#0 - "Crystal Chaos"
Roll Call:
 Hunter |
 Black Tiger |
 Captain Valor |
 Sargon |
Nighttime in New York City. An innocent looking van makes its way through the dark streets. It comes to a stop outside one of the many high-rise buildings that are so common in the Big Apple. The side door slides open and a woman hops out. She takes a quick look in both directions before sliding off her long coat and tosses it back into the van. Underneath the coat she wears a dull, black body suit with many pockets.
"You know what to do," the man behind the wheel said. "No screw ups." Kimberly Matthews nodded and silently walked off.
Before long, she had reached her objective: a dark area behind the building. Once more checking the area to be sure that no one was around, she closed her eyes and began to concentrate. Were there any onlookers, they would have been amazed as the young woman literally disappeared from sight!
Kim was no ordinary woman. Rather she was a mutant; a being with strange and unusual powers. Her powers, like those of her twin sister, were the ability to make herself invisible to sight and to walk through walls. Kim's sister became a covert operative that played both sides of the fences, while she was just a thief. But a darned good one considering her powers!
But it was this occupation which had placed her into this mess. Three weeks ago, Kim had found a nice pigeon ripe for the plucking. To her eyes he appeared to be nothing more than a wealthy businessman. One night while he was out, Kim walked through the walls of his home. She found the safe and reached in to clean it out.
In doing so, she triggered some sort of strange trap. A field of energy surrounded her and she couldn't get out! Not even her powers could save her.
Things got worse as the man was in reality a Morbane-- a Priest of the organization called DEMON! Now she was in a pickle as her pigeon was really a magic user!
Feeling that she had little choice, Kim begged to be spared. After some discussion a bargain was struck. Kim would steal for the man and he'd let her live. This was her fourth job since that time for the man who called himself Lord Shadow. She prayed that it would be the last.
Kim eased her way into the wall. Just as the plans she had been studying for the last few days had showed, she phased into a stairwell. Kim proceeded to quietly jog up the stairs.
On the 8th floor, Kim phased through the stairs' door and entered the hallway. She turned right and passed three doors before stopping in front of the fourth. Kim leaned over, phasing her head through the door to check for occupants in the room. Finding it empty, she stepped through the door.
The safe was located behind the painting as her plans had noted. Emptying the safe was a bit tricky. Kim had to phase her head and her arms into the safe. A small flashlight that was strapped to her head provided the necessary illumination.
The really tricky part was unphasing her hands so that she could pick up the contents of the safe without phasing into solid matter. Once an item was safely in her grasp, she would them phase her hands along with the item. That done, it was a simple matter to remove the item from the safe and drop it into one of her many pockets. Kim repeated this procedure until the entire safe was empty.
Her job done, Kim retraced her steps out of the high-rise and returned to the van. It was still parked where she left it some fifteen minutes earlier. She rapped lightly on the side. The door slid open in response and Kim stepped in.
"You got it?", the driver asked her as Kim became visible.
"Yeah, I got it. Let's get out of here." The driver stepped on the accelerator and the van sped off into the night.
Within twenty minutes the van had reached its destination: a seemingly normal parking ramp. However, as with all things with DEMON, things were not as normal as they appeared to be. For at the lowest level of the ramp was a secret entrance to the DEMON Lair! The van simply appeared to drive through the wall. Behind the wall was the garage of the DEMON lair.
The occupants of the van disembarked from the vehicle. The driver and his associates abandoned their disguises and donned the robes of Demon Warriors. A squad of Demon Mech agents watched the whole thing, their features hidden behind sinister looking armor. Kimberly was led deeper into the base by the warriors and the Mech agents.
No matter how many times she had been through the DEMON base, Kimberly was never able to pick up its layout. The base was circular in design and labyrinthine in nature. Even the walls themselves were circular and strange-- constructed of some black, stone-like material but impossibly smooth. Kim swore that if you stared hard enough at the walls that they would actually begin to move before your eyes. Even stranger yet, Kimberly couldn't phase through these walls. This place truly frightened her.
