Teen Titans

In Illumination
Issue Eight: Who is Cassie Sandsmark?
Originally posted January 2018
 
 
Blüdhaven wasn’t good for much. An old whaling town, the dirty, industrial cityscape was later transformed by wealthy, criminal investors, building its industrial district into a neon paradise, a city-sized casino idyllic as long as you never looked beneath the surface.
And though the Teen Titans were almost always preoccupied with minimising the rampaging of emerging metahumans, they would often strive to tackle the crime that lurked in the shadows cast by the neon lights. One such criminal was André LeBlanc.
See, the smarmy and greasy Angel Marin, one of the ‘philanthropists’ so cherished in Blüdhaven had held an exhibition to show off the depths of his riches, including his star piece: the Night Diamond, a priceless gemstone. This naturally presented a challenge for the self-styled ‘world's greatest jewel thief’ LeBlanc.
He was a wanted man internationally due to his masterful skills and cutting edge tactics, but targeting the home of such a dangerous man as Angel Marin, LeBlanc was - even to his own admission - pushing his luck.
The thief darted silently down the crime lord’s corridor, his footfalls suppressed by his rebalancing boots and his hi-tech jumpsuit hiding him from thermal sensors despite its garish white colour. On his cracked face sat a green monocle, which LeBlanc used to scan for traps in real time. As he ran, LeBlanc gripped the azure jewel tightly, the diamond no bigger than a golf ball despite its exorbitant worth. The man’s agility and resolve was unmatched for someone of his age, but unfortunately his resistance came in the form of three meddlesome teenagers.
Angel Marin slept soundly in his bed, LeBlanc having eluded all of his security, but the Teen Titans had already seen the thief’s approach. Thanks to a recent upgrade to Cyborg’s tech, the teen was able to piece together a wealth of technological information sources to track LeBlanc all the way from his previous heist, and now they were moments from thwarting him.
LeBlanc pushed into the drawing room, the window he had entered through still cracked open. But as the man emerged through the open doorway, the oak door immediately pushed shut. The thief turned back towards the door, drawing a glowing, white knife to slash out at whoever had pushed the door to, only to find an empty place. Furiously, he pivoted back toward the window, now to find the shadowy figure of the blue-clad vigilante blocking his path. Nightwing. LeBlanc threw his arm out, slashing at the slender assailant, only for Nightwing to strafe aside with a boastful cartwheel. “No thanks!” Nightwing spat, springing off of the ground and throwing himself at the thief. Quickly, he struck with his twin sticks, aiming to disarm the thief as well as snatch the stone from him in one fell swoop, but André wouldn’t unhand his prize so easily.
The thief swung out once more, with Nightwing this time much closer. Before the vigilante could bounce back, he cried as the searing hot blade streaked across his chest, cutting through his black-and-blue armour as if it were butter, exposing his pale and bleeding flesh.
“Heh.”
Recoiling, the vigilante brought his hand across his chest, wiping the blood aside before clutching at his sticks once again. Nightwing leapt vertically and hooked his sticks around the industrial-looking chandelier above, using it to fling himself across the room to intercept the white-clad thief who continued his way to the open window. He landed and - stick still in hand - threw a fist out, striking LeBlanc cleanly in the nose.
The thief staggered, dazed. He would have just shot the kid if he had even brought a gun, though in his line of work a firearm was such a clumsy weapon. Narrowing his gaze on the dark figure he faced, LeBlanc focused himself. How strong could one kid be? Arrogant as ever, he then threw his knife aside and slipped the Night Diamond into his white satchel. He brought up his fists, ready to exchange blows.
The two men clashed, and quickly LeBlanc began to impress Nightwing as he dealt fast and powerful strikes. As they traded attacks, blocking and leaping up and down, they almost seemed to dance with each other, with LeBlanc using his streamlined gauntlets to deflect strikes from Nightwing’s escrima sticks. But LeBlanc caught Nightwing off-guard when he delivered a spinning kick to the vigilante’s head, flooring him with a manoeuvre Nightwing never would have expected from a man approaching forty. Though as LeBlanc turned away with a sneer, seemingly having bested the Gotham crimefighter, he turned to find himself face-to-face with none other than a towering, green gorilla. With a single punch, he was out.
“You know, I don’t know why you didn’t just let me just punch him sooner,” Gar grinned, morphing back to human form. As he rose from the ground, Dick produced a pair of black boxer shorts from his belt compartment, unfurling them and throwing them the way of the nude, green child as if it were a regular occurrence (which, by this point, it was).
“That’ll be because we’re sitting in the house of a dangerous gangster,” Dick smiled coolly, his hand pouring over his throbbing head, “Ever heard of ‘lowkey’?”
“Ah, you got me there!” Gar exclaimed, slightly quieter this time, “I’m many things but lowkey isn’t one of them.”
“Nice work though,” Dick replied, before activating his communicator, “Cyborg: you still on overwatch?”
Beat.
“Cyborg?”
Vic spluttered, suddenly bursting in over comms, “Yeah. Of course, sorry just got distracted by… things...”
“Finlay,” Dick continued, “Of course. I’m sorry. Look, head back to the roof of Iris Cove Casino, and we’ll regroup with you there.”
“Got it.”
Since Dick had discovered that it was an associate of Vic’s father, Jacob Finlay, who was responsible for stealing the Cyborg blueprints, as well as springing the metahumans that almost killed Vic, he had wanted nothing less than see the crooked physicist see what was coming to him. But what he couldn’t have expected was for the doctor to turn up dead - his neck wrenched - in Gotham River. It was a tragedy, and not at all what the man deserved.
The Teen Titans had attempted to follow up on the death, but had found nothing. That was until Dick received a clandestine call from Silas Stone.
 
♦ ♦ T ♦ ♦
 
The fifteen-year-old Cassandra Sandsmark emerged from the Music Box Theatre wide-eyed, her mind blown. Growing up in Buckinghamshire, England, Cassie had always dreamed of seeing a Broadway show, and it was every bit as amazing as she had expected it to be.
Her mother was an archaeologist, and therefore was often away for long periods of time, and when Cassie wasn’t couped up at her boarding school, her grandparents were too old and untrusting - despite their riches - to fly her out to New York. And though Cassie had finally gotten her wish, it was through the most distressing of circumstances. Now, though Cassie was raised by a strictly Christian family, she always found difficulty in believing in a God for one reason or another, so imagine her surprise when she was visited by the image of what appeared to be an angel, imploring her to flee to New York City, of all places, that she was being hunted and would only be safe within the bounds of that city so far across the pond. No answers, only urgency.
And so, the Fear of God firmly instilled in her, the fifteen-year-old stole as much money as she could from her grandfather’s bank account and grabbed the first plane ticket to the United States.
Though Cassie honestly didn't know what to expect. Upon arriving in the ‘greatest city in the world’ she had heard nothing from the otherworldly figure that had addressed her before, and she quickly began to realise that she couldn't occupy herself in her hotel room for very long. And hence, she decided to indulge herself in an overpriced visit to Broadway, and it was worth every penny to the young girl.
But now Cassie was lost once again. Cars hurtled past her along the wide road, as monolithic buildings stretched high into the jet black sky. There wasn't a moment of silence, the city filled with a cacophony of noise, even at this hour. Quickly, she pushed over to the nearest taxi, pulling her red hoodie up tight over her slender shoulders to keep out the quickly emerging chill. As the driver rolled his window down, Cassie doubled over, peering through the window to address him.
“Hello? Do you go to the White Ram Hotel?” she chirped in a polite tone.
“Do I!?” the driver exclaimed. He was a middle aged man with olive skin and a sleazy black tracksuit. “This ain't the subway. I’ll take you anywhere you want, hot stuff!”
“Excuse me?!” Cassie cried, pulling herself up. Sure, she was more developed than other girls in her year at school, but she was only fifteen. Surely he could see that! Right?
“I love me a British accent,” the driver sneered, “Say somethin’ sexy and I’ll give you half fare!”
Cassie was flustered and infuriated. Slamming her foot down on the pavement, she pushed away. “I’ll think I’ll walk, thank you very much!!”
And so Cassie took off down the street, walking against the flow of heavy traffic, the sounds of the city growing more fierce. Quickly, the black of the night seemed to slowly seep in around her, the darkness consuming her, but Cassie kept plodding on towards the White Ram.
As Cassie walked, a enigmatic presence lurked in the distance, watching her; stalking her from the shadows. There was a quality to Cassie, something powerful that just made her unignorable, something that called to the presence in the dark.
Unbeknown to this, Cassie continued on, eventually coming to pass the exterior of an old Irish pub that stretched along the street. Nervously, Cassie pulled up the hood of her red hoodie and picked up her pace, the footfalls of her black Chucks growing heavier against the concrete sidewalk. Something she’d call the pavement.
Though Cassie wouldn’t get off so easy as from the pub, right as she passed its doors, emerged three men of varying levels of intoxication, all swaying with the breeze. They each looked around thirty and each similarly struggled to keep their balance as they poured out onto the street. Quickly, one caught a glimpse of the young girl attempting to hurriedly make away, catching the side of her face as she walked past. “Hey!” He blurted out, steadying his lacking weight on his friend’s shoulder, bottle in hand. “You’re very pretty!! You should be… v… very proud.”
She ignored him and continued down the street, still a while off the next corner.
“Hey–” he repeated before bursting into a cry, “I SAID HEY!!”
Cassie jolted, glancing over her shoulder for just half second, enough time for a few of the boys to catch her eye. She turned away and continued on.
“HEY!!” Another man called after Cassie, this time annoyed, “He’s talking to you!!”
“Fucking bitch…” the first man mumbled to himself.
“No!” the third man called out, pulling the first man forward and snapping him out of his sulk, “N– No she doesn’t get to ignore you like that!!”
The third took off in a sprint after Cassie, continuing to define call out, “My friend wants to talk to you!!”
The first and second men looked to each other, too drunk to roll their eyes, and began to stumble after their leading friend. Cassie looked over her shoulder once more to see the three men clambering towards her. But before she could run, the man threw himself in the way of her path.
“No need to be rude…” he grumbled, his friends then catching up behind.
None of the men were cruel, but all were plenty menacing as they surrounded the 15-year-old girl, who stood alone and afraid in a city mostly unknown to her.
“Get out of my way…” Cassie seethed, her breath unsteady as she pretended to be as tough as she could muster.
“Ah! British!” exclaimed the youngest of the men, the one who had first noticed Cassie, “I like British!”
He placed a hand forcefully on Cassie’s shoulder as she faced away from him, and pulled her around to face him. “C’mere.” Instinctually, Cassie reacted, flinging herself back, and crashed into the chest of the man who had first pursued her.
“We ain’t gonna hurt ya!” the crushing man cried, only for Cassie to react by delivering a swift kick to the man’s groin. He fell quickly, groaning in pain.
“What the fuck, lady!?”
The man behind her jostled Cassie’s shoulder, threatened and enraged. Taking no shit, Cassie turned socked the man in the jaw, causing him to stagger back.
“Stay away from me!!” she cried before punching him once again, unaware of the third man behind her as he drew a knife.
But as the man threw himself forward to slash out at the increasingly violent young girl, out of nowhere flew a glowing gold chain that seemed to magically wrap itself around the wrist of the man’s knife hand. And with one quick tug, the man went flying several feet. Though as Cassie turned to see just what had occurred behind her, she saw not the floor assailant, but a woman, tall and draped in black, her skin lightly tanned and her hair as dark as her plated armour. “You need to come with me.”
 
♦ ♦ T ♦ ♦
 
The next morning, Dick Grayson pushed hurriedly through the S.T.A.R. Labs security checkpoint, already a registered visitor at this point. He didn’t know the cause of Silas summoning him, but he had guessed from the police cars lined up on the street outside that the scientist likely had information regarding Finlay’s death.
And as Dick entered the central lab, he was implicitly proved correct as he found Silas seated, the figure of a tall, muscular man in a beige coat and a black-banded, white cowboy hat. Immediately, Dick recognised the lone policeman as NYC Sheriff Saunders. It was rare that the man ever came out to investigate first hand since his election, and he and Dick had never crossed paths, especially while the latter was Nightwing.
“And… Dr Finlay: any reason to believe he had any enemies?” the Sheriff spoke in a gruff, deep tone, befitting of his fearsome silhouette and his fifty years of smoking. The man was no nonsense.
Silas took a second. A part of him wanted to pretend the man was a saint, but the truth was that he was far from it. Similarly Silas knew that what he had to said could incriminate himself, but was already worn down by the death of his coworker and his son shunning him for a second time. He had no time for lies.
“It was... I strongly suspect it was Finlay who allowed the meta thief - Selinda Flinders - to break into the lab. There, she not only freed her brother but also stole my blueprints for the cybernetics I used to treat my son from a safe that only myself and Finlay knew even existed.”
The Sheriff took a deep breath, still unaware of Dick standing in the doorway behind him. Carefully, he jotted down some notes in his small paper pad. “And what would Dr Finlay have wanted those… blueprints for? Industrial espionage?”
“No,” Silas sighed, “He wanted them so that he could save his brother the way I saved Victor, despite all my protests that the technology wasn’t ready.”
“His brother: This is Arthur Finlay, correct? Paralysed after a burglar attacked him in 2006.”
“That is correct.”
Saunders paused and took another long, deep breath, before launching into hurried speech. “Now it’s funny you should mention that as Arthur Finlay was nowhere to be found when we visited his estate earlier this week. Odd for a man who can't wipe his own ass.”
“What are you saying?”
“I’m saying it’s entirely possible that Dr Finlay– that Jacob succeeded in ‘fixing’ his brother.”
Beat.
The Sheriff smiled. “But that’s for me to chase up. Sorry, I shouldn’t have divulged that with you, - it’s as of current - entirely unfounded.”
“It’s fine.” Silas smiled tiredly, “We can all speculate. Now, if you don’t mind, I have another visitor.” Silas gestured graciously towards the door, where Dick Grayson was standing.
Sheriff Saunders looked across and his face immediately dropped, realising his mistake. “Ah, I see. Well, I won’t keep you then. Thank you for your insight, Dr Stone. We’ll be in touch.”
Quickly, the Sheriff wrapped up his notepad and made his way over to the door. As he exited, he tipped his hat towards the young spectator. “Nice to meet you, young man.”
And he was gone.
Silas stood, meeting Dick in the centre of the lab. “You know, I thought he’d never leave.”
“Was that it, Dr Stone?” Dick asked, perturbed, “You think Jacob’s brother killed him?”
Silas sighed. “That seems to be the leading theory, but no, that’s not why I called you.”
“Then what–”
“Christmas has come and passed, and this is the first year I’ve spent it without my Victor since he was born, the first year since my Elinore…”
Silas blinked.
“I wanted to give you a package. A gift. To give to Victor. A belated Christmas present.”
“He’s still not talking to you?”
Silas crawled along to his desk where, from a lower drawer, he produced a small purple box tied with a red bow, no bigger than a ring box. He held it out to Dick, his eyes so tired.
“Just please make sure Victor opens it,” he replied, “Won’t you do that for me, Richard?”
 
♦ ♦ T ♦ ♦
 
Silently, a robed figure approached the derelict apartment block in Avalon, Blüdhaven. This was the only known address for the Teen Titan known as Cyborg, but clearly circumstances had forced him to move on. The figure sighed, shaking her head before moving on.
 
♦ ♦ T ♦ ♦
 
“It was like my nan always said: that someday I’d feel something, and all that crap about burning bushes and… the big man in the sky would just slip into place.”
As Cassie spoke in the relative warmth of the drab, grey squat, her words were lost on Donna, who - despite having developed more than adequate conversation skills - had no idea what the young girl was talking about after she had asked her why she had come to New York City.
Cassie grinned, sat on the only chair in the apartment, as she registered her saviour’s bemusement. “I had a vision. It sounds crazy I know, but some angel came down and told me that… I was being hunted… and that I’d only be safe if I came to New York.” Her eyes were wild, as if she were reliving those impossible moments as she told the tale, “She told me some monster wanted to kill me, that it was the plan of the Gods that I remained safe. Truth is, I struggled believing in one God, never mind plural!”
Donna was beginning to understand, but remained bemused as she looked up from the floor to the girl she had found herself driven to protect. The idea that anyone could believe in just one God perplexed her. Surely there would be too many responsibilities for just one God to handle.
Shaking off her confusion, Donna stood up from the floor and made her way to the open window. Behind her, Cassie sat by the breakfast bar, wrapped in a shawl Donna had found in the bedroom. Donna needed to understand the connection she shared with this girl. They had to be connected somehow, or else what would explain the otherworldly, gut-wrenching pull towards her that Donna had experienced as soon as Cassie had stepped within a thousand mile radius.
Who was Cassie Sandsmark? That’s what Donna kept asking herself. What did Cassie mean to her? Though Donna supposed that to answer that question, she’d have to figure out just who she was herself.
Cassie sat up quickly, shrugging off her trepidation for the thrill of the adventure. “So is that it then?” she asked. Donna moved away from the glass to face her. “Are you my guardian angel? The person the vision said would protect me?” “I…?” Donna honestly didn’t know.
“Come to think of it: why are you wearing battle armour?” Cassie’s eyes were wide as she looked upon her fearsome protector, stood against the New York City skyline through the thin glass, “Are you - like - one of those Amazons? Like Wonder Woman?”
“NO.” Donna spat, suddenly recoiling. Immediately, she realised her mistake as she watched Cassie flinch back. Calmly, she elaborated. “No. I’m nothing like… I’m not Wonder Woman…”
“Oh.”
“But I think I am supposed to keep you safe… from whatever monster is trying to harm you.”
 
