Part Three: Battle Divas
The Team
Mistakes notwithstanding, G-Force felt like she was finally getting her
powers under control as she descended in front of the building and
waited for the signal. Her beeper vibrated gently—that was Thunder-Claw,
giving her notice of his arrival—she took a breath to prepare herself,
and tried opening the door. Locked. Well of course. A little shift in
gravity changed that, and she was inside in moments. The building
greeted her with darkness, and for the zillionth time she wished she had
brought some means of light. Thunder-Claw was lucky he never had to
worry about such a thing.
Of course, it was only dark because he didn't have anything to
worry—Thunder-Claw had sucked the power out of the building, rendering
it blind. That meant that everyone would be at a disadvantage, except
for himself. G-Force suddenly remembered the night vision goggles she
had been given ("Look, you're going to need them," he had told her as he
handed them over. "And by all means, don't forget them." Whoops). The
building became navigable again and she crept her way through, searching
for the target.
She found her, and the vibrating sensation in her hip told her that her
partner had as well. G-Force chewed her lip and sighed: the woman had
night-vision goggles as well. So much for the advantage. She saw a
tendril of electricity streak its way over the ceiling and blast the
light fixtures, sending sparks raining down, and knew it was her turn to
strike. With an impressive leap, she soared through the air and tackled
the distracted woman before she could recover, and gave her a good solid
whack in the face.
The lights came back on. G-Force froze.
"That you, TC?" She felt the cold nuzzle of a gun touch her neck. She
swallowed. "Uhh..."
"Get up. Come on, up." She had no choice but to obey. Powers or no, she
couldn't stop a gun from that close range. The woman they were after
groaned and rubbed her face, and was helped to her feet by what G-Force
assumed to be her bodyguard.
"This delay is coming out of your paycheck," she snapped bitterly to the
others. She then struck G-Force in her pretty blue face, and spat. "Eye
for an eye, blondie. Hang her by the rafters!" The men laughed,
surrounding her with hands and ropes and—BOOM, BOOM! The building
screamed with noise, it vibrated with shakes, and everyone inside lost
their footing. G-Force stumbled and tried to get up, anything to fly
away and get a chance to fight back. The building screamed again, and so
did her would-be captors: they soon found themselves embalmed in a pink
gooey substance, sort of like gum but much tougher. G-Force had no idea
what had just happened...and where was Thunder-Claw?
With her partner nowhere to be found, G-Force went in pursuit of the
target. She left the bodyguards as they were and ran through the
building's complex interior, searching, perhaps in vain, for what she
and her partner had come there for. After going through a few floors,
she discovered her partner huddled in one of the rooms, wounded and
bitter. She quickly rushed over to see if he was okay and nearly got
shoved back.
"Oh, sorry!" he blurted, seeing who it was. "I thought it was those guys
come back for more. Here, help me up. I think I've been shot."
"Where?" she asked, lifting him by his armpits. He leaned against her
and winced.
"My leg, almost at the ankle. Aah!" He hissed, groaning, barely able to
walk. "They got the drop on me," he said with some difficulty. "I didn't
expect her to have so many. I ran up here and blew a few of them away,
but they gave me something to remember them by."
"I see. Those guys below are taken care of, but not by me, and the
target's run off."
"I saw her," he said, wincing. He pointed to an elevator (naturally, he
couldn't use the stairs) and told his partner to go to the third floor.
"She's there, all right, or she will be soon. I, uh, overheard an
important conversation."
"That's some good work. Need me to look at that?"
"Ah..." He looked pale and worn out, but aside from his limp, he was
still quite healthy. "I'll manage. It's not bad. No offense, but I'd
rather go to a doctor."
"None taken. So what's on the third floor?"
"Beats me."
Thunder-Claw made it out of the elevator and limped just far enough
where he could hide somewhere safe and attempt to recover. He instructed
his partner where to go, and insisted he'd be fine for the moment, long
as he could call an ambulance and his buddies at the police station.
Reluctantly, G-Force left her partner and resumed her search, making it
a priority to avenge his injury.
The building's third floor looked like it was still a subject of
darkness, and only emergency lights dotted here and there gave any
indication that the place lived at all. Feeling dreadful about the
gaping emptiness, G-Force gradually made her way through the darkness,
choosing not to run in case somebody was looking for her. It was tough
luck that neither superhero knew why the third floor was so significant;
it was like looking for something without knowing what it was. And their
target could be anywhere.
