The Real Me
Chapter One: Wish You Were Here (5)
A bit of grease splattered on the plate as Sarah lifted the slice of bacon with her fingers. A moment later she practically inhaled the barely cook, nearly raw strip of meat, savoring the hickory smoked flavor. She dug her fork into the hash-browns and scooped up some of the roasted potatoes.
The fork froze only a few inches from the plate as she looked up at the sound of approaching footsteps, the slow and steady rhythm of the woman's heartbeat. A well trained warrior who kept herself in peak condition. She tasted the air and while the filters did a decent job of eliminating strong odors, they simply couldn't compensate for her enhanced senses.
Sarah shoveled a couple forkfuls' of hash-browns into her mouth and chewed quickly as she waited for the knock to come on her door. "Come in," she called out as she began to cut the thick steak into smaller more manageable bit size pieces.
A tall woman pushed open the door. She might have been an inch or two shorter than Sarah, and her blonde hair was a shade or two lighter then the teenager's own darkening blonde locks while her intelligent blue eyes were lighter color, more like a warm tropical spring than the deep frozen ocean.
Her clothes were what Sarah imagined… A slight frown creased Sarah's lips. She really wasn't sure what she imagined. Maybe what a civilian would wear. Her outfit was anything but. A bland, dark colored shirt with the sleeves pushed up slightly; loose blue pants that somehow clung to her legs as if they were painted on and yet still afforded her with an ease of movement, mobility, and durability. It wasn't very different from the unstable molecule fabric Reed Richard had invented.
"Hello," the woman greeted her with a warm smile and a confident tone.
Sarah set the fork and knife on the tray holding the two plates and then moved the tray to the table and pushed it aside. "Hi," she countered.
"My code name is Black Canary," Dinah said. Indicating one of the chairs Dinah asked, "Do you mind if I sit?"
Sarah shook her head as she shifted on the bed to face the older blonde. She plucked a piece of steak off the plate and popped it into her mouth. Dinah dragged the chair over to the bed as Sarah asked, "Do you belong to some sort of group or more freelance brought in because you have some sort of background in child psychology?"
"We're called the Justice League," Dinah answered as she sat down. "I'm assuming you're feeling better since you disconnected all the monitoring equipment?"
"I don't like being spied on," Sarah said. By spied on I mean creepy old guy on monitor duty, Dinah heard the young girl's voice inside her head. While similar to J'onn it was different as well. Not rough but it certainly lacked J'onn and even M`gann's more skillful touch. I'm not trying to read your mind, I could but that would be rude. I can't really stop the surface thoughts, Professor Xavier wanted to start working with me on tightening my shields but things kind of spun out of control. If you concentrate and project your questions or thoughts we should be able to communicate this way, but it's up to you. "Do you know how I got here?"
Dinah gave Sarah a small shake of her head as she said, "No. No one that was here when you arrived knows anything about you or where you're from or why you appeared on our doorstep. What's the last thing you remember?"
Sarah closed her eyes as she looked backwards, attempting to recreate her memories. She whispered a single word, "Apocalypse."
An image appeared inside Dinah's mind. A gargantuan citadel, dozens of times larger than Metropolis or any other city she has ever seen. It jutted out from the side of a nearly sheer, snow capped mountain. From the vantage it was easy to tell she was hovering miles in the air over the megalithic fortress. A massive host; humans, cyborgs and giant humanoid robots were set in a perimeter around the dark edifice. Each of them prepared to lay down their lives in defense of the citadel.
An energy blast cut a swath through the host and the battle is quickly joined. Dozens, hundreds are killed in the first moments with the ferocity of the initial assault. Robots are ripped apart as they turn on each other and the host they had been a part of.
Sarah's voice was soft, a tiny whisper as she said, "They had gathered, marshaled their forces for a final assault. I was so sure. We hit them hard… Fast. Decimate their ranks before they knew they were under attack." The battle played out in Dinah's mind. Everything that Sarah saw and experienced. "Our forces weren't enough though and Apocalypse's numbers seemed to be inexhaustible." A young man was cut down, than another. Men and women, boys and girls; some of them were children no older than Robin. With each person she saw fall it was as if another piece of her soul shriveled up and died.