♦ ♦ T ♦ ♦
 
Vic fumbled with his keys, half distracted by his conversation with Gar as he stood in the hallway of his new apartment block on Payton Street, attempting to unlock the door. He’d gotten into his new place over Christmas, his last home desolated when Shimmer and Mammoth attacked him at his home.
“So the guy goes through all the trouble of hiring these supervillains to steal your… thing and then just mysteriously ends up dead?” Gar jested, his voice animated and non-serious.
Finally, Vic turned the key and the two entered into his new apartment. The place was much more spacious than Vic’s previous place, with a more open-planned layout which Gar definitely considered an upgrade. Though a winter chill emanated through the place, visually it was quite warm, the Christmas decorations still up and on full display almost a month later.
“The guy was my dad’s friend, Gar.” Vic replied, irritated. “If he weren’t such a jackass, he’d be like my uncle, so please take this seriously.”
Vic pushed forward, pulling off his thick, grey hoodie and laying it across the arm of his couch along with his keys.
“Dude, he tried to kill you!” exclaimed Gar, “That doesn’t exactly scream close family friend.”
“A man is dead!” Vic snapped, his tone now deadly serious, something entirely unheard by Gar until now from his usually somber but amicable friend, “Get a grip.”
Gar lingered in the doorway. He took a deep breath. Vic was right. “I– I’m sorry, man. I guess that’s just how I cope with... things. He was your friend, I get it.” He stepped forward, slowly pushing the door shut behind him.
Jacob Finlay wasn’t a friend of Victor’s. In fact, Vic could never stand the man. But it saddened Vic deeply to know that he was gone, even after all the hurt he had caused him.
Slowly, Vic made his way over to the fridge, feeling his stomach yearn for a snack. He opened the metallic white door and looked upon its contents with disappointment. He sighed.
“I know we just got in, but do you fancy heading back out for food?” Gar suggested earnestly, “I know a diner that’s cool with people like us in downtown Blüd.”
’People like us’. Vic was used to that meaning something else, but he supposed he did have that in common with his plucky, if not crass, young friend. They were both outcasts due to their appearance. Vic was half-metal, Gar was green. On the rare occasions Vic had left the house as himself (rather than the superhero Cyborg) he made sure to never stay too long in one place, as to avoid anyone noticing his horrific visage under his shadowy hood.
“How do you mean?”
“This old couple owns the place,” Gar explained, “Man’s blind and the lady’s… well, actually open-minded and reasonable.”
Vic froze, actually considering the proposal. It’d been a long time since he’d sat down in a restaurant - however fancy - and eaten out. He looked to the empty, open fridge and then back to his discarded hoodie. His eyes flashed.
“Sure,” he smiled, “You wanna grab your coat this time? You’ve been complaining about the cold all day!”
Gar grinned back at Vic, deeply pleased by his response. “Yeah, one sec!” He ran, bounding across the floor and over to the hat stand Vic rarely seemed to use. From there, Gar pulled down his orange-red Parka and pulled it on in one fluid motion. As he did, Vic made his way to the couch and slipped back into his hoodie, zipping it up slowly.
The two smiled at each other and Vic - now stood closer to the door - pushed forward, wrapping his metal grip around the door handle and pulled it down. As he swung the door open, there stood a startled Dick Grayson, moments from ringing the doorbell"
“Woah!” Dick jumped.
“Dick!” Gar exclaimed, “We’re heading out to eat, you coming?”
“You?” Dick replied, pleasantly surprised to see Vic trying something new. “Uh, yeah… sure!”
From the pocket of his black pea coat, Dick produced the purple box he’d been handed earlier, nervously fidgeting with it between his hands slightly as he glanced up and down from it to Vic. “Though, uh… I actually came to give you this, Vic.”
Dick held the box out. Vic looked open-eyed to Gar and then back to him. “Dick, you already got me a Christmas present,” he laughed, walking over and taking the purple-wrapped present, eyeing it curiously.
“No, it’s… it’s from your dad. Cos you missed Christmas.”
Beat.
Vic looked back up to Dick. “Dick, I missed Christmas cos I can’t stand the man. He made me into this… thing, and it was his lies that almost got me killed.” Without even looking, Vic tossed the box over his shoulder, it hitting the ceiling and ricocheting before landing between the couch and the television.
“Vic…” Gar moaned disappointedly.
“What?!” Vic cried, “He’s human garbage. Has that brilliant mind and uses it to constantly fuck with my life. I don't need him. He’d be better off dead.”
Dick and Gar both looked at him in stunned silence. Dick’s eyes flitted back and forth and his moved out of the doorway and into the apartment. He looked to Gar, an orphan like himself, and then to Vic. He nodded. “How about we go get that dinner?”
Vic took a breath, calming himself. He nodded reluctantly, his confidence shaken but determined not to let his dad ruin his victory. “Right, yeah. Sure!” he affirmed himself. “I– I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to–”
“It’s fine.” Dick smiled, turning to face the open doorway, “Let’s just g–”
Just as Dick had moved, replacing him in the doorway was a tall, hooded figure: one none of the teens had met before yet one that all three recognised.
“Holy fuck!” Gar exclaimed, “It’s Wonder Woman!”
 
♦ ♦ T ♦ ♦
 
“I was speaking with my former teacher Athena after I sla–” “Wait, Athena?” Gar interrupted, starstruck, as if he were taking notes, “As in Popped Out of Zeus’ Forehead Athena?” Diana nodded solemnly. The Amazon sat on a kitchen chair, comfortably at a level to explain herself to the three young men, who each stood.
“Athena revealed to me a child of both Ares and Circe roamed the man’s world, that… an adversary of mine sought to hurt the child, for the misdoings Circe had committed against her.”
Diana told the tale, her eyes hollow as she seemed to hold back some inconvenient truths, something Dick picked up on easily, “I was told that I would find the child in New York City, and knew that Batman had established a strike team nearby. So here I am, hoping you can lend me your assistance.”
Dick sighed, running his hand through the front tuft of his dark hair. He’d never met the Amazon warrior before, but knew that she and Bruce were friendly, with Diana being part of his ‘Justice League’ initiative. But Dick was disappointed to hear how the Teen Titans were perceived by the older heroes. “Batman had nothing to do with it. I formed this team, uh… we formed this team. Together.”
Diana smiled. “Of course.”
“So that’s all you know?” Vic replied, addressing the matter at hand, “Some kid is in danger in New York City. No idea whereabouts?”
“That was where I was hoping that you could help me,” said Diana, addressing Vic directly.
Vic smiled softly to have garnered any sort of attention from somebody as powerful and well… beautiful as Wonder Woman. “Well I suppose we could tr–”
“This doesn’t have anything to do with that other Wonder Chick running about New York? Does it?” Gar interjected, perhaps a bit louder than he had intended.
Diana cocked her head, moving her vision away from Vic and towards Gar, “I don’t know what you mean.”
“This amazing, gorgeous warrior. Long, flowing black hair. This awesome armour, all jet black and mysterious. She looked a lot like you actually.”
Diana’s eyes darted open as she bolted to her feet. Could it be? The doppelganger she had faced in the Trials, who had fought with her own skill and ferocity.* Had Ares sent her here? It was more than possible that she was an emissary of Ares, posthumously working to secure Ares’ progeny.
It was as Athena had said to Diana: death was the only way to transfer the mantle of God of War.*
“Gods…” she groaned, “I’ve fought her before. She is far more dangerous than the woman I seek to stop. If she gets her hands on Ares’ daughter, the consequences could be dire. We need to find them both and pray that she hasn’t already found her.”
Dick stepped forward. “I’ve been trying to locate this black-armoured Amazon since Gar ran into her a couple months back. She’s been being very discrete. I’ve tried everything.”
Vic stepped forward. “I haven’t.”
 
♦ ♦ T ♦ ♦
 
“Don’t you have any games? Or a telly or something?” Cassie sighed, stood peering out of the frosted window onto the New York skyline.
“Telly?” Donna asked, standing a few feet behind Cassie, surrounded by a whole load of nothing. “I’m afraid not. This place doesn’t have much outside of shelter, and sometimes warmth.”
“Then what do you do for fun?” Cassie had been cooped up in Donna’s squat for some time now and was beginning to grow restless. Despite the drab decor, the place was an improvement on sitting alone in her hotel room, but the boredom was killing her.
“I’ve found the city to be the best source of entertainment,” Donna explained very matter-of-factly, “Although I think it might be best for us to stay put until we know you are safe.”
“And when is that? When the thing hunting me gets bored? When I get a follow up message from the angel?”
“I don’t think that was an angel.”
“That isn’t the point!” Cassie groaned, frustrated. “I just wanna have some fun!”
Donna stopped. She thought for a moment and then nodded. “Alright.”
Donna couldn’t recall much of her past, but did remember one thing that she had always enjoyed: combat. She didn’t remember all the details, but Donna used to love sparring as a child, with Diana, the monster that now plagued her nightmares. It was always so exciting, and it really seemed to develop an interpersonal closeness between the combatants. She smiled before removing her silver gauntlets slowly.
“Here.”
“What?” Cassie asked.
“Take them.” Donna held the gauntlets out for Cassie, one in each hand. Carefully, the younger girl took them and slipped her wrists into them.
“They’re too big.”
Donna grinned as the gauntlets seemed to magically adjust, twisting and forming into a perfect fit around Cassie’s forearms. Donna then flicked her own wrist forward, causing a cloud of black smoke to erupt from the palm of her hand. Cassie recoiled, watching the black smoke move and stretch before giving way to the form of a solid, golden sword. Donna gripped the blade tightly and pointed it forward.
“Wait, what?”
“We shall fight?”
“Fight?!”
“Well, you won’t have a weapon, so it’s more like exchanging blows. I’ve found it quite enjoyable.”
“Right…” Cassie replied, reluctant, “So what’s gonna happen?”
“I will make an attack with my blade, and you shall bring up your gauntlets to intercept. You’ll find them more than capable of deflecting my attacks.”
“Like…?” Cassie practiced thrusting her arms back and forward, flashing the silver gauntlets as she moved.
“Exactly! We’ll start slow.”
And they did. Beat-by-beat, Donna would move the sword towards Cassie, giving her plenty of time to bring up her gauntlets to clink against the blade. One strike. Two strikes. Three strikes. Four. Gradually, Donna increased her speed, and with her Cassie would begin to move with increasing ease and agility. She was a natural.
As they grew more and more rapid, their movements also increased in intensity. Before they knew it, both began to shift their footing until they were dancing back and forth around the room, sparks flying each time Donna’s blade crashed against Cassie’s forearms. First, Cassie began to cackle with laughter, then allowing Donna to join with a more conservative chuckle. But all this ceased with a knock at the door.
They stopped. Cassie glanced over to the door first, then Donna. They weren’t expecting visitors. Donna flourished the blade in her hand, furrowing her brow and narrowing her gaze, ready to attack whatever came through.
And just as expected, the door came crashing, the wood obliterated into splinters. Through it leapt a fearsome warrior clad in red and gold, a beast of a woman, a terrifying figure. The demon Diana.
Nightwing had tried to knock, but the Amazon warrior wasn’t willing to wait. Bursting into the room, Diana charged at Ares’ puppet, seeing her with her blade drawn, the young Cassie Sandsmark terrified beside her.
Donna slashed out as Diana came crashing down on her, unarmed yet incredibly dangerous, but the strike was fruitless as Diana evaded with ease, delivering a mighty punch to the centre of Donna’s chest. Diana of Themyscira didn’t need a weapon.
Donna stumbled, kicking over a small coffee table as Cassie scrambled out of the way. The demon moved incredibly quickly, far faster than Donna could comfortably comprehend. She hadn’t been this fast when they’d fought before. First, another punch to the chest, then grabbing Donna by the arm - catching her sword strike - to pull her close, only to pound her back into the ground.
As Donna hit the ground, she skidded, whipping back around onto her feet, beaten but ready to persist. “Your master is dead,” Diana seethed, “And you shall fall with the rest of his forces!”
As the two warriors clashed, Cassie scurried away, ducking and running for the door. However, she found herself blocked by the bodies of three young men: one some kind of robot man, one green and the other clad in blue and black spandex. “Ack!”
“We’re not gonna hurt you!” Cyborg panicked, holding his large, cold hands up.
“Like shit you don’t!” Cassie spat, her teeth clenched, pivoting back around to watch her friend fight off the red-and-gold blur of a woman. Wait... That was Wonder Woman!
Donna grumbled, moving her sword arm back and shifting her off-hand forward. She then allowed her bronze shield to materialise magically in her grip with a flash of amber light. “I see you have new toys.” Diana smirked, her gaze as steely as her black-clad doppelganger.
She was right. Donna recalled easily that in their last encounter, the one that haunted her, she fought Diana unarmed. Now, Donna couldn’t recall how she came to wield the magic required to summon her weapons, but she was more than happy to use them if it meant having an edge over the tyrant that had previously terrorised her.
Donna didn’t reply. Instead, she threw herself forward, shifting her weight rapidly across the wooden floorboards, heaving the mass of her shield against Diana enough to stagger her, giving her an opening to strike with her blade. Diana cried out and kicked, colliding her leg into her adversary’s shield and dragging her strike to the right.
Donna saw through this trick immediately, it was an attempt to disarm; to wrench the shield right from her hand. It wouldn’t work. Not if Donna kept as best a grip as she could. However, Donna had underestimated the strength of her foe, and subsequently found herself launched across the room along with the shield, leaving her sword by her feet, crashing down on a pile of wood in the corner of the shabby apartment.
She attempted to pull herself up, but couldn’t, her armour too heavy on top of the weight of her aching bones. Diana persisted however. Breathing heavily, she pulled herself over to her floored quarry, scooping her foe’s blade off of the ground as she moved. Finally, she stopped. Planting her crimson boots into the wooden floor, Diana loomed over Donna, a relentless, fearsome monster.
Diana looked upon her quarry, this supposed emissary of Ares, deliberating over her fate. Perhaps she had overestimated her, for the puppet Diana had fought during the Trials fought with such ferocity and intensity that she now found entirely lacking. It was as if she was another soul inhabiting the body of that abomination.
But that moment of hesitation on Diana’s part was exactly what Donna need to act. In one fluid motion, Donna burst from her pile on the floor with new mobility. After delivering a kick to the monster’s head, Donna swung her empty hand out in a wide arc. Instantly, the sword vanished from Diana’s grip, reappearing in Donna’s own with a black flicker.
As Diana staggered, Donna let loose with slash after slash before finally winding up for an overhead attack, a killing blow. However–
“STOP!!”
A shock wave exploded through the room, launching its contents as well as the two combatants. Donna hit the ground and skidded once more. Bloodied, she looked up to see Cassie between her and Diana, her silver gauntlets glowing white hot, her face mortified.
“She doesn’t want to hurt you!” she screamed to Donna before turning to look upon Diana, scraping herself off of the floor, “You don’t want to hurt each other.”
Donna stood up uneasily, her eyes still wild, waiting for Diana to attack once again.
“I…” Diana mumbled, gripping her bloodied arm.
“You’re Wonder Woman. You save people.” Cassie explained, her voice compassionate yet quivering, “And I don’t need saving. Not from Donna. She’s my friend.”
Diana painted, finally looking upon her adversary with new eyes, “... Donna?”
Donna’s eyes flickered, filled with doubt. She looked to Cassie, then finally to Diana, and instead of a demon, saw an injured woman. She lowered her sword.
Diana saw this and recalled her parting words to the black-clad warrior, when Diana had pummeled her into the bloody waters during the Trials. 'Barely real and always a copy. What kind of emptiness must exist inside you?'
But when she focused on Donna’s eyes, those that so closely resembled her own, she saw not the rage she had seen during the Trials, but fear. Pure fear. There, she remembered.
“Great Hera, what have I done…” Diana groaned, looking upon her friend with a long forgotten familiarity. “Donna…”
But the moment wouldn’t last, for Gar was moments too late to cry out, warning them as a fearsome feline figure crashed through the window, emerging from the urban jungle of New York City’s skyline. There, the animal moved immediately for Diana, launching into an all out assault, no longer Dr Barbara Minerva, but The Cheetah.
 