The Demon Agents lead Kimberly into a large room. Waiting for her was Lord Shadow, wearing his dark robes, his face hidden in the shadows of the hood. Next to him was Lady Zee, a Demon Priestess, dressed in a style similar to Lord Shadow. Lord Shadow and Lady Zee were the masters of this Demon Base.
The last figure was what appeared to be a suit of armor bearing a wicked looking battle axe. However, Kimberly knew that there was nothing inside that suit of armor! It was some kind of magically automated creature that Lord Shadow called the 'Dreadknight'.
"At last!", Lord Shadow said upon seeing Kimberly's arrival. "I trust that you have the item?"
"Yes, Lord Shadow," Kimberly said without the slightest trace of enthusiasm.
"Good! Very good!" Turning back to his guards, Lord Shadow commanded, "Leave us!" They filed out without question.
In the background Lady Zee went to a side table and picked up a trio of objects wrapped in a small piece of black velvet. "Lord Shadow, it is now high time that we see if our theories are correct," Zee said. Lady Zee handed one of the objects to Lord Shadow and one to the Dreadknight, keeping the last one for herself.
"Agreed," Shadow replied. Turning back towards Kimberly, he added, "Show me the shard, wench!"
Kimberly reached into one of her many pockets and pulled out a large, crystalline shard. It didn't resemble any type of gem that she had seen before. The whole thing was about eight inches long and four inches thick at it's mid-point. Kim didn't understand it, but there was something special about these gems. At first they held no special interest to her. But as she came across more and more of them, her desire to find more of them increased. This desire is what kept her working for Lord Shadow this long against her better judgement.
The others removed the velvet covers they held to reveal three more identical shards of crystal.
"Hold the shards like so," Lord Shadow said, demonstrating his wishes.
The others complied, forming a semi-circle. Each held one of the shards before them and they advanced forward. As the crystals neared each other, a soft light began to glow within each.
"Can you not feel the power, my love," Lady Zee said to her fellow Morbane. "It's exhilarating!"
As the shards came closer together, the light grew stronger. The shards then touched and in that touching they fused into one! Each shard was like a slice of a pie-- only that a few slices were still missing.
"Yes," Lord Shadow said to Lady Zee. "This will make us very powerful! We shall--".
Lord Shadow never got the chance to finish his words as the bright glow shot up his arm and covered his entire form! In one instance Lord Shadow was there, the next he was gone!
Lady Zee started to scream, but she too was cut off as the crystal's light covered her.
The Dreadknight merely stood there silently, emotionlessly, as it was consumed.
The brightness began to cover Kimberly Matthews. She tried to phase, tried to let go, but she couldn't. It was as if her body was paralyzed. The brightness claimed her.
Kimberly Matthews' prayers had indeed been answered-- only not in the manner that she had intended...
Roll Call:
Hunter |
Black Tiger |
Captain Valor |
Sargon |
"But, honey, you're just not ready yet."
"Dad, I've been training all my life. I am ready for this!"
Lane Kirby studied his daughter with that look that only fathers can give. However, unlike most fathers, Lane Kirby was better known to the world as the Hunter-- a legendary superhero. Like his father before him, Lane had donned a costume to fight the evil in the world. Now his only daughter was aiming to follow in the family tradition.
It was true that Lane Kirby was no longer the man he was. His daughter shared his black hair and blue eyes, but gray hairs had begun to weave their way into his. The aches and pains of twenty-five years of crime fighting took longer to heal. In his heart he knew that Helena was right-- but to send your own daughter out to risk life and limb?
"Helena, there is so much that you don't know. Things that I haven't had the chance to teach you. You don't know what you are getting yourself into."
"What else is there? I have the blood of you and grandpa in my veins. I was almost on the Olympic gymnastic team. I was the in the top of my class at law school. I have a double black belt in karate. I have the wealth of knowledge and the gadgets of the Hunters before me. I even have a costume ready. Are you saying that I'm still missing something?"
