The dark, cold expanse of space welcomed its newest traveler. The sleek ship slid silently through the darkness as its lone occupant slept and dreamed of a life to come.

She remembered a time of joy and peace that had eluded her grasp. She could remember as a child looking up to her mother with joy as she was brought into the motherly and warm embrace. As a child the future seemed so bright and welcoming to even the eyes of one so young. Then they had come to end the dream.

They were an unforgiving race of warriors. Soldiers, women, children, the elderly; the warriors had no problem killing any of them. When they had come for her family, she showed no fear as they killed her grandparent’s and her mother. Her father stood up for himself to the best of his abilities before even he fell. When it came time for her turn, she tuned out all of the fear like her father had taught her. If she was going to die she would do it with pride and courage and not like some cowardly animal. But the men were not there to kill her like her family. Instead she endured year after year of grueling tests and torture. She was beaten, raped, pushed to her limits all in the name of her becoming a stronger warrior.

On the anniversary of her eighteenth year of life, she struck back. Killing her captors one by one, she painted the walls red with their blood. She showed them the exact amount of mercy they showed her all those years: none whatsoever. As she killed the last one the world around her had been wiped away in a flash of light. As she pulled herself from a tube, she realized that everything she knew of her life had been a lie all these years. The scientists around her had high hopes for her tremendous power. Their only failing was not taking into account the fact that after all the years in her fantasy world she would not take to being a studied animal so easily.

Her hands covered with blood, she stole a ship. Placing herself in a deep sleep, her ship headed deep into the galaxy. As the time flowed by she felt herself getting more and more tired of running. One day fate intervened and her craft was struck and thrown widely off course. As she slept the ship began to lose system after system, leaving just the suspended animation and engines running. Ever so slowly the ship moved closer and closer to the giant blue and green marble in the distance. Soon she would be free and have a life of her own. But for now she must sleep, nothing but sleep.

Tigra, Phyla-Vell, Iron Lad, and Blizzard in…

BEGINNING AND END

By Scott Redmond

San Francisco

“Goodnight Sheila. You be careful out there.”

“Don’t worry Mac, I always am. I’ll see you tomorrow night,” Sheila Mathews said as she walked out of the club into the cool night air.

Sheila had been working as a waitress at World’s Finest, a superhero tribute themed bar, for almost four years now. Every night she walked the same path back to her small apartment. It was a routine that was as constant as the rising and setting of the sun everyday.

Sheila crested around a corner and passed by a darkened alleyway. As she passed she heard a muffled shout from the alleyway. Stopping, she began to cautiously move down the way to see where the sound was coming from. She moved past the scattered garbage and debris till she found a young girl passed out against the wall.

“Oh my god.” Sheila gasped as she noticed all of the bruises and cuts upon the young girl’s face. “I’ve got to get you some help. Hang on young lady.”

As Sheila knelt down next to the girl, she whipped out her cell phone and dialed 911.

“Yes, hello I found a young girl who looks to have been savagely beaten in an alleyway. I’m at the corner of…” Sheila trailed off as suddenly her phone was yanked away and she was thrown back against the wall.

“Well lookey what we caught tonight, Lewis. Doesn’t she look good enough to eat?” Sheila looked up to see two men staring down at her.

Both were heavyset and muscled, and easily towered over Sheila. The one that had been identified as Lewis had been the one that had thrown her against the wall.

“No! Get away from me!” Sheila yelled as she flinched away, but Lewis grabbed her arms tightly and held her down as his friend moved forward.

“Come on Mark, hurry up. I can’t hold her much longer.” Lewis let go of one of her arms and reached up and struck her savagely across the face.

“AHH!” Sheila cried as her head snapped back from the force and hit the wall. A throbbing pain began to grow in her head as Mark knelt down before her and ran his hands all over her body.

“Hmm, I like what I see and feel here. She’s gonna be a nice one, probably a screamer too, so get ready to quiet her down. Now missy lets get to some fun, shall we?” Mark said as he began unbuttoning her blouse.

Sheila tried to squirm away from their hands, but Lewis struck her again. Tears began to flow down Sheila’s face as Mark pulled her shirt open and began to fondle her body. Suddenly a flash of light struck Mark and sent him flying away from her. Lewis whirled around in time to take a hard punch to the jaw and gut. Doubling over, Lewis began to fall till a foot connected with his jaw knocking him out completely as his head snapped back.