 
Continued in Wonder Woman #21
 

[Part 1]
Sophie and I jumped inside the sewer, the dimmed sound of explosions shaking the street around us. I had not been awake for more than an hour and a half, but I already felt exhausted. Adrenaline kept me awake but my muscles felt heavy, and my running was slow.
To my surprise, inside the sewer the temperature was much warmer. It was around four in the morning, so the freezing air at the surface was unusual for a summer night. Underground, however, I began to sweat almost instantly. It was moist in these sewers, much more than I remembered it to be the few times I went there as a child.
“What the hell… Was that?” panted Sophie, still looking above her, at the hole in the sewer ceiling through which we descended. In the street where we stood a mere minute earlier the sounds of battle faded away, replaced by screams of horror, cries and shouts of pain. A howling wind raged above, and to our shock, light started to disappear entirely from the surface.
The light of the moon, our only steady source of light at this moment, flickered away and disappeared entirely in few seconds. I took out the flashlight that my parents gave me when we left our home, and turned it on in a few panicked movements. Sophie did the same with hers.
While my dad had a military-grade flashlight that did allow seeing around, Sophie had a supermarket one. She shook it around, trying to make it work, before I put a hand on her shoulder. I did not want to speak, afraid to make a sound, but pointed at the inside of her flashlight. We could perceive the tiniest light inside, struggling against the surrounding darkness.
I saw that she wanted to say something when we heard clicking above us. Something heavy and pointy was walking on the street above. We heard loud chewing, and a disgusting sound that I identified as bones crushed. I instinctively pointed my flashlight through the exit of the sewer, above us, and regretted my action even as I was doing it.
There was nothing but darkness out there, and the ray of light was entirely absorbed. Then, a second later, something circular appeared, staring down at us. It was an empty purplish circle against the pitch-black background, but I somehow understood it was an eye.
“Run!” I shouted to Sophie, pushing her to make her move and pointing my light in the direction opposite to whatever was looking at us.
We darted through the maze of the sewer for several minutes, quickly running out of breath. Fear made us keep running for a while after, and only when our legs and lungs failed us entirely did we stop. Sophie put her back against a wall and let herself fall down until she was sitting, while I collapsed on my knees and fell face forward. To my disgust, the floor was black and wet, and I saw some sorts of maggots crawling beneath black ichor.
Moaning my disgust, I forced myself up and helped Sophie to do the same. We could barely see few meters ahead of us with our working flashlight, and all the sounds seemed to echo infinitely. Once every few seconds the ground above us shook, telling us that the battle for the town above us was still ongoing. It seemed to me that I heard screams, but I could not understand if they were coming from the sewers themselves or from the surface.
“We… We have to keep moving…” said Sophie softly.
I wanted to agree, but where to? I had lost all sense of orientation during our run. My mind played tricks on me, and I thought I heard the same clicking sound from the creature around every corner. Sophie was right, we had to go, but maybe first we coul-
A gunshot echoed throughout the sewers, followed a second later by a veritable firefight. We heard shouts of alarm, and an explosion. A grenade? With only the sounds I would never have been able to guess where all of this mayhem was coming from, but the shockwave of the explosion, as well as the heat, allowed us to understand it was from in front of us.
I noticed that Sophie was looking at me. I shrugged, my head feeling light as if I was sick. I could not think straight. My legs muscles were sore, and it was a struggle just standing straight. I could not catch my breath back. The wet air of the sewer seemed to be in my mouth now, and I felt my throat scratching.
“Let’s try, but without the lights,” I started with as much confidence as I could gather; “we will be more discreet.”
My friend stared at me as if I just said the Earth was flat and the creatures that attacked our town were just from the other side. She shook her head slowly.
“This light is the only thing close to a protection we have, Jonathan. We don’t have any weapons. Remember the text we received? Stay close to the light sources.”
She was right and I felt very dumb. Keeping the flashlight pointing forward, we moved towards were the firefight had happened. There was a man still moaning in pain, meaning there were still survivors. That was already good, right? We marched forward for what felt like five full minutes before arriving at a crossroad.
Several body parts had been thrown around in a chaotic fashion. After some time I recognized that they all belonged to the soldiers in the black-and-red uniforms that I had seen coordinating the evacuation and defense efforts in the town. I should have felt safer that these elite soldiers were in the underground with us, but seeing them torn to pieces like this turned my stomach and snapped away what glimmer of hope I still had. The moaning survivor, half a torso of a man, passed away few seconds after we arrived.
Sophie could not take her eyes off the slaughter. She muttered a quick succession of prayers before having to turn away and throw up. I took one of the smaller guns that was laying on the ground when I heard some voices. A radio was on the ground, beneath the torso of what looked to be a squad leader. The sound was almost muted but I took the radio and put it to my ear, trying to understand the words.
“… is lost, I repeat, the town...”
Sophie finished emptying her already-almost-empty stomach and turned her attention to me. She noticed I was listening to this portable radio, and she moved her face in a manner to ask me what was up. I just shrugged, not knowing what to answer yet. Suddenly the connection became clearer, but I somehow wished it did not.
“ … -all Inquisition forces to retreat twelve clicks south of the town. Regroup with the third wave of the US military, and establish a final defensive line. All local military assets still in town are to be left there as a delaying action. Evacuation of local civilians is now priority 5, abandon all evacuation efforts.”
This was it. Whatever trace of hope I had went away. All civilians were to be abandoned. Even our own military was abandoned. We were all going to die in this town. Sophie had come closer and heard the same thing as I did, and I saw the same resignation going through her eye. I thought about my parents. Did they make it out before they gave up on evacuating people?
Then the voice in the radio came back. This time, the intonation was different. The certainty of this commanding voice was gone. I could feel the indecision, almost incomprehension in the words. As if, it was reading from a script that did not make sense.
“Be advised that Global Command has… Authorized… The deployment of… Unconventional forces from Nevada right on top of the advancing Shadow forces. ETA fifty-five minutes. I… Retreat twelve clicks south ASAP. All forces still in the city surroundings in one hour will be considered lost. Godspeed.”
While all of this did not make much sense to us, we understood one thing: We had one hour to get the hell away. South was the obvious way to go, but without a compass we were as good as lost in this sewer maze. Without much choice we started walking, hoping that we would find our way somehow.
I could not tell you how long we walked in there. My nerves were breaking in the moist darkness, so it felt like hours, but if I try to be honest, it was probably more around ten to fifteen minutes. We tried to go in the opposite direction of the sounds we could not understand. At some point, though, one of these sounds came from right in front of us, and I recognized it. Those were footsteps.
Sophie heard them before I did, and stopped first while turning off our flashlight. Slowly, I raised the small pistol that I snatched from the dead soldier’s body, pointing it in the direction of the noise. My uncle taught me how to shoot, but I was no expert. I barely had the reflex of looking for the safety, but it was already off.
In the utter darkness, I managed to see some silhouettes in the distance. They seemed humans, though of different sizes. Except the muffled footsteps walking on the black ichor on the floor, there was no sound coming from them. All my instincts urged me to shoot, but I decided to wait for them to get closer, so I would not miss.
“… Hello there?” Sophie tried to say aloud, her voice breaking before she could be heard. I felt I could have torn her neck right there, but I had to stay focused on those shadowy shapes. She for sure indicated them of our presence.
“We are humans!” she said, this time way louder. There was no way they didn’t hear that.
“Shut up, Sophie!” I snapped, before putting my finger on the trigger. There was no time for waiting anymore, I had to shoot them before whatever these things were could jump on our throats. That’s when they answered.
“Eh… We are, too. Are you really, though?” slowly said the tallest of the shape.
Against all common sense, Sophie turned back our flashlight. They were not far now, and we could see them. They were humans, too. Some were kids, barely 8 or 10 years old, and the oldest was in his early twenties, with his head entirely shaved. “Mad Bobby,” I muttered, recognizing him. “You are the kids of the Anderson’s!”
We talked for about five minutes about how each of us escaped the battle in the surface. Sophie and I explained our botched tentative of reaching the Casino, and the Andersons told us that their large family tried to barricade themselves inside their house before something broke in and started slaughtering them all. Only these four kids in front of us made it, out of the 25+ members of the family.
We decided to stick together. All of the Andersons had guns, with Bobby carrying a sawed-off shotgun. That is how they were. Never really liked these outcasts, but having them here was a slight comfort.
Luckily, one of the youngest Anderson carried not one but two compasses, for some reason. They did not work perfectly, as if something was interfering with them, but both were showing approximately the same direction. Apparently, Sophie and I had been heading North for a while. The whole group went south.
We travelled for about ten minutes, walking at a good pace. Above us the ground often shook from what I guessed was artillery fire, and once we all jumped upon hearing gunshots far behind us, followed by screams. The air was becoming thicker, I had way too much saliva and had to spit few times. Everyone was sweaty by then, and I could barely keep my eyes open more than a second without blinking. Flies started to take possession of the sewer, and the smell… I’d rather not describe it.
All of a sudden, or at least that’s how it seemed to me, I heard loud clicking sounds behind me. Like knives tipping on a wet wooden table. Instinctively we all stopped moving. Only Mad Bobby, who was leading the way, turned around immediately. Whatever he saw, his face turned white in a heartbeat, and he screamed while aiming with his shotgun.
It felt as if time slowed for a second, all my thoughts happening at once. I thought of turning around, shooting alongside him at the thing behind us, but I remembered what had happened on the surface. The whole US army deploying, columns of tanks, waves of jet fighters and helicopters. This barely slowed down what had attacked our town. We would not win this fight.
I dropped the pistol I was carrying, and took the compass that one of the Andersons was carrying in one hand. With my second hand, I took Sophie by the arm and started to run. I still feel sorrow for the Andersons. They were counting on us to help them. Deep inside, though, I know this was the good choice. We had barely ran for five seconds when the shooting stopped, and the Andersons screams ceased after twenty. The thing that attacked us did not follow.
After ten more minutes of running, we arrived at a large sewer exit. Usually an iron grid barred the entrance, but something came out in force out of the the sewer, crushing the gate. I tried not to think of what did that. I had to consider what monster that was when outside, in the forest that spread around the sewer exit, we found the bodies of three dozen of US military soldiers. They were entrenched, with machine gun nests pointing at the gate. This was not enough. Two armored transports vehicles were destroyed, one was on its back, the other had been cut in half.
“Johnathan”, Sophie whispered. I turned around. She was extremely sweaty, as if taken by a fever. “I don’t feel so good.”
I immediately put her down, leaning her back against one half of the Stryker transport. I could barely think straight. Did she get an infection back in the sewer? I did not keep track of time, my phone was now out of battery, and all I knew was that we needed to get away from there before whatever was coming from Nevada arrived here.
“Contact. Two civilians.”
The shout was coming from deeper in the woods. A group of eight black-and-red soldiers arrived at the scenes, weapons raised. Two kept their guns at us while the others secured the area. I think I saw something moving in the trees, just behind the group. I kept looking for a bit longer, and saw what looked like a sniper, his unusually large rifle aiming at the broken sewer gate.
What appeared as the leader of the soldiers then gave orders to his men to watch the sewer, while he and another trooper took a better look at us.
“Please,” I started to beg, “You have to get us out of here. She is sick, she cannot walk anymore.”
The commander turned to the soldier next him and said, his voice distorted by his helmet’s speaker: “Rita, scan them. Especially the girl. You know the drill.”
She took out a large tablet, some sort of PDA, with a massive photocamera on the middle. This machine was spreading light-blue rays all across our body like some techno party lightshow, but I did not say anything. One rifle was still aimed directly at us.
“Sergent,” one of the man guarding the sewer shouted in a strong French accent, “we have movement inside. We have two more Inquisition squads still alive in the city sewer. Several Planars are prawling, with one Champion-class, at least.”
“Then we’ll hold the gate so our brothers and sisters can retreat,” said the sergeant.
The blue-rays machine started beeping. A couple of the soldiers around turned their weapons to us. Both the sergeant and Rita took a few steps back.
“Get away from the girl, boy.”
I put my hands up, praying that they would not shoot us. I muttered something about Sophie and I being okay, that we just needed to get away. That they didn’t have to escort, just to let us go. That we were innocents. I looked at Sophie, who was staring back at me. She always had the most beautiful green eyes, but not anymore. Her pupils where a dark grey, almost black. I wanted to scream but didn’t found air in my lungs.
The sergeant put a hand on the side of his helmet. “Command, we have two civilians exposed to Planar radiations. One is Planetouched. I repeat, we have a Planetouched.”
At that time I didn’t know what it meant, but it sure did sound like a death sentence. We now had four rifles pointed at us. I was to say something when the French soldier from earlier shouted, apparently in a relative panic:
“Five contacts coming fast, chef. A Champion and four Hunters. Twenty seconds!”
The Sergeant of the squad looked at his men, then back at us. We obviously were not his most pressing objective, for now, but that did not mean he could let us go, no matter what ‘planetouched’ mean. He barked a couple of orders, then took off the safety from his weapon. “I’m sorry, kids” was all I heard from him before Sophie took my hand.
It felt like falling. Like if I were sitting in an elevator that was suddenly launched at terrific speed upward. I could not see a thing. Was I dead? “Close your eyes”, said Sophie, but I did not obey. Nonetheless, I was blind. I was sweaty again, like if I were in a hammam or something. Where was I?
Inhuman shrieks echoed from all side, in the distance. I felt Sophie pulling at my arm, making me move forward. I was confused, terrified, and did not try to resist, even when she started to run. The ground was sticky, and it was hard to go fast, but I did my best not to fall over.
Everything was flat, unnaturally so. We were definitely not in the forest anymore. We went through some sort of foliage. I did not understand if it was a wet rope or a spider web, and did not want to stay and find out. The shrieking got closer, and I felt as a mouse dropped in a cat restaurant. Just as when the shrieks became painfully loud I fell again.
Before I knew it I was on my knees on the forest floor. Breathing heavily, I blinked, trying to get my vision again. Even in the darkness of the night, the light was overwhelming, as if I had spent a decade in the deepest place of the Earth, away from any light source.
“What happened?” was all I managed to ask my friend. I realized that a fight was happening about two hundred meter away from us. I looked in this direction and realized that this was where the sewer exit was. How did this happen?
For the first time, it seemed that the creatures did not overwhelm the soldiers easily. The fight raged for about a minute, and I could not tell who won when the shooting stopped. Knowing that both the shadow-things and the “inquisition” soldiers wanted us dead, we went in the opposite direction, straight south.
Sophie seemed on the edge of breaking down and collapsing on the floor, but somehow she kept walking. She looked sick, very sick, and I could not explain where she got the strength to walk so fast. In a way, it was supernatural, but after all that had happened I did not stop to think about the how and why.
Now that we were back to the surface, we had a clearer picture of how bad the broader situation was. There was no more air support over the city, and only regular salvos of long-range artillery now rained on our town. A veritable wall of darkness seemed to swallow parts of the city, and was advancing fast in our direction.
After a couple of kilometers of walking through a forest hiking road, I heard activity ahead of us. Engines turning, men shouting, vehicles rolling. We ended up on a small hill overlooking a large road. A small number of cars and trucks were abandoned on the side of the road, but that is not what got my attention.
A huge military cargo transport aircraft had crashed, and destroyed the road when its burning debris crossed it almost perpendicularly. Somehow the US military retreating from the town had decided that this was a good place to form a defensive line. Soldiers were already digging in, machinegun nests were set, and Abrams tanks were in position in the hills behind the main line. Several hundred men and women were there with armored support, trying to build a dam that would stem the tide.
“Freeze!”
Four US-troopers had snuck up on us from behind, in the forest. I did not hear them coming. Better them than these things, though. At least I could try to talk.
“Don’t shoot!” I whined, adrenaline pulsing again in my blood, “we are not Planetouched!”
The four army soldiers surrounded us, and I heard one of them confirming in a short-range radio that they had found civilians.
“Planewhat?” said the corporal that was leading the group, visibly confused, “You are not one of those monsters, right?”
I made a no with my head, while Sophie said a firm “no”.
“Sorry, I thought you were with these Inquisition guys,” I answered, trying to justify my reaction. All I wanted was to run through the forest until I found a town and a car to drive me away. Hopefully my parents had been evacuated somewhere there. It sounds selfish, but I knew there was no way I could help them if they were not in a safe place right now. Judging by the look on the face of the corporal, though, he thought I was delirious.
“I don’t know of no Inquisition, but sure enough weird shit happened today,” said the man, “so just come with us, we’ll give you a gun, some stuff, and send you on your way. Follow the road south until someone pick you up and get you to safety.”
That was a plan I could get behind. Sophie stayed silent, but I understood this as her acknowledgement. Our whole group started going downhill when gunshots erupted from the military defense line. A salvo from handheld missile launchers speared in the direction of the city, and the tanks in the rear hills started pounding at whatever was advancing at them.
“Man! Here they come! We’ll cover this flank!” shouted the corporal to his three men, “You two teens you run the heck away from here!”
Not a man to question an order like that, I started running when a spectral shriek resonated in the trees, high above us. I barely had time to turn around to look before a dark insectoid shape plunged on one of the soldier, crushing him. The impact shook the ground hard enough to make me fall on my back.
The three surviving soldiers emptied their magazines in the grotesque creature. The aberration had six legs and a tall torso, akin to an ant-centaur. On said torso six arms, longer but much thinner than the legs, were flapping around as if trying to catch the bullets, cutting trees around it in the process. One of the trooper threw a grenade at the monster, but it barely made it stagger back.
When the men had to reload, the thing pounced forward. It impaled the soldier closest to him with one arm before biting his head off and throwing him away like a ragdoll. I noticed that the thing seemed to not reflect light, almost at all. I saw this creature more by the absence of light where it was, rather than by discerning its features. The only thing I could make was it it seemed furry somehow, in an insectoid way, or as if it was made of short human hairs.
The third soldier to die was was still reloading when it was cut in half in one vicious slash.. That’s when I came back to my senses. We had to run. We had to run now. I tried to pull Sophie, who was standing and staring at the scene, but she remained firm as a rock.
“We gotta go! It’s coming for us!” I shouted, stating the obvious. Her eyes, still unnaturally colored, were unblinking. “Sophie, come on!”
The last soldier, this corporal who told us to get away from the battlefield, was already running. The shadowy insect put his attention towards us, coming closer for the kill. I gasped for air, understanding that we had no chance of escaping something so fast, when Sophie started muttering something.
“I don’t want…” she started, not taking the creature out of her sight, “I don’t want you to be.”
I closed my eyes, bracing for impact, clenching my teeth in anticipation of the pain. I think I shouted something in terror. Nothing happened. I did not move, imaging the creature stopping just few feet from us, savoring its meal in advance. Only when I heard the voice of the corporal, now much closer, did I open my eyes.
“Are you okay, kids? What did you do?”
The soldier still had its gun out, checking the forest canopy for threats. Sophie now had her eyes closed, and was breathing heavily, as if trying to calm herself. She was shaking as a leaf on a cold autumn wind.
“That ant,” started the man, “it just vanished out of thin air. As if it was never there.” He was obviously as surprised as I was. Below us, on the main road, the Army’s defensive line was collapsing under the constant onslaught of the monsters. Many of the creatures died, obliterated by heavy cannon shells or by the constant bullet storm, but many more were coming. A flood of darkness that could not be stemmed. Some creatures even seemed to not be slowed by bullets nor fire, jumping from tree to tree on the flanks before landing on a vehicle and tearing it apart. Then I saw, behind the main assault, larger creatures obscuring the night sky, as tall as three-story buildings.
“God help us all,” said the corporal. I did not see how He could. This was Hell, coming to claim us all. Despair took hold of me and I stayed still a while, watching our army loosing the battle, before Sophie slowly turned around to look to the south. I did not say anything, but after a minute or so, I started to hear it, over the noise of the battle downhill. Rotors. Helicopters. A lot of them.
“Great,” said the corporal who had stayed with us, all hopes of winning of surviving gone, “more meat to the slaughter. What can men do against such things?”
Still, I watched as the flying armada arrived. A first formation of a couple dozen attack helicopters, few hundred meters above ground, pounded the advancing Shadow onslaught with missiles and autocannon rounds. This did stop them for a few dozen seconds. Just what the Inquisition needed.
Coming in low and at full speed were transport helicopters of different sizes. The smallest ones were Chinooks and Ospreys, already fairly big, but the largest ones were models I had never seen before, mostly quadri-rotors. I was expecting to see some special forces coming out fast-ropping, maybe those black-and-red soldiers, but something else entirely jumped out. More creatures.
“What under Heaven’s sky…” the soldier next to us said. I shared his disbelief. The things that jumped out of the cargo bays of the helicopters, though, were of a different kind than what had attacked our town. The first notable thing was that I could actually see them. Most were brownish or green, some looked plantoid, other were positively vegetal, while some were nothing more than a moving bag of vines. I could not take my eyes out of one of the largest one, an aggregate of wet leaves, bark and brown muscles, as tall as a small building, as it entered the battlefield suspended by cables between four of the largest helicopters. They dropped it in the center of the Shadow formation, and it immediately started picking some of the dark creatures up, and tearing them apart. Small scarab-like parasites jumped from the tree-looking giant, and began to borrow into the skin of the larger Shadow monsters, disappearing in the darkness while their victims howled in pain.
The Army defensive line collapsed, all soldiers running for their lives away from this fight of titans. Even the tanks at the rear almost completely stopped shelling, as if in utter confusion. The attack helicopters, though, continued hammering the back of the Shadow flood, while heavy bombers flew overhead to drop their payloads into what used to be my town.
All three of us bystanders were in shock, but the corporal suddenly put a hand on his ear. He shook his head, as if he could not believe what he was hearing. “They ask us to help those vegetal beings,” the corporal whispered, half to himself and half to us, “Command says they are here to help.”
Sophie still had not said a word, but she was looking at the transport helicopters that kept coming from the south. She looked at one in particular, one of the Chinook, as it stabilized its flight not fifty meters from us. A dozen of humanoid shapes jumped from it, all taller than three meters, and all entirely covered in bark. Some were carrying medieval-looking weapons made in the same substance as their skin, and some had their arms effectively shaped in these weapons. A couple were carrying bows.
A woman in a green jumpsuit was the last one to jump from the Chinook, but she was not human, or at least she was a human that could jump ungodly far. She landed twenty meters from us, and did not seem to notice us at first. She looked back at the ongoing battle, and the treekin that accompanied her rushed to the closest Shadow monsters downhill.
She was gorgeous, in a way that I can hardly describe with words. In normal circumstances, I would be actually put off by her unnaturally red hair, the complex tattoos going up her neck until her chin. or her pale yellow eyes that I saw glowing as she turned back to us. I could not take look away from her.
“Sorry darlings,” she almost sang to us, “there are to be no witnesses in the aftermath, and I could use the boost.”
She raised a hand towards the corporal, and he collapsed to his knees. He gasped for air, dropping his weapon to the ground. “But… Aren’t you with us?!” I said, a bit naively I must admit.
“We have a common enemy here,” the red-haired woman answered, “does not mean I care for your lives.”
The soldier withered by the second. He seemed to age rapidly, or to be more specific, he seemed to dry out. As if all water and blood was emptied from his body somehow. I was ready to run with Sophie, but when I looked at her, she was simply looking at the woman, her face as set in stone. When the corporal fell on the ground, dried as a sun-wrenched raisin, the woman turned her attention to us. She took a deep breath, as if she just had an amazing time. Had she been boosted by consuming the life of this man? Behind her, the war was still raging, and obviously, her forces were winning this battle.
“Now now, I don’t have much time, let’s…” The woman stopped suddenly, staring Sophie up-and-down rapidly. A half-grin appeared on her face. “You are Shadowtouched, girl.”
I took the corporal’s rifle and pointed it at the yellow-eyed witch. “She is nothing of that!”.. Yeah, I felt stupid a second later. She had a small laughed, looked at me and shook her head in disbelief, visibly amused.
“Oh she is, boy. Most humans cannot handle planar energies, and die some days later. However, that will not be her fate. She has potential.”
Sophie’s face was unmoving, but her legs and arms were shaking. She seemed close to collapse, and I felt that she also was on the verge of tears.
“Leave us alone,” she said with as much authority as she could muster. Since her voice broke down midsentence, let’s say it was not much. The witch laughed.
All around us, a second wave of transport helicopters, smaller than the first waves, were touching down. I noticed the strange triangonal symbol on their sides. Vast numbers of black-and-red soldiers were deploying. Some were carrying strange weaponries, others were clad in heavy armor that made them look like walking vehicles. Several small tanks, also with this symbol on their side, were being dropped behind the vegetal army and added their fire to fight against the Shadow. What unholy alliance was that?
“I’m Judith, by the way,” said the red-hair woman to Sophie, “and I speak for the Plane of Life, here. Usually I’d kill a Shadowtouched on the spot, but you have only recently been gifted. You are still free of will. Free to join us. We could use a Shadow turncoat.”
Sophie turned her attention to the Inquisition army being deployed. Some of the US Army survivors were rallying with them, and started to push alongside the planar creatures of Life. Further behind, fresh US troops were coming up from the south, from the main road. A whole mechanized regiment, by the look of it. “Are you going to save us?” asked Sophie innocently.
“Unfortunately some Inquisitors tried to prevent the Rift from opening. That would have prevented us a lot of trouble, but they failed.” We are all here to close the Shadow rift,” said Judith, “the Inquisition, my leafy friends, your national military, all of us. Once done, my army will leave Montana. Is that good enough for you?”
Sophie shrugged, and looked at her hands. This was insane. I tried to think of something to say, but this was so far beyond me that I could barely believe it, much less having an idea about what to do.
“How can I help?”
“Well,” replied Judith with a smile in her voice, “we don’t have time for proper training. You’ll figure just fine once you are close to Shadow creatures. I can feel the Shadow flowing in you. You are particularly gifted.”
A squad of Inquisition soldiers, all equipped in different manners, ran to our group. Their leader approached Judith.
“Ma’am,” said the woman through her helmet’s speakers, “I’m Commander Karlstein, Southern Rocky Mountains Household. My men are ready to push into the city to contain the Rift. We’ll follow your breakthrough and support you, as per High-Commander Rockwell’s orders. Be advised that we’ve detected a Planar incursion on the Canadian side of the border.”
Judith smiled widely at Sophie, which froze my bone. Her teeth were pointy, akin to those of a snake. I smelled a strong scent of flowers. “Yes, the Plane of Air also wants to play. Then let’s all get going, shall we?”

