The Ultimate Superheroines Forum

SEASONS OF JUSTICE
PROLOGUE 1 FALLOUT
The naked body of Dr Leah Brooks was a work of art. Full, round breasts. Flat stomach without the hint of fat. And that was no surprise considering her strict eating habits. Muscular yet feminine legs.

And though it wasn't visible to Colonel Dosser in her current state, everyone involved in the Massif Project was well aware of the amazing Leah Brooks backside.

In layman terms, she had a great ass!

"Colonel, all her body functions are still reading normal. Brain wave patterns are steady."

Colonel Dosser nodded and kept his eyes on Dr Brooks. The woman rested inside a large stasis tube filled with a clear liquid gel. Breathing tubes extended from her nose. Her thin lips remained closed as she slept deep from the hybrid anesthesia than accompanied the oxegyn being filtered into her lungs.

"Colonel, I hate this!" Professor Matthew Wrightley elbowed his way up beside the Colonel. The 60-year old bio-physicist was the mastermind behind the Massif Project. "If any harm comes to Dr. Brooks, I will hold you personally accountable. And, do your men have to ogle her naked body so much? It's so demeaning!"

"Professor Wrightley, sir." Colonel Dosser sighed. The old coot could be so tiresome! "Need I remind you that Dr Brooks volunteered for this. She knew the risks. She knew we would be watching her while she was completely naked. And, you yourself stated that it was the x-chromosome in men that had caused the previous failures."

Eleven previous male participants had died. Two had gone rogue and, apparently, turned traitor. And one more had gone totally insane and was missing.

Those three had Colonel Dosser on edge. Three nearly indestructible human killing machines on the loose. If the media got ahold of this information, his career was over!

If the Professor was wrong and the woman went crazy or turned on them as well.....

"Sir, her readings are still holding steady. I think we are past the danger point...."

WHEEEE! WHEEEE! WHEEEE! WHEEEE! WHEEEE! WHEEEE! WHEEEE! WHEEEE! WHEEEE!

The unexpected shrill of an alarm startled the entire team. Frantically the Professor scuttled over towards the readings control center. "What is happening? What have you done to her? Do something! Colonel Dosser! Do something! You people are killing her!"

In his own behalf, Colonel Dosser was also near as panicked. This had to work. Not for the sake of the girl. The hell with her. But for the sake of the project. If something went wrong, if she didn't survive, if she went mad. The project would be an abysmal failure. And he would be ruined.

WHEEEE! WHEEEE! WHEEEE! WHEEEE! WHEEEE! WHEEEE! WHEEEE! WHEEEE! WHEEEE!

"Colonel, sir, I don't know what is happening. Her vitals are all still reading normal. Brainwave patterns have not changed."

"Colonel, do something! Now!"

WHEEEE! WHEEEE! WHEEEE! WHEEEE! WHEEEE! WHEEEE! WHEEEE! WHEEEE! WHEEEE!

Drowned out by the noise of the sirens and off in the corner away from the group's focus on the plight of Dr Leah Brooks was a lone corporal trying desperately to shout out a warning to Colonel Dosser.

"Sir! Sir! SIR! She's not the issue. SIR! SHE'S NOT THE ISSUE! W HAVE A SECURITY BREACH!"

WHEEEE! WHEEEE! WHEEEE! WHEEEE! WHEEEE! WHEEEE! WHEEEE! WHEEEE! WHEEEE!

Finally, the sounds of the alarm died off as the corporal was still shouting.

"SIR!"

"What is it Corporal?"

"We have a security breach."

"What? How?"

"The Prodigals have come home. Sir."

"Oh my God," Colonel Dosser croaked as his mouth suddenly went completely dry. "Zimmerman and McCoy."

SSG Zimmerman and PFC McCoy. The two survivors of the Massif Project. Well, there was also Specialist Banning but he had lost his mind in the process and vanished. Zimmerman and McCoy? They had simply for a lack of better term turned evil. Both had once been upstanding members of and excellent examples to the military. Squared away as they would say. They were good soldiers.

Now they were destroying the project's security force and headed for the project center.