Mark jumped to his feet and studied the burn mark on his shirt. Whipping out a switchblade he turned back towards Sheila. Seeing Lewis out cold on the ground he looked around for their attacker and saw no one. Running forward he knelt back by Sheila.

“Sorry no time left to play, but can’t leave a witness here now can I?” Mark said as he prepared to slit her throat, but for some reason the knife wasn’t moving. “What the hell!”

As the knife shot out of Mark’s hand and flew upwards, Sheila looked up to see an armored figure floating above them. The armor was silver and red and looked like it was something out of some sci-fi movie or something.

“It’s not nice to hold a knife on a lady. I think it’s time for you to take a little nap.” As the armored figure spoke, he jetted down and struck Mark twice in the face with his fists, causing the man to stumble backwards and wind up passed out on the ground with his friend.

The armored man landed beside Sheila and helped her to her feet. As she began buttoning up her shirt, he moved over and grabbed the two attackers by the collars of their shirts. As his jets kicked into action and he began to rise in the sky, he looked back down at Sheila.

“That girl needs medical attention, and you should get checked out as well. Can I leave her in your care?”

“Yes, thank you for saving me, Iron Man!” Sheila yelled as she watched him move higher up.

Without looking back the man blasted off into the sky till he was less than a speck in the distance. Sheila sighed and walked over to help the young girl up and headed off towards the local hospital.

New York City

“Is that the best you can do? I mean come on you already have such a lame codename. Who’s afraid of the big bad Lightfinger?”

Curtis Hinkler had come to New York to escape the drudgery of his small town life in Iowa. Once he had gotten here he had come across a man that offered him a serum; for a price of course, that increased his strength, agility, and stamina as well as giving him the power to shoot beams of concussive force from his fingertips. Calling himself Lightfinger he had come to the First National Bank to score big and start his villain career off right. Unfortunately for him someone else had other plans.

“Why can’t you just leave me alone? I just wanted to prove myself and get that first big score,” Curtis whined as the heroine called Tigra bounced around the bank avoiding his beams.

“Because honey, you’d have all that money, but it wouldn’t get rid of that lame codename.” Tigra pounced and knocked Curtis to the ground as she grabbed the bags of money away from him.

Tossing the bags back behind the counter to the attendant, she turned back to see Curtis struggling to get up. A small smile appeared on her face as she saw that he was tangled up in his cape. As the villain struggled to free himself, Tigra walked forward and squatted down to look him in the eyes. Curtis stopped struggling as he looked up at her. The smile on her face told Curtis everything he needed to know.

“I’m going to jail now, aren’t I?”

Ten minutes later the cops hauled Curtis into the back of the squad car as Tigra stood outside the bank watching. The officers had thanked her for her work and as they pulled away, she took off back towards her apartment. As she walked through the city and admired the people around her, her cell phone started to buzz.

“Hello?” Hearing loud breathing on the other side, Greer waited to see if someone would answer, before trying again. “I said hello, is there someone there?”

“Greer, is that really you?” The voice at the other end was definitely female, but it was very weak and Greer could detect a sense of fear in the voice.

“Yes, but who is this?”

“Kristen Brooks.” At the mention of the name Greer felt a sense of urgency enter her body as she recognized the name of her old college friend. “I really need your help. I don’t have much time left. I’m in San Francisco. Please hurry, I don’t want to die.”

“Wait, Kristen what’s going on?” Tigra yelled into the phone, but it was too late as the line was already dead.

Hanging up the phone, Greer already knew what her course of action would be. Kristen was her best friend through much of college. The two had been near inseparable most times and when Greer had left college to marry her ex-husband they had stayed in constant contact for awhile. Kristen had been one of the one’s that tried to talk Greer into leaving Bill when he treated her like an object. Eventually like most old friends, the two had lost contact and Greer hadn’t even thought of her friend in years. Flipping the phone back open Greer dialed in a number she knew by heart.

“Hey, Tony I got a favor to ask. I need to borrow a Quinjet; I have some business in San Fran that I need to get to right away.”

San Francisco

In an abandoned warehouse on the outskirts of town, teens from all around town came to party like there’s no tomorrow. Eve Logan was no exception, but she came this night in order to fulfill another goal. Wading through the mass of dancing, drinking, and making out; she approached a man hidden deep in the shadows.

