Story by the Sportsman
Written by Bernie

Los Angeles, CA, 11:00 AM MST

For the first time in years, the air was busy at an abandoned industrial factory in Los Angeles.  Soldiers marched about briskly on the perimeter, guarding three important men inside.

Valentina Wesson laid herself flat against the wall behind her and inched slowly towards the edge, craning her neck to see what was around the corner.  Sliced Ice, clad in her battle armor stood beside her while Firefly, clad in a black leather jumpsuit identical to Valentina's, stood beside Sliced Ice.  Their purpose for being here was infiltration.  Their target; a radical anti-government militia group known as the Condor Brigade. Val wanted to shut down this group after learning that it was in possession of the nerve gas Sarin. This infiltration was to find out where the Sarin was being stashed.

After seeing no guards on patrol, Val motioned her partners to follow her around the corner.  Val saw a broken window in a few feet ahead and quietly dashed up to it.  She slowly peeked through the cracks and saw a group of Condor Brigade soldiers in a small office.  Val motioned to her partners once again and they followed her to listen in on their conversation.

"The U.S. government has gone out of control.  Just look at what happened at Waco and Ruby!" one man complained.

"I know, and the fact that so many children died.  It's just senseless." said another man.

The third man, who earned both of the men's immediate attention as he spoke, which indicated he was the leader, agreed with the men's sentiments.  "You two don't have to worry much longer, the dictatorship running this country will be dealt with once the Sarin is captured.  Now, the Sarin is being held..."

The third man was interrupted by the sound of a gunshot.

"Fuck!" spat Val as she turned around and saw the two-man patrol that had spotted them.  Firefly drew out her Beretta M-92 and fired back at the guards, hitting one of them in the head while causing the other to duck.

The three soldiers in the office scattered at the sound of the gunshots and rallied the other members of the guard force to action.  Using the commotion to their advantage, they ran out to a 2000 Chevrolet Silverado pickup with a camper top and drove off quickly.  Val and her team saw this and quickly ran with their guns firing to an armored 2000 Dodge Durango R/T and piled in to give chase, with Val behind the wheel.

******

The small park was filled with people, young and old, strolling or playing, generally having fun of some sort.  Three beautiful young women stood out as a contrast to that.  They all sat solemnly on a bench, one of them was a beautiful, tall redhead.  Her name was Caitlin Fairchild, the leader of a team called Gen 13.  Beside her sat two of her teammates, Roxy Spaulding, her half-sister who was much shorter and sported pink bangs on her shoulder length black hair, and Sarah Rainmaker, a young Native-American woman.  They talked solemnly among themselves, about recent tragic events that had shattered their lives.  Two weeks earlier, Ivana Baiul, a woman who had been hunting the team down for quite some time, and some of her loyal Keepers staged an attack on their Florida home, destroying it. The remaining members of their team, John Lynch, Grunge, Burnout, and Alex Fairchild lost their lives to save the three girls. Sarah and Roxy took out the remaining Keepers, while Caitlin personally dealt with Ivana.

Now they were homeless, on the run, and confused.

"I still can't believe it.  Grunge, Burnout..." muttered Roxy in disbelief.

"Alex, John..." Caitlin interrupted with a sob.

"All gone." muttered Sarah, who fought back tears of her own.

Roxy paused for a moment, her mind conflicted as to whether or not speaking at the moment was appropriate.  "Sorry to bring this up, but what are we going to do when Lynch's hidden account is finally tapped out?  We have no idea how long it will last."

"We'll cross that bridge when we reach it." replied Caitlin, her tone dismissive.

The girl's moment of tranquility was shattered as gunshots suddenly rang out and the park filled with screams and people scrambling for cover.  Caitlin, Roxy and Sarah ducked and ran, their eyes scanning for the source of the shots.  The three girls ducked behind a thick growth of bushes, their heads still covered with the arms.

"What's going on?!" asked Roxy in a scared tone.

