Triumph - Protectors of Central Illinois University, the city of Stevenson, and beyond!
Dragonfly, aka Aaron Majesky - winged martial arts master; The Adept, aka Rick Pennington - master of mystical movement; Cazmonster, aka Caz Greenbaum, super-strong cyber-werewolf; The Gray Robe, aka Sydney Koenig - Druidic mistress of the Earth; The American Attitude, aka Barry Stills - Hyper-sensory, skateboarding streetfighter; Bill Brown (no alias), super-strong urban defender; Magma, aka Jan Graylin, lava blasting demolisher; and Transcender, aka “Dorado” Estevez, controller of time and space.
If all had gone well on that cold January night, Dragonfly, Cazmonster, The Gray Robe and The American Attitude would have been escorting the younger members of Triumph to a warm hotel, the ninjas who’d kidnapped the junior members having been overwhelmed by the sheer power of the experienced superheroes. But it didn’t go down quite like that, exactly.
It was bitterly cold that January early morning, and it got colder the further north Dragonfly flew. Behind him, the Gray Robe, a druid of considerable mystic power, carried the American Attitude. And in the fields beside, every couple of miles, Cazmonster stirred up dirt and snow as his landed and launched his powerful form once again. Dragonfly was the first to arrive in Lasalle, the town in northern Illinois where the ninjas had taken the captive younger members of Triumph.
The small city along the Illinois river was well known to Dragonfly; he’d grown up within a few miles of here. He wondered, as he flew, what the significance of that was. The ninjas who were after him obviously knew who he was, and knew the significance of it. But was there a further connection? His old friend Ie Tanaka, whom he’d trained with years ago, was also a resident of this area, until he’d disappeared just before Aaron Majesky had gone off to college at Central Illinois University, and Dragonfly had been born. Aaron wondered in the back of his mind as he landed in the snow-dusted yard of a warehouse, did this have any connection to his old mentor?
The area was deserted at this time of the early AM. A harsh wind blew from across the river as Dragonfly opened the door to the riverside building and slipped quietly in. There was no hope that he’d not been noticed, no hope that he was not currently being monitored. The ninja who’d managed to incapacitate 3 super heroes, however inexperienced, were in many if not all ways his equal. They had IR cameras, no doubt, and probably had weapons trained on him as soon as he touched down. But, Aaron thought, that’s no reason to make it easy.
A second later, the lights turned on, and the entire floor of the warehouse, emptied except for a cage in the center which held the three young heroes tied to chairs, was bathed in a harsh light.
Jan was obviously heavily drugged; drool tumbled out of her mouth, down her face and onto a pool on the floor, mixing with lava slowly dripping from her fingertips. Dorado was still out cold, and had a serious bruise on the side of his skull, and an ugly gash on his eye. Bill was...Bill. Aaron could read the hate in his eyes from here. He’d been beaten, as well, but to less effect. He was tied with high-tensile cable, and even so, he was straining against it. One second of freedom, and he would have seriously injured the first opponent he could find. Aaron nodded to him.
Aaron was immediately calculating. How far to the other heroes? What was the tensile strength of the wires on the cage they were in? How many enemies could he pinpoint in the dark? Aaron had an advantage, of course, and one perhaps his opponents didn’t know about. Dragonfly’s costume was equipped with night-vision contact lenses, advanced technology from the same source that supplied his wings. Aaron spotted at least 10 figures around the room.
“No need to worry, Aaron,” the figure who approached said. Was that...it was. Ie. Aaron was dumbfounded.
“Ie. What happened?” Aaron knew his friends were listening in. The heroes of Triumph were waiting to burst in to his rescue. But if they came in now, before Aaron was certain the others were safe, there would be three new Triumph members added to the deceased list. Anyway, Aaron wasn’t ready for them yet. He wasn’t sure what was happening. Before him stood a friendly face from the past. Yet that friend was obviously no prisoner here, where young friends clearly were. Why would Ie Tanaka go to all this effort to get a sword he himself had given to Aaron?
The answer was, unfortunately, obvious to Aaron. He wouldn’t. This person, no matter how much he looked like Aaron’s old martial arts mentor, wasn’t him.
“Much has passed,” the liar said as he approached Dragonfly. “Unfortunately, you must give me back the sword I once gave you.”
Aaron pulled the sword, sheath and all, from his back, and held it with both hands. “Much has passed, if my old friend is kidnapping people to get back what was given.” Dragonfly drew the blade of the sword, and approached the familiar yet obviously false figure so armed.
‘Ie’ himself stood back, but gestured to others. A dart flew from the side, but Dragonfly, the hero who’d defeated the Milan, the swordsman who’d fought beside the powerful Cazmonster and matched wits with the mad Sampson, was more than prepared, and deflected the the toxic dart without effort.
“Careful,” the fake Ie commented. “One move too far, your friends are forfeit.”
This gave Aaron pause. Undoubtedly, the ninja who wanted the sword, or him, or both, could kill his young friends on a moment’s notice. Aaron nodded.
“You want the sword? For the lives of my friends? I can get another sword. Here. It’s yours.” Aaron dropped the blade, which clanked against the concrete as it fell. But he had his doubts. His friends’ lives were worth any sword, and then some. But why these ninja wanted this sword, it puzzled him.
Ie gestured, and one of the “hidden” ninja scuttled out of the dark to grasp the weapon. He stood and held it out to his master. Ie grabbed the sword by the handle and examined it.
“Well done! You’ve brought me the real thing, instead of some trick,” he nodded with false courtesy.. “Of course, I have no doubt the others are listening in, and are probably nearby. I reiterate, if anyone else enters this room, those three die!”
Aaron nodded. He hoped Syd was being very, very careful.
“Unfortunately, this meeting is now at an end. I had to be sure we had the real, legitimate sword, so that I could gain from it the secret information held in the markings on its hilt.” Fake Ie was nodding as he inspected it.
Aaron cocked his head and an eyebrow and thought back. He’d never seen anything he thought was Japanese, or any other language he knew, written on the hilt of his sword. If he had, he would have researched its meaning, hoping to find a clue as to what happened to...to Ie. Aaron’s shoulders slumped, and if he could have face-palmed himself without being obvious, he would have. Ie went somewhere secret, but left Aaron some means of finding him. He’d totally overlooked it. And now, his enemies knew where he was, or would, once they analysed that hilt.
Fake Ie continued talking. “Now, your life must end. It is a pity I couldn’t spare your young friends, but they’ve seen too much. Such is the way of secrecy. Ie nodded to someone on a catwalk.
“Now!” Aaron shouted, but he feared it was too late. Suddenly, the cage Bill, Jan and Dorado were in was electrified. But not. Aaron noticed that he could see light sparking down the cable into the cage, but slowly. That’s when he saw Dorado, AKA Transcender, lift up his head. He wasn’t unconscious! That little rat was faking! He’d slowed time near the cage, so their plan would have time to take effect!
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