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“Wake-up, girlie!” A man with a heavy southern accent drawled, “What did you call yerself? See-cat-ic?”

“Psi-kotic.” the woman mumbled as she tried to sit up. She realized that she was handcuffed to the chair. Her wet spandex costume clung uncomfortably to her body. She struggled to get free of her handcuffs and failed.

The southerner, six feet tall and dressed in an expensive suit, took a step closer to the young woman. “Let’s see who you really are.” He gloated, as he tore off the electric blue mask, revealing the scarred face of Betty Ortiz. “Figures, yer just a dumb Mexican that needs to be put down.”

Beatriz “Betty” Ortiz looked up at her captor and bit back the tears. “I know about Saint Margaret’s!” She bluffed as her mind raced to figure a way out. She noticed that Jeb was guarding the door.

“What do you know?” Lee insisted as he took off his leather gloves.

Betty looked at Lee with defiance. “Like I’d tell you.”

In response, Lee slapped the young Latin woman across the face. The force of the blow was nearly enough to knock over the chair. A large red welt began to form on Betty’s cheek. Lee added “Well, you are too late. My team is already on their way. When the bomb goes off, that children’s ward is history. Along with all those ungodly immigrants.”

James appeared concerned, “A bomb in the children’s ward?”

Betty only gave a low chuckle.

“Why are you laughin’? Surely, you know Ahm gonna kill you.” Lee lifted his hand to strike her again. Before he did, Betty’s chuckle turned into maniacal laughter.

Finally, she spoke. “I finally know why you hate minorities so much.”

Lee put his hand down. “You presume to judge me?”

“That man in the picture, in the straight jacket must been have your daddy. He worked for the Rios Circus, didn’t he? But, after he died, you weren’t good enough. You practiced and practiced, but they wouldn’t let you replace your daddy.” Betty said with a laugh. “You could escape everything except his shadow.”

“They didn’t want me, them stupid greasers.” Lee said in anger, before he caught himself. “How could you know that?”

“Remember when you hit me?” She said shyly.

He looked at his bare hand and the welt on Betty’s face. “Yeah, so.”

“I was trapped before you did that. Now that you touched me, I was able to get out of these handcuffs.” She moved her hands from behind her back.

“What?” Lee exclaimed.

“I’m out of my handcuffs.” Betty showed Lee the open cuffs. Before Lee could react, Betty slammed him across the face with the cuffs. Lee screamed in pain as the metal manacles dug into his flesh. He dropped her facemask as he tried to stop the bleeding of his scarred face.

Jeb moved towards Betty. Before he could reach her, she flipped over the back of the chair. Landing directly behind the seat, she kicked the metal bridge chair towards the thug, tripping him. A judo chop took the remaining fight out of him.

Lee took advantage of the commotion to escape. He rushed out into the hallway. Betty picked up her mask and turned to chase after him.

“Wait!” James said. “We have to save them kids.”

Betty was shocked, “Wait, you want to stop the OWLS, now?”

“Ah didn’t sign on to hurt no kiddies.” James said, Betty could feel his inner turmoil at James’ discovery of the OWLS real motives.

Psi-kotic put on her mask back on and said, in a fake drawl, “Hey, you ahr the good ole boy that died for these folks.”

James didn’t respond and she felt a little guilty for the low blow. Psi-kotic moved to the desk, scooped up the manila folder and opened it. There were blueprints for the children’s ward as well as schematics for a bomb. A detailed timetable was also in the file.

Betty read the mission plan and gasped. “ˇMadonna! They are going to take over the hospital. Then Jed is supposed walk into the children’s ward and then . . .”

“Do what Ah did in that Bodega.” James said sadly. “Git moving girl. We gotta stop em!”

“Just a second, we have to be prepared.” She kept reading, the mission and briefing documents. A dozen OWLS were dedicated to support this mission. She somehow knew that this was just a small part of the organization. “Just how many OWLS are there?” She asked.

James paused before answering, “Too many. We need a plan.”

Psi-kotic looked at the key rack on the wall and smiled. “I’m working on one.”

*****

Across town, a group of twelve armored men were tying up unconscious hospital orderlies. They were all dressed in black. They leader was designated by a red armband. He addressed the men. “Keep to the plan!” They synchronized their watches. Then, half of the men ran out of the lobby towards the children’s ward. The remaining thugs took their position and guarded the large plate glass window. They could see the police cars through the window. This was all part of the plan. They knew the police negotiator would be there soon.

Tense minutes passed in silence. Suddenly, there was a sound of a loud car engine; the sound got louder and louder as its source got closer and closer. The leader turned towards one of his lieutenants and barked. “Go out and investigate!”

Before the soldier could respond, a bright red Ferrari crashed through the glass window. The impact knocked several of the surprised soldiers to the ground. They lay there immobilized and groaning from their wounds.

The leader was shielded from the brunt of the crash by the reception desk. He jumped to his feet and moved to the car. Removing his side arm he rushed over to the driver side door. He quickly opened the door and shot four rounds into the driver’s seat. To his surprise, there was no one in the car, just a cement block tied onto the gas pedal. The leader cursed as he saw the SWAT team enter through the shattered glass window. He wasn’t stupid. The leader threw away his weapon, put his hands behind his head and dropped to his knees. Besides, the real show was about to begin in the children’s ward.

The six remaining members of the assault team infiltrated the trauma center. Their first move was to force Doctor Katinsky into opening each hospital room. The men then systematically herded each patient, at gunpoint to the recreation room in the children’s ward.

