Issue 4: Changing of the Guard

She glowered, but this time not at me. “I know who’s responsible for this, and I’ll take care of it, but for now we need to put this thing down.”

“Psy this is serious! Get something to lob at its eye sensor. While it’s distracted Raven and I will move in for the-”

“Hey, I heard we’re getting a new squad member,” Volcaness casually commented even as she melted the head off an encroaching security robot The insane creation’s laser blasts had, until that point, handily kept me pinned behind some crates.

“Thanks,” I exhaled. We were investigating a supposedly abandoned warehouse in the downtown area where these security droids weren’t even supposed to be active. I nervously peeked around the corner, Volcaness rolling her eyes at me and laughing.

“Still a rookie.”

“Um, yeah. Unlike you I-” I started to say something I’d regret, but Tank cleared his throat, that deep baritone catching both our attention.

“Unlike Volc, you ain’t earned your stripes yet. Remember why we got stuck with this squad’s got less to do with going after Raven Wing now that she’s behaving, and more about keepin’ your scrawny hide intact.”

“Glorified babysitting,” Volcaness grumbled annoyedly. She turned to stare down a long row of shelves, almost reflexively shooting a blast of fire at a security droid that had just rounded the corner. “Let’s just get this over with so I can finish nursing my hangover,” she groaned.

A fresh wave of the droids came marching our direction, seemingly from nowhere. It’d been a couple of weeks since the zombie incident now, and while we were forced to make a token effort to search for Raven Wing, our search turned up nothing.

Raven’s old lair, the stone library, had been completely obliterated. It wasn’t a thing done with conventional weapons though. It was more like someone just phased the entire area out of reality. It simply no longer existed, leaving a gaping, unstable hole in its place.

The resulting sinkhole a few days ago caused only a single fatality in a stray cow that wandered into the field following the disappearing act, but no human casualties. A blaster round sailing inches from my face brought my thoughts back to the present rather quickly.

I curled my lips using a new, more advanced technique Mother had recently shown me. The resulting shockwave cleaved the droid’s upper half backwards, even as its legs rather comically ran around in circles for a moment, tripping up its ‘squad’.

Volcaness, now laughing hysterically, took advantage of the abrupt chaos, unleashing a veritable maelstrom of flame that melted the rest of them to slag in a mighty inferno that, to my great surprise, somehow didn’t set the entire warehouse ablaze.

She collapsed to her knees after the terrible blast though, bringing her hand quickly to her temples. “Mother of God that HURT!” she cursed under her breath, but Tank just shook his head.

“Remind me to stay on your good side. Now, what was that about a new squad member?” Tank asked rather casually even as he ripped the head off a stray droid that had ducked behind a crate to evade the fiery demise.

“Yeah, some new brat with plant powers: something about a science fair project going wrong. HellifIknow.” She shrugged. I offered her my hand, but she swatted it away, staggering to her feet. “Don’t need help. Letting loose that much energy at once just takes a lot out of me.”

I recoiled and nodded softly. Tank grunted. He crumpled the recently-detached robot’s head like an aluminum beer can against his cranium, chucking it across the length of the large room and sighed. “Just what we need. ANOTHER brat to keep an eye on. I think I’m gonna turn in my resignation.” He stated it simply and seriously.

Volcaness laughed dryly. “Good luck with that. Some of us don’t have that luxury.” She mused, striding forward.

“Whaddaya mean by that? Aren’t you here by choice too?”

“Hell no. Not unless by ‘choice’ you mean ‘little bitch here’s mother manipulated me into service’. My choice is serve or spend the rest of my life in cryo,” she shot back rather bitterly.

“Christ, Volc. No wonder you’re always so pissy.”

“It ain’t the company. Well, not JUST the company.” She glared at me. I just frowned. Why would mother do something like that? What did Volcaness do that would be so terrible to warrant cryo-stasis, but not terrible enough that she could serve the team and even protect me? There had to be a method to mother’s madness, but I resolved not to ask about it, instead pulling out my PDA.