Unstoppable.

Just as they were made to be.

"Frankenstein's monsters are coming home," Colonel Dosser said as he watched the security monitor's feed of the feeble attempts to stop the project's two prodigal's. Dosser then turned. "Professor! You have got to get out of here."

"I am not leaving without Dr Brooks!"

"You have no choice! If anything happens to you, the entire project, including Dr Brooks, becomes obsolete. There is a tunnel behind the Mess Hall that leads to an underground bunker. Head there and wait until you hear from us.

The Professor started to protest but then survival instinct kicked in and the old man decided it would be best to beat it. He took one last look at the form of Leah Brooks. Helpless. Unaware. In mortal danger and incapable of even knowing she needed to be afraid. Then, with a heavy heart, the Professor turned and headed towards safety.

It did not take long for the control center to become a bedlam of carnage. Guns were useless against the two invaders and physical force even less so. A string of broken bodies fell by the wayside as Zimmerman and McCoy trounced the helpless security force. Lab technicians began a panic-stricken and uncoordinated evacuation attempt that just led each member into the wake of destruction. Male and female alike were spared no mercy and soon there was just the two intruders, Colonel Dosser and Leah Brooks, still encased in the stasis tube as the process to transform her into the next super-soldier continued.

"Look what we have here, Brute," the one Dosser had once known as Zimmerman said. The men were larger now. Veins bulging on their foreheads. Muscles straining to rip open their shirts. They still wore the BDU pants of the military along with combat boots. And black t-shirts. He briefly wondered if Dr Brooks' body would transform so extremely and then realized it was a futile worry. They were not going to let either him or her live.

"Zimmerman..." he began.

"Shut the fuck up!" Zimmerman leered down at the Colonel. He had grown to nearly seven feet tall as well. McCoy, who had once been 5'9, looked to be nearly 6'10 himself. "First of all, there is no Zimmerman anymore. McCoy either. I am Spike and he is Brute! Zimmerman and McCoy are dead! Just like all the other soldiers who died to advance your career!"

"Bullshit!" the Colonel fired back. "You volunteered for this. You wanted to be this!"

"Shut up! You don't give a shit about your soldiers. None of them! This entire military doesn't give a crap about us. The men who died in that stasis tube. Just disposed like pieces of garbage."

"Zimmerman, this isn't you. You are a good soldier...."

"Shut up! Shut the hell up! Goddammit, I am sick and tired of telling you to shut the fuck up!" The largest fist he had ever seen suddenly smashed into the face of Colonel Dosser, crushing bone, breaking teeth, splitting his nose in half. The Colonel fell to the ground. Zimmerman/Spike stepped down onto the Colonel's head, crushing his skull into his brain matter and ending the Colonel's life, as he walked slowly towards the stasis tube that held the naked body of Leah Brooks.

"The days we worked together that I fantasized about what that body looked like."

He glanced back over at Brute who was placing satchels of C-4 charges at various points inside the compound. He then looked back at the woman.

"Even your little snatch is shaved. Incredible. Damn how much I used to want to fuck you. If you weren't in that stasis tube, I would take you in my arms and ...." His face changed to that of a snarl. "I would squeeze the fucking breath out of you until your ribs cracked just to hear you scream and whimper out a beg. I would pound my fist into your belly just to hear you moan and gasp for air. Goddammit the thought is making me hard even now. Just fantasizing about hurting you, you pristine little bitch, is fucking turning me on!" He placed his hands on the stasis tube. "But I have my orders. And a good soldier always follows his orders."

Several minutes later, the two killing machines known as Brute and Spike were a couple miles from the compound. Spike placed a call, told the recipient the deed had been done. He listened and then nodded. Brute then activated the charge and the two villains watched as the entire Massif Project exploded two miles away from them. The two then drove off into the night.

*****

Her eyes fluttered open. Immediately confusion and incomprehension overwhelmed her. Where am I? Who am I? What am I? Slowly she began to remember everything leading up to the moment she entered the stasis tube. So, why was she lying on her back in the midst of a pile of rubble? She tried to lift her head but the entire world began to spin and she let her head fall back to the ground.