"Rage consumed me," Sarah continued. "I slaughtered my way through the horde in front of me. Laid waste to everything in my path. Hours, days… It could have been years. But even I have my limits and I was nearly done when Apocalypse stepped out of his shining citadel. I summoned up everything I had left and unleashed it all upon him."
Dinah witness a massive energy blast. A mushroom cloud billowed upward as a shockwave raced from the citadel. It washed over everything but Apocalypse emerged; his armor was tattered but he appeared unharmed. With nearly nothing left Sarah was easily beaten; battered, bloody, and broken. The monster stood over her, and she was able to see Sarah's reflection in the remains of his dark armor as she struggled to stand.
He reached out, lifting her chin so that she could look upon him as he spoke. "You could have stood at my side. Been the strongest of all my disciples. Burnt the world to a cinder. Now you are nothing more than a husk to be culled from the herd."
There was a tug of power as Sarah reached out to the darkening skies. A bolt of lightning, as thick around as a skyscraper struck the girl's shield. It seemed to absorb the energy as it glowed like the heart of a nascent star until it burst outward…
Dinah found herself back in the room with a sharp gasp. The lights were flickering and energy was crackling over Sarah's body as she absorbed the energy. The young blonde took a breath and the lights returned to normal. Her eyes were damp with unshed tears.
"If you wouldn't mind…?" Sarah mumbled.
With a bit of a nod Dinah stood. "Try to get some rest. I'll be back with some clothes later," she offered a shrug and added, "some sweats and tank tops. Maybe I can convince the creepy old guy to spring for some real clothes. Possibly get you into a real room." Dinah put her hand on the handle and paused. She turned back towards Sarah. "We seem to be having a problem moving your hammer."
Sarah smirked slightly as she laid back down. "Find somebody whose worthy," she advised Dinah as she turned onto her side and pulled the blankets up. She wasn't tired but she felt exhausted. Reliving that day had left her emotionally drained and all the food or energy wasn't going to come close to filling that void.
/ / /
Black Spider just managed to hurl himself out of the spiked projectile's path. This flaming skull vengeance chick was playing for keeps. Hook was already down, curled up in a fetal position and sobbing like a baby and from the smell of it he had soiled himself as well.
That was from a simple look.
He had no intention of ending up the same.
The problem was he couldn't make it pass the leather clad pile of bones. Her chain had a deceptively long reach and appeared to have some sort of rapport with its owner. Her shoulder spikes were also detachable and could elongate into a javelin like projectile and her four knuckle studs could be fired off like bullets. Fortunately it took time for them to re-grow. Not enough time as for as he was concerned.
"Come on!" He shouted hating the tremor of fear in his voice. "You guys are suppose to be heroes. Heroes in training at least." Wincing he silently berated himself. Insulting the people he was counting on to save him was not the way to win or influence people, but he couldn't help the jibe. It was a habit so ingrained it might as well be encoded in his DNA.
"Innocent blood has been spilt and screams out for vengeance," the skeletal apparition stated in its soul wrenching voice. "You will not escape your fate."
Wally stared, gaped he believed would be the more accurate term. He was uncertain about what he should do. Was he really suppose to save the villain that just moments ago had been doing his level best to kill him. Kid Flash, the fastest teen on the planet was frozen with indecision.
"We need to do something," M'gann said but like Wally she was uncertain as to what. The apparition was immune to her telepathic powers and even resistant to her telekinetic abilities, but her probes did sense something inside the creature, a bare glimmer of something beyond her ability to reach.
Another presence, two of them entered her periphery; one possessed a mind like quicksilver. She wasn't a telepath but her psychic shields were strong, a clear indication she had been trained by one. The other mind wasn't anywhere near as well trained and her thoughts were scattered-shot and random. As quickly as they came into focus they vanished just as suddenly.
