by BWWM Club
The screen shot changed again, watching as an internal security shot from inside the preschool played. The gunman had his pistol aimed at The Horseman's head, when suddenly a dark streak blasted across the screen, carrying both of them across the room and through the window. Another video took over, where the Action 5 news team had a perfect shot of the gunman being driven through the window (and carving a one inch divot in the stucco of the windowsill underneath) and ten feet out into the grass.
Maria appeared on camera again. "Since the dramatic preschool rescue, The Horseman and Dark Justice have been even more active, expanding their work from Tijuana all the way to Los Angeles. This whole time, the vigilante duo have never spoken to the police. However, due to some assistance that this reporter provided them during the first appearance of Dark Justice, I have been granted a very unique opportunity. From an undisclosed location, via a scrambled satellite uplink, Action 5 News is proud to bring to you, on New Year's Eve, the first interview with The Horseman and Dark Justice."
The shot changed, as Maria took up the left one third of the screen. Meanwhile, on the right two thirds, The Horseman and Dark Justice appeared. They were sitting in regular folding chairs, with a white room in the background. Grady had gone to great lengths to scramble the signal, to the point he doubted even the Pentagon could hack it. In addition to a fifty character time coded password that he used in his initial satellite uplink, he had bounced the signal off of eighteen different ground stations and satellites, using Chinese, British, Russian and Japanese relays along the way before sending the signal down less than twenty miles from where it had originated.
He hadn't wanted to do it, but Renee had talked him into it. After all, she'd told Maria they'd think about her request, and not only had Maria delivered on the information that one time, but in multiple times since. She'd also helped steer public opinion towards The Fallen Angels, even as overzealous members of the District Attorney's office kept releasing press statements saying that they were swearing out new warrants for their arrests.
"Thank you for having us here Maria," Grady said. He'd tweaked the microphones on their end, so that their voices sounded normal but unrecognizable. "And Happy New Year."
"Happy New Year Horseman. Or do you go by The Horseman?"
Grady chuckled and shook his head. "I think whatever is easier for you. After all, I didn't pick the name to begin with."
"Fair enough. And Dark Justice?"
Renee smiled, her teeth flashing white and friendly behind the mask she had adopted. Her new costume was significantly different than her old one, and incorporated a partial hood like Grady used as The Horseman, except that her eyes were covered by one way lenses that were ruby red. She had kept the black and red design, although her skirt was supplemented with shorts that went down to her mid thigh at the same time. "How about Justice? You keep calling me Dark, and you'll have Al Sharpton on the line before the end of the night."
The joke caused Maria to snort in amusement, and she nodded. "Okay. Well, first question I guess is for you, Horseman. Why're you doing this?"
"It's pretty simple really, Maria. I grew up in this area, and I've watched as San Diego and Los Angeles have struggled for years with crime. Now, our brave police officers out there are trying their best, but they are limited in who they can go after, and what they can do. The real bad guys out there, they've been operating with relative impunity for too long, their only real threat coming from within their own ranks. I have these abilities, and I couldn't sit back and let the situation continue."
Maria nodded. "What about your critics who have said that your actions have led to criminals escalating their actions as well?"
Renee tilted her head. "What do you mean, Maria?"
"Assistant District Attorney Kyle in her most recent press conference accused you of forcing the criminals in San Diego to bring more and more dangerous weapons onto the streets in order to protect themselves from you."
It was a question Maria had told them in a secret e-mail she would ask them, in order to appear to be objective, so Grady was prepared. "I'd challenge ADA Kyle to take a look at the crime stats, Maria. In the past year, drug crimes are down sixty percent. Gang violence is down thirty percent, and the trend continues among other areas. In fact, wasn't it Action Five itself that had the report a few days ago that for the first time since the Eisenhower years, there wasn't a single murder in Southern California south of Los Angeles for an entire day?"
"Are you taking credit for this?" Maria asked, smiling. She was setting them up for their big moment, and she knew it. But what a moment it was going to be. Pulitzer, here I come.
Grady shook his head. "I can't take credit, Maria. Dark Justice and The Horsemen are just two people, regardless of our abilities. I can't be over all of Southern California at once in a single day. The best I can say is that I've tried my best to stand up, to be someone that tells the world that you don't have to be afraid any more. We've let the criminals and the degenerates among us have free rein for too long, ruling through fear and intimidation."
"No longer," Renee took over, her voice intense. "Because now people see you don't have to be afraid any longer. That armed robbery was stopped because the customer clocked the stickup man with a can of Coke in the back of the head. The community that kicked out the gang by not allowing them to intimidate them any longer, those are the heroes. I'm just a woman in a costume."
"We do admit that there are some more dramatic criminals coming on the scene," Grady continued. "But for every one of them, ten other criminals are dropping out of the life, and trying to walk the right path. The challenge now for us as a community is to give these people an opportunity, a chance to actually successfully walk that path. That's social justice, and something I can do nothing about. That's for the small business owners, and the corporate offices who need to do what they can."
Maria nodded. "On that note, I've had quite a few corporations and community groups approach Action Five about trying to enlist your aid as spokespeople for various causes. Yet, until today you've never spoken to anyone. Why the silent act?"
