The first and the last...(Bloodsword)

Bernard had been working as a mercenary for quite awhile now, and he couldn't have loved his job more. However he was beginning to think he had a target on his back, he had been suspicious of a few old clients that might want to tie up some loose ends, and he was one of those ends. No matter though, no one could catch him, and if anyone showed up to kill him he would take care of it. He roamed around his home aimlessly until he finally got tired enough to go to bed. He got in bed as quick as lightning and fell fast asleep.

Shauna was in town visiting old rivals turned friends with holiday gifts in tow, but instead of a cheerful home she found a crime scene. Out on the sidewalk a grieving middle aged brown haired woman and her young adult son were being comforted and questioned by police. Shauna quickly pulled her bike over.

"Martha? Martha! What happened?" Shauna rushed to the woman's side, the distraught widow embracing Shauna. Shauna began looking around the place.

"Oh Shauna... Malcolm... Malcolm... he's dead..." The poor woman was in tears, trying to fight back the overwhelming grief. Her son was no better, the young man angry and bitter.

"Da... he reached for his gun under the table, they said... but he was killed before he could shoot... Why would they kill him aunt Shauna?" He asked, blubbering between anger and grief. Shauna took a look at the crime scene herself from the street. She could see the police performing their standard forensic sweep of the place, while the man she knew as a husband and father lay dead on the kitchen floor, the house in some kind of mess. Malcolm was always fast on the draw like the rest of his old gang, and nobody but a Speedster could've beaten him.

"Martha. After you file with the police, take Morty and stay with Billy Ray, he's in town with the rest of the gang." Shauna said, her voice becoming cold and commanding. The woman simply nodded, knowing that terrible look in her eye.

"You... you're going after this monster?" She asked, sniffing. Shauna said nothing, and simply nodded to her.

"You make him pay, you hear me? Malcolm did his time! Malcolm paid his dues!" She said. The police around them led her away, giving Shauna a look.

"Ma'am, the police will handle this. The killer will be found and brought to justice." They assured her. But Shauna would have none of that.

Shauna was no true hero, this she knew. Heroes fight to make things better, and rarely fought for revenge, or killed. Shauna was vengeful, without a doubt, and her ledger was gushing red with the victims of her poor decisions as a young hero and an angry teenaged mercenary. She was on her bike and making phone calls. She rode at her bike's top speed through the empty streets.

"Danielle. It's Black Tigress. I want to know about a hit in New York on Malcolm Reynolds, The Rustler?"

"Hold on." A light voice on the other line said.

Shauna skirted right past a car. It blew its horn very loudly.

"Hmmm. This is protected info Shauna babe, but if you gotta know, It's a Speedster called Blindside. Relatively new, no respect. I've got his address. Hang on." Apparently some fool mercenary made the mistake of going after someone who was on Shauna's contacts list and a close friend. The heads up display on her helmet showed her a minimap in which suburb the dead man lived.

Her bike roared through the night, through the older, untouched suburbs just outside the Rebuilt New York. It was a rough neighborhood and the sound of a hog chugging through the streets was hardly out of place.

She pressed a button on her helemt. "218 Saints Street? Does he have a Black Speed suit with red line highlights? Yeah, why do you think I called?" Shauna put her phone away and made absolutely sure she had her man.

Shauna stood right beside her bike on the other side of the cold snowy street, and looked into Blindside's bedroom, seeing he was already asleep. There was no calling him out, no declaration of intent. She wanted this man dead, his story be damned. Shauna knew in the back of her mind she was acting out of revenge, and she served it hot. There was no shame, no reservation, no hesitation. She lifted up her visor and her eyes began glowing, and the Emerald Plasma Beam (abi 10) shot out from her eyes; it sliced through wood sheathing and drywall like they were nothing, aimed directly at Blindside's head.

The energy beam was a sustained attack, and it sliced through the house, setting it all ablaze in seconds. Shauna got on her bike and watched for a few minutes, before departing into the dead of night, the distant sound of an ambulance and fire truck in the background, people in the neighborhood going out of their way to put out this blaze.

She'd call Martha, and simply said. "He's not killing anyone anymore."

Bernards paranoia had just been proven right, a green energy beam just cut his house in half and vaporized the dummy he had placed in his normal bed.  Its a good thing he did, or he would have been nothing but a few blood spots on the floor. He had watched the woman on a motorcycle from the start, and seeing what she could do he had second thoughts about attacking her.  The house was now on fire, he quickly ran off his perch and into the back yard and watched as his beautiful living space burnt to the ground.

Run or engage? this was something all assassins had to think about when dealing with a powerful target. He had never seen such raw power even from meta humans. He decided it was best to flee and live rather then fight and die, somethings not even he can outrun. He ran out of the yard at blinding speed, looks like he needed to look into who could have sent the assassin.