"Dr Brooks?"

"Puh-Professor?"

"You can hear me? Oh thank heavens. I thought you were dead."

"What....happened?"

"Zimmerman and McCoy did this."

"What?"

"I'll explain later. Right now, we got to get you into the fallout shelter. But I can't free your legs. They are buried in rubble. Are you in pain?"

"No. Just.....dizzy....but...."

"It did work! You don't have a scratch. No broken bones that I could tell. You lived through an explosion. I think the Massif Project worked! I was right. The y-chromosome was the key!"

Leah Brooks slowly sat up and felt her legs under the rubble. From a seated position she was able to lift the heavy obstruction enough to slide her legs out. She then stood.

And screamed in agony.

"Oh God my head!"

Shards of ice hot ripples streaked through her skull as her brain seemed to cave in on itself. She collapsed again to her knees, holding her head in her hands as she felt her lungs rejecting the air she was trying to breathe. Was this what had killed or driven the men mad? This horrible agony? How long would it take to finish her off?

That much pain. Even a few seconds seems like an eternity but then the pain subsided and she was able to gasp in gulps of air to refill her lungs. The Professor then took her hand.

"I...I'm..okay. I just need a moment..."

"Come on, Dr Brooks. We need to get you inside the fallout shelter. You need to get cleaned up and dressed. There should be some BDUs in there that will fit you. And they have some MREs so you can get some food in you."

"MREs? Oh boy, just what I always wanted. Dehydrated peaches."

The old man and the naked woman stumbled towards the shelter, their life's work surrounding them in ruin.

TO BE CONTINUED

Here is the beginning of the story I have worming its way into my head. I want to give a thank you to DrDominator9 for all your help in our brainstoriming session. Comments, ideas, criticisms, suggestions not to quit my day job are all welcome.

Excellent start. But I would spend a bit more time on specifics, i.e. bullets popping into walls, men being tossed, the smell of drifting gunpowder smoke, perhaps, and a better description perhaps of what was across Dr. Brook's legs that would give a clearer indication of her strength. But overall, it is an intriguing beginning and I look forward to more.

DrDominator9 wrote:Excellent start. But I would spend a bit more time on specifics, i.e. bullets popping into walls, men being tossed, the smell of drifting gunpowder smoke, perhaps, and a better description perhaps of what was across Dr. Brook's legs that would give a clearer indication of her strength. But overall, it is an intriguing beginning and I look forward to more.

Thank you very much for the comments.

It is true. I can struggle at times writing descriptions. I will try to focus on slowing down and taking a bit more time writing the paragraphs. I do tend to get into a rush to get to the good stuff as it were. A perfectly fair criticism and something I will work in the future chapters.

Once again, my friend, your insight and suggestions are appreciated and valuable. Thank you for commenting.

Hum. Gotten started already? Good for you.

Little dark for my tastes, but I'm curious to see where it's going.

Omega Woman wrote:Hum. Gotten started already? Good for you.

Little dark for my tastes, but I'm curious to see where it's going.

Thank you for commenting. I promise it won't all be this dark. Glad to have you along for the read.

A good start.

The good - The story idea so far- we have a little mystery brewing, motives to be uncovered and characters that have a past that perhaps will get unraveled at some point. Our villains have a boss we are yet to meet while our heroine has creators who's ambitions might be questionable.

The not too bad - a little of the execution - sometimes a little more detail is needed within a scene, or a little more transition time needs to be created between events. For example, our heroine goes from being complete agony to making light humour about MRE's in quick time near the end.

The not so pretty - some of the syntax (apologies if English is not your first language). A bit more proof reading will help (even if you have gone to another person to help you as well). I am guilty, I am sure all the writers are too now and then, of not going back over our work enough before hitting submit. Just for example, I had to giggle as I imagined the strict diet of our heroine was "muscular yet feminine legs".

Looking forward to more.

AEM

Abductorenmadrid wrote:A good start.

