Your chosen Two Steps from Hell track is perfect. Of course anything by them is fabulous.

Whew, finally Blood Raven arrives, only for us to learn the whole thing is a trap made for her. Cray is great as he takes charge as the group’s ‘coach’. Jan’s comment to Hannah was appropriate – the new, young super needs to learn to be a team player in situations like this. Ôkami is the perfect choice to slice and dice those revenants. Jan has her wings full with that oniare – even more so in the creature’s primary element under water. That leave’s Blood Raven to deal with the fire dragon - and now the summoner! Hope the Hammer of Light arrives soon to help out.


Nits:
"And who are you anway{anyway}?"
’It certainly flew through the water like {a?} ray.’

Just an administrative note. It has never quite sat right with me that Blood Raven's "normal" sword Yggdrasil was a viking sword, and used a lot of heavy viking motifs. One, because that is sort of January's shtick. Two, because I like to lean more into Blood Raven's Irish/Celtic heritage with her. Which is to say that she likes to, since her mother's side of her family is Irish. It was her father's side that is Viking (her father being a Viking after all).

So I decided to go back and rework her every day sword into something new, with a heavy Celtic influence. So no more Yggdrasil. Now her non-Abyssal slaying sword will be Samhain, the raven sword of the Morrigan.

So far it has only appeared twice, in Book 7: Hammer Down. Once when she first shows it off at the post office, and then during the big battle at the end. I have already gone back and edited in the new sword in. Below is its introduction, which is where it gets a lot of ink. In the later battle it was just a matter of changing the sword's name, and few descriptions.






One day I can see January getting a sword of her own. I might decide to go with the name and description of Yggdrasil. I save everything, even the stuff I cut. Though lately I prefer the name Sessrumnir for January's sword, after Freyja's hall in Asgard.

One of the things I love about fan fiction is that the writer routinely shares with you what they're thinking - communicating directly with readers. That affords the luxury and fun of changing things around in progress or even after the fact. Because you can explain why and what you were thinking directly to your readers, it is fun for us as well and easy to understand and support.

I confess I Buffy has evolved significantly over time and, sometimes, even as a direct result of reader comments.

And having fun is what fan fiction is all about!

All right let's see how this resolves. Been busy as all heck, waiting all week just to sit down and read. Whoa. "Is that a dragon?" I don't think so. I notice this story does not use the overly common monsters. It goes for those which are really obscure. I have no idea what an Oniare is for instance. 'Til now.

Gadget is Googling, it seems like. Well, Bestiarying. Ha. It's just like when we used to consult our Monster Manuals long ago, just to see what defenses and weaknesses some creature had.

I love that all these beach goers are still scrambling about. This will be their very last Jobbie Nooner, for most of them. I imagine since they are automotive workers they are all tough and whatnot. Well, not today.

Whoa, Okami is here. Greased Lightning. Oh no, January's in trouble. Underwater. Dammit. I think she'll be okay though. All her friends are. She'll be fine. I hope.

Acadian: The Summoner is about to learn that trapping Blood Raven is a far cry from defeating her, even in an ambush created specifically against her. Even outnumbered two to one, well, we shall see...

Equating Cray to a coach is a great metaphor. I am thinking of having the characters start to carry drones around with them specifically to allow him to have a better view of everything that is going on.

As ever thank you for finding those nits.


Renee: One thing I have learned from reading authors like Lovecraft, is that it is really effective to weave pure fiction around pieces of reality. He loves his fictional evil books, like the necronomicon. But when he introduces them, he usually does it alongside a bunch of entirely real ones. He mixes and matches his fictional material with non-fictional things so well that it becomes hard to tell which is which. That lends his made up stuff an air of reality.

So I have been trying to do something similar with my monsters, when I can. For example, I came up with the idea for a lake monster that was similar to a stingray, that could disguise itself as a human from a distance. Then after I had that idea, I went looking for mythological creatures that might fit a similar description. Eventually I came across the Oniare, a horned water lizard monster, so I called it that. I did not have the horns in mind in my original design. So I added them in after that, and looked at various horned lizards and found the persian viper I linked to, and adjusted the monster's appearance to be more like that.

It is the same with the Craquehhe. They were originally just zombies, as I wanted some supernatural creatures with no blood. Then I went looking through folklore and found the Craquehhe. So I used them. Likewise with the Djieien. I turned over a lot of ideas for the first Abyssal that January would meet. Eventually I settled on a giant spider. From there I looked at spiders in mythology, and found the Djieien.

Gadget is absolutely consulting the monster manual. That was exactly the image I was going for.







Blood Raven's fight music

Dominican black friar outfit

Mahd al-Aadiyya


Book 8.18 - Blood

Blood Raven spared only a glance to January and the oniare down on the beach. She knew that her seven times great-granddaughter could face the monster. She had proved that at Ferndale Pride. She fixed her own attention upon the firewing, and more importantly, its master. Such a creature did not spontaneously appear in the middle of a lake. Within a volcano it might, but not here, in a place surrounded by water.

Someone had brought it hither. January's interrogation of Gola had revealed that their nemesis was able to teleport. Most likely he or she had brought it here from its fiery home. Clearly, this was a trap specifically for her. The Summoner must have guessed that she was a vampire, to employ a creature of fire against her. Or perhaps it was simply the fact that such a being possessed no blood, and thusly was immune to her blood-manipulating powers?

Cray noted the same over the communications link she shared with the rest of the team. The team, now that was a strange term. It was a notion she had not entertained since France, 1944. That had ended badly. She could only pray that her current allies fared better than her Resistance friends had then.

Those allies were now assembling upon the beach, even as a horde of revenants rose up from the sands. Just as January must face the Abyssal, the others must face these undead. It was providential that they were present to do so, for otherwise she would have been terribly outnumbered if she had been alone. It would have proved impossible for her to protect civilian lives, and take the fight to the creatures. The cost of even victory would have been horrific.

But were these newfound allies really her team? Nay, they were January's. She was the one who had brought them all together. They fought because she had inspired them to do so by her example. In just a few months, Stormcrow's public displays of compassion and courage had mobilized them to action. Not Blood Raven's silent and sometimes bloody work in the shadows. January was the true hero here.

The firewing interrupted that train of thought, as it regurgitated a sheet of flame down upon her. She raised one hand, and a golden wall of force sprang up between her and the elemental. This warded off the red-orange flames that reached out to snuff her from existence. She offhandedly replied with a bolt of arcane energy, and lanced a hole through one of its fiery wings. Not that such a wound slowed it for a moment. The flames simply grew over the injury, and there was no sign of it ever having existed a moment later.

Her true enemy was somewhere else. Somewhere down on the ground. This creature was but a pawn. She listened to the heartbeats racing below her, and felt the blood rocketing through their veins. One of them was her foe, but which one?

She reached out in the aether and felt for magical auras. Thanks to centuries of experience, she was able to easily shunt aside everything else. The auras of ordinary humans, plants, and animals simply vanished from her awareness. That left January and her friend Ôkami on the beach battling with the Abyssal and the revenants. The fire elemental was of course a literal bonfire of power above her. But nothing else registered in her awareness.

That was when she noted a man down below. He ran from the trees at the western end of the island, and paused at the fence that warded the surveillance tower. He vanished, then reappeared atop the tall, metal structure. There was a small crow's nest up there, that ringed the electronic devices which sprang from the central spire.

The newcomer wore a black mantle cloak and hood over a white monk's habit, reminding her of a Dominican Black Friar. His face was obscured by a black cloth mask. Rather than a cross, a large brass medallion hung from his neck, emblazoned with an Egyptian scarab beetle. He reached down into his robes, and drew forth what looked like a next generation assault rifle. But rather than a magazine of bullets slotted into place beneath its barrel, Blood Raven noted a large metallic bottle there instead.

She raised a new force field just moments before the newcomer could raise the weapon and loose a river of fire from its barrel. Like with the firewing, the flames simply licked harmlessly upon her magical defense. While the newcomer's aura betrayed not a hint of magical ability, this flame certainly did so. So too, did the weapon. Both were infused with Power. Now that it was out and in use, the enchanted weapon practically trumpeted its name across the aether to her: Flamebringer.

This could only be the Summoner. As she had previously surmised, he was cloaking his aura to appear as a mundane. He had also teleported, just as January had reported. There could be no other.

Blood Raven smiled. She almost bared her fangs, which ached to grow forth and rend the vile creature. So too, did the claws that slept within her fingers. Selene's Curse stirred within her, calling her to rip and tear until the blood jetted in great, hot geysers of crimson glory. Her heart pounded, and her own blood roared with killing fury.

But she did not give in to that wild, homicidal drive that hid within the breast of every vampire. She was not that beast, which ached to slay. It was the same beast that lurked within every ordinary human. However, those gifted by Selene also carried its stain far nearer to the surface of their souls. It was ever there, dreaming to be unleashed.

"I have spied the Summoner!" Blood Raven cried over the comm link. "He is mine."

She reached into one of the pouches of her utility belt and drew forth a grenade. She hurled it down upon the Summoner. He lowered his flamethrower, and clutched at the scarab amulet that hung from his neck. A field of shimmering gold sprang from it and surrounded him. The grenade struck this and exploded in a shower of glittering crimson particles. They shimmered in the air, and rather than fall to the earth, floated around the Summoner. In fact, they floated right through his arcane shield, and clung greedily to his robe and hood.

Blood Raven immediately reached out for his blood. She would end this quickly, by ripping it from his body. She could then solidify it and use it to spear the firewing above. But as with the oniare, her magical efforts found no purchase upon that sweet, sanguine flow. Nor did they upon his life force in general. His amulet's ward ringed his aura, driving away all of her efforts.

That left the direct approach. Blood Raven arrowed through the sky to face him. Her feet struck the metal platform, and she stood directly in front of him. She instantly struck out with Y Ddraig Aur. There was little room to use the longsword in the confined space. So she reversed her grip on the hilt, and swung backhanded to reduce its reach.

The Summoner made a pass with his hands then. The cloak around his aura prevented Blood Raven from sensing the magical forces he had invoked. However, they came to naught, and no new spells issued forth from his being. Instead he was still standing there when her longsword struck home.

Brilliant gold sparks kicked up as the dragon-blade hammered home against his arcane shield. He reeled back and sagged against the steel rails that bordered the small, triangular platform. He cried out in shock, and raised his hands defensively above him.

"Oh, were you hoping to flee? Let me introduce you to the Powder of Mahd al-Aadiyya," Blood Raven smiled at the tiny red motes that floated in the air around them. "It prevents all forms of teleportation. There will be no escape for you this time Summoner."

Blood Raven readied another blow when flame licked down her back. Not even the fireproofing in her black and red armor was able to ward off this assault. The magical flame melted dragon silk and Chobham armor alike. It licked through her frame, and ate away at her flesh.

She arched her body in agony, and could not prevent a groan from escaping her gritted teeth. The Summoner regained his courage at this momentary display of vulnerability, and once more loosed his flamethrower upon her. Again more fire wreathed her with torment.

Blood Raven ducked low and stretched out her legs to get as far down to the steel platform as possible. She conjured up a force field above her now, and allowed it to stretch out in all directions. This blocked the flame from both the Summoner and the firewing flying around the tower.

The elemental came down closer now, and settled its back claws upon the steel railing behind Blood Raven. The metal bar slowly melted and sagged under the combination of the firewing's heat and weight. Its head snaked down, and let loose another torrent of flame. Once again, Blood Raven's shield held it. However the tower did not fare as well. The central peak of its steel superstructure melted away and collapsed entirely, pin-wheeling away down to the dirt and grass below.

Blood Raven rose and unleashed a side kick into the belly of the beast. The elemental's roar was cut short, and the flames sputtered from its mouth. It doubled over, and Blood Raven took advantage of the moment to reverse her grip on Y Ddraig Aur. She grasped the longsword by the rune-etched blade with her left hand, and wielded it in a back-handed blow. One side of the sword's crossbar spiked into the firewing's leg, striking it like a hammer. The elemental bellowed in pain as the morte-strike crushed home, and spewed fire across the top of the tower.

Blood Raven struck again, this time at its other hind leg. Now the creature lost its grip on the railing and toppled from the perch. She heard its wings beat at the air in a mad effort to take control of its fall. But she had no more time for the creature. She returned her sword to a normal grip in her right hand, and spun around to face the Summoner.

She felt the aion of an arcane bolt hurtle through the air as she turned. She was able to dodge aside before the magical attack could burn through her, and the golden energy flashed past her to strike home in the ashy gray body of the elemental behind her. She faced the Summoner, who now raised his flamethrower and took aim from the opposite end of the platform.

Still, it was only a few feet that separated them. She reformed her force field to merely create a shield from her left hand. Leading with this bulwark of golden energy, she rushed forward, and slammed into the Summoner. He was too slow to dodge aside. The energy field crashed against his own defensive ward, and bounded off of it. However, the force of the charge rocked him back against the steel railing, which he momentarily hung upon.

Blood Raven's sword lashed out. Not at the Summoner, but at the two steel pipes that formed the safety railing that ringed the platform. The rune blade sheared through them like paper. They bent out under the Summoner's weight. He flailed for balance, but he lacked the dexterity to regain his feet.

Blood Raven planted a push kick dead into his chest. Again, his wards prevented the strike from causing him harm. But also again, the force of the blow sent him sailing backward. The tortured railing could not save him this time. It snapped off, and he went over with it. His arms and legs pin-wheeled in an almost comical fashion, and a high pitched scream ripped from his throat.

Blood Raven did not hesitate. She leaped after him face-first. She could sense the firewing behind her. It was closing in once more. She felt a wave of heat wash over her, as the platform was engulfed in flames. But she was already gone, falling straight down above the Summoner. She took Y Ddraig Aur in both hands now, one on the grip, the other on the blade. She held it point down, ready to drop directly atop the Summoner as soon as he struck ground, and spear him on the point.

But she did not have the opportunity. The firewing came swooping in. Its jaws clamped down hard upon her torso, and crushed her between them. Flame sprouted from each of those fangs, and incinerated flesh and bone beneath them. A scream tore its way from her throat, but only for a moment. Then she had hold of herself again.

She gritted her teeth, and bit back the agony that erupted through her body. She was a fighter. She would not be laid low by some overgrown lizard stuffed with Lucifer matches. She would overcome.

The elemental's momentum sent them flying across the island. While they soared away from the Summoner, Blood Raven called up her aion. She sent out a tendril of power from each of her hands. These tentacles lassoed about each of the elemental's jaws. Once they had taken firm hold of the beast they pulled apart. The monster fought against them of course. It clamped down even harder. But to no avail. The force of Blood Raven's will was far stronger than the magma of the firewing's body. After a moment the creature's lower jaw was literally ripped from its head. The jawbone flared brightly as it fell, only to wink from existence a moment later, like a flame run out of oxygen.

Blood Raven turned back to search for the Summoner as the firewing flailed in the air behind her. She set her eyes upon the now burned and battered surveillance tower, and roared toward it like one of her great-grandson Jack Parson's rockets. She would find her enemy there, and finish this for once and all.

A wonderful idea to portray this powerful episode from the perspective of Blood Raven.

’She could only pray that her current allies fared better than her Resistance friends had then.’
- - A poignant thought that reminds us of her long history and vast experience.

’But were these newfound allies really her team? Nay, they were January's. She was the one who had brought them all together. They fought because she had inspired them to do so by her example. In just a few months, Stormcrow's public displays of compassion and courage had mobilized them to action. Not Blood Raven's silent and sometimes bloody work in the shadows. January was the true hero here.’
- - A remarkable observation from Blood Raven that surprised me – initially. But, in another sense, this is no surprise at all. So she thinks of these superallies coming together as January’s handiwork. I have no doubt that January would disagree and sees Blood Raven as the glue that holds this group together. This magnificently displays the similarities, differences and unique synergy between the two women.

The Summoner arrives. And the ability to mask his aura explains much.

’So too, did the claws that slept within her fingers.’
- - Some masterfully evocative word crafting here. Wow.

We’ve not really seen Blood Raven need to use the full range of her awesome abilities - until now. And by Kynareth’s wings, awesome is the right word! Unfortunately, the firefoe at her back and the shielded summoner to her front are a formidable duo.

Biting my nails until the next episode.

Yes, Raven is part of a team, this is true. Thing is, I suspect that after living for centuries, maybe she thinks she's possibly done it all in regards to battle and combat situations. And maybe I am wrong, but it seems like the true answer is she's not seen & done it all. This situation, with her many times great granddaughter AND her friends is something new. Probably more of a frantic experience, because she's not in control quite as much.



Spiritually, they are hers. The way Intel (IBM?) and Hewlett-Packard spiritually are the grand-computing companies which spawned all the others. Yeah, Jan brought some of her friends into it, but who is actually mentoring? Who will they all look up to? Who is the grand-master at the table with way more XP than anyone else?

Well, yeah, okay. The story hasn't gotten quite that far yet. Not once so far have they all gathered together, and Raven says "I call the room to ORDER!" But you know what I mean? When Jan and Hannah were playing around in the Tardis room, it was Raven who was in charge. Who gave them breaks, even.

/Reneegettingtoodeep



That's Raven's one-liner! Similar to "I'll be back!"

Uh oh, Branwen's in trouble. So January's underwater / in trouble, and now Raven's getting burned / in trouble. I notice you're going from hero to hero. First Jan, now Branwen. Will next week be Okami? Or Lighthammer? Guess we'll find out.



Interesting, I did not know you construct these monsters like so. But wasn't Gola (the Native American creature with Jan's cheap cell phone) based on real-life legends?

Lovecraft rules. It's a shame he died in poverty (Close enough, anyway), and too young in my opinion. Had no idea of all the fiction / games / movies / writers he'd inspire.

Acadian: The last time Blood Raven was part of a team, the rest were all killed by Nazis. I never really thought about it until now, but that might be one reason she has spent her super career generally working alone, or only in temporary team-ups on specific cases.

When I wrote that observation by Blood Raven that this was January's team it was because they are all there for January, not for Blood Raven. Lighthammer is there because January took the time to develop a relationship with him. Hannah originally came to Michigan not looking for Blood Raven to teach her, but for Stormcrow. Okami is there because he is January's friend, and he trusts her. Isaac helped by supplying junk to make their poppets because of January. He also helped work on Okami's new hoverbike and car due to her. So it is Jan who is bringing them all together.

On the other hand, Blood Raven is definitely the general in command. As you said, she has more XP than all the others put together. She is the one driving the investigation against the Summoner, going back to before January even became Stormcrow. So she is clearly the impetus behind the team's current driving goal. But she is not the reason they exist in the first place.

We still have not seen Blood Raven go all out. Partly because these baddies are specifically chosen because her blood powers won't work on them. Partly because she has just not had time to do all she is capable of yet. She will have another episode from her POV in a bit that will show that. Then later in Book 10, I expect we will see everything.



Renee: One thing Blood Raven is always saying to January is that the world is wider, and stranger, than anyone ever imagines. She includes herself in that as well. She has seen and done an awful lot. But she knows that there are still some things even beyond her.

You are right in your guess that we will be jumping between characters each episode. This fight is so big, that I wanted to show all of it. The only way to really do that was do give everyone involved their own scene or two. Today's episode will be from Hannah's POV. Then we will get one from Lighthammer and Okami's. Then we will be going back to January, and Blood Raven, and to a new person. The entire team has yet to assemble! They just don't know it yet.

Come to think of it, Blood Raven does not have a signature catch-phrase or battle cry. Like January has "Valhalla Awaits", or the Thing has "It's Clobberin' Time!". I should sit down and workshop something.

Gola is also based on a RL creature from Cherokee folklore: the Raven Mocker. With her I wanted a ghost that could create illusions, and fed off life force. So I worked backward from there and found the Raven Mocker, which is a similar being. Though they don't have the illusion powers. I decided to give Gola that.








The USCGC Bristol Bay

The USCGC Bristol Bay Close Up



Book 8.19 - Blood

Vortex dropped off Blood Raven back in the gazebo in the park. She remembered it well. It was the place where she had ended that frantic chase between her, January, and her father. It was also the place where she had first kissed January. That alone was enough to make it unforgettable.

But she was not that girl who was on the run and looking for help anymore. She was in a suit now. It was the backup Stormcrow suit, but a suit nonetheless. She was a super now, just like Stormcrow and Blood Raven.

She wrapped spacetime close about her, like a warm blanket on a cold winter's night. She loosed it a moment later, and found herself standing in the back yard of the Witch House. She had one more person to pick up. Someone named Ôkami. January had mentioned him once before.

It was an odd name. It sounded Japanese. Vortex did not like what that might portend.

She waited in the yard and fidgeted. Trees rose up on all sides, save for the three stories of the Witch House. Thankfully there was no one to see her standing there in January's back up super suit. She just had to wait. Wait for this other person to show up. Wait while the real fight was going on. Wait while January could be in trouble. Wait while she might (hopefully) be already saving the day. Wait while January might need her. Wait while-.

A mechanical hum filled her ears. She turned to see a black, white, and gray hoverbike come sailing over the driveway, and halt in mid air just a few inches above the grass in the yard. Straddling it was a man clad in samurai armor. She recognized the base layer of the suit as dragon silk, the same woven armor that Blood Raven wore. Strips of metal painted black and white wrapped around his chest, shoulders, forearms, and shins. A Japanese style helmet sat atop his head, with a wolf crest that rose above his forehead, and mask that covered his nose and mouth.

A katana hung from his hip. Its hexagonal crossguard was made of dark bronze, and was carved with images of wolves. The long grip was wrapped in a crisscrossing pattern of black and white cloth, and another wolf's head was displayed upon the tip of the pommel. The blade of the sword was hidden within a black, lacquered scabbard, which was decorated with bone fittings.

Vortex stared at the samurai's eyes. They looked cold and dead, lifeless, like those of a shark. They were the only part of his features that she could see. She felt her heart race, and her palms sweat. A chill ran up her spine. She had to fight to breathe, and the world began to swim around her.

"You tell him to get here now," the hitman's voice rang out in Hannah's ears. It was rough and guttural, the English heavily accented with Japanese. She could see tattoos climbing his bared arms. Then he clapped his pistol across her mother's face. A geyser of blood from her nose sprayed across the floor, and splashed hot against Hannah's skin. "Get on the damned phone and call him. Or he's going to need to find a new daughter..."

"You must be Vortex. I am Ôkami."

Hannah nearly jumped out of her skin when the science fiction samurai spoke. Still, at least his voice pulled her out of that memory, one she wished she could forget.

He sat there on his wheel-less motorcycle, hovering in the air. He made no motion to get off. He just stared at her. As if he expected her to do something.

"Right," Vortex forced her mouth to work. "January sent me for you. We have to go."

"No real names," the samurai said sharply. "Maintain operational security whenever we are in the armor."

Operational security, Vortex was sick to death of hearing that phrase already. She gritted her teeth to prevent herself from making a snarky reply. Instead she forced herself forward, and stepped up to the man and his hoverbike.

She had teleported with another person before, many times in fact. But she had never done it with both a person and something as large as the floating bike. She had no idea if she could do it. Or what might happen if she failed. Well, if something went wrong, this was the person for it to fail with. The world would not be missing one more of his ilk.

She laid one hand on the hoverbike. She stared at her other hand, then at Ôkami. She did not want to touch him. She willed her hand to reach out. But it did not want to move. She did not want to move.

