The Bush Rangers: Rebirth!
By lawrenceliberty
Witness the birth of Australia’s new team of super champions and a change in the status of the American heroine Firehawk!
Prologue

1988
David Darana was a wealthy man. He owned one of the biggest companies in all of Australia and he enjoyed his work as a financier. The work gave him pleasure and he was good at it. His rugged good looks attracted plenty of women and he enjoyed that as well. He was proud of his success. He savored the fact that he often used his wealth and power to help others in need. He was quick to feel pride in his Aboriginal heritage but he also had some qualms about his own method of embodying it. He loved his grandfather dearly but he had no time for the old man’s constant lectures about the need to embrace the old ways. It was guilt over this and one other fact that occasionally troubled his otherwise perfect life.
He glanced in an office mirror and as usual his demeanor was perfect. He was a handsome black man with a taste for the finest of designer suits. He moved well and he carried himself with dignity.
Still, he wondered deep down if maybe, just maybe, his grandfather was right. After all, he not only denied the old ways and publically scoffed at the myths and legends of his people, he secretly knew they were true and used certain ancestral gifts for his own personal gain.
“You are a hypocrite!” he said to his reflection as he turned and sat back down behind his luxurious desk.
His lovely brown haired secretary came in and smiled winningly.
They had never been more than colleagues but he had tried more than once to initiate a romance. She was seemingly indifferent to or worse amused by his charms.
Sharon Marlowe adjusted her large designer glasses as she presented her boss with some contracts that required his signature. She was very intelligent and she seemed to anticipate his every request before he could make it. In his more modest moments, David wondered why she was happy to work as a secretary when she could easily do his job herself!

She looked at him over the top of her glasses in a familiar way that she had and she said, ”The New Qwardian deal has proven to a real success! We may secure even more of their business in time!”

She referred to the fact that Darana Financial was one of the more prominent companies to benefit for the incredible economic and industrial boom Australia had enjoyed since a group of so-called “goo” Qwardians had left their other-dimensional home to settle in the Outback in a city called New Qward. Superman himself had not only endorsed their sincere desire to live peacefully in the former untamed area but to become part of Australian society. They had more than lived up to his claims by helping to integrate their alien technology into the Australian industrial complex. They had turned Australia into a technology giant in a matter of years.
David shook his head. He was daydreaming again. It was a very bad habit and for him it was actually dangerous because of his abilities.

As Miss Marlowe walked out of the office in that sultry way she had, David did in fact close his eyes and allowed himself to enter the Dreaming. In this waking trance, he could enter a realm beyond time and space and in sync with past, present, and future. This Dreamtime was part of the earliest creation legends of the Australian people and David knew from the teachings of his grandfather how to make contact with it.
He had used these precognitive glimpses to make business deals that he knew in advance would prosper and had become wealthy by doing so. He felt guilty over this at times.
Now, he was determined to do something to assuage his guilt. He was going to use the gift of far seeing for good. He was going to become a super hero!

He frowned as the misty void alternating with flashing lights and cascading images.
“The Fire Bird again! I can’t allow her to become a menace no matter how much good she has done in the past!” he whispered.

He felt the old lurch as he returned to the material world and he grabbed his phone.
It was time for David Darana to assemble a team of super human agents that just might help him save the world he loved so much!
The old cocky grin spread across his face once more. He was just the man to save the world!

1
On the beautiful campus commons of Vandermeer University, a young man with brown hair hurried through a crowd of students and teachers until he caught up with a pretty blonde girl in a pink dress.
“Doreen! I thought I was seeing things! Why didn’t you tell me you were back?” said Ronnie Raymond as he touched the girl on her shoulder and she turned to face him.
She looked up at him with wide blue eyes and then lowered her gaze slightly as she nervously adjusted a bracelet on her left arm.
“Ronnie! I meant to call but my flight got in late and I didn’t want to wake you up. After all, you’ll be taking finals soon enough and that will mean a lot of late night cramming sessions anyway!” she said.
Ronnie Raymond nodded and said, “I can’t believe we’ll have finished our third year of college next month! I also can’t believe you’ve only been away for one semester. It’s felt like a lot longer. I know studying in England was cool and all but I’ve really missed you!”