The good - The story idea so far- we have a little mystery brewing, motives to be uncovered and characters that have a past that perhaps will get unraveled at some point. Our villains have a boss we are yet to meet while our heroine has creators who's ambitions might be questionable.

The not too bad - a little of the execution - sometimes a little more detail is needed within a scene, or a little more transition time needs to be created between events. For example, our heroine goes from being complete agony to making light humour about MRE's in quick time near the end.

The not so pretty - some of the syntax (apologies if English is not your first language). A bit more proof reading will help (even if you have gone to another person to help you as well). I am guilty, I am sure all the writers are too now and then, of not going back over our work enough before hitting submit. Just for example, I had to giggle as I imagined the strict diet of our heroine was "muscular yet feminine legs".

Looking forward to more.

AEM

Hahahaha! I read that back and oh wow that did come off hilarious in a very unintended way.

Appreciate all your comments and critiques. These things you mention can only help the story get better and make me a better writer.

Why was she Leah Baker when she sat up instead of Leah Brooks? I'm guessing a typo

Its a decent beginning but I prefer more detail like what specifically did the project do - can they regenerate so bullets dont kill them or do bullets bounce off etc what other 'enhancements' does this give them.

I'd echo AEM - you can't re read your work too much. And don't be afraid to go back and edit a post after posting


As I say though a nice enough setting good luck with the story

tallyho wrote:Why was she Leah Baker when she sat up instead of Leah Brooks? I'm guessing a typo

Its a decent beginning but I prefer more detail like what specifically did the project do - can they regenerate so bullets dont kill them or do bullets bounce off etc what other 'enhancements' does this give them.

I'd echo AEM - you can't re read your work too much. And don't be afraid to go back and edit a post after posting


As I say though a nice enough setting good luck with the story

Thanks for commenting.

Seems to be the majority consensus. Needs more detail! Definitely will work on that in future postings.

Was reading some old threads and came across some advice for people with their own heroines to try and provide a picture of some kind to help people visualize the heroine. So, I have this for those who want to get a better visual of Leah Brooks:

For a full color version of Leah Brooks

SEASONS OF JUSTICE
PROLOGUE 2 SNOWBLIND
For all his bravado, all his fancy suits, all his expensive cars, you would really think the guy would smoke something better than cheap cigars.
And for all the things Holly Stewart had to worry about, the smell of cheap cigars probably should have been at the bottom of the list. After all, she had the cold steel of a Glock 9 mm pressed against the back of her skull. Her ribs ached from the kicks they had received. Her left eye was swelling and stinging from a brutal punch.

All because her cover had been blown and now the infamous Empire City drug dealer known simply as Trashcan Jimmy knew she was an undercover cop.

"So, since you and the police seem to want to know so much about Meth Ice," Jimmy said as another gust of cigar smoke burned Holly's eyes. "I am going to give all of you a crash course. And leave you where your cop buddies can find you. Overdosed on the drug!"

"You sick bastard!" Holly tried to squirm but the henchman to her back jammed the Glock into her bruised ribs and she involuntarily cried out. "Do you have any idea what happens to idiots who kill cops?"

"Silence!" An open-hand slap splattered across Holly's right cheek and added a new stinging pain to her already aching face. "You stupid, pathetic fool of a girl!" Trashcan Jimmy leaned in close and blew a new gust of cigar smoke into her face. Holly had no choice but to gag and cough as a full clog of the smog went into her mouth and lungs. Now her throat burned as well.

Trashcan Jimmy gave a nod and the creep behind her grabbed her arms and pinned them behind her, hooking his arms at her elbows and pulling back. Jimmy then delivered two short jab punches into her unprotected abdomen, causing more groaning, coughing and gagging to involuntarily exit from her lips.

"Oh no! The big bad Empire City Police Department is coming to get me! What will I ever do! Hahahaha!" Another jab landed in the undercover cop's soft belly and the thug behind her let go and she crumpled to the ground, clutching her midsection. She had no idea how long it had being on, an hour, two, more? But they had taken turns working her over for quite a while now. Taken by surprise, Holly had been unable to defend herself at first and now was too weak to.

