Song
| Song | ||||||||||
| Player: @cancas | ||||||||||
| [[Image:|300px|]] | ||||||||||
| Biographical Data | ||||||||||
| Real Name: | Jill Ward | |||||||||
| Known Aliases: | Song, Ms. Shoots-much | |||||||||
| Gender: | Female | |||||||||
| Species: | Human | |||||||||
| Ethnicity: | Chinese | |||||||||
| Place of Birth: | Henan, China | |||||||||
| Base of Operations: | USA, China, Canada, England | |||||||||
| Relatives: | Leo Ward (Step-father), Emilia Ward (Step-mother), Shu Song (Mother, Missing), Huan Wu (Father, Missing) | |||||||||
| Characteristics | ||||||||||
| Age: | Twenty three | |||||||||
| Height: | 5'8 | |||||||||
| Weight: | 143 lbs | |||||||||
| Eyes: | Light blue | |||||||||
| Hair: | Raven black | |||||||||
| Complexion: | ||||||||||
| Physical Build: | Lithe, athletic | |||||||||
| Physical Features: | Soft facial features, long hair, attractive | |||||||||
| Status | ||||||||||
| Fame: |
Global | |||||||||
| Alignment: |
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| Identity: | Public | |||||||||
| Years Active: | ||||||||||
| Citizenship: | United Kingdoms | |||||||||
| Occupation: | Superhero, Student | |||||||||
| Education: | University - Ancient History, Classics and Archaeology | |||||||||
| Marital Status: | Unmarried | |||||||||
| Known Powers and Abilities | ||||||||||
| Equipment and Paraphernalia | ||||||||||
| Bow&Arrows / Climbing Hatchet / Combat Knife / Ropes / Pistol | ||||||||||
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Bravery |
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| MaekadaBox created by @Maekada | |||||||||
Song, or by her real name, Jill Ward, is a heroine currently registered to UNTIL to combat global threats. Known with her sharpened marksmanship, unorthodox tactics and driven will, she has proven her mettle in multiple encounters against villainy and terrorism including but not limited to VIPER and ARGENT.
If Jill Ward’s fame among the superhero community was to stand out, it’d be with none other but her often ventures out to the wild. Sometimes to ruins, sometimes in search of things alien to public knowledge. She is known to be an explorer and an adventurer before a superheroine whose intentions is to fight crime alone. However, in more than enough occasions, Jill’s ventures have resulted in encounters between herself and criminal groups often seeking the same goal as Jill for their own benefit, if not simply being a criminal group in the area. Ultimately resulting in Heroine work with necessary authorities contacted, and permissions taken.
Jill is currently a member of the supergroup “Urban Legends”, through which she was registered as a superheroine in order to legalize her actions and bring her an income for her efforts.
History
Song.
A family of far-reaching history. Having its roots even in the ancient eras of China, the name of “Song” has always meant something to all that surrounded them. To some, it was but another family of wealth. To some, it was a beacon of hope which feared not to share its wealth with the poor and unlucky, supporting of those who found the way into their fair employment. To some, it was a name to be feared- not at all because it meant a sharp, lawful blade through the skin of the unjust, but on the contrary, for being the cloud of wickedness and treacheory that loomed over whoever was unlucky enough to be in their territory.
To be a Song, was to understand nothing is as black and white- and to be a Song with a limited vision was to be pushed away, never to be remembered. To be a Song was to realize that- for one is of this family- the one’s life is not of his own alone. One of the fundamentals of the family’s teachings was to acknowledge that a ripple-effect to a man’s life, caused by his or others’ actions, was like breath to lungs. It was taken as it is, not judged, but known. To be born Song was no exception. To be a Song was to be in debt. And the owner of that debt, that is the family itself, never missed to claim.
