by Jaym Gates
Name: Tera Baker-Curtis
Alias: Terror
Race: White
Gender: Female
Nationality: American
Birthplace: Hutchinson, Kansas
Birthdate: July 6, 2011
Height: 5’ 9”
Weight: 140 lbs.
Eyes: Brown
Hair: Black
Powers: Steam/smoke/vapor. Can vary density and temperature of gas from intense heat (burn and melt) to intense cold (freeze).
Status: Alive, uncaptured
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Raw Footage from The Huang Interview, June 9, 2039
Cynthia Huang: We all know the story of the Annihilator, how his parents locked him in his room if he didn’t say his prayers before bedtime, how children at school teased him for the birthmark on his forehead, how his beloved dog was hit by a car on his eighth birthday. Many speculate these events shaped him into the man we knew.
Tera Baker-Curtis: While I am loath to speak ill of such a great man, I find him weak, in retrospect. Anyone can become a supervillain with a bad childhood, but it takes true strength and dedication to choose that path from a childhood such as mine. My parents did not lock me up. They gave me all the freedoms they could.
CH: What kind of freedoms?
TBC: They allowed me to roam around the ranch unsupervised, trusting that I would come back to them safely. This was before they knew I had powers. I had free rein over the countryside, an idyllic landscape. Did you grow up in the country?
CH: I’m a city girl, myself.
TBC: I grew to love cities. So much more to destroy. But the country was so open, as if the world was a much bigger place than my simple home. My parents understood that. No dog died on my eighth birthday. Do you know what happened on my eighth birthday, Ms. Huang?
CH: I’d love to hear it.
TBC: They bought me a pony. My parents loved me more than any parents have ever loved a child, and I shall brook no argument to the contrary.
CH: Would you kill them?
TBC: My parents, or a person foolish enough to denigrate them?
CH: I actually meant the second, but the first is a much more interesting question.
TBC: My mother sang me a lullaby at night. I still remember how it goes.
[She hums a lullaby.]
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Message from the Hutchinson Emergency Broadcast System, December 14, 2032
ALERT!
ALERT!
ALERT!
We interrupt this program for breaking news. There has been an attack on the Reno County Courthouse. While details are still coming in, the attacker is said to be a white female with as-yet-unidentified powers. Some reports indicate she can fly; others indicate a massive amount of smoke issuing from the windows. A source close to paramedics reports serious burns and frostbite. Approximately a dozen casualties have been reported, with numerous others severely injured. This superpowered individual is uncatalogued, and she may still be at large. Stay in your homes until further notice. We repeat, please stay in your homes until further notice.
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Excerpt from An Oral History of Terror, by Rachel Westinghouse
Kevin Halloran, neighbor
Tera? Aw, Tera was just the cutest little girl you ever did see. She was always up to something or other. Bonnie and Cliff, they let her go where she wanted, and sometimes she’d show up on my doorstep. “Misser Halloran,” she’d say, “can I have some lemonade?” And you couldn’t say no to that face, no way. Puppy dog ain’t got nothing on those eyes. Yeah, I loved getting a little visit from Tera. They raised her right, that girl. Good, traditional American values. I know some people look a little funny at folks with powers, and maybe that’s not so traditional when it comes to America, but given all they do for our country, I say they’re as American as any soldier. Oh, Cliff and me got along like the fox and the hound, you know, like in that old movie? Good people, Bonnie and Cliff. Good girl, Tera.
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Raw Footage from The Huang Interview, June 9, 2039
Cynthia Huang: So you were a happy child, then.
Tera Baker-Curtis: The happiest, you might say. I used the word idyllic earlier, and I would like you to fixate on the connotations of that word. Imagine an idyllic life, a veritable utopia, like a dream. Know that, as a child, the world you know is the world you experience. It is also the world you are told about. Not long after my eighth birthday, I learned of the Annihilation.
CH: I think I was twelve when my parents told me about it.
TBC: An entire country wiped off the map. Millions dead in a matter of seconds. Such power Winston had. Such power. It was in that moment that I knew the world was not idyllic after all. You might say that my belief in a good, kind world was annihilated.
