Alternia Comics

The sky erupted with all manner of energy beams and rockets as he took off. Sky Striker ignited her thrusters and flew off after him towards a cloud bank, and in moments they were out of range, coasting calmly but quickly towards the west.

They flew in silence until the sun came up behind them, painting the clouds around them in rose and gold. Novaman looked to his left at the newly freed cyborg and asked, “What was written on your energy source … what did those words mean?”

Novaman threw the block of torn concrete at Cybertitan's head from above, then zipped low and around to the right for a shot at its non-bladed side. He dodged a desperate blast from the beam-cannon and charged ahead, his laser vision leading the way ...

Novaman strained against the grip. Incredibly, it held. He was brought around to look into the gigantic yellow eyes and robotic face of Strys' massive servant ...

"Cybertitan!"

"YOU are-the-American-crimefighter-known-AS Novaman," the disjointed, mechanical voice stated through Cybertitan's mouth-speaker. "You are NOT welcome-here. You WILL-be-destroyed."

She was unsteady on her feet, but he could see the mechanics in her
mostly human eye focus in on him. "Helen," he said again, "you have
to pull yourself together. I'm getting you ... OOF!"

Her right fist slammed into his stomach a moment before her left
caught him across the jaw. He staggered back and she came after him,
fists raised and ready. He glared at her and bent the light around
him to become invisible.

She paused, and he knew she was switching spectrums to try and find
him. Before she could, he backhanded her into an array of computers

[CENTRAL POWER SYSTEM RE-ENGAGED]

[CHECKING ... READY]

[INITIATING SYSTEMS CHECK]

[... WEAPONS DISENGAGED, AMMUNITION RESERVES EMPTY. ALL OTHER SYSTEMS READY]

[DISENGAGING EXTERNAL POWER SOURCE]

[... COMPLETE]

[ACTIVATING CENTRAL POWER]

[ALL AVAILABLE SYSTEMS ONLINE]

[INITIATING FULL REBOOT – READY IN 3 …]

[2 …]

[1 …]

[ALL SYSTEMS ENGAGED]

She screamed.

Not in pain or surprise or ecstasy, but in ...

... power ... in the feeling that normal men do not know – that
sensation reserved for those who have transcended the boundaries of

Novaman had expected to find Sky Striker on the other side of the ceiling he punched through, but he wasn't really surprised to see her power source set - as if in a place of honor - in the middle of a room full of things confiscated from the enemies of Strys.

What he did NOT expect was to see anything written upon it as he took it carefully in his hands, let alone the words, "The first thing I loved about you."

-----

The program had nearly reached the end of its propaganda cycle this time around when something broke it.

As before, she could still feel her consciousness behind the program
that was trying to overwrite her memory. It was like knowing you were
dreaming in the middle of one ... only ...

... only she felt like she was being strangled in her sleep and
couldn't wake up.

It started with a dizzying collage of Strysiavanian propaganda. The
face of her king - the man she had served all her life - put on a

hundred thousand images of how his line had brought glory to his

nation, and how he would lead them all into the greatest age

Novaman flew over the water with his face towards the star. Two years
ago, he would have found the experience delightfully disorienting.
Now, having traveled past many of those stars, it was only second
nature to navigate by them. He craned his neck up and looked ahead to
see that he was right on course, and coming close to his destination.

It was a small island in the Baltic Sea, several hundred miles off the
short coastline of Strysiavania. It's existence was a secret- as was
everyone held there.

Novaman scanned the skies between him and the island. They were still

This story takes place much, much later than the last story, and a great deal has happened since Derrick Lucious first gained the power that made him into Lightning Shard. All that will be revealed as we go, but for now, this story - much like the main character will discover about herself - stands pretty well on its own.

Sky Striker ...

Her name was Sky Striker ...

She was the hero of her nation - surrounded by the loyal armies of her homeland, all chanting her name! She was the vanguard of her king's forces! All glory to ...

"NO!"