Thunderclaps 3: Epilogue - World’s Finest Girls

A large audience and the press were gathered in front of a stage constructed on Peace TV’s grounds.

That was inevitable with Captain Sky and Mister Shadow on stage together for the first time in 30-odd years. That was why so much of the audience was middle-aged or older. Old men had their eyes sparkling like small children.

Those two were not alone. Comet Hawk and several other retired Justice Circus members were in attendance. The current members were there too, of course. The Thunderclaps had also been invited as special guests. Several politicians and business leaders had also shown up to try and leech off of the heroes’ reputation.

The veteran announcer Kayagi Nami was leading the event and she made sure to introduce all of the famous attendees.

In the log cabin being used as a dressing room behind the stage, Ozora Miki paced back and forth the central aisle, reading through the event script over and over. Nanjou Shino watched in silence until she couldn’t stand it any longer.

“Argh, must you pace!? Calm down, Ozora.”

Miki didn’t stop and gave a nervous look to the woman she would be joining on stage.

“How can I calm down? Even the Governor of Tokyo is here. If I screw up here, I can kiss my career as an announcer goodbye.”

“Why would you care? You’re a superhero now.”

“I’m an announcer!”

Miki flipped through the script, reading her lines aloud this time.

“We will never forget our friend who fought to protect a world not their own.”

She came to a stop. Cemetery shut the mouth she had opened to tease her again.

They both thought back on those words.

 

Flare, Snow Wing, and Cemetery’s view had been covered by light and shadow.

That was the final moment of the monster from another dimension. A wail of utter despair rang not just in the heroes’ minds, but in the minds of all the criminals passed out in the Neo Arena. The hundreds of criminals burst from the monster and rolled along the floor, still unconscious.

After raising its death cry, the monster splattered across the Neo Arena as hunks of flesh. Those pieces vaporized into nothingness after just a few seconds.

Flare felt a pang of regret as the power left her and returned to the other two women. She had wanted to remain with it for a while longer, but she knew that was her selfishness speaking.

The next thing they knew, the three women holding hands were surrounded by the other heroes.

Snow Wing and Cemetery thanked them all.

“You have my thanks for allowing me to fulfill my duty. I know you prefer not to take lives even of your enemies, but there is no way of restraining or neutralizing –––– on earth. Eliminating –––– was the only option. Please try to understand.”

Kengo asked the two of them a question.

“What will you do now? If you wish to return to your home world, we will gladly help. Just tell us what you need.”

Their two heads shook in unison.

“–––– nearly succeeded in creating a path to our home dimension, but it required the sacrifice of many Offbeat lives. I would rather remain permanently stranded than cause such harm. At the same time, I cannot remain conscious in this universe. Ironically, I am only conscious now because I came in contact with –––– from my own dimension. Now that –––– is dead, I will again lose consciousness and never again wake.”

“You knew that would happen when you defeated that monster, didn’t you!?”

“I was merely taking responsibility for bringing –––– to earth. Kashima Kengo, Nanjou Shuhei, I am truly sorry I stole your dreams of competing in the Olympics.”

Kengo squeezed Snow Wing’s hand.

Cemetery’s father squeezed Cemetery’s hand.

“I would prefer to thank you for that. Thanks to you, I have saved more lives than an Olympic gold medalist ever could.”

“I can never thank you enough. Thanks to you, I’ve saved so many people who would have been sacrificed by the scum of the earth.”

“Thanks to you,” the men said together, “I have lived a truly wonderful life.”

There was no response. None save for the faint smile on weeping Snow Wing and Cemetery’s lips that did not belong to them.

 

The pair arrived on stage to thunderous applause.

Kayagi announced that Ozora Miki and Nanjou Shino would be adopting the Sky & Shadow moniker as a duo. The applause grew. Shino’s identity was of course kept secret and she wore a black eye mask. After the project planning meeting at Peace TV, it was decided Cemetery wasn’t a very heroic name, so she was taking on the name Dark Cat instead. The tombstone on the back of her jacket had been replaced by a black cat. She hadn’t been pleased about that, but she had agreed when her partner begged her.

After Captain Sky and Mister Shadow announced their full support for the new inheritors of their duo name, it was finally time for the 2^nd Sky & Shadow to introduce themselves.

Snow Wing stood nervously in front of the mic and recited the lines she had memorized earlier.

“Thank you for the warm welcome, people of Japan – and of the entire world. There is one thing we would like to say first and foremost: We will never forget our friend who fought to protect a world not their own. We will never forget that great hero who put their very existence on the line for the residents of a foreign universe. It is with our deep thanks and respect for that act that the Justice Circus has decided to make that being our 2^nd ever honorary member. May their memory always remind us to carry our own spirit of courage and kindness.”

Snow Wing stepped away from the mic for Dark Cat to take over.

Dark Cat cleared her throat and then grinned.

“Yeah, I’ve never been one for formal events. Later, bitches!”

The two of them immediately dropped into their own shadows.

Just before they fully vanished, the mic picked up Snow Wing’s voice so the shocked audience all around Japan could hear.

“That settles it! I am so fiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiired….”

 

“It is said the Golden Age ended with Super Offbeat’s death. In that case, Terror Knight’s shocking battle must have been the demise of the Silver Age.”

(1989, statement to a reporter by Wyvern, Terror Knight’s sidekick)

After discovering the US Secretary of Defense was the one who had murdered his parents, Terror Knight singlehandedly infiltrated a secret base protected by 10,000 troops and transmitted to the entire world footage of the Secretary’s illegal human experiments before falling in battle. Terror Knight made sure to only incapacitate the soldiers he fought, so there was not a single casualty other than himself.