Post by redsycorax on Oct 19, 2021 23:21:29 GMT
In 1959, Donna Vance, the Earth-109 Justice Guild superheroine known as Black Siren, had pursued her old adversary, insane scientist Dr Todt, to the Seaboard City morgue. He lunged at her with a scalpel, but then a strangely familiar Chinese woman intercepted it, rising from a morgue pallet into sudden and unexpected action. Despite the fact the knife sliced into her upper arm, the woman displayed prodigious strength, throwing the Black Siren's would be attacker back, right through a plate-glass door.
Concerned about the possible injury to the welcome stranger's arm, Donna ran to help her: "Hey, thanks. You saved my life-" She stopped, seeing the other woman's face in the harsh neon light for the first time and realised she knew her, from her girlhood days as the daughter of a US Presbyterian couple in mainland China just before the outbreak of the Second World War. She recognised her girlhood friend Josie Xhiang almost at once, but told herself that it couldn't be her. As a member of the Chinese Nationalist Army, Josie had managed to insure that Donna and her family had gotten out of Manchuria as the Japanese Army closed in, only to see her mown down in the air traffic control tower as the plane took off. But this was a different Josie, strangely pallid faced and smelling strongly of lavender perfume:
"Josie? But you're..."
Josie Xhiang smiled and nodded at her old friend's inquiry: "Hello, Donna. I know it's you behind that mask. And you're right, I am dead. Only, I was killed before my time, so Taoist folklore took over. I was reanimated as a 'corpse walker' or shī xíngzhě. I've been watching you for years, since I made it out of Japanese-occupied Manchuria with a price on my head."
"How did you... that scalpel in your arm must be agonising..." But further surprises awakened the Black Siren, as Josie Xhiang calmly and firmly reached across and simply pulled the offending instrument out of her upper arm. A momentary blue slit appeared and then rapidly closed, with no sign of blood."
"You've grown into quite a hero, serving with the Justice Guild. Adele and Howard would be so proud of you, if that car accident hadn't taken their lives."
"But you say you're a walking corpse? So your heart doesn't beat, you're not breathing and obviously that's not blood in your veins."
"Because I died before my time, and in the context of saving my beloved friend and her family from apprehension, torture and death, I qualified as one of the bù'ān dì xiánrén, or the 'unquiet and virtuous dead'. I bring justice and protect the weak and vulnerable. And so I will keep doing until the end of time."
"Gosh, this is wonderful, Josie. Look, if you know about the Guild, you'd fit right in..." Donna trailed off as smiling, Josie shook her head:
"While that would be a great honour, I don't think the world is ready for a crime fighting undead Chinese woman quite yet, Donna. But I will certainly continue to do all I can, behind the scenes and in the shadows, to assist you. I'll be your 'special emergency weapon."
And so she was. Often, when the Black Siren was fighting a criminal adversary in Seaboard City's garment district, a demure Chinese featured 'store mannequin' would just happen to 'topple' onto them and its bent arm would apply unexpected pressure to any criminal it fell onto, thus aiding the Black Siren's apprehension. Or, once, in the Seaboard City Wax Museum, there was a momentary blackout and a fire extinguisher that was adjacent to an ancient Chinese noblewoman had unexpectedly 'fallen' and hit one of the Siren's assailants, knocking him out. Halloween provided some opportunities for Josie to become mobile and she exploited her uncanny appearance, which accentuated her loss of mortality- enough to cause fear amongst some particularly 'superstitious, cowardly' criminals. Donna happily reflected that the Black Siren and shi xingzhe made an awesome crimefighting team and that Seaboard City was much the better for it.
And thus it stayed, for three years. And then, on October 14, 1962, a high altitude plane disclosed Soviet ICBMs stationed in Cuba. On October 27, 1962, a Soviet submarine made a crucial miscalculation and opened fire on US naval vessels that had dropped depth charges, resulting in the detonation of a nuclear tipped torpedo and events that inexorably snowballed into another abortive invasion of Cuba and the firing of the first Soviet installation of nuclear missiles at US eastern coastal targets. In a matter of hours, it escalated into a fully-fledged US/Soviet nuclear exchange.
