And then there is the Apple comment. I understand that the Congo is one of the biggest exporters of cobalt, however, cobalt is also found in other countries like Chile.
And then there is the Apple comment. I understand that the Congo is one of the biggest exporters of cobalt, however, cobalt is also found in other countries like Chile.
Yeah but it won't be as cheep would be coming from the Congo along with having to worry about possible more restrictions. I was also being somewhat sarcastic.
"Alright, let's try this one more time," said Mia, finishing up a stretch and starting off into a sprint off a skyscraper. In a blink of an eye, her body disintegrated into a wave of dust that blew in the wind, a storm of sand that flew around apartment buildings, over the skyscrapers, and through construction sites until she materialized out of the mini sandstorm over 10 blocks away from where she started.
"Ok, same ol' same ol'," she said, looking up at a higher ledge. "But I wonder," she said, holding her left arm out before it became a rope of sand that wrapped around the ledge that Mia used to swing up above the building before using her right arm to swing her forward again. She then swung herself on top of a pretty high building in the city shortly before she got a call from her boyfriend/semi-fiancé/it's complicated.
"Hey, you got a minute?" asked Xander.
"Depends, what's it about?"
"A bank robbery, well, an armored truck robbery that is currently in a high-speed chase from a bank-"
"I am on it," said Mia as Xander sent her the information, and she swung into action.
"Thanks for filling in for Ace and Des this week," said Xander as half of Mia's body thinned out, turning into a dust storm and pushing the upper half of her body forward.
"Where are they anyway?" asked Mia, landing on top of one of the NAPD cars chasing after the armored car.
"Kilimanjaro…I think they are training with Adisa,"
"Oh," said Mia before adding, "I don't know if I trust her," as the doors to the armored truck burst open and the robbers opened fire on her.
"And why is that?" asked Xander as the bullets passed through Mia's sand body harmlessly.
With one push, Mia flung herself, a wave of sand towards and then into the armored truck before reforming herself. "Because her middle name is literally Shaytan," she said, punching one robber out before elbowing another, knocking her out as well.
"Well, you can't help your last name, but she does seem suspicious," said Xander as Mia burst through into the driver's cab of the truck. "But Destiny and Ace can handle themselves," he said as Mia knocked out the guy before tossing him over to the passenger seat and slamming her feet on the brakes just narrowly avoiding hitting a young woman walking across the crosswalk near an African Legion checkpoint.
"Sorry," said Mia before turning into dust and blowing away.
Leila watched bewildered at the sight of the sand woman, more so than her nearly being run over. It felt like she had zoned out for hours, but it must have only been less than a second as no one was blowing their horns at her yet when she snapped back to reality and hurried across the street.
"Hold up," said an African Legion woman, holding out her hand to stop her. "ID?" she asked.
"Um…do I need one?" asked Leila, her French accent slipping and catching the attention of the guard who said sternly, "Yeah, Frenchie, you need one."
"Oh, okay," she said, handing her ID and bracing herself to be searched. It was something she had almost gotten used to in France, even though she didn't veil or was even religious. If anything, she leaned more towards Roraism. It didn't stop the French "secular" police from messing with her.
The woman snatched the ID from Leila. As the guard looked over the ID, she grew more and more embarrassed before handing back the ID and apologizing in the most African Legion way possible. "Sorry, ma'am, I thought you were white."
"Oh, okay," said Leila before the guard added, "Next time if someone like me is manning a checkpoint, speak in Arabic or something so we know you ain't a terrorist about to blow something up or say that you're a friend of Janet."
"Um…thanks, Janet," said Leila.
The guard nodded. "No problem," as Leila continued her walk down the street of the NAZ Quarter of the city, which was almost immediately noticeably different from the rest of the town. It was still a lower working-class neighborhood, but it wasn't as dirty as the rest of the city. There was a noticeable lack of cars in the section, even though the roads had been repaired by the NAZ government; gas prices were still high; however, that didn't stop people from biking along the street or even a few people using horses.
There was also a lack of homeless people in the Quarter as many of the area's homeless managed to find a place to stay within the Ward Urban Home Standing program, with many abandoned buildings being turned into affordable housing where the people collectively owned the building in exchange for taking care of it and maintaining the area.
There might not have been a lot of fast-food places, and even a smaller number of people able to afford it, but there were a number of community gardens that hosted fruits and vegetables and even small animals like rabbits and chickens that they couldn't buy. In terms of meat or wheat, it was distributed by a food center that was stocked by farmers in the deeper black belt that sold off some of their surplus crop yields in exchange for lower taxes on their land and subsidies.
Then there was the construction; there was always construction going on in the Neo-Atlanta NAZ. It ranged from the early stages of a trolley station to the building of new housing or cooperative businesses to repairing roads or buildings, to just painting artwork on the side of said building. It was the latter for her apartment as her apartment neighbor Jarius was just finishing up a painting of Black American soldiers marching through Atlanta during the Civil War.
"Sup, new girl," he said, walking in after her.
"Hi, Jarius."
"Any luck on finding a job on the outside?" He asked her.
"Not a thing," said Leila.
"I told you that you should probably check with the Employment Bureau; they pass out jobs like it's candy," said Jarius, adding, "I got a job spray painting the side of the building under some public beautification program. It doesn't pay all that much, and I have to buy spray paint, but it pays enough to get by, and I choose my own hours."
"I don't think they would hire me,"
Jarius looked at her confused. "Why not? You're awesome."
"Oh, please, you're the awesome one, Mr. superpowers,"
"I can see in the dark; it is not exactly a superhero," said Jarius. "Now back to you, why don't you go to the office?"
"Do I got to spell it out for you?" she said, reaching her door.
"Tell you what the Office Of Employment is hosting a job fair right after the opening of the new water treatment plant. As part of a Joint Private Public Community Investment Project if you come down there with me later on today, I'll make you a bucket of my lemon pepper wet chicken wings,"
Leila rolled her eyes. "No way you actually got enough chicken for that,"
"I do," said Jarius. "My cousin from up North just bought this old plot of land down in Louisiana after his service in the African Legion. He is using it to farm chicken and algae in a nearby pond on the property anyway because of him I got the hookup on a lot of chickens, mostly the ones too small to be sold, but they make good bite-size wings,"
"Fine, you win," said Leila walking into her apartment before adding, "But no matter what, you still owe me those wings,"
"Xander, for the last time, I don't care about the venue for a wedding that is going to happen in what, like three to five years minimum," said Mia as the walked the halls of Ward Mannor.
"I'm just saying, hypothetically, if we could have it on Mars, would you?"
"I couldn't care if we married in a shack in the woods, so long as we are getting married," Mia sighed. "But like I said since it's nearly half a decade away at the bare minimum I could care less about the marriage. Let's focus like here and now, like I don't know… me meeting your parents,"
"Right," said Xander, pausing. "You are going to be doing that in an hour," said Xander.
Mia looked like she was going to blow a fuse. "WHAT!" She yelled.
Xander rubbed the back of their neck. "Well, the Ward Water Foundation is doing this dedication to a new green power treatment and recycling plant,"
"AND YOU'RE JUST TELLING ME THIS NOW!"
"I-I'm sorry," said Xander.
"Aha!" said Mia, storming off to go get changed.
Mia stood by herself just off to the side of the stage, holding the red ribbon to the treatment plant. The place wasn't exactly packed, but it did have a fair number of people among the people in the audience, although a lot of them started to leave when they realized that a "Ward Company Representative" would be giving the speech, not the Prince Of Neo Atlanta himself. Suddenly Mia could hear arguing approaching her as she saw Xander walking with his parents, a middle-aged couple in the middle of one of their famous arguments. They, however, stopped fighting to stare at Mia.
"She is the one?" asked the mother confused, already a bad sign.
"Yeah, um… Mom and Dad this is my girlfriend, Mia," said Xander as Mia held her hand to which Xander's dad and only Xander's dad properly greeted her by shaking her hand back. "Oh, it's nice to meet you," said Xander's father awkwardly, as if caught off guard, but before anything else happened Mia was called on stage.
Mia looked down at the speech Xander had made for her on their way to the treatment plant…it was generic but would work when the other option was freestyling it.
"Ladies and gentlemen, esteemed guests,
Thank you all for joining us today on this momentous occasion. It is with great pleasure that I announce the opening of this new water treatment plant, a testament to the power of community collaboration and philanthropy. Thanks to the dedication of everyone involved and the generosity of Ace Ward who sadly could not be here due to other business engagements, we are ushering in a new era of water treatment for Neo Atlanta. This new facility is equipped with an innovative, Yestech-designed eco-friendly particle-based water and recycling treatment system.
As we celebrate this achievement, let us recognize that each one of us played a role in making this happen. It's a symbol of what we can achieve when we come together for a common cause. Let the opening of this water treatment plant not only quench our physical thirst but also inspire us to continue working together for the greater good.
Thank you, and let us embrace a future where clean water is a right, not a privilege…" Mia was cut off as she could hear the sounds of Humvees screeching to a halt; before she could react, water cannons began to spray away the police.
"Sorry to rain on your parade!" shouted Tombstone as he and his goons jumped out of Humvees armed with automatic rifles.
"Shit," mumbled Mia, tiptoeing off the stage as Tombstone shot over the head of the newfound hostages.
"Tie them down; I am going to find Ward!" said Tombstone to his soldiers as he and a small detachment of goons headed inside of the water treatment plant.
"WARD!" Shouted Tombstone as he entered the water treatment plant. "COME OUT TO PLAY, COMMIE SCUM!" Tombstone's goons fired some shots blindly throughout the plant. "I KNOW YOU'RE HERE, WARD! AND I KNOW YOU CAN HEAR ME!" said Tombstone, but then suddenly two of his goons were sucked up in the air by dust sprouts.
Tombstone laughed. "Reaper," he chuckled, adding, "You're still protecting that commie rat, Ward! How much is he paying you!"
"Not Reaper," said Mia, hitting more of his goons in a sandblast before landing back up in the scaffolding. "Not Ace Ward either."
"Aw, I know who you are," said Tombstone, smiling. "You're that damn terrorist sand woman! Desert!"
Mia formed in front of him. "I'm not a terrorist-"
"Less talking, more shootie; you're Ward-funded commie Jihadi!" He said, firing his guns at Mia; the rounds went through her with no effect besides annoying Mia, who crossed her arms and sighed. "So, do you want to handcuff yourself or…" asked Mia to which Tombstone responded by throwing one of his goons into one of the water treatment pits, distracting Desert who lunged to save the man as he made a break for it. Mia attempted to grab the man, but by the time she reacted, his body was stripped apart particle by particle due to the water treatment system. The last thing Mia saw of the man was a single hand reaching up, only to be dissolved into blue water as it filtered down from the vats into a drain.
"That was crazy," said Leila as she and Jarius sat around Jarius's small apartment table eating hot wings from a bucket.
"It could've been worse," said Jarius, adding, "Hey, at least you got a job afterward,"
"Yeah, as a cross guard… they didn't even give me one of those cool blue uniforms," mumbled Leila.
"But you do get paid… speaking of which, guess who got paid today," said Jarius. "More importantly, guess who bought two half-used summer passes to Six Flags that fell off a truck."
"Hey, maybe as good a day after all," said Leila.
"Today was horrible," bemoaned Mia as she and Xander walked through the halls of Ward Manor.
"Baby, it wasn't your fault," said Xander.
"I'm a hero; I'm supposed to save people, how could I just let a man die!" She said, her lower body sagging into almost a slug-like form of sand.
Xander shook his head. "You didn't let him die, sweetheart. I saw you through the video feed; he was dead by the time he hit that water. If you want to blame someone, blame that bastard Tombstone,"
"I'm a hero, Xander; I'm supposed to save people," she sighed.
"Listen, I know this isn't much, but maybe I can try and cheer you up," said Xander, handing over some tickets for Six Flags.
Water pooled around a
leaking pipe somewhere just outside of Neo Atlanta, but something was far off about this water. Something that wasn't noticed by the construction workers currently attempting to fix the pipe.
"Johnny, hurry up, man; it's getting dark, I don't feel like working at night," said one hard hat-wearing worker as his partner walked towards the leaking pipe with a blowtorch in his hand, only as he stepped in the pool of thin water near to pape to have a disembodied hand of pure water grab on to his leg pulling seemingly impossible deep into the puddle of water.
"Johnny?" called out the other man, terrified. "Johny!" He yelled.
"No Johnny here," said the voice from the water as suddenly a massive 8-foot-tall, humanoid shape came from the water. "ONLY TORRENT!"
"You mind if we sit here?" asked Xander and Mia to two strangers as the seating near the concession was almost completely filled up, save for an empty four-seat table that had only two seats taken.
"Sure," said Jarius as he and Leila made room for the other two.
"Hey wait I know you-" started Leila.
"Yeah, I'm Ace Ward's best friend, but can you guys not say that out loud? And girlfriend, and trying to lay low and enjoy the park without getting mobbed," said Xander.
"No problem," said Leila.
"This is actually my first time actually coming to a theme park," Mia said.
"My second time; my parents took me to Disney Paris once when I was little," said Leila.
"That must have been nice; I always wanted to go to Disney, but I never got to go," said Mia. "Growing up in a war zone would do that for ya, I guess,"
"You're a refugee too?" asked Leila.
"Yemen; I managed to leave just after the end of the war. I didn't have much left there anyway. What about you?"
"France; I grew up in the suburbs outside of Paris, but when those secular anti-separatist laws came into power, I started to look for places to leave for when the NAZ opened their borders to people of African Descent suffering discrimination in Europe, I jumped on that visa list,"
"Well, it seems that this duo have more in common than we realized," said Xander
"Oh no, we aren't on a date; we are just friends-" started Leila and Jarius, but before they could finish, there were screams coming from the other side of the park, a stampede of panic, and fleeing guests ran away.
"Everybody run!" shouted Mia as the four of them took off, with Mia losing them in the commotion as her face quickly disappeared under a mask of sand.
As Mia ran forward against the currents of a mob of people, she saw what they were running from. An 8-foot-tall man made almost entirely out of water with only a barely visible body in the center of it.
"You!" shouted Torrent as he shot a blast of water, sending Mia flying into a food stand, melting half of her body.
"Ok listen, I don't know who you are or why you are here, but-" started Mia as her body started to reform before she was grabbed by Torrent and thrown into a stone wall.
"YOU WILL PAY!" yelled Torrent, hitting her with a blast of water jet.
Mia stumbled back up. "Ok I'm going to give you one last chance to give yourself up," said Mia before she was sucker-punched by Torrent, which landed her on top of a roller coaster.
"YOU DID THIS TO ME!" shouted Torrent.
"I don't even know who you are," said Mia, hitting the man with a blast of hard sand that turned into rock, only to be blasted into pebbles by a high-pressure blast.
"LAIR!" shouted Torrent, kicking Mia off the roller coaster before jumping down and grabbing her in his hand as he began to grow. "YOU TURN ME INTO THIS!"
"No, I didn't-" started Desert but was suddenly struck with a realization before she was splattered to the ground in a puddle of mud. Torrent began to shout "YOU DID THIS TO ME AND NOW EVERYONE WILL PAY!" shouted the man
"You're the guy-" started Mia.
The man picked her up again, slamming her into a bumper car rank, breaking the rank apart and sending sparks and wires flying everywhere as Desert splattered into a pool of mud before her body slowly started to reform. "THE MAN YOU TURN INTO A FREAK LIKE YOU!" He said, turning his hand into a massive water gun. "BUT THERE IS ONLY ROOM FOR ONE FREAK IN THIS TOWN! TIME TO DIE, SAND BITCH!" he shouted, aiming his gun.
"DESERT, THE ELECTRICITY!" shouted Leila running towards them before being shot back by a blast of water.
Mia looked around before expanding herself to gasp at the sparking wire before vibrating her sand particles to build up even more electricity.
"HEY MOIST BOY!" yelled Desert getting the water man's attention before saying "Eat this," as she let out a massive electrified sandstorm blast that knocked the man out of his water armor, sending him skidding and flying 50 feet away, knocking him out.
"Are you ok?" asked Leila, getting back up and rushing over to a reforming Desert.
"I should be the one asking you?" said Mia.
"Wait," started Leila as Desert forgot to form her mask. "MIA?!"
"Oh, dark my mask," the superhero said quickly trying to cover her face. "Listen, I need you to not tell anyone about this; I can give you-"
"Can I get a job?" asked Leila. "I-I mean can you like p-put in a good word for m-me," Lelia stumbled out before adding "I'm not blackmailing you and your secret is safe with me, that's the least I can do for saving me and my friend's life, but I'm like really broke."
"Sure," said Desert as the cops arrived at the park. "How about henchmen…or henchwoman?"
"Wait, can superheroes have henchmen?"
"There's a first for everything I guess," said Mia.
...
King A'volc Alkebulan The First stepped off the plane. Then again, to say that the aircraft the king arrived in was a plane would be a vast understatement. It was a palace with wings, though in Venan terms, that also meant it was a military base with wings. They primarily built upon the designs of the Soviet's An-225 Mriya and American CL-1201 Aircraft but re-crafted and built upon by Venan engineers to become something much more.
At 560 feet long with a wingspan nearly two times its length at 1102 feet, its six internal deck levels weighed nearly 12 million pounds and were designed to cruise at 30,000 feet on March 1 and could, in theory, reach Mach 2.5 at its maximum speed. The interior of the aircraft was capable of fully supporting itself and staff nearly eternally with indoor gardens, food stocks, along with water recyclers.
For defense, it supported its own Iron Dome-style anti-missile defenses along with hundreds of hypersonic interceptor parasite drones and 24 fighter jets tucked under its wing. All of this was powered by four small nuclear-powered reactors which made its fuel range unlimited. This also doubled as secondary defense as any country that could strike the aircraft would be dealing with an airborne Chernobyl that could "go critical" above the entire world.
Even with its nuclear-powered engines with four nuclear-powered jet engines, it was far too big for any conceivable runway anyway, so the craft also had 182 JT9 engines that were mounted vertically to give it VTOL take-off and landing capabilities. Still, the newly renamed Medgar Evans Liberation International Airport had to be cleared of all other crafts on their runways so the plane could even land alongside two dozen Venan Transport Helicopters alongside the monster of an aircraft.
As the king's feet touched the ground, the hundreds of African Legion soldiers and thousands upon thousands of citizens cheered out at once, while a band played a marching beat. Dozens of military vehicles and horses were unloaded by helicopter. It was truly a rare sight for this much security, mostly due to the fact that the King rarely ever left his country, preferring to send his children as substitutes. But this was something else, a chance to fully rub dirt in the eye of one of his greatest enemies and a chance to boost the prestige of her chief political rivals.
Waiting on the other end of the red carpet, watching the king shake hands with the onlookers, was Field Marshal Jake Jagger. His face was surprisingly muted with a smile, and he actually looked like he was taking things seriously, almost as a rare sight as the King leaving his homeland. Above them all, just out of sight, was the entire Justice Commandos alongside a few notable members of Legion.
Beyond them, in a radius, was an equal number of fighters and bombers, jet aircraft of the African Legion mostly of modified American or old Soviet designs with a few indigenous F-15s and F-16s. Two whole African Legion and NSS brigades had been placed on alert alongside an airborne brigade and air cavalry units ready to drop at a moment's notice.
On the ground, NA-DIS managed population control along with conducting a number of raids on known WRA locations and safe houses to keep any enemy potentially busy. Lastly, through back channels, the CLA had been paid off to not attack the event, and even the Syndicate Of Heroes was notified at the last minute. However, the Spirit was shocked to receive word back that the SOH somehow already knew the event was going to happen before it was announced.
Jagger held out his hands to shake the king's, who was now flanked by two royal guards. The King shook his hand as Jagger spoke.
"Welcome to the belly of the beast," he joked.
The King smiled before quipping back, "The soft underbelly of the serpent is often the only place to strike," as he got into the limo. A completely custom Cadillac that was more like a tank than a car. The thing was completely bullet and rocket-proof. It would take an anti-tank rocket to damage it if that rocket somehow got past the trophy system. The tires, of course, were bullet and mine-proof, with the car having deployable tracks even in case those tires were damaged. The inside of the car was completely sealed from biological and chemical attacks, with a carbon air system meant to recycle breath in case of an emergency. There were also hidden guns that could be deployed within the car in addition to both scout and attack drones.
As the car drove down the street towards Jackson proper, it was flanked by Royal Guard vehicles, followed by Venan Special Forces, Korpsmen, NSS, NA-DIS, and then the African Legion vehicles. At that very moment, that car was most likely the safest vehicle on Earth. Jagger was silent despite himself in an unlikely and un-Jagger display of respect. However, the two of them had a whole conversation just by looking at each other and the feeling was mutual between them.
Jackson itself was currently being completely rebuilt following The Placement. The NAZ government had taken pride in making it the epicenter to showcase its public works programs. Jackson saw a massive influx of people who were quickly hired alongside locals for massive projects. Skyscrapers were being built alongside massive green and eco-friendly factories and public housing. Alongside this came the secondary industrial and infrastructure to support these new jobs, leading to secondary job creation. All of this was timed and tabled out so that the burst would never occur. Everything was taken into account so meticulously, one would think it was magic, but the Jackson Miracle was all too real.
Elsewhere on the side of the roads, people flocked around to see the Emperor of Vena. Many of them had brought out mini Venan flags which lined the street. There were chants of "Vena! Vena! Vena!" Followed by "New Afrika! New Afrika! New Afrika!" As the limo drove past them. There was, of course, a very small number of protesters gathering around with signs, mostly anarchists or anti-red imperialists, though how many of them were actually protesters or undercover cops for the NA-DIS was a matter of debate, after NA-DIS did get training from ISOTed members of the East German Stasi and Chinese Intelligence.
The motorcade pulled to a stop at the old Mississippi governor's executive mansion after the establishment of the NAZ. It was like the rest of the city was being expanded or rather already had been expanded with two extra wings given to the mansion. A number of historic buildings around the mansion had been torn down and rebuilt a distance away for security reasons and to make more room for the executive estate. In front of it were rows upon rows of reporters held back by even more security officers from both the NAZ and Venan military and Secret Service. The King once again found himself walking down a red carpet as the door to the presidential mansion was opened up by an African Legion marine before she walked out after. She was a short woman, though not for an American Woman, in fact, for American women, she was very much average outside of looks, where she was far more noticeable and attractive. Her eyes were firm and held a fire that matched her subtle red hair and the grip of her hand as she shook the hands of the king.
"Hello, madam president," said the King to Imani V Clair.
"Hello, Your Grace
," said The President Of The New Afrikan Autonomous Zone.
DC...
"I honestly can't see why you are so upset," said Heart Harkon as she cut a slice of uncooked tuna, her ears pointing up as she slipped the fish from her fork into her mouth as she sat across from the president of the United States.
"When a politician from my own country attempts to undermine the national security of the nation-" started, but she was cut off by Heart.
"President V. Clair is the head of state within the New Afrikan Autonomous Zone which is both autonomous and sovereign. She has the right and the mandate of the Black American people as well as other citizens of New Africa to act in their best interest, not in the interest of the Democratic Party or the current American regime. President Clair is simply acting in the best interest of New Africa's National Security by making peace with another major power. As well as discussing the opening up of an embassy between our two peoples,"
"This is ridiculous!" interjected the vice president "Cut the shit! You are Americans this whole New Afrikan auton-"
"The people of the New Afrika would firmly disagree with you as well as the majority of the African Americans within this country. Maybe there was a time in the past until very recently that Black folks within this United States would call themselves Americans but for over two hundred years Non-Blacks in this country have made it apparent that Black people are not Americans," Heart said taking a lap from a cup of milk with her tongue "As such they feel better represented by us," said Heart handing over a discount in a brown folder.
"What is this?" demanded Harris "You can't be really thinking you to declare independence now can you?"
"No," laughed Heart "After all if we are fully independent how can President Imani win the next election," Heart smiled showing off long saber teeth.
"Then what is it?" asked Harris.
"Consider it a formal notice of the eviction of any and all military personnel located within the New Afrikan Autonomous Zone who are to vacate their bases and stations that are not found within the Joint Texas Occupation Zone." said the cat woman, getting up from her chair and leaving the office her tail closing the door on her way out.
"Damn you got your ass told off by a cat girl that's fucked up," said Grey walking from under the president's desk "But I wouldn't let that shit happen to me tho," he said as he climbed out a nearby window.
Jackson…
"I must say that was certainly an impressive entrance Your Highness," said Imani as she sipped on Tak'tol tea, a bitter-tasting tea that had an amazing aftertaste meant to teach practice and endurance in favor of long-term reward in its drinker.
"I can say the same even more so for this city of yours," said the King.
"Not just that city, the entire Zone is being built up, not as quickly as in Jackson due to logical and safety concerns, but within the next few decades, the NAZ is set to become one of the richest nations in North America," said the President.
The King poured himself another glass of tea before speaking "And it is on that note I am here to extend a hand Vena is prepared to beat out the Ward Company and other industries in the development of the New Afrikan Autonomous Zone. We can do it in five to ten years what it would take 20 by yourself,"
"While your offer is luring your highness," said President Clair "I will have to decline over direct aid in such a way?"
"Are you worried about angering the federal government?" the king asked.
Imani chuckled "Besides worrying about them collapsing too early not at all, no this is a matter of personal and national responsibility for the Black American people, I dare say it is a matter of national honor to rebuild ourselves. However, if you wish to share the technology and their infrastructure designs with our state-owned corporations and our private partners so that we can learn to produce food on them on our own that would be far better suited,"
The King frowned at this before going on "Very well, but you did mention safety concerns a few moments ago?".
"There are some mean bushes at the edges of the zone we are managing to keep a lead on things working quietly and the superheroes have been a great help in stopping major attacks and raids,"
A waiter came and offered the king some flatbread made from Venan volcanic ash, "And of the US government?" The King said taking the bread and thanking the waiter with a nod.
"As I said before Your Grace we aren't too worried about the federal government as a whole, but more so local and state government detaching and acting out on their, we have enough hardware to beat a few rogue states,"
"So madam president what is this about safety then?"
"You," said President Imani V. Clair "While we are autonomous from the United States that doesn't mean we don't worry about the amount of missiles you have pointed at the United States, how many ICBMs do you have now? Three and a half thousand, about one thousand short of NATO, but you are catching up," said President Clair, intentionally letting a little bit of information that could have been gained covertly slip to catch the King off guard in order to try and tip the balance of power of the meeting in her favor, but to her counter-shock the king reacted calmly simply saying "The true extent number is far more classified much like your Project RA. However, I am willing to negotiate,"
"Very well in exchange for civilian technological designs as they relate to infrastructure as well as security concession with you not striking any targets within a 50 to 25-mile radius of the southern bulk of the New Afrika in the event of nuclear war between Vena and America we have already undergone the task of evicting all federal military troops from any potential targets from within all of New Afrika. And for those bases to be occupied by African Legion members."
"I believe you have yourself a deal," said the King getting up and shaking the President's hands, the king added one last statement as he got up "But if the day comes that the US attempts to destroy what your people have built here in America, Vena would without question intervene to stop it all you would have to say is a word and we will send ships of men and guns. We will rain fire from the heavens so vast and so powerful that it would be as if all the stars in the sky have fallen to Earth. We could not protect you when the white man stole you from us when they stole you from Africa we could not stop them. We could not stop them when they enslaved and oppressed you in America. But now that we are strong, now that Vena is powerful again we are an empire again at a moment's notice we will render the entire west in atomic ash and fire if it means that chains shall never befall our eternal siblings even if it means an invasion of America," and with that and a rare royal smile from the King, as he left the office of the President.
...
"What the hell do you want?" said Slaughter, sitting down in a private office of Lang Industries Texan Regional Headquarters overlooking Austin next to Amerika as Tamika Lang sat across from them.
"After a whole lunch, you just now wait to ask—are going to ask that?" asked Ms. Amerika.
Captain Slaughter rolled his eyes. "Rule number one, kid: so long as there is free food involved, never agree to anything until after you had your fill."
"A shrewd businessman you are, Captain," said Tamika sarcastically.
"Hey lady, cut to the chase," said Cap.
"Well, I have a name for you," said Tamika. "Huey Trends—"
"The Senator?" asked Amanda.
