Fearless

Goddin stared out at the dome wall that separated his clean, safe home from the violent world outside it. Then his attention fell to the city below him. His city. He could see much of it from up here. He wasn’t the mayor, or even on the city council. He was this city’s guardian, or chief as some of the humans called him. This was the place the humans insisted on calling Babylon. He wasn’t sure why, it was a name from their history. But it was the first joint Human/G’thok settlement, and its success was very important to the leaders of both worlds. That’s where he came in. Goddin had been Babylon’s senior security officer since the colony’s inception fourteen G’thok years (or roughly ten human years) ago. In that time he had seen much, and been a part of all of it. He had received commendation after commendation and much of the credit for the colony’s success as well as the admiration and respect of G’thok and Human alike. But he was not in it for fame or respect of people he didn’t know. What’s more, he knew in his heart that he deserved much less of the recognition than he received. The true hero of Babylon was none other than the human female whose balcony on which he was currently standing. He peered back in through the door, across the room at the woman he had come to respect so much. She was sitting at a table with a bottle of clear, brown liquid and a small glass. Every once in a while she would fill the glass and quickly drink it down. She looked up and caught his eyes.

“C’mon over here, Tiny, and let me tell you a story.” Tiny. The tallest human he had ever seen had barely come up to his shoulder. This particular human, though not small for a female of the species, was barely taller than his waste. But every conversation with this human was like taking a crash course in the art of human sarcasm. She seemed to have different distinct categories of nicknames for him. There were the names, like tiny or little guy, that referred to his people’s size. These were usually ironic in nature. Occasionally, she would find humor in the fact that his species had full body fur and call him names like Rover, or Fluffy, or Buttons, names that her people would normally reserve for a pet. These were his least favorite. Then there were the arcane references to ancient human literature and mythology that even many other humans he knew didn’t understand. Names like Chewbacca or Big Foot or Dr Zaius. He actually enjoyed these nicknames. It gave him an opportunity to research and learn something about human culture and history. He would of course never EVER let on that he, in any way, enjoyed this, however.

Goddin obeyed her command and made his way across the room toward her. When he uncomfortably tried to balance himself on the tiny human chair across from her she noticed his difficulty and laughed.

“Not made for yeti [censored] huh?” She said

Yeti. Huh. He’d have to look that one up. The woman threw back another shot of liquid and refilled the glass.

“Want a toot?” She asked as she slid the glass toward him. “No, I guess not.” She said and pulled back the glass.

Alcohol was poison to his people. Though, as far as he could tell, it was poison to hers’ as well. It just worked more slowly.

“How old do you think I am?” She asked before she put back the shot she had offered him.

Uh-oh. This was not an easy subject among humans. They didn’t revere old age like his people did. That, coupled with the fact that even after fourteen years of living and working side by side with them, all humans still kind of looked the same to him, made this a dangerous question for him. And the whole year thing, 1 human year for 1.4 of his, always screwed him up. He was no math genius.

“Uh, forty?” Was that too old? That might have been too old.

She stared at him. It was not a happy stare. Uh oh.

“Forty! You son of a [censored]! Forty!” She threw back another glass and leaned forward. “I’ll have you know I was twenty-six when this happened to me.” But she wasn’t truly angry and she quickly calmed and sat back in her chair. She even seemed to smile a little and looked down at her empty glass as she spoke. “Though……. I suppose that’s not too bad for someone born 950 years ago.”

Wait a minute. They didn’t live that long. Was she telling the truth? He couldn’t totally be sure. She had fooled him before. She had him in a biosuit outside the dome everyday for two weeks looking for what she called a “snipe” once. But it could be true. She was one of those super humans. It was a phenomenon that his people couldn’t explain and the main reason the war ended when it did. He had seen it first hand. A G’thok battleship would completely outgun, outmaneuver, and outclass a human battleship only to be torn apart by the bare hands of a flying super human. It was something that the G’thok scientists couldn't understand and it struck fear into the hearts of the G’thok people. Imagine his horror when he discovered that not only were some of these “super humans” not in league with the goals of their human superiors, but some of them were downright violent and evil. Such was the case when Goddin first accepted his role here. There was a super human bent on the destruction of this colony. And he would have succeeded were it not for the help of this female human who went simply by the fitting name of “Fearless”.

She had poured another glass and put it back. She seemed intent on finishing this bottle for some reason. She was more pensive then he had ever known her to be. And he had never known her to drink the alcohol before this night.

“I was a firefighter.” She began. “Like my father before me and his father before him. I was a part of the P-city 823rd. A lot has changed since then. Actually, that’s where I got the name Fearless. My dad used to call me that when I was little. And when I joined the company the name latched on to me somehow. I don’t know. Back then, you’re a woman working for a fire company, you do a couple of things that any firefighter would do, suddenly, you’re a hero on the news. I didn’t ask for that crap. They’d follow me around all over town trying to get me on camera. “The Fearless Woman Firefighter” they’d always call me.”

She looked down at her empty glass again. “Some bad stuff happened just before it happened. First my Dad died on the job. Not too long after that the Rikti attacked. A little while later I came home on my fiancée with one of the other wives. He said I was “emotionally detached”. Well I nearly “emotionally detached” his…..” She stopped. “ Well, he’s been gone for some 900 years now.” She looked out her balcony window with a half smile on her face. Then her eyes came back to the attentive gaze of Goddin. She had never spoken of her past before. He was mesmerized.

“So, obviously, the wedding was off.” She continued, “ So, I went on the honeymoon alone. I went to the island of San Borracho by myself to figure out what I was going to do with my life.” She suddenly became pensive again. This made Goddin uneasy. He had never seen her like this before.

“I had no idea what was waiting for me.” She smiled and put back another shot.

Olivia watched the palm fronds brush the side of the bus as it made its way up the winding road to the mountain’s summit. Every once in a while there was a break in the trees and she could see down the green slopes of Mount Quemadura to the village of Los Placido, where her resort was.

“ Now, we’ll soon be near the crater of Mount Quemadura so, no one sneeze!” The tour guide laughed at his own joke “No seriously, there’s no danger here. This volcano has been dormant for fifty years.”

“Tool” Olivia thought. She always hated these guided tours. She didn’t really know why she was here. However, she felt drawn to this volcano for some reason. Maybe she was sick of sitting around the pool wallowing in her own self pity. She thought she’d come down here and have a good time, and maybe meet someone to help her forget her ex-fiancee. But so far all she did was get drunk by the pool alone. Maybe her ex was right, maybe she was emotionally detached. Wait a minute, he was nailing one of his friend’s wives. What did he know about “emotionally detached”? Suddenly she felt that the seat next to her was occupied.

“All this will be gone soon.” Olivia turned to see a man staring intently at her. She had noticed him before. He was tall and lanky and wore a trench coat that was at least two sizes too small for him. He had been clutching a gym bag which now sat on his lap. The bag seemed to contain something large and boxy. She thought it was strange that someone would bring luggage with them on a guided tour. He was very creepy.

“Huh?” she responded.

“He will take all this away. And only those loyal to him will be allowed to survive. I will be one of those allowed to live on.” He placed his bony hand on her leg and smiled. “Maybe I could put in a good word.”

She sat in amazement for a moment. “Oh, you’re going to have to move your hand.” She said bluntly.

“I can help you. I’m your friend. Everybody needs a friend, don’t they?” He leaned in closer.

“Right.” She grabbed his hand and dug her thumb into the back of it. She pulled his hand up, twisting his wrist. The man writhed and shrieked in pain.

“Now, you’re going to get your creepy *** up, take it back to your seat and never, ever touch me again, aren’t you?” With that she let go and he stood up with a bolt, still clutching his bag.

“You’re just like them!” He screamed. “You’ll learn like the rest of them!”

The bus was silent. The man looked up and noticed everyone looking at him. Olivia shrugged her shoulders implying ignorance and the man sat back in his seat, rubbing his wrist.

“Okay,” the tour guide began slowly. “If you look to your right you’ll see a bunker-like structure. This is where the geologists study volcanic activity. It’s built to withstand the falling ash and rock and tremors and that occur during a volcanic eruption. If you notice there’s a second building. This houses a generator in case the electricity is cut off because of an eruption.”

“What’s that?” Near the front of the bus there was a small boy who was all too eager to learn as much as he could about the volcano. He was referring to a large vehicle parked next to the bunker-like structure. Each of the six tires was at least six feet in diameter and the vehicle itself stood more than a story high.

“Oh, that’s the mobile laboratory, or what the geologists affectionately call “The Beast”. They use it to explore the crater itself. It’s capable of withstanding great temperatures and is, as you can see, very rugged. Okay, soon we’ll be coming to our first stop. You’ll be able to get out there and look into the crater. I’ll ask you to not get to close to the crater ledge and PLEASE stay with the group.”

The road leveled and the bus turned onto a wide open space on the rim of the volcano. The tourists piled out and followed the tour guide toward the edge of the crater.

“Now, soon you’ll be able to look down into the volcano crater. I’ll ask you to please hold onto any belongings or little people..” he winked at the mother of one of the families “..you brought with you.”

“Are we near where Captain Invincible disappeared?” asked one of the tourists.

“Yes actually, it was right on this spot where he was last seen.” replied the tour guide. “He was last seen falling into a pit of lava, which I assure you has long since cooled and hardened.”

Suddenly there was a rumble. Everyone halted.

