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Description
The unmarked van sped out of town with Sparkler and me in pursuit on my motorcycle. Sparkler sat directly behind me, one arm around my waist, the other holding the tracking device receiver that was usually clipped to my instrument panel. We had checked out the first van The Posse had used. It was empty, perhaps used as a decoy. The unmarked van we were chasing had to be the right one. I had given her the sensor so I could concentrate on driving and following the van discretely.

“We need to keep our distance,” I said to my niece and sidekick through the radio mic in her helmet. “At least we need to do so until we are clear of the city. If we are going to take these guys on again, I don’t want any innocent bystanders in our way!” Sparkler nodded in the affirmative in an unseen reply.

I tried to sound brave but I knew the odds were against us. At full strength, Sparkler, Panther, and I were overpowered and soundly defeated by The Posse the last time we met. And this time, The Posse had Panther as a captive.

“On your six!” there came a sudden squawk in my helmet speaker.

“Wulf!” I responded via the radio mic in delighted response. “What are you doing out here?”

“I got word that you guys were tangling with Desperado,” the voice replied. Slightly above and behind the speeding motorcycle was a well-built well-tanned Native American, flying on tawny-feathered wings that sprouted right out of his back! He was Darkwulf, a veteran hero, my one-time mentor, and perhaps a little more. “Blitz thought you could use some backup, and I was the only one in the area!”

“Well I can’t say that I object,” I responded. “They have Panther and some loot from the museum. The whole gang is there. They’ve already left Sparkler and me for dead once. I’m not eager for a repeat performance, but we have to save Panther!”

“Well it’s no wonder,” Wulf replied. “These guys are pretty powerful, especially as a group!”

“Sparkler is tracking a locator hidden by Panther on their van,” I said, gesturing towards my star-spangled companion. Sparkler was looking intently at the screen of the hand-held tracking monitor. “We are waiting until we are clear of the city limits before we engage.”

“Good thinking,” the flying man replied as he snugged up a strap on his splint armor. “I see them. You just give the word when you are ready. I’ve wanted a crack at these guys for a while now.”

“Sparkler is a pyrokinetic,” I added. “I was going to have her try to disable the van by taking out a tire once we are clear.”

“Ummm, the thing is…” Sparkler said, shyly. “I’m not very… accurate… and I don’t want to risk hurting Panther!”

“It’s a solid plan,” Darkwulf replied, smiling. “But I’ll tell you what- I’ll take out a tire. You guys just need to get their attention once I do. Then we can hit them properly! We’re almost clear of the city now. Get ready!”

“Roger!” I responded as we accelerated to close the distance. “Sparkler, once Wulf stops the van, I will need some covering fire. I will try to free Panther. You don’t have to hit them. Just make sure they think you are trying to! Well, except for that big brute, Big Joe. I’m pretty sure he can take a couple blasts from you!”

I then locked the steering and gave a short nod to Sparkler. “Here goes.” With an inhuman grace due to my unique powers, I leapt off of the speedily-moving motorcycle. Sparkler slid into place, took the controls, and released the steering as I landed on the pavement at a run. I pushed my triple-speed to catch up with the van and quickly hit the threshold of my power.

We closed to within a few hundred yards of the van, which was now clear of the city and rumbling along on a fairly deserted rural highway. Wulf climbed as he unfastened a peculiar-looking axe from where it had been strapped between his wings. Pressing a stud on the handle, Wulf ignited the axe-head with an undulating luminescent orange energy field. He entered into a steep dive, pulling his wings in tightly, gaining speed on the van. With a skill borne of a great deal of experience, he gave a shallow swing at the tire, clipping it! It exploded in a foul smelling cloud of smoke, shredded rubber, and sundered steel. The van lurched awkwardly, orange, white, and yellow sparks erupting from the metal of the exposed wheel. The van screeched to an abrupt halt.

Still driving the motorcycle, Sparkler concentrated. She called upon her peculiar gift and the air around her left hand distorted like a desert mirage. An instant later, it ignited with the heat of a tiny sun! Meanwhile, sudden motion drew my attention as the back of the van burst open and Big Joe’s lumbering form thundered out. Sparkler hurled balls of plasma at the big man, and he tried to evade, covering up as he did so. The first fiery sphere exploded a few yards in front of him, the second closed half the distance, and the third found its mark, crashing into Joe’s nigh-invulnerable upper body, his thick arms shielding his face from the blast!

In the front of the van, unknown to me at the time, Desperado gave some instructions to Headlock the Horseman. He was- I would later come to realize- instructing Headlock in the ritual required to summon the fearsome Rider on the Storm, the most powerful member of The Posse. He also instructed the Lone Star Phantom to guard the loot and Panther before gathering up the rest of his men. I would become aware of all of these facts soon enough.