"No, the porn star," Tamika said, rolling her eyes. "Yes, the senator, or rather his daughter."
"Ain't that the guy from Nebraska that signed on for that new stupid border bill? The type that would let the state keep their waters to themselves?"
"Strict regionalist and anti-tax guy, which brings me to his daughter and what happened to her, but first, I know you are obviously familiar with the American Super Soldier."
"Yeah, I'm real familiar with your butcher shop. It's how I got my powers, after all,"
"Well, a little failed experiment escaped containment after the project was shut down after the collapse of 2020. Our Iron Soldier program."
Cap's face grew stern, unnerving even Amerika, who was so used to seeing that smile on his face nearly constantly. "What did you do?"
"His name is Thomas Hacker, an ex-Afghanistan and Iraq war combat veteran who, after being convicted of supposedly accidentally killing a busload of people in a mass shooting in '06 following a psychotic break, was sentenced to death. Unfortunately, my previous predecessors, that ran the project, his record was just too damn impressive to let go. So in 2012, under a secret executive order, drafted by the President himself, the man's death would be faked, and he would be given over to the project. The only problem is the injection we gave him to fake his death worked a little too well."
"What happened?" Amerika asked her.
"It did a lot of brain damage, rewriting his neurons and making him even more violent before putting his man in a state of forever war with itself. Even after extensive cybernetic and mental augmentations, we couldn't fix him. So he and the project were supposed to be terminated a few years ago, which was, but his body was kept on ice for further study to see what went wrong. Unfortunately, The Placement happened and in the chaos, the body went missing until—"
"Let me guess, until today. I've seen this shit before, back in Nam with Project 100,000k, obviously not with cyborgs, but those boys could barely tie those shows back in Nam when they got home. Most who were still alive could barely string two words together about what happened in the bush. Most turned to drugs and crimes. Turned people like them into rabid—"
"Enough with the morality speech, Slaughter, you have no room to talk. Anyway, the target—"
"He has a name," said Slaughter.
"Right, he's calling himself HackNSlash, and he took the daughter of Senator hostage. We need you two to take him out."
"Why us?" asked Cap.
"Because Captain Slaughter is the best at what he does," said Tamika.
Cap spat some chewing tobacco onto Tamika's clean office floor.
"And what the hell would that be?" asked Cap as he and Ms. Amerika got up to leave the room.
"Putting down rabid dogs," Tanikia said, using the hero's own words against him while sending them to HackNSlash's last known location as Captain Slaughter left the room.
As they left the building, Cap didn't drive back to their hotel room or the location of HackNSlash. Instead, he pulled into an empty abandoned parking lot.
"Cap—" started Amanda before Cap spoke up, getting out of the car.
"You two have to have been marines because only two crayon eaters would think that tail would be good. Tip of the spear, not the top of the shelf, huh," quipped Cap in his dry sense of humor as Zeta-Man and Columbia landed in front of the two other heroes.
"Reeves? Rita?" asked Amanda, getting out of the car.
"What's your biz here? Why do you care about some chrome?"
"I'm sorry, Chrome?" asked Reeves.
"It's what those kids are calling people who decorate their prosthetic limbs," said Cap.
"A lot of people were injured in Texas during the fighting, and a lot of people lost their arms or legs, so a few people, mostly in Black and Hispanic communities, started to incorporate fashion into their new limbs. After all, if you're getting new free prosthetics, why not add a few LEDs or Bluetooth devices to them to make them look cool?"
"Free?" asked Reeves. "...Let me guess, Ace and Spader?"
"Yeah, Ace and Spader have been providing free limbs for low-income and marginalized communities that were most affected by the fighting," explained Amerika before Cap spoke again.
"You still ain't answered the kid's question, Boy Scout. Why are you two here?"
Reeves said, "Well, we're familiar with Huey, so when he told us that his daughter went missing—"
"I served with the senator in the army. By serving, I mean he saved my ass after a mean ass ambush," said Rita. "I owe him one even if he turned out to be a regionalist Gilipollas."
"Gilipollas?" asked Amanda.
Cap rolled his eyes. "Christ kid, how are you half-Mexican and don't even know how to swear?"
"The bottom line is that I owe this guy a life for saving mine and that he's why me and Reeves—"
"Are going to stand guard until we need you," said Cap. "Don't get your outside undies in a twist, but this is the type of job that isn't suited for you. It's a job for something subtle, not a flying brick. You two are going to provide air cover and the lookout for the opp."
"You... Subtle?" asked Rita.
"Believe it or not, dolly, I am a soldier from a time when they actually meant something," said Cap, getting back into the car.
"Sorry about Cap; he's been on edge since he took the job," said Amanda.
"We understand; we all have our stressful days," Reeves told her calmly before Amanda waved to them as she got back into the car. A few moments later, Zeta-Man and Columbia watched as Amanda and Slaughter snuck into HackNSlash's junkyard base.
"Five dollars that this goes badly," said Rita.
"Ten if it goes bad in the first five minutes."
As Cap and Amanda crept through the junkyard over piles of rubble and scrap metal, they saw their first target: a sniper… only that he, or rather it, wasn't exactly human, at least not anymore.
The thing was dressed in military camouflage pants, but from the waist up, it was almost completely a machine, and what wasn't a machine was a Frankenstein monster with different body parts stitched together with machines. It smelled horrible, like rotting meat and machine oil, as it pulled out one of its eyes, attaching it to his rifle scope.
"Gotta go for the head," said Amanda.
"How do you know that will work?" asked Cap.
Ms. Amerika shrugged, answering back, "Work against zombies in the movies," as Cap snuck around the robot-corpse soldier, taking out a combat knife and then shoving it into the zombie's brain, dropping him before tossing Amanda the rifle.
"Amerika, take out the sentry," said Cap, pointing across the junkyard to another zombie, this time with some type of radio device sewn into the side of his face. Ms. Amerika held her breath as she aimed through the scope.
"It's just a zombie, it's already done; shooting it doesn't count," she thought to herself, lining up the shot before firing a shot through the suppressed scope into the head of the sentry.
Then the screaming started. Thankfully, it wasn't Cap or one of the guards, but the senator's daughter who was tied up to a chair, screaming for help.
"Cap, you still got those hand grenades?" asked Amanda, taking out some sticky bombs from her belt as Cap handed her the grenades, asking, "Yeah, why?" While Ms. Amerika strapped them to stick bombs before pulling the pins and throwing them across the junkyard into a pile of cars.
Once the bombs went off, it sent an avalanche of cars and scrap metal down on the zombie cyborgs, taking them all out at once.
"That's my girl!" quipped Captain Slaughter as he and Ms. Amerika jumped down toward the girl, quickly attempting to untie her from her chair as the young woman began to scream.
"Calm down, girl, you are alright," said Cap, gagging her mouth.
"No!" She shouted. "BEHIND YOU!" she shouted, pointing behind Cap and Ms. Amerika towards the massive, nearly 8 feet tall hulking zombie of machine, armor, and muscles.
"What's your catchphrase again…" joked HackNSlash. "Oh yeah, it's slaughtering time!" shouted the man, but before he could anything, there was a large blast as out of nowhere flew in…
THE BLOODY RED BARON! With Banshee and Pyro jumped out of the plane flying above the fight while Toxic Sludge parachuted out of the plane, shooting toxic sludge, melting some of the members of HackNSlash's robo-zombie gang who attempted to crawl out of the collapsed mound of broken cars and scrap metal, with one of them getting their head crushed by Banshee's combat boot as she landed.
"IF ANYONE IS GOING TO KIDNAP THIS RICH BITCH, IT'S GOING TO BE THE CRIME LEAGUE OF AMERICA!" screeched Banshee, armed with some wrist-mounted weapons.
"I thought we agreed on 'Rich girl,'" Pyro told her quietly. "I ad-libbed," Banshee shrugged.
"I ain't complaining," Pyro said. "Kicked ass," Toxic Sludge quipped before Pyro told the heroes.
"The way I see it, all of you're all outnumbered—"
"Hold your horses, you subhuman scum!"
Pyro turned his attention to the other voice, this time in a thick Rhodesian accent, as armed members of the WRA led by the Steel Lady, Flora, Dixie, and General Confederate all appeared.
"THIS HERE HOSTAGE BELONGS TO THE—"
"Jane's Liberation Army!" said Commander Wells of the local chapter of the JLA, looking at the other CLA members. "Comrade Hellfire said you needed help—" she stopped as the sound of attack drones appeared overhead, and the African Legion began to show up.
"You gotta be kidding me—" started Cap before the Duken'Korps appeared, led by Daryna and The Comic. "We were in town and heard you guys needed help—"
"Oh shit, is that The Comic?!" Pyro asked Banshee when he saw her.
"We can ask for her autograph later," Banshee told both Pyro and herself.
"I was gonna ask for her number," Toxic Sludge admitted.
"Ok, that's enough!" shouted Zeta-Man and Columbia as everyone entered into a semi-accidental Mexican standoff.
"So... Who owes who?" asked Rita quietly.
"Honestly, I have no idea," Reeves admitted.
"So what now?" asked Amanda.
"You still have that Bluetooth thing on your phone?" Slaughter asked her.
"Yeah, why?" asked Amanda.
"Play our mix!" said Captain Ricky Slaughter, picking up the empty chair and throwing it.
"It's time to party." The chair didn't hit anyone or anything, but suddenly one of the Klansmen yelled.
"I'M MAD!" as the chaos began...
A clusterfuck of a battle later:
"...So that was eventful," Ms. Amerika said to Captain Slaughter, Columbia, and Zeta-Man as the latter held the hostage, cradling them as they nervously shivered, thanking the heroes.
"Thank you, thank you, thank you," she cried.
"Don't mention it," Columbia told the senator's daughter, saying, "Let's take you home, okay?"
"Okay," the girl told them before Rita Dalí went up to say goodbye to Slaughter and Amerika.
"If you want, I can teach you some Spanish curses," she quipped to Amanda. "Really? Thanks."
"Take care," Jim and Rita told her before they took to the skies, holding on to the hostage.
"...I need some ice cream," Captain Slaughter said with what was almost a shell-shocked look.
Licking their wounds, the four Crime League of America members regrouped atop an old restaurant, one that was likely abandoned long before the war or even the Placement itself.
"So… We're lucky to still be alive," Pyro said.
"I think that's an exaggeration," Bloody Red Baron commented as he repaired his plane.
"Says the guy who was flying over the fight."
"I was patrolling the sky!" he complained. "Someone had to take care of those blasted drones."
"Dude, did you almost get killed by a robot zombie?" Toxic Sludge asked. "...Didn't think so."
"Don't worry about it," Banshee told the Bloody Red Baron. "Pyro and Trent are just annoyed."
"By what exactly?" he asked her. "Not getting The Comics phone number," Banshee quipped.
"Oh, like you'd have a chance," Pyro scoffed.
"Don't act like I didn't see you flirting with Ms. Amerika of all people," Banshee had gone red in the face. "...No!" she complained as the Bloody Red Baron and Toxic Sludge looked at her.
She seemed a little annoyed. "You're looking at me like we were having sex… We weren't!"
What actually happened? Well, it was sometime during the junkyard battle that this conversation occurred between Banshee and Ms. Amerika, starting like so:
"I have read fanfics that make more sense!" Ms. Amerika said, to which Banshee responded.
"Hey! Don't diss fan-fiction! I write shitloads of it, you costumed girl scout!" slashing at them with their clawed gloves. "I wasn't, I do too, I meant the bad ones," Amanda clarified to Bree as she blocked the claws slashing away at them.
"So like 'My Immortal'?" Banshee asked them.
"Hold up! Time out! You've read My Immortal? Like, you know what I mean when I say that?" Amanda said, stopping their fight then and there. "…Yeah?" Banshee asked. "Who doesn't?"
"I don't!" Pyro said passingly as he was tackled through some wreckage by HackNSlash, whom he'd punch away with raging plumes of fire.
"Yeah, so I actually write fan fiction," Bree admitted. "Really?" Amanda asked her, sounding almost excited, before telling them. "…This is gonna sound a bit embarrassing, but me too."
"Oh shit, really? Small world," Banshee and Ms. Amerika both ducked as The Comic somehow managed to punt Dixie across the fight scene like a spear. "So uh… What kind do you write?"
Amanda asked Banshee. "Oh? Mostly smut."
So, right there in the middle of a battle, the two teenage girls were discussing fan fiction…
"You know, some superhero stuff, some real person stuff, superhero and real person stuff, some fantasy, some Batman stuff, I've even tried doing some Lovecraft smut," Banshee said.
"I don't have a lot of time to write, on account of being… Y'know, a superhero," Amerika said.
"Yeah, I figured," Banshee said. "Too busy getting verbally harassed by the media and the public."
"I mean, you guys probably get a lot of hate too, right?" Ms. Amerika asked as Banshee told her.
"Make it look like we're fighting" before throwing a very predictable punch, one which Amanda dodged easily as the two continued their conversation, which had returned to favorite subjects:
"I really like writing Ace Ward, Atlanta social scene smut, which is kinda weird because I have a boyfriend and he's white, but Ace Ward? He has been one of my celebrity crushes for ages."
"I mean, I can't blame you… my friend wrote some stuff about him too…" Amanda said to Bree thinking about the time she read some of Europa's fics.
"I mean, I never went too smutty with it, b—"
"Holy shit," Banshee almost squealed, asking Amanda. "Did we just become best friends?"
"I've never had a supervillain friend… Kinda, but not really, I mean… What do we even do?"
"Hold up… You're not one of those authors who write Ace Ward as being The Reaper, right?" Amanda's silence spoke volumes to Banshee.
"Well shit, I guess we can't be friends," Banshee shrugged before delivering a sonic scream, one which sent Ms. Amerika across the fight scene, tumbling through the fire Pyro made, hovering over the fire with her mechanical wings. "…That is so unoriginal!" Banshee hissed.
Back in the present, Cap and Amanda were sitting on a park bench eating ice cream.
"Too bad the Crime League people got away, but we got HackNSlash at least," said Ms. Amerika, enjoying her ice cream as she got a notification from her Ward+ app.
Banshee Wants To Ask: Let's Be Friends.
Ms. Amerika blushed... Not sure whether or not to answer it.
Cap just looked down. "They turned him into an animal."
"You mean HackNSSlash,"
Cap didn't answer that question "Amanda promise me one thing?"
"What's that cap?"
"You will never join the United States Army," said the old soldier.
There was a long silence between them, and before Amanda could answer, Slaughters phone began to buzz, a message having just been sent, he checked and his mood suddenly changed
"Hold my ice cream" he told Amanda, handing it to her
"What is it? Something about the senators daughter? Liberty-" to which the Cap told her that
"The Comic just sent me a pic! And a motel address!"
"Okay, too much info," she said as Slaughter bolted off into the night to get his pelvis crushed.
...You have one DM from Banshee:
Can I be your arch nemesis?
Amanda answered the request from Banshee with "Why not?"
...
The moonlight shone down onto Uncle Sam's road in South Dakota. Sam was nearly asleep when he saw the checkpoint. He attempted to brake when he saw that it wasn't a real government checkpoint, but one held up by a group of armed men with stolen military and civilian rifles aimed at him.
"Shit, going to have to ram those guys," said Sam as the thugs began to shoot at him. Sam jumped off his motorcycle, letting it ram into the gang as they began to open fire.
"I've been waiting for this!" said a man who had a cross tattoo on his head as he pulled out an RPG. But as he shot it at Uncle Sam, it exploded prematurely as a mini crossbow bolt impacted it in midair.
That was when both Uncle Sam and the bandits heard it, or rather them. The heavy galloping footsteps of horses pounded on the ground towards them. Above the cry of wild horses came the battle cry from a group of native women dressed in traditional clothing but holding modern weapons, who had seemingly appeared on horseback out of nowhere, each one with a red handprint on their face. At their head was a familiar face, or rather a mask… that of Skin Walker herself, who rode out faster than the rest, riding in between the militia and Uncle Sam. In a quick, blinding flurry, the female vigilante leaped from her horse into the storm of bullets from the militia as she dropped the smoke bomb. Sam nor the women on horseback could see much, but they could hear the screams of the men and the breaking of their bones alongside the ripping and tearing of their flesh as fangs and claws met meat. As the fire and smoke faded, the militia men lay unconscious and badly mauled as if by a tremendously vicious, but equally surgical wild animal.
"Fancy seeing you here," said Sammy. "What brings you out of America?"
"Last time I checked, this was still America," said Sam, confused, making all the women chuckle sarcastically at him before Skin Walker spoke with a smirk on her lip. "This here is native land, pale face," as she tossed him a medkit. There was a glint of friendship in her words despite the harshness of her tone. "Girls, get Uncle's bike back to the Rez."
"What about Uncle himself?" quipped Sam.
"You ride with me," said Skin Walker, calling over her horse. Uncle Sam quickly jumped on the back of the horse as they rode off into the night. An hour later, Uncle Sam found himself sitting across a fire from Skin Walker while the other women huddled around the sprawling mix of tents, RVs, converted trucks, horses, dirt bikes, and even a few old military vehicles, mostly modified National Guard stock.
"What the hell was that?" asked Uncle Sam. "Who were those people?"
"Road sharks," said Sammy as if that explained everything. Uncle Sam only raised an eyebrow as Sammy went on. "Bandits who stalk the roads, robbing, looting, kidnapping, killing, and raiding the occasional settlement. Those sharks belonged to a particular gang of assholes that are part of a cult. Think of Joseph Kony in the white face, who raids, takes boys as child soldiers, and takes women and girls as brides. They are led by a guy calling himself the Preacher Dominion."
"I can't think that the state government would care too much about—" started Uncle Sam.
"Look around you, Sam. There ain't no government out here. Most state governments pulled back to the cities after the placement. There wasn't much left by then anyway, thanks to a pandemic, and well, I guess the feds are too busy or don't care when many of the red folks are dying, so long as we do it quietly.
Some sellouts are all too happy to let that happen, sitting and waiting for help from the Feds that will come too little too late if at all. Others want to take after the NOAAU, form something like the NAZ. The first group is stupid, the second one is foolish."
Sammy handed Uncle Sam some water as he spoke. "I thought you would have liked Imani's New South."
Sammy shook her head. "Not every answer is the solution to every problem. What works in the south won't work in the Crumbles."
"Crumbles?" Sam asked, taking a sip of water.
"What everyone calls this place now. Where the government isn't in full control, but there is at least enough nominal control that it can't be fully considered lost or ungovernable if you count controlling major pockets as governance. It's like that old movie, Mad Max, the first one. Or more accurately, it's the Wild West 2.0."
"What about these people? What are you, some type of War Lord now?" asked Uncle Sam, making Skin Walker.
"Fuck no, do I look like Jake Jagger to you? These folks are just a nomad group that got in touch with me via Fixer because they needed help."
"Nomads?"
Sammy laughed again. "Right, this is all new for you. Nomads are road people; they keep moving. Some are tribals made up of different native groups, some are ideological, some are religious, and others are just plain fucking weird. So a bunch of people passed by the other day dressed like honest Dragon Ball characters attempting to trade some cards for water and food."
"What about these women?" The Red, White, and Blue soldier said, pointing out the women dressed in the camp behind her.
"They call themselves the Red Calvary, native women that got tired of waiting for people to save them as the shit hit the fan. Good people."
"Yeah, I heard about them bombing empty government buildings, burning down pipelines, and shooting at foster agents. So much for good people."
"Well, out here they are as good as you gonna get," said Sammy as a woman walked over to her, telling her something.
"Your hog is fixed up," said Skin Walker. "You can go now." There was a flash of another emotion, one of both excitement and anger on her face as the woman told her something else.
"What about you?" asked Uncle Sam.
"Just got a lead on one of the Preacher's lieutenants calling himself Deacon David. Gonna have to bring him in."
Uncle Sam spoke up. "I'm coming with you, Skins."
"This ain't a job for you, pale face—" started a woman before Sammy quieted her. "My team can come too; metals is better than one, especially with dealing with Christo-Fascist pricks like the Dominionists."
"Sammy Skin Walker actually accepting help? Who are you and what have you done with my friend?"
Skin Walker rolled her eyes. "Just don't get yourself killed. I don't feel like digging an extra grave," she said, tossing him the keys to his bike. "I lead, and you follow, got that pale face?" she quipped.
A few minutes later, Sammy was riding out in front of Uncle Sam as the Red Calvary rode on horseback, flanking technicals in groups, some with mounted machine guns, others with what looked to be old US armor mortars from WW2.
"They are holding out in an abandoned National Guard armory just up the road," Skin Walker shouted to Uncle Sam. "You should be seeing it now!" As she said this,
the light of the old armor could be seen, although it was dim, meaning the militia soldiers inside were sleeping, which gave the heroes and the Red Calvary the element of surprise. The truck with the mortars slowed down behind the rest of the pack, firing rounds of artillery pieces at the armory, taking out a hardened above-gun machine gun nest bunker, followed by a makeshift watchtower. Another truck fired a homemade RPG round through the shipping container fences around the armory. By now, some of the militiamen began rushing out of the compound with their guns, but before they could get a good aim, the machine gun technicals began to lay down suppressing fire, which scrambled the fascists as the women on horseback began to encircle the armory, firing additional rounds into militia soldiers who were trying to retreat.
"Hold on!" shouted Skin Walker as she and Uncle Sam rode through the breach in the fence, where they dismounted and headed into the main armory building. With a powerful kick, Skin Walker sent the door flying back along with the militia man standing behind it attempting to ambush her. Sammy rolled into the hallway of the armory, firing a bolo bolt from her mini crossbow gun at the gunman, but no sooner than she did that did another man come from a side door in the hallway, swinging a machete, shouting "Die, demon bitch, die!"
Uncle Sam grabbed the man by the arm holding the machete. "Is that any way to talk to a young lady?" he said, twisting the militiaman's sword from out of his hand before kneeing him in the gut and flipping him over to the ground, where he was rendered unconscious by Sammy's boot to his face.
"Young lady, really?" asked Sammy. "You're like, what, six years older than me?" she added as a man came around the corner from a stairway to throw a grenade at them. In the blink of an eye, Sammy picked up the knocked militiaman's rifle and used it as back to hit the grenade back toward the stairway; it exploded just out of killing range but close enough to send the militiaman flying down the stairs to the small blast.
"How did you know?" started Uncle Sam.
"Didn't," said Sammy.
"Didn't know?"
"Didn't care," Skin Walker said, jumping down the stairs into a kick at the militiaman's head.
As the two of them made their way down the stairs, they found themselves in a vast room filled with tanks, Humvees, jeeps, and other armored cars and trucks lined up although broken down.
"What is this place?" asked Sam.
"Most likely a bunker from the 80s. The govies had a bunch of old armories like this in case of nuclear war; the guards were supposed to shelter inside these places for a few weeks and use their firepower to restore order," said Skin Walker. "It seems that the fundies upstairs found out about this place and decided to take it as their own and repair the vehicles to restore their version of law and order."
"My god, if they got these things running," started Uncle Sam, when another voice cut him off.
"Not if but when," said a man dressed as a preacher.
"I take it you must be the deacon," said Uncle Sam.
"I am afraid I had to take the deacon to join some other failed members of my flock over yonder to the other side," said the Preacher. "You can call me Brother Dominion."
"The only thing they are going to be calling you is hangman when we take you in," said Skin Walker.
"Well, well, well, if it isn't the famous She-Devil, the whore of this Indian Babylon," said Brother Dominion.
Sammy rolled her eyes under the mask. "Yeah, yeah, padre cut the mono, and let's fight already."
The preacher chuckled. "I ain't come to fight ya just yet. I have come to make a deal with ya," he said, pointing at Skin Walker. The building began to shake as the makeshift semi-truck flatbed artillery battleship. "You and your little girl soldiers lay down your arms and submit yourself to the Lord Christ and me, his brother and humble servant on Earth, and I will let you live in peace under your natural betters."
"No can do, you wannabe Hong Xiuquan," said Sammy.
"Well, then the next time we meet, you shall fall to the same fate as Jezbal," he said as a massive chunk of debris fell between him and Sammy and Sam. Skin Walker was about to lunge at him, but Uncle Sam stopped her.
"We will get him next time, but we got to go,"
Skin Walker glared at Sam as they left. "Fine, but next time, he will see the inside of a cell."
The two superheroes barely made it out of the armory before it collapsed in on itself. Sammy sighed. "Thanks, I got it from here," she said as she started directing the Red Calvary to begin putting out the fire.
"So what now?" asked Sam.
Sammy frowned. "Probably going to help the girls put out the fire, maybe dig up the rubble to see if there is anything in that bunker that we can salvage for parts or to add to the rig. Then I guess me and them are going to head up to the Black Hills to finish the job."
"Finish the job?"
Sammy's mask shifted, showing not a face or a skull symbol but information. "Turns out as we were fighting, a scroller back at camp managed to hack into their communication network. A lot of their relays are near Rushmore, so that is where we think their base is most likely at?"
"Sounds like you need help," said Uncle Sam, putting a hand on Sammy's shoulder, to which she brushed it away.
"I'm fine. We don't need any more help from Uncle Sam. Boys in red, white, and blue tend to cause too much trouble than they're worth when it comes to natives."
"I know considering the history between our two peoples it doesn't mean much, but you have my word," said Uncle Sam, getting on his bike.
"It doesn't," responded Sammy, mounting her horse again and sighing, "But I could use a potential bullet shield," she quipped.
"Good enough for me," quipped Uncle Sam as he and Sammy rode off into the night alongside some of the members of the Red Calvary.
...
With the Senator's daughter saved and returned to her father, Zeta-Man and Columbia took to the sky. "This is where you say something cheesy," Rita told him as they floated off to a nearby rooftop in Washington DC.
Jim complimented her fighting in the previous showdown. "So you admire my leg work?" Rita asked him just a little suggestively, the two of them laughing at this apparent joke.
"So what now?" Rita asked him. "We should get some rest, maybe a bite to eat."
"Yeah, I doubt it'll get as exciting as that clusterfuck, but hey… The night's still young," she said.
The pair relaxed atop the roof of an apartment, where they took in the sights of Manhattan.
Columbia and Zeta-Man were having fast food from the restaurant they saved from a robber.
After taking a bite from his burger, Jim noticed that Columbia was giving him a funny look. "Hm?" he asked her, wiping sauce off his face.
"They offered this for free but you still paid?" Rita asked him. "Force of habit," Reeves shrugged.
"At least you didn't use your credit card," she said. "I almost did that once," Jim informed her.
"I mean, I'm not complaining, we're eating either way," Rita Dalí said as she ate some fries.
"It's so beautiful at night," Columbia said of New York City, a city she loved since her childhood.
The two had come to that rooftop often, even before their superpowers manifested, back when the two of them were just scarred veterans, as well as witnesses to the September 11 attacks.
Rita was one of the first people Jim Reeves told about his secret, that he had superpowers.
You could only imagine his surprise when Rita Dalí revealed that she too had superpowers.
How they both just so happened to have them? They didn't know, but they had theories.
Those theories weren't important that night.
What was important was what Jim planned for that evening, and for the rest of their lives.
"What are you thinking about?" she asked him, noting the smile he wore whenever he was looking at her that evening since they left Washington DC, and the friendly look in his eyes.
"What's the surprise?" Columbia asked him.
Reeves was silent, before he told her to close her eyes. "Kinky," she smiled cheekily as she did so, knowing that Jim Reeves was many things, from a veteran and the Speaker of the House to a superhero, but he usually wasn't too bold to do something like that just out in the open.
But she heard his heart beating like crazy.
"Open them," she heard before her eyes landed on Reeves, on a bent knee… Holding a ring.
Jim asked, "Rita Dalí… Will you marry me?"
Rita was silent as she processed what he had just said, as her eyes looked at the ring and the man who was holding it. Her hands had slowly covered her mouth as this smile slowly came over them, as she began to tremble a little, her hand gently came down to Zeta-Man's hand.
"Yes," she nodded with teary eyes. "Yes!"
Reeves slowly arose from his knee when Rita had wrapped her arms around him, as the two superheroes embraced one another, lit by the New York skyline as they kissed passionately in the air, their feet danced as they arose to the cool breeze of the night… Hopefully forever.