“That’s the control room up ahead,” I tried to be helpful. Tank cracked his knuckles.

“Right, here’s the plan. I rip the door off, and you two blast anything that moves.”

Volcaness smirked, responding in what I could swear was a line from Jack Sparrow himself. “I like it. Simple and easy to remember.”

Later that afternoon, I found myself back in medbay, dressed in a skimpy hospital gown. I hadn’t been injured in the battle or anything so dramatic, but rather had to return for a follow-up to be sure there were no lasting effects from contact with Raven’s demon father.

While I waited for the blonde-haired nurse to tend to the scanners, Psychic Strike stepped through the door, nodding to said nurse.

“Mind if I come in?”

“Just don’t touch anything,” the nurse responded in a teasing tone, but motioned her over just the same.

“I’m just running some tests on Aria to be sure she’s not going to vanish like the Stone Library. Up until a few days ago I had no reservations about the deal I struck with Banshee,” she trailed off. She seemed to have bitten her tongue.

I poked my head around the monitor between me and the nurse. “You made a deal with Banshee too? Please tell me you’re not here against your will?”

The nurse laughed. “You’ve been talking to the firestarter haven’t you? No, I’m here by my choice. My deal with your mother was for my sister’s sake. I signed on and agreed to work exclusively here in medical in exchange for Banshee financing and looking after my little sister, Coronal Rose.”

“Whoa, that was your sister?” Psychic Strike responded, surprised. “I talked to her earlier while Aria and the others were out on that warehouse job. Hey, how did that go anyway?”

“Volcaness turned ‘em all to slag, but no sign of who or what switched all the robots’ attack parameters. Only weird thing about the entire place was this big raven in the rafters watching us.”

Psychic Strike and the nurse both stared at me, the former adding, “And you don’t think that’s an odd coincidence given your recent history?”

“No, not really. I know what you’re thinking, but Raven’s only been that subtle with others. She’s always just come right out and approached me even if she had to kidnap me to do it. This was something else.”

“Well, we’re finished here if you girls want to go and meet your new teamma-” the nurse cut herself off as the base alarm sounded. I glanced at Psychic Strike, who nodded, racing off to find out what was going on.

With the nurse’s help I slipped into my battle armor, afterward racing down the hall to the nearest elevator. While I waited, because despite our resources we couldn’t afford anything faster, I patched my earbud communicator into our scrambled base frequency.

“Aria checking in; what’s happening?”

“Giant robot’s on a rampage downtown,” Tank responded candidly.

Volcaness quickly added, “Aria get your butt up here. I’ve been volunteered to carry the new meat into battle, and I want you by my side doing that shielding thing you do.”

A new female voice, maybe fifteen or sixteen, spoke up, “Thanks Volcaness.”

Volcaness responded smugly, “The shield’s not for you; it’s for my bike. I’m dropping you in the hot zone, and if I get so much as a scratch on that bad boy I’m holding you responsible.”

Same old Volcaness. Still I could shield the newcomer too, at least until we got into the hot zone where I’d have to focus my attention on staying alive. One does not simply fly up to a giant robot without expecting it to try and knock one into the outer stratosphere.

“So any idea who sent this thing?” I asked as I stepped into the elevator.

“Banshee’s friend’s lookin’ into it,” Tank commented. Did he mean Silver Sentinel? He added a moment later, “If she can hack its AI and shut it down we might not have to fight it.” He definitely meant Sil. If anyone could hack an AI in the middle of a firefight it was her.

“But where’s the fun in that?” Volcaness added in a disappointed tone as I stepped outside. I couldn’t see her passenger’s face for the flame-streaked helmet that Volcaness herself never wore, but the alabaster skin combined with the hunter green costume gave Rose away easily. She nodded toward me as I waved. Over the comm. link, I heard her voice.