Leaning on the side wall of a dismal alley, I pulled out my new phone and checked the time. 10:30. “Great...time to go. God, I should’ve known word would get around about the ‘pretty little girlie’.” I snorted. The only reason I’d stayed with this seedy mafia was because of the steady cash, and when Johnathon, otherwise known as “Boss”, told me one of his allies had a little proposition for me, I could see in his cold brown eyes that there would be serious consequences if I didn’t go.
Reluctantly, I stepped out of the shadows and started briskly walking towards the meeting location, my heels clicking on the pavement, ignoring the catcalls coming from dark corners and stumbling drunks. My shoulder length black hair fluttered in the wind as I pulled my fedora down lower, willing the trench coat I was wearing to cover most of my face. It wouldn’t do to be seen by one of the boss’ rivals, or in his words, the “arrogant scheming bastards”.
Thankfully, I reached the address without much hassle, and looked up at the regal Swanfeather Hotel and Casino. Recalling my instructions, I stepped into the grand lobby and walked up to the reception desk. A petite young woman with vibrant jade eyes and auburn hair pulled back into a neat bun noticed me and smiled warmly.
“Welcome to the Swanfeather Hotel and Casino, how can I be of assistance?” “Hey, I’m actually looking for someone named... Marilee?”
The welcoming smile was gone in an instant as the “receptionist” made sure the lobby was empty before going through a discreet doorway in one of the tall marble pillars and practically pulling me behind the desk. Opening a door on the back wall, she led me into a small office, then walked over to the desk and unlocked one of the drawers. Reaching in, she pulled out an unassuming black leather pocketbook and typed in a code on a electronic pad hidden within the pages. I immediately heard a low mechanical rumbling before a portion of the wall swung open like a door, revealing a considerably small podlike elevator. I followed her in, the doors closing behind me as the wall fell back into place.
After going down for what seemed like ages, the elevator stopped and the doors slid open to reveal a velvety scarlet hallway, a ruby river with other narrower hallways branching off. Wordlessly, the woman led me to a large mahogany door and knocked hard. “Come in.” The door opened to a lavish office filled with various achievements and portraits of serious men and women. Soft fur rugs sprawled across the hardwood floors, the huge cherrywood desk an island in an ocean of varying shades of white and brown. “The girl is here.” “Wonderful. Bring her in.” Gesturing with her arm, the woman motioned for me to go inside before turning back toward the elevator, her long skirt flapping briefly like a giant bird’s wing. Sighing, I tried to mask my growing annoyance and dread with a cheery smile. “Hello. You must be Miss Moorwood. Take a seat.” I cringed inwardly as the mafia leader’s eyes no doubt traveled my body, the disgusting creep. “I have a little deal for you...”
“So, what do you think?” I snapped out of my daze before acting like I was considering the job. Apparently the location of a rival mafia had been leaked by a spy and my job was to find and murder the rival boss’s wife and two kids. All for 5,000 dollars. It was a lousy deal, I got paid more for locating or kidnapping, and this crossed boundaries. I didn’t kill kids. Not anymore.
Trying my best to sound remorseful, I pulled off my hat and ran my hand through my ebony waves. “Sorry Graham, but my schedule’s packed. Surely you understand. “I stood up only to be pushed down forcefully by a giant of a bodyguard. Graham’s cloudy gray eyes narrowed as his thin pale pink lips curled into a smug smile. “Not so fast little lady. If I remember correctly, your boss gave you two weeks off. You have enough time to do this tiny favor now, no?” Thick brown sausage fingers kept an iron grip on my shoulders, clearly letting me know I wasn’t going anywhere soon. My lip curled back into a snarl, but this only seemed to amuse Graham more. “Is King making things a little difficult for you? “ He slid a picture of a pretty Asian woman with two little children across the desk. The mother wore a flowery blouse and blue jeans and had a smile of pure joy. A little girl that couldn’t have been older than six in a gray shirt dress and navy leggings stood next to her mother, her eyes wide innocent brown orbs. But the worst of all was the chubby little baby perched on the woman’s lap in a blue onesie, giggling. “I want them dead by next Friday. Do it and I’ll let you go. Refuse, and...” He trailed off, but his sinister steel eyes told me all I needed to know. I chanced a glance at the ornate door. “Don’t even bother, Prince locked it as soon as you came in here.” A young man with soft curls the color of melted butter stepped from the shadows. His cobalt eyes swam with fear and shame. “Face it, doll, you don’t have a choice. It’s agree or King gets a new toy.”
“Ugh.” I looked down and started to undo my trench coat, revealing a dark lavender jumpsuit. Making eye contact once again, I spat out my words. “Fuck you.” Enraged, Graham’s eyes turned a tumultuous mercury. Had I let him open his mouth, he no doubt would have told his beast of a bodyguard to rip me to shreds. But I didn’t.
Tearing free from King’s hold with as much force as I could muster, I grabbed Graham by the throat, my delicate nails growing and changing. My beautiful black claws tightened around his neck, strangling him as brilliant ribbons of blood streamed down his throat, soiling his clean ugly suit. I felt a sharp pain in my back as King, a hulking mass of muscle straining and rippling under the neat starched cloth of a tuxedo, pulled a large knife from his belt and stabbed it deep into the small of my back before twisting it. Letting out a screech of pain, I hurled Graham into the wall, leaving him to choke on his own blood as a hairy segmented tail ending in a bulbous hooked point ripped from my lower back and shoved itself deep into one of King’s eyes, ripping it out, an insect struggling to escape a tight sticky spiderweb. The former frightening beast fell to the ground in agony as I pulled out the knife and plunged it into the side of his large pulsing neck, severing the artery as blood spouted everywhere.
Giggling maniacally, I spotted tousled blond curls cowering behind the blood splattered desk and smiled. “My my, are we playing hide and seek now? Come out and play~!” I took a step toward the desk and hissed in pain. The adrenaline had worn off and I finally acknowledged the deep gash and my slow blood loss. Not that I was worried, though. Seeing that my future victim was still trembling in fear behind the desk, I considered my options. Human forms, while agile and good with weapons, were vulnerable, as King had just proved, and had more risk of being apprehended or killed. I smirked and stole another glance at the only boundary between me and my fearful friend, reveling in the panic practically radiating off him as his beautiful turquoise eyes widened when he realized I was staring at him. Wild, animalistic forms, however, like that delicious scorpion that had come in so handy today, made for much more fun.
Settling on one of my favorites, I turned toward the desk and made sure Prince was watching before I started to shed. Straightening and stretching, my skin started to crack and flake, patches of smooth black scales slowly becoming visible. I gleefully watched the terror and fear in Prince’s eyes mingle with disgust and confusion as I slithered out of my old skin toward him, my back completely healed. “What... What are you?” Having temporarily lost my ability to speak due to my more inhuman state, I merely hissed in reply, using his distracted nature to wrap myself around him. Coiling tighter and tighter around his fragile body, I steadily suffocated him, feeling his rapid pulsing heartbeat grow fainter and fainter until his eyes glazed over and his flailing stopped. Finally. I was exhausted and famished. I let my hypnotic coffee eyes dance over the young man in my clutches one last time. He was cute, such a shame he got into such a business.
Unable to resist any longer, I struck, his silky blond curls disappearing into my starving maw. I hadn’t had such a good meal in weeks. A short while later, I had fully swallowed both bodyguards, careful to avoid eating any weapons. Turning at last to the crumpled form against the wall, my stomach churned. I didn’t want to eat Graham. With a belly swollen with cheap beer and insides contaminated with years of smoking Marlboros and no doubt a colorful assortment of drugs, he wouldn’t taste good, but it was vital if I was gonna get out of here scot-free.
After that unpleasant last course was over, it was time to get out. I scanned the room and tore any cameras I found to bits. Now, to seal the deal. I stretched and shed my sleek scales with much unhappiness. This time, I looked like a carbon copy of sleazy, smug Graham, fancy suit and all. Finding his phone on the desk, I easily unlocked it with the wonderful tech that is Touch ID. Dialing my boss’s number, I waited for him to pick up.
“Hello? What’s taking so long? I want my girl back, did she agree or no?” His gravelly voice crackled with impatience. Careful to keep my irritation at being called “his girl” hidden, I silkily replied. “My apologies, Johnathon. I found another person for the job. Since dear Serena was so tired when she got here, I let her stay at the casino to play a little. She can sleep at the hotel for the night, if you like?” I smirked. Throwing my first name in there was sure to piss him off. “Hell no, send her back! She has work she needs to do! She’s an assassin, for God’s sake, not some idle slut for you to play with!” “I thought you gave her some time off for me?” “If she’s gonna spend that time off gambling my money away, then she goddamn comes back to work right now!” “As you wish.” He was furious, and no doubt gonna yell at me later about how ungrateful I was, how I would have been on the streets without him, etc. but at least I had a reason for staying late now.
Hanging up, I mindlessly scrolled through his contacts, trying to come up with a plan to get out of the place without looking too suspicious, until something, or rather someone, caught my eye. Clicking on the contact, I was met with the same bright leaf green eyes and auburn waves I had seen at reception. Penny Terrace. Perfect. Calling the number, I crossed my fingers she wouldn’t ask any questions. “Hey boss, what’s up?” “Hello Penny, just wanted to tell you that I’m sending Miss Moorwood back up.” “The weird girl with the trench coat?” “Yes that’s the one.” “Alright. Bye boss!” “Bye...” Once I heard her hang up, I went to retrieve my trench coat. Pulling out a new jumpsuit I had packed just in case, I left it neatly on the desk while I gladly shed the flabby skin. I swear that guy must’ve barely showered, he reeked of smoke and sweat. After changing and pulling on my heavy trench coat, I kicked my old skins, or at least what remained of them, under a fluffy white sheepskin rug and prepared to leave.
Pulling on my heels, I stepped out of the office and walked back to the elevator. After an uneventful trip up, I stepped into the tidy office and bid adieu to Penny, who was practically brimming with fake cheer. Ignoring her glowering stare and insult of “shady slut” that was muttered just loud enough for me to hear, I quickly got out of the Swanfeather Hotel and Casino and pulled out my phone, calling an Uber. Once I arrived at the pub a few minutes away from headquarters, I paid and started off. When I got back, I was chewed out, as expected. Full and sleepy, I tuned out Boss’s ranting and went to my room to sleep, my hunger satiated, for now.
Boss called me into his office today. They’re searching for Graham, and Boss wanted to know what happened that night. I lied, obviously, and told him I had gone to the casino until I was called back and told to leave. Apparently Penny has been blabbing about how I must’ve done something, how I had come up from his office hours later than I should have. I assured him that Graham taken me up to the casino from a different elevator, and had called me down when I needed to leave. Since the elevator leading to Penny’s office was right next to the entrance, I had left that way instead. Relieved and back to his gruff arrogant self, he dismissed me. I don’t have much to do now with the investigation going on, so I’m going to go out for a walk. Since it’s not that far, I’ll stop by the Swanfeather to see how Penny is. I hope she’s not against us grabbing a bite to eat.

Previous Thread
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Thursday, April 11th
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Guster | Madison Theater | 8pm | $30- $35
Chris Cubas | Go Bananas | 8pm | $8
Less Than Jake | Top Cats | 7pm | SOLD OUT
SOJA | Bogart's | 7pm | $25
Darris Sneed | 20th Century Theatre | 8:20pm | $13
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Friday, April 12th
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This Time Tomorrow: Performing Arts Festival | Contemporary Arts Center | 11am- 2am | $65
Craig Robinson | Liberty Funny Bone | 7:30pm and 10pm | $35 | Ages 21+
Wings vs. Cyclones (Playoff Round 1 Game 1) | U.S. Bank Arena | 7:30pm | $18- $30
Brit Floyd | Taft Theatre | 8pm | $38- $57
Queen City NCRS Corvette Judging Meet | Sharonville Convention Center | 9am- 5pm | $10
Chris Cubas | Go Bananas | 7:30pm and 10pm | $14
The Association | Ludlow Garage | 8:30pm | $50
Night at the Races | JACK Casino | 7pm- 10pm | SOLD OUT | Ages 21+
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Saturday, April 13th
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This Time Tomorrow: Performing Arts Festival | Contemporary Arts Center | 11am- 2am | $65
ArtsWave Days: Soul of the Arts | Multiple Venues | 4pm- 7:30pm | FREE
Hatebreed | Bogart's | 6:30pm | $25
Wings vs. Cyclones (Playoff Round 1 Game 2) | U.S. Bank Arena | 7:30pm | $18- $30
Branford Marsalis | Taft Theatre | 7:30pm | $30- $50
Chris Cubas | Go Bananas | 7:30pm and 10pm | $14
Craig Robinson | Liberty Funny Bone | 7pm and 10pm | $35 | Ages 21+
Jah9 | Ludlow Garage | 8:30pm | $15- $25
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Sunday, April 14th
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This Time Tomorrow: Performing Arts Festival | Contemporary Arts Center | 11am- 2am | $65
Cin City Reptile Show | Sharonville Convention Center | 10am- 4pm | $7
Chris Cubas | Go Bananas | 8pm | $8
Craig Robinson | Liberty Funny Bone | 7pm | $35 | Ages 21+
The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus | Riverfront Live | 8:30pm | $20- $25 | Ages 16+
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Please feel free to comment and add to the list!

I'm back from Vegas! I planned a special trip for my 40th and it was fun! I don't drink and I'm not a gambler BUT the food, shopping and sites were well worth it.
I don't do sky high heels, and I don't do skimpy body con dresses. So how did I dress as a 40 year old in Vegas? Low key vintage inspired separates with a little sparkle and separates with a little "twist"(like my sunglasses-print dress or my funky walking sneakers).
I planned and tweaked and thought about my wardrobe so much beforehand. And of course like every trip, I wound up changing it last minute and buying and wearing a few things there.
Here's a side by side of my planned wardrobe vs. what I actually brought and wore
As you can see, I switched out the pink sweater and blue dress, and went with a few more black separates. I'm really glad I did, it was cold there! I only brought one bathing suit and I only used it to hop in the hot tub and then scramble back to the hotel room; it was too cold and windy!!
I wound up purchasing a vintage beaded sweater to wear my last night there, since I was a little tired of my quilted silk jacket and my white blazer. I found one that exactly matched my sequin joggers.
I also wound up buying and wearing a pair of fun sneakers, the Steve Madden Cliff, which I actually had my eye on for months so it worked out well.
My outfits:
Plane ride both times my return trip was this outfit with my sneakers.
My first night there dinner at a swanky casino restaurant and then walking the strip.
Day 1, shopping, walking strip, seeing sites I wound up changing to sneakers about 2 hours in, as walking the strip is NO JOKE.
Day 1 evening dinner and a show
Day 2 Neon Museum and downtown
Day 2 night dinner, walking the strip and shopping
Overall Notes:
The dress there is very casual, unless you're a tourist from Asia, in which case it's recognizable designer labels head to toe! But everyone is in jeans, sneakers, leggings, sweats, etc. Even at night, it's still jeans and maybe booties and a nice sweater. People who were dressed up stood out in a good way, but they were still rare. I'm glad I dressed up, it made it feel festive and fun, but you don't have to!
I brought a mix and match wardrobe with several workhorses (my black tee, my black button front, and my black silk jacket).
I brought a little travel packet of laundry soap and washed out a few things in the sink while there--that was super helpful.
I did indeed shop! But I kept it reasonable and bought things that would remind me of the trip, that were special and that felt like I couldn't get it anywhere else.
What do I wish I had brought:
A pair of more sophisticated evening sandals. My GX Gwen Stefani sandals were fine and comfy. My Sam Edelman kitten heels were fine, but they were brand new and wearing them twice (even if they had matched the joggers, which they didn't) was a no-go for me. I did look high and low for a pair of strappy fun flats that made me feel Vegas-y but I couldn't find anything. This is the curse of my life. No matter what shoes I bring on a trip, they're never quite perfect.
A simple knit sweater in a solid color so I didn't have to wear my quilted jacket. The jacket was actually fine for day 2, but day 1, it felt a little hot but it was just a touch too cold without it with just a sleeveless cotton jumpsuit on!
More undies! I know this sounds silly, but after a full day of tourism, of course one showers and changes everything, and I wound up washing out some undies in the sink to wear again, which was fine but not ideal.
Anyone else visited Vegas as an over-35? What was your wardrobe like and what did you wish you had brought?

