Date: Wednesday morning - August 7, 2024

  The Supreme Allies emerged outside the ruined VALOR base thanks to Mister Mystic’s teleportation spell. As the team began to move toward the building, Omega Woman glanced out of the corner of her eye to see something moving fast. On a second glance, she realized it would be more accurate to say she saw someone moving fast. The speeding figure slowed down and came to a stop in front of the Supreme Allies. It was someone they instantly recognized: ex-Syndicate member Speedfreak.

  “Hey there,” Speedfreak said, addressing the Supreme Allies. “Colonel Fox said you guys would be coming. I’m here to search for any survivors, just like you.” Omega Woman and a couple of her teammates nodded.

  “Sounds good,” Omega Woman said. The group of ten moved forward to the grounds of the destroyed base. Omega Woman and Starfall began picking up and moving heavy debris. Blue Angel walked ahead, using his helmet’s scanners as he did. Omega Woman then saw Blue Angel hover further inside.

  “In here. Found two!” Blue Angel exclaimed. Moving inside, Omega Woman moved a large slab of concrete that was in the way. Behind it were two VALOR agents, one man and one woman. Their black and dark blue armor was heavily damaged. Of the two VALOR agents, the man was still conscious.

  “We’re going to get you out of here,” Omega Woman said assuringly.

  “It’s…not…safe,” the conscious male VALOR agent said weakly in a low voice.

  “What was that?” Omega Woman asked, barely hearing him.

  “The threat’s…not gone yet,” the VALOR agent said before coughing.

  Toward the back, Speedfreak’s enhanced perception caught something moving when she looked past Phantom Archer, who was toward the back of the room. Whatever it was, it was moving fast. Rushing forward, Speedfreak dragged Phantom Archer to the other side of the room. Everyone turned to look toward the new arrival in the room. Omega Woman and the others recognized the new face-the woman from the footage Fox showed earlier.

  However, that wasn’t the most shocking part. Omega Woman recognized the face of the woman staring back at the Supreme Allies and Speedfreak as her own. The most noticeable difference was the red eyes. In the middle of her black cape was a clasp resembling a skull with the jaw curved inward and small curved eyes. Adorning the woman’s face was a black domino mask, with inner edges of salmon color around the woman’s eyes.

  “What the hell?” Speedfreak managed to stammer out in her speechlessness.

  “It’s you…You’re the one responsible for what happened here!” Omega Woman exclaimed to the lookalike.

  “You’re Omega Woman. Seems like I have you to thank for my good looks-and my existence,” the red-armored woman said.

  “Who the hell are you?” Blue Angel asked.

  “Me? A living symbol of revenge for my creators. Lady of Wrath is the codename I was given. The Syndicate sends their regards,” Lady of Wrath said before releasing a beam of red light from her eyes toward the two injured VALOR agents. Starfall moved at super speed to intercept the attack with her sword. Omega Woman made sure to make a mental note-a clone. Before she could attempt another shot, Omega Woman flew forward to throw a strong punch. Lady of Wrath tanked the hit and struck back with a punch of her own to Omega Woman’s face with equal force-if not greater-and drawing blood from her nose.

  Wiping the blood from her nose using her forearm, Omega Woman hit back and the fight was on. Omega Woman held up one arm to block an overhead punch and then followed with an inner block to push back Lady of Wrath’s follow-up punch. Omega Woman sidestepped to avoid an oncoming knee strike that would have otherwise hit her stomach and retaliated with a roundhouse kick, only for Lady of Wrath to do the same. Omega Woman recognized the moves being used by Lady of Wrath. Every attack demonstrated was one she had used herself in the battles she had fought in over the past fifteen years.

  “The rest of you, keep looking for survivors here! I’ll hold her off,” Omega Woman said. Such a task was not going to be easy, however. Given how strong Lady of Wrath seemed to be, Omega Woman had to be on top of her game. Leaning back to dodge another punch, Omega Woman grabbed Lady of Wrath’s wrist midair. She immediately began flying upward, dragging Lady of Wrath with her.

  After the two super women ascended more than a hundred feet above the ground, Lady of Wrath used a push kick to force Omega Woman to let go of her. The two flew at each other, clashing their punches with enough force to knock over the trees in the forest below in a wide radius. Both channeled their super speed as they zipped around in the air. Anyone without some kind of enhanced perception would see little more than two blurs. Each time they collided with their attacks, more trees toppled below them, knocking down large swaths at a time.

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  In the VALOR base, Mister Mystic and Speedfreak moved down to the basement level, part of which was destroyed. The two moved in opposite directions until Speedfreak stopped walking. Another quartet of VALOR agents were there, all laid out on the floor.

  “Over here! Found four more,” Speedfreak said to the older sorcerer. She did quick pulse checks against each of their necks. “Still alive.”

  Speedfreak gently picked up two of the VALOR agents while Mister Mystic used a levitation spell to lift the other two. Bringing the four upstairs with the other two surviving agents, Mister Mystic then cast a teleportation spell to take the VALOR agents with him. Moments later, the older sorcerer returned alone.

