The golden-skinned woman floated above the empty field and the invisible fortress beneath her. She held her hand out at arm’s length. In her hand she held London’s throat. The hero struggled against her grasp but even his increased strength could not break her grip.

“Tell me how to enter!”

“I will die before I tell you.” His words were raspy as she crushed his windpipe. “Whoever you are, whatever you did to Golden Girl, you won’t get anything from me!”

She laughed. “What I did to Golden Girl? I am Golden Girl, you fool!” She released her grip on his throat. London plummeted towards the ground.

He silently prayed for safety as he plummeted downward. He struck feet first, rolled forward, and was amazed to find himself unharmed. It seemed the power harness offered him far more than just superhuman strength.

The woman (he still wasn’t sure she was who she claimed) floated down towards him. “Golden Girl was a joke, a sham. I cared only for this.” She pointed to the complete amulet, the Heart of Gold, at her throat. “That damn fool human stumbled upon it years ago. I was sent by the Venusian High Council to reconnoiter this world, but his discovery of our ancient artifact derailed my surveillance for sixty-five damn years! Now it’s finally mine, and once I learn the secrets of Caer Alder’s magic, I will be able to return to Venus triumphant!”

“So you’re saying you’re an invader from Venus? Because I remember some crazy stuff during the war, but that’s a little far on the out-there-a-meter even for me.”

“Believe what you want, human! But know that the Golden Amazons will reign supreme!”

“You definitely have the crazy villain part down. Lady Foulplay would be proud.” He glanced back towards the seemingly empty field behind him. “But you won’t get the password out of me. Better ones than you have tried to break me, and all failed. I will fight you to my dying breath to protect that fortress.”

The Golden Amazon landed on the ground several yards in front of London. She advanced towards him, one plodding step at a time. “So be it.”

London braced himself for her attack. Even with the extra power of the harness, he doubted he could stand up to the power of the Heart of Gold on his own. But he would fight until his dying breath. Those just weren’t just words to him. They were his very being. They meant everything. He would stand strong, and die strong, if that is what his country and the world required of him.

A loud crackle stopped both combatants in their tracks. Another followed a second later, and then another. And another, and another, then several crackles emerged from the structure behind him.

London turned and followed Golden Amazon’s gaze. Hundreds of cracks, much like those one might see in a broken glass, filled the sky in hundreds of places. The cracks continued to form in the sky, in the trees, and in the grass beneath them. Slowly they formed in to the shape of a massive half-sphere, even as more and more of the sphere’s surface splintered.

Golden Amazon grabbed him by the back of the head. “What is going on? What are you doing to Caer Alder?”

“Me? I’m not doing anything. I have no idea what this is.”

The Amazon’s grip tightened. London struggled to breathe. “Don’t lie to me, human! Tell me what’s happening!”

“I… don’t… know!”

London kicked out. The attack was wild, but it struck Golden Amazon right across the jaw. The shock of the blow caused her to lose her grip around his neck. London stumbled away, towards the damaged structure.

With a resounding crash, the center gave away on the massive structure. The illusion dissipated utterly as thousands of shards of mirrored glass crumpled down to the ground.

The entire moor seemed to shutter at the destruction. London turned to face Golden Amazon just in time to see a massive fist streak towards his face. His last thought was of those trapped inside Caer Alder before everything went black.

*****

Near Gaius Manor, Italy
September 22, 2008, 4:14 p.m.

Ace didn’t quite know where he was. After what he saw this morning in the bedroom, he knew he couldn’t stay in the mansion any longer. So he left, on foot. He ran and he ran and he ran, but he didn’t know the countryside. He barely knew anything about Italy; let alone how to get anywhere. Now he wished he would have focused more on geography than the language. Even when he met another local, his Italian was still too broken to make himself easily understood.

So just after noon, he walked off the long winding road to the next village and entered a small grove of trees. He may not know his surroundings, but he did know how to survive in the roughest situations. He quickly built a lean-to out of leaves, tree branches, and mud. He figured he would make camp here for a day or two, to take at least enough time to figure out where to go from him. He was a fugitive from his own government now. He didn’t possess the resources that Dart still held. For the first time since adolescence he was on his own. It scared and thrilled him at the same time.

