Continuing from where we last left off…

 

With Manny cuffed and being placed in a squad car, Blue Pixie was now telling Detective Jones about what happened in the warehouse.

“So…  You are telling me you were only there to observe?  Not take them on?”  He asked.

“<Sigh> Yeah. I didn’t know they were using this location to have a meeting.  I was hoping this was were they stored the Juice they are selling.  I jumped to the roof to look inside through one of the many skylights on the roof but, the roof gave out from underneath me when I landed,” Pixie said with a sour expression.

The business-like demeanor of the detective slipped a little as a small grin appeared on his face, “No problem Blue Pixie, it happens to the best of heroes from time to time.” His eyes widened a little as he glanced up and behind Pixie as he saw something that surprised him, “Er…  I’m done with questions for now Blue Pixie, but it looks like you have a guest.”  He finished as he pointed his pencil towards the incoming figure.

With a questioning look Pixie turned around and saw the unmistakable form of one of the most famous heroines on the west coast, Lighthawk of The Defenders of Liberty League, landing behind her.

“Blue Pixie, nice to finally meet you.” The statuesque African American heroine said with a tight but genuine smile and hand extended.

“Oh!  Wow!  Nice…  Nice to meet you too!  I’m a fan of your work!”  Pixie blurted out, trying not to go full ‘fangirl’ and failing.

“Unfortunately, my visit isn’t entirely social, have you seen the news tonight?”  The yellow and green clad heroine asked, smile fading.

“I…  No, I haven’t.  What’s going on?”  Pixie asked, worried about what the answer was.

“A major earthquake struck just offshore near Tokyo, Japan.  Between the quake and the resulting Tsunami, the people of Japan are in desperate need of heroes that can lend a hand.  Can you join us?” Light Hawk asked.

“Oh, no!  Absolutely!!!  I’ll help in any way I can!”  Pixie exclaimed.

Light Hawk’s smile returned, “Excellent!  Turn around and I’ll fly you to the airport where our team jet is waiting.”

A couple of minutes later, the two heroines were aboard the jet and prepping for the flight to Japan.  Pixie stepped in to the main cabin and another heroine that she admired was there.  Totem, her black hair had a touch or grey at her temples, matron heroine of the Defenders was walking towards her in her green dress with stylized vines emblazoned on it.  She was their team’s support hero; her healing powers were legendary amongst other heroes.  Even in her fifties, she looked as fit as Pixie did and carried herself with a calm confidence. 

“Pixie dear, glad you can join us on this rescue mission!”  She greeted Pixie with a warm hug, “Please come back and make yourself comfortable.”  She finished by guiding Pixie to the seating area of the plane.

“Thank you, Totem!  It’s an honor to meet you!”  Pixie gushed, keeping her ‘fangirl’ in check a little better than when she met Light Hawk.

“I hope Light Hawk wasn’t too abrupt with you when she asked for your help dear.  She can be overly intense in situations like the one we are facing.”  Totem asked with a motherly tone of voice.

“What?  No!  She was the soul of courteousness.”  Pixie re-assured Totem.

“Good, good.  We’ve heard a lot about your exploits in your short career Blue Pixie.  I have to say the team is impressed with what you have done so far.”  She complimented Pixie, “It’s why we asked you for your assistance.”

“I… Er…  wow….  I hope I don’t let any of you down on this trip then.”  Pixie said, blushing furiously at the praise. 

Totem was taking her own seat and with a smile replied, “I don’t think that’s possible dear.”

Pixie returned the smile and quickly turned to the window so Totem wouldn’t see her blush again and to watch as the teams supersonic jet roared into the night sky and Tokyo.

Totem looked at the young super heroine and smiled outwardly but her thoughts were darker than her smile betrayed, “Here’s hoping Pixie can handle the loss of life and devastation she’s going to witness.  I hope Jada is right about Pixie’s resolve…”  

 

“Pixie?  Blue Pixie?”  Pixie’s blurry eyes snapped open and tried to focus as Totem was gently shaking her awake, “Jada… er, Light Hawk wants to give us a briefing before we arrive and give us our game plan for helping out, ok?”  She said with her trademark gentle smile.