“Uh, everything’s okay. That’s just a tremor. Nothing to worry about.” The guide seemed unsure of himself.

There was a second tremor, and then a third one that nearly knocked some of the tourists off their feet. Olivia turned toward the tour guide. He seemed nervous and confused.

“Back on bus! Back on Bus!” The driver was hanging out of the door of the bus frantically waving to the tourists.

“Yeah, that sounds like good idea.” Olivia said to herself. “Everybody,” she said out loud, “back on the bus, now.” She began corralling people back toward the bus. There was a constant roar coming from the crater now and the tremors were becoming more violent and more frequent.

Olivia had gotten just about everyone back onto the bus when she noticed someone was missing. “Where’s the creepy guy?” She said to herself. The tour guide came up to the bus. She grabbed him before he boarded. “Where’s that guy? You know, the guy with the trench coat.” She asked him. But he just stared back at her with a look of blank fear and boarded the bus. When the last member of the tour boarded the bus, she scanned the landscape for the missing man. “Well, would anyone miss him?” she thought. There was another tremor and an explosion. “Crap” she thought.

Olivia smacked the bus “Go!” she said and motioned to the driver for the bus to leave.

“You, on bus!” the driver was motioning for her to get on the bus.

“No, me no on bus. I gotta find the stupid creepy guy.” She turned and ran off in search of the lost passenger. The bus driver closed the door and headed back down the road.

“Stupid, stupid, stupid.” Livi sang to herself. “Really, really stupid Liv.”

The bus was now out of sight down the road. She had taken higher ground in hopes of spotting the lost creepy guy. But the area on either side of the ledge where the bus had parked was rocky and mountainous and there were many areas still hidden from her sight. She could see down the side of the mountain a little but the jungle had made headway in reclaiming the slope since the last great eruption and would conceal any movement through it. Further making things difficult, ash had begun to fall like black snow. This was accompanied by the frequent loud, eerie thud made by falling boulders that had been expelled into the air by the erupting volcano. All the while the roar from inside the crater was constant.

“Go on the honeymoon without him, Liv. What’s the worst that can happen, Liv?” She said to herself mocking the words of her friends’ back home.

Just then, there was a loud crash behind her and Liv was knocked off her feet. As she rose to her feet and brushed herself off, she turned to see a steaming, coffee-table-sized boulder not ten feet from where she stood, where previously there had only been grass and gravel.

“Well, I tried. Sorry pal, you’re on your own.” She threw up her hands turned toward the road when she saw a figure making his way down the road before her.

“[censored].” She thought and leapt down from her perch. As she ran after the man she noticed he was stumbling as if he had been hurt. She also noticed his clothes were rather tattered. She quickly caught up to him, grabbed his arm and turned him around.

“Just what the hell do you think you’re do….” She began. But she was startled by the fact that it wasn’t the creepy guy at all. This man was older and more dignified looking. He seemed to be in surprisingly good shape physically despite the fact that his clothes were almost completely torn from his body.

“It’s you.” He stared at her face. “The face I saw, It’s you.” He said and collapsed in her arms.

“Oh, you’re really going to make me carry you?” He was alive but limp in her arms. “Wonderful!”

She threw him over her shoulder and began to head down the road when a steaming boulder the size of a tool shed slammed into the road a few feet in front of her, knocking her to the ground.

“Well this is no good.” She said as she gathered herself and checked on her new friend. She threw the man back over her shoulder and made her way back up the road to the geologists’ bunker. When she arrived at the bunker she was surprised to find the door ajar and startled by what she found inside. There was a man and a woman, both lying on the floor with bullet holes in their heads. Livi put the old man down against the wall, closed the door and checked the two people on the floor. They were dead. She then tried the phone and the radio. Both were also dead.

“None of this works!” She yelled in frustration. “Back up generator my butt!” She leaned against the bench that ran the full length of the wall opposite the door.

“So, how you doin’ Pops? You alright?” She said to the man who was now stirring.

He began to get his bearings and modestly, but weakly tried to cover himself with what clothes he had left. “Yes, I do believe I’ll live for a short while.” He spoke with a very proper British accent and sounded very well educated and refined for a tattered old man.. “You’ll have to forgive me for my earlier behavior, you see, it’s been a while since I’ve seen another face.”

“You look like you’ve been through hell.” Liv studied the man. He seemed weak, but surprisingly healthy.

“Indeed I have, my dear. Indeed I have.” He raised an eyebrow and peered up at her. “Do you know who I am?”

“The crazy old naked man who lives in the volcano?” She had decided to check him for broken bones and began to make her way across the room toward him.

He smiled at her wit. “I have gone by many names in my time. But you may recognize the name, Captain Invincible.”

Olivia laughed as she spoke. “You mean the super hero who died fifty years ago?” She was crouched in front of him now and feeling his arm for breaks. “So then you are the crazy old naked man who lives in the volcano.”

“That, I may be.” He laughed. “But what sanity remains is due entirely to this lovely face.” He brought his right hand up to her check. “I survived fifty years in the bowels of that beast knowing that I would someday be blessed with seeing this lovely, lovely face.”

“Hey pal, you'd better watch it. With the week I’ve had, talk like that might actually get you somewhere.” His ribs and both of his arms were free of breaks. She moved onto the legs.

“I do apologize, my dear.”

“Don’t be silly. It may be the rantings of a lunatic but it’s still the nicest thing anyone has said to me in a l…….” But he wasn’t apologizing for being forward. He had brought his left hand up to her right temple, and with his right hand on the opposite temple, he had somehow immobilized her. As the world around her slipped away, she could hear his words drifting off into the distance.

“I am sorry to do it this way, my dear. But, you see, my time is near.”

The bunker, the man, even her own body, faded away to nothing. She thought she might be dead. But then she began to see images. She could see things happening around her. She wasn’t just seeing it, however, she could feel it as well. It was as if she were really there. She saw herself fighting some kind of metallic monster. Only she wasn’t her, she was……the old man. She watched as she and the monster plunged into molten lava locked in battle. Then there were more images. She saw herself doing things. She saw herself helping Jews escape from concentration camps. Then she was fighting crime in the streets of Paragon City. But it wasn’t modern crime. It was the gangsters of the 1920’s and 30’s that she had read about. Then she saw herself helping slaves run for their freedom. She was traveling back through time, helping people. Freeing the enslaved. Fighting for justice. Defending those who could not defend themselves. Suddenly she was no longer the old man, but someone else, a Middle Eastern man. The images were going by fast now but she could see them all. Eventually she would become someone else. And then someone else. Suddenly she was surrounded by strange-looking creatures and odd flying machines. She was no longer on Earth among humans but on some strange distant planet. Throughout it all, however, the motives behind her actions remained constant. Protecting the innocent, defending the defenseless, and fighting evil. Eventually the images began to fade and a new image formed. As it took shape she realized it was a face. But then….no wait a minute…..what the hell was it?

She bolted away from the grip of the man and scrambled backwards on the floor. “[Censored] was that!” She screamed.

“What you saw were memories. The memories of everyone who had received The Gift before you.” He was weaker now, and his speech was labored.

“Gift? What gift? What the hell are you talking about?” She was bewildered and on the verge of hysteria, but not angry. She believed what he was saying. She could not argue with the images she had seen, or rather experienced.

“It is a gift of invincibility. You no longer need to sleep, eat, or even breathe. Not poison, nor magic, nor physical attack will harm you in the slightest. Your body will be more durable than the strongest steel and you can not and will not die until your time is up.”

“But, wait.” She was still agitated. “Why me? Why did you pick me?”

“I didn’t. It chose you. The Gift was bestowed upon me 924 years ago by a man I met during the crusades. He had received it 924 years before that from a man who had himself received it 924 years earlier. Just as in 924 years you will pass it on to the individual bearing the face you just saw.”

Livi thought for a moment. “Face! I think something’s wrong. That wasn’t a….”

The man held up his hand. “I was equally befuddled when I saw the face of a fair maiden as my successor. Much can change in 924 years.”

“No, you don’t understand” Livi replied indignantly. “Unless I’m supposed to pass this thing on to a bull mastiff, we got a problem.”

The man was struggling with every breath now. Liv crawled over to him. “Look, Gift or no Gift, we gotta get you to a hospital Pops.”

He put his hand on hers. “No time. There is more…..I must tell you.”

“Oh, dandy.” She leaned in closer.

“There was…..trapped with me……in this mountain…..a beast so terrible…….I fear…this eruption…..is his doing. The American press dubbed him…….Cerberus……for they said he held with him……..the keys to the gates………of Hell.”

Livi thought for a moment. “Wait, isn’t Cerberus the dog that guarded Hell? That kind of doesn’t fit.”

The man tilted his head a little in ackowledgement. “They were…..after all…..the American……press. He will use this eruption……….to renew himself……..if he is successful……..all the heroes in the world…..can not stop him. You must….stop him……now.”

“What, no breaking in period?” She was trying to make him smile again. She could see that he was fading.

He did smile. Then he fell over into Liv’s arms. He looked up into her eyes and with his last bit of strength, he brought his hand up and caressed her cheek again.

“So very lovely.” His arm dropped and he was gone.

Liv cracked open the door of the bunker and peered out. The world outside was covered in ash. It was blank and lifeless, like an empty canvas. The sky was dark and there was still a constant rumble. But the falling ash and maelstrom of molten rock falling from the sky seemed to have stopped. She needed to get the phone or radio working. There were three dead bodies in the bunker, two by murder. She needed to contact the local authorities.

