Sam slowly looked around the small room where her team was hiding out, seeing that each of the others had grim expressions on their faces, which certainly matched the one she wore. Of course, that wasn’t surprising, considering that they’d just witnessed the arrival of an entire army.

“The Queen of Ravens,” Sam said with a grimace and a shudder.

“I thought Nevermore was the only thing we had to worry about,” Deadbeat responded with a deep scowl. “And her army of freaks…”

“I’ve never heard of the Queen of Ravens,” Poison admitted. “Have any of you?”

Everyone looked to Witch Girl, who as the magic user of the group, was the one most likely to have heard about something of this nature. However, she was clearly just as lost as the rest of them. “Maybe my dad knows something,” she finally responded. “If I can get hold of him… He hasn’t responded to my messages yet…”

“Nevermore sent her goons after the others,” Alleycat pointed out with a shake of her head. “I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s too busy fighting them off…”

Deadbeat scowled even more deeply, if that was possible, and looked out the window, at the Queen of Ravens and her court, which were still gathered in the park below. “I can’t believe Nevermore did all this crap, just for a chick…”

“It’s probably a little more complicated than that,” Sam pointed out wryly. “Obeying orders. Loyalty to her…his ruler. Political maneuvering among his people…”

“And maybe he’s just a psychotic freak like we always thought,” Alleycat added with a snort. “Either way, he looked a hell of a lot better before turning into a guy…”

“Before turning BACK into a guy,” Poison corrected. “Remember, Baron Nevermore started off as a man…at least as far as we know.”

Sam nodded faintly, looking back out the window at Baron Nevermore and this mysterious newcomer, the Queen of Ravens. Since Witch Girl’s spell was still active, allowing them all to hear what Baron Nevermore and his queen were saying, they were being treated to a description of the world and what it had to offer.

“I had thought to have this world enslaved for you upon your arrival,” Baron Nevermore told his queen. “However, I realized that you might find it more amusing to watch as these humans succumb to your power…”

“Damn,” Deadbeat commented with a chuckle. “He’s laying that on thick…”

“Probably just doesn’t want to admit that heroes kept beating him,” Witch Girl pointed out with a smirk.

“To begin the entertainment,” Baron Nevermore told the Queen of Ravens, “I have gathered a large number of this world’s champions nearby, so you may have the honor of crushing their greatest defenders for yourself. My servants have already stirred their blood to battle.”

“Interesting,” the Queen of Ravens mused. “Crushing this world’s defenders beneath my heel will prove a good start to our conquest. Let these humans see that even their most powerful warriors are naught but insects before me.”

“They will learn to fear you, my queen,” Baron Nevermore agreed almost pleasantly.

The Queen of Ravens turned to a woman who stood a short distance away. This woman looked young, no more than twenty, even though her hair was long and silvery white. She wore a flowing black dress, which contrasted greatly from her hair.

“Lady Minuit,” the queen announced. “This portal retains a connection to our previous home. Guard it well, for once I have gathered sufficient power, I will call forth the rest of my subjects.”

“As you command, my queen,” the silver haired woman…Lady Minuit responded with a bow.

“Now come,” the Queen of Ravens announced with a cruel smirk on her lips. “Let us see to these champions…”

With that, the ravens that were perched upon the telephone lines and nearly every other available place around the ruined park, all took to the air at once. The armed and armored warriors who stood in formation, an honor guard for their queen, all transformed into ravens and joined with the others. The air was so filled with black birds that Sam could no longer see the Queen of Ravens or Baron Nevermore, and once the view had cleared again, they too had vanished.

“This is not good,” Sam said, looking up to where ravens filled most of the sky above. “They’re going after the others…”

“I don’t have enough magic to take us back,” Witch Girl admitted with a worried expression.

Sam scowled, clenching her fists tightly and seething with a mixture of fear and determination. She could feel the dark power of those ravens, and she could feel them flying away.

“I need to stop them,” Sam whispered, thinking of Baron Nevermore and the Queen of Ravens.

When she’d been given her powers, it had been for the purpose of defeating some mysterious dark power. A short time after that, she’d encountered Nevermore, and once she’d defeated that threat, Sam had thought her mission was complete. Now, she wasn’t so sure. Now, she suspected that Nevermore had merely been a herald of the true darkness…the Queen of Ravens.

