Sentinel Comics 5

Prologue

Hellshoque wandered the halls of Zen’s lair. The energy net holding her trapped had eventually dissipated and now she was out for blood. Never before had she been so utterly humiliated. She would kill Azangel and feast on her entrails and take great pleasure in torturing the other JSSers. Hellshoque knew a great many techniques for causing pain without killing the victim for a great many years. But first she needed an edge to defeat them. The search had proved fruitless; she had no idea where Zen had kept his armory and laboratory. His minions hadn’t needed to know. She had eventually stumbled on the wing containing his laboratories, but hadn’t found anything useful. Zen hadn’t returned, which didn’t worry the demoness greatly. She knew something had happened to him, the mental bond that had kept her in his control had also dissipated. Zen meant nothing to her. Just the JSS and the foul Azangel. She would pluck that angel’s wings, that was certain. She smiled at the thought.

Turning a corner she stumbled across a heavily barred door surrounded by strange equipment, against the far wall in a bare room. It must be the entrance to the armoury! There were a great many locks and restraints but she knew that summoning her full hellspawn power, she would be able to handle them. A fierce grin split her face. “AAAAH....” She stood back and blasted the door with demonfire. The metal buckled, hissed and popped. Within the fire, glimpses of the faces of tortured souls could be seen bending and shrieking their silent screams. If only Zen had let her have full access to her powers, but he knew that he couldn’t trust the demoness. He would have been right. She stopped blasting and strode forward. Talons bit into the hot metal and again she smiled at the feeling of the sweet pain that coursed through her hands. Soon that pain would belong to others and she would feast upon it. She tore the door away and stopped amazed at what she saw within...a swirling mass of limbo with a wormhole bored through it. Her extra senses seemed to hear a call go out through that limbo. She stood there, uncertain of what to do. Something caught her eye at the other end of the tunnel. Her keen vision spotted what looked like figures striding towards her. Seven of them. She waited. The figures saw her and stopped. One pointed and she was thrown back by a blast of energy she had never known before, she writhed on the ground in a form of pain that was totally alien to her. The figures entered the lair and stood watching her.

“YOU???!!!!”

She couldn’t believe her eyes. Her enemies stood arrayed before her. Yet they looked strangely different. She watched in fear and agony as the witch formed a spell and threw it at Hellshoque. She died knowing nothing but oblivion.

“Well that was entertaining, for what it was worth.”

“Pathetic. I just hope the others we were sent to kill will be better sport than this sorry creature.”

“But why wasn’t Zen here to greet us? We have a pact.”

The smallest figure silenced the others with a gesture.

“We wait. And find out.”
_________________________________________________________________

Chapter 1

“Ry, stop staring at Twinkle's cleavage.” Silver Lantern whispered as Azangel continued her story.

“Damn. Those are very distracting,” Rydgen murmured to himself as his eyes snapped forward.

“So Quetz purged all of the Shadow God's influence from me, revealing my true form. By the way Sil, Green Quasar says hello.” She smiled.

Az stepped forward and gave Sil a hug. She looked very different to the girl he had known before. Her skin was incredibly pale, almost white. Pale blue eyes, filled with happiness at seeing her friends drank in her surroundings. Her armor had also changed, now gold and white, though Sil wondered how it would protect her still as it no longer covered her from head to toe.

Silver Lantern felt they had all changed though. Rydgen was clothed in a new style and carrying a satchel that his ring had noticed carried items giving off strange energies. As for him, well the changes weren’t cosmetic. He looked at Twinkle, who was ecstatic at being surrounded by heroes and was being treated like the hero she had always wanted to be. Then there was the strange young man he had seen standing with Ry and Az. He stood slightly apart listening to the tales the others had told. He seemed unsure of what to do. Whether to stay or go. Silver looked at Ry who indicated that he would tell him later. So, introductions had been made and they had each caught up on what the others had been doing. For a brief instant he could almost forget the recent sorrows in their lives. Pat disappeared, Bishop in a coma, the pub destroyed. The Oan Sentinel glanced sadly at the rubble being carried away by the demolition crew. His reverie was broken by a question.

“So what now? The pub’s gone and there’s a definite feeling of ill will against us for our actions.” Ry had filled the others in on his little run in with C.A.M.P., Citizens Against Metahuman Presence.

Sil pondered the question. “We should remain together. There’s not a lot going for us at the moment. But we can do the best we can.”

Twinkle nearly raised her hand. "You know me! I've always wanted to be a part of a team! Of course I’ll join!”

Ry looked at the pale young man, “Hey, David… You wanna stick with us?”

“I should go. I don’t really know what I’m doing here. All I want is to find my purpose. Why I’m here. I want a life again. A name. I want to know who I am.”

David gave them a brief description of what he could remember and how he had been lead to the J Street Sentinels.

“Well if you want help finding out,” Ry replied, “We’re here for you. At the moment we’re pretty much in the same boat I’m afraid, but we’ll do what we can.”

“I’ll think about it...” David conceded.

So what do we do now?” Az asked.

“You can start by explaining where you’ve been and why you made such a mess of your mission? That was very sloppy work, people.” A stentorian voice rang out.

They spun around in surprise, adopting defensive positions.

A man, who looked to be in his middle age, a shock of gray hair topped a careworn but still youthful face faced them. He was dressed in a costume of red, white and blue with a stylized “S” on his chest and carried a shield, badge shaped, white, bordered in blue with the same insignia in the middle. Beside him stood a women who looked to be in her late forties. She wore a streamlined costume of blue.
She also looked bored with the proceedings.

“And who might you be?” Ry replied.

Sil noticed the crowd that had gathered had fallen silent. Their faces wearing expressions of surprise, awe and admiration.

An old cop had wandered up to see what the disturbance was and now slowly approached the costumed man.

“I know you. You’re...Awww, no! It can’t be. It’s impossible but I can’t be wrong! I saw you once when I was a kid! Never forgot it!"

The man smiled. “No officer...You’re not mistaken! I am Superion.”

The cop smiled, his voice choked. “And all these years...all of us.... Your fans...all your admirers...we thought you were dead! But you’ve come back...Just when the world has need of such a man...Just like fate planned it this way! Forgive me, Supes, willya? I-I seem to have something in my eye.”

Rydgen chuckled sarcastically. “Do you guys believe this???”

There was no answer, he turned and saw Silver Lantern and Azangel staring at each other in amazement.

“Superion???” They both chorused in unison.
_________________________________________________________________

Chapter 2

Silver Lantern and Azangel were astonished.

Another Superion? Here? But this wasn’t the Superion they knew from their home dimension. This was someone different. And who was the girl?

“OK, people.” Superion’s attention was back on the JSSers and the others. “You’ve got some explaining to do, but this isn’t the place. C’mon. I know somewhere we can…”

“Why should we go with you? Besides we’re watching the Kobolds carry away our home. We’ve got a mess to clean up.”

“That’s exactly why you should come with me! The Kobolds don’t need supervision. The reason you should come with me, Mister, is because your team is uncoordinated, distracted and a threat to innocent civilians. Because my partner and I here, Sapphire Swift, have spent the last week cleaning up your mess. Helping injured people, Repairing damage, rounding up the villains that you let wander free and giving the body of your teammate Thanos over for a decent burial. You all have potential but a lack of discipline. Though I see some new faces amongst you. You could be so much more and a real boon, not just to this community, or the world...but the many universes out there!"

The three original Sentinels were momentarily taken aback at the mention of their once lost teammate, Thanos. They had completely forgotten about him!

Ry gathered himself together though, and shouted back indignantly. “What’s that got to do with you, grandpa?”

Superion leaned forward, hands on hips, and gave a dazzling smile. “Because, pup, I’m going to whip you into shape.”

“Are you calm now, Ry?”

Rydgen nodded and Silver Lantern dissolved the restraints. “Sorry Sil, that old fogey really got under my skin with that crack.”

“Me too,” Silver Lantern replied, “But let’s hear him out. I don’t like his tone either, but look at the facts, we have no where to live, no direction, and we haven’t exactly been living the quiet life recently.”

“And there’s something in his voice,” Sil thought to himself. “This is a man used to command and the respect of his peers. He speaks gently, but you can’t help but want to obey the unspoken command in his voice.”

Silver Lantern and Rydgen wandered back to the laboratory where the others were waiting. It was part of a complex owned by a corporation called Clark Technologies.

“Someone has some moolah to spend...” Rydgen thought as they entered to find what was left of the J Street Sentinels gathered at a table.

“Your friend gathered his composure yet?” Superion asked. Ry’s expression turned dark. “Yes,” He replied, “you rassin’ frassin rickrtty ol’...” he whispered under his breath.

“I heard that. Super hearing.” Superion replied.

Rydgen and his storm cloud sat down.

“Good man.” Superion smiled and continued. “For those just joining, I’ll reiterate my proposal.

I was a superhero during the forties as was my daughter here...We fought the good fight against the Nazis and...”

“Just get to the point, Dad...” Sapphire Swift interrupted, smiling wistfully at the old man.

“Her first words and a smile...” Azangel thought. Since first appearing beside her father, Sapphire Swift had not spoken once and had kept perfectly expressionless. “What’s her problem?” Az wondered.

Superion laughed and continued. “Very well, I have the equipment, the money and the experience. I think you all need the benefit of the latter to gel as a team. You’re fighting the good fight, but your methods are clumsy...”

The others bridled at the remark, but said nothing.

“...You need organization to operate as an effective fighting unit, while at the same time protecting property and the innocent. I’ve been retired a long time...” He paused and looked sad as certain memories surfaced. Sapphire Swift placed a hand on his shoulder and slightly squeezed. He pulled himself together and looked up at Azangel, Silver Lantern and Rydgen. “I’ve followed your careers. I think you could be a tiptop team fighting for a better world. And I want to help you reach you full potential. Not only for yourselves but also for the betterment of society and humanity everywhere. What do you say?”

“Great Quetz!” Az thought to herself. “He really believes it. You can see it in his eyes. A better world...”

There was silence.

“You bet!” Twinkle enthused. “This’ll be so cool!”

Azangel looked at Silver and Rydgen. “Well it’s not as if we have anything better to do. I'm in.”

Sil thought to himself. But I want to know more before we just go barging into an agreement with this man.
“I as well, for now.” He answered.

“Ry?”

“Ok. I’ll follow the antique.” And settled into a funk of annoyance. “Tellin’uswhattodo...Whoduzhethinkheis...IfheexpectsmetocleanupmyactandbeaboyscoutwhyI’llshovethat...”
Superion turned to David. “Young man?”

David stood up. “Well...I only came around because of an old newspaper article. I’m not much of a joiner. I don’t know who I am. As I said before, I just want to find out how I got these powers and who I was...I have no life and no name.”

Superion stood and looked with compassion on the tormented figure. “Well perhaps we can help. If you stick with us we’ll try our hardest to give you your whole self back. And until we do you would be doing some good. Fighting for Justice and giving meaning to others in their lives. Maybe it’ll help?”

David smiled briefly. “Maybe it would. I think I would like that.”

Superion smiled back. “Good lad.”

“OK gramps, what’s first on the agenda?” Ry asked sarcastically and saluted.

Superion ignored the tone. “Swift & I have had our hands full while you were gone and we’ve cleaned up most of what you left behind.”

As if I wasn't doing that already? Rydgen thought but dare not say.

“Most of the Raiders are behind bars. The only ones we couldn’t track down were Roland, Trixxs, Shocwave and Chicken Puppet.”

“I took care of CP for you Gabby. Don’t worry about that." Rydgen smirked.

“There was another I left trapped at Zen’s Lair, Hellshoque.” Az added.

“Then that’s all we need to do.” Superion answered. “Search Zen’s lair and make sure it doesn’t fall into the wrong hands. Who knows what he might still have up there?”

Superion turned to Twinkle. ”You think you can get us there?”

“Not me. I’ve never been there. Besides, I can only teleport one person at a time, and only within the dimension I'm in. I can't cross dimensions.”

Supes smiled. “Fair enough. Well until we devise another system, we can use these as back up.” He placed several teleport bands on the table. “We retrieved these off the captured Raiders. Given time, I’m sure I can figure out how to use them. They could be unreliable, but they’ll do for the moment.”

Superion stood up and surveyed the group sitting around the table.

“Welcome back J Street Sentinels.”

The Following day.

Outside the cave mouth leading into Zen’s lair, the air shimmered. There was an outrushing of air as seven figures fill the space it had occupied.

“We’re here.” Azangel stated.
_________________________________________________________________

Chapter 3

"Well, I never wanted to see this place again." Rydgen muttered to himself more than anyone else, looking cautiously downward from the edge of the plateau they all currently stood on. The transporters Superion had taken from the captured Raiders had functioned perfectly, and had deposited them *right * outside the compound.
The base's main entrance was a few feet away from the cliff's edge where Ry now stood looking down at the barren wasteland around them. The entrance was quite well concealed, and would have been impossible to detect with the naked eye, although it had only taken Silver Lantern and his ring a few seconds to locate. Superion was currently picking the lock, not wanting to alert anyone who might be lurking inside of their presence by blasting the door in. Of course that had been the group's initial brilliant idea, and Superion had chided them gently about overzealousness before he bent over the lock and began exposing the delicate wires.

"I'm not thrilled about this either, but it has to be done, we have to make sure nothing's left that can be used against us, or anyone else on J Street." Azangel sighed as she looked behind Silver Lantern, whom she had led back to the outer rim of the cave. They stood somewhat behind the others.

Inside the cave that concealed the entrance to Zen's fortress, Superion still stooped over the complicated electronic lock. "Fancy machine." The others stood nearby, watching quietly.

"I've spent enough time trapped in hidden mountain headquarters to last me the rest of my lifetime, thank you very much." Azangel muttered under her breath, while looking inside at them from the cave's mouth.

"What was it you wished to speak to me about, Az?" Silver Lantern asked impatiently.

"Hold on a second." She exposed a small control panel on one of the wrist gauntlets and flipped a tiny switch. The air around them was filled with a low, barely audible humming. Superion looked up and around, then focused his attention back on his attempt at breaking - and - entering. None of the others seemed to have heard a thing.

