Five Superheroines Coming Together

It was a dark, silent, lonely night in the isolated warehouse that the five women were able to borrow use of. The owner was a rather friendly old man who had offered support to a few members of their group in the past and he was a mildly prominent business owner in the city. This warehouse used to be used to be a distribution center for one of the big box stores in the area but they had recently bought some land elsewhere and built their own facility, deciding that they didn’t want to rent anymore. Since the owner hadn’t been able to track down any new renters or business opportunities for the building yet, he was more than happy to offer this as a place for the women to meet when Blaze asked for his assistance.

Blaze was among the veteran and more experienced amongst the supers in the world and was considered one of the leaders amongst all superheroes. At least when it came to those who were still active. She wasn’t just considered a leader within the superheroine community though, she was one of the most honored and beloved women in the world today. Officially using the moniker Blaze, she also had been nicknamed the Blue Blur thanks to being amongst the fastest creatures ever known, whether discussing those with superpowers or without. In fact she could go fast enough that she had to wear special boots just to keep her feet on the ground. once she began approaching her mid-level velocities. If she were barefoot at higher speeds, she could end up flying several hundred feet into the air simply due to her inertia. She was fast enough that even with all the super geniuses out there building new forms of civilian and military transportation, very few manmade items could rival her speed so long as they remained in the atmosphere.

With her enhanced speed came a few other things. To be able to run at speeds that fast, she also had to have incredibly tough and resistant skin just to deal with the friction of the air against her body. Avoiding collisions meant she had to have much quicker than normal human reaction and mental processing speed and Blaze had both. She didn’t ask one of the lab scientists to create the special footwear or the friction-resistant, slip-stream enhancing cloth that kept bugs, birds, and other small animals from hitting her as she ran throughout the world. She designed and created it herself after taking a couple of months to study enough physics and chemistry to effectively have an advanced doctorate in both.

Her strength, speed, intelligence, experience, and wisdom had made her a recognizable face throughout the world and a role model for all. She made it clear that even though she was born with natural enhancements that made her able to accomplish more than most ever could, that didn’t make her superior. She went to great lengths to ensure that the people she protected never saw her as someone trying to be above them and that largely increased her support worldwide. She was truly a paragon of what everyone in the world thought of as an ideal hero and did her best to carry that forward which is what brought her to this building tonight.

Many of the younger superheroines she had the privilege and responsibility for mentoring had recently been having issues that have allowed an unusually large number of villains to escape. They had largely been able to protect the civilian populace, which to Blaze was always her paramount concern, but of course ensuring those that endanger the people in the first place needed to be stopped from doing it again after their plans were stopped. And the issue that had come up and been the problem each and every time had been a lack of cooperation and trust. Which is why she decided to call four of the other heroines here for the night. She had picked up snacks, non-alcoholic drinks, and grabbed something that would hopefully give them a chance to interact and get to know one another a little bit: a board game.

Truth be told she didn’t know much about games in general and had never heard of this, “Chicken Out,” game before but to a large extent she wasn’t sure that entirely mattered. The important thing was that her and the girls who had been having trouble getting along and getting to know each other, spent some time together and hopefully started to develop a little bit of a rapport. Hopefully that would begin to build up trust. And from the little synopsis on the back of the box, the game was apparently about dares, bravery, and confronting your own desires and doubts. Considering the field they were all in, that felt like a solid option. It could even provide an opportunity for personal growth.

Blaze made sure to arrive early and get everything together well before everyone was supposed to arrive. Of course with her speed it wasn’t that hard and took almost no time whatsoever. But of course even when you’re the fasting living creature in the known universe and get there early, when you’re dealing with a gathering of supers, there will always be at least one that tries to catch another unprepared and this was no exception. Blaze wasn’t at all surprised when she caught a slight breeze of cold, evening air on the back of her neck as a window dematerialized for a moment allowing a pale-skinned woman clad in all black to drift through the temporarily immaterial pane of glass.

While a lot of heroes had come and gone over the years, and having to compete with comic books and novels made coming up with a new, original name rather difficult, and while Blaze appreciated a good pun, she still found the name Night Knight to be a bit silly and childish. And out of place considering the cold, placid demeanor that the woman that used the name usually carried herself with. The woman had pale skin and aside from that, the rest of her was black. Her clothes, her hair, her shoes, her hood, her everything. If her clothes had been a bit more baggy and smelly, Blaze often thought to herself that the woman would look more at home at a high school or college goth hangout than in a meeting with heroes.

