CHAPTER ONE - SWAN GIRL

Grand Titan was just another dead hero in the city streets, except he was missing half his head, and his brain matter was scraped across five blocks. Crowds and news reporters gathered, blockaded by police and first responders but the spectacle of a dead giant man the size of half a football field in the middle of the busy street wasn't going unnoticed despite their efforts. Mayor Thunderbolt was the first to be contacted by the Commissioner. Grand Titan was his close friend, and someone or something was powerful enough to kill him.

A meeting was called to order at Bravery Tower the next morning. The American Bravery's Divine Nine gathered. White Lightning, elder brother of Mayor Thunderbolt, was the Supreme of the Divine Nine and was the first one to arrive in the war room. He was saddened by the death of a fellow comrade and empathized with his brother's loss. Nestoratu The Black teleported the remaining six members into the war room.

Valtencia, the Omniscient Oracle. Galahad, the Invincible Man. Cupid, the Master of Illusions. Shadow Runner, the fastest man alive. Odin Man, the spirit of Odin sharing the body of a young teenager named Scott Ridley. And lastly, Lady Whitefang, wife of White Lightning and Master Martial Artist. Galahad was the first to voice his concern.

"Where the hell is Thunderbolt? He takin' it easy after what happened to his friend? I know I wouldn't." said Galahad.

"Not quite, Galahad. I am seeking him with my All Seeing Eye and he is..not taking it very well." said Valtencia.

"Where is my brother?" asked White Lightning.

Mayor Thunderbolt was out of costume disguised with a hooded jacket and did something he hadn't done in a long time. He took matters into his own hands. He had infiltrated a drug facility in a trailer park in broad daylight, taking out all fourteen armed targets with his bare hands, letting no man escape.

A brave young man tried breaking a bottle of liquor over Thunderbolt's head, but it was like hitting solid steel. The glass shattered, and Thunderbolt gave the man what was coming to him. Before breaking the man's arm, he broke the man's nose with just a thrust of his thumb. He shattered his jaw with a light slap, grabbed him by the collar and threw him vertically. He let gravity do the rest.

"He's dealing with it in his own way." said Valtencia.

"Knowing my brother, he's doing damage out there and we need him here to discuss the matter of Grand Titan." said White Lightning.

"Shall I teleport to him?" asked Nestoratu.

"This is Mayor Thunderbolt we're talking about, Nestoratu. He's probably very pissed off, and I doubt he'll want to deal with us right now. I wouldn't want to deal with him either!" said Cupid.

"No matter. We can brief him when he has the chance to cool off. We must discuss this anomaly before it gets even worse." said Lady Whitefang.

"What sort of dastard villain has so brutally maimed one of our own? 'Tis a means for war is it not?" asked Odin Man.

"It certainly seems like a challenge." said Galahad.

"What do you make of this, Shadow Runner?" asked Lady Whitefang.

"We do what we always do. We find the bastard that did this, and bring them to justice." said Shadow Runner.

"I'll do a little more than bring them to justice." said Galahad.

White Lightning had been quiet for some time, looking out the window down at all of New Maximus City. It helped him think and settled his mind. He began evaluating who Grand Titan was. He was not someone who could be taken down so easily, and the way he was brutally dropped from seemingly nowhere indicated that he was killed somewhere else. His body being left there was a grim message to The American Bravery.

"My love, what is on your mind?" asked Lady Whitefang.

"Whoever is inciting a challenge against us couldn't be anybody. This is someone who has bad blood with us heroes. And since they made sure Grand Titan was found in New Maximus City, they wanted to let us know. They wanted all of us to know..That gods can be killed." said White Lightning.

"Valtencia. Was your magic orb able to identify our culprit?" asked White Lightning.

"I'm afraid not, my Supreme. My scrying was only able to detect Grand Titan the moment he collapsed onto the city streets." replied Valtencia.

"And if our culprit was capable of disposing a giant without Valtencia's All Seeing Eye detecting them, they have to be someone far more devious than anyone we've ever faced." said White Lightning.

"Who could this person be, my love?" asked Lady Whitefang wrapping herself around White Lightning's arm.

"The Fantasian Wizard was one of our greatest foes, yet we've trapped him in the Zero Barrier Dimension with all the other cosmic villains who've threatened us! Do you believe he has escaped?" asked Odin Man.

"Perhaps Cronus the Deathmonger has returned. With the efforts of the Galaxy Saviors he was thought to have been thrown into a dying sun." said Cupid.