Just to let my readers know: you do not have to upvote the post, nor worry about my upvoting when it comes to sharing my story. I know some of you were concerned that this last post of mine did not get a lot of upvotes, and thought I would be discouraged to continue. I will continue, regardless. It feels wonderful to find a place where I can express my feelings about what happened to me, without the backlash of a flash mob coming to attack my family.
I also have been super busy, and super exhausted. When I wasn't exhausted, I was playing games. I Apologize.
long post today, as I wanna finish the time I was in this jail. This jail was easy comparatively.
Onto the Story!
The Next day, I got to see my wife on the webcam. Seeing her was awesome. Again, I teared up but kept my composure for the most part. I saw my daughter too, which, supposedly was not allowed to go in the video room. But they allowed it. She got all excited to see daddy. My Daughter was definitely a “Daddy’s Girl” in every aspect. When I finish this story, I will let you know how this has affected her in her growth, as she is only two when this all happened.
I continued to learn card games, and what not. I called My dad’s office, as that was what my wife told me to do. So I called. I found out about a few things: 1) my dad had a guard on the inside looking out for me. That relieved me. 2), we exchanged information about my court date and would get back to me on it, however, the defense attorney he talked to in Arizona is not surprised at what happened. 3) my old teacher, who was like a second father to everyone that attend his classes, ended up retiring and became a psychologist. He helps grieving families when their son father daughter or mother got killed in action. He also does Criminal Evaluations for the MP’s (Military Police). He will be interviewing me within the next month.
These next three months were pretty smooth sailing, so I will go into detailed events, rather than explain day by day what has happened. Event one: I get my Eval done. I pass with flying colors. At the time, I did not know there were two different levels of this eval. I also did not know that it wasn’t to prove that I was not a SO, but it was to prove my Liability and chances of committing an offense are low. So here I thought I was getting out of there, and I wasn't. That was a bit deflating, but I had grown accustomed to living in jail, so I just rolled with it.
The eval was pretty simple. Asked questions similar to Serial Killings(learned that later), just modified a bit. He also taught me how to survive in such bland settings. Look out the window often, focus on other colors, besides the beige concrete and orange jumpsuits. Exercise. Play Mind enhancing games, IE playing cards. All of this was good for my mental health. The second level of the test, which was not done, was to put monitors on my penis and heart and show me pictures/videos of kiddy porn. I don't find out about this till much later, but yeah, so glad we never did that.
After that, there were two huge card tournaments. One poker, One Spade. I enter both, I get to the last table on poker, but fall short of the pot. Spades, We lasted till the 3rd round. There were a chess Tournament and another poker one I did not enter, as my dad did not put commissary in yet. ‘ Commissary comes in, and I order the largest order conceivable. The plan was to have everything to bargain for, so I could get pretty much what I wanted. Tons of candy bars!!! Cookies were my favorite dessert, so my hope was to cash in on a bunch of cookies.
My roommate. Things were going … ok between me and him. Sometimes he was a dick, other times he would bend over backward for me. It was weird. However, he got into some bad trouble with the other Mexicans in the pod. Apparently, he owed them something like 100 items from the gambling and tournaments he did. Did I mention I have the words sucker on my forehead? Well I do. So I gave him the Items to pay back his debt. Two days later, he gets into a fight with one of the Mexicans, and they both go into the Hole. One of the Mexicans found out I was the one that gave him the Items. While he was not part of the “Cartel” That was there, he knew He did me dirty. I was going to be extracted soon, and this would make him essential get away with not paying me back. So he bought me my 100 items back. “I will deal with punto when he gets back.”
I guess i should explain the “Cartel”. They smuggled drugs back and forth from different pods. Most of the drugs are in powder form, but every once in a while, you had smokables. You got away with it, by flushing the toilet. The toilet was vacuumed sealed, so when you flushed, a huge air pressure going down was generated, thus, taking the smell and smoke with it. (this is also why you flushed the toilet as you took a shit in jail, because if you don't, the smell would be amplified by the stainless steel, and be god awful.) The Vacuum in the toilets is how they would move the drugs. See, all you had to do was empty the toilet water, and open the bottom valve. It was really hard at times, but with practise, they were able to open it, and send a string down the toilet. On the other floors, they would do the same, and collect the string. Rinse and repeat. These toilets were to never be used under any circumstance.
I had my second court appearance. So I been in about one month at this time. Just formalities. Nothing major.
Two straight dudes start to shower together. The need for release was apparently too much.
I had a friend(More like a colleague, as I tutored him in college.) end up in jail with me. Apparently, his GF was only 17, when he was 20. He thought she was 18 because that was what she told him. But it wasn't the sex he was getting hit with, it was child pornography. She sent him photos, and the parents found out. Because their daughter couldn’t do anything wrong, he forced her to send photos of herself. He was there, maybe two weeks, before he was set free “on his own reconnaissance.” Last I heard, he showed they the texts, and the charges were dropped, but he was still charged with Child Endangerment. The Girl even fought for him, against the parents, but the DA stated: “She has been brainwashed, and her testimony is not valid.” I have no idea what actually happened after that.
Got into a pushing match, that almost turned into a fight. My friends immediately separated me. The guy started to knock my family, and I just don’t stand for that. Hit me, kick me, tear me down, that is fine. Go after my wife and child? You are in for a world of hurt. But thankfully nothing happened. People were trying to reason with me, stating that if I got into a fight now, it does not matter if I was innocent with one charge, I would be found guilty of assault.
Within a few days, he started issues with me again. I did not retaliate this time. The friends I made surrounded me, and we walked into his room. We sat down and I talked to him like a civil human being. I later found out he had an issue with me because I was being falsely accused, and people actually believed me, while people never believed him. I told everyone to leave, I counseled him for a bit and heard his story. He had an uphill battle, as both parties involved were drunk, with no witnesses, and police reports showing high Alcohol content in their blood systems. The first time he met the girl was at the party they supposedly came from. I told him that I believed him, but he had to prove that he was innocent, by acting innocent, and not acting guilty.
I learned New York’s story shortly there after. In his Discovery, Police reports, witness reports, and tests all contradicted each other. Daughter said that New York had 20 beers. Than 40. Than 80. Blood Content showed 10, maybe. Mother’s story kept changing too, where “he never hit them” to “He abuses us all the time.” to “It was only verbal abuse” He was still charged guilty, and he was waiting for his sentencing trial. Made me sick to my stomach. That was when I learned, I could go away for this. And for a very long time. My wife looked it up. 10 to 20 years, with at least 85% time served before I could go on probation. I would have to register as a sex offender. From that point on, my father told me over the phone while he was at work, that Mary cried herself to sleep almost every night. My daughter hasn't had the slightest clue what was going on, even though I saw her once a week. I was glad she was only two when all of this happened. Now that she is seven, I never sat down with her and asked her if she remembers me being gone all the time. Mainly because she will guess what answer she wants me to hear, and just say it. But hopefully, she will never remember the time that daddy was gone.
I was pretty dark the next few days. Someone found out about my inner geek and was invited to play Dungeon and Dragons. Yup! You read that right. It was awesome. We did not have dice, however. So someone drew a dart board, and we made a spin system using a staple (Came off of someone’s court papers.) and a ripped up card. And we spun for d20, D12, D10 D6 and D4. it made me forget about everything. I had played Dungeon and Dragons beforehand, so I fell right into the story perfectly.
One day, we get raided. A raid is when they suspect something, and tear people’s rooms apart looking for contraband bad enough to indict someone. One of my friends came up to me and gave me his sharpened toothbrush. Horrified, I looked at him. “I can't take this. I will go to the hole.” “They trust you. Just hide it” Someone else also came to be with their stuff to hide. Fuck. I decided to hide the powder substance and cut open the bed, and shoved it in there. I then took toothpaste, and generously applied it on. I put the sheets on, and they came bursting through the door of the pod. With nowhere else to put it, i put the shank under my stomach fat, and went outside the door like we were instructed to do, and put my hands on the rails. They tore my room apart. But thankfully, they did not look at the toothpaste too closely. While when it did dry up and held together, it was still wet, and came apart slightly. My cards and papers were everywhere, bed completely unmade, the magazine I had was partially ripped, books were lying on the ground. They Never checked me though. They made the troublemakers strip search. Most of us got away without one though. Once that was done, we cleaned up the mess.
Now if you remember correctly, the chess pieces and board was Contraband. So that got thrown away. Other things got thrown away as well, like our DnD stuff. The Books and Maps were fine, just not our “Dice” and “Pieces” used. I returned everything I hid and told them to never do that again. My Mexican roommate came back, although was assigned to bunk with another dude. He was shocked when he saw me. Aww, bro, i can try to get you the 100 items back, but like, I have no commissary though. Haven't you left yet? I told him you tried to skip out on me for 100 Items. So Someone bought the debt. You deal with him now. He was PISSED. He wanted to beat the ever living shit out of me, but the Mexicans backed me up. Apparently, they don’t like it when someone tries to pull a fast one on someone else. It’s “Dishonorable” I remember hearing that word a lot during that conversation.
Second and final court date. If Jersey did not come get me by the end of the month they would let me go. Funny story about this was I started to get really relaxed around the guards. They were cool and openly conversed with us as if we were normal people on the street when they had the time. So when I went to go to court the second time, I followed him, and when you go into the elevator, you're supposed to put your hands on the bar and look at the wall. Instead, I kinda did a fonzy lean against the back wall, with my hands behind my back. I got yelled at. “Where do you think yours at? The Casinos? Turn around and get your hands on the bar before I cuff you.” Made me realize I was still in jail.
Because I may be getting out soon, My dad never filled my commissary. So the last two weeks there, I had no commissary. When I first went in, I didn’t drink coffee. After I got in, I started to drink it. So I was having Caffeine withdrawals. Not one to give up my food, I made a deal with two People. I would get someone’s honey buns, two of them, for a good amount of coffee. (Too much, but at the time I did not know that) But in order to get the Honey Buns, I had to do the truffle shuffle, in front of everyone, by the 1st-floor showers. Let's just say I went above and beyond. Took the shirt off, ran it between the legs, did Chris Farley’s dance, and everything. I had the whole pod cracking up laughing, even the guards came onto the speaker and said that was the funniest thing he has seen since working here 12 years ago. 10/10, no regrets, will hoe me out for food again.
I have seen two people leave since I came into the pod. Usually, the phones are off, visitors are no longer able to be seen, and the TV is turned off. I was playing DnD so I did not see anything of those things happen. I overheard someone curse at the tv. Roughly 5 mins later, “Last Name, Roll it up. Last Name, Roll it up.”
My heart stopped. I looked at everyone in the room, and they shrugged. “Guess you have to go man.” I started to swell up with tears. That means they were here for me, and that I would be leaving. I had a sense of dread and fear. People tried getting me to cheer up and do the truffle shuffle again. It did not work. It just made me want to not leave even more. I grew accustomed to being there. I liked it. If I had to serve my time there, I would have been happy. I now know why bums sometimes purposely get arrested around town here. If they go to the right pod, it was peaceful. My friends came to me and rehearsed the story with me over and over again. The door popped open, everyone backed off, and through the door, I went.

Oklahoma City's event list.

Ongoing

• Art Show at DNA Galleries (Plaza District - Oklahoma City) Thru Sun, Sep 8th Start Time: 6:00pm
• Driving Miss Daisy (Pollard Theatre - Guthrie) Thru Sat, Sep 7th Alfred Uhry's Pulitzer Prize-winning play "Driving Miss Daisy" kicks off Pollard Theatre's 33rd season.…
• Hicks and Booneshine (Noir Bistro & Bar - Oklahoma City) Thru Mon, Nov 25th Live talk show with Spencer Hicks and Kristy Boone.…

Wednesday, Aug 28th

• 🍴 Anthem Drown Night! (HiLo Club - Oklahoma City) Our local friends at Anthem Brewing Co. have some great beers! Every Wednesday night from 9pm to close enjoy $8 Drown Night! Their Power Pils will be flowing!
• Art Moves At Mary Eddy's: Rachel Lynch (21C Museum Hotel - Oklahoma City) Start Time: 12:00pm
• The Book of Will (Paseo - Oklahoma City) Thru Sat, Aug 31st Visit Oklahoma City's Paseo District as Shakespeare on the Paseo presents: The Book of Will. This play, which will…
• 🎓 Botanical Balance FREE Yoga (Myriad Botanical Gardens - Oklahoma City) Start Time: 5:45pm Botanical Balance FREE YOGA presented by Fowler Toyota, sponsored by Tinker Federal Credit Union and Stephenson Cancer Center Tuesdays, 5:45 pm and Saturdays, 8 am Check in at the Visitor Center and find out location which changes depending on the season Instructors provided by This Land Yoga Bring a mat, water, and an “open mind”…
• 😂 Dan Chopin (Loony Bin Comedy Club - Oklahoma City) Thru Sun, Sep 1st
• 🏆 Oklahoma City Dodgers vs. Iowa Cubs (Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark - Oklahoma City) 1 day left Start Time: 7:05pm
• 🍴 Dope Poetry Night (ICE Event Center - Oklahoma City) Start Time: 7:30pm Every Wednesday night at the Ice Event Center Sports Bar and Grill located at the heart of Oklahoma City! Sign ups begin at 7pm and show begins at 7:30pmish. Free Admission! Free vendor set up! Bar Restaurant
• 🎓 JobNewsUSA.com Oklahoma City Job Fair (Embassy Suites - Oklahoma City) Start Time: 10:00am ATTN: Job Seekers! Hundreds of Jobs are up for grabs at the Oklahoma City Job Fair on August 28th! This is your opportunity to meet one-on-one with recruiters and hiring managers from some of the area’s best businesses who are now hiring for immediate openings - Featuring high-paying jobs in the Energy & Transportation industries.
  Whether…
  
• 🎓 Paddlesports Retailer (Cox Convention Center - Oklahoma City) Day 1 of 2 Paddlesports Retailer is the only place where you can see a curated mix of brands that specifically serve paddlesports retailers. In 2018 more than 140 exhibitors brought over 250+ brands to the show, and the numbers expand each year as more relevant products are introduced and incorporated. New for 2019: more brands representing fishing…
  
• SINGO Wednesdays (Lower Bricktown - Oklahoma City) Start Time: 6:30pm Beat the midweek hump with the new bar game that everyone is talking about! SINGO is a new and exciting musical spin on the traditional game of Bingo. Instead of listening for a number, players are listening to their favorite music. Enjoy 1/2 price domestic drafts & discounted appetizers! Plus we will be giving prizes each night to the winners.…
  
• 🎨 Summer Signature Tour (Western Heritage Museum - Oklahoma City) Thru Fri, Aug 30th Start Time: 1:00pm
  
• 🏃 Tai Chi and SAIL Classes Stay Active & Independent for Life: Wednesdays and Fridays (Edmond Senior Center - Edmond) Start Time: 1:30pm Come join us for these free exercise programs. Tai Chi class is one of the most effective exercises for the health of mind and body. SAIL (STAYING ACTIVE AND INDEPENDENT FOR LIFE) Sail is a fitness program for older adults, which can be done sitting or standing. Performing exercise that improves strength, balance and fitness is critical for…
  
• Western Movie Matinees (Western Heritage Museum - Oklahoma City) Start Time: 1:00pm Western Movie Matinee Dub & Mozelle Richardson Theater 1:00 p.m. Join us for these curated selections made possible with support from anonymous film fans. Popcorn provided. Free admission on Wide Open Wednesdays courtesy of the Oklahoma Ford Dealers.
  ¡Paseo! (Ride!): Caballeros, Vaqueros and Gauchos in American Films In an effort to explore…
  
• Zumbini (Guthrie Library - Guthrie) Start Time: 10:30am
  

Thursday, Aug 29th

• 40 Minutes or Less: Local Female Filmmakers (Artspace At Untitled - Oklahoma City) 40 Minutes or Less presents independent, arthouse and avant-garde short films. This program at ARTSPACE at Untitled…
• 🎓 Audition Workshop-Xanadu Jr (Edmond Fine Arts - Edmond) Start Time: 5:00pm
• The Big News/Brujo/Schat and The Skeleton Trees (The Deli - Norman) Start Time: 10:00pm @[794948847233674:274:The Big News], @[356601404795351:274:Brujo], and @[1083827991766271:274:Schat and The Skeleton Trees] play The Deli! Show at 10pm, 21+, More info TBA
• The Book of Will (Paseo - Oklahoma City) Thru Sat, Aug 31st Visit Oklahoma City's Paseo District as Shakespeare on the Paseo presents: The Book of Will. This play, which will…
• 😂 Dan Chopin (Loony Bin Comedy Club - Oklahoma City) Thru Sun, Sep 1st
• 🏆 Oklahoma City Dodgers vs. Iowa Cubs (Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark - Oklahoma City) Last Day Start Time: 7:05pm
• 🎓 Paddlesports Retailer (Cox Convention Center - Oklahoma City) Day 2 of 2 Paddlesports Retailer is the only place where you can see a curated mix of brands that specifically serve paddlesports retailers. In 2018 more than 140 exhibitors brought over 250+ brands to the show, and the numbers expand each year as more relevant products are introduced and incorporated. New for 2019: more brands representing fishing…
• 🎨 Summer Signature Tour (Western Heritage Museum - Oklahoma City) 1 day left Start Time: 1:00pm
• ♪ The Wise Guys (University of Central Oklahoma - Edmond) Start Time: 8:00pm

