by Mike Luoma
SOUVERAIN: THE KID
by Mike Luoma
Meet the woman who works with the U.S. Army by day
and strikes out at night on her own as the vigilante SOUVERAIN!
A Short Story Featuring
Characters From the Comic SOUVERAIN
Created By Ben Ferrari
Copyright 2012 by Ben Ferrari and Michael Luoma
An illustrated version of this story
with art by Kitae Kim, appears in Souverain #1
from Earthbound Comics:https://earthboundcomics.com
Published by Earthbound Comics and Glow-in-the-Dark Radio Books
https://glowinthedarkradio.com
MAY 2009 – BAGHDAD, IRAQ
Souverain fires.
PIFF! PIFF!
The silencer's soft noise brings death. Her mark falls.
Anything else? I'm waiting...
Some suicide bombers hold "dead man" switches. Vests strapped with C5 and hardware store shrapnel often explode when she makes the switch holders let go.
Far enough away. Won't feel the blast if this one does. Heh... Maybe he'll blow up their safe house.
Souverain has been casing this nondescript house in Sadr City for the last two weeks. Seems to be the penultimate destination for many suicide bombers.
They stop here before they go off on their missions.
Pretty sure they shoot their martyrs' videos inside.
Souverain listens. Waits.
Silence.
Nothing?
Well. He won't be blowing anything else up tonight, either. Now, time to get back to the green zone. Getting late and early. "Souverain" needs to retire so "Lieutenant Lane" can get some sleep.
Her daylight hours belong to the U.S. Army as Lieutenant Lane. But she gives her nights to the innocents of Baghdad as the masked vigilante Souverain. Her way to bring them justice of some kind.
She checks her vest pocket as she makes her way to her getaway tunnel.
Damn! Out of cigarettes. Have to hit the PX in the morning.
She looks around to be sure she's clear of curious eyes. She ducks through a nondescript door in a nearby alley. On the other side is a passage and a ladder leading down into the secret tunnels of Saddam Hussein.
Back in the nineteen-eighties, Hussein's men honeycombed the earth beneath Baghdad to create hidden passages – an attempt to assure access to exits for when danger arose.
Saddam and his people are long gone. The ways are open for Souverain to use. No one else seems to have found or still know about these secret tunnels. They're a safe way to travel from out of the green zone and into other parts of the ancient city.
Well... Almost no one else knows about the passages.
Souverain sees a silhouette ahead as she reaches the green zone's end of the passage.
There she is again.
She knows the hidden ways.
A teenaged girl hides in the tunnel's mouth. Souverain creeps toward her in near silence
Doesn't think she can be seen. Cute. And dressed just like me, again.
Hero worship? Kind of flattering. Got her own mask and everything. But this ain't Halloween. No treats in Baghdad, just tricks.
Gone on long enough. Tired of worrying some kid's gonna go get herself killed trying to be a hero in my name. Don't wanna be worshiped, either!
Souverain edges up next to the girl.
Still hasn't heard me. Could tap her on the shoulder.
"Hey kid," Souverain says in a soft voice.
The girl jumps. She wheels around to face Souverain with something extended in her hands.
A Tazer? Great.
She doesn't fire - the teenager is frozen, unable to use the weapon in her grip. The girl's brown eyes grow wide.
Souverain can't help grinning. The girl is wearing a bandana on her head for a mask and a tackle vest. Souverain is looking at a little mirror image of herself, only with darker skin and hair.
Recognizing her, the girl melts, and almost shouts.
"Souverain!"
The girl is too loud. May draw attention.
Souverain puts her finger to her lips to signal for quiet.
The girl's mouth forms an O as she realizes she's been loud. She looks down.
"Sorry," she whispers.
Souverain replies with a whisper of her own.
"I told you before not to follow me."
"I wasn't following. I was waiting for you. There's a difference," the girl whispers in lightly accented English. There's a hint of defiance in her voice, although her eyes remain downcast . She glances up at Souverain. "I wanted to go with you. I didn't know you had already gone to Sadr City.
"That's why you surprised me."
"You're lucky it was me surprising you," Souverain cautions her, "and not some thugs."
"I can watch out for myself!" The girl's voice grows a little louder.
"No," Souverain says softly. "You can't."