"No! This has to be someone from our own planet. I can blame no one but Edgar Lucius. He hides behind a veil of philanthropy, and technological advancement, yet he has been linked to countless crimes!" said Galahad.

"I have searched my All Seeing Eye and it has proven that none of those of whom you speak are the ones that killed Grand Titan. This truly is perplexing that someone can overpower my Sarlexian magic." said Valtencia.

"What if it's one of us?" asked Shadow Runner.

The room fell silent like the eye of a storm. To think that a hero would turn on one of their own was an elementary concept they hadn't yet considered and it was one which they had each equally feared. But Shadow Runner was correct to have his speculations. They had to consider all possibilities.

"If the killer is one of us, then god help us all." said White Lightning.

"When gods pray to gods, who else do we turn to?" asked Cupid.

Valtencia went to visit her Master later that day in the chaotic dreamscape. Another Sarlexian such as herself named Tabraxia. The Sarlexians were an all female race from a doomed planet destroyed by Cronus the Deathmonger nearly three thousand years ago.

There are very few Sarlexians left and many of them spend the rest of their immortal days on Earth, or in dreams. Tabraxia was like a mother to Valtencia, and her worries led her to the dreamscape where Tabraxia meditated. Valtensia sat across from her Master as the infinite colors surrounded them.

"Valtencia. I had a vision you'd come visit me." said Tabraxia.

"My apologies for arriving on such short notice, Master Tabraxia."

"Your worries pertain to a late comrade of yours being slain in battle?" asked Tabraxia.

"Indeed. Our Sarlexian magic cannot penetrate this foe and we cannot see who has murdered our comrade. Has this ever happened to you, Master?"

"Our Sarlexian magic is powered by the cosmos. When the cosmos refuses to answer us, what do you think its feeling, my young protege?"

"What do I think the cosmos feels? I had only known the cosmos to be a collective entity of growth beyond our comprehension, but to assume our universe can feel..I cannot say."

"You are Sarlexian, young Valtencia. You are the host of the cosmos collective and its accumulated knowledge. You must not think, you must feel! You always have been more of a thinker than you were emotional." laughed Tabraxia.

"I have had centuries of torture I have yet to resolve from my own heart, Master. Those were days of anguish I can never let go."

"You have quarrels with the living still, do you?" asked Tabraxia.

"I have had no faith among the living since that day, you know this, Master."

"Then why are you still a hero? Perhaps you still hold on to some form of justice as though you wish to avenge the dark chapters of your life by helping those in need so that they do not suffer as you did."

"You may be right, Master. But why must I feel the universe..why must I feel the cosmos to summon this power? I must find out who murdered our comrade. Enlighten me, Master."

"It is quite simple, young Valtencia. As the humans say, listen to your gut. What are you feeling at this very moment?" asked Tabraxia.

"The way I am feeling..is the same way I've felt when I was tortured for three hundred years on that dastardly planet. I am frightened." said Valtencia.

"This is good, young Valtencia. The unknown has resurfaced and your omniscience is at a panic for the first time in eons. It clouds your All Seeing Eye."

"But this doesn't make any sense. I've lost many comrades in the past. Why does this one affect me so?"

"You saw them coming. You know it is necessary to never interfere in some tribulations lest you entangle yourself in the webs of chaos. You've lived the majority of your life knowing all. Now is the time where shadows lurk in your mind and that is a horror. Learn to embrace the horror, and learn to embrace the unknown. Only then, will you achieve a greater power. A power no Sarlexian has ever achieved."

It wasn't long before Valtencia woke from her trance. She had been sitting like a lotus in her dark and quiet quarters within The Bravery Tower. Only ten minutes have passed since the morning meeting. She suddenly received a message from Cupid.

"Valtencia, you've got to come to the war room. Something's happening." said Cupid as Valtencia ran out of her room in a hurry.

She had arrived last in the war room with the Divine Nine watching the television with their full attention. They had not even heard Valtencia coming in. On the television was a message from the killer. It was being read by a news reporter live on air.

"Swallow the dread, brave heroes. Remember your first pain. Remember it well. Remember that you bleed just the same. The fires of hell aren't enough for you, so I'll bring hell to you. I'll breed within you, an idea. This idea will become our greatest marvel. And this idea is who I am. So who am I?"

The news reporter had to clear his throat and adjusted his tie. He was unsure of how to react and he was drenched in visible sweat.

