In The Sights of a Menace
By JoshuaPuck


June 23, 2014
Colmaton, CA

As Desert Dog held her pained shoulder, the weak barricade she brought in front of her was visibly cracking. One more good shot and it would blow apart, and she wasn't sure she had enough will to bring more up, not while her head spun. She coughed out, spitting blood on the ground below her. She was in deep trouble, and as the red panda laughed, mocking the heroine as she floated in the air, she lined up her shot and a harsh green beam blasted the stones away.

Magic. Why did it always have to be magic that caused her the most trouble?

Tamara Rosales had always had an interest in magic, going back to the stories that she learned from her grandparents. The stories of the old Trickster Coyote shared among the tribes in the Southwest, the heroes of their culture and even the warning stories of shapeshifters who stole others forms. Shamans who had wielded great power, using the earth and the elements. It was what led her to study archaeology, to see which of the stories were based in some sort of fact and which were just metaphor. The supers that were around the country proved that there was always some sort of mystical power going around, be it due to natural mutation or some sort of.. other power she wasn't sure, but the young coyote was always curious. Always throwing her muzzle into another book on the paranormal. Spirits and ghost hunting one week, spells and rituals, the next, cryptozoology for spice.

And when she found the talisman... that was a whole new world. Tamara remembered it every day since she donned the guise of the heroine Desert Dog.

–

Summer 2012
New Mexico

She was on a student trip in Savannah State, uncovering a newly discovered kiva that the ancients in New Mexico had abandoned some time in the 12th century. The expedition was being careful, using Native students like Tamara and a couple of others in her class to make sure that they were able to study the ruins while keeping respectful to the local tribes and furs. While she'd figured that it was some sort of tokenism due to her tribe of coyotes being in Arizona rather than New Mexico, Tamara was glad to help with her first dig.

But what she'd found was more than burial grounds and barely preserved baskets. Late one night she was walking out among the stars, keeping close to the camp but wandering out a bit far to get away from the sleeping furs. The night was in her blood, and her shining canine eyes took in the full moon. She wanted to howl like her feral cousins, but instead she just wanted to feel the ground under her feet, hear the crunch of dust and rock without having her teachers looking over her shoulder. It reminded her of summers on the reservation, before she moved to Phoenix and later went across the country to go to school.

As she bounded along a ridge, taking in the smells of the different yet familiar desert landscape at night, Tamara found an unusual rock formation, nested in a small box canyon. Looking back to the tiny lights of the camp to get her bearings, she ventured into the canyon, taking out her pocket flashlight as she slowly walked in. As the lightly slowly filled the area, it settled on the formation that Tamara had spied before.

It was a pillar of stone with several symbols on it. Tamara tilted her head as she walked forward; none of the symbols were tribal in origin. She traced them out with her finger, on the stone. It felt oddly warm to the touch, almost like it was humming. She yipped a bit at that feeling, pulling her hand back and taking a step. But before she could look around, she felt her foot catch on a hole she hadn't felt going in. Yanking it hard, she felt something twist and fall away. Screaming as a hatch opened up, she fell into the earth, landing with a thud on her back after ten feet.
Groaning, she slowly picked herself up, holding her back. Barely able to see from the moonlight streaming into the kiva, she saw that it was different from any she'd ever seen, lacking many of the hallmarks of the tribes they were studying. It seemed to have symbols matching the ones on the pillar of the top.

Flashing her flashlight around the area, the coyote came to an altar that had similar symbols. She knew that they were familiar from her studies, but only when she came to the altar itself she knew. Sitting there was an amulet, made of jade that could not have possibly come from the area, inlaid with a symbol that repeated itself often. It was the symbol of Giribaldi, a mage from around the time of Atlantis that had supposedly caused the destruction of the island, and as contrition, had his magic split into artifacts and sent to the four corners of the earth.

She couldn't believe what she'd discovered, but knew that if she announced the discovery, it could fall into the wrong hands. Clearly she wouldn't be the only one who knew about the artifacts, and if someone looked to bring the artifacts together, they could be used for evil and destruction again.

