Shadowforce: The Quest for Power

There was a blinding light atop the treasury building. Hovering above it was Winddancer. The intensity of the flash of light was incredible. Anyone looking directly at him would have suffered permanent eye damage. Even though he was facing away from the treasury Nova had to shield his eyes.

 He was still in the air above Shadow Hawk and the flames on the ground actually cast shadows from Winddancer’s light flash. He turned toward the treasury just in time to see Winddancer fire a mutable beam that flew past him. It was pure light energy and it looked like the inside of a prism. It wasn’t a short blast that one could feel safe from once evading. No, rather it was a continual stream of energy that extended from Winddancer down to the ground nearly a half mile behind Nova. It seemed to be never ending.

In a heartbeat it went into motion like some giant serpent looking for its next victim. Nova knew he was the target and he tried to escape but, with the distance between them, just a shift of an inch from Winddancer allowed the beam to move faster and further than Nova could ever hope to travel. His force field couldn’t withstand the beam once it caught up to him and he was blown out of the air.

He landed almost fifty feet from Shadow Hawk who couldn’t believe his eyes. Winddancer immediately turned his attention to the other side of the building.

There Slingshot and Electrum were concluding their confrontation. She had obviously won and was about to make sure that Slingshot would never bother her again. She hovered in the air above him and was toying with him as Winddancer arrived. Slingshot was on his back looking into the sky, contemplating his subsistence when he saw his rescuer. A confused look in his eyes made Electrum turn to see who or what he was staring at.

She barely had time to raise her defenses before a purple sphere surrounded her. It began to pull out electrical energy from her. She screamed in pain and rage. Electrum’s eyes focused on Winddancer and suddenly he felt pain all through his body. She had tapped into his own stored up powers of electricity that he had obtained from the Phalanx and turned them against him. The purple sphere disappeared and Electrum took off like a dart. Winddancer, recovering from her attack, flew down to Slingshot as she fled.

“You going to make it?” he asked.

Slingshot sat up and looked to Electrum, “I’m fine,” he took a few deep breaths, “we can not let her get away.” Winddancer helped him up and then went airborne. He and Slingshot followed Electrum through a grassy field and then on to railroad tracks; Winddancer flying, Slingshot running.

They both kept shooting at her with their different blasts. Once at the tracks however, the engagement turned. Electrum stood along side four separate tracks that ran north to south. She no longer had a smug look on her face; it was more like relief. The rails began twisting and moaning. She lifted her arms and track went into the air. Winddancer and Slingshot watched in surprise before her demonstration of power. She was about to hurl the warped iron at them when she disappeared in a blurred haze that surrounded her.

The tracks crashed down. Slingshot coughed from the dirt and dust that rose from the impact. Winddancer waved his arm in front of himself in an effort to clear the air around him. Slingshot was about to say something to his new friend when he spotted someone on a hill not far away.

“Who in the world is that?” he asked with a pointed finger.

“I don’t know, but from the way he’s looking at us and the way that he’s dressed I would guess that he’s not from around here,” replied Winddancer. The man in question had something like a ski-mask over his head. Only his eyes were visible. The rest of his attire was unusual but not totally unfamiliar; grey jacket and black pants. On his left arm was a red sash with an emblem on it that resembled a swastika, but it was something different.