"Was anything missing from the rubble of your room?" Azangel asked, satisfied that her words were covered by the hum from her gauntlet.
"No, everything was as it should have been."
"Are you sure nothing was missing? Something tall, dark and rectangular…?" Her voice trailed off, obviously she had no intention of saying more.
"I believe you may have something of mine...but this is not the time or place to discuss it."
He paused for a moment before he spoke again.
"Just tell me this, is it safe?"
"Yes."
"Good. Then when we return..."

"Hey! If you two keep wandering of like that, people will TALK!" Ry shouted from a few feet away, having finally noted them standing next to each other, away from the others. Before either of them could object to Ry's attempt at humor, they were interrupted by Superion as an electrified tendril shot out of a hidden panel in the wall and attacked. The Sentinels ducked for cover, Silver Lantern erecting a barrier, as a laser shot from the tentacle at Superion, but he took the blast on his shield. He dove forward and used the edge to slice through the tentacle. Its end quivered a moment on the ground and lay still. Turning to the others, Superion smiled, “Wrong wire...” and turned back to the panel.

Sparks flew.

"Door's open." He said triumphantly as the door slid open with a slight whoosh. "Pretty sophisticated electronics. This Zen was good at what he did, wasn't he?"

Sil was the first to reply. "Yes he was, unfortunately. All right, stick together, those of you who haven't been here before, it's a bit of a maze in there. Let's not have anyone getting lost on a simple reconnoiter mission."

"Silver, how about a scan of the inside before we enter? I should have deactivated all the other traps, but I want to be sure." Superion suggested.

The Oan Sentinel came forward, entered and scanned the hallway immediately ahead of them. Finding nothing, he gestured for them to proceed further into Zen Reaper's former lair.

"I think we'll manage not to get lost, Silver. Some of us have done this sort of thing before, you know." Superion grinned at him confidently before turning to the winged Sentinel. "Where was this demon you mentioned, Azangel?"

"This way I think…stupid hallways all look alike."
____________

"Well, you were right: here's the marks she made when she tried to claw her way out of the net…" They stood at the far wall of the huge hexagonal chamber, the same one they had spent so much time wandering in during their last visit. Of course, at the time the gargantuan room had been filled with shadow-created walls, which had changed continually, keeping them all confused and going in circles.

"Great, just great, we have a demoness running loose in here with us."

"Not for long, Rydgen. First on the agenda, find the demoness. Sapphire Swift, care to locate her?"

"Not a problem, Dad." A sudden gust of wind stirs up dust particles on the gray stone floor as Sapphire Swift takes off in a blurred flash of blue, streaking down one of the many hallways leading from the circular chamber.

"Are you sure you want her to go alone, Superion?"

"She'll be fine, son. She can take care of herself just fine."

Five minutes later:

"She should be back by now."

"The base is pretty big, and there's more than one level, Superion. She's probably just…"

"Even if she were taking her time, going for a nice, leisurely stroll, she would have been back in considerably less than two minutes. It's been five full minutes. Something's happened to her."

"You can't be certain of that." Ry added.

Superion's stonefaced silence quieted Rydgen. "Ok, maybe you CAN be sure…" he muttered quietly. "And yes I know you heard that with your superhearing."

"Alright, people, she can be anywhere." Superion addressed them all.
"In this case, we need to split up and search the compound."

Silver Lantern agreed; finding Sapphire Swift was the priority, and Superion's decision made sense.
_______________________________________________________________

Chapter 4
"How should we split up?" Silver Lantern inquired to the group.

"What we should do is split up into three pairs…" Superion started.

"Dibs on being Twinkles' partner!" Rydgen piped up, raising his hand enthusiastically. Superion shot him a stern look, causing him to sheepishly lower his hand and sulk again.

"… The pairing should be based on the abilities that would best compliment each other."

The group mumbled in agreement to Superion's logic.

"I think Azangel and myself would work best as a team," Silver Lantern proposed. Superion shook his head. "I think it would be best if the newer members of this group were paired with the one's who've been here before.
You said yourselves it was a maze."

Rydgen moved forward from the group. "I can protect Twinkle as we-"

"'Protect Twinkle?!'" Twinkle exclaimed indignantly, throwing her hands to her hips. "What, just because I'm a chick I can't fight for myself?"

"Er, well, no, I didn't mean that…" Rydgen stammered.

"Well I'll have you know, you chauvinistic googer, tha-"

"All right, children!" Rydgen and Twinkle stopped and looked at Superion. He wasn't too happy. "That's what I'm talking about right there; a prime example of unprofessionalism. You two shouldn't be fighting amongst yourselves. You should be working out who to couple with based on powers, rather than impulses." He looked scorningly at Rydgen with that last word. He returned the look with a raspberry. Superion ignored the childish reaction.

Twinkle also gave Rydgen a look, but one of smiling "I-told-you-so" triumph. He also gave her a raspberry.

"All right, then I'll take Davey as my partner. We're both fast healers." Rydgen stepped over to David and looped his arm around David's. Poor David didn't know what to make of this, and his reflexes kicked in before he could think about it. The fist rose, flew, but didn't connect.

Superion had been watching the scene, knowing what would happen, so he was ready for the first fist. "Now David," he said nicely, "we can't be starting physical fights amongst teammates, either." He let go of David's fist, which nestled down at David's side.

"I'm sorry, Superion," he said in a low voice. "I don't think I'm used to such sudden close proximity to another person."

"It's all right, David," Superion said soothingly. "We understand." He paused.
"I think at this point it would be best if David were to go with Silver Lantern, Rydgen."

"Yeah," Rydgen said, still looking at where David's fist almost met his face.

"I think," Superion said to the group, "the best way to split up our remaining people would be as follows. Azangel, you go along with Twinkle and keep a close guard. That way we don't have to worry about impulses."
Azangel scowled, then walked over to Twinkle. The winged warrior seemed a little annoyed, but for once kept her composure about it.

"Well that's all right then," Rydgen said with hope. "I can handle myself in this…"

"Remember, Rydgen, I said we would be pairing up, not gallivanting around this structure by oneself." Superion reminded the green-haired Sentinel.

"D'oh!" Rydgen hunched his shoulders over in disappointment.

"Straighten up, Ry. I won't be exploring this base with a hero who can't keep good posture."

"Yes sir, Captain Anal sir!" Rydgen mock-saluted again. I can't believe the nerve of this guy! We can't do anything right according to him. He marched over to Superion's side, standing at attention.

Superion surveyed the large room...there were six walls, the one immediately behind them containing the entranceway for the hall leading out of the lair, Zen’s throne in the middle of the chamber and doors in the four side walls to the chamber. The wall behind the throne was smooth and bare.

Superion whistled, looking up. “That’s some ceiling.” He murmured. The ceiling vanished into darkness miles above.

"Now, Twinkle and Azangel, I want you two to search the second right-hand entrance. David and Silver, the first. Rydgen and I will take the left. If you don’t find anything, then we'll meet back in this chamber in an hour. If all’s well we’ll tackle the last door. Understood?"

The Sentinels answered with various 'yes'es.

"Good. See you all in an hour." The three couples spread away from each other, heading towards their sections of the building.
__________________________________________________________________

Chapter 5

{Ring, how many lifeforms are in this mountain?} Silver Lantern asked his Power Ring mentally.

{None.} The answer came quickly.

{Ring, I’M a lifeform. The SENTINELS are lifeforms. Why don’t you detect us?}

{Unknown.}

{Thanks, ring. Thanks for nothing.}

David walked with Silver Lantern, choosing not to disturb the silence with conversation. Besides, if there was a demoness in here, stealth was the smart way to go.

“David, I detect NO lifeforms.” Silver seemed to shout in the pale man’s ears. “Not even us.”

David had stopped in the hallway, as if waiting for an attack. The very air SMELLED of danger to him. “There’s a demoness in here somewhere. Azangel said so.”

“...Nor do I detect any dark energies; perhaps Hellshoque has left this dimension.”

“You don’t 'detect' us? What ELSE don’t you see or hear?” David asked. It was the most the young man had said since they had left the central chamber dubbed "The Throne Room".

"I see and hear us fine." Silver replied. "It is my SCANNING ABILITIES which detect nothing. This place must be generating some form of stealth field. After all, Zen Reaper was a master of energy manipulation.”

The pair continued down to another level in their search for Sapphire Swift.

Silver Lantern and David were in the first portion of the mountain to the right of the Throne Room. It was the "nerve center" of the whole complex; the rooms were filled with so many computer banks, it put NORAD to shame. And while the Throne Room had resembled a dank castle, what with all the stone walls and torches, etc., THIS wing was filled with modern and advanced technologies.

One large, unmarked door slid into the wall with a "swish" sound as the pair passed near it. Silver turned, generated an Oan Shield, and raised his right fist in reflex. David had crouched, ready to pounce on any assailant.
Nothing happened. The door had merely opened when it detected movement.

Silver peered inside…nobody there. He entered.

The room had a computer console at chest height; the entire top was aligned with touch controls. In front of this, two-thirds of the room, the floor was raised and the ceiling had machinery pointing downward, which suggested the console controlled this space.

“I could power up the system, but I don’t want to compromise our presence.”
The Oan Sentinel told his companion.

“Good idea.”

“The energies which Zen mastered are unimaginable. What THIS did, is anyone’s guess. I’ll have Superion take a look; perhaps he might have some insight…” Silver was saying.

“Looks like a Sci-Fi Transporter Room to me.” The nameless hero said to shut him up. This guy sure likes investigating; must be a scientist himself?

“That is a possibility. These wristbands would need to receive programming from some source." He considered the console. "I know that Zen used natural portals and created other wormhole-like portals for himself and his Raiders; portals which I could not detect. The Raiders would also vanish individually to escape capture.”

He scanned within the mountain again with the same result; the Ring detected NOTHING. It was blind.

{Ring, why don’t you detect me or the other lifeforms, The Sentinels, in this mountain?} He asked for the umpteenth time.

{Unknown.}

"What power could negate my entire scanning abilities?" He asked rhetorically aloud.

David was back in the hallway. There was danger in this mountain. He didn't know HOW he knew, or what KIND of danger, but he knew it was here, somewhere. Or is it just my imagination? He thought.

Two levels down, still in the "nerve center" branch of the mountain complex, they came upon a locked door. The others hadn't been locked; why was this one?

"Let's see what's behind door number two." Silver remarked.

David didn't find it particularly funny.

Silver put his hand on the plain metallic surface and "telekinetically adhered" his palm to it. He pulled the door into the wall and Power Oaned it to remain open.

It had computer banks lining the walls from floor to ceiling, but no chairs; it was apparently meant for one occupant. Zen?

"Why would Zen have a computer room to himself? Why keep the Raiders out? He isn't the trusting kind; he would expect treachery." SL was deducting.

“Can we go, Silver?” David asked a bit impatiently.

"In a moment." He said while zeroing his attention to the lone computer terminal.

He turned it on. A large holographic projection of the mountain nearly filled the center of the room. SL manipulated the controls and the image became a green laser lines-only floor plan.

"Schematic of the entire structure." Silver said as he continued at the console, rotating and pivoting the holographic image upon its invisible access. Some more tinkering and the laser-mountain was filled with tiny red dots. It resembled a Christmas tree of sorts. The "six-branched tree" looked more like a Chinese checkerboard when seen laid on its side and looked at from the top.

Silver walked over to the hologram.
"I wonder what these tiny points of light represent." He seemingly touched one, and… a square holographic screen appeared showing the Throne Room.

"Internal security, David." SL said to include the quiet man.

"Spy cameras." The Nameless said, now interested in staying a moment more. He touched a different red point, one that was in their branch of the base.
The holographic screen showed the hallway near this Zen Security Room.

"Let's see if we can spot the others." Silver said as he began touching various laser points.

They saw Superion and Rydgen talking to each other. There was no sound to hear them, and no means to contact them, either. Next, Silver and The Nameless tried to find Azangel and Twinkle, to see what they were up to.

"Who was that?" David asked.

The two Sentinels had glimpsed someone leaving a camera's view. Whoever it was, wasn't a Sentinel, and it wasn't Hellshoque. They tried other dots around the stranger, but had no luck finding him.

There was Azangel and Twinkle, in a hallway, entering a room. The stranger, as best as Sil and David could determine, was headed towards the two female members.

“Azangel and Twinkle are about to have company.” Silver stated the obvious, as the two men searched the cameras.

“There.” David said pointing at the corner of the screen.

It was a pair of people entering the room where the camera with its tiny red light was located.

“He…” Silver Lantern said in shock. “…that one looks like…”

“You?” David finished for him.

Not exactly like the Sentinel, but…darker. The screen went all snowy. One of them must have seen the camera’s light and not liked being spied on.

“Trouble." Silver Lantern muttered. “Let’s go!” He ordered.

Both jumped on Silver's board. They flew towards Azangel and Twinkle, and the two strangers.
_________________________________________________________________

Chapter 6

"Isn't this great? You know I've always wanted to do this stuff! I always wanted to be a heroine, wanted to help people, and now I'm finally getting the chance! And with Superion of all people! He's been one of my heroes, my idols, since I came to J Street! Aren't you excited about having a living legend on your team?"
Twinkle whispered from behind the winged Sentinel.

Azangel was more than a little annoyed. Twinkle had chatted quietly about nearly everything under the sun as they'd investigated the cramped living quarters lining the second section on the right-hand side of the lair. Most had been empty other than the beds, and quick to search.

In what must have been Roland's room they'd found several articles of clothing and quite a few swords, one of which Az had insisted Twinkle carry, even though the younger woman claimed she couldn’t use it. Now done investigating the bedrooms, they continued down the hallway for several minutes without coming to any further doors. At the end of the hallway was a large elevator, and they used it to go up to the next level of the wing.

Now on the second level, they turned and headed back towards the center of the base. The first room they came to was easily three times as large as the bedrooms had been, and filled with electronics - mostly medical equipment. They entered cautiously and Az looked around the room critically.
It was a well-equipped medlab, but there was no evidence of Hellshoque or Sapphire Swift. After a quick scan they left and walked towards the next door.

Az, walking several feet ahead of Twinkle, had been ignoring the enthusiastic new recruit since the two of them had left the central chamber, the 'throne room'.
Behind her Twinkle continued her bubbly monologue, thankfully not too loudly, since Az had several times requested that she shut up, especially while they were in the hallway where their voices carried so well. Twinkle was only a slight buzzing in her ears, she doubted anyone else would hear her either.

