Saturday Super Stories - The Event 1

"I have pulled from The Knowledge tales from the Event that ravaged two universes.  I start at the beginning and will tell the important parts, and while there are many stories to be told, this will be quick."  Chief Archivist of the Catalogers.

The Event - The Family Part 1 (Escape from Dimension X)

<The Omega Sanction>

"WE HAVE INCOMING!!!" One of the techs screamed at Alpha just as the roof caved in with a gigantic explosion. Fire and shrapnel ripped through the main computer room, sparks shot from the various devices stored in and around the main hub, smoke began to billow and swirl around.

Alpha stood as the last pieces settled on the ground, he surveyed the area and found his entire technical staff dead, 90% of the machines inoperable and a large ship punched through with its engines winding down. Across the bow, the paint badly damaged: HelixONE.

Alpha sighed and strode to the hatch of the ship. He reached out and grasped it by the hinges and wrenched as hard as he could, the metal quickly cooled, then cracked and shattered under the pure PSI of his grasp.

"I know that you are in there. Please exit the ship quickly." He called into the opening, his voiced echoing back at him.

"I'm coming, and I'm all alone! I'm coming out." A massive pile of rocks shifted into position in front of the door, started to climb out, then collapsed. "But I think something went wrong." It mumbled.

"No shit," One of the wounded not quite dead technical staff whispered.

"Grab that...whatever the hell it is and bring it to the Gamma Labs. Send in two teams to search the rest of the ship." Alpha walked away before his anger destroyed the creature and before he could get some answers.

<Inside HelixONE>

Richard Reader watched from one of the still working monitors. Robert Garvey had saved them for a few minutes at least. "I don't know what to do." His wife, Sadie, hissed at his side. "I can't stop glowing." He shot a harsh look over his shoulder at her.

"Be quiet. I'm thinking," He whispered.

"Don't do that, this is affecting all of us," she retorted. "You aren't alone here."

"Yes, DEAR," He replied. "But unless you have a plan in that glowing bosom of yours I suggest you be quiet." Her mouth opened and closed but she remained silent.

The entire ship shuddered as the zone next to it exploded in a million shards of icy death, flying into the corridors and wrecking havoc. 

"I think perhaps, things outside have gotten worse," Reader spoke, "We need to move now, before something even worse happens." He grabbed his wife's glowing hand and motioned for the super-heated Jordana to follow them. He led them up the length of the ship and towards the landing gear compartments.

Outside the gear's hatch in an adjacent hallway, two of the Omega Sanction employee's were working on cutting into the ship from below, and were taken completely by surprise when the outside of the hull exploded outward in super-heated metal. Their deaths were instantaneous.

Reader dropped out and then helped Jordana and Sadie down in turn. She gasped at the melting, burning corpses, and then began to cry. Reader's eyes narrowed. "We don't have time for this, we need to find Robert and escape from wherever we have landed, without 'starting shit' as Black put it."

"I think we're too late for that," Sadie responded.

He smirked, "You may be right, dear." He began to move.

<The Omega Sanction>

Black Sapphire walked from the hole she had created down from the surface along side of the crashed ships impact point.  Freezing the soil down on an angle and boosting her strength to its maximum before punching and shattering a hole down into the underground complex.

“ALPHA!!” She screamed out.

She strode through the debris of the earth, metal and ship as she searched for her opponent.  She heard a chuckle from the ground near her feet and she looked down and saw a computer tech buried under the rubble, a pool of blood slowly spreading out from him.  “What’s so funny jackass?”  She asked as she knelt beside him.

“You, you’re here…cough…to die, just as the shit starts to hit the fan…cough…heh, Alpha is going to kill you, we know everything there is to know about you,” his eyes slid shut and he breathed his last breath.

“Not everything retard, I hardly ever use all of my powers.”  Sapphire stood back up and stepped over the corpse and continued to make her way through the hallways leading out of the central computer zone, she noted as she exited that the walls were painted like a hospital with colored arrows leading to different parts of the complex.  She noticed some blood on the floor heading towards the Gamma Labs and Central Offices; she started down the hallway in that direction.

<Deeper in the Omega Sanction>

"I have no idea what is going on but we need to find Robert and exit as soon as we can."  Richard hissed.

"These tubes..." Sadie pointed as an explosion shook them violently in their housings. "There are people inside of them." From behind the glass a woman in the nearest tube stared at them, her cheek crossed in a scar. "I think she's awake."