“Oh…  OK!  How far out are we?”  Pixie rubbed her eyes.

“About a half an hour.  Let’s go.”  Totem replied as she walked to the open door behind the seating area.

Totem and Blue Pixie joined Light Hawk in what would only be described as a situation room.  Each seat at the oval table in the center of the room had a high-end workstation built in and the far was all one large computer screen.  The center of the table had a hologram of the earth spinning on its axis displayed. 

“Thank you both for joining me.  During our flight I was in communication with JDF and they gave me a very detailed Sit-Rep considering how little time has passed since the quake.”  She then turned to Pixie and said, “Brace yourself, this isn’t going to be pleasant to see.”  With that warning, she clicked a button on the remote, and the wall screen flared to life showing an aerial view of the aftermath.

“<GASP!>” Pixie partially stood up in shock.  She knew in her head that things would be bad, but her thoughts paled in comparison to what she saw on the screen.

Dark, billowing smoke from raging fires dominated the shattered cityscape.  The coastline at the port was unrecognizable, with boats both large and small were now on shore, some partially embedded inside shattered and collapsed buildings.  She saw numerous helicopters and supers, including Curia in her recently acquired dragon form flying about and people on the ground fighting fires and looking for civilians.  The devastation went almost a full mile inland.

“Oh my God…”  Pixie whispered.

Lighthawk sighed as she looked at the carnage again and continued, “While I am helping the other heavy lifters in the most heavily damaged areas I need you two out on the periphery of the destruction,” she said as she pointed out the areas with a laser pointer, “It’s in these areas that most of the survivors are being found.  Totem will be there to stabilize as many of the injured as she can and Pixie, you will be using your strength and agility to climb about on the rubble looking for people that are trapped.  Do you both understand?”  Light Hawk asked, looking more at Pixie than Totem.

Pixie wiped a tear from her eye and nodded ‘yes’, not trusting herself to speak.  Totem looked at Pixie, concern in her eyes.  It was never easy to see devastation like this and it was Pixie’s first exposure to destruction at this scale.

 

“Pixie dear, Light Hawk will be giving you one of our communicators here shortly.  Please don’t hesitate to call one of us for help.  Do NOT work yourself to the point of exhaustion.  You won’t do any of the victims any good if you do.  When it’s time for you to rest there will be someone to take your place until you are ready to go out again, understand?”  Totem informed her gently.

“Pixie looked away from the screen, “Yeah… I understand.”  She replied in a somber voice, eyes still wet. 

Light Hawk walked around the table to Pixie and placed a comforting hand on her shoulder while holding out one of the team’s earpieces, “Please don’t hesitate to reach out just to talk if you need to as well.” She said.

Pixie took the earpiece and put it in place and said, “Thank you, I should be OK.”

Light Hawk smiled, “The people of Japan will be grateful for your help.  It’s time to take our seats, we are on our final approach.”

 

 

The trio was given a fresh briefing and direction on where they would be working and who they were to report to and then sent on their way.

Pixie leapt from building to building, following the directions she was given and a few minutes later found the team of emergency works she was supposed to assist.  They were frantically, but gingerly trying to make a hole wider on top of a pile of rubble that used to be an apartment complex.  Pixie made her way to the base of the rubble.

“Hello?  I was sent here by the coordinators!  Can I help with anything?” Pixie shouted.

A couple of the workers turned their gazes to her, and one said with a tone of relief in English, “Blue Pixie?  Yes, please go over to the far side of the pile.  We had to shore up that side and it’s still not very stable!  Can you see what you can do?” He said quickly.

“Sure thing!”  Pixie replied as she leapt over the mountain of debris and assessed the situation on the other side.

“Oh crap!  Half of the debris pile is on a downhill slope!”  She thought as she assessed the situation.

As she moved closer to the beams, they had placed against the rubble she noticed that it looks like they have shifted a couple of times.  There was a couple of workers slowly driving large stakes into the pavement next to the base of the pylons to hopefully help keep them in place.  Just as they acknowledged Pixie’s presence an aftershock shook the city and the pile started shaking!  The pylon slid and bent the partially driven stakes flat to the ground as they slid over them.  Pixie surged forward and grabbed the pylon in both hands and pushed back against the pile of rubble.  The workers on top of the pile had laid down flat, hoping to ride out the quake.  The aftershock passed quickly and the workers on top resumed their efforts to rescue the victims that were trapped.  Pixie could hear their cries now and tightened her grip on the I-beam shaped pylon, the metal creaking under the pressure.

