Allies of the Superwomen of EVA #24: The Crimson Avenger (and Wing!)
"While Tokyo-3 proved to be the epicenter of humanity's conflict with the otherworldly creatures codenamed 'Angels', as well as the growing presence of superpowered individuals, its sibling city Tokyo-2 was not without its own examples of this particular phenomenon. Such an example came from a couple of individuals at a local university campus: Chinese-born student Miao Wing-How and one of her teachers, Prof. Ran Tsukikage. Tsukikage's main area of study was sociology, with a particular fascination towards the sociological aspects of vigilantism throughout history, both at home and abroad; her interest stemmed from her family's background, particularly with one of her ancestors being a feudal-era wandering ronin skilled with the sword who was reported to have a very strong sense of justice. (Additionally, Tsukikage herself was previously an Olympic-level swordfighter who still practiced in her spare time.)
While doing research for a genealogy-themed assignment, Miao (a part-time martial artist) made an astonishing discovery that she brought to Prof. Tsukikage's attention. On receiving some materials from family of hers in the United States, she learned that her great-granduncle, James Wing-How, while working as the chauffer to progressive-minded newspaper publisher Lee Walter Travis, had also operated during the late 1930s and 1940s as the sidekick to Travis's masked alter-ego: the legendary Crimson Avenger, one of the first costumed vigilantes to emerge during the 20th century. This discovery, combined with their shared growing interest in the activities within their city of the mysterious Batgirl (secretly heiress Mayumi Yamagishi), inspires Prof. Tsukikage to take on the 'perfect' field research for her studies: becoming a masked crimefighter herself. Miao, skeptical at first, volunteers to work with her professor to, as she put it, make sure she doesn't get herself killed, and suggested a fitting way to go about her 'field work' by taking up the Crimson Avenger's mantle, with Miao herself adopting her late great-granduncle's role as her partner.
From that point forward, the two honed their martial skills until they deemed themselves ready to go into the field, and donned costumes inspired by feudal-era fashion to bring a uniquely Japanese flavor to the roles of the Crimson Avenger and Wing. After thwarting a number of smaller petty crimes, the two of them at one point wound up stumbling upon an attempted kidnapping job by Catalyst, a costumed covert operative for the world's largest multi-national pharmaceutical conglomerate, Cornelius/Krieg. Catalyst had been sent by Cornelius/Krieg to abduct an American chemist named Dr. Jeremiah Duncan, who was in Japan for a symposium as a representative of the U.S.-based Kord Omniversal Research and Development Inc., of which he was their chief chemist. Duncan warns the two to be careful around Catalyst, due to their ability to induce the effects of any drug they can think of in the body of whoever they target, making them a walking narcotics arsenal. Keeping Duncan's warning in mind, the duo are able to drive Catalyst off temporarily and manage to get Duncan to a hiding place while they figured out their next move. Said next move would be the two getting the attention of none other than Batgirl, who reluctantly agreed to work with them.
Once she was onboard, the now-trio of crimefighters listened as Duncan explained the reasoning for his being targeted: how years earlier, he'd worked for Cornelius/Krieg, and became disgusted with them after discovering the illicit experimentation they'd been conducting in hidden lab facilities on the French Riviera, with Catalyst being one of the results of such. Duncan left the conglomerate, in the process stealing their only sample of formula XD-3, an experimental drug capable of not only subverting human will, but also possibly causing significant damage to a person's genetic code. When Catalyst struck again in a renewed attempt to capture Duncan, Batgirl, Crimson Avenger, and Miao were able defeat them, with Batgirl managing to knock Catalyst unconscious. On unmasking the covert operative, Miao became shocked on learning that under the mask was her former childhood friend Mei Nakao, who'd gone missing while she'd been interning as a research assistant with Cornelius/Krieg's Japan offices. As a sign of trust, Batgirl assured them that Mei would be well-taken care of; the next day, Mei would become a patient at one of Yamagishi Enterprises' medical research facilities to undo the effects of the experiments she'd be subjected to. Duncan's testimony, in addition to that of the recovered Mei, would cause Cornelius/Krieg to be badly rocked by scandal as the conglomerate would then become subject to numerous investigations. Meanwhile, the Crimson Avenger and Miao would be given Batgirl's unofficial 'blessing' to continue their activities, while she herself would head to Tokyo-3 to set up shop in the so-called 'fortress-city of tomorrow'.
A year later, Prof. Tsukikage and Miao would find themselves teaming up with another of the 'superwomen' of Tokyo-3 when their paths crossed with that of Green Arrow (secretly American NERV Evangelion pilot Maria Vincennes), as all three were drawn together with four others to form a new iteration of the heroes of a cyclical prophecy, known as the Seven Soldiers of Victory."
*Author's Note(s)*
The theme for this wave of allies and anti-heroes is another round of duos, and for the DC half, I decided to bring in a couple of successors to one of the oldest characters in DC's stable, with the Crimson Avenger debuting the same year as Superman. Sharing a few vague similarities to the Green Hornet and Kato, the Crimson Avenger and Wing have been staples of stories surrounding DC's Golden Age legacy, and I sought to honor it in my interpretation, with a few borrowed tidbits here and there from other corners of the DC Universe, i.e. Catalyst, who debuted in their mid-80s Blue Beetle series but has also fought the Jill Carlyle version of the Crimson Avenger.
The duo under the masks are the main protagonists of one of my favorite 13-episode cult classics, the 2000 samurai series Carried by the Wind: Tsukikage Ran, which I'd recommend as a decent alternative to the likes of say, Ruroni Kenshin. With them, all I did was bring versions of Ran and Meow (renamed Miao for obvious reasons) to the present day while also giving them new positions in life, as well as giving the latter a connection to the original Crimson Avenger's sidekick (sidebar, his name is a combination of both his original name of Wing How and James Wing, his version from the New 52 take on Earth-2). (I don't imagine my version of Ran will have as much of a penchant for sake binges as her canon self does.) Throwing in Meow's childhood friend Mei as Catalyst was a nod to Mei's character arc in episode 9 of the series, where she *spoiler alert* became an opium dealer following her parents' deaths. (Her last name comes from her Japanese seiyuu, Azusa Nakao.) From there, the Photoshopping (for the corresponding piece on my DeviantArt profile) ensued, giving us the successors to an underrated pair of Golden Age fan-favorites.