Thanks to @Danthefan28 for helping me with parts of this chapter. Sorry for being a day late got a little to caught up with other things to post yesterday.
It get worse because the areas under their control is pretty much dark with the only real thing coming out of them are raw resources. For all anyone could know those areas could be just giant mines or plantations or worse.
Hoodad's feet walked along the long mudbrick hallway of the bunker. Its walls of carved stone cracked with roots and plant life, each steam a rainbow or color. Yet the bright colors didn't cheer him up. Beside him were four of his Korps unit with a 5th one standing at the edge of the long hallway leading out of the bunker assembling Hoodad's Ogun Power Armor. Hoodad soon found himself stepping inside the power armor its bulky skeletal frame grasping around him with an hiss. No sooner had it closed than the soldiers began to place the armor over the large frame. Many of the men and women who had joined his unit were Venan heavy armor soldiers from the cult of Shuna. They saw this act of joining as becoming closer to their techno god. Hoodad held his tongue he was a man of science, but still a gentleman. And today with what was about to happen he felt almost nervous enough to pray…
Clashes Between Haitian Red Guards And Dominican Border Leaves Three Unarmed Redguards Dead Two More Missing
-Vena Today July 18, 2025
Surprise Vist From Venan King Shocks The Nation: Harris Left Coping & Seething
-New Afrika Forward July 18, 2025
Heavy Clashes In Nantes Sees Police Forces Pushed Back To Outer Edges Of Most Of The City
-Riot Watch July 18, 2025
North Korean Strike Deal With Russian Federation For North Korea To Extract Resources Within Siberia In Exchange For Helping Secure The Russian Far East
-The Economist July 18, 2025
The Woman Of The Hour Imani V. Clair: The Female Maverick Bringing Peace To The Americas
-The Black Star July 18, 2025
China To Reform Apsect Of Internet Censorship As It Switches To Venan Backed Rem-Net System
-RT July 18, 2025
Shootout In Junkyard Near Austin Sees Massive Metahuman Battle; Daughter Of Senator Saved "HackNSlash" Arrested
-MSNBC July 18, 2025
Universal Negro Improvement Association To Win A Majorty Jamaican Parliament
-New Moon News (Caribbean) July 18, 2025
Viral Talking Meta-Dog and Meta-Cat To Get Their Own Late-Night Talk Show: Tonight With Spike and Tyke
-TV Guide July 18, 2025
In Defense Of Slavery: A Necessary Evil In The Name Of Civilization
-Prager U Kids (YouTube) made mandatory views in multiple Republican and Patriot Party School Districts on July 18, 2025
Democrats Unviles Trap Twerk Team Task Force To Tap Back In Into With Urban POC Voters
-The Hill July 18, 2025
"Are the Dems actually allergic to saying the word Black? And even when they are panhandling and pandering to us with asinine bullshit they actually refuse to even say Black people."
-Heart Harkon July 18, 2025
Video Shows Russian Authorities Locking Sick People Into Their Houses Near Moscow
-CNN July 18, 2025
Haitian General Secretary Demand The Handover Of DR Soldiers Responsible For Death Of Redguards
-New Moon News July 18, 2025
Why Over A Dozen Militaries Are Looking Into Modern Horse Cavalry
-Task And Purpose July 18, 2025
Revolutionary Garveyists African Immigrants
Clashes With French Communists In Riot Controlled Paris
-BBC July 18, 2025
Is France Heading Towards A Civil War?
-TLDR News (YouTube) July 18, 2025
Chriseanrock Have Announced She Is Planning For The New Afrikan National Congress
-Not The Yam (Ward+) July 18, 2025
|
I am going to fucking kill myself if she wins. Everything we have learned about this woman and her man has been against our fucking will. And I will be damned if she is going to be platformed by the government! LEAVE THAT BITCH TO THE DUSTBIN OF POP HISTORY!
-Destiny Masters (Ward+) July 18, 2025
Violently Clashes In Orlando Florida Between Haitians And Far Right Domacians Street Gangs Leave 5 Hurt So Far At Least Two People Are Dead
-Raised Fist TV (YouTube) July 18, 2025
Three Of Vena's Biggest Fast Food Collective Brand Cooperatives To Open Up Across The Russia Federation
-Foodies July 18, 2025
Member Of The Duken'Korps Raid South African Terrorist Compound
-HeroWatch July 18, 2025
IED Kills One African Legion Soldier In Eastern Texas
-The Black Star July 18, 2025
Number Of Artificial Wombs Birth Grows To Over 2,500 As Hungry, Italy, The Netherlands Move To Ban The Practice
-The Economist July 18, 2025
African Diaspora News Channel To Move To YouTube To It's Own Television Channel
-TV Guide July 18, 2025
Radical Islam, Fascism, Black Nationalism, Pan Africanism, and Communism Are All Threats To Liberal Civilization
-GBNN July 18, 2025
"Welcome To The Crumbles," Inside America's New Wild West
-ABC July 18, 2025
North Korea To Buy Davy Crockett Style Miniature Nuclear "Super Artillery" System From Vena
-News Max July 18, 2025
South American Qist Militants Seen Among Death Watch PMC Fighting Against Rebels In Argentina
-CNN July 18, 2025
What The Hell Is AFUN And Why You Should Be Concerned
-New Afrika Foward July 18, 2025
Cyber-Skelton: How Heart Industries Previous Space Suit Designs Are Grainting Veterans The Ability To Walk Again
-MedTechDaily July 18, 2025
Number Of Manchester Street Gangs Forms Cartel:
"We the people and criminal organizations of Manchester and its metro area after repeated acts of abuse by the police towards us and our actions as well as the overuse of police force declare our unification into the United Manchester Cartel. This is a warning to all who dare stand in our way. We will kill you if you fuck with us,"
-New Moon News UK July 18, 2025
Bombing Kille Five In South Africa "Afrikaans Resistance Army" Claims Responsibility
-Vena Today July 18, 2025
Some PSL Members Are Calling For The Break Up Of The Union
-The Black Star July 18, 2025
Jade Javelin Takes Out Gang Members Attempting To Loot Community Mutual Aid Pharmacy
-HeroWatch July 18, 2025
"I am going to need you to take that up position on that high-rise. Take that M-240 with you and lay down fire if the enemy comes that way,"
-A Black woman with a Southern American accent giving instructions to African Revolutionary Garveyist Rioters within Paris July 18, 2025
President XI Declares "China shall reach for the stars,"
-The Morning Ray Today July 18, 2025
>Be President Xi
>Everyone forgot about you because of Vena
>Twain issues get solved for you by a random Black chick from the US
>Russia to busy colonizing and being colonized to challenge you in Central Asia
>India is still too scared of nuclear war after a close call to actually challenge your claims on the border.
>North Korea is under manageable leadership for the foreseeable future.
> The US to busy dying in the African jungle or bombing itself to really challenge you in the South China Sea.
>The economy isn't great but it's not as bad as it could be.
> Population decline is fixed due to "The Placement".
>Honestly don't really know what to do now
>Guess you will go to space
-Post On 4chan July 18, 2025
Beyoncé Releases Experimental Soft Alt Rock Album To Great Reviews
-Billboard July 18, 2025
Princess Mina Pardon Over A Dozen Christian Missionaries In Vena Letting Them Live The Country After Months In Jail Waiting for A Death Sentence
-RT (Twitter) July 18, 2025
|
This is horrible Vena has fallen! Billions must die!
- Venan Man 37 (Twitter) July 18, 2025
Pro and Anti-IRM Supporters Clashed Again Leaving Three In The ICU
-Venan Star July 18, 2025
Indonesia's New Superhero Makes Her Debut Interview Meet Tegangan: Asia Electric Speedster
-HeroWatch July 18, 2025
Dozens of DR Soldiers Ambushed & Killed By Venan Haitian Soldiers
-Fox News July 18, 2025
Jungle Drones: How Cheep Line Of Sigjt Drones Are Proving Troublesome & Deadly To US Troops
-BBC July 18, 2025
NOAAU Stalls Military Spending Plan For NATO Allies Over Issues Of Lack Of Funds For National Infrastructure & Homelessness A Known Alt Leftist Dog Whistle
-GBNN July 18, 2025
Tokyo's Population Problem Fixed Due To Massive Growth Following The Placement Last April
-Asia2America News July 18, 2025
3 Sentenced To Death In Rosa By Fire Squad Today July 18, 2025
"Today in Montgomery, Alabama/Rosa (The New Afrikan name for the regional prefecture of the state that is under its control) a number of Klansmen were shot via firing squad for taking part in a mass shooting which killed five. The case came under controversy due to the shooters also being from the regional prefecture of Douglas (the name for the New Afrikan-controlled Georgia) where they played a role in the attempted Juneteenth attack in Atlanta. Douglas who has much stricter laws involving handing out of the death penalty and the evidence required for the death sentence has protested over the fact their regional court didn't get to put the klansmen on trial before their execution and is filing a case with the New Afrikan Supreme Court to rule on the constitutionality of any other similar cases that may happen in the future.
President V. Clair has not officially weighed in conversation, but it is important to note that she recently approved the nomination of several "New Afrikan Federalists" judges to the New Afrikan Supreme Court who have in the past advocated for cases similar to the previously mentioned one to be tired on the New Afrika National level or for them to be tried by the United States Federal Courts…."
-The Black Star July 18, 2025
NEW AFRIKA IS GOING TO COLLAPSE! CIVIL WAR BETWEEN ROSA AND DOUGLASS INCOMING!
-Joe Blogs (YouTube) July 18, 2025
There Has Been An Increase In Non-Adult Aged Persons Below The Age Of 14 Deaths In Congo Due To The War
-The New York Times July 18, 2025
Cartoon Of King Alkebulan, President Xi, and Kim Yo Jong Carving Up Eastern Europe, Western Russia, Central Asia, and Siberia With The Caption: "The Scramble For Eurasia"
-The New York Times July 18, 2025
French Military Helicopter Attempting To Land And Reinforce Some Of The Last Hold Out In Paris Shot Down By RPG Fire.
-Popular Front (Instagram)July 18, 2025
"Ladies and gentlemen,
Today marks a momentous occasion in the history of Ward Company. For Centuries, we have stood at the forefront of innovation and progress, pushing the boundaries of what is possible. And now, it is with great pride and excitement that I stand before you to announce our latest venture: We are joining the space race.
Space has always been the final frontier, holding the promise of endless possibilities and untapped potential. And as we look to the stars, we see not just the vastness of space, but the boundless opportunities that lie beyond.
Our decision to enter the space race is not just about exploration; it's about innovation, collaboration, and pushing the limits of human achievement. We envision a future where humanity not only reaches for the stars but thrives among them.
We believe that the key to unlocking the mysteries of the universe lies in our ability to dream, imagine, and dare to reach beyond the confines of our world. And with the resources, expertise, and determination at our disposal, we are ready to embark on this journey.
Our mission is clear: to lead the way in space exploration, to pioneer new technologies, and to inspire the next generation of scientists, engineers, and explorers. Together, we will push the boundaries of what is possible and usher in a new era of discovery and innovation.
But let me be clear: this endeavor will not be easy. It will require dedication, perseverance, and unwavering commitment. There will be challenges along the way, setbacks to overcome, and obstacles to navigate. But I have no doubt that together, we will rise to the occasion and achieve greatness.
So, let us embark on this journey together, with courage in our hearts, determination in our souls, and the spirit of adventure guiding our way. The future is ours to shape, and together, we will reach for the stars and beyond. All of which being said….
WE ARE GOING TO MARS BABY!"
-Video Addresses By Ace Ward During The Opening Of The Savannah Georgia-Douglas Space Port July 18, 2025
"One Country Two System," Policy Of Harris Is Too Soft On Neo-Marxist Communist Blacks!
-NewsMax July 18, 2025
New Genetic Editing And Prosthetic Treatment Allow Transmen To Grow Penis, Testicles, and Viable Sprem
-Scientific American July 18, 2025
Peaceful Texan Nationalist Protesters Brutalized By Black Guards And Federal Police
-Fox News July 18, 2025
Attempted Hostage Taking In Miami Stopped By Blue Blur and Zetaman
-HeroWatch July 18, 2025
Over Thirty Dead But Ratio Holds As Import Hill Is Taken In Eastern DRC
-GBNN July 18, 2025
Andrew Yang's Neo-Technocratic Worker's Party (NTWP) Sees Support Rise Among Young Middle To Upper-Class College-Educated Whites & Asian Americans:
"As the Neo-Technocratic Worker's Party (NTWP) gains traction among young, college-educated whites and Asian Americans, the NTWP faces significant hurdles in connecting with other minority groups and working-class, non-educated whites.
The NTWP's emphasis on technological advancement appeals to segments of the population eager for progress. The party's messaging often fails to resonate with working-class individuals, including minorities and non-college-educated whites, who perceive its policies as detached from their everyday struggles and realities..."
-CNN July 18, 2025
//Imani: How much are we spending on them?
//Kruger: Not much as think all it took was a little social engineering to point a few rich and middle-class whites towards the idea and away from the Dems. Of course, they aren't actually thinking about how unpopular "their ideas," actually are and how insufferable they are as people meaning they will serve no other purpose than to take away many of the democratic support base in the state.
//Imani: Good, but I want you to increase the funding covertly to the PSL and DSA in the Great Lake region. We get commies to rally against and the Dems lose people on the progressive front too. This is all an old method we used in the CIA to fracture the in-power party by funding splinter groups on the extreme in order for the opposition to have an easier time winning the election. Now it's just chickens coming home to roost.
Crime In Japan Sky Rocket Among Otakus As Many Find Fighting And Dying In Gang War More Favorable Than Capitalism
-The Yam July 18, 2025
Batman Meets Ms.Amerika In New Comic
-The Comic Man (Ward+) July 18, 2025
Argentinan Leftists, Communists, Marxists Social Democrats, Anarchists, Radical Anti White Natives, and Rogue Low-Level Metahumans Teams Form Argentinan People's Popular Front AP-PF
-Fox News July 18, 2025
Skirmish Between South Korean and Japanese PMCs Working For Rival Mining Companies In DRC Kills 10 On Both Sides
-New Moon News July 18, 2025
Alt Leftists In Northumbrian UK Goes On Strike
-GBNN July 18, 2025
The Heatwave Sweeping Parts Of Southern Europe Shows No Signs Of Stopping Even After Record-Breaking Deaths
-Reuters July 18, 2025
"Their God is punishing Europe for slavery with climate change. They have sinned and their Corpse God (Venan insult towards Jesus) is punishing them by turning their land into an oven."
-Popular Far Right Venan Mega -Temaple Preacher July 18, 2025
Fact Check: Allegation Of The Use Of Female "Comfort Assistants" By US Soldiers And PMC is Lie Created By Venan Backed Alt Lefists Our Men and Women Would Never Do Such A Thing
-Vox July 18, 2025
Stimulus Bill Put Forth By Progressive Democrats Dies On The Floor
-CNN July 18, 2025
"You gotta be fucking kidding me. Fuck these fucking people, the goddamn economy is on fire, and these old fucking suits can't even pass a simple spending check. Fucking useless motherfuckers!"
-AOC July 18, 2025
Black Power Seen Saving Boy Scouts From Derailed Train…But Is It His Fault? Is He Derailing Trains To Play The Victim? Is It A Pattern Of Behavior? How Can We Stop Him?
-GBNN July 18, 2025
"Everyone is posting Zetaman having ice cream with a few kids he saved after they got stuck playing on railroad tracks. Zetaman once again a shining example to us all,"
-Miley Joseph (GBNN) July 18, 2025
…
"Is everything ready?" asked Hoodad to the other members of Legion staring out into the desert. There were at least 10 scores of mocked buildings and military vehicles lined up at a very far distance away from them from which it looked to be an actual military base. Besides of course the large tower holding the strange metal sphere.
"It's a hybrid device there is a chance it doesn't work," said AJ.
"There is also a chance that it works in reverse and we are all microwaved from the inside out… besides of course for Ghoul," quipped The Comic to which Ghoul remained quiet.
Mina turned towards Hoodad "What level are we looking at?"
"A very small yield for this device," said Hoodad with Shourded Justice "Enough for us to let Photonica fly closer to it."
"I still don't trust this," said Photonics around a quarter of a mile closer to a mock military base.
"The wiz kids did the math, you can handle the blast it's just a little over our FOABs," said Hoodad.
"It ain't the blast I am worried about Ogun," said Photonica "It's the rad-"
"It burns clean," Durid interrupted "Nothing more than a couple of X-rays if you were still a base human all you would need is a gas mask and a heavy shower afterward."
"Is everyone ready,"" asked as everyone placed on their heavy UV-shielded glasses. Around the heroes, thousands of members of Duken'Korps placed on their gas masks and glasses as Hoodad turned on his music.
Then with a flick of a switch, there was a blinding flash of light…then nothing for a solid second then there was nothing as if all air had left the areas then suddenly a blast. So powerful it sent Phontica flying back toward the rest of the group the air itself seemed to explode. The heat was so great that many of the soldiers tried to cover themselves with their hands only to see an x-ray of their bones. For another second above the shadow of the base that was the only thing that remained there was a brilliant black sphere within laid another smaller sphere of blue light that quickly fell in on itself before exploding outwards again after smashing itself down like a pancake yet as the second blast expanded it slowly shaped into a cone that faded into an ionic mushroom cloud.
Hoodad smiled "Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to a new age," said Ogun as the soldiers of Legion began their advance their gas mask-covered faces and air-locked vehicles protecting them as they marched under the shade of the mushroom cloud.
The Splinter turned to Hoodad "How long until can we begin production?"
"We have 25 already however there are some complications with minimization and larger yields."
"Can you put that in Venan," quipped The Comic.
"In layman's terms due to the complexities of the joint hybrid of the reactor and accelerator system it can't be made small enough to fit on a warhead restricting it to bomber or maybe custom artillery pieces or large naval guns along with this we have been running in with the problem of putting more in than we get out when attempting larger yields anything above one megaton is impossible. However, that one-megaton bomb will give off as much fallout as the average American minute man 3" explained Hoodad
"Well it's good to know even you can't cook up doomsday weapons on the fly." quipped Shourded Justice.
"Not quite," said Durid "Part of the reason most leaders are scared of using nukes or going to war with other powers isn't that nukes are just big boombs but because of the fallout. Making nukes just another big bomb may just have men kill each other off the fashion way,"
"Which is why we won't be handling it over to any state," said Prince AJ before Princess Mina added, "Officially this was just a conventional weapons test of a new type of bomb."
"Good after all we don't want an anti-matter arms race," said Ogun.
…
America To Place First Transgender Woman On The Moon By July 4, 2025!
-MSNBC July 19, 2025
WOKE TRANSGENDER WANT TO MAKE THE MOON WOKE!
-NewsMax July 19, 2025
Artillery Duel Between Haitian And DR Sees Dangerous Escalation In Ongoing Crisis
-New Moon News July 19, 2025
The European Union Space Program (EUSP) To Build Orbital Space Port By 2030
-The Economist July 19, 2025
Trans Southern Rail Road Sees Record Construction Despite Terrorist Concern
-New Afrika Daily July 19, 2025
China Moves Troops To Borders To Deal With "Refugee Ciris" From Climate Migrants In Asia As Well As Those Fleeing Russian Flu Outbreaks
-China Watch July 19, 2025
"Yeah, I am probably going to run for president in 2024. Probably as a Republican maybe as a Democrat. I would run under the NOAAU, but they got Imani."
-Governor Ye July 19, 2025
//Kruger: I've been having Kanye reversed poisoned
//Jagger: The fuck does that even mean?
//Kruger: I had my man slip meds into his food while subtle suggesting he runs through subliminal messages.
//Jagger: Rare Kruger W anyway is the funni shit Texas-East Germany addition ready to go?
//Kruger: Just waiting on word from Imani most of the drivers are already on their way to their starting location.
3D Printed Food To Hit The Market In 2026
-Foodies July 19, 2025
Breaking Members Of Russian Dissident Band Pussy Riot Maria Alyokhina and Lucy Shtein Killed By A Single Snipper Bullet While Performing In Berlin
-New Moon News July 19, 2025
President Harris To Vist Mt.Rushmore…
-New Moon News July 19, 2025
Cyberpunk 2100 Trailer
-CD PROJEKT RED (YouTube) July 19, 2025
"You can all thank me for dumping a crazy amount of money into the game. You're welcome for my service nerds…no but seriously I donated that much money not only to speed up development but also to cut down on how much the game will cost people buying it. Because 150 dollars for a new game is ridiculous. I remember when I was a kid it used to be at most 50 to 60 bucks for a preorder."
-Eric Spader July 19, 2025
"Good morning I am Jacob Trapman bringing you a breaking news bulletin there appears to be confirmed reports of men in camouflage uniforms claiming to be "Loyal sons and daughters" of what they are calling the "East Texan Provisional State Government," taking up positions and occupying important buildings across the eastern region of Texas. There are no reports of anyone being injured however it appears that these "guardsmen," are now requesting military assistance from- oh ok we are going live to Jackson for announcement from President V. Clair the head of the New Afrikan Autonomous Zone,"
-Jacob Trapman New Moon News July 20, 2025
"Ladies and gentlemen of the New Afrikan Autonomous Zone,
Today marks another pivotal moment in our history as within a singular year, one that will shape the future of our great nation. It is with great pride, but with a heavy heart that things simply had to come to this that I now must stand before you to announce the official recognition and support for the state of East Texas.
The people of East Texas have endured the horrors of conflict uncertainty and genocide, all while striving for a better tomorrow. It is our duty, as guardians of freedom and justice, to extend our hand in solidarity and offer them the opportunity to rebuild and prosper. The decision to recognize East Texas was not made lightly. We have carefully assessed the needs and aspirations of its people, and we are committed to providing them with the support and resources they require to thrive.
But let me be clear: our support for East Texas is not merely symbolic. It is a tangible expression of our solidarity and commitment to the well-being of all our citizens. We will work tirelessly to ensure that East Texas receives the assistance it needs to rebuild its infrastructure, strengthen its economy, and establish a stable government that reflects the will of its people until such time they can reunify with the rest of the Western Portion of The State Of Texas. Together, we will build a brighter future for ourselves and for generations to come. Long live the New Afrikan Autonomous Zone, and long live the people of East Texas!
Thank you."
-President Imani V. Clair July 20, 2025
Breaking A Number Of Building Along The DR-Haitian Border Have Been Targeted By Haitian Air Strikes
-CNN July 20, 2025
A Pro Omegist Group Arrested In Florida Arrested In Florida After Attempting To Steal Radioactive Waste "To Give Themselves Superpowers"
-Popular Front (Instagram) July 20, 2025
|
I think the cancer they will most likely get from attempting to do that shit is punishment enough.
-Black Bat (Instagram) July 20, 2025
"Citoyens de France,
Aujourd'hui, je me tiens devant vous avec un cœur lourd et une grande préoccupation pour notre nation. Après des mois de troubles civils, de collapses économique et de défaites military dues à l'incompétence politique, il est devenu évident que notre pays est au bord de l'effondrement.
En tant que protecteur de la Patrie, en tant que gardien de la liberté et de la justice, je ne peux plus rester les bras croisés alors que notre nation somber dans le chaos et le désespoir. Par conséquent, avec le soutien de nombreux membres du Parlement français, j'ai pris la décision de déclarer un état de survie pour la France.
Cela signifie que, pour le moment, je prendrai le contrôle direct en tant que chef de l'exécutif de la nation et commandant en chef des forces armées françaises. Mon objectif est clair : restaurer l'ordre, rétablir la sécurité et préserver l'intégrité de notre nation.
Nous sommes confrontés à des défis sans précédent, mais je crois fermement en la résilience et la force du peuple français. Ensemble, nous surmonterons ces épreuves et nous relèverons plus forts que jamais.
Je demande à chacun de vous de rester calme, de rester uni et de rester déterminé. Nous devons travailler ensemble pour reconstruire notre nation et assurer un avenir meilleur pour les générations à venir.
Soyez assurés que je prends cette responsabilité avec la plus grande humilité et le plus grand sens du devoir envers notre nation et son peuple. Je m'engage à agir avec intégrité, compassion et détermination dans l'intérêt supérieur de la France.
Ensemble, nous pouvons surmonter ces temps difficiles et écrire un nouveau chapitre glorieux de notre histoire. Que Dieu bénisse la France.
Vive la France!
-Sentinel July 20, 2025
…
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137. Dominic Hill (20)
138. Adeline Wright (22)
139. Leo Mitchell (26)
140. Zoey Turner (19)
141. Austin Martinez (21)
142. Elizabeth Smith (17)
143. Eliana Taylor (24)
144. Cooper Reed (25)
145. Penelope Rodriguez (18)
146. Lucas Campbell (20)
147. Aurora Brown (22)
148. Mason Adams (26)
149. Naomi Lewis (19)
150. Jason Parker (21)
151. Hailey Wright (17)
152. Caleb Hernandez (23)
153. Naomi Johnson (25)
154. Roman Turner (18)
155. Gabriella Garcia (20)
156. Axel Martinez (22)
157. Clara Scott (26)
158. Nathaniel Moore (19)
159. Violet Wright (21)
160. Cole Adams (17)
161. Hannah Mitchell (24)
162. Xavier Turner (25)
163. Lila Phillips (18)
164. Zachary Nelson (20)
165. Ellie Turner (22)
166. Christian Clark (26)
167. Aurora Martinez (19)
168. Cooper Davis (21)
169. Brooklyn Smith (17)
170. Leo Thompson (23)
171. Alice Turner (25)
172. Adam Hill (18)
173. Elena Jackson (20)
174. Isaiah Harris (22)
175. Sofia Scott (26)
176. Nathaniel Moore (19)
177. Alice Wright (21)
178. Julian Martinez (17)
179. Luna Turner (23)
180. Elijah Adams (25)
181. Autumn Lewis (18)
182. Dominic Carter (20)
183. Clara Brown (22)
184. Lincoln Turner (26)
185. Zoe Martinez (19)
186. Aaron Taylor (21)
187. Elizabeth Smith (17)
188. Isaiah Hernandez (24)
189. Scarlett Turner (25)
190. Ryder Reed (18)
191. Ellie Johnson (20)
192. Sebastian Turner (22)
193. Layla Campbell (26)
194. Christian Moore (19)
195. Penelope Wright (21)
196. Nolan Adams (17)
197. Hailey Harris (23)
198. Everett King (25)
199. Natalie Martinez (18)
200. Gavin Turner (20)
So we see Ward Corporation opening a space arm (which should be called something like WardSpace), Venan fast food "collectives" opening restaurants in Russia, and China launching a space program.
Not to mention Chrisean Rock (who seems like a daughter of Chris Rock or something), who appears to be some kind of popstar trying to enter politics. Speaking of popstars and possibly entering politics, what has Taylor Swift been doing ITTL?
the first location probably won't be on the moon, but on Mars due to the refugee settlement there that Bishop built. The one on the moon would probably be after the Week War where space settlements and people looking for a better life off world gets more popular and cheeper.
Above is a map of Mars, a few months after the start of its terraforming process at the hands of Black Power. How did Bishop manage to do this? Well, if you remember back to the early days of the story when we first started to get title cards, Bishop, upon discovering his family's old spaceship that they used to get to the Sol System, found that it came with technology capable of terraforming a world over a few centuries. However, thanks to Bishop's work on the systems, using alien technology taken from the ship of the collector a few chapters back, and his knowledge of a Water Goddess of weather, he managed to speed up the process to years and decades instead of centuries. However, the only real oxygen is around the coastlines of Mars, limited to seas, lakes, and wetlands, and even then, you will need an oxygen mask in some places to deal with the thin air.
In terms of climate, the inner area is a frozen, uninhabitable desert soaked in radiation, but the areas around the coast are nice, almost Mediterranean, with most days ranging between 50 to 65 degrees Fahrenheit in the winters and the warm months falling between 72-85 on average. The day is roughly the same 24 hours as on Earth, except for an extra 37 or so minutes. There is around a small town size, though after the events and exchanges that will happen during the Week War and the number of displaced people seeking a new life, this is subject to change in the near future.