Doreen Day leaned forward and kissed him on the cheek.
“I’ve missed you too. England was wonderful. I got your letters. They were really sweet. I’m sorry I wrote so little! I don’t have an excuse! I’ve been a bad friend!” she said.
Ronnie frowned as he listened to her words and noticed her body language.
“Man! She’s still giving me the cold shoulder! We had barely got back together after our split before she left for England on that whole Spring Scholars program. Now, she’s almost as cold as Killer Frost!” he thought.
He smiled sheepishly and said, “No sweat! We can make up for lost time tonight. How about getting together? We have a lot to catch up on! I’m really enjoying student teaching. The weird thing is I’m actually good with the kids. Double majoring as a chemistry and gym teacher has worked out better than I ever thought!”
He stopped abruptly as he heard the distinctive buzz of his Justice League signal device. He naturally had one built into the costume that materialized when he merged with Professor Martin Stein to become the collective entity known as Firestorm but he and Stein had both started wearing smaller copies so they could be contacted in the event of an emergency when they were not merged together as Firestorm!
“Oops! That’s my pager! I’m late! I promised to tutor a friend. He can’t get the hang of dodge ball! You’ve got to have that skill when you’re working with kids. One wrong throw and somebody’s crying! I’ll call you later! Welcome back!” he sputtered as he hurried away and narrowly missed running into a stern looking professor.
As he turned behind a row of shrubs he concentrated and an amazing transformation occurred as the athletic college boy became the red and gold costumed Nuclear Man complete with a flaming nimbus rising from the top of his skull!
“Ronald, I heard the summons as well! I hope this crisis won’t be something that will take us away from our private lives for long. While I always relish discussing science with Dr. Palmer and his young protégé, I can not afford to miss another faculty meeting!”
The words or thoughts came from Professor Martin Stein. Stein’s consciousness was able to communicate with Ronnie while the two were in their Firestorm form. Stein was a brilliant man with a genuine affection for Ronnie and a desire to serve the world but he had never developed the passion for super heroics that still thrilled his younger partner so much!
The part of Firestorm that was Ronnie Raymond agreed readily as they soared toward a concealed JLA teleportation station.
“I’m sorry, Professor! I’d rather be sorting things out with Doreen too. She’s back and she’s still acting strangely. I bet she picked up some British boyfriend or something!” he said.
Stein said, “I know how deeply distressful young emotions may be! I’m only sorry that I’m not able to advise you with any certainty. My own love life is a bit disconcerting at the moment too!”
As the hero reached the concealed device and stepped inside, he found himself teleported to the Justice League of America’s orbiting satellite HQ. The teleportation stations were dotted around the globe and a vibrational pattern kept them unseen and untouched by anyone who could not locate and activate them via means of the special signal devices worn by each member.
Seconds later, Firestorm stepped out into the satellite and smiled as he saw his friends. Superman, Batman, the Flash, Green Lantern, Wonder Woman, Red Tornado, Elongated Man, and Zatanna were all gathered around the large meeting room table.
Note: See The Martian Chronicles Chapter 7 for Firestorm’s JLA adventure.
That evening Doreen Day waited for Ronnie at the off campus apartment she shared with three other students’ however, he failed to show up due to the crisis that had called him into action as the composite hero Firestorm.
Doreen was relieved. She cared for him. In spite of her best efforts to forget him while she was in England, she could not shake her genuine affection for him. Still, the blonde co-ed was not really ready to face him. She had transferred to England especially because she had not been able to confront the man she loved after what had happened.
A week later, Doreen was still brooding over her problem with the still absence Ronnie Raymond.
“If only things could have worked out differently! Why did I allow myself to get so close to Ronnie that something made me see the truth in spite of how unlikely it all seemed!” she thought.
A little more than one semester ago, she had turned on her television set and caught the end of a broadcast that showed Firestorm the Nuclear Man in action.
She had encountered him personally more than once. After all he had saved her sister Summer after her lycanthropy had turned her into the savage Hyena. He had also been involved in the resolution of the vendetta a mobster called Shine had had against Ronnie’s father. As New York’s hottest new hero Firestorm was a popular figure and Doreen felt like she and her family owed him their gratitude for what he had done for her sister.