"Valhalla awaits you níðingr!" January's voice rang out over the com link. That snapped Vortex out of her paralysis. She clapped down her hand hard upon the samurai's armor-plated shoulder. Before she could be overcome with revulsion, she pulled in spacetime, and rode the warps she folded into its surface.

Then they were back in the gazebo once more. The wedding party ringed the structure. Thankfully they had moved out of it, for Ôkami and his hoverbike barely fit within the cramped space. Instead the people all clustered around the sidewalk that ringed the gazebo instead. Many had phones out to record their arrival, and the professional photographer was of course snapping pictures with the rest of them. Now Vortex understood how January found herself on the internet so often. Everyone had a camera these days.

Vortex let go of the samurai as soon as she could. He goosed the throttle, and drove the floating motorcycle right through the benches that circled the interior of the gazebo. He did not knock them down, or destroy them. He simply slid through them like a ghost, leaving them unchanged in his wake.

It was just like how her father could move through things when he lowered his density enough to become intangible.

"Come, I will take us to the island." The samurai turned back, and reached out one hand for her. Hannah felt a shiver run through her body when those lifeless eyes locked on her.

"Get on the damned phone and call him. Or he's going to need to find a new daughter..."

Vortex did not touch him. Instead she teleported straight ahead, as far as her eyes could see. She rematerialized alone over open water, and felt her stomach drop as she plummeted toward the waves below. She picked a spot directly ahead and teleported once more. Again, she reappeared over the water. This time she plunged into the blue-green waves before she could grab hold of spacetime and bend it to her will a third time.

The waves closed over her head as she sank down. But she knew how to swim. She was born and raised in California after all. Even if it was not as warm year-round as LA was, San Francisco still had its beaches. She was no stranger to the ocean. If Lake St. Clair thought it was something, she would introduce it to the riptides of Ocean Beach.

She kicked her way to the surface with ease, and filled her lungs with air. She took a few moments to turn this way and that. Then she saw a cluster of boats in one direction. That had to be the place. She focused on one of the watercraft, and pulled spacetime from it to her.

She was standing on the deck of a forty foot cabin cruiser a moment later. Women in skimpy bathing suits and men in boat shorts all leaped up in surprise as she took shape in their midst. One dropped a cup of beer all over her. She held back her outrage, and in fact did her best to ignore them all. Instead she focused on getting to where the action was.

What followed was a quick series of short jumps, as she hopped from one boat to the next. She only paused a moment to wash away the spilled beer with a liberal dousing of water from a borrowed bottle. Each time she made her way farther into the ring of vessels that surrounded the island. She could see what looked like a dragon made of fire and magma flying overhead, doing battle with Blood Raven. The heroine was very distinctive in her red and black armor, and flew through the air around a steel tower in the center of the island.

She was about to teleport beside the heroine, when a strange man's voice rumbled in her ear.

"Right," the deep voice said. "The oniare is headed for the water, cut him off if you please Stormcrow. Ôkami, deal with the craquehhe on the beach. Vortex, your job is crowd control. Get people out of danger. Drop them on that Coast Guard cutter, or over to one of the riverbanks."

"I can fight!" Hannah cried out in reply. "And who are you anyway?"

"He's the eyes and ears we lack," January's voice sounded in her ear. "Do what he says. Saving lives is the most important thing here. It always is. Start by getting people off this beach."

Hannah fumed. She knew she could fight. Hadn't she sent both January and her father flying, not once, but twice? She didn't have to be babied. She knew what she was doing!

Still, January was the voice of experience. She definitely knew what she was doing. She could in the very least listen to her, for now.

The rings of boats, and individual watercraft between them, blocked most of her view. That forced her to waste more time hopping from boat to boat. She was tempted to teleport herself high up into the air. She could get a good view from above. But the trouble with that was the falling part that happened afterward. Her most recent dip into Lake St. Clair dissuaded her from tying that again.

Then she spied the Coast Guard cutter that the deep-voiced man had mentioned. Its black hull sat low in the water, so low that it looked like it might sink at any moment. But its white superstructure rose up several stories above the main deck. It was so high that she wondered how it did not tip over. That would give her a perfect view.

The next moment she was standing atop a mast that rose from the bridge of the ship. There was a small crow's nest there, surrounded by electronics and the blades of a radar array that circled overhead. Hannah took a moment to grab hold of the main mast, and steadied herself as the ship rocked beneath her. She saw sailors down there, scurrying about the deck. Thankfully they had not noticed her yet.

She lifted her gaze across the sea of boats, to the shores of Gull Island. She saw January battling there with that thing they called an oniare. It looked like something from a nightmare: half shadow monster, half sea beast. Over a dozen other monsters roamed the beach. They looked like zombies, and apparently were, from what she heard over the communications link.

Now she knew what to do. She saw one of these undead creatures reach out for a woman in a pink bikini. The next moment Hannah was standing between them. She pulled on the fabric of the universe, and a force field sprang up before the zombie. After all the practicing with Blood Raven, it was child's play to create. She barely even had to concentrate to make it happen.

The monster flailed against the energy field, and it shuddered under the force of the blows. Hannah stared back in shock. That was not supposed to happen! Blood Raven and January had never hit her force fields with such power. Either they had been holding back, or these creatures were insanely strong.

She turned to the bikini-clad woman. She was blond, slender, and quite nice to look at, all things considered. Hannah took hold of her arm, and the two of them vanished. They reappeared on the deck of the Coast Guard cutter. The sailors around them looked up in surprise. Hannah tried to think of what Stormcrow would do, and gave them a little wave.

"Hi, I'm Vortex," she said. "I'm here to help. I'll be bringing people over here where it's safe."

With that she was gone, and back on the beach. Once again, one of the zombies immediately rushed at her. Once more a force field held it off. She grabbed two revelers, and disappeared with them both. They all reappeared back on the deck of the Coast Guard ship.

She was getting good at this.

Before going back for the next batch, she pulled out her phone, now made "operationally secure" by January's computer nerd friend. She tapped the screen a few times, and waited for the call to go through. While she did, she teleported back to the beach, and grabbed hold of a random person. A moment later she was back on the Coast Guard cutter, and a male voice came over the line.

"Yes?" he asked.

"Daddy? I need your help," Hannah said.

Yes, Raven needs a signature one-liner. But what she said in the last episode will do for a one-time one-liner.

I like how it's now focusing on Hannah's thoughts. That's intense. I wonder what it'll be like to peer within Okami, with all his neuroses and social conditions.



Love that part. It builds until Okami's silly transportation shows. Whoa. She's having a flashback, Hannah/Vortex is. Man, what a douche. That's her father, right?

Oh my gosh. Okami's all business. Wow, Jobbie Nooner folks are still on the beach? What's wrong with them? Don't they know what's going on? Heh, maybe they are that drunk.

Cool. NICE! You go, Vortex. She's even getting upset a bit when she feels she's being pampered by the others. Which is natural, I'd think.



Spew!

Wait, she calls her dad? Well hey, at least we know he'll be able to knock some craquehhe around.
`

Neat to see things from Hannah’s perspective. Also somehow reassuring to see that how Jan sees her is reinforced in this episode.

Some wonderful funny moments here as her rebellious streak shines.

And we learn that she carries some mysterious baggage that does not help her and Okami start off well. And the socially awkward ninja doesn’t really help the situation. Hopefully, they will warm to each other with time.

I liked how Vortex teleportleapfrogged to the action.

Hopefully, she’ll quickly realize how critical her role is and that she is far and away the most capable one for the task.

Calling on Daddy? That was unexpected and I look forward to learning what she has in mind.

Renee: I have a workshopped some Raven Speech. But I am by no means finished. So far the best candidate I have is: "The ravens come for you."

That wasn't her father in the flashback. That was the Japanese hitman who came to kill her father, and found Hannah and her mother instead. She referenced it before, when January, Hannah, and her dad finally all talked it out in the gazebo (which I think was about 3 months ago IRL time).

The people on the beach are that drunk. They are also panicking, and not acting rationally because of that. Some people do some pretty stupid things when faced with danger.

Hungry Ghost will definitely be able to knock some zombies around, and other things...


Acadian: Like January, Hannah is 19. So she is filled with both the certainty and the exuberance of youth.

Hannah does have a lot of baggage, thanks to her father being a supervillain. Also simply due to her Chinese heritage, which for many comes with a lot of animosity for Japan. The Japanese did not make a lot of friends in and before WWII.

Hungry Ghost will definitely play an important role in the battle to come. As will another hero we have yet to meet.





Ryo/ Ôkami (RL Alex Mallari jr)

Samurai Armor

Chujitsu inspiration

General inspiration for Lighthammer (except most of his head is covered by a helmet)

A-10 Thunderbolt/Warthog


One of the Allies' Theme songs



Book 8.20 - Blood

Ôkami waded through the monsters on the beach, faithful blade in hand. But there were too many revenants, and too many civilians. He could not fight the first and keep the latter safe at the same time. That made his course clear. Save as many innocents as he could.

So after decapitating that first monster that had been attempted to drag Stormcrow down, he spent most of his time taking celebrants and fading with them. That allowed him to protect them from the revenant's attacks, as the monsters could not reach them while they were faded from reality. It also allowed him to run them off the beach, to the relative safety of either the water or the grasslands farther down the shore.

Thankfully the zombies remained on the beach, at least so far. Perhaps they had been given orders to stay there? Or they just had no will or desire to leave? Or perhaps their attention was simply taken up by those who had yet to flee the sands? Ôkami could not tell.

He saw a craquehhe come up behind a reveler, and raced forward. He grabbed hold of the young man before the creature's hands could smash through his skull. They faded, and the revenant's bony fingers passed through them both harmlessly. Then Ôkami pushed himself. He and his charge remained out of phase with the physical world, but he allowed his sword to return to normal space.

Chujitsu lanced out, and speared the craquehhe in the face. With a flick of his wrist, the blackened steel of the blade sliced clean through the monster's skull, and out the side of its head. Still keeping the rest of his body out of phase, Ôkami pushed the celebrant down to give him more room. With a single back-handed sweep, he took what remained of the craquehhe's head clean off its shoulders. Chujitsu howled with delight, like a wolf calling to its mates under a moonlit sky.

He pulled the young celebrant along with him down the beach, both of them still faded. Then once they were clear of the monsters, he let the man go. He knew that he was moving too slowly. There were too many people, and too many zombies. He needed to change his tactics.

"Ôkami, this isn't working," Gadget echoed his thoughts over the communications links. "Instead of getting people away from the zombies, why not try attracting them to you instead?"

"Act as bait?" Ôkami replied. "How do I do that?"

"I dunno, advertise free brains?" Gadget murmured. "What do zombies like?"

"The Bestiary says they seek living prey, and will greedily devour any human parts, and will not stop until their stomachs are full." Cray now joined the conversation.

"I have an idea." Ôkami replied. He pulled off one of his gauntlets, and laid Chujitsu against his bared flesh. His eyes moved from the blackened steel at the back of the sword, to the characteristic wavy lines of the pattern-welded steel along its cutting edge. He knew what he had to do. He just did not like it. He gritted his teeth, and did the deed.

With a single slash, he tore open the flesh of his palm. Blood rained across his hand, and down to the brown sand below.

The body is not a prison of flesh. It was nothing but a tool that he wore to perform the work of living. That tool labored in the hand of his spirit. The spirit did not feel pain. Neither did a tool. Therefore pain did not exist.

All was emptiness, the flashing sword, and the arms that wielded it. Even the thought of emptiness must no longer be there. From this absolute emptiness came the most wondrous unfoldment of doing.

Ôkami acted with no further thought. He leapt in front of the nearest of the craquehhe, and snapped his hand in front of its face. His blood splattered across its features. The creature instantly took its eyes from the civilians it had been advancing upon, and turned to face him instead.

But Ôkami was already bounding away, to find the next zombie, and the next. With each one he used his own blood as a lure. They took this bait eagerly, ignoring everything else in return for the promise of hot, fresh blood. Soon the craquehhe were pressing in on him from all sides. He would have been quickly overwhelmed by the mob and crushed beneath their weight. But he simply faded, and slipped through them to open space beyond. In this manner he led them on a merry chase, away from the celebrants who were finally making themselves scarce from the beach.

* * *

Lighthammer burned through the air like a missile. His onboard computer told him that he had long-since passed Mach 2. His old Warthog could have never even come close to this speed. It could not even make Mach 1. Now he knew how those old F4 drivers at the VA hospital felt when they talked about hitting the afterburners and sitting on top of a rocket.

He cut across Windsor and lower Ontario in less than a minute. Then he was out over Lake St. Clair. Ever since he had met Stormcrow, he sure was spending a lot of time here up north. He was going to have to get used to life beyond Lake Erie. For now though, he followed the pin that Gadget had dropped in his computer's map, and was now displayed upon his helmet's heads up display.

It led him straight to Gull Island. It was easy enough to find. It was the one with a fleet of boats around it. It was also the one with the giant flaming lizard flying overhead. That was something else that had changed since he had met Stormcrow. Life sure had gotten a lot weirder!

"Lighthammer, see if you can lend Ôkami a hand on the beach," the mellow tones of Cray filled his ears. "Use your new heat lasers, not the hard light."

"Roger that, I am rolling in." Lighthammer cut back on his speed drastically as he approached the island. By the time he passed over the first of the ships he had dropped down to subsonic speeds. He was still moving at a good clip when he came up on the beach however, as fast as the old days when he did this in his A-10.

This was a lot more dicey however. Back in those days, he did not have to worry about friendlies being in the line of fire. There were danger close missions to be sure, but nothing where he was literally firing into a crowd that included people on his own side.

"Keep your head down Ôkami," Lighthammer said. "I'm about to light things up."

"Do not concern yourself on my account," the other man said in very precise language. "You will not strike me."

Lighthammer hoped he knew what he was talking about, because it was time to cut loose. He raised his palms and opened up with his new and improved lasers. This was his first time using them outside of practice with Stormcrow. Thanks to her, he had learned more about using his powers than he ever had in the months before he had met her. She pushed him, like no one else ever had. He had to admit, she was a good influence.

The high intensity beams of light that shone from his palms lanced out, and fried all they came into contact with below. Zombies were sliced in two, three, and even four parts, depending on where the rays of searing light cut through them. Sand fused into glass. Numerous bodies collapsed to the ground, Lighthammer nodded in satisfaction when he confirmed that none of them were the good guys.

He pulled to the left to avoid a steel tower in the middle of the island. Blood Raven stood atop a platform at its peak, and appeared to be fighting with a man in black and white monk's robes. The great flaming lizard winged around her, and spewed gouts of fire her way. She warded these off with those golden force shields that she made. But it was clearly not a fair fight.

"You must be more precise," Ôkami's words burst his balloon. "They are not dead. Only total body destruction - or that of the head - will finish them."

"Everybody's a critic," Lighthammer murmured. He came to a halt on the western side of the island. The trees on that side of the isle blocked off the beach from his sight. But he had a great view of the firewing. So when he kicked back up the speed, he made sure to send it a care package of hard light, courtesy of the Air Force.

"Hooaah!" he exclaimed with gusto. He was back down on the beach seconds later. This time instead of another strafing run, he came to a halt in the air right above the center of the area. This gave him a fantastic view, and allowed him to pick and choose his targets with care. One after another, zombie heads evaporated under his lasers.

Soon they clambered after him. But thankfully he was able to fly above the reach of their arms. He finally got a good look at his counterpart on the ground as well. He looked like some kind of samurai warrior, katana and all. He also noted that the man had a way of walking straight through people, like a ghost. But his sword was quite solid every time it hacked off a head.

"Lighthammer, watch the fringes," Cray's voice came over the comm. "Make sure they stay on the beach."

"I hear you coach," he murmured. He saw what the hacker was referring to. Several of the zombies were climbing up onto a speedboat that had been pulled up onto the edge of the beach. He could see people hiding inside, trying to stay low. But apparently not low enough, for the monsters were now working their way up the side of the vessel.

Lighthammer did not move in their direction. That would have brought the pack at his feet with him, and only made matters worse. So instead he took his time, and picked off the zombies one by one. The final one had scaled up the side of the boat and stood over the edge of its hull. That silhouetted him perfectly against the horizon. It was easier than ever to take his head clean off.

Wow, very clever of Ôkami (with some help from Gadget and Cray) to bait the zombies, then fade when in danger of being overwhelmed. Lead them on a merry bloody chase indeed!


The Hammer’s here!

’Now he knew how those old F4 drivers at the VA hospital felt when they talked about hitting the afterburners and sitting on top of a rocket.’
- - By Kynareth’s wings, she was fast!

And we see the influence that Stormcrow has had on Lighthammer, with his reference to her help with magic. That goes right along with Blood Raven’s previous observation that it really is Stormcrow who draws these other allies to her.

That's good to see what Okami looks like. Definitely the guy I'd want sitting next to me on the bus (protection, nobody's gonna mess with him very often). But there's also a look in that guy's face which says he's not some gangbanger who's gonna steal our purse or try to commit some other egregious act. I'm not kidding. When I used to live in bigger cities, sometimes I would purposely sit next to a guy like that, if I were riding a bus in rougher parts of town.

Damn, he cut hisself! ... Therefore pain does not exist??? Lord have mercy, Okami's hardcore. That's right, craquehheads, it's dinner time!




Um. Yeah, that's a good idea. I don't care how much Milwaukee's Best is flowing, or how tough some of these guys think they are. Get... Off... That ... Beach!

Good job at distinguishing all these different personalities, by the way. It's now Lighthammer's turn and his immediate thoughts back to his military days are something which only fit with the hammer. But it's also the feel of his thoughts that is different. I dunno. Having a hard time saying what I mean. Hannah comes across as creative in her approach, but also a little ditzy when it's just her & Jan. Okami's not so good with social situations, but here in action, he's really focused. Lighthammer is just confidence, which has been bred from being a soldier.

Yeah that's right. Blow those crackhead zombies to smithereens! Hooah!

Acadian: Okami does not have force fields or similar powers that might wall of the zombies. So I was a little stumped at what he might do to try to contain the horde. That is when I got the idea of using their own thirst for blood against them, along with his own ability to go out of phase and be immune to their attacks.

I knew you would appreciate the F4 reference! Given that the Hammer flew A-10s, he has probably never gone that fast before.

Lighthammer's observations on how meeting January has expanded his horizons, and made the world a lot weirder, were fun to write.


Renee: Okami/Ryo would be a good person to sit by on the bus. Anyone who F's with his is going to find out. As you noted, he is hardcore. Those references to things like pain not existing and emptiness are quotes from Zen masters. He is very much a samurai warrior, with that razor sharp focus of will.

Lighthammer is definitely pure confidence. He is an air force pilot after all! He has swagger to spare. Well, at least he did back when he still had both of his legs. But he still swaggers with the best of them. Hooah!






The USCGC Bristol Bay

The USCGC Bristol Bay Close Up


Book 8.21 - Blood

January grappled with the oniare in the water. It was like trying to wrestle a snake that had wings, because in fact, that was what she was doing. She knew some basic Greco-Roman wrestling moves. But arm and leg holds were spectacularly unhelpful when fighting an opponent who possessed neither appendages. Likewise throws of were little use underwater. Instead she relied upon muay thai, as she usually did when a fight became very close. She planted an elbow here, and a knee there, and struggled against the creature.

But the water hindered her movements. Even without it, when her blows landed the Abyssal seemed to take little notice of them. It seemed to be built of rawhide. Its flesh gave - then sprang back - under every blow. So too did its aura. For thanks to Blood Raven's observations, January now knew that her attacks were inherently magical in nature. They struck in astral space, just as they did in the physical world. That was why she was able to harm creatures such as the djieien, which were immune to ordinary weaponry. Yet this creature shrugged off the magical components of her assaults just as easily as it did the physical. It was clearly a tank, in both the mundane and astral realms.

In the very least the monster was having the same difficulties against her. It tried to bite, and head butt, and slash at her with its wings. But all of these were for naught against her hagfish suit and cubic boron nitride armor plates. It was more successful with the spike on its tail. This drove through even the nanotwinned metal of her chest plate. But it too was turned helplessly aside by January's adamantine flesh.

So they twisted and turned through the water. Sometimes the struggle briefly took them to the surface. But most of the affair was below the blue-green waves. January was thankful for the self contained air supply that Gadget had built into her helmet. But at the same time, she knew that she should be using magic to breathe the water instead. After all, there was no reason not to.

Well, except that whole drowning thing of course.

She was pushing herself enough by learning to use her wings to fly underwater. She did not want to split away too much of her focus at the moment. Perhaps later in the evening she might experiment with breathing water in the bathtub. With someone present who was trained in CPR.

Finally the oniare broke free and raced off through the waves. January could not see far under the water, as their fight had churned it up into a dense murk of floating particles. She imagined that being in the place where the river emptied into the lake might have something to do with the lack of clarity as well.

January pushed herself up, and sprang up above the turbid water. Her wings beat hard against the air, and it took her a moment to reorient herself from flying underwater to doing so in the air. But she had her bearings soon enough, and pushed herself skyward to get a better view of her surroundings.

She spotted the dark form of the oniare in moments. It passed under a row of boats tied side by side. Then it was into deeper water, farther from the island. At least that meant fewer boaters and people on inflatables. However the deeper water also meant that this was where that Coast Guard cutter waited.

January idly noted that the icebreaker was named the Bristol Bay as she shot down to try to intercept the monster. She could not help but compare the Abyssal to a torpedo as it charged directly at the ship. January pulled her wings in and held her arms down against her body. Her speed increased as she changed from flying down to literally falling at a steep angle. But she was still too late.

The oniare hit the side of the ship and punched through its hull as if it was made of balsa wood. Black-painted steel simply caved in under the monster, and the entire ship rocked violently from the force of the impact. January saw people cling to the rails and walls of the superstructure, at least those not thrown from their feet altogether. Many were uniformed Coast Guard members. But others were clearly ordinary people. January imagined they might be civilians Vortex had rescued from the beach. Talk about going from the frying pan to the fire!

January hit the water a moment later, and knifed through the waves directly behind the Abyssal. The next thing she knew, she was inside the ship with the monster. Water gushed in after her, and shoved her deeper into the vessel with titanic force. She planted her feet on the steel deck and became Earth. Just like that she was immovable. She was the mountain. She was adamant.

She was in a room that stank of grease and diesel. There was steel everywhere. Steel floor, steel walls, steel ceiling, steel pipes, steel machinery, steel levers and knobs. It was clearly some kind of engineering space. January noted water tight hatches at either end of the large compartment. It was toward these exits that the handful of crew members within the space fought to reach. But the oncoming water had ideas of its own.

"I need help inside the coast guard ship," January said over the comm link. "Vortex, bring Ôkami. He can get these people out of here quicker than I can."

The oniare loomed up above one of these people, a man who had slipped and fallen on the water-logged deck. January saw the creature's tail rise, showing off its long, pointed stinger. She transformed from Earth to Water. She flowed across the chamber, and was there before the Abyssal could strike home.

It hit January hard in the chest, and pierced her armor like it was paper. She reeled under the force of the blow, but she did not falter. She was Earth again. She was the mountain, she was adamant. She could take every blow the world gave her.

