HOPE BRINGERS (Strong superhero women) (Mystical Slayers Book 2)

by Michael W. Huard

  Aliah lifted her sword up level with her chest, while her other arm raised into the air. She signaled to the crowd with two fingers, which served as confirmation that she had to deal with both men at the same time, immediately sending the crowd into a frenzy.

  The spearman drove his weapon at her first; he tried to pierce her ripped stomach area, which was exposed without any form of armor or protection. Aliah slid left, making him miss by mere inches, but his buddy left the woman no time to ready for his approach as he leaped at her with both his swords.

  A move right, a duck left, a lean and another duck right; all his attacks missed her over and over. The crowd reacted with great excitement as they watched this gorgeous woman avoid each of his swipes. Her cocky grin had become something of a trademark, but Aliah continued on.

  The spearman was back again and stabbing at her face; she parried his long weapon to the side and sliced into his throat. Gurgling blood, he spun to his knees and hit the playing surface with an almighty thud. The double sword fighter whirled his blades around Aliah's body, but she leaned into a backwards roll to avoid his furious advances. She was back up on one knee as he ran at her, but seconds before being forced to eat his swirling blades, she rolled forward and sliced the man across both knees.

  He was seriously injured, but his adrenaline kept him up. Turning and screaming at the top of his voice, he dove at the woman before him.

  She was done with playing around. This time, still on her backside, she flipped back up to her feet—mainly to dazzle the onlookers—and knocked both his blades to the side before slicing his forehead open and smashing through his skull with the hilt of her sword, exposing parts of his brain.

  She then turned away from him and performed a series of cartwheels and back flips all the way across the arena floor. It was a sight to see; such athleticism, enhanced to the highest measures.

  The crowd was not disappointed. The Corporation's new star was everything they craved and more. Mahira, however, who watched the display from the trainers' area out back, was not so impressed.

  After more fights and a brief intermission, the long-awaited youth match division was up next.

  The favorite today, was a burly kid from the streets of this very city. At almost six feet tall, he shaved his head on the sides to give an intimidating appearance. He was known by the name of "Rye Dog," and he lived up to his name as he entered the playing grounds, calling out, "Ruff, ruff, ruff," as he played up to the crowd.

  The best youth performance of the day would win the money pot, so there was no doubt that most betters here, through reputation alone, were putting their money on Rye Dog.

  They all stood to discover whom his opponent would be.

  When a young blond girl appeared at the arena entrance, the jacked up crowd and those putting all their funds on "the dog" felt even better with where they'd placed their bets. Mahira, her trainer, had fought very hard with the sisterhood to make this come about.

  The young girl entering was slim but still muscular and solid looking, at least for her age. Still, she looked way too pretty and had obviously never been challenged with the likes of these deadly tournaments. People rushed to increase their bets as Rye Dog snarled and boldly stepped toward the young girl.

  He rubbed his hands together and pulled out a thick, barbed club from his side. He pointed at the blond across from him. "Today is not your lucky day. I'm gonna bash your skull in and make your pretty blond hair go crimson red, little kid." He grinned and flexed his muscles to the pumped-up crowd.

  "Ruff! Grrrr!" he bellowed.

  Victory swallowed hard as she drew her sword and crouched down ready to fight. The little blond kid was trained by the best, and she wanted to make the sisterhood proud, even if she died trying. Victory took a breath, for breath was life, and then she said to herself, "Live free or die!"

  The absurdity of kids fighting for sport and the pleasure of the onlookers just got real.

  A heavily disguised Mahira looked on from behind the perimeter wall. She knew that her protégée understood that one small mistake could easily end her life. She had to get in the moment, feel the flow, and use her skill and speed to defeat the big kid coming at her.

  Mahira suddenly found herself yelling at Victory. "Move right…keep going…circle away from his power…breathe and stay focused on technique. You can do this!" She was more nervous than Victory.

  Rye Dog came right at her, swinging his club and chasing after her.

  Mahira again called out, "That's it! Keep doing that! He will get frustrated."

  The bully yelled over at Mahira, "You fucking shut your damn mouth! I'm gonna smash this little chick in two. Shut your pie hole, or I'll come over there and smack your ass."

  Mahira wished, oh she wished that would happen.

  Victory felt butterflies in her belly. She wanted to throw up; she was here, fighting for real, and the enormity of her situation made her feel lightheaded.

  The dog screamed at her, "You don't want to fight, do you? Stop running, kid. You're afraid, aren't you? C'mon, fight me!" He then started chasing after her again.

  Mahira sensed Victory was somewhat off, just by looking at her footwork. Although she had taught her the proper angles, steps, and shuffles, Victory looked like she had two left feet as the crazed boy went at her.

  "Stay on the balls of your feet," Mahira instructed.

  Rye Dog finally caught up with Victory and tried to slam his spiked club into her face. Victory only just blocked it with her sword but remained in his reach. The big lug then punched the blond in the mouth.