The drug dealer knelt down and blew more smoke into the woman's face. "I'm supposed to be scared of a police department who called and told me you were an undercover cop? Punish cop killers? The people responsible for most of the cop killings in Empire City are bad cops! Hahahahaha! Just like the one who gave you away to me!"

His words cut through her heart like shards of broken glass. All the physical pain could not match how much his words broke her heart. That her own "family" would sell her out to this drug dealer. Despite the direction Empire City had been headed, Holly still wanted to believe that good could triumph over evil. Even after the questionable election results that saw Susan McDuff, a woman Holly admired greatly, ousted as mayor.

Even with the fall of the integrity of Empire City's public servants, she still had believed in her family in blue. But, now, even they had been corrupted? By who?

That is what she was really trying to find out when she went undercover. Trashcan Jimmy was just a middle man. Who was the main player? That was what she wanted to know. She had risked her life to find that out.

And now the odds were looking like she would lose that life before she ever found out.

A tight grip yanked up her curly red locks and forced Holly back up to her feet. She was a bit taller than the average female, reaching to just about 5'9". She wore a plaid skirt with basic black top. A school girl uniform. Undercover as a prostitute. Wearing garments that Trashcan had a weakness for. Red heels had completed the outfit but they were now tossed aside by the drug dealers henchmen while they had punished her for being a cop.
Jimmy snarled at her as he held up a filled syringe. The blue liquid inside it was the unmistakable toxin known as Meth Ice.

"This is about four time the amount of a normal hit," Jimmy stated. "Plenty of this shit to give you an overdose and end your miserable copper life."

"Jimmy, don't...."

Trashcan Jimmy laughed and pointed the needle at her.....

"OPEN UP! THIS IS THE POLICE!"

"Mother fucker!"

The distraction was just enough. Holly stomped backwards, cracking her foot against the henchman's shin. Jimmy began to look around in confusion. Holly broke free and lunged at the drug dealer. He swatted her away and then began to retreat into the back of the house.

"OPEN UP OR WE ARE COMING IN!"

Detective Marcus Elrich! The good guys were here! The door shook from a pounding as henchmen scattered in fear.

Trashcan was not getting away!

Slowly, Holly moved into the back of the house. She was tactical in her apprach, crouching low, staying out of doorways. Those were killzones. Many a good cop had met his end standing in a doorway. She slipped into one room. Lights had been turned off. Jimmy was no fool. And Holly was unarmed.
Still she was going to take this son of a bitch down!

Shots rang out from the main room she had been in. One of the henchmen had fired at the cops? She didn't know.

She stayed low and came upon another door. Staying to the side of the frame, she gently turned the door knob and slowly let the door swing open.
It was another dark room. Darker than the previous room. Pitch black even. No windows on any of the walls. The meth lab. The secluded room in the house where the Meth Ice was being made. She took a deep breath and slid around the door frame and into the room, staying low as she did.

Suddenly, the room was filled with bright light. Her eyes, having adjusted to the dark, needed just a moment to cope with the blinding light. A moment she did not have. For a mere second later, she felt a liquid substance hit the skin of her face. And then cold fire exploded in her eyes and she screamed the most horrible scream of agony she had ever screamed in her life and she clutched her face and crumpled to the floor.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Trashcan tossed the empty beaker aside and moved quickly as he heard the shout of "Holly!" from another part of the house. He closed the door and stuck a chair underneath the knob, just to stall and give himself time.

The scream reduced itself quickly to choked sobs. The Meth Ice had for sure gotten into her eyes for the reaction to have reached that point. "And now I kill you, bitch!" He still had the syringe and, grabbing one of her bare feet, he jabbed the needle in between her toes and plunged the entire dosage into her. He then quickly made an exit just before the door was finally kicked open. But not before turning and looking at the female cop one last time....

and noticing her leg was turning blue. Sea blue.

That had never happened before.

And then he was gone.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"HOLLY!"

Markus Elrich finally burst the door off its hinges and raced into the room. Holly Stewart lay motionless on the floor. Her lower extremities were blue. But it wasn't the blue of a corpse. It was something.....else.

