Previous Challenge Entry (Level 3 - Advanced)
Topic: FIRE (08/04/22)
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TITLE: Fire and Fury | Previous Challenge Entry
By Art Westefeld
08/11/22 -
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Larissa saved the article she was working on and headed to her editor’s office. When she arrived, she stifled a groan. Atlanta Bear was sitting on the only other chair. Recalling that she’d been involved in filling two interview requests for the other woman, Larissa quietly wondered, ‘Now what?’
Bear rose and gave Larissa the smile for which she was famous and reached to shake Larissa’s hand. Not wanting to be rude, Larissa took the proffered hand and came to the point. “Who do you want me to set up an interview with this time?’
Bear’s smile widened. “Any of those Christian heroes who know the most about Allah’s Fist.”
Larissa’s curiosity got the better of her. “Why?”
“My producer wants to do a special about the tenth anniversary since those costumed villains appeared. I wanted to get some perspective on why they fight the Light Force.”
Larissa knew the firey answer, because her sister, the Light Force member Mariness, had told her. She wondered how she was going to convince her brother-in-law, Rex Brand/Diamond, to answer Bear’s questions. Aloud she said, “I’ll need a bit of time to get the answers for you. How can I reach you?”
Bear wrote her hotel information on the back of a business card. "Please do your best."
Back at her desk, Larissa sent a text to her sister, asking in a roundabout way if they could talk privately. To her relief, Rebecca invited her for dinner, indicating it would be a barbeque, which was code to say they could talk secretly. She replied that she’d be there around 5:30, and returned to her article.
Arriving, her niece Loretta led the her out back where Rex was grilling. Larissa asked Loretta if she would please go inside so the grownups could talk. After the child left, Rex greeted his sister-in-law by informing her that Loretta used her powers to ignite the grill.
Larissa smiled. "Rex, I know some of the origin story for Allah’s Fist, but there’s a TV personality who’d like to hear about it. As you were involved the most, I wanted to ask if you’d mind meeting with her.”
Rex scowled. “I guess not. Where?”
Larissa fished for Bear's business card and handed it to Rex. After a brief look, he spat back, “Her? She got no respect.”
Rebecca put her hand on her husband’s bicep and murmured, “Please, darling.”
Rex almost threw the card into the fire, but he had a hard time resisting his wife.
Larissa nodded, grateful that he was going to help.
Saturday morning, Atlanta Bear’s hotel room had been transformed into a mini soundstage. Cameras rolling, she asked Diamond to tell her audience how the super-villain group came to be.
Diamond’s eyes got a faraway look as he answered, “It was a couple a’ months after we started. I was on patrol when I saw a car crash into a building. The gas tank exploded, makin’ a dangerous fire, so I went over in Diamond form to rescue the driver. I also pulled the burning car away from th’ building. I flew the driver…”
Bear interrupted. “There was only the driver? And what building was hit?”
Diamond, his patience already thin, growled back, “If ya hadn’t interrupted, I’d’ve told you. Yes, it was only the driver, and it was the River Falls Islamic Center. That’s the end of the facts I’m sure ‘bout. The rest of the story comes from listening to Lion Lord tell the tale.”
Bear pondered whether she could get an interview with Lion Lord to confirm the rest of the story.
Diamond continued, “I apparently left the car too close to the Center, which caught fire. As I understand it, five of the kids that went there were cleaning up the rubble when a woman shows up and basically offers them revenge on the Christian whose car crashed. This woman told them a story about how Muslims were oppressed in the future, and inflamed their rage.
“A couple nights later, she met with them and gave them their powers and costumes. They atttacked the driver who was still in the hospital. My team and I fought them of course, but not before they lit the room on fire. Cowards!”
Bear thanked her guest. After he left, she got hot on the trail of Lion Lord’s location.
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