Reaching to grab the amulet, she gasped out hard, feeling felt her fur tingle, and instinctively knew that the amulet had bonded to her. She reached out, chanting words that somehow came into her mind; her eyes flashed and the amulet glowed in her hand. Suddenly a spike of earth came rocketing out of the ground, making her leap back with a yip of fear. Had she done that? She looked down at the amulet and then at the rock.

Stories flooded her mind, stories not only of the Old Trickster, but that of the heroes of her tribe and others. If she learned how to control the powers the amulet made... could she be one of them?

---

Colmaton

The wind was slow as Desert Dog prowled around her usual haunt, the blocks around Union University. It was a quiet patrol like usual, as many villains seemed to congregate around the busy downtown and the more lucrative business districts. But someone had to keep the students safe, and She found herself crouched on a rock floating above Conquistador Cafe, one of the several coffee shops ringing Peterson City Park and serving students.

As she lazily floated above the street, the coyote started scanning the streets and skyline, watching for any issues that cropped up when suddenly she jerked her head up, looking to the west. Tamara felt a shiver, an energy that felt familiar to the one that coursed through her body, but just different. Taking a breath, she knew right away what it felt like just being close to it.

It was another Giribaldi artifact. It seemed to make her amulet tingle, as if it was excited to be reunited with an old friend. But where was it coming from? She'd been on a few digs since switching classes, but she hadn't felt anything like this. Even her research on Giribaldi was coming up with whispers and theories, but...

“There you are!” a voice cried out, and suddenly Desert Dog was blown through the window of the cafe by a searing energy bolt that came from the direction she felt the tingle in. With a howl of pain, Desert Dog crashed into the tables that had been set up for the night. Splinters of wood and glass slashed her costume and fur, some of them stuck into her back. She whined a bit, ears flat as she got to her feet, knowing full well she had to get some sort of defense up.

Bringing up a shield of the bricks and some dirt from outside, Tamara looked around warily, groaning softly from the jagged cuts in her back. Suddenly she was blasted back, her shield shoving into her so she was pinned to the wall of the cafe.

From out of the night sky, a toned red panda landed on the ground. She was wearing a green military uniform of some sort, complete with cap on her shoulder length black and red hair. The way that the woman held herself and the way she wore the uniform declared that she was former military. Tamara tilted her head as she shoved her shield off of her body. The uniform looked like some she'd seen in her Asian studies classes. Older Chinese, it seemed.

The other thing that caught the coyote's eyes were the rings on the red panda's fingers, glinting in the street lights. They were made of gold, set with the same color of jade in the amulet that Tamara wore. It was unmistakable, with the power that the red panda gave off this close to her, that they were the Giribaldi artifacts she sensed. Her amulet almost tugged to them, and the way that the soldier looked at her, she knew that the ring-wielder knew it too now.

As Tamara coughed out, smoothing her uniform a bit, the red panda muttered something in Mandarin, sizing up the heroine. “You look too young,” she spat out in accented English. “Are American heroes nothing more than spoiled children?” She laughed darkly. “Bad enough you look like a jiànhuò, stomach and arms exposed like that.”

Tamara blushed at the way that the red panda spoke about her, tired of being underestimated by villains. She knew that she was only a heroine for two years and that a quarter of that had now been spent in the hospital, but she was doing her damnedest. “I am Desert Dog, defender of Union Universtiy,” she announced, standing up even as her nerves winced in pain. “Who the hell are you?”

The red panda raised an eyebrow, her ears flicking under her hat and tail swooshing in annoyance. “You do not know me? What your American media screams about? Perhaps they are scared of me to say anything, or perhaps jiànhuò like you do not care to read a newspaper. I am Hóngxióngmao Sheng, but others have seemed to insult me with the name Red Menace. You may call me that, if your American tongue can't handle my real name.”

Tamara's mind crunched over the name, but it suddenly hit her, as her eyes widened. “Oh shit!” she whispered to herself. Red Menace was a heavy hitter. She didn’t have access to BoS files being unregistered, but the hero forums she floated through online had many mentions and rumors about most villains. She knew that Red Menace was a psycho, a self-styled dictator who used her rings to cut her private country. Usually she stayed in her own area, but this wasn't anything that Tamara could handle on her own.