Helena Kirby looked back at her father with intense eyes. Lane recognized the intensity. He had felt it when he was much younger-- when he was in Helena's place-- when he was trying to convince his father that he was ready. In that moment, Lane realized that there was nothing he could do or say that was going to change his daughter's mind. He couldn't hold her back if he tried.
"Helena, I--," Lane never got to finish that thought as his comlink began to vibrate. Removing it from his pocket, he glanced as the small LCD read out. It was a message from the Avengers. Since Hunter was the team leader, he had no choice but to respond.
"I've got to go, pun'kin," Lane said, kissing daughter on the forehead. "Tell you what, come out to the estate this weekend. We'll run some tests and see what you can do."
"Thank you, daddy!", Helena burst out as she gave her father a big hug. "I won't disappoint you!"
Lane ducked into his daughter's restroom and quickly changed into the garb of the Hunter. Stepping into the faint light from the upper level of the loft, he was illuminated slightly. Hunter wore a black bodysuit, with dark blue and gray triangular insert panels across the chest, arms and legs. A dark blue cowl and cape covered his face, head and shoulders. Gray gloves and boots, trimmed in dark blue, finished off the famous uniform. Numerous pockets and hidden storage areas were unable to be seen, but stored numerous gadgets and equipment. A gray shoulder pack housed the larger and more used equipment. He raised one fist and fired a line from his wrist launcher out into the night and swung off.
Meanwhile, within the Avengers Mansion located on the other side of Central Park, the mage known as Sargon was explaining the situation to his colleagues...
"I've never seen anything like this," Sargon said. Sargon was dressed much like a standard stage magician with the addition of a simple black domino mask. He wore a top hat, with a tux and tails. White gloves and an ivory tipped wooden cane completed the ensemble. The cane looked as if it were at least 200 years old.
"It's a big hunk of crystal," Captain Valor replied. "Big flamin' deal!" Valor wore a bright costume to draw attention to himself. Standing at six foot four inches tall, Valor cut an impressive figure. His costume was mostly orange, with sections of golden yellow on the sides of his half-face mask and chest. His arms and legs were yellow as well, ending in orange pirate-style gloves and boots. Black trim outlined the boundaries between colors. An orange cape rested on Valor's broad shoulders. He figured that a superhero needed a cape to really look cool.
"It must be really something if our resident sorcerer can't make heads or tails of it," the Black Tiger added. The Avengers' resident stealth and martial arts member was a fierce fighter in a compact package. He stood just over 5'9", but was built like a cross between a badger and a pit bull, coupled with the grace of a jungle cat. His costume was a dark coal gray bodysuit, with a matching half-mask. Pale yellow stripes, representing whiskers, radiated outward from his nose and pointed ears rose above his head. His gloves and boots were pale yellow with black stripes along them. A wide yellow belt circled his waist. The costume was finished off with a high-collared cape which strapped over one shoulder.
The trio stared at the strange, semi-circular hunk of crystal that Sargon had placed on the table. It would have been perfectly circular except that one, wedge shaped portion was missing.
"This thing is so magical...," Sargon continued. "It's difficult to describe with mere words. I've never seen anything this powerful before. It's not from our world. And yet it is strangely familiar..."
"Is this thing dangerous or not?", Black Tiger asked. "You know how Hunter hates false alarms.
Before Sargon could reply, the base's intruder alarm went off! Captain Valor brought up the exterior cameras and focused in on the problem: a nine-foot tall humanoid, all ablaze, was burning down the front gate!
"Alright!", Valor shouted. "Action! Come on Tiger, we got a walking bon fire to put out!"
Captain Valor flew off, leaving the Black Tiger to follow as best he could. Sargon remained behind, continuing to stare at the crystal. Just then he remembered something and ran off towards his personal quarters.
Outside the Mansion, the two Avengers moved to locate the mysterious intruder. "Just remember to stay out of the way, 'Tiger," Captain Valor said to his teammate. "That sucker is mine!"
