Tiana and Ashtin ran to Tiana's house, desperate to find their grandma. Luckily their ranger training made them strong enough to face this. As they approached their house they relieved to see their grandma was safe. She turned and waved at her grandchildren.
"Grandma you're in danger!" Ashtin yelled.
She frowned and just as she opened her mouth an explosion was heard. Tiana looked to see shards of metal fly towards them she held out her hand and stopped them. She gasped when she realized she used her powers in front of her grandmother. The more shocking part was the fact she didn't seem surprised.
Tiana threw the shards to the ground. A man emerged from the fire holding the Topaz Lion.
"Not you again." Tiana said.
"Hello Obadiah." She said.
"Hello Betty you look lovely as always." He said charmingly.
Ashtin and Tiana frowned. "Grandma do you know him?"
She ignored them and turned to Obadiah.
"I won't let you have it." She hissed.
"Then I'll have to kill you." He said, his tone seemed like he really was upset by the fact.
"You'll have to go through me." Ashtin hissed.
Obadiah held out the talisman and fired, Ashtin leaped up in the air and rolled to the ground, dodging the blast. Ashtin then upper cut him.
"Guess you didn't get the memo. I'm sorta a genius." Ashtin grinned as he punched Obadiah in the face.
"Meaning no move works of me twice." Ashtin growled as he did a spin kick to Obadiah's neck. Obadiah growled. He channeled the energy into his fist and swung, knocking Ashtin into the wall.
Tiana saw this and pulled out her trumpet and fired a beam of yellow energy at Obadiah who fired back. Tiana wrapped herself in her a cocoon of telekinetic energy. Tiana pushed it back throwing energy at Obadiah. He yelled as he was thrown back.
He growled and got cm back up. His body surged with yellow energy. He unleashed the blast and just as it was about to hit Tiana, she vanished in flash of pink light. Tiana materialized next to her grandma who held a ape talisman with opals on it.
Tiana gasped.
"I knew you had it." He hissed.
"Away." She said as the talisman glowed and he vanished.
She turned to her grandchildren and sighed. "I suppose I should explain myself."
Several Minutes
The three sat in their grandma's room in a circle. Their grandma held out a large book and gave it to them.
"It all started I'm 1966, two years before Martin Luther King was assassinated." She said.
"Is it just me or do all your stories revolve around Martin Luther King?" Ashtin asked.
"The greatest man whoever lived." She said.
"I'm more of an Malcolm X kind if guy." Ashtin said.
"Can you guys stay on topic there's sort of a murderous psychopath trying to kill us." Tiana said.
"I thought I was supposed to be the snarky one." Ashtin said.
"Shhhhhh. Now back to my story." She said. "I was your age when me and my friends found the talismans."
Georgia, 1966
Elizabeth Jenkins impatiently tapped her watch as she watched the bus. She had chocolate colored skin, a small black afro, and had dark brown eyes. She wore pink winter clothes and had a pink purse. She sat next to her two best friends. One of them was was Peter Walker-
Present Time
"Wait our grandpa?" Ashtin said.
"Don't interrupt. Just because you tall that doesn't make you grown." She said.
He was bi racial, so he had light skin, light brown eyes, a brown buzz cut, and dimples to die for. He wore a red coat and jeans. The boy next to him was Obadiah Foster. He had dark brown skin, dark dreadlocks, and black coat and khakis.
Finally the bus showed. However when it opened the doors the bus driver wouldn't let them on.
"Sorry there's no room." The bus driver said.
Peter pointed to all the open seats in the front. "Are you blind?"
"That's the white section. It's not for negroes. Even mulatto kids like you." He said.
"You-" Peter had to be restrained by Elizabeth and Obadiah.
The bus driver ignored him. He closed the doors and drove off. Peter growled.
"That's why we need to join the Panthers." Peter said.
"The panthers? They carry guns." Obadiah said nervously.
"So do the police." Peter pointed out.
"Think about it don't you two want to have kids?" Peter asked.
"Yeah and I want them to have it better than I did. My grandparents were slaves I want my grandkids to look at me and know I fought." Elizabeth said.
"Then we have to make a difference." Tyler said.
The three continued walking until they arrived at the museum. Elizabeth and Obadiah loved knowledge and eagerly looked through the window.
"We should go inside." Elizabeth said.
Peter groaned and tilted his head back. "Do we have to?"
"Yes!" Obadiah said and pulled his friends inside.
They saw two teens about their age at the front desk. One of them was a boy. He was six feet tall, wore a yellow leather jacket and some slacks. He had curly brown hair and dark brown eyes. The other was girl. She was a couple inches shorter than him and had long black braids dangling down her back. She wore a blue dress and wore blue beads around her neck.
"Can I help you?" The boy asked.
"Yeah three tickets for the museum." Peter said grumpily as he handed over the money.
Elizabeth frowned and scratched her chin.
"Do you two go to Freedom High?" Elizabeth asked.
"Yeah. You and I have English together I'm Theo and this is my sister Cleo." He said.
"Pleasure to meet you." Elizabeth smiled.
The the three teens started to walk around the museum. Everyone was amazed by the beautiful exhibits.
"Look at this." Obadiah smiled.
He pointed to a shield with five talismans in it. A yellow lion, a red rhino, a sapphire elephant, a black dragon, and a pink ape.
"It's beautiful."
Present Time
"So that's how you found them?" Tiana asked.
"Damn you kids don't know when to be quiet. Yes. I thought you guys wanted to hear the story." She said.
"We do." Ashtin said.
Their grandma smiled. "Good because this is where it gets interesting."
1966
Peter walked up close to sheild and studied the cracks.
"What the-"
Before he could finish the shield exploded and released rainbow colored energy through the room. Peter, Elizabeth, and Obadiah grunted as they were thrown backwards into the wall. Outside Theo and Cleo heard the noise and decided to investigate. They went inside and were hit with the some rainbow colored energy.
Elizabeth was the first to regain consciousness and groaned. She sat up rubbed her head. Only when she touched her head she didn't feel skin instead a cold, metallic helmet. She looked up in the mirror she wore a pink combat suit with white sleeves and leggings, pink gloves, and an Ape head on her chest. Her helmet and belt buckle were also of an ape. She gasped. She looked at the others and saw that they had a similar get up. Peter's suit was red and had a rhino theme, Cleo's suit was blue and had an elephant theme, Obadiah's suit was black and had a dragon theme, and Theo's suit was yellow and had a lion theme.
"What's happening to us?" Cleo asked.
Obadiah looked up and down and frowned. He felt a cold and dead feeling inside him. He looked over to a flower and watched it wither and turn black. He gasped. Luckily no one noticed.
Peter grinned as he clenched his fists. "I feel strong."
Theo clapped his hands in joy and released a wave if yellow energy. It shattered the windows and created cracks in the wall. Everyone gasped.
"It's official we're freaks." Elizabeth stressed.
She tried to walk away and and accidently created a portal and fell through it. Everyone screamed when she saw that she was gone.
"What the hell just happened?" Obadiah asked.
Peter gasped. He felt like he'd been shot. He desperately needed to find her.
"Where is she?" Peter asked.
Present Time
Tiana felt her morpher ring and picked it up, interrupting the story.
"Hello?" She said.
"Hey Tiana, it's Obadiah and unless you want your pretty blond haired friend to meet a demise you listen to what I say." He said.
Tiana gasped. She could hear Z screaming in the background.
"What do you want?" She said.
So those of you have been wondering about the Civil War Event it has been completed yet the release will be delayed because of a couple of Defenders chapters that need to be published.
