BLOOD SYNDICATE # 44

TALE OF THE AVENGING BLOODS PART ONE

WRITTEN & ARTWORK BY STEVE REEVES

PREVIOUSLY IN BLOOD SYNDICATE # 43

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Unknown Location in the USA

After the big bang event took place a few years ago, director Nick Fury of S.H.I.E.L.D. has been keeping a close eye on Dakota city and their growing “meta-human” population. Though director Fury was told by his commanding officers to only observe and not interfere with the “bang babies” epidemic stating “if we let them be, those gang banging idiots will eventually all kill themselves.”, fury decides to send in a shield operative to investigate the recent activities involving the deadly and dangerous super gang known as the blood syndicate. Fury feels the need to do this was based on the syndicates involvement with former member turn international crime lord holocaust’s attempt to destroy the world. Also the fact that he has read the records and history of the current members of the syndicate including their leader Wise Son, makes fury very cautious of the recent switch to the side of angels. Basically, he doesn’t believe it and wants the situation to be closely observed before another super human gang banger decides he wants to take over the world with a gang of powerful knuckle heads following him. With that in mind, Fury sends Agent Barton (Hawkeye ) to check it out. But after 7 days and no word from Agent Barton, Fury decides to disobey orders again and sends the avengers to Dakota city to find their teammate. Meanwhile on paris island, wise son, the reformed blood syndicate’s leader, sits outside the factory smoking on a blunt when he notices a weird looking aircraft flying towards the factory.

Wise thinks to himself “Damn. This is some good sh*t.” as he looks above him and see’s the aircraft comes to a sudden stop in the air and slowly begins to hover down. Syndicate members Dogg, Fade, and Oro also observe as the quinjet lands in the dead zone.

Fade: what the hell is that?

Oro: man. Don’t you guys know anything; it’s the quinjet it belongs to tony stark.

Wise: what the f**k does tony stark want to talk to us about?

As the Quinjet lands and the doors open, captain America steps out followed by black window, thor, and Bruce banner.

Captain America: hello citizens, my name is captain America and I believe you have something that belongs to us.

Wise: I don’t give a f**k who the hell you are. You can’t be comin’ on blood syndicate turf making demands for sh*t. we take what we want.

Cap: I am losing my patience son, hand us or we will be force to take him.

Fade: eat a d*ck b*tch.

The Syndicate members begins to laugh after fades’s comment.

Thor: you watch the manner in which u speaks to us mortal.

Dogg: oh yeah. Hows this F**K YOU!!

Thor: I will…

but before Thor can finish his sentence he is cut off by black widow

who believes she can persuade the syndicate to let release hawkeye.

BW: Ok. We know you guys are the baddest toughest people on the planet. So can you just hand over our guy and no one gets hurt.

Bruce banner whispers to Cap & Thor..

Banner: damn. That wasn’t smooth at all. she really has loss her knack.

Oro: what makes you think we have anything that belongs to you guys?

Iron Man: Allow me to answer that question. We have a tracer placed in hawkeyes’s communication card and it lead us here. Soooo you either got our guy or you got his card and we ARE leaving here with both by any means necessary.

Wise: so smart guy..you want to quote Brother Malcolm huh? Well here is one you should probably take into consideration: I'm nonviolent with those who are nonviolent with me. But when you drop that violence on me, then you've made me go insane, and I'm not responsible for what I do." You should take that as a warning a get the f*ck out here.

Iron Man: Hmm…I don’t think I can take this kids crap much longer cap.

Cap: I agree Tony. we don’t have time for this. Avengers Assemble.

Caps throws his shield into wise son who is pushed back by the force of the thrown shield, but laughs as he tells the avengers: “hey I warned ya”.

Blood syndicate lets molly whop these b*tch @ss muthaf*ckers.

Fade flies through wise son and swings a punch throw cap.

Cap: what the hell? Was that supposed to hurt me??

3 seconds later he feels a punch in the head.

Wise: actually I think this will hurt you more.

Wise catches cap with a right hook knocking the captain into a telephone pole.

Wise: I don’t think people realize it’s not just invulnerable but I have super strength as well.

Banner: Oh you haven’t seen strength yet.

Wise: I don’t think the captain’s swollen jaw would agree with you on that.

Banner: I beg to differ.

Banner begins to grow into a big green giant monster.

Wise son looks in awe before being punch thru the factory as the green monster screams:

‘HULK SMASH!!’

BRICKHOUSE: Hows about you pick on someone your own size.

As Hulk looks at this almost ten foot tall woman, he is knocked in the sky and into Thor who was having difficulty in his battle with Fade.

While in the sky, Iron Man and Oro are going blast for blast.

Iron: You’re pretty quick. I can’t seem to get a lock on you.

Oro: that’s a good thing if u ask me. You’re pretty quick yourself. But I don’t think Ill have much of problem taking you out.

Oro then uses his radiant flash to blind Tony before shooting him with a solar blast.

Captain America and Black Widow runs into the Factory to see if Hawkeye is inside. The further she gets the louder the tracer gets.

Widow: He has to be in close cap this this thing is going crazy.

Cap: look over there. Its Hawkeye's shades on the floor.

As the two begins to run towards the shades, they run into wise son and fade.

“not so fast” fade says as he flies with his arms out towards the legs of both avengers.

Cap: Jump!!

While cap was able to leap in time, fade flew thru widow legs.

Widow: Cap what happ…arrghh!! M..my legs!!

Dogg: gotcha bitch!

Cap:WIDOW ?!?

Wise: you should worry about ur own damn @$$ muthaf**ker says wise as he charges at cap. Cap has no time to move out the way and instead uses his shield to block wise’s charge. But the momentum pushes them both out of the window.

TO BE CONTINUED..

After hearing the news about Jaden Smith playing Static in the live action Static Shock series with my friend, who has never heard of Static Shock, I explained to her just who Static is, how he got his powers, and broke down the TV/Cartoon series. Following my description of the Static Shock cartoon, her immediate response was: " That sounds like the Flash show.". I didn't realize it until then that when the Static live series debuts, A lot of people unfamiliar with the character and his origin/story lines...is going to think it's a rip off of the Flash and hopefully this blog with prove them wrong.

Now, being someone who is familiar with both characters and watched both shows, I know the many differences between the two DC TV series. But I can also see the similarities in both series ( the Static Shock cartoon & the live CW Flash series) and it seems to me that:

The Flash TV series copied off the Static Shock cartoon.

EXHIBIT A: WITH GREAT POWER COMES GET RESPONSIBILITY

In the Static Shock series: During a dispute

between the gangs and police, a shot was fired

releasing gas with an unknown mutagen known as

Q-juice which caused mutations among the people

in the vicinity. Virgil inhaled some of the gas and

discovers that he has the ability to create, generate, absorb, and control electricity and magnetism.

Virgil soon discovers that the gas also gave

others in the area their own powers, and

unfortunately, it also led several of them to

become super villains. Virgil vows to use his gifts to

protect Dakota City as a super hero known as

"Static".

In the Flash TV series, an advanced particle accelerator malfunctions during its public unveiling, bathing the city center with an unknown form of radiation that created a severe thunderstorm which caused mutations among certain people within the vicinity.

Barry is struck by lightning from the storm, doused with chemicals in his lab and discovers he has the ability to move at superhuman speeds. Allen soon discovers that he is not the only one who was changed by the radiation. Allen vows to use his gifts to protect Central City from the escalating violence of meta human criminals as the super hero known as

" The Flash".