"I already risk everything," the girl says. "You are not Iraqi. You don't know!" She pauses, gearing up to make her point. "I've watched you! Learned from you," the girl rasps, trying to keep her voice down but still excited. "I have been training to be another Souverain... an Iraqi Souverain!"
"Listen, junior," Souverain interrupts her. "You're too small to be out here on your own. You're gonna get hurt."
"I bet they said the same thing to you," the girl answers back. She stares at Souverain.
They did. Some still do. But that's... different.
"Maybe they did," Souverain replies, "but that doesn't matter. If you're here, you might distract me. You could get hurt... and I could get hurt because of you, too."
The girl hangs her head. "I do not want you to get hurt, Souverain." She pauses. Then she raises her head. The defiance returns! She looks at Souverain, eye to eye. "I will NOT cause you to get hurt," she says in a raspy whisper. "I am a fighter!"
Souverain breaks eye contact and shakes her head.
"I know... look," Souverain tells the girl, "You won't mean to. It just happens. I've seen it in the Army." The girl's eyes grow wide at the mention of the Army.
Shit. Shouldn't have mentioned the Army. Just top of mind.
Gotta get back and be Lieutenant Lane.
She realizes she can see the girl and her surroundings too well.
It's getting light out.
Getting late for Souverain; early for Lieutenant Lane.
"Go on," Souverain orders the girl out of the tunnel's end into the dawning day. "Don't be messing with this tunnel when it's light out – don't give our secrets away!"
"I won't!" The girl responds.
Souverain hears something tentative in her voice. The girl doesn't move.
"Go!" Souverain orders again.
Her smaller self turns, shuffling in reluctance, and heads for the tunnel's exit. At the end, the little Souverain looks back and waves a small wave at the original. Then she ducks out.
Souverain herself soon follows, ducking out of the tunnel's covered entryway a few minutes after the girl. Souverain strips off her bandana and her vest and stashes them in a hiding place near the tunnel. She jogs away down the street to the main base, just another soldier jogging in the green zone.
Despite the growing light, Souverain doesn't notice as the girl sneaks back behind her towards the tunnel entrance.
Souverain's mind is occupied by other thoughts.
Much too light out – I'm getting NO sleep!
"LIEUTENANT LANE! Do you consider your post to be the proper place to take a NAP, Soldier!"
"Sir, no sir," Lane snaps back automatically as she snaps into consciousness. Her brain tries to wake up. She blinks and sees The Colonel. "Sorry, sir. Won't happen again, s
ir!"
Lane stumbles as she gets up out of her chair. She straightens up to stand at attention.
"Haven't I heard that, before, Lane?" The Colonel asks her with a bellow. Lane swears she can feel her hair get blown back by his bluster. He leans down from his six foot five height to shout into her face. "Do you not consider the security of this base to be important enough to merit your full attention?!"
"Sir, no sir!" Lane shouts back. "I mean, I do consider it important. Sir!"
"Then look alive, Lane!" The Colonel gestures at the bank of monitors in front of Lane. "Do your part to keep our perimeter secure! Don't matter how many freaking cameras we got out there if nobody's watching on the other end, does it?"
"Sir, no sir!" Lane responds. She stares straight ahead into blurry space as the Colonel continues.
"And here I was coming to give you good news, Lane," he tells her. "We're heading back home. Or at least rotating back to Fort Drum. Orders just came down. Part of the new draw-down. Our unit is heading out sometime soon."
That perks Lane up. The thought of heading back to the States soon is exhilarating!
"Ah – see?" The Colonel's tone has softened. "That makes a difference, doesn't it, Lane?"
"It does, sir," she agrees, looking up, smiling. The smile evidently makes the Colonel angry. He leans over to get in her face again.
"Then try to make it through the week without falling asleep on duty, Lane! Do you understand me?!"
Lane tries to spit a little as she responds. "Sir, yessir!" The Colonel blinks a little but doesn't seem to notice her misting.
"And keep out of any other trouble, too, you hear me?" He cautions her.
"Yessir!" she replies. The Colonel turns. He leaves the monitor room.
Lane wonders if the colonel knows about her extra-curricular activities.
Does he know I'm...
"SOUVERAIN!" Someone shouts her name in the hall.
She hears pounding boots, multiple footsteps coming