She made her way across the compound toward the second bunker, the one that housed the generator. The sky was black with the smoke from the eruption. The geologist’s mobile laboratory loomed off to her right like an ash-covered sleeping beast. She could see right away that the door to the generator bunker was ajar. As she got closer, she could hear the whir of the apparently operational generator. She also noticed what looked like an industrial extension cord emerging from the bunker doorway and winding up the road toward the volcano crater. She swung open the generator door. The wires that connected the generator to the scientists’ bunker had been cut and sloppily connected to the extension cord.

“What the…” She remarked to herself. She came out of the bunker and looked up the road toward the crater. It seemed evident that whoever had put bullets into the heads of the two researchers did so with the intention of using their generator without their permission. She could stay put and wait for help. But her Daddy hadn’t nicknamed her Fearless because she waited for help. She began following the extension cord up the road.

She followed the road as it passed the area she had visited with the tour group to another level area that overlooked the crater. The cord turned off the road and snaked across the level area to a small device. Three legs supported a roughly cubicle machine. Mounted on top of the device was a circling makeshift communication dish. The entire thing stood no higher than two feet. As she made her way toward the device she heard a noise behind her. She turned to see the creepy man from the bus tour with a smug smile pointing a gun at her head.

“What’s going on here?” She asked without a touch of fear.

“Ah, you could have known. I could have told you. You could have joined me.” His expression turned to one of anger. “But you chose to humiliate me in front of all those people.” He was shaking. But he calmed and continued. “And now I must bid adieu. That’s French for “see ya later sweetheart””.

“No, wait.” But it was too late. He had pulled the trigger and the gun had fired.

“OW!” Olivia stood holding her head. It didn’t really even hurt. The impact of the bullet had jarred her a little, but she was fine. She looked up at the confused man. He squeezed off two more shots. She could feel them hit her. But there was no pain and the bullets bounced harmlessly to the ground.

“How about that.” She said as she looked down at where the bullets hit.

The creepy man took a step toward her and was about to fire again but she swiped the gun from his hand and planted her left foot in his chest sending him flailing to his back.

“Gimmie that!” She demanded as the man landed with a thump. “First of all,” she fired a couple shots at the ground around him. The man cowered. “I know what “adieu” means, stupid. Second of all…” She continued to wave the gun in his general direction. “Now that I have the gun, I really think you should answer my question now.”

“It’s no use. There’s nothing you can do. The eruption means he’s awake. He’ll make the eruption grow and grow until it’s generating enough energy to regenerate his power cells. Then there’ll be no one who can stop him. The world will be his!” She fired a shot between his feet. He cowered again. “Settle down!” she barked.

“So let me get this straight. You’re using this thing” she motioned toward the device with the gun. “to wake something up that’s going to try to take over the world? So if I were to, you know..” She unloaded the gun into the device.

“NO!” He shrieked. But the dish stopped turning and the device toppled to the ground.

“So, like, what now, Smart Guy?” As if in response to her question, there was an explosion and a deafening roar. This was separate from constant rumble of the erupting volcano. This was like that of a jet and came from above. Olivia looked up and saw a figure zoom through the air, circle, and land just out of sight further around the crater. She climbed a rock out cropping so that she could see the figure. It was far away, but she could almost make it out. Something seemed to change about the figure and a beam of light shot from its chest into the heart of the eruption. Almost immediately, the Earth shook and she nearly lost her footing.

“That’s what now. The end of your precious world.” Responded the man behind her.

It had taken some time, but Liv had made her way across the rocks toward where the figure had landed. She had left the creepy man behind after tossing both his gun and little machine into the crater. Without these she figured him to be harmless. She was more concerned with the thing in front of her now. She crept among the rocks, attempting to remain out of sight, until she could get a good view. The creature seemed like a robot, but also insect-like in appearance. It was large, at least twice her height. And it had spike-like, or perhaps antennae-like protrusions all over its body, especially on its head. What interested Liv most was what the thing was doing. From a hole in its chest protruded a stinger like apparatus. This apparatus was emitting a bright beam of light that was aimed directly into the heart of the eruption. It seemed to be feeding the eruption, and at the same time feeding off the eruption. She had never experienced anything like this, yet the beast seemed familiar somehow. Then she remembered. The vision she had in the bunker, this was the creature she had seen herself battling.

“Cerberus, I presume.” She said to herself.

Just then she heard the familiar thumping sound of a helicopter. There were two of them and they were military. Both choppers circled and came to a hover behind the Cerberus. A man’s voice came from one of the choppers.

“You will cease your actions or we will be required to use force!” The creature continued unabated. Both helicopters promptly opened fire with a volley of missiles. The choppers hit their target, but Liv could see, from where she was positioned, that the beast seemed to raise some sort of force field just before the missiles reached him. As the smoke cleared, she could see that the creature remained unharmed.

It did start to move however. The stinger device ceased its beam of light and retracted into the chest of the monster. Then the Cerberus turned around and lifted its right arm. A bolt of what appeared to be some sort of electrical discharge was emitted from its arm and struck both choppers. After a moment the current ceased and the choppers crashed to the ground.

Liv nodded her head. “Should’ve said please.” But her moment of levity was short lived. The creature began heading toward the further of the two fallen choppers. As it did so, Liv crept along the rocks so that she could continue to watch. She could see that the crew were injured, but still alive in the craft and were struggling to get out. As the beast neared the fallen vehicle it stopped, raised its left arm and fired a ball of energy, destroying the chopper and all those inside it.

Liv bolted up, suddenly not caring if she were noticed. “What are you doing. They're obviously no threat to you!”

But the creature paid no attention to her and instead turned toward the second downed craft. She had to do something, but what?

Lieutenant Emilia Rodriguez was hurt, but conscious. Her copilot, on the other hand, was not. She had not yet assessed the condition of the rest of the crew when she saw the other chopper explode and the creature turn toward her. After trying in vain to wake or free her copilot, she eventually decided that she would have to handle this herself. The liutenent crawled out of the chopper and propped herself up on the fuselage. She withdrew her side arm and opened fire. Cerberus didn’t bother with a force field this time. The bullets bounced harmlessly away and it seemed to Emilia as if she were throwing pebbles at a bronze statue. As the beast drew near it halted on the road a few yards from the chopper, raised its left arm and powered up its weapon. Just then the lieutenant heard strange, repeating beeping noise. Both she and Cerberus turned in the direction of the noise in time to see the large mobile geologist laboratory truck traveling at full speed slam into the creature and lift it into the air, onto the roof of the vehicle.

“Always look both ways before crossing the street.” Liv said. Suddenly a claw came into view, gripping the front of the roof of the vehicle and the creature’s head appeared. Liv cut the wheel hard to the left in the direction of the crater. The rover nearly tipped over as it rose up onto its three left wheels before slamming down on all six. The creature lost its footing and fell down in front of the vehicle, but managed to maintain its grasp and hang on. Liv floored it again. The creature brought its feet up onto the front bumper and reared its left arm with the intent of either punching or firing at Liv. The creature paused, though when the tiny human driving the vehicle shook her head and pointed out the shattered windshield. Intrigued, the beast turned its head just in time to see the oncoming cliff side smash into the front of the rover, momentarily pinning the creature.

“And ALWAYS where your seat belt.” Liv said as the severely damaged rover slowly rolled back from the impact. The creature fell down in front of the vehicle, out of her sight.

Suddenly, the rover shook. “Uh-oh.” She said. She moved to unbuckle her seat belt but before she could reach it the world around her began spinning and the ground dropped away. The creature was standing now and had lifted the 30-ton rover up above its head.

“Alright, I think you’ve learned your lesson.” Said Liv.

The beast launched the vehicle through the air and lit it up with a pair of energy balls when it landed with a crunch. Satisfied, the monster returned to the crater edge.

Liv was on fire. There were flames all around her. She quickly kicked out what was left of the windshield and rolled on the ground to put them out. She soon realized, however, that she was not on fire at all. It was her clothes. As she stood up she looked herself over. Her clothes were singed and tattered, but she was completely without burn or even shortness of breath.

“Oh, this is cool.” She smiled.

Cerberus had reached the edge of the crater. A compartment in its chest opened and the stinger-like device emerged. The apparatus began to charge up when the creature felt something hitting its leg. It looked down to see Liv pounding away on the back of his right leg. She was actually surprised at the amount of damage she was doing. It seemed to be made of some kind of super strong metal, but she was actually denting it. She hadn’t noticed that it noticed her. The creature took a step back, brought its other foot around and booted her. It then went back to its work.

The compartment in its chest opened and the stinger-like device emerged. The apparatus began to charge up when something hit the back of its head. The beast turned around and was pelted in the face. Liv was throwing rocks at his head.

“1997 All State champions. I pitched for the boy’s team.” Liv hurled another rock at the creature and hit it square in the face. It fired a couple of shots at the tenacious human. Her body flew through the air and landed with a thud. It fired a few more shots at the limp figure and turned back toward the crater.

The compartment in its chest opened and again the stinger-like device emerged. The apparatus began to charge up when suddenly Cerberus was knocked flat on its back, its feet flying skyward and the eruption initiation stream firing harmlessly into the sky. Liv had gotten a running start and taken the beast out at the back of the knees.

