HOPE BRINGERS (Strong superhero women) (Mystical Slayers Book 2)

by Michael W. Huard

  So when she got hold of one of those red, white, and blue flags with its lovely stars and stripes, she knew what she had to do. June was also well aware of a sisterhood that represented all the good in the world, and likely one that believed in God. She had to risk death in order to showcase such a flag, but it was going to be well worth it.

  On this day, she climbed alone to the very highest peak of the Colorado mountain range and stuck a pole in the ground with her flag flying high. It was an amazing feeling just to reach the summit of the mountain. It made her feel like she could conquer the world.

  Placing the flag up here gave her a sense of hope that young women all over the land could admire and feel the same as she did about the future. Her fight for the light; her offering of hope was complete!

  ***

  It was on her favorite trail that the woman walked as a light breeze passed through her blond hair. Raegan always loved the smell of nature; it gave her a great feeling of peace being out in the woods. Today's walk reminded her of the hike she'd recently taken with her sisters.

  She often used to bring her son to this trail when he was little. Those days were her favorite, and the memories of her and Johan marveling at the sites and the sounds of the woods would be held in her heart forever. She'd always found great joy in exploring everything with her little guy.

  As she approached a wooden bridge that stretched from one side of a glittering narrow stream to the other, she remembered how she and Johan used to sit and read with their legs dangling over the side of it, just enough so their toes could dip into the water below.

  Snapping her out of her musings, the crack of a branch caught her attention and caused her to spin about and scan the surrounding woods. In the distance, she saw a little boy. It was Johan. Raegan was now unsure if she was really here, or even awake for that matter. Or was she lost in a visionary dreamscape again?

  Tears came to her eyes; they felt very real. Perhaps they could finally be together once more. She reached out to him, calling, "My son, you have found me in our sacred spot."

  He looked at her and smiled. But this time, she did not wake up. She was here, for real, and he was so close.

  Johan reached his hand out too. He called to her, "Mom?" Both moved closer to each other.

  Raegan was shocked and terrified at the same time. Never before had he spoken to her or looked her directly in the eyes, at least, not in any of her visions. This was not a dream, she told herself. She went to him right away, jogging up the hill toward the tree where he stood. Her hand reached out, as did his, and just as her fingers clasped around his hand, she woke up.

  Crying, she sat up in despair. How could these visions feel so real yet be so impossible? He was there! He looked at her! He even called to her! She never knew what being strong was until this morning when she got up and had to face the day.

  She then prayed. Dropping to her knees, she called to God.

  ***

  Tonight, the young boy tussled and rolled about in his bed; it was another one of those nights when he just couldn't sleep. There was too much going on in his head.

  Not only did he sometimes have nightmares but he also had visions of some past life that were incredibly unsettling and confusing for him. But he was growing up fast, so he had to face his night terrors with great inner strength. He still forced himself to keep his eyes open as long as he possibly could before he would finally drift off. In comparison to some nights, he'd slept quite well tonight. Even when his mind traveled to some far-off astral plane, it was a serene one, set in the woods.

  It was a trail familiar to Trevor, yet he had never been there as far as he could recall.

  It was nice hearing the sounds of the birds all about. He then looked down a hill and saw a woman. She was not very old. She sat upon a bridge as a gentle stream flowed below her feet. He accidentally stepped on a branch, making a noise, and she turned and looked up at him.

  She looked familiar. As soon as she noticed him, she stood and came up the trail. She reached a hand out to him.

  He knew this woman was very special to him, but he didn't know why. He reached out his hand to her. He wanted to hug her, yes, he wanted to reach out and squeeze her, to jump up into her arms and feel great love.

  They almost touched hands, but he woke up with a start, sweating profusely.

  Chapter Forty-Seven

  The sisterhood prepared for an attack on Washington D.C. The shit was going down soon. The plan was to get the entire force of Y-Wood very concerned about their prized location.

  The sisters knew they'd need the help of every possible ally. When the time was right and all eyes were focused on D.C., the sisters would take out Y-Wood's massive home base Empire State Building locale.

  The general populace would hear the roar once more of the Mystical Slayers.

  Then after such, more and more would join the fight. Y-Wood, in time, would be overthrown and as to Raegan's dream, Washington would hopefully return to its glory and the sisterhood would be front and center.

  More and more flags were put out all around the nation. The people were rising up. All allies were ready, and it was time.

  ***

  "Everything is in place," spoke Jerry Bends. "My sky captain, Raymond Hully, has returned. He will lead our charge on Washington and will be connected with Jackson J the entire time."

  To test the strength of Washington D.C., the women had rallied all their allies, and together they would orchestrate a false assault on the capitol.

  The idea was to draw as much of the Y-Corporation's forces to Washington as possible.

  If they took the region, so be it, but that was not the main objective.

  It was time for a big change, and they could feel it in the winds.

  Jerry Bends went on. "The sisterhood is ready, we're ready, and all that have joined are ready. Today is the day." She was outside addressing her battalion of flyers, all of whom saluted her.