She followed up with a push kick that sent the monster sailing across the room. She leaped after it. The machinery crowded in too near to either side for her to deploy her wings. So she did it the old-fashioned way, with leg-power alone. She was back upon the creature in seconds, and unleashed a power punch at its head. It slipped to the side, and January's fist dimpled the steel bulkhead behind the monster.

"I'll keep it busy!" January yelled in the general direction of the crew members behind her. "Get out of here and seal the doors behind you."

"But you'll be trapped," one of the crew shouted back. January noted that she was a woman in her mid-thirties, with short blonde hair.

"I know!" January slipped a stab from the creature's tail, and replied with a jab at its eyeless face. The Abyssal's head rocked back, but otherwise it showed no signs of appreciable injury. Nothing she did seemed to harm it. She wished for the opportunity to strike it with lightning. Gadget had said it only feared the thunder god after all. But a lake was a bad place for electricity, and a steel boat an even worse one.

A dark shape dropped through the ceiling. It took January a moment to realize it was not Ôkami. Instead it was a man in black tactical gear, face covered by balaclava. He held a metallic staff in one hand, which appeared to have some sort of electronics built into the central grip.

"Hungry Ghost?" January's said in surprise. That surprise was all that the Abyssal needed to drive home a head butt, which sent her careening back through the room. She crashed into a massive pipe, which bent torturously under her, then cracked in two. A great vent of steam came up in a geyser, bathing her in heat and even more moisture.

"I heard you could use a hand." The Chinese man stepped up with his staff in one hand, extended to full length. He whipped it around in a backhand blow, and its ends passed harmlessly through the machinery to either side. But when it struck home in the side of the Abyssal's head, it was quite solid. The creature had been charging January, but this blow drove it back. That gave her the time to get back on her feet amidst the rushing water.

"Feldercarb!" January swore. "I asked for Ôkami because his sword might be able to kill this thing."

She allowed her voice to soften, and laid a friendly hand upon the man's shoulder. "But I'm glad you're here anyway. Get these people out and seal up the doors behind you."

"And you?" the Ghost asked.

"I don't know, I'm making this up as I go," January answered honestly.

The water was waist high by now, and more kept coming in every second. The ship was going to sink if they did not at least close off the room. But the Abyssal made escape - much less securing the water-tight doors - difficult. January made keeping it away from the crew her mission. Every time it made a move upon one of them, she put herself in its path. It hit hard. But she could take a hit.

In the meanwhile Hungry Ghost took the crew members one and two at a time, and walked through the walls with them. It was very easy to tell once he turned them intangible, for suddenly they were able to move through the water without impediment. They simply ran as one normally would on land.

Finally the hatches were sealed, and January was trapped inside with both the beast and the rising water. That was when the scream of tortured steel came to her ears. She turned to look, and saw that the gigantic hole that had been torn into the Abyssal's torpedo strike was now sealing itself closed. In front of her eyes the strips of metal that had been bent inward like the petals of a flower, now flowed back into the hull. One jagged ribbon of steel at a time, it all moved back and fused together into a single, solid mass, with no sign of cracks between the formerly splintered pieces. Just like that the hole was gone, and the hull seemingly pristine once more. The water stopped coming in, though the chamber was still filled chest-high at that point.

January had no idea what had caused that. None of their small team could manipulate metal that way. But she was not about to look a gift super in the mouth. Whatever had done that, it was clearly a good thing.

The Abyssal was less pleased. It looked up at the ceiling above and gathered itself. January moved forward to strike. But the water and cramped space slowed her down. She became Water herself, and flowed through the deluge. But the oniare was still faster.

It shot upward, straight into the ceiling. Just as with the hull earlier, the Abyssal burst through the steel as if it was paper, and disappeared from view overhead. January pursued without hesitation, and leaped through the gaping hole after it.

She found herself under the open sky once more. The hole was in the deck on one side of the ship, in the narrow walkway between the white superstructure and the black gunwale of the cutter. People crowded to either side. But all were staring up. January followed their gaze, and saw the oniare rise up over the top of the superstructure, and disappear from view.

Her wings snapped out, and she clawed for altitude. In just a moment she had risen two stories up the structure. That put her on the roof of the superstructure, which doubled as an elevated deck and was bordered on three sides by metal safety rails. To its fore rose a short and narrow third level that was lined with windows, and appeared to be the bridge of the vessel. Behind the elevated deck a single wide smokestack thrust itself skyward.

January could see members of the crew within the bridge look back in horror. Worse, there were half a dozen civilians out in the open on the deck. Clad in bathing suits, shorts, and tees, they were clearly refugees from the island. They were trapped between the monster and the bridge, which had no door entering directly onto the deck right behind it. The only escape was a pair of ladders on either side of the deck that led down to the next deck below, as well as a third ladder that rose up the radar mast above the bridge. The two side ladders were blocked by the Abyssal, and the final option soon became clogged with civilians trying to climb from danger.

But January got there first. As with the crew, she used her body as a shield, and took the blow meant to decapitate a reveler. A push kick sent the monster reeling against the railing at the back of the deck. That allowed January to advance, and get some room to maneuver.

It came back at her with a stab from that spiked tail. January ducked underneath it by doing the splits. Both of her legs splayed out horizontally to either side. That dropped her down to the deck below, while the monster's stinger whiffed air harmlessly overhead. She instantly struck out with both fists, connecting solidly into the creature's nether regions. Well, if it had such things.

The oniare reared back, and January could see its neck convulse, as if it was preparing to throw up or spit. It was not looking at January however. Its gaze was focused upon the people behind her. She somersaulted back in their direction and came up on her feet. She lifted her wings up in a wide shield, just moments before the monster could emit a spray of green liquid from its mouth.

The emerald goop that shot forth was caught by the indigo down of January's wings. It hissed angrily at the touch of her body, and burned like lava. With a snap of her wings, January swept most of it down to the deck between her and monster. She was careful to keep it away from the refugees however. Thunder rolled above them, and rain began to pelt down from above.

Now January knew what she needed to do. She leaped high up into the air, above the tops of the bridge and mast alike. The sky ripped apart at her command, and a great bolt of lightning tore loose. It did not lance down to spear the Abyssal on the deck below her however. No, it hammered directly into her instead. It bathed her in electricity, and filled her to the brim with it. It was like being hit by a freight train made of light and fire. But it did not hurt. It simply sent her hurtling back down, directly into the oniare.

January unleashed the most spectacular downward jumping elbow in all of her time practicing muay thai. Her elbow slammed into the top of the monster's head. All of that electricity gushed out, directly into the Abyssal's skull. Its head literally exploded in a great burst of light and sound, and its decapitated body fell to the deck, shoulders aflame.

January dropped to the deck a moment later. The lightning which she had trapped in her body had been spent in that one blow. She was glad to see that the electricity had not spread beyond the monster to anyone else on the ship. They were all safe and sound, and wet. For the rain now washed her from above like a cleansing shower, and drummed on the deck underfoot.

As January watched, the Abyssal's remains faded away. In the end all that was left were a few scorched bones, as if from a corpse, a human corpse.

She remembered the man from Ferndale. He had been used as a sacrifice to anchor the djieien there. Clearly, the Summoner had been up to his old tricks once more.

Let me say that I do enjoy your predictable posting schedule. I look forward to sitting down with my lunch and another episode of the Stormcrow each Saturday.


’But arm and leg holds were spectacularly unhelpful when fighting an opponent who possessed neither appendages.’ - -

Even during this desperate oniare battle, Jan sets a future goal of expanding her magicks to include water breathing.

As soon as the Bristol Bay got hit by that oniare-torpedo, I was thinking, ‘Oh noes, that’s where Vortex has been hauling partiers to safety!’ Jan quickly confirms this.

Close quarters battle in a tight, bad place for lightning. Urg. Unexpected help arrives! Not unexpected though is Jan’s focus on protecting the ship and those aboard with little self-regard. Looks like it’ll be up to her team to save the Stormcrow perhaps.

Wow, who was that who sealed up the ship?

Finally. The oniare makes a big mistake in going vertical and moving from his element up into January’s. Open sky at last! And it doesn’t take long for her to unleash a devastatingly precise and lethal lightning attack. And this was just a Summoner minion! Wonder how Blood Raven’s doing with the real deal?

Oh gosh, she's fighting underwater. So she can 'fly' underwater like a manta ray. Neat. Maybe she can try hitting that monster with a lightning bolt. Electricity travels through water, I think.

Hungry Ghost? Hannah's dad, right?

Jeezus Jan's getting beat up left and right in this episode. Poor thing. I like the part when she says she's making it up as she goes along.

Ah-ha, so this was all the Summoner's doing, eh. What a crazy episode.

Acadian: I do prefer having a "standard" posting schedule. I go for Saturday's because that is a day most folks have off work, and so (hopefully) have time to put aside to read.

Among other things, this is definitely a progression fantasy. January is always improving and expanding her repertoire of abilities in response to events. Like her wings. I do forsee an undersea adventure in the future where that water breathing will come in handy.

Talk about going from the frying pan to the fire, those people rescued from the beach found themselves right in the middle of it once more with the onaire.

We are going to meet that unseen ally who sealed up the ship in today's episode. Next week we will check back in with Blood Raven, to see how she is faring against the Summoner and the firewing.

The oniare left the interior of the ship because it ran out of easy targets. So it went up on deck to get at the civilians. It did not count upon January having a few things in common with the thunder god Hinon...


Renee: Electricity does conduct like wild underwater. But that would also electrocute all the innocent people in the area. So January has to be really careful when throwing around lightning bolts.

Hungry Ghost is indeed Hannah's dad, whom she called on the phone at the end of her episode.

Jan does take a beating. But she is like a Timex. She can take a licking and keep on ticking. When I make her in RPGs she is a tank, with Endurance being her top stat.

This entire battle is the Summoner's doing. It started with the summoning of that oniare.



Anishinabek Nation

Sheshegwaning First Nation

Blackhawk's Route South To Gull Island

Banded Armor example

Medicine Wheel

Blackhawk is Shannon Blackbird, a descendant of RL Andrew Jackson Blackbird



Book 8.22 - Blood

Blackhawk pulled on the Earth's magnetic field, and reshaped it to her will. She rode it across the sky, and ate up miles in mere heartbeats. The familiar weight of her blue and green Armex Steel banded armor was a comfort, so too was the warm feeling of the planet's natural energies humming and flowing around her. The first would stop bullets and worse. The second was the ocean within which she swam.

A medicine wheel of white, yellow, red, and black wedges emblazoned the bands of steel across her chest. A black and white thunderbird was superimposed over its center, and three white feathers with black tips hung from the wheel's braided rim. It was her own creation, a mixture of her ancestral people the Sheshegwaning's own symbol, combined with that of the Anishinabek Nation union which they were a part of. It reminded her of who she was, where she had come from, and where she was headed.

She raced over the waves of the St. Clair River. Harsens Island passed by on her right, its shoreline dotted with cottages and boat docks. To her left stretched out Walpole Island, with its farms and forests. She crossed over the American side of the river, and cut across the wetlands and farms deeper within Harsens Island. Once clear of the coastline, the countryside turned much wilder. As with the other islands here in the St. Clair Flats, the ground was wet and marshy, home to more birds, fish, and other wildlife than humans.

Soon the St. Clair River curled in west to meet her once more. She followed it down the southernmost tip of Harsens Island, to where it emptied into Lake St. Clair. Here at the end of the wide river delta sat Gull Island. On most days it would be unremarkable. It was a tiny spot of land just beyond the mouth of the river. There were no homes here, no farms, no docks, just wetlands and a single, steel tower that rose up into the sky like a lonely sentinel among the frogs and herons.

But this was not most days. This was the last Friday of June. That meant Jobbie Nooner. Nearly a hundred thousand people, or perhaps more, were crowded around the tiny island in a fleet of boats both large and small. It was the most epically nautical party in the Great Lakes - if not anywhere else - fueled by alcohol, pharmacology, and nature's desires.

She wondered where they all went to the bathroom, and resolved to stay out of the water if she could avoid it.

The sounds of music and jubilant celebration were drowned out by screams and roars however. Over the island flew a giant lizard with a body of magma and wings of living fire. It seemed to be intent upon burning a smaller figure to a cinder. Blackhawk immediately recognized the black and red armor that figure wore, along with their mane of crimson hair. That was Blood Raven. She was not surprised that someone would want to kill her...

But that was not all there was. There was some sort of fighting on the beach, between what appeared to be a mob and a samurai. Oh, and that blue, white, and gray armored man she saw zipping around could only be Lighthammer, the infamous vigilante turned white hat from Cleveland.

Yet in spite of all this, the thing that drew her attention first was the American Coast Guard icebreaker near the shore. It sat low in the water, too low, and was visibly dropping farther and farther down into the lake every second.

She had no idea what was going on here. The reports that had flashed by on the news while she had been in Sarnia merely reported a super battle underway between the Blackbirds of Detroit and an unknown number of assailants. As always she still laughed inwardly at that name for the pairing of Blood Raven and this new person Stormcrow. After all, it was her own last name. Not that anyone knew it.

She might not know who was fighting who here, or why, but she did know that ships sinking were bad, given the whole drowning issue. It was also a task she could easily set herself upon, given that the vessel was made of steel. With that in mind she pulled herself along the planet's magnetic field, over to the spot where the cutter settled into the waves.

She felt down through the electro-magnetic fields, and found the ferrous material of the ship's hull. She searched along the steel with her magnetic senses, and quickly discovered where the metal had been torn inward in a great breach. It did not feel like the damage from an explosion. It was too localized, and there had been no scorching or melting due to heat. Rather it was like a battering ram had punched a hole into the side of the ship, and caved in a rough circle several feet in diameter.

This was easy-peasy, lemon-squeezy. Reshaping steel was what she did before breakfast. She took the metal in her metaphorical hands, and bent it back outward. At first she took each petal of broken steel one at a time. But once she had them all pushed back into the correct general shape, she applied her will upon the entirety of the mass. She caused the metal to flow together into a solid sheet, and then harden into an inviolable barrier. When she was finished it was no different from any other part of the hull.

With that done, Blackhawk turned her attention to the island. That giant flaming lizard was still circling there and attacking Blood Raven. The scarlet-maned heroine had relocated to the ground however, and seemed to have her hands full with what looked like a man in a Christian monk's robes down there.

She flew over in that direction, and in the process hovered over the beach. Now she could see that Lighthammer and the samurai were fighting what looked like real-life zombies down there, or real-unlife zombies, as the case apparently was. They were clearly dead, with glowing red eyes, bone white skin, and maggots crawling through their hair.

The heroes were not holding back either. Most all of their sword or energy bolts were aimed at the head, and the monsters dropped like sacks of wet potatoes after those hits. While other blows that merely dismembered did not even slow the creatures. She also noted that even with these grievous injuries, there was no blood. Not a single drop shed on the beach from the mangled creatures. They seemed to be desiccated, like mummies, rather than zombies. So apparently they were sacks of dry potatoes.

Now that was interesting. Whatever those things were, they were not alive. Whether they were the actual undead or simply puppets to some meta-human power, she did not know. But it was clear that she ought to lend a hand. With just a thought, strips of the Armex Steel went flying from the armor that plated her legs. They whipped down, and lashed around the bodies of two of the creatures, and pinned their arms to their torsos. That made them easy prey for the heroes fighting them.

Her phone rang. Of all the times for such a thing... She ignored it. This was hardly the moment to hear about how she could save on her car insurance. But it refused to stop, even after it reached, and surpassed, the maximum amount of rings before it was set to go to voice mail.

She snapped her steel bands from the zombies as soon as the other heroes divested them of their heads, and sent them out to catch two more of the monsters. While they did, she dug down into her belt, and pulled out her phone. She laughed when she saw the name associated with the number.

"Stormcrow? Really?" Blackhawk answered. "How did you get my number?"

"Cray gave it to me," a decidedly male voice replied. "Hi, I'm Gadget. I work with Stormcrow. We noticed you stopped by for the fun. Thanks for the help with the Coast Guard cutter by the way. I've been asked to direct your attention to the firewing. I'm told you have some snazzy magnetic force fields that work great against energy."

"Alright, no more beach blanket bingo then." She looked down at the next pair of zombies her steel plates had snagged. Rather than wait for the heroes on the beach to finish them off, she pinched them shut. That literally sliced the creatures in two. However, after the pieces fell to the beach they immediately began crawling and jerking about. So apparently you really did need to shoot them in the head.

She gave the strips of metal a snap to shake off the dust from the creature's bodies. Then they flew back up and clapped back into place around her legs once more.

She left the beach behind her and moved inland. The metal tower that had stood in the center of the island was gone. Now it lay scattered in pieces on the ground. Those shards were clearly misshapen. If she were to put them back together as they were, they would create something other than a tower. Now that was odd.

The firewing - which she had to admit was a very apt name for the creature - was busy trying to set the island ablaze. Well, not on her watch. She reached out to the planet's magnetic field, and pulled upon its many glowing threads. She bent them to her will, and a brought up a wide dome of energy that covered the center of the island. The peak hummed just above her head, while below her Blood Raven appeared to be battling with another creature of fire.

Well, Blood Raven would just have to deal with that herself. For she felt a tremendous gout of heat and flame wash across her force field. It was powerful, tremendously so. She had never felt anything so intense in all the fires she had fought. Not even napalm was this hot. It was as if it was the purest distillation of elemental power.

Her field buckled under the onslaught. Blackhawk raised both her arms skyward, and focused more of her energy into maintaining her energy screen. So far everything had been just play. But this, this was a real challenge. Whatever this firewing was, it was nothing to take for granted.

* * *

Welcome to Blackhawk! A very well-done introduction as you ‘show’ us who she is via her thoughts and actions. She does indeed have some interesting abilities. I also like her dry and fun sense of humor – just one example of many quoted below:
’She wondered where they all went to the bathroom, and resolved to stay out of the water if she could avoid it.’

And the answer to our mysterious ship repair that occurred in the previous episode.

This is getting to be quite the cast! Are we up to a Magnificent Seven yet?

Okay, good, so HG is Hannah's father. +1 for me & my mid-life drain-bamaged memory skills.

Blackhawk seems to be a new character, eh? And there's some history. She knows who the Blood Raven is. Again the story focuses on Blackhawk's thoughts. She seems merely observant, and experienced. Like she's seen stuff like this happen before.

Have you ever been to Jobbie Nooner, Rosa? Maybe forced to go as a child or something? Just curious.

Blackhawk's phone rings. Okay, so she's tied in with modern devices. Not some mythical, ancient being as I was sort of picturing. She also uses semi-modern phrases like "beach blanket bingo", which is from the '60s, I think. Honestly it seems like the others need her help. Even with all their combined skills, the other heroes are struggling.

Stormcrow needs to become a screenplay. I can see it on the CW, right next to Supergirl.

Acadian: I did not have any sort of personality set in my head when I began writing Blackhawk. She just sort of took off on her own with that light-hearted, somewhat snarky sense of humor. I really do like how she turned out.

I did a count, and we are up to the Magnificent 9 now:
Stormcrow
Blood Raven
Lighthammer
Okami
Vortex
Hungry Ghost
Blackhawk
Gadget
Cray

That is all the new characters this episode however. And of course not all of these are truly full-time team members.


Renee: Blackhawk is indeed an experienced heroine who has been around for a while. Long enough to have worked with Blood Raven in the past, and not enjoyed Blood Raven's often brusque and hard personality (when it comes to outsiders).

I have never been to Jobbie Nooner. But it is something that is hard to miss if you live in the area. You will hear about it on the radio and news, and just people talking.

Blackhawk is not a magician, or in any way mystical. I deliberately want to avoid doing the "Wise Mystical Native Person" trope with her. In her day job, she is a researcher, and is currently writing a book about First Nations veterans of World War 2.

You are right in that the Allies need all hands on deck right now. This was a deliberate ambush set to kill Blood Raven and Stormcrow. It is supposed to be overwhelming. The only reason they are still in the fight is because of the friends they have made.

Supergirl was a big inspiration for me to write this. Not simply because of superheroes in general, or even a *gasp* female superheroine. But the whole tone of the show, which is a positive one, in which people are worth fighting for, and worth saving. As opposed to all the grimdark settings that seem so common now. January and Supergirl would be a great teamup, she and Kara are two peas in a pod.





An example of a Damascus steel longsword

An example of runes carved on Damascus steel

The Morrigan

Samhain

Bean-Sidhe



Book 8.23 - Blood

Blood Raven allowed Y Ddraig Aur to vanish from her hand. She was not fighting an Abyssal, not personally. So this was not the time for wielding a manifestation of draconic power. Instead she replaced it with Samhain. It was a blade for slaying mortals, whether augmented by magic or not.

The leaf-bladed Celtic sword felt natural in her hand. It was a part of her after all, forged with her own flesh and blood. The runes carved down the black Damascus steel of its blade spoke of war and death. Its gleaming black crossguard was etched with the likenesses of raven's wings. In its center lay a raven's head, seen from the top down. With eyes that glowed red as a bloody sunset, its beak pointed straight down into the fuller, as if ready to lap up the sanguine gifts that might soon run down the blade.

It croaked like ravens the moment she set her flesh to the leather-wrapped grip, and whispered to her in the voice of the Morrigan.

The raven ravenous
Among corpses of men
Affliction and outcry
And war everlasting
Raging over Cúailgne
Death of sons
Death of kinsmen
Death! Death!

She immediately set to her task. The Summoner was struggling to his feet near the base of the surveillance tower. Apparently his fall from its summit was not something so easily shaken off, at least not for him. He might give the appearance of power and invulnerability. But inside, he was soft.

He fumbled with the flamethrower he carried. But Blood Raven was too quick. She was upon him in a heartbeat. Her raven sword flashed, and sliced the weapon neatly in two. Aion exploded into the aether as the enchantment laid upon the weapon was annihilated. Both ends of the broken weapon fell from the magician's trembling hands, and Blood Raven moved in to finish him.

"The ravens come for you..." she growled.

Samhain stirred in her hand. It recognized the Summoner, just as it had January. His blood and bone called out to it, and the sword answered. That could only mean one thing. The thing which Blood Raven had dreaded all along. The Summoner was not merely one of her father's progeny, but one of her own as well.

But the blade recoiled from the other magician's aura, as if it was poison. Perhaps it could sense what she herself could not, the truth behind the mask the Summoner wore in the aether. In any case, where it had welcomed January's own purity of spirit, Samhain clearly rejected the corruption of this creature's soul. It howled like the bean-sidhe of her ancestral homeland, and thirsted to spill red life upon the earth.

The firewing came down overhead. She could sense it in the aether, plain as a bonfire on a clear night. With a flick of her free hand, she raised a shield of aion behind her. The magical energy formed into a golden wall upon which the elemental's flames licked harmlessly.

The firewing crashed directly into the barrier a moment later, attempting to break it down with brute force. Blood Raven was compelled to give it more of her attention, and divert a greater amount of aion into the maintenance of the magical field. But in the end it did hold, and the winged salamander was obliged to pull back, before attempting to burn her again with its fiery breath.

That however gave the Summoner time. He was still on the ground, and slithered away using his elbows and feet. He gestured to Blood Raven, and she felt power escape from the cloak that hid his aura. Then she realized that it was not to her that the man indicated. No, it was the tower behind her.