Okay. I think it's obvious why someone would think that Static Shock would knock off the Flash. The advanced particle accelerator did exactly what the Big Bang event did: created one super hero and a ton of super villains for him to fight off from destroying his city. Buttttt.... this origin of the Flash is basically made for TV whereas Static's origin story actually took place in the comic book during the mid 90's as well as the cartoon series which debuted almost two decades before the CW Flash series.

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EXHIBIT B: F.W.B : FRIENDS WITH BRAINS...& POWERS

DURING BOTH SERIES, EACH HERO HAD HELP WITH THEIR FIGHT AGAINST CRIME. STATIC HAD RICHIE FOLEY AND THE FLASH HAD CISO RAMON (& A FEW OTHERS). RICHIE IS A POP CULTURE GREEK, GAME PLAYING, COMIC BOOK NERD WHO ALSO HAPPENS TO BE VERYINTELLIGENT. RICHIE IS THE ONE THAT HELPED STATIC MAKE UP HIS COSTUME AND DESIGNED/CREATED A LOT OF STATICS TECH AND ENCOURAGED HIM TO BECOME A SUPER HERO. RICHIE, OVER THE YEARS WOULD BECOME A HERO IN HIS OWN RIGHT. DURING THE 3RD SEASON OF STATIC SHOCK, IT WAS REVEALED THAT RICHIE WAS EXPOSED TO THE QUANTUM RESIDUE THAT WAS ON STATIC MINUTES AFTER THE BIG BANG. THIS BOOSTED RICHIES BRAIN CAPACITY AND MADE HIM A TECHNOPATH KNOWN AS "GEAR".

THE FLASH, AS I STATED BEFORE, ALSO HAS A BUDDY THAT HELPED HIM OUT IN EVERY EPISODE. THAT FRIEND IS FRANCISCO RAMON. CISCO IS EXTREMELY INTELLECT AND IS PROBABLY THE SMARTEST CHARACTER ON THE FLASH. CISCO IS A

MECHANICAL ENGINEERING GENIUS WHO JUST HAPPENS TO BE A POP CULTURE, MOVIES, & COMIC BOOK GREEK...LIKE RICHIE. CISCO HELPED THE FLASH LEARN HOW TO CONTROL HIS POWERS, DESIGNED THE FLASH'S COSTUME, AND BUILT TECH FOR FLASH TO USE. DURING THE END OF THE 1ST SEASON OF THE FLASH, IT WAS REVEALED THAT CISCO WAS ALSO EXPOSED BY THE PARTICLE ACCELERATOR BLAST. THIS ALLOWED CISCO TO DETECT AND REMEMBER ALTERNATE TIMELINES BY FEELING AND CONTROLLING

VIBRATIONS. CISCO WILL BECOME THE HERO KNOWN AS "VIBE".

Ok.Ok. I admit This may be a stretch, but you see the similarities right? Now I know Cisco was created looong before Static & Gear were even though of, but this version of him never existed...until after Static Shock came out that is.

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EXHIBIT C: GOING BACK IN TIME . . .TO SEE MY DEAD MOM.

IN STATIC CARTOON SERIES, NOT THE COMIC, STATIC'S MOTHER HAD DIED DUE TO GANG VIOLENCE. THIS HAPPENED WHEN VIRGIL WAS AGE TEN, YEARS BEFORE HE BECAME STATIC. DURING AN EPISODE OF STATIC SHOCK WHEN HE HAD WENT BACK IN TIME, STATIC WAS ABLE TO SEE HIS MOTHER MINUTES BEFORE HER UNTIMELY DEATH. STATIC TOOK OFF HIS MASK, REVEALED TO HIS MOTHER THAT HE WAS AN OLDER VERSION OF HER SON, AND SHOWED HER HIS LOVE BEFORE GOING BACK INTO THE PRESENT TIME.

YOU CAN CHECK OUT THE VIDEO OF IT BELOW...

SIMILAR TO WHAT HAPPENED IN STATIC CARTOON SERIES, THE FLASH' S MOTHER ALSO WAS KILLED, BUT INSTEAD OF GANG VIOLENCE, IT WAS BY HIS ARCH NEMESIS: THE REVERSE FLASH. THIS HAPPENED SEVERAL YEARS BEFORE BARRY BECAME FLASH. AT THE TIME, THIS STORYLINE OF THE FLASH'S MOTHER DYING NEVER TOOK PLACE IN THE COMIC BOOK UNTIL 2008...EIGHT YEARS AFTER STATIC SHOCK ALREADY DONE IT. ANYHOW...DURING THE SEASON FINALE, THE FLASH DETERMINED TO FIND OUT WHAT HAPPENED TO HIS MOTHER,GOES BACK INTO TIME TO SAVE HER FROM THE REVERSE FLASH. THOUGH HE ALLOWED THE EVENTS TO PLAY OUT AND HIS MOTHER GETS KILLED...AGAIN. THE FLASH WAS ABLE TO SEE & TALK TO HIS MOTHER MINUTES BEFORE HER UNTIMELY DEATH. FLASH TOOK OFF HIS MASK, REVEALED TO HIS MOTHER THAT HE WAS AN OLDER VERSION OF HER SON, AND DISPLAYED HER HIS LOVE BEFORE GOING BACK INTO THE PRESENT TIME. HMM...SOUNDS VERY FAMILIAR TO WHAT I JUST WROTE ABOUT STATIC SHOCK. YOU CAN CHECK OUT THE FLASH'S VISIT TO SEE HIS MOM BELOW...

I believe that's 3 out of 3 when it comes to The Flash TV series stealing from Static's cartoon. WOW!!

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EXHIBIT D : STATIC'S FLASHING BOLT

IN STATIC CARTOON SERIES (AND LATER IN THE COMIC) STATIC'S SYMBOL IS OR RATHER APPEARS TO BE A MOVING LIGHTNING BOLT.

SOME ARTIST DRAWS HIM WITH A BOLT VERY SIMILAR TO THE FLASH ICONIC SYMBOL. BUT UNLIKE ALL THE OTHER FACTS THAT PROVED THE FLASH SERIES STOLE FROM STATIC SHOCK CARTOON...

I DECIDED TO BE NICE AND SHOW THAT STATIC HAS ALSO..SOMEWHAT...HAS SOMETHING THAT THE FLASH HAD FIRST AND THAT'S THE LIGHTNING BOLT SYMBOL.

EVEN THOUGH THEY ARE VERY DIFFERENT...THEY'RE ALSO VERY SIMILAR. JUST LIKE SEVERAL PARTS OF THEIR RESPECTIVE TV/CARTOON SERIES.

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That's it for my lil' Blog about The similarities between The Flash (CW) and Static Shock (cartoon) series. I know to some feels this is completely wrong and i'm stretching to make connections between the two shows but I think I've just highlighted some of the obvious things that do connect between them. What do you think..Did THE FLASH copy STATIC SHOCK or it's all just a big coincidence?

BLOOD SYNDICATE # 43

PLAYING WIT FIRE: CHAPTER 4 OF 4

WRITTEN & ARTWORK BY STEVE REEVES

PREVIOUSLY IN BLOOD SYNDICATE # 42

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Dakota City, Midwestern USA

After the Syndicate finally appears to be getting the upper hand on Holocaust, he threatens to go super nova in an attempts to destroy everything and every one. During this attempt, he is pounded by the fists of Third Rail and Brick-House whom constantly knocks Holly down every time he attempts to fight back. Aqua-Maria then fired a hydro blast @ the weakened Holly which pushes him back towards a wall. As Holly is being pushed backwards, a portal opens up behind him and begins to suck him into it. Unbeknownst to the other Syndicate members, during his unexpected exit with Oro, Wise-Son got in contact with Cornelia and Eddie to help them deal with this “fire hazard” from afar. Wise Son along with his teammates seemed relieved as it appears that Holocaust was suck into the portal with no way to return. But seconds before the portal closes, Holocaust begins to fly out of the portal and fires a blast towards Dogg as Fade punches Holly in the face. Flash-Back screams “Flash-Back” before Holly is out of the portal and the blast strikes Dogg.

