I AM

[Dead Woman]

A story that uses the characters I've posted earlier.  Anyone who wants to join on in are free to do so as I have given everyone an opening. 

Chapter 1

I

   A fog had rolled on through Paragon City just before dawn.  No one paid it any attention until later in the afternoon when it was still there.  It was like from that book where monsters were hiding in a fog where they would snatch you and eat you alive.  People were starting to get panicky and rightfully so.  This was the city of heroes after all, and stuff like this was always a precursor to something really bad happening. 

   No one noticed that things were getting worse once the fog rolled in.  Communication problems started happening a few hours after the fog appeared.  Services like water and electricity stopped shortly thereafter followed by the breakdown of transportation. 

   Fear gripped everyone's heart when they saw the fog turn red.

   Everyone screamed when they saw what came out of it. 

II

    It was now nightfall and Paragon City was under siege.  What little intel the groups could gather was that what came out of the fog was armored and armed with swords, spears, and shields.  Most of Paragon City was gone thanks to the fog's destructive effect.  Heroes had retreated to their bases which were seemingly immune.  Some groups had brought with them survivors and most were trying to get in touch with other groups in the hopes of forming a network of bases. 

   At one group, a muscular woman wearing her own modified vanguard uniform stood at a communication center.  She spoke with a noticeable French accent, "Anyone in Paragon City.  If you are listening this is base 221 – The Union.  Please acknowledge."    

   "Blockade," said someone which made her look up.  Coming into view was something that would have made any hero sweat with worry – a gunslinger from Malta.  She was thankful that this particular solider had given up that life style years ago and that he was their leader.  When he had her attention he asked, "Anything?"

   She shook her head and he nodded saying, "Keep on it.  If you get anyone let them know that we've found survivors at King's Row General Hospital.  We can use the help if they want to come along.  If not, then just get them into the network."

   Blockade nodded as she went back to communications. 

III

   A moment later and The Gunslinger was met up with three others.  The Professor stood beside him dressed as if he had come out of a fancy research laboratory with his long jacket.  He had with him of all things a metal briefcase.  The Gunslinger took a look at it and then back up to its bearer who looked like a little boy with his hand in the cookie jar.  That was when he heard The Dead Woman say with mild exasperation, "I know, carrying a briefcase to a fight is just silly." The Dead Woman had stood behind the two dressed more for a night out on the town instead of combat.  The Gunslinger said nothing those two had fought like brother and sister for a long time which had annoyed him to the point of no longer caring.  A second later Ms. Tomorrow entered clad in heroic attire that was almost generic but striking since it focused on two colors – black and purple.  She said to the vampire, "I don't know DW, he's always surprised us before." The Professor looked back at The Dead Woman and gave a younger brother I won one smirk.  The elder vampire simply shook her head.  The transport pad they stood on glowed a bright white light and they were gone.

      Blockade watched them depart and silently wished them well as she spoke into the communicator, "To anyone in Paragon City that's listening.  This is base 221 – The Union.  Please acknowledge over."

[Dead Woman]

IV
   Transport was what The Professor called a - blink and you'll miss it moment.  It was instantaneous which meant that it was very disorienting.  Your mind had to accept the fact that you weren't in Kansas anymore, and that it had to adjust to its new surroundings.  That was something that could get you killed if you happened to teleport in front of the enemy.  Thankfully that wasn't the case here as all they saw was the remains of King's Row General Hospital.

   What the Hell happened?

   It was only yesterday that King's Row General was up and running and treating to the sick and wounded.  Now it just looked like an empty shell that held a lot of ghosts and could be featured on some B movie horror set.  The team looked around to see that the same could be said for most of King's Row and from that they assumed that Paragon City was also in the same sorry state. 

   What about the world?

   That was something none of them wanted to answer just yet. 

   They just wanted to survive first.

V

   When stepping into the hospital the first thing that hit them was the smell that was old, musty and decayed.  It was a reminder that time was the ultimate victor. Even The Dead Woman who had seen nations rise and fall knew that she would one day turn to dust herself. 

   Something is here.

   The Dead Woman slipped in front of her teammates and held out her hands as a roadblock.  The rest stopped as they knew The Dead Woman was their early warning system.  It didn't take them long to see the enemy, and it was ready to see them. 
      

[Dead Woman]

VI

   Shadows jerked.  A form turned its head to look.  All it saw was shadows and nothing more, but it was not convinced that it was alone.  The enemy had turned more towards where it had sensed its prey and began shuffling towards it.