“Sorry we’re not meeting under better circumstances.”

“You can talk about boys after this is over. Or girls in Aria’s case,” Volcaness chided with a broad grin. I think she secretly reveled in the fact we both seemed to prefer girls.

At least in my case, it was only one, specific girl though, and I still hadn’t sorted out how I felt about her. I mean, I had only been a real girl for a few months now myself, and with superhero work getting in the way of trying to sort out what all THAT even meant…

“Earth to Aria: you coming?!” Volcaness practically shouted over the link as she sped away. I lofted myself off the ground and raced to catch up with her.

We didn’t have to travel far to see the telltale path of destruction the robot had left. Parts of buildings had been disintegrated or torn down, cars had been crushed completely flat, and parts of underground pipe and conduits left exposed.

As I glanced at the ground, for just a moment I saw the shadow silhouette of a bird in flight traveling alongside us. I looked up, but could see no sign of it, and when I looked back down again, the shadow had disappeared.

“There it is, and it’s a big’un!” Tank yelled across the comm. channel. “It’s gotta be fifty feet tall. This is gonna be fun.”

As Volcaness rolled to an abrupt stop Rose peeled off the borrowed motorcycle helmet to reveal striking red hair framing a full green mask-covered face. Only her mouth and part of her chin had been left exposed. I didn’t have time to admire her ornately designed armor, as for the moment, we had a rampaging monster to stop.

Volcaness sped away, leaving the two of us plus Tank close by. Psychic Strike was already in the air, dodging the thing’s gigantic fists, though with its lack of a brain to affect, she looked more like a mosquito fighting an elephant. To her credit, she had managed to use her telekinetic abilities to hoist a sizable chunk of debris from a crumbling building nearby, which she was using to beat it about the ‘head’.

“Alright, I’m going to help Psy. Tank, Rose, you guys be careful!”

“Worry about yourself runt!” Tank bellowed as he lifted a nearby SUV, flinging it at the robot’s midsection. The fiery explosion that followed caused the mechanical monster to turn around and afforded us a good look at its ‘head’. A single, central eye-like sensor, blazing red, settled on us.

“I think you pissed it off!” Rose commented, as I lifted off the ground and sped toward the creature, shrieking a shockwave at it. It had little effect beyond earning me a swat. I yelped as its heavy arm sent me flying. Fortunately I was able to recover. I caught sight of Volcaness on the ground racing back as vines seemed to sprout from between the cracks in the ground that the monster had created, lashing out at its feet.

I rushed forward firing off another quick, short burst of sonic energy at the the monster’s optical sensor as it stomped the ground attempting to snuff out Volcaness. She rolled to the side, and though I couldn’t see it from my vantage point at the time, the stomp exposed more pipes and conduits, fracturing two of them.

“Hey cutie. Need a hand?” I suddenly heard Raven’s voice behind me. I spun about. She had gotten an upgrade in terms of appearance. The new armor shimmered like some kind of black glass, and she had replaced her wings with a raven-feather cloak. I had to barrel roll to narrowly dodge being knocked from the sky by the robot at the distraction.

“Raven!? I don’t know what you’re doing here, but we need all the help we can get!”

She laughed dryly, “Yeah, well, it’s kinda hard to miss the giant freaking robot terrorizing the city. Besides I could use some brownie points with your Mom after that whole … kidnap you while making a fool of half your squad thing awhile ago.” She grinned and launched herself right at the robot like some kind of sentient shadow missile.

She raced toward the metal behemoth, dark energy coursing and ebbing around her fists, and slammed squarely into its chest. What I can only call an explosion of liquefied shadow followed, though it barely left a dent. She woozily flew back to my side as Psychic Strike moved in, shooting her levitated steel beam like a javelin for the dent. Raven shook her head vigorously.

“What’s this thing MADE of?!”

