Tuesday, August 15th, 2000

The late-night glow of the TV screen reflecting in her blue eyes, Sarah Steiner watched the news with a glassy stare. She was exhausted from the day's activities, but the news magazine program she was watching had just briefly mentioned her encounter with the Matrons of Mayhem. The reporter had managed to coral one of the guiding members of the Sisters of Hope into making a statement, and Sarah paid close attention as Britannia, armed with her trident and impervious shield, spoke.

"Knock-out's still new to the game, but she came out of her run-in with the Matrons unscathed. And although I don't condone what the Matrons attempted to do, I do however see light in what they're protesting. There are too many date-rape cases these days -- and many examples are from these back-alley night clubs and raves. Why young men have to resort to drugging women with Ecstasy, or some other fake aphrodisiac, I don't know. Such men are sick and women have to be careful."

"Hm," Sarah murmured. Watching as the comely, graceful woman took her leave from the reporter, the teen briefly wondered if she'd been right in stopping the Matrons. Maybe there really were some bad characters at that club... maybe the Matrons had saved a few girls from a horrible fate. Maybe... Sarah shook her head, no. No, the Matrons had it out for all men,
even completely innocent ones, like that young guy Sarah had fought alongside. Satisfied she'd done the right thing, and that she'd make the same decision again if she had to, she turned off the television.

Tomorrow was going to be a big day -- another one. James Raddison, Sarah's agent, had set up a ton of publicity work this week, most of it community service oriented. Sarah didn't mind helping out with that sort of work, but twelve-hour days were getting old in a hurry, super-endurance or no. There were a couple of bright spots, at least -- a local ladies' fitness center wanted her for some advertising spots, and, better still, Raddison had actually managed to line up a movie audition some time in the next three or four weeks. The film, starring the hyper-cute super-teen known as Blur, still didn't have a finished script -- but apparently that hadn't phased the casting director, who Raddison said had showed real interest in casting Knock-out in a co-starring role.

Sarah's mind was racing as her head hit the pillow. A movie audition, a commercial, PR work, a job interview with the Protectorate looming, and even a blind date Paula'd set up were all set to happen in the next few days or weeks. To say nothing of the "patrols" her mother insisted she go on from time to time. Briefly before falling asleep, Sarah wondered what she did with her time before her Knock-out persona had taken over her life.

Saturday, August 19th, 2000

"Right here," Sarah said quietly, directing her date to pull over to the curb.

"Nice place," Mark -- Mark Janus, an NYU student and old friend of Paula's -- answered. Peering out his rolled-down window at the tall, posh-looking apartment building, he added, "though it's no Bat-Cave or Fortress of Solitude. Those two dudes had serious pads. They had it all figured out."

Sarah smiled and laughed, as she had done a lot that night. Mark had turned out to be a fun guy with a great sense of humor and a quick wit. His killer body didn't hurt either, the girl thought to herself. "Batman and Superman are just comic-book characters, Mark. In real life, superheroes, if that's what you want to call them, lead, uh... less glamorous, less cool lifestyles."

"You telling me there's no pole you slide down to get to the ground floor? No statues of all the famous villains you've defeated? No giant key only you can lift? No miniaturized city?"

"Oh, stop it!" Sarah quipped, swatting at the man's arm in good-natured fashion.

Mark rubbed his shoulder and smiled as he got out of the car. "Ouch! Don't know your own strength there, Sarah?"

Sarah muttered an apology as Mark opened her door and helped her from the vehicle. Hoping she wasn't showing too much leg in her little black dress, the girl smoothed her outfit as he closed the door behind her. "Thanks for everything tonight, Mark, I had a great time," she said, meaning it.

Janus, dark-haired, dashingly handsome and a couple of inches taller than the young bombshell he'd taken out, walked the girl up to the main doors of her apartment building. "Me too. You liked that restaurant? It's a neat little spot. Cool to have an alcove all to yourself, I think."

"For sure. It was nice to see some more of the city, too. Paula's a great guide, but she's got her favorite haunts..."

"You mean like Club Q?"

"Yeah."

"She's been going there since I've known her. She loves the place."

Reaching the entrance, Sarah keyed her security code into a wall panel and smiled as the automatic lock on the building's glass doors clacked open. "I guess that's goodnight, then," the girl said softly, tucking a fetching strand of hair behind one of her ears. She was surprised when Mark took her chin delicately in one of his hands and kissed her on the lips. It was a good kiss, and not a short one. The sharp sound of the lock mechanism moving again surprised the pair, and both grinned at being startled.

"Goodnight, Sarah," Mark finally said, turning to leave.