  Victory tumbled backwards, nearly falling over. The crowd jumped about in a frenzy when Rye Dog leaped over and pushed her to the ground. Not a moment too soon, Victory's instincts took over. She planted both her feet on his stomach and launched him over to the side. She then flipped back up to her feet and moved closer to Mahira's end of the arena.

  Mahira motioned for her to come even closer. "Listen to me…find your center point and reach for the Starigen in your system. You can do this, Vic. He's coming full force as we speak…cut an angle…go! You got this!"

  The dog bellowed out, "Wanna taste my spike?" He took another swipe at the young girl, but she backed up and readied herself as he closed in for another swing. This time, she moved backwards at a right angle, and he found himself having to turn to get a better position to swing at her. That was all the time she needed. Lifting her sword up to the right, she plunged the shaft deep into his temple. The force of the contact made her lose her grip on the weapon, and as she spun about to the right, the blade snapped in two, leaving most of it in the big boy's head.

  The audience, apart from those with big bets on the boy, went wild at what just occurred.

  Rye Dog stumbled about with blood spurting out from his temple. He crumpled to the ground and landed on his side.

  An eerie silence descended over the playing area.

  Victory looked to Mahira, who nodded her head in approval before taking her first real breath of the match. Victory did the same.

  ***

  Bonham Selman was a teacher. However, he wasn't a teacher in the typical sense of the word from days long ago. He was just a man who gathered as many of the children from his clan as possible and taught them as much as he could. There were no schools in the city, unless they were Corporation funded, so the poor had no chance of being able to afford formal education for their children.

  Bonham knew if he taught too much in any one area, he would be reported by someone and would no longer be able to help the children learn. He tried to keep things simple, but in his heart, he felt otherwise. So, when the time was right, he took his American flag—the one he had been so desperate to get his hands on—rolled it up tight and placed it in his bag.

  He made his way to his hometown of Chicago, where he climbed to the very top of a broken-down stadium. He then hung his flag from a long metal pole for all to see. It was a beautiful sight, a
nd he knew history could very well be in the making right at that moment. When Bonham got back down, he stood and looked up at his display waving in the wind. Hope was in the air. He saluted and went on his way.

  Chapter Thirty-Nine

  D-Marge was in her mid-forties. She was a tad overweight, although she really didn't know why—she wasn't that much of an eater—but she was still fairly fit. She supposed "fit" didn't always mean "skinny."

  She'd lived a rough life, evident by the tattoos and several scars that served as daily reminders of her troubles. Her hair had already started to fall out, and the little that remained was turning gray.

  D-Marge loved her new life, though, and her skills as an elite hacker were crucial for the women she'd made her home with.

  She had a knack for anything cyber, and good old D-Marge could hack into the places that no one else even dared to try.

  The Y-Corporation had a general law about hacking. If you got caught, they would immediately send out drones to destroy you on the spot. Their satellites would reveal your location so, within moments, these flyers would arrive and take you out.

  Most of her time at the vineyard was spent roaming online, illegally searching for what the Y-Corporation was doing. She also spent some time finding likeminded people that were trying to fight this government. Despite her long days spent in front of a computer screen, she still trained with the other women and everyone really liked her.

  The Y-Corporation was not as big in numbers as most people believed it to be. Yes, they had control of all finances via a central online banking institution, and the military they commanded was huge, but she still hoped to take them down one day. All her losses in life came from the tyranny of Y-Wood.

  In between her time online, she had become the designated babysitter for the young females at the main house. She tried to act stern and disciplined the kids as best she could, but they all saw her as more of a big silly teddy bear. Right now, she was carrying a younger member of the sisterhood on her shoulders across the lawn and dropping her off at a cabin next to the main house.

  She needed to get with some of the most important young ladies here. Her crew today consisted of Sun, Karma, and Naiera. Recently, the young man Gavin had joined them as well. He had become quite popular amongst these girls.

  The kids were always into something, especially now with a boy in the mix. They all tried to attract his attention, even if just to prove to the others that they were worthy of his time.

  The one thing about Southern Monterey, California, which was nestled in the Santa Lucia Mountains, was that the vineyard was more likely to have decent weather than not. So outside playtime meant D-Marge could get a bit of peace and quiet every so often.

  Besides their sneaky ways of checking out the laboratory inventions and touching and using things they shouldn't in the labs, the girls found great pleasure in exploring the outdoor wilderness.

  Today was to be a day filled with plenty of martial arts training for all of them. They spent time on counter-attacking and defense. Tyne showed how to step left, step right, and circle away from an opponent's power, and also how to angle to find a better position in a fight. Mahira was so good at these moves that Tyne had learned them just by watching her. With Mahira gone, Tyne was one of the teachers for the day.

  Zaey taught jiujitsu, or as she liked to call it, "judo." She spoke on the aspect of strength when trying to apply a throw to an unwilling opponent.

  She used the example of everyone having a "ten-strength."

  She explained, "So if you are attempting to throw somebody and they put their strength against yours, it would be even—ten against ten—and very difficult to throw them. So you have to find a way to use their strength against them or add it to your own."

  She went on to say, "If you knock your opponent off balance in this way, and they push back to resist you, then their ten-strength is added to yours in the other direction." She then dropped back and flung her assistant to the ground.