The steel beams of the spire groaned and shook. They bent down and seemed to flow together. The tower shortened greatly from its once lofty height. But it gained in bulk. After a moment it was a massive, human-shaped creature of pure steel, and it bounded directly at Blood Raven.

It brought down a fist larger than her body. Rather than try to parry that, Blood Raven danced aside. Samhain came around as she did, and hacked neatly through the steel construct's wrist. The great metal hand slammed into the ground with a loud thud, and sank visibly into the soft turf.

In fact, the entire steel golem was having trouble remaining aloft in the soggy ground. It had to spread the metal in its feet out widely, almost like snowshoes, in order to remain upright. Blood Raven smiled at that. With a flick of her free wrist, she sent out a tendril of golden aion. The magical whip wrapped around one of the construct's ankles, and she yanked back hard. The creature rocked on its feet, but did not fall.

But that moment of losing its balance was all the Blood Raven needed to charge forward, past it. Her raven blade flashed once more, and a metal arm fell to the ground next. She continued, and used her energy whip to grab at its remaining arm. She pulled it in one direction and lopped off a leg next. In no time at all the golem had been disassembled, and the aion that had animated it cast off into the aether.

All of this time the firewing continued its own assault upon her. But she was able to keep it at bay with her own magical force field. It took a great deal of her power and concentration. But she had both to spare.

However, she had not been able to concentrate upon the Summoner. When she turned back, she found him back on his feet. He was trying to scale the fence that cordoned off the base of the surveillance tower. But he was having trouble with the barbed wire that crowned the shiny metal. She sent out a tendril of energy and wrapped it about his waist. With a tug she pulled him down into the wet grass.

He came up with a snarl, like a cornered rat. This time he reached out toward the haft of his broken flamethrower. The large metal bottle attached to it burst open, and out spilled a creature of fire. This new flame construct flew through the air toward Blood Raven, and she was unable to escape its charge. Even as she dodged aside, it changed its course, and wrapped itself around her in flames.

Again, she burned. She bit back a scream as best she could. But fire was the vampire's great bane. Even with their array of magical powers and defenses, this one elemental force could rip through them all. She gritted her teeth, and called upon the beast within her. Claws sprouted from her fingers, and fangs from her mouth. She raked and tore at the creature that embraced her. Physically she did no harm to it of course. It was fire, it had no solid form. But in the aether, her natural weaponry tore the magic that animated the creature to shreds. She slashed and ripped out great chunks of the fire golem's essence, and spewed raw aion out in the aether in great geysers.

In no time at all, she had ended the creature. Her flesh was a tortured and burned catastrophe, where it had not been completely annihilated down to the bare bone at least. Agony ripped through her frame. Thankfully the Summoner's aura was shielded from her, for surely she would have ripped his life energy from his flesh and devoured it whole then and there. As it was she laid one hand down upon the ground, and sucked up all the life within it. Bushes and grass browned, withered, and turned to dust. Worms and insects likewise curdled into husks. Even the microbes floating through the air winked from existence. All fed her hunger.

A great hiss filled the air, like the popping sound of fat in a frying pan. This was her blood, rising to the surface of her skin, and evaporating into space. But its passage left her alabaster flesh as whole and unharmed as it had been before the battle had begun. Even the rents and chars in her armor were repaired.

She was now aware that the firewing was no longer occupied with her. She sensed a new heartbeat, and a new source of power in the aether nearby. The newcomer was not a magician, but a meta-human, and she had created a powerful dome of energy that warded off the firewing. A quick glance revealed an armored figure floating in the sky overhead. The metal bands of her panoply were painted blue and green. A medicine wheel was emblazoned on her chest, with a thunderbird prominently displayed within its center.

It was Makade-Binesi - Blood Raven mused - the Blackhawk. She spared the First Nations heroine a nod, then turned back to the Summoner.

"Is this all you can call up?" Her eyes were red flame as she stalked toward the Summoner. "Have you no power of your own to pit against me? Must you hide behind puppets to do your dirty work? Face me yourself you cowardly wretch!"

With that he finally did throw out a hand at her. A gout of aion sprang from his fingers, and crackled at her aura. But Blood Raven was ready. She brought Samhain up, and blocked the arcane bolt with its rune-carved blade. The magic rebounded back at its sender, and tore a hole through his own wards. He screamed as the flesh of his stomach burned under the assault.

Blood Raven leaped forward, and planted a foot upon his chest. She pressed him down hard into the mud and withered husks of dead plants. She reversed her grip on Samhain, and held it by the blade with one hand. She brought it crashing down hard upon him, using the leading edge of the raven-winged crossbar like a hammer. Once, twice, and thrice, each morte-strike kicked up bright sparks of power in the aether. His wards slowly collapsed under each armor-piercing blow. Finally she set one hand to the grip. With all the added precision and power thusly half-swording granted her, she stabbed down with all of her might into his chest.

What remained of his personal force shield disintegrated under this final blow. The scarab medallion that hung from his chest flared to bright life, and she was finally able to sense that it was the source of his defenses. She could feel it now. It still resonated with energy. But it was slippery. It slithered away at her every attempt to scrutinize it more closely.

"Wait!" the Summoner held up his hands in surrender. "Please, don't kill me!

"Edward Pressman!" Blood Raven snarled the name of the man who had been sacrificed at Ferndale Pride. "And whom else have you done murder upon this day? Beg to them for your life worm!"

"No, not me!" the Summoner pleaded. "I didn't kill them! I haven't killed anyone! He did. He did it all."

"Who is he?" Blood Raven stayed her hand. A sinking feeling grew in her stomach that this might not be over.

"You had no idea, really?" he laughed."You really thought it was just me? The Hierophant gave me this medallion to protect me from you. He taught me how to conceal my aura, and how to teleport. He knows everything."

"If he did, then he would know that calling my father from the grave is a fool's errand," Blood Raven declared. "Did you not learn from those who have come before you? He would destroy you the moment he entered this world."

"He knows about Loftur," the Summoner gasped. "He knows about Jack Parsons. He knows it all now. He found a way to trick the summoning, to escape the trap."

"Who is this Hierophant?" Blood Raven growled.

"Let me live and I'll tell you everything," the Summoner cried. "I swear, I'll tell you everything."

Blood Raven considered this, then discarded it. She did not require his cooperation to get at the truth. She raised up the aion within her, and prepared to send it forth in a hypnotic spell. But before she could drive the tendrils of her power deep into the Summoner's brain, his medallion glowed to bright life in the aether.

The scarab inscribed in the center of the necklace began to move. Blood Raven felt malevolent power stream forth. As she watched in horror, the beetle pulled itself from the metal it had been set within, and crawled into the flesh beneath. The Summoner let forth a high-pitched wail as the creature dug into his skin and cracked through bone. His body arched up, and Blood Raven reflexively pulled back the point of her sword, lest he impale himself upon it. He flailed, still screaming while Blood Raven watched in dismay.

She let one hand go of Samhain, and reached out for the scarab. But she was too late. Before she could sink her fingers into the Summoner's chest, it had tunneled its way past his ribs. It burned a hole through his heart. Only then was she finally able to grab hold of it, and rip it from his body. It burned like a white-hot star in her hand, and she reflexively cast it aside. It hissed and snarled like lava, only to melt into nothingness a moment later.

Blood Raven felt the life energy escape from the corpse beneath her, and likewise vanish into the aether. She rose to her feet, and cast her eyes this way and that. There, standing upon the far shore on the Canadian side of the St. Clair River, she saw him. It was a figure wearing the same white and black robes as the Summoner. Like him, his face was shrouded in a hood and mask. But she had the distinct impression that he was laughing at her.

She took a step in his direction. But just as the Summoner had done so before, reality warped around the Hierophant. It wrapped him up like a blanket. Then a moment later when it snapped back to normal, he was gone.

"Blood Raven, Stormcrow needs your help." Gadget's voice came over the comm link. Blood Raven was suddenly aware of the communications again. She had heard nothing during her battle with the Summoner and his creatures. She doubted it was due to the others being silent. She must have blocked it out during the fight.

"I come," Blood Raven nodded. But before she left, she took a moment to lean down and pull the mask up from the Summoner's features. What she saw set her blood to boiling. She could not help but bare her fangs, and once again she felt the talons spring from her fingertips.

But even though she so very desperately wanted to give into Selene's Curse just then, she did not. She would not allow herself. She still had one great-grandchild left alive who needed her. She pulled the mask back down over the Summoner's face and rose into the sky.

* * *

An epic Blood Raven fight!

A dragon at her back and a steel golem to her front, she still manages to take down the summoner – which turned out to simply be another pawn. Your descriptions of her use of magic and internal torments – including her own grievous injuries and subsequent self-healing were amazing.

I chuckled over her methodical golem disassembly.

Uh oh, Stormcrow needs help now.

Yes, I need to check out more Supergirl. I think it's on Hulu. I can't deal with TV these days. 800+ channels, bah! :panel: I just drives me nuts. Pretty sure she's on Hulu though, which will make it easier.

Wow, a talking sword, and it recites poetry. That's something new. I hope they destroy this ferking Summoner dude.



Okay, this is important. This is big. I don't fully understand how all of this works, but to me it seems like if it's 'one of her own', this means she created the demon??

Uh oh! A human-like shape, huge and made of steel? Sounds like the Summoner just summoned Liberty Prime! That doesn't seem to work so he tries a Flame Atronach. Which is probably better because vampires have trouble with fire.

Whoa, she drains health from the living earth. That's also something new. Never heard of that. Yikes, this is crazy. The Summoner is one tricky dude. So he just summoned all of that, with the scarab beetle and all that? Damn.

Do not give in to Selene's Curse! Tempting, though.

Acadian: That was a really fun segment to write. It was finally Blood Raven showing what she can do when she is not holding back. Even without her blood magic, she is more than a match for three villains at a time. She can dish it out, and she can take it.


Renee: Samhain is sort of a talking sword. Not in the sense that it is intelligent and has a will of its own. But it does have a personality of sorts, and of course it has Power. Norse Seidkonas (Witches) carried a staff or wand that was a symbol of their power and status. When they died, their staff was destroyed and placed in their grave with their body. It was because people were afraid the staves would be too powerful without their owners to control them. There was the idea that they had a life of their own, so they ritually "killed" the staves with their wielders.

I am going with something similar. Except for the simplest ones, magic items in this world usually have their own unique names, and power, beyond that of their creators. This is especially true of items used in legendary deeds. They gain a sort of personality or "alignment" of their own, based on how they were used, who used them, who created them, etc... Since Samhain was made by Blood Raven, and she strongly identifies with her Irish heritage, the sword has become a personification of the goddess the Morrigan. Even as Blood Raven has herself. So it will speak in the Morrigan's voice when a person with power wields it.

Also, as Blood Raven said in the past, she made Samhain with her own blood and bone (the latter used for the carbon that tempered the iron). Samhain knows her blood, and it knows her descendants. Her DNA is a part of the steel. It is literally a part of her family. Samhain recognized the Summoner as one of Blood Raven's descendants. It did the same back when January first saw the sword a few chapters back. But where it liked January, it was repelled by the Summoner.

Blood Raven said a long time ago that she has ceased draining the life of people. Instead she takes it from plants, insects, and even microbes. She is a Vegan vampire.

The Summoner did not create the steel golem or the fire golem with the scarab beetle. He did that with his own magic. The amulet simply protects him from attacks, and detection. Plus it has that surprise built in that killed him when the Hierophant decided he was a liability.





Book 8.24 - Blood

Cheers greeted January's ears as she stared down at the spot the Abyssal had recently occupied. The bones left behind there were clearly human. She had not seen those before, in the aftermath of defeating the djieien in Ferndale. Did that mean that this sacrifice was stronger than that one, more resistant to banishment? Or was it just pure accident that perhaps some parts of the poor person who had died to bring the monster here had been left trapped inside its body when it formed?

She tried to shake off her morbid thoughts. There were people all around, and she knew very well that her behavior was a cue for them. Like it or not, just like every other famous person, she was a role model. No matter how some of them might try to protest otherwise. She could inspire people to compassion, or to fear, or to hate, or to simple apathy. She would never be able to escape that fact.

Suddenly, fame felt even more confining than being in the closet had been.

She knelt down in front of the human remains. She should gather them up. That had been a person, someone who mattered. That someone had a mother and father, perhaps a spouse, or siblings, or children. That someone was a part of this world, and should still be within it.

Her heart skipped a beat, causing her to lurch in spite of herself. Agony lanced through her wings, as what felt like a hundred icicles stabbed through their feathers. She glanced back, and saw that no harm had come to them. No one was stabbing them, or shooting them, or any such thing. Even the goop that the Abyssal had sprayed them with was gone, washed away by the rain.

She leaned forward, and was forced to put out one hand out to avoid planting her face into the deck. Before she knew it, the quinoa salad she had had for lunch sprayed all over the steel plates below her. Her head pounded, but at least the woozy feeling that had begun to creep over her deadened the pain from her wings.

"Stormcrow, what's wrong," Gadget's voice showed concern.

She tried to answer, but she could not get any words past her lips. Not with all the vomiting. She felt hands on her back and sides. Someone was holding her. Thankfully, that included holding back her hair.

"What happened?" Cray's voice now sounded in her ear.

"I dunno," Gadget answered. "She just put down the oniare. Then she collapsed to the deck. Wait a minute. It spat something on her. Stormcrow! There's a general purpose antivenom in your utility belt, left side pocket. Get it out fast!"

January fumbled at her belt with her free hand. Her fingers felt like lead ingots. It was hard to feel through them. Her heart kept skipping beats. She could not tell when the next might come, if at all. Somehow she got the flap to the pocket open. She dug out what felt like a wide cylinder, but a moment later it tumbled down onto the deck.

A black gloved woman's hand reached out into the pool of vomit January had created. Thankfully it was raining however. That was quickly washing it all away. January recognized the glove. It was made of woven hagfish fibers, identical to the gauntlets she currently wore. That meant it was her backup suit. It was Vortex.

The other woman lifted the autoinjector and popped off its plastic cap. January was vaguely aware of voices on the comm link. But they swam in and out of her hearing. She felt someone pull down the armored fibers that protected her neck. A sharp prick followed a moment later.

She concentrated on just breathing - and not losing any more of her stomach - for long moments after that. Finally her heart began to beat out a steady refrain once more. The ache in her head and wings subsided, but did not completely go away either. She pushed her way to her feet. She was now aware that both Vortex and her father Hungry Ghost hovered protectively about her. She laid a hand on Vortex's shoulder, and forced a smile to her lips.

"I think I'm better now."

Her body betrayed her words however, and the next thing she knew, she sagged against the other woman. Thank goodness Vortex was there to catch her up in her arms. Otherwise she imagined that she might have indeed face planted into the deck. As it was she was forced to lean heavily upon the other woman to remain aloft.

"Perhaps not," Hungry Ghost murmured. "That must be a meta-toxin, to take effect so fast. Even cobra venom takes up to a half hour to kill."

"The oniare's venom shouldn't act this fast," Cray intoned. "According to the Bestiary it takes at least ten minutes, if not longer. Sometimes it kills, sometimes it just makes people sick: headaches, nausea, low blood pressure, heart arrhythmia, and even seizures. It's a lot like stingray venom, but far deadlier."

"I'll be ok," January insisted. Her hands were steadier now when she pulled a small water flask from her belt. She lifted it to her lips and swished some of the blessedly pure liquid about her mouth to wash out the vomit.

"That antivenom did the trick." She tucked the bottle away at her waist. It felt much better having that awful taste out of her mouth. "I just need a minute to catch my breath. We need to get that firewing. Go ahead, I'll catch up."

She turned to look Vortex in the eye. "When I said save people's lives, I didn't think it would be mine. Thank you."

The next thing she knew, the other woman's lips were pressed against hers. She melted into her arms, almost literally. Unfortunately, that was not due to romance. Rather her body still was not hers to command.

Vortex must have intuited this, for she quickly broke off the kiss, and instead lowered January to the deck. She leaned back against the steel rails that lined the edge of the icebreaker's superstructure. She looked up, to the gray clouds overhead, and allowed the rain to continue to wash her face. It felt good to be out in the elements, almost as good as Vortex's kiss...

Then Blood Raven was standing over her. As ever, January felt the other woman before she saw her. She was so used to her now, that she could feel her in the astral without even trying to sense her. It was like being able to tell a person by their footsteps, or how the stairs creaked when they rose up them. Once you got to know them, it was just that obvious.

The elder heroine's eyes were boiling vats of red lava when she leaned down over her. She felt red hot mana flow from the other woman, and connect the two of them. It was not ordinary magic, but blood magic, the other woman's vampiric powers at play.

"Cray was correct, the oniare's venom should not have taken effect so expeditiously, or with such efficacy," she observed, then continued in a tone too low for others to overhear. "I think we may have found your weakness my dear. Yet the antivenom has done its work. Your blood is free from the toxin. However, the damage is done. This will take some time to recover from. Time we presently lack."

January knew what that meant. She did nothing as Blood Raven reached out with a claw and slashed open one of her wrists. The battle-sweat smelled coppery and sweet, but her blood did not flow farther than her flesh. Blood Raven tore open the skin of her own palm a moment later, and pressed the two wounds together, mixing their wound-dew into one.

"Cnámha na Cruinne
Fuil Dóiteáin
Anáil Aeir
An Coire Uisce
Cneasaigh an Spiorad seo, le do chumhacht"

Blood Raven sang in her mother's native Gaelic. It was a simple song, that invoked the bones of the Earth, the blood of Fire, the breath of Air, and the cauldron of Water, to heal the spirit. The words of the song sank into January's wracked flesh and feathers, even as Blood Raven's mana did the same.

As when Blood Raven had taken her injuries after the Flying Dutchman fire, January felt her wounds being pulled out of her. It was like a dark spirit being exorcised from her body. That darkness was siphoned from her, and transferred to Blood Raven. In its passage she felt lighter, stronger, brighter. Finally the darkness was purged, and she rose to her feet under the brilliant rays of the sun.

Blood Raven leaned against her for a moment. The hissing and popping of evaporating blood came to her ears, like olive oil boiling in a frying pan. She felt it deep within the other woman's body. It converted her borrowed life energy into magic, in order to heal herself of the venomous wounds she had just absorbed.

As before, January did not envy the other woman this power. She clearly felt every ounce of the agony which she absorbed. Were she not a vampire and able to regenerate, it would surely kill her in no time at all.

January looked down. The gash Blood Raven had cut through her wrist was gone, as if it had never existed. Though as ever, the scars left from her suicide attempt remained as white reminders of her past.

The rain had stopped. Around them people held up phones with bright lights showing that they were recording. She imagined that would make for quite a MeTube video. She hoped it would not out Blood Raven's true nature as a vampire. But instead simply be taken as a sign that one of her meta-human abilities was the control of blood. It was in her name after all.

’She is a Vegan vampire.’


’Suddenly, fame felt even more confining than being in the closet had been.’
- - So it can be for any leader who takes their role to heart.

As odd as it sounds, I love that Vortex held Stormcrow’s hair as she vomited. After the Flying Dutchman fire, Jan vomited – only it was Blood Raven who held back her hair that time. I recall commenting how that simple act of compassion cemented Blood Raven in my mind as a true friend. So it was in this episode that similarly cements the true nature of Hannah’s feelings for Jan. Very nicely done!

So we learn that the Stormcrow may be readily vulnerable to poison. I bet Gadget will start gadgeting to ameliorate that.

I also love the empathic nature of Blood Raven’s healing. It costs her to do so but she willingly bears the cost.

I wish I knew a vegan vampire! As long as she don't crave anybody's blood, of course.

Thanks for the explanation about Norse lore, because wow, that's really intense, all those beliefs and rites. I seem to recall that special items could indeed have their own Alignment in some of our table-games as well. So in this way, not anybody could just pick it up and use it.

The Summoner's a tricky dude. Come on, let's see if he's ready to get pwned!

Yeah that's what they mean when they say fame's not all it's cracked up to be. Oh shesus, easy there!!

I love that it's raining now. Jobbie Nooner, thoroughly ruined for the Year 2019.



Such a superhero's assistant! The guy thinks of everything.

Aw, they kiss. I bet that was awesome. Getting a blood-update from Raven though....

Oh gosh, more phones. I bet there's all sorts of forums and "Subscribe Please!" videos and maybe even zines being collaged, all of them taken from Stormcrow as she does her best, trying to assist and save. There's a Stormcrow channel on MeTube, probably dozens of them by now, getting millions of Likes. Stormcrow memes everywhere. Toy companies coming up with Michigan-area action figures, really going nuts at the possibilities, because one thing I know is the toy market is a crowded one. Coming up with something new in this market is not easy. For every successful Action Jackson or Transformers or X-Men idea, there's a thousand which never make it anywhere near mass sales. So I'd imagine all these heroes in the Michigan area are getting their personas ripped off! That's probably what would happen if all this were real. Cray and Gadget and the others are too busy to do anything.

Hmm. Do hipsters still print zines??? Congratulations on defeating the baddies. Most of them, anyway.

Acadian: January has definitely come to learn that being a superhero is not as fun as it is cracked up to me.

I recall listening to an interview with Iggy Pop on the radio once, and he related that someone holding your hair while you puke in the shower is one of the truest tests of a person's feelings for you. It isn't the sort of thing a fair weather friend does.

It won't be Gadget working on a counter to Jan's weakness to poison. Jan actually will herself in the future, and then enlist the aid of someone far more skilled in alchemy than she is. I looked up several options for things like an bezoar, goa stone, snake-stone, or toadstone, all of which are "real" examples of magical antidotes/poison resistances. Though even with a magic item to make her resistant to poison, it might just counter her weakness, but not truly make her immune to toxins.


Renee: It is raining because of January's mood. She influences the elements around her. That is also why it stopped raining a few moments later when she was feeling better.

There are lots of videos and blogs and Instantgram stories about Stormcrow, and the other heroes in the Great Lakes Alliance by now. If you recall from a few chapters back when January guest starred on a podcast, one of the hosts was wearing a Stormcrow shirt that some of his mates had made. In Season Two I see January traveling to Washington DC to meet with a Non Profit to make official Stormcrow shirts and gear, with the money going to trans people. That will kick off an entire adventure in the DC / Atlantic Ocean area.








Book 8.25 - Blood

"Now, once more unto the breach," January heard Blood Raven quote from the Bard.

The elder heroine looked from January, Vortex, and Hungry Ghost to the island. There January saw who had repaired the hole in the ship. It was Blackhawk, Ontario's superhero. Now that she saw her, January remembered that she could indeed control electromagnetic energy and manipulate metals.

Clad in banded steel armor emblazoned with a medicine wheel, Blackhawk stood in mid air over Gull Island. A field of energy created a bubble around not only her, but those below. Unlike Vortex's force fields, her shields were barriers of glowing energy, like a faint aurora of streaming white light. Then the firewing loosed a torrent of flame upon the field, and it shone with brighter intensity and color, becoming a shimmering mass of green, red, and purple.

January leaped skyward and snapped out her wings. Blood Raven soared into the firmament beside her, completely ignoring gravity. As ever, she seemed to alter reality to suit her will. A moment later Vortex and her father Hungry Ghost appeared on the beach ahead, as reality did indeed literally warp around them in the instant of their teleportation.