"'Night," the young woman called out, watching her date walk back towards his car. Her heart pounding, the girl turned to open the door and smiled broadly. Paula would want to hear everything about their evening, down to the smallest detail. Pulling on the door handle, Sarah yelped as it came off in her hand when the door shattered, showering the lobby with sugary fragments of glass. When the crystalline avalanche ceased, Sarah was red-faced as several ground-floor tenants opened their doors to discover the cause of the ruckus.

"Sorry!" Sarah offered with a weak smile, gingerly stepping through the empty doorframe. "Can someone please call the super?"

Thursday, August 24th, 2000

"So today's the big day?"

Limbering up on the floor, Sarah, decked out in her Knock-out costume, nodded. "Yep. Interview with the Protectorate."

"Damn," Paula breathed, bouncing her legs over the arm of the easy chair she sat in. Watching her roommate stretch, she continued, "They're seriously big-time, aren't they? Like fighting aliens and monsters and other big menaces no one else has the guts to face?"

Getting to her feet, Knock-out bent at the waist and put her palms flat on the floor. "Yeah, they're... big-time," she answered, holding the stretch for a few seconds. Going down again, she added, "Way too big time for me. Mom and Mr. Raddison set this all up. They want to get me on a super-team, and they're starting at the top, I guess. I don't stand a hope of making it, but I figure the experience of the interview will be valuable."

"How mature of you," Paula chuckled. "I'd be scared shitless if I were you."

Grabbing a towel to wipe the sweat from her body, Knock-out made a face. "Who says I'm not? I'm terrified, Paula. I'm just a kid, and these are the world's most powerful heroes. I'm surprised they even agreed to meet with me."

"You'll do fine, I'm sure. Don't beat yourself up if it doesn't go well -- like you said, it's good experience for you."

"Yeah, that's what I keep telling myself," Sarah smiled. "If I bomb, I bomb. No biggie."

Both girls knew that wasn't true -- knew that if Sarah bombed, Lili would throw a fit of historic proportions. And no one wanted that. Changing tacks, Paula raised her eyebrows as the muscles in Sarah's arms, legs and shoulders flexed when the young heroine knelt to put her boots on. "Girl, you are so buff... there's like not an ounce of fat on you. I bet that Mike Muscle-head guy is all over you when you go to his gym."

"It's Mike Musselman, and no, of course not. I've only talked to him briefly, actually, when I first toured the facility last week. He's really nice, but he seems like a very busy man."

"So is the gym cool, or what?"

Knock-out nodded emphatically. "Oh yeah. Awesome. Totally state-of-the-art. Electromag resistance machines, hydraulic presses, you name it. Perfect for metas."

"Seen anyone famous there yet?"

"Yeah, Blockade was there last week, down from Canada. That was kind of cool."

The phone ringing interrupted the girls' conversation, and when Knock-out picked up the receiver, she already knew it was her mother. She and James Raddison were downstairs in the car, waiting to take her to the interview.

"Wish me luck."

The United Nations Building.

Sarah swallowed hard. The panel of interviewers -- there were four of them -- sat directly across from her in folding metal chairs. The room's vaulted ceiling had echoed each of their articulate, exacting questions, and also each of her stammering, inelegant answers. Sunlit by a bank of huge windows along one wall, the room was hot and dusty, and a trickle of sweat ran from Knock-out's neck to her chest, slowly making its way into her exposed cleavage.

Behind the four impeccably dressed men and women who were conducting the interview, the primary source of Sarah's discomfort hung motionless in the air. Utterly silent, aloof and disturbingly alien, Zodiac watched the proceedings with what looked like acute disinterest. That, more than anything else, had put Knock-out off of her game. At this point, all she wanted was for the interview to be over so she could run back to her apartment with her tail between her legs, maybe cry a little on Paula's shoulder. It hadn't gone well.

When Zodiac suddenly whirled around in mid-air to face west, Knock-out nearly fell out of her chair. Intently listening to some communication only it could hear, Zodiac turned just as suddenly back towards the group and spoke with its hollow, atonal voice. "Sarah Steiner -- the villain Mastodon is attacking a political rally at Central Park. He is threatening violence, and is causing hysteria. Will you assist me in stopping his rampage?"

The dozen zodiac symbols covering the thing's body now glowed softly, and Sarah could only nod at the bald, asexual creature as it waited for her reply. "Excellent," it intoned before phasing through the nearest wall.

"Jeeze!" Knock-out yelped, suddenly shaken from her surprise at having conversed with the alien hybrid. "Sorry I have to cut this short," she said over her shoulder, already running for the exit.

"Not a problem," someone called after her. "Be careful."

It only took Knock-out a few minutes of hard running to reach the park, to catch up with Zodiac, who she now saw was hovering in the sky ahead of her. The rally, a Republican function with a decidedly anti-metahuman bent, had been thoroughly derailed by the lone villain -- a huge crowd of panicked people ran amok in the park, pushing and trampling one another, many heading directly for New York City's busy streets.