As events ground to their tragic conclusion, the Black Siren received an unexpected telephone call at the Justice Guild brownstone:
"Donna?"
"Josie?! What are you still doing here? Listen, we've just received word that a Soviet ICBM is en route for Ryerson air force base. Scott, Jake, Tom and I are about to try and stop it but if it goes off, it'll destroy the city."
"I won't leave you to die alone, my friend."
"Josie, please... get to an air raid shelter. I want to see you safe."
"No, Donna. I will be there for you. Remember I told you three years ago that I would be able to do this until the 'end of time?' Well, I threw the I Ching coins and yarrow sticks. And we are in the midst of a nuclear war. Although I wish I could, I can't save you this time but again, I swear that you won't die alone... even if I am, technically, already dead. Goodbye, Donna."
Black Siren blinked back tears as she whispered: "Goodbye, Josie."
And so it was Donna Vance, the Black Siren, glanced back at the hills overlooking Seaboard City one last time. Like a falling star, the Soviet ICBM came up over the horizon and she saw Josie Xhiang one last time. Then, alongside the Green Guardsman and the Streak, the three surviving Justice Guild members used their abilities to try and halt the onrushing harbinger of death- Black Siren used her supersonic siren's cry, Green Guardsman's power ring blazed forth emerald light and the Streak tried to deflect the missile with a superspeed funnel.
The Black Siren fought crime alongside her Justice Guild colleagues and other allies until the darkest day on their Earth when she and her comrades sacrificed their lives to try to divert, or at least mitigate, the lives of those in Seaboard City who needed them. Perhaps mercifully, the detonation occurred so rapidly that human nerve impulses could not travel between neuron and synapse in that brevity of time. Therefore, it is certain that the Black Siren, Green Guardsman and Streak felt no pain when the firestorm broke over them and they ceased to exist within a microsecond.
Josie Xhiang, "Corpse Walker", shī xíngzhě, one of the unquiet virtuous dead or bù'ān dì xiánrén, closed her eyes and flung up her arms to embrace the newborn sun as it fell on the Earth, consuming all before it. Seconds later, the firestorm erupted over the Seaboard City hills, consuming all in its path and one unquiet, virtuous dead woman kept her self-chosen pact with a dear friend and silently joined her in Paradise.
THE END
Concerned about the possible injury to the welcome stranger's arm, Donna ran to help her: "Hey, thanks. You saved my life-" She stopped, seeing the other woman's face in the harsh neon light for the first time and realised she knew her, from her girlhood days as the daughter of a US Presbyterian couple in mainland China just before the outbreak of the Second World War. She recognised her girlhood friend Josie Xhiang almost at once, but told herself that it couldn't be her. As a member of the Chinese Nationalist Army, Josie had managed to insure that Donna and her family had gotten out of Manchuria as the Japanese Army closed in, only to see her mown down in the air traffic control tower as the plane took off. But this was a different Josie, strangely pallid faced and smelling strongly of lavender perfume:
"Josie? But you're..."
Josie Xhiang smiled and nodded at her old friend's inquiry: "Hello, Donna. I know it's you behind that mask. And you're right, I am dead. Only, I was killed before my time, so Taoist folklore took over. I was reanimated as a 'corpse walker' or shī xíngzhě. I've been watching you for years, since I made it out of Japanese-occupied Manchuria with a price on my head."
"How did you... that scalpel in your arm must be agonising..." But further surprises awakened the Black Siren, as Josie Xhiang calmly and firmly reached across and simply pulled the offending instrument out of her upper arm. A momentary blue slit appeared and then rapidly closed, with no sign of blood."
"You've grown into quite a hero, serving with the Justice Guild. Adele and Howard would be so proud of you, if that car accident hadn't taken their lives."
"But you say you're a walking corpse? So your heart doesn't beat, you're not breathing and obviously that's not blood in your veins."
"Because I died before my time, and in the context of saving my beloved friend and her family from apprehension, torture and death, I qualified as one of the bù'ān dì xiánrén, or the 'unquiet and virtuous dead'. I bring justice and protect the weak and vulnerable. And so I will keep doing until the end of time."