“Well, at least now I know you’re not behind this,” I commented as I shook my head. She practically glared at me, looking more than a little hurt by that statement, so I quickly explained, “I’ve been seeing ravens all day. First at the warehouse where a bunch of security droids went bonkers, then on the way here, and now you show up.”

She glowered, but this time not at me. “I know who’s responsible for this, and I’ll take care of it, but for now we need to put this thing down.”

“Let’s do this,” I responded, taking her hand in mine. Psy floated closer and grinned.

“Can I play too?” she chided. I could feel my cheeks burn.

“Psy this is serious! Get something to lob at its eye sensor. While it’s distracted Raven and I will move in for the-”

A sudden explosion, followed by an enormous fireball, caught the three of us off-guard. The shockwave sent me flying one way, Raven another. The last thing I saw before I felt myself slam against a nearby building was three jagged pieces of a formerly fifty foot tall robot sailing off into the distance.

I nearly blacked out from the building’s impact, hurtling toward the ground. Psychic Strike swooped in to catch me, but with the momentum of the fall, she only managed to slow our descent.

On the ground a massive inferno raged where the giant robot had broken the street earlier. Rose huddled behind an overturned cab, and Tank held his bleeding arm aloft beside her. He shouted, “Get down! It broke a gas main!”

“Where’s Volcaness?!” I asked frantically as we raced to their sides. Raven descended cautiously toward the ground a few feet back. Tank shook his head slowly.

“We’ve got a meat wagon comin’ to pick up me and Rose. Kid’s okay, but I took some shrapnel.”

“Where’s Volcaness?” I repeated myself. Again, he shook his head, but Psychic Strike and I both brightened a little as we heard her coughing deeply over the sound of the heavy blaze nearby. She staggered closer, her face blackened, but not too badly burned.

“I’m a living volcano, remember?” She coughed hard, collapsing to her knees. “But I ain’t got long. Tell Banshee … Tell her I’m sorry.”

“No, Volc, you can tell her yourself!” I insisted as I raced to her side.

Raven frowned, but before she could speak, I heard a familiar, small voice. Our surroundings melted into shadows. Even Tank and Rose seemed to fade from view, leaving only Raven, Volcaness, and myself. “This is not how it was supposed to happen…” the voice whispered.

“Yeah, well,” Volcaness started, and coughed deeply, spitting blood at the ground beside her. “I ain’t one for prophecies or the whims of disembodied voices.”

“I can’t cure you. I’m sorry,” it continued, barely above a whisper now, “But I can pass your powers to another if you wish.”

“I squandered my power, my … ‘gift’. Maybe the next Volcaness’ll do better. Here,” she wheezed as she held out her hand, dangling a small tiki figurine on a simple, leather cord. I always wondered what was on the end of that cord around her neck, but she kept it hidden until now.

The tiki charm seemed to suspend in mid-air, and Volcaness lay back with a low groan. “Aria,” she called quietly. I moved closer, and she took my hand, smiling. “I’m proud of you kid. Always … was.”

As the world returned to normal, the fires had ceased. Another pair of supers, late to the party, had put out and plugged the leak while we were lost in the blackness. I hadn’t had time, what with Volcaness dying at my side, to really process what the spirit that had previously called herself Raven’s inner child meant by ‘this wasn’t supposed to happen like this’.

I had more important things on my mind. I hadn’t even noticed that Raven was long gone. I removed my cape and draped it over the fallen hero’s form, and I stayed silently by her side while we waited for transport.

Back at the base, Psychic Strike managed to pry me away, and along with Rose, now both unmasked, led me to one of the base’s lounge areas. I sat in silence between the two of them for several long minutes. Stunned, shocked, I had no words. I just wanted to curl up and cry. We saved the city, but at a terrible cost.

“I guess she finally got what she wanted,” I spoke softly as I untied my mask, peeling it away from my face. I stared at it, Volcaness’ gift to me. Psychic Strike hugged me, as Rose watched helplessly. “She said she didn’t have a choice, that it was work for us, protecting me, or a cryo cell. She never even told me her real name.”