   The Dead Woman had obscured herself and the rest with a dark mist that had drizzled off of her body.  It was a cloak of darkness that no one really saw through but this – thing – whatever it was knew that something was there and it was coming to see. 

   No one had really seen the enemy up close once they had arrived and now they were about to get their first glimpse.  What they saw was ... strange.  It looked as if it belonged in some zombie film as it had dried dead flesh that showed more bone than what any living person cared to see, but it was clad in armor that looked as if it was forged by The Devil himself.

   This zombie warrior reached out with its hand but grasped nothing as it had missed The Dead Woman's face by mere inches.  It contemplated reaching out again unaware that The Gunslinger had his gun trained directly at its head.  It reached out one more time which happened to be the last time as The Gunslinger pulled the trigger. 

VII

        The gunshot made no noise as The Gunslinger had used a modified suppressor.  Not a thud or a whisper was heard when the corpse fell to the ground.   The Dead Woman dropped her cloak of shadows and The Professor moved in to scan the remains with his tricorder.  Ms. Tomorrow spoke quietly what The Gunslinger was loudly thinking, "This thing and its allies has decimated us.  How?"

   The Professor spoke up quietly, "Scans are showing very little.  Its saying that this ... thing ... has mass but doesn't." The Dead Woman articulated his words with her normal stylized flair, "In other words darling," which always came out as dah-link, "you don't know what it is." The Professor gave her a dirty 'oh I'm going to get you later' look.

"Life signs?" The Gunslinger asked and that grounded everyone back to why they were there. 

The Professor held up his tricorder and studied the data nodding saying, "Showing some upstairs." 

Moving forward The Gunslinger said, "Then let's go."

[Dead Woman]

VIII
   Everyone felt more confident after having seen the enemy face to face.  It all went back to the idea of knowing your enemy.  They now knew what it looked like.   Confidence had a way of turning to arrogance rather quickly and the group knew this so they reminded themselves that the enemy had decimated many of their allies. 

   Their movement slowed once they reached the third floor.  They didn't know how stable the foundation was given with how the red fog had digested most of everything rather slowly.  A single step with the right amount of pressure could bring everything down. 

   Nothing was visible amongst the remains of the hospital's third floor.  All eyes turned to The Professor who pointed dead ahead.  Their movements were slow and careful and they were ready for a confrontation.   Even though The Professor's tricorder showed nothing hostile just before they encountered the enemy. 

   The Dead Woman stopped at a door where the life signs were coming from.  She opened it carefully seeing and stepped inside with the rest following, but everyone stopped dead in their tracks once they saw the room itself.  The entirety of the room was untouched by the red mist.  It was clean, sterile, and operating with machines that were attached to a woman who laid on a bed asleep. 

IX

   "Lily," The Gunslinger said. 

   The Dead Woman knew what he wanted just by hearing how he spoke the name she was currently using.  She moved towards the door and pressed herself up against it ensuring that they wouldn't open up by surprise. 

   Immortality was something that was a blessing in the beginning but would become a curse later on, and one of the reasons for that was that immortals saw the same thing again and again, but The Dead Woman had never seen anything like this before.  She felt herself grow excited at seeing something new and vastly different. 

   The patient was beautiful even though her body looked worn down by laying on a bed for so long.  Her hair was long and coppery but not like the Irish no it looked more metallic than actual hair, and the girl's skin!  It was creamy white looking more ivory than anything else.  But most importantly, Lily could hear a heartbeat coming from her.  She could smell the blood in her veins.  She was real.  There were moments when the human mind could be fooled even a vampire's mind was susceptible, but the older the vampire the more experienced they were at seeing past illusions.  Even Sister Psyche herself couldn't fool The Dead Woman.  Looking up to The Gunslinger who waiting nearly impatiently for her assessment she said, "She's real."

   Looking to his tricorder, The Professor began to scan the girl starting from the head to the feet.   Ms. Tomorrow moved over towards the girl to take up her hand and hold it.  The Gunslinger wanted the warshade to step back but knew that that was an exercise in futility.  In one of their many arguments, Ms. Tomorrow said that she agreed that violence had its place but that didn't stop her from trying kindness.  She was always so hopeful even idealistic.  That was why The Gunslinger admired her.