What Doreen had not realized even after Firestorm began to be seen in Pennsylvania after she and Ronnie had enrolled in college there, was that Firestorm and Ronnie Raymond were in fact the same person!
Why would anyone think the cute but somewhat distracted basketball star and the Justice League hero were the same person? Firestorm’s features were weird. He didn’t sound like Ronnie and yet that night when Doreen saw the hero on the news something clicked and she just knew that Firestorm was in fact her boyfriend!
“Ronnie always hangs out with Professor Stein and a man with his professional background certainly could have come up with some way to turn a high school athlete into a super hero! I can’t stand the idea that he could be hurt any moment. I’ve seen what Mom has gone through with Daddy’s job as a cop. The nights of uncertainty and the constant fear that somebody might hurt or even kill him has really turned her inside out. How much worse would that be when the boy you love is flying in space and battling aliens and monsters?”
Those thoughts had raced through her mind and she had decided to runaway. She would go study aboard and not have to face Ronnie until she could forget about him or somehow shake her feelings for him!
Now, back at college in the States, she struggled to make sense of it all.
“How can I love Ronnie while I also know that he is bad for me? Am I some kind of idiot who has to have a man in her life?” she whispered.
She grabbed her purse and stalked toward the door.
“I’m going to settle this once and for all! I’ll have it out with him no matter what kind of crisis he thinks he has to solve!” she said.
She failed to find Ronnie because of his involvement with what would become known among the costumed heroes of the J.L.A. as the Legion of Doom case.
She stomped one foot in frustration as she paced back and forth restlessly across the campus. She knew her father Bert had always cautioned her to be more levelheaded than her impulsive sister Summer and he had even prided himself because she was such a docile daughter. Now, she wondered if her willingness to please had only been the catalyst that placed her in the situation she now faced: being in love with a super hero!’
She saw a car in the campus parking lot with a faded Walter Reilly campaign sticker and she had an idea.
“Senator Walter Reilly has a daughter named Lorraine. She and Ronnie knew one another and she was also famously rescued by Firestorm after a kidnapping. She has to know more about him than I do. I’m going to find her and see if I can get any answers. The same intuition that made me know Ronnie’s secret makes me feel like Lorraine has the answers I need!” she thought.
The next day Doreen Day made her way to Lorraine Reilly’s apartment in New York. Apparently, the red haired heiress had maintained a New York residence in addition to her more frequently used Washington Dc home.
Doreen wore a red business suit with matching heels. She was determined to look as chic and composed as she could. She already felt a bit intimidated by the prospect of facing the more sophisticated Lorraine. She knew the redhead had a reputation as a wild party girl and Doreen felt a bit too provincial for her own good.
“Lorraine was pretty nice on the phone. She didn’t mind my dropping in like this and she even sounded fairly welcoming,” she thought as she waited for someone to answer to her knock on the apartment door.
Lorraine Reilly opened the door and ushered her guest inside. She was a pretty woman with long curly red hair and a killer smile. She was wearing a black mini dress with matching heels and looked as if she was ready for a night on the town instead of a morning meeting with a girl she may or may not have remembered from her time in the city.
“Come on in! I love that suit!” said Lorraine as she ushered her guest inside what appeared to be an apartment decorated with a rather eclectic style.
Doreen smiled rather demurely and then mentally kicked herself for retreating into her old eager to please mannerisms.
“Thank you. I know this visit is an intrusion but it is important to me. I need you to tell me what you know about Firestorm. I need you to tell me everything”
Lorraine frowned and bit her rather heavily made-up lower lip. She was not comfortable with this topic at all. She knew Firestorm was Ronnie Raymond and she liked him a lot but she was not involved with him nor was she at all sure how this girl seemed to know that she was in a position to speak about the subject at all.
At that moment two colorful figures walked into the room and confronted the two women.
The first figure was a man in a brown and red costume complete with a hooded cowl that covered his head and face except for two narrow openings the revealed dark brown eyes.
He raised one gloved hand and before either woman could blink, he grabbed Doreen by the throat and lifted her into the air. She kicked and struggled but in a matter of moments, she had passed out.
Lorraine concentrated and was about to turn into Firehawk when her head began to ache and she lost her balance.
