The woman in red and white armor carefully peered around the edge of the stone wall, scowling deeply in frustration. The heroes had created this wall to protect their camp during the battle, though she found that it was equally useful for hiding herself from their prying eyes.

Once, her name had been Megan Hayes, and she’d been a normal young woman…interested in attracting male attention, having fun with her friends, and making enough money to pay the bills. However, that had all changed when she’d met Ebon. The cat had opened her eyes to just how pitiful this life was, and had shown her the only thing that really mattered. Power. The more power one had, the less they could be controlled by others and the more they could exert their own will and desires. Power was everything.

Ebon had given her a taste of real power and a hunger for more. But now, Ebon had been taken from her by that hero, along with the power he provided. She could still feel Ebon through the link they shared, but it was faint and distant. And though she could sense that Ebon yet lived, she knew little more of his fate than that.

Still, the Scepter smiled, though it was a cold and bitter one. The heroes had underestimated her, thinking that without Ebon, she was completely helpless. It was true that she’d lost her power, but she still had a few tricks hidden within her armor, tricks that had allowed her to escape the shackles and cage that the heroes had locked her within. Now, while they were distracted, she was making her way to freedom.

“They will pay for this,” the Scepter promised herself. They would pay for taking Ebon away, for locking her in a cage, and especially, for humiliating her. “Oh yes, they will pay…” Of course, the Scepter had already made another promise to herself, one that would come before even her well-deserved vengeance. And with a snarl of fierce determination, she swore, “I will recover my power, no matter what it takes…”

The Scepter was going to reclaim her stolen power. She was going to become even more powerful than before. More powerful than Nevermore. And even more powerful than the Queen of Ravens. One day, the entire world would kneel at her feet.

“But for now,” she bitterly reminded herself, “I have to get away…”

The Scepter continued her escape, careful to not be seen by any of those self-righteous heroes, especially the ones who could fly. But then, she paused, seeing something sticking out of the ground. She reached down and picked it up, with a triumphant smile forming as she realized what she’d found.

“Loki’s staff,” the Scepter mused, looking at the black staff.

Loki had been a fool, and she felt little but contempt for him…her. However, Loki had also been a powerful fool, all because of this staff. This staff was a tool of immense power, and if it could be wielded by someone more competent than that idiot, then there was no telling what they could do.

Suddenly, the shaft of the staff began to shrink, becoming shorter and shorter. In mere seconds, the item in her hand looked less like a staff and more like a scepter. The Scepter smiled with a dark satisfaction, pleased that the staff seemed to acknowledge her as its new mistress.

For a brief moment, the Scepter was tempted to turn the power of her new weapon against the unsuspecting heroes, but she quickly restrained the impulse. As satisfying as might be, it would also be foolish. That was the kind of thoughtless action that Loki might perform. At the moment, she was far outnumbered and wielding a weapon that she had yet to even test. No, she would wait until she’d gathered more power, until she could crush her enemies with ease.

“I think it is time to rebuild the Black Guilt,” the Scepter mused aloud as a cruel smile formed on her lips. The Black Guild would give her a nice base of power. She stared at her new scepter for a moment with a hungry look, then commanded it, “Take me home.” A moment later, she vanished in a flash of red.

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

Sam sat in a chair, leaning forward her face resting in her hands. At the moment, she was exhausted, and not just physically. Emotionally, she was racked with guilt and grief.

“Channel,” she whispered with an ache in her heart. “I’m so sorry…”

When Sam had been given her powers, it had been for the purpose of fighting the darkness…of fighting the Queen of Ravens and her army. She’d thrown absolutely everything she had at the Queen of Ravens, but it hadn’t been enough. If she’d pushed a little harder…if she’d managed to take out the queen like she was supposed to, then Channel wouldn’t have had to do it for her. If she hadn’t failed, then her teammate and friend would still be alive.

“It wasn’t your fault,” Witch Girl said, putting a gentle hand on her shoulder. “If you hadn’t stopped the Queen of Ravens when she started to go nova… If you hadn’t weakened her when you did, she would have killed all of us.”

“And if I’d done more,” Sam admitted, “then Channel wouldn’t have had to finish her…”

Sam looked up at her remaining teammates, who were sitting in chairs nearby. Nike, Zero Kay, and Chrome all had a number of minor injuries, but nothing too serious. Deadbeat had a new body, one that looked like it had belonged to some housewife. And for once, she wasn’t goofing off. She was just as quiet and somber as everyone else.