For generations, Song had influence over happenings they have set their eyes to control. With control, their political and financial power has grown. And with the growing power, came the inevitable rivals. Conflicts between Song and their adversaries have ravaged the lives of the innocent in multiple occasions in the past. Not only blade to blade, but also shadow-wars between Song and and the others who’d like to claim its spot, be it assassinations, ambushes, blackmails, caused the unfortunate who happened to live in their surroundings their jobs and homes, if not their lives.
Every empire sees its decline, however, sooner or later. And Song was no exception to it either. In time, they have acquired a well-learned lesson of wisdom; nothing, not even their flawless presence, lasts forever. The rise in number of challengers, more strict oversight on their inner matters by the authorities, lost wars; all have combined themselves, and came to be the end of the family’s odyssey. Their influence was broken, their pouches were emptied, and their secrets- not only their archives but also the settlements they have achieved to build very often out of public eye, in some corner of China- were lost to the age and fire.
It is a fallen lineage of this calibre Song Shu was born to. Into an outlining that was named Song, but in the inside, it was hollow, and it was nothing like what it used to be. Enemies of the past have become of now, and allies have become enemies. Even when nothing was what it was used to be anymore, they were hunted. They took Song’s reputation first, in the past. Their dignity and purses, not too long after. But now, they seeked their life, for past grudges that were never forgotten.
On the run, Shu lived her life. From city to city in China, for past mistakes her family has commited. How all those grudges came to be from the ancient times, all the way to the present day, she knew not. But she knew she had to run, like other Song who were scattered across. It wasn’t safe to see each other. And thus, they didn’t. But there was one who was lucky enough to not be born Song, who Shu trusted enough to go with, from the moment they met. Huan. They met on the run- maybe not of equal danger in comparison but the same purpose. To run. And to run from the past. From the moment they have come to know each other, Huan has always been Shu’s wall when she was in danger, her book and hearth when she seeked solace, and before too long, the sight of love she knew she resisted to no end. Once the denials of the woman found a cease, both she and Huan have finally knew what real peace was. When they weren’t being shot at, anyway.
During a night of fate, the day of which was of immense stress to Huan, Shu knocked their own door. Awaiting under the pouring rain, her long and straight, raven black hair all soaked. A broken expression of neutrality and hollowness decorated her face. She watched the door’s bottom corners. Letting rain wash over her in front of the door of their small cabin-hideout, in the borders of Henan. The door opens, and light shines onto Huan’s day, at night. A breather of relief ran his lungs. He stepped forth, making haste, to hold Shu. Making sure it wasn’t a dream that he thought he was having to console himself regarding Shu leaving him.
But Shu didn’t leave him. Shu only went to fetch the news. News that entailed how a piece of them both was soon to come to life.
The happiness of good news couldn’t last longer than a day or two for them, however. They were found. And yet again, they had to run. Reality, after all, couldn’t let them enjoy their happiest days. Soon enough, in fact, it was going to reveal a dire truth. Raising a child was a challenge itself alone; but that is for the people with stable lives. Huan and Shu had none of such. Their life was on the edge, they barely met anyone who could be of help, and trust people around them even less. They had no home, no family they could contact. Gunfire was not too scarce in their life either. A child in the said life was going to be unmistakably catastrophic. They knew they had only one option, for they denied giving up on their child.
Months later, came the day. Their child was born. They called her Mingxia, they thought the way she looked at them, innocent and with billions of questions in her young mind, was as warm as clouds brightening at dawn.
Sadly, however, it wasn’t before the second month that they had to accept the dreaded reality, yet again. As hurtful as it was to them to plead to another family to take care of their child, raise her as their own, the alternatives were less than savory to look into. They have started to look for a door. Huan wanted not to be too far away from his daughter, but Shu knew better. It cannot be China. Nor Asia. Not with so many rivalries still lingering around, seeking grudges fulfilled. They made their way to Beijing first, then to the airport. To fly far from Far East.
England. A country well unknown to them. from the moment they landed, Huan immediately started to see to the news of the country. His main objective was to find out who was the man and woman they were going to trust their child’s life with. Their search found results. A married couple of wealth. Her soon to be father, a successful doctor. Her soon to be mother, a bright writer and a poet. A home far better than what they could wish for their child, a life far better than what they could provide to her as things stand.