He knelt beside her and saw the blue coloring working up her arms. Her hands were still over her face though she was no longer making any sound.

"Detective?"

"Armstrong! Get an ambulance. Now!"

"This is Detective Armstrong!" the cop quickly shouted into a radio. "We need an ambulance! Officer down! I repeat! Officer down!"

"Holly?" Elrich grabbed the woman's arm. It was so cold. But, again, not the cold of a dead body. More like the cold of a ham that had been placed in the refrigerator for a few hours. He pulled the hands away from her face.

"What the fuck?"

Scales had formed across Holly's eyes. No. Not scales. Icicles.

"What did that bastard do to you?"

And her body was getting even colder.

"Armstrong! Get me a blanket or a jacket or something! I think she's freezing to death!"

"What? But how?"

"Just do it! Son of bitch!" He quickly withdrew his touch as her arm had become stinging cold! Then he saw her breath. Yes. Saw her breath! A clouded mist exhaled from her lips. The cold breath of winter that looks like smoke coming from someone's mouth.

"Jesus! What the fuck Elrich?" Armstrong was back with a large blanket.

"I don't know." The two cops wrapped their frozen colleague in the blanket. "I don't know. I don't know what that son of a bitch did to her. But I am going to get him. I guarantee it."

They sat with her as the sirens from the ambulance drew closer and closer even as her body got colder and colder.

TO BE CONTINUED

Happy to see you have taken some previous comments on board - this runs a lot more smoothly than the previous chapter and we have bit more detail in the story - well done.

Abductorenmadrid wrote:Happy to see you have taken some previous comments on board - this runs a lot more smoothly than the previous chapter and we have bit more detail in the story - well done.

I couldn't agree more. Nicely done!

Thanks guys.

Yes, I was much happier with how the second part turned out.

PROLOGUE 3 NUWAVE
When one stereotyped the computer geek, one did not picture in their mind the image of Elizabeth Harlson. No, Liz looked nothing like a nerd. Blond hair held tucked underneath a backwards baseball cap. Bleached blue jeans with diagonal tears streaked across the thighs. Usually wearing either a heavy metal or skull and cross bones t-shirt. A t-shirt that strained to contained her surgically enhanced 38 DDDs. Sometimes, someone (she referred to them as fuckbois) would ask her on Instagram if they were real. She would always reply: "No. They are CGI. My uncle is Michael Bay." Most of the times, the fuckboi would get all pissy and make some rude comment back. But sometimes they would laugh and Liz would remove them from fuckboi status and make a new online friend.

From the first moment she had walked into the room to meet the other members of the Empire City University Computer Club, Elizabeth was the odd duck of the group. With gigantic tits. She had been a freshman then and her boob job had been a graduation present from her parents. Not that they were happy about it but her dad promised her anything she wanted if she made the honor roll. He thought she might want a car. Huge breasts had never entered his mind. But, he kept his word and the B cup became a Triple D.

Other than to leer at her big boobs, no one in the club took her seriously. Until they saw what she could do. Hacking. Rerouting servers. Virus and antivirus creation and removal. When her fingers hit the keys, they became a blur of database manipulation and programming amazement.
And Elizabeth/Liz Harlson found a place where she belonged.

She never did fit in with the jocks in high school. Certainly not with the preppies. And the brainiacs were just too goody-two-shoes for her. Liz mostly hung out with the miscreants and stoners and dropouts. But, the problem was, none of those kind made it to Empire City University. The difference between Elizabeth and the other miscreants is that Liz had a drive to be something. She didn't know what that something was but she knew she wanted to be someone. And, she had a natural gift at technology.

The computer geeks who had once looked at her with disbelief and, especially among the female nerds, disdain would now view Liz Harlson with a nerdy sort of reverent awe. She was their version of a prom queen! Almost weekly she would come up with something new for them to engage in. Cell phone apps that could access classified information. Skateboards that were automated. Hacking personnel files of the dumb muscle heads who still thought they were in junior high trying to bully people around.

