Doomsday Crisis

THREE MONTHS AGO

Night at Trauma, the city of no man's land.

"I hate it here."

That is the first thought that comes from Shauna Fitzgerald's head. She's a very attractive blonde, with green eyes, and a big gun in her hands. That's right, she's a bounty hunter, and bounties are endless in Trauma. Trauma is the name of the city Shauna lives in, a city formerly known as Midway City. It's a mutant-filled no man's (or woman's) land.

All the megacorps of the current U.S. and foreigners drop their failures there. Experiments with people that go awry or become radioactive fall in Trauma. Trauma is almost a prison colony because it's impossible to leave. The only way to access Trauma is from the air. For such an advanced world, technology-wise, like in 2099, some things never change.

There's not just human garbage in Trauma, however. There are good people that fell there by mistake. They only had bad luck by pissing off the megacorp head honchos of Markovia, WayneCorp, S.T.A.R. Labs, LexCorp...the list goes on and on.

Seven years ago, 19-year-old Shauna, a newcomer to the city, was alone and desperate. On an alley in Trauma, Shauna just sat and started to cry. Her parents were homeless and they were 'accidentally' killed on a police break-through. Then justice sent her to Trauma, where she should either starve or be ripped apart and die. No problem for the megacorps. A legendary cannibal believed executed - approached Shauna. Should have died were it not for Glenn, once a strong, younger man able to kick butt, fallen here due to a bureaucratic mistake. His blood report was mistaken with a damned criminal. He defended Shauna, killing the cannibal. Glenn then gave Shauna a home, food, and knowledge about fighting and survival of the fittest. For two years they were inseparable. Shauna was brutally attacked by a guy, and she killed him. After the initial disgust, it became easier for Shauna to kill. Then she saw she could make money out of it. She severed monetary ties with Glenn and searched for Weaver, who gave her assignments. She found also other people, like Spencer, who could not afford to leave the city, so he created hi-tech devices to stop intruders. It worked. Seven years later, even though she is now an independent woman, she never forgot the guy that took care of her.

* * * * * *

Twins Cities, Central & Keystone City

It's been one year since the accident of the spatial expedition that gave Celest Rei and Barbara Fox the powers to become Light Flash and Dark Impulse. Since then, they have defended the cities against crime.

So far all has been good for them, minus small situations that occurred to Barbara, but with the help of Celest, she managed to overcome almost everything. At least that was what Celest thought. Yesterday Barbara informed Celest that she will give up her role as Dark Impulse. She also told her friend that this was something that she had to do mostly because she could not handle the guilt of having killed a criminal in one of her patrols. And even as Celest told her that it was in legit defense, it was too much for the fragile mental condition that Barbara was in.

In the end, there was not much more than Celest could do, as Barbara was decided, and yesterday was the last day of Dark Impulse as a super-heroine.

* * * * * *

Metropolis, Project: Cadmus a LexCorp underground facility

Cadmus and Guardian fought in mortal combat on the dias. Cadmus swung his staff, not bothering with the energy discharges that kept going off. Guardian used a ceremonial shield, the emblem of the Guardian since the time of the original. The fighters were equal in every way, except one. One of them was the most powerful telepath on the planet and could predict every move of his opponent.

Cadmus exploited that power. Guardian never stood a chance. He came in high, swinging his shield down like a club. Cadmus easily countered it with his staff and knocked Guardian on his butt.