“Jennifer,” a female teen-aged voice answered from the door. We all looked up in surprise to see someone who, at least superficially, looked like Volcaness. She had to be twenty years younger, and her skin, once as pale as Rose’s, was now a rich, dark olive. Instead of fiery red hair she had dark chestnut cascades down her shoulders and back. Her features were unmistakably Volcaness.

“Who… are you?” I stood, approaching the new girl. “You look like Volcaness, but much as she hated men, you couldn’t be her daughter.” As I reached up to touch her cheek, she laughed quite cheerfully and swatted my hand away.

“It’s me you dork. At least, I carry her memories. I guess the tiki gods decided to honor my sacrifice and give me a second chance.” She rolled her shoulders. “I don’t get it myself, but I’m not going to complain. And as far as not liking guys, well, that was the old me. We’ll have to see about the new me.”

Psychic Strike, still as shocked as me judging by the look on her face, slowly stood and approached us. “There’s only one way to be sure it’s really her.”

The girl immediately glared at her. “Step inside my head and I’ll break your neck. I haven’t forgotten that dream you so helpfully ‘loaned’ me.” She grinned broadly.

Psychic Strike cackled like a madwoman, “Ohhh yeah, that’s her.”

Volcaness glanced at Rose, now sitting by herself and watching us. She motioned for the new girl to approach. Rose stood slowly and walked over to us. “Volcaness, I’m sorry. I’m so sorry; I-”

She quickly shook her head, “No. No apologies. I chose to sacrifice myself to protect you, and I was rewarded for it. In a way, I owe you.” She motioned her head back toward the door.

“Come on, pizza’s on me. I may have the body of a teenager now, but I still have the savings account of a single thirty-five year old.” She beamed, turning to lead the others out.

I stayed behind a moment, slowly moving to the nearest chair to sit. What in the name of the Banshee just happened? As I sat trying to make sense of the events of the past hour, I felt a soft, small hand take mine. The little girl slowly materialized in front of me, staring up at me. I frowned down at her.

“Haven’t you caused enough trouble for one day?”

“I suppose I deserved that,” she responded sarcastically as she crawled into my lap. “But everything is as it should be now, and better, in some ways. I tried to convince Raven to deliver this message herself, but she is afraid you’ll hate her because of my involvement.”

“I don’t hate her. I could never hate her!” I quickly shot back, causing the girl to smile and kiss my cheek lightly. “What exactly was supposed to happen?”

“No spoilers,” she responded with a positively impish smile. “There are greater things than you at play, child of fate.”

“Wait, didn’t you say you were going to pass Volcaness’ power to someone else?”

“I did. That girl isn’t a bitter, self-serving alcoholic on a path to self-destruction is she?”

“No, but isn’t just handing her a second chance the same thing as what happened to me?”

“How so?” she asked innocently, tilting her head curiously, which caused her ringlet-laden pigtails to bounce.

“When I received my power, my wish granted, it was … instantaneous. I had no prior knowledge of how to be a girl, let alone a hero. I had it all just handed to me at once, and turned loose.”

She chuckled, “Yes, what was done to you was done as a lesson in being mindful of what you wish for. But she was already a hero.” She paused to let those words sink in then continued. “All I’ve done is bargained with the powers that be for her to … redeem herself, to rewrite her life with the knowledge and experience of what could be if she chooses not to change.”

“I guess that makes sense.”

“Consider it a balancing act, an atonement for my role in events. Until we meet again.”

“Hey, wait!”

“We ARE waiting,” Volcaness called back from beyond the door. I blinked, finding myself alone in the room once more. I shook my head slowly and stood, hurrying to catch up.

“Right, um, just give me a minute to change,” I sheepishly called back. We still had to do the debriefing, but I had had enough of being a hero for one day. I cast a quick last glance over the empty lounge then hurried out to catch up to the others.