"You know I usually don't talk this much but I'm kinda nervous...Is this a REAL demon we're looking for? With wings, a tail and claws? You weren't making it up to scare me, were you?"

"Very large claws and she breathes fire and brimstone to boot." Az whispered back to Twinkle. I should just let Hellshoque have her, Quetz knows the girl would TALK the demoness to death! She thought.

"Az, don't walk so fast, we're supposed to stick together, Superion said so!"
The winged warrior grinned slightly to herself and stopped walking, waiting for the blonde to catch up to her, right outside the next door.

As soon as she reached the winged Sentinel's side, Twinkle found herself pinned to the wall, with Az's hand wrapped tightly around her throat. The blonde dropped the sword in shock, where it clattered against the stone floor loudly in the sudden silence of the hallway.
"I've had more than enough of your mouth, you little airhead. We're hunting a demoness for Quetz's sake. If your non-stop blathering hasn't alerted her to our presence, it's some sort of minor miracle." Azangel paused, letting the information sink in, and hopefully scaring Twinkle more than a little bit.
"Now, when I let go, you WILL be silent, or I will personally HAND you to Hellshoque when we find her, and ask HER to shut you up. Understood?"

Twinkle nodded as best she could under the circumstances, mumbling quietly. "sorryi'llshutup."
Az grudgingly released her grip on the girl's throat and allowed herself a slight grin. "Now PLEASE keep your mind on business."
"Meanie. That hurt!" She croaked hoarsely.
'That's right. I can do worse."
"Bitch."
"You're pushing your luck."
"I'll tell Sil on you…he likes me better."
"You're insane. Now shut up."
They entered the next room. It was another medlab, this one set up more like a triage area. Twinkle turned to go back into the hallway, and Az pulled her away from the door before she could trigger the sensor that would automatically open it.
"Wow, another lab. I'm so impressed. No demon, no Sapphire Swift. Lets go." Twinkle tried to pull her arm away from Az, unsuccessfully.
"SHUT. UP. NOW." Az hissed through clenched teeth.
"You're yelling! Way to be stealthy Miss 'don't let the demon know where we are'!"
"Outside the door. I picked up something. Some form of energy I can't identify. It was only there for a second, and now it's gone." She whispered.
Twinkle instantly became silent.
"I think you should go back to the Throne Room and wait."
"I can take care of myself!" Twinkle protested quietly.
"I'm sure you can but this energy was EXTREMELY powerful, Twinkle. You're probably better off -"
Azangel's voice trailed off mid-sentence.
'Twinkle…go."
"But…"
The door leading in from the hallway exploded inwards in a blast of black light, shards of metal flying across the room and imbedding into the opposite wall.

Twinkle looked up at a familiar costume, and her jaw dropped. She risked a glance at Az only to see the Sentinel wearing a similar shocked expression.
"Azangel…is that the energy source you picked up?"
"Yes."
"I'mouttahere. You coming?"
"No, just go and get the others!"
Az and Twinkle both dodged a beam of energy shot from the form's right hand, and Az motioned for Twinkle to leave.
"Don't haveta tell me twice!" Twinkle disappeared in a flurry of sparkles, another energy beam cutting the air where she had been only seconds before.
___________________

Before the last of the tiny golden flecks had even vanished from the air, Twinkle's head hit the floor of the throne room.
The figure standing over the unconscious JSS'er unclenched his fist and took off towards the sounds of fighting.
___________________
Chapter 7

The armory wing.

It had to be where Rydgen and Superion were now exploring. There were maces, swords, daggers, archery items, just a myriad of mischievous medieval mutilating devices. This was just one room in the hallway the two heroes devoted their search effort to. It was a long hallway made of stones and rock lighted by torches, with many doors on either side. They were not marked, but it was apparent by this room that the others would hold equivalent items.

Rydgen was examining the array of swords displayed on a large rack on one wall. Superion was quickly searching the room for hidden panels, traps, and whatever other surprises there might be.

“You know, Rydgen,” he said, feeling a wall for secret buttons, “instead of touring this room you might be more useful helping me look for where Sapphire Swift could be.”

Rydgen turned around and watched Superion do his thing. He’s right, but man I hate the way he says it! He thought. “Okay,” he said as he moved over to a wall and pushed around.

When Superion believed it was a dead end search, they walked out of the room and back into the hall. There were many more rooms to look through. They moved to the next one, and with no surprise there were more weapons. But these were more modern in design. Sabers, archaic pistols and rifles, and more weapons of that era were on aisles of racks.

“It looks like this armory is organized by eras,” Superion noted aloud.

“Yep.”

Again they searched the room like the last, with nothing to show for it. The next room they entered was much more modern, from about 1800-1950. There were old western guns, cannons, WWI and WWII weapons, and the like.

“Hey gramps, you said you fought in the big WWs, right?” Rydgen asked as he looked around.

“No son, just the second one,” he replied grimly.

“Okay, so what does this do?” Superion looked up at what Rydgen was holding. He gasped a mighty gasp and dashed over to Rydgen, snatching the canister from his hand. Surprised, Rydgen said, “Hey! All you had to do was say ‘Don’t touch anything’!”

Superion carefully placed the canister back on a shelf. He turned to Rydgen. “That canister contains an extremely deadly biotoxin that wiped out many people imprisoned by Hitler’s forces during World War II, Rydgen,” he was saying with controlled anger. “Your pinky was about to press the detonation trigger. If you had released the gas, it would have filled this entire wing, maybe the entire lair with its poison.” He was now nose to nose with the younger hero. “Everyone in here would die a slow, extremely painful, agonizing death. That’s why I took it from you in such a hurry.”

All Rydgen could do is look stupid and mutter, “Oh, sorry.”

Superion backed off and continued searching. If only he would think before picking something up, in fact think before doing anything, he thought. That will be the first thing I drill into him, is to think things through before acting.

Despite Superion’s speculations, Rydgen was indeed thinking. Just who is that masked man? Okay, time to review what I know… Superion is supposed to be some big time golden age hero from what we’ve seen, but neither Az nor Sil recognize him. Why does he want to control our team so much? We were doing fine! Rydgen winced as he remembered some obvious mistakes they had made, well, maybe okay. We need a little improvement. He looked over at the red spandexed, gray haired man. Rydgen moved to another section of the room, where the heavy ammunition was.

No, something’s not clicking here. He just swept in and took control of the team, along with the two newbies. I wonder if Jane’s still interested? Rydgen shook his head to dislodge the stray thought. We just followed him in here like lost puppies… wait… in here… this is Zen’s lair. Why did he want our first job to be clearing out the lair of our enemy?

Superion was inspecting the shelves on the far side of the room from Rydgen. Still there were no levers, switches, or anything to denote anything hidden to keep Swift bound in. He knew his daughter could handle herself, even if captured, but these circumstances were very unusual, and this fortress very eerie. He was worried, but not to the point of letting it affect his judgement.

Rydgen fingered a Vietnam War era grenade launcher as he continued thinking. Why the Zen fortress? Unless… no! No? Maybe…it’s very possible that… Superion is actually… Zen Reaper? Rydgen looked over at Superion again, who was facing the wall on the other side of the room. YES! That has to be it! He somehow assumed the guise of this fogey, and carefully planned to make us believe he’s some hero from WWII. Now he has us in his lair, just where it would be easiest to catch us!! Rydgen picked up the grenade launcher in front of him silently. Superion slightly turned his head in his direction, but wasn’t looking directly at him.

“Ry, I told you not to touch anything. You know I heard you pick up that weapon.” He said.

“Oh no, Supereaper,” Rydgen said, swinging the launcher to aim at Superion. “Or should I say Zen Reaper?!” He let fly with a grenade. Superion was of course facing him by then, but had not anticipated an attack. He leaped to his left, towards the door, but the grenade exploded before it hit the wall, catching Superion in the explosion. It hurled him through the door along with shrapnel and broken weapons.

Rydgen lugged the launcher and cautiously approached the inert body. Rydgen knew that a simple explosion shouldn’t have knocked him out like that, but then again, he would still be recovering from his last battle. He nudged his foot into the body’s side, and too late realized that was a stupid thing to do. Quickly arms flew, grabbed his ankle, and threw him out of the room, Rydgen dropping the grenade launcher in the process. His back crashed into the wall of the hallway. Superion lifted himself up and leaned one arm on the doorway.

“What do you think you’re doing, darn it!” Superion yelled. “I’m Superion, not your enemy!”

Rydgen jumped to his feet, crouched, and leaped at Superion. “Says you!”

Superion saw it coming, so merely stepped aside and caught Rydgen’s collar, giving him more momentum than anticipated. Not being able to stop, Rydgen smashed headfirst through a couple cases before being stopped by the wall. He thanked himself for leaving his satchel in the main room, or it would have entangled him more in the pile of wood, glass, and weapons. His blood stained where shards of glass cut him, but he had already healed the actual wounds, being that he still had plenty of energy stored up. Still trying to dig himself out of the rubble, he felt a hand lift him out.

“I don’t know what your problem is, Mister, but you’re being very difficult. You had better start explaining.” Superion was holding him by the collar again at arms-length.

“I’m not explaining anything to you, Zen,” he said rebelliously.

“For Pete’s sake, Ry, why do you think I’m Zen, hm?”

“You quickly get us to follow you, and bring us here to your lair to destroy us! Oldest trick in the book!”

Superion shook his head in disappointment. “Ry, I don’t believe this. I realize you resent my authority over your team right now, and it’s meant in part to get your dander up, but that gives you no right to jump to such an inane conclusion.” Seeing Rydgen relax a bit, he set him down. “Now because of this we’ve pretty much destroyed this arsenal. It’s a good thing it was old stuff, but it would have been invaluable nonetheless.”

Rydgen was surprised that Superion shared the blame for the damage, rather than putting it squarely on him.

“Now that you have that out of your system, shall we continue looking for Swift?” Rydgen nodded and followed Superion out to the hall. This time there were two doors on either side, facing each other.

“Hey, mind if I check this room while you check that one?” Rydgen asked.

Superion didn’t see the harm in that. They weren’t splitting up, and would easily be able to reach the other if something should come up. “No, we can do it that way. You take the left, and I’ll search the right.” They entered their respective doors.

Superion walked into the room and of course found it full of weapons. How did we survive all these years with so many tools of death and destruction? Superion found himself wondering. This room was full of more modern weapons, the types found nowadays and a bit into the future. There were also ones that resembled items he had in his hold back at Clark Technologies.

He began looking for some sort of clue as to where Swift could be. A polite cough got his attention.

“Rydgen,” he said, turning to the source of the cough, “I doubt you searched the room to its fulle…" Superion stopped as he saw that where he was expecting to see his companion, there was a large buffalo in a fine Armani suit.

“I’m dreadfully sorry, old bean,” the Buffalo spoke with an educated tone, “but I’m not this Rydgen you are referring to. Allow me to make my introduction. I am known as Barehead the Buffalo. I’m here to ‘escort’ you to your holding area.”

“Awesome!” Rydgen exclaimed as he ogled the alien weaponry laid out before him in this room. He ran up and down the aisles of arsenal. If I just had my damn Pocket Warehouse working I could stock up… his thoughts wandered. He picked up an elliptical, nasty looking device from a shelf. Remembering Superion’s scolding last time he did that, and put it back down. He should really concentrate on looking for that fast brunette. Maybe if he found her she’d be very grateful… nah, she didn’t seem that kind of person. Twinkle now, he bet she’d be willing to repay him for rescuing her-

He caught a movement out of the corner of his eye by the door. He turned to look, but it was gone. He could not put his finger on it, but when he turned back to his task, there was Patience before him… wasn’t it? Her hair was now red (a nice change, Rydgen thought), but instead of her conservative purple robe, she was wearing a skimpy, low, low cut, mini, mini skirt (also a nice change), and her top was filled out nicely (a very nice change).

“Er, hey Patience! I think…?” Rydgen sputtered as he shifted his gaze from her top to her eyes. They were covered by purple tinted sunglasses. Her face was blank, no emotion showing at all. Odd, he thought. Odder yet was the sensation of being thrown across the room, crashing into a wall.

Superion leapt out of the way as Barehead charged at him, crashing into ammunition and guns. Superion landed in a crouched position behind the buffalo, ascertaining the situation.

A big, talking buffalo who looks like he should be in the Mafia is attacking me? He thought with incredibility. “Why are you attacking me, Mr. Buffalo?” he asked.

Barehead picked up a tommy-gun, loading it with ammo. “This will do nicely… You see, Superion is it? It’s quite simple. I was hired to bring you down.” He fired a round of ammo at Superion, who was now standing, unflinching, and unhurt by the volley of hot lead.

“But why?”

“You shall find out, in due time.” The buffalo threw the useless gun down and kicked a foot along the floor, snorting, crouching to charge again. He took off towards Superion, who again jumped up to avoid collision. So did Barehead. His weight carried them both into the wall, Superion cushioning the impact. Barehead got up, dusting his suit off as Superion lay against the wall, the wind knocked out of him. His prior skirmish with Rydgen wore him down more than he expected, and it gave Barehead a very usable advantage.

Superion stood up with difficulty, but a well placed punch from one of Barehead’s meaty fists brought him down again. Superion was caught in a corner, on the wrong side of a violence-crazed buffalo. “Nothing personal,” he apologized as he pounded into Superion. Soon Barehead had an unconscious hero in red tights over his shoulder, leaving the room.

Rydgen jumped back up, rubbing his shoulderblades. He looked again at the form of his teammate. It had to be Patience, but there was just something wrong. She didn’t give him time to think about it, throwing a curse-ball in his direction. He dodged it in time, looking back at the smoldering hole where he just was. He grabbed the nearest weapon, popped up above an aisle, pointed it at her, and fired. To Rydgen’s surprise, the gun didn’t do anything. The pseudo-Patience stood silently where she was. The gun started emitting a high pitched, whining noise as if it were about to-

“Oh shi-“ The gun exploded in a violent flash of light and fire, knocking Rydgen again into the wall.