Some distance from me, I saw Wulf swoop in, readying his ceremonial-looking shield as the bulk of Desperado’s minions spread out, preparing to engage. Two of the mooks, still costumed in the spaghetti-Western style attire Desperado favored, drew their revolvers and began fanning the antique firearms at Wulf! He moved his shield into the hail of bullets and it flashed with a brilliant orange aura of light, deflecting the bullets away as he closed.

I zoomed in from the flank, triggering my helmet mic. “Sparkler! I see Phantom guarding the loot and Panther! He’s got your number, so let me handle him. Watch out for Ghost of the Gallows, I don’t see him anywhere out there.” Part of that was, of course, due to the heavy haze of smoke that had begun to shroud the area as a result of our opening gambit. “Headlock or Desperado is probably trying to summon the Rider. Let’s see if we can’t end this before he gets here! I’m switching to my earpiece.”

I yanked off my helmet and hurled it at one of the costumed goons, knocking him off his feet. I would have to swing back around and pick that up later! Big Joe was reeling from the plasma bolts, his almost indestructible skin smoldering nonetheless. I leapt at him, throwing a dropkick into his burly back, knocking him face-first into the pavement. I doubt I hurt him much, but it would keep him down for a moment. “Just a little closer…” I thought to myself, anxiously. I didn’t like the fact that I hadn’t laid eyes on Headlock, Desperado, or Ghost of the Gallows. Between the smoke and the fading twilight, it was getting hard to see.

Sparkler, meanwhile, switched targets as she saw Big Joe go off his feet, lobbing more plasma around the van as she made a wide circle around it, still on my motorcycle, gritting her teeth with the exertion. She didn’t see it as a coil of enchanted rope suddenly lashed out and grabbed the handlebars! Before she knew what hit her, Ghost of the Gallows had entangled her handlebars! He planted his feet, his enchanted boots affixing him to the ground as an almost immovable object! The rope snapped taut and yanked the handlebars to the side, sending Sparkler flying as the motorcycle smashed into the pavement and began flipping in a shower of sparks and debris! I gasped, far too distant to reach Sparkler in time as she was flung free of the bike.

I didn’t realize it at the time, but Wulf had just hurled one of the costumed thugs into the pavement as he swooped. He caught what was going on with Sparkler in his peripheral vision and in desperation, wheeled around from his dive-bomb run, circling towards Sparkler. To my relief, he was just close enough to snatch the young heroine right out of the air!

“Got you, kid,” Wulf said to Sparkler as rose with her firmly in his strong arms. “Sorry about that! I only saw Gallows as he snagged your bike, or I would have been here sooner!”

“It… it’s okay…! Ummm… thanks!” she responded, breathlessly, trembling from her near-accident. “Swing back towards the van! I lost track of Trinity!”

I, of course, was unaware of that exchange at the time or I would have radioed Sparkler to let her know what I was up to. Since she was safe, I continued on the primary mission. I crept into the back of the crippled van, squinting through the heavy haze of gray smoke that hung here like fog. Besides the other random junk in the back, I saw what looked like a leather body bag and a recently-sealed small crate, both anchored to the floor of the van with web belt ties. The crate, no doubt, contained the purloined loot, while my hope was that the body bag contained The Panther, preferably in good condition! Before I could verify this fact, a cloud of purple gas suddenly shrouded me! My aura immediately flashed to life, working to counter the toxic gas!

“Nice try, Phantom,” I taunted, trying to get my bearings. “But I’m not so easy to take out!” He had no way of knowing this, but I knew my emerald aura made me functionally immune to toxins and poisons, rendering Phantom’s primary offense useless! He quickly solidified between me and the targets of my investigation. With an incredible speed, he drew both revolvers and they barked angrily with tongues of flame as he fired! I had seriously underestimated his speed, so I was almost flat-footed as the heavy projectiles slammed into my emerald aura. It was still focused primarily on the toxic attack, so I felt each bullet as it crashed into my body. At least my aura kept them from penetrating my skin, but I would have some nasty bruises tomorrow, assuming I survived this! As I rolled with the impact, I saw the body bag rip open! Phantom saw it, too, and whirled around to fire, but before he could draw a bead, The Panther slashed out at him with a pair of thin blades she had apparently concealed somewhere on her body. She gashed the side of his face, narrowly missing a major artery as his guns barked again. He was wide of his mark, though, not expecting Panther to have closed so quickly, either. But that wouldn’t last long. I spied a discarded crowbar at the back of the van and snatched it up at triple-speed, hurling at the Phantom’s head as he fired a second volley, narrowly missing the nimble Panther. He didn’t see the crowbar as it ricocheted off of the back of his head, knocking him out cold!