There was a rumble and groaning noise from deep inside the pile as debris started to rain down on Pixie’s head!  She looked up and saw the pile was starting to slide down the hill!  The ends of the pylon had wide metal plates on it to rest against whatever it was placed against.

She turned around, putting her back to the rubble, wrapped her arms around the pylon and planted her feet and pulled back, hoping to stabilize things enough for the workers on top to finally rescue the people that were trapped.  The pylon kept being pushed, scraping across the pavement, Pixie’s boots sliding as well.

“Crap!  Hurry up!!!  I can’t hold this for long!!!”  She shouted and then stomped her foot, heel first into the pavement, making a foothold for herself.  With her left foot planted, she did the same with her right foot.

She gripped the beam as hard as she could and pushed with her legs with all her might.  The pylon groaned from the pressure that was now being exerted on it, but the rubble stopped sliding forward!

The workers closest to her started excitedly shouting up to the people up top in Japanese, a voice replied in English, “Blue Pixie!!!  We finally have our harness around the victim!!!  Hold on for just a couple more minutes!!”

“Unnnghhh!!!!!!  OK!  Will do!!!”  The straining Pixie replied, sweat running down her face in the cool air, veins pulsating on her temples.

What seemed like an eternity later the voice from up top rang out, “We are clear of the pile!!!  Get out of there!!!”

Pixie let go of her death grip of the pylon, her finger shaped indentations in the metal unnoticed as the pile immediately started sliding down the hill!

The tired Pixie rushed forward and grabbed both the workers that had foolishly stayed with Pixie around their waists and launched herself into the air with a mighty leap and landed on an end loader that was nearby. She turned back towards the sliding pile of rubble and leaped again!  She sailed over the sliding rubble and landed near the rest of the workers on the other side and let the workers she had carried go.  She went down to one knee to catch her breath.

Breathing heavily, knelt with her head down and eyes closed, sweat dripping from her face.  She opened her eyes at the sound of footsteps approaching her.  The workers that were not attending to the rescued victims came over to Pixie with wide smiles, thanking her in Japanese.  One helped her to her feet while another worker handed Pixie a canteen of water, which she gladly accepted and drank heartily from.  Then the call came in for the next location and they were all on their way.

 

The next 72 hours went very much the same, with Pixie going from location to location helping find and rescue those that were trapped.  Some rescues ended happily like the first one while others…  turned into recovery operations instead.

Even though she gave her assurances to Totem that she would pace herself and not let herself get worn out, she found it impossible to follow that advice.  By the evening of that third day, Pixie was worn out both emotionally and physically.  The whole day had turned into one recovery mission after the other and when the team she was assigned to had gone back to their basecamp Pixie wandered off alone to process all that she has seen.

“Ugh…  That Mom and her kids…  So much destruction….  So much pain…. I HAVE to work harder tomorrow!” She thought, mind racing, tears starting down her face unnoticed as she mourned the people she couldn’t help.  She was so absorbed in her grief that she didn’t realize she wasn’t alone until it was too late.

An inky black portal made of shadows opened right in front of her, “Wha…  OOF!!!!!”  Pixie had time to say before a fist clad in a blue so dark it was almost black shot out of the portal, connecting with Pixie’s nose, snapping her head back as her she tumbled backwards from the force of the blow! 

Pixie shot back up to her feet and saw the portal closing but no sign of her assailant, “Who are you!?  Show yourself cowar…   AH!!!” Pixie’s shout was interrupted by a punch to the back of her head as a dark blue shadow sped past her from behind!  She was ready for an attack this time, so she did not go tumbling like she did with the first hit.

Pixie took a defensive stance and carefully scanned the dark alleyway looking to see where her foe would attack her from next when she noticed a shadow surrounded her.  She darted to the right as her assailant crashed down to the ground with a pavement shattering landing.  Pixie pushed off the wall of the narrow alley and swung a felt hook with all her might catching her opponent in the shoulder, “OOF!!” Her opponent said in response to the hit then darted forward almost faster than Pixie could follow.