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Excerpt from Major Superhero Events of the 20th Century, by Michelle Bradley
Annihilation, The: On April 18, 1967, Winston Wyndham, to be known afterward as the Annihilator, unleashed a burst of psychic energy that extended to the borders of Switzerland. This burst affected the minds of all six million humans within the borders — including tourists from eight different countries — and shut off their brains. Notably, the burst also reached into the skies, crashing two planes, but experts agree that the passengers were dead before impact. Wyndham gave no warning or explanation of this attack, and, immediately following, disappeared. The United Nations organized the world’s first global superteam, consisting of Brawn, Pyrette, Incredible Woman, Hyperboy, and Madame Fury. The Champions were able to track down and defeat Wyndham before he could attack again. Although the team had been given instructions to capture him alive, he perished in the battle, and the reasons behind the Annihilation remain unclear.
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Raw Footage from The Huang Interview, June 9, 2039
Cynthia Huang: So the world wasn’t what you thought it was, then.
Tera Baker-Curtis: It was far more complex and twisted than I had imagined. As a child, I did not comprehend the depths of that revelation, but as I grew, I became acutely aware of what I had, in relation to what others did not. Not all daughters received a pony on their eighth birthday.
CH: I sure didn’t.
TBC: By my ninth birthday, I didn’t either. Things happen, you know. To ponies. And mothers.
CH: Don’t you dare talk about her like that again, you soulless piece of shit.
TBC: Now, now, I have a soul. When my mother saw what I’d done to poor Smokesy, she tried to appeal to that soul with a muffin. Encouragement or deterrent, Ms. Huang? Mothers do the strangest things.
CH: Tim, cut everything after “I sure didn’t.”
TBC: I had a neighbor. Kevin Halloran. His daughter Kathy was three years older than I, but we often spent time together. She was a naïve girl. They were all of them naïve, ignorant of the world, or, if not, refusing to acknowledge what it truly was. Simply because they were in no danger, they believed themselves to be safe. Did the Swiss think they were safe, Ms. Huang? Did visiting Australian scholar Thomas Bradley believe he was safe? Do you believe you are safe, Ms. Huang? Right now, at this very moment, with these bars between us?
CH: Yes. I do. The dampener’s on.
TBC: You have that privilege, don’t you? I saw these mortals in their complacency, taking the world of good for granted. The Annihilator is ancient history, they said. All is well, they said.
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Channel 12 News Report, July 30, 2017
[Bonnie holds Tera up to the camera, bouncing her up and down. Cliff tickles Tera’s side. Pan left to Scott James.]
Tera Baker-Curtis: Put me down, Mommy!
Scott James: That’s right, put her down, Mommy! She’s not a baby anymore!
[Bonnie puts Tera down. The camera follows the child.]
SJ: Tera Baker-Curtis, the Super Baby, is now a Super Kid, and she is, I gotta say, super cute.
Bonnie Baker: Thank you very much, Scott.
SJ: She seems like a real handful, but I know all of
us here at Channel 12 are glad she’s not taking up all your time.
BB: Cliff was kind enough to watch her while I came to your rescue. The Mantis Wasp doesn’t seem to like you folks, now does he?
SJ: No, Bonnie, he doesn’t. So tell us about Tera.
BB: Couldn’t be prouder.
Cliff Curtis: She tried. She tried to be prouder, and she couldn’t. I was there.
SJ: The whole world’s wondering … does she have powers?
[Bonnie and Cliff exchange a look.]
BB: Well …
SJ: A Channel 12 exclusive reveal, maybe? A demonstration?
CC: Oh no, that ain’t happening. Not until our girl decides what she’s doing with them. Secret identity and all. That’s a sacred trust.
TBC: Annihilate!
CC: It’s her new favorite word. She likes the sound, don’t know what it means yet.
BB: We’ll tell her when she’s older.
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Transcription of Video Chat, superheronews.com, November 13, 2035
Tariq Ahmed: The world is still reeling from the reveal of the supervillain Terror’s identity by blogger Kamera Obscura. Did you know?
Bonnie Baker: Don’t you call her that. That was our name. Our little joke. She was so well behaved, we called her that with love when she was a kid. And you people picked it up and spun it around. And then she started to believe it herself. That word. Everyone so afraid of our little girl.
Cliff Curtis: Calling our daughter a supervillain? Look, now you even made me say the word.
BB: We never dreamed she was using her talents like that. We taught her the right things, I promise you.
CC: Someone at the market spat at me the other day, can you believe that? Like I told my girl to go kill people, what kind of poppycock is that? We raised her right, you hear me? Food, shelter, good values, the works.
BB: We know she must be doing these things for a good reason. I have to believe she is the girl we knew, the girl we made, deep down.
TA: I understand you have both considered yourselves retired from the superhero life for several years now. Will this spur you back into action?
BB: To what? Go fight our daughter?
TA: Kill, preferably.