This woman’s powers were primarily mental, her mind operating on a completely different level than Blaze. While Blaze largely had genetics to thank for her speed, Night Knight was a witch. She studied dark, arcane arts and early on in life she simply found that she had an incredible level of talent and her way of thinking completely meshed with the style of thinking to most easily make use of magics. Because of this, despite her youth at being almost 19, Night Knight was already becoming a prominent name both amongst the crime-fighting world and within the realm of magic, demons, and the supernatural. As the girl’s form slowly descended from the elevated catwalks down to the ground floor, Blaze just smiled as she grabbed a fork from the dinner table and tossed it right at Night Knight as hard as she could. The fork flew threw the body of the woman as if she didn’t exist and when it hit the wall behind her, it left a small crack in the concrete.

“You really shouldn’t do that, from what I understand you don’t actually own this facility. Damaging the property of a friend who is doing you a favor isn’t polite,” came the voice of Night Knight from another part of the building as she stepped out from the shadows. “And you knew that wasn’t really me?”

“Dematerializing the window gave it away. I haven’t known you for very long but unless we were in a fight, I have never seen you actually enter a room. Every time previously I just look or hear you speak and you’re already in the room with me. I get the impression that you’re someone that prefers to get the layout of a room before anyone knows you’re around. Expending the magic to make the window vanish for a moment though while your illusion passes through is a good trick, anyone that doesn’t know your more subtle habits would probably fall for it.”

Night Knight just shrugged her shoulders and gave a half smile, “That’s the idea.” And the woman apparently had nothing else to say as she slowly walked toward the table that Blaze had set out and sat down while occasionally tossing a piece of popcorn into her mouth while a book appeared in her palm and she sat down to begin reading it while waiting for the rest of the planned group to arrive.

Blaze wasn’t surprised or upset by the girl kind of ignoring her after the greeting as that’s how she was. Not much of a social creature and quite often she was of the, “I only talk if I have something important to say,” mentality. Which was part of why Blaze wanted her in this meeting as it could occasionally come off as rude to those who didn’t know her on a personal level. Helping some of the others understand her quiet, non-talkative personality could help the girl get along with some of the other heroes was one of her hopes. Or at the very least let others not feel disrespected when seemingly ignored by Night Knight. And there was probably nobody that could use that lesson more than the woman who was knocking at the door and making quite the loud racket as she yelled to let everyone know that she had arrived.

Even by superhero standards, the effervescent and always jovial redheaded woman that went by the name Hard Times, had incredible physical strength. She was barely 18 and had recently come to some superheroes looking for training as she continued to get stronger. In her brief tenure as a public person, she had established herself as a tremendously friendly, happy, and boisterous person that just wanted to make the world a better place but often times was way too dependent upon her raw physical power and toughness. The woman could fall out of an airplane and do more damage to the Earth than her own body when she landed with how resilient she is, but with her limited experiences dealing with supervillains and high stakes fights, she been rather reckless at times and far too dependent upon muscling through all the trials put before her. Having the girl around some more mental, stealthy, and precise individuals and hoping some of that would rub off on her was why she was invited.

Behind her in the parking lot and walking towards the door was possibly the most intelligent one of the group and it wasn’t even close. Blaze might actually know a little more, but that was only because she had a pretty overpowered brain and was over fifteen years older than the 20 year old woman slowly walking into the warehouse. She had dyed purple hair, dark skin, a cell phone in one hand, and a joint in the other. High Tech was already on the path to becoming one of the richest people on the planet largely due to the copyrights she held on several different renewable energy devices, water filtration systems, dietary supplements, and the fact that her fast food chain was quickly becoming one of the most popular in the region. While the food itself was generally considered “not that much better,” than most other chains, she had managed to create flavor additives and cooking oil that allowed full flavor without sacrificing nutrition. And as a bonus she had a fully unionized staff that made a full living wage across every establishment she owned.

Not only was she a super genius, but she had figured out a way to be amazingly altruistic while making money at the same time. While the pursuit of wealth wasn’t a trait that Blaze particularly thought was becoming of a heroine, High Tech was renowned for using a substantial part of her wealth to research other projects and make the world an even better place. That on the other hand was a trait that Blaze found very worthwhile

The newest guest looked up at Blaze as she took a drag from her cigarette and greeted her in a high-pitched voice while holding in the smoke for a little while, ”Hey Blaze. Nice to see you again.” She released her breath and smiled, “You look magnificent as always. I am so thankful that you invited me. And surprised to be honest.”