“Careful, Panther, you know how I feel about killing… even it’s the bad guys,” I chided. She just glared at me. She looked no worse the wear despite some knotted ropes around her wrists and ankles, the remnants of her captivity. “I’ve got Panther,” I spoke into my collar-mic. “And we’ve got the loot. Lone Star Phantom is down.”

“They tied me up and stuffed me in a body bag,” she growled as she slashed the belts holding the crate to the floor before picking it up. “He’s lucky you were here.”

I did not get an immediate response because, unknown to me, Wulf and Sparkler were quite busy! Back outside, Darkwulf, with Sparkler in tow, wheeled back around again where the two of them spied Headlock the Horseman, crouched over some sort of totem-looking object. He was reciting some sort of incantation.

“He’s summoning the Rider on the Storm, Sparkler!” With both hands full carrying Sparkler, it was up to her. “Stop him!”

Sparkler bit her lip nervously as she called up her powers. “O-okay,” she stammered. “I don’t want to kill him! And my powers don’t exactly have a ‘stun’ setting!”

“Forget about Headlock, kid,” Wulf responded. “Hit the totem! I know it’s small, but the way your blasts work, you only need to get close! The blast should do the rest! I know you can do it!”

She concentrated as Wulf dove in closer. Both of her hands ignited in plasma-fire, drawing Headlock’s attention. She brought them together, took a deep breath, and unleashed a narrow bolt of plasma. Headlock’s eyes widened as the brilliant projectile slammed down towards him, striking the totem directly in a thunderous blast of dirt and fire, knocking Headlock off his feet.

“Good job, kid, you did i-URK…!” Wulf’s kibbutz was interrupted as a noose suddenly cinched around his neck and he was jerked downwards, losing his grip on Sparkler as he slammed violently into the ground. His axe clattered one way, his shield the other as they were both dislodged from their attach points. Holding the other end of the rope and firmly planted on the ground was the grim figure of the Ghost of the Gallows!

“You’ve interfered with The Posse, and with me, for the last time, Darkwulf!” Ghost of the Gallows snarled at him. “I’m gonna’ end you.”

Meanwhile, Sparkler crashed to the ground, doing her best to tuck-and-roll, coming to a stop in the dirt at the side of the road. Pushing off the helmet she was still wearing, she tried to get her bearings. Headlock was shaking off the blast, so Sparkler tried to pull it together to engage him.

“Well if it isn’t the spunky li’l sidekick,” a voice sneered at her from behind. “I was looking to dance with your boss, but instead, it looks like I found you instead!”

Sparkler whirled around and gasped. It was Desperado himself, standing confidently and shooting playing cards between his hands with a practiced skill. He was handsome, as villains go, but in Sparkler’s world, he was just about the worse possible threat, with his unpredictable and powerful playing-card based magic.

“Headlock, let’s deputize her!” Desperado said with a sinister smile.

Sparkler gritted her teeth and her clenched fist ignited in glowing plasma, but before she could do anything with it, she felt Headlock make contact with her mind. It was as though a freight-train had smashed into her consciousness and she wobbled on her feet, her plasma-field winking out.

“Fry the bird-man, chica,” said Headlock’s voice in thunderous tones deep inside her thoughts. “Do it!”

“Nooo!” she grunted aloud, yet she found herself turning towards Darkwulf as he struggled with Gallows’ magic noose. Both hands ignited with brilliant plumes of plasma. Try as she might, she couldn’t stop it. “D-Don’t make me… I can’t…” she pleaded disjointedly through clenched teeth.

“NOW! KILL HIM!” Headlock shrieked in her head.

Sparkler wound up, but then her plasma shifted from its normal orange and yellow tones to a pure, blinding white!

“NO!” she screamed again, whirling around and slamming down both plasma fields on the ground between the two villains and her. A brilliant flash and a shockwave knocked Sparkler off of her feet and blinded her for a moment. When she could see again, she found herself down on all fours, trying to catch her breath. Headlock was down, but Desperado was nowhere to be found.

Darkwulf, meanwhile, only caught the flash out of the corner of his eye. He was becoming lightheaded from lack of air. He, too, was down on all fours, struggling to reach his Power Axe, but it remained tauntingly out of his reach. The noose around his neck held him fast as though it were made of steel cable!

“Forget about it, freak,” Ghost of the Gallows taunted. “Even if you can reach that axe, there’s no way you can cut my rope!”

