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Captain Freedom character by Jerod
Captain Freedom artwork by Bono
(Hey Bono hope its okay that I used your pic of Captain Freedom.)
An explosion rocked downtown Las Vegas in the early afternoon of August 4th. Cesar’s Palace, MGM, the Luxor, the Excalibur and many other casinos were vaporized in an instant. There was wide spread panic in the streets. Everyone ran around screaming about the coming of the Apocalypse and World War 3. Even the SWAT team wasn’t prepared to contain the situation. Shootouts began taking place in the streets as chaos reigned. This went on for hours as more and more explosions took place with no discernable cause.
The X5 Drop-Ship carrying the STRAFE team was minutes away when it too was racked with an explosion. The ship’s shielding held however and the team remained safe inside for the moment. Pilot Samantha Norton took evasive action against the unseen attacker launching countermeasure flares and entering into a series of dives and rolls to avoid being tracked.
“Damn it all to hell” Wraith swore after the first hit “we need to diffuse this situation at once. Alright team let’s go!”
John Vassal, Remus Vel’Kar, and Corey Wraith jumped out with parachutes while Sun Wukong transformed his body into that of an eagle and flew behind them. They all reached the ground safely but found themselves instantly in the middle of a firefight between the police and some would be robbers. Bullets whizzed by their heads.
Vel’Kar phased to allow one to pass through his body which otherwise would have struck him square between the eyes. Wraith had his SCAR locked and loaded. Focusing his senses he saw the path the bullets would take before they actually arrived and so he was able to dodge them with ease all the while he fired back with his force rounds knocking the robbers off their feet. The firefight ended quickly. But then the SWAT team converged on the STRAFE agents.
“Drop your weapons” the sergeant in charge of Vegas SWAT commanded.
“We don’t have time for this” Vassal snarled “we are here to help.”
Before anything else could be said there was another explosion. Sun Wukong conjured a circle of protection around his teammates and the police as debris rained down upon their heads. Then just as suddenly as the explosions started they stopped and for several minutes nothing else happened. Even the people who had been panicking in the streets seemed to have gone back inside what buildings were left or else been killed by falling steel and concrete.
“What can we do against massive explosions?” John Vassal asked.
“First we need to determine the cause” Corey Wraith replied.
Then out of nowhere another explosive blast was heard as a beam of energy struck Wraith clear in the chest throwing him backwards through the wall of a nearby building. Before the rest of the team could react both Vassal and Vel’Kar were similarly hit and slammed into the building.
Wukong was the only one who was able to resist the assault. He conjured up another protective circle which absorbed the blast. Then he had his staff in hand ready to fight whatever was coming their way. A blond haired woman wearing desert fatigues came into view her fists glowing with the same energy that had struck Sun Wukong’s teammates.
The woman charged at him and struck with an explosive punch of force. Sun parried with his staff but was still knocked back a few feet. He swung the staff at her head but she rolled underneath it and hit him with an exploding uppercut knocking him off his feet. The staff left his hand and fell to the ground. Wukong conjured up a burst of wind and sent it at the woman lifting her up off the ground and slamming her into a dumpster across the street.
As she climbed out of the garbage Sun was pulling several of his hairs out and dropping them to the ground. Each one sprung up into a clone of the Monkey King. They surrounded the blond woman ready to pile on their attacks. In a furious rage the explosive energy surrounded her body and exploded outwards disintegrating all the clones in one strike and knocking Wukong unconscious.
Then the woman stormed off launching a few more explosive blasts to topple more buildings. As she rounded a corner she came face to face with a large muscular man patriotically dressed in red, white and blue and carrying a star shaped shield in one hand. He wore the rank of Captain on his mask and had a look of fierce determination in his eyes.
“Stop right there before I have to put you down” he ordered her with a commanding voice that demanded respect.
“Who the hell are you?” she asked “looks like the American Flag threw up on you” then she spit in his face.
