As usual the North Anderson City High School’s lunch room was busy at noon. Students hustled to get their salads, burgers, and pizza. Jill Farmer was not too interested in her lunch at the moment so she went back to looking at her book. It was a short novel on teen angst, and etc. She knew it was well below her intelligence level, but she liked the sappy novel. Flipping through it at a pretty fair clip she didn’t notice the approach of Steve Lane, her best friend.
“I see another Sally Miller book eh?”
She raised her eyes up from behind her glasses, “Hey you like Mr. Clancy, and that’s definitely above your intelligence level.”
“Yeah but in his books stuff explodes, yours…not so much.” Steve countered. He went to work on his lunch, a corned beef on rye with chips.
“So…” he talked while eating, “…umm, looking forwards to English?”
Jill winced, “No, we have to read another chapter of…” However she stopped. Steve raised an eyebrow, “Jill?”
She could feel a magnetic field, powerful one that was close, inside the school. It wasn’t weakening her, but she defiantly felt it. Trying not to let on that she was distracted she covered her tracks, “Steve I just remembered I left my journal for English in my locker, I’ve got to get it.”
“Okay…but it’s not for…” Jill was gone though, not hearing anything he said. The bright young man couldn’t figure out while Jill needed her journal when she still had two periods to get it.
…………………
Mrs. Elaine Hansen was a Math teacher. A simple woman, she came to school taught her students, and helped them in anyway she could. Most students liked her and no one could ever believe that someone could feel ill about her. They would be even more shocked by what happened that day.
Elaine was finishing with her planning hour in her room. Papers for the day were graded and her lessons all readied for the eager young minds to enter her classroom. The lights above her desk however began to flutter. Looking up the woman was wondering what could cause them to do that. She considered dialing for the janitor when the lights in the room exploded.
Screaming she covered her head and face with her hands as the plastic clear panels for the halogen lights fell apart in a shower of sparks and smoke. Since the teacher couldn’t see she didn’t witness the figure entering her room. They shut the door behind them and turned to the teacher’s desk.
“What’s the matter Hansen? Scared?” was the first thing that Elaine heard after the explosions. Looking towards the source for the voice, she couldn’t see much in the darken room. Her blinds were shut so little light came into the classroom. A femmine figure stood near the closed door. What was eerie about her was a pair of glowing white eyes.
“Who…what….” She stammered. The figure moved forwards.
“I’m the fury of revenge Mrs. Hansen…” with that lighting cracked from her fingertips.
…………………
Jill felt another powerful magnetic force. This one affected her slightly more so then she could feel it as a physical force. Checking her Control Watch, she could see her temperature hadn’t dipped at all which was good. Jill only knew of two things that could cause such a force, artificial magnetic fields, or huge amounts of electrical current. When electricity was in action it creates a magnetic field, and there must have been a lot of it flying around for Jill to feel it. As she closed towards the source of the disturbance, she could sense something was wrong. After a short trip through the school she arrived in the math section of the school. Another wave of energy rippled and this time Jill could see she wasn’t the only thing that noticed.
Two lights blew out in the hallway and a number of flashes and sparks were coming from one of the rooms farther down on the left. Jill decided this required her attention, not as Jill Farmer but as Fusion Girl.
Spinning in place she became a pink red blur and then stopped. Now instead of the blouse and skirt she was wearing before, neon pink and red colored leotard covered her body, as well as matching red tights and cape on her legs and neck. Her identity was protected by similarly colored an eye mask. She moved with a burst of speed into the room of the disturbance.
Inside she saw that the walls, chalkboard, and few desks that were still standing were blacked and charred. Ceiling panels were blown out and in crumbled pieces on the floor. At the right corner of the room, a figure was standing, holding someone. Jill was shocked to see that bolts of lighting and electricity jumping around the woman. Her brown hair was kicked up by the energy that filled the room. Fusion Girl could feel the huge amount of static electricity in the room, causing the hairs to stand up on the back of her neck.
“Stop it right there!” she cried out in an authoritative voice. The lighting bolts stopped and the figure turned to face Fusion Girl. Our red haired fusion powered powerhouse was shocked to see the person in the intruder’s hands.
“Mrs. Hansen! What have you done to her?” the heroine asked shocked. Elaine was too burned to a crisp. The heroine held a hand over her mouth in shock.
“I got my revenge…now let me finish it.” Jill was horrified by what this girl had done; it was time to deal with her, “Over my dead body.”