“Migraine? Since when do I get headaches?” she gasped as the room spun around and she felt flat on her face.
The second intruder was a beautiful Japanese woman in a blue and white costume that consisted of a blue one piece swimsuit and matching high heeled boots with white trim. She also wore blue gloves. Her long, black hair was pulled back in a long ponytail and she moved with the silent grace of a warrior.
She casually bent down and placed one palm on Lorraine’s head. Lorraine grunted in pain and then passed out.
“See what I mean, Bandicoot? A subtle approach was just as well as your aggressive ways!” she said.
The masked man from New Guinea shrugged and said, “I don’t do subtle! In fact, I don’t even know how to spell it!”
Mind Maid sniffed disdainfully and gestured for her companion to pick up Lorraine as well.
“We can’t leave the other one behind. We must take them both. If you had waited until she was alone, we could have avoided this extra difficulty!” she said in irritation.
Bandicoot grinned. He liked it when the Japanese-Australian beauty was angry. She had a very lovely pout.
Back in his private office David Darana sighed with relief.
“They’ve got her. I knew I could find the perfect agents. We’ll just remove any possibility of her becoming a threat and then we’ll let her go! I must say that her friend is a real looker!” he thought.
Just outside his door, Miss Marlowe smiled enigmatically.
“What an idiot!” she thought.
2
Later, as David Darana greeted Bandicoot and Mind Maid, two other odd figures joined them from the shadows of a large warehouse.
The larger being was over seven feet tall. He was covered with a thick shaggy brownish-yellow fur and he had gleaming fangs and bright red eyes. Oddly enough in spite of his monstrous appearance, the creature simply called Yowie was clearly benign in terms of his intentions.
He cradled the two stunned Americans (Lorraine Reilly and Doreen Day) in his huge arms and looked down on them as if they were cherished playthings.
“Pretty! Very pretty and soft!” he said with a look of pleasure on his oversized face.
Bandicoot sneered and said, “You break them, you bought them, pal!”
“Don’t tease him!” said a very girlish figure who wore a short pink dress with a puffy mini-skirt and heels. She smiled kindly at the Yowie and fluffed her blonde hair as she did so.
“Stunner, you can do your Beauty and Beast routine later. We have to work quickly. These women need to be returned to their homes with all due haste and without any harm if at all possible!” said a sternly glaring Mind Maid.
David smiled winningly and said, “Do not fear. I have everything under control like always. Everything in my life goes according to plan since nothing and I do mean nothing can surprise me.”
“Yeah? We like ya because of your humble manners!” said Bandicoot.
“You can be as cynical as you like, mate but I have all the answers! I entered the Dreaming. I saw the lovely American heroine Firehawk becoming a menace called the Fire Bird…right outta our own Creation myth. She was as deadly and powerful as the Rainbow Serpent and as heedless as her raw power destroyed everything in her path! I knew I had to secure her and remove her powers before she could mutate into any monster like that! I put you lot together from every corner of our great country and you bagged the beauty as I planned!”
Stunner stared at him with an adoring look in her big blue eyes.
“You are wonderful!” she cooed.
At that moment all of them collapsed as blinding pain erupted in their individual minds.
Miss Marlowe’s stiletto heels clattered across the dusty warehouse floor as she gazed down on the fallen super humans.
“So easy, His ego makes it all so easy!” she said with a bored smile.
She caressed the fallen form of the slinky Mind Maid and said, “If only any of you could use your powers as well as I use them! Well, one works with the tools one has!”
She turned to face some other shadowy figures that had followed her into the warehouse.
“Secure them all. Keep David sedated. We can’t allow him to use his powers for a moment!” she said.
She gazed down at Lorraine Reilly and said, “Two mind bolts in a matter of hours may have been enough to leave you in a coma. I will have to improvise but then again, that is what I do best!”

3
David Darana and his allies were secured by his former secretary’s own employees in minutes. The powerful mental attack had stunned them all; however, even the smug Miss Marlowe had not realized the full extent of David’s powers. He was stunned like his team but his mind roamed freely through the Dreaming and he saw each member as they had been before he had contacted them!