"Don't know!" answered Caitlin, yelling so her half-sister could hear her over the screams.  Caitlin quickly peeked over the bushes and saw a 2000 Chevy Silverado pickup and a 2000 Dodge Durango R/T screech down the street in a high speed chase.  Two men in the Silverado pickup were firing at the Durango, their bullets bouncing off the window.

"The window must be made of Lexan." Caitlin guessed.

"Come on!  Let's check this out!" Caitlin ordered.  Sarah nodded and used her weather manipulating powers to fly out while Roxy used her anti-gravity powers to place Caitlin and herself in a stasis bubble so they could follow Sarah through the air.

***

"Got you now bastard." Val muttered as the gap between her and her opponents rapidly closed.  Just as they were closing in, the Silverado crossed an intersection. and a garbage truck suddenly appeared before the Durango.  Val almost screamed and hit the brakes, forcing the car to a screeching halt, an inch before hitting the garbage truck.  The garbage truck driver slammed on the brakes in panic and swerved his vehicle, causing it to turn over sideways.   With the smell of burning rubber filling her nostrils and her view of the Silverado blocked by the large, rusty vehicle, Val hit the steering wheel in frustration.

***

"Sarah!  Follow the Silverado!" Caitlin spouted as she saw the Silverado zoom away.  "Me and Roxy will check out the Durango's driver."

Sarah nodded in compliance while Roxy landed their stasis bubble near the Durango.  They run up to the window of the vehicle and knock on it, getting the attention of the three woman inside.

"Hi.  My name's Caitlin Fairchild." said Caitlin, who politely extended her hand.

"I'm Roxy, Roxy Spaulding." said Roxy, also extending her hand.

After shaking hands briefly with everyone, Caitlin asked, "Can anyone tell me what's going on?"

"Me and my associates are on a mission to find the Sarin nerve gas." replied Val.

"Oh?  I've heard of that stuff." said Caitlin.

"We can help you." offered Roxy.

"That's very generous but..." Val declined.

"We're not just some punk teenagers.  We've got a lot of adventuring experience, believe us." Roxy interrupted.  "Maybe you've heard of Gen 13?" asked Roxy.

"Gen 13?  Aren't you fugitives?" asked Val.

"No.  That's a lie.  Believe us, we ran off from I/O, but they were the bad guys, not us." answered Roxy.  "Look, watch this." she said as she walked towards the garbage truck.

Roxy closed her eyes and extended her arms.  The truck began to vibrate slightly, the tremors increasing in intensity as Roxy seemed to exert more of her will.

"My sister has gravity altering powers." explained Caitlin to the three curious women, who continued to watch carefully.

In a quick motion Roxy raised her arms, and to astonishment of the three women in the Durango, the large garbage truck moved following Roxy's arm movements.  The large vehicle raised a few feet off the ground, where Roxy slowly turned it back on it's tires and laid it safely further down the road.

"Roxy!"  yelled Caitlin as she hopped into the Durango.  "Catch up with us!!"

The Durango sped off in the hope that the Silverado had not gotten too far ahead, with Roxy flying behind them.

******

Sarah Rainmaker continued soaring after the Silverado, whose occupants fired on her. The shots missed by a mile and Sarah effortlessly fired a lightning bolt, taking out their tires.  The vehicle continued screeching along the pavement for a few more moments before swerving to the right and hitting a street sign.  Four soldiers staggered out of the vehicle, some of them in worse shape than others.  They all pulled their weapons on Sarah, who avoided their shots gracefully.  Deciding there was no time for fooling around, the Native American girl launched a massive lightning bolt directly at the group of men, frying them to ash.

A fifth man jumped out of the vehicle, only to see his comrades fall to the ground in black, smoking heaps.  He gasped in terror and dropped his weapon, raising his hands in surrender.  At that moment, Val's Durango pulled up to the crash site.  Sarah landed and grouped with Kim, Val, Caitlin, and Miranda as they piled out of the car.  They were joined shortly afterwards by Roxy who landed on the scene.  Caitlin walked up to the terrified man and grasped him by the collar of his military jumpsuit.