“Well if we can’t cut the rope, can we cut YOU?!?” came another voice from behind Gallows. With a wet “thunk”, one of The Panther’s blades imbedded itself in Gallows’ right arm. The Ghost of the Gallows bellowed in pain as he involuntarily released the rope! As he did so, Wulf lunged forward, clutching his axe in one hand. Realizing the rope was free Wulf reached up and loosened the noose, yanking it over his head, casting it to the side. Ghost of the Gallows was still reeling when I smashed into him at full speed, rendering him unconscious! Panther pounced on his downed form and retrieved her knife.

“Thanks, you two!” Darkwulf said with a big grin. “And here I thought I was gonna’ rescue you, Panther!”

“Yeah, well, you are welcome,” Panther replied. “Phantom is down. We’ve got the treasure.”

“Big Joe is down, too,” I added. “And I see you guys got Headlock. Good job.”

“Oh, that was your sidekick, there, Trin,” Wulf said, still grinning. “Not sure exactly what she did, but it worked. Has anybody seen Desperado?”

“He was trying to get Headlock to make me shoot Wulf,” Sparkler said, frowning as she approached. “But I lost him.”

“And yet again he’s found you, little one!” came a disembodied voice through the smoke and haze. Suddenly a barrage of glowing purple energy-bolts, vaguely in the shape of playing cards, lanced through the darkness, striking all four of us! In an instant, we found ourselves wrapped in glowing purple chains made of pure energy! “I won’t forget this, any of you…” Desperado spoke with a clear tone of menace.

Sparkler and Panther were both pretty well ensnared in the peculiar bonds. Panther writhed angrily while Sparkler was disoriented and fatigued enough that she either couldn’t or didn’t think to try to call up her plasma. I could see Darkwulf gritting his teeth and trying to muster a counter-spell. I had almost forgotten that he had a certain amount of magical prowess. It was something he tried to teach me that I never could wrap my brain around. My aura flashed and flared, trying to repel the chains, but it was slow going!

“Are you going to whip up some sort of ridiculous death-trap, Desperado?” I taunted, trying to buy time.

“Actually, I was thinking I would just kill you outright and save myself future trouble,” he replied coldly, calling up another enchantment of some sort, the cards shuffling between his hands beginning to glow. I could tell that he was nearly out of them, there couldn’t be more than four or five cards in his hand, but that was more than enough to kill us if we didn’t do something soon! I gritted my teeth as my aura flashed and flare. Just a little longer…!

“You’re just a two-bit wanna-be sorcerer!” Panther spat contemptuously. “Playing cards? Really? Dumbest magic gimmick ever!” She struggled mightily but the chains held.

“Do you really think you can rattle me with juvenile taunts and name-calling?” Desperado said as he turned his attention back towards The Panther. “Since you are so eager, though, I will give you the luxury of being first to taste my might.”

As he reared back with a glowing playing-card, my aura finally shattered the mystical chains. The whole world moved in slow-motion as I darted at him at top speed, trying to disrupt his spell or tackle him, or anything I could do to stop him. I lunged at Desperado, throwing a huge haymaker at his jaw, but in horror, I saw the bolt pass right under my arm! At the same time, I could see out of the corner of my eye, Darkwulf, too, shatter the chains with a counter-spell. He saw the same thing I did and tapping into the wild magic flowing through his veins, he reached out to snatch up his shield with some sort of telekinetic force, trying to pull it into the path of the purple bolt. It was too far back, though, and the bolt moved too quickly! I felt my fist smash into Desperado’s face, sending the remainder of his cards flying, enraged that I just allowed one of my team to die on my watch and oblivious to anything else!

What I didn’t see, however, was my niece, Sparkler, still bound in the mystical chains, much closer to The Panther than any of the rest of us! Sparker hurled herself towards Panther, taking her down at the knees even as Panther stared right into the bolt and her own impending doom! The bolt passed just over Panther as she fell, smashing into Darkwulf’s ensorcelled shield, disintegrating the shield utterly! I hesitate to imagine what that bolt would have done had it hit The Panther!

Time seemed to return to normal as I saw Desperado crash to the ground, unconscious. For a moment, I felt the urge to leap at him and crush his skull in a blind rage, still unaware of what had happened! I heard Darkwulf exclaim something, behind me, though, and that snapped me out of it enough to look back.

“By the spirits, I can’t believe that worked, kid!” Darkwulf said. “It destroyed my Power Shield, but you saved Panther, Sparkler. Good job!”

My rage subsided as I saw Sparkler and Panther lying in a heap of tangled limbs, the mystical chains having vanished as soon as Desperado had lost consciousness. They were okay, both of them! We had done it! We had beaten The Posse and retrieved what they had stolen from the museum! I sank to the ground in relief, catching my breath, and almost as an afterthought tapped my earpiece to trigger my collar mic.

“Blitz, this is Trinity. Mission accomplished. We did it. The Posse is down. Everyone is alright.”