Friday, Aug 30th

• Bariatric Surgery (Mabel C. Fry Public Library - Yukon) Start Time: 10:00pm Bariatric surgery is becoming a popular alternative for those who are struggling with health issues. Join us to learn more about the risks and benefits of the bariatric procedure. You will learn about insurance options, recovery time, expectations and what bariatric vitamins are required after the procedure. Free to attend for both patients…
• The Book of Will (Paseo - Oklahoma City) 1 day left Visit Oklahoma City's Paseo District as Shakespeare on the Paseo presents: The Book of Will. This play, which will…
• 🎓 Brian Gorrell & Jazz Company (University of Central Oklahoma - Edmond) Start Time: 8:00pm
• 😂 Dan Chopin (Loony Bin Comedy Club - Oklahoma City) Thru Sun, Sep 1st
• 🏆 Oklahoma City Dodgers vs. New Orleans Baby Cakes (Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark - Oklahoma City) Thru Mon, Sep 2nd Start Time: 7:05pm Come experience America's favorite pastime in downtown Oklahoma City as the Oklahoma City Dodgers take on the New…
• 🎓 Getting Started in Windows 10 (Guthrie Library - Guthrie) Start Time: 9:30am In this 2-hour session, you will discover how to Log in, navigate the Windows 10 interface, find existing Apps, and your first App. Then you will explore the Solitaire, Weather and Calendar Apps on your Windows 10 device.To attend, contact Meridian Tech at 405-377-3333, there is a $15 fee for attending this session. @[139181842792560:274:The…
• ♪ Greg Jacobs (The Blue Door - Oklahoma City) Start Time: 8:00pm
• 🎡 Groovement w/ Rousey (The Deli - Norman) Start Time: 10:00pm @[570217156407767:274:Tikkun Olam Productions] presents: @[99588770974:274:Groovement] returns to @[112865642083516:274:The Deli], Norman OK Friday, August 30 Local support from Rousey $10 adv/ $12 DOS Pre-sale tickets available at: https://www.ticketstorm.com/event/groovement/thedeli/norman/23104/ Groovement, a lively, six man funk-rock group…
• Jared Lesh Truck and Trailer Sorting (Lazy E Arena - Guthrie) Three trucks, two trailers, two saddles, and a golf cart! All in ONE weekend JL Truck & Trailer series finals!
• Kansas in Concert (Riverwind Casino - Norman) Start Time: 8:00pm Grab your friends and head to Riverwind Casino in Norman for a night with legendary rock band Kansas. For over four decades,…
• 🍴 Kyle Reid & Johnny Carlton : Friday Happy Hour (The Deli - Norman) Start Time: 7:00pm Another fantastic Friday Happy Hour show at The Deli! Join us for the low swingin' jazz and big band sounds of Kyle Reid and Johnny Carlton. No Cover and non-smoking. 7-9pm. 21+
• 🎨 Mike Wallace Is Here (Oklahoma City Museum of Art - Oklahoma City) Day 1 of 2 Start Time: 5:30pm “As riveting as it is topical, 'Mike Wallace Is Here' offers an unflinching look at the legendary reporter, who interrogated the 20th century’s most formidable figures. During his 50 years on the air, Wallace’s aggressive reporting style and showmanship has redefined what America has come to expect from broadcasters. Unearthing decades of…
• ♪ Quinton Castleberry (Red Brick Bar - Norman) Start Time: 7:30pm NO COVER!! Quinton Castleberry , Norman OK SingeSongwriter 21 To Enter, ID Required
• Red Jumpsuit Apparatus in Concert (89th Street Collective - Oklahoma City) Start Time: 6:00pm Relive classic emo, alt-rock tunes like "Face Down" and "Your Guardian Angel" as the Red Jumpsuit…
• 🎓 Summer Daze 2.0 Back to School Party (Opolis Prod - Norman) Start Time: 6:00pm
• 🎨 Summer Signature Tour (Western Heritage Museum - Oklahoma City) Last Day Start Time: 1:00pm
• Sundowners Support Group (Oklahoma City) Start Time: 10:00pm Sundowners Support Group offers support for those that are caring for someone in their life who is experience Sundowners Syndrome, dementia, Alzheimer's or other age related cognitive issues.
• 🏃 Tai Chi and SAIL Classes Stay Active & Independent for Life: Wednesdays and Fridays (Edmond Senior Center - Edmond) Start Time: 1:30pm Come join us for these free exercise programs. Tai Chi class is one of the most effective exercises for the health of mind and body. SAIL (STAYING ACTIVE AND INDEPENDENT FOR LIFE) Sail is a fitness program for older adults, which can be done sitting or standing. Performing exercise that improves strength, balance and fitness is critical for…
• ♪ Travis Linville (The Blue Door - Oklahoma City) Start Time: 8:00pm
• ♪ Wild Heart (Arcadia Round Barn - Arcadia) Start Time: 1:00pm Join us for an afternoon of live music and fun!

Saturday, Aug 31st

• 10 Year Anniversary Show (The Blue Door - Oklahoma City) Start Time: 8:00pm
• The Book of Will (Paseo - Oklahoma City) Last Day Visit Oklahoma City's Paseo District as Shakespeare on the Paseo presents: The Book of Will. This play, which will…
• 🎓 Botanical Balance FREE Yoga (Myriad Botanical Gardens - Oklahoma City) Start Time: 8:00am Botanical Balance FREE YOGA presented by Fowler Toyota, sponsored by Tinker Federal Credit Union and Stephenson Cancer Center Tuesdays, 5:45 pm and Saturdays, 8 am Check in at the Visitor Center and find out location which changes depending on the season Instructors provided by This Land Yoga Bring a mat, water, and an “open mind”…
• 😂 Dan Chopin (Loony Bin Comedy Club - Oklahoma City) 1 day left
• 🏆 Oklahoma City Dodgers vs. New Orleans Baby Cakes (Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark - Oklahoma City) Thru Mon, Sep 2nd Start Time: 7:05pm Come experience America's favorite pastime in downtown Oklahoma City as the Oklahoma City Dodgers take on the New…
• Fall Gardening (Myriad Botanical Gardens - Oklahoma City) Start Time: 10:00am Saturday, August 31, 10am The Garden Classroom Member $9; Nonmember $14 Larry Hocking, Berry Creek Farms Register by Thursday, August 29 REGISTER HERE Learn how to grow cool-season vegetables in your own backyard. This class will emphasize design and preparation, planting and maintenance strategies, as well as harvesting. Tickets:…
• Edmond Farmer's Market (Festival Marketplace - Edmond) Start Time: 8:00am
• Gardens Monthly Walking Tour (Myriad Botanical Gardens - Oklahoma City) Start Time: 10:00am Guided Walking Tour Last Saturday of Every Month, 10-11am Garden Grounds FREE Expand your knowledge of Oklahoma plants and find inspiration for your own garden with our educational walking tours. Each month will feature different plants from our outdoor collection that make great choices for our region – from year-round color to…
• Labor Day Weekend (Andy Alligator's Fun Park & Water Park - Norman) Start Time: 11:00am Spend your holiday weekend at Andy Alligator’s! From Saturday, August 31st through Monday, September 2nd save $5 on a Dual Park Pass! This includes all day access to both the Water Park and Fun Park for just $31.95 (regular price $36.95).
• 🎡 Learn to Curl with the Oklahoma Curling Club (Arctic Edge Ice Arena - Edmond) Start Time: 5:00pm Our LTC's are a 2 hour class where we teach you how to deliver the stone, sweep, score and then play 1-2 full ends so you can see what it's like to play an actual game. Reserve your place today! Just click the square link, choose your preferred date and pay the $25 fee per person. Space is limited. You are only guaranteed your place with…
• Let's Kick This Off! (Othello's of Norman - Norman) Start Time: 9:00pm
• Mary Ann (The Patriarch Craft Beer House & Lawn - Edmond) Start Time: 7:30pm
• 🎨 Mike Wallace Is Here (Oklahoma City Museum of Art - Oklahoma City) Day 2 of 2 Start Time: 5:30pm “As riveting as it is topical, 'Mike Wallace Is Here' offers an unflinching look at the legendary reporter, who interrogated the 20th century’s most formidable figures. During his 50 years on the air, Wallace’s aggressive reporting style and showmanship has redefined what America has come to expect from broadcasters. Unearthing decades of…
• ♪ Miss Brown To You (Oklahoma City University - Oklahoma City) Start Time: 8:00pm
• ♪ Miss Brown To You: Mary Reynolds & Louise Goldberg (University of Central Oklahoma - Edmond) Start Time: 8:00pm A folk ballad from the misty hills of Kentucky. A sophisticated jazz standard, heard through a New York doorway. Steamy blues from New Orleans, circa 1920. A swinging two step at the dance hall, where Bob Wills is on the stand. A samba igniting the hills of Rio de Janeiro. Colorful original songs. These musicians perform with passion and…
• OU Sooners vs Houston Cougars (Gaylord Family Oklahoma Memorial Stadium - Norman) Get ready for some edge-of-your-seat action as the Oklahoma Sooners take on the Houston Cougars at Norman's Gaylord…
• ♪ Peace and Love Tour (Rose State College Hudiburg Chevrolet Center - Midwest City) Start Time: 7:00pm Return to Woodstock with 2 hours of peace and music. Celebrate the 50th anniversary of a rock and roll moment that changed history. Relive the music of Creedence Clearwater Revival, the Grateful Dead, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Crosby, Stills, and Nash, The Who and more from the Woodstock era as performed live by the national touring Paisley…
• 🏃 OK Runner Brookhaven Run *2019 Oklahoma Road 5K State Championship (Brookhaven Village - Norman) The 2019 Oklahoma Road 5K State Championship! Oklahoma's #1 5K and one of the state's oldest running events! Run with the most elite field of professional runners in the state.
• 😂 STAND-UP COMEDY NIGHT Featuring D'LAI (The Paramount OKC - Oklahoma City) Start Time: 8:30pm
• ♪ Steelwind (The Blue Door - Oklahoma City) Start Time: 8:00pm
• 🍴 That's So Foxxi Benefit Show (The Boom - Oklahoma City) Start Time: 8:00pm Join us on Saturday, August 31st starting at 8pm for a fantastic benefit show for our very own Miss Gay Oklahoma USofA At Large Foxxi Chanell Paige! Featuring great entertainment by some of your favorite performers, you don't want to miss this show! Doors open at 6:30pm so be sure to arrive early and enjoy dinner, too! \u200b
• 🏃 Tunnel to Towers 5K Run & Walk (Mitch Park - Edmond) Start Time: 8:00am The Tunnel to Towers 5K Run & Walk Series was created to honor the heroic life and death of Stephen Siller, a New York City firefighter (FDNY) who lost his life on September 11, 2001 after strapping on his gear and running through the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel to the Twin Towers.
• 🎓 U.S. Cellular Workshops: Back to School and a Student’s First Cellphone (U.S. Cellular - Norman) Start Time: 10:00am It’s that time of the year where kids are heading back to school. It’s also a time where many of these students begin to be given more responsibility. One responsibility that students may face is getting their first cellphone, a subject that many parents are anxious to tackle. The most appropriate age that a child should be given a…
• 🎓 U.S. Cellular Workshops: Back to School and a Student’s First Cellphone (US Cellular - Midwest City) Start Time: 9:00am It’s that time of the year where kids are heading back to school. It’s also a time where many of these students begin to be given more responsibility. One responsibility that students may face is getting their first cellphone, a subject that many parents are anxious to tackle. The most appropriate age that a child should be given a…
• 🎓 U.S. Cellular Workshops: Back to School and a Student’s First Cellphone (U.S. Cellular on Rockwell - Oklahoma City) Start Time: 10:00am It’s that time of the year where kids are heading back to school. It’s also a time where many of these students begin to be given more responsibility. One responsibility that students may face is getting their first cellphone, a subject that many parents are anxious to tackle. The most appropriate age that a child should be given a…
• 🎭 Xanadu Jr Auditions - Junior Theatre Production (Edmond Fine Arts - Edmond) Start Time: 9:00am

Sunday, Sep 1st

• 😂 Dan Chopin (Loony Bin Comedy Club - Oklahoma City) Last Day
• 🏆 Oklahoma City Dodgers vs. New Orleans Baby Cakes (Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark - Oklahoma City) 1 day left Start Time: 7:05pm Come experience America's favorite pastime in downtown Oklahoma City as the Oklahoma City Dodgers take on the New…
• Robert Cray in Concert (Tower Theatre Studio - Oklahoma City) Robert Cray has been bridging the lines between blues, soul and R&B for the past four decades, with five Grammy wins and…

Monday, Sep 2nd

• 🏆 Oklahoma City Dodgers vs. New Orleans Baby Cakes (Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark - Oklahoma City) Last Day Start Time: 7:05pm Come experience America's favorite pastime in downtown Oklahoma City as the Oklahoma City Dodgers take on the New…

Tuesday, Sep 3rd

• McClain County Free Fair (Purcell Expo Center - Purcell) Thru Sat, Sep 7th The annual McClain County Free Fair in Purcell includes 4-H, FFA, HCE and open class competition events, an antique tractor…
• Shinyribs in Concert (Tower Theatre Studio - Oklahoma City) Don't miss an outrageously good time as Austin royalty Shinyribs (Kevin Russell) takes over the historic Tower…

See Also

• OK Gamers
• Techlahoma

Just to let my readers know: you do not have to upvote the post, nor worry about my upvoting when it comes to sharing my story. I know some of you were concerned that this last post of mine did not get a lot of upvotes, and thought I would be discouraged to continue. I will continue, regardless. It feels wonderful to find a place where I can express my feelings about what happened to me, without the backlash of a flash mob coming to attack my family.
I also have been super busy, and super exhausted. When I wasn't exhausted, I was playing games. I Apologize.
long post today, as I wanna finish the time I was in this jail. This jail was easy comparatively.
Onto the Story!
The Next day, I got to see my wife on the webcam. Seeing her was awesome. Again, I teared up but kept my composure for the most part. I saw my daughter too, which, supposedly was not allowed to go in the video room. But they allowed it. She got all excited to see daddy. My Daughter was definitely a “Daddy’s Girl” in every aspect. When I finish this story, I will let you know how this has affected her in her growth, as she is only two when this all happened.
I continued to learn card games, and what not. I called My dad’s office, as that was what my wife told me to do. So I called. I found out about a few things: 1) my dad had a guard on the inside looking out for me. That relieved me. 2), we exchanged information about my court date and would get back to me on it, however, the defense attorney he talked to in Arizona is not surprised at what happened. 3) my old teacher, who was like a second father to everyone that attend his classes, ended up retiring and became a psychologist. He helps grieving families when their son father daughter or mother got killed in action. He also does Criminal Evaluations for the MP’s (Military Police). He will be interviewing me within the next month.
These next three months were pretty smooth sailing, so I will go into detailed events, rather than explain day by day what has happened. Event one: I get my Eval done. I pass with flying colors. At the time, I did not know there were two different levels of this eval. I also did not know that it wasn’t to prove that I was not a SO, but it was to prove my Liability and chances of committing an offense are low. So here I thought I was getting out of there, and I wasn't. That was a bit deflating, but I had grown accustomed to living in jail, so I just rolled with it.
The eval was pretty simple. Asked questions similar to Serial Killings(learned that later), just modified a bit. He also taught me how to survive in such bland settings. Look out the window often, focus on other colors, besides the beige concrete and orange jumpsuits. Exercise. Play Mind enhancing games, IE playing cards. All of this was good for my mental health. The second level of the test, which was not done, was to put monitors on my penis and heart and show me pictures/videos of kiddy porn. I don't find out about this till much later, but yeah, so glad we never did that.
After that, there were two huge card tournaments. One poker, One Spade. I enter both, I get to the last table on poker, but fall short of the pot. Spades, We lasted till the 3rd round. There were a chess Tournament and another poker one I did not enter, as my dad did not put commissary in yet. ‘ Commissary comes in, and I order the largest order conceivable. The plan was to have everything to bargain for, so I could get pretty much what I wanted. Tons of candy bars!!! Cookies were my favorite dessert, so my hope was to cash in on a bunch of cookies.
My roommate. Things were going … ok between me and him. Sometimes he was a dick, other times he would bend over backward for me. It was weird. However, he got into some bad trouble with the other Mexicans in the pod. Apparently, he owed them something like 100 items from the gambling and tournaments he did. Did I mention I have the words sucker on my forehead? Well I do. So I gave him the Items to pay back his debt. Two days later, he gets into a fight with one of the Mexicans, and they both go into the Hole. One of the Mexicans found out I was the one that gave him the Items. While he was not part of the “Cartel” That was there, he knew He did me dirty. I was going to be extracted soon, and this would make him essential get away with not paying me back. So he bought me my 100 items back. “I will deal with punto when he gets back.”
I guess i should explain the “Cartel”. They smuggled drugs back and forth from different pods. Most of the drugs are in powder form, but every once in a while, you had smokables. You got away with it, by flushing the toilet. The toilet was vacuumed sealed, so when you flushed, a huge air pressure going down was generated, thus, taking the smell and smoke with it. (this is also why you flushed the toilet as you took a shit in jail, because if you don't, the smell would be amplified by the stainless steel, and be god awful.) The Vacuum in the toilets is how they would move the drugs. See, all you had to do was empty the toilet water, and open the bottom valve. It was really hard at times, but with practise, they were able to open it, and send a string down the toilet. On the other floors, they would do the same, and collect the string. Rinse and repeat. These toilets were to never be used under any circumstance.
I had my second court appearance. So I been in about one month at this time. Just formalities. Nothing major.
Two straight dudes start to shower together. The need for release was apparently too much.
I had a friend(More like a colleague, as I tutored him in college.) end up in jail with me. Apparently, his GF was only 17, when he was 20. He thought she was 18 because that was what she told him. But it wasn't the sex he was getting hit with, it was child pornography. She sent him photos, and the parents found out. Because their daughter couldn’t do anything wrong, he forced her to send photos of herself. He was there, maybe two weeks, before he was set free “on his own reconnaissance.” Last I heard, he showed they the texts, and the charges were dropped, but he was still charged with Child Endangerment. The Girl even fought for him, against the parents, but the DA stated: “She has been brainwashed, and her testimony is not valid.” I have no idea what actually happened after that.
Got into a pushing match, that almost turned into a fight. My friends immediately separated me. The guy started to knock my family, and I just don’t stand for that. Hit me, kick me, tear me down, that is fine. Go after my wife and child? You are in for a world of hurt. But thankfully nothing happened. People were trying to reason with me, stating that if I got into a fight now, it does not matter if I was innocent with one charge, I would be found guilty of assault.
Within a few days, he started issues with me again. I did not retaliate this time. The friends I made surrounded me, and we walked into his room. We sat down and I talked to him like a civil human being. I later found out he had an issue with me because I was being falsely accused, and people actually believed me, while people never believed him. I told everyone to leave, I counseled him for a bit and heard his story. He had an uphill battle, as both parties involved were drunk, with no witnesses, and police reports showing high Alcohol content in their blood systems. The first time he met the girl was at the party they supposedly came from. I told him that I believed him, but he had to prove that he was innocent, by acting innocent, and not acting guilty.
I learned New York’s story shortly there after. In his Discovery, Police reports, witness reports, and tests all contradicted each other. Daughter said that New York had 20 beers. Than 40. Than 80. Blood Content showed 10, maybe. Mother’s story kept changing too, where “he never hit them” to “He abuses us all the time.” to “It was only verbal abuse” He was still charged guilty, and he was waiting for his sentencing trial. Made me sick to my stomach. That was when I learned, I could go away for this. And for a very long time. My wife looked it up. 10 to 20 years, with at least 85% time served before I could go on probation. I would have to register as a sex offender. From that point on, my father told me over the phone while he was at work, that Mary cried herself to sleep almost every night. My daughter hasn't had the slightest clue what was going on, even though I saw her once a week. I was glad she was only two when all of this happened. Now that she is seven, I never sat down with her and asked her if she remembers me being gone all the time. Mainly because she will guess what answer she wants me to hear, and just say it. But hopefully, she will never remember the time that daddy was gone.
I was pretty dark the next few days. Someone found out about my inner geek and was invited to play Dungeon and Dragons. Yup! You read that right. It was awesome. We did not have dice, however. So someone drew a dart board, and we made a spin system using a staple (Came off of someone’s court papers.) and a ripped up card. And we spun for d20, D12, D10 D6 and D4. it made me forget about everything. I had played Dungeon and Dragons beforehand, so I fell right into the story perfectly.
One day, we get raided. A raid is when they suspect something, and tear people’s rooms apart looking for contraband bad enough to indict someone. One of my friends came up to me and gave me his sharpened toothbrush. Horrified, I looked at him. “I can't take this. I will go to the hole.” “They trust you. Just hide it” Someone else also came to be with their stuff to hide. Fuck. I decided to hide the powder substance and cut open the bed, and shoved it in there. I then took toothpaste, and generously applied it on. I put the sheets on, and they came bursting through the door of the pod. With nowhere else to put it, i put the shank under my stomach fat, and went outside the door like we were instructed to do, and put my hands on the rails. They tore my room apart. But thankfully, they did not look at the toothpaste too closely. While when it did dry up and held together, it was still wet, and came apart slightly. My cards and papers were everywhere, bed completely unmade, the magazine I had was partially ripped, books were lying on the ground. They Never checked me though. They made the troublemakers strip search. Most of us got away without one though. Once that was done, we cleaned up the mess.
Now if you remember correctly, the chess pieces and board was Contraband. So that got thrown away. Other things got thrown away as well, like our DnD stuff. The Books and Maps were fine, just not our “Dice” and “Pieces” used. I returned everything I hid and told them to never do that again. My Mexican roommate came back, although was assigned to bunk with another dude. He was shocked when he saw me. Aww, bro, i can try to get you the 100 items back, but like, I have no commissary though. Haven't you left yet? I told him you tried to skip out on me for 100 Items. So Someone bought the debt. You deal with him now. He was PISSED. He wanted to beat the ever living shit out of me, but the Mexicans backed me up. Apparently, they don’t like it when someone tries to pull a fast one on someone else. It’s “Dishonorable” I remember hearing that word a lot during that conversation.
Second and final court date. If Jersey did not come get me by the end of the month they would let me go. Funny story about this was I started to get really relaxed around the guards. They were cool and openly conversed with us as if we were normal people on the street when they had the time. So when I went to go to court the second time, I followed him, and when you go into the elevator, you're supposed to put your hands on the bar and look at the wall. Instead, I kinda did a fonzy lean against the back wall, with my hands behind my back. I got yelled at. “Where do you think yours at? The Casinos? Turn around and get your hands on the bar before I cuff you.” Made me realize I was still in jail.
Because I may be getting out soon, My dad never filled my commissary. So the last two weeks there, I had no commissary. When I first went in, I didn’t drink coffee. After I got in, I started to drink it. So I was having Caffeine withdrawals. Not one to give up my food, I made a deal with two People. I would get someone’s honey buns, two of them, for a good amount of coffee. (Too much, but at the time I did not know that) But in order to get the Honey Buns, I had to do the truffle shuffle, in front of everyone, by the 1st-floor showers. Let's just say I went above and beyond. Took the shirt off, ran it between the legs, did Chris Farley’s dance, and everything. I had the whole pod cracking up laughing, even the guards came onto the speaker and said that was the funniest thing he has seen since working here 12 years ago. 10/10, no regrets, will hoe me out for food again.
I have seen two people leave since I came into the pod. Usually, the phones are off, visitors are no longer able to be seen, and the TV is turned off. I was playing DnD so I did not see anything of those things happen. I overheard someone curse at the tv. Roughly 5 mins later, “Last Name, Roll it up. Last Name, Roll it up.”
My heart stopped. I looked at everyone in the room, and they shrugged. “Guess you have to go man.” I started to swell up with tears. That means they were here for me, and that I would be leaving. I had a sense of dread and fear. People tried getting me to cheer up and do the truffle shuffle again. It did not work. It just made me want to not leave even more. I grew accustomed to being there. I liked it. If I had to serve my time there, I would have been happy. I now know why bums sometimes purposely get arrested around town here. If they go to the right pod, it was peaceful. My friends came to me and rehearsed the story with me over and over again. The door popped open, everyone backed off, and through the door, I went.