As devastating as it was, both Shu and Huan have knew it was how it had to be. With hopes one day they meet their child, somehow, they took her to the doorstep of Leo and Emilia Ward. Where they kissed their baby girl the goodbye they wished not to last forever.
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And indeed the child of Song Shu and Huan have had a far better life than they could have wished for her. Under the wings of a successful doctor and a famed writer, she grew up in gardens and luxury of her new parents’ villa instead of on the run, under gunfire. Playing with friends instead of training in combat. Practicing gymnastics and having private tutors at home, instead of shooting bullets to the hired-guns on her mother’s tail. Named Jill Ward, instead of Song Mingxia.
She always has been the driven, smart kid of the class, yet never the successful one, once she has begun to take courses at a near by school. Emilia’s wish for her daughter was to learn how to socialize. Instead, they have discovered that it was very nigh-impossible to pull the little girl’s attention to something she didn’t want to do, and it sure was completely outrageous to try and pull her away from something she felt driven to accomplish. A child, with traits that warmed their heart and yet concerned them of her future.
The two, however, were a farsighted couple. By the time she has made it to high school, having full trust in their daughter’s future, they tried not to shape her life, but aid her by providing the ground to step on so that she could do it herself. They ceased the private lessons upon the girl’s own request. Tried to widen the range of people they allow near her. At some point, Leo even took the girl to his own private clinic, where he has shared some cases of his patience with the girl, expecting her to answer a few questions regarding what should be done with some, trying to identify what kind of person their daughter was becoming. Not only to know who they had in their home, as their legacy to the world, but also to determine what and who she likes, what actions she is growing up to accept as proper conduct.
Jill grew up to be a considerably rebellious teenager due to- as free of control by her parents as her life was- special treatments, and regardless of freedom of choice she was given, the fact that she could have anything under her palm if she needed something. Her achievements were her own, but they weren’t forged on her own. Nothing in her life was. With the constant interest in the young woman regarding philosophy, the discussions of living her own path has begun between her and her parents. Discussions became arguments, and arguments became wounds. The love of her parents for her, and the other way around, has never changed. But both her parents and herself have felt that it was just not meant to be for her to live in gardens, and sip teas that both of her set of parents wished for her. Before freedom of choice became rebellion and in-family conflict, Jill has yet again showed her resolve, and trust in her family, to take Leo and Emilia before her for a life-altering chat.
End of an era it was for the secret daughter of Song. It wasn’t a goodbye to Leo and Emilia, but it was clear she had to stand on her own feet. As otherwise proved futile to fight for. With promises of calling them every day, and never forgetting family, Jill has set her path to United States of America in hopes of higher education, working for her own goals, and surviving on her own feet. And of course, exploration- or in this case- self discovery.
Arriving in Millennium City, Jill was one tough nut to crack by her friends met in her University. Studying Ancient History and Classics, she has always been the mystery girl of the class. Refusing to talk about her parents and their wealth, where she comes from outside that it is- quite obviously- United Kingdoms; it wasn’t too long before the young woman has started to intrigue those around her not only because of how attractive she was, but also the secrets she so kindly, and without a mistake in politeness, kept to herself. She had started to make friends, a few of them quite closer than others. Joined in clubs of her school, mainly remaining for that of the school’s library. She had her archery classes- whenever she could afford it. Life was starting to be what Jill wanted to achieve. Among high goals she wasn’t in a rush to reach, the efforts she has put through were rewarding her with a life of her own. Her family wasn’t too fond of their daughter living in another country across the ocean, refusing to get their financial aid and contacts; but they were happy that she did what she told them she would, and never severed her ties to her parents.