-END-

Description
The unmarked van sped out of town with Sparkler and me in pursuit on my motorcycle. Sparkler sat directly behind me, one arm around my waist, the other holding the tracking device receiver that was usually clipped to my instrument panel. We had checked out the first van The Posse had used. It was empty, perhaps used as a decoy. The unmarked van we were chasing had to be the right one. I had given her the sensor so I could concentrate on driving and following the van discretely.

“We need to keep our distance,” I said to my niece and sidekick through the radio mic in her helmet. “At least we need to do so until we are clear of the city. If we are going to take these guys on again, I don’t want any innocent bystanders in our way!” Sparkler nodded in the affirmative in an unseen reply.

I tried to sound brave but I knew the odds were against us. At full strength, Sparkler, Panther, and I were overpowered and soundly defeated by The Posse the last time we met. And this time, The Posse had Panther as a captive.

“On your six!” there came a sudden squawk in my helmet speaker.

“Wulf!” I responded via the radio mic in delighted response. “What are you doing out here?”

“I got word that you guys were tangling with Desperado,” the voice replied. Slightly above and behind the speeding motorcycle was a well-built well-tanned Native American, flying on tawny-feathered wings that sprouted right out of his back! He was Darkwulf, a veteran hero, my one-time mentor, and perhaps a little more. “Blitz thought you could use some backup, and I was the only one in the area!”

“Well I can’t say that I object,” I responded. “They have Panther and some loot from the museum. The whole gang is there. They’ve already left Sparkler and me for dead once. I’m not eager for a repeat performance, but we have to save Panther!”

“Well it’s no wonder,” Wulf replied. “These guys are pretty powerful, especially as a group!”

“Sparkler is tracking a locator hidden by Panther on their van,” I said, gesturing towards my star-spangled companion. Sparkler was looking intently at the screen of the hand-held tracking monitor. “We are waiting until we are clear of the city limits before we engage.”

“Good thinking,” the flying man replied as he snugged up a strap on his splint armor. “I see them. You just give the word when you are ready. I’ve wanted a crack at these guys for a while now.”

“Sparkler is a pyrokinetic,” I added. “I was going to have her try to disable the van by taking out a tire once we are clear.”

“Ummm, the thing is…” Sparkler said, shyly. “I’m not very… accurate… and I don’t want to risk hurting Panther!”

“It’s a solid plan,” Darkwulf replied, smiling. “But I’ll tell you what- I’ll take out a tire. You guys just need to get their attention once I do. Then we can hit them properly! We’re almost clear of the city now. Get ready!”

“Roger!” I responded as we accelerated to close the distance. “Sparkler, once Wulf stops the van, I will need some covering fire. I will try to free Panther. You don’t have to hit them. Just make sure they think you are trying to! Well, except for that big brute, Big Joe. I’m pretty sure he can take a couple blasts from you!”

I then locked the steering and gave a short nod to Sparkler. “Here goes.” With an inhuman grace due to my unique powers, I leapt off of the speedily-moving motorcycle. Sparkler slid into place, took the controls, and released the steering as I landed on the pavement at a run. I pushed my triple-speed to catch up with the van and quickly hit the threshold of my power.

We closed to within a few hundred yards of the van, which was now clear of the city and rumbling along on a fairly deserted rural highway. Wulf climbed as he unfastened a peculiar-looking axe from where it had been strapped between his wings. Pressing a stud on the handle, Wulf ignited the axe-head with an undulating luminescent orange energy field. He entered into a steep dive, pulling his wings in tightly, gaining speed on the van. With a skill borne of a great deal of experience, he gave a shallow swing at the tire, clipping it! It exploded in a foul smelling cloud of smoke, shredded rubber, and sundered steel. The van lurched awkwardly, orange, white, and yellow sparks erupting from the metal of the exposed wheel. The van screeched to an abrupt halt.

Still driving the motorcycle, Sparkler concentrated. She called upon her peculiar gift and the air around her left hand distorted like a desert mirage. An instant later, it ignited with the heat of a tiny sun! Meanwhile, sudden motion drew my attention as the back of the van burst open and Big Joe’s lumbering form thundered out. Sparkler hurled balls of plasma at the big man, and he tried to evade, covering up as he did so. The first fiery sphere exploded a few yards in front of him, the second closed half the distance, and the third found its mark, crashing into Joe’s nigh-invulnerable upper body, his thick arms shielding his face from the blast!

In the front of the van, unknown to me at the time, Desperado gave some instructions to Headlock the Horseman. He was- I would later come to realize- instructing Headlock in the ritual required to summon the fearsome Rider on the Storm, the most powerful member of The Posse. He also instructed the Lone Star Phantom to guard the loot and Panther before gathering up the rest of his men. I would become aware of all of these facts soon enough.