Lighthammer rocketed up from the beach, which was now empty of craquehhe. At least those that were still moving. Cleveland's new white hat directed bolts of his signature hard light at the firewing above. But while they struck home, they made little impact upon the creature.

Ôkami stared up at the winged elemental overhead. Then he whirled his sword around him in a complex flourish. January realized that he was not showing off. That was not his style. Rather mana built up in the air behind each of those motions. Finally he made a great cut directly into that knot of energy. No, not a cut, but a bash. He struck it like a baseball bat, and sent it hurtling skyward.

The howling of wolves filled her ears, and January felt the magical energy transform into sound waves. They punched into the firewing in a tight beam of sonic energy, and tore a hole through its fiery body. Yet that seemingly great rent closed up a moment later, as more lava flowed in from its surrounding tissue, and fires roiled over its skin once more.

Blood Raven sent out tendrils of energy from each of her hands, and wrapped them around the elemental's body. She strained against the creature, and tried to pull it downward. January's eyes turned down beneath the creature, to see the waters of the lake below.

January saw what the elder heroine was up to, and rushed over to join her. She took hold of one of the tendrils of solidified mana and pulled back with all of her might. Yet still the firewing remained aloft, steadfastly immune to their efforts.

"Help us pull it down!" she cried out.

Lighthammer zoomed over, and took up another of the tendrils. He turned on his speed, and arrowed straight down toward the water. Then with a great screech of metal against metal, the remains of the surveillance tower rose up from the center of the island. The disjointed hunks of steel flowed together, and formed another lasso that snaked around the firewing. A moment later it too, pulled at the creature.

Ôkami went back to work with Chujitsu. He again flourished the katana and built up energy. Then he unleashed it in a surgically precise sonic attack. This time the sound waves ripped through the magma that joined one of the elemental's wings to its body. The entire wing sheared off, causing the elemental to dip precipitously in the air. Yet once more a moment later the volcanic flesh of the monster flowed back together, and its flames once again rejoined.

"Blackhawk, can your force fields protect me from that thing's flames?" Hungry Ghost shouted up to the First Nations heroine overhead.

"Yes!" she cried in return. "What do you have in-"

Before the energy manipulator could finish her sentence, Vortex and Hungry Ghost disappeared from the beach, as reality collapsed in around them. An instant later they reappeared as spacetime unfolded once more, this time in the air above the elemental. Vortex instantly disappeared again. But Hungry Ghost remained, and dropped onto the elemental's back.

A shimmering field of energy appeared under the Chinese man's feet. It bent noticeably as he fell into it. Then both pressed down directly into the elemental's body. January could not imagine how dense Vortex's father must have just made himself, and more importantly, how heavy. Well, actually she could. He had hit her back at Lakeside, and that had felt like a mountain had landed on top of her.

Now the creature did fall. It went slowly at first, but it gained momentum the farther it plummeted. January did not relent, nor did the others. They pulled and flew and otherwise used their respective abilities to their utmost. Together they brought the elemental down into the blue-green waters of Lake St. Clair.

A tremendous gout of steam rose up as the waves closed in about the creature of fire. But even though it was a being of literal elemental force, this time it was pitted against another, even greater power of the Earth's elements. Billions of gallons of water won the day, and the magical being's flames went out. Its lava cooled and hardened to black obsidian. In the end it lay there motionless, water hissing and lapping around it.

"So did that kill it?" Lighthammer asked what January imagined they all must have been thinking.

"Nay," Blood Raven shook her head. But she did withdraw her tendrils of power from the creature. She lowered herself to a place on the shore nearest the elemental. It was on the opposite side of the island from the beach, and all of the boats. January and the others soon joined her at the water's edge, and stared in amazement at the magical being.

"A being of elemental force such as itself is not so easily put paid to," Blood Raven continued. "A good thing too, for this world is in dire need of healthy elemental power."

"I can't believe you're the one saying we shouldn't kill it," Blackhawk murmured.

"There are a great many things about me that you would not believe," Blood Raven briefly stared at the Canadian heroine. Then she turned back to the momentarily quiescent elemental. "This being is not evil in its own right, just as rain is not. It was merely a pawn of the Summoner and his master. It is an important - and necessary - part of this world. It must not be unduly harmed."

"So what do we do with it?" January asked. "It's not like we can put it in the county lockup."

"Fire elementals such as this typically live within the deep places of the Earth, deeper even than Moria, miles and miles below, where it is all molten rock." Blood Raven mused. "They usually only come up to the surface world through volcanoes."

"Did she just drop a Lord of the Rings bomb?" Lighthammer held a hand up to the side of his mouth and whispered to January.

"I'm kind of surprised you know it," January murmured back. "You said you didn't go in for all that fantasy stuff."

"Yeah, but I still saw the movies when I was a kid," Lighthammer replied. Then he looked up at the same time January did, to notice that everyone was staring at them.

"So volcanoes," Cleveland's superhero recovered with the speed of his signature light. "We just drop it down one and we are all set then?"

"Easy peasy, lemon squeezy," Blackhawk remarked. "Assuming we had one of those around here."

"I know one," Vortex held up her hand, as if she was speaking up in class. January had to admit, she could understand the feeling. "My mom and I went to Mount St. Helens once. I can take us there."

"Can you move a being so large?" Hungry Ghost looked from the elemental to his daughter. There was no concealing the trepidation in his voice.

"I dunno," Vortex shrugged, "only one way to find out."

"Wait, will it not simply awaken and set off an eruption?" Ôkami finally spoke up. January almost jumped out of her skin. She had forgotten he was there. No, she had not forgotten. He had faded himself from everyone's awareness, as he often did in groups.

"You, Stormcrow, and I shall place it in a lasting slumber. In that time it will sink further into the planet. When it awakens once more, it will find itself within its natural home." Blood Raven looked from Ôkami to Vortex. "We shall require your services to convey us to the mountain, and return us once the deed is done."

"And I'd like to remind everyone that the Bestiary says that those craquehhe will get back up again unless their remains are completely turned to ash." Gadget's voice came over the comm link.

"Right, I guess that means me, now that I can do regular heat-based lasers too," Lighthammer murmured.

"Hooah..." he breathed with a decided lack of relish. January felt for him. Being on corpse-burning duty was not high on anyone's list of fun ways to spend a Friday afternoon.

"First I feel it is time I made my goodbyes," Hungry Ghost looked to the inflatable zodiac boat that was approaching their position. It was filled with Coast Guard members carrying rifles.

"Hey, aren't you a supervillain?" Blackhawk asked.

"Not today," Vortex insisted. She laid a hand upon the man's arm, and the two of them vanished.

"So what's his story?" The First Nations heroine asked in their absence. "Am I wrong? I thought he was a bad guy. But today he was helping us."

"We're all full of surprises," January said. "I ran into him a few days ago. We came to an understanding."

This felt like a great culmination, with the whole gang working together to bring down that firedrake. Many hands make light work and all. Very clever use of the diverse powers and abilities possessed among the team. Ôkami was even able to coax his wolf sword into serving as a ranged weapon! I hope Vortex can teleport something that big.

Darn Summoner is still on the loose though. . . .

Acadian: That battle was a lot of fun to write, as well as a real challenge, with so many characters and moving parts. The final act of everyone working together was not an accident of course. I wanted to show that real strength comes from people taking collective action. I try to make that a through line in this fiction. January is never really doing any of this alone. At the very least she always had Gadget's voice in her ear and his brain working behind the scenes.

Not the Summoner, he is dead. But the Hierophant now. His time is limited though. We are nearing the finale. I am working on the final book/chapter of season one right now.




Mount St. Helens (2007)

Interior of a volcano (Iceland's Thrihnukagigur volcano)



Book 8.26 - Blood

Then Vortex was back again. January lifted her up in her arms, and flew out over the lake to deposit her atop the dormant elemental. Her feet sank into the blackened hide of the creature for a few inches, giving January a momentary start of alarm. The skin of the creature cracked and hissed, revealing still hot magma beneath. But the hagfish fibers of the backup Stormcrow suit were made to counter fire, and Vortex was unharmed.

The other woman knelt down atop the elemental, and reached out to lay both of her gauntleted hands upon the creature. She closed her eyes, and January could see her jaw set in concentration and effort. Then spacetime folded in around them, and the two of them disappeared. That obliged January to beat her wings to remain aloft, and above the water below.

The waters of the lake rushed in with the creature's absence, and set off a series of tall waves that rebounded out in all directions. The oncoming Coast Guard members in their little boat were tossed about for a moment. But they seemed to take it in stride. January imagined that rough seas were something they were used to, given their profession.

Vortex reappeared a moment later in the air above January. She dropped down to her level as gravity took its hold upon her. She reached out as she passed, and took a firm grip on January's arm. The world twisted around her, and once again January had that feeling of being nowhere. Then she was back on solid ground once more.

She was standing upon the edge of a vast caldera. Gray pebbles and white ash crunched under her feet. The air in her lungs felt thin, lacking in nourishment. January looked down into the vast, horseshoe-shaped crater below her. It was a filled with ice, of all things! It was not a smooth, even sheet of course. This was a glacier, crisscrossed with crevasses and seracs, while in some places the ice seemed to flow like frozen waterfalls. Yet bursting up from beneath hundreds of feet of this ice were several gigantic domes of rock. Steam curled up from the largest, and January noted an irregular hole bored down through its center, plunging into the depths of the earth.

Nearby lay the firewing. The great elemental spirit appeared to be dormant still. But January could see its chest rise and fall as if it was asleep. She hoped it would not awaken soon.

Vortex vanished, only to reappear a moment later with Blood Raven in tow. She stood there and stared at the two of them. January stared back, wondering why she had not gone for Ôkami yet. Apparently Blood Raven wondered the same, for she finally spoke.

"Do you tarry with cause?"

"Do you really need me to get him?" Vortex practically grumbled.

"Yes, of course," Blood Raven's eyes hardened. "Ôkami must learn this if he is to master his magic. Is there some reason you do not wish to bring him?"

"No," Vortex shook her head. But January could tell she was distressed. She could not imagine why. She moved closer to touch the other woman. But spacetime folded in around Vortex, and then she was gone.

"What was that about?" January wondered. Now that she thought about it, when she had called for her to bring Ôkami to her in the Coast Guard cutter, Vortex had instead teleported in with her father: Hungry Ghost.

"Perhaps she will be willing to speak of it in private?" Blood Raven mused.

Then reality warped again, and there she was, standing with Ôkami beside her. January said nothing more about her hesitancy, nor did Blood Raven. Instead they made their way down into the crater. It was would have been simple enough, if not for the imposing form of the elemental.

They were all obliged to pitch in with a superpowered version of "light as a feather, stiff as a board". Thankfully two of them possessed enhanced strength. With the firewing's slumbering frame in tow, they clambered down to the open vent. They nearly dropped it once, when the rocks and ash beneath their feet began to give way. But Blood Raven was able to steady their load by simply stepping off into empty space and holding herself aloft by the pure effort of her will.

"This appears to be a vent that opened long after the eruption," the elder heroine observed when they finally stepped up to the opening within the earth.

They stood there for a moment to gaze into the depths. Steam rose up from within, and all but Blood Raven were forced to engage the self-contained air supplies built into their suits. Cray noted over their communications links that the fumes were clearly toxic, to the living at least.

Then they worked their way down inside with the elemental. January found herself in a wondrous world. She had expected a gray and bleak landscape. Instead she was greeted by walls of colorful rock. Yellows, oranges, purples, reds, and more painted the walls around her. It was as if nature had become into an abstract expressionist artist, like Jason Pollock in volcano form.

The natural tunnel twisted, seemingly at random, except that it snaked ever downward. Finally they stood above a precipice. Hundreds of feet below lay a sheet of black rock. It was shot through with irregular cracks, from which bright red light issued forth. It reminded January of the cracked mud of a dried lake or riverbed. Only this was made of semi-molten earth.

"Add your aion to mine, and we shall all send this fellow home." Blood Raven raised her arms and began to sing in Gaelic. It was similar to the song from before, a poem dedicated to the elements, and the spirit that bound them all together. Only this time it focused more on fire and earth.

January closed her eyes, and stretched forth her astral senses. She instantly felt the awesome power of the firewing beside her, as well as that of Blood Raven. The flames of both her own and Ôkami's auras were pale candles compared to either. Yet January added her own light to the chorus, as did the Japanese-American beside her.

The elder heroine's own power rose up and entwined their own. Then the combined might of all three reached out to the firewing and wrapped about it in a soft cocoon. It reminded January of swaddling a baby in a blanket of down. Their combined magic lifted the elemental up into the air, and gently swung it out over the empty space beyond the edge of the cliff.

Slowly they lowered the creature into the depths. As they went, January found herself singing her own song. This was her elemental mantra, which she repeated softly there under the earth. She sneaked an eye open to see the creature descend, and saw that she was surrounded with a field of glowing Futhark runes. A similar magic circle of Celtic symbols ringed Blood Raven, as did one of Japanese Kanji around Ôkami's form.

She closed her eyes once more, to better concentrate. She still did not like splitting her attention between the astral and the physical. Moving between worlds was no problem these days. But living in each at the same time was still a challenge, as it was with other things as well.

She leaned into the magic they were working. She felt what Blood Raven was doing. She saw how the elder heroine worked the magic around the quiescent elemental and sent it deeper into a rejuvenating slumber. She followed the threads of power, and saw how they interacted with the elemental's aura. She watched as it touched one portion of its being after another, bringing light and peace with every movement.

January knew that whenever the firewing did awaken, whether centuries or millennia from now, it would be stronger than before, thanks to their magic. That was a good feeling. Blood Raven had been correct. The elemental was neither good nor evil. But it was a part of her world, and an important one at that.

The magical being met the surface of the lava, and the blackened rock gave way to red hot magma beneath. Great gouts of smoke issued forth, and filled the fissure with their fumes. January was thankful for the breathing gear Gadget had built into her helmet. Whatever was in that cloud, she knew she did not want to be breathing it in.

The elemental sank beneath the waves of lava, and finally Blood Raven allowed their magic to softly disentangle from it. Their songs trailed away, and their magic faded. But January could still feel the elemental below, and the effect their power had wrought upon it. It would sleep in peace, for a long, long time.

Vortex stared at them with barely concealed amazement. January had to admit, she felt pretty amazed at it all herself. Just walking inside a volcano was a stunning experience. Add in casting a group spell to send an elemental into torpor, well, that made for quite a day. Some people might even think it was as cool as trending on Instantgram.

January quietly laughed at the thought. Talk about priorities! But she knew it was true.

They returned to Gull Island without having to climb back out of the lava vent. Vortex simply teleported them back to the beach, one at a time. This time she did not pause at Ôkami. She simply grabbed him and they vanished together. Part of January wished they could stay. Seeing the inside of a volcano was a truly remarkable thing. Not something one did every day. The Earth was truly lovely, dark and deep. But they had promises to keep, and miles to go before they slept.

"Do you tarry with cause?"
What a simply elegant sentence that so perfectly captures Blood Raven’s delightfully archaic manner of speech. It seems Votex is still warming up to Ôkami.

Down in the volcano was like visiting a realm of Oblivion – only a pretty one for a change.

Wonderful job of returning the firewing to its native element. As is often the case in this story, you took the time to show us the still evolving nature of Jan’s magic – in contrast to the awesome fully blossomed maturity of Blood Raven’s.

Shades of Robert Frost at the end there.


Nits:

’Then spacetime folded in around them, and the two of the disappeared.’
- - You might want to change the final ‘the’ to them; even better, to avoid using ‘them’ twice in close proximity, simply delete ‘of the’ so the end of the sentence simply reads ‘…and the two disappeared’.

’Now that she thought about {it?}, when she had called for her to bring Ôkami to her in the Coast Guard cutter, …’

Blackhawk is Ontario's superhero, very nice. I wonder who Baltimore's is. Whoever this is, he or she's really got a full plate at all times. All these character's force fields are really cool.

Yes, Okami's style is not to show off, he's probably not even aware if he's ever being showy. Wow, nice. I like all the images as they approach the same goal in myriad different ways.

Nice... they bring the fire elemental into the lake. But of course. That atronach probably feared being there that whole time, you know, if elementals can indeed feel fear.

Gadget still consulting his Monster Manual. They'd be lost without him (and Cray) as they deal with more of the action side of things.

--------------------------------------------

"The water rushed in to fill the elemental's absence" ... so this elemental was pretty big, eh? Sounds like it.

Whoa, this chapter's crazy. Getting rid of this monster really is a lot of work. Well it's good they're banishing the thing in a proper way. You know?

Acadian: Writing Blood Raven is always a challenge. But a rewarding one.

Vortex has a lot of warming up to do...

When I started to write the description of the volcano's interior I was thinking of a stark gray and monotone environment. I was really surprised when I googled "volcano interior" and found all those bright colors instead.

Blood Raven is indeed the wise old master when it comes to spellcraft. But January is learning. In fact, she already knows all she really needs to, that she can create the change she desires by applying her will and her power. It is just a matter of her understanding that anything is possible.

I could not resist the Robert Frost nod at the end. I have always loved his work.




Renee: Maybe Baltimore's superhero is named Poe, and he has a whole raven motif, and says "Nevermore" a lot.

It really is a nice to finally be at this point where the team is more than just January and Blood Raven. They are a real team now. It can be challenging to write, with so many individuals and their personalities. But it is really cool finally getting them together. Well, most of them at least.

In my mind the firewing was probably the most powerful of all the monsters. At least the one with the most hit points and armor, and potential for damage. The Summoner and Hierophant set this entire thing up to ambush Blood Raven and January, they were not taking chances. They got the biggest stick they could find to take a crack at them with.







Priya O'Neill (based on RL Priya Mann)



Book 8.27 - Blood


Back at Gull Island they found Blackhawk trying, and failing, to explain to the Coast Guard what had happened. January also noted that a reporter had arrived. She was a woman with a great waterfall of indigo hair, dressed casually in a sleeveless blue and white top and a teal skirt. A man with a camera recorded her as she tried to interject herself into the conversation between the First Nations heroine and the Coast Guard. Mostly it consisted of a great deal of shrugging on the part of Blackhawk.

January noted that in their absence the Canadian heroine had rebuilt the surveillance tower in the center of the island. That made January think she ought to go into the construction business. She could probably build skyscrapers by herself.

Lighthammer continued on his burning patrol. January saw that his new, ordinary heat-based lasers were indeed working up to snuff. She remembered helping him work on them before their battle with the cartel assassins on the Cleveland docks. "We all have to evolve" he had told her, "or we end up like the dinosaurs."

Blood Raven was more friendly to the reporter and Coast Guard than she usually was with the police. Granted, that was a low bar to exceed. She gave them both a brief description of what had occurred: the summoning of the oniare, the trap laid with the craquehhe and the firewing, and the defeat of all. She did not detail her battle with the Summoner however. Instead she simply left the incredulous federal agents and member of the fourth estate scratching their heads at all the exotic names and ideas of magic and summoning and Creatures of the Abyss.

Blood Raven made her way to the center of the island while the TV cameraman filmed Lighthammer as he fried the remaining zombie corpses with his lasers. January tried to follow, but was stopped by the reporter.

"Hi, Stormcrow! I'm Priya O'Neill, Local 5 News," the young woman introduced herself. "Can you tell me why he is burning those bodies?"

January noted that the cameraman turn to begin filming her. She tried not to squirm.

"Those remains are highly contagious," she explained. "They must be incinerated to insure that no one is infected through contact."

"And Blood Raven said they were zombies, actual zombies?" Priya was clearly incredulous.

"Sort of," January was keenly aware that Blood Raven was about to disappear from view. "As she said, they were craquehhe, a kind of revenant animated by the Summoner. They were not alive, not in any real sense of the word."

"I'm sorry, I have to go," January extricated herself as gently as she could. "We still have work to do."

January leaped after Blood Raven, literally, and trailed close behind her in moments. Her chest felt tight, and her heart increased its beat. Blood Raven was playing things close to the vest concerning the Summoner. Very close to the vest. She did not like that.

They came to the Summoner's body in the shadow of the newly reconstructed surveillance tower. He lay on his back under the summer sun. January noted the red hole bored through his chest, where his heart had once been. There was no sign of the organ. Just rent and charred flesh. His features were still covered by a mask. January braced herself when Blood Raven reached down and pulled it away to reveal the man's identity.

The elder heroine said nothing. She simply stared back at January, her mouth a hard line.

Thunder rolled overhead, and lightning cracked a deafening refrain. Even the earth rumbled a menacing song beneath their feet. January's fingers curled into fists. Her fingers dug into her palms, puncturing the hagfish fibers of her gauntlets. Like Blood Raven, she said nothing. She simply stared down at the face of their nemesis.

It was Julian.

It was her brother.

"You know who he is?" Vortex asked. January felt her hand upon her shoulder, but only vaguely. It felt like she was a thousand miles away. January said nothing in reply. She could only nod as thunder roared in the sky above.

"You killed him, didn't you?" Blackhawk accused.

"Nay," Blood Raven shook her head. "He was but a puppet. His master cut his strings. A man he called the Hierophant. He had gifted the Summoner an amulet for protection. But it was a trap. When the Summoner attempted to bargain with me, the Hierophant activated it. It ate through his chest before I could stop it."

"And this Hierophant?" January finally spoke.

Blood Raven leaned down to cover the Summoner's face once more. She rose again, and turned to look east across the lake to the Canadian shoreline.

"He teleported to safety after performing the deed," she said. "He must have observed the entire battle from afar."

"Then why didn't he fight?" Blackhawk said.

"Because he's a coward," January spat through clenched teeth. "Just like the Summoner. Always using someone else to fight his battles for him. Always looking for someone else to blame for his problems. Always..."

She let her words trail off. She was saying too much as it was. She could not afford to make this personal. Not here in front of everyone.

"Okay, I'm not a telepath, but even I can tell that there's a lot more going on here than you two are saying." Blackhawk grumbled. Then she held up her hands in concession. "But you know what, it's your business, not mine. I'm out of here."

"Wait!" Stormcrow glanced back to the reporter and her cameraman, who now walked toward them from the beach. "It is personal. This isn't the time or place for more than that. Thank you for your help today. If you want to know more, we'll talk."

The Canadian nodded to January, then shot a glance at Blood Raven. "See how easy that was?" There was no concealing the sharpness in her tone. Clearly the two had history, and not all of it good.

The adept of metal and magnetism rose into the air and turned about. Then she shot to the east, and quickly vanished over the horizon.

"Come Stormcrow," Blood Raven's voice brought January's gaze back to earth. "We must find the summoning circle."

"I saw the Abyssal emerge from the trees on the west side of the island." January was all business now. She did not want to think of anything else. She did not want to feel anything else. She and Blood Raven had work to do. That was something she could concentrate on. Her brother... Well that could wait.

The two women stepped into the trees, while Vortex followed close behind. Ôkami had disappeared, as was his wont. But Lighthammer did join them in a flash of silver. Behind them the Coast Guard personnel surrounded the body of the Summoner, and blocked the reporter from access to it.

They found the summoning circles soon enough. It was a small island after all. It was similar to Ferndale. The same three circles were present, one for the Summoner, one for the Abyssal, and one for the sacrifice. This time however, the complexity of the symbols that rimmed and linked them was lacking. It was stripped down to the barest essentials, extremely minimalist in fact. There was hardly anything to it at all.