Teen Titans #8 - Who is Cassie Sandsmark?

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Author: AdamantAce
Book: Teen Titans
Arc: Illumination
Event: Who is Donna Troy?
Set: 20
 
 
Blüdhaven wasn’t good for much. An old whaling town, the dirty, industrial cityscape was later transformed by wealthy, criminal investors, building its industrial district into a neon paradise, a city-sized casino idyllic as long as you never looked beneath the surface.
And though the Teen Titans were almost always preoccupied with minimising the rampaging of emerging metahumans, they would often strive to tackle the crime that lurked in the shadows cast by the neon lights. One such criminal was André LeBlanc.
See, the smarmy and greasy Angel Marin, one of the ‘philanthropists’ so cherished in Blüdhaven had held an exhibition to show off the depths of his riches, including his star piece: the Night Diamond, a priceless gemstone. This naturally presented a challenge for the self-styled ‘world's greatest jewel thief’ LeBlanc.
He was a wanted man internationally due to his masterful skills and cutting edge tactics, but targeting the home of such a dangerous man as Angel Marin, LeBlanc was - even to his own admission - pushing his luck.
The thief darted silently down the crime lord’s corridor, his footfalls suppressed by his rebalancing boots and his hi-tech jumpsuit hiding him from thermal sensors despite its garish white colour. On his cracked face sat a green monocle, which LeBlanc used to scan for traps in real time. As he ran, LeBlanc gripped the azure jewel tightly, the diamond no bigger than a golf ball despite its exorbitant worth. The man’s agility and resolve was unmatched for someone of his age, but unfortunately his resistance came in the form of three meddlesome teenagers.
Angel Marin slept soundly in his bed, LeBlanc having eluded all of his security, but the Teen Titans had already seen the thief’s approach. Thanks to a recent upgrade to Cyborg’s tech, the teen was able to piece together a wealth of technological information sources to track LeBlanc all the way from his previous heist, and now they were moments from thwarting him.
LeBlanc pushed into the drawing room, the window he had entered through still cracked open. But as the man emerged through the open doorway, the oak door immediately pushed shut. The thief turned back towards the door, drawing a glowing, white knife to slash out at whoever had pushed the door to, only to find an empty place. Furiously, he pivoted back toward the window, now to find the shadowy figure of the blue-clad vigilante blocking his path. Nightwing. LeBlanc threw his arm out, slashing at the slender assailant, only for Nightwing to strafe aside with a boastful cartwheel. “No thanks!” Nightwing spat, springing off of the ground and throwing himself at the thief. Quickly, he struck with his twin sticks, aiming to disarm the thief as well as snatch the stone from him in one fell swoop, but André wouldn’t unhand his prize so easily.
The thief swung out once more, with Nightwing this time much closer. Before the vigilante could bounce back, he cried as the searing hot blade streaked across his chest, cutting through his black-and-blue armour as if it were butter, exposing his pale and bleeding flesh.
“Heh.”
Recoiling, the vigilante brought his hand across his chest, wiping the blood aside before clutching at his sticks once again. Nightwing leapt vertically and hooked his sticks around the industrial-looking chandelier above, using it to fling himself across the room to intercept the white-clad thief who continued his way to the open window. He landed and - stick still in hand - threw a fist out, striking LeBlanc cleanly in the nose.
The thief staggered, dazed. He would have just shot the kid if he had even brought a gun, though in his line of work a firearm was such a clumsy weapon. Narrowing his gaze on the dark figure he faced, LeBlanc focused himself. How strong could one kid be? Arrogant as ever, he then threw his knife aside and slipped the Night Diamond into his white satchel. He brought up his fists, ready to exchange blows.
The two men clashed, and quickly LeBlanc began to impress Nightwing as he dealt fast and powerful strikes. As they traded attacks, blocking and leaping up and down, they almost seemed to dance with each other, with LeBlanc using his streamlined gauntlets to deflect strikes from Nightwing’s escrima sticks. But LeBlanc caught Nightwing off-guard when he delivered a spinning kick to the vigilante’s head, flooring him with a manoeuvre Nightwing never would have expected from a man approaching forty. Though as LeBlanc turned away with a sneer, seemingly having bested the Gotham crimefighter, he turned to find himself face-to-face with none other than a towering, green gorilla. With a single punch, he was out.
“You know, I don’t know why you didn’t just let me just punch him sooner,” Gar grinned, morphing back to human form. As he rose from the ground, Dick produced a pair of black boxer shorts from his belt compartment, unfurling them and throwing them the way of the nude, green child as if it were a regular occurrence (which, by this point, it was).
“That’ll be because we’re sitting in the house of a dangerous gangster,” Dick smiled coolly, his hand pouring over his throbbing head, “Ever heard of ‘lowkey’?”
“Ah, you got me there!” Gar exclaimed, slightly quieter this time, “I’m many things but lowkey isn’t one of them.”
“Nice work though,” Dick replied, before activating his communicator, “Cyborg: you still on overwatch?”
Beat.
“Cyborg?”
Vic spluttered, suddenly bursting in over comms, “Yeah. Of course, sorry just got distracted by… things...”
“Finlay,” Dick continued, “Of course. I’m sorry. Look, head back to the roof of Iris Cove Casino, and we’ll regroup with you there.”
“Got it.”
Since Dick had discovered that it was an associate of Vic’s father, Jacob Finlay, who was responsible for stealing the Cyborg blueprints, as well as springing the metahumans that almost killed Vic, he had wanted nothing less than see the crooked physicist see what was coming to him. But what he couldn’t have expected was for the doctor to turn up dead - his neck wrenched - in Gotham River. It was a tragedy, and not at all what the man deserved.
The Teen Titans had attempted to follow up on the death, but had found nothing. That was until Dick received a clandestine call from Silas Stone.
 
♦ ♦ T ♦ ♦
 
The fifteen-year-old Cassandra Sandsmark emerged from the Music Box Theatre wide-eyed, her mind blown. Growing up in Buckinghamshire, England, Cassie had always dreamed of seeing a Broadway show, and it was every bit as amazing as she had expected it to be.
Her mother was an archaeologist, and therefore was often away for long periods of time, and when Cassie wasn’t couped up at her boarding school, her grandparents were too old and untrusting - despite their riches - to fly her out to New York. And though Cassie had finally gotten her wish, it was through the most distressing of circumstances. Now, though Cassie was raised by a strictly Christian family, she always found difficulty in believing in a God for one reason or another, so imagine her surprise when she was visited by the image of what appeared to be an angel, imploring her to flee to New York City, of all places, that she was being hunted and would only be safe within the bounds of that city so far across the pond. No answers, only urgency.
And so, the Fear of God firmly instilled in her, the fifteen-year-old stole as much money as she could from her grandfather’s bank account and grabbed the first plane ticket to the United States.
Though Cassie honestly didn't know what to expect. Upon arriving in the ‘greatest city in the world’ she had heard nothing from the otherworldly figure that had addressed her before, and she quickly began to realise that she couldn't occupy herself in her hotel room for very long. And hence, she decided to indulge herself in an overpriced visit to Broadway, and it was worth every penny to the young girl.
But now Cassie was lost once again. Cars hurtled past her along the wide road, as monolithic buildings stretched high into the jet black sky. There wasn't a moment of silence, the city filled with a cacophony of noise, even at this hour. Quickly, she pushed over to the nearest taxi, pulling her red hoodie up tight over her slender shoulders to keep out the quickly emerging chill. As the driver rolled his window down, Cassie doubled over, peering through the window to address him.
“Hello? Do you go to the White Ram Hotel?” she chirped in a polite tone.
“Do I!?” the driver exclaimed. He was a middle aged man with olive skin and a sleazy black tracksuit. “This ain't the subway. I’ll take you anywhere you want, hot stuff!”
“Excuse me?!” Cassie cried, pulling herself up. Sure, she was more developed than other girls in her year at school, but she was only fifteen. Surely he could see that! Right?
“I love me a British accent,” the driver sneered, “Say somethin’ sexy and I’ll give you half fare!”
Cassie was flustered and infuriated. Slamming her foot down on the pavement, she pushed away. “I’ll think I’ll walk, thank you very much!!”
And so Cassie took off down the street, walking against the flow of heavy traffic, the sounds of the city growing more fierce. Quickly, the black of the night seemed to slowly seep in around her, the darkness consuming her, but Cassie kept plodding on towards the White Ram.
As Cassie walked, a enigmatic presence lurked in the distance, watching her; stalking her from the shadows. There was a quality to Cassie, something powerful that just made her unignorable, something that called to the presence in the dark.
Unbeknown to this, Cassie continued on, eventually coming to pass the exterior of an old Irish pub that stretched along the street. Nervously, Cassie pulled up the hood of her red hoodie and picked up her pace, the footfalls of her black Chucks growing heavier against the concrete sidewalk. Something she’d call the pavement.
Though Cassie wouldn’t get off so easy as from the pub, right as she passed its doors, emerged three men of varying levels of intoxication, all swaying with the breeze. They each looked around thirty and each similarly struggled to keep their balance as they poured out onto the street. Quickly, one caught a glimpse of the young girl attempting to hurriedly make away, catching the side of her face as she walked past. “Hey!” He blurted out, steadying his lacking weight on his friend’s shoulder, bottle in hand. “You’re very pretty!! You should be… v… very proud.”
She ignored him and continued down the street, still a while off the next corner.
“Hey–” he repeated before bursting into a cry, “I SAID HEY!!”
Cassie jolted, glancing over her shoulder for just half second, enough time for a few of the boys to catch her eye. She turned away and continued on.
“HEY!!” Another man called after Cassie, this time annoyed, “He’s talking to you!!”
“Fucking bitch…” the first man mumbled to himself.
“No!” the third man called out, pulling the first man forward and snapping him out of his sulk, “N– No she doesn’t get to ignore you like that!!”
The third took off in a sprint after Cassie, continuing to define call out, “My friend wants to talk to you!!”
The first and second men looked to each other, too drunk to roll their eyes, and began to stumble after their leading friend. Cassie looked over her shoulder once more to see the three men clambering towards her. But before she could run, the man threw himself in the way of her path.
“No need to be rude…” he grumbled, his friends then catching up behind.
None of the men were cruel, but all were plenty menacing as they surrounded the 15-year-old girl, who stood alone and afraid in a city mostly unknown to her.
“Get out of my way…” Cassie seethed, her breath unsteady as she pretended to be as tough as she could muster.
“Ah! British!” exclaimed the youngest of the men, the one who had first noticed Cassie, “I like British!”
He placed a hand forcefully on Cassie’s shoulder as she faced away from him, and pulled her around to face him. “C’mere.” Instinctually, Cassie reacted, flinging herself back, and crashed into the chest of the man who had first pursued her.
“We ain’t gonna hurt ya!” the crushing man cried, only for Cassie to react by delivering a swift kick to the man’s groin. He fell quickly, groaning in pain.
“What the fuck, lady!?”
The man behind her jostled Cassie’s shoulder, threatened and enraged. Taking no shit, Cassie turned socked the man in the jaw, causing him to stagger back.
“Stay away from me!!” she cried before punching him once again, unaware of the third man behind her as he drew a knife.
But as the man threw himself forward to slash out at the increasingly violent young girl, out of nowhere flew a glowing gold chain that seemed to magically wrap itself around the wrist of the man’s knife hand. And with one quick tug, the man went flying several feet. Though as Cassie turned to see just what had occurred behind her, she saw not the floor assailant, but a woman, tall and draped in black, her skin lightly tanned and her hair as dark as her plated armour. “You need to come with me.”
 
♦ ♦ T ♦ ♦
 
The next morning, Dick Grayson pushed hurriedly through the S.T.A.R. Labs security checkpoint, already a registered visitor at this point. He didn’t know the cause of Silas summoning him, but he had guessed from the police cars lined up on the street outside that the scientist likely had information regarding Finlay’s death.
And as Dick entered the central lab, he was implicitly proved correct as he found Silas seated, the figure of a tall, muscular man in a beige coat and a black-banded, white cowboy hat. Immediately, Dick recognised the lone policeman as NYC Sheriff Saunders. It was rare that the man ever came out to investigate first hand since his election, and he and Dick had never crossed paths, especially while the latter was Nightwing.
“And… Dr Finlay: any reason to believe he had any enemies?” the Sheriff spoke in a gruff, deep tone, befitting of his fearsome silhouette and his fifty years of smoking. The man was no nonsense.
Silas took a second. A part of him wanted to pretend the man was a saint, but the truth was that he was far from it. Similarly Silas knew that what he had to said could incriminate himself, but was already worn down by the death of his coworker and his son shunning him for a second time. He had no time for lies.
“It was... I strongly suspect it was Finlay who allowed the meta thief - Selinda Flinders - to break into the lab. There, she not only freed her brother but also stole my blueprints for the cybernetics I used to treat my son from a safe that only myself and Finlay knew even existed.”
The Sheriff took a deep breath, still unaware of Dick standing in the doorway behind him. Carefully, he jotted down some notes in his small paper pad. “And what would Dr Finlay have wanted those… blueprints for? Industrial espionage?”
“No,” Silas sighed, “He wanted them so that he could save his brother the way I saved Victor, despite all my protests that the technology wasn’t ready.”
“His brother: This is Arthur Finlay, correct? Paralysed after a burglar attacked him in 2006.”
“That is correct.”
Saunders paused and took another long, deep breath, before launching into hurried speech. “Now it’s funny you should mention that as Arthur Finlay was nowhere to be found when we visited his estate earlier this week. Odd for a man who can't wipe his own ass.”
“What are you saying?”
“I’m saying it’s entirely possible that Dr Finlay– that Jacob succeeded in ‘fixing’ his brother.”
Beat.
The Sheriff smiled. “But that’s for me to chase up. Sorry, I shouldn’t have divulged that with you, - it’s as of current - entirely unfounded.”
“It’s fine.” Silas smiled tiredly, “We can all speculate. Now, if you don’t mind, I have another visitor.” Silas gestured graciously towards the door, where Dick Grayson was standing.
Sheriff Saunders looked across and his face immediately dropped, realising his mistake. “Ah, I see. Well, I won’t keep you then. Thank you for your insight, Dr Stone. We’ll be in touch.”
Quickly, the Sheriff wrapped up his notepad and made his way over to the door. As he exited, he tipped his hat towards the young spectator. “Nice to meet you, young man.”
And he was gone.
Silas stood, meeting Dick in the centre of the lab. “You know, I thought he’d never leave.”
“Was that it, Dr Stone?” Dick asked, perturbed, “You think Jacob’s brother killed him?”
Silas sighed. “That seems to be the leading theory, but no, that’s not why I called you.”
“Then what–”
“Christmas has come and passed, and this is the first year I’ve spent it without my Victor since he was born, the first year since my Elinore…”
Silas blinked.
“I wanted to give you a package. A gift. To give to Victor. A belated Christmas present.”
“He’s still not talking to you?”
Silas crawled along to his desk where, from a lower drawer, he produced a small purple box tied with a red bow, no bigger than a ring box. He held it out to Dick, his eyes so tired.
“Just please make sure Victor opens it,” he replied, “Won’t you do that for me, Richard?”
 
