Difference between revisions of "Sparrowhawk: Sparrow's Song"

Alex Harper, better know as the heroine Sparrowhawk, adjusted her poncho as she kept her goggles squarely set on the encampment that was a few hundred yards in front of her. Sparrowhawk was checking in on one of the reported bases that the Apotheosis Project kept around the globe, and so it was that this was her first stop on a world wide tour of sorts. The deep foliage and poncho helped secure her location which was in the tropical jungles of the Bolivia. The light winter rainfall aided her a little bit as well and it was definitely preferable to the harsh winter Millennium City was facing this year. Still, stakeouts always were hard for Alex... it gave her time to think about the past. When someone is born with a memory that can recall everything in minute detail so vividly, that can be a bad thing.

Aex's last memory before her month- long mental subjugation at the hands of the Apotheosis Project was at Christmas time. It was honestly the only time she spent with her father, Alan, a custom that had transpired for most of her childhood and adult life. Alan Harper was supposedly before he retired time one of UNTIL's top field agents. He worked alongside a plethora of super powered individuals to protect and defend the world, making the past month even more bizarre to Alex. Growing up, her life was a revolving door of people Alan sent Alex to train with. It was how she learned the myriad of skills she possessed. Alex mistakenly thought it was to make her the best UNTIL employee the agency ever knew. Christmas was the only holiday they ever had face to face time since she was six years of age, so it was here she found herself once again in New York. When her father excused himself from the elegant dining room table after dinner, she thought nothing of it. He returned a minute later and as he returned walking behind her he uttered simply he was sorry. And then with a pop of what she later realized was some sort of high powered tranquilizer gun, darkness came.

The next month was full of confusion. It was in many ways akin to being in a coma like state. Certain things at times could be heard or felt, but there was no control, no ability to reach out and cry for help. The physical body of Alex Harper meanwhile carried out horrible, terrible things. Alex could only struggle in vain to assume control in those fleeting moments where she was more aware of the world around her. The scientists within the Apotheosis Project had put something inside her which usurped her ability to cognitively function independently. It was revealed afterwards that Alex was host to a neural implant from a company called Cyberchane. It was created and financed by the Apotheosis Project members while working with the government in something called 'Project Puppetmaster'. The chip was constructed to help soldiers on the field be assisted by remote units physically and mentally. The chips later were changed in function away from the eyes of the military. Alex and three others were subjected to these devices. Of the four of those implanted with the device, only Alex survived.

Alex realized she had broken free of the neural chip's thrall on a remote island facility off of Peru. Still mentally fuzzy, she quickly assessed the situation, discovered what was going on and liberated the heroes that were imprisoned there. These super powered individuals were used to help design a 'gene bomb' meant to wipe out those with DNA not specifically human. She also discovered that one of her closest friends, Sunny Oskern -- Dobergirl-- was one of its current victims,retrieved by Alex's hand no less. An successful escape was made, though almost at the cost of her life by way of the neural implant chip trying to re establish control as well as a severe beating at the hands of a villain known as Cassowary, who shared DNA traits with Alex.

Alex awoke days later in the hospital and found herself in restraints and surrounded by members of both PRIMUS and UNTIL. There were questions to be answered and Alex was a wanted woman by the government. She told them what little she could, a task which developed over the course of days repeating the same information ad nauseum. Telepaths were even called in to scan her mind, both to see what they could gather and help prove the innocence to which Alex claimed. It was grueling on her part to have to deal with these issues, but she understood both why and how. An assassination attempt occurred as well, her life being saved by the hero 'Black Dog'. The assassin in question? A member of PRIMUS who worked covertly for the Apotheosis Project, wanting to shut up Alex in the case she could expose them. This, combined with information gathered by the Protectors' own Harrier, opened the floodgates to knowledge of this vast group of people wanting to destroy powered villains and heroes alike.

Recovering at a surprising rate, Alex rejoined the Protectors briefly in removing gene bombs that had been planted deep underground as most of the team fought a villain named Leviathan within Millennium City. Upon their success, Alex saw the team as a whole and the fear, hatred and mistrust in most of their eyes. It stung and it hurt, and barely anyone present could see past the physical face of Alex to know it wasn't her that was responsible for these acts. Still, it carried her face, her abilities, her demeanor. To dismiss or protest their feelings would only be more damaging in the long run for the team. Many carried marks of this war and if they needed to express their emotions by channeling it at Alex... so be it. It was difficult to see what something using her in such a manner had caused. The Protectors had lost a great deal in what media called 'The Eugenics War', up to and including the life of one of their most loyal heroes, Black Sigil.

Alex was at a loss. Her father raised her only to use her like a weapon and was currently god knows where on the face of the earth, having escaped the authorities when the Apotheosis Project was found to exist. Most of her allies either were suspicious or condemned her as it was her body that was used to carry out attacks that harmed the Protectors. The final blow came when Nate Carter, All-Star, a hero in his own right and her most intimate confidant, expressed that he had an affair while Alex was being repeatedly mentally violated. This revelation, which would have proved damaging to most, didn't even faze her. Possibly too much had transpired to her already since her awakening on that island in Peru. Perhaps she knew all along the relationship simply wasn't meant to be... both of them had simply too much baggage, too many hurdles to overcome to truly be close to each other. Both of them had their secrets they refused to share with each other. Alex remained constantly distant and detached even though Nate was possibly the closest person she had in her life. They were at least able to part on good terms. Nate might never understand the pain or emptiness she felt from that month, the tears afterwards silently shed out of rage and frustration by feeling abandoned by anyone even remotely close to her... but, maybe one day, she would reach out and try.

A sign of movement stirred Alex, focusing once more on the task at hand. A sound traveling up from the narrow pathway leading up to the base. Military cargo trucks, carrying men, weaponry and something else... if her intel was right, supplies for another gene bomb. Twenty three men total. Alex put her Black Valkyrie pistols, fully loaded and ready, behind her on her belt and gripped her bio electric batons at her side. This would be easy to take down, at most fifteen minutes, she mused.

There was nothing Sparrowhawk could do to change the past. It was written in stone. Every action and every choice was committed to memory. For good or ill all that transpired shaped her into who she was today. The future, however, was still wide open. New experiences. New possibilities... all simply stories yet to be told. And it was hers. As the bio electric batons began to hum and a faint smile traced her lips, Alex Harper, Sparrowhawk, was determined to make each day count.