He was lying in a crater in the wall, parts of his shirt smoldering, as well as his hair. Barely conscious, he watched as pseudo-Patience approached, face still showing no sign of emotion, not even a snicker. She leant over him, placing her hand on his chest. Her cleavage was the last thing he saw as she used her power to push him over the brink of consciousness and into the sub realms.

Chapter 8 - by Silver Lantern

“Twinkle?” Silver Lantern asked as he and David arrived in the Throne Room, seeing the black and gold clad female unconscious on the stone floor.

As David jumped off of the board, Silver scanned Janet for injuries.

Nothing there, the ring didn't detect her.

“I forgot.” He muttered as David was carefully sitting her up. She had a bruise on her face, but there wasn’t any blood.

"Whoever attacked her knew what he was doing." The Nameless said quietly.

Silver Lantern used his power to nurse Janet’s face. His healing ability was working; he was still master of the Power Oan.

“David, stay with her. Protect her. I have to help Azangel. Alert the others if you can." He got on his board and flew off down the dimly lit corridor.

More danger…more evil here. The undead hero knew somehow.

He picked up Twinkle and headed to the hopefully unoccupied branch that he and Silver had just left. He would then have to figure out the next step.

(A moment after Twinkle had teleported.)
Az grimaced looking at the figure before her; attention focused on his darkly glowing right hand. You know of course that that was probably one of your stupider moves, right Ciela? She thought to herself, crossly.
Still standing in the doorway was someone who looked amazingly like Silver Lantern…but with black coloring where the silver should have been.
Black, energy, similar to Silver Lantern's power Oan, surrounded him, and glowed around the ring on his right hand.

The dark version of Sil wasn't looking at her, though; instead he was staring at the space where Twinkle had stood less than a second before, mesmerized by the tiny lights.

Knowing a good opening when she saw it, and knowing no energy attack she could throw at this 'dark Lantern' was likely to affect him, she quickly had the helmet increase her density as far as it could, and attacked. Her surprise tackle knocked the faux-Silver Lantern completely off his feet and into the wall outside the medlab. The wall surface cracked on impact, and should have stunned him, but her opponent instead got up quickly and fired several small 'Oan' bolts at her. She ducked back into the lab for cover, unable to get past the dark Lantern. Dodging the blasts, all around her empty vials and beakers shattered, showering the room with glass shards. She avoided the next, larger, blast by diving to the floor behind an examination table and flipping it over. She was surprised to find the broken glass didn’t cut the bare skin of her knees. She realized that though her armor was no longer covering her legs and arms, it somehow gave her the same protection as before.

In the doorway, the solid black face was split by a wide, evil grin. The figure stepped into the room and moved towards Az slowly. He was playing with her. Another bolt sliced through the table, barely missing Az's right wing.
"Can't we TALK about this?" She muttered aloud to the advancing figure, as she dove behind another table. He didn't answer; instead his grin became wider.
Preparing to try to plasma blast him out of the room again, buy herself some time, she risked breaking cover long enough to get a bead on him, and unexpectedly got a good look into his eyes. Where in Sil's eyes she saw his intelligence, his strength of will and his decency, all she saw in this 'dark Lantern's' scarlet eyes was pure madness. He didn't fire at her while she was exposed, only grinned at her strangely. She dropped back behind the table, unnerved.

In less than a month, Az had faced down two gods and a former friend turned evil.
NONE of them had disturbed her as much as looking into that creature's eyes had. This forced her to try a different strategy. She popped up from behind the remains of the table and let lose with a tiny droplet of the battery's power, which exploded on contact with the creature and knocked him into and through the opposing wall. His own black energy bolt ripped through the ceiling and blocked the door to the medlab as he was propelled suddenly backwards.

Well I slowed him down at least. She thought to herself, before noticing the black glow seeping through the cracks in the rubble. Maaaaaybe not. Dammit! She looked up at the hole in the ceiling and shrugged, before climbing some of the rubble and pulling herself through the jagged hole.

She'd almost cleared the opening when a boot came down on the back of her neck. She lost her grip on the broken stone, and fell back to the floor. With tiny flecks of light dancing across her field of vision, she couldn't make out the face staring down at her from the hole in the ceiling. She could, however, see the much closer black-and-green figure as he blasted her.

Silver Lantern hated being blind. He wasn't physically blind, but his scans weren't working. He knew the general direction, and was following the sounds of a battle. Could Azangel hold her own against "him"? Sil and Az had never battled, had never parried. He hoped he would be in time. He turned a corner and saw his dark twin standing over Azangel.

"&*%#!!" He cried out as he raised both arms and fired Oan Blasts at the doppelganger, sending him sliding down the hallway.

Sil stopped for a moment to see if Azangel was still alive and was relieved to see her breathing. He turned in time to raise an Oan Shield for the oncoming energy blast, which "splashed" into it; both energy projections were destroyed on the impact and the sound echoed throughout the complex.

While standing in the hallway, Sil levitated Az into the adjoining room where she floated to the ground, the Oan Bubble surrounding her, protecting her.

The "dark Lantern" was looking at his ring, perplexed by its apparent ineffectiveness.

Silver hopped on his board and went flying at his enemy, who did likewise. Both began firing their energies at the other and the two continuous beams (one silver, the other black) were equally matched and were being halted midway. The two combatants were closing on each other slowly.

Gotta stop this b@stard! Silver thought to himself. He was angry. He'd been through some horrible experiences thanks to Tezcatlipoca and his shadow-demons. But THIS perverted, twisted version of himself was more than he could accept.

As the pair was within a few feet, still firing energy beams at each other, Silver twisted aside and let the evil one and his blast go forward with no target. The black and green figure went FLYING suddenly at an incredible speed.
SL looped around behind the speeding alien and blasted him square in the back; he went tumbling to the ground and down the hallway. Silver flew after him.

"I'm gonna stop you; here and now!" The Oan Sentinel shouted at his evil twin, who was getting up and raising a dark Shield at the same time.

Silver Oan-blasted it apart and plunged headlong into his foe, smashing his obsidian face with a fist of Oan-enhanced strength. The dark Lantern took the hit, but didn't just lie there; he began punching back in turn.

They were evenly matched.

Silver and faux-Sil had a hold of each other's arms, extending them outward. Dark energy eye-beams slammed into Sil's face, sending his head backwards and both aliens began falling to the ground; Silver would be on the bottom. He brought his right leg up, and kneed the other in the gut, which broke both his concentration and his grip. They hit the floor.
Sil scrambled to get up, and his evil twin grabbed his ankle. Silver Oan-blasted him as he fell, freeing his leg.

The dark Lantern crawled over to Sil, who met the obsidian face with a green boot. As "evil" Lantern lay there dazed, Silver stood up and jumped on him, connecting an elbow to his neck.
SL flipped him over, lifted him by his green and black suit's collar and punched him in the face HARD.

"Are you out yet?" Silver spat, holding his fist back, readying to pound him again.

"Yeah. Black Lantern's out cold." An almost familiar voice answered from behind him.

"Az?" He asked, turning to look.

"Not your Az." She replied as her dark, magical energy ensnared him.

He writhed in pain by its unholy grip, and having been weakened by his doppelganger, it wasn't much of a struggle. Silver Lantern was out, too.

Chapter 9

“I’m so glad you could join us,” The young boy smiled, a jagged scar cut into the right side of his face shaped like an “R”, “Allow me to introduce ourselves. We are the K-Street Syndicate!”

The captured Sentinels were held prostate to examination tables by energy bands that sapped their strength, in the wing containing Zen’s laboratories. They stared horrified at the dark, twisted figures arrayed before them. Azangel, Rydgen and Silver Lantern were particularly shocked as the KSS mirrored not only themselves, but their old teammates as well.

The boy laughed, a mad glimmering in his eyes. “Yes it is strange...” he replied as though reading their thoughts. “...In a sense we are you, those we can recognize anyway. We come from an anti-matter dimension in which we rule the pathetic lifeforms that inhabit there. But before we continue, I shall let you get to know us a little better.”
Turning to the doppelganger of Silver Lantern, he announced, "This is Black Lantern, wielder of the Power Qwardian. He will not speak to you as the power has driven him totally insane. I control him though...barely.” The boy turned to another figure that shambled forward. A twisted man-shaped plant creature. It grinned horribly; it’s teeth gnarled, sharp, twisted thorns.

“I am Rageon the Relentless. Nothing can stop me. Cut off my arm and it grows a replacement me!” He cackled, “Better be careful, if you hurt me you could soon be facing an “ARM”y!!”

The young boy groaned at the terrible joke. “You know,” he commented, “The worse thing about coming from an evil mirror-universe is that the humor is so lame. Anyway, next is Azdaemon.” The black skinned woman slinked forward almost purring. Az watched as she approached.

Azdaemon leant forward, studying her counterpart. “Pah! A filthy child of Quetzalcoatl!” She spat in Azangel's face. “If only my master, Tezcatlipoca were here to teach you the error of your ways...Do you like the beautiful wings he gave me?” She preened her wings, which were composed of razor-sharp, jagged, metal spikes. Leaning forward again, her face inches from Azangel's, “They can cut a man in half you know...” she whispered, then slowly, deliberately, licked up the side of Azangel's face. “But not pretty girls like you...if you treat me right...” She spoke, an intense, hungry look on her face. Azangel recoiled in disgust and horror.

The boy laughed uncontrollably at that. He regained his composure, however, when a young, lithe redhead in a skimpy mini-dress snorted.

“Ah! And this is the lovely Control. Mistress of the Anti-magicks.... And cold hearted bitch!”

Control gave him a withering look. “A total lack of emotion is necessary for my magicks to work. Not that that is hard as I live in a world of children and cattle. The sooner you all die the better I will live.” She responded in a cold, monotone. The boys face spasmed into a look of intense hatred, his hands constricting into claws. Control calmly observed him. He recovered himself, however, and turned his attention back towards the trapped Sentinels.

“Isn’t she divine?” He asked. “Now...who else. Ah! Barehead.”
The boy struck a dramatic pose and spoke with a bow and a flourish.
“Ladies and Gentlemen. It is my profound honor to introduce to you, Mssr. Barehead the Buffalo!”

A large buffalo stuffed into an impeccable double-breasted suit approached and bowed as well. “It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance.” He proclaimed. “And it will be double the pleasure when I rip your heads off and serve them for supper on silver platters.” With that he sniffed, delicately retrieved a handkerchief and dabbed some gathering drool from the corners of his wide mouth. “I’m terribly sorry, I hope you will excuse me, but the very thought has set my tastebuds tingling and I am quite overcome. But I perceive that our esteemed leader wishes to continue. I shall retire from the forefront and wish you a good day. Until we meet for supper that is."

The boy looked very pleased. “Isn’t he a gentleman? Though I wouldn’t get on his wrong side or you may end up.... On his IN-side!” Rydgen rolled his eyes at this last remark.

“Oh dear my darling boy, I believe this fine fellow doesn’t approve of us...or our humor.” A tall stunning brunette dressed as a dominatrix in skintight black leather, stiletto heels and spikes strode forward. Her lush figure almost spilling out of the skimpy costume she wore. She was armed with a whip and a sword; Rydgen stared bug-eyed as she strutted toward him. “My dear...” she purred as she bent at the waist and leant over his prostrate form. “You wouldn’t want us to get angry. Abominable things can happen when we get angry.” She seductively trailed a finger down his chest then stopped and violently slashed through his T-shirt and chest with a fingernail made of pointed steel, leaving a long thin wound from stomach to collarbone. Ry gritted his teeth in pain as the wound began healing almost immediately. Lady Wilde gasped in delight. “A healer! Oh please Rook! You must let me have him!!! He will last MUCH longer than the others!” She leant back over Rydgen, her taut breasts pressing against his healing chest. Then suddenly, she lunged forward and kissed him hard. Before Rydgen knew what was happening, her tongue expertly snaked past his lips into his mouth. He felt a scrape and a cut form on his tongue from a sharpened spike impaled through her tongue, then more spikes piercing his lips. Lady Wilde withdrew from the struggling Sentinel and smiled. Her teeth were filed to fangs, the points covered in Rydgen's green blood. She licked them provocatively and arched an eyebrow. “Delicious.” She gasped.

“Enough Lady Wilde!” The boy ordered. “As for me, you now know I am Rook. Leader of this evil horde. It is a pleasure to have finally met the J Street Sentinels at last. We’ve heard so much about you all...though there are quite a few new faces. Which reminds me. Syndicate! There are still some guests that need inviting. Find them. NOW!” With that command, all but Black Lantern trailed out the door, Lady Wilde blowing Rydgen a kiss and laughing.

“I hope some day you are going to reach your point, young man.”

Rook spun and glared at Superion. “Very well, Old man.” He spat at him. “The point is your deaths! You see there is a thorn in our side where we come from. As efficient as we are, we haven’t quite been able to eradicate it. Luckily we were approached by a denizen of this universe with a deal that would help us destroy our opponent. Unfortunately when we were called to complete our end of the bargain, all we found when we emerged was some pathetic demon. We killed it, a little quickly I’m sorry to say, and then settled down to wait for our ally. He never showed, but you did. Lucky, as it made our part a lot easier. You see we were promised aid. Aid in helping us to destroy our last remaining foe, The Zen Savior. All we had to do was free up a little time for our ally, Zen Reaper, by killing.... The J Street Sentinels.”

Superion gave the boy a withering look. “Well why not have done with it. Kill us now and save us from your insane prattling!”

Rook raced forward and snarled in Superion's face, spittle flying from his clenched teeth. “Because you stupid, old bastard, we can’t find Zen. Tell us where he is. I can promise you that if our bargain has fallen through, we’ll kill you anyway. You lot have some pretty toys we want. And a whole new dimension for us to bring under heel. You will die. Eventually. But possibilities are opening to us and your torture is just one of those possibilities.”

The boy backed away, staring into Superion's eyes with an insane glare.

“Oh yes. You WILL die. But we will have some...fun, first.”

Chapter 10

“There, I think I have all the cameras worked out.”

David toiled over the computer console as Twinkle sat behind him. She was still groggy from the hit she took.

“Oh man...I feel terrible and I hope this bruise won’t leave a mark. What’s happening.”