Peace was a short-lasting state of her University life, however. In time, she met a friend of hers she was to care dearly for the rest of her life. Laura Leaf. Laura was a fellow student of Ancient History and Archaeology, rivalled only by another fellow student in their class. She was a shy type. She was often welcomed in the class, she was too focused on her own worries she couldn’t pay attention to savoring life itself. Jill never saw the difficulties Laura had with socialization, however. She saw fire, and concern for others. Ambition and innocence rolled perfectly into a single being. Unlike others, she didn’t find her silence and blushes weird. She found inspiration in her studies and notes, instead of focusing on her interactions with others. The day they finally met face to face was one of the days Jill finally realized she needed friends she could trust to talk about anything, let alone how she could have anything with a phone call if she wanted. And quite ironically, she just found one.
As their friendship grew, Jill has become more familiar with the issues Laura and her father had. A local gang in China Town called ‘Mist Crawlers’, usually known with their legal business; a Chinese restaurant namely ‘Misty Rest’. Mark Leaf, Laura’s father, had a small shop of antiquity in China Town, where Mist Crawlers fancied visits to receive their monthly payment for ‘protection’ they provide. It was one of those days when Laura invited Jill to study, given her father was going to be home late. The said, late arrival was one to be never forgotten by both of them. Battered, bloodied, and barely walking, Mark has returned. He refused to give them the money they were so unfairly earning from him, and results were clear to the eyes like crystal.
It was Laura’s cries that night, lost smiles at school, and her constant spacing-outs that made Jill say the word she has realized she should’ve a long time ago. Enough.
She brought her bow and arrows to her table. Donning her scarf around her head, she has set to hunt for information about the gang troubling her friend’s and her father’s life. Not too long after, she learned the first lesson about the men she was supposedly hunting. They had connections with gunrunners, they were numbered far more than she could bear arrows in her quiver for each, and their leader, Liu the Charter, was a dangerous man. She snuck into one of their warehouses, where she learned that Liu was planning an attack to their rivals. A fight he cannot win, to say the least. However, the casualties in the streets, death of those who didn’t deserve such an end; Jill knew there and then that she not only had to protect her friend, but she also had to do something.
She wasn’t trained in combat outside some private classes she was already dulled on back in United Kingdoms, let alone going toe to toe with an armed and well funded gang as if she was a superheroine. She barely had any financials to provide for her equipment, nor contacts to call if she failed and required medical attention. But she knew one thing that; when she has to protect something, or someone, it’s thinking that is going to get her through it, not panic and worry for their wellbeing, nor of her own. She used a part of her income to get tickets for Laura and Mark, making sure they left the city. Soon after, she informed her parents that she wasn’t going to be able to talk to them for a while, and then she cut all connections with them. She bought more arrows, for she knew without them it was going to be challenging.
She begun with warehouses, and soon it became ambushing the deals with gunrunners. But it wasn’t enough. Each time, she either returned with more wounds than achievements against her foe, and sometimes she returned with failure. Many times she returned barely holding herself from blood loss, which she had to treat herself. Many times she was almost caught by the police she wished to aid, for she didn’t want to be a criminal but also not a person marked a ‘heroine’. The moment this ordeal was done, all she wished for was to return to her life. Little she knew that was about to prove an extraordinary dream.
During her ventures, she met a police officer, namely Officer Markins, who was the only one among the MCPD force achieving a contact with the mysterious, new vigilante in the streets. A cop in his fifties, and a man loved by many. After exchanging motives, Jill has made her first mistake in her long career of heroism to come. Her name, where she comes from, how and why she was fighting the Mist Crawlers; she sung it out like a bird the moment Markins said he could help her. Acquiring her first lesson from the man, Jill was told never to share such secrets, if she wants to keep Laura and Mark truly safe. Luckily for her, the man also noted that he wasn’t going to give out the details of her identity to his force, but that he has to share details of the information given about the Mist Crawlers by Jill. Given she noticed how life saving those bits could be to the MCPD officers, she didn’t refuse the deal. And with that, first, genuine interaction between Jill and an MCPD officer was made. resulting in benefit of them both. Officer Markins couldn’t stop the others from chasing Jill whenever she appears, but he sure was the reason why they missed her in a constant basis, for a long time.