"Okay, so tell us where the Sarin is." she demanded.

"Go to hell slut." the soldier spat, trying his best not to sound terrified.

Caitlin let go of the man, hurt somewhat by his slander.  In rage she did a roundhouse kick to his face, knocking one of his teeth out and sending him crashing to the pavement.

"Okay okay!" he said through bleeding lips, his fear evident in his voice while Caitlin stood fuming over him.  "It's in a safehouse in Denver Colorado!"  The sound of sirens cut the man off as several police cars swerved from around the corner.  Cops began swarming over the accident site with their guns drawn and their mouths barking threats and orders a mile a minute.

"It's okay officer." said Val calmly.  "You can take this man into custody.  He was shooting at me and my friends here, so we acted in self-defense.  The guns are in the truck."  Val's glare suddenly focused on the terrorist's leader.  "And I'm sure our friend will testify, right?"

"Yes, of course." the man said, blood oozing out of his lips.

"Um, okay." replied one of the policemen, who holstered his gun and led the terrorist to a squad car.

"Well, that's that." said Val.  "Thanks a lot for your help Caitlin, Roxy and Sarah."

"We still want to help you." said Caitlin.  "At least I do."

"She speaks for me too." said Sarah.

"And me." added Roxy.

"Please Val, I know you're going to tell us it's too dangerous and whatever, but believe us, we've seen a lot of that kind of stuff, we're used to it.  Our lives have been destroyed Val, can't you please give us a chance?  We need a new life."

"Well..." said Val as she pondered the girl's request.  "What do you two think?  Kim?  Miranda?"

"I think they've proven themselves." said Kim.

"They deserve a chance to rebuild their lives, just like the opportunity you gave me Val." said Miranda.

"Alright then." said Val, nodding her head in approval.  "We head off."

After thanking Val warmly, Caitlin, Roxy and Sarah climbed into the Durango with Miranda, Kim and Val, who drove the group to the airport.

******

Denver, Colorado, 11:15 AM MST

James Wellington listened intently to the voice on his cell phone, his teeth gritting and his fist tightening as more and more unpleasant news got transmitted to him.  He silently turned off the cell phone without thanking or acknowledging the messenger and immediately turned to a small group of soldiers behind him.

"Everyone!" he yelled out, his voice retaining its professionalism despite his frustration.  "I've just received word that our L.A. safehouse has been attacked by Valentina Wesson and her associates."

The soldiers immediately broke into muttering and panic.  All of them knew of Wesson's history and motives, especially her mission against the American Brotherhood to avenge the victims of the Apollo Airlines Flight 259 sabotage, including her parents. They also remember the punishment Val gave its leader, Matthew Hawkins.  It was common knowledge possessed by all of them, including James Wellington.  The man was skilled at predicting enemy thought patterns, and could see from the men's actions what was on their minds.

"If you think we are going to fall like Matthews Hawkins did, you are wrong.  Hawkins was a fool for destroying the plane instead of taking care of the traitor in his group on the ground.  He allowed himself to be defeated by that Wesson bitch!  The Brigade can learn from that moron's mistakes!"

Wellington turned towards his soldiers, taking a deep breath before addressing them in a loud, powerful tone of voice.

"It is time, to free America from the tyranny of its own government!  Through the efforts of the Condor Brigade, the country we love will be saved!  Then, and only then will America be a great nation once again!  No longer will it be under the thumb of the liberal meddlers that are slowly taking away the rights, of true Americans!  It is time, to show these meddlers that true Americans have had enough of their interference!!"

The assembled group cheered loudly upon the completion of Wellington's speech.  Wellington smiled slightly, basking in the applause while trying not to look smug.  When the cheers finally subsided, Wellington spoke again.

"First step in our plan, is to get rid of Val Wesson and her friends."

TO BE CONTINUED