David turned and looked at the pretty blonde girl. “It appears we have some intruders in Zen’s Lair. According to his records, they are the K Street Syndicate. Evil doppelgangers of the original J Street Sentinels. Zen somehow pulled them across from another dimension.”

Twinkle joined him at the console. “Hey, you’re pretty good at this computer stuff. How did you find all this so quick?”

David looked confused. “I.... I’m not sure.”

“Well what do we do?” She looked at him pleadingly.

David noticed how scared she was. He felt the fear coming off her in waves. He stood and placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder. “Well first we try and free the others, then we’ll send these guys back to where they came from.”

Twinkle smiled, “Thanks.” She whispered.

Feeling unsettled, David turned back to the monitors, searching for the other members of the JSS. Eventually he found them restrained in a room in the laboratory wing. “Got ‘em! Now for our opponents.”

David soon had traced the movements of the various KSS members as they searched the mountain for them. Turning to Twinkle he filled her in on his plans. “I noticed something that may be useful. Can you wait here while I retrieve it? I won’t be long and you’ll be quite safe here. There are none of them nearby.” She nodded and he gave her a rare smile to comfort her and slipped out the door.

David made his way to a side room he had searched earlier. He found the piece of equipment he needed. “Now if only I knew how I knew this was a neutralizer key....” He pondered as he made his way back to the monitor room. He also noticed a sword lying on the floor a little further down the corridor towards the throne room. He suddenly remembered that Twinkle had been holding it when he dragged her to safety. In the rush he hadn’t noticed it fall from her grip. He went and retrieved it.
“Could be useful.” He thought.

He made his way back to where Twinkle waited. As he walked through the door, he caught something in the corner of his eye and ducked. A chair passed through the space where his head had been. He rolled forward and came up in a defensive stance, only to see an embarrassed Twinkle looking at him, holding the chair.

“Sorry.”

“That’s OK. Let’s get to work.”

Looking at the trapped JSSers in the monitor, he called Twinkle over. “Can you teleport objects as well as people?”

"Sure", she replied. "Small objects I can teleport separately."

"Could you teleport this key?" He asked.

"Sure. Where do you want it? The Central Chamber? A bedroom?"

"No, I want it in HERE." David said pointing to the room where the JSSers were.

"I can't do that."

"Why not?"

"Because I have to have been there first."

"Wait, wait." He shook his head and then asked. "How can you know where you've been before? Do you remember the coordinates?"

"I have no idea. I just know," She snapped petulantly.

David thought for a while. He looked up at Twinkle. "I have an idea. Look at this. This is a schematic of the mountain. See those coordinates? They're where the others are being held, right? OK now look at the monitor." David gave her a few minutes and switched camera angles. He did this a few times. "Can you try and send the key to one of them?"

She sighed and looked at him. "OK. But I tell you it won't work."

Twinkle held the key and concentrated on the room.

After awhile flickering stars of light appeared around the key and it vanished.

She looked at David's inquiring face. "I can't tell you if it worked or not. The key could be anywhere."

They watched the monitor carefully for several minutes. Suddenly David started. "Where's Sapphire Swift???" He exclaimed.

Looking at the monitor, Twinkle noticed that the table she had been strapped to was empty. The young boy, Rook, looked furious. He pointed at the guy that looked like Silver Lantern and the guy left the room. Suddenly she realized. She looked at David, a huge grin on her face. "It WORKED!" she cried out!

"It certainly did."

They both spun to see Sapphire Swift standing behind them holding the key, a half smile on her face.

"But how did I do it?" Twinkle looked at David.

"I don't really know, but I think it's a part of your power, you aren't conscious of it, but give you enough information about a location and your brain files that away for safekeeping. Just the image wouldn't work. Or the coordinates. But add them all together and your power kicks in. Tell it enough and it's as though you have been there."

"I didn't realize I was so smart." Twinkle murmured to herself.

"Sounds like it's an automatic part of your power." Swift chimed in. "With enough training and the right equipment I'm sure you would be able to control it. But let's worry about that later. At the moment we have other fish to fry."

"What are we gonna do?" Twinkle asked.

Swift looked at her and smiled, determined.

"What we need.... Is a plan."

Chapter 11

"A plan." Twinkle repeated.

"Yes, that's what I said. We need a plan."

"Well you know we weren't just standing around doing nothing while you were captured!" She put her hands on her hips for emphasis. "We freed you didn't we? And David here figured out how to use the cameras and the computer and…and…we found the armory too!" She protested.

"David, can you pull up the schematics for the armory you found?" Sapphire Swift asked, turning her back on Twinkle. Quickly looking over the section of green grid-map of the mountain David pulled up, Swift knitted her eyebrows together. "On my way through I noticed this wing too. It looked like it held a HUGE variety of older weapons. It seemed to be more of a museum than a true armory, though. Somewhere nearby has to be the GOOD stuff. It would be better protected than this. Zen didn't seem like the trusting sort. Keep looking."

"All right." David turned his full attention back to the computer, falling silent again after his brief conversation with Twinkle. She was no longer radiating fear as she had been before, when he'd spoken to her to try to reassure her. He was fairly sure he was the cause of at least PART of her fear. Now Sapphire Swift was talking down to the blonde, pretty much ignoring her, and Twinkle was obviously upset by it. "You're welcome by the way."

Sapphire Swift frowned at the odd young man but said nothing to him. Both of them seemed resentful of her. What a great way for this team to behave! She thought. Someone's gotta pull the JSS's asses out of the fire, these two sure can't do it by themselves!
"Twinkle, keep an eye on our friends over there. Let me know if any of them get any closer to us." As soon as Sapphire Swift had arrived, she'd had David pull up monitors focused on different rooms in the lair, where different members of the KSS were searching for their 'missing guests'.

"Fine."

One of the monitors, showing the lab where Az and BL had fought, was suddenly filled with a close-up of red hair and purple sunglasses. The face they were attached to remained emotionless, even when Control puckered up and kissed the lens, leaving lipstick behind. She stepped back and the monitor went snowy, then black. The cameras focused on each of the other KSS members followed suit.
The only one that remained functioning was the one focused on Rook and the captured members of the JSS.

"Um, we lost several cameras, guys, and I think they know where we are."

"We aren't going to be here much longer, Twinkle. Just as soon as we find the…"

"…Jackpot." David muttered. "A whole lot of security for one little room."
He began pulling up both the coordinates and the cameras both inside and outside the armory. The internal video showed a laser grid on the floor, and several movable banks of lasers in the walls. The hallway outside was clear of KSS members.

"There's a lot of booby-traps. It'd probably be best if I just zip in and grab some things. I'm faster than those…"

"Pardon me, but may I be of some assistance in your search?" A voice interrupted her. "My compatriots and I would be most happy to give you a tour of the holding area. How would that make you feel, ladies? A guided tour for your pleasure and amusement?"

All three turned to see an Armani-suited buffalo in the doorway, fingers already switching on some sort of communications device on his wrist. "I have them."
As soon as he switched off the wristband, he dabbed his mouth with a handkerchief, wiping away a tiny bit of drool that had accumulated while he had spoken. "A pity Lady Wilde's counterpart isn't here as well, I would have liked to have seen if she was as…fascinating as our version is. Control's counterpart would have been quite interesting to meet as well."
He licked his lips and looked from Twinkle, to Sapphire Swift, then back to Twinkle. "I suppose with their absence you two will have to suffice."

Twinkle shifted uncomfortably in place before moving behind David a bit. "Goog...what a pervert."

"Really." Even David was put off by the salivating buffalo.

Twinkle turned away, staring at the monitors, studying them intently. She pulled David's arm and whispered. "Get the coordinates for me, outside the room, ok?
I wanna try that trick again. Maybe pretty soon." He complied instantly.

Swift looked at the pair, standing over the monitors, and sensed Twinkle's intention. "I'll take care of him and catch up with you two. Twinkle, take David and go." Her voice had dropped, her hands were balled into fists, and her entire body was tense. She was furious.

Twinkle hesitated for a moment longer before wrapping her arms tightly around David and teleporting them both out of the room.

"Well I cannot honestly say I would not like to be in his position right now. If I did it would be a terrible, terrible lie." The buffalo snorted roughly, shaking spittle from his mouth, before lowering his head and charging at Sapphire Swift.
__________________________

"We're supposed to wait for Swift." Twinkle whispered to David, who was busy trying to pry the armory doors apart with the sword Twinkle had lost. She'd been afraid to teleport them inside the room, worried they'd both have been cut to shreds by the lasers. She looked up and down the hallway for the third time in as many seconds.

"We can't be sure she'll get away from that -uh- buffalo, or the others when they show up." He answered her, obviously finished with the conversation.

"Sapphire Swift can handle that animal!"

"I wish I were that sure." Came the answer came from inside the room.
"Good news though, the lasers aren't working. Come on in."

Twinkle entered cautiously and eyed the weaponry lining the walls, then looked to David, who already had several items slung over one shoulder, a smaller, odd-shaped weapon in one hand.

"Here." He held it out to her.

"I don't like guns. You use it."

"It's not a gun." He muttered, pressing it into her hand. "Just point and fire, you can't miss. It's a tangler." He quickly showed her how to change out the cartridges and handed her several more 'rounds'. "Take us back to Swift."

"Why?"

"She's in trouble."

"What are you, psychic?"

"I dunno, maybe."

"Before we go I have a couple suggestions."

"Ok, go ahead."

Chapter 12

Sapphire Swift hit the massive buffalo for something like the 100th time in the space of a few seconds and then stepped back. The KSS member wobbled a moment before he crashed to the floor, shaking the equipment in the room and knocking a few items to the floor. She rubbed her hands together a bit, trying to get the feeling back into them. Why did dad drag us into this? I'm so out of practice, that actually hurt. She thought.
She moved quickly to the monitors David and Twinkle had left on, which now showed them and their location in the lair, and shut them down. "Now to get to the rookies before they get themselves…hurt…?" She looked around the room.
"What is this stuff?" Damp, purplish mist hung in the air, seemingly coming out of nowhere.

"Don't worry about your friends, worry about yourself." Came a cold, completely emotionless voice from the doorway. Swift spun around, finding herself face to face with Control, both hands glowing with a purplish light. Not even a flicker of emotion was visible on the witch's face as she spoke. "No one gave you permission to leave, you know."

Swift immediately tried to escape the room and the mist, but the purple fog thickened so fast that she couldn't build up the speed she needed to vibrate through the wall. Within seconds, she found herself frozen in place, the viscous material having quickly solidified and totally encased her.

"The harder you struggle, the worse it will be." Control raised one hand and held it in front of her face. "Feel free to struggle though. It makes for much more entertaining viewing."

Control didn't smile, but she did flip on her wrist communicator. "I have the woman, Rook. She took out Barehead before I arrived, and covered the other two's escape."

"Can you track them down, gorgeous?"

"I believe so." Control responded, glancing across the room at the now-black monitors. "By the way, Rook? If you ever call me 'gorgeous' again I will eviscerate you and feed you your own entrails." Her monotone voice never faltered, and she paused, letting her threat said sink in. "Control out."
She switched off the communicator, then leisurely reached up and pulled away a strip of the purple substance covering Swift's face, who gasped for air.

"Oh don't worry. I wouldn't let you suffocate, Rook wants you alive."

Control heard a slight noise behind her and swung around, violet energy playing across her fingers, ready for anything. She found herself face to face with David, both hands up in a 'surrender' posture. He dropped his arms to let them hang loosely at his sides while he spoke.

"That's a good thing too. Superion wouldn't be pleased if you killed his daughter."

"Oh look, a mime. What do you think you can do to me?"

"Nothing."

"Nothing? Well at least you're a realist. You're here to turn yourself in, I presume?"

"Not really."

"FREEZE, WITCH!" Twinkle shouted, firing the small device she held unsteadily in both hands. The net impacted in the center of Control's back and instantly wrapped itself around her upper torso, pinning her arms to her sides.

"That was spectacularly stupid, girl."

"No, actually, THIS is stupid." David almost laughed, kicking the witch across the face, the impact knocking her to the floor. He followed up by kicking her wrist, the communications device breaking into several sections which clattered to the floor. He then turned and bolted from the room.

The witch glared after him, her eyes a bulging mass of swirling purple energy, but said nothing, instead casting a spell that rapidly disintegrated her bonds, leaving them a pile of ashes. She stood and brushed herself off, then reached down to recover her glasses. She turned to face Twinkle, only to discover both the girl and the formerly captured speedster were gone.

"Well, you won't ALL get away." She announced calmly.
She exited the room and looked around in the deserted hallway. The 'mime' was nowhere to be seen, having apparently put to good use the considerable head start he had on her.

"When I find you, boy, I will kill you VERY slowly, I promise you. No one touches me without my permission." She hissed.

She gestured intricately with both hands, and another mist formed in the hallway, turned to dust, and settled slowly to the floor. If she were to find, him she would have to know where to begin looking. She looked down at the thin veneer of powder forming on the concrete, and she could clearly see his footprints on the floor. Large, clunky and leading…absolutely nowhere? The tracks stopped mere inches from her position in the doorway. Either he was a teleporter as well as the girl, or…

Control gasped in pain as an invisible boot connected to her face. She barely kept her balance, then lost it completely as another unseen extremity smashed into her, this time slamming flat across her back. She hit the floor hard, purple dust rising up from the floor.

"I'll kill you." she spat, pushing herself up from the floor.

"Someone beat you to that, I'm afraid." Came David's voice from out of nowhere.

Violet light began to form around her hands, pulsing out in waves and filling the hallway with shadows and light. She blasted it towards the voice, and David's form was quickly visible, electricity sparkling around one gloved hand. He dropped the small device he was holding, and it crackled with electricity for a moment more before burning completely out. "Guess you don't like cloaking devices…" He commented before bolting back into the monitor room. He slammed the door shut and locked it, knowing it would only keep the more powerful KSS member out for a second or so.

"This hide and seek game is getting very old, I assure you. You've bought yourself a slow, painful death." She stepped to the door. "In fact I may resurrect you just to kill you again." She called through the sealed metal.

David backed away from the door, muttering "…any time now Twinkle…" before pulling a nasty-looking pulse rifle from under his coat. "Why do I know this isn't gonna hurt her?" He asked no one in particular.