The electrified girl dropped the teacher and raised her hands. She than sadistically smiled, “Fine then.” A pair of streaming lighting bolts shot out and slammed into Jill’s body. Fusion Girl cried out and was slammed into the wall. Her body crushed part of the wall and she slid down as thousands of volts and amps passed through her spandex covered frame. Stunned she didn’t get up quickly. The violent electrical assault was over; the girl lowered her hands and moved over to Fusion Girl.
Jill was now able to get a good look at the woman; she was wearing a white sleeveless leotard with a pair of yellow triangles on the shoulders. She had on white opera length gloves and yellow mask. Her legs were shinny with light-skin colored tights.
“Well it’s the superhero.” The brown haired villain kneeled and looked Jill up and down. Still clearing the cobwebs from her head, Fusion Girl didn’t react.
“Oh this is going to be fun.” The murder said.
She lifted Fusion Girl up and held her close, “Let’s see how super you really are.”
Jill managed to put her hands on the girl’s arms before she received a new round of electrical shocks. Screaming she tried to focus on breaking the hold the villain had over her. Yanking with all her strength she managed to break the grip of the lighting lass that held her. Next Jill threw a massive munch which caught the murdering maiden on the chin. It knocked her back into next week and other side of the room.
The blackboard shattered from her impact and the lady in white slumped to the ground. Fusion Girl shook off the effects of her shock, and stood with her hands on hips and ready to dish out more punishment.
“Alright you’re coming with me.” She ordered. The brunette shook her head and laughed.
“I’m not going anywhere with you dear, but we will meet again.” Suddenly the girl transformed into a bolt of lighting and flew out the window blasting it open as she escaped. Jill flew over to the window and watched as the bolt disappeared into the sky.
“What the hell?” Jill said aloud. The attacker was gone, and Fusion Girl had no idea how she had pulled it off. For a moment she considered trying to track the stranger but realized there were other things that needed tending to. With a grim face Jill turned to go back and look at the body of Mrs. Hansen.
…………….
The mysterious figure reformed several miles away from the school. When she landed she was no longer the costumed figure that Fusion Girl encountered, but Carrie Ames. Gone were her leotard and tights, but a simple shirt and jeans. Her dark brown hair was straight and went to her shoulders. Her face gave almost no emotion as she walked the short distance to her house. Once inside anyone could see the inside was a pretty bare place. No furniture, save a small couch, foot rest and a TV. All the walls were empty and no one else occupied the house. The few items of furniture were placed in the center of the living room.
Carrier walked over and sat down in the couch. Sitting she picked up a piece of paper that had been resting on the footrest. On it was a list of names. Mrs. Hansen had been the first one, taking her finger; she placed it over the name. The paper then burned as a charge went through it which Carrier used as she drew her finger over the recently deceased teacher’s name. Once she was done, nothing but a burned line that went straight through the paper was there.
Putting the paper back down, Carrier extended her arms and widened her fingers. Suddenly electricity began to jump from the outlets in the room to her hands. Her body soaked up the electrical juice. It felt like a sweet meal to the electrical lass. As she drew in energy she thought about the day’s events.
One down, three to go. However if the superheroine had gotten in the way sooner, she could have stopped Carrier. That would not do, not if she was to get revenge. The young woman focused on drawing power from her surroundings, she would need to be strong if she was going to face Fusion Girl again. If the lady in red and pink got it the way, than she would have to be dealt with. Nothing was going to stop Static.
Since the day was a Saturday Jill had all day to spend on her search for Static. She had to stop the woman now before she did anymore damage. To start her search Jill went to the library and began going through the newspapers. Social workers and teachers usually meant one thing, abuse. So the researching heroine believed that if Mrs. Hansen had reported an abuse case it would be in the news, and maybe she would be able to match up Mrs. Lanner to the teacher as well.
Going back to when she knew Mrs. Lanner had started working she worked her way forwards, one day at a time. However even with her superpowers it was taking a long time to search through the newspapers. It took her about two hours to go through three years of papers. She occasionally had to slow down when the librarian came by, so she didn’t give away her phenomenal reading speed. Finally within twenty minutes of hour three she found it.
Mrs. Hansen had been involved in a pretty bad abusive case. The girl’s name wasn’t given but it stated she was receiving physical as well as mental abuse. It became a big legal battle that had the parents claiming they hadn’t done anything. Things got more complicated when the girl herself wouldn’t admit the abuse. Finally the parents were sent to jail through forensic evidence. DA Jack Werner had been the prosecutor.
Jill was confident she had found what she needed; she needed to track down the girl. She headed for the local DCFS branch to find out where the girl had been placed. Leaving the library, she changed into Fusion Girl and leapt into the air.