As Tamara started to reach for her transceiver to call for backup, the red panda aimed her left hand ring at Tamara and a laser beam shot out. “No help for you,” Red Menace snarled as she blasted Tamara's hand. The cell phone shattered into a dozen pieces, as the heroine yipped in pain from the searing burn.

“Defend yourself, fèi rén! If you mean to toy with a powerful Giribaldi amulet, girl, then you have to show you deserve it!”

A bit shaken from the pain she was already in, Desert Dog nonetheless stood proudly. She nodded and with a determined growl rose her hands up, gathering debris from the cafe and nearby rocks from out of the park. Swirling them around in a tornado, she dropped the whole endeavor on top of the villain.

Red Menace took a defensive stance herself, and with a flash of light fro her right hand, a strong shield and armor combination rose around her. The rocks and bricks bounced off of the defense, and though it made her push back into the park, she came out unscathed, brushing off her uniform with a sneer. There was confidence in the villain's eyes, more than Desert Dog often had facing alone against all but the weakest villains.

Desert Dog smirked though, showing off bravado as she brought herself together. “Good... I see your rings are as powerful as mine....” she snapped off. “But let's see how you use it!” She lifted her hands, eyes flashing as a large boulder flew out of the park, heading straight for the back of Red Menace's head.

The red panda's ears perked up, and she spun, dodging back while she lifted her left hand. With a shot of energy, it deflected enough for her to easily shift over. The boulder slammed into the wall of the cafe next to Desert Dog, making the coyote yip in alarm at the close call.

“How long have you wasted your time?” Red Menace called out, walking forward. “Playing at hero? Or are you new and I am doing you a favor?” With a sweep of her hand, she blasted off several energy bolts in the coyote's direction.

“Long enough to deal with you, General Mayhem!” Desert Dog replied, barely able to dodge each blast. She brought up a rock to deflect a fifth blast, but it was already starting to wear her down with how quick the shots were coming. Red Menace was herding her, testing how quick she was. Tamara was quick, but the panda with her training seemed quicker.

“Do you Americans never stop talking?” Red spat out, continuing her assault. “At least you have speed on your side, I will grant you that.” But she had only been using part of her power . With a sudden shout, she directed a devastating blow to the wall just above Desert Dog, blowing the cafe’s bricks apart. Debris rained down hard on the heroine, who had to concentrate on saving herself from the chunks of brick.
It was just the distraction that the soldier needed. She fired two blasts right at Desert Dog while she was distracted, harsh beams of force that slammed into the coyote’s shoulder. Tamara cried out hard, forced into the jagged bricks with a force that caused her right shoulder to become dislocated. Her concentration broken, debris slammed her around, bruising the heroine to where she fell on the ground, groaning and dazed.

With a triumphant shout, Red Menace closed the distance between the two. “Just as I suspected. Another pathetic young fur who doesn’t know what she’s playing with.”

Red Menace reached down, clutching her hand around the amulet, pressing her knuckles into Desert Dog's throat as she lifted the weakened heroine up. The coyote gasped and clutched hard at her enemy's arm, losing breath. The red panda jerked her hand, expecting the chain of the amulet to snap off, but as it refused to budge she snarled out in a booming voice “Tā māde! LET GO! This is mine by rights!”

Tamara's eyes rolled in her head as she gasped out, her body shaking around violently. “Nnnghh.... I can't...” she gasped out, scrabbling for purchase on the ground. She tried to tug on the ring on Red Menace's finger but found it didn't budge. It must be a property of the artifacts. “It's.. bound to me.. Just like... glllkk... if I tried to... gnngh... take your rings!”

“Then perhaps it will come off after you die!” Red Menace yelled out, bringing her pistol up to Tamara's head. The coyote yipped hard, jerking her head to avoid being shot; thinking fast, she grabbed up a thin spindle of rock and shoved it down the pistol's barrel and shoved her enemy's hand up. The gun fired, but with the spindle inside, shards of rock spewed everywhere, jamming the gun hard.