In that brief moment of contact she learnt quite a bit about the girls. Shadow Cat was strong willed and confident with a dazzling intellect. She was only fifteen but she'd been a member of a team since her thirteenth birthday; fighting super-villains, bigoted humans, aliens and demons. One day she would make a natural leader. M'gann wasn't sure if she should envy the girl or despise her.
Her companion, Spider Woman, was a year older but had gained her powers little more than eleven months ago and had been thrust into the life of a crime fighter. She had been accused of killing her best friend and her own father had been leading the manhunt for her. More than anything she simply wished she could return to the life she had before being bitten by some sort of genetically modified radioactive alien spider.
A pair of young women slid through the roof of the building as if they had simply stepped through an open door. The first woman was covered head to toe in a white and blue form fitting body suit with red spider-web accents along her torso and upper arms as well as a white hood, with a red spider-web interior, that was pulled up over her head. There was a spider motif in the center of her chest.
The second woman clung to her back. A teenager with chestnut colored hair, tufted cat-like ears and oddly shaped hazel eyes that flickered in the darkness, slightly elongated canines and a three foot long reddish brown catlike tail. She was dressed in black and grey clothing that would fade into the darkness. She used nothing more than a simple domino mask to conceal her identity. A dark utility belt was cinched tight around her waist, a pair of escrima sticks were strapped to her left thigh while the hilt of a katana struck up over her left shoulder.
Spider Woman tucked her legs and flipped over backwards allowing Shadow Cat to fall away and flip over until she was right side up and she floated to the floor while Spider Woman continued her flip, she shot out a thin strand of webbing that struck the ceiling and gave it a tug to alter her trajectory. A moment later she was crouched securely on the wall.
The moment Shadow Cat released Spider Woman the older girl's thoughts became visible while Shadow Cat remained ethereal, like gossamer fine silk that she simply couldn't grasp. Wally glanced between the two spider themed individuals. "Do we need to worry about an invasion of the Spider People now? Although if they look more like you then him I may not complain too much."
"Huh," Gwen said with a frown.
Suddenly Shadow Cat's mind became clear again as she said, "Forget about the Spider Man impersonator –"
"Its Black Spider," he corrected. Being compared to some idiot that's only been around for a few months was insulting.
"– He can be dealt with later," Kitty continued completely ignoring Black Spider. "Right now we need to deal Ghost Rider before she does something she's gonna regret later."
"I don't think the hot head is gonna regret anything she does Cat," Gwen commented.
Wally smirked as he said, "If you want the mistress of flame and leather stopped then consider her stopped."
"Don't," Kitty started but Wally was already putting his plan into action. She closed her eyes muttering, "We so need a strategy."
Wally raced around Ghost Rider creating a vacuum only nothing happened to the flames. That's impossible. Fire can't survive in a vacuum. It needs oxyg –
Ghost Rider's chain stiffened into a rigid pole that she stabbed into the vortex. Wally was moving too fast to slow down let alone stop until he crashed into the pole and flipped head over heels and slammed face first into the hardwood floor. Ghost Rider spun the mystical chain. It shifted slightly becoming more of javelin that she hurled with deadly accuracy.
Or it would have if not for M'gann and Gwen. The one snaring the thrown chain with a pair of web lines which gave M'gann something to grab onto with her telekinetic power to shift the trajectory. It still wasn't enough to stop it or alter its course much, but it was enough to save Black Spider's life. Instead of spearing the villian through his guts the weapon embedded itself into the wall a few inches away.
Ghost Rider shifted her gaze to the groaning Kid Flash. Pitch black voids with tiny pricks of amber flames, devoid of any human emotion gazed down on the prone hero and something cold passed through him, freezing him to the very marrow. Then the creature spoke to him and what he thought of as fear just a moment ago become something closer to the precursor of true terror. "The blood of the Innocent screams out for vengeance. Do not interfere in my mission a second time. Vengeance shall be served." She warned him before walking away, her heavy footfalls thudded mercilessly on the hardwood floor.
"Wally," M'gann's concerned voice echoed inside his head.