She heard the sound of fighting, and bounced over to get a better look.
The struggle, apparently violent and maybe one-sided, was taking place
inside a room, and G-Force dared not open the door or else incur the
wrath of the brawlers. She didn't need to, though: the door opened by
itself, rather forcefully, as the target of their search was flung right
through it. The blue-skinned woman shielded herself from flying
splinters and had to wonder just what was going on. First the shaking,
then the pink goo, now this? Was somebody else out to get this woman?
Another hero—at long last?
She watched as the other person came through the remains of the door,
squeezing through the opening and dusting their hands off. The person
noticed G-Force, squatting down helplessly, and gave a polite smile. It
was a woman her age, only with skin like finely-polished wood, and hair
as dark as a dreamless sleep. G-Force sensed the woman was some type of
superhero by the costume she wore: it was directly influenced by the
great Blue Mary's uniform: a tight purple top that exposed her midriff,
black loose-fitting pants, black fingerless gloves, and black boots. She
attempted to wave and return her smile.
"Hello."
"Uh, hi. Um......" She looked at the target, now fully unconscious, and
grinned faintly. "I guess we were after the same person." The woman
crossed her arms.
"Were you." She helped G-Force up, shaking her hand when she could.
"Just call me BK Power. And you?"
"G-Force." BK Power appraised the other hero, then the knocked-out
woman. She grinned, raising her eyebrow to her "new friend". "You wanna
help us out with this? I think she had some backup."
"Oh, they were already taken care...... Hey, wait," she said suddenly,
"what do you mean by ‘us'?"
"My partner and I. She should be along any minute. You were saying?"
G-Force eyed the other hero carefully, not yet knowing whether she was
friend or foe.
"Those guys she hired were already taken care of. They were wrapped in
some kind of pink goo."
"Oh, that was my partner's doing. I'm glad she's not slacking off." BK
Power smiled again; G-Force suddenly gasped.
"My friend! He's still hurt! We've got to get him to a hospital!"
"Oh, we?"
"You'll help me, won't you?" BK Power smiled again and powed.
"Anything for a lady."
Thunder-Claw didn't want to sit around doing nothing, but his leg was
afire and he had reason to believe there was more opposition around.
Barely able to stand under his own power, he somehow managed to move his
foot and put a crude sling around it. He heard the sound of somebody
approaching and feared that in his condition, he wouldn't put up much of
a fight. Still, he clutched his hand tight and summoned up a small orb
of electricity. His visitor came in closer, calling out to him in a
strangely familiar voice.
"Hey mister, you okay? You're not gonna put up a fight, are you?"
"That depends," he answered. He managed to stand, though with great
effort, and glare at his visitor. It was a girl, quite a pretty one too,
and from the looks of it, not one who wanted a confrontation. She held
her hands out and pacified him.
"Easy there, I'm not gonna fight you in your condition. It doesn't look
like you're one of hers, anyway."
"No, I'm...just after her. I assume you..." And then the two got a good
look at each other, Thunder-Claw with his red uniform and blonde hair,
the girl with her petite build and gothic outfit. They stared, then
gawked, then cried out in joy as they embraced each other.
"Stevenson McCray?!"
"Xianq Shou?!"
"How the bloody hell are you?!" they screamed. Thunder-Claw let out a
more painful cry as she hugged him, forcing him to stand on his bad
foot.
"Ohmygod, ohmygod, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to..."
"It's okay," he managed, smiling painfully. He grinned and laughed
despite his injury, clapping the smallish girl on the shoulders. "Xianq
Shou, you devil-woman! What in bloody blazes brought you here? Of all
the places! It's been, what? Seven, eight years? I barely recognized
you!"
"I barely recognized you!" she replied, patting his cheek. "I oughta ask
what you're doing here, dressed up like that! Don't tell me you're a
hero!"
"Are you?" She grinned, nodding enthusiastically. He laughed. "Well
whaddya know—aah! Ow!" She gently lowered him to the ground and asked to
see his wound. Thunder-Claw grimaced horribly as she untied the sling
and stared at the gash, but her smile assured him that it wasn't bad.
"I've seen worse. Can you walk?"
"If you don't mind carrying me."
"Not at all. We need to catch up on stuff anyway. Here, I'll introduce
you to my partner."
