The Battle Begins
Prologue
In the dank, dark cellar of a crumbling building they met.
From all over what had once been The United States of America, Canada, and even Mexico, they had traveled to this deserted city to find out what was going on and what should be done.
"She took his head right off!" One dirty punk wailed. The others, leaders of many of the largest gangs, listened half with fear, and half with contempt born of disbelief as the punk told his story. "I was there…. they didn't see me, but I saw them….." His whole body shook as he relived the nightmare.
"Cec had just found a little slit and was about to pass her around to his boys….That's when THEY showed up." He opened his mouth to go on when one of the leaders raised his hand to stop him.
"First, who were THEY?" He demanded, his voice full of scorn. "What did they look like?"
"Th-th-there were three of them at first." The punk stammered. "A blond, a red head with a streak of white running down the middle of her hair, and a brunette. They were all three dressed in urban cammies, but only the brunette carried any weapons. The other two…" he paused shaking his head. "They didn't need no weapons." It was almost a whisper.
"Okay. So what happened then…..You said Cec had found a little slitty."
"Yeah, and she was a real nice looking number." The punk licked his lips, he either did not notice or did not care about the thin line of saliva that began to trickle from the corner of his mouth. "Anyways, These three older slitties show up and tell Jocko to let the little slitty go." He stopped, shaking his head. "Oh man, Cec should have listened. He should have let her go, we coulda found another!"
"Cut the crap!" One of the others snarled.
"Yeah…yeah." The punk shook himself and sat for a moment, just looking at his hands. "He broke her neck." He finally continued. "And…and the blonde slitty lost it. She was standing away from Cec, but before to little slitty could fall to the ground she was standing right next to him. She just swung her arm and hit him with the back of her hand. Oh GOD!" The punk moaned, burying his face in his hands. "She tore his head right off." She shook and looked up and they could all see the horror in his eyes. "She kilt him. And then the other one, the one with the White streak in her hair. She grabbed Carrot by the hands and…and. She tore him in half! She just pulled and tore him in half, throwing the pieces aside!"
The others in the room were quiet now. Waiting for the punk to go on.
"You all knew Plas!" The punk wailed. He didn't wait for an answer though many of the others nodded dumbly. "You all knew how strong he was. He did his plas thing on them…he was gonna burn those bitches down where they stood….only." He stopped "I don't know how long he kept the power on, but when he stopped…" He shook his head again. "They were still standing there. Not a Burn on'em"
"That ain't possible!" One of the others stood, shouting up at the punk. Most of the others knew that he had been kinda close to Plas.
"I'm telling you what I saw." The punk replied in a listless voice. "And then, she just looked at him. The blonde, I mean. She just looked and red beams shot from her eyes. I swear, the top of Plas' head just exploded!"
"I think we've heard enough." Everyone's attention turned to the man setting back in the shadows. Though his face was hidden in shadows, they could all see that he appeared to be wearing a business suit. The way he was sitting gave the impression that he was trying his best not to touch anything in the dirty meeting place.
"Gentlemen, " He went on in his cultured voice…a voice used to command. "You have heard the news. The long and short is that all but one member of Carrot's gang died." The man stood and though his face was still hidden, they could all see the sweat glistening on his bald scalp. "Gentlemen, Carrot's gang was by no means the strongest. But I am here to tell you that, had they been even more powerful, had they had even more Meta's, the results would have been the same."
"Man, you be crazy." Sumba of the Panther gang shouted. "Carrot's gang be nothing. Not if'n they let two slitties take them out."
"Three, actually." The man answered calmly. "One was killed by a former Kansas City cop. But Let me assure you. I have done some research into these ladies. And for your information, they were merely part of a team. There are two others, a male and female and, with the exception of the cop, they are what you would call Meta's.
"You know so much, then who are they and what are they doing here!" Sumba demanded.
"I am sure you all remember Superman." The man paused at the sudden intake of breath. "Well, it appears that at least three of these people are from the same world or, as have the exact same powers. With one difference. It seems that they may be even more powerful."
"Powerful enough to kick your butt?" One of the gang leaders called out, thinking he had recognized the speaker at last.
"Quite possibly." The man answered, unperturbed. "They have already neutralized the Shard and, with the aid of others, they have set back some of my plans." He raised a hand. "But it was asked if I knew who they are. Well, I can't tell you their real names, but I can tell you that they come from another universe and that their leader goes by the name of Supergirl! And I can tell you that they are hear to stay!" He stepped forward and they could all see the anger filled visage of Lex Luthor. "That is why I have called you all here. This, my neandrathalic friends, is a council of war!"
They came from all over North America. The summons had gone out weeks ago and, as the days passed, leaders of the various strongholds of civilization that spotted the map made their way to the massive fortress situated in the pan-handle of Texas.
This was the base camp of the group that called themselves the Rebels. No one knew where they came from or how they got there. Eyewitnesses claimed that they just appeared out of a strange mist, a whole column of soldiers, men and women, in Tiger stripe fatigues, trucks, jeeps, and even tanks.
They had come in and instantly set to work. Their first order of business had been to set up a base camp. They had then began fanning out always asking questions, trying to find out where they were and what the local situation was.