…………………
After her third short flight of the day Jill landed at a small white house on the far outskirts of town. There were no neighbors, and no one around from what Fusion Girl could tell. She was checking out a possible location for Static, her old house.
When she had arrived at DCFS Jill had managed to get the girl’s file and learn some interesting things. Her name was Carrie, and she never agreed with the system. Throughout her time spent in a foster family’s care she never believed her parents had abused her. She also never forgave the system for removing her. Carrie made threats against Mrs. Hansen, the social workers and DA. Fast forwarding in her reading, Jill found out that Carrie had been coming home from school when she was struck by lighting. Evidently this caused her body to develop a weird electrical imbalance. While in the hospital equipment in her room constantly failed, and the power usage in the room shot up. Before doctors could learn more, Carrie disappeared.
Carefully Jill entered the house, pushing the front door open. Alert for a possible ambush she looked around the main living room that was to her left. Inside she could see it was bare, only a few pieces of furniture. Walking inside she crouched near one of the electrical outlets. The metal was melted and walls burnt from constant electrical activity. Burn marks on the floor and walls confirmed what Jill believed, this was Static’s hideout.
Leaving the socket she moved over to the chair and television. On the leg rest she saw a piece of paper with lines burned through on it. Reaching out with her spandex covered arm she picked it up. Bringing it so she could read it Fusion Girl saw that there were two names left, Jack Werner and hers.
As soon as Fusion Girl picked up the note, Static emerged from the shadows. Jill barely had time to feel the sudden change in magnetism in the room as a powerful electrical charge lanced out and struck her in the back. Her body went flying forwards and she slammed into one of the walls. She was slowly getting up when another blast sent her into the other side of the room. Flying again she landed on her spandex covered behind and cape. Carrie jumped and landed next to her fusion powered opponent. Grabbing Jill she lifted the heroine up and an orange yellow glow encased the two superpowered women.
Fusion Girl began to feel incredibly weak. At first she thought her control watch was kicking in, but it wasn’t. Her powers were there, but her body began to feel like it weighed a million tons.
“What…are…you doing…to…me?” Jill asked the effort seemingly draining her more. Static simply kept up what she was doing while she answered.
“I’m draining your electrolyte charge, know what that is dear?”
Jill knew. Electrolytes were a fluid throughout the body that transmitted an electrical charge that ran the body’s nerves, contracted muscles, and alkaline balance in the body. By draining Fusion Girl of her internal charge, Static was draining Jill’s body ability to function. The red and pink heroine slumped into the arms of Carrie. Static would leave the heroine powerless and unconscious. Feeding on the last bit of energy in Fusion Girl’s body she looked the heroine in the eyes.
“I’m going to cross your name off my list now, and then eliminate the final one. My revenge will be complete.” Jill heard as she slipped into unconsciousness.
With the heroine knocked out cold, Static lifted her up and proceeded to the basement. Once there she laid the spandex power house on the cold concrete floor. Carrie than grabbed some chain located in the basement. Taking the slightly rusted material she placed it around Fusion Girl’s arms, binding them above her head. Static then took the remaining length of chain and wrapped it around a pipe. Once the heroine was bound, Carrie moved over to the gas line.
Ripping the pipes off, she then turned the gas on. Colorless but stinky fumes began to fill the basement. Looking back at the powerless Fusion Girl she smiled as she headed for the stairs.
“You’ll either die from the gas filling the room, lack of energy in your body to run the heart and lungs, or blow yourself up trying to cut those chains. No matter what Fusion Girl, you’re off my list.” Carrie said before she left. Moving back up the stairs and closing the door.
On the floor, Jill lay still sleeping her body barely functioning. All the while natural gas began to fill the basement, slowly taking the place of the necessary oxygen Fusion Girl needed.
On the floor, Jill lay still sleeping her body barely functioning. All the while natural gas began to fill the basement, slowly taking the place of the necessary oxygen Fusion Girl needed. It was about another two minutes before Fusion Girl’s body stirred.
Jill was awoken out of her slumber by the foul smell filling the room. Except if she had a choice she would have stayed asleep. Her body felt like a lead weight, the Fusion Femmine couldn’t lift her head or any other body parts since there was no power in her limbs to do it. With considerable effort she managed to turn her head and see why her arms were stretched out over her head. A rusty chain bound her wrists together and was leaving rust stains on her spandex. Turning her head back to its original position, Fusion Girl filed her bondage under the third problem she had at the moment. The gas filling the room and the fact she couldn’t move were her first.
