View source for Sparrowhawk: The Hand Which Strikes...

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''"Today was as good a day to die as any."''

That was the fleeting thought of Alex Harper, aka the masked heroine Sparrowhawk, as a two foot long mechanical talon swung at her. With dexterity that almost defied human ability she nimbly evaded it by thrusting herself downward. It was only a mere eleven hours ago when a distress call came from Ann Arbor, Michigan. A madman dubbing himself 'Blackward' had set his sights on claiming the entire city and its populace. He had set up explosive beacons along the entire perimeter of the city's limits and threatened to detonate them if any super heroes intervened. Sparrowhawk had been able to trace his communications and followed it. Located in Ann Arbor she discovered that his lair was a large underground bunker. She first faced off with his minions, making short work of them. Blackward, however, was a different story. The villain commanded a large, eighteen foot tall mechanical suit of armor that was armed to the teeth and wielded near impenetrable front shielding to its systems. Her bio electric batons and martial arts against Blackward's hulking juggernaut of technology and on board arsenal... something did not seem quite fair in that equation.

"You simply can't run forever, my love!" Blackward boasted. The voice emanating from the suit was synthesized and cold. "Is that the best you can do?"

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Sparrowhawk leapt over a nearby metal banister's railing as he taunted her. She descended with a gymnast's finesse down to the next lower floor. The ground was littered with the broken and battered bodies of Blackward's lackeys who had already fallen to her in direct combat. She had counted thirty two in all but none of them prepared her for the power of their leader. As she moved past them he descended in kind. Rockets propelled the villain downward to the lower level, a vast room full of gadgets and devices. Sparrowhawk flipped backwards and assumed a defensive stance as he neared her.

"I can do a lot of things," Sparrowhawk said shortly.

She held out her silver hued baton and an immense wave of bluish electrical energy poured forth. It hit Blackward's claw as it once more moved to strike her. The titanium-laced arm gave way as the sheer force of the electricity obliterated it. Blackward's suit of armor took a step back, it's neon green piping dimming and frontal shield flickering as the internal circuits dealt with an overload. Sparrowhawk took this opportunity to focus her inner chi and rushed forward. With a leap forward she smashed her Questionite made bio electric batons directly into the frontal shielding unit of the Blackward armor. They cleaved the unit with one strike. All that was left was a mass of exposed wires and fuses as it sputtered and shut off fully.

Blackward, still trying to get his armor's systems on-line, responded physically. One of the mecha's behemoth piston like legs kicked upward. Sparrowhawk managed to fall back as she was attacked but was nonetheless hit. The force sent her reeling into a nearby command desk and knocked the wind out of her. She was thankful that her own battle suit was composed of a liquid armor that managed to absorb the brunt of the hit. With no time to accept the pain she felt in her ribs, she rolled off the table. Though his shield was now destroyed, Blackward's other operating systems were on line again. Sparrowhawk once more ran towards him, dodging past two lasers firing off located on his helmet. Sparrowhawk completed a fantastic somersault as she vaulted over him and landed on his back. What was supposedly shatter resistant glass gave way as Sparrowhawk destroyed both the lasers and the domed helmet of Blackward's armor. His head now partially exposed, she drew her baton back to strike again...
 
"HA!" Blackward cried, initiating the propulsion systems on the armor. 

Sparrowhawk flung herself off the armor as it flew backwards and smashed into a wall in attempt to squash her like a bug. It impacted with such force, however, that it was effectively stuck. Gears grinded as it attempted to remove itself from the impacted wall. As it did this, Blackward activated all frontal offensive measured against the blonde polymath before him. Shoulder turrets began to fire off streams of gunfire.

Sparrowhawk noticed a small bolt on Blackward's large left mechanized foot was misaligned during the fight. A weak point. She rolled towards him and attempted to deftly bypass the the turrets' ammunition. Blackward meanwhile was still attempting to pry himself free. Hitting the area with her batons, the leg surrendered as her weapon overcame the villain's titanium plating. Blackward wobbled as he was dislodged and his guns clicked loudly as they continued to fire from his shoulders. Moving towards her the mechanical leg continued to collapse upon itself, no longer capable of holding up the sizable torso. Backing up she spun her batons with such accuracy they actually deflected the attack. Round after round, bullets ricocheted away due to her amazingly trained coordination and skill.

"You still won't be beating me today," Blackward's voice emanating from the suit said with a dark chuckle at the end of his sentence.

