When I first began choosing heroes for the new
Forge team, I'd decided that though it was to be made up of mainly
former Forte heroes, some new blood would shake things up and make
the team, and the stories, more interesting. Going back into Forte
history, I thought about a character that hadn't gotten much use except
for the very occasional cameo appearance...Yellow Rose. This was a
character who owed her becoming a heroine to the inspiration of Mist
back in her college days in Seattle, being a member of the "Mist
Corps". She seemed a fine choice, a character with a connection
to Forte, an unexplored personality and history (including the unwritten
history of what she'd been doing in the 15 years back home in Texas
heroing since her last Forte appearance), and a strong motivation
to accept an offer to join a team run by her biggest hero. And I thought
the fish-out-of-water aspect of a Texas-born church girl suddenly
moving to San Francisco has a lot of possibilities for fun.
I started filling in the blanks in the character
and remaking her to my own designs, and even began her introduction
to the Forge world in Chapter Two of "Things Change". But
about that time, I got in touch with K.C. to find out what information
he might have on the character, only to find he'd put a LOT more work
into her than I'd ever known, and the result was a character very
different than the one I'd envisioned (not to mention that the current
Yellow Rose was actually the original's sister). Plus, as much as
I liked the heroine, I still felt including her left me wanting. The
team was still missing something, a sense of mystery, conflict and
danger that she just didn't bring to the table. I already had a team
filled with people who knew each other and got along well, and bringing
my version of Yellow Rose in didn't do a thing to rock the boat, as
she would have fit with everyone just fine. I eventually ended up
going with Heatspell instead, someone created by me and completely
new to the Forte Universe, and she was just the ticket to make it
all come together.
What follows is that scene that I'd written for
Chapter Two that introduced Yellow Rose, and as you'll see, it does
end rather abruptly. But I thought you all mighty enjoy a peek at
the Forge character that almost was.
June, 2005
Houston, Texas
Sydney adjusted her sunglasses and looked out the taxi window, watching
as the skyscrapers of downtown grew closer. She was grateful that
the late-model sedan had working air conditioning, because it was
oppressively hot in the Texas summer outside, something she, acclimated
to San Francisco for so many years, was not used to. Her ride from
Houston Bush Intercontinental airport was almost over. She checked
her watch, and was running a little ahead of schedule, which pleased
her.
“Business or pleasure, ma’am?” the cabbie drawled.
Distracted, she turned back at the sound of his voice, and caught
his meaning. “Business,” she said. “Just in and
out. I’m back on a plane later today.”
“That’s a shame,” he said, changing lanes recklessly
and causing her hand to reflexively grab the handle on the door next
to her. “Lots to see and do in Houston.”
“Yes, I’ll have to come back when I have more time,”
she answered politely. He started jabbering on, then, about the Space
Center, Six Flags Astroworld and, interestingly, Beer Can House, and
she let him go through his spiel as she looked out on the afternoon
skyline.
They traveled past a billboard, and it caught her eye and drew her
attention. It was a giant photo of the city’s beloved heroine,
Yellow Rose, with her blond hair and perky smile and both her energy
pistols drawn from their holsters, with a caption that read “Welcome
to Houston, Texas, Y’all!”.
She grimaced and put her hand over her eyes.
This was going to be fun.
Kate Ashford checked her watch and pushed away from her desk, satisfied
she had time to slip away for lunch now that she’d finished
that last call. The small staff of Hill House, a non-profit organization
that saw to the needs of the city’s underprivileged children,
was hopping as usual at midway. She had reason to be proud of them.
She’d hired all of them herself, and wasn’t disappointed
yet in any of her choices. They were young and dedicated and full
of fire, just the way she liked them.
“Okay, everybody,” she announced, standing up and straightening
her tan skirt. “That’s lunch for me. Anyone need anything
before I go?”
Her kids all answered negative.
“Okay, then. Be back in an hour.”
“Okay, Miss Ashford,” one young man, Keith, also a member
of her church, smiled at her with his phone to his ear.
She put on her sunglasses as she stepped out into the summer heat,
counting on her light white blouse to keep her cool. She checked her
watch again as she dug out her keys, and prepared to head for her
car.
“Thought you were never coming out,” a woman’s voice
said. “Even the boss has to grab a bite.”
She turned to the voice and saw Sydney Todd-Strange leaning against
Hill House with her arms crossed, wearing a skirt herself, along with
a big grin.
“Sydney!” Kate screamed aloud, and loud enough to startle
an old couple that was walking by. She didn’t even notice. She
ran over, her heels clicking on the sidewalk, and embraced her old
friend.
“Hey, Katie,” Sydney said, warmly hugging her back.
“Oh my GOD!” Kate screamed again, hugging Sydney more
tightly, and finally pulling back to face her with a smile that stretched
from ear to ear. “Girl, what are you DOING here?”
“Thought I’d take an old friend to lunch,” Sydney
said. “Unless you have other plans.”