"Oh, you got a partner now? Hey, so do I. What a world, huh?"
"Yeah. Mine can be a problem at times, but she's cool."
"Oh. Mine's just cool." Xianq grinned and helped her friend up and
across the building.
Naturally, a rather large reunion was in store for the four of them.
G-Force was just glad that her partner was okay, and was formally
introduced to his old friend, who was also known as Bubblegum Black,
"the hero with the incredible powers of a true Battle Diva!", as she had
said herself. Once everyone knew everyone else, Xianq Shou described how
she knew Thunder-Claw.
"He and I went to middle school together. We've been pretty close our
whole lives, but we sort of missed each other once high school came
about. We kept in contact over the international computer network, but I
never figured he'd turn into a superhero."
"Nor I her," he added. G-Force nodded.
"I see. And how do you and BK Power know each other?"
"We met each other through a man named Father Jacob Pochanski, who took
us in and trained us so we could hone our skills. We've both got some
rather interesting traits, like you two: I can shoot gum wad
projectiles, like you saw on those guys, and BK can increase her
strength for a brief time. We've formed sort of a ‘hero-for-hire' thing,
and called it the Battle Divas Enforcement."
"Girls only," added Power. She gave Thunder-Claw a sympathetic smile and
apologized, though he didn't know what for. She then looked at G-Force
and asked, "Why don't you join? If you were after that woman, you're
bound to have some skills. It'd be a great way to meet people and
realize your skills, and Father Jacob's a pretty good man."
"An all-girls superhero squad, huh? What, you into feminist rights, or
you just like women in general?"
"A little of both," said Power with a coy smile. "We've got four
members, if you count the two of us, and we could always use more."
"Well, I sort of have a commitment to this fella here," replied G-Force,
giving her partner a friendly nudge. He waved her off, wiping his
forehead as they all waited for a medical team to arrive.
"You should go with them, G. I'm gonna be out of commission for awhile,
and I'm not exactly comfortable with the idea of you going out there
alone. I mean, let's face it, you're still just getting the hang of your
abilities."
"Don't say that!" snapped Power, giving him a firm slap. He cried out
softly and nursed the area she had struck.
"No, it's okay," said G-Force. "I appreciate his honesty, and he's
right. Despite my month or so on the streets, I'm still just a newbie.
Hanging around with a whole group of people might just increase my
chances of survival, and I'm bound to learn a few things. Besides,
working with other women sounds fun."
"Yeah, you should definitely make some friends," added TC. G-Force
grinned, agreeing with his statement on a level he never intended to
reach.
"Well, I guess that settles it. So where is this Battle Diva
headquarters of yours, or are you going to lead me there blindfolded?"
Power and Black gave each other an awkward, knowing look, and G-Force
just knew that she would regret mentioning that last part.
.........
Battle Divas Enforcement Headquarters, BDEHQ, was kind of like a temple
for training monks, secluded and spectacular, thought not very large. It
boasted a series of gardens on each level, a staircase G-Force knew
she'd have to climb, and apparently enough room to host a dozen other
female warriors, plus a mess hall and training rooms. It wasn't as
impressive as it could've been, said Power, because they were still
renovating it to suit their needs. The last inhabitants had abandoned
it, and seemed all too eager to hand the deed over.
"It's not haunted, is it?" she asked as the three girls drove there.
Black chuckled.
"No, nothing of the sort. I think it was just strategically unsound for
the monks. Something about somebody setting fire to the whole place.
It's perfectly safe, and we have every accommodation you could dream
of."
"Oh." Power craned around to extend her hand to the newest volunteer.
"Since we're going to be working together, we may as well get better
acquainted. I'm Kristen Masterson, but feel free to call me Kris."
"Yeah, you take that name because you're such a dyke."
"Shut up!" Power hit Black rather sharply, which, with her strength, was
really quite a violent blow. Black pouted angrily, nursing her wound.
Power snorted; "The baby's Xianq Shou. I just call her Beeg, short for
BG. I couldn't pronounce her real name."
"Shyank," said Shou slowly. "Just say Shyank...Show."
"Beeg." Power laughed; Xianq couldn't even sting her with a slap.
G-Force attempted it and got slightly better results. Power—or Kris—then
said, "So what about you? What's your name?"
"I...don't want to say."
"Come on," she egged, "you can trust us. It's not like we'll use it
against you, and you will be living with us. We can't just call you
G-Force all the time."