“This is the reason I have my powers,” Sam stated grimly.

“We can’t fly after them,” Poison pointed out, “and you won’t be able to do much against that army by yourself. For now, let’s see if we can learn something useful…”

Poison pointed out the window, down towards the ruined park. The area was nearly empty now, except for a single white-haired woman who remained behind. Of course, the park was also surrounded by more of those monsters they’d previously fought, but Sam was sure that out of all of them, Lady Minuit was the most dangerous.

“I need to get a better look at that portal,” Witch Girl mused thoughtfully. “Since its magic, I might be able to learn something about it that we can use…or that my dad can use.”

“Damn,” Deadbeat grumbled. “I’m probably gonna end up needing a new body again. I HATE being the cannon fodder.”

“But you’re so good at it,” Alleycat responded with a smirk, earning a glare from Deadbeat.

After a minute, they all started to make their way out of the building that had served as their cover, and around towards the ruined park and the portal. They moved carefully, as a lot of monsters were still wandering around, and Sam knew that they would have to be dealt with.

As soon as they were in position, Sam grimly announced, “I’ll clear a path…”

The creatures saw them a moment later and began to charge forward. Sam floated up into the air, readied her powers, and then waited until the monsters had gathered close enough together. Only then did she release a massive burst of her light energy, right into the middle of the mass. There were shrieks and howls as the creatures crumbled away to dust.

“Damn, that is effective,” Poison said as she ran forward to fight a couple of the stragglers that had been too far away for Sam to hit.

Within a couple minutes, all the creatures were either dead or had run off. Now, the only enemy that stood between them and that portal was Lady Minuit, who didn’t look like much of a threat. However, Sam could feel the dark power from her, and knew that she was dangerous.

Lady Minuit watched them approach without making a move. Her glowing red eyes seemed to contain a mixture of malevolence, determination, and curiosity, though Sam wasn’t sure. That might have just been her imagination.

“You show curiosity but little fear,” Lady Minuit finally said, slowly looking back and forth between them. “Foolish creatures. You will learn…”

Lady Minuit’s black dress moved around, as though under the power of a breeze that wasn’t there. Then, it suddenly lashed out, stretching out into inky tendrils that attacked them. One tendril snaked around Poison’s ankle while another wrapped around Deadbeat’s neck.

“Shit,” Poison exclaimed as her feet were yanked out from beneath her.

“Let go of me,” Deadbeat demanded as he struggled with the tendril that was trying to strangle him.

Witch Girl jumped back, yelling, “Irefay,” then throwing a ball of fire at Lady Minuit.

Lady Minuit yelped in pain but didn’t release Poison or Deadbeat. Instead, there was a crack as Deadbeat’s neck snapped. Two more tendrils snapped out form the dress, and though Alleycat leapt back in time to avoid being grabbed, Sam wasn’t so lucky. A tendril locked around her wrist and pulled her towards the white-haired woman.

“I don’t think so,” Poison snarled, snapping around and grabbing at the tentacle that held her. Her hands glowed green, and there was a hissing sound from the tendril, but it still didn’t release her. “I’m going to kill you…”

“Such promises,” Lady Minuit taunted them.

The inky blackness from the dress intensified and spread out along the ground, looking like a pool of oil that was growing larger and larger. As the pool ran beneath Poison, more tendrils sprouted up from it and began to wrap around her body. Alleycat’s foot became caught in the puddle, then tendrils quickly began to spread up her let, pulling her further in.

“Reezefay,” Witch Girl exclaimed, and ice crystals began to form over the pool of black goo, causing it to freeze in place, at least for several seconds. “Gotcha…”

“Do you, child?” Lady Minuit asked.

More blackness continued to ooze out of her dress and spread along the ground, over the ice crystals, and towards the heroes. Then, a black spear began to form in her hands, and from the way she was looking at Witch Girl, there was no doubt who she intended to use it on.

“You creatures were courageous to challenge me,” Lady Minuit commented in a calm tone. “Courageous yet foolish. Very VERY foolish. Now, you shall all die, screaming in torment and terror. Oh yes, you shall provide me a satisfactory meal after my long journey…”

Sam grimaced as she tried pulling her arm free of the black tendril, though it did no good. The tendril seemed too strong for that. However, she had more available to her than physical strength. Much more.