"Well, let's not stick around to find out." Twinkle answered as the last of the tiny sparks of energy around her dissipated. She wrapped her arms around him and they vanished just as the door exploded inwards.

Chapter 13

Rook had his back to the Sentinels; he was standing at the lab’s door looking down the hallway. The four captured Sentinels were alone for the moment.

“Sil…any chance of you breaking us out?” Rydgen whispered while struggling with the energy constraints.

“I don’t believe so. These bonds are quite adept.” He replied quietly.

“Keep it down, you two.” Superion ordered. “We don’t want Rook hearing us.”

“He doesn’t have super-hearing.” Azangel reminded the Man of Liberty. “And neither do the rest of us. Do you have any idea of how we can get out of this?”

“Swift is free. Knowing her she’ll find David and Twinkle. She’ll come up with something.”

“Yeah? Well, no offense, Supes, but I want outta this mess now.” Ry said while struggling.

“Save your strength, son.” Superion advised him. “Whenever we are freed, and we WILL be, we’re going to need to take these villains down.”

Rook began yelling into his wrist communicator. “I don’t want excuses! I want those three found and brought here!”

“David may know where we are. See the camera up there?” SL gestured with his head.
“He and I found a Monitoring Station; it has visual access to the entire Lair.”

“And I could swear I saw Twinkle’s golden stars above Swift’s table when she was freed.” Az added.

“That makes sense.” Silver agreed. “David and Twinkle were together when I came to your aid, Ciela.”

“Lucky David.” Ry quipped.

“Rydgen.” Superion scolded the younger man.

“No…that’s not what I meant. I mean he’s lucky that he’s free and…okay. That IS what I meant. Sorry.”

“With the KSS away from this room, now would be a good time for a rescue attempt. Be ready, everyone.” Superion forewarned.

Rook turned to look at the foursome. “Talking behind my back? That isn’t very polite. And you call yourselves heroes. Tisk tisk.”

“When we get out of here, Rook, we…” Superion was saying.

“DON’T make promises you can’t keep, old man.” Rook interrupted him. “I wonder if your shield is strong enough to cut your head off. When we get those other three, I may just have to try it. Zen Reaper didn’t mention you in our deal, so you’re mine.”

“You don’t frighten me, boy.”

“BOY? Oh you are SO gonna die, grandpa!” Rook was picking up Superion’s shield.

“Don’t do it, Rook.” Control said while leaning on the doorframe. “We may need him as a hostage. And don’t forget all the information in that noggin of his.”

“Welcome back, Control. Nice shiner. Did you bump your face into a wall?” The KSS teen mocked her.

“I ran into the three missing guests.” She said evenly. “They have some impressive toys, courtesy Zen Reaper’s inventory no doubt.”

“You don’t think I know that already? I’ve SEEN them come here and attempt a rescue.” He said, aggravated with the spellcaster. He activated his wrist communicator.
“Everybody get back here NOW! The three pests are on their way!” He barked at his teammates.

“Tell me, Rook.” Control mocked him. “What does your crystal ball vision say about the outcome?”

“Mind your tone, woman.” He cautioned her. “Or I won’t tell you how to watch your back when Superion…”

Golden lights like small stars appeared between the two Syndicate members's faces and a neutralizer key, identical to the one that had free Sapphire Swift earlier, materialized and fell to the floor. Rook had backed away from the event as a reflex and Control was conjuring up something, evident by the purple mist.

“Now? It’s too early!” Rook protested aloud from his crouch behind a lab table.

Chapter 14

Control was ready for the three free Sentinels to make an assault on the lab. Rook was behind her.

"It's too soon I tell you! I saw the KSS arrive here BEFORE the attempted rescue."

"Quiet, Rook! You know your visions can be wrong sometimes!"

"Seeing into the future is never 100 per cent, woman, but I was certain I saw the real future."

While they argued, all the while looking at the door, Twinkle and Sapphire Swift appeared behind them, standing atop the vacant table to which the speedstress had once been bound.

The golden sparks of light that accompanied Twinkle’s teleportation would dissipate in one second.

Before a fraction of that second had passed, Swift ran behind Rook and delivered a decisive jab to his temple. The kid was out like a light. Swift considered hitting Control too, but didn't want to set off any "mystic alarm bell", or worse yet, get killed by some protective defense spell. She ran to the control panel to free the Sentinels.

In that heartbeat of time, Twinkle was looking towards Silver Lantern as she held the Neutralizer key. She was moving off the table.

Control was turning her attention from the door to the sound of Swift’s blow to Rook's neck, right beside her.

Swift was manipulating the controls at an incredible rate, trying to hit the right sequence to free her father and the others.

Outside the lab, David fired his energy rifle at the door to the lab as they had planned. The explosive impact of the plasma pellet on the doorframe created a much wider opening as shards of metal wall exploded inward.

Control began turning her head BACK to the doorway for the assault she thought was coming.

The one-second was over. The golden sparks of Twinkle's teleportation had faded above the now-empty table.

Twinkle was off the table and moving to Silver's table to free him, as Control’s purple mist was filling the room with the magicks she was unleashing. She was preparing to hurl a mystical bolt of eldritch power too, having already sent a bolt of energy through the smoking hole in the door, forcing David to retreat down the hallway and into a side lab.

“I'll have you outta there in a second, Silver!” Twinkle said she pushed the neutralizer key’s button.

“Too slow, Twinkle.” Swift bragged from the control panel, having freed all four Sentinels in the span of less than two seconds.

Just how fast IS she? Twinkle wondered as the azure blur that was Sapphire Swift now stood in front of Superion, handing him his shield.

“Nice going, ladies. Record time, Parker.” Superion took his shield from his daughter as she offered it to him.

Control now turned to the Sentinels behind her. The purple haze she had conjured was warping the reality of the room.

"You're surrounded, witch!" Azangel fired her taser at Control, who ducked behind a rolling cart of equipment.

The mystic fired her magickal bolt at the Sentinels in response, and Silver Lantern countered it with an Oan Beam. He summoned his board.

Rydgen had reached his satchel on the floor to the side, and now turned to face… the room was stretched, manipulated into an expanse of nightmarish scenery.

"It's some kinda nightmare." He said aloud.

“Finally! Some fun!” Lady Wilde shouted as she rushed into the altered lab, sword drawn. Black Lantern was right behind her with his fists glowing with black Power Qwardian.

“Stay close, everyone!” Superion shouted, but it was almost pointless. The Sentinels were already rushing to engage the KSS.

Azangel took to the air…the ceiling had been raised 20 or 30 feet. She could get a better view and choose a target. One found her instead. Azdaemon flew at her with sharp metallic wings extended, and Azangel barely banked in time to avoid dissection.

David entered the battle landscape behind the KSS. They were interested in the Sentinels IN the room; he raised his energy rifle and took aim.

Twinkle was behind Superion with her tangler gun. What better protection for a mortal than the nigh-invulnerable Golden Age hero?

"I'm covering your back, Superion!" She yelled to him in as joking a tone as she could muster right now.

Silver Lantern fired an Oan Blast into another of Control's evil bolts, neutralizing it.

"NO!!!!!"

Silver Lantern turned his head to see who had screamed. It was Black Lantern holding the unconscious Rook.

The Oan Sentinel blasted BL who fell to the side, dropping Rook.

{GonnakillSentinelswhohurtRook.} Black Lantern's jumbled thoughts entered Silver's mind as he was flying towards his evil doppelganger. The thoughts were LOUD in his mind, causing him to shake his head in discomfort.

"No, Black Lantern. Nobody dies today." Silver vowed as he blasted his opponent to the ground again.

{Ring, I'm battling an opposite of myself. Why can't you detect him?} Silver Lantern wanted to know.
{Unknown.} Came the silent reply.

Black Lantern popped his Battery out of his ring while he staggered up and fired his own Bolt at the circling Silver Lantern.
{RingBrokenRookHurtKillSentinelsOpenBatteryRingBrokenRookHurtKillSentinelsOpenBattery} Black Lantern's jumbled thoughts entered Silver's mind again.

"Black Lantern! Don't do it!" Silver Lantern shouted at him. "You'll kill everybody!"

Silver Lantern flew at the Sindicater's back, plowed into him and PHASED. They both went THROUGH the walls of the complex.

Chapter 15

Barely avoiding dissection by the black-skinned Daemon's wings, Az banked around and fired both gauntlets' plasma beams at her doppelganger. One hit, one missed, and the KSS member turned and laughed at Az. "I told you to be nice didn't I? That wasn't very nice, but it's ok, I like naughty girls too."
Ciela fought her urge to gag, and grimaced. "You're going to make me ILL you bitc - "

Her comment was cut off as the bulkier, more heavily armored Azdaemon rammed her head-first, miraculously missing her with her horns, which only grazed her sides, not impaling her as they easily could have. The blow's forward momentum carried them both into the far wall of the room. Az twisted in mid-air, trying to force the KSS'r to take the brunt of the impact, but her twin's jagged wings flared out as she tried again to disembowel her. One wing tore deep grooves into the wall and the other slammed into Ciela with enough force to leave several of the ragged metal 'feathers' imbedded in her leg, piercing the invisible shield surrounding her body. Propelling herself away from her foe with a quick flick of her wings, she fired both tasers at her doppelganger, who caught them in one hand, pulling Ciela downwards as she fell.

Both dropped towards the floor rapidly, Azdaemon hitting with a solid thud, too stunned by the electrical shock to fly properly, Ciela right behind her, unable to disengage the taser's thin wires from either the gauntlet or her opponent's hand. She finally got them free, but was unable to avoid crash landing a few feet from her opposite.
She started pulling the ragged metal from her leg, the demonic Az recovering from both the shock and the fall more quickly than should have been possible.

"Oh Quetz..."

The dark-skinned KSS'r glowered at the mention of the light-god's name, and stalked towards the grounded Azangel like a jaguar.

"Haven't you figured it out yet, you Quetz-spawned cow? Why I know WHAT you're going to do and WHEN you're going to do it?" Azdaemon dodged as Az again blasted at her with plasma from one of the gauntlets. The daemon shrugged it off and grabbed the arm, holding it firmly. "No more of that." She mocked.
"Are you sure you won't be a good girl now?"

"You're disgusting…" Az mumbled tiredly from the floor, still pulling at the shards of metal with her free hand, fingers wet with blood. Over the space of time that it had taken her to pull two of the blades out, her injured leg had gone completely numb, and the numbness was spreading. "Poisoned?"

"Of course." She smirked. "Weren't yours when you were blue? Let me tell you a little story." The daemon whispered as she leant over Az.
__________________
Across the room, David still had yet to pick out a target. He hadn't seen the short aerial battle between the two Aztec warriors, but he had seen the outcome. He waited patiently, oblivious to the other battles raging around him; rifle propped against his shoulder. As the black-hued KSS'r stood up and spread her wings, he took careful aim, grinning slightly.
____________

"Do you realize that you're the second Azangel I've killed?" Azdaemon asked mockingly, still crouched over Ciela. She stood up and flared out her wings triumphantly. "Don't be upset, it's part of your job description, dying at the hands of Tezcatli-*"

A blast of energy struck the KSS'r in the face, cutting her off mid-sentence. It was quickly followed by three more blasts, which knocked her off-balance, and backwards away from Ciela. She turned to see David, pulse rifle still at his shoulder. He rushed to her side just as she pulled the last metal shard from her leg, and extended a hand to help her up.

"Thanks. I think I've got it now."
"You're bleeding."
"Not for long." She passed one hand over the wounds and they glowed, sealing up almost instantly.
"So I see."

Azdaemon screamed in rage and rushed towards him, swinging hands tipped with long, razor-sharp claws, slicing the pulse rifle in half, aiming to do the same thing to David. He dodged the attack, jumping to the side and spinning around to kick the KSS'r in the back of the head. However, instead of connecting, his kick was intercepted by the daemon's hand, who caught it and slung him aside like a rag doll. "Pest." She spat, and turned her head back to Az. "Where were we?"

Az readied herself for the next attack, and didn't have to wait long before the powerful daemon lunged at her. She caught both of her twin's hands and held them, the two stalemated in sheer physical strength. She'd had enough time for the electrical charge to build back up in the battery, and let it course through her, again shocking her twin, who reeled slightly, her head lolling slightly to one side and then back. She looked dazed, her red eyes barely visible beneath nearly closed lids.

Not willing to take chances, Ciela didn't release her doppelganger until the charge was completely spent, and the KSS'r should have dropped to the ground like a rock.

But she didn't. Instead her head snapped forward and smashed into Ciela's face, who reeled backwards, surprised more than hurt.

"I knew you'd fall for that." She laughed. "Stupid. You can't hurt me, you don't have the guts to do what it takes. I don't have a problem killing you though."
Both of the daemon's hands came up, and jet-black shadows poured from her fingertips. Azangel countered with the armor's plasma beams, the two canceling each other out. Again, they were stalemated.

"It looks like I'll simply have to cut you apart to get rid of you. Pity, I wanted an Azangel helmet without bloodstains on it…" With that she unfurled her wings to their fullest and flicked them towards Azangel, releasing a barrage of the jagged knives. Az, expecting this, fired an energy net to intercept the blades. The finely 'woven' net stopped them for the most part, and the few that made it through were deflected by Az's shield.

"Just DIE already, bitch!" Azdaemon screamed, energy starting to seep from the battery in the center of her chest.

"You first." Came a quiet voice from behind Azdaemon.

She spun around, startled.

Az's mouth dropped as David grabbed both of the horn-like protrusions on Azdaemon's helmet and gave it a violent jerk.

She guessed he was trying to pull the helmet off in order to stop their fight, but instead there was an audible crack as the JSS'rs neck broke.
David held the body upright for a few seconds before letting go, and it dissolved into smoke-like shadows and vanished without ever touching the ground. The helmet clattered to the ground but didn't stay long, a deep ebony pool forming underneath it, into which the helmet quickly sank.

David looked up from the spot where the helmet had landed and looked at Az. "You need to work on your fighting skills." He murmured.
"I…thanks…" She stuttered before finally closing her mouth.
"I'd suggest helping one of the others…?"
"Right."

Chapter 16

Silver Lantern and Black Lantern rocketed out of the side of the mountain like a missile, an immaterial missile; Silver still grasping his double’s torso from behind.

