Banshee – The Origins
Chapter 3 – The Birth of Banshee
She didn't know how long the trip was, exactly. After hours of sitting and thinking, saying very little to Malcolm, she found herself drifting off to sleep. It wasn't a restful sleep, as nightmares came to her through it all. She had visions of her mother being shot, herself shooting people, herself shooting her mother, and the dead men around the hanger. Malcolm just watched the girl's restless sleeping. He'd been through something similar when he first witnessed death as a soldier some 25 years prior.
The girl woke up several times, only to drift back to sleep. She kept up the restless sleep for most of the trip. Eventually, though, something woke her up. It was a lurching and shuddering feeling. She opened her eyes and saw blearily as the tunnel of hyperspace faded away around the ship as they dropped back into normal space. She sat up, rubbed her eyes, and gave a good look out the view screen. Dominating most of the view was a large planet, mostly covered in blue waters, with splatters of green and brown land, all partially hidden under swirls of white clouds. "Is that Telmeron?"
Malcolm nodded "Yes it is." He set about making the ship enter the atmosphere. Flames erupted around them as they made the descent through the ozone. Once the ship was through, Malcolm aimed it for one of the small island-like continents. The ship descended at a rapid pace. Soon, the girl saw what looked like a city. Once they got closer, she saw it was, in fact, the ruins of a city.
The ship slowed as it flew over burnt buildings, most of which had chunks missing from what looked like heavy weapons fire. It looked like a war happened here, and the city paid for it. There was no movement down there, either. No hover or ground vehicles, no people walking. No other ships in the sky, either.
Eventually, there was a building that looked intact in the distance. Obviously a hanger, the grey square of a building was huge, at least 10 stories tall. She guessed it had to be a mile across, and just as long. Massive bay doors opened for them after Malcolm typed something into the communication panel, and the ship flew through. Once inside, she saw there were lines of other small ships, all docked in small lots, like a parking garage for spaceships. Malcolm landed the ship in one of the empty lots and set about the shutdown process.
The girl unstrapped herself from the seat, and stood up. She found her body was stiff from the long journey, but the cabin was far too small to stretch out, so she waited for Malcolm to finish shutting down the ship. Once he was done, he got up, walked past her, and opened the ramp. Following him out, she stretched finally as she looked around. She didn't recognize any of the symbols on the ships around the hanger, and each ship seemed to be a different design entirely. There must have been 100 ships, at every one was something different.
At Malcolm's beckon, she followed him out of the hanger. They walked to an elevator, which shot downward an incredible speed once the doors closed. By how long it took to go down, even at this speed, she figured they were underground when the doors finally slid open again.
She followed Malcolm out, and found herself in the most technologically advanced room she'd ever seen. There were key panels everywhere, flashing lights, screens that looked like panes of glass, all flashing some information or another. The walls were lined with lights and monitors, all showing something different. People in a myriad of uniforms, none of them matching another, were at the monitors or stations, all typing into keyboards, or speaking to someone through a headset microphone. What the girl guessed was the main wall was covered in a screen depicting the planet in a wide, orbital view. She realized, suddenly, that they must have been watching the ship the whole time.
As she looked around, someone approached them. She turned when she realized the woman was coming to them. The woman was tall, around 6 feet, and wore a red jumpsuit, covered in what looked like armor, red with gold trim, hard, but flexible as she moved. The woman's face was pretty, but hard, her blue eyes cold as steal. The flame colored hair atop her head was short and spiked slightly. On her right arm's sleeve was an emblem that looked to be a cobra head, framed in a gold circle. At her hip was a belt, with a pistol holstered in it. The girl suddenly realized that the pistol was the same as Malcolm's.
Malcolm smiled as she saw the dangerous looking woman "Blaze! Been a long time." He looked like he was going to hug the woman, but when she got close enough, she slapped him across the face, and hard. The girl was surprised by this, but Malcolm just laughed "Yeah, I guess I deserved that."
The woman's voice was deep and powerful "Damn straight! You go off and abandon me, again I might add, and then come back here and expect a warm welcome?" The girl looked worried. Malcolm had said this woman was a friend. Then, something unexpected happened. Blaze pulled Malcolm into a kiss. What the hell was going on?
Malcolm just laughed through it all, even the kiss, though his laugh was muffled to a chuckle. Once the woman pulled back, he spoke "Well, it seems you haven't changed a bit. Still the fiery tempered woman I remember."
Blaze smiled then. Seems her anger was just an act. She punched Malcolm's shoulder, though it didn't look held back any, as the large man actually moved at the hit. The woman then seemed to finally notice her. "Who's this? Skin's too pale to be your illegitimate child. A fan of yours?"
Malcolm shook his head "This is Mariel and Doug's daughter." Those were her parents names. Blaze seemed to know who her parents were, too, as she just nodded. "Her home was attacked. Necris-hired mercs." He paused for a moment before adding "Mariel's dead. She witnessed it, too. Hawke's group did it."
The girl looked down as she was reminded of it all again, but then looked up as Blaze approached her. "Tough thing for a kid to witness. I'm sorry about your mother." She looked then to Malcolm, and asked "Why'd you bring her here?"
Malcolm looked to the girl, then to Blaze "This kid's got potential. She gunned down one of the mercs, and then beat his face into mush." Blazed looked at the girl's bandaged hands, which still hurt a little. "You should train her. She'll make a good addition to Venom."
Blaze scoffed "A scrawny kid like this? It's going to take a lot of training, Malcolm."
Malcolm just laughed "It took a lot of training to get you up to your level, too. Or do I need to remind you again?"
Blaze glared at him "Fine, I get the point." She then looked at the girl, who had remained silent this whole time, but not looking away. "What's your name, girl?"
She hesitated a moment before answering "Beatrice."
Blaze shook her head "Hmph. You say that name with disgust and detachment. It's not yours. So tell me what your name is."
The girl looked at her, a little surprised. It was true that she hated the name given to her. It was girly, and not her at all, but she'd just accepted it. Now she had the chance to give herself a new name, but what? She thought for a moment, and came back to the same thing every time. She remembered what the mercs had called her, and what Malcolm had said to her. So she looked up at the woman, green eyes hardening as she looked into Blaze's steely blue eyes, and told the woman her new name.
"My name is Banshee."