After the final battle, most of the heroes had returned to the base camp where they could debrief, rest, and get medical attention before returning home. However, even though they’d just saved the world from an invading army, the mood was quite dark. There had been too many deaths and injured.

Sam knew that they’d not only lost Channel, but also Icarus, Warchild, and Mannequin…and perhaps more. And that didn’t even count all of those who were seriously injured, some of whom would never be able to return to active duty.

“It wasn’t your fault,” Witch Girl told Sam again. “The only reason we were able to stop her was because you did your part…just like Channel did hers.” Sam looked Witch Girl in the eyes, realizing that the young hero was trying to convince herself of this as much as she was Sam. Sam could see the guilt reflected in her eyes.

“She was a hero,” Sam finally said, giving a forced smile.

Witch Girl nodded and returned to where the rest of Faction Zero was gathered. They were currently mourning their fallen leader, yet simultaneously celebrating the return of Circuit. Sam almost felt jealous of them, having one of their dead friends return, and she couldn’t help but being reminded of the fact that Circuit’s resurrection came about because of Channel.

After watching Faction Zero and the reunion with Circuit, Sam looked over to the Guard, or what remained of them. They’d lost Warchild and Mannequin, while Interface was in critical condition and Radiant was probably blinded for life. Diamond was the only one left, and was sitting by herself in the corner. And though Sam knew that they had a couple of reserve members who’d been left behind, she didn’t know if the group would even still exist after this.

And then, there were the Crusaders, or at least that was what she heard them calling themselves. Counterweight, Kaboom, and Catalyst were all injured, though they seemed in fairly good spirits compared to most of the other heroes. After all, they hadn’t lost any members of their team. In fact, Dodger and Ladybug both seemed completely uninjured, though Ladybug’s armor was pretty banged up.

“Too bad Guardian Girl and Charger couldn’t be here,” Dodger said.

The others nodded agreement and Kaboom said, “Damn, I really miss Kyle.”

“Me too,” Catalyst admitted.

“Then, to Charger,” Ladybug said, raising a can of diet Coke in a toast. “He was a worthy foe, and I imagine a good friend.”

“To Charger,” the rest agreed, holding up their own cans of soda or bottles of water.

Sam was startled to see that one the Sanction members who was standing near the Crusaders, turned and gave them a curious look. Harbinger was short and she didn’t look all that dangerous, but there was something about her that made Sam a bit nervous. A large part of it was the look in her eyes, which spoke of someone who could kill without hesitation. Unlike most of those present, Harbinger wasn’t a superhero. She was a soldier.

Harbinger was intimidating, but she’d also saved Sam’s life. Just when the Queen of Ravens had been about to kill Sam, Harbinger had taken her out, or at least, she’d removed the queen’s head. Sam would have nightmares about that moment for the rest of her life, but thanks to Harbinger, at least she’d have the chance.

“Excuse me,” Harbinger said to the Crusaders. “Who is this Charger?”

“A former team member,” Kaboom answered with a deep scowl. “He…quit the spandex business a couple years ago and joined the army. He…died a couple months ago…”

“The details are classified,” Dodger added with a look of disgust, “so even his family doesn’t know what happened…”

For a moment, Harbinger just stared at the young heroes, then she carefully said, “I knew someone with the call sign of Charger…who was killed in action a couple months ago. I believe, he was from the same area you operate out of…”

“Really?” Kaboom blurted out in surprise.

“Six foot one,” Harbinger offered. “Dark brown hair, fond of Dr. Pepper, and had the first name of Kyle.”

“That’s him,” Dodger gasped.

“You really knew Kyle?” Catalyst quickly asked.

Harbinger hesitated for a second before nodding. She glanced around her, then continued, “We served in the same unit. He was a good kid…a good soldier.” Then she paused with a strange expression passing over her face before adding, “I was there when he died.”

There were gasps from the Crusaders, who were all staring at Harbinger with looks of burning curiosity. They clearly expected her to tell them what happened to their friend, regardless of whether it was classified or not. And from the look on Harbinger’s face, it was just as clear that she was tempted.

“Maybe we can share stories over drinks sometime,” Harbinger finally said, giving them a faint smile. “I’ll bring the bourbon.”

Sam slowly stood up and rubbed her temples, deciding that she needed to get way from everyone for some fresh air. As she started to walk away from the gathering of people, she noticed Lady Knight, sitting in a chair between Velvet and Impact. She looked like she was asleep, with her head leaned over onto Impact’s shoulder.