Red Menace screamed in frustration and threw Desert Dog down, making the coyote bounce on her buttocks. Tamara's tail snapped from the impact and she cried out in pain, but she was able to scramble to her feet, holding her shoulder, running for cover behind the wall of the smashed cafe.

“Coward!” Red Menace screamed out.

Tamara didn't care what the crazy Chinese female thought of her. Clutching her shoulder hard, she coughed in pain, knowing her tail was broken, and her right arm felt like dead weight from the blast and impact on her shoulder. She hadn't felt this bad since Violetta used her as a punching bag while being held as bait for Miracle and War Wolf. But as those memories came back to her, Tamara was bolstered in her confidence. She'd been able to hold her own and help her rescuers, even with a gunshot wound in the leg and several days of broken bones and heavy bruising. What Red Menace did to her was nothing compared to that.

There was something that came to her mind as she gathered her energy. Something she'd noticed about how Red Menace used her rings. Anyone else could miss it, but with her own experience with Giribaldi artifacts, she knew from proximity to the rings how they should work. They were dangerous in anyone's hands, but with a tactical mind like Red Menace, the weakness was limited. So Tamara knew she'd have only a chance to make it work.

Standing out, she gathered up a few rocks with her powers and threw them at Red Menace. The red panda brought up a shield, making them bounce off as she worked on her pistol, clearing out the stones that jammed it up. But as Tamara ran forward, the shield dropped and Red Menace moved to her offensive hand, holstering the pistol and blasting away with different energies.

“Come on Tokyo Rose!” Desert Dog laughed, running the best she could in between blasts, though her shoulder and back were screaming in pain. Her earthen shields were blasted away as soon as she brought them up, but it was buying her a little time. She had to make this work, had to keep the red panda distracted for this to work. If Red Menace had more time between shots, she would armor up and then just start shooting with her pistol once she got it cleared.

As she grunted around, Tamara wished she had her backup transceiver on hand so she could call in backup from Miracle or maybe Spectra... The destruction enough would have alerted someone by now, but she knew she had to hold her own.

Dodging a few fire blasts and a laser that cut the top off of a fire hydrant, Desert Dog suddenly doubled back. She waved her arms around, gathering as much of the debris into as she could, standing still to provide a target. She would only have one chance at this; she knew that Red Menace would shoot to kill, but.... she'd never had her armor up while firing away. There had to be a reason!

“Come at me!” Tamara yelled out, using her barely moving right hand to egg Red Menace on. “You want the amulet, I'm right here! You're nothing but a tin-pot dictator who got her hands on a pair of mini-nukes. Why don't you just ally with Iran, you'd get along great!”

Red Menace braced her left hand, firing off a killing blow of hard force, snarling out in a yell. Desert Dog threw the accumulated debris with her own yell. The debris was loose enough that though a huge portion was blasted away by Red Menace's attack, there was more than enough to slam into the red panda, throwing her back as several large bricks and stones bounced off her temples. She had just enough willpower to stay conscious right until she was thrown back into a lamppost. The ring of her head knocking into it echoed over the park, and she collapsed on the ground.

Desert Dog fared better, taking a severely reduced portion of the force wall into the stomach. The wind was knocked out of her, and she fell back on her already broken tail, groaning out as she reflexively curled into a fetal position. With her rapidly fading consciousness, she managed to gather enough debris to bury Red Menace up to her neck, keeping her contained.

With a cough and a groan, Desert Dog fell flat, smiling as she finally heard the wailing sirens. She'd done it.

June 24th 2014
Dr. Downing's Clinic

Tamara woke up in costume to the sound of a fan whirring over her head. Another night in the clinic. She groaned a bit, clutching the brace on her relocated shoulder, and feeling a similar one on her now stiff tail. Cuts, bruising and only one broken bone. That was a step up for her in the world. She stretched the best she could, and rubbed the back of her shirt that was torn up by all the glass that had gone through it during the fight.

“Hey, Tammy, heard you had a busy week; how are ya feeling?” said a familiar a voice which was twinged with a Southern accent.