She scrambled to her feet and leapt onto the monster’s chest. “I’d make some sort of comment about sweeping you off your feet but, quite frankly, I think it would be lost on you.” She said and began wailing away on its head.

“So have you even considered the fact that maybe these people don’t want to have their beautiful little island destroyed? Huh?” She scolded between punches. “Do you guys ever think of anyone other than yourself? And what about me? I’m supposed to be on vacation you stupid, selfish, egomaniacal son-of-a…..”

The beast had grabbed her left leg with its right claw and dragged her off of it. It clamored to its feet and, still holding onto her ankle, lifted its arm up so that her head dangled near its. It seemed curious how such a tiny little creature could cause him so much trouble. When its head came down close to hers, she smiled, waved and brought her free leg around and whacked it in the head. Its curiosity satisfied, it flung her into the crater.

Liv watched as the river of lava rushed up to meet her “Oh darn.”

“There’s no way around it sir.” Lieutenant Scott had been placed in charge of scouting the road to the top of the volcano. He had discovered, however, that the only road on this side of the mountain had been cut off. A river of lava had broken through the side of the mountain and had made the summit completely inaccessible from here.

“What do you mean there’s no way around it?” Colonel Cohen was not happy.

“There’s a road on the other side of the mountain, sir.” The lieutenant responded. “ If it’s not also blocked we could be at the summit within four hours. All we need to do is.…”

“In four hours we’ll all be toast!” The colonel cut him off. “This ain’t no purse snatcher we got up there boy. This could be nothing short of Armageddon if we don’t get up this mountain now!”

Like any good soldier, the lieutenant had given his commanding officer his undivided attention. However, Lieutenant Scott couldn’t help but notice something moving behind the colonel’s back down by the lava flow. “Uh, sir?” He attempted to interrupt but to no avail.

This is a matter of national, hell, world security.” Colonel Cohen had not even noticed that Scott’s attention had drifted. “Now we’re not going to have super hero support for at least an hour. Until then we are the world’s only line of defense!”

There WAS something moving. It was in the lava near the edge of the flow. He knew he must be seeing things. Perhaps it was the fumes playing tricks on him, but he could swear it was…..an arm? “Uh, sir? You should really see thi…..”

“Now you are GOING to find a way up this mountain Lieutenant. Do I make myself clear?”

Lieutenant was barely listening to him now. It IS an arm. And whomever it’s attached to is ALIVE! He knew he might get in a lot of trouble for this but, the Colonel had to see this. “Sir LOOK!” He grabbed the colonel by the arm and turned him toward the lava flow.

“What in blazes do you think you’re…” The colonel stopped. Both men stood and watched as first one, then two arms emerged from the lava and grasped the ground next to the flow. The two men then watched in gaped jawed awe as a beautiful, naked, young woman pulled herself from the river of molten hot lava not a hundred yards from where they stood.

Liv pulled herself from the molten rock and rolled over on her back as if to catch her breath. She actually was not out of breath at all. In fact, she wasn’t harmed in any way. She laid there for a few seconds anyway, trying to fully grasp what had just happened to her. “That was crazy.” She said out loud to no one. As she sat up she noticed that she was completely naked. “Well, I guess my clothes aren’t invincible.” She said. Then with a scowl and a slight shake of her head, “Typical.” She peered around at the landscape surrounding her. To her right was a flowing, churning river of lava. To her left was a barren, ash-covered wasteland. The air was heavy and filled with smoke. Though the pea-soup air limited her vision to a few dozen yards, she could barely make out two men in uniform. She leapt to her feet and jogged over to them. “Are you guys American?” She asked.

Lieutenant Scott was beside himself. Was he really seeing this? This woman had just crawled out of molten lava and other than being totally naked and a little dirty, was completely fine. In fact, she was better than fine, she was beautiful. She was tall, about 5’ 9”, and very athletic. She was also, well, Grandpa Scott would have described her as a “healthy girl”. When she spoke, her lips curled into almost a smirk, revealing her teeth and a little bit of gum. Her eyes were clear blue as the sky on a summer day and possessed within them a great sense of both wisdom and courage. They also conveyed a cold distance, however. One got the impression that she could cut a man in half with one look. They were the eyes of a leader. And she was the most beautiful woman Lieutenant Scott had ever seen.

The woman waved her hands in front of her bare breasts and whistled at the two men as if they were dogs. “Eyes up here boys.” She said and pointed two fingers at her face. Both men looked up. “Are you fellas American?” She asked more forcefully this time.

“Uh, yeah.” It wasn’t until this moment that the Lieutenant realized that his commanding officer was as mesmerized as he was.

“Great! I need you to get me to the top of this mountain.”

“Impossible.” Said the third man from across the table. He was evidently in charge of the air support for this mission. The two men had brought Olivia back to their makeshift command center after supplying her with some clothes . It was a fairly large tent with desks and radio equipment along the walls and a table with a topographical map of the mountain on it in the center. Lieutenant Scott and Colonel Cohen stood on either side of her. The third man continued. “We can’t land a chopper up there because that thing swats them out of the sky like flies. And we can’t paradrop you because the hot winds coming out of the volcano will push you a mile off target.

Liv looked up at the man and smiled. “I don’t need no stinkin’ parachute.”

Colonel Cohen shook his head. “No, it’s too dangerous.” He had known this woman for all of twenty minutes and he already knew he was going to pay for that one. He could feel her stare.

“You just watched me crawl out of lava!” she yelled at him and pointed out the tent door. She then turned to the only other woman in the tent, a private standing attention by the doorway. “I’m invincible and I still don’t get any credit from these guys!”

“I hear you sister.” She responded.

“Alright, alright.” The colonel raised his voice and shot a dirty look at the private who had never actually left attention. “So you’re invincible. That did you a whole lot of good last time. I’m not risking my men to put you on top of that mountain just so I can fish you out of the lava ten minutes later.” Colonel Cohen walked over to the tent wall where a number of weapons were either stacked or hanging in holsters. He pulled out what appeared to be a large handgun and brought it back to her. “At least take one of these.”

“What is it?” Liv was no expert but this did not look like your run-of-the-mill handgun.

“It’s a hand held grenade launcher.” He handed her the weapon. “ It holds ten rounds, each round with the blast power of a normal grenade.”

“Ooh.” She inspected the weapon and looked back at the colonel. “Give me two.”

Cerberus stood at the crater’s edge. A beam of light emitted from the apparatus protruding from its chest down into the churning cauldron of fire and molten rock. The volcano and the creature, like dance partners, locked in a fiery symbiotic relationship, each growing stronger with each passing moment. Suddenly, a pair of explosions at the beast’s back sent it stumbling forward and almost into the crater. The creature turned around to see a small human female standing a few dozen yards from him.

“Miss me, cuddles?” Liv fired off two more shots, both of which were met with and deflected harmlessly away by the creature’s force field.

Cerberus leapt high into the air and began firing with its left arm. “Looks a little pissed.” Liv said just before the ground around her exploded and she was sent flying. A few more shots from the arm cannon knocked her around like a rag doll. Her body fell limp as the creature landed just a few feet from where the twisted, lifeless body finally came to rest. Cerberus cautiously crept in closer to inspect the still lump of flesh. Suddenly, with the beast leaning over her, Liv spun around and squeezed off two shots at the creature’s head. She was no marksman, however. One shot sailed by the beast’s head and the other caught it in the chest. As it reeled backwards, it let loose an electrical pulse shot from its right arm that hit Liv in the chest and sent her sailing through the air until she landed with a thud some twenty yards from the beast. As she sprung to her feet she noticed Cerberus was slowly doing the same. “New plan, new plan.” She said as she fired off a shot and scrambled towards a nearby boulder for cover. As she ducked behind the boulder, she noticed the beast walking in her direction.

“Why is he walking? Why doesn’t he just fly over here?” She wondered aloud as she crouched behind the boulder. “Maybe he can’t fly now. Maybe he used up too much juice on that last leap.” Suddenly the boulder behind her exploded and she was sent reeling face first into the gravel in front of her. Liv leapt up and bolted for a nearby house-sized outcropping of rock. The creature stopped plodding toward her and fired its electric pulse at her. She managed to stay ahead of its aim, however, and made it to the safety of the rock unscathed. The creature lowered its arm and began to make its way toward the outcropping. When it reached the rock and turned the corner, the human was no where to be seen.

“Head’s up Cerby.” The creature looked up at the direction of the voice to see Liv landing on its shoulders from above. She wrapped her legs around its neck and grasped one of its antennae-like protrusions with her left hand. The beast began thrashing wildly, though Olivia was able to duck every blow. “Yeeee-HAW!” She shrieked and fired a shot into the air. “C’mon, that’s all you got? My grandmother’s pony bucks harder than this and she’s only got three legs.”

Suddenly the creature stopped. “What’s a matter? Had enough?” Liv taunted. The creature turned to face away from the rock outcropping. Then it lunged backwards, slamming its shoulders, and Olivia, into the rock. It pushed itself up, took a few steps and did it again pinning Liv between itself and the rock. Olivia let out an audible “OOF.” Again it pushed itself up and took a few steps forward.

“Well, I’ve had just about enough of that.” Liv buried the muzzle of the gun into the opening from which the beast’s neck protruded and squeezed off a pair of shots.