"This son of a bitch wants a piece of us? He'll get it. Thinks he can just kill us heroes." said Galahad furling his fists.

"There is more to this." said Valtensia.

The news reporter continued.

"This next part is quite graphic, I must warn you." he said with a cracked voice.

"P.S. You'll find Swan Girl in bits and pieces at St. Maximus Bridge stuffed inside a suitcase. I've kept her pretty head to myself as a nice trophy."

"Swan Girl? That was Grand Titan's sidekick." said Cupid.

"Everyone, to St. Maximus Bridge, now!" said White Lightning as Nestoratu cloaked them in his cosmic cape.

They arrived at St. Maximus Bridge almost instantaneously. Shadow Runner was the first one to frantically search the area. White Lightning turned to Valtensia.

"What does your orb say, Valtensia?" he asked.

"It still refuses to tell me anything. Forgive me, Supreme. I am useless to you." said Valtensia.

"Don't apologize, Valtensia. With Shadow Runner, we'll find the suitcase in no time. Let's just hope this bastard is toying with us and Swan Girl is…" White Lightning didn't want to finish that sentence. Even the Supreme of the Divine Nine was feeling hopeless. But he knew there was no time to dwell on it.

White Lightning ordered the Divine Nine to blockade traffic around the area and started a perimeter. Lady Whitefang guarded the North entrance with Cupid while Galahad and Nestoratu guarded the South entrance. Shadow Runner was the fastest hero in the group and worked ten times faster than they would if they searched together. Odin Man searched from the skies using height to spot the suitcase, but to no avail.

It was only until Odin Man saw a strange object at the base of the bridge did he alert the Divine Nine.

"My friends, I have a glimpse of a peculiar item beneath the bridge! Shadow Runner!"

"I'm on it, Odin." said Shadow Runner as he dashed through the water towards the object.

"Shadow Runner, this is White Lightning. What have you found?"

"It's not a suitcase, it's a barrel. Permission to extract the object, Supreme?" asked Shadow Runner.

"Wait! It could be a trap. I'll have Valtensia look at it." said White Lightning as he turned to her.

Valtensia was tense, and she was unsure of herself for the first time in centuries. White Lightning was depending on her, but strangely, her powers had no effect on this villain threatening them. She had to remember what her Master said to her. She remembered that she had to embrace her own fear.

Valtensia focused her thoughts and remembered her own traumatic past. Those thoughts of fear washed over her, and it inspired her to focus. She remembered how she escaped that planet, desperate and crying profusely upon that stolen pod. She had realized that at this moment, her obsession with heroism came from metaphorical vengeance. It wasn't fear at all, it was anger that drove her. And then suddenly, she saw what was within that barrel.

"White Lightning?" Valtensia murmured.

"What is it, Valtensia?" he asked.

"The suitcase is in there."

"Can you see what's in the suitcase?"

Valtensia concentrated, but to no avail.

"I'm sorry, my Supreme. I cannot."

"It's okay, you did good, Valtensia. We just had to make sure it wasn't a trap." said White Lightning as he signaled towards Odin Man.

"Odin! I'll need you to be the one to open that barrel. If it's an explosive, you'll be able to take it, but Shadow Runner won't. Think you can do it?" asked White Lightning.

"By my beard, Supreme! I can sustain any damage from your earthly technologies without harm!" said Odin Man beating his chest as he flew down to where Shadow Runner stood.

"It's all yours, Odin. Be careful." said Shadow Runner.

"Aye! No harm shall come to you, nor anyone here this day! I promise you!" said Odin Man.

News helicopters were flying from above, crowds gathered atop the slopes of the bridge and traffic was at a halt.The other Divine Nine were still blockading the entrances to the bridge as impatient drivers began wondering what was going on. Onlookers watched in curiosity while in a safe distance from the bridge as Odin opened the lid of the barrel.

"I have taken off the lid of the barrel. There is indeed a suitcase lying within, Supreme! Just as our killer said on your television source!" said Odin Man.

"Slowly take the suitcase out of the barrel, Odin. It might be rigged to blow just by touch." said White Lightning.

Odin Man, without fear grabbed the suitcase from its handle and raised it from the barrel's depths. Blood was dripping between the creases of the suitcase. Valtensia suddenly received a vision and shrieked in horror. Her eyes were bleeding profusely.

"Valtensia!" White Lightning cried out as he held Valtensia who was frantically fighting against what she was being forced to see.