"It's not that," she said bashfully. "I don't...like my name. It's
dorky."
"I bet it's not," said Shou, assuring. "I bet it's real pretty. Careful,
though; the dyke's known to fall in love with a girl just by hearing her
name."
"Shut up!" snapped Kris again, jerking the car around. Both of the girls
yelped as they were flung around, glad that they had worn seatbelts.
Shou snorted.
"Don't do that."
"I only do it cuz' you pick on me!"
"I'm just telling the truth. You're a big fat dyke—well, not fat, but a
dyke nonetheless."
"Oh, so you do like women!" said G-Force merrily. Kris chuckled humbly.
"Yeah, yeah...a lesbian in the midst of an all-girls superhero squad,
imagine that."
"Hey, it takes all kinds. And if it's any consolation, I'm gay too."
"Oh really?" Kris grinned at Xianq wildly; the younger girl rolled her
eyes.
"I'm surrounded by dykes."
"So you wanna go on a date? It'd be nice to have a girlfriend again."
"Uh, we barely know each other."
"That's why we're dating, nimrod." G-Force now rolled her eyes and gave
Xianq a tap on her shoulder.
"Is she always so direct?"
"Only if she thinks she can get away with it. God, do you have to make a
pass at everyone?" Kris smiled.
"No, just women. Whaddya say, G? Tell me your name, gimme your number?"
"No, sorry."
"Come on," they both sang. G-Force rolled her eyes and finally gave in,
murmuring her name at least: "Sally Redinger." Kris and Xianq grinned at
each other.
"Sally?"
"See, it's stupid!"
"No, it's cute! It's a cute name. Hey, I know, we can call you Sal.
How's that sound, Sal?"
"I like Sal a lot better than Sally."
"Or Salvo," said Shou. The girls smiled, agreeing even more. Kris parked
her car.
"Well, we're here. Time to go meet the rest of the crew."
G-Force—"Salvo" to her new friends, now—was glad she didn't have to take
the stairs to reach the top. An elevator had thankfully been installed,
and had already been used to death since the coming of the BDE. Kris and
Xianq explained that aside from themselves, there were only two other
women employed by the Divas. The Battle Divas were sort of like
mercenaries, with BK Power in charge of maintenance and Bubblegum Black
in charge of finances. The other two sought out jobs; before they came,
Power did most of the work. The relief was very welcome, needless to
say.
They found one of the two girls practicing by herself outdoors. The
three watched her spar with the punching bag for awhile: her speed was
outstanding, nearly to the point of being intolerable, and her skill
with smacking the poor bag around seemed just as admirable. After
awhile, she concluded by breaking the bag in two, spilling the stuffing
out onto the floor. She didn't seem winded or bothered; she just stuffed
her hands in her pockets and turned around.
"Oh, hey girls," she said with a wave. Noticing G-Force, she asked, "New
recruit or visitor?"
"Um...kind of both." The other woman, clearly the eldest of the four,
performed a standard martial arts bow.
"I'm glad I'm meeting you early, then. I guess you got a look of what I
can do, huh?"
"Uh, yes, that's quite impressive."
"Thanks. The name's Johsen, Mora. People call me the Cobra."
"S...Sal," she replied, hissing in hesitation. "Sal Redinger, otherwise
known as G-Force. Um...might I ask why you're called—"
"Eh, you'll see in time. I gotta hit the weights, then do a few laps.
Catch ya later girls, Sal. Nice meeting you, and welcome to the BED."
"That's BDE," said Kris stuffily. Mora Johsen snickered.
"Whoops, was that a faux pas? Did I accidentally spell ‘bed'? That was
completely unintentional, I assure you." She waved farewell, and
actually did seem to slither away like a cobra. G-Force gave a watery
smile and turned to her new friends.
"Cobra, eh?"
"Uh, a complex character. She keeps to herself a lot. The girls are like
that, but they're pretty reliable in a fight. Hey, Beeg, can you show
Salvo to where Alyssa is? I just remembered I have to tell Father Jacob
about that woman we got."
"Right." Kris went off in one direction, Xianq led Sally into another.
"When you get the time, feel free to change into something comfortable.
I'm sure that, uh, outfit of yours gets awfully hot." G-Force remembered
she was still wearing her maroon superhero costume, and blanched.