The Week War, which combined with the radically shifting climate to have what has been since nicknamed the "Long Winter" followed the next year as the "Long Summer,"
such as the Venan-French War that saw the first use of [Redacted] in 80 years in the first but not the last [Redacted] War, and then, especially after the exchanges of 2026
I'm really surprised nobody picked up on this yet. Just a small hint the next few chapters is going to be bulding up to major events that will change the world as much as both the appearance of Metahumans and The Placement.
A Frozen Union: The Cold War Between The States (2024-20XX)
Following the attempted genocide in and succession of Texas, it was broken up into separate occupation zones. One led by the Federal Government as well as Yellow Rose popular mobilization militias. While in the East the state would be invaded and ultimately occupied by the NOAAU/African Legion. Initially, this was only meant to be temporary, but due to the issue of a minor insurgency within both East and West Texas as well as the rise of cartel violence going into the summer of 2025 coupled with the United States military being spread thin in the Congo and a growing internal pressure to bring troops out of Texas; the United States government was forced to realize that the only way the Texas occupation could last was to reduce federal troops numbers and begin to give more power back to the state government to govern itself. This was all fine and well for the US federal government at the time, but to the New Afrikan Autonomous Zone and more importantly for President Imani V. Clair who both saw the federal back provisional state government of Texas as far too closely tied to the democratic party as well as the national security risk it could pose if it collapses back into conflict once the federal troops pulled out something which after the attempted genocide in April in eyes of President Clair couldn't be allowed to happen.
However, both sides were not ready to truly come to blows over Texas. For President Harris, while military victory over the NAZ in Texas could be achieved it would be at the cost of a lot of blood, money, and lives for the Federal government. Along with the cost, there was also the threat of the conflict becoming a regional war if the New Afrikan expanded the potential conflict out from Texas using it as an excuse to fully leave the Union and take much of the South and possibly even the city of Wasghtion DC with them leading to a second civil war which had the chance to evolve furthermore into a nuclear conflict if metahumans or Vena decided to intervene. For President V. Clair while Texas was a security concern a war with the federal government over the state would be devastating for the New Afrikan Autonomous Zone as well. President Clair knew that while the African Legion was formidable and had some support from proxy EAOs within the region within Texas, it at the time lacked the military might and resources to sustain a prolonged offensive conflict against the United States in a conventional war. Moreover, engaging in open warfare with the federal government risked fracturing the weeks-old NAZ internal which could lead to a collapse of the zone even in the face of a costly victory. Ironically these concerns for the two presidents lead to the same conclusion independently. Texas must be split into different client states. One based in the federal and yellow-occupied portion of the state and one within the control of the EAOs under the direct influence of the New Afrikans. Both sides quickly began to draw up their plans making secretive backroom deals with leaders within the former state government as well as armed forces and communities within the state behind each other backs in a rush to be the force to announce their plan to the rest of the nation and hopefully secure more land for their proxy state in the process.
Thanks to an internal leak due to an NA-DIS spie network made up of friends and former coworkers of President Imani V. Clair within the US national security apparatus she would figure out the exact time and date President Harris would announce her plan for break up of Texas and would announce her plan for East Texas a day earlier. However hours earlier before the speech the NAZ had already made their move. Using the NA-DIS under the loop whole this was now technically an internal matter of hundreds of unmarked civilian trucks and cars filled with NA-DIS agents beginning to move out from directly occupied areas of Texas to secure most importantly both pre and post-ISOT oil fields. By the time of the speech parts of North Texas out into the suburbs of Dallas and down to Corpus Christi were under its control. In a matter of hours, much of East Texas had come under the control of not the African Legion or even the NSS but of the NA-DIS. This would be the equivalent of the FBI or ATF taking control over a state. Though these agents weren't officially NA-DIS instead they were "Masked members of national guard of the provisional state government of East Texas,". Following the NA-DIS were members of the EAO most of which were Hispanic with some native elements who were almost instantly installed as the leaders of the PSGET. These leaders then immediately requested aid from both New Africa and the Federal Government to help secure the region however due to intentional timing only a "Quick Reaction Force" of the NSS could be sent in before the federal fully realized what was happening. President Harris for her part was enraged. Reportedly yelling that "THIS WILL NEVER HAPPEN AGAIN" along with "WE WILL HAVE NO MORE DAMN LEAKS!" both of which will become a mainstay of the rest of her administration with similar events repeating themselves with the Special Military Operation that leads to the annexation of Gullah Coast from SC and GA by the NAZ happening only a few weeks later along side the Three-Day War of Summer 2026.
(NSS In T-25 Light Tanks During The QRF mission. The T-25 was originally meant to be the MBT of the African Legion as a whole until it was changed in favor of the Tunner Tank.)
The inner part of Eastern Texas however would be directly annexed into New Africa as part of its Lone Star Region. In truth, this would become a mixture of a settlement ground for New Afrikan Homesteaders as well as a massive military staging area in case war between the two states actually broke out and an intervention force would be needed. The military portion of Lone Star would only grow in time following the Austin Crisis of the spring of 2026 caused due to food shortages due to the fallout of the Week War and the Three-Day War in the summer of 2026.
(Map Of East and West Texas)
There would be some complications however mostly in Austin where the city hosting Ms.Amerika and Captain Slaughter two members of the Syndicate of Heroes. Thus the action was carried out to a lesser extent with the local African Legion organizing the Black Guard to hold multiple marches that saw them conduct sit-ins at important buildings in parts of Eastern Austin the African Legion as well as Black members of APD, EAO, and Yellow Roses loyal to them took up positions in order to guard the march. By the time of the announcement, they had taken the eastern portion of the city with everything east of the I-35 falling to them. While the federal forces would claim everything west of Rollingwood and Merrell town. Between thee, two lines sat the actual state house that would become part of what would become known as the Texan State Interstate Special Government Zone (TSIGZ). As part of the terms sent to the federal government following Imani's V Clair address the TSIGZ would be proposed as a joint state capital governing zone where the states would meet together to discuss issues troubling both states under the guise of the promise of "Reconciliation and re-unification, a promise both side never truly consider to be an actual option and a promise that wouldn't be kept until the dramatic and chaotic end of the "Interstate Cold War,".
(Map Of Austin)
In function, both states would be proxies of the Federal Government (West Texas) and of the New Afrikans (East Texas). East Texas would be given a greater deal of autonomy in its operations functioning more similarly to the NAZ in relation to the rest of the Union though much of the Eastern government was often backed and supported by the NAZ which treated the nation as more akin to the Soviet East German relationship during the first Cold War at least on the surface level but in truth it shared more of a resemblance to the Democratic People's Republic of Nigeria. East Texas was able to largely make its own day-to-day decisions so long as it managed to fit within and stay inside of the NAZ sphere of influence.
(Flag Of East Texas)
As such New Afrika wouldn't install a direct Revolutionary Garveyite Regime within the new state, but instead the EAO would consolidate themselves into a new state-wide political party the Texas Solidarity Alliance that acted as a merger of social democratic market socialist economics with center-right social views that was average out between more liberal urban areas and rural conservative areas. This would result in urban areas like Dallas gaining more autonomy within the state by championing the free city idea of home rule, making one of the few so-called free cities that weren't in a hard right state.
(The People's State Assembly Of East Texas)
Though East Texas as a whole did have to adapt and adopt certain customs from the NAZ. First was the adoption of their own version of the NA-DIS the Texas Ministry for State Security or The "Seguridad" (Security) that was both managed and trained by the NA-DIS, NSS as well as hired members of ex-members of the Russian FSB and GRU along with ISOTED members of the East Germany Stasi and Soviet KGB. Similar to the NA-DS they would be staffed with light armored vehicles such as the T-25, Humvees, MRAPs, Technicals, light transport APCs, and aircraft such as old Soviet and American transport craft along with leftover police or converter civilian helicopters with a few specialty aircraft like the New Afrikan version of the Dragonfly Attack and Transport Light Craft. This came with a number of drones and other equipment manufactured within the organization similar to how the NA-DIS produced a number of its own equipment. East Texas National Guard would also see a larger be it a slower overhaul. It would take time and a considerable amount of effort, but the Ethnic Armed Militias would be reorganized into a formal national guard that in size and actions acted more similar to an actual military than a state militia. One of the primary goals was to transition the National Guard from a state militia primarily focused on internal security to a more conventional military force capable of defending East Texas' interests both domestically within the state as well as acting as a counter to West Texas. This required investments in training facilities, modernization of equipment, and cooperation with external military advisors one that the African Legion and New Afrika would be happy to provide.
In Weet Texas, the Government would be held by a mixture of Moderate Democrats and libertarian Republicans, with some strong leftist elements within its urban areas most notably the Democratic Confederalist of the Texas People's Party and the Maoist Of The People's Revolutionary Communist Party both of the later having paramilitary wings that often functioned more like politically motivated gangs of youth than proper paramilitaries. The four-party system while being more democratic often leads to a more socially progressive state government, but also leads to political paralyzation on economic issues of the state with much of the state economy having to be propped up by the Federal Government in order for it to function.
The biggest success of the Federal support of Texas was the funding of the Texan National Guard. With the reduction of federal troops and the increasing need for Texas to govern itself, the Texan National Guard became a vital component of the state's security apparatus. Recognizing this, the Federal Government allocated significant resources to modernize and strengthen the capabilities of the Texan National Guard. One key aspect of this modernization effort was the enhancement of training facilities. The Texan National Guard received funding to upgrade existing training centers and establish new facilities equipped with heavy fire power. These facilities provided troops with realistic training scenarios, allowing them to sharpen their skills and readiness for various security challenges. Moreover, the enlargement of equipment was a priority. The Federal Government invested in procuring weaponry, vehicles, and communication systems for the Texan National Guard. This included armored vehicles, drones, surveillance equipment, and other tools necessary for both domestic security and potential conflicts with external threats while advancing for most nations' militaries in many cases these weapons were out of date for proper US service and acted as hand-me-downs to Texas as there was still a fear of West Texas attempting to leave the Union again and using any modern equipment gifted by the Union against it.
(West Texas National Guard during a training exercise.)
Just in the case of East Texas within West Texas cooperation with external military advisors was another critical component of the federal reconstruction effort. Additionally, the Federal Government facilitated joint training exercises and exchanges between the West Texan National Guard and other federal security entities which allowed West Texas troops to gain valuable experience in order to counteract the potential threat of a New Afrikan back invasion of the state. A threat that would heighten after both events of late August 2025 and following "The Week War".
-A Frozen Union: The Cold War Between The States (2024-20XX)
There have been some delays in writing so there won't be a proper post until this Friday so as an apology here is picture of Rora.The wings and halo are definitely a sometimes thing as she doesn't need wings to fly and the halo is just for show. However I like to imagine that those two things is something that her believer tend to perceive around her.
When creating this I used a mix of AI, Face-App, Photoshop, and hand edits. I'm actually curious to know if y'all would be interested in short films/animations for scene from within the TL using things like Sora in the future. I would probably use the same method as I do with these generated images. Using the AI as a base and then using a bunch of edits.
The Sentinel's boots tapped as he walked down the hallway of the Palace of Versailles, the makeshift military base that had found itself the seat of the French military for the last few weeks as the civilian government had to leave Paris due to the sheer amount of civil violence and rioting. "Civilian government," the Sentinel would have laughed at those words. What was left of the civilian government was paralyzed for weeks following the battle in the Atlantic against the Venan. The nations were falling apart, and more importantly, those in power knew it would be their heads that would get a very close shave if it collapsed completely. Thus, when the "hero" presented them with the option of letting him and the military save their lives, they were all too happy to agree.
"Are there any dissidents among the MPs?" asked the man to his second in command.
"No, sir, none of the numbers that really matter. Your ability to use emergency powers has been sanctioned, as well as your right to rule in general. The constitution has been suspended as you have asked," replied the assistant.
"Then martial law is in effect. Is the military loyal to me?" asked the metahuman tyrant.
"Partially. The leadership of the ground forces and police have fully agreed to back you."
"And what of the Air Force and Navy?"
"The Air Force is largely neutral or leaning towards you. However, the Navy is different," said the assistant.
The Sentinel sighed. "What about the navy?"
"There have been reports of some mutinies already in our overseas ports. Some have simply refused to leave their ports, while others have defected to the US and Britain."
The Sentinel grunted and huffed angrily as he realized what would come next. "This would include the submarines."
"All but three nuclear-capable ICBM submarines have breached themselves above water, most of which have been captured by our supposed allies. The last three have remained unresponsive. However, there is some good news."
"And what would that be?" asked the Sentinel, struggling to hold back his rage.
"We still have the 'packages' you requested, though they are crude."
"Good enough," the Sentinel barked. "But we will have to conduct a hybrid approach now, both conventional and nonconventional when the time comes," said the metahuman. "Speaking of our allies, what have been their reactions?"
"A mix. All of them have condemned the enactment of emergency powers, but none at the moment appear to be ready to attack us."
The tyrant smiled. "Good," he said, walking through the doors to the grand hall of the palace. "Let's get this meeting started."
Bastille-Man sat at the head of the table of La Fraternité, yet he wasn't the first to speak.
That "honor" came down to Freeman, who asked, "What the hell was that?"
"I think it would be called a coup or at least a power grab," La Marianne sighed, with the Rooster adding, "A very effective one."
"This wasn't what happened with America. This wasn't some wacko attempting to throw together some half-hearted attempt at taking over the government. The government willingly gave away its power," said La Marianne.
"Which makes things a lot more complicated," said Bastille-Man.
"It makes stopping it look like a revolution or a counter-coup itself," added Rooster.
"What about the Syndicate?" asked the Rooster.
"We don't have their contacts, but they are probably struggling as much as us to figure out how to handle it," answered Bastille-Man.
Rooster commented, "I could run to the United States, but they might think I'm a rocket."
"In addition to this coup being a semi-legitimate power grab by The Sentinel, he appears to have the backing of multiple powerful metahumans, solos, and mercenaries, along with possible access to the country's nuclear weapons."
"Yeah, right. The Americans are only going to look out for other Americans," La Marianne said.
"Black Power acted—"
"In favor of his own kind," said Bastille-Man. La Marianne raised an eyebrow, though she found herself agreeing with what he added.
"Look at what happened in the East, in Ukraine. He has done nothing," Bastille-Man started.
"Oh, he did arrest King Leopold. Yet Putin and the King of Vena are both still walking free... If he wanted to, he and Rora could bring both men to The Hague and end the Ukraine War with ease," added Freeman.
"And while he did that, we were fighting literal Nazis," Freeman said.
"But the Belgians weren't exactly in the position to retaliate against him. You go after the King of Vena or his family, and nukes start flying. They made it very clear that they would flip the board if it meant we lost along with them," added La Marianne.
"We all know he's nuclear proof," Freeman said.
"We also know he is one man," said Freeman.
"A man that can't be everywhere at once, and Vena has thousands of nukes—" began Rooster.
"Enough with the moral arguments. We have more pressing matters at hand. Like how are we going to—" Rooster started to say before the door to the room was kicked down, and a flashbang was thrown in as a bunch of soldiers carrying direct energy and bolt guns rushed into the room shouting, "SURRENDER!"
As the room filled with smoke, another figure entered the room, one with stone skin and a gold chain around his neck.
"Aah, so this is your home, Bastille-Man. I'll take good care of it while you and your friends are rotting in prison," said none other than Bastille's self-proclaimed arch-nemesis, Briquebrise.
"Shouldn't that be something you should be doing?" asked the Rooster, gearing up for a fight.
"We just got pardoned," said Briquebrise. "And deputized."
"We?" asked La Marianne as other "ex" villains emerged from the smoke.
"We indeed," said Vortex Vex. A man with a flaming head and metal flaming wings came out next, saying, "So you can come with us peacefully or in a body bag," said Flame Skull. "Which one will it be, hero? Option A or B?"
"How about option freeze!" yelled none other than General Winter, blasting the villain back in a winter chill as Big Ben ripped off of the headquarters, shouting "Run up my arm!"
As the other heroes were escaping, General Winter was thrown flying through the air into the French countryside. A punch was thrown by Briquebrise, whose hand turned into a flying mound of sulfur and flint, using the fire from Flame Skull to light it, only for him and the rest of the villains to disappear by the time Winter got up. Getting up, General Winter found himself surrounded by robots of…
"HOLY CRUSADER!" each one carrying a flaming plasma sword. There were hundreds of them, maybe even more than that, all marching toward him. Winter was prepared to fight them alone, but suddenly he realized something.
He wasn't alone anymore. There was another person standing beside him… A man dressed in the colors of a long-dead Union.
"SOVIET STRONGMAN?!" asked General Winter.
The communist chuckled. "It appears I'm helping you once again," as they stood back to back Strongman asking "You ready, comrade?"
"Not calling you comrade, but give 'em hell," General Winter said as the Soviet strongman blasted one side with his heat vision and Winter hit them with freeze breath. There were still some remaining robots that charged at them. Suddenly, however, as the robots sprinted toward the hero, there was a roar in the sky as a futuristic winged jet hovered on the belly of the aircraft and slid open, releasing dozens of exploding mini-throwing scythes and artificial bones.
The bones stabbed into the mass of robots, setting off a ripple effect of explosions and shrapnel, taking out scores of robots in a cascade of flames. Following the bombs came three figures from the aircraft. The black-cloaked and masked figures of Reaper slicing down with his scythes, and Shadow who came down swinging a Kusarigama, were quickly followed by a third figure of Adisa holding a scimitar in one hand and a katana in the other.
While Strongman could perceive things faster than humans, Winter's reaction wasn't that fast outside of natural reflexes; he was pretty human in regard to reaction speed. So as he gazed upon the three other heroes, Reaper, Shadow, and Adisa, among the robots slaughtering the mindless drones, he could only see what amounted to a blur dashing among the smoke and crashing metal. There was something different with the way they moved compared to other metahumans; in the daylight, their grace, their speed, their precision, all within the confines of a human shell, gave off an uncanny valley effect. Which radiated from Reaper the most; the way he learned and moved among the robots should not have been possible.
Once more, with the cloak and speed, Winter couldn't truly tell where Reaper started and ended; it almost seemed like he was a cloud and whirlwind of vengeance, one that only slowed down as the last robot fell by his and his ally's hands.
"General Winters. Soviet Strong Man," said Reaper, turning to face them. "It's nice to meet the both of you, though it could be under better circumstances," said the ghastly hero. "I have heard a lot about you both."
"I have heard many things about you from my cousin," said Strongman.
"Your cousin?" asked General Winter.
"Yes, my Cousin Black Power. Don't you see the resemblance?" said the blonde-haired, blue-eyed Slavic Eastern European man with a strong Russian accent. The messed-up thing about it was that he did kinda look like Bishop in the face a little bit. Ace could almost smell the... Not fear but the sense of dread coming from Winter.
"Fear toxin," both Reaper and General Winter thought.
"Same," said General Winter, keeping his composure, adding, "But shouldn't you be in Atlanta?"
"The two of them were training with me in a monastery in the Carpathians when we heard the news of what was going on here," said Adisa.
"And you are?" asked Winter.
Adisa cut him a look. "That is none of your concern," she said as the aircraft landed. "Shall we?" She said, walking back into the belly of the craft.
"Or shall we wait until reinforcement from these rogue Gauls to join the fray?"
"Fine," said Winter and Strongman, rushing into the plane alongside Reaper and Shadow.
"Where the hell are we going anyway?"
"HQ," said Shadow, adding as they took off, "Until we can come up with a plan on what to do about the Sentinel."
"Where the hell is Black Power and Rora? Why aren't they helping?" asked Soviet Strongman.
"Off-world," Reaper answered. "Right now, we need to focus on handling Sentinel until they get back."
"Speak of the devil," said Adisa as a flying man with a cape and Vichy symbol on his chest appeared in front of them with red glowing laser eyes.
"And he shall appear," said Reaper, locking on with his aircraft missiles which did not damage him at all.
"My turn," started Strongman as he got ready to jump out of the plane, but suddenly there was another beeping sound from an unknown object flying.
"Something is coming hot at Mach 25…wait no Mach 50… Mach 100?"
Reaper started as he and the rest of the heroes saw what was cutting through the cloud at now beyond hypersonic speed, approaching nearly a fraction of light speed. Black Scotsman crashed into the Sentinel with relativistic speed that sent him flying.
"Oi, you French cunt, go right ahead and fuck yourself!" yelled the massive man as he punched him again through storm clouds.
Another massive blow sent lightning and fire crashing upon the Sentinel before he was punched up from behind into the upper atmosphere. Black Scotsman kicked the Sentinel back down to Earth, grabbing him by his cape and slinging his ass across the planet, with them landing on the icy plane of Northern Alaska.
"Stand down, you fucking cun-" shouted the Demigod before the metahuman hit him with a blast energy punch, sending the demigod flying back, this time right into a punch by Sentinel who used his super speed to catch him from behind with a kick.
"You fight like a savage," said Sentinel, floating towards Black Scotsman. "Nothing held back, without thinking. You fight like a fucking ape!" He yelled, slamming his foot down on the demigod's face before hitting him with a blast of heat vision.
The Sentinel pulled Scotsman up, punching him again, this time into a mountain, causing half of it to collapse. "So fucking pathetic, I should have expected much though."
"Maybe that's your problem," yelled a voice flying from behind the Sentinel.
"YOUR HATE LEAVES YOU BLIND AND WIDE OPEN!" yelled Red Matter, coming in with a sucker punch and sending him flying back into space.
"Thanks for the save, mate," said Black Scotsman.
Red Matter looked up in the sky to see the Sentinel flying back down at them. "It isn't over yet."
Scotsman called his battle axe to his hand and chuckled, looking at the metahuman tyrant flying back down like a realistic man-size bullet, his clothes and armor ripped and torn. "One last punch should do it," as he and Red Matter flew up to meet the Sentinel in a punch so massive it caused the sky to part and a shock wave so powerful it sent each person flying thousands of miles in different directions.
Black Scotsman found himself crashed into the field of the highlands of Scotland, half knocked out inside of a crater with a sheep licking his face. Spitting out a tooth, the unit of a superhero smiled.
"Fucking hell, that was one hell of a story for the pub."
Back on the Reaper Jet, Ace turned to Destiny.
"Well, that was fucking metal," he said plainly.
"That was one hell of a distraction," added Shadow as the Reaper jet docked into a larger aircraft.
The side doors of the Wraith opened into the Syndicate aircraft.
"So what now?" asked Winter and Strongman.
"You are going to be transported to Action UK Base where you and the Fraternity can reconstitute yourselves until we can figure out what the hell we are going to do about France," said Reaper as Strongman and General Winter exited the Wraith into the Syndicate aircraft.
There was a pause until General Winter spoke up "Thank you"...
He wasn't saying it to Strongman, only to Reaper and his friends.
"Don't mention it," said Ace as the door to the wraith closed and the smaller jet detached and took off towards America.
"You need a lift?" Strongman asked him
"I've got methods" Winter said as he called his transport
"Not as fast as you... But at least I won't feel conflicted".
And so, the Russian and the Ukrainian went their separate ways, but deep down both men were willing to work together in the hunt for a common goal:
Justice!
…
Reeves was an everyman, or rather, he could look like one, even if he was "famous?" Or rather famous in the political sense, as most Americans, thanks to the failure of its education system, could barely tell you what the speaker of the house's role was, let alone who it was and what they looked like at any given time. That wasn't exactly true anymore for the NAZ in Washington DC. One of the few traits Reeves found admirable of Imani is her focus on education, though it made getting around certain sections of the city undercover a lot harder. And just outright using his powers as Zetamna to fly wasn't a good idea due to the rumored air defenses that had been placed by both the NAZ and Federal governments. So, that confined Zetaman mostly to the ground within DC. Though even then, he didn't wear his costume most of the time just to avoid being linked to the superhero. Instead, Reeves wore his brown leather bomber jacket, a flat cap, and work pants with work boots. For a mask, he used a simple face mask.
Reeves stopped at the exit of an alleyway into a street, watching from afar as the group of young teenagers dressed in the uniform of the Black Guards gathered around a hair store, yelling at an older man who seemed to be the owner.
"Get the hell away from my door!" shouted the man.
"You are an economic imperialist!" said an older teenage girl, obviously the leader, who was maybe at the most 15 or 16. She took out her "Little Black Book" and read a quote.
"Imani V. Clair says vultures who swoop down to feast on the land's bounty, but only to leave it barren fields should be driven out!" She shouted as another teenager started yelling at the old man. "You are a vulture capitalist! Damn you! You hire no one from the Black community, you are not from our community, you take money from Black neighborhoods to enrich yourself! You are a vulture capitalist pig!"
"BOO!" shouted the other members of the Black Guard as they started shouting more slogans from the party. "Down with social merchant parasite class who feed upon us like a worm but leave nothing in return. Long live popular group economics of Revolutionary Garvey And Imani V. Clair Thought! For us by us!"
The young woman turned to the man who was closing up his shop early for the day. "We will come every day and let the community know how you feed off us parasite! Until you hire Black people from this Black community or go away from where you came! If you don't want to hire Black people then you don't need to sell to us!" She said turning back to the group of Red Guards. "My friends, that was a revolutionary act of economic anti-imperialism in the name of doing for self, was it not?"
"Yes, it was!" yelled one girl, a little one, maybe 10 or 11.
"Why so?" The group leader asked.
The little girl was quiet for a little bit, looking at her feet before answering. "I don't know," before asking shyly, "Am I in trouble?"
The older girl shook her head. "No comrade sista, but you and everyone here today must understand the duty and meaning of this deed. We did not expel the vulture capitalist because he was a different race or creed than us. No, we drove out the vulture capitalist because he was an economic parasite who set up shop in our community and refused to hire from or even live in our community then at the end of the day they take the Black dollar back to their community. He takes from the soil but doesn't plant anything. If he was Black doing the same thing he would have driven out just as we did today. Imani V. Clair says 'A Black vulture capitalist must be driven out just as fast as a nonblack vulture capitalist even if we share the same face!'" She said before adding, "Imani V. Clair says 'Soulanns must understand that the New Afrikan national liberation with only race consciousness is useless and must come with class consciousness!'"
The Black Guard cheered, raising their little books in the air as other Black Guard played music.
"The dream of Garvey is alive,
With Imani V Clair, we thrive,
Guiding us to a brighter day,
Together, we'll find our way.
Oh, we thank her,
Oh, we thank them,
To lead us to a better place,
For shaping our new state!"
Reeves was about to leave, sighing somewhat grateful that things didn't escalate; there was an incident in Portland of some kids getting shot doing one of those types of shit. And the last thing DC needed at the moment was another race riot.
Suddenly, Reeves felt a knife nudge him in the back.
"Your wallet, ofay!" said one of the five muggers, "Or your life."
Another one hissed.
"You wouldn't want to do that," he warned.
Reeves kicked back without looking, sending a man flying into another one. The group of men began to run off down the back street with Reeves behind them. Before suddenly one of the men grabbed a nearby woman and held a knife to her throat.
"Back off, you fucking meta freak," said the man, "Or the lady gets it-" started the thug before a lasso of pearls belonging to Anne Christmas snatched around the man's arms sending him flying back. Grabbing the thug by his throat Anne almost snapped his neck as she yelled at him, "You pathetic loser! You would hold your own people hostage," he said slamming his head against the wall and knocking him out before wrapping her pearl lasso around another man who was trying to run away, pulling him into a punch knocking him out.
Yet when she turned around, Reeves was gone.
He was entering the speaker's office through a hidden entrance installed as an escape hatch following the first January 6 incident.
He'd let out a full sigh once he sat down, taking off his glasses before saying to the darkness, "How did you get in here?" referring to Reaper and Shadow standing across the room from him.
"Because I am him and she is she," said Ace before going on, "But we have more important things to talk about than our vanishing act," as he handed him some pictures.
"You mean France, trust me Reaper I have been briefed-" started Reeves.
"That is only partially why I am here, but since you are up to date about France, I can skip to the second part, Haiti."
"You mean the clashes between them and the DR worrying some of the boys in suits with the NSC worrying it can-"
"It already has; there has been an increase in activity and build-up among the Haitian side in anticipation of an invasion of DR."
"That's impossible; Haiti wouldn't risk war with DR, not with them being an American ally unless-"
"They have a trump card," Shadow added as Reeves took a look at the pictures that he had been given.
"What are these?"
