke. Evadne was also invited to stay for diner, so she could meet her future colleague's.
***
Evadne made her way in the elegant dining room. A group of people was seated around the large table. Evadne scanned the faces. They weren't unfriendly, but the taxing glances at her made her feel uneasy.
She was glad that Matt had given her the opportunity to change in the cloths she had with her. Matt might have told her that her appearance didn't matter, but Evadne felt more at ease in what she wore now. She was wearing a knee long black skirt, a white silken blouse, a dark pink blazer and black pumps. She wore her hear lose, with some of it held back by a pearly hair clip.
She walked over to the empty place besides Matt and smiled.
***
Matt stood up when he saw her enter. Moving calmly she made her way towards him. When she stood besides him, he addressed the group. "Lady and gentlemen, this is Evadne Hathaway. She is the new team member. Evadne, these are Bruce Sato, Brad Turner, Dusty Hayes, Alex Sector, Hondo MacLean, Buddy Hawks, Gloria Baker, Julio Lopez, Ace Riker, Calhoun Burns and Jacques LaFleur." He pointed to each team member when they called their name.
Evadne nodded towards the group and took her place. At one side Matt sat, at the other side a man with Asian looks. Bruce Sato, if she remembered correctly. Directly across her sat a woman with shoulder length brown hair. The only woman in the company, besides herself.
A bald man with a red beard sitting close by was the first one to address her while the soup was served. "What do you do in your daily life, Evadne?"
"I work in Angel Hospital. I am an ER nurse." Evadne told. The group soon entered a comfortable conversation, very busy with getting to know the new member. And in return she got to know her new team mates.
***
Evadne fell into a split to evade Gloria's high kick. A few moments later she was on her feet again and flipped towards Gloria. She dropped towards the ground and attempted to sweep Gloria's feet away. To her surprise it worked and Gloria crashed on the ground.
Evadne stood up and reached Gloria a hand. "I hope you weren't taking it easy on me." she said laughing.
"I wouldn't dream of it. For being on the team you have to stay fit." Gloria walked over to a bench on the side and took a water bottle. After taking a few sips she handed it to Evadne. "Where did you learn to fight?"
Evadne also took a few sips. "My parents started teaching me at very young age. My mother is of Asian decent and learned it from her father. My father learned it in the army. He also worked a couple of years as a spy. Most of the things he learned, he also taught them to me. And to my two brothers."
***
The next few weeks Evadne didn't have to accompany a mission. Yet she spent a lot of time in Boulder Hill, training and getting familiar with her car, mask and the headquarters itself.
On the area's she was struggling with, her other team members were more than willing to help her out. Getting the mask under control was the most difficult part, but finally she managed in a way that she hadn't expected. She discovered that the state she reached with meditation did the trick. From there she worked until she controlled Psylocke.