"It doesn't matter. Let's move." Reader pulled at her and they continued deeper.

<The Epsilon Center>

Sapphire walked into the Central Office and found a maze of cubicles and a large empty room.  Large flat screen televisions were scattered around the room, several had the rainbow of a dead signal, but one showed a group of technicians fighting a pile of rocks and Alpha talking to them as they struggled.  She snarled and stepped back out and began to run down the hallway towards the Gamma Lab.

<The Gamma Lab>

Sapphire kicked the sliding doors of the Gamma Labs inwards in an explosion of glass and metal shards.  She snarled at the technicians frozen in shock at her entrance and they began to back away from her.  Alpha smiled at her.

“Welcome child,” he spoke loudly and his voice carried.

“Asshole it’s time I took you down for all the crap you have put me through,” her knuckles popped as she leapt at him.  He responded with a single fist, the shockwave rocked the floor.

<The Surface>

Agents stood around the massive wounds in the Earth, their weapons at the ready, just as Reader and his people breached the surface nearby.  The Agents pivoted on the new opponents.

Reader stared back at them.  "We Come in Peace?" He spoke quickly.

Agents Frost and Powerhouse moved to the front of the group.  “We’re with the DSA and you will submit to containment until the scene is secure and we have had time to question you thoroughly about what has happened.”  Reader nodded.  Several Agents moved up with handcuffs, two of which were bulky and when placed on Jordana and Sadie shut their abilities off. 

“Interesting,” Reader mumbled.  The Agents led them to a van and placed them in the back and closed them inside and moved back to secure the scene as the sounds of battle began to waft up through the holes and the ground began to vibrate from the conflict that raged beneath the surface.

Archaeology 103 - Part 1

My name is Mercedes Whitman and I'm a hero on a foreign world. I'm the daughter of two heroes, and was trapped on this Earth during an Event that sealed the way back home forever. They call me Black Sapphire when I’m out patrolling, and these are my Blogs.

“My father is here…a version of my Father is here on this world. I am overjoyed and at the same time worried about this fact. A few months ago I looked into finding my Mother and did in fact locate her. She is very young... I am not even sure she is in school yet.” Sapphire looked up from the monitor and paused the video blog entry. “I don’t know what to do.” She held her head in her hands and started to cry, her mind going back to the events that had brought her to this Earth, the Super U-niverse.

SATURDAY SUPER STORIES – ARCHEOLOGY 103: Part 1 “In the Beginning…”

Deep within the Omega Sanction.

Alpha strode along the banks of the Gamma and Delta corridors. The walls were filled with computers displaying varying degrees of information, from blood pressure to beats per second. He stopped in front a tube 616, the unconscious naked female form floating within staring blankly ahead. Beneath his mask he pondered her recent battle with the one called Black Sapphire. She had scarred her badly and left her to be recovered by the authorities, but wounded as she was, she managed to wake up and hide herself away until the Sanction could retrieve her. That had been several days ago, and her recovery was coming along nicely.

"Crystal can you hear me?" He spoke into a microphone built within the mask, the data fed into the fluid holding her aloft. She blinked several times and focused on the blurry form before her. She nodded.

"Excellent. I believe it is time for you to upgrade to Epsilon status. This will hurt a lot." A flicker of fear passed over her features and she nodded. "We will begin immediately." He pressed a button and the fluid pulsed and an orange line was pumped in. She began to scream.

***************

Mercedes stretched and yawned. “Another day of the wonderful world of school, followed by hardcore training and then patrol.” She said to herself. She yawned again and headed for the shower.

**************

Reflex stood on the rooftop watching the one called Black Sapphire run across a lower set of roofs. She weaved in and out of the chimney stacks and television antennas. She grabbed a low hanging wire and hopped over the side, using it to change her trajectory. She dropped the 7 stories to the ground, landing just behind the startled purse-snatcher she had been chasing.

"Target located, commencing scan and power readings."

"Affirmative." His ear piece went quiet and he could feel the connections being made in his cybernetic arm, and the scan started. The secondary relay in the snatcher would gauge her output and feed the information directly to Alpha as per his request.

She attacked and the snatcher defended himself admirably, but in the end he was defeated, the purse returned and the snatcher 'arrested' by some of the Sanction's operatives within the city.

Within hours they had their first partial read on Black Sapphire, and the first steps towards her destruction began.

***********

The huge fist slammed into her mid-section and pulled her from her feet, lifting her and slamming her away. Sparks shot from her belt as the inertial compensator fried itself out.