Though she could not be physically injured, she had noticed that she could lose consciousness for short periods of time. Apparently, such a thing had just happened. Olivia was looking up at the sky. It wasn’t as dark as it had previously been. It was also quieter than it had been before. There was still a low rumble coming from the crater, but it was more of a background noise than a deafening roar. She sat up. Everything around her was still, the rocks, the trees in the distance, even the giant metallic bug-like monster standing not far from her. Liv sprung to her feet and assumed a defensive stance. But there was something different about the creature. It stood perfectly still with its arms to its side and its shoulders slightly tilted to the right. Then she noticed it. Its head was missing.

She suddenly realized that she was holding something in each hand. She looked down at her right hand. In it was the hilt of the grenade launcher. The rest of it had, apparently, been blown away by the explosion. Then she looked down at her left hand. She lifted the peculiar object so that she could get a better look at it. She was still grasping the antennae-like structure, which was still attached to the creature’s head. She smiled and looked up at the headless beast, then back down at the head.

“I guess you really lost your head there huh? Huh?” she turned the head so that it faced her. “What’s the matter? Not funny?” She looked into the beast’s lifeless eyes as if expecting a response. “Ah, what do you know?” She said and tossed the disconnected head to the ground.

Suddenly she noticed movement in the creature, where the head used to be. She raised and pointed the hilt of the gun at the beast. She realized what she was doing, cursed herself, threw it aside and grabbed the other one, which she had tucked into a holster at her side. She had taken a few cautious steps forward when something popped out of the neck hole. It looked like a small squishy green ball at the end of a green stalk. As it turned she saw a single giant red eye above a small beak. There were loose green folds hanging around the beak and neck. The eye looked around, dazed but skittish. Then it landed on her. It took a moment, but the little creature seemed to recognize her. The eye grew even bigger and then the creature disappeared into the hull of the beast.

“Oh no you di’in’t.” She yelled and lunged at the creature. She climbed up its legs and arms until she was perched upon its shoulders again. She plunged her arm into the neck hole. “C’mere you little squirt!” She said as she fished around inside the beast’s torso until her fingers touched something cool and squishy. She grabbed the creature and yanked it out. When she pulled her arm out, she could see that she had it by the neck. It attempted to resist with a few tentacles but they were weak, like the grasping fingers of a child.

“You’ve been a naughty little worm, haven’t you?” She looked into its enormous, obviously frightened eye. She had wanted to kill this thing a few minutes ago. However, now as she looked at this squirming, frightened little thing in her hand she felt only pity. She couldn’t hurt it. Now, it was “the defenseless”.

“Can I go now?” Liv stood up and walked out of the tent without getting an answer. The area was swarming with military now. There was a bunch of army guys around the shell of the creature, bustling and yelling at each other, trying to figure out the best way to strap it up in a harness soand airlift it to some secret base. The little creature had been whisked away a while ago. It was funny, but she was actually concerned about the poor little guy now.

She, herself had been put through quite an ordeal. Telling the story over and over again. At one point she had to shoot herself in the head to prove that she was, in fact, invincible. Eventually though, she decided that she had answered enough questions and that she had had enough.

She was walking toward the road that would take her back to the swim up bar in her resort in lovely Los Placido when she heard a commotion.

“You don’t understand! It’s my destiny!” The creepy man was being hauled off, kicking and screaming, by a pair of MPs. “It’s my destiny! I have to fulfill my destiny!” he screamed as they threw him into the back of their paddy wagon.

Olivia smiled. “I think you already did pal.” She said quietly. Suddenly she heard a voice from behind her.

“So…uh…what’s your name?” Lieutenant Scott was running after her.

“Excuse me?” Olivia stopped and turned.

“You know, your name. You’re one of those super heroes, right? I saw what you can do, you have to be. Well, a super hero has to have a name, right? So, what’s your name?” Lieutenant Scott would tell his grandchildren of this day and the amazing woman he met. In fact, even as an old man he would speak of her in a manner that would make his future wife jealous. He would run into her again. But he would be an old man by then. And she would be just as beautiful and young as she was back on this day in 2003.

She could see it in his eyes. She took a step toward him. “Well, my name is Olivia.” She said as she straightened his collar and brushed ash from his shoulders. “But you can call me….” She paused, and then brought her eyes up to meet his and smiled. “You can call me Fearless.” She then turned and headed back down the mountain.

Goddin sat back in his chair and thought about the story he had just heard. Was it real? Had this fantastic story really happened? She had spun many a tale in the time he had known her. Several of which had resulted in him being the fool. But somehow, tonight, her mood seemed different. But, why? Why would she expose this part of herself now, after all this time?

“Havin’ trouble puttin’ two and two together aren’t you Einstein?” She noticed his confusion and was leaning forward in her chair, almost anxious.

Suddenly a revelation came to Godden and he brought his eyes up met to meet those of the small human woman sitting across from him.

“There it is.” She said as she sat back in her seat with a smile on her face.

“Mine was the face you saw! That’s why you didn’t know what you were looking at. Our races hadn’t met yet. But it was my face you saw that day.” Goddin was beside himself.

“Yeah, I didn’t know what the hell I was looking at.” She was looking down at her empty shot glass now, twirling it so that little spots of refracted light danced on the table top. Then she stopped and looked up at the hulking creature perched on the tiny dining room chair before her and said with a smirk. “It looked like the unfortunate result of a drunken coupling between an iguana and a polar bear.”

“So….” Goddin sat back in his little chair with a million questions swirling around in his head. “So how long did it take to find out what…er….to understand…”

“’Till I saw one of your ugly faces? Not for a long, long time.” She poured another glass of the liquid. There wasn’t much left in the bottle. “I came down off that mountain and went right to the swim up bar.” She lifted the glass as if to toast and then downed the liquid. “It didn’t take me too long to realize that thanks to my “gift”, alcohol no longer had any effect on me. It’s a shame too, ‘cause I’d already bought this little guy.” She put the glass down and turned the nearly empty bottle so that he could see the label. It was worn, and part of it was torn off, but he could barely make out the word “Tequila” on the label.

“Nine hundred freaking years I had to carry your goofy face around in my head before it made any sense. Then, there it was. I can still see it on the big news screen in Hero Square in Paragon.” She was looking up with a smile on her face, picturing the day in her mind. “There it was, footage of the President shaking hands with this giant, furry creature from another planet. No one had seen the like. No one, that is, except me. I had seen one of those things before, nine hundred years earlier, in a bunker on the side of an erupting volcano on the tiny island of San Borracho. “New Friends From Across the Stars” the headline said.” She brought her attention back to the bottle in front of her. “Of course, we were at war five years later.” She said as she tipped the bottle to fill her glass one last time. She lifted the little glass and looked into it. “That was the day I left Earth, and I haven’t been back since.” She began to bring the last gulp of 20th century tequila to her mouth.

“But why me?” Goddin asked.

She stopped the glass before it reached her lips, put it down on the table, and glared up at him. “Why you?” She asked indignantly. “Why you, why me? Why the naked British guy? Weren’t you listening? It picks us. It picked you nine hundred years before you were born just as it did for me and all the people before me." Her tone softened a little. "I don’t know what’s behind it. And I didn’t spend too much time worrying about it either. Some things are older than our civilizations, our races, or, hell, maybe even our worlds. It’s just the way it’s always been. And the way it will always be.”

He looked away pensively. She had forgotten how shocking it was to hear all this.

“Although…” She began, looking at the floor. “In all my time, all my years, I have never met anyone, human or otherwise, who I felt would do more good with this gift than you Goddin.”

His eyes darted back to hers which were now wide and fixed on him. Had she just called him by his name? That might be the first time ever. He was taken back by the sincerity in her eyes. Then her eyes closed a little and the corner of her mouth turned upward.

“Hims is a good wittiw fuzzy beaw, isn’t hims?” She said as she grabbed the scruff of his cheek and shook it as one of her people might do with their pet dog. This was more what he was used to from her.

When she finished, her hand stayed at the side of his head. He looked back at her and her face was serious again.

“You ready for this big guy?” She asked.

Goddin took a deep breath, sat up and nodded. Then Liv brought her other hand up to the other side of his head.

“Well, hold on to your big furry butt.”

He could hear the words fade off in the distance as the world around him slipped away. He began to see images. He could see things happening around him. He wasn’t just seeing it, however, he could feel it. It was as if he were really there, experiencing it. He saw the events of the last ten years through her eyes. Then he saw what must be Paragon City. Years and years of fighting evil doers of all types, from street gangs to the Rikti. He saw the battle at the volcano and the metallic monster. Then he watched as he and the monster plunged into molten lava locked in battle. Then there were more images. He saw himself doing things. He saw himself helping a persecuted people escape the clutches of an evil group who wore a crooked cross. Then again he saw himself helping people escaping slavery north to freedom. He was traveling back through the history of Earth and its people. Helping the innocent. Freeing the enslaved. Fighting for justice. Defending those who could not defend themselves. Suddenly he was someone else. And then, he would become someone else. Eventually he was not even human, but a member of a long extinct alien race. Throughout it all, however, the motives behind his actions remained constant. Protecting the innocent, defending the defenseless and fighting evil. Eventually the images began to fade and a new image began to form. As it took shape he realized it was a face. But then….no wait a minute…..how could that be?

He came to with a head full of questions. But with one look at the human female, he realized his questions would remain, for now, unanswered.

“Quite a rush, huh?” She said, mustering a smirk. But the smile was just for show. For the first time she appeared to him to be weak and fragile and she seemed much older looking than she had only a few moments before. There was something in her eyes now that he had never seen there before. It was something that he had not previously imagined could ever be there. She attempted to mask it with smart comment and a smile, but in her eyes, he was saddened to see, was an unmistakable look of fear.