The time disruption between the siblings overlaps and connect resulting in another time freeze. The only two people moving at a regular pace are Flash Back and a now solidified Fade, as he’s no longer at this moment, a “blip” in time. The two Syndicate members’ fly towards a time froze Holocaust and begins to push him further back into the Portal. Knowing that the time freeze can be over anytime now; Flashback flies and grabs Dogg from where he stood as a fireball is still being fired in his direction. When the time freeze stops, Holocaust is sucked into the Portal on the wall as his pyro blast hits the ground and the portal closes. The team stands guard as they’re expecting Holly to fly out the wall shooting fire at everyone and anything that’s in front of him. But surprisingly….nothing happens. Several of the Syndicate is stunned as to what is going on here? Then they get their answer as Cornelia and Eddie pops up from hiding, though they remained close by. When asked where the two kids sent Holocaust, Cornelia states “You guys should ask Hannibal because it was his idea.” As Wise is about to speak, he is interrupted by Dogg who tells the others it was “actually” his idea to send Holly somewhere he wouldn’t be able to survive. “Ok Dogg, Where is that exactly?” asks Third Rail. Dogg responds “Well since you asked so nicely…the answer to your question Mr. Rail, is Space. Space is the place Holocaust’s not likely to survive...at all.”

Then Boogies asks: “This dude survived being trapped in the Earths’ core. What makes you think he can’t survive Space?!?” Dogg lets him know the answer to that as well by stating “Well Boogie, they say in Space, there is no oxygen, and without oxygen there’s no Fire and without either, there’s no Holocaust it?”. Boogie respond stating: “ Hmm… I think you basically said: "we won.”...right?". “Yeah we won. We just beat m*thaf***ing Holocaust.” says Wise Son which results in an exhausted team known celebrating their apparent defeat of Holocaust. Wise Son praises his teammates for working together against such a powerful foe, protecting the people of Dakota, and getting the win. Wise then questions Flashback about how Dogg moved from" here" to being in Flashback's arms. Fade and Flashback looks at one another than begin to chuckle. “What’s so damn funny?” ask Wise Son. Fade looks at Wise and ask “ Would you believe me if I told you that we stopped time, grabbed Dogg before he became on fire and were able to push Holocaust deeper into the portal?” Wise looks back at Fade, his sister, his son, and the rest of his teammates then said: “Well hell man…I’ve seen a little girl who can turn into a giant ancient Chinese warrior, women made of Bricks and Water, and a talking dog. So with that being said…anything is possible.”. The team begins to laugh and enjoy their defeat of an adversary as powerful and psychotic as Holocaust.

Later that evening on the news, Rob Chaplik reports how the Syndicate saved the city and quite possibly the world from a power driven mad man followed by footage of the Syndicate celebrating the fact they were able to defend the city by taking out Holocaust.

EPILOGUE: In Space, An unidentified flying object soaring through the milky way suddenly stops next to what appears to be a lifeless and floating object, but is actually a beaten and dying Holocaust. The space ship then beams a light on Holly, opens a door, and pulls him into the ship through the door as the light disappears and then fly off.

END

NEXT IN BLOOD SYNDICATE # 44 : WHAT HAPPENS WHEN THE AVENGERS SHOW UP IN PARIS ISLAND?

BLOOD SYNDICATE # 42

PLAYING WIT FIRE: CHAPTER 3 OF 4

WRITTEN & ARTWORK BY STEVE REEVES

PREVIOUSLY IN BLOOD SYNDICATE # 41. The Holocaust upgrade seems to be a bit much for The Syndicate as his increased pyrokinetic abilities allow him to almost defeat each member one by one. During the battle, Oro grabs Wise Son and flies off stating "I got a plan."...

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Dakota City, Midwestern USA

After the Syndicate team leaders unexpectedly left the battle field, Holocaust continues to play fire with the other members of the team. An air born Holocaust attempts to take out Third Rail and Brick-House who along with DMZ and KWAI attempts to do the same thing to him. Holly, whose pyro kinetic powers have reached new levels, catches Brick-House with a fire, powered punch that knocks her down. Brick lands into the arms of Third rail who is then shot in the chest by Holocaust and accidently lets her go. Third screams as the heat from the pyro blast continue to burn him. Brick falls on the bended knee but not before catching Holly with a wild haymaker that knocks Holly out the sky and on to the ground near an army of rats. As Holly recovers from Bricks’ punch, he’s then attacked by Boogie Man who cuts him deep with his claws.

Holly: Damn. Boogie…Boogie…Boogie. I was really hoping I wouldn’t have to kill yo’ ass...I liked you.

Boogie attempts another strike but is blocked by Holly who fires a blast directly at Boogies rats. Boogie screams in pain due to his psychic link with the rodents and curls to the ground. Holocaust apologizes to Boogie for what he’s about to do..

Meanwhile:

Wise: What the hell is going on? Why did you take me away from the others?

Oro: Because I think you’re the only one that can stop him. He can burn Brick and D, he can evaporate Maria, my powers can’t do sh*t to him, Third can only take so much, Flash and Fade are out for the count. Holly can do this all day. He’s eternal flame. He can become actually fire man; Fire. If we don’t stop him now, he’s going to destroy all of Dakota.

Wise: I understand. So what’s the plan homey?

Meanwhile back at the Dead Zone:

As Holocaust postures to hit Boogie Man with a punch he may not recover from, DMZ once again swoops in and saves his teammate from a potential death blow. D drops Boogie down and flies back to go at it with Holocaust. Dmz and Holocaust are going blow for blow. Holly initially decided not to use his pyro abilities and go mano y mano but as the fight goes on; Holly grows tired of fighting this "non speaking weirdo”, grabs a hold of D’s fist, and begins to burn them. Holly then head butts D on the floor and begins to set him on fire. Aqua-Maria then douse DMZ and Holly.

Aqua: Pintche de madre!!

Holly: Oh sh**. Not this water b*tch again.

Just then Oro flings wise into holly. Wise grabs holly and attempts to weaken Holly making him invulnerable to his own power.

Wise: Shoot him now!! Oro begins to blast Holly and he feels it.

Oro: Wise, it’s working.

Holly: Nope, not gonna work this time Hannibal. I know you need to concentrate to do this and you know I cannot allow that to happen.

Holly breaks free of wise grip and throws him into Oro. He then fires a nova blast at Wise and Oro. Wise jumps into the blast. The temperature is hot enough to make him break a sweat as it burns the majority of Wise’s clothes off. Dogg tells Oro he may be able to absorb the energy from Holocaust. He tells Dogg, I’ve already tried that. Aqua shoots a hydro blast at Holly but it evaporates on contact. Holocaust looks at the syndicate and tells wise how soft they’ve become under his leadership. He also reminds Wise it was him that recruited him for the Syndicate. He tells wise he will never make it out of Dakota and that the syndicate will always be a gang of super powered thugs to majority.

Holly: Look at your Team Hannibal. I single handedly defeated them.

Wise: Get your punk-ass down here now and see if you can do the same to me.

Holly: Yeah…I think I’ll do just that.

Wise leaps toward Holly who blast Wise with series of pyro shots. Wise is blinded by the lights from the flames and becomes the target of repetitive body shots as Holocaust begins to molly whop Wise son. Oro flies in and punches Holly across the face. As Oro flies off, Holly flies in front of him, stops Oro and returns the punch sending him down. DMZ and Kwai flies up to attack again but gets caught off guard by a group of exploding cars. Holly notices a TV news Helicopter above the syndicate and himself. He smiles at the camera and points to the beaten Syndicate members.