"High-speed missile launch stations capable of hitting anywhere on the Eastern Seaboard up into Canada in a matter of minutes, a number of hypersonic missiles capable of reaching Florida in a matter of seconds," said Shadow. Reeves shook his head.
"Can it get any worse-"
Reaper cut him off.
"They are nuclear-armed, a mixture of EMP, low-yield ground-tactical bunker busters, and higher-yield strategic multi-megaton nuclear warheads, which match the general Venan battle doctrine of fast saturation attacks to stun, distract, or overwhelm their enemy followed by heavy force. I have already deduced their nuclear strategy. They would open up with a cyber attack and misinformation, as they did during their fight with Nigeria. Followed by the use of EMP weapons over certain key parts of the grid, mixed with attacks on land and air base nuclear targets, followed by targeting cities with large-scale nuclear weapons to reduce the enemy post-war fighting population, similar to modern American strategy."
"How do you know?"
"Because I am the goddamn Reaper, Reeves," said Ace before continuing. "After which, they would weather the second strike from the United States, which will kill around a quarter to 75% of their population in the blast and resulting nuclear winter and fallout, depending on how much you want to believe the rumors of vast underground bunker cities and farms, which to Vena is acceptable. In fact, from my knowledge, even a 96% casualty rate is acceptable to them so long as the survival of the nation or rather the royal line and enough people to restart the population is kept around," said Reaper.
"That would send them back to the fucking Stone Age, Reaper, that can't be a rational plan."
"Vena has been around since the Stone Age, Reeves. A few centuries to a few thousand years won't matter much to them in the long term. Though I must admit, judging by their rhetoric recently, which hasn't changed or spiked more than usual, and combined with the King's visit to Jackson, they are more than likely using this as a ploy. Think Cuban missile crisis; they want something, more than likely us, the Americans, to stop funding Azov Command. Outside unforeseen events, this can and will, with some settlement."
"We don't fund Azov," started Reeves.
"It comes out of the Black budget, something that is too classified for you to know,"
"Then how do you know it-" started Reeves as the door to his office opened, and in that split second while he was looking away, Rita came in, Ace and Destiny were gone...
"Oh right, because you're Reaper," he said, his hands in his pockets as he looked around the room.
"Just one more thing!" he called out.
The lights flickered, and Reaper and Shadow were back in the room.
"What is it?" Reaper asked him.
"We were going to wait until the Syndicate's next meeting, but since you're here... Well..."
Jim looked towards Rita, and slowly she showed him her hand... With a diamond ring on it.
"Wait..." Shadow said, a smile beneath her mask before both she and Reaper broke character, their intimidating facades breaking, and out came the teenage celebrities, happy for their friends.
"Congrats!" Ace said, shaking Reeves' hand, though he tried to hold back how happy he was.
"Just don't tell the rest of the gang, we want to make it a surprise," Reeves said, Rita and Shadow were hugging one another, Destiny asking "Who else knows?"
"Just you two, some close friends who don't wear costumes... Oh, and Li-"
"Hold it," Reaper said, receiving an alert from his helmet.
"There's a hostage situation in Atlanta, we gotta go," Reaper said before nodding to both Reeves and Rita Dali. "Congratulations," he said before the lights flicked, the Atlantan vigilantes vanishing.
…
Bliss could feel the floor shake as he held up the room full of police officers. "I thought you said that we would have time before that sand witch came here!"
"Oopsie on me," said Nat Crow. "And I was right," she said, peeping out the window and seeing Pyro and Banshee fighting Desert.
"Unfortunately, we didn't count on our not-so-friendly ghost showing up," hissed White Snake. "Besides, we don't know if that even here could just be the police or the African Legion helicopter."
"He's here, I can feel it in my bones," started Man Rake before suddenly, through the floorboard, Reaper phased through with a punch that sent Man Rake flying across the room.
"You are probably gonna feel that too, at least when you wake up," said Ace, throwing smoke bombs into the room.
"Too many hostages, can't use fear gas right now," said Ace before asking over his comms to Destiny and Adisa, "How are you two doing there?"
In a hallway below, Ace, Destiny used her Kusarigama to pull a thug into a punch from Adisa before another man came at her with a bat, which she dodged, kicking him in the gut through a wall. "Fine, what about you? How is the suit's phase function on the suit? I haven't tested mine yet,"
"Decent," said Ace, turning intangible and dodging a blow from a shock baton, kicking in the knee of the thug who tried to hit him with it before bashing it against the side of another thug, adding, "Actually, it's freaking great. Feels like I am untouchable," as Xander interjected.
"Remember, you're not, especially with bullets; dense metals like lead can disrupt the phase field, and while phased, your combat armor doesn't—" started Xander as Nat fired a bullet at Ace, ignoring the phase and even his actual hard armor shielding, grazing the side of Reaper's right torso.
"Work," grunted Reaper, throwing the baton at Nat's head and knocking her out as he reached into his utility bandoliers, pulling out a medical combat armor patch that covered and protected the wound from leaking any blood while Reaper's enhanced healing factor went to work. Yet in that breath moment while his gaze shield was down, White Snake snuck up from behind and plunged her fangs into his shoulder as her body wrapped around him, attempting to constrict him. Reaper powered up his shock and threw a sucker punch to the White Snake's temple, sending her neurons buzzing and knocking her out.
Bliss cracked his knuckles. "I am prepared for you Rea-ZZZSZ!" He fell down as Shadow had shot with an electric bola cable.
"Hey, save the monologuing for the movies,"
"Thanks, old chum," said Reaper. Outside a nearby window, Desert was doing her best to hold Banshee and Pyro.
"Go on Tiger, get 'em," Destiny quipped back.
Reaper sprinted through the glass window, jumping into the air and landing on his glider, taking off after Banshee first. "Xander, how is this thing against sound?" asked Ace as he was nearly thrown off by a sonic blast from Banshee that sent his ears ringing.
"It all depends on the vibrations, but thanks to that sample she just gave us, I can remotely counter the sonic frequency of her scream to give you some resistance to her—"
"Just do it!" said Ace, jumping off his glider to dodge another blast of Banshee's supersonic scream.
"Ok, got it," said Xander. In a split second, Ace's Phase Armor turned on just in time as Banshee attempted to do another scream. Still, it had no effect on Reaper, who landed on the back and started to rip out the power to her wings, sending her flying out of control and slamming into a billboard as he jumped off her, landing into a punch by Pyro that sent Reaper falling down before he shot back around Pyro with a hook line, pulling himself back up then striking Pyro in the face repeatedly as both of them came crashing down, slamming through the ground via a manhole where Pyro laid knocked out with Reaper standing over him once again victorious.
This only lasted for a moment as Reaper was hit by the freight train that was Beast Master, who took the form of an Ankylosaurus, crashing the superhero through a brick wall into an underground MARTA subway station. Beast Master attempted to hit Ace with his armored tail, but Ace managed to parry it with his Scythe, slicing the tail off and making Beast Master cry out in pain as he took the form of the 9ft tall 700-pound massive great ape that was Gigantopithecus, running at Ace attempting to throw a punch which Ace caught with one hand and then using his maglev jump boot and phase armor jumped back to the surface unharmed along with Beast Master, who upon reaching the surface of the road of Neo Atlanta was thrown up into the air by the hero and as Reaper let go of the villain, Beast Master turned solid once more mid-air only to find a grapple line tied around his waist that was used to slam him into the pavement at the speed of a car crash knocking Beast Master out as well as knocking off some of his teeth. The next thing that Beast Master saw as he woke up was him and his friend being loaded into a police van as the sun rose over a Neo Atlanta morning.
Except for Banshee... She slipped away not long after crashing into that billboard...
Back in the graveyard, Destiny and Ace sat in an ice bath trying to recover after the fight. The Ace wound had healed before he even got home, but after days of training with Adisa in the mountains, both he and Destiny were sore, and the fight with their rogues and what seemed to be a quarter of the entire Crime League of America on top of stopping a killer robot attack in France had taken a toll on them. Though in truth, Ace could have probably gone the rest of the summer at the same tempo without hitting the edges of his limit, though having been to the edge of his limits in May, he had no desire to ever revisit it any time soon.
"Are you two busy?" asked Adisa walking up to the ice bath wearing a robe.
"No, just chilling out," Destiny quipped, making Adisa laugh as she disrobed. The Ace and Destiny's eyes widened as she entered the ice bath asking, "You don't mind if I join you two?"
Before the two heroes could answer, Xander and Mia came down the hidden stairs. "Astaghfirullah!" shouted Mia, covering her eyes before quickly covering Xander's too,
"Um… it's not what it looks like?" said Ace, pointing out that he and Destiny were still clothed.
Adisa sighed. "That is unfortunate, in that case,"
"Not helping," mumbled an embarrassed Destiny
"We are-" Xander started with Mia finishing, "Going back upstairs to wash this mental image out of our mind," as they did, Xander got a text on his phone. "Oh yeah Ace remember you gave the opening of the new Ward Library Learning Center today," he said. "Just try to wrap up whatever is ever going on here before then,"
Ace sighed "Shit, I forgot it was today"
"I can come with you two," volunteered Adisa. "It can be a date."
"Date?" asked Destiny before adding, "First, me and Ace don't date each other."
"Oh yes, because the way you two look at each other is fully and wholly platonic, but go on."
"Second," said Ace, "Dates are usually between two people."
"Well, let's just consider this threesome of ours an aberration then," she quipped as she got out of the ice bath to get dressed.
The sun beat down relentlessly on the gathered crowd outside the Ward Library Learning Center, its rays bouncing off the sleek, industrial art deco skyline of Neo Atlanta in the background. Tall buildings loomed over the scene, their metallic surfaces shimmering in the heat haze—the distant sounds of cars honking and the MARTA monorail system whirring added to the urban ambiance. As guests mingled, a subtle hip-hop R&B instrumental played in the background, adding a rhythmic backdrop to the chatter and laughter. Some of the attendees queued up at the food line, filling their plates with barbecue and other Southern delights. Despite the sweltering heat, everyone seemed excited to be there, their faces flushed and glistening with sweat. Everyone, that is, except for Ace, whose superpowers made him less sensitive to the Georgia heat. He stood tall and composed at the podium, ready to address the crowd.
"Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you all for joining us today for the grand opening of the Ward Library Learning Center. Today marks a significant milestone for our community as we come together to celebrate the power of knowledge and education. This center represents a beacon of hope, a place where people of all ages and backgrounds can come to learn, grow, and thrive. I want to extend my deepest gratitude to everyone who has contributed to making this vision a reality. From the architects and builders who constructed this beautiful facility to the educators and volunteers who will staff it, each and every one of you has played a vital role in bringing this dream to fruition. Most importantly, I want to thank the members of our community who will benefit from the resources and opportunities offered here. Whether you're a student seeking to expand your horizons or an adult looking to further your career, this center is for you.
Here at the Ward Library Learning Center, we believe that knowledge is power. By investing in education and literacy, I believe we can empower our people to reach their full potential and create a brighter future for themselves and their families. So let us embrace the opportunities that lie before us and seize the chance to learn, grow, and succeed together. Let us open the doors of this center and welcome all who seek knowledge, inspiration, and opportunity. Thank you once again for being here today, and may the Ward Library Learning Center serve as a beacon of hope and opportunity for generations to come," smiled Ace as he walked off the stage towards the door touching the oddly cold handle as he said, "So let's get this learning sta-" Ace started to say before as it creaked open, revealing a chilling sight. Hanging from a meat hook behind the door was a frozen body, its lifeless eyes staring out into the crowd….
Reaper sighed as he and Shadow looked over the body later that night alongside Marcus Henderson.
"What are we looking at here?" asked Marcus.
"Besides one hell of a freezer burn, definitely use liquid nitrogen," said Shadow. "Along with a few missing organs and a " Destiny looked at the back of the neck of the victim. "Spinal tap."
"Meaning that narrows it down to someone who had access to liquid nitrogen," said Marcus with Lisa Monroe of the ACB walking into the room, adding, "And whoever had a grudge against our Jane Doe."
"Her name was Jasmine Carter," said Reaper breaking his silence.
"I know that name; her mother worked for special victims, I think. She left before my time, but she was a legend when I was climbing up the ranks of APD."
"Came to fame back in the 90s putting away the Ice Cream Killer," Reaper added with Marcus joking, "That I should have known you of all people would have been a true crime fan."
"Considering her daughter's icy death, it's probably linked to that," said Destiny.
"Well, if this guy is going after the family of the officers that worked the case, that means the officers themselves aren't to find behind," said Marcus.
"I order the ACB to fan out to the officer's home, but that may take some time. Reaper, Shadow, can you two check on Officer Carter in the meantime?"
"On it," said Reaper as Shadow started walking away.
"What, no disappearing act this time?" asked Marcus, to which the heroes answered by simply phasing through a nearby wall. "Since when can they do that?"
On the Rooftop, Top Destiny struggles to keep up with Ace's speed as he seems to become a blur as he jumps and climbs from building to building and rooftop to rooftop. Turning on her rocket boots and glider wings, she caught up with them pretty quickly. "This is troubling you, isn't it?"
Reaper stopped. "No more than in other murders we have to solve."
"Then what is it?" asked Destiny.
Reaper shook his head. "Nothing," he said, trying to step forward, but Destiny moved in front of him, placing her hand on the side of his mask.
"What's wrong Ace?"
"Adisa," Reaper admitted, adding, "We both have feelings for her."
"Ace-" Destiny started to say.
"It's true you hide it better than I do, but I can see it, and I don't want our feelings for her, whatever they may be, be it a flirt or a flame, to break up our friendship."
"Promise me that," said Ace, placing his hand on Destiny's mask in return.
"Ace, you're my best friend. I would never leave you for anyone-" Destiny stopped as she spotted something in the distance; the window to Officer Carter's apartment wasn't just open, it was broken.
"Shit, it's like we are too late," said Reaper as he and Shadow jumped through the already broken glass window. Inside the room was cold, and the reason why was sitting at its center. There sat Officer Carter frozen solid in a rocking chair like a horrifying iceberg.
"Looks like we are too late," said Reaper, taking a sample from the body.
"What now?" Shadow asked.
"We go back to the lab and analyze the sample and hopefully be able to trace back the chemical of the liquid nitrogen to its owner."
Back in the lab within the graveyard, Ace scanned over the report from the sample.
"What are my detectives looking for exactly now?" asked Adisa, leaning on the computer.
"Cryo signature for a double homicide linked to the death of a cop who helped to solve a popular murder case," said Destiny.
"Cryo signature? Wouldn't the same chemical be the same no matter what?" asked Adisa.
Reaper, who was standing in his armor only with his mask off and his hood pulled down, shook his head. "No, not after the rise of Lady Zero. The government started to force companies to put tracers into their liquid nitrogen in order to track any stolen compound or chemical used in Cryo-bombs and weapons." With Destiny who added, "The tracers are basically like a chemical trademark or barcode for the company; it has it on the unique compound but is ultimately harmless to the rest of the liquid nitrogen," said Ace.
"Oh, brilliant! You two are simply radiant. I must say, it is truly captivating," Adisa said with a hint of flirtation.
"R-right," said Destiny as she tried to shift focus back to the task at hand. "I managed to track the liquid nitrogen to where the child of the Ice Cream Killer works, at one Richie Dinesh."
"Not only that, but the missing organs match, and the hole in the neck matches a number of other murder cases with the same MO," said Ace.
"Wait, how didn't we know about them?" Destiny asked.
Reaper looked over the dates. "Because they were spread out over the course of years, with the last one being almost five years ago. I think it's time for us to pay this Richie a visit."
"Too bad the sun is rising. It won't give you two the cover of darkness to track this criminal under. I guess you two will have to spend the day with me again, and since your other two friends are out, we will be alone..." said Adisa. "Perhaps I can teach you two another lesson of the mind."
"In fighting, right?" asked Reaper.
Adisa smirked. "While, of course, what else would I teach you two," she teased.
Reaper sighed. "Fine, but I am sending over the Raven drones to keep an eye on Richie and make sure if he is our guy, he doesn't strike again while the sun is up."
The training session began with Ace, Destiny, and Adisa standing in a large gymnasium level within the graveyard. Adisa, dressed in her sleek black combat suit, took the lead.
"Today, we'll be covering the finer points of hand-to-hand combat," Adisa announced, her voice smooth yet commanding. "We'll focus on exploiting pressure points to gain the upper hand in a fight."
"Pressure points, that is something we learned when we were like ten," said Ace.
"While that may be so, going over more precise pressure points as a review never hurt, especially ones for Metahumans with modified or changed biology." She demonstrated a series of precise strikes, targeting specific areas on a training dummy shaped to be one of White Snake before switching to a dummy of Man Rake. "These pressure points are based on scans you took of their bodies during your recent battles with them," she explained, "Knowing them can quickly incapacitate them with just a flick of the wrist, negating any advantage in strength over you in close-quarters combat."
Ace and Destiny nodded, intrigued, Ace especially remembering the recent bite by White Snake. As the session progressed, they began to practice the techniques under Adisa's guidance, honing their accuracy and control.
"Now, let's move on to sparring," Adisa suggested with a playful glint in her eyes. "Ace, why don't you pair up with Destiny?"
"I'm gonna go easy on you," quipped Destiny to Ace as they circled each other.
"Oh, and I expect to watch a show," flirted Adisa from a distance, but before the two of them could land the first blow, a notification went off; the Raven drones had picked up something from Richie Dinesh, leaving early from his janitor job at a Cryo storage facility with a large tin barrow. "Maybe some other time," said Ace as he and Destiny headed back to the upper level to put their armor back on.
"There is always tonight," said Adisa, biting her lips as she watched them walk away.
The two masked vigilantes used the drones to track the rogue janitor to a small cabin near an ISOTED part of the city.
"Oh no," said Ace, starting to put together the pieces of the puzzle that made up the case as he saw the man get out of his car. As the door swung open and Richie emerged, his movements were deliberate yet slightly unsteady, almost lumbering due to a club foot. He had a round face with smooth features, framed by short hair. "He isn't the real killer," said Reaper as she snuck through the door. "Just another poor victim that was used as a proxy by the real killer."
The farmhouse was messy and filled with medical apparatus, machines, junk waste, and hundreds of newspaper clippings as the two crept behind Richie without him noticing, towards the master bedroom of the house, one that smelt like death and rotting meat, but one that was also freezing cold.
"Ace," said Xander. "I found something else about Richie; he wasn't the Ice Cream killer's only son; he had an old brother, but he suffered-"
The door opened to show a makeshift medical bay with an icy cryo-chamber surrounded by coolers of stolen organs and vials of harvested stem cells condensed into a soupy liquid, all being pumped into what seemed to be a living corpse of near-ice.
"Looks like we have a guest, little brother," said the man as Richie turned around and charged at the superheroes, only to be ht in a pressure point by Shadow, knocking him out, but without truly hurting him. Reaper and Shadow attempted to move toward the iceman but were blasted back out of a nearby window into the backyard of the farmhouse by a makeshift freeze-ray made out of stolen medical equipment.
"It seems my little brother has brought me the best gift I could have ever asked for. Not only did I get the cop who put away Mamma, but I also got some meta stem cells and organs to power me up, all in the same 24 hours. It must be my bir-" he was knocked out by a less-than-lethal round hitting him in the back of the head with fire from Reaper's glider.
"You should really save the monologue for the movie, Ice Boy," quipped Reaper.
"Hey, you stole my line!" shouted Destiny.
Pyro impatiently paced about in his prison cell, waiting for his phone call. He told the guards, "My girlfriend will kill me if I don't call."
"Honestly? I don't think they'd care too much," Nat said casually, trying to squeeze her face through the bars of her cell, a stretched smile on her face.
"It's not all that bad," a familiar voice chimed in.
"To be fair, I come here all the time," Slapstick admitted. "I'm practically a regular at this joint," she added before whistling a tune to herself.
Nat asked, "How bad is she?" Pyro inquired, "Who?" Nat responded, "This lady friend you wanna call."
"Nah, she's nice as hell," Pyro admitted. "Aw," Nat said, sounding like Pyro had turned into a litter of puppies.
"She's also white," Simba added. Nat shook her head. "Bunny Hooper."
Pyro, Beast Master, White Snake, Nat Crow, Bliss, and Man Rake were in their own individual prison cells in that hallway. Beast Master's cell was opposite White Snake's, whom he watched as she rolled about in boredom. The two occasionally exchanged glances... Beast Master could have sworn he saw her wink.
"Yo, Pyro," he said in a hushed tone. "Yeah?" Pyro asked Beast Master. "She's giving me the look."
"The 'I'm hungry' look or the 'I wanna fuck' look?" Pyro asked him. "…Kinda looks like both."
"Good for you?" Pyro responded, sounding a little confused and creeped out. "Why are you telling me?"
"No reason," Simba said. "Do you have any advice?"
"Advice? What the fuck are you talking about? She's a snake lady. What can you even do with her?" Pyro paused for a second. "...You know what? Don't tell me," Pyro said, not wanting to imagine it.
"Well, how did you and that Polly girl get together, man?" Simba asked Pyro, who'd tell him.
"...I mean, I saved Polly before we hooked up, but before that, I helped her out helping the team after our asses were kicked by Reaper," Simba asked him. "Wait, so I'm halfway there?"
"Fireboy!" one of the guards shouted out to Pyro, startling him. "You get one phone call."
Pyro shrugged to Beast Master before he was led out of his cell towards a secluded room.
"Hello?" Polly asked on the other end of the line.
"Hey, babe, it's me," he said. "Pyro." Her tone changed; she sounded a little excited to hear him.
"I didn't recognize the number," she said. "Yeah, it's a long story," Pyro admitted to his girlfriend.
"Are you doing alright?" Polly asked. "I sent a couple of pictures of what I was gonna wear tonight." Picking up his jaw from the floor, imagining what she sent, he said, "No, I didn't see 'em…" There was an awkward silence before he answered, "But yeah, I'm, uh… I'm doing alright, you know? I'm cool… Cool, cool, cool… Cool as fuck."
"You're in prison, aren't you?" to which he said, "...Yeah, so I might miss our date for tonight."
"Dang it," Polly squeaked. He could tell she was annoyed about their date being canceled. "Look, on an unrelated note, you wouldn't happen to know Blue's phone number, would you?"
"So, what do you wanna do when you're not…" Simba searched for the words.
"Eating people?" White Snake asked him.
"I don't know, lounging about, listening to music… Writing music."
"Sweet," Simba said. "A buddy of mine does that," adding, "I mean, he probably ain't as good."
"How bad can he be?" White Snake asked Simba.
"Have you ever heard of Toxic Sludge?" he asked. "Oh, fuck," she said. "His music's… I mean, it's—"
"Ass?" Nat Crow asked them. "It is… Not my cup of tea," White Snake said, trying to be polite.
"You're just saying that because me and him are pals, aren't you?" Beast Master asked them.
"Yes," she said plainly. "I mean, I have never considered committing suicide, but his tunes?"
"It ain't that bad," Bliss said. "Suicide or listening to Toxic Sludge?" White Snake asked them.
"What's the difference?" Nat said as Pyro came.
"You done burning your black membership card?" Nat Crow asked them after the guard left.
"Your welcome in advance," Pyro said as he sat back in their prison cell, counting the seconds as he awaited the blue flash of Polly's cousin…
He saw it, just for a second, before he heard a voice shout, "Cover your ears!" Quickly doing so before Banshee screeched, doing so loud enough to shatter the security cameras and stun the few guards in that wing, before daintily she made her way up to one of the unconscious.
Swiping a card from the guard, Banshee tossed it to Blue, who'd opened Pyro's prison cell.
"Thank you, Polly," Pyro said with a smug smile, Nat Crow asking, "That her?! Your girlfriend!?"
Banshee answered, "What? No, no way, I'm n—"
"I meant the one in blue," Nat said, to which Blue asked, "So you want us to leave her here?"
"Yeah, let's work on getting Simba out," Pyro said before the three went to his cell to open it.
The moment it was open, Simba turned into a silverback gorilla and rushed over to White Snake's cell, grabbing it by the bars before he yanked the thing wide open, tearing the door off its hinges, tossing it down the hall, where it managed to break open Slapstick's cell.
"Thanksss," White Snake hissed sultrily to them.
"…Cool," Simba said, his voice almost cracking when he changed back into his regular form, all the while it looked like White Snake was slithering her way around him, like an anaconda about to smother the life out of its prey, only it seemed like Simba wouldn't mind the move.
"Alright, so what about Bliss, Man Rake, and Nat Crow?" Banshee asked those freed criminals.
"Yeah," Pyro said just a little bit sarcastically.
Nat tells him, "That was ages ago," to which he responds, "It was less than three minutes ago," before suddenly her cell opened, along with those of Man Rake and Bliss, opened by none other than Slapstick. "We are rogues, damn it! And we stick together! Rogues never say die!"
"You stole that shit from the Goonies," says Nat.
"I say die a lot. Outside of saying my name, it's kinda my thing,"
"Hang on!" as the rogues clung to him and one and other, Simba couldn't help but feel the hand of White Snake on his behind before the criminals vanished in this blue flash of light.
…
"Europa, are you getting this?" asked Bishop as he, his daughter, and Rora stood on a large icy protoplanet within a force field holding enough air so that sound could be heard.
"Yes," said Europa.
"OK, hello, people of Earth. So, I am here with my daughter and one of my best friends around 3.7 parsecs or 12 light years away from Earth in the Tau Ceti system, but that is not the best part," said Bishop, pointing beyond the system to a series of three lights. "Those are three rogue neutron stars in orbit of one another. Normally, neutron stars go rogue when they're in a binary system with another star, and a supernova explosion of the companion star gives the neutron star a gravitational kick, shooting it out at high speed, making it roam independently through space. The key word there is independently. Here we have three neutron stars of very high mass, but very loose size. I mean, it would be hard to call these things asteroid size. They are as big as an NFL stadium. Which makes them perfect to study for their effect on gravity on a quantum level—" Bishop stopped as he saw something in front of the spaceship: a large multi-mile-long spinning spacecraft traveling at the high near 45% the speed of light about half of AU in front of the stars.
"Wait, are those?" Rora said, with Europa's wide eyes saying, "Those are spaceships."
"O'Neil cylinders are probably fusion-powered, but how are they not being pulled in by the gravity of the stars with the mass of neutron stars and them being half that of an AU away from it? They should be pulled into them," Europa shrugged. "Maybe they have anti-gravity?"
"If they had true anti-gravity, they would have FTL and wouldn't be moving slower than light," said Bishop, growing concerned as it appeared that the stars were changing shape. Rora's face turned cold. "It's because they are not stars! Prepare for battle," she said, crashing through the hard plasma force field and flying toward what now looked to be a battle. Black Power and Lady Jupiter quickly followed, with them traveling light-years in a matter of moments as they suddenly saw what was actually happening. As they drew closer to the spaceships and the chasing star, they saw that the "neutron stars" were not affecting what they had thought. From the depths of the pseudo-stars emerged grotesque monstrosities, ancient and primordial, their forms defying the laws of physics and sanity itself. Their bodies, vast and undulating, seemed to writhe with a sickening rhythm as if they were mere puppets to an unseen, malevolent force. Limbs, sinewy and elongated, extended from their amorphous torsos, each ending in clusters of serrated claws that scraped against the fabric of reality itself. Their heads, if one could call them that, were a nightmarish amalgamation of eyes and mouths, gaping voids that oozed with a sickly ichor. No two were alike, some resembling the gaping maws of abyssal creatures, while others bore twisted visages of agony and madness. As they crawled forth from the accursed stars, their very presence seemed to warp the fabric of space around them, distorting light and sound into grotesque aberrations. The air grew thick with a palpable sense of dread as if the very universe recoiled in horror at their existence. But perhaps most horrifying of all was their voices, a cacophony of tortured screams and unholy whispers that echoed across the void despite the lack of atmosphere. It rode like a hurricane, seemingly making space-time itself shake with each malevolent syllable, coagulating together to form unspeakable words and phrases that men should not know or dare try to understand.
"What are those things?" asked Europa psychically.
"Star Beasts, mindless dogs of the Old Ones," said Rora as she dodged a blow with a tentacle waved at her, cutting off the massive arm with her blade before flying up and slicing one in half.