True, some of their actions were less than ethical and could have gotten them expelled if they were caught. But they never were as any attempts to find the hackers always led the investigators to a fictitious person named Timothy Hay. An inside joke between Liz and her close friends who knew about her escapades in cyberland.

Meanwhile, Liz was able to maintain a 3.69 GPA through her first three years of college. Most classes she aced with just the small bumps in history and English composition. Mostly just due to lack of interest more than having a hard time with the material.

Now she was entering her senior year at Empire City University and was having that weird feeling of post-college dread. What was she going to do with her life? What did she want to do with her life?

These questions she would ponder as she went out over the bay and did a little sky surfing. With an specially-designed techno-surfboard, Liz would sail high over the water so as to not be seen and get some time to clear her mind and get some alone time. She wore an aerodynamic suit designed by fellow nerd that went by the nickname Crow. Not only would the suit keep her gravitationally attached to the surfboard, but it also protected her face and body from wind burn. With a maroon top and green leggings. Her favorite colors and who cared if they didn't match.

As she would soar through the sky, Liz wore a special radio headset that could intercept radio signals and she would listen to any type of music she could come across. She was especially happy if said music was that of Kid Rock. And she would keep in contact through her headset with Crow or one of the other computer lab friends. Liz's Cult, they would all joke.

Except this time. As she soared high above the waves, her thoughts and dreams while jamming out to American Badass came to a sudden stop. Matching the sudden stop that the song met as well. Kid Rock's lyrics were replaced by a voice she did not know.

But his words chilled her to the bone!

"I told that idiot to leave her bound and gagged where her police buddies could find her. Under no circumstances was he to kill a cop!"

A man's voice. Professional in tone though the words themselves exposed his rage. Yet the tone never wavered. He could have been a professor talking about the different methods to use a matrix to solve a math problem.

"Crow...? Do you hear this...?" she whispered. Tendrils of dread were slithering up her spine but, at the same time, curiosity had a hypnotic hold of her attention.

"Liz! Shh. Before they hear you."

"I don't think they can hear me. I'm intercepting something. Like a phone signal or something." She had stopped "surfing" and was now just hovering above the water.

"Liz. Shush!"

"Under no circumstances is all my work going to crash to the ground because of some two-bit drug dealer who is too stupid to know when to do what he is told," the voice said. "Vance. Get the word out. There is to be a gang war. In two nights. Tell the top warlords. In this gang war, Trashcan Jimmy is to be killed. Tell the Rattlers not to fail me or the cops will wipe them off the face of the earth. Goddammit idiots!"

Dead cops? Gang wars? Hits? The curiosity's grip was gone. She wanted out of there. Out of that conversation. Rid of the knowledge of what she had just heard!

"Crow. Crow. I'm scared! What if they ever find out...."

"Liz! Get back to the lab! I'll get The Cult! We'll figure something out."

TO BE CONTINUED

This chapter is 'stacked' with intrigue and drama. I look forward to keeping 'abreast' of the situation. 'Nicely filled out' details.

DrDominator9 wrote:This chapter is 'stacked' with intrigue and drama. I look forward to keeping 'abreast' of the situation. 'Nicely filled out' details.

I see what you did there.

A nice trio of seasons you have built up, I wonder what the fourth will be like?

PROLOGUE 4: SPRINGBOARD
Detective Marcus Elrich stood with gun at the ready as the mysterious female slowly sauntered towards him. Even just under the street lights, he could see the mesmerizing sway of her hips as she walked. Her upper body was covered in a blue-black swimsuit-style leotard. Low-cut swimsuit-style leotard. One Elrich would describe as "cleavagey". And she certainly had the cleavage to pull that off. The rest of her costume? Blue thigh high stockings. Calf-length black zip-up boots. Blue gloves tht went up to midway on her forearms. And a blue eye mask that protected her identity.

"Springboard." Elrich held up a hand to stop her before she got to close. "Give me one good reason I should not arrest you right now."

She sighed. "Because you are a good cop. That's why. Because you know that we are on the same side."

Elrich frowned. "You break the law. I don't."