A new voice, complete with biting sarcasm, joined the conversation. "Mystical flames Einstein. You're not going to extinguish them by dumping a bucket of water over her head or sucking the oxygen out of the area."
"Magic isn't real," Wally countered definitively.
"Glad you cleared that up for me. Maybe you can explain that to my girlfriend once we're done here."
"Cat, you wanna hurry it up," Gwen inquired
"Do we let anybody in on the psychic channel now?" Wally demanded.
"If they can help us, yes." M'gann answered.
Wally was surprised by the answer. He shouldn't have been. M'gann was like that; open, honest… Almost to the point of naiveté. He didn't think there was a deceptive bone in her body. "Fine," he said. "What's your plan or are we just winging it?"
"I'm good with improv," Gwen answered him. Most of her fights were spontaneous in nature.
"Even the best plan relies heavily upon your ability to improvise once first contact is made. You need to be able to plan on the fly, adapt to the situation that presents itself."
"Now that was freaky, I just had a vision of Batman as a chick," Wally informed the group. "Nobody tell Batman. Please," he pleaded
"Fortunately I had Magik make these just in case Ghost Rider became something of a problem," Kitty told them as she took a handful of rune stones from her pouch.
Kid Flash blinked seeing a handful of rather ordinary stones, flat and octagonal but marked with some sort of archaic looking symbol. "What are those?"
"Rune Stones," M'gann answered. There was a touch of awe in her mental voice. "They're extremely powerful talisman."
"They need to be," Kitty confirmed in a serious tone. "They need to form a pentagram with Ghost Rider at the center."
An arrow flew true, a steel net encompassed Ghost Rider as several globs of webbing exploded around Ghost Rider's feet sealing them, momentarily, to the floor. With a shrug Ghost Rider snapped the steel netting like it was made of nothing sterner then tissue paper.
A moment later a jet of water slammed into the Spirit of Vengeance with the force of a mack truck but the Rider remained unmoved. She lifted one foot as if the webbing wasn't even there and took a slow, determined step forward. Kaldur grunted slightly and doubled his effort but the apparition barely seemed to notice.
Kid Flash moved though, snatching the rune stones from Kitty. "Not like I believe in magic or anything even remotely voodoo," he informed the group. "One pentagram coming up." There were only a few people on the planet who were capable of seeing him move and in the most miniscule moments between one second and the next the rune stones were arranged around Ghost Rider.
Eldritch energy crackled around the mystical creature caught in the heart of an electrical storm. Ghost Rider tossed her head back and roared. A mix of raw pain and frustration at being kept from her objective.
Kitty took that moment to move, a different rune stone slipping into her palm even as she drew her Masamune Blade, a weapon crafted by the mad immortal sword smith. Both Illyana and her sacrificed pieces of their souls to the sword to imbue the blade with mystical qualities.
Even shrouded in some of Illyana's strongest magic Ghost Rider continued to struggle, to free herself and carry out her mission. Exact vengeance on any person who spilt innocent blood with malice. Lifting her hand she called out to her chain and the mystical weapon responded extending until Ghost Rider gloved fist wrapped around the links and she pulled the chain free and it shrank down to the length of quarterstaff and she spun it creating a barrier between the jet of water and herself.
Running full out Kitty phased through the jet of water. She shivered at the slight tingling sensation that she had never experienced before. She noted it along with several quickly formed thoughts as to what may have caused the experienced and catalogued them for future study.
The mystical blade forged from an ancient alien metal arced high and Ghost Rider moved to intercept the attack. Powerful the Spirit of Vengeance was, a trained and seasoned warrior she wasn't. Kitty dropped to her knees and slid under the attack, the silver blade scored a clean hit and sliced open the heavy leather jacket and mystical flames poured through the opening.
Kitty tossed her rune stone into the air and like they planned, Artemis released her arrow and it flew true. The tip of the arrow hit the flat surface of the rune stone and punched it straight into the hole in the Ghost Rider's jacket even as a pair of web lines snagged Kitty and jerked her away as eldritch energy exploded outward in the confined area of the pentagram. A primal scream of pure rage lashed out.