"Just to be clear," asked Bishop as he dodged a massive blast of nova energy from one of the two remaining beasts, "These things are, in fact, monsters that are not self-aware and basically Space kaiju?"
"I know not what this Kaiju is," said Rora, blocking a blast from one of the other monsters with her sword before grabbing it by a tentacle and sending it flying into a punch from Europa that threw the monster into the other one, sending it hurtling away from the spaceships. "But these things are greater demons from lands beyond, mindless beasts devoid of thought and reason, rabid dogs only tamed to their dark masters!" The Goddess said as the creatures began flying towards the ship again.
"Good to know," said Bishop, turning to Europa. "Baby girl, you remember what I said about unarmed spaceships."
"There is no such thing provided sufficient speed," answered Lady Jupiter.
"Very good," Bishop began to smirk. "Now let's apply that to us and them."
"A race it is then!" said Lady Jupiter as she and Black Power shot through the bodies of the two monsters like a bullet, causing an explosion that ripped the Star Beasts apart. By the time Bishop and his daughter came out the other side, they doubled back, meeting with Rora before checking out the space that seemed to be slowing down from a lack of fuel. That being said, they were still going at a large fraction of the speed of light, and with interstellar drag being so low, they could travel effectively forever only without being able to maneuver themselves. Suddenly, Bishop and Europa felt a ringing in their ears… they were being hailed by the lead ship.
"Whoever you are, thank you, but we are in need of further help. Please come aboard," the language wasn't in words but raw mathematical equations that Bishop was solving in his head and then explaining to Europa and then Rora. In moments, Bishop had translated their language from pure mathematics alone as he responded, thinking of math equations at super speed before sending them to the aliens so they could understand English. The two superheroes and one goddess landed within a landing bay inside the craft, much to the shock of the aliens that looked like shaved Bichon Frise with strange human lines and four fingers on their front legs. Barkor couldn't believe his eyes. He had accepted a ship, not… these beings that were almost as eldritch in look as the monsters that had attacked the ship. They were bipedal and looked like a mix of a dozen different animals back home. Their height, however, was giant, with the shortest one, a girl who looked maybe to be in her mid-teens, towering over him. They only appeared to have fur around their head, except for the male of the three, who had fur around his mouth that was filled with both teeth that seemed to be designed to eat both meat and plants. Their two arms ended with a hand of five fingers and wore strange suits that didn't look to be designed for space travel.
"Where… who… what are you?" asked Barkor.
"That's a bit complicated. I don't know where me or my daughter's race is originally from or even their name," said Bishop, pointing to Europa. "But me and my daughter live in the Sol system with another race called the humans."
"Is she a human?" asked the dog alien looking towards Rora who shook her head.
"No, I'm God," Rora corrected.
Barkor tilted his head, confused. "God, a woman?"
"Rora!" shouted Bishop. "We talked about this; you can't just go around saying that."
"But it's true, though. I am a God," she said, reaching into her pocket and handing over a small USB drive. "If you are in need of a deity, here is my book."
"Well, I am Barkor of the Kaninians, and this ship is the first manned colony vessel to our nearest star with a habitable planet. Or at least, it was."
"Wait, where is everyone else on the ship?" asked Europa.
"On the ice," said Barkor. "I am the AI Synthetic approximation of the ship captain, meant to take care of the ship while everyone else is asleep. Unfortunately, they will be on ice for a few thousand years instead of a few decades thanks to the attack, and those things feed off of our ship's energy."
"We can get you back up to speed," volunteered Europa.
Barkor shook his head. "Each of the three ships is the size of a major city and weighs more than a mountain."
"Okay, so when do we start?" asked Bishop.
It took less than a few moments for the three heroes to leave the ship and begin to not push them but fly them to their destination over 50 light years away. They soon came into orbit around a small blue dot in a planet of 12 other planets of varying levels of habitations via terraforming.
The three heroes were about to leave again when they were hailed by Barkor, this time the real one. "Wait!" shouted the dog. "We must give you something to thank you!"
"There is no need for that," said Rora, but Barkor interjected with, "It is our tradition to do such a thing. Please take these spare terraforming crafts and these barge craft. I know it isn't much, but we must thank you people from Sol; our people will never forget what you have done for us," he said, ending the hail and undocking the spare ship loaded with terraforming tech.
"Hey, at least the Martians get some new toys to play with," said Europa as she grabbed one of the three barges while Bishop and Rora grabbed the others and headed back to the Sol system.
A few hours later, Rora was helping Bishop on Mars unload the ships.
"Is there something wrong?" Bishop asked her as they approached Mars orbit a few moments after they left the other system. "Those Star Beasts are able to feed upon entire worlds, becoming great weapons of powerful old ones like war dogs."
"Yeah, you told us that, so what?" asked Bishop as they placed the barges down on the planet's surface.
"They were without their masters and dying without him. That is why they were feeding on those ships' energy because something killed or separated them from each other," Rora explained. "And whatever did that-"
"Is still out there."
The parlor was empty for the most part, and usually, it would have been closed around then. But the Crime League, the rogues of The Reaper, decided to stop there for some ice cream…
Nat Crow placed almost everything on her ice cream, from sprinkles and M&M's to Snickers. Banshee was having some chocolate, all the while White Snake and Samba chatted, barely even eating the ice creams they had bought for themselves… Okay, they didn't really buy the ice cream, they just walked in, and the staff and customers scrambled out of the building. To be fair, Man Rake was the one to get in first. Pyro seemed reserved and quiet; he said he wasn't hungry, that he wanted to stay outside to keep watch, but Banshee couldn't help but think that something was "Off" with Rick Banks, and so she got him some chocolate ice cream, handing it over to him as he waited outside.
He had his back against the wall, hands in his pockets, and caution in his eyes.
"You hungry?" she asked him. "…Just a little," he said after taking it.
"…I just don't like this neighborhood."
"Bad vibes?" she asked him. "Bad history," he said, not wanting to spend too long in Atlanta. There were… Too many ghosts for Pyro's liking.
The Sentinel's boots tapped as he walked down the hallway of the Palace of Versailles, the makeshift military base that had found itself the seat of the French military for the last few weeks as the civilian government had to leave Paris due to the sheer amount of civil violence and rioting. "Civilian government," the Sentinel would have laughed at those words. What was left of the civilian government was paralyzed for weeks following the battle in the Atlantic against the Venan. The nations were falling apart, and more importantly, those in power knew it would be their heads that would get a very close shave if it collapsed completely. Thus, when the "hero" presented them with the option of letting him and the military save their lives, they were all too happy to agree.
"Are there any dissidents among the MPs?" asked the man to his second in command.
"No, sir, none of the numbers that really matter. Your ability to use emergency powers has been sanctioned, as well as your right to rule in general. The constitution has been suspended as you have asked," replied the assistant.
"Then martial law is in effect. Is the military loyal to me?" asked the metahuman tyrant.
"Partially. The leadership of the ground forces and police have fully agreed to back you."
"And what of the Air Force and Navy?"
"The Air Force is largely neutral or leaning towards you. However, the Navy is different," said the assistant.
The Sentinel sighed. "What about the navy?"
"There have been reports of some mutinies already in our overseas ports. Some have simply refused to leave their ports, while others have defected to the US and Britain."
The Sentinel grunted and huffed angrily as he realized what would come next. "This would include the submarines."
"All but three nuclear-capable ICBM submarines have breached themselves above water, most of which have been captured by our supposed allies. The last three have remained unresponsive. However, there is some good news."
"And what would that be?" asked the Sentinel, struggling to hold back his rage.
"We still have the 'packages' you requested, though they are crude."
"Good enough," the Sentinel barked. "But we will have to conduct a hybrid approach now, both conventional and nonconventional when the time comes," said the metahuman. "Speaking of our allies, what have been their reactions?"
"A mix. All of them have condemned the enactment of emergency powers, but none at the moment appear to be ready to attack us."
The tyrant smiled. "Good," he said, walking through the doors to the grand hall of the palace. "Let's get this meeting started."
Bastille-Man sat at the head of the table of La Fraternité, yet he wasn't the first to speak.
That "honor" came down to Freeman, who asked, "What the hell was that?"
"I think it would be called a coup or at least a power grab," La Marianne sighed, with the Rooster adding, "A very effective one."
"This wasn't what happened with America. This wasn't some wacko attempting to throw together some half-hearted attempt at taking over the government. The government willingly gave away its power," said La Marianne.
"Which makes things a lot more complicated," said Bastille-Man.
"It makes stopping it look like a revolution or a counter-coup itself," added Rooster.
"What about the Syndicate?" asked the Rooster.
"We don't have their contacts, but they are probably struggling as much as us to figure out how to handle it," answered Bastille-Man.
Rooster commented, "I could run to the United States, but they might think I'm a rocket."
"In addition to this coup being a semi-legitimate power grab by The Sentinel, he appears to have the backing of multiple powerful metahumans, solos, and mercenaries, along with possible access to the country's nuclear weapons."
"Yeah, right. The Americans are only going to look out for other Americans," La Marianne said.
"Black Power acted—"
"In favor of his own kind," said Bastille-Man. La Marianne raised an eyebrow, though she found herself agreeing with what he added.
"Look at what happened in the East, in Ukraine. He has done nothing," Bastille-Man started.
"Oh, he did arrest King Leopold. Yet Putin and the King of Vena are both still walking free... If he wanted to, he and Rora could bring both men to The Hague and end the Ukraine War with ease," added Freeman.
"And while he did that, we were fighting literal Nazis," Freeman said.
"But the Belgians weren't exactly in the position to retaliate against him. You go after the King of Vena or his family, and nukes start flying. They made it very clear that they would flip the board if it meant we lost along with them," added La Marianne.
"We all know he's nuclear proof," Freeman said.
"We also know he is one man," said Freeman.
"A man that can't be everywhere at once, and Vena has thousands of nukes—" began Rooster.
"Enough with the moral arguments. We have more pressing matters at hand. Like how are we going to—" Rooster started to say before the door to the room was kicked down, and a flashbang was thrown in as a bunch of soldiers carrying direct energy and bolt guns rushed into the room shouting, "SURRENDER!"
As the room filled with smoke, another figure entered the room, one with stone skin and a gold chain around his neck.
"Aah, so this is your home, Bastille-Man. I'll take good care of it while you and your friends are rotting in prison," said none other than Bastille's self-proclaimed arch-nemesis, Briquebrise.
"Shouldn't that be something you should be doing?" asked the Rooster, gearing up for a fight.
"We just got pardoned," said Briquebrise. "And deputized."
"We?" asked La Marianne as other "ex" villains emerged from the smoke.
"We indeed," said Vortex Vex. A man with a flaming head and metal flaming wings came out next, saying, "So you can come with us peacefully or in a body bag," said Flame Skull. "Which one will it be, hero? Option A or B?"
"How about option freeze!" yelled none other than General Winter, blasting the villain back in a winter chill as Big Ben ripped off of the headquarters, shouting "Run up my arm!"
As the other heroes were escaping, General Winter was thrown flying through the air into the French countryside. A punch was thrown by Briquebrise, whose hand turned into a flying mound of sulfur and flint, using the fire from Flame Skull to light it, only for him and the rest of the villains to disappear by the time Winter got up. Getting up, General Winter found himself surrounded by robots of…
"HOLY CRUSADER!" each one carrying a flaming plasma sword. There were hundreds of them, maybe even more than that, all marching toward him. Winter was prepared to fight them alone, but suddenly he realized something.
He wasn't alone anymore. There was another person standing beside him… A man dressed in the colors of a long-dead Union.
"SOVIET STRONGMAN?!" asked General Winter.
The communist chuckled. "It appears I'm helping you once again," as they stood back to back Strongman asking "You ready, comrade?"
"Not calling you comrade, but give 'em hell," General Winter said as the Soviet strongman blasted one side with his heat vision and Winter hit them with freeze breath. There were still some remaining robots that charged at them. Suddenly, however, as the robots sprinted toward the hero, there was a roar in the sky as a futuristic winged jet hovered on the belly of the aircraft and slid open, releasing dozens of exploding mini-throwing scythes and artificial bones.
The bones stabbed into the mass of robots, setting off a ripple effect of explosions and shrapnel, taking out scores of robots in a cascade of flames. Following the bombs came three figures from the aircraft. The black-cloaked and masked figures of Reaper slicing down with his scythes, and Shadow who came down swinging a Kusarigama, were quickly followed by a third figure of Adisa holding a scimitar in one hand and a katana in the other.
While Strongman could perceive things faster than humans, Winter's reaction wasn't that fast outside of natural reflexes; he was pretty human in regard to reaction speed. So as he gazed upon the three other heroes, Reaper, Shadow, and Adisa, among the robots slaughtering the mindless drones, he could only see what amounted to a blur dashing among the smoke and crashing metal. There was something different with the way they moved compared to other metahumans; in the daylight, their grace, their speed, their precision, all within the confines of a human shell, gave off an uncanny valley effect. Which radiated from Reaper the most; the way he learned and moved among the robots should not have been possible.
Once more, with the cloak and speed, Winter couldn't truly tell where Reaper started and ended; it almost seemed like he was a cloud and whirlwind of vengeance, one that only slowed down as the last robot fell by his and his ally's hands.
"General Winters. Soviet Strong Man," said Reaper, turning to face them. "It's nice to meet the both of you, though it could be under better circumstances," said the ghastly hero. "I have heard a lot about you both."
"I have heard many things about you from my cousin," said Strongman.
"Your cousin?" asked General Winter.
"Yes, my Cousin Black Power. Don't you see the resemblance?" said the blonde-haired, blue-eyed Slavic Eastern European man with a strong Russian accent. The messed-up thing about it was that he did kinda look like Bishop in the face a little bit. Ace could almost smell the... Not fear but the sense of dread coming from Winter.
"Fear toxin," both Reaper and General Winter thought.
"Same," said General Winter, keeping his composure, adding, "But shouldn't you be in Atlanta?"
"The two of them were training with me in a monastery in the Carpathians when we heard the news of what was going on here," said Adisa.
"And you are?" asked Winter.
Adisa cut him a look. "That is none of your concern," she said as the aircraft landed. "Shall we?" She said, walking back into the belly of the craft.
"Or shall we wait until reinforcement from these rogue Gauls to join the fray?"
"Fine," said Winter and Strongman, rushing into the plane alongside Reaper and Shadow.
"Where the hell are we going anyway?"
"HQ," said Shadow, adding as they took off, "Until we can come up with a plan on what to do about the Sentinel."
"Where the hell is Black Power and Rora? Why aren't they helping?" asked Soviet Strongman.
"Off-world," Reaper answered. "Right now, we need to focus on handling Sentinel until they get back."
"Speak of the devil," said Adisa as a flying man with a cape and Vichy symbol on his chest appeared in front of them with red glowing laser eyes.
"And he shall appear," said Reaper, locking on with his aircraft missiles which did not damage him at all.
"My turn," started Strongman as he got ready to jump out of the plane, but suddenly there was another beeping sound from an unknown object flying.
"Something is coming hot at Mach 25…wait no Mach 50… Mach 100?"
Reaper started as he and the rest of the heroes saw what was cutting through the cloud at now beyond hypersonic speed, approaching nearly a fraction of light speed. Black Scotsman crashed into the Sentinel with relativistic speed that sent him flying.
"Oi, you French cunt, go right ahead and fuck yourself!" yelled the massive man as he punched him again through storm clouds.
Another massive blow sent lightning and fire crashing upon the Sentinel before he was punched up from behind into the upper atmosphere. Black Scotsman kicked the Sentinel back down to Earth, grabbing him by his cape and slinging his ass across the planet, with them landing on the icy plane of Northern Alaska.
"Stand down, you fucking cun-" shouted the Demigod before the metahuman hit him with a blast energy punch, sending the demigod flying back, this time right into a punch by Sentinel who used his super speed to catch him from behind with a kick.
"You fight like a savage," said Sentinel, floating towards Black Scotsman. "Nothing held back, without thinking. You fight like a fucking ape!" He yelled, slamming his foot down on the demigod's face before hitting him with a blast of heat vision.
The Sentinel pulled Scotsman up, punching him again, this time into a mountain, causing half of it to collapse. "So fucking pathetic, I should have expected much though."
"Maybe that's your problem," yelled a voice flying from behind the Sentinel.
"YOUR HATE LEAVES YOU BLIND AND WIDE OPEN!" yelled Red Matter, coming in with a sucker punch and sending him flying back into space.
"Thanks for the save, mate," said Black Scotsman.
Red Matter looked up in the sky to see the Sentinel flying back down at them. "It isn't over yet."
Scotsman called his battle axe to his hand and chuckled, looking at the metahuman tyrant flying back down like a realistic man-size bullet, his clothes and armor ripped and torn. "One last punch should do it," as he and Red Matter flew up to meet the Sentinel in a punch so massive it caused the sky to part and a shock wave so powerful it sent each person flying thousands of miles in different directions.
Black Scotsman found himself crashed into the field of the highlands of Scotland, half knocked out inside of a crater with a sheep licking his face. Spitting out a tooth, the unit of a superhero smiled.
"Fucking hell, that was one hell of a story for the pub."
Back on the Reaper Jet, Ace turned to Destiny.
"Well, that was fucking metal," he said plainly.
"That was one hell of a distraction," added Shadow as the Reaper jet docked into a larger aircraft.
The side doors of the Wraith opened into the Syndicate aircraft.
"So what now?" asked Winter and Strongman.
"You are going to be transported to Action UK Base where you and the Fraternity can reconstitute yourselves until we can figure out what the hell we are going to do about France," said Reaper as Strongman and General Winter exited the Wraith into the Syndicate aircraft.
There was a pause until General Winter spoke up "Thank you"...
He wasn't saying it to Strongman, only to Reaper and his friends.
"Don't mention it," said Ace as the door to the wraith closed and the smaller jet detached and took off towards America.
"You need a lift?" Strongman asked him
"I've got methods" Winter said as he called his transport
"Not as fast as you... But at least I won't feel conflicted".
And so, the Russian and the Ukrainian went their separate ways, but deep down both men were willing to work together in the hunt for a common goal:
Justice!
…
Reeves was an everyman, or rather, he could look like one, even if he was "famous?" Or rather famous in the political sense, as most Americans, thanks to the failure of its education system, could barely tell you what the speaker of the house's role was, let alone who it was and what they looked like at any given time. That wasn't exactly true anymore for the NAZ in Washington DC. One of the few traits Reeves found admirable of Imani is her focus on education, though it made getting around certain sections of the city undercover a lot harder. And just outright using his powers as Zetamna to fly wasn't a good idea due to the rumored air defenses that had been placed by both the NAZ and Federal governments. So, that confined Zetaman mostly to the ground within DC. Though even then, he didn't wear his costume most of the time just to avoid being linked to the superhero. Instead, Reeves wore his brown leather bomber jacket, a flat cap, and work pants with work boots. For a mask, he used a simple face mask.
Reeves stopped at the exit of an alleyway into a street, watching from afar as the group of young teenagers dressed in the uniform of the Black Guards gathered around a hair store, yelling at an older man who seemed to be the owner.
"Get the hell away from my door!" shouted the man.
"You are an economic imperialist!" said an older teenage girl, obviously the leader, who was maybe at the most 15 or 16. She took out her "Little Black Book" and read a quote.
"Imani V. Clair says vultures who swoop down to feast on the land's bounty, but only to leave it barren fields should be driven out!" She shouted as another teenager started yelling at the old man. "You are a vulture capitalist! Damn you! You hire no one from the Black community, you are not from our community, you take money from Black neighborhoods to enrich yourself! You are a vulture capitalist pig!"
"BOO!" shouted the other members of the Black Guard as they started shouting more slogans from the party. "Down with social merchant parasite class who feed upon us like a worm but leave nothing in return. Long live popular group economics of Revolutionary Garvey And Imani V. Clair Thought! For us by us!"
The young woman turned to the man who was closing up his shop early for the day. "We will come every day and let the community know how you feed off us parasite! Until you hire Black people from this Black community or go away from where you came! If you don't want to hire Black people then you don't need to sell to us!" She said turning back to the group of Red Guards. "My friends, that was a revolutionary act of economic anti-imperialism in the name of doing for self, was it not?"
"Yes, it was!" yelled one girl, a little one, maybe 10 or 11.
"Why so?" The group leader asked.
The little girl was quiet for a little bit, looking at her feet before answering. "I don't know," before asking shyly, "Am I in trouble?"
The older girl shook her head. "No comrade sista, but you and everyone here today must understand the duty and meaning of this deed. We did not expel the vulture capitalist because he was a different race or creed than us. No, we drove out the vulture capitalist because he was an economic parasite who set up shop in our community and refused to hire from or even live in our community then at the end of the day they take the Black dollar back to their community. He takes from the soil but doesn't plant anything. If he was Black doing the same thing he would have driven out just as we did today. Imani V. Clair says 'A Black vulture capitalist must be driven out just as fast as a nonblack vulture capitalist even if we share the same face!'" She said before adding, "Imani V. Clair says 'Soulanns must understand that the New Afrikan national liberation with only race consciousness is useless and must come with class consciousness!'"
The Black Guard cheered, raising their little books in the air as other Black Guard played music.
"The dream of Garvey is alive,
With Imani V Clair, we thrive,
Guiding us to a brighter day,
Together, we'll find our way.
Oh, we thank her,
Oh, we thank them,
To lead us to a better place,
For shaping our new state!"
Reeves was about to leave, sighing somewhat grateful that things didn't escalate; there was an incident in Portland of some kids getting shot doing one of those types of shit. And the last thing DC needed at the moment was another race riot.
Suddenly, Reeves felt a knife nudge him in the back.
"Your wallet, ofay!" said one of the five muggers, "Or your life."
Another one hissed.
"You wouldn't want to do that," he warned.
Reeves kicked back without looking, sending a man flying into another one. The group of men began to run off down the back street with Reeves behind them. Before suddenly one of the men grabbed a nearby woman and held a knife to her throat.
"Back off, you fucking meta freak," said the man, "Or the lady gets it-" started the thug before a lasso of pearls belonging to Anne Christmas snatched around the man's arms sending him flying back. Grabbing the thug by his throat Anne almost snapped his neck as she yelled at him, "You pathetic loser! You would hold your own people hostage," he said slamming his head against the wall and knocking him out before wrapping her pearl lasso around another man who was trying to run away, pulling him into a punch knocking him out.
Yet when she turned around, Reeves was gone.
He was entering the speaker's office through a hidden entrance installed as an escape hatch following the first January 6 incident.
He'd let out a full sigh once he sat down, taking off his glasses before saying to the darkness, "How did you get in here?" referring to Reaper and Shadow standing across the room from him.
"Because I am him and she is she," said Ace before going on, "But we have more important things to talk about than our vanishing act," as he handed him some pictures.
"You mean France, trust me Reaper I have been briefed-" started Reeves.
"That is only partially why I am here, but since you are up to date about France, I can skip to the second part, Haiti."
"You mean the clashes between them and the DR worrying some of the boys in suits with the NSC worrying it can-"
"It already has; there has been an increase in activity and build-up among the Haitian side in anticipation of an invasion of DR."
"That's impossible; Haiti wouldn't risk war with DR, not with them being an American ally unless-"
"They have a trump card," Shadow added as Reeves took a look at the pictures that he had been given.
"What are these?"
"High-speed missile launch stations capable of hitting anywhere on the Eastern Seaboard up into Canada in a matter of minutes, a number of hypersonic missiles capable of reaching Florida in a matter of seconds," said Shadow. Reeves shook his head.
"Can it get any worse-"
Reaper cut him off.
"They are nuclear-armed, a mixture of EMP, low-yield ground-tactical bunker busters, and higher-yield strategic multi-megaton nuclear warheads, which match the general Venan battle doctrine of fast saturation attacks to stun, distract, or overwhelm their enemy followed by heavy force. I have already deduced their nuclear strategy. They would open up with a cyber attack and misinformation, as they did during their fight with Nigeria. Followed by the use of EMP weapons over certain key parts of the grid, mixed with attacks on land and air base nuclear targets, followed by targeting cities with large-scale nuclear weapons to reduce the enemy post-war fighting population, similar to modern American strategy."
"How do you know?"
"Because I am the goddamn Reaper, Reeves," said Ace before continuing. "After which, they would weather the second strike from the United States, which will kill around a quarter to 75% of their population in the blast and resulting nuclear winter and fallout, depending on how much you want to believe the rumors of vast underground bunker cities and farms, which to Vena is acceptable. In fact, from my knowledge, even a 96% casualty rate is acceptable to them so long as the survival of the nation or rather the royal line and enough people to restart the population is kept around," said Reaper.
"That would send them back to the fucking Stone Age, Reaper, that can't be a rational plan."
"Vena has been around since the Stone Age, Reeves. A few centuries to a few thousand years won't matter much to them in the long term. Though I must admit, judging by their rhetoric recently, which hasn't changed or spiked more than usual, and combined with the King's visit to Jackson, they are more than likely using this as a ploy. Think Cuban missile crisis; they want something, more than likely us, the Americans, to stop funding Azov Command. Outside unforeseen events, this can and will, with some settlement."
"We don't fund Azov," started Reeves.
"It comes out of the Black budget, something that is too classified for you to know,"
"Then how do you know it-" started Reeves as the door to his office opened, and in that split second while he was looking away, Rita came in, Ace and Destiny were gone...
"Oh right, because you're Reaper," he said, his hands in his pockets as he looked around the room.
"Just one more thing!" he called out.
The lights flickered, and Reaper and Shadow were back in the room.
"What is it?" Reaper asked him.
"We were going to wait until the Syndicate's next meeting, but since you're here... Well..."
Jim looked towards Rita, and slowly she showed him her hand... With a diamond ring on it.
"Wait..." Shadow said, a smile beneath her mask before both she and Reaper broke character, their intimidating facades breaking, and out came the teenage celebrities, happy for their friends.
"Congrats!" Ace said, shaking Reeves' hand, though he tried to hold back how happy he was.
"Just don't tell the rest of the gang, we want to make it a surprise," Reeves said, Rita and Shadow were hugging one another, Destiny asking "Who else knows?"
"Just you two, some close friends who don't wear costumes... Oh, and Li-"
"Hold it," Reaper said, receiving an alert from his helmet.
"There's a hostage situation in Atlanta, we gotta go," Reaper said before nodding to both Reeves and Rita Dali. "Congratulations," he said before the lights flicked, the Atlantan vigilantes vanishing.
…
Bliss could feel the floor shake as he held up the room full of police officers. "I thought you said that we would have time before that sand witch came here!"
"Oopsie on me," said Nat Crow. "And I was right," she said, peeping out the window and seeing Pyro and Banshee fighting Desert.
"Unfortunately, we didn't count on our not-so-friendly ghost showing up," hissed White Snake. "Besides, we don't know if that even here could just be the police or the African Legion helicopter."
"He's here, I can feel it in my bones," started Man Rake before suddenly, through the floorboard, Reaper phased through with a punch that sent Man Rake flying across the room.
"You are probably gonna feel that too, at least when you wake up," said Ace, throwing smoke bombs into the room.
"Too many hostages, can't use fear gas right now," said Ace before asking over his comms to Destiny and Adisa, "How are you two doing there?"
In a hallway below, Ace, Destiny used her Kusarigama to pull a thug into a punch from Adisa before another man came at her with a bat, which she dodged, kicking him in the gut through a wall. "Fine, what about you? How is the suit's phase function on the suit? I haven't tested mine yet,"
"Decent," said Ace, turning intangible and dodging a blow from a shock baton, kicking in the knee of the thug who tried to hit him with it before bashing it against the side of another thug, adding, "Actually, it's freaking great. Feels like I am untouchable," as Xander interjected.
"Remember, you're not, especially with bullets; dense metals like lead can disrupt the phase field, and while phased, your combat armor doesn't—" started Xander as Nat fired a bullet at Ace, ignoring the phase and even his actual hard armor shielding, grazing the side of Reaper's right torso.
"Work," grunted Reaper, throwing the baton at Nat's head and knocking her out as he reached into his utility bandoliers, pulling out a medical combat armor patch that covered and protected the wound from leaking any blood while Reaper's enhanced healing factor went to work. Yet in that breath moment while his gaze shield was down, White Snake snuck up from behind and plunged her fangs into his shoulder as her body wrapped around him, attempting to constrict him. Reaper powered up his shock and threw a sucker punch to the White Snake's temple, sending her neurons buzzing and knocking her out.