  The leader of the men, Captain Hully, a tall middle-aged man with blond hair and dark rounded glasses, stepped forward and walked toward the rebel woman in her wheelchair. "We will do all we can. My crew is ready!" He then turned to the other leaders. "Men, today we fly for freedom, for a chance to change the world. To our ships," he commanded.

  ***

  Word had gotten back to the sisterhood that Victory was voted the best young performer in New York, and since such a winner was invited to the celebrations and the vice president crowning, she, the youngest of the Slayers, was passed the extra golden ticket. It was now her job to get it in the hands of the woman from Upstate New York.

  Captain Hully had done his part in the quick exchange.

  During the vice president competitions, Victory's instructions were, the moment she was introduced to Dell, she would have to slip the new golden ticket into Dell's hand or carry bag. All she needed to say was, "This is a gift from the sisterhood. Don't fumble in your pocket or bag or say anything back to me. You're going to need this." She was to leave it at that.

  As soon as Victory saw the opportunity, she did just that. She casually made her way to the woman and slipped the ticket in her backpack while conveying her message. Dell just smiled and acted like she was happy to meet the young fighter who was so brave and talented.

  The actual competition for VP was certainly pre-planned and sneakily put out there in advance to the Corporation planted contestants.

  Each person went through and took a history exam of the last hundred years, a quiz on the latest and most successful creations of the Y-Wood industry, a mental IQ test, and a physical exam for health and well-being, in which all applicants were asked a series of questions about what to do in case of emergency or war in the region. The whole process was made to confuse them.

  Surprisingly, young Dell had done quite well over the first few days.

  She miraculously made it into the announced top three. The executives at Y-Wood suddenly seemed concerned.

&n
bsp; When the final day of competition came about, no one felt the girl could win, not a chance.

  Even if she did win, they all knew her golden ticket had already been stolen. Omagus' idea of getting the general populace to see that the Corporation was opening its arms up to the people, seemed to be working very well.

  But Purcell had gone to great lengths to ensure an insider would be the winner in the end.

  The final question of the competition, the one that would decide the winner of the vice presidency, was about to be announced. The hall was filled with the families of all the ticket holders and various big shots from all over the region.

  A designated clone test giver spoke so all could hear. "What amount of oxygen is needed for a human being to survive on planet Earth?"

  You would think that all competitors would get the answer right, but the first two, the Texan and the Chicago plants, both gave incorrect answers. Dell now stood up.

  She cleared her throat. "The minimum oxygen concentration in the air required for human breathing is 19.5 percent. The human body takes the oxygen breathed in from the lungs and transports it to the other parts of the body via the body's red blood cells."

  The large watching audience began applauding before the winner was even announced. The young woman had done it; she had shocked all. At that moment, the president, with a sly smile on his face, asked her to come to the podium and display her golden ticket for all to see. The smirks on all the Corporation faces were visible to everyone in the room; a few even laughed as the young lady came before the president.

  She seemed confused and upset when she couldn't find her ticket in her purse on her side.

  President Purcell walked closer and said out loud, "What is the problem, may I ask? Please display your golden ticket."

  He knew very well there was no golden ticket.

  His assistant, Aaron Steele, suddenly announced on a microphone, "If she has no golden ticket, the winner would be the closest to the correct answer, which should be the gentleman from Texas." A loud murmur spread across the audience. Some people were shocked and disgusted, while others were happy to hear of the alternative winner.

  Seconds before the young woman from New York was dragged from the stage, she dug into her backpack and pulled out a shiny golden ticket for all to see.

  The faces of the Y-Wood Corporation's head honchos were priceless.

  Young Dell had become the new vice president of the Y-Corporation.

  The sisters had undoubtedly won the respect of all her clan. After all, they too would play their part in helping with the revolution. Word spread fast, and Mahira met with the clan leaders outside. First, they would get the young woman out of the building. Next, they needed to create enough chaos in the city to draw any remaining Y-Wood forces away from guarding the big Corporation State building.

  Plans were going well so far!

  ***

  From California, the representatives that had been pushed around for years by the former president were also getting closer to having their own lives changed dramatically.

  Brock Jones and Ella Von Stybeck were also sending all their resources and a heavily built up battalion of fighters to Washington to aid Raegan and her freedom fighting warriors.

  Everything was set in motion. The quest for freedom had begun.

  The plan of attack was that all the main sisters, except for Zaey and D-Marge, would head to Washington and start a battle, drawing forces to the region and thus opening up a clear flight path to the Empire State Building for Zaey and D-Marge, whose ship was loaded up with the very large bomb from Texas.

  With the Corporation out in force defending Washington and dealing with chaos in New York, things looked like they would fall into place rather nicely.

  However, no one had taken into account the tracking device that Omagus had placed on Zaey's bag when she'd fled their fight weeks before.

  Chapter Forty-Eight

  Back on the mysterious "Nah" world, Sinaye had managed to make her escape from the slave tribe a few days after seeing the ship. She, along with another slave woman she'd befriended and the woman's daughter, made the long journey back to the spaceship while the men were all out fishing.

