ONE WEEK LATER

THE BRONX-ROOFTOPS

Long before she was running away from the law on the city's rooftops, there was a time when Maria Velasquez was a typical girl, living wither father and kid sister, Anna. Back in those days, Anna was the smart and bookish one, Maria was the rougher, wilder one. Also, more physical, excelling in gymnastics and track and field.

Their father, a biochemist loved them both. Said that each inherited a different side of their mother, who'd passed away when they were both too young to remember.

In school, Maria always stood up and protected her sister when he got bullied.

When the both grew into adults, Anna followed in her father's footsteps, working in the scientific field, while Maria joined the army.

Separate destinies for the two sisters.

Anna became as brilliant a scientist as her father.

Maria discovered she had a natural gift with martial arts and weapons, particularly edged weapons. A gift she put to deadly use with cold efficiency.

Then, almost two years before this night, the One Police Plaza blast. Anna and father were together. They both died in the blast.

Maria lost everything in one moment of random insanity, as did many that day.

Filled with hate, rage and guilt, she turned to vengeance. She became a ruthless vigilante. A deadly predator.

She took on the name Tarantula.

She hunted and killed every kind of scum she could find: pimps, pushers, sexual predators..No one escaped her wrath.

She usually cut them with the two short swords she always carried. 13 ΒΌ short swords from Tanto Cold Steel. She also had retractable blades underneath her booths.

She seldom used guns, sometimes stealing them off her opponents and ditching them. But they came in handy sometimes.

Like five minutes before she was running away. She had just trashed a gang hangout. She killed a dozen of them.

At first.

A good sized firefight erupted. There were to be joined by another half dozen 'bangers. They ran into her instead. More gunfire. A crash. An explosion.

Lots of noise. Bound to attract attention.



Hence her running hell, trying to escape a flying car that was hovering twenty feet above her.

The doors opened and three people jumped out.

She recognized two of them. USAgent and Battlestar. The third one was a mulatto, handsome, close to her age, who landed like a jungle cat.

"Freeze." He said, calmly. "Vigilante Task Force. You're under arrest."

"Come quietly." Battlestar said, "and you will not be harmed."

She stood, defensively, she felt like a trapped animal.

They surrounded her.

The car lowered itself, and a strong looking black woman came out.

"It's over, Maria." She said, her hand on her sidearm. "War's over, baby. Time to end this."

"Who the hell are you people?" Tarantula asked.

"Didn't I just say that?" the mulatto man said. "Didn't I just say Anti Vigilante Task Force? Man, no one listens anymore."

"At ease, Cole." The black woman said. "I'm Agent Jones, I'm with the Justice Department."

Tarantula was still in an aggressive stance. "Goddamn it..."

"Easy, girl, easy." Jones said. "We're not here to hurt you."

"Just wanna lock me up in jail." Velasquez said. "You got these two Captain America wannabes hunting people like me, while those scum I just killed rob and kill, no problem."

"We know you're hurtin', Maria." Jones said. "I can't even say I feel any sympathy for that kind of scum. But murder isn't the way."

"Fuck you." Tarantula said. "How the fuck do you know about my pain?"

"I do." USAgent said.

Maria was startled. She looked at the towering shield wielding super-hero.

"I do." Agent repeated. "I watched as terrorists murdered my parents. I know your pain. The path you're taking, it brings nothing but more pain and more violence. Trust me."

Tarantula kept looking for a way out.

"You can't escape." Agent said quietly. "Come on, give up. Come on."

Maria let her arms down. She couldn't quite have an opinion on the man called Cole. He jumped and landed from that flying car like the other two like it was nothing. Was he enhanced? A mutant?

She was out of her league. She might as well-



Another engine was heard. Another plane? She saw a funky, futuristic looking black aircraft appear seemingly out of nowhere.

Judging by her captor's reactions, it wasn't one of theirs. It dropped a sphere on the feds' car. The sphere broke and this dark slime covered the car. And within second, it became rock solid.

Then smoke came from underneath the craft as it flew over Maria and The Task Force's heads, along with a harness that locked itself onto Tarantula and yanked her away, as the plane flew off. There seemed to be some kind of winch pulling Maria into the weird plane.

USAgent and the others were still coughing and watching helplessly as their mark flew away.

"Well." Cole said. "That was a bit embarrassing."

"That thing just materialized in thin air?" Battlestar asked.

"Must have been cloaked and muffled." Cole said.

"Who the hell was it?" Jones said, coughing.

"I would have thought Moon Knight." Cole said. "But he usually has that Moon shaped thing, and it's silver, not black."

"Then, who?" USAgent asked.

Tarantula was pulled inside, still gasping and coughing. She saw a lone figure piloting the thing.

"Hope that didn't give you whiplash, down there." The voice said. "I had to be quick."

The voice was male, deep. Sounding odd, as if he wearing a helmet.

She pulled out her blades. "Who. Are. You?"

The man pushed a couple of buttons, a voice said, "Auto pilot engaged" and he got up and turned around and faced her. "Tarantula. Maria. I'm not the enemy. But will you allow me to be your friend?"

She blinked. Her vision was still blurry. Then it became clear again. Then she recognized the man.

"You?" She said. "I thought you retired?"

"I did, back in the mid 1990s. But recent events brought me back into the fold."

Maria lowered her blades and sheathed them.

"Good." The man said. "Let me introduce myself properly. I'm not comfortable enough to give you my real name yet, but you can call me Night Thrasher."



The man was wearing his black armour, with truncheons on his wrists she knew could be launched. She also knew that the suit was bullet resistant...and that the man wearing it had skills. Also, the helmet, which looked like a mix of motorcycle and hockey helmets, only had a horizontal sliver barely large enough for his eyes.

"Why did you help me?" Tarantula asked.

"We're on the side of this war." Night Thrasher said. "We should work together. Trying to bring a little justice, a little payback for innocent folks getting hurt out there. "

"Sounds good so far."

"So you'll join us."

"Who's 'us'?"

Thrasher paused. "You'll find out soon enough."