“They’re too young for this kind of thing,” Sam said, pained to realize that those three kids were about the same age as her son Todd. She couldn’t imagine him fighting in this kind of situation, which made what they’d done all the more impressive…and disturbing.

Once Sam was out in the open, away from everyone else, she let out a sigh and stared up into the darkening sky. Stars were starting to come out, providing a beautiful scene that almost seemed wrong after all the horror she’d seen. However, it was relaxing, at least a little.

She tore her eyes from the sky and looked off in the distance, towards Baltimore, or at least what was left of it. From what she’d heard, the death toll was supposed to be at a couple thousand, though she tried not to think of that fact. The National Guard had arrived to take control of the city and help the survivors, but they had a lot of work ahead of them.

A few minutes later, Sam noticed that the White Knight and the Face had left the large grouping as well, apparently to have a private conversation. The two of them were far enough away that Sam didn’t feel like they were intruding on her privacy, at least not by much, but the wind carried their words to her.

“Its hard to believe,” the White Knight commented. “That we both have daughters who…changed.”

“That is quite a coincidence,” the Face responded in an even tone.

“In my case…two daughters,” the White Knight added a moment later, giving a forced chuckle. “Of course, I recently discovered that it runs in my family. Apparently, my father had been born female…”

“I knew that there were two gender changes within my own team,” the Face admitted, “but I had no idea that there were so many others.”

The White Knight nodded at that. “It is surprising. Extremely so. What are the odds that there were so many gender changes within our small community…and that of the two dozen that showed up…only two changed from female to male?”

“That we know of,” the Face pointed out in a strange tone. “For all we know, there may be others that we still aren’t aware of.”

“True,” the White Knight agreed. “It boggles the mind.”

There was a long pause before the Face said, “All those gender changes, and nearly all of them male to female… This is more than just coincidence.”

The White Knight turned to stare at him, his voice sharpening as he demanded. “What do you mean?”

“What I mean,” the Face answered carefully, “is that the odds are extremely unlikely. I believe that there is another factor at play. One that we aren’t yet aware of.”

“Impossible,” the White Knight blurted out, looking and sounding shocked. “How…?”

The Face shook his head. “I don’t know who or what is responsible, and that worries me a great deal.”

The White Knight let out a sigh, then admitted, “Now you have me worried…”

Sam hadn’t intended to eavesdrop on their conversation, but the topic was very personal to her so she hadn’t been able to help herself. She’d been rather shocked upon discovering just how many of the heroes had changed genders, the same way that she did when she used her powers, but she hadn’t given it much thought until now.

It really did stretch believability that so many heroes had switched like that. And like the Face said, almost all of them had been male to female…like herself.

“Not to mention the villains,” she mused, thinking of Nevermore, Circuit Monger, the Sinner, and Loki. The Scepter didn’t count since she had just taken the original’s name, but the numbers were surprising. “What the hell is going on?”

But as interesting as this line of thinking would normally be, Sam was too distracted to really give it much more thought. Instead, she looked back up at the sky, and tears ran down her cheeks as she thought of her fallen teammate and friend.

“I’m sorry I wasn’t good enough,” Sam whispered. “I’m sorry that you paid for it.” Then, she choked, and barely managed to finish, “Rest in peace, Julie.”

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

It was late afternoon as the 8-year-old girl sloshed through the swampy area behind her parents’ house. Heather was annoyed by how wet and muddy her shoes currently were, but she couldn’t do anything about that yet, not until she found her prize.

Just yesterday, Heather’s brother Nick had captured a frog, and he’d been bragging about it ever since. There was no way that Heather could let this continue, so she was determined to find her own frog, one that was even bigger and more impressive than the one Nick had.

Just then, Heather suddenly noticed a large black bird, which was perched on an old stump. It looked like a crow, but was bigger than any crow that she had ever seen.

“Hello, mister bird,” Heather said, deciding that a giant crow would be even more impressive than any frog. “I won’t hurt you…”

Heather slowly moved closer to the bird, talking in a gentle voice as she did so. The bird watched her as though it understood what she was saying. And for a brief moment, Heather almost had the feeling that it was about to speak to her. Then without warning, the bird abruptly flapped it’s wings and flew away.

“Darn,” Heather muttered in disappointment. However, that was quickly forgotten as she heard a frog croaking in the distance. With an excited grin, Heather started in that direction, calling out, “Oh mister frog…”