Her head tilted back and she closed her eyes. She was almost gone when she opened her eyes and motioned for him to come closer. He leaned in close to her to catch this last nugget of wisdom before she faded. With this she grabbed him by the tuft of hair at his chin, not a comfortable place for a G’thok to be grabbed, and pulled him even closer.

“And don’t even think about taking the name Fearless.” She said with her last breath. “Get your own name Silverback.” She let go of his chin tuft, fell back in her chair, and was gone.

Goddin sat for a moment, staring at what had once been his mentor, hell, his hero. Then his attention fell to the table. Sitting there, on the table, was the little glass and one last shot of deadly alcohol in it. He glanced back at the fallen hero in front of him.

“Silverback, huh?” He said. Then he picked up the small glass, quickly drank the liquid, and placed the glass back on the table upside down.

[[a million apologies for breaking the in-character flow of the thread.. but that was excellent.]]

more to come

“Come to Mama!” Olivia took the cigar from her mouth and threw her arms across the wobbly card table gathering her poker winnings.

“Oh, this is ridiculous!” The man sitting to her right said. “You’ve won every hand. You’re taking all my money!”

“It’s called karma, Jonesy.” Olivia sat back down and returned the cigar to her lips before she began stacking her chips. “It’s what you get in return for coming home from work early to find your fiancee in bed with another woman.”

“Well, where’s my karma? It was my wife he was nailin’.” Said Jonesy.

“Hey, you guys are both single now. Maybe Tiernan will throw a little “karma” your way.” Said a voice from across the table.

“Hell, I’m a rich woman now.” Responded Olivia. “But I’ll tell you what.” Olivia grabbed a $5 chip and flipped it to Jonesy. “Here’s five bucks. Take your girlfriend out for a burger.”

“Ah, she dumped me too.” Jonesy said as he gathered his next hand.

Olivia was back to work at the firehouse, passing the time with her fellow fire fighters as they often did with a game of poker. She had come back to work the day after she arrived home from her vacation in San Borracho. She was just the same old Olivia Tiernan, Woman Fire Fighter. Except, of course, for the fact that she was now immortal.

She had not told a soul of her encounter with Captain Invincible, or her battle with the alien battle-bot, Cerberus, on top of an erupting volcano. And it wasn’t because she had been ordered not to by that jag-off CIA guy. She simply didn’t know how to do it. She often thought of how that conversation would go.

“Oh, yeah. Vacation was great. The hotel was beautiful. The weather was perfect. The view was fantastic. And, oh yeah, while there I encountered a super hero, who had been missing and thought to be dead for fifty years, who bestowed upon me a mystical power of immortality and invincibility which I then used to defeat a five thousand year old alien encased within a battle-bot who was trying to generate a volcanic eruption in order to regenerate his power cell thus allowing him to take over the world. And the food was great too.”

Truth be told, she wasn’t entirely sure she wanted anyone to know. She liked her job here. These guys, Jonesy, Tuck, Kutch, and even Captain Rojas, were her family and this was the only life she had ever known. Her father had been a fire fighter. Her father’s father had been a fire fighter. It’s what she was born and raised to do. Who knows what would happen to her were she to come clean about her newfound powers? She just wanted everything to be like it was. And besides, an invincible fire fighter could do a world of good. On the other hand, she was never very good at keeping secrets.

“She’s a little too lucky if you ask me.” Dutch O’Brian was new. He had started at the house the week of Olivia’s vacation. He was cocky and not the type who enjoyed losing, especially when there was money on the line. What’s more, he seemed to show a certain lack of respect for the abilities of his female coworkers. “I can’t see my mom fightin’ no fires.” she had overheard him saying once. Olivia did not like him and this situation was destined to come to a head, something that her coworkers had been looking forward to for a week.

“What are you saying Emmett?” She never called him Dutch as he preferred, but rather by his given name.

“I’m just saying, you’re getting awful lucky is all. It’s like you know what cards we all got.”

Olivia smiled. “Yeah while in the Caribbean, I was granted with the super power that allows me to see your cards. You can call me Cheats at Poker Woman.” The other guys laughed.

“Yeah, well. I’m just saying. If you were a guy, you just might’ve gotten knocked on your [censored] by now.” With that the three other men slid back away from the table. Dutch looked up at them. They were all staring at Olivia with anticipation. Then his gaze fell on Olivia. She was staring at him through the smoke from her cigar.

Olivia moved her cigar to the other side of her mouth with her tongue before she spoke. “So you think you can knock me on my [censored]? Wanna give it a shot?” Her gaze was unwavering and she spoke with a slight grin on her face.

Dutch stopped for a moment and watched as the other men turned to him for a response. “Yeah right.” He laughed and dropped his eyes down to his cards.

“I’ll bet my winnings against your….well, what you haven’t lost yet, that you could not knock me down with one free punch.” She still stared at him. He found her confidence unsettling.

He looked back at her, then each of the other three men who were again, waiting for his response. “No, right? I take a swing at her, one of you guys will kick my [censored].”

“Tom, anyone steps in here and I take it out on you, got that?” She said, her gaze never leaving Dutch.

“Oh, I don’t think anyone’s getting in the middle of this.” Tom Kutcher replied.

“Happy? So, c’mon big guy.” Olivia stood up and walked over to an open area, away from the card table. “For all my money. You get one shot to knock me “on my [censored]”.”

The other firefighters were staring intently at Dutch. He looked at them and then back at Olivia. “Well alright.”

The three other men leaped up with excitement and immediately moved to where they’d have a good view. Dutch stood up and walked over to Olivia who stood, staring intently.

“Let’s see what you got big boy.”

Dutch looked over at the other men, nodded and chuckled. Then he squared his shoulders to Olivia and threw a punch. Olivia caught him by the wrist and twisted his arm forcing Dutch to stumble forward. As he fell to the floor Olivia maintained her grasp on his arm and dug her knee into his back, pinning him to the floor. The three men burst into uproarious laughter. While Dutch lay on the floor, his arm twisted behind his back, he heard cries of “That’s my girl!” and “[censored] I missed you, woman.” from his fellow fire fighters. He even saw Jones fall to one knee and exclaim, “I love you Liv. Marry me baby, and I’ll never cheat on you.” To which Tuck responded “Yeah, ‘cause she’d do that to you.”

Finally, Olivia spoke up “What, are you swatting at flies? I said punch me. What the Hell was that crap?” Olivia let him up. “Now throw a real punch, ya pansy.”

Dutch didn’t like to be humiliated, especially by a woman. Now she was asking for it. Dutch rose to his feet and immediately launched himself at Olivia hitting her square in the face with as hard a punch as he could muster. He then stood and stared in amazement. Was this a joke? He looked over at Kutch, Jones and Tuck. If it was a joke the expressions on their faces suggested that they were not in on it.

Olivia’s head had been knocked back and to her right, but she was still standing. She slowly turned back forward and opened her eyes. “Still here.”

“That’s impossible. You should be knocked flat. You must be some kind of mutant or something.” Dutch was flabbergasted.

“Kutch, How long have you known me?” This time she looked at him when she spoke.

“Your whole life?” Responded the man.

“Am I a mutant?”

“Not as far as I know.”

“There you have it.” She said as she turned back to face Dutch. “Maybe it’s not me. Maybe you’re just a big pu……”

Just then the alarm sounded. “Quit your clownin’ around ladies and get your little fannies down stairs. We got a burner.” Chief Rojas called from downstairs.

Olivia winked at Dutch and followed Tuck, Jones and Kutch down the stairs.

“What is it, Cap?” Jerry Tucker asked his captain as he and the rest of the 823rd fire fighting company of Paragon City loaded their gear and boarded the truck.

“We got some work to do down on Gracen Ave.” Captain Rojas responded as he joined his crew on the truck.

“Gracen?” Questioned Olivia. “Isn’t that in the 519th’s district?”

“They need our assistance.” Then the captain turned to face his crew. “And watch your butts out there. It’s a costume brawl.”

This was met with a series of groans from the crew. “Costume brawl” and sometimes “tights fight” were terms that fire fighters and other city service personnel often used to describe the frequent battles between super heroes and their foes. Fire fighters, especially, were not very fond of these melees. Of course everyone appreciated the work that super heroes did. However, it wasn’t all that infrequent that a battle against villainy would set entire neighborhoods ablaze. The heroes would defeat their foes and fly off with the glory while firefighters and EMTs were left to clean up the mess.

Dealing with the aftermath of a costume brawl was bad enough. To arrive in the midst a battle was down right dangerous. Firefighters not only had to deal with the dangers of everyday infernos, but learn to cope with such unexpected absurdities as hurled cars, stray energy blasts, and sudden ice storms in July. Furthermore, super-villains seemed to enjoy targeting firefighters and EMTs. This was not a job for the faint of heart anywhere, but fighting fires in Paragon was uniquely dangerous.

As the truck approached Gracen Avenue, the 823rd came upon a site that put a lump in all of their throats. There was the 519th’s fire truck, flipped on its side and torched. There was no sign of any of the 519th company. As they passed the truck no one spoke a word.