Later-on investigations has let Jill to work more closely around the docks of Millennium City. Liu has increased the frequency of deals with gunrunners, which asked for Jill’s attention far more carefully on the matter. During one of the ambushes Jill has set for the Crawlers and their gun dealers, she almost has met her end. If it wasn’t for a power-armored superhero’s interference while passing by, namely Blast-Beetle, she would’ve lost her guts. Literally, in this case. Saved by the last second’s call, however, the shipment was stopped by Jill and the Blast-Beetle, resulting in dislocation of Jill’s arm. On their way to the hospital, Jill requested Blast-Beetle to aid her in her endeavor, instead carrying her to Mercy Hospital which she so intently remarked that who they want behind the bars aren’t there. They shared their names, as she trusted the man given he didn’t turn her in to the police. Discovering his name to be Richard Orrington. After they struck their hasty deal to stop it, and after Jill fixed her dislocated arm in front of the man’s eyes all alone, the two headed for the Misty Rest restaurant to put an end to the ordeal once and for all.
When they arrived, the scenery was less than savory to look at. The restaurant was already a fortress, guarded by armed men, including snipers. Forging a quick plan, Jill mentioned she was to enter the settlement to cut Liu’s path from escaping after the Blast-Beetle’d take down the main bulk of the gang in front of the restaurant. They quickly got to doing their part. However, complications were, as per usual, there to knock on their door.
Coming across a man with mystical capabilities, using it to wield destructive, elemental magic, and to enhance his Mia Dao blade, called Feng Xia- the Blast-Beetle soon had a lot on his plate instead of thugs with guns that can’t even tickle his armor. Jill on the other hand had a row of armed men, who she had to take down using the dark of the night. From the shadows, she hunted. But in the end, she was discovered, all the same. During the conflict, Feng Xia was able to extensively damage the Blast-Beetle’s armor. And yet, he failed to win the duel against the Beetle, that the lot were showing surprising respect to, by not interfering. Jill, on the other hand, was shot by her leg, and was dangerously beaten during her journey to find Liu inside the building. Once the beetle won the duel, he didn’t give the lot a moment to honor his victory. He immediately casted a blast from his armor, ultimately sending the already-damaged armor to low-power mode.
Concerned of Jill’s wellbeing, the man in the power-armor hurried inside. Finding the unconscious gang members, as well as the ones Jill seems to have killed, on the ground. The trail of hunt was discovered to be marked not only by their blood, by Jill’s own as well. Once he walked down the stairs, and reached the end of the corridor heading to the storage of the restaurant, trying to avoid the innocent people Jill seems to have set free on her path, he came to a sight of dire nature. Jill was defeated by Liu the Charter, seto n her knees besides the man with the gun she previously had in his grasp, this time. Pointed to Jill’s head. An iron bar was struck through the woman’s abdomen, due to which she was rapidly losing blood. The man was constantly calling her ‘Song’. To which Jill was in refusal, trying to explain that her name was Jill Ward.
Blast-Beetle’s interference has put wood to the fire, but at least, it stopped the execution. Though Liu proved himself to be an extraordinary marksman, Jill’s assumed ‘last-move’, that was to bite Liu’s leg as the Beetle and Liu were arguing, Liu was shot and shoulder-rammed by the Beetle near-unconscious. As the sirens of the police were nigh, the Beetle has chosen to save Jill’s life instead of resuming the fight.
Opening her eyes in the hospital, Jill was puzzled. Saved, as far as she could tell, but death sure was what she convinced herself she had met. Seeing Richard’s face, she calmed down. And the man began to fill Jill in on what happened. The two conversed for long periods of time. In which, Jill tried to convince Richard how it wasn’t his nor her fault, and that the only reason she killed was to survive. That they didn’t give her a choice, and for that, she made one. Seeing the young woman was being genuine, the offer to join a superhero group called ‘Urban Legends’ was extended to Jill. And, though she quite sooner than later noted how heroism wasn’t what she desired in life, she soon came to realize that her arrows could find mark in order to protect not just Laura and Mark, but many others.