“I was given my powers to stop you,” Sam announced, taking a deep breath and calling up all the energy she could summon. “So that’s what I’m damn well going to do…”

And with that, Sam blasted Lady Minuit with her light, as much as she could call forth at the moment. The white-haired woman shrieked in agony as her dress and all of the black tendrils that spread out from it, began to bubble and burn. In mere seconds, the dress was completely burned away and the charred body of a naked woman collapsed motionless to the ground.

“Damn,” Alleycat said, looking at Lady Minuit’s body and then Sam. “You really did a number on that freaky bitch.”

“Good job,” Poison said.

“Thanks,” Sam responded, though she couldn’t feel good about killing someone, even a dark creature who was trying to kill them all. Then, to change the subject, she looked at Deadbeat’s body, which was lying on the ground with the neck bent at a bad angle. “It looks like he’ll need another new body…”

“Naw,” Deadbeat said as he began to move and slowly got to his feet. His head still flopped to the side due to the broken neck, but that didn’t seem to stop him from moving. “It’s just a scratch…”

Sam stared at her teammate for a moment before shaking her head. “Okay then,” she announced, looking to Witch Girl. “You said you wanted to get a good look at that portal, so you’d better do it now before anyone else shows up.”

“Good point,” Witch Girl agreed, going over to the portal and looking it over. She scowled before admitting, “I have no idea what I’m looking for, so this may take awhile…”

--------------------

Daphne carefully sat down in a chair, wincing from the discomfort as she did so. Just a short time ago, she’d been on the very edge of death, and though she’d recovered more than was humanly possible, she had yet to have the time or rest necessary to heal entirely.

“I wish I could just close my eyes and take a nap,” Daphne quietly mused to herself. However, that wasn’t a possibility, at least not right now. In fact, as she watched all the other heroes running around and preparing for the upcoming battle, she felt guilty for even stopping to rest for a few minutes.

So far, it had been a busy day, and an utterly exhausting one. First, she’d learned that Baron Nevermore had returned. Baron Nevermore was the monster who murdered her mother, who had taken away her only family and left her to grow up in a series of foster homes. The last time they’d met, Daphne had defeated Baron Nevermore’s plans and had watched him get pulled to Hell, but it wasn’t enough. She wanted…needed to see him stopped for good.

Of course, Baron Nevermore was hardly the only thing she had on her mind. Even the fact that she’d been severely injured and had come close to dying, wasn’t nearly as important to her as everything else.

“Mom,” Daphne whispered as tears started to form in her eyes.

Thanks to Channel, Daphne had been able to talk to her mom, who had been dead for years. That had been an amazing gift. A miracle. And just as unbelievable as that had been, so were the things that her mom had told her before leaving again.

“I have a dad,” Daphne said with a faint shake of her head. She could hardly believe it.

Daphne had worked with the White Knight a couple times before this Baltimore thing, and one time, she’d even gone to his home after a fight and met his family. However, she’d never imagined that he would be her biological father.

She was still stunned by this revelation and was trying to wrap her head around the very idea. She’d grown up an orphan…completely alone. Now, she not only had a father, but several sisters, as well as aunts, uncles, and cousins. It was too much to absorb all at once.

After a minute, Daphne looked up, her eyes sweeping over the area and settling on the various members of Knight Force. Most of them had stopped in to say ‘hi’ while she’d been recovering in the hospital tent, but it was clear that they were just as confused about her as she was about them. She knew most of them professionally, but not as relatives.

Just then, Daphne noticed a small group of heroes who were walking straight towards her. Most people would have seen the Miracle Men...Rumor, Splash, Surge, and Quartz…but Daphne saw her friends and adopted family…Beth, Sabrina, Allan, and Mike. These were the people who’d been there when she’d learned of her mother’s legacy, when she’d adjusted to her new body and gender, and who’d fought by her side when Baron Nevermore had first returned.

Beth was a beautiful girl with short black hair that contained a single white lock, and she definitely presented a certain goth style, though not quite as much as she had when they’d first met. Without a word, Beth threw her arms around Daphne, giving her a quick hug, then standing back with her hands on her lips to glare at her instead.

