Date: Late Friday morning - August 16, 2024

  Lady of Wrath descended slightly, now in full view of Omega Woman, her friends, and all present Brightmark police and VALOR personnel.

  “Your colleagues tried to make off with the Neurorate and failed. Are you going to try stealing it next?” Omega Woman asked.

  “Not quite, but knowing it’s here is certainly a bonus. It’s time I take some of you off the board,” Lady of Wrath replied before releasing a pair of red light beams from her eyes.

  The optical beam attack was aimed at Captain Snyder. Omega Woman lit up her hands as she sped in front of Snyder to intercept the oncoming beam.

  “Get your people and the VALOR personnel out of here with the captured supervillains! Now!” Omega Woman exclaimed while glancing back at the captain. Snyder nodded before he and Detective Knight moved toward their fellow officers.

  “You heard the lady! Move out!” Captain Snyder said into his earpiece.

  Captain Snyder and Detective Knight got into one of the squad cars as the VALOR prison transport trucks began to drive away. Lady of Wrath stopped pressing her optical beam attack and flew off in the direction of the convoy. Omega Woman and Red Phoenix took off and began to fly after her. The clone tried flying higher to get away from them, but they followed suit. Lady of Wrath tried to fly low and divert her course by flying in random directions around Brightmark, but she couldn’t shake the two heroes off her trail.

  Lady of Wrath flew faster, flying low enough to be moving at the same speed as one of the VALOR prison transports. Her hand glowed with red light as she aimed it toward one of the front wheels. Suddenly, Lady of Wrath’s eyes closed again and she began to lose concentration on flying. She moved in the air haphazardly until making a hard crash landing on the streets of Brightmark. The VALOR vehicles escorting the prison transports stopped and parked in the road.

  At the same time, Omega Woman and Red Phoenix descended to the ground near where Lady of Wrath made impact. Some of the VALOR agents, with the exceptions of the drivers, began to step out of their cars. As they began to walk closer, Omega Woman held up a hand, prompting them to stay back. Lady of Wrath stood to her feet, and there was a noticeable change. Replacing her usual expression of contempt and malice was one of confusion and slight fear.

  “Who are you guys? Where am I?” Lady of Wrath asked. Omega Woman glanced back to see a confused expression on Red Phoenix’s face.

  “This happened before during my first fight with her,” Omega Woman said before looking toward her twin.

  “Hey. It’s alright. Everything is going to be fine,” Omega Woman said in a gentle tone like she’d use with one of her archaeology students if they were feeling down, stepping slowly towards her clone as she spoke.

  “How can you be so sure?” Lady of Wrath asked. Her question had the most sincerity Omega Woman heard from the clone.

  “I understand you’re scared. You have powers that are risky to use if you’re not careful,” Omega Woman continued.

  “What should I do?” Lady of Wrath asked.

  “Do you see these people behind me? They can take you to a place where you won’t run the risk of hurting anyone,” Omega Woman replied, maintaining her gentle tone.

  Lady of Wrath’s red eyes glowed once again. Omega Woman and Red Phoenix both clenched their fists. They were ready to use force if they had to. A few seconds passed, but Lady of Wrath’s eyes stopped glowing and she stood up straight.

  “Okay. Wherever these people need to take me, I will go,” Lady of Wrath said reluctantly. Omega Woman breathed a sigh of relief as the clone began walking over to the VALOR agents present.

  Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

  “Red Phoenix and I should also get into any transport coming to pick her up,” Omega Woman said to the nearest VALOR agent, who nodded to her.

  Sometime around quarter to noon, Omega Woman, Red Phoenix, and the VALOR agents arrived at the Shadow Citadel Penitentiary. The prison was one of the few places on Earth that could reliably hold rogue Extrahumans in containment. Lady of Wrath was brought down to the lowest level of the place, which was isolated from the rest of the Shadow Citadel. She would be safe from manipulation by other inmates while in her amnesiac state of mind. More importantly, the other inmates were safe from her when she inevitably switched back to her normal self.