   "She's approximately twenty years old," said The Professor which caught everyone's attention, "She's got internal bruising."

   "Can you revive her?" Ms. Tomorrow asked.

   The Professor nodded with absolute assurance saying, "I can.  I just need to get her back to my lab where I can synthesize a counter agent against the sedation she's been given." It was then that The Dead Woman cried out as the door she pressed up against made a loud and terrible thud.  The Dead Woman turned, pressed all of her wait against the door as the beating it took became more and more aggressive. 

   "Blockade!" The Gunslinger said in his communicator, "four plus one patient ready for transport!"

   And when the enemy busted through they found that the room was empty.

End of Chapter 1
 

[Dead Woman]

Chapter 2
I
   A white light filled the transporter then vanished abruptly.  In its place were those who ventured out and the survivor they had found.  The Professor saw that the survivor was laying in the bed still hooked to the machines that were transported with them.  He looked to Ms. Tomorrow and said, "Help me push her into my lab." Ms. Tomorrow complied.
   "You come and see me when you get her stabilized professor," The Gunslinger called out.
   "You got it saint."
   Pulling down his mask the aged gunslinger shook his head saying rather childlike, "I hate it when you guys call me that ..."
   The Dead Woman placed a hand on his shoulder.  He turned to look up at her as she said with a hint of a smirk, "Let it go Santiago."
   Walking past The Dead Woman he said rather dismissively, "Yeah, yeah, I get it.  It's all a part of leading, letting the troops call you whatever you want."  The Dead Woman followed and spoke up, "The really good leaders have followed that practice for a very long time." Santiago stopped, turned to look at The Dead Woman and said, "Saints walk on water, I don't."  The Dead Woman got the last word in by saying, "They also wore silver masks and wrestled did they not?"
   Once upon a time, Santiago Castaneda begged his mother to see El Santo wrestle for his birthday.  She did as such never telling him that she had arranged for his hero to speak with him.  It was a moment that changed Santiago's life completely.  It became a source of strength for him.  Even at fifty-five, Santiago felt like a little child that was filled with excitement and energy whenever he remembered his hero.  As he thought about that moment he realized that he never told anyone about it before.  He turned to look at The Dead Woman incredulously saying, "How did you know Lily?"
   Lily winked at him saying, "I didn't read your mind if that's what you're worried about, but I am a good listener and I heard you mention his name a few times ... while you slept."
   Santiago stared at Lily still unbelieving what he had just heard.  In a sense he felt a tiny bit violated but then he shook his head and laughed reminding himself that it was Lily who was known for doing things like that.  Why?  It wasn't out of malice or selfishness or arrogance but rather to use it in a way to make things better for the ones she called family. In short, she had told the rest of the group about his love for the old Mexican wrestler.  It was rude of course, and it often caused problems but they always somehow came together in a nice ending.  The group was calling him saint as not because they saw him walking on water but because they wanted to remind him of that memory he held so dear and always draw strength from it.  He shook his head, smiling, he said, "Im going to lock my door from now on."
   Looking as if her so called innocence was hurt, Lily pouted and said, "If you think that will help."
   

[Dead Woman]

II
   Sierra took off her Ms. Tomorrow mask and allowed her hair to cascade down her face and shoulders.  There were masks where her hair could roam free and go wild as Leonard would say to her but she had said no to them.  It was all about discomfort and how that reminded her that a hero's life wasn't glamorous.  It was about helping people and putting their needs above her own, and right now the mystery girl who laid on the hospital bed needed her. 
   "She's been unplugged from hospital equipment.  Is she going to be alright?"
   Getting away from whatever it was that was behind the door took precedent so there wasn't any time to attach a battery to the equipment to keep them going.  Leonard Hill, The Professor, hadn't bothered to attach the equipment to a new power source.  This worried Sierra but he said, "Scans showed that she didn't need them."
   Confused, Sierra asked, "I thought you said that she had internal bruising."
   He nodded as he went from one part of his lab to the next getting the equipment he needed to revive the mystery woman, "Yes I did and she does in fact have internal bruising but it doesn't require the equipment she needed."
   Sierra blinked as she looked down to the woman who was still drugged, "Why would anyone want to hook her up to that many machines."
   Pausing for a moment, Leonard thought about the question.  He then remembered how they had found her in a room that was untouched by the red fog's entropy.  He shook his head putting those questions aside as he went to work on reviving her, "I don't know, let's wake her up and find out."