Yumi Yamasaki (Mind Maid) had been a successful fashion model but she swiftly grew bored with the role. She was ambitious and she was very bright. She was smart enough to make good use of her beauty; however, she also had grander goals for herself than to strut and pout for a living. Her late grandfather had been a survivor of the Hiroshima bombing and she had always assumed that she owed her own mental powers and perhaps, much of her combat prowess to the fact that his metabolism had been altered to the point where his heir had been born a mutant. She knew her father was normal in every way but she had clearly been blessed with abilities far beyond sultry grace and a lovely face and figure. Her mother was still alive and seldom left their small home in Broome. Yumi loved Broome but she also knew a more cosmopolitan setting was needed if she was to make something of herself that would satisfy her personal ambition. She managed to use her contacts from modeling to establish herself as an agent and now she owned a small but promising modeling agency. The murder of one of her models had motived her to investigate the crime and to use her mutant powers to bring the killer to justice. That act had thrilled her and erased much of her boredom. She had adopted a costumed role as Mind Maid and took much pleasure in using her gifts to help those in need in Sydney where her business was based.
Roger Booth (Bandicoot) was not a mutant but as a former miner he owed his enhanced endurance and speed to a glowing rock he had uncovered while in a mine. The gem had crumbled at his touch and in doing so he had cursed what he envisioned as a bright future financed by a rare gem; however, the powdery substance had seeped into his skin and given him the physical gifts he used as the masked Bandicoot. He had a shady past since at first he made use of his strength and stamina as an enforcer for a small time mobster who ran the mining town. He regretted some of his past actions and he tried to make up for his violent background in his current role as an efficient if ruthless crime fighter.
Stunner (Mandy Dare) was only 19 years old. She had always wanted to be an actress on an Australian soap opera but her blonde beauty and lack of theatrical skills had equipped her more for work as a model and it while working for Yumi’s agency that the rather naïve girl had first become the heroine Stunner. Her ability to generate bursts of light came from her father who had also possessed similar powers and had used them during the 1950’s as a local hero called Southern Sun. It had not taken Yumi long to learn about her protégé’s powers and background since she could and did read minds with ease. She had urged Mandy to don a costume and aid her in her own efforts from time to time.
Mandy, in turn, had “adopted” the creature called Yowie after he had become smitten with her during a photo shoot in the Outback. The lumbering beast had emerged from the wild and displayed a protective manner toward the blonde beauty ever since. For all they could determine he truly was the legendary Australian beast of folklore and myth he appeared to be.
The quartet had been assembled hastily by the powerful Darana who knew all about them from his “Dreaming” visions. He could easily afford to equip and house them in one of his many real estate holdings across the country.
Now, David’s dazed mind enabled him to do something more remarkable. He reached out and made contact with other Australian heroes and made them fully aware of what was occurring. He did all this while technically unconscious. Even as he dozed, other heroes began to race toward the base.
Miss Marlowe had no idea that her boss could do so much. She was also a mutant with the uncanny ability to detect and then tap into the super powers of other beings. She prided herself that she could use them better than their owners! She may have been smarter than the arrogant David but she was not fully aware of all he could do and in truth, neither was the rather superficial man.
She gestured to two of her minions and led them to a special holding cell that had been gutted and filled with a device designed to siphon the nuclear energy that gave Lorraine Reilly her Firehawk powers. David had naively planned to “cure” her for her own good and to prevent her from becoming a menace like the Fire Bird which he, and apparently only he, saw as akin to the Rainbow Serpent of the Australian creation myth.
Ever since Miss Marlowe had first tapped into his power and thus experienced his visions and gained the same knowledge he had about Lorraine’s super alter ego, she had viewed the socialite turned heroine not as a threat but as a potential source of power. She would not drain the woman’s powers. She would use the altered devices David’s science team had built to boost the nuclear fire that burned within Firehawk. She would turn her into a more powerful being that would serve Miss Marlowe’s cause alone.
The men suspended the still stunned Lorraine within a harness that dangled below a complex machine which in turn contained the dead body of a man.