Holly: “Look at them. Look at these broken and beaten fools. You’re so called heroes.

Hahaha! Just years ago you hoped and wished for their demise and now you praise them?!? You fools already lost Icon, Static, and the rest of these…Heroes. Now you will lose them as well.”

Fade & Flash: Not if we have something to say about it.

The two attempts to do the time freeze again but it doesn’t work. Fade believes it was timed wrong. Brick and Third punches Holly simultaneously who falls down from the impact. Wise jumps on him and attempts to get him in a bear hug to make him vulnerable as he tells the others to attack. Oro goes all out; releasing a series of blasts at Holly which appears to be affecting him as his begins to scream in pain. Holly tries to breaks Wise’s grip but it’s not happening. Holly then makes his body near nova hot as his body begins to form into a man-made fire. Wise even begins to feel the heat but maintains the bear hug around Holly. Holly with his arms pinned to his slide, wildly fires blast from his hands at anyone in fronts of him. He manages to get a good shot at a weakened Kwai who transforms back to Nina Lam after being struck by the fire blast. Wise, shocked to see Kwai return to her human form, allows Holly to break his grip and throws him into a flying DMZ. Wise tell Oro to “Blind him.” Oro blinds Holly as Brick and Third catches him with another powerful two piece combo. Holly is punched into a wall of a building which doesn’t stop the two from continuing to put a pounding on him. Holly doesn’t fight back and begins to revert back to his normal form. It seems that he too has finally weakened from this battle as it appears the Blood Syndicate will put another victory under their belts.

Unfortunately for them, Holocaust isn’t quite ready to throw in the towel. He begins to laugh hysterically as he once turns into fire then says something that puts fear of the face of the Syndicate members. That something sounded a lot like “Super Nova” and that means Holocaust is ready to let loose meaning He would destroy and burn anything in his way…including all of Dakota…unless they stop him.

TO BE CONCLUDED IN BLOOD SYNDICATE # 43

NEXT: HOLOCAUST GOES SUPER NOVA IN AN EFFORT TO DESTROY THE SYNDICATE ONCE AND FOR ALL. WILL THE TEAM HAVE ENOUGH TO STOP HIM AND SAVE NOT ONLY THEIR LIVES...BUT THE CITY OF DAKOTA AS WELL?! FIND OUT IN THE FINAL CHAPTER OF PLAYING WIT FIRE

BLOOD SYNDICATE # 41

PLAYING WIT FIRE: CHAPTER 2 OF 4

WRITTEN & ARTWORK BY STEVE REEVES

PREVIOUSLY IN BLOOD SYNDICATE # 40. Holocaust escapes from being trapped in the Earths core more powerful than ever and has revenge on his mind. Will the combined might of both field teams be enough to stop him and protect the city of Dakota...

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Dakota City, Midwestern USA

DMZ flies towards Holocaust to attack as Holocaust turns around and fires two blast at DMZ. Who dodges both blasts easily and manages to catch Holly with an uppercut sending him hurling into the nearby building. Holocaust braces the walls impact and begins to fire @ DMZ who once again avoids the blast but not a punch from Holly putting DMZ on a one way trip to the concrete. Boogie attempted to catch the falling hero but struggles with the momentum. Fade, seeing that Flashback is still a little shaken from being Holocaust hostage, attends to the needs of his sister. Fade as well as Boogie informs the other Syndicate members about the villains apparent upgrade. The team with Dogg, prepares to stop Holly as he flies towards the 10^th Avenue Bridge. Dogg with his heighten senses smells the villain scent minutes before he’s in sight. Dogg tell Aqua Maria to splash him…"splash him good.". Holly see the huge wave coming towards him but is unable to avoid it. The water blast douses Holocaust; knocks him out of flight, and onto the bridge. Holly burns himself dry and smiles as he see members of the Syndicate approach him.

Holocaust: So it’s like that now? A man can’t peacefully fly over his hometown without getting ambushed?!? Trust me when I tell you this..That sh*t wouldn’t go down in Metropolis.

Dogg: U kidnapped one of our own and threaten to kill us. What the f**k you thought we were going to do?!

Holocaust: I don’t know anymore. I remember the Syndicate being the most feared and dangerous beings alive. I took this gang and made them into the top criminal organization in all of Dakota. Hell...in the whole mid-west. Now you’re suppose to be...Heroes...fighting for justice?!? Get the F**k out of here with that.

Third: Grow the hell up Holly and cut the crap. We do sh*t our way and we don’t mind playing the hero role.

Holocaust: Haha. Wise sure have made you guys soft.

Kwai: This is the evolution of the Blood Syndicate.

Holly laugh after Kwai's comment, looks her in the face, makes eye contact and says: "No B*tch!! This right here is evolution." Holly begins to change into a man made of fire and yells: "This is the Evolution of Holocaust Muthaf**kers!" Hahaha." Aqua tries to douse Holly again but he burns to the point that he begins to make her evaporate.

Aqua: ARGHH!!

Holly: Ha-ha. Too Hot for you?!?

Third: OK. That’s enough of that.

Third jumps at Holly who begins to shoot pyro blasts at Third, who absorbs the blast on impact and grows in size while getting burned in the process. Kwai attacks Holly by the feet knocking him over as a Giant sized Third begins to punch him repeatedly. Dogg begins to bark when he smells the other members scent. As Third continues to punch Holly, Holly begins to then grow into a giant flame as he absorbs the heat being generated by the kinetic energy. Holly grabs hold of Third and begins to return punches that have Third screaming in agony. Kwai kicks Holly off of Third and begins to attack Holly with a series of moves blocking all his blast with her staff back into him.

Holly is then punched off the bridge and into the river by Third. Aqua Maria attempts to freeze the river with Holly in it but he quickly recovers and burns Aqua making her boil. Holly takes control of Aqua body being that it’s hot water and projects it at Third and Kwai knocking them both off the bridge and into the river. They’re then saved by Flashback who warns Third and Kwai to “Duck” as the wave of boiling water goes over them. Holly surprised that Flashback survived that booby trap, doesn’t notice DMZ flying fast towards him as he gets tackled while still in the sky.

The two begin to go blow for blow in the air, Fade attacks Holly too but to no affect. Fade then attempts to solidify his hand into Hollys chest but can’t take the heat. Oro shows up and blast Holly onto the floor by Kwai. The solar blast had little affect on Holocaust who quickly recovers from it and begins to fight with Kwai and Dmz whom he knocks into Flash which renders her unconscious. Aqua is no help as she is still recovering from being boiled by Holly. With Flashback out of conscious, Fade begins to weaken as well. DMz grabs and throw Holly into the hands of Brick House who smashes Holly into the ground. Holly breaks from beneath her hands, flies towards her face, and punches the sh*t out of Brick House.

While Dmz and Kwai attempts to catch the falling Brick, Oro fires another solar blast at Holly but misses. Holly then shoots Third into an abandon building and then blasts the building down on Third. It is then…that he sees Wise Son standing below. Holly still remembers the battle with Wise in which; if not for his ability to turn to living flame and become whole again,he would have died. As Holly flies towards Wise, he’s blasted by Oro. Unfortunately Oro’s powers which are based on solar energy, which is basically from the sun, which is basically a big@ss ball of Fire, and when you think about it Holocaust is basically a man of Fire. Soooo there may be a conflict of interest here.

Oro: What the Hell?! My blasts aren’t doing sh*t to him.

Dogg: Hmm...He’s immune to the heat.

Oro: Oh really let’s see about that.