'Definitely can’t take another hit like that.' She thought. She looked back at what had hit her as she sailed through the air. One of the new Thrash units had been deployed to eliminate her, three more stood at the ready behind the first. This was a fight she wasn’t meant to walk away from.

She impacted with building, her basic armor absorbing most of the force, rubble and silt drifting down around her. She slid slowly away and fell to the ground. She looked up at the monster lumbering towards her, its 6 arms flexing and making fists. 'They don’t seem stupid and are pretty slow and stronger than shit. Running away seems like an appropriate option.' She nodded to herself.

Pulling a canister from her back she threw it to the ground, and stood. The creature paused for a moment and glanced at it. The top popped and then exploded, smoke erupting into the air obscuring her, it roared in defiance. She shot her grapple line up and ascended to the rooftop behind her as the canister exploded, shooting dozens of nails and poisons at the area around it. She looked back down to see if she had dropped the monster and found that more a half dozen nails had struck it in the arms, chest and waist. It looked slowly from side to side and then plucked them out one by one, dropping them to the ground.

One of the 3 remaining in the rear took a step forward and dropped to one knee and leaned forward, several hisses erupted and smoke rose from its back, then it opened revealing a small person inside, he stretched then looked around.

"This is Operator Spas2, subject has escaped. I have ordered clean up at this location. Target a satellite and attempt to reposition on her location using power signature." He paused and listened with an ear cocked to one side. "What do you mean signature is inactive? Okay calm down, notify Alpha and relay the information. Operator Spas2 out." He slide forward and the back closed up.

A black van pulled up and several construction workers exited moving to clean up the evidence of the battle. She fell back behind the edge of the roof. That was the second time being able to turn off her abilities had come in handy. Dune would be proud. She moved slowly and began to leave the area for home.

Meanwhile in the Omega Sanction…

"Alpha sir, Spas2 did exactly as instructed, he allowed her to escape and made the weakness of the Thrash units known, and dropped your name. If I may sir how did you know she wouldnt leave the location?" The tech asked.

"Because Black Sapphire is like a cat, and all cats are curious unto death."

***********
"Have you made your assessment, Dr. Gennon?" Alpha sat down, one hand stroking his chin as he mused over the Doctor's findings.

"She is an anarchist, true to form. Her base line goals are to please her parents or some form of mentor that has replaced them, therefore she overcompensates when in action. Doing the most extreme actions instead of subtle maneuverings, which in our case is beneficial to the cause." He pushed his glasses back up to the bridge of his nose and turned the page. "Due to the conflicting natures of her base powers, fire and ice, her mood also determines her weakness, which can be altered on a base scale. I have found she is more than susceptible to mind control, as she has no defense against such an attack, and with there being little to no known telepaths or hypnotists she has no concerns," Gennon read from the file.

He continued, "She is not against fleeing if the situation demands it, and not above trying to negotiate with her foes to avoid combat, but once her mind has slipped into combat mode, she is, for lack of a better term, a machine."

"I see. How does all of this benefit the cause?" Alpha questioned.

"Well she can be pushed to achieving our goals for us, as she has credibility with the community and most of them would look the other way. The local and federal law enforcement agencies just do not have the manpower or resources to confront her even if they did suspect anything. Finally her skills would be an asset if she could be persuaded from her present course." Gennon responded.

"You think so?"

"I know so. She has already performed admirably in the field."

Alpha raised an eyebrow.

"I took control of her 35 minutes ago." Gennon smirked.

TBC in Archaeolgy 103: Part 2

Stand Alone 2

Sapphire looked back to the Archivist. "How did I see all of that?"

"Through me. I am able to project it into your mind directly. The Knowledge is a database and I am... the USB cord link to us, to use your common tongue." The Archivist stepped away from the mineral.

"So the Knowledge contains everything ever?" She asked.

He shook his head. "Long ago one of our order corrupted the Knowledge to remove information. It was much like a virus, and the infection ran deep. It destroyed decades, targeted around specific sections."

"What was in the sections?" Her eyebrow cocked, her curiosity peaked.

"Unknown. We Cataloguers know much, but even our mortal memories are finite. The Knowledge is our reserve; the hard drive of the Universe. The oldest of us attempted to correct the infection and it cost her everything... her sanity and then her life. The traitor had made sure that information would forever be lost to us." The Archivist looked sad.