Fusion Girl knew she had almost no electrical charge in her body, so how did she generate one? ‘Come on Jill think!’ she pondered with a weak sigh. It was about then she remembered, duh I’m a fusion reactor, make some damn power! Concentrating Jill tried to get her body to generate more power. Closing her eyes and looking like she was wincing, Jill willed energy from her body. If the heroine could have looked at her watch she would have seen the temperature slowly rising.
“Come on…COUGH…Jill….COUGH…” Fusion Girl said to herself, fighting the fumes while trying to start herself up. Finally, Jill got what she wanted. Rapidly her temperature shot up and her body went into overdrive to get her power and strength back. Refreshed, Fusion Girl stood up and snapped the chains that held her wrists together. As she slipped the metal off Jill realized that the house could explode at any second. Pushing off her tights encased feet she shot up straight through the house. Blowing through the structure is what probably set off the gas, Jill though as she got out.
Hovering a few hundred feet above the house, Jill could see it blowing apart below her in a massive fireball. Catching her breath, Fusion Girl relaxed, and then realized why she couldn’t. “Jack Werner…” Turning away from the fire below her, Fusion Girl flew towards downtown. People were startled by the pink and red blur as it moved across the sky with a crack of a sonic bomb.
…………..
Jack Werner awoke feeling like crap. The forty year old DA had just gotten home and opened the door. He was about to say hi to his family when he heard a crackle of energy than blacked out. Slowly opening his eyes he could see he was in his basement. Trying to sit up he felt restraint from his arms and legs. Looking down the DA saw he was tied to chair with thick rope that he kept in his workshop. Jack heard a series of muffled cries from his rear. As he tried to turn his head to take a look, someone did it for him.
He was spun around and could now see his wife and two kids tied up like him and gagged. A woman he recognized from the news was standing next to him. His wife and little girl were crying his son was pulling at his bonds, probably swearing under his gag.
“Static…what the…” he said. The electrical girl who had been going around the city murdering people slapped him hard across the face. She then grabbed his chin and turned his head back so they could look one another in the eyes.
“That is one of my names, but not the one you know me by…” she let him go and went for her mask. Ripping it off, she tossed it to the ground then Static took a hold of the DA’s head once again.
“Look closely Mr. Werner…who am I?”
Jack searched his memory, and came up with a name, “Carrie…”
She let him go and walked over to his wife, Static just stood there looking the family over while she talked, “The Ames family was like this, till you all interfered.”
It didn’t take long for the DA to figure out what was up, “Carrie your family…”
“Loved me, and I did things wrong and was punished. However you and that teacher than the social worker, NONE OF YOU UNDERSTOOD!” Static yelled and energy pulsed across her body, a sign of her emotions taking over. The electrical lass then walked back over to the DA.
“You are the last on my list, except you aren’t going to die Mr. Werner. I am the last of my family, and you will be the last of yours.” Carrie ignored the cries of Jack as he tried to save his family. Pleading with her to take him, Jack screamed and yelled every dirty word he could think of as Static walked slowly over to his little girl. Crying in her chair the girl closed her eyes as the villain came over. Carrie felt only a moment of sympathy for her, and then she brought her hand down. It was rippling with electricity.
When her hand was inches from the young girl’s face, Fusion Girl slammed through the ceiling, ceiling panels and dust were flying around from the entrance. Fusion Girl then hit Static with all the force she could muster. Carrie went flying to the other side of the room and crashed into the wall causing a massive hole and another eruption of debris. Even before the dust had settled, Jill was issuing orders.
“DA Werner, get your family out of here now!” Fusion Girl said freeing the family members and then the father with pin point laser fire. As the family retreated up the stairs and out of the house, Jill turned to face where she had knocked Static. The small dust cloud had bright flashes coming from it. Then a scream of pure anger came through.
“Uh oh.” Jill said, to which she then thought, ‘That’s a bit of an understatement.’
Static shot out of the rubble screaming at the top of her lungs. She locked her hands around Fusion Girl’s neck and poured her power into Jill’s spandex wearing frame. Electricity arced all over her body and Jill gritted her teeth as the power coursed through her. Carrie was blinded by her new target to think about draining Fusion Girl again, or going after the family. Here this heroine had interrupted her at the moment of her revenge, it was time to end this. Jill placed her hands on Carrie’s and tried to pull the girl’s grip on her neck open. Even with her strength, Jill couldn’t budge Static’s grasp on her.