Oro attempts another blast which Holly controls and redirects back to him. Holly is then attacked by the non-bang babies’ tandem of Kwai & DMZ who fights Holly in the sky. Holly seems to be more powerful as the blows have little affect on him.

Kwai: You will not survive this battle monster. The Syndicate will prevail.

Holly looks at her, laughs, grabs her by the legs and throws her into DMz. The two fall onto the floor. As they attempt to fly back up to fight him again, Wise tells them to “Wait.”. Holly watches from the sky as Wise is joined by Third Rail, Brick (who helped Third get from under the building),Boogie, Kwai, Oro, and DMZ. Aqua is still recovering from Holocaust attack, Dogg is trying to wake up Flash, and Fade is going in and out of existence (time).

Wise: I was really hoping I would never have to see your punk@ss again Leo.

Holly: Trust. After today you will never see me or anything else again.

Wise: Come and say it to my face…p*ssy.

Holly: Oh I will, As soon as I finish draining more heat from the sun. Hmm… six against one?! I like them odds. Thou it's hardly fair…for you guys that is. Hahaha.

Holly flies towards the team firing a series of pyro shots. As the Syndicate scatters, Oro flies toward Wise-Son, grabs him, and flies away leaving his teammates on the battle field. Wise is understandably upset and ask Oro: "What the Hell are you doing man ?!?" Who looks down at Wise and confidently states "Don't worry about a thing Wise. I got a plan.".

TO BE CONTINUED IN BLOOD SYNDICATE # 42

NEXT: ORO HAS A PLAN. BUT WILL IT BE GOOD ENOUGH TO SAVE HIS TEAMMATES FROM THE FIERY WRAITH OF HOLOCAUSTS' REVENGE?! FIND OUT IN PLAYING WIT FIRE PART 3

BLOOD SYNDICATE # 40

PLAYING WIT FIRE: CHAPTER 1 OF 4

WRITTEN & ARTWORK BY STEVE REEVES

PREVIOUSLY IN BLOOD SYNDICATE # 39. With the Blood Syndicate roster finally in place, The Syndicate field teams took care of business on Paris Island and Dakota City against a gang of powerful bang babies up to no good. After receiving media attention for their victories; someone watches in the shadows with thoughts of revenge.

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Dakota City, Midwestern USA

Rob Chaplik reports a story about the former gangster turn crime boss: Leonard Small Jr. aka HOLOCAUST. Rob talks about the once presumed dead villain, who was allegedly sent into the core of the Earth after a battle with the Teen Titans and Static, after a small group of research scientists did a recent study of the core and reported that there were no signs of Smalls anywhere. What they did find however; was an empty man sized hole no longer filled. Rob believes that it is safe to assume the super villain has escaped and wonders how long before he shows back in his hometown.

Meanwhile, the former super gang known as The Blood Syndicate, who are now viewed by many as heroes are interviewed by a local news reporter after stopping the bank heist of two bang babies known as Coil and Puff. The reporter ask Wise about the recent news regarding Holocausts' escape from Earths Core, Wise wanted his response to be“ What the **** are you talking about?! We ain’t scared of that punk mutha*****!! “ but instead decided to say: "That he’s not concerned about Holocaust and that Holly’s a thing of the past.” He continues to state the negativity that Holocaust brought to the name of Blood Syndicate is no longer a part of what they represent now that they’ve seen the light. They represent something a whole lot better which is positivity and justice.

ELSEWHERE, a man watches the interview on his Television and says aloud “So you want to see the light huh? I’ll show the light and some!!” as the his hands begin to burn.

Back at The Factory: Fade and Oro brings up the Holocaust situation to Wise and states its evitable that Holocaust will return to not only handle his criminal and businesses in Dakota but also get revenge on the Syndicate.

Wise: Let em come. I beat his @ss before and I’ll do it again.” Dogg co-signs Wise statement with his own "Yeah. Ruck Him!!". Shortly after saying his catch phrase; Dogg, who has significantly become even smarter after getting a second dose of Q juice, but still has his bestial behaviors, reminds the others that Holly can become one with Fire and that it's very possible and logically; that while Holly was trapped in the center of the Earth, he absorbed the heat to survive and eventually escaped more powerful than ever. Fade tells the others he’s having a bad feeling and believes Holocaust is on the way. Wise tells the other “F*** Him!!”. Oro tells Wise he’s alerting the other members just in case Holly pops up. Oro also tells the others, he’s heard the stories about how a resurrected Holly damn near single handedly defeated the Teen Titans without breaking a swea...Wise interrupts: ”We ain’t the mutha f**king Titans. **** the Titans!!”.

Oro gets Third Rail and BrickHouse as Fade gather Boogie, Flashback, and Kwai. Though he managed to get Kwai and Boogie, Fade was unable to get in contact with Flashback. Fade warns the others as he feels a stronger presence of evil approaching. Dogg suggest Wise move the team into the Deadzone and away from the factory if Holly is to be on his way and more powerful than before . Wise again states that the team has nothing to worry about. He already beat Holocaust who he happens to feel is a beyotch!! However Wise understands there’s no telling what kind of damage a power increased Holocaust can cause in an all out fight with the Syndicate and sets up a meeting to prepare for the worst. The team consisting of Wise, Third, Aqua, Brick Oro, Fade, Boogie, DMZ, and Kwai meet in the conference room. The plan is to wait for an update of Holocaust actions and unite at the Deadzone.

Wise: Where the Hell is FlashBack ?? We”re going to need her ass down here ASAP!?

Dogg: I lost her scent hours ago.

Fade: She’s alive and she’s not too far because I can still feel her.

Wise is concerned she’s gone back to Holocaust ( Her ex-boyfriend). Then a video alert pops up on the monitor screen in the conference room . Wise opens the alert on the touch screen and though he would never admit it he’s shocked to see the face and hear the voice of someone he truly believed he'd seen the last of . It’s Holocaust. Holocaust tells Wise that he plans on killing every single one of them. One by One.

Wise reminds him about the code of the streets and that he beat Holly in a fair fight. Any beef Holocaust had with the Syndicate ended with that.

Holly: *Laughing* That gang sh*t is a thing of the past homie. I make my own muthaf*cking rules.”

Fade: Where the hell is my sister?

Holly: *Laughing again* Uhh…don’t worry Carlos, I know that your survival is based on hers, so I won’t kill her…well not yet. I plan on f*cking her a few more times. Hahaha.

Fade hears Flashback scream "Help" in the background right before Holly hangs up. Fade now feeling irate tells the others we are not waiting on him to come to us and instead are going to him.

Oro: Fade…you need to chill.

Wise: Yeah. This is what he wants you to do. You need to concentrate and find your sister. Wise decides to split the team up and search for Flashback.

Wise also says he's going to call "the kids" and tells Boogie to use his abilities to synchronize with rodents to locate Flashback throughout the city. Wise believes this is a part of Hollys' plan to separate the team but goes with the plan. Fade teams up with Boogie and DMZ to search outside of Paris Island. Third, Kwai, and Dogg also looks for Flashback and Holly outside of the Island while Wise, Oro, and Brick remains by the Dead zone. Boogie is informed by his rats that Flash is being held in an abandon building outside of Paris Island. Fade’s powers also allow him to locate his sister. Boogies tells Fade that Flashback is tied to a chair wired with explosives set to go off if she’s released.

Boogie: My rats have bite through the ropes around her hands and feet but they left the one by her mouth because it’s wired to explode if removed.