  As much as Sinaye had desperately wanted to return to Resin and her little daughter the minute she escaped the tribe; the priority was to check out their potential ticket back home while she knew the coast was clear. She would fly it up in space and circle back to her family. Her plan was to take a closer look at the recently found craft to see if it was still operational. If it was, this could be the very solution she'd been looking for to finally get her and her family back to Earth.

  The two women and the young girl arrived at their destination by early afternoon.

  On closer inspection, Sinaye noticed another smaller ship was attached to the main larger one. The main ship had a name as well, the Talana. Sinaye hopped inside and looked over its controls. She was pretty certain, in time, she could decipher a way to get it in the air.

  She then found a way to detach the smaller craft and immediately realized it would be much easier to operate and fly. She took a long breath, feeling tons of anxiety and excitement.

  The other woman and her cute little blond kid looked perplexed. Sinaye tried to explain the findings, but it wasn't easy. She pointed to the ship and back to them, saying, "Talana," but the woman looked confused. "We can fly out of here," she said, putting her arms out to her sides to mimic a bird or a plane. Sinaye tried again to get them to understand. "Talana," she continued to say.

  The woman, thinking Sinaye was trying to say her daughter's name, said "Talana?" while pointing to her child.

  Putting an end to their increasingly confused situation, several clan men came out of the woods.

  As the women ran to board the bigger ship, one barbarian man chucked a huge axe at them. It swirled through the air and hit the mother in the back. She dropped to the ground. Sinaye tried to pull her toward the ship while grabbing her daughter's hand at the same time.

  "Raaaaahhhhhhhhh," screamed the clan men, charging at them from the trees.

  It quickly became evident that none of them would make it to the big ship's stairway on time unless they acted fast. The dying mother offered her child to Sinaye. "Talana," she said, pointing to the little girl and then to Sinaye.

  Sinaye shook her head but had little time to explain anything. She ducked low, pulling the little one with her to get to the smaller vessel before the brutes got too close.

  Just as she got the door open and pushed the child in, a large hand grabbed her by the arm and yanked her back. Sinaye slammed her hand onto the autopilot button in the smaller ship to engage self-navigate mode. A sudden blast of power exploded from the base of the ship and sent everyone in the clearing flying back toward the trees, including Sinaye.

  The muscular men shouted at the top of their lungs and immediately began tackling Sinaye. The baffled young girl looked out of the window as the ship rose off the ground and zoomed off into space. All she could think of was the name "Talana." This was her name, and she would use it wherever she ended up.

  The burly men scolded Sinaye and smacked her senseless before hoisting her up and returning to camp.

  ***

  Both D-Marge and Jackson J were working the airwaves full throttle now.

  The Corporation flyers were definitely not defending their homestead when the news broke of the attack in Washington D.C.

  All of them started heading that way from their New York location. The plan was working. So far, so good; the battle had started in D.C.

  Then, more news came in of a different nature. A flaming orb of destruction was close to Earth and looked to be heading toward an East Coast destination. Word was out it could be as large as three thousand feet tall and over a thousand feet wide.

  Raegan, Jansa, Chaya, Mahira, Tyne Gem, Darren, and some of the other new recruits, were on their way to D.C. when they heard the news. B
ut they still had a job to do.

  Staying back at home base was Zaey, D-Marge, and all the new trainees and youngsters of the sisterhood. Zaey and D-Marge were ready to strike with the big blow, targeting the rebuilt empire building in New York.

  The sisterhood's biggest missile had been loaded up earlier, and the ladies were ready to go on the attack very soon.

  The well-placed American flags were out in big numbers today, and all knew—those that had dared to place such up—this was it! Hackers all over were telling of the rebel attack in Washington, as well as the stunning news of the new VP just announced in New York.

  The commotion in Washington began as planned and was enough to get Mayor Warns all rattled. He immediately contacted President Purcell.

  Warns had his own regiment of robotic soldiers and clones out defending Washington at all costs, but the numbers coming from all areas around them were staggering. The ally forces were striking out and making waves.

  Corporation flyers were closing in, sent out to aid Mayor Warns in D.C. There was no way on this earth that President Purcell was going to see his beloved Washington D.C. creation go to waste—not a chance. Whoever these people were, they were going to pay, and they were going to pay harshly.

  The rebels were talking back and forth over the air waves, when suddenly all communications shut down. However, Y-Wood had their own backup system, so for them, online exchanges continued to their advantage. This was war, and Y-Wood would win at all costs.

  ***

  Paka and her crew on the red planet didn't have the power to do much about the Corporation, but that was becoming the least of their concerns compared to the growing robotic army forming in their own region on Mars.

  With all communication still down, she had no way to the send such findings to her sisters.

  But today, she had a glimmer of hope. While she was on a spying mission near the massive dome building, a spacecraft appeared and landed down on the planet. A tall robot, silver in color, one with wires and mechanical functions showing on various parts of his frame, strode down the runway and onto the surface of Mars. He had bright green eyes and scanned the area, making Paka duck down behind a rock formation. The tall bot then went inside.