BGC: Beat of Defiance

Chapter 4:  Family History

After Tina hung up she went back to sleep.  Unfortunately what she and her brother had discussed caused "The Dream" to reoccur.

Part of her could understand it.  It was, after all, a major moment in her life.  And the end of her childhood.

The dream started as it always did.

She and her brother were waiting for their parents.  She wished the older set of twins were also there but with the rise of violence, especially between the major multi-nationals (the term mega-corp was just starting to come into vogue) she could understand keeping them separated unless they were at home.  But her parents were coming to see her perform!!  Even though Alex was doing his normal teasing routine nothing could spoil this moment.

In addition to their bodyguard there was her fathers very old friend.  This man was also the head of security.  Her father always called him  "Top" a reference to when they both were in the service.  Top and the bodyguard knew the family secret so she was entertaining them with making "spark shows" between her hands.  Alex was trying to top her but his artistic talents were not as good as hers.  They stopped as the limousine came into the entrance.

Then the horror struck.  In the bed Tina twisted and moaned calling out "MOM DAD LOOK OUT!!"  just as she had that day.

She had spotted the men with the Rocket launcher  at the same moment her guards and the limousine driver did.  Even while "Top" was knocking  both her and Alex down she was reacting as her father had trained them both, as her father had trained him self.  Three bolts of lighting lanced out striking the rocket propelled grenade, detonating it before it struck the limousine.  Unfortunately the shrapnel caught both "Top" and the bodyguard.  Shielded by their bodies Tina and Alex only suffered minor cuts.  Climbing from under the bodies she saw her Father climbing out of the car.  She could hear her mother yelling for him to get back, he wasn't in costume, he didn't have it's protection.  He shot a bolt at a second RPG team shouting "NO ONE THREATENS MY FAMILY!!"

The bolt detonated the reserve ammunition, killing the assassination team.  Unfortunately the blast threw him against the car.  Tina could remember hearing a strange sound has he struck.  Some of the shrapnel entered the car as well.  She could then hear her mother screaming in pain, both for herself and her father.

Tina woke up screaming with Louis and Angelique pounding on the door.  As they rushed in to comfort her she remembered the rest.

When her father slammed up against the car he did damage to his back.  He now had to spend most of his time in a wheelchair.  He could only walk short distances now and then only with crutches or similar support.  His mutant physiology proved to reject the cybernetics that could have allowed him to walk again.  This was especially aggravating to him as his other abilities remained unaffected. It was also ironic, a division of Wilson Industrial Holdings was one of the leaders in cybernetics.  

Her mother had lost an eye, fortunately she did not have the rejection factor.  Still even with the best cybernetic eye and plastic surgery available Tina could still see small scars that could not be hidden.  

Tina had her own scars as well.  It was a year before she could dance or sing again.  For a while she felt she could no longer be creative.   Although she regained her passion for dancing and singing (always in that order), some new passions had been added.  One of the new passions from that year was her discovery of computers and what she could do with them.

The other passion was the desire to find out who was responsible for the attack on her parents.  And find some way to make them pay.

Her brother Alex went into medicine.  She understood that.  While they both rushed to help their parents after the attack, Alex had kept his cool, directing her in first aid for her mother while he took care of their father.  Alex told her later that their father had called him "Doc", the traditional nickname that Marines called the medical aid men who accompanied the Marines into battle, while he was stabilizing him.  Her brother now held Doctorates in medicine and cybernetics.  One of the areas of interest he had was better anti-rejection drugs and treatments.  He had some success, although none that could help their father.  Yes, they distributed them via one of the corporations the family controlled, but the medications were sold at minimum profit.

When they were 18 their mother took them to a section of the mansion.

"This is were you father stored his," her voice caught for a moment, "weird hobby stuff.  He didn't know it at the time, but I set up a extra section for something I wanted to do with him, but we never got the chance.  As I've watched you these past few years I've know you wanted to even the score.  If that is truly something you want to do we understand.  Your father doesn't want you throwing your lives away for it though and neither do I.  His position, both public and hidden, put him at risk.  I accepted this and we both tried to protect you all.  Now that you are all grown up, we can only do so much.  But if you are going questing like some knights of old, there is something we want to give you."

Tina remembered her mother pressing a panel and a secret door opening.  Inside was a room with two suits of armor, powered armor.  The suits were ahead of the current state of the art.  One suit was painted in dark blues and gold.  It was obviously meant for Tina.  The other was painted red and gold, it must have been for Alex.

"Tina, I flirted with the idea of putting on armor and helping your father.  I had the original made secretly but never wore it in action.  I even had a name picked out, Defiance.  If you go after whoever did this," she pointed at her cybernetic eye "to us I would be honored if you used that name and this suit."

