a Short story about American Wolf.

American Wolf/Raiana Yu Long is © my me  cobrawolf

Protector of Joplin.
By Cobrawolf Meiji

American Wolf’s POV
I have been called ‘costumed freak’, ‘vigilante’, ‘masked menace’, and a few other things by my enemies. But to many in Joplin, MO, I am called ‘hero’, ‘protector’, ‘Star-Spangled Princess’ and other titles.

To many I am one of the few supers in this part of Missouri, Unregistered or BOS. Southwest Missouri is thought of as a bit quiet, unlike the large areas up north in Kansas City and St. Louis. But in the wake of the Great Recession of 2008 and the May 22, 2011 EF-5 that hit Joplin, crime is on the rise and so had the rise of Supervillains, something that has not happened in Southwest Missouri in a very long time.

And That is were I came in.

I was not born in Missouri, but I was found on the door step of an apartment in Chinatown, San Francisco and raised by a very nice and loving family. I and my adoptive parents never knew who my biological parents were. The only things that were found with me were a sword and a piece of parchment with my first name: Raiana.
That is my name: Raiana Yu Long.

Right now I am on the top of the Commerce Bank building on 3rd and Main, looking down at an empty parking lot, waiting for a group of near-do wells to try and purloin a rare Diamond Tiara from the banking establishment.
My Gods, I need to stop hanging out with Francis. His style of speaking is infectious.

I am wearing only a 1984 Team USA gymnast leotard, the type worn by Mary Lou Renton in the LA games. Yet I am also wearing a pair of red boots, gloves and a silver-colored belt, part of the superheroine get-up. I am also wearing a blue domino mask. It is the same costume I made when I first started going into superheroics.
But back when I started, I was looking more for revenge.

Back in good old Chinatown, we had minor problem with triads and street gangs, something common in large cities. Even with supers, both unregistered and Bureau, patrolling the streets, crime was still high in San Francisco and it would be the cause of the death of a friend of mine.

She was 15 years old when she killed in a drive-by when she was walking home. She had been targeted because her uncle was a member of the Triad, through no one knew at the time. I was distraught, she was one of my best friends and she was murdered! For days I was morning the death of my friend, wondering why it had to happen. Over time, my sadness turned to anger, anger at the criminals who did this.

It was also when I discovered my developing powers, Super Strength, accelerated healing and keen hearing. It was also when I found the sword, which seemed to speak to me. I would later learn that the sword was the very sword of Clovis I, King of the Franks, which was passed down to many Frankish rulers down the centuries until it disappeared around the time of Charlemagne, who I would find out was my biological father. But that is a later story.

As I sand on the building, I think back to my first run as a Superheroine, after donning the leotard that I am wearing now and going out to find out who murdered my friend. It was then that I would face the one organization that I would fight later on in Joplin……

Criminal Enterprises

My Friend was gunned down as a show of force under orders from the group’s leader: Shadow Empress, a villainess that many had thought was dead after a battle with Jade Sword on the Golden Gate Bridge in the late 1970s. It seemed that she lived and was now running her own syndicate that was taking over the underworld.
I would find out the one who was behind the murder also, after finding her and her Yakuza thugs killing the uncle of my dead friend. She was to be one of many enemies I would face through out the years: Black Kitsune.
I would fight her in that warehouse and beat her thugs and the android samurai she brought along, but she would escape and I would not see her until after I came to Joplin, MO.

Four weeks after the EF-5 hit, I was accepted to Missouri Southern State University, which I picked viva I-Ching reading. It seemed that I was destined to go there and go there I did, and just in time as Criminal Enterprises was now moving in after the disaster, taking over street gangs, Drug Dealers and other elements of the underworld in Joplin. Yet the City was not without heroes as I would meet a good friend, Sports Lioness.
It was when I rescue her that I soon encountered Black Kitsune again, this time she had more Androids and furson that was wearing roman style armor. I would fight the Androids and also free Sports Lioness and soon, both of us defeated the robotic thugs, only to face the furson in roman armor, who had removed her mask to show her true face……

My own face.

She was Caracalla, my own twin sister.

To make a long story short, I fought her in a bloody swordfight while Sports Lionesss went after Black Kitsune, only for the Ninja criminal to escape. Caracalla also escaped, but not before being beaten in her fight against me.

My thoughts are soon interrupted by the sound of something. It sounded like a rumble of some large machine. I look around and soon see the cause.

It was a modified Merkava Mark IVm Windbreaker Main Battle Tank, with the main gun replaced by some sort of laser cannon, no doubt to cut into the building. The flag that was flying on it was that of a Gang of criminals known as the ‘Under Miner Gang’. The flag was yellow with a Shovel and a Pick-Axe crossed with a skull wearing a miner’s helmet over the crossed tools.

A group of Joplin Police Department Cruisers were already trying to intercept, but the Tank was not stopping.
This is where I come in now. I am one of those that protect the innocent. One who is clad in the colors that never run. I am the protector of Joplin.

I am American Wolf.