"Quickly, time is a luxury we do not have," Zodiac said. "I will handle the riot of civilians before someone gets seriously hurt. That leaves you to keep Mastodon occupied. Are you ready for this?"

Adjusting the titanium knuckles adorning her hands, Knock-out raised her fist high. "Yes! I'm ready!" she shouted back, jogging through the crowd in search of Mastodon. As she approached the center of the chaos, she thought to herself, Yes, I'm ready'? What kind of stupid thing to say is that?

When the last of the crowd parted around the girl and she finally found herself face to face with the man she'd been seeking, she suddenly wondered if indeed she was ready. Mastodon was huge. His arms and legs were as thick as tree-trunks, and he literally towered over the girl as she slowly circled him, trying to work up the nerve to actually attack the blue-blood.

"What have we here?" An amused look crossed Mastodon's broad face, though it was slightly distorted as a pair of oversized incisors jutted from his mouth like tusks. "A super-heroine?"

"Yeah!" Knock-out replied forcefully, raising her fists. "Turn yourself in... or I'll kick your ass!"

"Really," was all Mastodon offered before lowering his shoulder and charging straight at the young challenger. The brute's powerful, pumping legs carried him across the ground at astounding speed, catching Knock-out completely off-guard with his deceptive quickness. Shoulder-tackling the girl, Mastodon laughed heartily as he sent his opponent flying. She landed hard, throwing dirt high as she plowed into the soft ground a good forty feet away.

Her ears ringing and her vision blurred, Knock-out tried to get up, but stumbled and fell back down onto her back; she'd never been hit so hard, and found that the wave of nausea she was feeling had stolen her balance.

"That's it, sweet-peaks," Mastodon leered, licking his lips as he approached. "Lie down for me and I'll show you what a real man's like..."

"That all you got?" Knock-out managed, finally struggling to her feet. "I've had bee stings hurt worse than tha -- Agh!"

Her witty comeback cut short as the bounding villain crashed into her a second time, Knock-out flew through the air again, finally slamming into and crumpling the side of a large UPS van parked on the side of the street. Crawling out of the truck's wreckage, the bruised heroine looked a little unsteady on her feet as she faced off against the charging metahuman yet again. This time, however, Knock-out dove, trying to avoid the locomotive-like blow. Mastodon showed a great deal of agility when he adjusted to her defensive move, his last-second course change directing him straight into the woman again. This time, though, he scooped her up and carried her along at top speed for two dozen yards before driving her into a telephone pole.

Groaning as the back of her head and shoulder impacted against the thick wooden pole, Knock-out felt the world go dark for a few short seconds. When she regained her senses, she was flat on her back on the pavement, and she saw that the utility pole they'd just snapped in half had fallen harmlessly back into the park. Mastodon stood directly over the girl, smiling a lecherous smile. Seeing that fueled Knock-out's reserves, and the villain was surprised when she rolled and got back to her feet.

"You don't know when to quit, girly," the enormous villain growled. "I'll run you over all day long if I have to. You stay down, I'll make it worth your while."

"Screw you," Sarah countered harshly, tasting blood. Her first fight with a supervillain -- with Virago -- had been brutal, but nothing compared to this. If she was going to have even a chance against Mastodon, she'd have to use more than brute force. She didn't have much time to plan, however, as Mastodon was charging again.

This time Knock-out timed it right, and she leapt out of the way just in time to leave him ramming straight into a metal stoplight pole. There was a resounding clang, and Mastodon shook his head vigorously as the steel pole dropped loudly to the street. Focusing on avoiding his charges, Knock-out began maneuvering the villain into a series of perfectly-timed dodges that left him crashing into another telephone pole, a brick outbuilding, a wrought iron fence, a bronze statue in a fountain, an entire row of parking meters, and a fire hydrant.

Both combatants were soon out of breath, and while Mastodon hadn't been truly injured by any of his misses, his mouth was bloodied and he was obviously frustrated by his inability to finish off his beautiful young foe.

"Sit still, you little bitch!" he roared, hurling himself once again at his quarry.

This time, however, Knock-out's strategy was decidedly different. She'd regained enough strength to go on the offensive, and instead of side-stepping or ducking as Mastodon rushed towards her, she stepped into a ferocious roundhouse and met him head-on. The first point of contact in the awesome collision was Knock-out's titanium-belted fist slamming into the man's nose, pulping flesh and cartilage in a spray of blood and tissue that disgusted the crowds of people that had now gathered to watch the titanic struggle from a not-entirely-safe distance.

Knocked off stride, Mastodon stumbled and fell heavily to the ground, his momentum carrying Knock-out with him. They wrestled on the ground for a few moments, thunderous blows delivered by each of them, until Knock-out finally broke free and regained her feet. She wiped blood from her cheek as the huge man slowly got back up, then raised her hands again.

