Worthy of their Mettle: a Superhero Timeline

Modling Air Force Base, south of Vienna

None of this made any sense to Annette. Aliens to whom the US government was beholden? An international force to be sent to other worlds?

And she was to lead them?

She didn't want to. But when she was shown the footage of their landing, she recognized them. When she had received her powers among the visions she had seen was a battle between two great fleets in space, one colored a silvery blue. Those were these Stewards. Who else were they? She didn't know. But they were here, and they could destroy this planet.

So she would lead them.

But first, she was to take down a rogue dictator in Yugoslavia.

As the plane she was taking to Modling touched down, Gonzalez introduced her to a team of superhumans, seven in number. They all wore combat fatigues with white and red accents, with a shoulder patch she recognized as the coat of arms of the District of Columbia.

"I would like to introduce you to the Magnificent Intentions," explained Gonzalez. "A new team being nurtured by the Defense Department. As an attempt to better represent our nation's capital, they are all from the Washington, D.C. area.

Their leader walked forward. She was a blonde woman, just under six feet. "Allison Campbell, otherwise the Taser," she introduced herself, with just a hint of self-absorption.

Annette could sense that this woman was a pampered little girl who simply happened to have superpowers. She reminded her of the annoying white liberals of metropolitan Los Angeles, where she had grown up. This young woman was thoroughly convinced of her own intellectual and moral superiority, she could sense. She nevertheless said nothing.

She sat through the introductions, giving token words after each of them. After Campbell had introduced herself, she conversed only in psionic emissions; they were a bit taken aback but they figured out the point of her actions.

When all was said and done, she turned to Gonzalez. "Since this is done, would it be permissible for me to test my powers? In the air, of course, and no property damage."

"That actually was the intention," remarked Gonzalez. "Go ahead."

She nodded, and looked into the sky. She focused at one particular point, and there she was.

She zipped and zapped over the skies, opening the occasional portal. It worked.

She made one teleport, and was for a moment surprised by a tremendous noise. Her eyes darted to the left and beheld a fighter jet barreling right towards her. However her reflexes were not fast enough, and she collided with the plane.

As she fell, she teleported herself to the ground. She saw the wreckage of the plane tumble down. On one chunk, she saw a roundel, but not the white star of the United States Air Force, nor the white triangle on a red circle of the Austrian air force.

It was the white cross of Yugoslavia.