  “They’ve been taken to New Eden Medical,” Mister Mystic said to the rest of the group. A moment later, Blue Angel received a GPS on Omega Woman’s current location and passed it to the rest of the team.

  “Starfall and I will give her some backup,” Mister Mystic said. The sorcerer teleported away while Starfall took flight into the air, following the GPS signal.

  The VALOR base was getting further and further away. Omega Woman was doing her best to fight Lady of Wrath. The other woman was proving to be more than a match for her. It was evident to Omega Woman the Syndicate had the clone extensively study how she fought. Their back and forth of trading heavy blows took the two above a beach off the coast of Brightmark.

  Omega Woman spotted a heavily damaged VALOR prison transport ship. It was about 36 feet in length and had large holes torn into the hull and heavy damage to the aft of the ship that partially exposed the engine. Lady of Wrath noticed Omega Woman glancing down at the boat.

  “Oh, that back there was just light work for me,” Lady of Wrath said with a touch of pride in her tone.

  The clone flew down at high speed toward the damaged boat and circled back around behind it. Omega Woman saw the prison transport get lifted into the air by her evil twin. Lady of Wrath threw the boat towards Omega Woman. The throw was faster than anything Omega Woman herself had done with objects of similar size in the past. The longtime heroine barely managed to catch the boat midair.

  At the same time Omega Woman caught the boat, however, Lady of Wrath released a strong beam of red light from her hands. The beam of light hit the exposed engine and ignited it. The prison transport boat exploded in a large point-blank inferno. Lady of Wrath flew at high speed through the smoke and fire as it obscured Omega Woman’s vision. Omega Woman took two punches to the face from her clone.

  As Lady of Wrath held onto her, Omega Woman used her free hand to knock back her clone’s multiple consecutive oncoming strikes. The two continued their aerial tussle, maneuvering up and down in various directions. Omega Woman soon found herself freed from her clone’s grip as Starfall arrived to deliver a flying roundhouse kick to Lady of Wrath’s cheek. The hit sent the clone flying backwards before she recovered midair. Mister Mystic then appeared into view and released a beam of magical energy at Lady of Wrath.

  “Thank you guys,” Omega Woman said to Starfall and Mister Mystic, both of whom nodded. A helicopter then hovered a distance away-the label of Brightmark News on the siding. Lady of Wrath flew forward and tried to reach for Mister Mystic’s throat, but the sorcerer teleported out of sight to dodge. Mister Mystic reappeared once more and Lady of Wrath reoriented herself to face the three Supreme Allies members again. A moment passed, but nothing happened.

  Lady of Wrath closed her eyes, seemingly frozen in the air for a moment. The clone opened her eyes and her expression changed. Confusion seemed to replace the previous angry disposition present moments ago. Lady of Wrath then appeared to begin freaking out, holding her head in her hands as she continued to hover. Suddenly, she flipped backwards and began descending toward the ground.

  Lady of Wrath began flying around in random directions, as if she forgot she had such power. The clone’s haphazard flight pattern resulted in a hard crash. Lady of Wrath’s hard landing caused an impact that created a noticeable hole in the ground. Omega Woman, Mister Mystic and Starfall descended near the edge of the hole. Lady of Wrath slowly stood up and climbed out of the hole, standing up before Omega Woman and her friends.

  “Where am I?” Lady of Wrath asked, still apparently confused. “Who are you guys? W-what’s going on?”

  Omega Woman looked at Mister Mystic and Starfall. The two wore similar confused expressions on their faces. Behind Lady of Wrath, Omega Woman spotted the familiar red light of Technomancer arriving with a teleportation spell. Lady of Wrath looked up at Technomancer, her confused expression unchanging. Technomancer hovered closer to Lady of Wrath before another flash of red light.

  When the red light faded, Technomancer and Lady of Wrath were both gone.

  “What just happened?” Starfall asked, only for Omega Woman and Mister Mystic to shake their heads.

  “Supreme Allies, let’s head back to headquarters. Fox will want to hear about this,” Omega Woman said, holding her right index finger up to her earpiece.

  BRIGHTMARK NEWS FIELD REPORT:

  August 7, 2024

  10:45 AM

  “This is Stacy Kolton, reporting live for Brightmark News. I’m in a station chopper flying over the coast of Brightmark, where it appears Omega Woman, Starfall and Mister Mystic are engaged in an aerial battle with an unknown opponent,” Stacy said as the helicopter’s camera captured footage of the fight.

  “We have no information yet on this red-armored villainess, but her resemblance to Omega Woman is uncanny. It appears she possesses similar levels of power,” Stacy continued. The footage went on to show the red-armored woman seeming to freak out while hovering in the air. She began moving haphazardly before finally making a crash-landing on the ground as the helicopter camera showed the impact. Omega Woman and her companions descended to where their opponent crashed. A moment passed as the red-armored woman appeared to talk to the heroes before Technomancer appeared out of nowhere and teleported himself away with her.

  “Brightmark News has yet to figure out the full picture related to events taking place, but we will provide updates as soon as possible,” Stacy concluded.