“Damn it!!!  Quit running away and fight me!!!  You started this!!  Come finish it!!!”  Pixie shouted, hoping to goad her opponent in to another attack.

“Heh, heh, heh….  So, the high and mighty Blue Pixie thinks she can take me?  In your dreams kid.”  The unknown assailant said.

“Who are you?”  Pixie replied to the woman’s voice, trying to pinpoint where she was.

Her answer was another blow to the head, which spun her around, making her see stars.  “OWW!!!”  Her opponent was holding back initially it seemed.

“Crap!  I’m outmatched, got to find someplace with more room to fight!”  Pixie thought as she launched herself into the air, aiming for the rooftops.

“Oh, no!  You aren’t getting away that easily!” She heard as she received a powerful kick to the small of her back and she was driven hard to the ground, concrete shattering.

Gasping for breath Pixie tottered, unsteadily to her feet just in time for the next blow to land.  The punch connected hard to the back of her head, sending her tumbling head over heels into the wall at the end of the alley 15 feet in front of her.  Her body smashed through the wall and she found herself on her stomach in a darkened abandoned department store, a couple mannequins that she smashed laid in pieces around her.

Before she could try to lift herself from the debris the figure was on top of her.  The woman grabbed Pixie’s right arm and twisted it behind her, pinning to her back and with her other hand kept Pixie from raising her head, “What do you think you are doing here ‘hero’??  Do you think you are making a difference?  You aren’t strong enough!!”

Pixie winced at the cruel words, “<Cough, cough!!>   How dare you…”  Pixie said weakly, straining against the hold she was in, “That’s rich, coming from someone that has apparently been watching me instead of helping the people here…  Arrgh!!!!!”  Pixie retorted as the woman started pulling up on Pixie’s arm.

“I need to know Blue Pixie!!!  Are.  You.  Strong enough!?”  The woman said as she lifted Pixie up off the ground by her head and threw her through the front display window of the store.  Pixie landed hard in the street.  This time she got to her feet just as her opponent’s fist connected with Pixie’s left eye!

“AAAAAAAAHHH!!!!!”  Pixie screamed as her Orbital socket fractured from the force of the blow and she was sent spinning, blood flying from the contusion.  Her limp body impacted against a wall on the far side of the street and she slumped to the ground, clutching her face.

The woman was on top of her immediately and yanked her up into the air holding Pixie aloft with a hand clenching like a vise grip on her neck, “I SAID TELL ME!!!!!  Are you strong enough!?  Or are you ready to roll over and die now!?”  The assailant screamed at the now limp Pixie.

Pixie’s answer was to bring a knee to her opponent’s face as hard as she could!

“Nggh!!”  The woman groaned as she dropped Pixie so she could clutch her face.

Pixie, with her left eye already swollen shut and blood flowing freely from her wound quietly replied, “Fuck you, bitch.” Then she sprung forward to press her attack.

Pixie got off a combo of punches that sent unknown villain tumbling back through the department store that she ejected Pixie from just a couple of minutes ago.

Pixie took a step forward to follow when a dark blue blur whizzed past her!  “No way…” was all Pixie got to say when she was picked up by an ankle, swung around and slammed into the ground.  Hard.

“OOOOFF!!!!!!”  Pixie said as the air was forced from her lungs from the impact and then the rain of punches that she was receiving on her back.

 

“GOOD!!!  That’s what I was hoping to see from you!!  My hunt might be over finally!!  That’s the spirit, fight me!!!”  The woman yelled excitedly.

“Hunt??” Pixie thought as she flipped herself over and held up her left arm to block the next punch.

Pixie finally got a good look at her assailant at that moment!  She wore dark makeup and had short, dark blue colored hair.  “Is that a dragon, shaved int to the side of her hair?”  Pixie thought and then her world exploded in pain again when the woman, with a crazy smile, punched Pixie as hard as she could, shattering Pixie’s forearm as she blocked the hit, the force finally causing the road to give away and Pixie fell into the darkness screaming and the woman leaped away from the opening hole.