"Oh, this? I'm sorry, sometimes I forget I have it on. Um, are you sure
I can trust you guys with my identity?"
"Oh yes, definitely. We're all like sisters here; we trust everybody.
You can relax here. This way." Shou led Sally through the temple into
other rooms, giving her a tour (or else she was just lost) and answering
her questions as they went.
"So that Kris girl, your friend—she's really a lesbian?"
"Yeah. She's really a lesbian, if you know what I mean. And I'm not."
"Oh." She winced. "How does that work?"
"Sometimes it doesn't." Xianq grinned mirthfully and added, "Most of the
time I'm the one ragging on her. She's not even halfway as flirtatious
as she was with you. She's like, really uncomfortable with herself,
really unsure. You wouldn't know it from the way she tosses people
around in a fight. She has a hard time even admitting it usually."
"So...only one foot out of the closet, in other words?" She nodded.
"Frankly, and don't take this the wrong way, people would be more likely
to believe I'm gay than she is. You said you were?"
"Um, yes. You don't have a problem with that, do you?"
"What can I say?" she sighed, shrugging. "I live and work with a dyke.
I've known her for three years. I'm as comfortable with it as I can get.
Just don't expect her to seriously flirt with you; I think she was just
being friendly, or stupid back then."
"Oh." Sally laughed quietly, and followed Xianq into another room, where
the fourth member of the team was—also, coincidentally, practicing, only
with a sword. Despite having only known her briefly, G-Force instantly
recognized her.
"...Siren? You're with this group?"
"Oh, hi G-Force! I had a feeling you'd show up here sooner or later.
What a great place, wouldn't you say?"
"I wouldn't know," she said bashfully, "I just got here."
"Oh, you know each other?" Both of the women nodded.
"We teamed up for a bit to stop this maniac called the Reaper."
"Oh! Well, uh, I guess I better let the two of you get...acquainted.
Heh." She chuckled nervously and ducked out; the other girls looked at
each other, a little confused.
"Does she think we'll make out or something?" G-Force turned red, which
was quite a feat for her summer-sky face. "Oh, never mind. Don't mind
me. So what have you been doing with yourself?"
.........
Father Jacob Pochanski was more than a mentor to Masterson and Shou; he
had acted like a true second father to them both, and was their
spiritual teacher as well. He greeted Kris with a gentle hug, telling
how glad he was that she was safe, and invited her into his room to
speak. She first told him about her latest mission, then revealed how
she had discovered a new volunteer for the Battle Divas. Father Jacob
was a shrewd and careful man, and wanted to personally test Miss
Redinger before fully accepting her into his circle.
"I've not seen what she can do myself," admitted Kris, "but you have to
admit that anyone who goes after that woman we were after has to have
some talent. She was with this guy, too; he's in the hospital now, so he
thought we should, you know, take care of her until he gets better."
"...I see." He rubbed his chin, then his naked scalp. "We'll let her
stay for the night, since it would be the charitable thing to do.
Tomorrow I'll test her. If I don't think she'll be able to make it, I
suppose I could let her stay for a few days as a guest. Do you know if
she has somewhere to go?"
"She's got a home, but she also claims to be a superhero—I guess like
us. I suppose she'd want to get back out there and do something no
matter what we say."
"Yes," he said slowly, "that does seem to be the way of things in
certain people. Yes. We will see tomorrow. For now, we should treat her
as our guest. Kristen, when you have the chance, please ask Xianq to
come here. I would like to have a word with the two of you about this
tournament I've been hearing about."
----------
To be continued.
Xianq: Hey everybody, Bubblegum Black here! Wow, it looks like we
finally made it into the story!
Kris: Beeg, come on, quit hogging the spotlight. Don't you think the
readers want to know what'll happen next?
Xianq: I'm sure that can wait for later. Right now, I just gotta ask if
there are any single men out there!
Kris: They'd never handle your sugar addiction, Beeg.
Xianq: What do you care, you're a dyke! Anyway, I guess I better tell
everyone that we won't be in the next section. Instead, it's going to be
dominated by classic cool Ronin.
Kris: Yup, swords and samurai will rule the next installment, "Meet Lady
Snowblood". Subscribe to the next issue right away!
Xianq: Kris, this isn't a comic book. And hey, isn't Lady Snowblood that
woman associated with the Crimson Blades? Ohh, now I'm scared!
Kris: Oh, boy...
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