Fade tells the others to stay behind because he’s going in to save his sister. Boogie informs him “I smell the explosives.”. Fade goes into the building and see Flashback sitting on a chair with her mouth covered. If the mouth guard is removed the explosives will go off. Fade believes his sister will enter a time stream after saying her namesake and will not feel the effects of the blast allowing her to escape unheard. Fade tells his sister to scream as he rips his hand thru the mouth guard knowing in three seconds it’ll be removed from her mouth and the bomb will go off. Flashback screams her name “FLASHBACK” while the mouth guard is half way off as the explosion begins almost immediately. Flashbacks three seconds going back in time overlaps with Fades going three seconds in time causing an unusual time disruption which does something the two never would expect…they stopped time (actually the time is moving so slow it feels like it’s stopped) . The siblings look around and notice that everything…including the TV, clocks, & even the flames from the explosives has frozen in time. Fade not knowing how long this will last hurries to untie his sister. As soon as the two escapes the building; it starts to explode. Fade realizes that the time freeze is a result of Flashbacks time going back and his going forward interacting with one another which causes a rupture in time. The time freeze only lasted about a minute.

Outside the building explodes and collapses, As Flashback and Fade is safely out of the building. Flashback tells Fade that Holly is more powerful than ever and that he can fly now.

Fade: FLY?!?

Fade stops as he feels a familiar presence and sees the fear in Boogies eyes as he looks up and see a Fiery being hovering above them laughing.

Not too far away, DMZ flies towards Holocaust with the intentions to wipe the smile off his face. Holocaust see the charging DMZ and smiles stating “ This should be fun.”.

TO BE CONTINUED IN BLOOD SYNDICATE # 41

NEXT: PLAYING WIT FIRE -CHAPTER 2- HOLOCAUST VS. DMZ...AND EVERYONE ELSE!!

BLOOD SYNDICATE # 39

AMERIKKA STILL EATS IT’S YOUNG (part 4): SPLIT DECISIONS

WRITTEN & ARTWORK BY STEVE REEVES

____________________________________________________________________

PREVIOUSLY IN BLOOD SYNDICATE # 38

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After the fight between Oro and Third Rail for leadership of the Blood Syndicates’ away team, in which Oro defeated Third Rail; Wise sits in the Factory looking at the monitor within the conference room when he is confronted by Dogg.

Dogg: Bow Wow Wow Wise. What’s good?

Wise: W’sup Dogg. Where the hell you been at all day?

Dogg: Well you know me Wise. I had to take care of my b*tches. Where the hell is everyone at?

Wise: Well there’s a situation taking place Downtown Dakota by a couple of bang babies lead by HotStreak.

Dogg: Who the ruck is that?

Wise: Some loser, who attempted to start a Riot downtown in an effort to get Static’s attention. Unfortunately for him; Static is no longer in town. But luckily, I sent in Oro’s team to handle this. I figured, if a lil’ chump like Static can kick his @ss with no problem, than this should be more than easy for our crew.

Suddenly, Fade phrases through the walls of the conference room with some alarming news..

Fade: Wise, we got ourselves a situation taking place by the Ambler projects.

Dogg: Whaa..what are you doing here Fade?! I thought you’d be with the others.

Fade: Well Wise decided to makes slight changes to his original roster and...

Wise: NO FADE!! You DECIDED to make slight changes to my original roster. I said I wanted Fade as my second in command and I meant it. So if that means putting someone here and putting someone there to make him a member of this team, than so be it. But I’ll be damn if I continue to let muthaf**kaz do what the f**k they want long as I’m the leader. Clear. Fade: Crystal. You do know you're an @$$hole right.

Wise: You think? Well, thanks for the compliment. Now what the hell is going on? I saw something going on the Monitor. It didn’t register as super human activity so I was hoping the Police would handle it.

Fade: Well the reports it's a between two rival gangs, but according to the streets; its actually a shootout between a gang of drug dealers and a group of bang babies who attempted to rob them known as the Ruff Pack. I believe there have been a few casualties too.

Wise: K. let’s get the guys together and go handle that.

Fade: I contacted Nina and Boogie. Wise: What about Brick?

Fade: She’s still at the restaurant and will meet us in Ambler.

Wise: Okay. Dogg keep an eye on the monitor to see if anything else transpires and if the Away team returns before we do, just let 'em know we got this.

Downtown Dakota City: Another fight between Meta Humans is about to take place…

HOTSTREAK: Where are you Static?!? Come and fight me. Stop hiding like a f**kin’ punk. STATIC!!

ORO: Hmm…I could be wrong but I don’t think Static is going to show up. Hopefully you don't mind fighting with us instead. Now you either stop this foolishness now or get a can of whoop ass courtesy of the Blood Syndicate.

Hotstreak laughs at Oro before responding. HotStreak: The Blood Syndicate?! You guys are a bunch of sell outs. Muthaf**kin’ jokers. I ain’t got no time for this. I’ll get Static one way or another.

HotStreak fires a blast at Oro, who is caught off guard but manages to dodge the blast but loses sight of Hotstreak. Oro immediately alerts his teammates.

Oro: Flashback. DMZ. I loss HotStreak. He’s running at hyper speed. Flashback you got 6 o’ clock and DMZ, 9 o’ clock. Third and Maria continue to sweep the streets and keep an eye out for any other bang baby he’s working with. I’ll do an ariel surveillance for this Punk and see if I spot him anywhere.

FlashBack: Man. I’m really going to hate listening to this guy. Well what do we have here?!

Flashback spots Hotstreak running. As she attempts to swoop down to take him out, she is tackled by Talon, a human/bird hybrid, who is a member of Hotstreaks’ crew. She throws Flash towards the window of a skyscraper. Flashback: Screams “FLASHBACK!” as her back hits and cracks into the window. Going back three seconds in time, she avoids the crash, and flies directly towards Talon.

Meanwhile, DMZ catches a running Hotstreak, and stops him in his tracks. Hotstreak, fires a dual blast at DMZ. DMZ avoids the blast and charges at Hotstreak, who luckily catches DMZ with a blast that puts him on fire. As Hotstreak begins to laugh, he along with DMZ are dosed with water from Aqua-Maria.

Hotstreak, seemingly recognizing her asks ”... Maria is that you?!? I thought you had…”

Oro: I’d bet that thinking is really not your strong point Francis.

Hotstreak, now enraged, attempted to fire up but is shot by a solar blast by Oro. As Hotstreak attempts to shrug off the blast, he is knocked out by a power punch by Third Rail. Almost immediately following Thirds’ knockout blow, FlashBack flies down with an unconscious Talon and throws her on the ground next to Hotstreak.

Oro: Great job team. I wonder how the others guys are doing.

FlashBack: Probably sitting down at the Factory...bullsh***ing.

Meanwhile on Paris Island: The street team confronts the Ruff Pack outside of the Ambler project Crackhouse. Wise along with Fade, Kwai, and Boogie enters the building to see several beaten and broken bodies of Drug pushers as well as some cops laying on the floor.

Hyde: Well, Well, Well!! If it isn’t the Big Bad Blood Syndicate here to save the day. Looks like you’re a little too late if you ask me Wise Son. Now if you guys think you’re going to stop us from leaving here with the money and drugs. I’ll be the first to convince you otherwise.

Wise: I guarantee you Hyde, That won’t be as easy as you think.

Hyde: How about I find out for myself?

Hyde throws a punch at Wise Son knocking him into a wall. As Boogie jump towards Hyde to attack, he is kicked by a leaping Kangor right thru a charging Fade. Fade throws a series of ghost shots at Kangors’ head.

Kangor: Ah wah wrong wid dis duppy? Him no know he can’t touch mi…?! Argghh!! Ugghh!!

Kangor begins to feel the effects of Fades’ ghost shots as he receives a series of hits to the head. Fade, looks at Kangor as he takes a step back and trips over his own feet on the floor, and says “Gotcha.” with a smirk on his face. Kwai then walks over toward Kangor, stands over him, and kicks him in the face knocking him out.