“Don’t do it! You could kill everyone!” Silver shouted as they resolidified on the emerald board. They were nearly a thousand feet above the surface and were still heading up.

{Gethimoffmegethimoffmegetfreegetfree}Black Lantern’s thoughts entered The Oan Sentinel’s mind as Black struggled with the silver arms trying to restrain him.
BL instinctively released an Omni-Directional Power Pulse. The black energy explosion propelled SL backward off BL and the cosmic board.
Both began free falling.

{GetBatteryFindRookGetBattery} Black Lantern thought to himself, as he flailed his limbs on his way down.

He must have lost his grip on his battery when I grabbed him inside the lair. Silver reasoned as his board flew under his feet. He turned to pursue the doppelganger and captured him in an Oan Field, which stopped the other's uncontrolled plummet.

Black Lantern immediately began firing Power Qwardian Blasts inside his prison.
{Nocagenocagenocagebreakfreebreakfree} Was booming in Silver’s head as he continually pumped Power Oan into the Field to reinforce it.

{Stay out of my mind!} Silver projected. {Shut up!}

{ Nocagenocagenocagebreakfreebreakfree } BL kept repeating, and released another Omni-Directional Power Pulse. The black energy obliterated the silver-hued Oan Field and the two combatants were shoved apart once more from the force.

He’s not conserving any Power. Silver realized as he regained his balance on his board.

“What’s that?”

An object entered his peripheral vision. It was BL’s obsidian board, racing to its master. “No rest for the weary.” He dive-bombed to intercept it.

Black Lantern saw his board approaching and smiled. He would feel whole once more. {RideBoardGetBatteryFindRookKillSentinelsforhurtingRook.}

The black board slowed as Silver’s Power Oan surrounded it. Black Lantern looked at the Sentinel overhead and growled incoherently, but inside Silver’s thoughts he heard: {LetgoletgoletgomusthaveboardmusthaveboardletgoletgoMakehimletgo}
He fired twin beams of Power Qwardian at his double, striking him square in the chest, knocking him backward, and better yet, disrupting his concentration.

The black cosmic board was free of its bonds and arrived under BL’s black boots. He headed for the mountain below.

Stupid! His Power is equivalent of my own from what I’ve observed; I should have been ready for an assault! Silver Lantern admonished himself while chasing after Black Lantern.

{No you don’t, Black Lantern! Face me you, you coward!} He yelled inside his counterpart’s mind, even though he was nearly 300 feet behind him. Silver blasted his counterpart in the back, hoping to get his attention.

{COWARD!}He repeated, 'shouting' even louder inside the doppelganger's mind.

It worked. The Syndicater turned away from the mountain to face his mocking counterpart.

{BlackLanternnotcowardprovenotcowardkillfakeAbinRaddprovenotcowardkillfakeAbinRadd} He fired a double-armed Qwardian Beam at Sil, who dodged it.

{Is that the best you have, Abin? Come on; hit me!} SL veered to the side as a Qwardian Bolt shot past him. {Missed me! Now…catch me if you can!} He rocketed upwards. Keep him firing, make him deplete his Power. Silver thought to himself.

{AbinRaddkillfakeAbinRaddfakeAbinRaddrunsAbinRaddkillfakeAbinRaddwhenAbinRaddcatchesfakeAbinRadd} He was firing Qwardian Beams erratically at the Sentinel.

Flying away from Black Lantern, yet facing him, Silver was avoiding the black energy bolts. THAT one was close! He’ll hit me with… He had an idea. He reinforced his form with Power Oan, surrounded himself in an Oan Shield, and STOPPED.

Black Lantern SLAMMED into him, and they both were catapulted off their boards. They floated in low orbit, both momentarily stunned.

Silver recovered first; he fortified his Oan Shield, and shot Black Lantern with an Oan Bolt.

{Okay, Abin, you want to kill me? Here I am. Do it. KILL ME NOW!} Silver ordered.

The KSSer ached from his sudden collision with Silver Lantern and the Oan Bolt. His vision was blurred; his thoughts were jumbled. {Mustkill….fakeAbincowardGet RookfindBaterykillyounow}
He released the last of his Power Qwardian in one Power Burst.

It wasn’t much of a blast; Silver hardly even felt it. He flew over to his boardless, now powerless, counterpart.

{My turn.}

He recharged his ring, surrounded the unconscious Black Lantern and his board in an Oan Field, and began his descent to the Zen Lair.

{Ring, did you hear him, inside my mind?}

{I communicate with Silver Lantern alone.}

{Lucky you. I have SUCH a headache.}

Chapter 17

In the lab, the fighting was intense.

“So boy, you’re MY counterpart. A little too ‘human’ for my liking.” Rageon the Relentless spat as he lunged at Rydgen. Fingers formed of long sharpened thorns raked Rydgen's side. Green blood flew as the thorns dug into his flesh. Rydgen didn’t pay attention, the wounds already healing. He looked around for something to use against this evil plant creature.

Over his shoulder, Rydgen glimpsed a laser cutter attached to a table. Rageon leapt forward to stab Rydgen in the chest, but Ry jumped backwards, avoiding the thorny hands and landing on the dissection table. He grabbed the laser, swiveling it around to face the charging plant guy. What a horrible caricature of a human it was. Rydgen let loose a beam of intensified light, shearing off an arm. Should buy me a little time, he thought. Rageon clutched his shoulder, moaning like a tree being whipped about in a hurricane; a very bark-like moan. The cauterized arm flopped about like a fish on land, then settled down.

Rydgen watched Rageon, ignoring the arm on the ground, which was busy sprouting vines through gaps in the burned wound. His shoulder was cauterized, but blood still spewed from the wound, as Rageon started shriveling up like a plant without water. More perplexed than worried, Rydgen went up to the shriveling body. “He should have just grown a new arm!” he said. “What’s happening to him? Why's he dying?”

In his moment of distraction, he didn’t realize what was going on behind his back. Something half formed, tentacles wrapping around itself, creating a new body, rose behind him. It raised the arm from which the new body had sprung, preparing to thrust deadly thorns into Rydgen's skull.

There was an explosion and Rydgen was showered in blood. He turned to see the legs and hips of the newly formed Rageon standing behind him. They toppled to the floor.

Beyond them stood David with a smoking blaster, Azangel by his side.

“Thanks...” Rydgen said, then hesitated as he surveyed the blood covering him.

"Just how much did you drag from the armory, anyway?" She asked David, also looking at the blood-soaked Rydgen.
"Enough to do the job."
"Looks like you did it all right."

“It’s not over yet.” David replied. “Azangel. I think Swift needs a hand.” Az nodded and flew to Sapphire Swift’s aid.

Rydgen stood and looked questioningly at David. “Where did the other Rageon come from?” He asked. But David was staring in horror over his shoulder.

“Looks like there’s your answer.” He pointed. Rydgen turned and was stunned to see the various bits of the second Rageon growing and rebuilding themselves.

“He keeps coming.” Rydgen murmured. “The host body dies, but the more damage we do, the more of him there’ll be. He can sprout an army! And I thought I was unstoppable.” David handed him something. Rydgen realised it was a thermal grenade.

"Well go on...throw it!" David cried, heaving a grenade. Rydgen and David ducked, yelling a warning to the others. The motley Rageon creatures were incinerated in a blinding white concussion. Rydgen threw his grenade and the rest died in a burst of white-hot fire.

"I think that's all of them." Rydgen said and turned to see what the other Sentinels were doing.

Behind a lab table, a beating, fibrous heart started to sprout creepers.
_________________________________________________________________

Swift struck, hitting Control with a few thousand high-speed punches, but they merely bounced off a magic shield surrounding the anti-witch. "Nice try." Control commented as Swift ran out of range of the magic bolt that blasted where she had been standing.

"Need any help?" Azangel asked Sapphire Swift as they used their speed and agility to dodge the blasts of magic Control was calmly throwing.

"All I can get." Swift replied as she dodged another one. "Have you got anything that could unnerve her? Break her concentration?" Swift asked Az.

"I can try." Azangel replied and spun in midair, heading for Control.

"Pretty bird. Please die." Control said in a monotone and aimed at Azangel, who avoided the blast, wheeling around and strafing Control with ineffective plasma beams.

Gotta be something... Swift thought to herself. An idea came to her. Speeding by a cabinet, she grabbed a container of disinfectant. She ran around Control, changing her rate of her internal vibrations, and that of the container. She flung it at Control's face, and it vibrated effortlessly through the shield, but slowed down enough thanks to the magical field to become solid when it struck the anti-witch's face.
Control cried out in pain as the disinfectant poured into her eyes, burning and blinding her. She tore off her glasses revealing whirling pools of energy, now flaming red.

"I'll kill you!" She screamed in anger. But her magic fizzled out and her shield faded, destroyed by the emotions swirling inside her. Control was shocked and tried to recover her composure. "NO! Must gain Control! Must...have control!! Must hav..*" She shrieked in pain and fell forward, tasers sending electric shocks through her body. Azangel released the wires.

"Thanks." Sapphire Swift said and smiled. Az was surprised, then smiled back.
__________________________________________________________________

Superion caught the poison dagger on his shield. "You might as well give up, miss. Your comrades are falling like flies." He called out.

"BITE ME!" Lady Wilde yelled as she pirouetted behind a lab table and pulled another dagger. "Please!" She added and laughed a deep, throaty laugh.

"Now young lady, that's no sort of behaviour." Superion admonished, raising his shield and blocking the second thrown dagger. He lowered it again but his instincts kicked in and he dived to the side, pulling Twinkle with him. Lady Wilde's sword sheared through the space his head had previously occupied.

"Get yourself to safety." He whispered to Twinkle, then lunged and somersaulted over Lady Wilde's head. He landed, she spun, and a deadly dance began. Twinkle watched amazed as the two combatants weaved around each other. They were fighting too fast for her to get a clear shot at Lady Wilde.

"Oh my...a real man at last!" Lady Wilde laughed as she ducked beneath a blow. "I'm getting quite aroused! There's nothing like a mature man, full of experience. When this is done, I must have you, my beautiful silver-fox!"

Superion didn't reply.

What can I do?? Twinkle thought as she watched the lethal ballet.

Again, Superion diverted Wilde's sword with his shield, but her whip flicked out and wrapped around his neck. She pulled him roughly towards her. Superion was caught off balance and stumbled into her. She grabbed him and kissed him long and hard, then laughed. She stood there waiting for a reaction, a wicked gleam in her eye.

She raised her sword, preparing to attack, but Superion blocked it with his shield, lifting it so that it smashed her arm and her sword was knocked away.

Lady Wilde laughed and spun around, backflipping towards the fallen weapon.
Suddenly sparkling lights blinked into existence around the sword, and Twinkle reached down and grabbed it. Before the first sparkles had even faded, they were replaced with new ones as Twinkle teleported away, appearing behind Superion, Wilde's sword in hand.
Superion stepped forward towards the confused KSS'r, arm pulled back, fist balled.

“Oh fu...” she muttered as Superion's fist knocked her to the floor.

“I never hit a lady if I can help it...But then, you’re no lady.” Was all he said.

“And she has terrible fashion sense...” Twinkle added as she joined Superion.

Suddenly a bellow came from the door and it burst open. The Sentinels ducked the shrapnel as Barehead the Buffalo charged through. He shouted an incoherent roar, his red, glassy eyes surveying the room.

"WAIT!"

The combatants turned, distracted.

Rook had awakened.
__________________________________________________________________

Chapter 18

Rook smiled.

"Your deaths are coming, Sentinels. I have foreseen them. It is inevitable." The Sentinels froze where they stood. Rook laughed. "Feeling trapped? Good. I don't know what powers my counterpart possessed, but I can tell you mine are vastly different. Time, for the next few moments, is frozen for all of you." He walked over and pulled Lady Wilde's sword from Twinkle's hands. "The future is fast approaching." Rook spoke ominously.

Barehead grinned and watched his boss at work. "I do so love a good artiste with a sense of the dramatics." He wiped the spittle off his chin.

Rook approached Superion. "This sword was forged long ago. It can cut the molecular bonds of an atom. Now watch your leader die!" He went to plunge the sword into Superion's breast.

It skidded off Superion's shield, sparks flying.

"It's.... It's not possible..." Rook stared in awe.

"Well young man, Sapphire Swift and I have had dealings with being frozen in time before. You could say we already are in a sense. Swift!" Rook felt a wind rush by and realised he was empty-handed. "But the sword should have...."

"Not THIS shield." Superion chuckled.

Rook shrieked and backed off. Barehead charged Superion, but was hit by high-speed fists, tasers and a blaze of silver energy. He fell to the floor and stayed there. Rook looked around wild-eyed. He'd lost control of the Sentinels and Silver Lantern was descending through the hole in the roof, an unconscious Black Lantern in tow.

"This isn't right! We had to win! I saw it!!!!" Rook used his power to check out the future and fell to the floor screaming. He writhed around, feeling pain at the fragmented visions that assailed him. "Something’s wrong! Your time has already been meddled with!" He started frothing at the mouth.

"It's over, young man." Superion stated.

"NEVER!!!"

Rook pulled something from his belt pouch and pressed a switch. Rook and the other Syndicators were suddenly surrounded by an unhealthy glow.

"They're fading back to their own dimension!" Superion cried out and the Sentinels reacted. David grabbed something off a table and threw it at Rook. It entered the glow and hit the dimension jump device dead on. The object exploded and Rook cried out in fear.

"NO! You've destroyed the Anti-dimensional Transporter!" The Syndicators continued to fade. "Where are we going??? What is this place? Help us! Heeeeeeeeeeelll...*"

They were gone.

Superion turned to David.

"Quick thinking, David. What did you throw?"

David shrugged. "Doesn't matter."

Superion nodded and turned to the whole team.

"Well done, Sentinels!" He congratulated them. "You worked as a team and succeeded. There's hope for you after all."

The others smiled at this and looked relieved.

"However...."

Uh oh... Az thought.

"David. I understand the justification for your actions towards Rageon…but I'm afraid I can't condone murder. What you did to Azdaemon was unforgivable. I can't have a killer on the team." He said sadly.

"Well, she wasn't really alive, Superion."

"How do you know?" Superion asked.