What didn’t thrill him was the betrayal he felt. He loved Dart. He had given everything he could give to his mentor. His mind, his soul, his very body. But did that satisfy the man? Did it? No, he had to take the only woman Ace ever cared about.

He knew it with all his heart. He loved Lena. She was the perfect woman: smart, pretty, and that smile could melt icebergs. He knew that he could spend the rest of his life in her arms.

But I can’t, can I? Martius took care of that just like he takes care of everything else. It seemed so obvious to him now. Dart had used him and thrown him away. And as a replacement, he chose the first woman Ace for which he had ever felt anything.

Anger broiled in his veins. Should I go back and settle this once and for all? Should I make Dart pay for his actions? The questions ran through his head again and again, but to them he could find no answer.

He sat silent beneath his impromptu shelter. His attention was far away, prepared for battle, and he did not hear the footsteps as they approached.

“Ace?”

Ace leaped from the lean-to and placed his body in to an attack stance.

Lena stumbled back to avoid any strike. She tripped over a loose branch and fell to the ground. She landed hard on her backside. Ace rushed forward to help her up.

“Lena, I’m so sorry!”

She looked at his outstretched hand for a moment before she took it. Ace pulled her to her feet. “Are you all right?” he said.

“I’ll be fine. I’m more worried about you.”

“Why? What’s there to worry about for me? I’m just care-free Ace the Amazing Boy with no troubles in the world.”

Lena grimaced at his words. “I’m sorry. I…” she trailed off and her head dropped down to her feet. She took a deep breath, her head still sharply downward. “I wanted to tell you. I just couldn’t quite figure out how.”

“How about ‘I’m not interested because I’m fucking your mentor’? Doesn’t seem that hard to me!”

Her voice suddenly rose. “I know. Don’t you think I know? I didn’t want this. I never would want this. Dart is a savage. He enjoys hurting me again and again. But I don’t have a choice, do I?”

“What are you talking about? You’re the one sleeping with him!” Lena stepped towards him and shoved him hard in the chest. Ace staggered back a step. “Are you an idiot? Couldn’t you see that I like you? But I didn’t have a choice. Dart made that perfectly clear. He didn’t need any of us. He didn’t even need the vineyard to operate. But a hundred people depend on this operation to feed their families. He told me if I didn’t give myself to him, he would put them all out of work without a second thought. He told me he would kill my family with his own hands! I have four brothers and sisters. The youngest is two. And I’ve seen what he can do just around the winery. I have no doubt he could do it with ease.”

Ace didn’t know what to say. It wouldn’t have mattered. He could barely catch his breath anyway. It felt like his heart had stopped at her words. How could I have been so blind?, he asked himself.

“Come with me,” he said. “Come with me and I’ll rescue you from all this.”

“I can’t. My family. There’s no telling what he would do to the vineyard if I left.”

“But I can’t stay with him anymore. It took this to make me realize it, but I can’t keep living my life for Dart. I need to find my own way in the world.”

“NO! No one is leaving me until I say so!” Dart streaked through the trees. He flew several feet above the ground as he took aim at Ace. Ace barely had time to brace himself before his mentor’s shoulder struck him in the chest. Ace flew back and to the ground as Dart turned and landed.

His broadsword left the sheathe at his side. He held it ready to strike.

Ace pulled himself to his feet. “I don’t want to fight you. Just let me go and you’ll never have to worry about me again. I won’t tell anyone about the mansion. Not after all the years we stayed together. I couldn’t betray you like that.”

“You try and steal from me and you want me to just let you go? You are both my property. This entire land is my property. And I will do with it what I damn well please!”

Lena scrunched down to the ground as she heard Dart’s words. Ace could see her shiver as his mentor’s bile rained down on them. I’ve seen enough.

“Have it your way,” Ace said. “You want this to be a fight, then we will fight. I never wanted this, Martius. What I do to you will be on your head.”

Dart showed no emotion. “So be it.”

Dart hurled himself towards Ace. Ace dove to the side just in time to watch his mentor streak by. He heard the whistle of his mentor’s blade just inches above his head. Dart played for keeps. He had no choice but to do the same.

He threw himself hard in to his lean-to. The structure collapsed, even as he pulled one of the thicker support beams up and off.

Dart swooped down towards Ace for another strike. Ace brought the large piece of wood up and around. The blow caught Dart just beneath his sword arm. The blade fell from his hand. With his body still airborne, Dart could do nothing to stop himself from spinning end over end and crashing hard in to a tree.