As Wise and Hyde goes blow for blow towards the front of the building, Ferret and Boogie begins to fight in by the back. Boogie: You should just quit now Ferret. There’s no way you can win this. Kangor is out and Hyde is sure to be next. Besides, you’re completely out numbered here. Ferret begins to respond to Boogie advice to quit but is stunned to see the army of mice and rats that’s suddenly appeared. Ferret decides that maybe quitting isn’t such a bad idea, but running away is an even better idea. As he attempts to escape the building he runs into Kwai who hits him with her spear and a kick to the face knocking him out as well.

Boogie: Damn Kwai. Stop being greedy ( DMX voice) you coulda save him for me.

Kwai: I’ll make sure to keep that in mind for the next time.

Boogie: Riiiight.

Hyde: Seems I’m the last man standing. Wise: Not for long. Wise catches Hyde with an uppercut that knocks him on his ass and off his feet. As he begins to get up, He see a brick wall coming towards his head full speed. Hyde is unable to avoid the “brick wall” and is knocked down again except this time he can’t get up. Hyde mistook the Brickhouse fist for a brick wall being hurled at him. Seeing the Ruff Pack down and out leads Wise to praise his team.

Wise: Good job guys and awesome hit Brick.

Brick: I think we finally agree on something Wise. It was an awesome hit. Sorry I wasn’t here earlier.

Wise: Hey its cool Brick, you came just in time. Just in time. Oro’s team also kicked ass today. Which means; we got some celebrating to do. Now let’s go home and leave this mess for Damage Control.

Epilogue: The victories for both Syndicate teams receive media coverage resulting in the people’s increasing acceptance of the Blood Syndicate as heroes. Wise Son is seen on TV smiling as his plan to split the team into two to better protect the city seems like a success. While in the shadows; a mysterious figure watches the news report and laughs as the TV begins to turn into FIRE.

NEXT IN BLOOD SYNDICATE # 40: PLAYING WITH FIRE!!GUESS WHO'S BIZZACK?!?

How Powerful is KWAI? That’s a question I would often ponder. For those who don’t know who or what the hell I’m talking about; Kwai is a member of the Blood Syndicate. She was one of two syndicate members who did not get their powers from the big bang. Kwai is a mystical warrior believed to be from ancient China, who has been ressurected by magical forces to battle evil mystical demons who threathen human civilazition. Kwai had more super natural abilities than the any other member of the blood syndicate. Unfortunately, we the readers and fan of the series never got the full dose of the limits of her powers. Throughout the Syndicates’ duration we saw small samples of Kwai’s abilities. During her first appearances in Blood Syndicate; Kwai has showed the ability to possess a human body, fly, enhanced fighting skills, and the ability to heal others. As the series went on, we got to see her demonstrate some other impressive abilities. Here’s a run down of the powers shown by Kwai. As stated before, Kwai used her powers to heal her teammates but she also used them to heal herself.

1. Kwai has the ability to create a"Healing Cocoon" for herself that would radiates a mystical Golden light of illumination. This light neutralizes superhuman abilities of anyone within a 2 ft. radius, protecting Kwai from her enemies while she heals.

2. Kwai has the ability of flight. Kwai was able to fly at various levels as shown during her first appearance while chasing the Demon Fox or during the Super-Man/ Blood Syndicate crossover Worlds' Collide.

3. Kwai has the ability of Thread Manipulation/Animation: Kwai showed that she also had the ability to manipulate, shape, and animate/control her clothes to use as restraints or/and as a weapon during battles as shown in the Static Shock: Rebirth of the cool # 4

4. Kwai has the ability of Hair manipulation (Comakinesis): Similar to her ability to control her clothes, Kwai can also do the same with her hair. Kwai's hair which appears to be at least 5 feet long can be shaped and manipulated as an appendage. Kwai's used her hair in battles to strike and defend attacks from her adversaries. Kwai's hair has the ability to lift up and hold heavy objects as evident be her ability to carry two children (both over the age of 5) while she flew through the sky.

5. Kwai has the ability of Empathy: Kwai had the ability to sense how others are feeling as well as understand their emotions relating to hopes, dreams, fears, and desires.

6. Kwai has the ability of resurrection: When we are introduced to Kwai, she is on her 77^th life. This means since the ancient times, Kwai has died and been re-born 76 times. I believe it’s 78 now as she died again in her final battle with the Demon Fox only to be resurrected once again..but with a twist.

7. Kwai has the ability of Transformation: When Kwai is resurrected into the body of someone from her lineage, she can transform from host to self. During this stage, Kwai possessed the body of kid named Nina Lam who changed into Kwai taking her personality and memories. Nina later gained the ability to change into Kwai after saying her name: "Kwai" . (**this ability took place after Kwai’s apparent death in Blood Syndicate # 35**). It is unknown if Nina Lam is currently Kwai or Kwai is Nina Lam. But Kwai's appearance has changed as of Milestone Forever # 1 and she appears to have more human features implying that Nina has completely took over the Kwai avatar.

8. Kwai was an exceptional fighter: as a mystic avatar from ancient china, Kwai developed several fighting techniques throughout the centuries which she has used as a member of the syndicate. Kwai also carried a Spear to use in battle. It is unknown if the spear had any special or mystically power.

9. Kwai has the ability to heal others: Kwai displayed the ability to heal members of the syndicate by touching them. Kwai was able to save Wise-Son from dying, calm down brickhouse during a seisure by touching her, and healing dmz after his fight with the demon fox with a kiss.

10. Kwai has the ability to...bleed gold blood?!? Uhh...."How is that really a super power?" u may ask; Well I know that don’t mean much..buttt I was still surprised to see that she had gold blood. The Syndicate could have used Kwai’s blood and made some jewelery. Hell, I could use some of her blood to sell myself. smh.

But seriously, with all these powers, Kwai is not even invincible ( yeah..why leave that out?!) as evident by her almost dying after taking a bullet from a regular gun during a blotched raid by the Syndicate. So with all these powers, I always wondered what else she could do unfortunately I never got a chance to find out. Now, with that being said...DMZ is another member I've also wondered about power-wise, but I’ll save that for next time.

I know a lot of readers of the Milestones’ classic comic series: BLOOD SYNDICATE all remember that their original leader and fan favorite, Tech-9 died only four issues into the series. Tech walked away from the other members following a celebration of their victory against the S.Y.S.T.E.M to take a piss, when Tech noticed Fade (or what appeared to be Fade) up in front of him; Tech began to walk towards Fade..then it happened: Tech’s began to scream in pain as his skin began to melt off his body.

As the other Syndicate members raced to their leader, they saw nothing but Techs’ uniform enclosed in blood and bones. Tech-9 had died as the skin all but melted off his bones by the time a shockened Fade was able to hold his friend for one last time. With smoke being risen from his blooden skeleton, Flashback yells “IT’S THE GAS. IT HAD TO BE THE GAS!”.