“YAAARRGH!!!!!!”  Pixie screamed and then she felt the crunch of metal under her as she bounced off whatever she landed on.

 

Pixie rolled on to her back clutching her shattered arm to her chest and she saw the woman look down at her from the holes opening, “Good, and now the sleeper will awaken.  I finally found the right timeline.  The right Pixie....”  The woman said softly, Pixie straining to hear her.

In a loud voice the woman spoke to Pixie, “I’m sorry I had to put you through this.  There is a… Storm coming.  You are the only one that can stop it.  Remember to stay strong.”  She said to the prone Pixie cryptically.  The strange shadow portal opened above the women and she lept though it was gone. 

Pixie laid there, falling in and out of consciousness for a few minutes, then roused herself, blinking tears out of her eyes wondering, “What in the hell was all that???  Who was she?  She…  Looks familiar somehow…Owwwwww….”

Pixie suddenly remembered that she had the communicator in her ear that Lighthawk gave her!  Or more accurately she thought she had the communicator.  With her good arm she reached up to her ear, only to discover that during her fight it must have fallen out of her ear, “Shit….  What am I going to do now?”  She thought.

The sound of machinery starting up roused Pixie from her thoughts.  She looked around and saw that she was in a room that partially looked like it was taken right out of a 50’s science fiction show.  She slowly got to her feet, making sure not to jostle her broken arm and looked saw that when she landed, she damaged a pod sitting in the middle of the room.  The pod was opening…

A lithe woman with an unearthly beauty rose up and stepped from the damaged pod.  She wore a black and grey high necked, sleeveless shorts suit and grey leggings and boots.  Her loose, long grey hair framed her face and pointed ears poked out from underneath.  She looked down at her hands with a questioning look as Pixie looked on.

“Um….  Hi?”  Pixie said in greeting.

The woman stared at Pixie and in an emotionless voice with machine overtones said, “Scanning…”

“Scanning?”  Pixie repeated, perplexed at the woman’s behavior. 

The woman’s eyes which Pixie noticed had square pupils went wide, “Danger!  Subject is enemy alien and must be exterminated!!” the woman said as it raised its arm towards Pixie, it’s normal human looking arm morphing to a cyber arm with an aperture in the center of its palm.  Which was now glowing.

“Enemy?  Alien??  Wha…  Oh, you’ve GOT to be kidding me…” Pixie said with an incredulous look as she crouched and leaped up to the hole that lead back up to the street.

Pixie was just clearing the opening when she was struck with an energy beam from the woman below!

“YAAAAAAHH!!!!!!!”  Pixie screamed as a white pain radiated out from her right shoulder blade!  The beam’s impact sent her head over heels and she crashed down to the pavement hard, the smell of burning cloth and flesh strong in her nostrils.

Pixie rolled around on the ground in agony as she tried to get her bearings.  She heard the sound of people running all around her, and when she opened her eyes, she was surrounded by a platoon of what looked like JDF troops, but they were all dressed in black combat fatigues and had helmets that concealed their faces.

“Wha…  What going on?”  Pixie asked groggily.

“Miss Pixie!!!  Stay down!  We have you covered, we will protect you!”  An older looking man said as he knelt down at her side and started looking over her wounds.

”What….  Is that down there?” She asked, wincing as his looked at the burns on her back.

“I…  Can’t tell you that.  I can tell you it wasn’t supposed to be there anymore.  It…   Oh no...”  He paused in his explanation.

Pixie turned and saw the grey-haired woman was hovering in the air over the hole and looking at her.

“Target must be executed.”  She said as she raised her arm towards Pixie again.

“No….”  Pixie whispered as she shrugged off the man’s attempts at shielding her from the threat.

“OPEN FIRE!!!!”  The man screamed and the troops all unholstered ray gun looking pistols from their gun belts and opened fire at the hovering woman.  Everywhere the beam the handguns projected hit the woman, sparks flew, and her hovering became erratic and then she fell to the ground.

“<SKWAAAARK!!!!!>   Mal… Malfunction!”  The woman said, voice distorted.

“Quickly!  While it is incapacitated get the collar on it!!!”  The man with Pixie shouted.