The masked superheroine folded her arms under her breasts. Pressing her cleavage up further. Elrich was sure she was doing that on purpose.
"Oh come off it, Detective! The DA's office has made deals with scums of the earth in order to crack hard cases. The ends justifies the means. Yet, you say you can't work with me?"

Elrich gritted his teeth. She had a very good point. He holstered his gun. "Okay, if you have something, I'm willing to listen. But I am not willing to have you come along and beat up some perp and ruin an arrest!"

"Fine!" Springboard sashayed closer to him. With a confidence that unnerved him. She pulled out a small device and soon Elrich was hearing the same conversation that Liz Harlson had heard some hours before.

"How did you get that?"

"It was sent to a friend." Springboard smirked. "From someone called Timothy Hay. We tried to track down who that is but no long."

"Timothy Hay? Timothy Hay is a mythological cyber criminal that doesn't really exist. A modern-day Wild Man of the Navidad fictional legend."
Springboard shrugged. "That's a mystery for anothe day. The issue now is he voice in this conversation."

"Yeah, I recognize it. Very well. Of course, these things can be faked. Not to mention this might be the most inadmissable evidence in the history of inadmissable evidence."

"But what if it is real?"

Elrich clinshed his fists as he thought about Holly Stewart fighting for her life. A good cop now lying in a coma inside a frozen body as specialists were being called to see what can be done for her.

Elrich pursed his lips. "Off the record, I hope that piece of shit Trashcan Jimmy is castrated and fed his own testicles for breakfast."

"But what about..."

"I know. If that voice belongs to who we think it belongs to, Empire City is in a lot of trouble. But I am going to need more concrete proof than this questionable recording...."

He was talking to himself now.

Springboard had disappeared.

"Shit! That woman really knows how to ruin a man's night!"
------------------------------------------------------------------------

Athena Alexander slipped out of the swimsuit-style leotard and into a nice warm bubble bath. The star of her own podcast, the young internet sensation always found it incredible how she was able to prevent people from connecting her as the alter-ego to Springboard.

Alas, as heroines went, Springboard had a boring story. No murdered parents. Wasn't the victim of sexual assault. No freak accident that gave her superpowers.

No. Athena was just a young idealist hoping to make Empire City a better place to live.

She lifted a shapely leg and slid a washcloth down the thigh and calf. Well, there was one other thing. She was a tad bit of an exhibitionist. Not too much. She didn't want her neighbors seeing her bathe but she did get a small sense of pleasure knowing men (and women) were distracted by her Springboard costume. The low-cut was definitely done on purpose. She has used that cleavage many times to lull a hoodlum into a well-placed roundhouse kick before leaving him for the cops to find.

Springboard have become a well-known if not exactly household name in Empire City. More than one street punk had decided to try and make a name for himself by being the one who took down Springboard. All of those who had tried were now making a name pressing license plates.

But this....

This was no street punk she was dealing with now.

Athena sighed as she massaged her breasts beneath the warm, bubbly water.

It was Athena and not her alter-ego Springboard who had received this stunning recording from the enigmatic Timothy Hay. This person had done their homework. On her. And on the owner of the voice in the recording.

It was obvious that was why they had chosen her.

The knew she had sometimes spoken out again VX Incorporated. The most powerful conglomerate in Empire City. But she had also been fair, mentioning how much the corporation meant to the city's economy, employment rate. Their charitable donations. The countless hours their employees spent in the Children's Hospitals and Boys' and Girls' Clubs in the city.

And they all knew how much political power VX Incorporated had inside the city as well. Some believed it was too much. Even others believed that VX Incorporated had a hand in the ouster of Susan McDuff as mayor.

But to go so far as to have an undercover cop abducted?

She stood from the bath and grabbed her towel. Was that recording legit? She dried off and wrapped the towel around her body as the water slowly drained from the tub.

She needed to meet this Timothy Hay.

Correction. Springboard needed to meet Timothy Hay.

But first, Athena Alexander needed to learn more about the man whom allegedly has said those things on the recording. The CEO and founder of VX Incorporated. The most powerful man in Empire City.

Victor Xavier Cross.

TO BE CONTINUED