She did not. As if that would have mattered.
They drove to Massa’s Seafood Grill on Lamar and feasted on
fine Creole offerings as they caught up on old times. It had been
a good three years since they’d seen each other. And not too
far from twenty years since they’d first met, when Kate, leaving
home to go off to college in Seattle, had been led by her childhood
love of super-heroes to join up with a sorority of girls that idolized
The Mist, one of the founding members of Forte and a role-model for
girls everywhere. They called themselves The Mist Corps, and, using
belts like Sydney’s, designed by their resident tech genius
Peggy Barr, they set out to follow her example and fight crime. Sydney
had been dead set against it at first, but soon saw their honest dedication
to heroic ideals, and what a difference it was making in their lives,
and gave them her blessing. She’d even spoken at their graduation,
as Mist, the day the Corps officially ended.
But the legacy of it lived on. Two of their members had gone on to
join the FBI after graduation, and another two got picked up by UNCLE
and were outstanding agents in Miami and Baltimore. And two had kept
on with their costumed crimefighting and taken heroic identities.
One had become Magnetic Kid. And another, by the name of Kate Ashford,
had gone home to Houston and become Yellow Rose, and the pride of
the Lone Star State. The girls—now women—still got together
at least annually to reminisce…and to remember their one casualty,
Nancy Durham, who had been murdered in 1994 by Professor Night. Nancy
had been a UPS driver, not a federal agent or a super-hero, but her
connection to the Corps—knowledge used by Sabrina Knight-Parker,
the former Knightsabre, who’d been turned into Professor Night
by Lucifer D’Arque—led to her killing, something Sydney
had still not learned to live with.
Yellow Rose had been Houston’s heroine for the past fifteen
years, and was loved by both city and state. She’d fought criminals
and villains, yes, but had also done more community service than any
three others costumes put together. She had a smile that melted folks’
hearts, and genuinely loved people, and it showed. There wasn’t
a parade without her there, and hardly a Rockets game without her
making an appearance. She was without a lick of scandal and was fixture
at the office of every Mayor that had been elected since 1990, as
the woman was political money in the bank. She shepherded any number
of causes as Yellow Rose, and no one even knew that she did equally
great works at Hill House as Kate Ashford. The woman was a walking
beacon of light.
After Kate called back to the office to make sure things were under
control enough to allow her an extra-long lunch, she and Sydney took
a walk through nearby Sabine Park.
“Look at you,” Sydney smiled at her appraisingly as they
walked beside the pond. “How do you keep in this shape?”
“Me?” she laughed. “Look at you, girl! UNCLE must
have a heck of gym downstairs or something.”
“How is it you’ve managed to stay single all this time?”
“Ohhh,” she grinned, looking a little embarrassed. “You
know. There have been hopefuls. But good men are hard to find. Especially
those that can keep up with me. You know I can’t sit still longer
than five minutes.”
“Nobody right now?” Sydney asked, trying not to sound
like she had an agenda buried under the question.
“I’m sort of between nobodys,” she laughed. “But
that’s okay. I’m a big believer in Mr. Right. I’m
sure there’s a Stephen Strange out there for me somewhere. All
in good time.”
They crossed a small bridge and Sydney stopped in the center of it
and leaned. No one was within earshot, and it seemed like a safe place
to talk shop. Kate joined her.
“So Yellow Rose is still popular as ever,” Sydney said.
“Yes, she is.”
“So when did you decide to switch to the guns?”
“Oh, those,” she laughed. “Well, you know. After
a while you start to realize you’ve got no range. I just had
some moments that got me thinking I needed a little more reach, and
a little more firepower. Yes, I can fly, and the force field keeps
bullets off me, but beyond that I was pretty much stuck punching and
kicking the bad guys. And some of those bad guys don’t really
feel it much. So I had a friend at our local UNCLE work them up for
me. They’re pretty much just stunners, but they have a little
extra punch when it’s needed. And, this being Texas? You can
imagine how people took to the idea.”
“Yeah, I’ve seen the billboards.”
Kate laughed. “Yeah, I particularly liked the ‘y’all’.
Very authentic.”
“I’ve seen your face all over the place. They really love
you here.”
“Well, that’s okay,” she smiled. “The feeling’s
mutual.”
Sydney shifted a little. “I can…only imagine how they’d
feel if you ended up leaving.”
“Can’t you?” Kate laughed. “Wow, what a nightmare
THAT would be.”
Sydney studied her own shoes intently.
“Sydney?” Kate asked after the silence drew out. “Something
wrong?”
Sydney looked back up at her. “When I said I was in town on
business? That was the truth. It’s just…you happen to
be the business.”
“Me? What do you mean?”
Sydney steeled herself. “I came to ask you something. Something
kind of big.”
And something, perhaps, of a nightmare.
My original design for the new
Yellow Rose, created with Hero Machine. Sorry you didn't make the
cut, Katie, but our loss is Houston's gain.
