The intensive training took weeks. Tom Hawkesby (now Atomic Hawk), was having a hard time controlling the level of destructive power as he used his abilities. First, he would test it on huge bags of powered cement. Too much of a punch and they would fly apart or launch into the next town over. A snap of his fingers, and he created a flare much like that of the sun. Pounding his feet to the ground, he could instantaneously traverse great distances, but landing afterwards often created explosions of great magnitudes.

He didn’t want to have wings (like Dark Horned Owl) and he didn’t want to have a parachute strapped to his back constantly either. He found that his he spun his arms fast, they created a form of wind, and he could ease himself down no problem. Hawk had to think about every action, every minor reflex, and be mindful of the amount of energy he produced doing it. It took a lot of practice and a lot of patience, but eventually, he got the hang of it.

The Northern Crew tested his completed training by battling it out. Major Leaf was pleasantly surprised how quick Atomic Hawk took everyone down with minimal damage. He kept some explosions small. Petite Pierre was a tough man, but he found Hawk was much more solid when he couldn’t even knock him down with a blow to the chest. He could feel a surrounding energy that protected Atomic, almost like a tight body shield. Hawk could have a ton of boulders on him, and yet, be perfectly fine.

Red Phantom joined in this time round and was perplexed he couldn’t pass through Atomic at all. No matter how many attempts in every manner of his abilities, the mysterious red hero was unable to penetrate him. Even Silver Baton and Dark Horned Owl were impressed. Stretcher Rex tried one last time to wrap around Hawk and squeeze him unconscious, but with one mighty jerk of his arms, Atomic snapped the stretchy hero back and knocked him out cold.

The team was complete. Major Leaf was satisfied by all of them, and of Atomic Hawk. He held up a hand as they celebrated and made an announcement.

“Northern Crew!” He hovered above in the air. “Tomorrow we head out to the front! Our orders have come in. There’s a German army heading for the southern border of France, and we’ve been ask to help to break that incursion. Our intelligence officers have spotted some unique vehicles and armaments that could pose a problem for the allies there. So, we will go and take care of the problem and clear the way.”

“What kind of ‘unique’ stuff are we talking about here?” Silver Baton shrugged.

“Maybe they’ve got Sauerkraut slingers, or Goose stepping stilt legs, eh?” Stretcher Rex giggled, as he snapped back into conciseness. He found a spot next to Silver Baton, and nudged her in the arm. “Maybe they’ve even got some special rubbers for the special ladies they meet.”

Baton rolled her eyes at his lewd comment. Rex always tended to make sexist comments towards her, she knew he had a crush on her, but, she had zero for him. No man struck her fancy. The woman was buxom and muscular, like a model for a magazine or an Amazonian Adonis, but her sexual appetite was more for that of her own gender. She never said so, openly, for many would consider that ‘abnormal’ or tend to spur homophobic comments from her peers. Silver Baton kept her dating life private, and never discussed any of it with any of these chauvinistic thick heads.

“Keep it in your pants, Rex.” Major Leaf said to him, gesturing in partial annoyance. He continued on. “As to what those unique vehicles are, well, guess we’ll find out when we get there. All they know is that they are heavily armed and have a strong garrison marching with it.”

“Sounds dangerous…” Pierre quipped, giving a slight nod wink to his fellow team members. “But, I think we handle it, oui?”

As the others chuckled in agreement, Tom remained silent and stoic. The Major noticed the lack of response, and floated down to stand in front of him. Making eye contact with one another, the Major cocked a brow at Tom and waited for an answer. Tom felt the intensity of the supers’ stare; Major Leaf was a force to be reckoned with, he commanded authority with just his mere presence, and Tom (still the lower ranking officer) had to concede to his superior.

“Yes,” He finally said, giving the superhuman a stern glare. “We’ll be ready for them.”

“That’s what I like to hear… soldier.”

The tension between the two could be felt by all. It was an awkward moment, one that Petite Pierre seemed to feel the need to interject with some humour, if only to break the silence.

“Do you two need a moment alone? Perhaps Rex has some of those rubbers he knows so much about, no?”

Rex stretched his hand over to slap the small man and waved his middle finger at him. The group chuckled once more and waited as Major Leaf slowly rose above them again, breaking eye contact with Tom and giving a grin at their sarcastic humour.

“All right… all right…” He motioned with his hands. “Settle down you bunch of hooligans. It’s time to ship out, those that can’t fly… or fly for any great distance, like I can… head over to the airfield and get on the plane. We’re off to kick some foreign ass.”

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

The group hooted and hollered as the leader took off in the distance. Some took off with him, like Petite Pierre (who shrunk to an ant and climbed onto the superhuman, just before bolted away), and Silver Baton used her ultra-speed, rushing away like flash of lightning. Rex, Tom and The Red Phantom headed over to the airfield and grabbed their backpacks as they entered into the plane. It surprised Tom that Phantom was solid enough to do so, rarely had he seen the mysterious hero to be so non-translucent.