Some distance from me, I saw Wulf swoop in, readying his ceremonial-looking shield as the bulk of Desperado’s minions spread out, preparing to engage. Two of the mooks, still costumed in the spaghetti-Western style attire Desperado favored, drew their revolvers and began fanning the antique firearms at Wulf! He moved his shield into the hail of bullets and it flashed with a brilliant orange aura of light, deflecting the bullets away as he closed.

I zoomed in from the flank, triggering my helmet mic. “Sparkler! I see Phantom guarding the loot and Panther! He’s got your number, so let me handle him. Watch out for Ghost of the Gallows, I don’t see him anywhere out there.” Part of that was, of course, due to the heavy haze of smoke that had begun to shroud the area as a result of our opening gambit. “Headlock or Desperado is probably trying to summon the Rider. Let’s see if we can’t end this before he gets here! I’m switching to my earpiece.”

I yanked off my helmet and hurled it at one of the costumed goons, knocking him off his feet. I would have to swing back around and pick that up later! Big Joe was reeling from the plasma bolts, his almost indestructible skin smoldering nonetheless. I leapt at him, throwing a dropkick into his burly back, knocking him face-first into the pavement. I doubt I hurt him much, but it would keep him down for a moment. “Just a little closer…” I thought to myself, anxiously. I didn’t like the fact that I hadn’t laid eyes on Headlock, Desperado, or Ghost of the Gallows. Between the smoke and the fading twilight, it was getting hard to see.

Sparkler, meanwhile, switched targets as she saw Big Joe go off his feet, lobbing more plasma around the van as she made a wide circle around it, still on my motorcycle, gritting her teeth with the exertion. She didn’t see it as a coil of enchanted rope suddenly lashed out and grabbed the handlebars! Before she knew what hit her, Ghost of the Gallows had entangled her handlebars! He planted his feet, his enchanted boots affixing him to the ground as an almost immovable object! The rope snapped taut and yanked the handlebars to the side, sending Sparkler flying as the motorcycle smashed into the pavement and began flipping in a shower of sparks and debris! I gasped, far too distant to reach Sparkler in time as she was flung free of the bike.

I didn’t realize it at the time, but Wulf had just hurled one of the costumed thugs into the pavement as he swooped. He caught what was going on with Sparkler in his peripheral vision and in desperation, wheeled around from his dive-bomb run, circling towards Sparkler. To my relief, he was just close enough to snatch the young heroine right out of the air!

“Got you, kid,” Wulf said to Sparkler as rose with her firmly in his strong arms. “Sorry about that! I only saw Gallows as he snagged your bike, or I would have been here sooner!”

“It… it’s okay…! Ummm… thanks!” she responded, breathlessly, trembling from her near-accident. “Swing back towards the van! I lost track of Trinity!”

I, of course, was unaware of that exchange at the time or I would have radioed Sparkler to let her know what I was up to. Since she was safe, I continued on the primary mission. I crept into the back of the crippled van, squinting through the heavy haze of gray smoke that hung here like fog. Besides the other random junk in the back, I saw what looked like a leather body bag and a recently-sealed small crate, both anchored to the floor of the van with web belt ties. The crate, no doubt, contained the purloined loot, while my hope was that the body bag contained The Panther, preferably in good condition! Before I could verify this fact, a cloud of purple gas suddenly shrouded me! My aura immediately flashed to life, working to counter the toxic gas!

“Nice try, Phantom,” I taunted, trying to get my bearings. “But I’m not so easy to take out!” He had no way of knowing this, but I knew my emerald aura made me functionally immune to toxins and poisons, rendering Phantom’s primary offense useless! He quickly solidified between me and the targets of my investigation. With an incredible speed, he drew both revolvers and they barked angrily with tongues of flame as he fired! I had seriously underestimated his speed, so I was almost flat-footed as the heavy projectiles slammed into my emerald aura. It was still focused primarily on the toxic attack, so I felt each bullet as it crashed into my body. At least my aura kept them from penetrating my skin, but I would have some nasty bruises tomorrow, assuming I survived this! As I rolled with the impact, I saw the body bag rip open! Phantom saw it, too, and whirled around to fire, but before he could draw a bead, The Panther slashed out at him with a pair of thin blades she had apparently concealed somewhere on her body. She gashed the side of his face, narrowly missing a major artery as his guns barked again. He was wide of his mark, though, not expecting Panther to have closed so quickly, either. But that wouldn’t last long. I spied a discarded crowbar at the back of the van and snatched it up at triple-speed, hurling at the Phantom’s head as he fired a second volley, narrowly missing the nimble Panther. He didn’t see the crowbar as it ricocheted off of the back of his head, knocking him out cold!