CC: We’re not gonna kill Tera, what kind of poppycock is that?
TA: Someone has to.
BB: Oh no, not my little girl. Don’t you understand she’s still my little girl?
CC: Gotta be another way. Something. Can’t even think about that.
TA: Terror talks about safety. Killing her would make us safe.
CC: You have kids?
TA: No.
CC: What do you even know about this then?
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Raw Footage from The Huang Interview, June 9, 2039
Tera Baker-Curtis: Many don’t know this story, but there was a boy. This was a few months after Chill finally defeated the Mantis Wasp. His brother, Moth Wasp, went on a rampage, but this was before that. Like me, I feel he was new, testing. And he saw this boy, and he attacked. The boy fought admirably, I must say, avoiding the stinger, beating at the hairy wings.
Cynthia Huang: Moth Wasp put my wife’s cousin in the hospital.
TBC: That’s nice. This was not your wife’s cousin. I watched the battle, determining whether to intervene. I ran to them and shot a cloud of smoke into Moth Wasp’s eyes, and he flapped his wings furiously to clear it. I grew the cloud and froze it. That stopped his wings cold, as it were.
CH: You saved that boy. He would have died.
TBC: I felt no satisfaction about this.
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From the Notes of Hutchinson News Reporter Jonathan Pak, September 18, 2029
Manuel Herrera, survivor
That thing was coming right at me, man, you know? Big-ass monster like I never seen. But my dad and me, we spar in the garage, and I boxed the hell out of that thing. Yeah, I coulda maybe taken it, but I had to watch out for the stinger. Float like a butterfly, sting like a motherfuckin’ wasp, you know what I’m saying? Then there’s all this smoke, and this white girl comes running. She’s fine, dark hair like I like it. And she freezes the damn thing’s wings! Two super people in one day, just on the way home from school. She asks me if I feel safe now, and I say I do, and she just sort of grunts. She looks at me, and the sun’s making her look like a damn goddess, and I was gonna ask her out, but then she just leaves.
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Raw Footage from The Huang Interview, June 9, 2039
Cynthia Huang: Tell me about your first kill.
Tera Baker-Curtis: Of course. The loss of innocence. Crossing the line. The kind of salacious details your viewers are looking for.
CH: It’s now or never, after all.
TBC: I owed it to myself to see the other side. Have you ever killed anyone, Ms. Huang?
CH: No.
TBC: How do you know you wouldn’t like it? It is a particular pleasure to envelop a human being, to be both in my own body and floating in the steam. I can feel each particle caress her skin, and the microphone, which I superheat until it scorches her palm. As I raise the temperature around her, I consider each smoldering blister a message. Her breathless gasps, a reply. It is, as they say, a pleasure to burn.
[Cynthia clenches her fist in silence.]
CH: If you pull anything like that again, this interview is over. You … you monster. Tim, edit that out. Edit. That. Out.
TBC: But you wanted to know about my first kill, not my 50,000th or whichever she was. I found my victim in secret. This was not to be a debut of any sort. This was new, this was testing. He coughed as the smoke filled his lungs. He could not scream when I superheated that smoke, searing them from the inside. I had not practiced that technique; it was a spur-of-the-moment invention. When he fell to the ground, I held his hand and felt his body go from warm to cold, from Ignite to Chill, and this, this felt like something earthshattering. This was interesting.
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Obituary – Manuel Lito Herrera (July 6, 2011 – September 24, 2029)
Manuel Lito Herrera, 17, passed away on September 24, 2029. Manuel was born in Hutchinson, KS and was a lifelong resident. He was an exemplary student at Hutchinson High School, where he was praised for his animated personality. Manuel also founded the Boxing Club. He is survived by his father, Alfonso Herrera, and his husband, Hernando Esparza; his mother, Daniela Acevedo, and his stepfather, Joaquin Acevedo; and his two sisters, Rosario Acevedo and Juanita Acevedo. Services will be held on Thursday, September 27, 2029 at Old Mission-Heritage Funeral Home.
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Raw Footage from The Huang Interview, June 9, 2039
Cynthia Huang: The courthouse attack was your debut.
Tera Baker-Curtis: It was no Annihilation, but it was a start. You must understand, Ms. Huang. The world grew complacent in a post-Winston time. No one else saw it, but I did. And a world like that, a world that felt safe, was not safe. Ignite and Chill stayed home to take care of me, allowing others to tangle with any villains more threatening than those pesky Wasps. The Annihilation was a wake-up call, a reminder that there was true evil in the world to be vanquished. You saw the effect it had.