<div class="floatleft">(http://elliquiy.com/elluiki/images/8/83/Diamondback_Portrait.jpg)</div><hr/><span class="bbc_font" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="bbc_size" style="font-size: 14pt;"><strong>  Name:</strong>       Rachel Leighton<br/>  <strong>Title:</strong>          Diamondback<br/>  <strong>Affiliation:</strong>  None<br/>  <strong>Location:</strong>   Tokyo, Roppongi Hills Mori Tower<br/>  <strong>Tags:</strong>          None at the moment<br/></span></span><hr/><br/><br/><br/>Two Days Ago:<br/>“Hear anything yet?”  Rachel asked the Raven haired woman sitting across from her.<br/>“No.  Nothing.  Are you sure this job is still a go?” Asp turned to look at Black Mamba who was lounging on Rachel’s couch at the moment staying out the window.<br/>“You two need to stop worrying.  I told you the job was solid.  Trapster never let us down before.”  She said managing to sound bored by the questions.<br/>“Yeah but he never dropped out of sight either when we were on a job.”  Rachel replied.<br/>“That may have something to do with the fact that you and your boyfriend had him arrested…twice.”  Asp jumped in with a joking smile.<br/>“Ex…boyfriend.” Rachel corrected her. It still stung.<br/>“Yeah, we’ve heard that one before, right Tanya?” Asp needled her some more.<br/>Rachel was pretty sure this time it was for good.<br/>“Good-riddance.” Black Mamba said with a dismissing wave of her hand.  “Who needs Captain Goody-Goody anyway when you have sisters like us?”<br/>“Right.” Rachel agreed as much to convince herself as to convince her friends.<br/><br/><hr/><br/>Now:<br/>Tat-Tat-Tat-Tat-Tat! The sound of small arms fire ripped through the room and the thin cubicle wall Diamondback had been resting against.  She threw herself out of the way just in time to avoid the deadly hail of bullets.  The poor employee of the quarter plaque across from her wasn’t so lucky. It burst into a million tiny plastic pieces and rained down over her.  From her spot, prone on the coarsely carpeted floor of suite 200 on the 38th floor of Roppongi Hills, Mori Towers she had to wonder.  ‘What the hell happened?’<br/>Everything had gone according to plan.  Once in, she and the girls had split up.  Asp and Black Mamba were taking care of security and all she needed to do was find the desk of one Hiro Ito, download a file called Hebi and they were clear.   No problem. Rachel had just finished transfering the file when the bomb dropped…bombs to be more precise. The explosions outside were enough to shake the tower and make Rachel grab hold of the desk nearby.  She had watched in horror as the attack took place.  It was swift and decisive, surgical in its efficiency.  Rachel had tried to reach Asp and Black Mamba on her comm, but she only got static for her efforts.<br/>That’s when the shooting started.<br/>Rachel blew a strand of bright pink hair away from her face with a small huff.  The smell of cordite was thick in the air and her ears rang from the echo of the small arms fire.  ‘This just won’t do.’  She heard the shuffling of feet from across the room.  Whoever these guys were, they weren’t pros, that’s for sure.  Rachel unhooked a ‘diamond’ from the skin-tight Kevlar weave jumpsuit.  These little beauties were what gave her her moniker.  She gave the diamond a little kiss and slid it under the cubicle wall towards the sounds of movement.<br/>“Wumf!”  The dull thud was followed by yelps of surprise and more gun fire, even more erratic because of the smoke quickly dispersing from the diamond smoke grenade. ‘Psssh. Amatuers.’  Lightning quick Diamondback was on her feet and sprinting across the room.  More gunfire rang out and a shower of papers kicked up from a nearby projectile blast as she vaulted over the last cubicle wall standing between her and the exit.  She shouldered the door open with a bang and tumbled into the hall, drawing her own machine pistol as she rolled.<br/>Empty for now, but she could hear her attackers making their way across the room and more coming up the hall.  She knew from the building plans there was a stairwell nearby. Rachel pulled a handful of diamonds from her jumpsuit and left a little present for her pursuers.  Not hesitating another moment she made for the stairs.<br/><br/><hr/><br/>‘Almost there.’<br/>The speed of her ascent up the stairs would have killed a normal person, even one as fit as Rachel, but thankfully she was no longer exactly “normal.” She knew she had one more door and then the stairway to the roof and there would be a helicopter waiting.  With a little satisfied “whoop” she entered the hallway that would lead to her escape.  The fore of the blow her hard in the back, pitching her heels over head onto the floor.  Her vision blurred and darkened for a moment before the inky darkness folded in on her.<br/><br/><hr/><br/>“Ray.”  She heard a familiar voice, a man’s voice.  “Ray, are you alright Ray?”<br/>“Steve.” She whispered, slowly coming to. “Is that you?  How did you find me?”  She asked groggily.  Her vision began to clear and the red, white and blue of Captain America was obvious.<br/>“Nevermind that Ray.”  He said kneeling down and taking her in his arms. “What’s important is that you’re safe.” He said leaning towards her.  She had always felt safe in his arms.  Everything was going to be ok.  Steve leaned closer until she could feel the heat of exhirtion from his body.<br/>“But…” She tried to interrupt him.  She was sure there were more goons coming for them.<br/>“Shhh…everything will be ok.”  He said leaning in further until his lips brushed hers, causing her to start in surprise.  She pulled back to look into his deep brown eyes...<br/><br/>‘Wait, Steve’s eyes are blue.’<br/><br/>“Damn,  I knew I was forgetting something,” he said with a wicked little smile completely out of place on Captain America’s chisled features.  The vision wavered and cracked as Rachel snapped back into reality.  Dark Energy was coiled around her and lifting her off the floor.<br/>“Tanya!  What the hell?” She said angrily, struggling against the dark energy bonds.<br/>“Sorry Rachel.  I was hoping to do this the easy way.”<br/>“What are you talking about?  Don’t you see what is happening out there?  We have to get out of here.”<br/>“No.”<br/>“What do you mean, no?!?”<br/>“This time we are going to be on the winning side Rachel.  You, me, Cloe.  We can be a part of it. “<br/>“A part of what?”<br/>“The end of the world.  Death has come and he has a place for us if we want it.  We can be on the winning side for once.”<br/>“You’ve gone off the deep end Tanya.  Where’s Cloe?” Rachel struggled against the coils but knew well enough that it was useless.<br/>“Tied up at the moment.” She answered with that wicked little smile.  “You can come with us or not, your choice Rachel, but there is nothing left for you out there.”<br/>“Go to hell.”  Rachel tripped one of the many little catches on her suit.  This one in her boot heel and with a flick of her foot sent a diamond dropping to the floor between them.  There was an audible beeping in coming from the diamond that increased in speed in a matter of moments.<br/>Black Mamba’s eyes grew wide and she dove for the doorway to the stairs.  Her distraction caused the dark energy to dissipate around Rachel and she dropped deftly to the floor.<br/><br/>‘Only one way out.’<br/><br/>Sprinting to the large window at the end of the hallway Rachel dove through the safety glass as her charge detonated behind her.  For a moment there was the feeling of weightlessness as if the laws of physics had loosed their hold on her body.  Motes of afternoon light glinted off the glass shards floating around here. Time almost stopped.<br/><br/>Then there was fire and falling.<br/><br/>