John Hancock, the world-famous African-American superhero stood atop the Hancock Tower in the City of Chicago's opulent North Michigan Avenue. From this magnificent edifice, he could see the entirety of metropolitan Chicago and the rest of the State of Illinois. Ever since John Hancock left the City of Los Angeles, California, he'd been constantly on the move. Crusading across America to fight crime.
The superhero's latest adventure brought him to one of America's toughest environments. The fabled City of Chicago, where a war was being waged between African-American youth and the corrupt, racially biased police force, beckoned. Ever since John Hancock set up shop in the City of Chicago, the crime rate was down, as were the constant shootings of black youth by Chicago's trigger-happy police force.
As a nearly Immortal individual endowed with extraordinary powers of superhuman strength, flight, super speed and invulnerability, John Hancock could effortlessly take down any criminal. For this reason, he'd become the world's foremost superhero. John Hancock went after the unjust with a vengeance, from the toughest thug in the hood to the trigger-happy cops who sometimes broke the same laws they were paid to enforce.
Smiling, John Hancock took flight, noticing that Chicago was peaceful for a change. The superhero's smile was definitely short-lived, for he sensed a disturbance in the air. Far above the City of Chicago, a ripple opened in the sky, and John Hancock's keen eyesight zeroed in on the source of the disturbance. An inter-dimensional portal opened, and even though his experience in otherworldly matters was limited at best, John Hancock braced himself for a fight. For his innate danger sense, which never failed, was tingling.
"I'm ready for whatever, so show yourselves!" John Hancock shouted defiantly as he hovered in the air. Something definitely out of the ordinary was going on and John Hancock, super-powered defender of planet Earth, was determined to get some answers. The glowing, ethereal fissure between time and space widened, and a single figure emerged through the portal between worlds. John gasped as a tall, definitely feminine form materialized before him.
"What manner of creature are you?" demanded a tall, raven-haired woman in her mid-thirties, with a regal bearing. The dark-clad woman hovered in the air, effortlessly holding herself aloft. Her dark eyes locked with John Hancock's, and a frisson coursed through the superhero's nigh indestructible spine. There was something disturbing about this broad, and everything within John Hancock screamed at him to proceed with caution.
"Lady, as this is my world, I'm asking the questions," John Hancock said, and the Dark Woman smiled and sighed. The superhero stifled a lusty grin. This broad was smoking hot, that's for damn sure. A wicked smile crept the raven-haired woman's beautiful face, yet John Hancock noticed that her smile never reached her eyes. His jaw set, John Hancock braced himself for a fight.
"We'll see about that, handsome," the Dark Woman said, and then crimson energy gathered about her lovely, dark clad form, and then she hurled a bright red fireball at John Hancock. The superhero tried to duck but the fireball slammed into him with the force of a freight train. Screaming in pain, John Hancock dropped out of the sky like a stone, dive-bombing toward the ground.
"Dumb move Hancock," John chastised himself, and with sheer force of will, the superhero halted his descent, and flew upward, toward the Dark Woman. As John Hancock approached her, he saw surprise on that pretty face of hers. Clearly the woman, or whatever she truly was, expected him to be over and done with, past tense and all that.
"You're harder to kill than I thought," the Dark Woman said, and then she hurled another fireball at John Hancock. This time, however, the superhero was ready for her. John Hancock caught the fireball in his hands and tossed it right back at its thrower, and the Dark Woman screeched in pain as her own power was turned against her.
"Oh damn!" The Dark Woman screamed, and then she fell out of the sky. As the dark-clad villainess form plummeted toward the ground, a startling transformation came over her. John Hancock dove after her, and caught her mere meters from the paved floor of Chicago's busiest street. As a crowd of onlookers gawked, John Hancock gathered the fallen woman into his arms.
"I've got you, lady, now quit with the magic stuff, alright?" John Hancock said in a warning tone, and the Dark Woman, whose outfit changed before his very eyes, stared at him dumbly. Gone was the fire from her eyes, and the gal suddenly looked very ordinary and very vulnerable. John Hancock was dumbfounded, to say the least.
"Where am I? Who are you?" said the dark-haired woman, and John Hancock gently put her down. Standing on wobbly feet, the woman looked at John Hancock, then at the crowd of people that gathered around them. John Hancock sighed and took a deep breath. The innate danger sense he possessed was no longer tingling.
"I am Regina Mills, what am I doing here?" the woman repeated, and John Hancock scratched his head. When he looked into the tall, professionally attired woman's dark eyes, he saw confusion and a bit of fear, but not anger, hatred or deception. Of course, Hancock kept his guard up. Whoever this broad was, she was not to be trifled with.
"My name is John Hancock, ma'am, welcome to Chicago," he said, extending his hand toward her. After a brief hesitation, Regina Mills shook John Hancock's hand. The superhero noticed that the witch had a steady, warm handshake, and smiled at her. Regina Mills returned his smile, and finally let go.
"Good to meet you, Hancock! How come you can fly and what am I doing here?" Regina Mills said, with a disarming smile, hands on her hips. John Hancock smiled, for something in Regina Mills decidedly regal bearing reminded him of Mary Embry, his super-powered former paramour who lived in Los Angeles with her hubby Ray Embry and their son. Maybe this Regina woman was a member of their species?
"I think you and I come from the same place," John Hancock said, and then he invited Regina Mills to grab a cup of coffee with him at a nearby Starbucks. The lovely brunette acquiesced, and the two of them sat down and talked. From the way Regina Mills carried herself, John Hancock could tell that she was a no-nonsense woman. Still, he needed to know certain things about her apparent alter ego, the Dark Woman.
"I come from Story Brook, a world where creatures and beings from every mythology and fairy tale exist, and from your powers, I think you and I might be from the same place," Regina Mills said, sipping her coffee. John Hancock smiled and shook his head. Even though he'd heard many incredible stories in his time, this one was definitely an original.
"Lady, I'm not some fucking fairy tale creature," John Hancock said, putting down his coffee cup. Regina Mills shot him a look and when John glared at her, the dark-haired woman held his gaze. John Hancock reached for his coffee cup but Regina Mills grabbed his hand, and John Hancock winced, for her nails dug into his flesh.
"Behave yourself, handsome, you don't want to get into my bad side," Regina Mills said, and then she looked at John Hancock's hand, which was bleeding. John Hancock gawked, for he hadn't seen his own blood since that time, several years ago, when he and Mary Embry got attacked in the hospital by bank robber Kenneth "Red" Parker and his acolytes. This was disturbing, to say the least.
"Ouch, lady, that hurt," John Hancock said, and Regina Mills smiled, then took Hancock's wounded hand in hers. Gently Regina Mills caressed John's hand, and then brought it to her lips. As the shocked superhero looked on, the bewitching brunette licked his wound, and the injury vanished like ice in the sun, as if it were never there.