An instant later everything winked out, leaving a tall, dark haired girl wearing black denim jeans, motorcycle boots and a black leather jacket lying face down inside the pentagram. The girl groaned and slowly started to push herself up to a kneeling position. She took several slow, heavy breathes before she lifted her head and glared at the teenagers surrounding her. Wally didn't think there was much of a difference between her gaze and that of the Ghost Rider. "You had no right Pryde," she hissed climbing to her feet slowly. It was obvious to those in the room that she was easily the oldest person present with the exceptions of the criminals.
"You were losing it," Kitty cut her off.
"Don't even think about it," Gwen warned Black Spider. "You're not that good."
"Whatever happened to spider solidarity?" He asked.
Without warning Kitty found herself being hauled to her feet, and slammed against the wall by an angry blonde carrying a bow and wearing a green uniform. A dozen different counters popped into her head, none of them lethal. Only she didn't sense any immediate threat despite the girl's anger so she allowed Artemis to dictate the encounter for the moment. Several of the archer's teammates called out to her, shocked by her actions but Artemis ignored them. As Kitty's back hit the wall Artemis growled, "Where is she?"
Kitty grunted at the impact. "You're gonna have to be a little more specific," she replied. There was a bad feeling gnawing at the pit of her stomach.
"The other assassin," Artemis whispered. "Cheshire. Your teammate, Risk, took her."
"That's why…" Kitty mumbled how mind working on the problem. "Just because we're working together doesn't make me her keeper. In case you didn't notice this Risk really ain't a people person, trained from birth to be the ultimate assassin, she's got trust issues. I've know her for a few weeks, same as the Rider here, and aside from a comment about honing a specific maneuver she didn't participate in a lot of interpersonal activities. Our assignment was simple; make contact and offer assistance in exchange for information concerning some sort of unspecified threat that brought us to your universe. Only the moment we arrive Flame Head puts in an appearance and there went plan A, B, and C. Me and Spider Woman followed, wasn't hard. She tends to leave a trail. By the time we realized Risk was gone it was too late. Whatever Risk did, she did on her own and without the Colonel's authorization."
"Your people seem to do that a lot," Robin said from the door making his presence known. He was fairly sure Shadow Cat knew he was there, probably Spider Woman as well with the fact neither of them reacted to him. M'gann had already alerted the rest of the team to his arrival. "Blonde woman, incredibly powerful."
"Galatea," Gwen supplied.
"She took Superboy," Robin said. "And she did it easily," the tone of his voice indicating just how mismatched the encounter had been.
"Where would they be taken?" Kaldur inquired trying to maintain an air of professionalism while keeping the anger out of his voice. It was difficult. Superboy was a teammate, but more. He was also a friend.
"Galatea?" Kitty shrugged using the move to force Artemis back a step. "I don't know. She was more open than Risk but still about the only person she really seemed to form an actual connection to was Nick."
"And Cheshire?" Artemis prompted.
"No place we can follow," Gwen answered. At the questioning looks from the young teenagers she added, "Magik forged nearly a dozen Rune Stones for long range travel. Stepping Stones she calls them. Risk carried ours. Apparently being raised as a super assassin leads to sever trust issues."
Robin didn't like the answer. None of them did. They sounded rehearsed. "You never asked?"
Kitty exhaled slowly. "Never. Magik's stepping stones are honed in on her."
"If she happens to be in space?" Wally inquired.
His amusement died quickly as Kitty said, "Hope you brought an EVA suit."
/ / /
"…Is a traumatized young woman," Dinah told Bruce and Tornado as she rested her backside against the lip of the terminal. "She's trying to process the loss of everything she's ever known. I doubt if she's even begun to grasp the fact she isn't even in the same reality yet." She ran a hand through her hair as she said, "I'll admit, it could be an elaborate ruse. Lord knows we all have enough enemies that are more than capable of pulling something like this off but I've been inside her head and… The people she was fighting, the technology… Her allies. None of it was the least bit familiar. If this is an attack, whoever is behind it put years and years into crafting it?"