As the 823rd’s fire truck turned down Gracen toward the fire, they could see the blazing house. The houses in this neighborhood were big, old and made primarily of wood. Though they were built close together, however, they were, for the most part, detached from one another. As they unloaded the truck, the firefighters could hear the sounds of a battle echo through the streets. They were safe for now, but the battle was close.

Captain Rojas oversaw as Tom Kutcher and Emmit "Dutch" O’Brien hooked up the main hose and Olivia Tiernen, Rick Jones, and Jerry Tucker approached the house. Jonesy knocked in the door with a hammer and Tuck and Olivia entered the house. The house was filled with a thick black smoke. The living room to the left of the front door was ablaze, but the landing in front of the stairs that lead to the second floor was as of yet untouched by the flames. As they entered, the two immediately saw a woman passed out on the stairs. Tuck and Liv pulled her to her feet and brought her to the street outside.

“Man, this place is going to go up like a box of tinder.” Tuck said through his mask before they exited the building.

They laid her in the street and Jonesy gave her oxygen. Suddenly she came to and became frantic, waving her arms and coughing. “My baby! Up on the third floor! My little baby boy!” She said between coughs.

“I got ‘im.” Olivia leapt up and ran to the house.

“Tiernen! Get back here!” Screamed the captain. But it was too late. She was already through the door.

By now the flames had made it to the landing. Tuck was right; this place was going up fast. Olivia had not yet tested her immortality since she’d been home. She plunged herself into the fire. The flames swirled and danced around her as if embracing her. She could feel the heat, but there was no pain. It was as if her old nemesis, fire, had decided to call a truce and now welcomed her with open arms as a friend. Though she and fire may be on new terms, however, she knew the same generosity would not be extended to the child she was here to save. She would have to find another route of escape.

Olivia made her way through flames up the stairs to the second floor. The flames had begun to conquer the second floor. She circled around to the next flight of stairs and took them two at a time. She knew that time was of the essence as the flames were close behind her. Fire may have decided to spare her, but it is still an insatiable monster and this wooden house would just make it hungrier as it went.

The third floor was filled with smoke. Olivia stopped for a moment and tore off her mask. She had just realized how silly it was for her to be wearing it. After all she was invincible. She felt her way down the hallway that led to the bedrooms. She might be able to breathe smoke, but she still couldn’t see through it. Finally she came to a door that led to a room facing the back of the house. She opened just enough to get herself through and closed it quickly behind her.

The first thing she noticed was the bright color of the walls. Or more importantly, that there was very little smoke in this room to hide the color. What it did have in it, however, was a crib. Liv walked up to the crib. She was met with a pair of big brown eyes and smile that revealed two small lower teeth. The happy little guy had no clue what was going on.

“Oh, right.” She had been momentarily swept up in the child’s blissful ignorance for a few moments when she suddenly realized what she was there to do. She gathered up the boy and returned to the door. The fire had moved fast, however. The door was hot to the touch and would soon no longer be a barrier. Olivia turned and ran toward the window.

After seeing that there was, in fact, a fire escape, she had flung the window open and stepped though it. As she allowed the fire escape to bear her weight, however, she could feel there was something wrong. The fire escape lurched and she looked down through the metal grate. What she saw put a pit in her stomach.

There were several gangs around Paragon City that had taken to gathering scrap metal for unknown purposes. They would take whatever they could get their hands on. Everything from car parts to metal trash cans to guard rails. And, of course, fire escapes were no exception. Despite for some reason leaving the third floor landing, whoever it was, took everything below it. The only thing holding the balcony in place were the bolts anchoring it to the wall, and they were failing. A bolt popped and the balcony lurched again. Olivia peered back in through the window, but the door leading out of the room was now engulfed in flames.

Olivia looked down at her content little partner. “Well, looks like there’s only one way down from here, buddy. Hold on to your pampers.” She faced the building and backed to the edge of the landing, gently holding the baby boy tight to her chest, careful to support his head. Before she could leap, however, the landing gave way. Olivia brought her legs up, intending to land on her back, hopefully providing a cushion for the child. As she neared the ground, however, something hit her square in the back and toppled her head over heels. She held the baby with one arm and outstretched the other one in an attempt to catch herself. She finally landed on her feet and outstretched hand. She stood and immediately checked her little friend. The boy kicked and squealed with delight.

“Yeah, fun huh?” She laughed. Then she looked up at what had struck her in the back as she fell. Standing before her was a post from a wrought iron fence. Why the pilferers of the fire escape had left this seemingly prime piece of metal could not be known. Perhaps it had been installed afterwards. Whatever the reason for its maintained existence, there it was, like an iron spear pointing skyward.

“That should have skewered me like a fish.” The smile left her face. The battle in San Borracho had seemed like a fairy tale and aside from upper cuts by Dutch and the occasional stroll through fire, she had never really been confronted with the reality of her powers. Her immortality had never seemed more real to her than at that moment.

As Olivia came around to the front of the burning house, clutching the baby in her arms, she saw the fire truck just where she had left it and Kutcher and O’Brien manning the hose. As she ran up Captain Rojas approached her.

“Is there a bus?” Olivia asked about an ambulance as she approached the captain.

“They’re up at the end of the block. They won’t come down here. The fight’s getting a little close.” Rojas motioned toward the battling super-beings down the street. Olivia turned to see three figures engaged in a type of combat that could only be seen in Paragon. One was definitely a hero; she had seen him before. The other two were against him.

“The mother’s up there, along with the 519th. They’re all alright. How’s the kid?” Rojas inspected the child in Liv’s arms.

“He’s alright. But we should get him checked out and back to his mother.” The two headed up the street towards the ambulance crew, away from the fighting.

“How’d you get out’a there?” The captain had revered Olivia’s father and had taken it upon himself to look after his daughter since his death. This had proven to be a more trying task, however, than he had anticipated.

Olivia’s attention was still focused on the battle down the street. “Uh…fire escape.” She responded.

“Fire escape! You’re lucky there was a fire escape. What with all the Trolls and other gangs stealing anything metal.”

“Yeah. Lucky.” Olivia responded. “He looks outnumbered.” She said referring to the battling super-hero.

“The reports said that it was a two-on-two thing. I guess his buddy got zapped off to a hospital, if he’s lucky. Well, there’s nothing we can do about that.” Rojas continued up the street toward the ambulance.

“That’s not exactly true.” Olivia stopped. “Here, take him.” She handed the baby to the captain and turned back down the street toward the fire.

“Tiernen! Where are you going?” Captain Rojas was flabbergasted. What did she think she was doing? During her tenure in the company she had done nothing but earn the nickname of “Fearless” that her father had given her. But running off to face-off against super-villains was downright suicide. “TIERNEN!” He yelled at her. But she was already headed down the street and there was nothing he could do to stop her.

Olivia watched the black smoke pour into the night sky as she passed her fire company comrades unseen and headed down the street toward the melee. This neighborhood was old and the streets were narrow. They had once been narrower, barely more than alleys. But the city had long ago appropriated the front yards of these grand old homes in order to widen the street in accommodation of the automobile. These days, Gracen Ave was wide enough for a lane of traffic and a row of parked cars on either side. As Olivia passed the cars she could see that some of them were smoldering and others were smashed from the melee. Such is the price for good parking in the City of Heroes.

As Olivia approached she hid among a row of parked cars, so as to remain unseen. As she got closer she could see that this was definitely a two on one. She had seen the hero before but did not know his name. He was a blaster-type. Good looking and respectable as most good heroes were. His two foes were unfamiliar to Olivia. One was a large, cat-like beast. The other was a costumed torch. “Torch” was the name given by firefighters to fire-wielding villains and sometimes heroes. These were the least favorite among firefighters for obvious reasons.

As she got close she could see the action. The cat guy leapt at the hero but was blasted aside. Suddenly the torch began an all-out assault on the hero. As the blaster defended himself, the feline came to his feet and positioned himself behind the hero. They were setting him up. Olivia was certain that he needed her help.

As the hero-blaster exchanged fire with torch, the cat guy crept up behind him. He positioned himself and was ready to pounce when he was struck from the side and sent head long into a parked car.

“Bad kitty!” Said Olivia as she rammed the beast and sent him reeling into the car door.

Shocked by the turn of events, the torch stood up from his hiding spot and was promptly met with a blast from the beleaguered hero. As the evil torch scrambled for cover the hero turned to his unexpected savior.

“Thanks for the help Miss, but this is no place for a firefighter.” He said with the utmost respect.

Olivia frowned. “Don’t you worry about me. You just work on the Zippo and I’ll handle Muskrat-love over here.” As she spoke, the torch came out of hiding. “Look out!”

The good-looking hero moved to respond and soon the two were locked in a back and forth battle. Suddenly, as the firefight began, Olivia was struck from behind. The cat beast landed on top of her and began to wail away on her. He was strong, very strong. She could feel that. But every punch simply glanced off of her. She did not feel an ounce of pain. It reminded her of wrestling with her eight-year-old nephew. He was a rambunctious type, and the beast reminded her a little of him. Suddenly, Olivia realized how absurd it was that she was thinking of her eight-year-old nephew while a super villain was pummeling her face. She began to chuckle. The cat beast seemed to notice this and began to beat her harder. She couldn’t help but think that she had hurt his feelings. She had hurt he feelings of a super-villain who was in the midst trying to kill her. This made her laugh out loud. Before she knew it, she was hysterical. Suddenly, the beast stopped hitting her. He was bewildered. This had certainly never happened to him before.