Alex was over examining the male suit.  "Mine?" he asked.

Their mother nodded.

"It is in the colors of his costume."

"Yes" their mother said simply.  "He said you could take the name as well"

Alex simply nodded.

"Why isn't he down here too?" Tina asked.

"Who said I'm not.  We all couldn't fit in the elevator, not with me stuck in this chair"  They all turned as their father rolled into the room.

"I believe your mother has told you her feelings about your quest.  Please hear mine.  Even when I was adventuring I knew this," his hand motion took in his chair " or worse could happen to me.  But I felt it was worth it, still do.  I also knew that I couldn't right all the worlds wrongs, just some of them.  Do you think you can accept that as well?"

"Yes Father"  they said in unison.

"Also remember that you can do just as much good in your other pursuits.  That is what I've tried to do with our corporation.  I think, with your mothers help, that I've done so.  The media mentions us as an example of what a mega-corp could be.  Even the underground press attacks us less than the others."

He paused and took a breath.

"You both have made me proud.  No matter what your course, I see no way you could stop making me proud of you."

Both the twins bent down and hugged their father.

He wiped his remaining eye.  "Enough, I love you too.  Never doubt that.  Honey, tell them what their suits can do."

He started to roll back to the elevator.  "Oh Kay and Andrew say they will support your quest as well. They would have been here as well, but the media has been hounding them for an interview and they finally decided to grant it."

That was several years ago.  They had been given a long list of possible suspects.  Over the years they had gradually reduced that list.

Tina sighed.  It turned out that she had a better gift for ferreting out information than Alex, better "street smarts" their father called it.  While she was no slouch at making deductions, Alex was better at analyzing what she had collected.  So they had worked out a system that used both their talents.  When Angelique and Louis had joined her, their abilities to find out information had increased, making Alex even more effective.  And very frequently the things they came across required direct attention and action.  And, sometimes, that action required them to use their armor as well.  

When they did don the armor they frequently eliminated a name from their list.

 Sometimes when they acted they were able to keep it covert.  Other times, especially if they had to use the armor, they were more overt.  As a cover and to provide additional funds Tina had used the code name her mother had given her as a "handle" for a mercnenary for hire.  Because of her success rate the name "Defiance" became better know in the shadow world.

It was during an investigation in France that she had met Louis and Angelique, two talented students that had somehow crossed several mega-corps.  She had helped them out and discovered a pair of kindred souls, LA Tina was the result.

Now they were in Mega-Tokyo, there were just three names left on the list, all mega-corps, all with Headquarters in Japan.  But Tina's gut feeling said that it was the top dog of the heap, Genom.

She knew that she couldn't bring it down totally, but she could help achieve some sort of balance, some restitution.  She just needed a hard target, or considering some of the things she and Angelique had been picking up on the streets, several hard targets.

Both Louis and Angelique were hugging her now, waiting for her to come out of her memories.

"I'm OK now, it was the dream again.  That's all"

"Tina are you sure you can continue?"  Louis asked.

"Yes, each time I've eliminated a suspect the dream has come less often."

Angelique hugged her again.  "And if it is Genom?  Then what?" 

Tina's voice was like stone.  "We do what we can to make what they did to my parents doesn't happen to others.  Make 'wetwork' less attractive as an option.  And if we can reach the one who ordered and carried out that operation, we will make them regret having done it."

Louis had to ask.  "And if someone beats us to that person or persons?"

"Then part of the quest is done.  I might try to give or do something nice for them in thanks.  We then continue with trying to check the excess of corps like Genom."

"Then Louis and I are still with you.  As long as you don't lose sight of that."

"Thank you both.  With friends like you I don't think I'll ever loose sight.  My brother will be here soon as well.  Perhaps when we are finished with what he dug up, we can take a break in a little while."

Tina laid back down and was soon asleep.

Her two friends looked down at her.

"I hope she's right about her being able to handle the situation," Angelique said in French.

"You were the medical student my dear, does she look more stressed out than normal?"

"No, especially for after a show.  Still she feels she is close Louis, very close.  If she does take out target X what then."

"Then she will rest for a while my dear, before continuing just as she said.  She told us who her father was.  She has inherited more than his abilities, she also got his desire to adventure and help people.  She could no more stop doing that than she could stop dancing."

"You know for a techo-geek you can get pretty mystical"

"I get that from staying with a medic/fixer/drummer"

"Well now that we are awake, lets to some rhythms"

"You, my lady, are incorrigible"

"One of the things you love about me."

He kissed her.  "True."

After making sure that Tina was truly asleep, they left for their own room.