Doreen Day screamed but no one could hear her. She was locked within an odd chamber with a non responsive Lorraine Reilly. The redhead had been stunned twice by the mind bolt attack and her breathing was regular but she was out cold. Doreen could not make sense of her situation. She knew her newfound knowledge about Ronnie opened up a whole new world to her. Her policeman father fought crime and risked his life but he certainly knew little about the bizarre world of the super hero. Her sister Summer had been cursed with the transformative power of the were-hyena during a trip abroad but that nightmare still had not touched Doreen in such a personal way as this assault and abduction!
The men glanced at the girl and then casually hurled her into the same harness that contained Lorraine.
She wept. She shouted. She prayed. She didn’t know what else to do.
The silent men departed and moments later a hum filled the room.
And then the machine that held her activated and her world exploded in a wave of energy that enveloped her entire being!
This was merely the start of her waking nightmare!
When she next opened her eyes she was alone in the weird room and there was no sign of Lorraine. The corpse that had rested within the machine was gone as well.
Doreen gasped as she felt her body surge with energy and with heat. She spread her arms and found herself floating in the air. A nimbus of gleaming fire sheathed her body and her body now was attached with a set of beautiful, blazing wings! Her hair was now much longer and it cascaded down her back in a platinum white mane that burned with a heat of its own. She recognized the costume she wore as well. She was wearing the blue costume of the heroine known as Firehawk! She exulted in the new sense of freedom and power she now possessed even as she questioned what it all meant.
Then, at the back of her mind she sensed a new presence as if she was now sharing her mind or soul with someone…familiar.
“What have they done to us?” whispered the insistent voice in Doreen’s head.
It was Lorraine but Doreen could not see her. She could just feel her presence as if they were now bonded as one being…which in fact they were!
Doreen flew toward the door and a wave of energy surged in her path but failed to burn through the specially designed chamber. She screamed and pounded on the door in a tantrum.
“Doreen! Listen to me! It’s me, Lorraine! This same thing happened to me once. I was helpless and a victim too. Now, we have power. We have a chance to fight back but you have to calm down and let me guide you. I know how to use these powers.
Slowly, as Doreen tried to come to terms with her odd transformation, her captors discussed their own plans for her.
Miss Marlowe turned to a man in a lab coat.
“It worked! I only intended to boost her powers so she could serve me as an ultimate weapon but by tossing the other girl in with her, I’ve made a totally new creation: two women bonded as one nuclear energy being!” she said.
He nodded and said, “The use of the body of the Jervis Bay victim was inspired. As the so-called Nuclear Man of the Jervis Bay meltdown in New South Wales, his corpse made the perfect power source for our experiment.
He referred to the infamous nuclear meltdown of the 1969 Jervis Bay facility. The reactor had been shut down and had largely spelled an end to nuclear energy development in Australia after the accident that had given birth to the deformed and yet powerful Nuclear Man who had been caught in the leak.
He had spent the rest of his life in various government facilities until David had secured his body for use as a means of dampening or draining Lorraine’s power. Miss Marlowe had merely used him as fuel!
(Note: On E-1 the Jervis Bay facility was created while on Earth Prime it never was built.)
Miss Marlowe’s smug smile turned into a frown as a guard rushed up and said,
“We’re under attack!

She cursed and said, “Don’t tell me, those pawns of David’s are free?”
“No! It’s a different group! I think one of them may be the Ranger!” he cried.
As she heard the name of the so-called Batman of Australia, Miss Marlowe almost lost her icy demeanor.
4
The Ranger (Dan Jacoby) wore a brown costume with a matching mask. He was probably the most famous Australian hero of them all. Not only had he been active for a number of years but he also emulated the world famous Batman and had indeed mastered many of the same skills used by the Caped Crusader himself.
He had responded to David’s mental summons with his usual stoicism. He had faced supernatural threats before including a shaman who claimed to channel a Bat-spirit. He was not unduly startled by much these days. His partner the Scout was nearly as capable but she was away at college and he worked solo for the most part. She was the second Scout. The first Scout had given up the role in order to study abroad. Derek respected that. He wished he had had a better education in his own youth; however, he had learned so many skills in his younger nomadic days that he seldom really felt at a disadvantage.
He stood outside the warehouse the vision or the summons had led him to and he looked over at his new allies. He knew none of them personally but he had heard of the cocky and rather loud Archer of the Outback (Roark McCloud.)