There was nothing minimal about the blood and gore that stretched from the sacrificial circle to the summoning one however. Like at Ferndale, that was a phantasmagoria of horror. Vortex turned away, and January thought she heard the other woman retching. Lighthammer said nothing. He just stared with a hard look.

"This would have been quick," Blood Raven observed. "They have evolved once more, beyond the teachings of the Rauðskinna. They have distilled it to the bare essence. Soon they may be able to perform the summoning without even need of the circles."

"They can do that?" Now January was surprised.

"In this day and age - after Tunguska - that is anyone's speculation." Blood Raven shrugged her shoulders. "Magic is so much more powerful now, so much easier. The old ways, the slow ways, are rarely necessary anymore."

"Okay, so who was that poor bastard in there," Lighthammer did speak now. He stepped up to the circles, and leaned down to look over the red mess within. As with the previous summoning in Ferndale, not a drop of blood was to be found outside of the inscribed lines. The horror was entirely contained within.

Blood Raven sent a tendril of power into the remains, and fished out a bent piece of plastic. It was a driver's license. She pulled it close, and held it up to the computer mounted in her wrist to get a good picture of it. Then she turned the card over and scanned the barcode on the rear. Finally she laid it back with the body.

"Rafael Laurenti," she murmured. "Cray, get me the details. I shall inform his next of kin when we are finished."

"So which one of them did this?" January stared back the way they had come from, to where her brother's body lay with a hole in his chest. "Was it... him... or this Hierophant?"

"Who was that Summoner back there?" Vortex had found her voice again. She almost railed at January. "Blackhawk was right, you know that guy don't you?"

It was Lighthammer who stepped up and laid a hand on her shoulder. "Hey, I don't know either, but it's on the down low for a reason, aight?"

But Vortex shrugged the taller man off with a sharp gesture. She reached out to January and grabbed hold of her arm.

"Ja-" she cut herself off before finishing January's name. "Stormcrow, what's going on, who is this guy? You can talk to me."

"I said not now!" It was January's turn to shake off Vortex's attempt to reach out. She pushed away from her, and faced Blood Raven. "Was it him, this time and at Ferndale? Did he kill these people?"

"He claimed that he never killed anyone, but take that for what little it is worth." Blood Raven considered. "However, I encountered both him and the firewing together. I believe that he brought the elemental here, once it was clear that their trap had drawn us in. He was probably waiting with it somewhere else. The Hierophant must have done this deed. Then teleported to safety."

"But he was still a part of it," January growled.

"He was still a part of it," Blood Raven agreed. "Even if he had not known that the Ferndale summoning would result in a human sacrifice. He surely would have this time. That aside, today was an assassination attempt, meant for both of us. That is clear."

January nodded. Thunder and lightning still roared overhead. But no raindrops fell. She remembered the last time she had seen her brother. He had insulted not only her, but Avery as well. Then he had fled to his bedroom. She had wanted to kill him then. If only she had...

She brought up Sága, and punched her screen. The phone interface came up, and initiated a call. A moment later a woman's voice came over the speaker.

"This is the Attorney General," Dana Essen's voice came out. "Are you out at Gull Island Stormcrow? Are you ok? What happened?"

"The Summoner is dead," January said plainly. "He laid a trap for us. He failed. He was working with another, named the Hierophant. That is who killed him. The Hierophant escaped. But we are gathering evidence."

"Do you know who the Summoner was?" AG Essen replied. "I can get it over to the state police immediately."

"His name was-" Blood Raven was standing beside her in a flash. Her hand yanked Sága away from January's lips. The elder heroine's eyes burned hot crimson, and her cape snapped about her, even though there was no breeze.

"What do you think you are doing!"

"He's dead," January replied evenly. "They have to know. His family needs to know, so they can bury him. Just like the victim's family."

Blood Raven slumped her shoulders in defeat. She said nothing. She just stepped away, and turned her back as January gave her brother's name to Michigan's top prosecutor.

"Julian Ward."

Lighthammer started at the last name. He knew it after all. January had told it to him after Cedar Point. He stared from her, to the trees that screened the Summoner's body, and back to January again. He said nothing. He was that professional at least. But clearly he was disturbed.

Vortex gasped out loud. She knew who January was as well, even if she had not been told about her family. January wanted to reach out and accept the comfort that she offered. But she could not. The glacier that had frozen over her heart precluded that. She was glad her brother was dead, because right now she wanted to kill him. She was going to have to tell her mother what he was, and what he had done, and that he was dead. That would destroy her.

"We shall inform his next of kin, just as we shall for today's victim." Blood Raven's words were a mirror to January's mind. Her voice was loud, so that the attorney general must have heard it through Sága's interface.

"We have failed them both this day."

* * *

Ha yeah, Poe, or FSK (Francis Scott Key) would be a cool B'more name.

Yes, it took ALL of them to defeat the Firewing, this is true. I agree it's neat having a large team of heroes going at it too. You're slowly compiling your own Marvel Superverse.

I love how they're being interrogated by Coast Guard. If they were part of any official organization like that, the heroes would definitely be put on leave by now, while investigations are pending.

You got the 'obvious question' aspects of reporters down really good. They ask such obvious questions, I suppose, because they are trying to ask the questions a lot of their viewers (who are not there) would ask. At least that's my theory.

WHOA. Holy [censored]. Her brother was the Summoner! ... Wait, whose brother are we talking about? Jan's or Raven's? I'm assuming it's Jan's brother, since she's really upset by now.

Okay, I see. January's brother. That's insane. So he somehow kept his identity secret from his own sister. Damn. I can see why there's so much disagreement at the end. Vortex's head must be spinning.

A very powerful episode with a huge surprise. Your use of thunder and lightning to reflect Jan’s mood here was very effective.

We know of the tension between Vortex and Ôkami. . . and we now see the tension between Blood Ravena and Blackhawk.

’She was glad her brother was dead, because right now she wanted to kill him.’
- - That is one upside to the outcome. If anyone deserved their fate it was certainly Julian. As Jan goes on to point out to herself though, telling her mother about Julian will be . . . challenging.

I like the way you contrasted Lighthammer's reaction to that of Vortex. The former displayed his worldly experience and maturity very smoothly. Vortex, on the other hand, was totally in character to mix concern and an impatient desire for more info - even a bit of anger that the woman she loves was reluctant to share. Jan is absolutely right though that this was not the time. Later.

We will hope that Jan is right to overrule Blood Raven’s concern about revealing the family connection and that it does not compromise Stormcrow’s identity. Honestly, the Coast Guard has custody of the body and could, along with law enforcement, doubtless identify the remains as Julian anyway.

Renee: You are right, in that I am slowly building up a whole world full of supers, either by hearing their names dropped like Heisenberg, or meeting them face to face. That will continue to the end of season one.

Yep, The Summoner was January's brother. I was tempted to do some scenes from his pov in the earlier books, but decided against it. I wanted to keep the surprise. He kept his identity just as secret as January keeps her own a secret. For the same reasons.


Acadian: I have not actually worked out the details. But I do know that Blood Raven and Blackhawk have worked together in the past. If you could call them both working on the same case and Blood Raven not wanting to have a partner 'working together'. As people have noted, Blood Raven has been active for 50 years in Detroit, and she has never had a partner, until January came along. She prefers to work alone. Or at least did, until January.

The contrast between reactions of all was indeed something I used to show a little more of their character. Lighthammer being a professional, and Vortex clearly not.

This whole thing is going to put a lot of strain on January and Hannah's relationship, and surprise, January is not going to handle it very well.

You are right that the law will definitely ID Julian's body. Though Blood Raven could have destroyed it if she was really serious as well. In any case, now January is going to have to deal with the fallout of having the press become very interested in her personal life.






As always, January's Mom's apartment in Manis Manor Apartments can be found on the Stormcrow Google Map


Book 8.28 - Blood

January and Blood Raven soared across Lake St. Clair. Not a word passed between them. January did not know what the other woman was thinking. She did not know what she was thinking herself. Except that she dreaded facing her mother in the next few minutes. Other than that, she was having a hard time processing anything at all.

They were over land in a few minutes, and followed the main streets to her mother's new apartment. The complex was located on 12 Mile road. A large shopping plaza was located beyond it, at the intersection with Van Dyke. While barely half a mile to the north lay the Warren City Center.

They came down in a patch of grass that lay between four identical buildings of red brick. Each rose up two stories. There was a faux Neo-Classical entrance on either side, with square white columns that rose from cement porches, to long covered balconies overhead. It was easy to see that there were four apartments to each side of the buildings, two on the ground floor, and two above, each with its own porch or balcony.

A woman sitting on one such balcony dropped the book that she had been reading and nearly fell from her chair in shock. On the other hand, the trio of children playing on the lawn all cheered at January's approach. January wanted to force a smile to her lips for them, or at least a wave. But she could not bring herself to do it. Instead she followed Blood Raven within, and climbed to the second floor.

Blood Raven knocked, and they waited. January hoped that the children would not follow them inside. Normally she would love to bring some measure of light and warmth to people's lives, no matter what their age. But not right now.

Her mother Barbara answered the door before that could happen however. Her long red hair and ruddy features were shadowed in the dim light. For the sun, which had just been shining brilliantly above, was now shrouded by dark clouds. She still wore her work clothes - in this case a green skirt and white blouse - and January could see her blue cardigan tossed over the back of the couch inside.

She stared at Blood Raven in a mixture of surprise and awe. The elder heroine tended to have that effect on people. January could sense that she was making an effort to rein her aura in. But even without her magical atmosphere of intimidation, Blood Raven still had a history - and a reputation - that preceded her wherever she went. Meeting her was not the kind of thing anyone ever forgot.

Barbara's eyes flicked from Blood Raven to Stormcrow. Again, January tried to smile. But she could not lift her features from their somber cast. January noted the TV playing in the living room. It was a local news station, showing footage of the battle at Gull Island.

"Barbara Ward, née Ryan?" Blood Raven asked. Her mother nodded, and the elder heroine continued. "We come bearing tragic news. There is no way this blow might be softened. Your son... has died today. We bear you our most heartfelt sorrow over your loss."

"No," Barbara backed away, deeper into the living room. Her face turned white as a sheet. She gripped her hands around her torso in a tight clinch. "No, no, it can't be. You're wrong, it was someone else. It wasn't my Julian."

"We have not erred," Blood Raven entered the apartment, and January followed behind. "Julian Ward's remains will be taken into custody by the authorities for their investigation. I expect they shall notify you shortly as well, and come to question you."

"How, how did he..." Barbara turned from Blood Raven to the television set. Video footage from phones splashed across the screen, showing the battle in vivid color. At the same time the news anchor announced that the Summoner had been killed in the fighting, but only after having slain an innocent bystander before it had begun.

Barbara turned back and understanding dawned upon her drawn features. "He was there, wasn't he? He was murdered by that Summoner, wasn't he? Why didn't you stop it!"

"He was the Summoner," now January finally forced words from her mouth. To underscore her statement, thunder rolled deeply outside, while black clouds roiled across the sky.

Barbara stared from one of them to the other. For a moment her face was as expressionless as stone. Then something seemed to click inside her brain. She launched herself upon Blood Raven, and beat her fists furiously against her face. This was no random flailing. January's mother knew how to fight. She had taught January karate after all. But no amount of mortal power punches could make an impression upon the elder heroine. She simply stood by impassively while Barbara vented her rage.

"You killed him!" she cried.

"Nay," Blood Raven shook her head. "His accomplice did the deed. A man called the Hierophant. I believe he has been using your son this entire time. When Julian sought to bargain with us, the Hierophant slew him."

Barbara backed away. The outburst of violent energy had clearly brought her no relief. Tears streamed down her face, and once more she futilely hugged herself. January could not stop herself from reaching out and taking her mother in her arms. She resisted at first, but after a moment she allowed January to pull her in and hold her close. January held her and rocked her slowly in her arms for long, long moments.

"We are so, so sorry..." she managed to say, "it's why we came to tell you in person."

"We must take our leave now," Blood Raven murmured from the doorway. "There are others we must speak with, including the boy's father. However, we have already informed your daughter. She will be here shortly."

"Yes, we have to go," January stepped away as well.

"Wait," Barbara stopped them with a word. "Why? Why would he do any of this?"

"That remains to be seen," Blood Raven replied. "I suspect he was a pawn of this Hierophant. When we apprehend him, we may learn more."

"And when you do catch this Hierophant?" Barbara left her words hanging in the air between them.

"I shall end him," Blood Raven's eyes glowed scarlet in the dim light.

* * *

January followed Blood Raven to their next stop. It was not to her old home in Warren. Rather it was to the Macomb Community College South Campus. There at Cray's direction they found January's father Romulus. He was in the middle of giving a lecture on ancient history. At least until January and Blood Raven entered the room.

Again, January allowed Blood Raven to take the lead. To be honest, she was still reeling from the encounter with her mother. She was aware of Blood Raven using her hypnotic voice to make all of the students leave the classroom. Once they were alone, she broke the news to Romulus. He did not say a word. He did not even look up after Julian's name was uttered. He simply sat at his desk, put his head in his hands, and wept.

January did not know what to think. On one hand she could still remember the hateful things her father had said about her. On the other hand he was in pain, and that could not help but pull at January's heart. In the end she laid what she hoped was a comforting hand upon his shoulder, before following Blood Raven out.

That left the family of the victim, Rafael Laurenti. Cray had his address, and led them there. It was a modest two story home in Detroit near Southfield and Grand River Road. They came down on the front lawn, to find a young girl playing with a hula hoop, an ipod clipped to her upper arm. She stared up in shock to see the two superheroines approach, and her hoop fell to the grass.

"Are you..." she stammered.

"Yes, we are," Blood Raven answered. She nodded to the house. "Is that your parents I spy within?"

The child nodded. January wanted to force a smile to reassure her, but again she could not. She was on autopilot now, just following along while Blood Raven did all the talking. Soon enough they stood within the living room, and the elder heroine told Rafael's parents that their son would never come home again.

She looked at the mantle over their fireplace, and saw numerous pictures there. It was not hard to imagine which one was Rafael. He was younger than the father, but bore his strong Roman nose and tightly curled hair. He had inherited his bright eyes from his mother, and had the same wide grin that she bore in the family pictures.

It took every ounce of January's willpower to keep from crying. As it was her eyes were bleary from the tears that she held back, and she had to sharply inhale to keep her nose from running. She could not imagine how Blood Raven could do this with such grace and coolness. It was just so soul-crushing. Fighting monsters was easy. Telling people their loved ones were dead was another matter entirely.

She said as much when they walked out the door, and were alone once more.

"I always try to inform the families of the fallen," Blood Raven responded. "There are some of us who treat this life as a game. This reminds me that is not so. Their loss is not simply our failure. Their lives had value, and meaning, even if we never knew them, or ever would know them."

"But your mother needs her daughter now, not a superhero." Blood Raven nodded back to the east, where the city of Warren lay. "Let that be your concern in the coming days. Leave the rest to me."

January nodded. Before she could reply, Blood Raven's body shattered into a dozen ravens. The sleek, black corvids croaked and screeched, and their wings beat furiously in the air. The conspiracy of ravens darted high into the cloud-draped sky, and vanished over the rooftops.

A very unpleasant task. As Jan noted, Blood Raven really shined with her grace and choice of words. ‘Tis a task that the Stormcrow will doubtless need to develop – but not today and not involving her own family.

You continue to consistently nail what I have come to expect in terms of Blood Raven’s anachronistic speaking with statements such as “Barbara Ward, née Ryan?”, “We have not erred.”, “Nay,”, and “Is that your parents I spy within?"

Risky taking Stormcrow along – especially when notifying Barbara. Blood Raven has learned that she could not stop her younger charge anyway though. I’m hoping Barbara was too distraught to recognize her daughter’s voice or hug though.


Nit? ’That left the family of the victim, Rafael Laurenti. Cray had his address, and led him {?} there.’
I’m not sure I understand what you mean here. I guessing Cray’s voice led them (Blood Raven and Stormcrow) to the decedent’s home?

Acadian: This is one of those areas that Blood Raven has plenty of sad experience in. I suspect that most supers don't do this kind of thing. They leave informing the families of the dead to the police and the like. But as Blood Raven said, the lives of the innocents are their responsibility. Deaths are their failures, and not to be taken lightly.

As you said, it is risky putting Stormcrow in the same room as Barbara. But as you noted, there was no way of keeping January away. I have thought about people recognizing her, and implementing things like a voice changer built into the Stormcrow suit. On the other hand, I am reminded that all Superman has to do is put on a pair of glasses and no one can tell he is Clark Kent. I am not going to make it that easy. But I decided not to really worry about requiring a need to go to extreme lengths to protect secret IDs either. It does not seem like that would really serve the story, and just end up being a waste of time and effort on my part. So basically if you are wearing a mask, you are ok. Unless someone does some serious research, or has a mind-reading power, or the like.

Thanks for the nit. That was supposed to be: Cray had his address, and led him them there.







Book 8.29 - Blood

January returned to the Witch House. She could feel every second ticking away that she was not there for her mother. She could still hear her sobs, and see the tears that splashed her cheeks. Just as those of her father, and of the Laurentis. This had been a terrible day.

All of the years she had watched videos of superheroes in action on the internet, she had never stopped to imagine what life was like in the aftermath. What it was like for the people who had lost their lives. Naturally white hats did everything in their power to protect people, to the point where deliberately endangering civilians was a common tactic employed by black hats. But sometimes the white hats failed. Possessing superpowers did not make one omnipotent, much less able to solve every problem in the world.

Of course the man who had died at Ferndale Pride had brought that home to her. Edward Pressman. She had read about him the following day. Had her brother murdered him to anchor the djieien in our world? Or had that been the work of the Hierophant? Did it really matter which of them had done the deed in the end? Either way, a man was still dead.

She could not stir an ounce of compassion for her brother. She had known what kind of person he was for a long, long time. But discovering that he was a supervillain was still startling. It was not the kind of thing anyone ever expected to learn about their sibling. But it was not surprising either. It was entirely in Julian's character after all, or more precisely, his lack of it. The only thing that did surprise her was that he had the guts to do it.

She flew down to the back yard of the Witch House and transformed into her normal clothes, a tee and miniskirt that she had been wearing in the hopes of impressing Hannah. Well, maybe impressing was not exactly the right word. But she remembered she had wanted to make an impression at least.

She went straight upstairs and found something less... impressionable to wear. She settled on a pair of tights and a WWF tee, the wildlife foundation kind, not the old wrestling kind. She emptied out her gaming backpack of manuals and the folder with all of her character sheets, and began to stuff in spare changes of clothing.

"That's it?" Hannah burst into her bedroom like an oncoming storm. She too had changed out of the backup Stormcrow suit and into her normal clothing once more. "You are just going to take off without another word."

"Hannah, this isn't the time for this," January murmured. She continued packing, and walked into her bathroom to retrieve her toothbrush. Hannah followed along right behind her.

"When is the right time? Tomorrow? Next week? Next month? That was your brother who is dead right? And you have nothing to say about it?" Hannah reached out and took January's arm. "Honey, let me in, I'm trying to help you."

"There's nothing to say about it!" January lashed out with more invective than she had intended. She shrugged off Hannah's outstretched hand, and marched back to the bedroom. "My brother was a cruel, bigoted, narcissistic bastard, and he got what he deserved!"

"I'm sure you don't mean that," Hannah tried to placate her. "There must have been something good about him?"

"When I cut my wrists, he claimed I did it just to get attention," January fumed. "When I came out, he said it was just me wanting everyone to look at me. When the bullies at school beat me up, he said I was asking for it. That's not even getting into the other things he's said about trans people, or gay people, or immigrants, or people of color. He'd have hated you."

"I'm sorry?" Hannah said, clearly fumbling for words. "Look January, I want to try to make things better, however I can. I am here for you."

"I have to go to my mother's," January stared down at her backpack. "This is hard on her. I'm going to stay there for the next few days, probably the weekend. But you can stay here."

"Great, I'll come with you," Hannah declared.

"I don't think that's a good idea," January shook her head.

Why not?" Hannah looked nearly as hurt as her mother.

"This is not the time to introduce my mother to my new girlfriend," January fought hard, but she could not restrain the sarcasm from her voice. "Hi ma, sorry your murderous supervillain son is dead, but... here's Hannah! Maybe after the funeral..."

"Fine," Hannah's features turned to stone. "If that's the way you want it, I'll just go home."

"Hannah, I...," January instantly deflated. "I didn't mean it to sound that way, I-"

But the world warped in around Hannah's frame, twisting and bending the fabric of spacetime like an old blanket. It swam around her in a vortex of bright colors, which all condensed down into a single point of impenetrable black. She vanished into that singularity, and there was no trace of her when reality snapped back to normal.

January growled in frustration. Everything she said just came out wrong! Still, she took this encounter with Hannah as a warning. She would have to watch her words with her mother. She probably still thought that her son was a perfect angel who could do no wrong. Every murderer's mother seemed to think that. While January knew the truth, she also knew that the truth was not what her mother needed right now.

So she slung her backpack across her shoulders and went down to the garage. She pulled out her Victory and rode to her mother Barbara's apartment in a haze. She was thankful that she did not get into an accident and wreck her bike, or hurt anyone, because she barely paid attention to the world around her. All she could see was her mother's tears.

That night and the next few days went by in a blur. The police did come. In this case it was a pair of state troopers. They questioned both January and her mother about her brother's activities. Not that they had anything of value to tell them. He had been living in the University of Michigan dorms for years now. He usually only came home to have his clothes washed, by Barbara of course. In any case, whatever else Julian had been, he had clearly known how to keep a secret.

January's grandmother Sarah came from Livonia the next day. January had not seen her since Christmas. This was obviously not such a festive occasion. The two of them took turns sitting with January's mother. Barbara alternated between sitting blankly and weeping uncontrollably. All the while January's hatred for her brother grew. He had done this to her, along with all the other evils he had wrought.

The reporters came as well. Blood Raven had once warned her about this. Now January saw what she had meant. They all wanted to get the supervillain's mother on TV. They literally camped out on the sidewalk outside the apartment. So far as January could tell, they slept in their cars in the parking lot. They had to lock all the windows and shut the blinds, after one climbed up onto the balcony and tried to poke a camera through the screen door.

Through all of this January had to release her next edition of Crow Tales, featuring the novel Nemesis, by April Daniels. That was something she produced as Stormcrow, not January Ward. She could not afford to leave any breadcrumbs between the two identities. So she took some time to knock out the week's blog post while her grandma kept her mom busy. Thankfully she had read the book already and done most of the work. She only really had to post it and do some final editing. But still, it was a stark reminder of the perils of navigating two lives, which could never be seen to intersect.

Goodness, what a busy life she leads. She's flying to meet her mother just after defeating all those monsters at Jobbie Nooner, damn. Why is she nervous, though?

Yeah I can see why that one woman drops her book as the two heroes approach! I imagine I'd do the same! ... Whoa, whoa ... is January still suited up as Stormcrow? Well yeah, she is, if she's just flown. Okay, I get it now. Holy frijoles. I wonder if mom will recognize.

Yikes, they're doing a death notification! And mom does not even recognize daughter!

I notice January being a little torn between being herself (smiling at children) and becoming more hardened.


I love the way she speaks too.