Ace retrieved the fallen sword from the ground and lunged towards Dart. He stopped the blade just inches from his mentor’s throat. “Yield.”

Dart looked up from his place at the base of the tree. His nose was broken and twisted. Blood oozed from it and several other cuts on his face. Still he smiled. “I taught you better than that, boy. Finish it.”

The sword shook in his hands. He wanted to do it. He wanted to end it all right now. But no matter how hard he tried he could not drive the blade down.

“You are weak, boy. Just like I always knew you were. You are weak and you will never amount to any—” Dart fell silent as blood gushed from the jagged half-inch circle that had appeared on his forehead.

It took Ace several more seconds to even register the sound of the gunshot from behind him. He turned to look at Lena. She held a flintlock pistol, still smoking in her hand.

“I had to,” she said. “He would have killed me eventually. I know he would. I had to do it.”

Ace dropped the blade. He slowly walked to her side. Lena only looked at him as she held the empty pistol on Dart’s unmoving body. He reached out and slowly pulled the weapon from her hands.

Her feet gave way beneath her. Ace reached out to catch her before she struck the ground. She looked at the pistol in his free hand. She wouldn’t take her eyes away from it.

“It was my great-grandfather’s,” she said. “Grandfather and my father took care of it for years and years and years, but it took me to realize what they were saving it for. It had to be used to destroy the monster that would kill my family’s legacy.” She looked up at Ace. “Don’t you see I didn’t have any other choice?”

Ace pulled her closer to him. Lena’s head dropped to his shoulder. “I didn’t have any other choice.”

“I know,” Ace said. “I know.”

*****

ACTION Field Office, Los Angeles, California
October 1, 2008, 9:45 a.m.

Johanna Chance sat at the desk of her temporary office. Her right elbow rested on the desk. Her forehead rested on her right hand. Her other hand held a telephone receiver to her ear. On the other end, she listened again to the dozens of prerecorded messages from over a hundred ACTION agents nationwide.

A few weeks ago they were trying and failing to find the escaped metahuman known as Dart. Now their manhunt had changed. Someone was making his way across the country unseen. He secreted himself in to hospitals, police stations, and anywhere else he could get close to a young metahuman. And then he eviscerated them with as much cruelty as he could muster. Kids as young as eight, and he took each of their eyes after torturing and maiming them with all the cruelty imaginable. The media had labeled the killer Purge, and now it was her job to find him.

Only she couldn’t find him anywhere. The man was an enigma wrapped in shadows. If it wasn’t for his victims, she would suspect he didn’t exist at all. After the forty-fourth message cleared out, the messages finally came to an end. Every report offered the same useless information: no sign of Purge’s activity.

She placed the receiver back in to its cradle on the desk. She leaned back in her chair. With her fore and middle finger of each hand, she slowly massaged her aching temples. This job will kill me if it’s the last thing I do. I should have quit when I had the opportunity after acclimating the legends to the modern day. Now I’m stuck with an assignment that will take me nowhere but the unemployment line.

A knock at her door drew her attention upward. Saheed Donnelly stood next to a man clad in a red bodysuit with blue boots, gloves, trunks, mask, and cape. A star pattern rested on both his chest and forehead. Despite his age and the paunch around his waist, Chance instantly recognized the American Crusader. The man had been newsworthy since before her father was born.

“Can I help you, Mr. Crusader?”

“I’ve come to ask for the help of yourself and your unit in catching a metahuman fugitive.”

Chance closed the files on the desk in front of her. “I’m not sure if you’re aware, but that’s what we are doing.”

“I don’t care about this urban legend you and your men are chasing. I’m talking about a real life threat to the security of the very planet. I’m talking about Atoman.”

Chance sighed. “Did General Wallace put you up to this?”

American Crusader’s eyes narrowed. “We have been in contact. We both agree that it is in the best interest of the world at large if American Crusader is taken in to military custody. At least until it can be determined that he holds no threat to the United States or any other world government.”

Chance shook her head. “That man just doesn’t stop.” She rose up from her desk and offered American Crusader her hand. “I’m sorry. It’s been an honor to meet you, sir, but I can be of no assistance to you in this matter.”