The fact that Liu was so sure she is this ‘Song’ stuck to every thought in Jill’s mind after two weeks passed her recovery from the hospital bed, however. The young woman couldn’t help but start investigating the origins of Liu’s ideas. She searched the name on the internet, entered Liu’s old warehouses to find anything that could be of use. All she could find, however, was a hand-written letter in traditional Mandarin. Context of which roughly translates to “Kill the Song”.
The letter had no inscriptions, or an address. Seeing the language the context was written with, she didn’t expect an address on it anyway. Using the security cameras of the warehouse to identify who the man that brought the letter to Liu was, she found a face of a man similar aged to her, Far Eastern from the looks as far as she could tell. Sending the data to a newly acquired yet trusted contact in UNTIL, along with apologies for being so hasty on asking for an aid on an off-topic matter, Jill has acquired the information that the man came to MC with a flight booked from China, Beijing, and his first departure to reach the airport was from Henan. A province in Eastern side of China. Before too long, Song has set her path to China. Asking the UNTIL contact to avoid telling anyone, while she herself had to open it up to Richard in order to make sure he doesn’t get wrong ideas as if she was running away within the second week of her registration to Urban Legends. Explaining it the best she could, she acquired a bit of borrowed money for the road from the man, and in case something happens, to not tell Laura nor her parents.
Jill’s arrival was a few days later to China, landing on Beijing. She resided in a cheap hotel until the next day. With first lights of the day, she set herself on path to Henan. Arriving first in city of Dengfeng, she noticed the trail was fading. It was a large city, and she couldn’t come into verbal contact with anyone, given she didn’t know even a basic level of Chinese. Quite numerously causing people to peer at her confused, given she looked just like them, yet spoke English with a refined, British accent, and no other language. All alone, the only choice she could make was to find someone who speaks English as soon as possible. Doing just that, the young woman’s has come across an information far too important to miss for her investigation.
The man of her age pointed towards the mountains near by, and finally told her a well-longed-for detail that every other who didn’t know English well presumably tried to when they pointed at her and spoke a language she didn’t understand; that this mountain, was called ‘Mount Song’. A sacred place to China among many others, where the Shaolin Temple stood on its peaks. He, unaware of the situation, asked if it was the place she wanted to go. Knowing it is her only lead, she agreed to the man’s offer of taking her there.
When they arrived in the Temple’s entrance, tourists were pouring into the tourist-allowed sites, watching the Shaolin Monks and their initiates train in their daily basis. From outside, she couldn’t see much. But it wasn’t a belief of hers that she’d find something in places visitors were allowed into. For that, she dug deeper. Quickly making her way towards a near by wall, awaiting the right moment to climb over it. Upon reaching its top, the girl quickly jumped forth and landed on the green soil. She was, as far as the guiding map said, in Pagoda Forest.
She kept her bow in her hand from the point she landed. Alone, in a forest banned for visitors, likely for a reason she thought. Arrow already knocked to her bow and rested by its rear on the bow’s string. One slow step after the other, she continued on. With a row of chinese words, spoken by a man, she almost immediately took a halt. It was there and then she met a Shaolin Warrior Monk for the first time. Qiang, about her age if not a little older. He was a calm man. Even when he was on the target point of an arrow, ready to be shot at him. He welcomed Jill with a calm smile, but a gaze of caution. After exchanging, in fact, a few blows, Qiang easily upper handed Jill, hardly breaking a sweat. Not even her steel sight could catch the man with her arrows sent his way. The moment he arrived besides her, anyway, she discovered why she should have asked for permission to enter, regardless of whether she was going to be let in or not.
Qiang didn’t turn Jill in to the authorities, and instead, he offered Jill to come find rest with him at a nearby rock. Where she could sit, and gather her senses, while he’d ask a few questions. Offering the woman his own tea, they exchanged words and Qiang came to acknowledge that she was a Song. Not to mention, he knew who they were.