Fusion Girl couldn’t take the constant charge and sank to her knees, sensing her prey weakening; Static then lifted her up and sent her flying up through the hole Jill had made. The heroine was stunned as she flew through the air, not under her own power. There was no time to regroup as Static was back on her in seconds, first shooting up as a lighting bolt then reforming and blasting Fusion Girl into the ground with her hands. Jill landed right in the middle of the street running outside DA Werner’s house. Her impact crater was a few feet deep. Cars stopped and people stopped to see what was going on.
Lying there, Jill knew something had to be done to stop the girl coming down at her. Her little crowd of bystanders was going to get hurt if this fight kept up much longer.
“How the hell do I stop the walking electrical circuit?” she said getting up. Then it hit her, she had gotten an answer to that exact question a few days ago.
“I’m an idiot!” Jill managed to say as she rolled out of the way of a blast from Static who was now floating in the air, evidently kept up by arcing bolts of electricity that touched the ground.
Fusion Girl finished her roll and got onto her feet, “It’s over Carrie. This is your only chance to give up and get some help!”
“Never!” Static yelled. She fired off another blast of lighting that caused Jill to go airborne and avoid it. Now floating at the same attitude as Static, Jill readied her plan. Brining her hands together she focused on what she hopped would be the right kind of field. Static could see she was up to something, and asked.
“What are you doing?” Jill looked up and smiled, “Ever see the movie Goldeneye?”
“No!” the girl screamed back wondering what that had to do with anything.
“Than I won’t waste my time explaining it.” Fusion Girl replied and winded up her fists like she was going to through a baseball pitch. However instead of a ball of white and red laces, she threw a glowing blue ball.
It struck Static with a blast that washed over her. Carrie went rigid afterwards and began to feel weak. Energy began to convulse over her body and she let out a final scream of anger and pain. As the scream recessed her eyes rolled into her head and she passed out. This caused her to fall towards the pavement. Only a last minute superspeed sprint by Fusion Girl caught her before she could smack her head on the pavement.
Laying her on the ground, Jill checked for a pulse. Satisfied she was still alive; Jill took a quick look around. All the lights and headlights within a block around her were all dead. Surprised residents and drivers looked towards the pink and red heroine. Fusion Girl bit her lip and said, “Opps?”
………………………….
“An EMP?” her father asked. Sitting inside the family room of their house, Jill was out of costume and in her PJs. After bringing Carrie to the proper authorities she had returned home to a worried set of parents who wanted to know where she had gone. A quick check up followed to make sure she wasn’t weakened or damaged by Static. Now Jill was sitting on the floor in her shirt and shorts, reminiscing with her dad who was sitting on the couch reading a journal. He also wanted to know how his daughter had knocked out every electrical device in a block around the site of the fight.
“Hey it was your idea.” Jill said.
Her dad lift his eyebrows in surprise, “Mine?”
Jill explained, “Yeah I was taking about my first run in with Static at the dinner table a few days ago and you said, ‘Well I hope she doesn’t run into an EMP’, to which you gave me a ten minute lecture on EMPs after that. I guess it stuck.” An EMP was an electromagnetic pulse. One of the lesser known effects of a nuclear explosion is the high energy pulse that fires anything with an electrical circuit. Jill had used her body to create a field and short out the walking electrical circuit that was Static.
“I’m glad I was able to help, although how did you explain to the Werner’s neighbors they would all have to get new stuff?” Jill’s dad asked. The young heroine brought her legs to her chest and played with her hair.
“Well…I kind of…left that for them to figure out on their own…”
Her dad shook his head, “Oh no I can see the paper now, local heroine bankrupts neighborhood!”
“Dad!” Jill said, only to hear her father laughing. She smiled and threw a pillow at him.
Two Weeks Later….
The guard made his last check before he brought the stuff requested by the inmate. It was a special Federal Meta-Human holding cell for those about to stand trial. He had to follow a number of different checks in different areas. This one he removed all items that involved electricity. Even his digital watch had to be removed. Once he was clean the guard moved forward and went into the hallway that led to this prep’s cell.
Using an advance key lock he opened the door and went inside. The cell was padded and had only a bed and sink. No electricity was in work here either, an advance chemical set of lights were providing the illumination, and a window. Sitting in the corner in a white catsuit was the newest arrival to the Hole, Carrie Ames.
“Here’s the stuff you requested.” The guard waited for a response. When he got none, he turned and went back the way he had come. Only when the door was locked and closed did Carrie move. She walked over and picked up her requested item. It was a piece of paper and a crayon (she wasn’t allowed a pencil, too sharp). Calmly she wrote down a set of names. The first was Jack Werner; the next one however was in bold capital letters, FUSION GIRL….
The End