Rated MA because there's some racism issues in this, bit of punching too. All characters owned by DC or Hanna-Barbera, I just wrote the story. Also the word Mashk is Native American for ugly and Skull Valley Indian Reservation is actually located between a military base, a chemical plant, a magnesium plant and a nuclear storage facility...poor bastards! Enjoy, let me know what you think, I dare you!
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Skull Valley, Utah, 1973
Manitou Raven shook his head as another military truck rumbled past his home. The white men, in particular the white men with the big guns, had been testing their devices here. Many times he had considered rounding up the braves and forcing them off his lands like the white man’s ancestors had done to his ancestors, but it was merely a fantasy. He had more pressing concerns with his wife being pregnant.
Skull Valley, Utah, 1974
Manitoba Dawn gave birth to an abnormally large baby boy. Chief Thunderclap shook his head at the site of the child “He is cursed!”
Manitou looked up at his chief as he cradled his wife, who was exhausted after the protracted labour. “What is wrong?”
The Chief pointed to the caul covering the baby’s head, a greyish purple membrane “The hooded child is cursed”
Manitou stood up and confronted his leader “He is not cursed, the land is cursed! The white man keeps encroaching and you let them!”
Chief Thunderclap folded his arms “Your tongue twitches like caught fish! Tread carefully Raven”
Manitou exhaled and turned back to his wife and child “Get out” Chief Thunderclap went to speak when the angered father turned back and roared “GET! OUT!”
Slowly the Chief and other attendees quietly left the tepee, looks of derision and scorn on their faces.
Skull Valley, Utah, 1984
Mashk Raven stood quietly beside his mother, watching his father cough and splutter from his deathbed. The tribe had already paid their respects, those who bothered. Tears welled in the young boys eyes as his father feebly beckoned him over. The cancer had eaten him from the inside, like a rotten fruit. Manitou wasn’t the only one. Between the military test site, the chemical weapons depot and the magnesium production facility; the white man had started another facility with a strange yellow symbol that looked like a fan. Skull Valley was living up to its name.
“M-my son” coughed Manitou, blood specks drifting into the air “You, you have to…be bigger than this…bigger than them…be strong and…brave”
“Yes father” he whispered.
Manitou gasped “Despite y-your name….you are not…never were…never…ugly” He reached out to hand his son a pouch. Mashk took the pouch and the hand and Manitou breathed his last.
Dugway Proving Ground, Utah, 1994
“You people need to leave!” stated Mashk as he shook his sign at the guard on the gate of the military facility “This, is our land!”
The guard just chewed his gum watching the protest. Dozens of Native Americans backed up by students from several colleges had arrived to protest the government’s treatment of its indigenous peoples.
“Just stay your side of the fence chief and we’ll get along fine” sneered the soldier “I feel like I’m at the Alamo fighting the Apaches!”
“The Alamo was against the Mexicans, you racist hick!” snapped Mashk as he threw his sign onto the ground and started forward.
The soldier placed his hands on his rifle “Try it redskin, go on. I’ll be John Wayne” Mashk gritted his teeth, his hands clenched tight, staring down the soldier “Whatcha gonna do, stare me to death?”
"Eh-neeek-chock!” barked Mashk.
“And what does that mean? I only speak American, not clicks” laughed the soldier.
“It means big man” Mashk replied derisively.
The soldier’s expression changed and he stepped forward, slamming the rifle butt into Mashk’s stomach, doubling him over.
“You shouldn’t have done that” coughed Mashk as he shook with rage “EHHHHH-NEEEK-CHOCK!” Mashk exploded into a fifty foot version of himself.
“Oh my god in heaven” muttered the soldier, crossing himself in haste.
Mashk looked down, his body coursing with energy. The soldiers scurried about like ants, the protesters shrieked in fright. He smiled as his father’s words rang in his ears, folding his arms and glowering at them below.
**
“Oh I think you can little man” said Mashk to the man dangling from a harness under a helicopter in his eye line “You will pack up your entire facility today and leave”
“The President…”
“Please bring him here, I would welcome the chance to discuss with him how his government, his military have down trodden, abused and basically subjugated the people of plains since they first arrived here” stated Mashk “I came here to protest and was ignored. Now I am fifty feet tall and perceived as a threat, you take me seriously! You will leave or I will make you leave”
The man swung back and forth in the updraft of the chopper blades “Are you threatening…”
“No, I’m telling you how it is!” snapped Mashk “Just like you told my people back in 1830 with the Indian Removal Act. Now go tell your President, your press that I will not move until you vacate this facility! And you have til the sun sets to respond, before I will use force”
Mashk folded his arms and glared at the man.
**
“As we enter our twelfth day of the siege of Skull Valley, the Apache Chief still stands towering above the Dugout Proving Grounds. His early threats of violence haven’t been followed through, though he has physically prevented both land and air vehicles from entering and leaving the base. President Clinton is still liaising with the D.E.O on how to handle the situation of the giant Native American Indian. I’m Catherine Grant, WGBS”
**
Director Bones stood on a platform in front of Mashk, a column of smoke emanating from his lipless smile “We clear out the base, we hand your people a truckload of cash and you come work for us. Sound fair Apache Chief?”
“My name is Mashk Raven. I am a Goshute” stated Mashk "Not an Apache. Not a chief"
“Yeah well I have invisible cyanide skin and was born in a lab. We all don’t get what we want kid” said Bones as he chained another cigarette “That’s the deal, take it or leave it”
“That sounds once again like a white man ultimatum”
“Just because you can see my bones, doesn’t mean I’m white kid” snapped Bones “I don’t know if I’m Chinese, Arabic or even human! Now stop being a pain in my see through ass and say yes! Otherwise Agent Barret, who is way out there in the dark, will pull the trigger and put a 25mm depleted uranium slug through your giant eye. It’s a crap deal but it’s better than nothing. Your call?”
Qurac, 2004
Apache Chief ripped the roof off the Presidential Palace and shoved his hand inside like it was a dolls house. He grabbed the shrieking President and lifted him skywards, ignoring the tiny pellets of the bodyguard’s guns.
“You were asked nicely to sign the treaty. You were begged. You were even paid” said Mashk “Now it has come to this little man”
Mashk placed the President inside a large rubber ball and sealed it “Just remember to breathe normally” And he threw the ball away, off over the horizon towards international waters. “This is the chief, package on route!”
The Department of Extranormal Operations, Washington, 2013
“What do you mean you quit?” asked Director Bones as he look.
“I don’t enjoy what I’m doing any more” replied Mashk as he slumped into a chair in his boss’s office “I’ve been working for you, for what nineteen years. Being a battering ram for a US invasion force isn’t really what I signed up for”
Director Bones lit up a cigarette “Vacation?”
“No, I quit!” said Mashk.
“How about vacation,” insisted Bones “Six months, full pay, no calls unless it’s a dire emergency…”
“It’s always an emergency when you call!” groaned Mashk.
“No calls then” Bones held his arms up “None at all, cross my invisible heart”
“You don’t have a heart”
Bones stood up “See you in June Chief”
“I’m not coming back” replied Mashk as he stood to leave.
“That’s what the Wonder Twins said. That’s what Black Vulcan said. Even El Dorado said it. And guess what, they’re all still working!” Bones smiled “Now I’d shake your hand, but the whole cyanide skin”
Mashk smiled and left the office. Bones waited til he was in the lift before he picked up the phone “Samurai…keep an eye on our friend…observation only. I think the Chief’s mission to Santa Prisca is finally catching up with him”
The End…????
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