"I didn't speak because I'm a person who believes that actions are more important than words. The world is filled with millions who talk, millions who preach. There are armies of so-called slacktevists whose idea of getting involved is doing a Facebook post or starting an online petition. While that works sometimes, a lot of the time nothing changes until real, concrete action is taken. The drug dealer on the corner isn't going to stop because of your Facebook post, and doesn't care about your Twitter account. So instead of talking, I'm taking action. No offense to you Maria, I'm having fun, but don't expect this sort of interview to be a normal thing."
"Okay. Well, let's turn to Dark Justice. Could you tell us, how did you and The Horseman meet?"
"Let's just say we have similar tastes in the arts," Renee said. "When we discovered we shared a similar outlook on things and we both have the ability to do things regular people can't, teaming up seemed rather natural."
"And is there any truth to the rumor that you and The Horseman are more than just crime fighting partners?"
Renee laughed and looked over at Grady, who shrugged his shoulders. "Maria, you know that's not a fair question," Renee replied. "First of all, if I said no, you wouldn't believe me anyway. If I say yes, you've probably got another fifteen questions all lined up for me. Let me put it this way. I trust The Horseman with my life. We support each other, and there is a level of trust and knowledge between us that a lot of married couples never achieve. Now, regardless of anything else, that makes us more than just crime fighting partners. It makes us family."
Maria let the answer stand, and looked down at her notes. "So, any plans on expanding your operations or your team? San Diego's kind of small compared to New York, Los Angeles or even overseas."
Grady grinned. "We happen to like San Diego, Maria. However, that doesn't mean we won't get involved if we need to in other pla
ces. Who knows? If there are others out there like me and Justice who happen to think like us, maybe we can set up a network. Some Fallen Angel franchises or something like that."
Maria chuckled. "Well, we'd like to turn the interview over to a few callers, like you agreed. First we have Shawn from University Heights. Shawn?"
"Yeah, this is for Dark Justice," a nervous voice that sounded like it belonged to a teenage boy came over the line. "Uh, I was wondering, do you have a boyfriend? I mean, you're ultra-hot!"
The line cut off, and Renee laughed. "Thanks, Shawn. But sorry, I have a wonderful man in my life."
"On that note," Maria said, "not to put too fine a point on it, but you and The Horseman happen to be of different races. Has there ever been any problems there?"
"None at all," Renee replied, while Grady nodded in agreement. "When we're training, or patrolling, or fighting, I see my partner. His skin color isn't important to me, and the same goes for him."
"Sounds great. Ah, next caller is Felicia, from Del Mar. Felicia?"
"I just wanted to say to both of you to keep kicking butt! There have been stories that you two have also gone south of the border, is that true?"
"Yes we have. Some of the gangs we're combating have connections in Mexico. We go where the bad guys go."
"Next question comes from Shunsuke, in La Jolla. Shunsuke?"
"Yeah, what about the civil rights of your victims? You guys come off as fascists!"
Renee took this question. "The gunmen that took that preschool hostage, they weren't exactly worried about civil rights either. The drug dealers, the pimps, the corporate racketeers we've taken down, they aren't worried about your civil rights. They'll kick in your door, take your money, your things, and your life, and not give a damn."
Grady's emergency phone interrupted Renee before she could continue. Holding up his hand, he grabbed the phone from the small table next to his folding chair, looking at the feed. "Maria, I'm sorry, but we're going to have to cut this short," he said. "Your producers are probably getting the information now, but we've got to go."
The two stood up and Grady reached for the camera, shutting it off. "What's the call?" Renee asked, taking a deep breath. "God that last guy pissed me off."
"I could tell," Grady replied. "Seems we may have our very first self professed super-villian. Some guy calling himself Dominus Rex has broken into the secure area at North Island Naval Air Station."
"So? Someone's stupid enough to break into a Navy base, they'll probably not last too damn long."
Grady nodded. "Still, take a look at this."
He handed her the phone, which had a video showing of a large man, perhaps seven feet tall and approaching five hundred pounds of ripped muscle, heavily armed and attacking some Marine MP's with a heavy machine gun. It was hard to tell if the Marines were firing back, but the man stood still, and if they were hitting him, he wasn't being fazed at all by it. "Looks like we got ourselves a badass here."
"Exactly." Grady went over to the cabinet where their accessories were kept, and opened the doors. "What's your load?"
"Power gauntlets and knives," Renee said. "I'm not good enough with the blaster to use it in public yet."
Grady nodded and tossed her the weapons, custom fit to her size. He grabbed his own devices and turned. "Shall we?"
Heading out into the night, they held hands for a moment. "I love you, you know. Sorry about deceiving Maria."
"It's for the best. I love you too. You ready to go?"
Grady gathered his legs and jumped, letting his flying abilities carry him to a thousand feet in the air. Renee watched him climb, then closed her eyes. Inside, the nanobots in her tissue heard her mental command, and she felt the familiar shift of bones, muscle and tissue that signified she was ready. Jumping, she let the aerodynamics take over, and her own flight capabilities engage. Rolling in the air, she held her arms out, frozen temporarily in a delta wing shape to give her the extra lift to counteract her lower thrust compared to Grady, and circled him. "Let's go."
The two streaked off into the night, the full moon low in the eastern sky, ready to defend the innocent. The end... but wait:
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