While The Syndicate accepted this as the cause of death…I happen to believe differently. Over the past 20 years since the birth of the DakotaVerse and even during the Milestone Comics run in the mid 90’s, there was no other Bang Babies that died from the “side effects” of the Bang. Not like that. Maybe it was a member of the SYSTEM who came back to attack their leader or possibly a gang member who wanted to get revenge on Tech for taking down the crackhomes and drugs being circulated within the city or maybe it was an old teammate who has the ability to create fire…burn others and recently got his ass whupped in front of everybody before promising to get revenge. Who am I referring to…who else :Holocaust

Holocaust has the ability of PyroKinetics and a power hungry pyschopath. After nearly killing residents of a near by building and being questioned about his actions by Tech 9, Holocaust decides to challenge Tech for leadership of the Syndicate. The two fight for leadership and though it seems as if Tech was going to lose…he flips the script and defeats Holocaust by shooting an endless amount of bullets at him non stop until he admitted his defeat. Tech then tells Holocaust that he can keep his role on the team but cut all the bullsh*t. Holocaust response is cussing the others out and promising to get revenge. Holocaust is one of the most powerful beings in the Milestone universe who originated from the Big Bang battle. He even at this young stage had a good idea on how to use his powers. Holocaust even became more powerful towards the end of the Milestone era as he took a chance to increase his powers and inhaled a vial of the same gas that gave him his amazing power.

Power that would include making every and anything burn including people burn. Which is what I think happened to Tech. Techs’ skin MELTED off of his bone man. Let me repeat that; his skin MELTED off of his BONES!! Then if you look at the above pic, u will see that there is smoke coming from the skin being melted off his bones. I don’t think this is a coincedence. I believe that HOLOCAUST is the reason Tech-9 was killed as he was the Murderer. The two had a disagreement in Issue # 1, they had a fight in issue # 2, and in Issue # 4, Tech dies at the end by what is believed to be a side effect from the Big Bang. Lets keep it real here people, Tech 9 was killed by Holocaust who burned him to death. In my opinion, This revealtion would have been revealed at some point if the BLOOD SYNDICATE series had continue. What do you think?

BLOOD SYNDICATE # 38

AMERIKKA STILL EATS IT’S YOUNG (part 3): FIRST TO BE SECOND

WRITTEN & ARTWORK BY STEVE REEVES

**This Story takes place after Milestone Forever # 1**

PREVIOUSLY IN BLOOD SYNDICATE # 37

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W: WISE SON ** F: FADE **FB: FLASHBACK **T: THIRD **B: BRICK** DG: DOGG

**BG: BOOGIEMAN** K: KWAI ** O: ORO ** D: DMZ ** A: AQUA-MARIA

______________________________________________________________________________

As the Blood Syndicate meet in the dead zone an area outside the factory to watch the battle between Third Rail and Oro for leadership of the Syndicate. Wise tells third that this is stupid and disrespectful to his decision. Third, as usual, disagrees with wise son stating that he believes as one of the original founding members of the syndicate, someone's who has been there thru it all...that he is more than qualified for to lead a field team. Especially since; Fade chose not to take the position.

FB: Hmm...well since Oro is the guy to fight, I'll be more than happy to take my chances before Third. I mean, Third's not the only one who thinks Oro should not be Blood syndicate leader.

F: Sara, stop it. I looked at the team I was leading to protect Dakota city and I came to the realization that he was the best man for the job.

FB: Well maybe it's not a man who should be leading the team.

While Fade and Flash go back and forth, Kwai and Oro have a brief discussion.

ORO: You know, I'm beginning to think that maybe this isn't such a good idea. It’s really not that serious.

Kwai: I would be a better leader than you both. But I don't want to have to kick your @ss to prove it.

O: 'nuff said.

Meanwhile the two siblings continue to talk...Fade tells FlashBack; ”I'm not arguing with you no more Sara. I'm done!”

FB: Good. 'Cause you know that I'm right Fade. I’m really getting tired of the lack of respect my @SS gets as a member of this team.

F: Just chill sis, you're a BIG part of this team, and you're right. I was wrong not to ask for your opinion. My bad. But just trust me on this.

FB: Apology accepted. Now are we going to see a f**kin' fight or what?!?

Brickhouse asks Third to "Drop it.". She reminds him of the time, Oro risked his life to save him while Third was possessed by the Soul Breaker. Third looks at Brick and says “Don’t worry babe. I promise I'll go easy on him.”. Third walks towards Oro who is standing in the center of the Dead zone as the others watch from the side and stands in front of him. Oro still reluctant to fight is caught off guard by a left hook from third. Now realizing how serious this is, Oro avoids another hit by Third by flying above him. Oro fires a solar blast towards Thirds feet knocking him back, and then shoots a second blast at his chest. Third is initially stunned by the blast but begins to absorb the energy from it and grow in size. Oro then flies toward Third catching him with an solar punch which knocks Third down. The others watch in awe as it appears that Third may be out for the count.

Brick: Oh Pu!!

Wise: Fall back Brick. You know the rules. Besides, this fight is far from other.

FB: It'd better be. I bet Dogg and Boogie 20$ each that Third would win this fight.

Dogg: Looks like you going to have to pay up. I'll take my money in all singles as DMZ and I plan to make it rain on these bitches at the strip club tonight.

DMZ: Shakes heads with a thumbs up.

FB: Hah! I think you barked a bit too soon Dogg. Take a look at Third Now.

Dogg: Ruck No!

Third grabs Oro by the legs and slams him into the pavement. As Oro attempts to get up, Third punches him back down, allows him to gather himself together, then punches him down again.

Third: This is a lot easier than I thought. Are you ready to give up Oro. I really don't want to kick your @ss anymore.

As Third continues to brag about his apparent victory, Oro thinks about the best way to win this fight. He decides he has to take his chance and blast Third with everything he have.

O: You think I would give up that easy Pu, guess you're a lot dumber than I thought..and I think that you're really dumb.

T: Thats it. I'm about to put your light out Oro…Literally.

O: I'm counting on it. Oro then uses a solar flash to blind Third as he flies up from the ground and catches a giant sized Third from the chain up knocking his down. Still blinded by the flash, Oro still in the air and blast Third with everything he has. The radiance is so powerful that the others close their eyes and are unable to see the power being shot. Though it does't seem to be doing much as Thirds body growing from absorbing the energy.

Wise: Oro you got to stop it. He'll get too big and f**k up the damn factory.

O: No...I..will....not lose.

Third: I'm going to kick you’re a...Arghh!!

Thirds body begins to shrink down as Oro overcharged his absorbing abilities to its limit. Oro flies down and punches the wobbled Third into the wall before he himself falls down from over exhausting himself. Bricks yells out “Pu?!?” as she begins to run towards her man. Fb begins to yell “Third get yo' @ss up man. I'm counting on you.”

Dogg: Speaking of counting..I like all ones. Okay.

FB: Ruck off Dogg!

Oro struggles to get on is feet but stands up as the others await to see if Third is out of it.

Fade: It doesn’t look like Third is getting up wise.

Boogie: Damn…Third got knocked the f*ck out.

Wise: Well I guess that's it. Seems like we finally got an official leader for the away tea...

As Wise is about to announce the winner of this fight, Third interupts him: “Not just yet.”. Third stands up strong and starts walking towards Oro, ignoring Bricks pleas to “Stop”. Oro looks as Third inches closer and closer to him but he's too weak to fight back. He used so much of his powers to overload Thirds absorbing abilities in an attempt to put him down...Which was only a temporary solution and is in no shape or form to go another round with Third.

O: Third I...

Third: Wait. If you try to punch me, kick me, or shoot me I'll just absorb it and you are in no position to win this fight. This is something we both know. So be smart…stupid.

Third than extends him hand to Oro and tells him congrats on becoming the leader of the Away team. The two shakes, then Third turns away, locks eyes with Brick, wipes his brow, blows out a sigh, then winks at her with a smile on his face, and begins to walk towards her. Wise announces Oro as the leader of the away team as Oro is greeted and congratulated by his Syndicate teammates

...with the exception of FlashBack who snarled “ I'm still not listening to that muthaf**ker.”

TO BE CONTINUED IN BLOOD SYNDICATE # 39

NEXT: NOW WITH THE PIECES IN PLACE, A NEW SYNDICATE IS BORN!!