The creature sat up and stared at Olivia in amazement. Olivia finally stopped laughing and sighed. Her eyes met those of her assailant. “You’re cute.” She mused and brought her knee up into his groin. The beast winced in pain and fell forward. She rolled him over and returned the treatment to him. “It’s nothing personal. I’m just more of a dog person.” She said as she beat him with her fist and occasionally smashed his head into the pavement.

As she beat her feline foe into unconsciousness, she noticed that her comrade-in-arms was not doing as well as she was. Olivia watched as a car exploded and the blaster, hero tumbled away from the flames. Meanwhile, the torch came into view from behind a parked car. The hero had rolled directly into his sites, just as Torchy had planned.

“Look out!” Olivia left her unconscious assailant and leapt at Blaster-Boy as he rose to his feet. She reached him and knocked him down, but not in time. Flames from the torch’s blowtorch engulfed them both. They landed with a thud and she scrambled to put out the flames on her new comrade. However, she could see that he was badly injured.

As he lay smoldering in her arms he looked up at her through his scorched mask. “You must stop them.” He wheezed as he talked now.

“Stop them from doing what?” She asked. But the fallen hero did not answer. He reached down to his belt, pushed a button on the buckle, and vanished in her arms.

Olivia had never seen the Ritki teleportation device up close before. She felt that it was quite unsettling to watch the man in her arms vanish into thin air. For a moment she even found herself wondering if he had ever really been there and if this had all really happened. She was not left to wonder for long.

“It seems that the action got a little “hot” for our friend.” A smug voice came from behind Olivia. “Well this leaves us with one “burning” question, doesn’t it? Are you truly ready to graduate from saving kittens caught in trees Miss firefighter? Are you ready to do battle with a true inferno? You know what they say about little girls who play with fire don’t you? They get burned.”

Olivia scowled. “Is this guy for real?” She thought to herself. “What a jackass.” Without saying a word she threw herself in the direction of the voice. The costumed man had anticipated this move, however, and gently lifted himself into the air with the aid of a pair of jets on his back. Olivia crashed headlong into a parked car, denting the door and dislodging the side mirror.

“Well, someone has a “flare” for the dramatic.” The floating villain chucked.

“Oh, knock it off!” Olivia snapped as she began to pick herself up. “You’re not clever! You’re not funny, not even in a quirky anti-establishment evildoer kind of way. You’re just a stupid moron pyromaniac second rate villain.” Before she stood up she noticed the detached side mirror lying on the ground near her and decided to remain in a sitting position, as if to catch her breath.

The torch seemed taken back by her comments and simply stared at her through the tiny dark eyeholes in his helmet. Finally he spoke.

“I am second to no one. I’d watch your mouth little girl.” All levity had left his voice. He didn’t like that. Olivia thought for a moment.

“Second to no one huh? Is that why they got you on this “important” mission? No matter how much evil you do, they just won’t respect you will they? You know why that is? ‘Cause you’re an idiot and no one likes you!” She got up on one knee and put her hand on the fallen mirror.

“I am respected and feared! You will understand why soon.” The masked torch pointed his flame-thrower at Olivia.

“You know what the funny thing is? I’ll bet it’s your annoying personality that alienated you from society causing you to become a second rate villain, and, ironically, it’s those same set of personality flaws that make you an outcast among your fellow villains.”

“SHUT UP!!”

“So does Mr. Whiskers over there ever ask you out for a beer after a hard day’s work?” she asked referring to the man’s fallen comrade. “Do you do anything but sit in your tiny pathetic little apartment and wish you were someone else?”

“I WARNED YOU WOMAN!!” The hovering villain let lose a blanket of flame onto Olivia. The flames hit her like a wave and embraced and enveloped her. But more importantly, the flames cloaked her actions.

Surrounded by fire, Olivia hurled the detached side mirror at the direction of the flames. She then leapt onto the hood of the car, and then onto the roof. As she turned and launched herself at her assailant, she could see that the mirror had startled him and he was now busy trying to maintain control over his hover.

She reached out her hand to grab the unsuspecting torch, but something slammed into her from the side and sent her sprawling to the ground. Before she knew it, something had a hold of Olivia’s ankle and was whipping her around like a rag doll. The world spun around her as she was being slammed from car to asphalt then back into another parked car. Finally she came to rest face down on the hard street. She gathered herself and rolled over to see the cat-beast standing over her. Above his head, ready to be dropped on the dazed fire fighter, he held an SUV. She tried to roll away, but she couldn’t move. She looked down at her leg to see one of the beasts large paws planted firmly on her thigh, pinning her. It was at this moment that Olivia came to a frightening revelation.

Olivia had taken this beast to be a mindless thug, simply hired muscle. But it had suddenly occurred to her as she stared up at the muscle bound creature, that this was not the case. She had beaten him in their first encounter. But this time was different. This mindless hunk of muscle had apparently accurately assessed her abilities and adjusted his attack accordingly. She had been beaten in their second encounter, but not with brute strength. He had outsmarted her. The large SUV the beast was about to drop on her would not kill her, or even harm her. But it would incapacitate her. And Mr. Whiskers knew that. She was not doing battle with some teenage purse-snatcher, or even some battle-suit-clad alien suffering from a five thousand-year-old form of cabin fever. This guy was a pro. He was an extraordinarily strong and durable mutant who made a living by doing battle with, and defeating super heroes. Liv was in the big leagues now.

As if aware of his victim’s revelation, the mutant smirked and prepared to drop the vehicle. Olivia’s defeat seemed final when suddenly a stream of water struck the creature in the chest, knocking him back and soaking the young hero at his feet. As the creature stumbled backward, he lost his grip on the large vehicle above his head and it toppled on top of him, for the moment, pinning him to the street. Now free from the beast’s clutch, Olivia rolled and jumped to her feet. She turned toward the direction of the water stream to see the firefighters of the 823rd fire-company manning the main hose. Dutch pumped his fist into the air and let out a yelp of excitement. Suddenly Tom Kutcher spoke and pointed across the street.

“The torch! The torch! Get the torch!” Mr. Kitty’s fire wielding compadre had decided to stand back and watch his feline friend in action. But the defenseless fire fighters had suddenly drawn his attention. Before the men could bring the hose around, he turned and aimed his flame-thrower. But Liv was on top of him before he got a shot off. She knocked him to the ground and jumped on him. When she tore off his helmet, she was surprised to the face of a young man no older than 20.

“Not in the face!” Screamed the boy as he put up his arms in defense.

“Not in the face? Are you kidding me?” Olivia began to beat the boy about the head and body with his own helmet. “C’mon, where’s all the funny puns now big boy? Don’t you feel that “spark” you did before? I’d really like to re-”kindle” our old relationship.”

She continued to throttle the young man until she felt a familiar claw on her arm. Her whiskery friend had escaped his self-imposed incapacitation and had rejoined the fight. The creature tore her away from his companion and continued to whip her around as he had before, this time by the arm. Rather than pin her with a car, however, he eventually grabbed her by the throat and began to squeeze. Perhaps she was wrong. Perhaps Mr. Bigglesworth hadn’t assessed her powers as accurately as she had thought. Naturally, she felt no pain, nor any difficulty in breathing, if in fact she was required to breathe. Regardless, this was her chance.

Olivia reached up and grabbed a tuft of hair at the creature’s cheek and at the same wrapped her legs around him. With her other hand she held up the object that she had ripped off the torch’s suit when the mutant grabbed her. The creature recognized it immediately. Olivia held in her hand one of his companion’s fire grenades. The mutant looked at the grenade, and back at Olivia. Surely she wouldn’t. Would she?

Olivia caught his eye and answered his question. “Who’s been a bad kitty?” She asked as she flipped the pin out of the grenade.


The 823rd fire fighting company had not paid close attention to the third go around between their comrade and the furry one. Instead, the five men had gang tackled the fallen torch and had proceeded to “explain” to him their intense disdain for fire-wielding villains. They had just finished “reappropriating” a good portion of the young man’s fireproof uniform for fire department use when Olivia and her sparing partner exploded in a ball of flames.

“Liv!” Captain Rojas jumped to his feet. All five men watched the blaze in silence. They’d lost her.

Then Jonesy spoke up. “Hey something’s moving in there.” He was right. And what ever it was, it was large.

The men watched as the large figure slowly rose to its feet. “Look how big it is, it must be the cat.” Said Dutch. But something was not right about it. The figure was large and hulking, but only up top. It seemed to hobble around on tiny legs as it stumbled out of the fire. Suddenly the figure fell and broke in two.

The six men ( Tom Kutcher had allowed the now nearly naked and shivering torch to sit up to get a view) watched as the smaller bottom part of the bisected figure rolled around on the ground and then started putting out the flames on the larger half.

“Hey, that’s Liv!” Captain Rojas realized it as soon as Tuck said it.

Olivia put out the flames in her clothes and then checked the vitals of the, now hairless, beast. He was unconscious, but alive. “Tough son-of-a-[censored].” She said to herself.

As she leaned up against the hulking mass of unconscious flesh, Olivia realized she had an audience. She looked up to see the six men staring at her; all mouths gaped in awe. All, that is, except for Dutch. Dutch O’Brian stood shaking his head.

Finally he slapped Tom Kutcher in the chest. “See, told you she was some kinda mutant.”

thought I'd put this up where someone can read it again. not that anyone will. all comments and critiques are welcome.

no comments huh?

bump bump bump. cause I'm a jerk