Tamara’s ears swiveled to meet the voice, and she sat up. In through the window of her room was sitting her best friend, the green-clad raccoon heroine named Miracle. Today it looked like she was on the job, in her green uniform with the prominent M and arm and shin guards. Those were still a bit new-looking to the coyote.

“I… yeah, I guess everyone’s heard by now,” she said with a blush on her face, grunting a bit with the pain of her shoulder. She dialed up a bit on the morphine, but otherwise her vitals sounded a world better than the horrible night after Miracle and War Wolf had rescued her from Violetta’s clutches. “Feel like crap, but that’s sorta our reward for fighting the good fight, eh?” Tamara chuckled softly.

“Eeeyep, and then War Wolf comes along…” Miracle suddenly frowned and her opaque visor masked her stern glare. “You must exercise more caution when you pick your battles!” she growled.
Tamara held her hands up. She seemed more confident now than before, and willing to defend her actions. “Hold on there Ray,” she replied, using the old nickname that Erin went by in college. “I didn’t go looking to pick a fight with a crazy dictator.” She chuckled again, her ears flattening a bit. “She broke my transceiver first shot.”

“I know; I was only kidding! Trying to make a joke.” she said, sticking out her tongue. “I believe you.”

Tamara nodded, sighing as she fingered the amulet around her neck. “I… think she detected my amulet. Or maybe she saw me in some news programs and wanted to investigate.” She curled up her knees and hugged them out of fear. “She’s got rings that are the same make, Ray… That means I was right. There are other Giribaldi artifacts out there… with a crazy like Red Menace, it’s like a dynamite factory.”

Miracle swung her legs around and came into the room, putting a paw on her friend’s shoulder. “I know it’s scary, but you still got us. I’ll help you if I can, you know I will.”

Tamara nuzzled Miracle’s paw, smiling a bit. “I know,” she replied and her ears perked up again. “But… I don’t think I’m so scared anymore. I know I got hurt, but, hell… everyone gets hurt. I realize I got lucky, but I still… I did it. I didn’t end up killed taking someone like her on.”

“What was she like?”

Tam brought a hand to her head and bark-laughed. “Not quite the nutter she’s made to be on the Internet forums,” she replied. “But… cold, ruthless. If I hadn’t jammed her gun, she was more than willing to put a bullet between my ears to take my power as her own.” She shivered at the thought.

Miracle cringed, thoughts of Violetta and her own nemesis Static creeping into her mind, but she shook her head. “Yeah… no kidding... Sounds like your trainin’ lately paid off though.”

Tamara nodded. “I’m still a bit crude, but let’s face it… I’ve had this for two years. Between juggling digs and the times I’ve been in the hospital, it’s kinda rough to train sometimes. But its not like these things come with instructions, just whispers and ideas of what the mage was capable of.”

Miracle nodded. “Yeah. Well, I’m glad you came out of it just fine. I can’t stay long; I told Laser Vixen I’d only stay here for a few minutes. She was going to help me with some karate tonight.

Tamara grinned and nodded. “Hey… Think once I knit up, she’d be able to teach me some as well? I’m starting to take self-defense gym classes, but it’s good to get help in that.” With her new-found confidence, it was time to get along with other heroes, not just the occasional patrol with Miracle or on her own.

“Sure thing! Won’t go easy on ya, though, I gotta fight everyone my hardest too.”

“As long as you’re not trying to shoot me, I think I can handle it!” Tamara laughed, a pure clean laugh that was good to let out. It had been a rough first few steps of heroing over the first two years, but things looked better with a little help.

---

Here we go! The introduction of Red Menace to Desert Dog, 14 months in the making! Sorry about the delay, but I think it's well worth it!

Tamara Rosales/Desert Dog and Hóngxióngmao Sheng/ Red Menace ©  coyote42
Erin Flaherty/Miracle ©  sam-gwosdz
Colmaton ©  TRAIN
The Bureau of Superheroes ©  MojoRover
Erica Decker/War Wolf, Janet O'Connell/Spectra, Violetta ©  vivavulpes