Bliss cracked his knuckles. "I am prepared for you Rea-ZZZSZ!" He fell down as Shadow had shot with an electric bola cable.
"Hey, save the monologuing for the movies,"
"Thanks, old chum," said Reaper. Outside a nearby window, Desert was doing her best to hold Banshee and Pyro.
"Go on Tiger, get 'em," Destiny quipped back.
Reaper sprinted through the glass window, jumping into the air and landing on his glider, taking off after Banshee first. "Xander, how is this thing against sound?" asked Ace as he was nearly thrown off by a sonic blast from Banshee that sent his ears ringing.
"It all depends on the vibrations, but thanks to that sample she just gave us, I can remotely counter the sonic frequency of her scream to give you some resistance to her—"
"Just do it!" said Ace, jumping off his glider to dodge another blast of Banshee's supersonic scream.
"Ok, got it," said Xander. In a split second, Ace's Phase Armor turned on just in time as Banshee attempted to do another scream. Still, it had no effect on Reaper, who landed on the back and started to rip out the power to her wings, sending her flying out of control and slamming into a billboard as he jumped off her, landing into a punch by Pyro that sent Reaper falling down before he shot back around Pyro with a hook line, pulling himself back up then striking Pyro in the face repeatedly as both of them came crashing down, slamming through the ground via a manhole where Pyro laid knocked out with Reaper standing over him once again victorious.
This only lasted for a moment as Reaper was hit by the freight train that was Beast Master, who took the form of an Ankylosaurus, crashing the superhero through a brick wall into an underground MARTA subway station. Beast Master attempted to hit Ace with his armored tail, but Ace managed to parry it with his Scythe, slicing the tail off and making Beast Master cry out in pain as he took the form of the 9ft tall 700-pound massive great ape that was Gigantopithecus, running at Ace attempting to throw a punch which Ace caught with one hand and then using his maglev jump boot and phase armor jumped back to the surface unharmed along with Beast Master, who upon reaching the surface of the road of Neo Atlanta was thrown up into the air by the hero and as Reaper let go of the villain, Beast Master turned solid once more mid-air only to find a grapple line tied around his waist that was used to slam him into the pavement at the speed of a car crash knocking Beast Master out as well as knocking off some of his teeth. The next thing that Beast Master saw as he woke up was him and his friend being loaded into a police van as the sun rose over a Neo Atlanta morning.
Except for Banshee... She slipped away not long after crashing into that billboard...
Back in the graveyard, Destiny and Ace sat in an ice bath trying to recover after the fight. The Ace wound had healed before he even got home, but after days of training with Adisa in the mountains, both he and Destiny were sore, and the fight with their rogues and what seemed to be a quarter of the entire Crime League of America on top of stopping a killer robot attack in France had taken a toll on them. Though in truth, Ace could have probably gone the rest of the summer at the same tempo without hitting the edges of his limit, though having been to the edge of his limits in May, he had no desire to ever revisit it any time soon.
"Are you two busy?" asked Adisa walking up to the ice bath wearing a robe.
"No, just chilling out," Destiny quipped, making Adisa laugh as she disrobed. The Ace and Destiny's eyes widened as she entered the ice bath asking, "You don't mind if I join you two?"
Before the two heroes could answer, Xander and Mia came down the hidden stairs. "Astaghfirullah!" shouted Mia, covering her eyes before quickly covering Xander's too,
"Um… it's not what it looks like?" said Ace, pointing out that he and Destiny were still clothed.
Adisa sighed. "That is unfortunate, in that case,"
"Not helping," mumbled an embarrassed Destiny
"We are-" Xander started with Mia finishing, "Going back upstairs to wash this mental image out of our mind," as they did, Xander got a text on his phone. "Oh yeah Ace remember you gave the opening of the new Ward Library Learning Center today," he said. "Just try to wrap up whatever is ever going on here before then,"
Ace sighed "Shit, I forgot it was today"
"I can come with you two," volunteered Adisa. "It can be a date."
"Date?" asked Destiny before adding, "First, me and Ace don't date each other."
"Oh yes, because the way you two look at each other is fully and wholly platonic, but go on."
"Second," said Ace, "Dates are usually between two people."
"Well, let's just consider this threesome of ours an aberration then," she quipped as she got out of the ice bath to get dressed.
The sun beat down relentlessly on the gathered crowd outside the Ward Library Learning Center, its rays bouncing off the sleek, industrial art deco skyline of Neo Atlanta in the background. Tall buildings loomed over the scene, their metallic surfaces shimmering in the heat haze—the distant sounds of cars honking and the MARTA monorail system whirring added to the urban ambiance. As guests mingled, a subtle hip-hop R&B instrumental played in the background, adding a rhythmic backdrop to the chatter and laughter. Some of the attendees queued up at the food line, filling their plates with barbecue and other Southern delights. Despite the sweltering heat, everyone seemed excited to be there, their faces flushed and glistening with sweat. Everyone, that is, except for Ace, whose superpowers made him less sensitive to the Georgia heat. He stood tall and composed at the podium, ready to address the crowd.
"Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you all for joining us today for the grand opening of the Ward Library Learning Center. Today marks a significant milestone for our community as we come together to celebrate the power of knowledge and education. This center represents a beacon of hope, a place where people of all ages and backgrounds can come to learn, grow, and thrive. I want to extend my deepest gratitude to everyone who has contributed to making this vision a reality. From the architects and builders who constructed this beautiful facility to the educators and volunteers who will staff it, each and every one of you has played a vital role in bringing this dream to fruition. Most importantly, I want to thank the members of our community who will benefit from the resources and opportunities offered here. Whether you're a student seeking to expand your horizons or an adult looking to further your career, this center is for you.
Here at the Ward Library Learning Center, we believe that knowledge is power. By investing in education and literacy, I believe we can empower our people to reach their full potential and create a brighter future for themselves and their families. So let us embrace the opportunities that lie before us and seize the chance to learn, grow, and succeed together. Let us open the doors of this center and welcome all who seek knowledge, inspiration, and opportunity. Thank you once again for being here today, and may the Ward Library Learning Center serve as a beacon of hope and opportunity for generations to come," smiled Ace as he walked off the stage towards the door touching the oddly cold handle as he said, "So let's get this learning sta-" Ace started to say before as it creaked open, revealing a chilling sight. Hanging from a meat hook behind the door was a frozen body, its lifeless eyes staring out into the crowd….
Reaper sighed as he and Shadow looked over the body later that night alongside Marcus Henderson.
"What are we looking at here?" asked Marcus.
"Besides one hell of a freezer burn, definitely use liquid nitrogen," said Shadow. "Along with a few missing organs and a " Destiny looked at the back of the neck of the victim. "Spinal tap."
"Meaning that narrows it down to someone who had access to liquid nitrogen," said Marcus with Lisa Monroe of the ACB walking into the room, adding, "And whoever had a grudge against our Jane Doe."
"Her name was Jasmine Carter," said Reaper breaking his silence.
"I know that name; her mother worked for special victims, I think. She left before my time, but she was a legend when I was climbing up the ranks of APD."
"Came to fame back in the 90s putting away the Ice Cream Killer," Reaper added with Marcus joking, "That I should have known you of all people would have been a true crime fan."
"Considering her daughter's icy death, it's probably linked to that," said Destiny.
"Well, if this guy is going after the family of the officers that worked the case, that means the officers themselves aren't to find behind," said Marcus.
"I order the ACB to fan out to the officer's home, but that may take some time. Reaper, Shadow, can you two check on Officer Carter in the meantime?"
"On it," said Reaper as Shadow started walking away.
"What, no disappearing act this time?" asked Marcus, to which the heroes answered by simply phasing through a nearby wall. "Since when can they do that?"
On the Rooftop, Top Destiny struggles to keep up with Ace's speed as he seems to become a blur as he jumps and climbs from building to building and rooftop to rooftop. Turning on her rocket boots and glider wings, she caught up with them pretty quickly. "This is troubling you, isn't it?"
Reaper stopped. "No more than in other murders we have to solve."
"Then what is it?" asked Destiny.
Reaper shook his head. "Nothing," he said, trying to step forward, but Destiny moved in front of him, placing her hand on the side of his mask.
"What's wrong Ace?"
"Adisa," Reaper admitted, adding, "We both have feelings for her."
"Ace-" Destiny started to say.
"It's true you hide it better than I do, but I can see it, and I don't want our feelings for her, whatever they may be, be it a flirt or a flame, to break up our friendship."
"Promise me that," said Ace, placing his hand on Destiny's mask in return.
"Ace, you're my best friend. I would never leave you for anyone-" Destiny stopped as she spotted something in the distance; the window to Officer Carter's apartment wasn't just open, it was broken.
"Shit, it's like we are too late," said Reaper as he and Shadow jumped through the already broken glass window. Inside the room was cold, and the reason why was sitting at its center. There sat Officer Carter frozen solid in a rocking chair like a horrifying iceberg.
"Looks like we are too late," said Reaper, taking a sample from the body.
"What now?" Shadow asked.
"We go back to the lab and analyze the sample and hopefully be able to trace back the chemical of the liquid nitrogen to its owner."
Back in the lab within the graveyard, Ace scanned over the report from the sample.
"What are my detectives looking for exactly now?" asked Adisa, leaning on the computer.
"Cryo signature for a double homicide linked to the death of a cop who helped to solve a popular murder case," said Destiny.
"Cryo signature? Wouldn't the same chemical be the same no matter what?" asked Adisa.
Reaper, who was standing in his armor only with his mask off and his hood pulled down, shook his head. "No, not after the rise of Lady Zero. The government started to force companies to put tracers into their liquid nitrogen in order to track any stolen compound or chemical used in Cryo-bombs and weapons." With Destiny who added, "The tracers are basically like a chemical trademark or barcode for the company; it has it on the unique compound but is ultimately harmless to the rest of the liquid nitrogen," said Ace.
"Oh, brilliant! You two are simply radiant. I must say, it is truly captivating," Adisa said with a hint of flirtation.
"R-right," said Destiny as she tried to shift focus back to the task at hand. "I managed to track the liquid nitrogen to where the child of the Ice Cream Killer works, at one Richie Dinesh."
"Not only that, but the missing organs match, and the hole in the neck matches a number of other murder cases with the same MO," said Ace.
"Wait, how didn't we know about them?" Destiny asked.
Reaper looked over the dates. "Because they were spread out over the course of years, with the last one being almost five years ago. I think it's time for us to pay this Richie a visit."
"Too bad the sun is rising. It won't give you two the cover of darkness to track this criminal under. I guess you two will have to spend the day with me again, and since your other two friends are out, we will be alone..." said Adisa. "Perhaps I can teach you two another lesson of the mind."
"In fighting, right?" asked Reaper.
Adisa smirked. "While, of course, what else would I teach you two," she teased.
Reaper sighed. "Fine, but I am sending over the Raven drones to keep an eye on Richie and make sure if he is our guy, he doesn't strike again while the sun is up."
The training session began with Ace, Destiny, and Adisa standing in a large gymnasium level within the graveyard. Adisa, dressed in her sleek black combat suit, took the lead.
"Today, we'll be covering the finer points of hand-to-hand combat," Adisa announced, her voice smooth yet commanding. "We'll focus on exploiting pressure points to gain the upper hand in a fight."
"Pressure points, that is something we learned when we were like ten," said Ace.
"While that may be so, going over more precise pressure points as a review never hurt, especially ones for Metahumans with modified or changed biology." She demonstrated a series of precise strikes, targeting specific areas on a training dummy shaped to be one of White Snake before switching to a dummy of Man Rake. "These pressure points are based on scans you took of their bodies during your recent battles with them," she explained, "Knowing them can quickly incapacitate them with just a flick of the wrist, negating any advantage in strength over you in close-quarters combat."
Ace and Destiny nodded, intrigued, Ace especially remembering the recent bite by White Snake. As the session progressed, they began to practice the techniques under Adisa's guidance, honing their accuracy and control.
"Now, let's move on to sparring," Adisa suggested with a playful glint in her eyes. "Ace, why don't you pair up with Destiny?"
"I'm gonna go easy on you," quipped Destiny to Ace as they circled each other.
"Oh, and I expect to watch a show," flirted Adisa from a distance, but before the two of them could land the first blow, a notification went off; the Raven drones had picked up something from Richie Dinesh, leaving early from his janitor job at a Cryo storage facility with a large tin barrow. "Maybe some other time," said Ace as he and Destiny headed back to the upper level to put their armor back on.
"There is always tonight," said Adisa, biting her lips as she watched them walk away.
The two masked vigilantes used the drones to track the rogue janitor to a small cabin near an ISOTED part of the city.
"Oh no," said Ace, starting to put together the pieces of the puzzle that made up the case as he saw the man get out of his car. As the door swung open and Richie emerged, his movements were deliberate yet slightly unsteady, almost lumbering due to a club foot. He had a round face with smooth features, framed by short hair. "He isn't the real killer," said Reaper as she snuck through the door. "Just another poor victim that was used as a proxy by the real killer."
The farmhouse was messy and filled with medical apparatus, machines, junk waste, and hundreds of newspaper clippings as the two crept behind Richie without him noticing, towards the master bedroom of the house, one that smelt like death and rotting meat, but one that was also freezing cold.
"Ace," said Xander. "I found something else about Richie; he wasn't the Ice Cream killer's only son; he had an old brother, but he suffered-"
The door opened to show a makeshift medical bay with an icy cryo-chamber surrounded by coolers of stolen organs and vials of harvested stem cells condensed into a soupy liquid, all being pumped into what seemed to be a living corpse of near-ice.
"Looks like we have a guest, little brother," said the man as Richie turned around and charged at the superheroes, only to be ht in a pressure point by Shadow, knocking him out, but without truly hurting him. Reaper and Shadow attempted to move toward the iceman but were blasted back out of a nearby window into the backyard of the farmhouse by a makeshift freeze-ray made out of stolen medical equipment.
"It seems my little brother has brought me the best gift I could have ever asked for. Not only did I get the cop who put away Mamma, but I also got some meta stem cells and organs to power me up, all in the same 24 hours. It must be my bir-" he was knocked out by a less-than-lethal round hitting him in the back of the head with fire from Reaper's glider.
"You should really save the monologue for the movie, Ice Boy," quipped Reaper.
"Hey, you stole my line!" shouted Destiny.
Pyro impatiently paced about in his prison cell, waiting for his phone call. He told the guards, "My girlfriend will kill me if I don't call."
"Honestly? I don't think they'd care too much," Nat said casually, trying to squeeze her face through the bars of her cell, a stretched smile on her face.
"It's not all that bad," a familiar voice chimed in.
"To be fair, I come here all the time," Slapstick admitted. "I'm practically a regular at this joint," she added before whistling a tune to herself.
Nat asked, "How bad is she?" Pyro inquired, "Who?" Nat responded, "This lady friend you wanna call."
"Nah, she's nice as hell," Pyro admitted. "Aw," Nat said, sounding like Pyro had turned into a litter of puppies.
"She's also white," Simba added. Nat shook her head. "Bunny Hooper."
Pyro, Beast Master, White Snake, Nat Crow, Bliss, and Man Rake were in their own individual prison cells in that hallway. Beast Master's cell was opposite White Snake's, whom he watched as she rolled about in boredom. The two occasionally exchanged glances... Beast Master could have sworn he saw her wink.
"Yo, Pyro," he said in a hushed tone. "Yeah?" Pyro asked Beast Master. "She's giving me the look."
"The 'I'm hungry' look or the 'I wanna fuck' look?" Pyro asked him. "…Kinda looks like both."
"Good for you?" Pyro responded, sounding a little confused and creeped out. "Why are you telling me?"
"No reason," Simba said. "Do you have any advice?"
"Advice? What the fuck are you talking about? She's a snake lady. What can you even do with her?" Pyro paused for a second. "...You know what? Don't tell me," Pyro said, not wanting to imagine it.
"Well, how did you and that Polly girl get together, man?" Simba asked Pyro, who'd tell him.
"...I mean, I saved Polly before we hooked up, but before that, I helped her out helping the team after our asses were kicked by Reaper," Simba asked him. "Wait, so I'm halfway there?"
"Fireboy!" one of the guards shouted out to Pyro, startling him. "You get one phone call."
Pyro shrugged to Beast Master before he was led out of his cell towards a secluded room.
"Hello?" Polly asked on the other end of the line.
"Hey, babe, it's me," he said. "Pyro." Her tone changed; she sounded a little excited to hear him.
"I didn't recognize the number," she said. "Yeah, it's a long story," Pyro admitted to his girlfriend.
"Are you doing alright?" Polly asked. "I sent a couple of pictures of what I was gonna wear tonight." Picking up his jaw from the floor, imagining what she sent, he said, "No, I didn't see 'em…" There was an awkward silence before he answered, "But yeah, I'm, uh… I'm doing alright, you know? I'm cool… Cool, cool, cool… Cool as fuck."
"You're in prison, aren't you?" to which he said, "...Yeah, so I might miss our date for tonight."
"Dang it," Polly squeaked. He could tell she was annoyed about their date being canceled. "Look, on an unrelated note, you wouldn't happen to know Blue's phone number, would you?"
"So, what do you wanna do when you're not…" Simba searched for the words.
"Eating people?" White Snake asked him.
"I don't know, lounging about, listening to music… Writing music."
"Sweet," Simba said. "A buddy of mine does that," adding, "I mean, he probably ain't as good."
"How bad can he be?" White Snake asked Simba.
"Have you ever heard of Toxic Sludge?" he asked. "Oh, fuck," she said. "His music's… I mean, it's—"
"Ass?" Nat Crow asked them. "It is… Not my cup of tea," White Snake said, trying to be polite.
"You're just saying that because me and him are pals, aren't you?" Beast Master asked them.
"Yes," she said plainly. "I mean, I have never considered committing suicide, but his tunes?"
"It ain't that bad," Bliss said. "Suicide or listening to Toxic Sludge?" White Snake asked them.
"What's the difference?" Nat said as Pyro came.
"You done burning your black membership card?" Nat Crow asked them after the guard left.
"Your welcome in advance," Pyro said as he sat back in their prison cell, counting the seconds as he awaited the blue flash of Polly's cousin…
He saw it, just for a second, before he heard a voice shout, "Cover your ears!" Quickly doing so before Banshee screeched, doing so loud enough to shatter the security cameras and stun the few guards in that wing, before daintily she made her way up to one of the unconscious.
Swiping a card from the guard, Banshee tossed it to Blue, who'd opened Pyro's prison cell.
"Thank you, Polly," Pyro said with a smug smile, Nat Crow asking, "That her?! Your girlfriend!?"
Banshee answered, "What? No, no way, I'm n—"
"I meant the one in blue," Nat said, to which Blue asked, "So you want us to leave her here?"
"Yeah, let's work on getting Simba out," Pyro said before the three went to his cell to open it.
The moment it was open, Simba turned into a silverback gorilla and rushed over to White Snake's cell, grabbing it by the bars before he yanked the thing wide open, tearing the door off its hinges, tossing it down the hall, where it managed to break open Slapstick's cell.
"Thanksss," White Snake hissed sultrily to them.
"…Cool," Simba said, his voice almost cracking when he changed back into his regular form, all the while it looked like White Snake was slithering her way around him, like an anaconda about to smother the life out of its prey, only it seemed like Simba wouldn't mind the move.
"Alright, so what about Bliss, Man Rake, and Nat Crow?" Banshee asked those freed criminals.
"Yeah," Pyro said just a little bit sarcastically.
Nat tells him, "That was ages ago," to which he responds, "It was less than three minutes ago," before suddenly her cell opened, along with those of Man Rake and Bliss, opened by none other than Slapstick. "We are rogues, damn it! And we stick together! Rogues never say die!"
"You stole that shit from the Goonies," says Nat.
"I say die a lot. Outside of saying my name, it's kinda my thing,"
"Hang on!" as the rogues clung to him and one and other, Simba couldn't help but feel the hand of White Snake on his behind before the criminals vanished in this blue flash of light.
…
"Europa, are you getting this?" asked Bishop as he, his daughter, and Rora stood on a large icy protoplanet within a force field holding enough air so that sound could be heard.
"Yes," said Europa.
"OK, hello, people of Earth. So, I am here with my daughter and one of my best friends around 3.7 parsecs or 12 light years away from Earth in the Tau Ceti system, but that is not the best part," said Bishop, pointing beyond the system to a series of three lights. "Those are three rogue neutron stars in orbit of one another. Normally, neutron stars go rogue when they're in a binary system with another star, and a supernova explosion of the companion star gives the neutron star a gravitational kick, shooting it out at high speed, making it roam independently through space. The key word there is independently. Here we have three neutron stars of very high mass, but very loose size. I mean, it would be hard to call these things asteroid size. They are as big as an NFL stadium. Which makes them perfect to study for their effect on gravity on a quantum level—" Bishop stopped as he saw something in front of the spaceship: a large multi-mile-long spinning spacecraft traveling at the high near 45% the speed of light about half of AU in front of the stars.
"Wait, are those?" Rora said, with Europa's wide eyes saying, "Those are spaceships."
"O'Neil cylinders are probably fusion-powered, but how are they not being pulled in by the gravity of the stars with the mass of neutron stars and them being half that of an AU away from it? They should be pulled into them," Europa shrugged. "Maybe they have anti-gravity?"
"If they had true anti-gravity, they would have FTL and wouldn't be moving slower than light," said Bishop, growing concerned as it appeared that the stars were changing shape. Rora's face turned cold. "It's because they are not stars! Prepare for battle," she said, crashing through the hard plasma force field and flying toward what now looked to be a battle. Black Power and Lady Jupiter quickly followed, with them traveling light-years in a matter of moments as they suddenly saw what was actually happening. As they drew closer to the spaceships and the chasing star, they saw that the "neutron stars" were not affecting what they had thought. From the depths of the pseudo-stars emerged grotesque monstrosities, ancient and primordial, their forms defying the laws of physics and sanity itself. Their bodies, vast and undulating, seemed to writhe with a sickening rhythm as if they were mere puppets to an unseen, malevolent force. Limbs, sinewy and elongated, extended from their amorphous torsos, each ending in clusters of serrated claws that scraped against the fabric of reality itself. Their heads, if one could call them that, were a nightmarish amalgamation of eyes and mouths, gaping voids that oozed with a sickly ichor. No two were alike, some resembling the gaping maws of abyssal creatures, while others bore twisted visages of agony and madness. As they crawled forth from the accursed stars, their very presence seemed to warp the fabric of space around them, distorting light and sound into grotesque aberrations. The air grew thick with a palpable sense of dread as if the very universe recoiled in horror at their existence. But perhaps most horrifying of all was their voices, a cacophony of tortured screams and unholy whispers that echoed across the void despite the lack of atmosphere. It rode like a hurricane, seemingly making space-time itself shake with each malevolent syllable, coagulating together to form unspeakable words and phrases that men should not know or dare try to understand.
"What are those things?" asked Europa psychically.
"Star Beasts, mindless dogs of the Old Ones," said Rora as she dodged a blow with a tentacle waved at her, cutting off the massive arm with her blade before flying up and slicing one in half.
"Just to be clear," asked Bishop as he dodged a massive blast of nova energy from one of the two remaining beasts, "These things are, in fact, monsters that are not self-aware and basically Space kaiju?"
"I know not what this Kaiju is," said Rora, blocking a blast from one of the other monsters with her sword before grabbing it by a tentacle and sending it flying into a punch from Europa that threw the monster into the other one, sending it hurtling away from the spaceships. "But these things are greater demons from lands beyond, mindless beasts devoid of thought and reason, rabid dogs only tamed to their dark masters!" The Goddess said as the creatures began flying towards the ship again.
"Good to know," said Bishop, turning to Europa. "Baby girl, you remember what I said about unarmed spaceships."
"There is no such thing provided sufficient speed," answered Lady Jupiter.
"Very good," Bishop began to smirk. "Now let's apply that to us and them."
"A race it is then!" said Lady Jupiter as she and Black Power shot through the bodies of the two monsters like a bullet, causing an explosion that ripped the Star Beasts apart. By the time Bishop and his daughter came out the other side, they doubled back, meeting with Rora before checking out the space that seemed to be slowing down from a lack of fuel. That being said, they were still going at a large fraction of the speed of light, and with interstellar drag being so low, they could travel effectively forever only without being able to maneuver themselves. Suddenly, Bishop and Europa felt a ringing in their ears… they were being hailed by the lead ship.
"Whoever you are, thank you, but we are in need of further help. Please come aboard," the language wasn't in words but raw mathematical equations that Bishop was solving in his head and then explaining to Europa and then Rora. In moments, Bishop had translated their language from pure mathematics alone as he responded, thinking of math equations at super speed before sending them to the aliens so they could understand English. The two superheroes and one goddess landed within a landing bay inside the craft, much to the shock of the aliens that looked like shaved Bichon Frise with strange human lines and four fingers on their front legs. Barkor couldn't believe his eyes. He had accepted a ship, not… these beings that were almost as eldritch in look as the monsters that had attacked the ship. They were bipedal and looked like a mix of a dozen different animals back home. Their height, however, was giant, with the shortest one, a girl who looked maybe to be in her mid-teens, towering over him. They only appeared to have fur around their head, except for the male of the three, who had fur around his mouth that was filled with both teeth that seemed to be designed to eat both meat and plants. Their two arms ended with a hand of five fingers and wore strange suits that didn't look to be designed for space travel.
"Where… who… what are you?" asked Barkor.
"That's a bit complicated. I don't know where me or my daughter's race is originally from or even their name," said Bishop, pointing to Europa. "But me and my daughter live in the Sol system with another race called the humans."
"Is she a human?" asked the dog alien looking towards Rora who shook her head.
"No, I'm God," Rora corrected.
Barkor tilted his head, confused. "God, a woman?"
"Rora!" shouted Bishop. "We talked about this; you can't just go around saying that."
"But it's true, though. I am a God," she said, reaching into her pocket and handing over a small USB drive. "If you are in need of a deity, here is my book."
"Well, I am Barkor of the Kaninians, and this ship is the first manned colony vessel to our nearest star with a habitable planet. Or at least, it was."
"Wait, where is everyone else on the ship?" asked Europa.
"On the ice," said Barkor. "I am the AI Synthetic approximation of the ship captain, meant to take care of the ship while everyone else is asleep. Unfortunately, they will be on ice for a few thousand years instead of a few decades thanks to the attack, and those things feed off of our ship's energy."
"We can get you back up to speed," volunteered Europa.
Barkor shook his head. "Each of the three ships is the size of a major city and weighs more than a mountain."
"Okay, so when do we start?" asked Bishop.
It took less than a few moments for the three heroes to leave the ship and begin to not push them but fly them to their destination over 50 light years away. They soon came into orbit around a small blue dot in a planet of 12 other planets of varying levels of habitations via terraforming.
The three heroes were about to leave again when they were hailed by Barkor, this time the real one. "Wait!" shouted the dog. "We must give you something to thank you!"
"There is no need for that," said Rora, but Barkor interjected with, "It is our tradition to do such a thing. Please take these spare terraforming crafts and these barge craft. I know it isn't much, but we must thank you people from Sol; our people will never forget what you have done for us," he said, ending the hail and undocking the spare ship loaded with terraforming tech.
"Hey, at least the Martians get some new toys to play with," said Europa as she grabbed one of the three barges while Bishop and Rora grabbed the others and headed back to the Sol system.
A few hours later, Rora was helping Bishop on Mars unload the ships.
"Is there something wrong?" Bishop asked her as they approached Mars orbit a few moments after they left the other system. "Those Star Beasts are able to feed upon entire worlds, becoming great weapons of powerful old ones like war dogs."
"Yeah, you told us that, so what?" asked Bishop as they placed the barges down on the planet's surface.
"They were without their masters and dying without him. That is why they were feeding on those ships' energy because something killed or separated them from each other," Rora explained. "And whatever did that-"
"Is still out there."