The man calmly wiped his face with the back of his glove and continued to stare at her watching her body language. Her hands charged up and she swung her right fist. The man brought his Victory Shield up to block and the explosion boomed loudly all around. But neither the man nor the woman moved an inch from the force of the blast.
“That does it” he spoke first “you are coming with me right now for crimes against America.”
At that moment STRAFE had recovered and was now arriving. Corey Wraith aimed his rifle at the back of the woman’s head; Vassal held his sword ready as Vel’Kar had a Tri-Blade in each hand. The Monkey King was shaking his head as if trying to clear it for now he had a massive headache from his encounter with the woman earlier.
“Looks like you are surrounded” the man said to her “why not give up while you can?”
“Because I am here to destroy your pathetic excuse for a country” she replied angrily “don’t think for a moment this is over” the woman told him before surrounding herself in the energy once more and launching herself into the air.
They tracked her with their eyes for a moment but then she was lost from view. Then they all looked at one another in bewilderment. For a few minutes no one spoke until at last Corey Wraith decided to break the ice with a crisp salute.
“It is a pleasure to meet you sir” Wraith said “I’ve heard a lot about you Captain Freedom.”
“And I of you Sergeant Wraith” Captain Freedom replied returning the salute “We can talk more later but for now we need to find out where that woman went so that we can stop her.”
“Not a problem” Remus Vel’Kar said activating his communicator “X5 we need a pickup.”
A short time later they were all back at Area 51 sitting in the briefing room with intelligence operative Luther Vanguard. He had done his research before they arrived and had the information ready to discuss the moment they landed.
“The woman’s name is Melanie Neidich and she is Ukrainian. As of late she has worked as a mercenary in the employ of the small nation of Molinaro. Her powers are radioactive in nature. Something happened between her time with the Ukrainian Army and her joining with Molinaro’s forces that gave her these extraordinary powers. We don’t know what that is yet. However it is confirmed that she answers to the call sign Bombshell during her communications with the Molinaro government.”
“What does Molinaro have against the United States?” Sun asked.
“Oil drilling rights in Saudi Arabia for starters. Molinaro had plans to purchase these rights which would have boosted their economy greatly. That is until we signed a peace agreement with the Saudis which also gave us exclusive drilling rights.”
“Since when do we have exclusive rights? Why don’t we know about it?” Wraith asked this time.
“Because this information was never made public” Vanguard responded “but that’s not important right now. What is important is finding her next target and stopping her before another city becomes a wasteland. We’ve already lost Vegas we can’t afford to lose others.”
Satellite imagery appeared on a large monitor that was built into the wall behind Luther Vanguard. It showed a small object streaking across the sky towards New York City. The team was out of their chairs and headed towards the hanger in an instant.
Bombshell stood on top of a skyscraper and surveyed the city before her. This was the image of America that was drilled into her head during her training. The Statue of Liberty standing out in the water mocking the rest of the world. A gift from France is what they told everyone. When in reality the French were forced into slave labor to make it and then threatened into silence. Only Molinaro knows the truth about America, about the extent of their treachery.
Her hands begin glowing with radiation as she readies to strike a blow that America will never forget. She takes careful aim and unleashes all her power at once in a beam that will vaporize the statue. Bombshell watches with a smile on her face imaging the devastation on people’s faces as they witness their beloved Lady Liberty destroyed.
Her smile turns to a frown as the energy hits the statue and dissipates. How is this possible? What divine intervention could have stopped her explosive blast? Then she sees it. The Monkey King is standing on the statue’s torch waving his hands around weaving some kind of protective charm. But how did he beat her here?
Sun Wukong worked feverishly weaving his spell to protect the statue. It was Captain Freedom who said that would most likely be her first target and he’d been right. The Monkey King used his special somersault ability to transfer himself almost instantaneously from Nevada to New York in order to get here first. The rest of the team should be here shortly. Until then it was up to him to protect the city and its landmarks.
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