"Have you ever tried anything else? I know that time travel is... different now that the Cascade is  gone, but it is still possible. Just difficult. I know that Spectacular did it many times in the past, but that was before The Event."

He shook his head. "We do not possess such a skill, and for the most part we try not to interfere with the sentient species of the Universe. We have met this Spectacular, and found him...irritating at best. He is however, very intelligent, but lacks a certain...social aspect to his personality."

She laughed. "I agree. Genius, but dumb when it comes to people." She turned back to the Knowledge, so what's next?"

SATURDAY SUPER STORIES - STAND ALONE 2: Unoriginal Sins

She clenched her fists tightly at her sides. Anger filled her mind and her eyes glazed over, her power filling her inside, and the ground before her iced over, the molecules in the soil and air forming a thick layer that surrounded her opponent. He glanced around at the ground and then back at her. The radius was perfect, and the edges seemed to haze with an unseen heat, and then the inside. Soon the air was swirling with a mist and heat and then a gigantic storm erupted within, fire and ice in unison attacked her opponent driving him to his knees as he gasped for breath, each one harder to inhale, and even harder to exhale. He cried out in pain.

"Sapphire STOP!! You're killing me!!" Dune's voice rose over the cacophony, as he grew heavier.

Her eyes snapped back into focus, and immediately the storm died down and dissipated. Her brow furrowed and then she realized what she had done. She ran to her mentor's side. He looked up at her and smiled weakly. "You're a bit too bad-ass in the powers department, Mercedes. You need to watch yourself when we train together."

"I'm sorry." She mumbled under her breath.

"It’s okay, that's why your mother has me training you. Someday you'll be a great hero... strong and confident, and both your parents will be proud of who you've become." The young Mercedes Whitman smiled.

"I love you, Dune." She nodded and hugged him, her little arms barely making their way around his chest.

"I love you too. Now let's get back to the meditation technique." He walked her back to the training dummy. Its armored form was dented in places. "Remember to still yourself and find the weakness in the armor and you will damage the form beneath."

Mercedes Whitman, Age 9

**************

"Congratulations Sapphire. You have mastered my style of martial arts."

"Thank you, Sensei." She bowed before Dune. Sandra and Alex stood by quietly, her mother’s eyes misting a little. Her father looked bored. Under his breath he muttered, "I still don't see how this will make her a better hero." Her mother shushed him.

"Alex, what I have taught your daughter is discipline and control. She is an excellent student and will be an impressive hero, but without control she will be a danger to us, others and possibly the world." Dune had returned the bow and now stood before her father.

"Your 'style' of martial arts is destructive and dangerous, Dune. You built a form of fighting that forces the user to attempt to kill his or her opponent. It's bad enough that you taught it to my wife, but you created it to show off your prowess against that Michael guy, who's long dead by the way." Dune looked away.

"It's not that simple Alex. Michael was a dangerous person and he needed to be stopped, I didn't create this to kill, but to maim and wound; to maneuver around an opponent’s own armored defenses and take advantage of their weaknesses. Michael was a master of all the same styles as I, and when he began to hunt down and take over the schools of the master that he slew, I had to act. I'm not proud of what I became to stop him, and that's why your daughter and wife only know a bastardized version of my fighting style." He turned away and looked towards the setting sun. "I would never do anything to endanger your family, Alex. Perhaps it’s time for me to return to Tibet. I feel that some time meditating will clear my head."

"No, Dune, you can't leave me!" Mercedes grabbed his hand and pulled at him, he easily slipped the grab and spared one short glance at Sandra, and disappeared into the sunset.

Mercedes Whitman, Age 12

**************

Black Sapphire jammed her palm into the female crook's nose. It cracked and split, blood pouring forth instantly. She growled and pulled a semi-automatic pistol from her waist band. "For that you die, bitch!" She pulled the trigger and a short three-round burst hit the wall near the Black Sapphire's head.

"Oh, fer crying out loud, C.C... how many times do we have to go over this? I'm better than you, by a whole lot you know. Like, the GPA for this fight has you at the low end of the curve." She dove forward and rolled under the next burst of bullets, stealing their speed and giving it to the refuse nearby. Some cans, a banana peel and what appeared to be a used prophylactic slammed into the gunners face, neck and lower back, driving her forward and to one knee, placing her chin perfectly for the driving force of the power uppercut that Sapphire delivered.