  The VALOR agents escorted Lady of Wrath into the specialized cell. Once she was inside, they sealed the door. To the surprise of both Omega Woman and Red Phoenix, Colonel Alexander Fox approached from nearby. It was rare to see Fox make a personal visit to the Shadow Citadel himself. However, holding someone as powerful as Lady of Wrath was an occasion Omega Woman knew Fox wouldn’t ignore.

  “The walls of that unit are made of Atlantean steel,” Fox informed the two.

  “Atlantean steel is the strongest known metal on Earth. It’s nearly unbreakable, even to my strength,” Omega Woman explained to Red Phoenix.

  “What about the Neurorate?” Red Phoenix asked Fox.

  “My people are going to reach out to the leadership of New Eden Medical and have them turn it over to us. We’ll secure it somewhere far away from their facility,” Fox replied.

  “Hey Phoenix, you’re free to go if you want. I’m staying here to have a talk with my evil twin. She could switch back to herself at any time,” Omega Woman told the younger hero.

  “Alright. If you need any help again, you know I’m there,” Red Phoenix said assuringly with a nod before he began walking away.

  Once he was outside on the surface, Red Phoenix ascended above the Shadow Citadel and began flying back to Brightmark.

  “Hey Matt. Did the journey to the Shadow Citadel go okay? I heard one of the police officers here confirm Lady of Wrath got brought in,” Red Diamond said through his earpiece, talking through a private frequency since they and the other Augmented Allies were advised not to use real names over comms with each other or the Supreme Allies.

  “Yes. Omega Woman and I stayed by her the entire time, but she was too confused to really do anything. Omega Woman’s staying behind to chat with her at the Shadow Citadel,” Red Phoenix replied.

  “That makes sense. By the way, are you free for lunch this afternoon?” Red Diamond asked.

  “I’m down. Are we meeting with Amber somewhere?” Red Phoenix asked.

  “She went to go see Johnny. I was thinking of a lunch date, just you and I,” Red Diamond replied.

  “Just name the place and I’ll be right there,” Red Phoenix said sincerely.

  BRIGHTMARK NEWS FIELD REPORT:

  August 16, 2024

  12:00 PM

  “Good afternoon, this is Stacy Kolton reporting live for Brightmark News,” Stacy began as she walked toward a nearby gate.

  “I am outside the rear gate behind New Eden Medical Center. It has been reported earlier this morning that the Syndicate attempted to steal a case carrying samples of Neurorate, the medicine that was newly announced as of this morning in New Eden’s press conference,” Stacy continued as she stepped toward a man in a security uniform.

  “I am outside with Jerry, a security guard who was on duty as the heist began. What can you tell Brightmark News about today’s incident?” Stacy asked as she moved her microphone over to Jerry.

  “I was on shift when I saw the woman with the bird powers, Violet Sparrow, fly in. I tried to stop her and she knocked me out. By the time I woke up, Violet Sparrow was gone. Omega Woman and those three younger allies of hers came out as some other supervillains were being hauled off. I had to head to the security office and file an incident report,” Jerry explained.

  “Thank you very much for your time, Jerry,” Stacy replied. Jerry nodded before walking away while Stacy turned to face the camera.

  “Following the heist, Lady of Wrath was reported earlier today to have arrived on the scene. Eyewitness reports have come in stating Lady of Wrath began chasing the VALOR prison transport convoy,” Stacy continued.

  “The chase took a bizarre turn with Lady of Wrath suddenly crash landing, similar to her previous encounter with Omega Woman. As with the previous incident, Lady of Wrath appeared to be in a confused state of mind. Civilian reports on social media and law enforcement spokespersons corroborate Omega Woman managing to avert further damage by persuading Lady of Wrath to go into VALOR custody. We will stay on top of this story,” Stacy concluded.