"Gosh, this is wonderful, Josie. Look, if you know about the Guild, you'd fit right in..." Donna trailed off as smiling, Josie shook her head:
"While that would be a great honour, I don't think the world is ready for a crime fighting undead Chinese woman quite yet, Donna. But I will certainly continue to do all I can, behind the scenes and in the shadows, to assist you. I'll be your 'special emergency weapon."
And so she was. Often, when the Black Siren was fighting a criminal adversary in Seaboard City's garment district, a demure Chinese featured 'store mannequin' would just happen to 'topple' onto them and its bent arm would apply unexpected pressure to any criminal it fell onto, thus aiding the Black Siren's apprehension. Or, once, in the Seaboard City Wax Museum, there was a momentary blackout and a fire extinguisher that was adjacent to an ancient Chinese noblewoman had unexpectedly 'fallen' and hit one of the Siren's assailants, knocking him out. Halloween provided some opportunities for Josie to become mobile and she exploited her uncanny appearance, which accentuated her loss of mortality- enough to cause fear amongst some particularly 'superstitious, cowardly' criminals. Donna happily reflected that the Black Siren and shi xingzhe made an awesome crimefighting team and that Seaboard City was much the better for it.
And thus it stayed, for three years. And then, on October 14, 1962, a high altitude plane disclosed Soviet ICBMs stationed in Cuba. On October 27, 1962, a Soviet submarine made a crucial miscalculation and opened fire on US naval vessels that had dropped depth charges, resulting in the detonation of a nuclear tipped torpedo and events that inexorably snowballed into another abortive invasion of Cuba and the firing of the first Soviet installation of nuclear missiles at US eastern coastal targets. In a matter of hours, it escalated into a fully-fledged US/Soviet nuclear exchange.
As events ground to their tragic conclusion, the Black Siren received an unexpected telephone call at the Justice Guild brownstone:
"Donna?"
"Josie?! What are you still doing here? Listen, we've just received word that a Soviet ICBM is en route for Ryerson air force base. Scott, Jake, Tom and I are about to try and stop it but if it goes off, it'll destroy the city."
"I won't leave you to die alone, my friend."
"Josie, please... get to an air raid shelter. I want to see you safe."
"No, Donna. I will be there for you. Remember I told you three years ago that I would be able to do this until the 'end of time?' Well, I threw the I Ching coins and yarrow sticks. And we are in the midst of a nuclear war. Although I wish I could, I can't save you this time but again, I swear that you won't die alone... even if I am, technically, already dead. Goodbye, Donna."
Black Siren blinked back tears as she whispered: "Goodbye, Josie."
And so it was Donna Vance, the Black Siren, glanced back at the hills overlooking Seaboard City one last time. Like a falling star, the Soviet ICBM came up over the horizon and she saw Josie Xhiang one last time. Then, alongside the Green Guardsman and the Streak, the three surviving Justice Guild members used their abilities to try and halt the onrushing harbinger of death- Black Siren used her supersonic siren's cry, Green Guardsman's power ring blazed forth emerald light and the Streak tried to deflect the missile with a superspeed funnel.
The Black Siren fought crime alongside her Justice Guild colleagues and other allies until the darkest day on their Earth when she and her comrades sacrificed their lives to try to divert, or at least mitigate, the lives of those in Seaboard City who needed them. Perhaps mercifully, the detonation occurred so rapidly that human nerve impulses could not travel between neuron and synapse in that brevity of time. Therefore, it is certain that the Black Siren, Green Guardsman and Streak felt no pain when the firestorm broke over them and they ceased to exist within a microsecond.
Josie Xhiang, "Corpse Walker", shī xíngzhě, one of the unquiet virtuous dead or bù'ān dì xiánrén, closed her eyes and flung up her arms to embrace the newborn sun as it fell on the Earth, consuming all before it. Seconds later, the firestorm erupted over the Seaboard City hills, consuming all in its path and one unquiet, virtuous dead woman kept her self-chosen pact with a dear friend and silently joined her in Paradise.
THE END