"Come on!" she challenged.

"You... want a... street-fight?" Mastodon managed between sucking breaths. "You... got one!"

The pair came together with brutal ferocity, trading blows like a couple of old-school prize-fighters going for a one-punch finisher. When the flurry ended, both battered fighters staggered back, unsteady on their feet but unwilling to give up. Knock-out's knees quivered, and she knew several of her bones were broken, but something inside her refused to surrender, refuse to yield. Blood ran freely down Mastodon's badly bruised face, and it looked for a fleeting moment that the villain truly doubted his ability to continue the fight.

Seizing the initiative, Knock-out leapt towards her foe, revitalized at finally seeing a chink in the man's armor, at finally seeing a chance to put down her fearsome opponent for good. Moving at top speed, the woman's sturdy boots tore up the ground as she prepared a final, devastating blow. Before she could bring her fist forward, however, the world around her shifted, changed somehow. It was like she'd suddenly been immersed in a thick, clear syrup of some kind -- it was almost as though she'd been submerged underwater, except that she could breath, and the water was a hundred times as dense as it should have been. Everything around her moved at incredible speed, whizzing past her like she was standing still. Birds flew overhead at hundreds of miles per hour. Taxicab traffic on a distant street was a steady blur of yellow.

Knock-out hadn't seen the woman -- the barefoot woman wearing diaphanous robes and a shawl -- step out of thin air behind her. She also hadn't seen the aura of translucent energy emanate from the woman like ripples in a pond, washing over the heroine. She did see, however, Mastodon. He moved like a hummingbird, and faster than her eyes could follow him, he moved to Knock-out's side. He said something into her ear, but all the frozen teen could hear was a high-pitched buzz. She gathered the meaning of his words easily enough, though, and when the villain suddenly flitted back a good fifty feet from her, Knock-out knew what he was planning -- one last charge. This time, though, he wasn't coming on like a train, but rather a bullet. Knock-out quickly lost sight of the man, and she squeezed her eyes shut and prepared for a blow like none she had ever felt before.

"No!" Zodiac yelled, flying straight into Mastodon, knocking the behemoth off course.

Tripping over the edge of a concrete wading pool, Mastodon did a face-plant and slid along the ground painfully, his momentum throwing up a wave of broken concrete in front of his body.

Zodiac, the astrological markings covering his lean, lanky body now ablaze with glowing energy, drifted through the air to place himself between the villainous duo and Knock-out, who was still helpless.

When Mastodon got back to his feet, he and his ally glared at Zodiac and Knock-out for long seconds before exchanging a glance amongst themselves. With a wave of the woman's hand, the air shimmered again, and when it settled both she and Mastodon were gone.

"Ugh!" Knock-out cried, suddenly loosing the powerful punch that had been meant for Mastodon. Stumbling through the follow-through, the beautiful young metahuman tripped and tumbled to the ground, landing flat on her back.

"Stay down," Zodiac stated matter-of-factly. "You are injured and are in need of medical assistance."

"I'm okay," Knock-out lied, happy to comply and not move a muscle. "So who the heck was that?" she asked, breathing hard.

"That was Baroness, another member of the Royal Elite. She ensorcelled you."

Knock-out was starting to ache all over, now that the fight was finished. "Thanks for saving my butt," she said, no longer caring that she was speaking to one of the most mysterious and powerful metahumans on the planet.

"I appreciated your help in resolving the situation. It was the least I could do." Seeing emergency crews now arriving on the scene, the androgynous hero added, "I must inform the other members of the Protectorate about the Royal Elite's attack. The paramedics will treat your injuries. Farewell."

Watching Zodiac lift up into the sky, Knock-out remained on the ground and weakly requested some help when she saw an ambulance pull up nearby. "Over here..." she groaned.

Wincing at the devastation surrounding the downed girl, one of the paramedics knelt at her side and checked the girl's vitals while the other prepared the stretcher. Satisfied she was stable, the two men moved her into the back of the ambulance.

"Don't, move -- Knock-out, is it?"

"Just call me Sarah."

"Sarah -- don't move. You've got some massive internal injuries, and more broken bones that I can count. I don't know how you're still conscious, frankly."

Sarah smiled as the other paramedic slammed the rear doors shut on the emergency vehicle and climbed behind the wheel. "I'm tougher than I look, and I heal pretty quick, too. I'll be up and around by tomorrow."

"Just the same, we're taking you in. I've wheeled more than one metahuman with an invulnerability complex into the morgue. You're bleeding internally, so we're getting you into the emergency room ASAP." Sitting down beside the wounded heroine, the paramedic held on as the van lurched forward, its tires chirping on the street as the driver wheeled it around to head off for the hospital.

"Okay," Knock-out relented, "but only if I don't have to eat the food..."

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