They had quickly run afoul of the local warlords in the area. In a matter of months, the warlords were on the run and the Rebels had set up a law and order zone. A place of rebuilding.
Now the leaders of communities from all over North America sat waiting in a huge auditorium nervously eyeing the armed guards that bracketed each and every entrance. One thing they had all noticed when entering Rebel held territory was that the Rebels were a no nonsense people. Every where they looked soldiers and private citizens alike went about their daily business, armed to the teeth! Signs at the borders warned prospective criminals that the life span of punks was counted in the minutes within those boundaries.
A hush settled over the crowd as the guards moved. They didn't seem to snap to attention, but it was obvious that their alertness had risen considerably. They watched, in a mixture of fear and curiosity as a young man, his tiger stripe uniform devoid of any rank insignia, entered the room. He wore a red-bandana wrapped around his head and many of the older men smiled as they noticed the resemblance to the old Movie character Rambo. Their smiles dipped as the man stopped behind a podium, a Chicago-piano, a .45 Thompson Machine gun, propped on his hip, pointing towards the ceiling.
"Ladies and Gentlemen, thank you for coming." He began. Several of the women looked at his ruggedly handsome features and were surprised at the softness of his voice. "I am Col. Buddy Raines, Commander of this contingent of Raines Rebels." This was no news to any one. They had all heard the story that the Rebels claimed to belong to a much larger force and that they had been on maneuvers when they found themselves in this, to them, strange world.
"I called you all here to discuss some rather startling events that have been occurring." He opened his mouth to continue, stopping when a woman stood in the center of the auditorium. "Yes, Ma'am?"
"Mr. Raines." The woman started, "I and those with me would like to go on record as being in complete disagreement with what you have done here!"
Buddy looked at the woman a full minute, letting the silence drag on. Finally, he nodded.
"Ooookay." He said finally, trying to figure out what the woman had said had to do with anything. The woman, prepared for some defense, faltered uncertainly when no defense was offered.
" I …that is…we would like to know what you intend to do about the deplorable conditions in your area!" She rallied. Buddy sighed and shook his head, seeing that he was not going to be able to continue until he dealt with this fool.
"Ladies and Gentleman, " he said in an apologetic tone. "We'll continue in a moment." Most of the crowd settled back, interested in seeing how this would come out.
"Miss…" Buddy motioned towards the standing woman, waiting for her to supply her name.
"Mz. Ingols-Pruess." The woman answered haughtily. "From the Ingols combine in Washington State."
"Well, MZ. Inglos-Pruess" Buddy drawled. " Perhaps you would tell me what it is exactly you disagree with?"
"Why, your entire gun-worshipping society!" The woman exclaimed, as if shocked that Buddy would even have to ask. "You have brought this area of the country back to Gun law, spitting on the constitution, stepping all over individual rights. You have returned to the law of the jungle!" She spread her arms, now talking to the other leaders in the auditorium "My God, they have public hangings here!"
"Ah." Buddy, seemingly unperturbed, nodded knowingly. He knew what he was dealing with now. "Mz Ingols-Pruess. I think I understand now. Ma'am, I could sit here and argue the point with you, but frankly, I have better things to do with my time. We have sit up a society that we like. We have virtually no crime. We have put people back to work. We have started schools up again. We are getting civilization going again. As to the Constitution, I could argue that we adhere to it more closely than you. Do we allow punks and criminals to hide behind it? No we do not. Do we execute criminals? Yes we do. But I can assure you that each and every person accused of a crime here is given a fair, swift trial. Eight times out of ten, I admit, a trial is unnecessary because usually the would be criminal is shot down by his would be victims. The long and short of it is, Mz Ingols-Pruess, we did not ask for your approval, we do not care if we have your approval. We have a society that works for us. We did not ask you all here to try to convince you to join us. Frankly, we could care less. However, I felt it worth a shot to at least communicate with the other communities and see if there was anyway we could work together." He looked down at a clip board on the podium and flipped a couple of sheets. "We only contacted certain communities, Mz Ingols-Pruess, and I have to say, that your was not one of them. From what my scouts have told me, your community is in a shambles. Your people are living hand to mouth, scrounging through ruins. You have made no attempt to clean up your community, nor have you done anything to get the hospitals or schools going again. What are your people waiting for, Mz Ingols-Pruess?"
"The government…" the woman, now on the defensive, faltered.
"The government is gone, Mz Ingols-Pruess" Buddy over rode her. "Right now, there are only two groups that could even be considered a government. Ours and that of Lex Luthor."
"Well, at Least Mr. Luthor wouldn't be putting guns in the hands of everyone!" the woman's voice was shrill.
"I'm sure." Buddy drawled. "Lady, We have business to attend to here. If you would like to discuss this afterwards, then I will be happy to debate the issue with you. But right now, I would appreciate it if you sat down and shut that damned liberal trap of yours!" With out waiting for a response, he turned back to the rest of the audience.
"As I was saying, certain events have occurred that have the Rebels a bit puzzled. Where we came from, we did not have any thing resembling the Metas we have found here." A large screen lowered from the ceiling behind him, depicting a blonde woman in a blue, red, and yellow costume. "Does anyone here know anything about this…Supergirl?"
End of
The Battle Begins: Prologue
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