American Crusader looked at the hand for a moment before he reluctantly shook it. “I’m sorry you feel that way, Ms. Chance. I had hoped you could help me in this endeavor. Nonetheless you may rest assured that Atoman will be caught. I will find away.”

“Do what you need, but don’t involve me with it. And if you hurt innocents in the process, I don’t care who you are. I will bring the full force of ACTION down on you.”

American Crusader just glared at her.

“Thank you for your time, Mr. Crusader.”

He just nodded as he turned and left the room.

Saheed entered a moment after his departure. “Was that a smart move, Johanna?”

Chance shook her head. “But you and I both know how foolish Wallace’s witch hunt on Atoman is. Someone is going to get hurt by all of this.”

“You know he’s already recruited Amazing Man for his quest. We got it in on the wire yesterday that the two were spotted in tandem.”

Chance scratched her chin. “Together they may have a chance against Atoman. Let’s just pray they don’t take half the country with them.”

*****

Regency House Hotel, Singapore
October 6, 2008, 6:34 a.m.

Two weeks of Singapore with her husband had transformed Teresa Danville from a withered, dying crone in to a toned, flexible young woman. Looking in the mirror now, she didn’t look a day over thirty-five. And every day she seemed to get younger and healthier. She felt like a whole new woman.

And if the sex had been good before, now it was amazing.

After hours of discussion, Doug and she decided that it was best to keep her sudden change a secret for the time being. She seemed to suffer no ill effects from the de-aging process and they doubted the local doctors could help her much anyway. They agreed to have her checked out upon their return to the United States. In the mean time, they would just enjoy the new lease on life they both had.

Until today. Her skin itched like it was on fire. Red welts formed around her wrists, but otherwise she showed no ill effects. That did nothing for the gnawing pain that covered her body.

Doug, dressed only in a pair of sweatpants, paced the floor behind her as she looked at herself in the mirror. She wore only a new silk bra and panty set they bought only a week before at a local lingerie boutique. She examined her skin for any other source for the pain.

“A doctor,” Doug said. “We need to get you to a doctor.”

“We don’t even know what this is, Doug. It could just be a reaction to something I ate here.”

“Or it could have something to do with the sudden dropping of fifty years! Something strange is happening and now you’re turning in to…” His voice trailed off.

Terri turned to look at him. “Turning in to what?”

“Something that scares me. I’m just worried, darling. I couldn’t stand the thought of finding you after all this time and losing you again.”

Terri reached out and took his hands. “You aren’t going to lose me for a long time, Douglas Danville. Not if I have anything to say about it.”

Doug took Terri in his arms. They stood that way for several moments, relishing the touch of each other’s skin, until a knock came at their hotel room door.

Doug knew it was far too early for maid service. “Who is that? Did you order room service when I wasn’t paying attention?”

Terri shook her head.

The knock came again. Doug’s eyes narrowed. Something didn’t feel right.

The door caved in. Doug sprang forward to guard Terri from attack. A woman came through the door. Though her face was Asian and unfamiliar, the costume was instantly recognizable. She wore a blue skirt and knee boots, a green blouse, and a cape and headdress in gold. It was the costume of Lady Foulplay.

She flew across the room at him. Doug sprung forward to meet her in the middle of the room. She swung a fist towards him, but he sprang up and over her and drove both feet in to her back. I can’t risk this woman having the same strength of the original Foulplay. I need to end this fast.

The blow drove the women down in to the floor. Doug rolled up and off her. He landed next to the bed. Atop the bed table sat a crystal lamp. He wrapped his fingers around it and yanked it free from its plug. He turned, and as the woman rose from the floor he brought the lamp down hard on the back of her head.

The false Foulplay crashed to the floor. She lay unmoving. Doug sincerely hoped he hadn’t killed her.

He looked up at Terri. She stood in the doorway to the bathroom, her hand to her mouth. He realized it had been a long time since she had seen him in action. “Pack your things,” he said. “Whatever’s going on here, we need to get out of the hotel as soon as possible.”

Terri screamed. The plate glass window on the far side of the room shattered behind him. Doug turned. Three more Asian women, all dressed in the Lady Foulplay attire, floated down in to the room.

Doug knew he had no chance against three super-powered women. He braced for their attack. He wouldn’t let them hurt his wife, and he wouldn’t go down sitting on his rear. If it was a fight they wanted, it was a fight they would get.