The group started swarming the downed woman when an energy beam lanced out and swung wide.  Four of the troops died without even getting a chance to cry out!  Cut in half with the same beam that injured Blue Pixie.

“NOOOOOO!!!!!!!”  Blue Pixie roared in anger, shrugging off the effects of her injuries momentarily as she launched her self at the woman who was in the process of coming to her feet as the surviving troops backpedaled away from her.

<BOOOOM!!!!> Pixie created a shockwave as she hit the rising woman as hard as she could with a downward punch with her good right arm in the jaw.

<THOOM!!!!> the woman cratered the ground with the force of Pixie’s punch propelling her back down!  As the woman’s body bounced up in the air Pixie whipped around with a roundhouse kick that produced another shockwave and sent the woman through the wall of a nearby building.

As Pixie reach down and picked up one of the fallen troops’ energy pistols she didn’t notice that her battle was being watched with hate filled eyes from the shadows of a nearby alley.

The silhouetted woman was watching Pixie’s fight for her life.  Her eyes smoldered and glowed red as the woman Pixie was fighting emerged as fast as lightning from the building she was sent into, flattening Pixie.  The grey-haired woman started punching the downed Pixie, causing the ground to rumble.

The silhouetted woman’s eyes flared again as she turned and moved away from the mouth of the alley, leathery, red bat like wings and tail briefly visible as she faded into the shadows.

Pixie tried in vain to throw the grey-haired woman off her or block the flurry of punches she was unleashing on her, but Pixie was quickly losing consciousness.  All of a sudden the woman was swarmed again with the JDF troops and pushed off of Pixie.

“Pixie!  Come with me!  She’s going to kill you!”  The commander of the troops said to her as he picked her up to her feet.

“N…  No.  What about your men?  <Cough!  Cough!>” Pixie stammered, not noticing the blood flecks on her face from her coughing.

“You’ve done all you can!  Now please…”  The commander was interrupted as his men were flung off the woman.

Pixie snatched the commander’s energy pistol after losing the one she first had in the pounding the woman had given her and leapt forward again.

“Target reacquired.  Must exterminate.” The woman said emotionlessly as she went to counter Pixie’s rush.  The woman’s eyes went wide as Pixie dropped and tucked into a roll instead of launching a punch like last time.  She looked down just as pixie came out of her roll and placed the pistol in her hand under the woman’s chin and pulled the trigger!

“<SQAAAAAARRRRKKKK!!!!!!!!!!!>” The woman screamed in an electronic screech and tumbled backward, limbs flailing about as she lost motor control.

The pistol fell out of Pixie’s nerveless fingers as her vision darkened and she stumbled backward and landed unceremoniously on her rear as she propped herself up with her good arm and tried to stay awake.

The woman went silent and still abruptly and Pixie breathed a premature sigh of relief as the women bolted upright and launched her self at Pixie once again.

“How…  UNNNGH!!!”  Pixie grunted as she was knocked flat.  The woman had a death grip on Pixie’s neck and with that same emotionless expression slowly tightened her grip, choking the life out of Pixie!

 

As Pixie tried fruitlessly to break the woman’s grip, they all heard an ear shattering 'BOOM' in the distance. They all stopped and saw a streak of golden light arcing down to fly towards them down the street, the telltale sign of visible condensation of the sound barrier being broken visible in its wake.  Soon the dull roar of windows shattering quickly grew louder as a figure trailing a streak of golden light hit supersonic speeds! Behind the figure, a dragon could be seen, it was Curia carrying someone in her claws as she raced to the scene.

The woman had just enough time to turn towards the streak of light as an enraged Lighthawk slammed into the android grabbing hold of it and arced back up into the sky with her in tow!  Pixie and the surviving JDF went tumbling as the winds generated by Lighthawk's passing finally caught up to where they were!

The last thing Pixie saw before she lost her fight to stay awake was Curia gently landing releasing Totem from her grip and Totem running towards her.

Curia shrugged out of her dragon form and moved next to Totem.  “By the Gods…  Totem, is she…?”

Hands glowing and eyes closed Totem replied, “Alive?  Miraculously, yes.  She’s injured very badly but I can help her.  It was a very close call.  If we had arrived a few seconds later…” Totem said solemnly.