♦ ♦ T ♦ ♦
 
Silently, a robed figure approached the derelict apartment block in Avalon, Blüdhaven. This was the only known address for the Teen Titan known as Cyborg, but clearly circumstances had forced him to move on. The figure sighed, shaking her head before moving on.
 
♦ ♦ T ♦ ♦
 
“It was like my nan always said: that someday I’d feel something, and all that crap about burning bushes and… the big man in the sky would just slip into place.”
As Cassie spoke in the relative warmth of the drab, grey squat, her words were lost on Donna, who - despite having developed more than adequate conversation skills - had no idea what the young girl was talking about after she had asked her why she had come to New York City.
Cassie grinned, sat on the only chair in the apartment, as she registered her saviour’s bemusement. “I had a vision. It sounds crazy I know, but some angel came down and told me that… I was being hunted… and that I’d only be safe if I came to New York.” Her eyes were wild, as if she were reliving those impossible moments as she told the tale, “She told me some monster wanted to kill me, that it was the plan of the Gods that I remained safe. Truth is, I struggled believing in one God, never mind plural!”
Donna was beginning to understand, but remained bemused as she looked up from the floor to the girl she had found herself driven to protect. The idea that anyone could believe in just one God perplexed her. Surely there would be too many responsibilities for just one God to handle.
Shaking off her confusion, Donna stood up from the floor and made her way to the open window. Behind her, Cassie sat by the breakfast bar, wrapped in a shawl Donna had found in the bedroom. Donna needed to understand the connection she shared with this girl. They had to be connected somehow, or else what would explain the otherworldly, gut-wrenching pull towards her that Donna had experienced as soon as Cassie had stepped within a thousand mile radius.
Who was Cassie Sandsmark? That’s what Donna kept asking herself. What did Cassie mean to her? Though Donna supposed that to answer that question, she’d have to figure out just who she was herself.
Cassie sat up quickly, shrugging off her trepidation for the thrill of the adventure. “So is that it then?” she asked. Donna moved away from the glass to face her. “Are you my guardian angel? The person the vision said would protect me?” “I…?” Donna honestly didn’t know.
“Come to think of it: why are you wearing battle armour?” Cassie’s eyes were wide as she looked upon her fearsome protector, stood against the New York City skyline through the thin glass, “Are you - like - one of those Amazons? Like Wonder Woman?”
“NO.” Donna spat, suddenly recoiling. Immediately, she realised her mistake as she watched Cassie flinch back. Calmly, she elaborated. “No. I’m nothing like… I’m not Wonder Woman…”
“Oh.”
“But I think I am supposed to keep you safe… from whatever monster is trying to harm you.”
 
♦ ♦ T ♦ ♦
 
Vic fumbled with his keys, half distracted by his conversation with Gar as he stood in the hallway of his new apartment block on Payton Street, attempting to unlock the door. He’d gotten into his new place over Christmas, his last home desolated when Shimmer and Mammoth attacked him at his home.
“So the guy goes through all the trouble of hiring these supervillains to steal your… thing and then just mysteriously ends up dead?” Gar jested, his voice animated and non-serious.
Finally, Vic turned the key and the two entered into his new apartment. The place was much more spacious than Vic’s previous place, with a more open-planned layout which Gar definitely considered an upgrade. Though a winter chill emanated through the place, visually it was quite warm, the Christmas decorations still up and on full display almost a month later.
“The guy was my dad’s friend, Gar.” Vic replied, irritated. “If he weren’t such a jackass, he’d be like my uncle, so please take this seriously.”
Vic pushed forward, pulling off his thick, grey hoodie and laying it across the arm of his couch along with his keys.
“Dude, he tried to kill you!” exclaimed Gar, “That doesn’t exactly scream close family friend.”
“A man is dead!” Vic snapped, his tone now deadly serious, something entirely unheard by Gar until now from his usually somber but amicable friend, “Get a grip.”
Gar lingered in the doorway. He took a deep breath. Vic was right. “I– I’m sorry, man. I guess that’s just how I cope with... things. He was your friend, I get it.” He stepped forward, slowly pushing the door shut behind him.
Jacob Finlay wasn’t a friend of Victor’s. In fact, Vic could never stand the man. But it saddened Vic deeply to know that he was gone, even after all the hurt he had caused him.
Slowly, Vic made his way over to the fridge, feeling his stomach yearn for a snack. He opened the metallic white door and looked upon its contents with disappointment. He sighed.
“I know we just got in, but do you fancy heading back out for food?” Gar suggested earnestly, “I know a diner that’s cool with people like us in downtown Blüd.”
’People like us’. Vic was used to that meaning something else, but he supposed he did have that in common with his plucky, if not crass, young friend. They were both outcasts due to their appearance. Vic was half-metal, Gar was green. On the rare occasions Vic had left the house as himself (rather than the superhero Cyborg) he made sure to never stay too long in one place, as to avoid anyone noticing his horrific visage under his shadowy hood.
“How do you mean?”
“This old couple owns the place,” Gar explained, “Man’s blind and the lady’s… well, actually open-minded and reasonable.”
Vic froze, actually considering the proposal. It’d been a long time since he’d sat down in a restaurant - however fancy - and eaten out. He looked to the empty, open fridge and then back to his discarded hoodie. His eyes flashed.
“Sure,” he smiled, “You wanna grab your coat this time? You’ve been complaining about the cold all day!”
Gar grinned back at Vic, deeply pleased by his response. “Yeah, one sec!” He ran, bounding across the floor and over to the hat stand Vic rarely seemed to use. From there, Gar pulled down his orange-red Parka and pulled it on in one fluid motion. As he did, Vic made his way to the couch and slipped back into his hoodie, zipping it up slowly.
The two smiled at each other and Vic - now stood closer to the door - pushed forward, wrapping his metal grip around the door handle and pulled it down. As he swung the door open, there stood a startled Dick Grayson, moments from ringing the doorbell"
“Woah!” Dick jumped.
“Dick!” Gar exclaimed, “We’re heading out to eat, you coming?”
“You?” Dick replied, pleasantly surprised to see Vic trying something new. “Uh, yeah… sure!”
From the pocket of his black pea coat, Dick produced the purple box he’d been handed earlier, nervously fidgeting with it between his hands slightly as he glanced up and down from it to Vic. “Though, uh… I actually came to give you this, Vic.”
Dick held the box out. Vic looked open-eyed to Gar and then back to him. “Dick, you already got me a Christmas present,” he laughed, walking over and taking the purple-wrapped present, eyeing it curiously.
“No, it’s… it’s from your dad. Cos you missed Christmas.”
Beat.
Vic looked back up to Dick. “Dick, I missed Christmas cos I can’t stand the man. He made me into this… thing, and it was his lies that almost got me killed.” Without even looking, Vic tossed the box over his shoulder, it hitting the ceiling and ricocheting before landing between the couch and the television.
“Vic…” Gar moaned disappointedly.
“What?!” Vic cried, “He’s human garbage. Has that brilliant mind and uses it to constantly fuck with my life. I don't need him. He’d be better off dead.”
Dick and Gar both looked at him in stunned silence. Dick’s eyes flitted back and forth and his moved out of the doorway and into the apartment. He looked to Gar, an orphan like himself, and then to Vic. He nodded. “How about we go get that dinner?”
Vic took a breath, calming himself. He nodded reluctantly, his confidence shaken but determined not to let his dad ruin his victory. “Right, yeah. Sure!” he affirmed himself. “I– I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to–”
“It’s fine.” Dick smiled, turning to face the open doorway, “Let’s just g–”
Just as Dick had moved, replacing him in the doorway was a tall, hooded figure: one none of the teens had met before yet one that all three recognised.
“Holy fuck!” Gar exclaimed, “It’s Wonder Woman!”
 
♦ ♦ T ♦ ♦
 
“I was speaking with my former teacher Athena after I sla–” “Wait, Athena?” Gar interrupted, starstruck, as if he were taking notes, “As in Popped Out of Zeus’ Forehead Athena?” Diana nodded solemnly. The Amazon sat on a kitchen chair, comfortably at a level to explain herself to the three young men, who each stood.
“Athena revealed to me a child of both Ares and Circe roamed the man’s world, that… an adversary of mine sought to hurt the child, for the misdoings Circe had committed against her.”
Diana told the tale, her eyes hollow as she seemed to hold back some inconvenient truths, something Dick picked up on easily, “I was told that I would find the child in New York City, and knew that Batman had established a strike team nearby. So here I am, hoping you can lend me your assistance.”
Dick sighed, running his hand through the front tuft of his dark hair. He’d never met the Amazon warrior before, but knew that she and Bruce were friendly, with Diana being part of his ‘Justice League’ initiative. But Dick was disappointed to hear how the Teen Titans were perceived by the older heroes. “Batman had nothing to do with it. I formed this team, uh… we formed this team. Together.”
Diana smiled. “Of course.”
“So that’s all you know?” Vic replied, addressing the matter at hand, “Some kid is in danger in New York City. No idea whereabouts?”
“That was where I was hoping that you could help me,” said Diana, addressing Vic directly.
Vic smiled softly to have garnered any sort of attention from somebody as powerful and well… beautiful as Wonder Woman. “Well I suppose we could tr–”
“This doesn’t have anything to do with that other Wonder Chick running about New York? Does it?” Gar interjected, perhaps a bit louder than he had intended.
Diana cocked her head, moving her vision away from Vic and towards Gar, “I don’t know what you mean.”
“This amazing, gorgeous warrior. Long, flowing black hair. This awesome armour, all jet black and mysterious. She looked a lot like you actually.”
Diana’s eyes darted open as she bolted to her feet. Could it be? The doppelganger she had faced in the Trials, who had fought with her own skill and ferocity.* Had Ares sent her here? It was more than possible that she was an emissary of Ares, posthumously working to secure Ares’ progeny.
It was as Athena had said to Diana: death was the only way to transfer the mantle of God of War.*
“Gods…” she groaned, “I’ve fought her before. She is far more dangerous than the woman I seek to stop. If she gets her hands on Ares’ daughter, the consequences could be dire. We need to find them both and pray that she hasn’t already found her.”
Dick stepped forward. “I’ve been trying to locate this black-armoured Amazon since Gar ran into her a couple months back. She’s been being very discrete. I’ve tried everything.”
Vic stepped forward. “I haven’t.”
 
♦ ♦ T ♦ ♦
 
“Don’t you have any games? Or a telly or something?” Cassie sighed, stood peering out of the frosted window onto the New York skyline.
“Telly?” Donna asked, standing a few feet behind Cassie, surrounded by a whole load of nothing. “I’m afraid not. This place doesn’t have much outside of shelter, and sometimes warmth.”
“Then what do you do for fun?” Cassie had been cooped up in Donna’s squat for some time now and was beginning to grow restless. Despite the drab decor, the place was an improvement on sitting alone in her hotel room, but the boredom was killing her.
“I’ve found the city to be the best source of entertainment,” Donna explained very matter-of-factly, “Although I think it might be best for us to stay put until we know you are safe.”
“And when is that? When the thing hunting me gets bored? When I get a follow up message from the angel?”
“I don’t think that was an angel.”
“That isn’t the point!” Cassie groaned, frustrated. “I just wanna have some fun!”
Donna stopped. She thought for a moment and then nodded. “Alright.”
Donna couldn’t recall much of her past, but did remember one thing that she had always enjoyed: combat. She didn’t remember all the details, but Donna used to love sparring as a child, with Diana, the monster that now plagued her nightmares. It was always so exciting, and it really seemed to develop an interpersonal closeness between the combatants. She smiled before removing her silver gauntlets slowly.
“Here.”
“What?” Cassie asked.
“Take them.” Donna held the gauntlets out for Cassie, one in each hand. Carefully, the younger girl took them and slipped her wrists into them.
“They’re too big.”
Donna grinned as the gauntlets seemed to magically adjust, twisting and forming into a perfect fit around Cassie’s forearms. Donna then flicked her own wrist forward, causing a cloud of black smoke to erupt from the palm of her hand. Cassie recoiled, watching the black smoke move and stretch before giving way to the form of a solid, golden sword. Donna gripped the blade tightly and pointed it forward.
“Wait, what?”
“We shall fight?”
“Fight?!”
“Well, you won’t have a weapon, so it’s more like exchanging blows. I’ve found it quite enjoyable.”
“Right…” Cassie replied, reluctant, “So what’s gonna happen?”
“I will make an attack with my blade, and you shall bring up your gauntlets to intercept. You’ll find them more than capable of deflecting my attacks.”
“Like…?” Cassie practiced thrusting her arms back and forward, flashing the silver gauntlets as she moved.
“Exactly! We’ll start slow.”
And they did. Beat-by-beat, Donna would move the sword towards Cassie, giving her plenty of time to bring up her gauntlets to clink against the blade. One strike. Two strikes. Three strikes. Four. Gradually, Donna increased her speed, and with her Cassie would begin to move with increasing ease and agility. She was a natural.
As they grew more and more rapid, their movements also increased in intensity. Before they knew it, both began to shift their footing until they were dancing back and forth around the room, sparks flying each time Donna’s blade crashed against Cassie’s forearms. First, Cassie began to cackle with laughter, then allowing Donna to join with a more conservative chuckle. But all this ceased with a knock at the door.
They stopped. Cassie glanced over to the door first, then Donna. They weren’t expecting visitors. Donna flourished the blade in her hand, furrowing her brow and narrowing her gaze, ready to attack whatever came through.
And just as expected, the door came crashing, the wood obliterated into splinters. Through it leapt a fearsome warrior clad in red and gold, a beast of a woman, a terrifying figure. The demon Diana.
Nightwing had tried to knock, but the Amazon warrior wasn’t willing to wait. Bursting into the room, Diana charged at Ares’ puppet, seeing her with her blade drawn, the young Cassie Sandsmark terrified beside her.
Donna slashed out as Diana came crashing down on her, unarmed yet incredibly dangerous, but the strike was fruitless as Diana evaded with ease, delivering a mighty punch to the centre of Donna’s chest. Diana of Themyscira didn’t need a weapon.
Donna stumbled, kicking over a small coffee table as Cassie scrambled out of the way. The demon moved incredibly quickly, far faster than Donna could comfortably comprehend. She hadn’t been this fast when they’d fought before. First, another punch to the chest, then grabbing Donna by the arm - catching her sword strike - to pull her close, only to pound her back into the ground.
As Donna hit the ground, she skidded, whipping back around onto her feet, beaten but ready to persist. “Your master is dead,” Diana seethed, “And you shall fall with the rest of his forces!”
As the two warriors clashed, Cassie scurried away, ducking and running for the door. However, she found herself blocked by the bodies of three young men: one some kind of robot man, one green and the other clad in blue and black spandex. “Ack!”
“We’re not gonna hurt you!” Cyborg panicked, holding his large, cold hands up.
“Like shit you don’t!” Cassie spat, her teeth clenched, pivoting back around to watch her friend fight off the red-and-gold blur of a woman. Wait... That was Wonder Woman!
Donna grumbled, moving her sword arm back and shifting her off-hand forward. She then allowed her bronze shield to materialise magically in her grip with a flash of amber light. “I see you have new toys.” Diana smirked, her gaze as steely as her black-clad doppelganger.
She was right. Donna recalled easily that in their last encounter, the one that haunted her, she fought Diana unarmed. Now, Donna couldn’t recall how she came to wield the magic required to summon her weapons, but she was more than happy to use them if it meant having an edge over the tyrant that had previously terrorised her.
Donna didn’t reply. Instead, she threw herself forward, shifting her weight rapidly across the wooden floorboards, heaving the mass of her shield against Diana enough to stagger her, giving her an opening to strike with her blade. Diana cried out and kicked, colliding her leg into her adversary’s shield and dragging her strike to the right.
Donna saw through this trick immediately, it was an attempt to disarm; to wrench the shield right from her hand. It wouldn’t work. Not if Donna kept as best a grip as she could. However, Donna had underestimated the strength of her foe, and subsequently found herself launched across the room along with the shield, leaving her sword by her feet, crashing down on a pile of wood in the corner of the shabby apartment.
She attempted to pull herself up, but couldn’t, her armour too heavy on top of the weight of her aching bones. Diana persisted however. Breathing heavily, she pulled herself over to her floored quarry, scooping her foe’s blade off of the ground as she moved. Finally, she stopped. Planting her crimson boots into the wooden floor, Diana loomed over Donna, a relentless, fearsome monster.
Diana looked upon her quarry, this supposed emissary of Ares, deliberating over her fate. Perhaps she had overestimated her, for the puppet Diana had fought during the Trials fought with such ferocity and intensity that she now found entirely lacking. It was as if she was another soul inhabiting the body of that abomination.
But that moment of hesitation on Diana’s part was exactly what Donna need to act. In one fluid motion, Donna burst from her pile on the floor with new mobility. After delivering a kick to the monster’s head, Donna swung her empty hand out in a wide arc. Instantly, the sword vanished from Diana’s grip, reappearing in Donna’s own with a black flicker.
As Diana staggered, Donna let loose with slash after slash before finally winding up for an overhead attack, a killing blow. However–
“STOP!!”
A shock wave exploded through the room, launching its contents as well as the two combatants. Donna hit the ground and skidded once more. Bloodied, she looked up to see Cassie between her and Diana, her silver gauntlets glowing white hot, her face mortified.
“She doesn’t want to hurt you!” she screamed to Donna before turning to look upon Diana, scraping herself off of the floor, “You don’t want to hurt each other.”
Donna stood up uneasily, her eyes still wild, waiting for Diana to attack once again.
“I…” Diana mumbled, gripping her bloodied arm.
“You’re Wonder Woman. You save people.” Cassie explained, her voice compassionate yet quivering, “And I don’t need saving. Not from Donna. She’s my friend.”
Diana painted, finally looking upon her adversary with new eyes, “... Donna?”
Donna’s eyes flickered, filled with doubt. She looked to Cassie, then finally to Diana, and instead of a demon, saw an injured woman. She lowered her sword.
Diana saw this and recalled her parting words to the black-clad warrior, when Diana had pummeled her into the bloody waters during the Trials. 'Barely real and always a copy. What kind of emptiness must exist inside you?'
But when she focused on Donna’s eyes, those that so closely resembled her own, she saw not the rage she had seen during the Trials, but fear. Pure fear. There, she remembered.
“Great Hera, what have I done…” Diana groaned, looking upon her friend with a long forgotten familiarity. “Donna…”
But the moment wouldn’t last, for Gar was moments too late to cry out, warning them as a fearsome feline figure crashed through the window, emerging from the urban jungle of New York City’s skyline. There, the animal moved immediately for Diana, launching into an all out assault, no longer Dr Barbara Minerva, but The Cheetah.
 
 
Next: The Party is Divided in Wonder Woman #21