Rex instantly strapped on his seat buckles and stretched legs and folded his arms out as if to take a nap. Before he got too comfortable, the hero reached over to the cockpit door and lightly tapped on it.

“Let’s move it boys! Can’t let Major Leaf win the whole war without us.” He glanced over to Tom, giving a slight wink. “I’m not about to let that son-of-a-bitch take all the glory, am I right?”

Tom smirked and passively gave a reassured nod. Yeah, the man did have a sizeable ego, that was true. But, if Leaf wanted to do all the dirty work, well, that was fine with him too. Phantom didn’t even acknowledge Rex as he tried to get his attention as well. Tom could tell he didn’t care for the sassy conversation and Red Phantom simply leaned his head back and ignored everyone.

“Well,” Tom thought. “This is going to be a fun trip, I guess.”

The plane quickly sputtered to life, launched down the runway and soared majestically into the air. Tom… or Atomic Hawk… whatever he was now calling himself, grimaced from the feeling of his stomach yawning in discontent from the sudden departure. Planes weren’t something he did too often. And as he held in the urge to vomit all over the deck of the plane, he wondered if there would be more of these awful flights to come.

* * *

The flight over the Atlantic was long and rough. The plane was more like a stripped down beer can with wings, rather than a luxurious flight with padded seats and a pilot that knew how to avoid turbulence when possible. Still, Hawk managed to get some sleep, as too did the others as they positioned themselves as best they could. The only one not sleeping was The Red Phantom. Hawk awoke to find the mysterious hero close to his face. He jolted from the sight of it and cursed at him.

“Jesus! Will you stop doing that ya son of a bitch!”

Red Phantom said nothing. He continued to glare at Hawk even as he squirmed back.

“Don’t you sleep?” Hawk inquired while trying to get comfortable again.

“I never sleep.” Phantom stated.

“Never?”

“I haven’t slept since my metamorphosis…” Phantom back away from him and returned to the opposite seat. “When you’re basically phasing in and out of the space-time continuum, you tend to forget about it. Plus, I’ve got no real need for it anymore…”

“Is that right?” Hawk yawned. “Why is that, exactly?”

“Because…” Phantom looked away, staring out the small window by his seat of the plane. “I am transcendental, my physical body is now only that of pure energy. I can control the molecules to be a solid organic, or a gaseous state… I have no limits to where or when I am. I see everything. The future, the past, the present… even into the infinite realms of what lies beyond our universe and others like it.”

Hawk glared at him with scepticism. The Red Phantom was a conundrum, that much was sure, but the man (if he was even that gender), was obviously a tad bit on the insane side. Still, he could see the red-dressed hero was lost in thought about it, probably scanning the cosmos with his mind, or possibly, living a life on another plain of existence. Hawk had always been fascinated by his people’s legends and folktales. They talked of beings from beyond giving them the means to live, terrors to beware, and lessons on how to treat the world they are merely visitors on for a short while.

Did he believe in any of them though? Again, he wasn’t sure. But when you’re faced with becoming one of those legends or powerful spirits, you start to believe in those old tales that were handed down generation after generation. Phantom seemed to be a very serious person, a deep thinker who didn’t often share his opinions with anyone… accept with him. Hawk tried not to disturb the cosmic-type being, but couldn’t help but ask a question he was sure the hero could give an answer.

“If you can see everything, as you said you could, what will become of us? Specifically, what will happen to me? What’s my role in all of this?”

“Selfish question to ask…” Phantom said, lowering his gaze from the window. “But, understandable, given the circumstances… how will we this end for all of us, indeed.” Red Phantom returned a glance to Hawk. “The future is always changing. Even so, I feel that we are all heading for something that cannot be avoided. Wars will always come and go. But we…” He paused in thought, sighing briefly, and continued on. “We are fated to each other, to which I mean, that things will end in glory and in horror.”

Hawk cocked a brow to that prediction. He leaned in, hands folded on his lap and tilted his head slightly to the side.

“Horror? What does that mean? Will something bad happen to us all?”

Red Phantom turned his attention back to the window beside him.

“Maybe, maybe not… that’s the nature of the universe, you can never know the final outcome until it arrives. All we can do is prepare and wait for the moment.”

As Red Phantom stared out to the sky beyond, the blue stratosphere with white fluffy clouds beneath, he saw Major Leaf flying close by. The man’s cape and luscious blonde hair fluttered furiously in the wind. He turned to see Phantom staring at him. He gave the mysterious spectre a broad grin and saluted with his right hand. Hawk looked out at that moment as well, and gave a long drown out sigh.

“I wonder if we’ll win this war.”

“We will…” Phantom answered back. “But there will always be another to take its place. That’s just how humanity is.”

“Peace is achievable though, right? There won’t always be hate in this world.”

Phantom stared out at Major Leaf and sighed.

“It depends on whom we all follow into the future with.” He said, giving a nod to the flying, muscle bound titan beside the plane. “One never knows what truly lies in the hearts and minds of those who lead.”

Hawk nodded to that wisdom and looked continued to look out as well.

“Amen to that brother… amen to that.”