Bruce frowned slightly as he entered more data into the computer. He straightened and fixed Dinah with a watered down version of his stare. She was an ally, some might even say a friend. "Did you get any sort of sense about her personality?"
"Right now, I'd say wounded," Dinah answered. "But I also get the sense she's a fighter who's gonna pull through this and come out on the other side stronger because of it."
"I have been using the Cave's sensors to scan the residue energy of her arrival," Red Tornado informed the pair. "The results have been inconclusive at best. According to the readings the energy expenditure at the point of origin should have leveled this mountain."
"But it didn't," Bruce mumbled.
"It did not," Red Tornado agreed.
"So either she siphoned the energy so as not to hurt anybody…?" Dinah began.
"Doubtful," Bruce said as he quickly cued up the video feed from the moment just prior to her arrival and slowed it down. The massive lightning bolt struck and the vaguest of outlines began to emerge. At that precise moment the cameras went off line and the computers themselves shut down as a massive EM pulse washed through the area.
"That would mean there was a second presence in the area," Dinah said with a frown. "That would also mean they want Sarah here for some reason."
"Maybe," Bruce said his mind constantly working. Dinah didn't see how the man ever truly slept. "The girl might simply be a pawn in somebody's scheme. It's even possible she's unaware of her role. We do need to keep an eye on her."
"Don't forget she is telepathic without a lot of training," Dinah reminded him. "Another thing you might want to remember. Young as she is, she's led troops in combat. People that she has cared for have died around her and she blames herself for their deaths. You might want to give her just a little bit of time."
"Unfortunately I doubt if our enemies are going to give the same luxury," Bruce replies.
Dinah took a breath. "They seldom do," she agreed. "I'm assuming you have a plan?" He arched a brow. "Of course you have a plan. Am I going to like the plan?"
Bruce frowned as he held up his palm. His brows furrowed together as he listened to his communicator. "Copy," he said as he returned his attention to Dinah and Red Tornado. "The team is returning with guest. According to Robin, Superboy has been abducted by a Kryptonian called Galatea."
"Is he sure it was a Kryptonian?" Dinah asked. The implications of an evil Kryptonian on Earth did not leave a particularly good feeling in the pit of her stomach.
"She incinerated Dr. Roquette's infiltrators with a wide dispersal heat vision, took a blast from Professor Ojo's optic ray and a punch from Superboy without being moved. Knocked out Superboy and destroyed a ten story parking garage with a snap of her fingers and then vanished so quickly Robin didn't see which way she went. She also knew Robin's real name."
"So she probably knows all of our identities," Dinah says.
"That would be a logical conclusion," Red Tornado agreed. "What about the three individual the team is bringing in?"
"He couldn't say much," Bruce answered. "Three women; Shadow Cat, Spider Woman, and Ghost Rider. There was a fourth member, Risk, who took the League assassin Cheshire for reason's nobody is aware of. Not even the other members of her team, according to Shadow Cat."
"Superboy and Cheshire… What do those two have in common?" Dinah asked the others.
"As far as I know. Nothing," Bruce answered.
/ / /
"And you're sure…?"
"Yeah I'm sure," Faith answered shooting Xander a hard glare. "B is totally there. That spell Red and T cooked up worked. Good thing to cause B felt different." That spell was the reason they had chosen Faith. It amplified their mystical connection to the umpteenth degree. If not for that she probably would have had to go door to door since neither Buffy or Dawn were dead. Giles managed to procure that bit off information through another source.
"Different… How so?" Giles asked.
Faith shrugged as she said, "Damned if I know. Our connection just felt stronger. Like she was jacked into something powerful… Sticking a nine volt battery on the tip of your tongue compared to dropping a high voltage wire into a swimming pool."
"This is bad," Xander tossed out. "A DC universe. How are we suppose to get them out of a DC universe?"
"You could always petition the Powers," Anya suggested. "I wouldn't really expect them to do much of anything though. I still have a couple of contacts I could reach out to but it's going to cost you."