Eventually, there was only one locked room left. The name on the door read “Beatriz Ortiz.”

Doctor Katinsky opened the room and then turned to the masked soldier. “Please, Miss Ortiz is not well.” The thug pushed him into the doorway and followed. The room was dark. It looked as if someone was in the bed covered by a sheet. The soldier moved over to the mattress and shoved the lump with his weapon.

Nothing happened.

Doctor Katinsky became very anxious, “Please, I told you. She is not well.”

The soldier jammed the point of his gun into the lump on the bed. A second later, a woman groaned. “ˇDios mio! Can’t a person get any sleep here?” Betty pulled back the sheets. She was dressed in a hospital bathrobe.

The thug jumped back when he saw the scarred face and body of Betty Ortiz appear from under the sheets. After a moment he composed himself and pointed his rifle at Betty. “Get up and come with us.”

Seconds later, Betty was led into the children’s ward at gunpoint. She quietly moved to the corner of the room and stood next to Doctor Katinsky. She whispered to him. “These are the OWLS and one of them has a bomb. I need you to cause a distraction.”

Doctor Katinsky gave her a sympathetic look, “Miss Ortiz, please relax. Please do not let these men aggravate your condition. It is going to be ok. These men do not have a bomb.”

Betty rolled her eyes. He still thought she was crazy. “Fine, we do it the hard way.” She untied her robe and shoved Dr, Katinsky across the room and to the ground. She rushed to the center of the room and screamed. “ˇDiablo! Oh, the devils, the devils are coming. Can you see them?” The terrorists moved to intercept her as they drew their weapons.

Doctor Katinsky, quickly moved between the men and Betty. “No don’t shoot! She’s not in her right mind.”

The soldiers hesitated for a moment. That was all the time Betty needed. Slipping out of her robe, she revealed a skin-tight electic blue body suit. She quickly replaced her full face mask as she slid across the floor. She stopped at the feet of the first soldier. Laying on her back, she kicked the first soldier’s weapon out of his hands. The rifle collided with a pair of soldiers, knocking them unconscious. As she rose to her feet, she punched the first soldier in the face and he, too, crumpled to the floor. “Feel the wrath of Psi-kotic.” She screamed in a crazed voice, which unnerved the other men.

Despite his fear, one of the three remaining soldiers was able to cock his weapon and aim it at the heroine. With amazing acrobatic skill, Psi-kotic flipped across the room and narrowly avoided the gunshots by hiding behind a children’s tabletop train set. She reached up to the table top and grabbed something off the wooden track. `A second later she threw a small red wooden train at the soldier with expert precision. The train collided with the weapon, knocking it from the soldier’s hands. The soldier recovered in time to see an electric blue boot coming at his face. A second later, he, too was unconscious.

Psi-kotic scanned the room for the other two soldiers. She saw Jed moving towards the center of the room and rushed to stop him. In her haste, she did not see the other thug until he slammed her in the back of her skull with the butt of his rifle, knocking her to the ground.

“Blacking out!” She cried out as the room spun and she struggled to get to her feet. She could see that Jed had reached the center of the room. “I’m sorry.” Psi-kotic moaned as the soldier hit her again and the darkness overtook her. She had failed.

*****

“ˇOh, mi cabeaza! My head.” Betty moaned as she sat up. She was lying in her bed in the trauma center. She was no longer wearing her costume, but was, again, dressed in hospital scrubs. She could feel a bandage on her hair.

There was a knock on the door and Doctor Katinsky entered. “Are you ok?” He asked softly.

“What happened?” Betty asked.

Doctor Katinsky smiled. “The police are wrapping up their investigation.” Betty looked nervous. “Don’t worry, I didn’t tell them about your involvement as Psi-kotic. I’m not sure I understand it myself.”

“I guess I have some splaining to do.” Betty said with an exaggerated accent and a smile.

Doctor Katinsky paused and then smiled back. “Later. Right now I have to find a way to explain what just happened to the hospital board.” He got up and walked to the door. He turned back to her. “You saved a lot of people today. You should be proud. I’m sorry I did not believe you.” He walked out the door, leaving a confused Betty alone in the room.

“ˇYo no se!” Betty exclaimed, “I don’t understand. I was unconscious, who stopped them.”

“Ah told ya, Ah didn’t sign on for killing no kiddies.” James said in her head.

Betty closed her eyes. When she opened them again, she was on the porch swing with James Jefferson. He was still peeling his apple with a switchblade. She smiled, “You stopped them?”

“Ah reckon I did. Ah may not know that chop sackey stuff, but Ah can still handle missef in a tussle all right.” He said as he offered her a piece of apple on the edge of his knife. “Nothing good coming out of killing youngins.” He said matter-of-factly.

Betty moved to take the apple and James pulled it away and sneered at her. “But, remember, Ah ain’t your friend. Ah still hate you and yer whole rotten breed. Ah get a chance to take over, Ah am gitting out, ya hear me, ya stinkin animal.”

Betty winced at the verbal assault. Then, her expression changed as she became more determined. “Fine. You do that, mi amigo. But we are not done. Not by a long shot. I am going to use every bit of information in that bigotted pin head of yours to bring down all of the OWLS.!”

James sat back and took a bite out of his apple and smiled. Finally, James turned to her and said. “Take down the OWLS. I tell you what, girlie, you ahr crazy!”

Betty sat back on the swing and moved closer to James. “No” She said with a smile. “I’m Psi-kotic.”

The Beginning.