The man in green and tan grinned and approached a beautiful blonde who wore a brief green and gold costume. Clearly, the Archer fancied himself a lover. He was a good looking man and he carried himself with an easy grace. The Ranger didn’t like him at all. He seemed all too glib for his own good.
“I’m glad Tess isn’t here to meet that slick charmer!” he thought as he recalled Scout II.

As the Archer of the Outback ran one hand through his thick brown hair and then across the stubble on his cheeks, he studied the lovely heroine called Austar.
Austar (Maddy Chambers) was perhaps the most powerful of the small group. She could fly, release energy bursts, and had super strength and invulnerability. She also was extremely attractive. Her long, blonde hair flowed back as she laughed at something the Archer said. She wore no mask. In fact since a tabloid reporter had revealed her secret identity to the world at large some months back, Maddy had made the best of it by discarding any mask and allowing her face to be seen clearly while she was in costume.
Maddy had a troubled relationship with her father. She adored him when she was little and grew disdainful of him as a rebellious teen. She hated his crass greed and disregard for the environment. Now, as a twenty-something she tried to accept him as he was without leaning too far into either emotional extreme. Her own work for his company was rewarding at times since she had managed to talk him into trying a few “green” practices that she hoped made some small effort to preserve the natural world she loved so much.
Some of her business dealings had involved working with the super efficient citizens of New Qward the settlement founded by refugees from another dimension. These peace-loving beings were eager to fit in and they boosted the Australian economy with their shared technology. It was during the Invasion that Maddy had been visiting the Qwardian city in the desert where her life had changed forever. The Qwardians were celebrated justly as true heroes of the Australian based Invasion battles. All of them fiercely fought to defend their home against the Khunds, Gordanians and other alien invaders.
When a Qwardian generator exploded while the Qwardians were defending one of their plants from angry Khunds, Maddy was caught in the blast. When she recovered she was super powered. Something in the Qwardian energies and her own metabolism had combined to turn the blonde into Austar!
Her friend Reef was a mystery. Reef had no memory of her past or her real name. She only knew that she possessed durable skin like steel and enhanced strength that fell short of Austar’s own power.
Reef was a pretty woman with short black hair cut in what might be called a pixie cut. She wore a simple costume consisting of a black dance leotard with red trim and red slippers. She talked little but this was more due to shyness than aloofness. She stayed close to Austar in a protective manner.
The Archer of the Outback was the first to spot the advancing guards.
The handsome rogue had keen vision and as his name indicated he was a master marksman. He brought his crossbow around and fired several shafts that expertly brought down his nearest foes.
“Blunt heads! I’m no killer!” he said as if he expected opposition from his new allies.
He grinned as he noticed that his skill had impressed the others. What he didn’t admit to anyone was that he owed his success not to years of hard work or practice but to a mutant ability to hit almost any target. He had briefly called himself Chance when he first entered the world of an adventurer but that was before he heard about the American Green Arrow and decided to copy the swashbuckling archer.
The Ranger was equally skilful although his prowess came from hard work. He hurled a trick boomerang at the approaching guards and nodded in approval as a knockout gas erupted from its special slot and stunned them before returning to his grip having emptied itself as needed.
Austar flew into the guards and knocked several of them across the pavement. She laughed with good natured cheer and kicked a door down with ease.
“Next stop, hired goons and criminal masterminds!” she quipped.
Reef grinned and pressed her fingers into the discarded door and lifted it and used it as a shield as she charged toward a laser weapon and smashed it to pieces before it could harm her allies or do more than bounce off her hard skin.
At that moment, Firehawk flew into view. Doreen had listened to Lorraine and together they had managed to escape from the cell.
She allowed her flaming wings to sweep back the nearest guards without truly touching or burning them. She was scared but she was demonstrating some real talent for her role of super heroine!
“I did it!” she cried almost girlishly as Lorraine’s voice guided her in the use of her powers!
“She’s coming along but why do I feel like Veronica to her Betty?” mused Lorraine.
As the heroes overwhelmed the guards, Miss Marlowe reached out with her own power. Austar was very powerful as was Firehawk but she frowned as she realized her powers didn’t work on Maddy for some reason and the combination heroine’s powers were too dangerous for use in close quarters.