"Ahn, I thought we talked about charging our friends…"
"First, mostly your friends," Anya reminded him. "More workplace acquaintances for me. Second, I wasn't talking monetarily."
"What exactly are you discussing?" Giles inquired.
"Couldn't we just go there?" Tara asked the group.
"You do remember what happened the last time an interdimensional portal was opened?" Willow gently reminded her girlfriend.
Tara drew a breath as she turned to face Willow. "There are other ways to breach realities. Glory didn't care. The Key was a powerful artifact that would open all realities. All we're looking to do is punch our way into one very specific reality…"
"A reality I might remind you that's filled with tyrannical megalomaniacs, homicidal aliens, psychotic sociopaths and don't even get me started on the bad guys…"
"But a shot to meet Superman," Faith goaded him mildly. "Or are you more of a Batman fanboy?"
"Doesn't really matter because the first person I'm likely to run into would be the Joker," he said.
"As amusing as this debate is, it's rather moot," Giles informed them. "Aside from Faith it is unlikely any of the rest of us would be able to survive the energy of travelling from one reality into another and even that is no guarantee. A normal human body simply cannot handle that sort of strain."
"So all we have to do is sup up our weak and pathetic bodies?"
"Anya you are a genius," Xander declared.
"You can't possibly be thinking what I know your thinking," Willow asked him.
"It's perfect," Xander said. "Dibs on Superman," he called out quickly.
Faith glanced between Willow and Xander. "Somebody wanna clue the rest of us in."
"Halloween," Xander said. "Our Junior year a pal of Giles showed up to play an old style Halloween prank. Pretty much turned everyone into their costumes. Most people went as somebody more or less useless. I was a soldier, Willow was a ghost, Buffy was some type of noble woman."
"Not really seeing how being a soldier is going to help you," Faith points out.
"This time we're going to be controlling the spell," Xander responds with a large smile. "Means we can get to pick characters that aren't completely lame."
Author Notes:
Figure I'd continue with the another batch of Characters. Just remember what I said before. Just another little note; I believe in establishing the rules/limits of a characters powers and then sticking to them. You will never see massive power fluctuations in the stories I'm writing, sorry to anyone that believes Batman can defeat anybody out there (Superman) but that will never happen in any of my stories. Don't get me wrong, I like Batman, his tactical and extremely analytical mind, his ability to plan and come up strategies are all exceptional with very few people that can equal him, and his physical skills are equally impressive. Give him time and he can come up with contingencies for his contingencies. Anyway, you won't be seeing him taking out mega-powers in any of my stories.
Sarah Rogers: (Based on a character introduced in an issue of Marvel Comics – What IF: Twenty-Fifth anniversary of the Secret Wars where the heroes and villains were stranded on Beyonder World.) She is the daughter of Steve Rogers and Carol Danvers (Psyche) and Anna Marie's (Rogue) physical body. Because of the super soldier formula granted Rogers with a perfect genetics and being a Kree/Mutant hybrid she possess perfect Kree/Human genetics along with the mutant x-gene. She possess the same powers as her three parents merged, but because she doesn't have Rogue's intimacy issues she is capable of controlling the absorption process and retains a psyche copy of the person, she normally retains skills and powers but not the personal memories. Her shield, while it is Captain American's shield. There's entire list on the Marvel data base Wikia site for Mjölnir and some of them sound like these one shot dues ex machinations that allow Thor to get out of impossible situations and are never heard from again. This is what I'm allowing Mjölnir to do: It still retains the worthiness enchantment (can be wielded by someone who isn't worthy but possesses enough physical strength to overcome the enchantment. Would not grant them access to the other powers Mjölnir possesses), weather manipulation, flight, anti-force, barriers, energy sensing/absorbing/redirecting, interdimensional teleportation (requires a massive amount of energy and the backwash is likely to wipe out an entire solar system), event recall, allspeak. There is also the vibranium/adamantium nature of the shield which allows the shield to absorb incredible amounts of energy and makes it virtually indestructible. Obviously I've changed the character from the original, but writer's prerogative.