“You shouldn’t be here,” Beth exclaimed. “You should have evacuated with the other injured…”

“You nearly died,” Allan pointed out. “No one would blame you in the least for resting up…”

“I’d blame me,” Daphne pointed out grimly. “Baron Nevermore is coming, and I’ll be damned if I run away from him…”

Sabrina nodded at that, though she also smiled and gestured towards the White Knight. “And I’m sure that you don’t want to look bad in front of your new family…”

Mike was currently outside of the crystal armor that gave him the name Quartz, which made him a little more expressive than he often was as he shook his head. “Just don’t say you’re gonna leave us for Knight Force…”

Daphne chuckled at that. “Trust me, that isn’t in the plans. I barely know those guys…”

All of them looked a little relieved at that statement. “So,” Beth asked. “How are you feeling?”

“Sore,” Daphne reluctantly admitted. “And tired. But I’m good enough to fight.”

Then, to prove that she was still capable of carrying her own weight, Daphne stood up, trying not to wince at the ache in her side where she’d been injured. However, she hadn’t done a good enough job of hiding it because Beth and Sabrina both gave her worried looks.

“I’ll be fine,” Daphne quickly assured them. “It will take more than being stabbed by a sword to stop me.”

Again, the others gave her skeptical and worried looks, though they didn’t bother to argue. Allan, Sabrina, and Mike wandered away, giving Daphne and Beth a little privacy. Without saying anything, they began to walk around the area, watching as everyone prepared for the fight to come.

Daphne was a little startled to see Grendel and Grendel’s Mother sitting off to the side, with the massive monster looking almost peaceful. She’d fought Grendel once, and it had been a very tough fight. To see the monster just sitting there like that was just strange. Then as she watched, Grendel began to shift and change, slowly shrinking down and transforming back into Denise Roberts…the doctor who’d saved her life.

Once Denise had finished changing, Grendel’s mother gently draped a blanked around her, to cover her naked body. As Denise held the blanket closed, she looked up at Grendel’s Mother with a worried expression and asked, “What did I do this time? How bad was it?”

Grendel’s Mother just crouched down beside Denise, giving her a gentle smile. “Well, you beat the crap out of Force, then helped take down Loki too…”

“What?” Denise asked with a look of surprise and confusion.

Grendel’s Mother shrugged her massive shoulders, then awkwardly admitted, “Grendel did bruise a few heroes before I stopped him, but for the most part, he helped save the day…”

Denise lowered her head as she absorbed that, then stated, “Everyone saw me change…”

“Yeah,” the massive blue woman responded with a sigh. “The cat is out of the bag…for both of us.” Then she put her muscular arm around her much smaller aunt and just held her.

Beside Daphne, Beth commented, “It’s hard to believe that she turns into Grendel…”

“Yeah,” Daphne agreed. “I’m just glad that this time, Grendel was on our side…”

Daphne slowly looked around, noticing several of the other odd sights, one of which was Circuit, who had miraculously come back from the dead. Daphne didn’t understand exactly how Circuit had taken over Circuit Monger’s body, or how she’d begun altering it to look like her original one, but Daphne was glad to see her back. If nothing else, they could use her help in the upcoming fight.

Then Daphne turned her attention to Invincible Woman, who was sitting in a chair and being ‘mothered’ by Ghost Boy, while Velvet stood beside them. As soon as Circuit had taken over her new body, she’d issued some sort of ‘self-removal’ command to all of the people that Circuit Monger had infected. It had only taken a few minutes before Invincible Woman and Praxis were back to their normal selves, though both of them said that they couldn’t remember anything that had happened while they’d been infected.

“I’m fine,” Invincible Woman grumbled. “I’m still a little bruised, but that was from before Praxis infected me…”

With the mention of Praxis, Daphne turned her attention to the other heroine, who was in the middle of a conversation with the Face. She had a haunted look on her face, perhaps from the fact that she’d been under Circuit Monger’s control for several hours, or perhaps because she’d done her best to either kill or infect Invincible Woman and the others who’d gone on that mission. Daphne shuddered slightly, thankful that she hadn’t been one of those infected.