Yeah, it must be reeling to know your own brother was a villain. Did he also know his sister = Stormcrow? Well know. Because if he did, he'd surely blab it to the entire world just to spite her.

Hannah is so understanding. But still, it's their first fight. That surely must be saddening. See, their relationship is moving right along at its elevated pace.

Yeah, what a tough week this has been. A real rollercoaster series of events. I'm really curious about Ryo, too.

Regarding her mask’s solid effectiveness at helping hide Stormcrow’s identity, I think your approach of not overthinking it is wise. Superman/Clark Kent is a superb example. Same with her voice.

*

Poor Jan. Wrestling with anger over her brother and sadness over her mom. Then everything coming out wrong as she unintentionally takes some of it out on Hannah.. Tough task she has, consoling her mother over the well-deserved death of an evil butthead. Her brother’s death and the pain it is causing her mother is just one more reason to loathe Julian. Even as she needs to pay plenty of attention to preserving her identity with her publishing and the press vulturing just outside the house.

Renee: Julian did not know that January was Stormcrow. I am sure his kneejerk reaction would be to out her if he did know. Until he considered that the last time that happened it was the family of the superhero in question who were all killed, not the super himself. That would put him square in the crosshairs of every neo-Nazi in America, among others.

You called it with Hannah and their elevated relationship. They have only known another for two days at this point. It is all moving at lightspeed.


Acadian: January finds herself in a very difficult situation vis a vis her mother and her brother. Throw Hannah on top of that, and something had to give. This whole thing is a crash course in all the bad parts of being a superhero.






Book 8.30 - Blood

Blood Raven mimed throwing a punch at Hannah, who stood several feet away. The young woman flinched, and threw her hands up protectively. The space between them hardened into a barrier of nearly opaque energy. It let enough light through for Blood Raven to see Hannah's silhouette, but little else.

Blood Raven shook her head, and stood there waiting. After a few moments the force field vanished, leaving Hannah fully visible.

"You must do better than that," Blood Raven pulled her arms across her chest. "You can create your force fields at will now. That is good. But you must learn restraint. It would be most embarrassing were you to errantly spawn one when someone bumps into you at Burger Baron."

"I know, I know," the other woman shook her head. "I'm trying!"

"Then do so," Branwen declared. "There is no trying, no maybes, no mights. They all leave room for doubt. A conjure woman who doubts, is a conjure woman who fails. Banish these words from your vocabulary. Be absolute in your certainty. Do it or do not. There are no other options."

"Are you like, quoting Yoda or something?" Hannah wondered.

"You young ones and your films..." Blood Raven sighed. "I had this same conversation with January. My own teacher had this same conversation with me, long ago. Whether you are using meta-human abilities or using magic: the reality is the same. Your power is yours, and yours alone. It will respond to your will and nothing else. If you lack focus, if you doubt yourself, you will not control your power, it will control you. This is true of everyone, meta-human, magician, or mundane."

"I know, I know," Hannah raised her hands in frustration, and then clenched her fingers into fists. "I just... I can't concentrate right now."

"Because of January?" Blood Raven allowed the question to dangle like bait.

"I just, don't understand why she doesn't want to see me," Hannah walked in circles. "It's like, I don't even know her anymore."

"You never knew her in the first place," Blood Raven observed. "You literally met her three days ago."

"Oh don't you go all in on me too now," Hannah growled. "Now you sound like my mother."

Blood Raven gestured with a finger and loosed a tiny drop of aion. At her unspoken command a long bench of dark wood appeared in the sanctum. It was padded with bright red upholstery, and bore arm rests at either end that gently curled outward. She sat down at one end, and elegantly crossed her legs. It was just as she had been taught two and half centuries before at Mrs. Gibson's School for Proper Young Girls. Mrs. Gibson would be so pleased at her deportment.

"Your mother disapproves of your relationship?" she inquired, almost casually.

"No, I didn't tell her I was dating Stormcrow, if that's what you mean," Hannah huffed. But she did plop herself down upon the Victorian bench.

"But when you returned home, you did tell her that you had been living with someone?"

"Yes, I did," Hannah admitted. "I had to tell her something."

"And you should," Blood Raven replied. "She is your mother. If you share your life with her, she might even have useful advice to proffer, from time to time."

"My mother has no clue what life in the real world is like," Hannah groused. "She spends all her time at work coding, or at home coding, or checking up on me all the time, or making new rules for me, or planning out my life for me."

"Well, somewhere within all of that your mother did date a supervillain," Blood Raven observed. "She cannot be too basic."

"OMG, did you just talk like a real person?" Hannah laughed. She pulled her feet up onto the surface of the couch, and wrapped her arms around her legs. "I guess she did date a supervillain. I wonder if that's why she's, well, the way she is."

"It is the nature of parents to chafe over the well being of their issue," Blood Raven said. "They cast their oracles into the future, and see their children committing the same mistakes and enduring the same pains they have experienced themselves. They hope to spare their offspring such fates."

"Yeah well, maybe I want to make my own mistakes for myself!" Hannah cried.

"Now that is the wisest thing you have said yet, my young apprentice," Blood Raven slapped the cloth upholstery with delight. "Self awareness is the first step to true understanding."

"You know, you are really weird," Hannah noted. "And I don't just mean the crazy way you talk. I mean one minute your all 'grrrrr, do or do not!', and the next you are like this nice nana serving milk and cookies."

"We are all multitudes," Blood Raven explained. "We all have the capacity for compassion and cruelty, sobriety and gaiety, selfishness and sacrifice."

"Sacrifice," Hannah lowered her chin to her knees. "January places great store in that word. See, I can sound posh too. She's always doing everything for everyone else. Sometimes I think she forgets that she matters too. Sometimes I think she's afraid to do things for herself, because she thinks it would be selfish. Whenever someone needs something, she just runs off without a thought."

"Such as to her mother?" Blood Raven again dangled a question out as a lure.

"Oh, you aren't going to trap me that easily!" Hannah lifted her head and wagged a naughty finger at Blood Raven. "I get why she's at her mother's house. I'd be there too. I'm not jealous of her because she's with her grieving parent. I just want to be there with her."

"I understand that, and so does January," Blood Raven said. "If this were an ordinary situation... well I suppose it should be awkward in any event. Yet the fact remains that this is not ordinary. January shall never be ordinary and neither will you. Everything changes when you add this to the pile of life's cares."

Blood Raven swung the dragonsilk cape from her shoulders, and dropped it onto the bench between them for emphasis.

"January's brother was a supervillain, and he was murdered," Blood Raven said bluntly. "Even now the media seeks to transform her family into one of Mr. Barnum's circuses. Their scrutiny shall not fail to notice a girlfriend walking through their front door. You are a superhero now, just as January is. Neither of you can afford undue attention upon your personal lives. It is why the others keep their distance as well, and must continue to do so."

"That's why you got mad at her when she told the attorney general it was her brother," Hannah nodded.

"January was right to do so," Blood Raven sighed. "If he were to simply vanish, the wound would haunt his parents for the rest of their days. They need to know that Julian is dead so that they might one day move beyond it and heal. Unfortunately that meant revealing how and why he died as well."

"But you would have killed him too, wouldn't you?" Hannah said. "I've read about you. It wouldn't be your first time. That's why everyone thought you did it."

"Of course I would have killed him," Blood Raven declared. "There is no other recourse in this case. He can summon an Abyssal from the inside of a prison cell just as easily as anywhere else. Soon he would have been able to summon my father. What he knew cannot be allowed to spread to others. Else this world would literally cease to exist. January understands this, she would have done it too. She would not have liked it. She would have felt guilty about it afterward. But she would have done it in the end."

"But he was your what, great-great-grandson too right?" Hannah stared back in amazement. "If you knew it was him, you still would have done it?"

"Without hesitation," Blood Raven insisted. "He has been one of our suspects all along, as has January and her father. My father's blood is a curse. All who carry it are vulnerable to its horror."

"This is the life you have chosen for yourself Hannah, should you continue to walk this path," Blood Raven continued even as Hannah recoiled. "This is what being part of January's life entails. This threat will never end, never. Your father's life as a black hat was simple, and you learned just how dangerous that was when you were a child. January's life will never be so easy. Neither shall yours, should you be a part of that life."

"Now you're just trying to talk me out of seeing her," Hannah fumed.

"No, I am trying to talk you into seeing what lies before you," Blood Raven insisted. "You must be honest with yourself about the life you will lead with her, and you must honestly decide if that is something you can do. Otherwise it will poison your relationship. I speak from personal experience in these matters. You have just begun to see who and what January is. As I said before, look at her for who and what she really is. Not the glamour of the cape, or the excitement of the action, but who she is under it all."

Hannah sat there silently for long moments. Finally she looked back at Blood Raven.

"I'll think about what you said," she murmured.

Then reality warped around Hannah, and she vanished into thin air. Blood Raven did not feel her anywhere within the house, or on the grounds. She imagined that the young woman had returned to her mother's home in San Francisco. She appeared to have returned there after January had left, only returning to the sanctum for their practice session.

She prayed that her newest apprentice would indeed take her words to heart. She hoped beyond hope that she might indeed make a lasting relationship with her great-granddaughter. January seemed so happy when she was around. She was positively electrified, in spite of the terrible pun. Or to dare another pun, it was almost as if January had grown wings.

But she feared that it was not to be. Young love rarely was, as clichéd as that sounded. Hannah had been correct about one thing. Sometimes we did have to make our own mistakes. Where the heart was concerned, sometimes it seemed that mistakes were all there were to be made.

In any event, her practice session was now over. With a minor expenditure of aion, Blood Raven awakened the gateway enchanted into the sanctum. A moment later she stepped through, and stood within her apartment in the Griswold. She changed into ordinary attire with just a thought.

She had much work to do. Now that Julian had been identified as the Summoner, it stood to reason that there must be a link between him and the Hierophant somewhere. Cray was already combing through his internet history. It was up to her to interview his friends, his classmates, his teachers, his romantic partners, and everyone else he had been in contact with.

There was also the funeral to arrange. The medical examiner's office had yet to release Julian's remains. But in time they would. She must see to the interment. Many cemeteries would not serve a murderer, let alone a supervillain. Nor was it wise to bury one near the dwellings of their victims. Given the media attention, a viewing at a funeral home was out of the question. That at least simplified things, even though it would have offered an ideal opportunity to identify and interrogate Julian's peers.

Then there was Romulus. Between his own prejudices that alienated him from January, Barbara divorcing him, and now Julian's death, he was more alone than ever. The house in Warren that had once been so filled with the cacophony of life was now silent as a tomb. She would have to make time for her six-times great-grandson as well. At least Barbara had her mother and her daughter. Romulus had no one, his own parents having passed on years ago.

Finally, she would be remiss if she were not to visit Barbara as well. She was family also, even if not by blood. Given the curse of the latter, that was a blessing.

She had much to do.

Hee hee I would love to see Hannah spawn a force shield at Burger Baron! That wouid be fun. Hannah also reminds me of January in the way she speaks. These millennials, I tell ya...

Wow, Branwen is really really sort of harsh. But of course, she has to be. She has to push these newfound subjects of hers. Because not to do so could mean some even harsher realities coming true once they're all out in the field again, dueling with some monsters.



Hoy, the voice of reason! Young love strikes, and young love causes these two ladies to take things really fast. I get it. We've all been there.

Her mom has useful advice to proffer. Not offer, proffer. Wow, Hannah's really obsessed. I get it though. We've all been there, especially when young love strikes.

Fabulous episode! I loved how well Blood Raven played her role as mentor.

"Are you like, quoting Yoda or something?" Hannah wondered.’
- - I was thinking Mr Miagi right when Hannah was thinking Yoda!

Indeed, Blood Raven was every bit as sage as those two, as well as any mentor Buffy ever had (Daenlin, Kud-Ei, Boderi Farano). Hannah is a handful and Blood Raven was spot on (I think) to both encourage her as well as offer the cautions that she did.

Changing from her Blood Raven uniform to her Branwen street attire with merely a thought shows the depth and sophistication of her magic – doubtless from her prodigious experience.

Finally, as she rattles off her current ‘to do’ list, she reveals a deeply caring heart that stands in delicious contrast to her outwardly projected image.


Nit: ’Finally she looked back and {at instead of and?} Blood Raven.’

Renee: Blood Raven is definitely a forceful taskmaster. She pushes her students to be their best. Being just mediocre is not good enough when their lives are in danger. Or other people's.

It is really easy to fall really hard for someone really fast. Blood Raven has her own experience of course, and has seen it happen to others even more often. It was high time for her to try to temper Hannah's desires with a little reality. The truth is that she and January did literally just meet. They do not know one another at all.

Blood Raven absolutely proffers...


Acadian: I get the feeling Blood Raven has had this conversation many times with other young people throughout the centuries. So it comes easily.

Like Mr. Miagi, I am sure Blood Raven has owned several belts from JC Penny.

Blood Raven is a very deeply caring individual. Even if she does not often reveal it to others. Living for centuries has taught her to be cautious about how much of herself she shows to others. Plus life as a super has likewise taught her to cultivate a specific image of power and awe when she is in her super form, to literally use her charisma as a weapon against her opponents. Back in the old Champions table top rpg, they even had a presence attack, which was a deliberate attempt to overawe your enemies. The downside of that is that it tends to make casual acquaintances think she is a cold, harsh, and ruthless. That is why so many people - like Blackhawk - have such a hard time working with her. She does not show them her empathy. Just her persona as Blood Raven.

That was indeed supposed to be "look back at Blood Raven." thanks for finding that nit.




Theme Music for this episode



Book 8.31 - Blood

The weekend passed in a daze for January. At her grandmother Sarah's suggestion, they all packed up from the apartment and went to stay with her in Livonia. Her house there was small, but there was still more room than at her mother Barbara's single bedroom apartment. It also got them away from the reporters. Well, some of them at least. Soon enough, some did appear on the lawn once more, and again, the phone began ringing off the hook.

January's own social media accounts were inundated. She took the time to express her sympathy for the families of the Ferndale and Gull Island victims. She had to rein in her kneejerk desire to vent her spleen at Julian. A newly dead supervillain's sister dragging him on the internet would certainly make the news. She had to think about how her mother would feel if she saw it. The last thing she wanted was to make things worse for her.

Her mother Barbara was not only grappling with her son's death of course, but the revelation that he was a supervillain. Even if he had not murdered two people - the sacrifices at Ferndale and Gull Island - he was certainly an accomplice to the deeds. And if not for Blood Raven and Stormcrow, those figures would be far higher.

Again, it took every ounce of January's willpower to keep from spitting out the things she knew that her mother did not. How Julian had been hoping to summon Nátthrafn. How that would have inevitably resulted in his death, even if not for the intervention of his accomplice the Hierophant. Nor did she go into the details of what the summonings had entailed, or how the sacrifices were done to anchor the Abyssals, so they could not be banished by Blood Raven.

Blood Raven came by several times as well to express her support and sympathy, in her secret identity as aunt Branwen of course. She briefly mentioned visiting January's father. January did not press her for details, nor did anyone else. What she really wanted to know was what the investigation had uncovered. January knew that something was going on without her. Part of her wanted to just leave and get involved. But then she would look at her mother, and remember where her place was in this moment.

There were no opportunities to disclose confidential information of course. Not with her grandmother and mother around, or with a pack of reporters outside. January knew her operational security well enough to be careful of any talk. A laser microphone could pick up anything said on the other side of the window it was trained upon. She knew that was extreme. But January also knew that was just the tip of a vast iceberg of techniques that a truly industrious investigator might use to gather information. If she had just been the sister of a murderer there would have been no need for such paranoia. But the fact was, she was a superhero, and her brother had been a supervillain. That changed everything.

Things had settled down by the next Wednesday. It was the day before the Fourth of July, and five days since Jobbie Nooner had taken place. By then the reporters had thinned out considerably, as fresher stories presented themselves for consumption. For once January was thankful for a twenty four hour new cycle...

The medical examiner's office finally released Julian's body, and Branwen had arranged for a funeral to take place. It was far outside the city, near the General Motors Proving Grounds in Milford. January, her mother, and grandmother all drove out together in Avery's Geo, with Avery driving. Nothing else was large enough for all of them.

January did not have any funeral clothing, not that would fit at least. Aside from Sarah, all of her grandparents had passed away in her childhood. She had not been to a funeral since. But Branwen had come through once more, and produced a suitably somber black dress and heels for the occasion.

It was a small affair, with just the four of them, plus Branwen and January's father. Avery was the only non-family member attending, aside from the priest that Branwen had arranged. Grandma Sarah had always been quite Catholic. It seemed to come with being Irish. But neither January's mother or father had ever been particularly religious, nor she herself. Granted, she had been picking up Heathenry and Neo-Paganism in general for some time now. She did have her own home-made list of Viking Virtues after all. But as she stared at her brother's coffin being lowered into the grave she was still not sure if she would call it a religion, or a philosophy, or just a culture that she believed in.

No one spoke during the funeral of course, except for the priest. The entire time however, January's father glowered at her. She glowered back. She had heard his true opinion of her the night after her first battle with Archie. He had vented quite a torrent of transphobia then, enough for January to never want anything to do with him again. The sky was a sheet of black clouds overhead. But January reined herself in enough that no rain fell, nor thunder rolled, at least until the end of the service.

"This was all your fault," her father spat at her after Julian's body was lowered into the grave, and the priest made his farewells. "I just know it. You led him to this."

"How dare you blame this on her!" January's mother bridled. It was quickly turning into a repeat of the argument she had heard that night, the argument that had led to her parent's divorce, among other things.

"On him," her father fumed, "him. This is all just some sick attempt to get attention. Like when August pretended to commit suicide. He did all this just to get at Julian. This perver-"

"That is enough Romulus," Branwen spoke softly. But her words carried an eerie weight. They reverberated in the air around them. They thrummed through January's heart, matching its beat. She smelled magic in them, strong, but subtle. January had witnessed this before. Blood Raven had used this hypnotic voice in his classroom recently, and when interviewing witnesses after the Flying Dutchman fire.

"It is time to leave."

Then, as now, it had a strong influence on those with irresolute wills. January's father did not say another word. He simply turned around and walked to his black Chevy Equinox. Blood Raven watched him go for long moments, then turned back to the others.

"I am sorry for his behavior. He cannot cope with the loss, and he knows no way to deal with his pain, except to lash out with it and place it within someone else."

"Don't apologize for him," January's grandmother snapped. "That one's no good, pure and simple."

"I do not apologize for him," Branwen replied. "I apologize because I am truly sorry for the pain you feel. Romulus is a very difficult man to be related to."

Branwen left after that, and climbed into the Chevy with January's father. They drove off just before January and company all shuffled back to Avery's Geo Storm, and did the same. It was a long drive home.

* * *

No fun being at her mom’s place, but Jan is right that it is where she belongs now – for her mom. Lots of practice biting her tongue in the days leading up to the funeral.

It was thoughtful and mature of Jan to not let it rain on the funeral. Then her stupid father proceeds to pee on it! It was fabulous how Branwen’s magically suggestive voice shut him right up though.

"Don't apologize for him," January's grandmother snapped. "That one's no good, pure and simple."
- - You go, Grandma!

Romulus is very lucky that Branwen is riding home with him. Otherwise, who knows if perhaps an errant stroke of lightning might just take out that black Chevy Equinox. . . .


Nit? "Of him," her father fumed,'
It seems Romulus is trying to correct Barbara’s admonishment not to blame this on her. So I’m thinking you may have wanted ‘On him,’ instead of ‘Of him’.

Yeah I am still blown away the brother was such a bad player in this story. It makes me wonder if there are any hints in some early chapters. I mean, I think I remember he was pretty mean to his sister at times. I wonder if that's the extent of it though.

Branwen provides the funeral clothes for Jan. She must have a killer wardrobe (no pun there), you know, you live for several centuries, you're going to have all kinds of outfits from way back. Outfits to die for, as the saying goes.

And now I'm wondering if the dad is also some sort of villian. Romulus, what a name. That line Raven says ... "Romulus is a very difficult man to be related to..." There's something there, I think. :idea: Because as far as I know, there hasn't been any significant interaction between those two. Why would she come to this conclusion then? Is it only because Jan's parents did not get along and agree on some heavy topics? Or is there more there?

Only one way to figure that one out. Wait for it!

Acadian: The funeral was more fallout from Julian's death. I wanted to show more of how it has affected those around him, and not in good ways. Not that he ever had a positive effect on anyone in life either.

Don't tempt January with those lightning bolts. A lot of people in the world could end up "accidentally" being struck dead from the heavens.

That nit was indeed supposed to be "On him", so thanks for catching that.


Renee: There are examples of Julian's character every time he appears. He did not show up often, but I always made sure to note his narcissism and bigotry. Of course that just means he is a POS, not a supervillain. That sort of thing no one really expects.

Blood Raven probably has thrown out/given away far more clothing throughout the years than most people will ever own in a lifetime. And she is not a clothes horse! Just trying to keep up with the times is a slog when you are centuries old.

The subject of Romulus being the Hierophant will be addressed very soon. Not today's post, but next week.



Green Island is a real place

As always, Green Island can be found on the Stormcrow Google Map

Green Island today, seen from the south

Green Island seen from the west

Ruins of the old lighthouse





Book 8.32 - Blood

* * *

This is Gilda Gadfly, reporting live from none other than Gull Island. Nearly a week ago today the Great Lakes Alliance went toe to toe with the Summoner and his magical minions, and absolutely stuffed them. I am standing right here in the very same spot that the foul fiend was assassinated by none other than his own partner, the mysterious Hierophant.

As I have pointed out before, these new Allies are more than just a temporary team up. And every week they add more to their ranks. First it was Stormcrow and Blood Raven. Then the Crow dropped the bomb that she has a virtual partner named Gadget. Lighthammer joined the crew soon after, followed by the samurai-sensation Ôkami. But wait, there is still more dish dear listeners, much more.

Last week the loveable Crowgirl rescued a teleporting damsel in distress from a grabby Ghost at a local mall. That Ghost is none other than a West Coast and Pacific Rim supervillain named Hungry Ghost. Then just a few days later both showed up at Gull Island to join the Allies in their fight.

But it wasn't just those two. No, that's not enough for the Great Lakes Alliance. First Nations heroine Blackhawk also joined in to help the Allies out. She's normally active in the Toronto area, but has been known to range all over eastern Canada. So this is not too far from her normal stomping grounds.

I think more than anything else this is Stormcrow's superpower. It is not the wings, or the lightning, or that incredible downward jumping elbow. It is her ability to bring people together. No one has ever seen Blood Raven play nice with a team. No one thought Lighthammer would turn his hat white. Has she also rehabilitated the Hungry Ghost? Only time will tell.

Oh, and remember that teleporting damsel? Well she's not so distressed after all. Her name is Vortex. Remember that, because I bet she will be popping into your lives a lot more in the future. Stormcrow introduced her when they both teleported into the middle of a wedding party at a local park. And boy, did she ever introduce her.

Everyone in the world saw the two kiss on the Coast Guard cutter after an evil beast known as an oniare was defeated by the loveable Crow. But this reporter has gained exclusive photos taken by the wedding photographer of the pair locking lips even as they appeared out of thin air! Take a long look people, this is passion! If you thought the internet melted when Stormcrow came out, just wait until it sees this. We're all going to need plenty of cold showers after this one...