She glanced over at the cell in which Mind Maid, Yowie, Stunner, and David were held. A mind bolt should do the trick!
She tapped into the Japanese-Australian’s power and released a sweeping mind bolt that dropped the Ranger and the Archer but had no effect on the others!
Firehawk was now out of range apparently since she had noticed the newcomers and their victorious assault on her captors and had fled the scene.
As for Austar and Reef, the two women were even now breaking into the holding cell and releasing the other heroes.
“They will take care of them. I just want to go home!” Doreen thought.
Lorraine understood her fear. She had felt the same way after first receiving her powers from her own captor years before. She agreed since she had a feeling the tide had turned and they had nothing to fear from Miss Marlowe or her routed guards.
Miss Marlowe adjusted her glasses in her old manner as she saw her boss David emerge from the cell with the help of Stunner.
“I can still use his power to travel the Dreaming to get away!” she thought but she was seconds too late!
“Going somewhere, babe?” said Bandicoot as he silently grabbed her from the shadows and choked her into unconsciousness.
David rubbed his eyes and looked around at his complex. Everything had gone so wrong and it had all been because of his ego and his own belief in his vision.
Firehawk was clearly no threat. He had put her in peril and left her a victim of his own secretary’s ambitions. He shook his head. How could he have been so wrong?
Had he been able to see behind the compound, he would have noticed a frightening sight. The corpse of the Jervis Bay Nuclear Man that had been used as a battery of sorts for the Firehawk experiment had not burned up. A weird humanoid shaped being of crackling energy stumbled into the night. Somehow the experiment had created an atomic zombie for lack of a better term. This near mindless being was the threat David had mistakenly thought was Lorraine Reilly. It would pose a challenge to yet another Australian based super hero in the future!
David approached the others including the now stirring Archer and Ranger.
“I thank you for coming. You work well together. Would you all consider working for me? I could finance you as a team. I realize I’m not the leader I thought I was but I do have money and I would be honored to enable you all to do some real good as the Bush Rangers!
The Yowie roared in approval as it caressed Stunner’s blonde locks.
Mind Maid exchanged glances with Stunner and a silent but not scowling Bandicoot.
“We would like that …assuming we pick our own field commander!” she said.
Bandicoot and the Archer of the Outback both answered at once.
“I’ll do it!”
They frowned at one another as the others laughed.
Reef moved closer to Austar and said, “Why didn’t that mind attack that stunned the others fail to harm us? I know my skin is tough but I’ve never been immune to mental attacks before. Remember when we fought the Melbourne Mentalist?”
Austar said, “I do and I don’t have an answer!”
Mind Maid approached them and said, “I read minds among other talents. I know why my power didn’t work on you when that Marlowe woman tried to tap into it. My powers don’t work on the Qwardian mind and Austar’s Qwardian based energies make her immune to my mind attacks. I learned that I could not harm Qwardians when I got into a brawl with the Qwardian super hero Kalibur who works out of Brisbane.”
Reef said, “Yes, but I didn’t get my powers from the explosion that created Austar. We only met after that.”
The Ranger said, “Miss, I think she is trying to tell you that you are a Qwardian.”
The Archer whistled and said, “Those bald blokes don’t look like this Sheila!”
Reef said, “How could I be Qwardian?”
Mind Maid said, “You are Qwardian but your memories have been suppressed by the same process that altered your appearance and made you look human! Apparently, when the Qwardians fist arrived here, they thought they needed to surgically alter some of their citizens to help them fit in here. That didn’t prove to be the case but you and some others were altered and left to see if you could successfully pass as human and fit into our society. It was a cold thing to do and out of character with the kind Qwardians I have met.”
Reef said, “But I have such a love of the land! I took the name Reef because of it!”
Mind Maid said, “The surgery that altered your looks and your memories didn’t give you your powers. They came from the land itself. You are a Qwardian woman altered to look like a human woman but you are much more!”
David said, “Yes! When I look at you, I see that you are bonded spiritually with the rock elemental that inhabits the Uluru sandstone formation in the Northern Territory!”
Reef said, “I don’t understand but we have a lot to talk about!”
David smiled and said, “We do indeed! I’d say we Bush Rangers have a very bright future ahead of us!”

The End