“Like being impaled was any better,” she reminded herself wryly.

“Hey,” Beth announced, punching Daphne on her arm to get her attention. “It looks like someone wants to talk to you…”

Beth pointed to the side where two teenage girls were walking towards them. Daphne immediately recognized the pink haired girl as Lady Knight…or Joselyn as she’d introduced herself earlier, while the other one was her sister Figment. THEIR sister Evie. Daphne wasn’t sure that she’d ever get used to having one sister, much less three. Or from what she’d overheard, possibly even four.

“I’ll let you talk,” Beth told Daphne with an amused smile before teasing, “And don’t pick on your little sisters…”

“Hey,” Joselyn said once she was closer. She gave Daphne an awkward smile and admitted, “Honestly, I’m not really sure what to call you now…”

“Daphne,” Daphne answered with a smile. “Call me Daphne.”

“How are you feeling?” Evie asked, giving Daphne a worried look. “You were hurt pretty badly…”

“I’m healing pretty quickly,” Daphne assured Evie, noticing that she had an arm that was wrapped up in bandages. However, Daphne didn’t point it out, as a lot of people had been hurt in the recent series of battles. Some of the worst cases had been taken away to a new medical fallback location, while others…like herself, were determined to stay and fight no matter how bad they were hurt. “I’m just thankful we had a doctor…”

“Yeah,” Joselyn agreed with a grin. “I found her after we fought Loki, but I never would have guessed that she’d turn out to be Grendel…”

“Yeah,” Evie said, glancing towards Grendel’s Mother and Denise. “We’re just lucky Grendel helped us…”

Daphne nodded at that. “I’ve fought Grendel, and trust me, I’d much rather have him on my side.” She shuddered faintly.

“So,” Joselyn abruptly asked. “You can change back into a guy whenever you want?”

Daphne hesitated a moment, feeling a little self-conscious. She was used to keeping her secret quiet, in spite of the fact that a surprising number of people already knew. “Pretty much,” she admitted. “But I don’t really spend much time as a guy anymore…”

“Why not?” Evie asked curiously.

For a moment, Daphne just stared at her and Joselyn, trying to decide what to say. Finally, she settled on the truth. “Because, I like being Daphne a lot more than I like being Dave.” She gestured down at herself and continued, “At first, I was pretty freaked out about turning into a girl, but by the time I figured out that I could change back, I’d started to like being this way.” She gave a wry smile and added, “Besides, as Daphne, I’m quite powerful, but when I turn back to Dave, I lose all my powers. In comparison, it feels like I suddenly become weak and vulnerable…so I tend to avoid that.”

“Being a girl is better anyway,” Evie pointed out smugly.

“YOU don’t have anything to compare it to,” Joselyn reminded her with a chuckle. “It’s really weird having to get used to something like this, but being a girl isn’t bad.”

Daphne nodded in understanding. “So, how did you change anyway?” She looked at Joselyn, remembering that she’d still been Joshua the first time they met.

Joselyn scowled, and Daphne could see that some unpleasant memories were involved in the story. However, Joselyn said, “Force recruited a bunch of villains to kidnap everyone in the family…”

“And one of them turned out to be our sister,” Evie added with a bitter tone in her voice and a flash of anger in her eyes.

Joselyn nodded at that and continued, “I managed to escape, and then because of all the stress, my powers developed. The next thing I knew, I looked like this…” She gestured down at herself.

This time, it was Evie who nodded. “Then Joselyn went and found our long lost uncle…and came and rescued us. It was totally awesome, because she took Force down by herself, and even made him shit his pants…”

“What?” Daphne asked in surprise, then as both girls nodded their confirmation, she burst out laughing. “That would explain the grudge he has against you, Joselyn.”

“Yeah,” Joselyn responded with a faint smirk. “Force doesn’t exactly like me very much, but the feeling is mutual.”

Suddenly, Joselyn froze with a strange expression on her face. A moment later, she slowly turned and stared off in the distance, towards Baltimore. Daphne was a little confused and looked in the same direction until she finally noticed the large flock of birds in the distance.

A rapier made of pink energy appeared in Joselyn’s hand, and with a deep scowl she announced, “They’re coming…”