"Well, I don't know how, but I can sort of sense the lifeforce in others. Azdaemon had no life force. The helmet I guess was animating a walking corpse." He paused, then added. "I really do try not to kill."

"I can vouch for that." Az added quietly. "She told me as much, when she was gloating. She hadn't been 'alive' for a long time."

Superion smiled. "I'm sorry I brought it up then. Good man."

“You’ve all done very well! We’ve conquered a great threat, but we still have a mission to perform. Securing Zen’s lair.” Superion stopped and thought. “You know, the best way of securing it would be if we occupied it. We need a headquarters and this place is perfect. It has most of the equipment we need and what we don't have, Clark Technologies can provide. Things like communicators such as the Syndicate had...." Superion trailed off, thinking.

He looked up. "What do the rest of you think?"

The Sentinels looked at each other.

"Sure."

"I can't see why not."

"As long as there are no other little surprises lying around."

“It has a lot of potential, but do we have to live here?”

"Is there a problem, Rydgen?"

Rydgen looked at Azangel and Silver Lantern. Then at Superion. "Not with using the base as a HQ, Supes. It couldn't be in safer hands. I just don’t see why we have to live here... I’ve seen a lot, but it’s too creepy to be comfortable."

He turned back to Az and Sil. "Sorry guys, but I just couldn’t live here. It’s too dank and dreary for me."

Az asked, "Why do you think that? The actual living quarters aren’t as bad as the main hall." She was embellishing it somewhat, but it was partway true. The rooms could be modified to be cozier. “Where will you live?”

"Well I’m sure I could find a nice apartment or something on J Street, and with the teleporters we have, I could get here with much quickness if you need me.” Some doubts tugged at his mind, but he shook them off. An idea struck him. “Since you guys have Super Stripes Grandpa to fund your needs, do you mind if I keep the insurance money from the pub’s destruction to help me get started?”

The Sentinels looked at each other, then Superion spoke up.

“I don’t see any reason why you can’t use the money to turn a new leaf,” he started.

"Thanks, Gramps. I’ll stay here until I find a place, but as soon as I find it, I’ll be moving out." Rydgen said and grinned. "Now does anyone know where the showers are in this dump?" He wiped idly at some of the Rageon bits that still clung to his flannel.

Everyone could see there was an air of tension about Rydgen’s body, even though he tried to cover it by joking around. They didn’t think it wise to question him about it.

"Well, let's clean up this mess." Superion said, changing the subject. "After all, there's no rest for the weary."
_______________________________________________________________________

Chapter 19

The next day:

Twinkle teleported back to the Sentinel's new home, the vacant mountain lair of Zen Reaper. She had used the teleport band on her wrist to travel between her apartment on J Street and this small pocket dimension. She held the cardboard boxes awkwardly; they were four high and the top one obstructed her view.

"There is NO way that little bedroom'll hold all my stuff." She huffed. "I'll just use another one for my wardrobe, one for my furniture, one for…"

She walked into something in the middle of the hallway and the boxes tumbled out of her arms. "What the…? Az? Why didn't you tell me you were there?"

"You have eyes; use them." The Winged Sentinel replied as the younger woman was picking up the few contents that had been set free of their box prison.

"I don't have X-Ray Vision. Cut me some slack." Twinkle said as she put the last trinket away.

"Cut you some slack? Do you think the KSS will 'cut you some slack' when they return?"

"I don't care about them; I don't want them as friends."

"Oh, now I suppose you want me as your friend?" Az snapped sarcastically.

"What's wrong with that? You're a warrior and I respect you, Az. You should respect me too. And we could be friends." Twinkle was standing now.

"Oh, really?"

"Yes, really! What is your problem? What have I done that's ticked you off, anyway? Just because I'm not some sort of warrior I don't get respect OR friendship?"

"Hmm. That could be it." Az crossed her arms, smirking.

"That's all you have to say? I say I respect you and that you should respect me and THAT'S all you have to say? I ought to kick your ass! What do you say about THAT?"

"I'd like to see you try." Azangel began to laugh.

"Oh, you would, WOULD YOU? Why don't you take off that helmet and stop hiding behind its weapons? I don't care if Superion doesn't like it; come on!"

Twinkle swung her hand to slap Azangel's cheek, but Az caught the hand in her fist. Twinkle didn't hesitate; she hooked a leg around one of Az's and tripped her to the floor.

"COME ON! Zap me!" Twinkle blurted.

Azangel began to laugh harder.

"Stop laughing at me! Do you think I'm KIDDING? I'll kick you where you sit, bitch!" And she did.

"Ok! Ok!" Az was still laughing, now trying hard not to start crying from laughing so much.

"You think I'm a JOKE, don't you? Just like all the other high-and-mighty J Street heroes, right? Right?"

"NO!! I'm just glad to see you standing up for yourself. It's taken you long enough."

"What? Of course I'm standing up for myself! I have to; who else is going to?! Who takes me serious? I'm blonde, aren't I? And beautiful…you think it's easy being me?"

"Whine whine…Do you think it's easy being raised in a group consisting of all MEN?"

"Hmm...Well...it might've been nice *smirks*...for a while."

Azangel started laughing again. "CELIBATE MEN?"

"Celibate? Umm…no. Hey, are you going to sit there all day?" Twinkle offered her hand to help the other woman off the floor.

"Celibate. not the only ones mind you.

"How old were you when you went to the men's warrior school of aztectology?"

"The Q Foundation. I don't remember...they raised me...I always lived there, as long as I can remember."

"That sucks. Are you an orphan? Did your parents send you there?"

"Yes, I think so, and I don't know. The Foundation was the only place willing to take in a whiteskinned girl."

"Yeah you ARE white!"

Azangel raised an eyebrow at the comment.

"I mean you were blue. I saw your picture in the paper." Twinkle explained her remark. "And now you are SO white. What happened, anyway?"

"That's a LOOOOOOOOOOONG story." She answered as she lifted two of Twinkle's boxes. They both headed down the hallway.

"Well, I don't mind hearing it if you'd…HEY! I haven't seen you moving any stuff. Don't you have some clothes or anything??"

"I have a bag." She replied tersely as they put the boxes on Twinkle's bed.

"A bag? A bag? Now THAT sucks. We have to shop! Trust me, Az, I'll set you up with a wardrobe."

"Shopping?" She said nervously. "I went shopping once and didn't like it. Much. At all."

"Az? I didn't expect to find you here." It was Silver Lantern standing in the doorway. "Hello, Janet. Aren't you finished moving yet?"

"Almost, Silverado. One or two more trips should finish it. Except for the furniture. Superion says he's working on the transporter system."

"Sil, what's up?" Azangel asked, glad for a change in topic from shopping.

"You have something of mine in storage. I'd like it back sometime soon. When you two are…"

"We're done!" Azangel exclaimed. "Let's go, Sil. No time like the present. Later, Twinkle."

"Sure thing, Az…'bitch'" Janet smiled.

"Bimbo." Azangel said as she and Silver were halfway down the hallway, but she was sure to be loud enough for Janet to hear her.

"Ciela, what is it with you two?" The Oan Sentinel asked.

"Just girl talk, Norrin. Nothing that you would understand. Let's go get your Monolith."
_______________________________________________________________________

Interlude – a friend departs

A week after the defeat of the KSS…

The nightmares have become increasingly disturbing each night. He thought that maybe moving out of the new headquarters would ease them up, but even in his new apartment they followed Rydgen. Visions of a horrible event in his past, one he could not prevent, flooded his sleep.

His previous team, before he came across his present teammates and J Street, fell to their deaths despite Rydgen’s attempts to prevent it. They fell, one by one, to their own deaths, which were horrible, painful, and downright evil. Rydgen survived to defeat Aklap once and for all in the raid, but the loss of his team was too great. It ate at him for years afterwards, where he retired from superheroics, and got into politics. Through this, he became President of the USA, but that’s another story…

He’s long since been able to control his emotions about the tragedy, but since coming to J Street, and joining this team, the visions came back. They came lightly at first, but now were at great strength. Soon he feared he’d bring the same fate to his present teammates, most of all during the war against Tezcatlipoca. Fortunately, they came through mostly unscathed, but poor Bishop was still in a coma, bedridden at the hospital. Rydgen’s fear still welled deep inside, however. There was only one thing he could do to win back his peace of mind.

Rydgen had to leave the J Street Sentinels before he cost them their lives as well.

“What?” Azangel cried when Rydgen told the group his news. They were gathered in the main hall, taking a break from repairing the damage produced from the battle.

“I’m sorry,” Rydgen said, shrugging his shoulders. “I thought moving out of this place would make everything all right, but it didn’t. I promised to help drive away Zen Reaper, and we’ve done that. Now taking over his own base has assured me he won’t come again. I would stay, but there are two reasons why I can’t.

“First off, I was the cause of my previous team’s demise.” Actually, he wasn’t the cause, but he blamed himself through his inadequacy to prevent it. “Since I joined you guys, I feared I might fail you in the same way, and as time passed, that feeling increased. That god war was when I feared it would happen, but it didn’t, fortunately. It’s still there though, still burning inside me, so I must leave before I doom us all.

“The second reason is I’m more of an individual worker. I can work with teams, but not on a continuing basis. I love working with you guys, and don’t regret teaming up with you. Now with Zen gone, and everything in place, I can leave you knowing we did a job well done. However, I’ll always be available as a reserve member if you need the help.”

“So, you’re leaving us…” Superion said sadly. He saw much promise in Rydgen, and felt he was an essential part of the team, but he also knew how personal reflection went. “I can’t argue with your logic, and I haven’t known you long, but here…” Superion stepped towards Rydgen with a small, squarish unit. “I repaired your storage unit with the alien tech you salvaged from the ship while you were busy moving into your apartment.”

Rydgen took the small unit from the old man. He looked up into Superion’s face, which was now smiling warmly. Rydgen smiled back and thanked him. He knew he was now considered an equal in the Golden Age hero’s eyes.

“You take care of yourself, Rydgen,” Silver Lantern said, extending a hand. Rydgen took it and shook a few times.

“Thanks, buddy.” Then he almost fell forward as something grabbed him from behind, arms wrapping around him. Azangel’s emotions had overwhelmed her warrior instincts, and she was hugging him from behind.

“We’re going to miss you, Ry,” Azangel said from behind him, tears flowing as she buried her face in the back of his flannel.

Twinkle didn’t know Rydgen long, but the atmosphere was getting to her, and she came and hugged him from the front. “You’ll always be cool in my book,” she said, not knowing what else to say.

The girls finally let him go, allowing him to breathe again. He was pleased by the affection of the two women, and looked over to Superion’s daughter. She walked up to him, but he knew he wouldn’t get a hug from her.

Sapphire Swift said, “I know you will do well out there.” She grasped his hand and shook it firmly, but femininely. Rydgen pulled it up to kiss it, but she withdrew her hand. “Now, now, Rydgen,” she said good-naturedly.

He turned, and there was David in front of him. “Will you hug me good-bye too, Davey?” Rydgen asked humorously. David snickered at the joke, but did nothing more.

“No,” he said finally. “But I do want to thank you for inviting me into this group. You were the one I approached first, and you treated me like a normal person first. I’ll always remember that, Rydgen.” And he followed suit, reluctantly offering his hand to shake. Rydgen slowly took it, and shook slowly. He thought about bringing his other arm around to hug/pat him on the back, in a manly way, just like they do in the movies. Then he thought no, that probably wouldn’t have good results.

Finally all good-byes and good lucks and departing phrases were said. Rydgen brought up his wrist and pressed the transport button on the comm-link attached to the wrist. He dissolved, Star Trek style, before the J Street Sentinels. Thus begins his solo life on J Street…
________________________________________________________________________

Chapter 20

Two weeks after the defeat of the KSS

The damage caused by the fight with the KSS had finally been repaired. The entire contents of the mountain were still being catalogued, and so far things seemed normal. The portal to the anti-matter universe had been sealed and all security had been programmed to recognize the JSS. Zen's throne had been removed and a large round table had been installed. The Central Chamber was now their meeting room. The Sentinels gathered there now, without Rydgen, who had left for J Street a week earlier.

'Welcome to Sentinel Sanctum!" Superion quipped.

Silver Lantern groaned inwardly. He hated the name already.

Azangel looked puzzled. She turned to Superion, "How come there're still seven seats? Ry's gone."

"That, my dear, is for his replacement."

Azangel bristled at this. "Do we NEED a replacement for Rydgen?" She snapped.

"There is no replacing Rydgen." Sil added.

"He's one of a kind." Az grinned.

"Calm down, both of you. I really think the team dynamic could do with a seventh member. Plus there are many things he can teach you. Lessons I'm not equipped to teach."

"Who is he?" Silver Lantern asked.

"An old friend of mine...or should I say the grandson of a friend. He has a VERY interesting history."

"When does he arrive?" David asked.

"He's here." a gravelly voice answered from the shadows.

Both David and Twinkle jumped at the voice.

“All evil quakes at my name, for I have defeated it for over two hundred years.
I am their unspoken nightmare of retribution. Their fears and the justice they face...” There was a laugh and a figure wearing an old coat and hood leaped out. "Scared ya!" he shouted and laughed again.

"Sentinels," Superion gestured, "It's my pleasure to introduce.... Night Hood."

Az broke down laughing at the name.

"I know, I know!" Night Hood chuckled, "Corny name, but it does have a legacy. The young man removed the hood revealing a bright sunny face, blonde curly hair and a large grin. Twinkle sighed at his handsome features and sparkling blue eyes.

"You're not so bad yourself, gorgeous!" He quipped and winked. His voice was tinged with a slight British accent.

"My real name is Richard Tane, gents.... And ladies." he smiled.

"Oh this one will be a lot of fun to have around..." Az muttered sarcastically.

"Indeed." Richard replied and struck a pose. "Though I am very capable at what I do, as well. It gets a bit wearing to have to keep up the grim and gritty act for awhile, I must say. But evil expects it."

The Sentinels all introduced themselves. David was brief as usual. For some reason he didn't like their new member.

"OK Sentinels." Superion cut in. "Please sit yourselves down and let's get to business."

They took their places around the table, Superion handing each of them new wristbands as they sat down.

"Welcome to a new era."