Sparrowhawk merely smirked at his comments. The rat-tat-tat-tat of the guns and the spent shell casings dropping echoed off the large room as the two continued to engage. For a moment they stopped to reload and Sparrowhawk took that opportunity to relay another bio electric baton blast at Blackward. This charge, aimed for the remnants of his domed head piece, instead hit his left arm as he attempted to deflect it. The arm was sheared off to the elbow as it too exploded like the right arm minutes before. What remained of the upper left arm opened and exposed a flamethrower. A 'whoosh' as the accelerant coming to life, streaming out flames. Sparrowhawk retreated and made her way for the stairs. 

"Mother?" Sparrowhawk hurriedly asked her suit's built-in computer system. "Time?"

"Nineteen minutes, four seconds since mission commencement," the computer responded.

"Time to finish this up then," Sparrowhawk said to herself.

Sparrowhawk went to the stairwell again, pushing her body to keep moving. Her body's chi reinvigorated her as she moved into a full sprint worthy of an Olympic medalist. A blast of fire shot out at her from Blackward's flamethrower. Nearly hitting her she could feel the heat radiating on her back. As she ascended the stairwell she proceeded to take the most direct route to the lair's main computer terminal.

Blackward's armor though battered was still more than effective as its propulsion system activated once more. It one metal leg appeared to give more and more with each step. Sparrowhawk had damaged it but was still quicker and reached her easily. Blackward followed her down the semi lit corridor to the very chamber she had made her way to. With his looming frame, two shoulder turrets and flame thrower poised at her, the man inside the mechanical contraption was more than happy. He simply wanted to dispose of this intruder. Sparrowhawk merely stood at the main console waiting for him. She had realized that her batons' charges were waning... the bio electric blasts she had using required most of the stored energy in them. Still, she was resolute, assuming the posture of someone not yet ready to give in.

"So why did you of all people think you could take me?' Blackward asked in his eerie voice.

"Built in meta human detection system you've established around your base," Sparrowhawk answered. Her breathing controlled and voice strong though her body ached. "Made to ensure the beacons would activate the minute any of them came into the area and level the city. I really was the logical choice, seeing as I'm a bit lacking in the actual super power department."

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"Smart girl, but dumb to think you could get away with it," he answered, taking a step foward. The shoulder turrets locked onto her.

"Smart enough to keep you occupied for the past... oh, twenty minutes and thirty four seconds," Sparrowhawk responded, "and smart enough to ensure the decryption sequence I uploaded into your mainframe would take effect. It removed the meta human detection system and allowed my allies a chance to take down those beacons. In fact..."

A thunderous crash came from the ceiling direcctly above the black and red mechanized villain. Metal from the beams and dirt gave way, descending on Blackward. He instantly looked upwards as Sparrowhawk simply stood there, holstering her batons. 

"I believe that's them now."

At least a dozen colorfully garbed heroes from Millennium City were instantly upon Blackward. Colonial, Optiman, Razira, General Freedom and others, with fists that could move mountains and energy blasts that could melt the strongest substances on Earth were all upon him. They swarmed about him like locusts upon a field. Within less than fifteen seconds Blackward was defeated and the monolithic suit of armor he wielded was scattered all over the ground in pieces. Sparrowhawk stood from her vantage point and watched the collected forces of her allies. The efficiency of their actions made her a bit proud.

It only took half a hour for UNTIL to take charge of the situation. Most of the heroes had already went their separate ways, though some of the more charismatic ones were giving interviews to media outlets about what had transpired. At least the city was safe and all was back to normal. Sparrowhawk was doing clean up duty assisting UNTIL, going over Blackward's computer systems to ensure nothing else was amiss and that all of his data was collected.

"Great job today, Sparrowhawk," one of the UNTIL agents said as he approached her. She was working on a console and didn't turn to him, more focused on what was before her. "Can't get over you took on that guy pretty much by yourself! Seriously, didn't you think at any time 'What the hell am I doing here? Am I gonna die?'"

"I did, for a moment," Sparrowhawk replied nonchalantly as her hands continued to type.

''"But it's never something you let overwhelm you"'' she thought as the agent continued down the hall. ''"You can't let it. Today I had 114,925 reasons to succeed, every single person that lived in this city. It may have been a suicide run, but it was a challenge. If there is one thing I love, it's that."''

With that, Sparrowhawk continued to work. Tomorrow she would be faced with new obstacles... and that was fine by her. 

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[[Category:Stories]]