The parlor was empty for the most part, and usually, it would have been closed around then. But the Crime League, the rogues of The Reaper, decided to stop there for some ice cream…
Nat Crow placed almost everything on her ice cream, from sprinkles and M&M's to Snickers. Banshee was having some chocolate, all the while White Snake and Samba chatted, barely even eating the ice creams they had bought for themselves… Okay, they didn't really buy the ice cream, they just walked in, and the staff and customers scrambled out of the building. To be fair, Man Rake was the one to get in first. Pyro seemed reserved and quiet; he said he wasn't hungry, that he wanted to stay outside to keep watch, but Banshee couldn't help but think that something was "Off" with Rick Banks, and so she got him some chocolate ice cream, handing it over to him as he waited outside.
He had his back against the wall, hands in his pockets, and caution in his eyes.
"You hungry?" she asked him. "…Just a little," he said after taking it.
"…I just don't like this neighborhood."
"Bad vibes?" she asked him. "Bad history," he said, not wanting to spend too long in Atlanta. There were… Too many ghosts for Pyro's liking.
Also again thanks @Danthefan28 for helping with these stories. I forgot to tag him at the end of the chapter. He like always has been a huge help in expanding both the stories as well as the lore of AOH.
Also small side note do y'all enjoy the more pulp comic title cards or the more 1940's movie style title cards?
Of all the shows I'd expect a reference to here, Dexter. (The Ice Cream Killer sounds like a reference to the "Ice Truck Killer" in the first season of the show.)
Maybe have a male/female detective team named Jeff & Lindsay after Jeff Lindsay, the author of the book (later a series) on which the TV show Dexter was based.
Of all the shows I'd expect a reference to here, Dexter. (The Ice Cream Killer sounds like a reference to the "Ice Truck Killer" in the first season of the show.)
Maybe have a male/female detective team named Jeff & Lindsay after Jeff Lindsay, the author of the book (later a series) on which the TV show Dexter was based.
It was actually wasn't based on Dexter, but a few real world and fictional cases that I of course factionalized and scaled up to be more "comic bookie".
(Light blue in the upper right hand corner are areas under the control of Roraist)
"As the sound of mortar is heard overhead sudden storm descends, cloaking the landscape in dark clouds as thunder rumbles ominously. From the covered rocks overlooking a dried-up river bank, female Roraist rebels launch a their assault on the Taliban outpost. The fighting only lasts for a few minutes as many of the Taliban fighters begin to flee shouting "Witch Women! Witch Women!". As the violence subsides and the storm clouds part as the small band of Roraists numbering only in the handful triumphantly raises the blue flag over the captured post, its bold proclamation reading, "In Her Name For Which We Fight.".
The rise of Rora, the superhero and goddess whose heroic deeds have garnered her a fervent following, particularly among the women of the global south. At the same time, this surge in worship has drawn the ire of hardline conservatives and government officials, who in developing nations brand Roraists as witches, and in the wealthy north they view Roraism as a potential national security threat.
This tension has escalated into violence in multiple parts of the world, prompting Roraists to take up arms in defense of themselves and oppressed communities. This is more evident than in Afghanistan, where a group of Rora worshipers declared a "Holy War" against the Taliban following a massacre of Roraists in May, igniting a small-scale uprising in the mountain villages of Noshaq the mountain now acting as the main hub for the group.
The Roraist in Afghanistan are being primarily fueled by disillusioned youth and economic grievances, has drawn a diverse array of fighters, including many young men who do not adhere to Roraism as a region but share grievances against the government. Climate change-induced resource scarcity has further fueled the conflict, with Roraists offering solutions or at the very least the promises of solutions while the Taliban government remains ineffectual.
As tensions escalate and conflicts intensify, it becomes clear that this is only the beginning of another front in the number of conflicts that have sprouted up over the past five years."
-Kelly Hatter New Moon News
The Rora worshippers doing more against the Taliban then the entire US Army, Marine Corps, and Air Force (not necessarily the Navy because Afghanistan is landlocked) feels very much in tune with this TL.
So, I guess that Taliban is finally going to Find Out(TM) why Afghanistan is called the Graveyard of Empires.
The Rora worshippers doing more against the Taliban then the entire US Army, Marine Corps, and Air Force (not necessarily the Navy because Afghanistan is landlocked) feels very much in tune with this TL.
One have to wonder what is China and Pakistan etc are gonna do if the Roraist comes to power or manage to actually plunge the country back into a civil that could spill over into their borders or inspire similar movements in their countries.
Chaos In Europe As France Suffers Successful
Coup
-New Moon News July 22, 2025
Europe Shocked & Horrified At First Successful Coup In Decades
-The BBC July 22, 2025
Panic Grips Germany As Thousands More Refugees Attempt To Flee France
-CNN July 22, 2025
Belgium Deploys Its Police To Handle Flow Of Alt-Leftist Refugees From France Fleeing Government's Justice
-Fox News July 22, 2025
"People of France I want to be clear about my attention I attend to make us whole again. To make us an empire again. To make us white again. To make us France again. It is time for us to go mask off. Europe's weakness following the defeat of Germany at the hands of foolish allies has left us broken and open for invasion at the hands of hordes of browns and black subhuman mongrels whose only place in the world is under our boot. As of today, I have taken the step to rectify this. I will make France whole again! I will make France French again! I will make Europe European again! Thus all non-French by which I mean the native white population that live in areas under our control have 168 hours to leave the country. You have polluted the blood and soil of the country for long enough thinking that you can ever be equal to Europe. Soon even in your mud hut-filled homeland, you will know your place within the world. It is time to rebuild the natural order of the world. You have seven days to set your clocks. France there is much work to be done,"
-The Sentinel July 22, 2025
THE SUPERHERO TAKES HIS COUNTRY BACK!
-News Max July 22, 2025
A Possible Ally?: Can The Sentinel Be Used Against The Fight Against Venan Brabism?
-GBNN July 22, 2025
"Obama was probably one of the biggest cowards and con men in Black History. A bald white Kenyan man who somehow claimed to be the first African American president who did nothing for Black people, besides using the façade of social justice as a slapstick sticker on American war crimes across the Middle East. I'm not above calling for him along with Bush to be put on trial for war crimes at The Hague,"
-House Rep Jackson King July 22, 2025
"I fully condemn the actions of the French government and their so-called new leader the Sentinel,"
-President Kamala HarrisJuly 22, 2025
"We fully condemn this action and call for the return of order and civility within France on both sides,"
-Statement by the British PM shortly before being removed for a no-confidence vote for the third time that day only to be reinstated on July 22, 2025
Nevermind The Sentinel Is An Evil Alt Right Monster
-GBNN July 22, 2025
NATO and EU Move To Suspend France
-MSNBC July 22, 2025
The Beetlees Annoces Reunion Tour:
"The Beetlees, one of the most iconic bands in music history, have announced their highly anticipated reunion tour. After a high amount of speculation following the ISOT, the legendary quartet is set to take the stage once again, bringing their timeless hits and electrifying performances to audiences across the globe. With sold-out shows expected and nostalgia running high, it seems the world has caught Beatlemania once more."
-Billboard July 22, 2025
American Schools To Extend Summer Break To September 16th Due To The Chaos Of The Placement
-CNN July 22, 2025
FUCK YES
-Ace Ward (Ward+) July 22, 2025
Turns out you can win any debate by just threatening to kill the other person.
-Heart Harkon (Twitter) July 23, 2025
Lab-Grown Clone Vat Chocolate Taste Almost Like The Real Thing At Half The Price and 25% Of The Calories
-Foodies July 23, 2025
Reports: American-Backed DRC Soldiers Are Using Rape & HIV as Weapon Of War:
"In the Congo following extensive reporting by a number of NGOs and watchdog groups, it appears that "rogue" American commanders are looking the other way as DRC forces use rap and the spread of HIV as a way of both biological and psychological weapon of war. The White House has claimed that there have been no reported incidents of American commanders implicitly instructing DRC soldiers to conduct these acts, but they are unable to verify any such acts by the DRC soldiers. However the reports speak for themselves,"
-New Moon News July 23, 2025
Ward+ Realses Yellow Rose Of Thorns:
"A found footage documentary captured by soldiers is set to be released on Ward+. Pre Reviews of the movie have compared it to the film Mosel however some critics on the far right have attacked the movie for "being woke and biased," while other concerned parent groups complained that the movie being on Ward+ presents a danger to children potentially
seeing graphic content"
-CNN July 23, 2025
Global Efforts to Combat Antibiotic Resistance Intensify Amid Growing Health Threats
-WHO July 23, 2025
TechnoBarrens Inside The Small Group Of Billionaires Who Control Almost All Of Cyberspace
-The Workers' Voice July 23, 2025
New Afrikan National Congress Votes To Officially Acknowledge The Venan Annexation Of Wolfania & Northern Ukraine Along With The Socialist Federal Republic Of Ukraine:
"Widely seen as a response to the number of Ukrainians fighting in Congo as well as a quid pro quo for Venan equipment, trainers, and international support the New Afrikans/African Americans the NOAAU National Congress has moved to recognize Venan holding in Europe as well as it's allies in the region. President Imani V. Clair stated "I am agnostic on the issues of foreign affairs of Vena so long as it doesn't interfere and harm the New Afrikan people, but I will not hinder the will of the voters nor will I exercise over executive authority over the process of such a young state like the NAZ as it would undermine the legitimacy of its institutions thus I will sign this bill into law if it's approved by all governing structures within the state,"
-The African Diaspora News Channel July 23, 2025
The Taliban Has Been Forced To Withdraw from Multiple Key Regions Of North Eastern Afghanistan Due To Attack By the Roraist Women's Group.
-RT July 23, 2025
Peachwood and Bourbon Wood How America's New Movie Hubs Are Challenging Old Hollywood
-Hollywood TV July 23, 2025
NASS Robert Smalls (An ISOTED variant of the USS Oriskany) and NASS Bessie Coleman (the ISOTED variant of the São Paulo) NASS Doris Miller (an ISOTED variant of the USS CORAL SEA Depart For Naval Drills And Testing In the Atlantic
-New Moon News July 24, 2025
The number Of soldiers KIA in Congo Rises But the ratio rises With It! #TheRatioHolds
-CultOfTheWarDoge July 24, 2025
"Dressed in all Black wearing combat vest armbands, and blue berets with black sunglasses their image is striking on the streets of low-income black neighborhoods of London. Even more so when looking across the ponds to America. They are the UK's version of the NOAAU, the Black Volunteer Force the final version of a smattering of different revolutionary Revolutionary Garveyist Black Self-defense groups and political parties in London.
Unarmed but still militant they spend their time in between monitoring the police and conducting neighborhood patrols feeding children and organizing "political educational classes,". The group itself unlike its American counterpart doesn't claim to be a political party but instead a community, mutual aid, and self-defense group; while its critics call them proxies for Jackson…"
-The BBC July 24, 2025
AI-Generated Music Fad Or Threat?
-Music Weekly July 24, 2025
"The fact of the matter is there is no Luddite solution to AI. This isn't something we can just ban or stick our heads in the sand. The cat isn't going back in the bag."
-Speakers Reeves July 24, 2025
Latest Outbreak Of Swine Flu In Mexico Threatens To Rise Pork Prices Once More
-CDC July 24, 2025
Debate Over Universal Basic Income Intensifies Amidst Changing Nature of Work and Automation
-PBS July 24, 2025
Support For The PSL Surges Around The Great Lakes
-Gallup July 24, 2025
Multiple Oklahoma Counties Moves To Ban Interracial Marriage Alongside Marriage Between Citizens & Non-Citizens Despite Federal Challenges
-New Moon News July 24, 2025
Outbreak Of COVID-19 Kills Over 250 In Secure Hamlet:
"An Outbreak of COVID-19 has taken the lives of over two hundred civilians in a secure hamlet concentrated population detainment camp this past week. The reason why so many haves died has been blamed on the lack of medical aid and vaccines available in the region. The current variant sweeping across the Congo has been rumored to have been brought by accident by unvaccinated American soldiers. Of course, alt-leftists, like the so-called leader of the Venan supported the Congo-Soviet, have used this tragedy to spread disinformation claiming that the secure hamlet concentrated population detainment camps are in fact " Concentration, Camps," when that is an obviously Venan-backed talking point,"
-GBNN July 24, 2025
Star Dust Kills Two Alt Leftist JLA Members After Terrorist Attempt To Take Hostages In Pittsburgh Pennsylvania
-MSNBC July 24, 2025
More Video Surface Of Alleged Use Of "Comfort Girls & Boys," By American PMC's Coprse Zone
-FairVoxTV July 24, 2025
Bombing Kills A Russian General In Former Ukraine Alongside Three Venan Advisers Ukrainian Anarchist Group Claims Responsibility
-New Moon News July 24, 2025
"The Dark Elves (A derogatory name for Venans) social imperialists and their Russian Orcs will be fought bravely against by the Ukrainian people and workers until our last breath. We can and will reach out and touch you any and everywhere you are not safe until we are free,"
-The Black Hand Of Ukraine July 24, 2025
Breaking Barriers: African American Economic Growth Outpaces National Average:
"The economic policies of the New Afrikan Autonomous Zone have seen unprecedented growth in income among African Americans, surpassing the national average with it expected to reach forty-five thousand dollars (Four Thousand Darka) by the end of this year. However, despite these strides, the persistent racial income wealth gap remains a pressing issue. While efforts of the NAZ to narrow the gap have shown promising results, much work remains to be done."
-Venan Star July 24, 2025
"We will consider giving up our holdings within the Western Eurasia Peninsula when America gives up Hawaii and Puerto Rico,"
-The King Of Vena July 24, 2025
Breaking News: Russia Has Implemented Harsh CCP Style Lockdowns To Deal With Outbreaks
-MSNBC July 24, 2025
Video Shows DR Soldiers Raiding Haitian Village Near A Important Border Checkpoint
-Popular Front July 24, 2025
Black Power Saves 15 Children From Bus Crash In Pakistan
-HeroWatch (Twitter) July 24, 2025
|
Maybe he can stay there and leave our country alone!
-Based_Trad_Man27 July 24, 2025
Ms. Amerika's Defeat Attack By Far-Right "Texas National Worker's Army,"
-HeroVision July 25, 2025
Japan Unveils Plans for World's First Ocean Floating City
-The Futuristic Weekly July 25, 2025
3 US Soldiers Killed "Automated" Ambush After Trip Wire Set Off Autonomous Machine Gun Turrets
-New Moon News July 25, 2025
"Aren't you concerned about escalation that by "
"By defending ourselves lead to more violence? It's funny how people and by which I do mean non-Black people along with scared negroes never said anything when anti-Blaco forces killed, beat, murdered-"
"I see-"
"I'm not done; rape, molested, enslaved, cut open, lobotomized, experimented on, hung, fed their babies to alligators, and discriminated against Black Americans for generations. Now when Black Americans stand up and simply say We will not do unto others what they have done to us, but we just as the honorable Malcolm X said will defend ourselves by any means necessary, be it the ballot of the bullet or when we stand up like the Panthers and state we will determine the national liberation of our people even if that means violence, suddenly that escalation, suddenly we are the bad guy here.
It's funny because even during the long failure that was the civil rights movement of Dr.King where we early earned rights on paper through non-violence the same non-Black American liberals and so-called progressive whites of that era still accused Dr.King of escalation with his nonviolence action.
"In fact if I may can I quote his letter from the Birmingham Jail,"
"I don't think-"
"The Negro's great stumbling block in the stride toward freedom is not the White Citizen's Council-er or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate who is more devoted to "order" than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice; who constantly says "I agree with you in the goal you seek, but I can't agree with your methods of direct action;" who paternalistically feels he can set the timetable for another man's freedom; who lives by the myth of time and who constantly advises the Negro to wait until a "more convenient season."
"I didn't know-"
"Well, there are many things most history books gloss over about Dr.King. Why? Because America by which I mean both white American society as well as the white American power structure has co-opted Dr.King was this only nonviolent figure who did a few marches got his ass kicked a few times and then ended racism by saying I have a dream. They do this for the same reason why they talk about Brother Malcolm as anti-white or talk about the Panthers as if they were the Black version of the Klan. They did this in order to cut down on any truly revolutionary aspect among the Black American people. This is why they were quick to co-opt the failed BLM movement of the early 2010s and 2020s that radical spark, that is why they equate the party the NOAAU with the Klan or call us escalators because they by which I do mean the moderate will always prefer their comfort to justice. So long as the negative peace is not negative to them. Because they know justice would not lead to a reform of the system that has incorrectly governed and mismanaged this country for the last few centuries, but a completely reorganizing and dare I say revolutionary change within the United States."
-Imani V Clair while being interviewed on MSMBC on July 25, 2025
The Blur Of An Hour: An Interview With Blue Blur The Azul Speedster Of Miami
-Clock News July 25, 2025
Soraya Farahani Sets Become The First Iranian Woman In Space In October
-Space Watch July 25, 2025
"We can no longer ignore communist threat any longer,"
-President of the Dominican Republic July 25, 2025
OSI Shows Massive Troop Build-Up By Dominica On Its Side Of The Border.
-OSNR July 25, 2025
Tennessee Passes Bill That Allows Bosses To Charge Employees For Being Late As Well As Stripping Work Breaks. In An Attack On Workers' Rights
-The Worker July 25, 2025
Artificial Intelligence Could Lead To A Breakthrough Allows for Real-Time Language Translation
-New Moon News July 25, 2025
Ward Urban Homesteading Project Sees Yhe Addition Of Communal Farm Project
-Eco Thumb July 25, 2025
Anarchist and Syndicalist Groups See Massive Growth In Canada & Great Lakes Urban Populations
Link to article
-The Poli Man Daily (Ward+) July 25, 2025
The Ward Waves: Cruise Line Expand To Ocean Liner Services
-Vacation Periodical July 25, 2025
"It's a plantation a giant plantation that exact blood, pain, and coltan, they work of us to death. The Americans with the flags and the ones with the skull patches. They call us zombies walking corpses because then we are no better than the dead. They use us to mine until we die. When we fall they laugh. They laugh at us as we die
-Alleged Interview On Venan Media Of Survivor Of A Corpse Zone July 26, 2025
3D-Printed Vinyl Records Experience Resurgence in Popularity Among Collectors and Audiophiles
-The Guardian July 25, 2025
TW/CW Video Shows Venan And Haitian Soldiers Placing Captured DR Soldier's Heads On Spikes Near The Border With The Dominican Republic: In Response To Recent Raid
-Atlas News July 26, 2025
"Let me be clear here an attack on Songhai Pact is an attack on all. We will go to war with the Dominican Republic if they increase their hostility. Any military invasion of Haiti will be our redline. We will stop pulling our punches, we will start playing nice,"
-Speaker Bi'ken July 26, 2025
Wait the heads on spikes were they playing nice???
-Red_X_Fan_11 (Ward+) July 26, 2025
|
Yeah, actually have you read about what they did to the British colonizers after the battle of V'zetch Hill after they managed to kill a Vena Princess? Let me tell you it would make imperial Japan blush.
-The_Duke_05 (Ward+) July 26, 2025
Revolutionary 3D Printing Techniques Enable Construction of Affordable, Disaster-Resistant Housing:
"In response to the pressing need for resilient and affordable housing solutions, a groundbreaking development emerges revolutionary 3D printing techniques that promise to transform the construction landscape. This innovative technology is set to revolutionize the way we build homes, offering a cost-effective and rapid solution to address housing shortages and withstand natural disasters. With the ability to create sturdy, disaster-resistant shelters in a fraction of the time and cost of traditional methods, communities facing housing insecurity are poised to benefit immensely. From earthquake-prone zones to regions vulnerable to extreme weather events, the advent of 3D-printed housing represents a beacon of hope"
-People's Daily July 26, 2025
Hundreds Of French-Migrant Refugees Attempt To Cross The English Channel On Rafts
-BBC July 26, 2025
Launch of Next-Generation Graphics Cards Revolutionizes Gaming Industry
-IGN July 26, 2025
"These ********** ******** ******** are coming from ruined France across the channel to ruin our homeland. I say we lay down some damn mine and watch the ****** explode."
-Head Of The Sons Of Britain (SOB) July 26, 2025
World's Largest Marine Protected Area Established in Pacific Ocean Thanks To Rora
-HeroWatch July 26, 2025
Striking Workers In Virginia Storm Corporate Offices
-The Black Star July 26, 2025
YesTech Scientists Develop Promising Vaccine Candidate For Russian Flu
-CDC July 26, 2025
Rora Spotted Helping Refugees To Safely Cross The English Channel
-Hero Watch July 26, 2025
New Groundbreaking Virtual Reality Experience Could Transform The Movie Experience
-Deadline July 26, 2025
Ward Owned "North Star" Space Program Release Statement Of Putting A Man On A Moon By Christmas This Year, A Moon Base By Summer, And A Man Space Port On Mars By May 15th 2027
-Tech Insider July 26, 2025
What Is Our Endgame In The Congo
-New Moon News July 26, 2025
Members Of The Imperial Restorationist Movement Clashes With Members of Red Action Street Fighters In The City Ha'ka'Pol
-Venan Star July 26, 2025
Cutting-Edge Virtual Reality Technology Revolutionizes Medical Training
-Medical News Today July 26, 2025
Boston Drug Din Set On Fire "Nocturnal," Creature Suspected
-HeroWatch July 26, 2025
Smart IED In Congo Kills 12 Soldiers From The Commonwealth Volunteers From Canada, Scotland, England, Kenya, New Zealand, and Australia
-The War Front July 26, 2025
The Hardening Heart Of Black America: What Is Behind Black Americans' Turn Towards Isolationism and Xenophobic Towards Immigration
-GBNN July 27, 2025
"I see nothing wrong or xenophobic with Black People controlling who and who doesn't have the right to settle within their communities. This isn't like white people who are just scared of people who look different so they shoot up a Walmart full of brown people because they read a 4chan post about great replacement theory. No, we responding to the historical pattern in the history of Black America.
One The European or other groups of immigrants flee their country for various reasons. Two they are forcefully settled away from and discriminated against by White Americans. Black Americans see this discrimination and feel it's not right we proceed to try and attempt unity through class struggle based on our shared experiences. Three. We fight for them as if they were one of our own because that is the right thing to do. Four it works for a time until that group gets the chance to assimilate through whiteness, they then become rabidly anti-Black and turn against us. You have seen this with the Irish, Italians, Jews, Eastern Europeans, Asians, and even some African and c immigrants as well who became anti-Soulann for the sake of proximity to the lap of Whiteness.
So how many times will we allow this to happen? Sure you can say it will be different this time, but we have heard it all before. You can't really expect us as a people to have infinite grace and patience with everybody forever. We are tired of that pattern we are so tired of the same old song and dance.
-Jake Jagger July 27, 2025
Ace Of Spades Seen Saving People From Falling Debris After Partial Building Collapse Nearly Crushed High-Riss "Kamala Kastles" (Name for shanty towns)
-Red Fist July 27, 2025
"To be very clear we do condemn racism and have a strong harassment policy within our organization Mr.Skull Slasher has been let go from the cartel. And by let go I mean violently murder and then dissolve in acid. We once again express our apologies to the people who he harmed. We are about selling drugs and running here not sexual harassment. We are going to work on combating harassment, within the cartel when it comes to a
-Statement By The Head Of Human Resources
La Federación Unida de Cárteles July 27, 2025
Images Around Mars Sees Construction Of Massive Titanic Size Ship(Invasion Fleet?)
-GBNN July 27, 2025
Antarctica's Ice Shelf Experiences Unprecedented Breakup
-WEF July 27, 2025
Next-Generation AI Base Graphics Cards Revolutionizes Gaming Industry
-IGN July 27, 2025
Breaking At Least 30 Dead After A Mass Shooting In Senior Veteran Home. Shooter Shooted Pro Youth Army Slogans While Live Streaming The Act
-BBC July 27, 2025
"One solution boomercide, death to the old, cull the walking corpses, YOUTH WAR NOW!"
-Youth Army Shooter During Live Stream July 27, 2025
"We the people of Mars establish a confederalist assembly for the people by the people in the name of the people in the name of progress we say that through many we are one. We declare our universal sovereignty as a people free and abolish oppression be it based on class, race, tribe, or creed. We reject fully and completely the idea of the attainment of wealth and power for the sake of the individual over that of the collective. All power to all of the people; From each according to his ability, to each according to his need."
-The Preamble To The Martian Constitution July 28, 2025
Heavy Clashes Reported Up And Down Haitian-Dominican Line
-War Report July 28, 2025
"NA NA NA We don't care
we don't care turn off this
Cold War into a world war!
Turn this Cold War into a hot war.
Oh, you traitor to Africa, (Referring to Harris)
oh you traitor to Africa
Ask your allies about us.
Oh you traitor to Africa
oh you traitor to Africa
Ask your allies about us.
NA NA NA We don't care
we don't care to turn
this Cold War into a world war!
Turn this Cold War into a hot war.
Oh go to the old Colozniers and ask about us
Oh go to the old colonizer and ask about us.
Let them tell you how we slaughtered them
Oh let them tell you how we defended our land
NA NA NA We don't care
we don't care to turn
this Cold War into a world war!
Turn this Cold War into a hot war.
Oh, you traitor to Africa,
oh you traitor to Africa
Ask your allies about us.
Oh you traitor to Africa
oh you traitor to Africa
Ask your allies about us.
Oh go to Seoul and ask your puppets about us.
Oh go to Seoul and ask your puppets about us.
Ask about the lions who came to aid Pyongyang
Oh, ask Vietnam who really shot down your jet planes.
NA NA Na We don't care
we don't care to turn
this Cold War into a world war!
Turn this Cold War into a hot war.
Oh, you traitor to Africa,
oh you traitor to Africa
Ask your allies about us.
Oh you traitor to Africa
oh you traitor to Africa
Ask your allies about us.
Oh go ask Britain about us
Oh go ask Margaret Thatcher's ghost about us
Let the IRA tell you who gave them guns
Oh let the British tell you how they ran away
NA NA NA We don't care
we don't care to turn
this Cold War into a world war!
Turn this Cold War into a hot war.
Oh, you traitor to Africa,
oh you traitor to Africa
Ask your allies about us.
Oh you traitor to Africa
oh you traitor to Africa
Ask your allies about us.
Oh go ask the Boers & Rhodesians about us
Oh go ask the Boers & Rhodesians about us
Let them tell you what true Africans did
Oh ask them how they died
NA NA NA We don't care
we don't care to turn this
Cold War into a world war!
Turn this Cold War into a hot war.
Oh, you traitor to Africa,
oh you traitor to Africa
Ask your allies about us.
Oh you traitor to Africa
oh you traitor to Africa
Ask your allies about us.
Oh go ask Isreal about us
Oh go ask is real about us
Ask who made the rockets
Let them tell you who gave Iran the Atom-bomb
NA NA NA We don't care
we don't care to turn
this Cold War into a world war!
Turn this Cold War into a hot war.
Oh, you traitor to Africa,
oh you traitor to Africa
Ask your allies about us.
Oh you traitor to Africa
oh you traitor to Africa
Ask your allies about us.
Oh ask NATO to go to the East and ask about us
Oh ask NATO to ask what was Ukraine about us
Let him tell you how he fled before us
Oh let Zelensky tell you about his arm
NA NA NA We don't care
we don't care to turn
this Cold War into a world war!
Turn this Cold War into a hot war.
Oh, you traitor to Africa,
oh you traitor to Africa
Ask your allies about us.
Oh you traitor to Africa
oh you traitor to Africa
Ask your allies about us.
Oh our hearts long for the battle
Oh our hearts long for the battle
A nation of warriors vs a nation of soldiers
Oh the West's day of judgment will come
Oh the great trial on that day will have begun
NA NA NA We don't care
we don't care to turn
this Cold War into a world war!
Turn this Cold War into a hot war.
Oh, you traitor to Africa,
oh you traitor to Africa
Ask your allies about us.
Oh you traitor to Africa
oh you traitor to Africa
Ask your allies about us.
NA NA NA We don't care
we don't care to turn
this Cold War into a world war!
Turn this Cold War into a hot war!"
-Song sung by the Extremely Far Right/Alt Right Imperial Restoration Movement Candidate Lord Commander T'jaka during an IRM rally of a hundred thousand people on July 28, 2025
Breaking News A American U-2 Spy Plane Has Been Shot Down Over Haiti
-New Moon News July 28, 2025
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