January turned off Gilda Gadfly as she neared Green Island. It felt strange, hearing the world's preeminent superhero gossip reporter gushing about her love life on the air. Especially since just a month ago she was crowing about the state police sniper Nyah rejecting her on video.

Green Island was a tiny speck in western Lake Erie. It barely even registered on Googol Maps. Yet it floated just a mile west of the much larger, and much better known, South Bass Island and its popular resort town of Put In Bay. There was not much to Green Island. No one lived there, nor had for a long, long time. The old lighthouse that had once been tended to by its last human inhabitants had long since burned down. It had been replaced by a tall steel tower with an automatic light. Since then the island had been home to nothing but birds and water snakes, until now.

"I scoped this place out last week," Lighthammer stepped out of the ruins of the old lighthouse when January came to ground nearby. It was a two story, rectangular structure. A tower jutted even higher from one end of the main building, like the steeple of a church. Perched atop it was an octagonal cupola of fire-blackened steel.

The roof was long gone, as was the second floor of the main building. Parts of its brick walls had tumbled in as well. But the lighthouse tower still rose tall and proud. Ivy grew along the walls that remained, and small plants and trees sprung up from the dirt in the center of the building. Birds chirped from all around, and a snake slithered through the brush underfoot.

January knew that the desolation should make her sad. But she felt the opposite. Seeing nature reclaim the skeletal ruins of humankind and thrive gave her hope. It was the planet surviving in spite of what humans did to it. There seemed to be fewer and fewer examples of that these days.

"There's a cave, and even a little cenote on the other side of the island." Lighthammer went on. "I went diving in it, and it goes out to the sea through a tunnel. Well, to the lake. This is a cool place. Oh, but watch the ivy. A lot of it is poison oak."

"Seems like a great secret base for a movie villain," Gadget observed over the comm link. "That cenote could be turned into a secret submarine dock, with an underground lair linking it to that cave."

"Don't give me ideas!" Lighthammer laughed. "If I had a few million dollars, I might make all that a reality!"

"This is a grand place to train," Blood Raven stepped in from the trees that stood between the lighthouse and the shore. "We are far enough from the rest of civilization to not draw attention, or at least very little of it. Yet we must concern ourselves with not harming this environment. The water snake here is endangered. It was once completely extinct in this place. Let us see to it that does not happen again."

"And try not to wreck the tower this time," a female voice came from above. "I don't want to have to rebuild another one."

January looked up with the others to see Blackhawk hovering above them in the sky. As before, the Canadian heroine was clad in armor of banded metal plates, with a medicine wheel painted across the chest. She simply stood there in mid-air, as if upon an invisible platform. Then she lowered herself down and set her feet to the earth.

"Blackhawk, I'm glad you found it." January forced a smile to her lips. It was hard to find reasons to be cheerful these days.

"Oh, that was easy," the other heroine shrugged. "I learned to navigate by the Earth's magnetic field a long time ago."

That prompted January to set a finger to her chin. "I read that sea turtles do that too, and sharks, and whales."

"Crows too," Blackhawk noted. "They can see the Earth's magnetic field, just like I do."

"Wow, what does that look like?" Lighthammer asked.

"It's based on the blue wavelength of light. It's like..." Blackhawk began, then stumbled upon her words. "You know how you can apply a filter to a picture? I can do something like that, except I can filter over the field lines. I don't know that I can describe it. I just know if I am facing north, or east, or whatever, depending on how the world looks."

"We all see the world through different eyes." Ôkami's voice was a soft murmur through the air.

Blackhawk nearly jumped out of her skin as the Japanese-American superhero seemed to step from a patch of shadow along one of the ruined walls. Like the others he was geared up for action in his gray, black, and white samurai armor.

"By all that's..." the poor woman laid a hand over her heart, "where did you come from?"

"The uterus of my mother," Ôkami replied in a completely deadpan voice.

That did bring a genuine smile to January's lips. Even Blood Raven laughed, as did Lighthammer. January could hear both Gadget and Cray snickering over the comms.

"The Samurai Man has a sense of humor after all!" Lighthammer proclaimed. "Put it there Sending Wolf!"

He held out a closed fist toward Ôkami. But the other man just shook his head, rather than return the fist-bump. In fact, he sort of faded back into the shadows along the lighthouse wall instead.

"Ôkami doesn't do the whole touching thing much," January laid a hand on Lighthammer's outstretched arm. "It's not his bag baby."

"Aight, I'm cool with that," Lighthammer nodded. "We all have our bags."

Very astute of Gilda to note the Stormcrow’s greater power of bringing supers together to common purpose. I recall Blood Raven noted the same a few episodes ago.

"I scoped this place out last week," Lighthammer stepped out of the ruins of the old lighthouse when January came to ground nearby.’
- - I love your phrasing ‘came to ground’ to describe Jan’s arrival.

I learned a new word from you: cenote!

Whether Spockesquely unintentional or not, Ôkami certainly did bring down the house with his comment to Blackhawk.

"Crows too," Blackhawk noted. "They can see the Earth's magnetic field, just like I do."
- - Now there’s a challenge I don’t expect the Stormcrow to pass up. . . .

Looks like the group may have found a base of operations, complete with training area and Crow Cave!

Okay, sorry. My memory's not always the best. But if you say he's definitely not anything more than he has been portrayed, there we have it. I just tend to look for clues, figure out plots before they unravel, and whatnot.

Jan just listened to Gilda. Neat. She's listening as she's flying, wow.

Goolgol. Green Island really is a little green island. Yeah, she'll need Googol to get there.

The gang's all here waiting too. Okami cracks me up.

Acadian: It has always been one of my intents with January to show that she is not an island, or a loner. She is always best when she works with others toward a common purpose.

I learned cenote just a few years ago, when I learned about some Latin American archaeology. The Yucatan peninsula where the Maya live does not have rivers, at least not above ground. Instead they have cenotes that lead down to the underground water rivers and lakes.

Okami probably had no idea that what he said was funny of course. But then again, the most humorous moments are often unintentional.

Jan is definitely going to learn to navigate via the Earth's magnetic field. As soon as I read that corvids can do that, I put that on her "To Do" list of powers.

I am not sure how much Green Island will be used in the future fiction. It might just be a training base, since it is in the middle of nowhere. But also since it is in the middle of nowhere, that means it is not really the easiest place to regularly meet. That might still be the Raven's Nest downtown, or the Witch House. At least for the core team of January, Ryo, Avery, Cray, and Blood Raven, who all live in Detroit.


Renee: A Googol (and Googolplex) are mathemaitcal terms. Basically giant numbers. I believe they are what inspired the name Google for the popular search engine. In the Crowverse, I decided to go with the original mathematical name. I learned about them from Carl Sagan's Cosmos.

The gang is about to be all here.









Modern interpretation of a black hole

Choronzon is a "real" entity which I made use of

The Rape of Nanjing

There continues to be a great deal of hatred between China and Japan



Book 8.33 - Blood

Spacetime twisted and warped itself into a tiny black hole at the other side of the ruined building. An instant later it was gone, and Vortex stood in its place. No longer was she clad in the old backup Stormcrow suit. Instead she was arrayed in what was clearly Mr. Blackwood's latest act of brilliance.

Her new suit was made of the super-tailor's blue and white meta-fibers. A mask covered her face, but left her mouth and chin bare. It also left a mane of long dark hair spilling down one side of her head. A mane which January knew Hannah did not possess, given that she had a shaved side bob. So like Blood Raven's own wig, it was a nice piece of misdirection.

But the real thing that drew the eye was her chest. No, not in that way. A black hole was depicted there in ultra-modern fashion. The otherwise unseeable cosmic phenomenon was outlined with a brilliant rainbow of fire that actually flowed as January looked at it. It literally moved, and never repeated itself. This colorful matter not only swirled around the equator of the event horizon, but also twisted up over it in a thick band of light, and wrapped down under it in a thinner stream. January knew from their recent studies that it was how a black hole would really look. One would see the light behind it lensed around in front of the event horizon, due to the tremendous warp that its gravity created in spacetime.

January's heart instantly doubled its beat. Vortex looked amazing, and not because of the animated image upon her torso. An image that she could swear had three dimensions. She walked over to the other woman with a smile, and held out her hands. "It is so good to see you again."

"Yeah, good to see you too," Vortex nodded. She pointedly did not clasp her hands with January's. Instead she looked to the others beyond.

"Are we all here then?"

"We are all assembled," Blood Raven declared. January turned her head as Vortex walked past her to join the others. That made for a small group that consisted of her, Lighthammer, Blackhawk, Blood Raven, and Ôkami. The latter of whom was only barely visible in the shadows. "I see you found Mr. Blackwood's estate?"

"It was hard to miss."

"Very well then, I pray you all enjoyed the holidays, for I do not bring glad tidings." Blood Raven reached to her wrist-mounted computer, and withdrew its holographic emitter. She placed it on the ground between them, and a virtual desktop sprang up in the air above it.

"The Abyss is what some might call a parallel universe, one of the infinite realities that exist within the multiverse." An artistic rendition of a tenebrous landscape haunted by nightmares sprang to life in the holo display as Blood Raven began. "It is a realm of darkness, chaos, and magic. The nightmares that dwell within the chaos are not ordinary, biological beings. They have no true life. Rather they are a physical manifestation of the malignant will that pervades the realm. They shriek 'I am I' in the darkness, and are answered by screams of horror that mirror their own. Some of these creatures fall into enough familiar shapes that we might term them as races, such as the djieien or buggane. Others are entirely unique in their blasphemy. These are the monsters which we face. Do not mistake them for the living, or the spawn of nature. They are darkness incarnate."

"That's a bit, melodramatic, don't you think?" Blackhawk looked nonplussed. "So they are beings from another reality. That just makes them aliens is all, not monsters."

"There is more to it than that," January spoke up. "They aren't simply a different form of life. They aren't really life at all. They don't procreate, or even divide as cells do. They don't eat. They don't age. They don't even die like we do."

"So, they are just energy beings that create a physical manifestation within matter," Blackhawk insisted. "I've seen enough Star Trek to know that doesn't make them evil."

"I think we are all picking up what you're laying down sister," Gadget interjected over the comm. "But this isn't the Federation of Planets. We're in Lovecraft country now."

"You didn't stick around to see that summoning circle," Lighthammer added. "That was evil, plain and simple."

"You aren't a mage Blackhawk. You cannot feel them the way we can." January said. "Their very presence warps reality with the stain of their corruption. There is a malevolence to them that transcends our world. A malign will that drives their every action to destroy us."

"She speaks of Choronzon," Blood Raven said, "The Dweller in the Abyss. It rules that realm. It is that realm. The Scripta Mortis only speaks of it with great hesitancy, as did Dr John Dee. It may not even be an individual being, but rather the aggregate will of the Abyss itself. That power is not content to simply kill, or to conquer, or enslave. It devours all, and voids the excrement into more of its twisted hellscape. It is the end of all things, and each of its servants is but a manifestation of that terrible will."

"This is what we face."

Blood Raven went on to give the entire group a full briefing on Nátthrafn, and the Summoner and Hierophant's ongoing campaign to bring him back into the world, and with him, the Abyss. January had of course heard all of this before, as had Gadget and Cray. But for the others it was a revelation. Blood Raven spared no details, including the blood ties she and January shared with Nátthrafn and the Summoner. The latter was of course an integral part of the tale. The only thing she did leave out was her vampirism. But even the fact that she was two and a half centuries old was not excluded from the tale.

January understood that this was her secret identity as well. She had discussed it with Blood Raven beforehand. The only person who did not know it was Blackhawk at this point. She had researched the First Nations superheroine, and she seemed legit enough. In the end, if the other woman was willing to fight and die for this, she had the right to know.

The Canadian heroine was clearly shaken by the story. She stared back and forth between January and Blood Raven. "Now I see why you were both so upset back there on Gull Island. I'm sorry. I have no idea what it must be like to fight your brother, or your great-grandkids."

"Yeah, it was hard enough when my brother died," Lighthammer related. He laid a comforting arm on January's shoulder. "I can't imagine if it had been like this. I would've come to the funeral. But I thought it was better to stay away, given this whole cape thing."

"It was imperative that you all remained distant," Blood Raven interjected. "There is too much scrutiny upon January and her family right now. As it was a member of the paparazzi skulked onto the cemetery grounds and took pictures with a long lens. You might have seen them in the Daily Sun."

"Parasites..." Lighthammer shook his head.

"I knew it would happen," January admitted. "But I told the AG who he was anyway. So I guess it's all my fault."

"It was inevitable, given Julian's choices." Blood Raven disagreed. "He placed himself in that grave the moment he took up his quest to return my father to the living."

"This is like something out of a comic book," Blackhawk shook her head. "Your brother was your arch-nemesis. Now I wonder if your father will turn out to be this Hierophant."

"Nay," Blood Raven said emphatically. "Several weeks ago I installed hidden cameras throughout his abode, conveyance, and classroom. We also have the GPS of his phone. We recorded his every movement during the Battle of Gull Island. He is on video giving a lecture at the same time. I also interviewed his students, they confirm he was there."

"Damn, you go all in," Lighthammer noted.

"We must," Blood Raven said. "Julian's unveiling has given us this one advantage. We know who he was. We can trace his movements and his relationships. Somewhere in that web lies the Hierophant. I will find him. I have been interviewing every one of his friends, his classmates, and so on. It is only a matter of time before I run him to ground."

January almost felt sorry for the Hierophant, almost. She only hoped she would be there at the end to kill the bastard herself.

"Unless the Hierophant strikes before then," Ôkami noted.

"That is why we have the early warning system," Cray noted in their ears. "It has worked so far, for the most part. If the Hierophant does summon another Abyssal, you will be there in minutes."

"With the Powder of Mahd al-Aadiyya, he will not escape our next encounter. It will be his Götterdämmerung." Blood Raven produced several grenades. Each was canister-shaped and painted red. She handed one out to everyone.

"This shall prevent his escape," she explained. "Take care with this Vortex, it shall interdict your own ability to teleport as well."

"So that's it, we just kill him?" Blackhawk set her hands to her hips.

"We kill him," January replied bluntly. "If that is too much, I understand. I thank you for coming here, and for the aid you have rendered us up until now. Perhaps our next collaboration will bear greater fruit."

"She is definitely related to you," Blackhawk looked to Blood Raven. "Are all of your descendants like this?"

"Nay," Blood Raven responded before January could speak. There was no mistaking the pride in her voice. "She is made of adamant. The others are naught but pale shadows in comparison."

"I don't like it," Blackhawk sighed. "I don't kill people. I save people. That's my creed. It's simple, it's why people trust me, and it's why I can sleep at night."

"Yeah, I feel that," Lighthammer interceded. "But this isn't your normal supervillain. Remember those summoning circles. This is going to get a lot worse."

"Yeah, I know," Blackhawk licked her lips and sighed. "When it goes down, I'll be there. I won't stand by while people are in danger."

"Thank you," January said. "Thank you all for being a part of this. This is how we will win. Together."

"Ok, Stormcrow and I have had success by training together and finding ways we can use our abilities to complement one another." Lighthammer waved to the island about them. "One of the reasons we picked out this place was so that we could practice and work out new tactics."

"As you all might have noticed, I've got a thing for lightning," January began. "Blackhawk, I was reading that you control not just magnetic forces, but also electromagnetic ones. Is that right?"

"Yeah," the First Nations heroine nodded. "I'm not quite as good with the rest of it as I am with metals, but I can manipulate the entire electromagnetic spectrum."

"So one of my issues with bringing down lightning is that it's kind of an area effect thing," January said. "Could you focus it so that it strikes only one target? Or keep it from conducting through say water or iron?"

"Yes, yes I can do that," Blackhawk eyes brightened. "Come on, give it a go."

They stepped out from under the trees to the shoreline. There January reached up to the sky, and ripped down a tremendous bolt of lightning. Blackhawk reached out with her hands as if she was catching it. The great, jagged bolt of electricity stopped before it struck the ground. Then as the Canadian turned her hands this way and that, it formed into a crackling ball of energy in the air above her. She bounced it back and forth through the sky, and eventually allowed it to harmlessly ground down into the earth below.

"So what happens if I hit that with a bolt of hard light?" Lighthammer asked.

They tried again, and this time after January called down the lightning, and Blackhawk formed it into a ball, Lighthammer unleashed his namesake kinetic light. It struck the hissing ball of energy, and sent electricity exploding out in all directions, across a much larger area than the original bolt of lightning would have affected. Blackhawk was there with a force field that prevented the lightning bomb from setting the trees inland aflame.

So they continued on experimenting and practicing. For a few moments, January forgot about all of her troubles lately, and just fell into the groove that a good workout always put her into. It was the same with kick-boxing, or gymnastics. In the end, it was just plain fun. She had missed this - working out with others - especially since she had quit her job at the dojo.

"So Vortex, we know you can teleport with others," January suddenly had an idea. "And Ôkami can fade with another person, and take them through walls and other obstructions. I wonder if you can teleport with him while he fades the two of you?"

"I don't see any reason for that." Vortex crossed her arms with a frown. That surprised January. But then, the other woman had seemed to be in a bad mood all day.

"Usually force fields can block teleporting, phasing, and intangibility," Blood Raven considered. "Together, you might be able to accomplish what either of you alone should fail to achieve."

Ôkami strode forward. He seemed to fade into a vague shadow under the midday sun. His barely distinct hand reached out for Vortex. But she violently flinched away, and an opaque force field instantly sprang into the air between them.

"Don't touch me!" Vortex spat, along with a string of Chinese words that sounded as florid as they were spiteful. January did not have to be a linguist to read the intent in her eyes.

"Behavior such as this is unacceptable." Blood Raven's voice was low, but her tone was iron. She put herself between Vortex and Ôkami, and the latter faded even more into the background. January was stunned, literally stunned. She felt like a fish out of water, mouth agape in shock as she tried to breathe.

"What was that?" Lighthammer asked.

"We shall not repeat such language here," Blood Raven rumbled. Her eyes burned at Vortex. "A person of character would use this opportunity to sincerely apologize and explain oneself."

"I have nothing to apologize for!" the young woman cried. This time she followed with slurs in English, directed at both Ôkami's ethnicity and neurodiversity.

"What the Hel," January finally shook herself out of her stunned silence. She too stepped forward, and interposed herself between Vortex and the target of her ire. Poor Ôkami faded into near nothingness. January knew that if Vortex had physically struck out at him, he would not have flinched. But social situations had always been his Achilles Heel. Especially ones like this. Usually Blackjack was around to dish it back when bullies picked on him. He was not here, but January was.

"What is wrong with you?"

"What is wrong with me?" she cried. "Why are you taking his side in this? What am I to you? Am I some kind of groupie? One you want to kiss, but not have sex with? You want me to live with you, but you're too ashamed of me to take me to meet your parents? What am I?"

"Oh boy, girlfriend drama," Lighthammer murmured quietly. He laid a hand on Blackhawk's shoulder and led her away. "I've been down this road..."

"That has nothing to do with what you just said about Ôkami." January felt her cheeks flush hot as lava. "You want to yell at me, yell at me. Don't you dare take it out on my friends. Don't you dare talk to him like that!"

"Some choad just like him tried to murder me when I was just a kid!" Vortex insisted. "He put a gun against my mother's head. Against my head! You know what happened to my great-grandparents? They were murdered in the Rape of Nanjing, by his great-grandparents!"

"His great-grandparents were living in Los Angeles, at least until they got sent to an internment camp." January shot back. "And whatever someone else did is not what he did. I'm sorry for what happened to you. But that gives you no right to treat anyone this way."

"They're all the same," Vortex spat. "All of them. The world would be better off if they were all dead."

Of course, she did not say just "they". She added in several colorful slurs to spice up her declaration.

"That is enough!" Blood Raven now raised her voice. "Vortex, it is clear that you have long-standing issues. We can feel sympathy for your experiences. However, none of that excuses your actions today. This behavior is absolutely unacceptable in any realm. Take yourself away from here, ere I lose my congenial demeanor."

"You were ready to kill her brother yourself, and now you're acting all high and mighty?" Vortex cried. "You're all just virtue-signaling. All your high-minded ethics and morality are just a fake!"

Thunder rolled, and lightning scattered across darkened clouds overhead. The earth groaned beneath their feet, and the waves of the lake boomed against the shore. Even the wind whipped about them, snapping hair and capes about to dramatic effect.

"Vortex... get... out... now." January barely forced the words through her gritted teeth.

"I guess you want this back now too then?" Vortex reached up to her throat, and pulled at the woven fibers of her new super suit. Tears spilled from her cheeks, even as her eyes flashed in the lightning.

"No, that is yours." Blood Raven took a step forward, and laid a hand over Vortex's to stop the motion. "Earn it. Learn. Grow as a person. Return when you have."

Spacetime folded in around Vortex. An instant later she vanished from January's life.

Vortex’s new superoutfit is quite spiffy! After your misdirection about the fake hairpiece moved to her breast, my mind started to go exactly where Jan said don’t go: distract the enemy via ghastlyesque boobular misdirection.

Uh-oh, passing up Jan’s welcoming hands. . . seems we have some coolness from Hannah. Understandable, I suppose, after Jan felt obliged to spend time focused on Barbara’s grief.

"She is definitely related to you," Blackhawk looked to Blood Raven. "Are all of your descendants like this?"
"Nay," Blood Raven responded before January could speak. There was no mistaking the pride in her voice. "She is made of adamant. The others are naught but pale shadows in comparison."
- - When the power and implications of this declaration from Blood Raven fully struck, I wanted to cheer!

You open up some neat possibilities as the supergroup tinkers around with some complementary training.

Wow, I guess I was right about Hannah’s coolness as she rather literally comes off the rails – directed initially at Ôkami. Jan was right to take the ‘just because their father was an axe murderer, don’t condemn the child’ approach with her reprimand. Certainly a lot to digest. I hope Hannah takes Blood Raven’s advice to heart – go away for a time and think about things; then hopefully come back with her head screwed on better.

Ah, that googol. Funny thing is, I recently read about googol on Wikipedia, you know, because I've been going back to all those rumors and phrases we heard in our childhood. Killer bees, the Bermuda Triangle, and those sort of things. One day I remembered googolplex. We all talked about googolplex for awhile when we were kids, What the hell was that? Turns out, it was invented by a mathematician's kid or something. It was a number so large. Wikipedia said something like it's larger than all the material in our universe. Something like that.

Vortex has a cool way of showing up, this is true. NICE. I agree with the Paladin, her armor sounds awesome.

And right, i was gonna say: coulda swore she doesn't have dark hair. But it's just a misdirection.





Seriously though, her outfit sounds like a CGI specialist's dream.

Alright, Branwen is talking now. I'll shut up.

Oh wow. So they aren't beings at all, they are more like energies with sentient abilities of some sort.

I love the way they all talk, Each one of the group is so individually different.

Whoa, Jan did some research on Blackhawk. Because they just want to know.... all they can about her. She's not really part of 'the group' yet.



I agree with Raven. There's a risk at choosing that path. Jan has seen the choice there perhaps, but chose not to go there. Her brother unfortunately did. One thing leads to another. Look what happened to him.

WHOA... This is heavy. What is up with Vortex?? This is intense. Did not see any of that coming. Wow, racial slurs. What a sh*tty first girlfriend Jan has (had?)