Destructive it was to learn she had a lineage of what one’d call a family-mafia today. Qiang asked Jill if she has never noticed how good she was with a bow, explaining to her that marksmanship was a widely acquired skill of Clan Song. During their conversation, they even noticed the wrapping she was put before the Wards’ doorstep was green. Entailing the color of her real family’s past.
Jill learned anything she could from Qiang, including a certain archives in the skirts of Mount Song, that Song used as a deposit for happenings in their family history. But he warned that it was going to be dangerous, and that she will find things she won’t like in those shelves. Making a grim note of such, Jill asked Qiang to lead her there. A rocky, dangerous path with no attention or care paid to it for centuries, they walked around the mountain. Secret passages, mandatory climbing, leaps and zip lining; she sure was lucky she brought most of the required gear, and had enough money to trade for the rest. And in the end, they reached a point nearby, an ancestral door of might and stone. Qiang grimaced, and mentioned that he won’t enter such a place. Not out of fear, but out of respect to those who came before.
The door way was of wonders. It wasn’t too large, but it seems to have a very carefully done motives upon it. With her Clan’s crest, a serpent wrapped around a diagonally presented bow. On each side, lied what appears to be large, stone statues representing heavy soldiers. In the right hand of each, was a Guan Dao. Rested on the soil by the pommel of their shafts, blades up. They didn’t need to come to life to scare Jill, in such a gloomy, silent atmosphere, surrounded by un-attended, lush wildlife.
Jill headed down the stairs once she managed to push the heavy door. Upon reaching the archives, she noticed she wasn’t alone. Armed, well equipped men were inside, guarding the written treasure that she needed. It took a lot of Jill to take them down, for they were no ‘just over-equipped thugs of MC’. Their combat capabilities and aim was hardly like anything she came across before, in her brief history of heroism. Wounded, bloodied, and covered in dirt, she won nevertheless. And quickly began to take pictures of the pages, trying not to destroy old books. She found a bigger one in the centre of the room, decorated in front of what appears to be a shrine. After taking its pictures as well, the girl left the archives and headed towards the point where Qiang told her he’d be waiting.
Jill’s return was uneventful. She directly made her way to Lerry Stewart’s home, a friend from University who specializes in the history of Ancient China. Knowing Mandarin, Lerry translated the texts for Jill. It took her some unexpected effort to not reveal her origins to the young man during their work together. But she managed to learn what she needed.
The text stated every good, bad, cold, smart traits of her lineage. A Clan of scarce remorse, for remorse lead to what one’d expect to be corruption. An extensively differing view, she observed her family to have, from today’s understanding of ‘doing good’ or ‘protecting’. Doing good was to make sure your family survives. And protecting was to do what is necessary to do so. It was her time now, to be the Song who leads the family to the next generation; who makes sure the family survives, and does what is necessary.
Jill halted. She didn’t want to be a murderer, regardless of means. Not to mention, she wasn’t the one to let others, not even her parents, to shape her life in her stead. She was a Ward. But she knew she couldn’t deny she was a Song, too. It is where she noticed, that her family’s old teachings were of use. ‘Nothing is as black and white’, being a Song was, now, to be who decides what her Clan’s pages will tell in the Archives then on. The one who doesn’t do what the past tells, but the one who charts the new path to follow. There was one way to do it. She had to become Song as a Ward who never met them. Who had to change the course of their history, for the sake of her parents she never met, for the sake of conflict Qiang had to read between his people and hers, and for the sake of people who have been hurt by her name in the Clan’s past.
Jill has stepped in front of Richard, telling him that her name won’t do for her Superhero life. She can’t act with ‘Jill Ward’ alone. A moniker was needed as a sign, not only to have a public name in the news, but to mean something for those who oppose her family due to past bloodsheds, and for those who has given up on seeing change in their bloodline:
Song.
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