  As she came back up, she explained, "You see what I did? I took her ten and added it to my ten, and now with myself having a twenty-strength, I threw her over…which I had planned all along. Every single throw requires this formula."

  After any training session or time spent doing their chores, the girls were always looking for some fun. So today, the babysitter knew she was in for it. The plan was to pick fruit from out in the vineyard, but the kids would always have much more in store than the simple plan of picking fruit. Mahira would always offer fun as a reward when she worked with the kids, but she often slid by on her promise and failed to deliver. D-Marge, however, was a sucker for making these young ladies have fun.

  As they began their journey, the walk turned into a run, which then turned into a sprint to see who was the fastest; it was always a competition between these kids. Even picking oranges turned into a fight of who could hit the others the most times without getting hit themselves.

  For all it was worth, for D-Marge, it was nice to see these kids trying to live some sort of a normal life, even with the unusual circumstances in which they lived.

  Eventually, with everyone tired from running and playing, they all settled for a picnic overlooking the beautiful mountains to the north. It was time for dinner, so D-Marge gave them all something to contemplate.

  She asked each of them a question. "What would you do if one of you found the last golden ticket? What would you look to accomplish as vice president of the land?"

  Gavin answered first. "I would offer to rebuild all the cities and make this world better!"

  D-Marge liked his reply. "That would be a wonderfully good start, Gavin."

  Sun went next. "I would teach people what the American flag colors mean. The white signifies purity and innocence, the red hardiness and valor, and the blue signifies vigilance, perseverance, and justice." She then dug in her pack and grabbed a sandwich, smiling.

  Gavin snickered. "Yeah, like that's going to happen anytime soon."

  Sun shoved the boy. "It would if I were the vice president, silly."

  Naiera was asked to give her thoughts. She shrugged her shoulders, unsure of what to say. After a moment of contemplation, she replied, "Hope. I'd just give people hope!"

  D-Marge now looked to the girl with darkest of hair that had a streak of white. "What about you, Karma? I'm sure you have a thought on this."

  Karma frowned. "I'd fire all the leaders and get good people to run the country; that's what I would do." All of them giggled at her words as they talked more and tucked into their food.

  After their picnic, they all turned in unison when an odd animal-like cry came from the nearby brush.

  The kids immediately looked at D-Marge in concern. When something again rustled in the undergrowth, Sun said, "I see it! There's something there."

  As they peered into the bushes, Tyne, who was playing a prank on them, had already ran around to a different hiding place in the trees.

  She then charged out, yelling at the top of her lungs, "Rahhhhhhhhh!" Everybody jumped back and shrieked as she ran into the middle of their picnic party with her arms waving through the air.

  Tyne laughed. "I got you guys! Ha ha! What would you have done if I was a big monster?"

  They all got a good chuckle, and a scare, from the blue-eyed cyborg.

  Tyne then asked, "What were you guys talking about?"

  D-Marge explained how they were discussing what they would do if they found a golden ticket and became a world leader.

  Tyne puckered her face and blew out a snort. "How about, if one of us wins, we tell them all to jump off the highest bridge they can find?"

  Sun wanted to hear more. "No, really, what would you like to see get done if you actually were vice president?"

  The blond, pale-skinned woman in a white cat suit continued. "First off, I can't imagine them letting you have any power; it's a ploy, in my opinion, but I'll play the game and tell you what I really would try to do."<
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  She now had the full attention of Karma, Gavin, Sun, and D-Marge.

  "I'd tell the president that we have to use all our resources to help the population grow, not falter. I would use all the robotics to lend a hand in helping people, not just being part of their military. Purcell, according to my data, is a warmonger, so I would say we need peace, not war."

  The others around her liked what she said.

  But Tyne was not finished. "Oh, and lastly, I'd tell his robotic freaks to kiss my ass, and then I'd walk up to this new president and punch him right in the face for what he has done to our sisters. How's that for leadership?"

  The group were amped up with Tyne's strong words.

  Karma added, "Well, and I don't know if it's true, but I have overheard the sisters talking about them putting barcodes on women's butts. If it is true, I would change that law immediately and have it put on the foreheads of all the men in charge instead."

  Everyone fell about laughing.

  Naiera stood up and pointed to the sky. "I would tell them to listen to the wind because it talks, and I'd tell them to listen to the silence because it speaks. And then I'd tell them to listen to their heart because it knows."

  The group nodded in unison at her wisely spoken words. Tyne was then offered a sandwich from a grinning, laughing Karma. The cyborg looked at her with a frown.

  ***

  Today was a day when Trevor took flight with Galax in one of the Corporation's sky runners. Every time this went down, it was one of the more exhilarating days for the young boy.

  Space was a relaxing place to be, and also to marvel at. His virtual reality sessions were just not the same.

  Galax was always teaching. Today's lesson was about finding wormholes and the ability to transfer oneself to different planets more easily nowadays.

  He told young Trevor that this was impossible in the past, but the one thing he made clear was that robots could go anywhere without suffering the issues humans would have to deal with. This was a new age indeed.