Curia’s face twisted in rage as she looked up at the air battle now taking place high above their heads between Lighthawk and the grey-haired woman.

“RRAAAAAAGHHHH!!!!!”  Curia roared and grew as she returned to her dragon form and launched herself towards the battle.

 

Pixie’s eyes shot open and took in their surroundings.  She was in a brightly lit room and laying on her back in an elevated position.  She was in a hospital room.  Bleary eyed, she levered herself into a more upright position and saw a very tired looking Lighthawk and Curia dozing mostly upright on the couch on the far end of the room and Totem was sitting calmly, reading a book.

“Ah, ha.  You are finally awake.”  Totem said calmly as she stood up, setting her book on the chair she had been sitting on, her voice rousing the other two heroines from their slumber.  They both jumped to their feet and came to the bed with Totem.

“What happened?”  Pixie asked.

“Well, that grey haired woman was doing her best to kill you when Lighthawk swooped down and got her away from you so Curia could drop me off to attend to you.”  Totem said with a gentle expression as she held Pixie’s once injured arm, checking how well her healing had worked.

“No, I mean after that?  Did you take her down?  She was killing the troops that were helping me” Pixie asked, concern evident in her voice.

“She got away from me I’m afraid.  She disengaged from me before Curia could join the fight and took off straight to outer space.”  She answered ruefully.

“What about the other villain?”  Pixie queried. 

The three senior heroines all exchanged glances with one another, and Curia replied, “We only saw the grey-haired woman Pixie.  Who else was fighting you??”

“Some woman that kept asking me if I was strong enough for what lay ahead.  She’s the one that broke my arm.  She seemed unhinged…”  Pixie answered.

Curia and Lighthawk glanced at each other and after a moment they both nodded and Lighthawk said, “Pardon us Blue Pixie, but we’re going to have a look around for this other villain really quick.”  Pixie nodded her head as they both turned and left the room.

“Tell me how you are feeling Pixie.”  Totem said to her.

“I…  Wow, really good actually.  My arm, back and cheek are still a little sore but otherwise just tired.”  Pixie answered while moving her arm that Totem healed around.

“Excellent, I want you to take it easy for a couple of days to allow your body to finish recovering OK?”  Totem asked, her expression still gentle but there was a slight hard edge to it this time as she gave her instruction to Pixie.

“What about the rescue efforts though?  I sti….  Mppph!”  Pixie was interrupted with Totem placing her hand over Pixie’s mouth.

“I mean it!”  Totem said sternly, scowling at Pixie.

“Uh…  yes Ma’am.”  Pixie affirmed contritely.

“I’m serious.”  Totem said with a scowl, clearly unconvinced.

“For real Totem.  I’ll stay on the sidelines ‘till you say I’m good to go again.”  Pixie said with a small smile then said, “Hey, how did you all know I was in trouble?  Did the rescue workers or troops radio it in?”

Totem looked at Pixie for a moment, like she was debating something to herself then answered, “They may have but it was one of your re-occurring foes that gave us the heads up first.”

“What?  Who” Pixie asked, wondering who it could be.

“The Demon Queen of all people.”  Totem answered.

“WHAT??!!  That doesn’t seem like her at all!”  Pixie said, flabbergasted at the thought of Demon Queen coming to her aid.

Well, once she made her presence known to Lighthawk she told her that ‘no one else is allowed to claim Blue Pixie except me!’ “, Totem said in a fair impersonation of Demon Queen.”

“Ah…  OK, that sounds like Demon Queen all right.”  Pixie replied ruefully.

A few days later Pixie, Lighthawk and Totem were walking up the stairs to their teams’ plane.  Pixie stopped and looked across the ravaged landscape and already saw signs of rebuilding.  The local heroes and heroines who had helped with the rescue and recovery efforts now focused their efforts on helping their people to put Tokyo back together.  A smile formed on Pixie’s face, even though she once again seemed to be a magnet for trouble, she helped a lot of people while she was here and that thought made her happy and furthered her resolve and drive to help people back home.

“Pixie?  You OK?”  Lighthawk asked.

“Yeah…  Just thinking about the future.” Pixie answered, then continued to board the plane.

 

END CHAPTER