Blaze just smiled as she had shaken the woman’s hand while the doobie was in her mouth, “My goal here is to encourage unity amongst all of the most promising young heroes and allies, you are definitely amongst the most valuable I have seen come along in quite some time. And I don’t mean your money. To succeed against some of the villains, logistical support can often be the most valuable thing there is. Knowing where to send hands before a skyscraper collapses, or where a fire needs to be put out to save lives, or warning signs or an attack before it comes is essential. Plus you have a sizeable number of diverse, combat-capable robots and an enhanced body so you can handle yourself if you find yourself in a fight.”

High Tech just laughed as she walked in, “True I suppose. But If I get you as a spokeswoman and you were half as good at selling the food as you are at selling me, I’d be the richest in the world by the end of the week. Thanks babe,” she said as she walked in and looked a little apprehensively at the other two women who were already at the table and didn’t seem to be getting along particularly well.

Blaze wasn’t surprised that Foxtrot would be the last woman to arrive. Despite the fact that she always seemed rather friendly, kind-hearted, and pleasant when around people, she also had a reputation as not working well with others and being kind of a loner. While she was the smallest and slimmest of stature amongst the invitees, she was also the youngest. It was hard to say whether the girl’s childhood was a fortunate or unfortunate one and it largely depended upon outlook and comparison.

She wasn’t born with any sort of powers or mutations that gave her powers and was just a regular kid, until she was kidnapped. She was actually experimented on during childhood and was the victim of a now deceased villain’s attempts at figuring out human-animal gene splicing. From an outward appearance the woman looked like just a short, skinny girl with fox ears. In truth she had the eyes of an owl, the sense of smell and strength of an elephant, the hearing of a fox, and reflexes of a cat. The procedures that gave her these enhancements though were brutal, sadistic, and beyond horrifying and Foxtrot was one of the lucky ones. The brutality that the villain known as Professor DooLots subjected her to as he painstakingly ripped her very body and DNA apart was a relatively advanced procedure, compared to Foxtrot’s predecessors and those he had experimented on previously.

The victims that the mad scientist experimented on before her, while he was developing his process wound up in much worse shape. Many were dead and took on strange mutations that were barely recognizable as either human or whatever animal the original person had been merged with. Others were still alive but in excruciating pain while others were completely paralyzed and numb as their nervous systems failed to function properly after whatever new pieces of anatomy were added to the original body. Once captured the Professor died within a week of being put into prison. As the stories of his experiments became public, even many of the most cold-hearted villains thought he went to far. After night six of his incarceration there was a supposed escape attempt but guards realized too late how half-hearted and slow the breakout attempt actually was. The truth is it was just a distraction to keep the guards busy as Professor DooLots was taken care of. Nobody was convicted for his **** simply because there were at least six villains who were confirmed to have attacked him with different forms of lethal ****. The problem was they couldn’t determine who got to him first and actually killed him.

The fact that Foxtrot smiled at all after what she went through and what she witnessed being done to others was astounding to Blaze. But perhaps she just gave control of her life over to the part of her that was simply thrilled to still be alive. To be not just alive, but healthy and strong on top of it. Blaze stood outside while keeping an eye on the three already in the building and awaiting her last guest until a quick shadow flying overhead let her know that Foxtrot would be joining them soon. She didn’t like to drive or use any motorized vehicles when she didn’t need to so when she had left the city, Foxtrot had just grabbed her hang glider and jumped off of a tall building, flying here as fast as the wind would allow her. The small blond woman saw Blaze and changed her flight path, flying in a series of tight circles above the parking lot while quickly descending.

Upon landing she stood up, casually stretched herself a little bit, pulled her sword out from the compartment on her glider that she stored it in while flying, and with the press of a button, her transportation folded up its wings and Foxtrot carried it over her shoulder and set it up against the wall beside the door where Blaze was standing. She smiled with her sword still over her shoulder, in her pink and black bodysuit, and put out a hand to greet Blaze. “Well, it’s still a couple of weeks before I can legally drink but I’m sure you still have a few bottles of wine here right?” Blaze just smiled and shook her head as it was obvious she was just making a joke. “Shoot, I guess I’ll make due with some lemonade. Hey everyone! The party is finally here so let’s get started!”

She walked past Blaze and into the building who followed behind and closed the door. She didn’t have any great concerns that some of her planned group would be too busy to show up but it was still great to see everyone was able to make it.