“Careful, Panther, you know how I feel about killing… even it’s the bad guys,” I chided. She just glared at me. She looked no worse the wear despite some knotted ropes around her wrists and ankles, the remnants of her captivity. “I’ve got Panther,” I spoke into my collar-mic. “And we’ve got the loot. Lone Star Phantom is down.”

“They tied me up and stuffed me in a body bag,” she growled as she slashed the belts holding the crate to the floor before picking it up. “He’s lucky you were here.”

I did not get an immediate response because, unknown to me, Wulf and Sparkler were quite busy! Back outside, Darkwulf, with Sparkler in tow, wheeled back around again where the two of them spied Headlock the Horseman, crouched over some sort of totem-looking object. He was reciting some sort of incantation.

“He’s summoning the Rider on the Storm, Sparkler!” With both hands full carrying Sparkler, it was up to her. “Stop him!”

Sparkler bit her lip nervously as she called up her powers. “O-okay,” she stammered. “I don’t want to kill him! And my powers don’t exactly have a ‘stun’ setting!”

“Forget about Headlock, kid,” Wulf responded. “Hit the totem! I know it’s small, but the way your blasts work, you only need to get close! The blast should do the rest! I know you can do it!”

She concentrated as Wulf dove in closer. Both of her hands ignited in plasma-fire, drawing Headlock’s attention. She brought them together, took a deep breath, and unleashed a narrow bolt of plasma. Headlock’s eyes widened as the brilliant projectile slammed down towards him, striking the totem directly in a thunderous blast of dirt and fire, knocking Headlock off his feet.

“Good job, kid, you did i-URK…!” Wulf’s kibbutz was interrupted as a noose suddenly cinched around his neck and he was jerked downwards, losing his grip on Sparkler as he slammed violently into the ground. His axe clattered one way, his shield the other as they were both dislodged from their attach points. Holding the other end of the rope and firmly planted on the ground was the grim figure of the Ghost of the Gallows!

“You’ve interfered with The Posse, and with me, for the last time, Darkwulf!” Ghost of the Gallows snarled at him. “I’m gonna’ end you.”

Meanwhile, Sparkler crashed to the ground, doing her best to tuck-and-roll, coming to a stop in the dirt at the side of the road. Pushing off the helmet she was still wearing, she tried to get her bearings. Headlock was shaking off the blast, so Sparkler tried to pull it together to engage him.

“Well if it isn’t the spunky li’l sidekick,” a voice sneered at her from behind. “I was looking to dance with your boss, but instead, it looks like I found you instead!”

Sparkler whirled around and gasped. It was Desperado himself, standing confidently and shooting playing cards between his hands with a practiced skill. He was handsome, as villains go, but in Sparkler’s world, he was just about the worse possible threat, with his unpredictable and powerful playing-card based magic.

“Headlock, let’s deputize her!” Desperado said with a sinister smile.

Sparkler gritted her teeth and her clenched fist ignited in glowing plasma, but before she could do anything with it, she felt Headlock make contact with her mind. It was as though a freight-train had smashed into her consciousness and she wobbled on her feet, her plasma-field winking out.

“Fry the bird-man, chica,” said Headlock’s voice in thunderous tones deep inside her thoughts. “Do it!”

“Nooo!” she grunted aloud, yet she found herself turning towards Darkwulf as he struggled with Gallows’ magic noose. Both hands ignited with brilliant plumes of plasma. Try as she might, she couldn’t stop it. “D-Don’t make me… I can’t…” she pleaded disjointedly through clenched teeth.

“NOW! KILL HIM!” Headlock shrieked in her head.

Sparkler wound up, but then her plasma shifted from its normal orange and yellow tones to a pure, blinding white!

“NO!” she screamed again, whirling around and slamming down both plasma fields on the ground between the two villains and her. A brilliant flash and a shockwave knocked Sparkler off of her feet and blinded her for a moment. When she could see again, she found herself down on all fours, trying to catch her breath. Headlock was down, but Desperado was nowhere to be found.

Darkwulf, meanwhile, only caught the flash out of the corner of his eye. He was becoming lightheaded from lack of air. He, too, was down on all fours, struggling to reach his Power Axe, but it remained tauntingly out of his reach. The noose around his neck held him fast as though it were made of steel cable!

“Forget about it, freak,” Ghost of the Gallows taunted. “Even if you can reach that axe, there’s no way you can cut my rope!”