Nicholas Ross: I pretty much stole the character from I want to say was Marvel Next comic series: dealt with Spider Girl (May Parker), J2 (Zane something or other) a Young Avenger or something like that, and a couple other titles. I like the concept of a kid born with the Juggernauts power but thought the character was rather lame. I juggled through a couple different concepts of my own (A Juggernaut/She Hulk hook up but that didn't do much for me) before finally settling on Red She Hulk/Colossus (When he possessed the Juggernaut's power) pairing. It was more of a drunken weekend sort of fling instead of a long term romance. Picture a depressed and drunken Piotr Rasputin (He always seemed to be rather depressed to me. Probably a Russian, growing up in Siberia thing) hitting up a series of bars and bumping into an irritate Betty Ross (not like they're familiar with each other out of costume. At least not until after) whose seriously pissed at her paramour; the incredible brilliant, but often dimwitted Bruce Banner, and looking to blow off some steam. Meaningless sex or random violence always has a way filling that void. Can't wait to come up with jokes about how he seems to have more transformations then a super Saiyan.
Namorita (Nita) Prentiss: Pretty much the same character just taken from one of the countless realities out there. Half Human/Half Atlantean hybrid. Namor's cousin, princess of Atlantis.
Galatea: Justice League Unlimited clone of Supergirl. I suppose you can call her their version of Powergirl.
Barbara Ketch: As seen in marvel comics What IF? Daniel was shot and killed and Barbara gained possession of the medallion. It was not a happy issue of the What IF? comics.
Katrina (Kat/Trina) Romanova: This is a character I created a long time ago, originally for a super huge, massive crossover set in the Justice League Unlimited universe. I haven't posted the story yet, still needs quite a bit of work but I've kept the character around and finally decided to break her out for this. She is the daughter of Mathew Murdock (Dare Devil) and Natalia "Natasha" Alianovna Romanova (Black Widow). Natasha was kept in a medically induced coma during her pregnancy and several months afterwards and given a set of false memories of a car accident that never occurred when the soviet government discovered she was pregnant. When Katrina was born she was almost killed because of her deformity, that the sclera runs into the iris giving her eyes a swirling appearance, but one of the nurses who didn't have any children volunteered to raise her, it quickly became apparent that the girl could see after a fashion and her home needed to be completely sound proof because of how acute her senses were. She needed to be introduced to the world slowly, what she was exposed varied constantly and she soon began to think of it as a game. She began her training at an early age being introduced to the martial arts, dance, gymnastics, yoga, and weapons like knives, bows swords but not any sort of firearm because of her extremely sensitive hearing. Like her father, her senses are vastly superior, but because she grew up with them she is more attuned to taste and smell and is not only capable of tracking people by hearing but by smell as well, she is very good at identifying odors. Her radar and sight are vastly different than her father's, her radar operate in a complete 360 degree view at double the distance of what a normal human with perfect 20/10 vision can see. The density of objects can greatly alter how far she can see. She cannot see through adamantium and can only penetrate a dozen a so feet pass uranium. And other heavy metals. Her vision is far clearer and sharper, nearly thirty times better than any human and she can see in complete darkness. She also possess superhuman reflexes, agility, durability, speed and strength (5 Metric Tons), an advance immune system, slowed aging, accompanied by a minor healing factor and can generate a bio energy blast from her hands that can render someone unconscious or demolish a steel door.
Illyana Rasputin: From a reality where she was trapped in Limbo for an extended period of time and Illyana began to except her role as the Dark Chylde. Manifesting more demonic vestiges such as bone horns protruding from her forehead, amber snake like eyes, and a four foot long red spade tipped tail. Eventually, under Belasco's tutelage she began the creation of her soul sword by crafting a soul gem using the essence of her soul. She was rescued when her brother's girlfriend sacrificed her own soul, sharing it with Illyana to help restore her and break Belasco's hold over her and Illyana was able to wrest control of limbo from her former master.