C.C.'s head snapped back and her eyes glazed over, she dropped the gun with a clatter to the asphalt at their feet. She collapsed in a pile. Sapphire kippuped to her feet and brushed herself  off, her finger brushing the comm unit in her head piece as she called 911. "Yeah it's Black Sapphire. I have Crystal Cue wrapped up and tagged for transport at the corner of..." She rattled off the address and finished securing the suspect. These days she seemed to be busting the same group of thugs and lamers, C.C. was the closest thing to an arch enemy she had, and she barely had abilities.

The police arrived on the scene and she gave her statement and a copy of the video feed from her head unit and chest feeds. She glanced up at a nearby roof and noticed a shadowed figure watching the proceedings; she excused herself and slipped away. Soon she was racing across the rooftops and attempting to catch her stalker. She rounded a chimney and was knocked to her ass by a well-placed foot sweep. She rolled away from her attacker and flipped to her feet, she took up a varied kung fu stance, designed to use the opponents’ weaknesses against them.

The clouds moved from their position and exposed her attackers face in the moonlight.

"DUNE!!" She ran forward and hugged him. He smiled and a look of shock washed over his face as she flipped him over and slammed him to the rooftop. "Even Steven, I think." She held out her hand to assist him to his feet. He smirked and she pulled back her hand. "Oh come on!! I've, like, mastered three styles since you left and on Saturday I'll get my black belt in Dragon Form Karate. That's not gonna fly this time. I'm not twelve anymore."

He smirked and got to his feet. "It's good to be home."

Mercedes Whitman, Age 14

**************

Her Junior Prom was upon her. She was only a Sophomore and dating a Junior, of whom who her father didn't approve, which of course made her angry yet happy.  Here she was in a 300 dollar dress that was cut way too low, and very prepared to take advantage of a nearby motel that she had already reserved a room at.

So here she was waiting for her date to arrive.  He had called to tell her that he was running late and that she should head out before him and that he would meet her there, and not to worry. So of course she was worried, it wasn't like George to be late, like, ever. She began to tap her foot unconsciously in irritation. Two of the schools cheerleaders passed by making a couple snide remarks under their breaths as they went into the dance. "Bitches."

A few more minutes passed, and then people were rushing out of the school, tripping over one another in panic. She grumbled under her breath, and rushed towards the school.

Inside she was shocked at the scene that lay before her: several students were down and bleeding, at least two were dead. Hovering on a cushion of air, C.C. floated above the bodies. Her Cue Baller's had several hostages, pinned and grappled with the pool cues that they used as weapons.

"Welcome young lady, to this... your Junior prom!" She cackled, the cross shaped scar making one side of her face look hideous in the faux disco light. She motioned to the ceiling where a young man hung silently, twisting slowly. Soon George stared down at her, tears streaming down his face.

"I don't know who you think you are --" She was cut off.

"Cut the crap, Sapphire. It took some time to figure out who you are. Almost two whole years! But now I get to have revenge! Why do you think you've been fighting the same people the last few months? I've been gauging your skills!  Didn't take a genius to find a girl in this town who used at least six different styles of martial arts!" Sapphire slipped into combat mode, and started to take a step towards the closest Cue crew member. "Ah ah ah, none of that girlie. Today is the day that you die. But first..." George dropped, the line holding him ended at his neck, and she ran anyway. She needed to steal his momentum. She had to save him. She had to...SNAP.

Then it was over. George was dead and dangling from his noose and C.C. cackled. Panic flooded her and she lost control. Rage filled her, and she blacked out.

She came to; her dress burned badly, her skin beneath scorched. She looked up at the paramedic who had woken her; he was telling her that she was lucky to be alive as he loaded her on a stretcher. She looked at the gym... at the bodies of the Cue Ballers and the students, at George's body, and the shattered form of C.C., a fist mist of cooling ice coming of the body. Burn marks and small fires were scattered here and there, frozen patches of ice and spikes jutted from the floor.

She had lost control, and she had killed many people, and she had avenged her boyfriend’s death. It didn't make her feel any better and then she vomited on her 'savior'. The next few hours were a blur in the questioning; she was the only witness to the massacre, the ravaged destruction that seemed to point to the hero of the city Black Sapphire.

Her decision to keep this from the authorities came at the hands of Dune, and a technique that she had refused to learn when she studied Kung Fu. With a heavy heart he assisted in capping her powers through pressure points so that they lay dormant in her, and the hero once known as Black Sapphire disappeared from the public eye for the rest of the world.

Mercedes Whitman, Age 16