“I see you made it tonight. I hope my choice of meeting place isn’t too loud or anything for you.” Eve sat beside the man as she brushed her long blond hair back. “I see you brought the stuff with you. So how much do I owe you?”

The man turned from his drink to stare at the young girl before him. She was at least eighteen, had long blonde hair that went almost to her waist, deep green eyes, and a body to die for. Eve felt a slight shudder pass up her spine as the man looked her over. She kept her hand wrapped around the mace in her purse, as he finally looked away and took another swig of his drink.

“The price doubled since we last talked. I went through a lot of hell to secure this product from the authorities. You’re looking at a good clean $40,000 now. I hope you’re prepared to pay.” The man smiled as he figured he had the girl beat, since no young girl would be able to really afford that much money.

Eve waved the bartender over and ordered a glass of water. After the bartender delivered it and walked away, Eve reached down and grabbed the duffel bag she had brought with her. With no effort she tossed it up in front of the man, knocking his drink aside.

“Hey, what the hell is your problem?” the man yelled as he grabbed for his drink before it spilled.

“Open the bag.” Eve took a small sip of the water as the man reached over and unzipped the bag. Inside were stacks upon stacks of bills.

“How much is in here?” the man asked as started to count the money.

“$60,000 is there for you. I knew you would raise the price, so consider that extra twenty thousand an incentive to keep quiet about this transaction.” Eve set the glass aside and picked up the bag that he had by his feet, when she looked up right into the barrel of a gun.

“Sorry lady, but I’m gonna take the money and the gear. No way do I let such a great tech piece get away from me. Think of the name I could make for myself as a super-villain.” The man laughed as Eve stood up with the bag still in her hands. “Now drop the bag little lady and nobody will get hurt. Understand?”

Before he could react, Eve swung around and smashed the bag into the man’s face. As he pulled the trigger and fired she dropped down and swept her leg out catching him below the knees. Falling forward the man smashed his forehead on the bar and dropped his gun.

As all the patrons at the party watched, the man lay moaning as Eve opened the bag and began rummaging through the equipment. She pulled out a blue and white spandex suit and set it aside. Reaching back in she pulled out a pair of white gloves that she slipped onto her hands.

“Hmm, I wonder if these things even work worth damn.” Eve muttered as she moved her fingers around trying to trigger the gloves.

All of a sudden a stream of ice shot out of the fingertips and struck the shelves of alcohol bottles on the back wall. Most of the bottles shattered from the intense cold leaving frozen cubes of alcohol.

“Wow that was pretty cool.” Eve let a big smile light up her face, as the other teens in the room stared at her and then began running out of the room screaming. “Oh come on I’m not gonna hurt you guys.”

As Eve turned her back to call after them, the man sat up and sprang for his gun. As he aimed at Eve’s back he saw her spin around and before he could fire off a shot a stream of ice struck his hands.

“Ah god, you crazy bitch! That hurts!” The man screamed before a patch of ice also formed over his mouth, reducing him to mumbling.

“Serves you right for backstabbing and threatening a young girl.” Eve said as she watched the fear in his eyes as she moved the gloves closer to him. “Don’t worry, you big baby. I’m not gonna kill you, and I’m even gonna call the cops to come help you once I leave. Until then just sit tight and chill.”

Eve moved away and grabbed the bag with the suit and the one with the money and headed into the women’s restroom. Setting the two bags on the sink she reached in and took out the blue and white jumpsuit again. Pulling of her shirt and pants, she took the suit and pulled it up over her bra and panties.

She pulled on a pair of white boots and top it all off she pulled out a white domino mask to place over her eyes. She eyed the full face mask in the bag but took it and tossed it away in the trash.

“No way do I hide the majority of this pretty face from the world. All right, world, it’s time to meet a new superhero.”

Earth’s Orbit

She felt it as the ship decelerated and began re-entry. The ship rocked around her as the forces buffeted the small ship. There was a tremendous crash as the ship hit, and as the hull tore water began to pour in.

As the ship began to sink, she awoke from her slumber and with great force flew into the air and plowed through the hull of the ship into the sky. As she studied the new world she now found herself upon, a sense of serenity and wonder passed through her body. Flying off into the sky, she began her journey of discovery.