"We'll see about that, Captain Ego!"
The two reached the front gate but the flaming giant was not to be found. The burning gate posed no immediate danger. Cautiously, they moved out into the street and almost walked into a young woman. The heroes seemed as surprised as the woman was.
"It's a girl!", Captain Valor shouted.
"I'm glad you noticed...," the blonde woman said. She stood before the two men in a golden body suit with orange trim bordered by black. She was kind of cute and appeared to be in her late teens.
"Wait a minute!", she continued. "You're Captain Valor and Black Tiger! But you can't be-- you're--"
"You're in big trouble, girlie," Valor shouted as he moved towards her. "Stand aside, Tiger. This is a job for a real hero!"
The Black Tiger had been standing between the two and as the Captain pushed past, the mystery woman took to the air and quickly flew out of sight.
"Hey!", Valor shouted. "Come back here! Damn, she's fast."
"Very observant, Mr. Hero," Tiger said mockingly. "Can't even catch a little girl?"
Valor shot his teammate a dirty look and himself took flight.
A few minutes later, the mystery woman was streaking across the sky. She found Captain Valor hovering in the air just waiting for her.
"I knew she'd come back!", Valor shouted to his teammate. "I figure that hot number found me irresistible."
"She probably just wants to know why your breath smells so bad," was the Black Tiger's reply.
"You're just jealous of all the babes I've got lined up," Valor countered. "Hey, honey, how about we--"
However the woman totally ignored the two heroes and streaked towards the Avengers Mansion. Blasting through the outer wall, she flew inside!
"She's crazy as a loon!", Valor exclaimed. "She just burned her way into the Manor!"
"I just love this knack you have for always stating the blatantly obvious."
"Can it, Tabby. I'm gonna get that girl!"
"I've got twenty bucks that says I can catch her before you do!"
"You're on!", Valor said, flying after the mystery woman. "I just hope that you're good for it!"
The Black Tiger raced back into the Manor in hot pursuit of their quarry. Unseen by either hero, the mystery woman had burst out of the back of the Avengers Mansion! Tears flowing freely from her eyes, she flew off into the night without a single look back.
Meanwhile, the Hunter had reached the nearby rooftops. His thoughts were on what the current emergency was all about. Hopefully, it was concerning his teammate Supreme, who had mysteriously vanished recently. Hunter was momentarily surprised when the woman blasted her way out of the Mansion!
"What the hell is going on here?!", Hunter wondered to himself. He had no chance to pursue the swiftly flying woman, so he reasoned that he would inspect the inside of the Mansion. See how bad the damage was and if any of the other Avengers had been injured. With a mighty leap, the Hunter reached the Mansion's courtyard and ran inside.
Inside the Manor, Captain Valor and Black Tiger were intercepted by Sargon.
"Hey, Sar, did you see a girl come in here?" Valor asked.
Sargon appeared to ignore him. He stared at a shard of crystal in his hand. "I was right. I had seen this before. This shard is a portion of that crystal!"
Captain Valor was not impressed. "I don't give a damn about that!", he said, grabbing the shard out of Sargon's hand. "Did you see where--"
The shard sparked and a soft light came from it washing over the Captain. Without a word, he flew forward towards the larger crystal on the table.
Sargon and the Black Tiger exchanged puzzled looks.
"We've got the stop him! The crystal must be controlling his actions!", Sargon shouted, gesturing to cast a spell.
"Yeah, it must be: he shut up!", the Black Tiger added.
Captain Valor was too fast for either hero and he slammed the shard into the crystal, fusing it in place. Now only one shard remained missing.
The Crystal itself began to glow and its energy surrounded Captain Valor. The Black Tiger punched the Crystal at the same time as Sargon hit it with a bolt of magical energy.
The Crystal responded in a dazzling display of energy! Explosions ripped through the Mansion, destroying the insides. The roof and walls began to collapse and the whole structure quickly became engulfed by flames. Dark clouds of smoke rise into the night sky...