“Well if we can’t cut the rope, can we cut YOU?!?” came another voice from behind Gallows. With a wet “thunk”, one of The Panther’s blades imbedded itself in Gallows’ right arm. The Ghost of the Gallows bellowed in pain as he involuntarily released the rope! As he did so, Wulf lunged forward, clutching his axe in one hand. Realizing the rope was free Wulf reached up and loosened the noose, yanking it over his head, casting it to the side. Ghost of the Gallows was still reeling when I smashed into him at full speed, rendering him unconscious! Panther pounced on his downed form and retrieved her knife.

“Thanks, you two!” Darkwulf said with a big grin. “And here I thought I was gonna’ rescue you, Panther!”

“Yeah, well, you are welcome,” Panther replied. “Phantom is down. We’ve got the treasure.”

“Big Joe is down, too,” I added. “And I see you guys got Headlock. Good job.”

“Oh, that was your sidekick, there, Trin,” Wulf said, still grinning. “Not sure exactly what she did, but it worked. Has anybody seen Desperado?”

“He was trying to get Headlock to make me shoot Wulf,” Sparkler said, frowning as she approached. “But I lost him.”

“And yet again he’s found you, little one!” came a disembodied voice through the smoke and haze. Suddenly a barrage of glowing purple energy-bolts, vaguely in the shape of playing cards, lanced through the darkness, striking all four of us! In an instant, we found ourselves wrapped in glowing purple chains made of pure energy! “I won’t forget this, any of you…” Desperado spoke with a clear tone of menace.

Sparkler and Panther were both pretty well ensnared in the peculiar bonds. Panther writhed angrily while Sparkler was disoriented and fatigued enough that she either couldn’t or didn’t think to try to call up her plasma. I could see Darkwulf gritting his teeth and trying to muster a counter-spell. I had almost forgotten that he had a certain amount of magical prowess. It was something he tried to teach me that I never could wrap my brain around. My aura flashed and flared, trying to repel the chains, but it was slow going!

“Are you going to whip up some sort of ridiculous death-trap, Desperado?” I taunted, trying to buy time.

“Actually, I was thinking I would just kill you outright and save myself future trouble,” he replied coldly, calling up another enchantment of some sort, the cards shuffling between his hands beginning to glow. I could tell that he was nearly out of them, there couldn’t be more than four or five cards in his hand, but that was more than enough to kill us if we didn’t do something soon! I gritted my teeth as my aura flashed and flare. Just a little longer…!

“You’re just a two-bit wanna-be sorcerer!” Panther spat contemptuously. “Playing cards? Really? Dumbest magic gimmick ever!” She struggled mightily but the chains held.

“Do you really think you can rattle me with juvenile taunts and name-calling?” Desperado said as he turned his attention back towards The Panther. “Since you are so eager, though, I will give you the luxury of being first to taste my might.”

As he reared back with a glowing playing-card, my aura finally shattered the mystical chains. The whole world moved in slow-motion as I darted at him at top speed, trying to disrupt his spell or tackle him, or anything I could do to stop him. I lunged at Desperado, throwing a huge haymaker at his jaw, but in horror, I saw the bolt pass right under my arm! At the same time, I could see out of the corner of my eye, Darkwulf, too, shatter the chains with a counter-spell. He saw the same thing I did and tapping into the wild magic flowing through his veins, he reached out to snatch up his shield with some sort of telekinetic force, trying to pull it into the path of the purple bolt. It was too far back, though, and the bolt moved too quickly! I felt my fist smash into Desperado’s face, sending the remainder of his cards flying, enraged that I just allowed one of my team to die on my watch and oblivious to anything else!

What I didn’t see, however, was my niece, Sparkler, still bound in the mystical chains, much closer to The Panther than any of the rest of us! Sparker hurled herself towards Panther, taking her down at the knees even as Panther stared right into the bolt and her own impending doom! The bolt passed just over Panther as she fell, smashing into Darkwulf’s ensorcelled shield, disintegrating the shield utterly! I hesitate to imagine what that bolt would have done had it hit The Panther!

Time seemed to return to normal as I saw Desperado crash to the ground, unconscious. For a moment, I felt the urge to leap at him and crush his skull in a blind rage, still unaware of what had happened! I heard Darkwulf exclaim something, behind me, though, and that snapped me out of it enough to look back.

“By the spirits, I can’t believe that worked, kid!” Darkwulf said. “It destroyed my Power Shield, but you saved Panther, Sparkler. Good job!”

My rage subsided as I saw Sparkler and Panther lying in a heap of tangled limbs, the mystical chains having vanished as soon as Desperado had lost consciousness. They were okay, both of them! We had done it! We had beaten The Posse and retrieved what they had stolen from the museum! I sank to the ground in relief, catching my breath, and almost as an afterthought tapped my earpiece to trigger my collar mic.

“Blitz, this is Trinity. Mission accomplished. We did it. The Posse is down. Everyone is alright.”

-END-