Courtney – along with her teammates, Jessica Lowery, Swinn Searlesbay and Zipporah Parks – were the fastest four-by-one relay team in the country. During their final year together as student-athletes at Emory University, they broke every record on the books. They were scheduled to compete at the Olympic trials, but first they would need to finish off their college competition at the national finals. As expected, the “Heat Seeking Eagles,” as they had come to be known throughout the country, blasted through the preliminary races and were poised to win the final with no problem.

But as the starting gun went off and the race began, everything changed. Courtney was the first leg of the relay, and she came out of the blocks with unmatched ferocity. And then, just as she handed the baton off to her teammate, Jessica, she suddenly found herself in The 5th Oblivion – a place filled with jagged air, hard water, burning snow and fiery ice. Within seconds, each of her teammates appeared one by one, in the order they ran the race. The women were terrified and confused. And then the rulers of the 5th Oblivion appeared to them – two women: the goddesses of the afterlife, Sedah and Nevaeh.

The Eagles were even more terrified, but at least now their confusion was beginning to subside, as the goddesses soon explained the nature of their situation. Sedah explained that Courtney and her friends had been chosen to partake in a deadly test. As the fastest women on the planet, they had been brought to the 5th Oblivion in order to see if they could outrun… well, themselves. That’s right – Sedah had created evil clones of the four women and if any of them were caught by the ghostly creatures, it would result in their deaths.

Nevaeh, however, also explained that she would, on the other hand, imbue each of the Heat Seeking Eagles with hyper-speed – allowing them to have a fighting chance at surviving this crazy situation. And with that, the game was on. For what seemed like an eternity, Courtney and her friends sped throughout the 5th Oblivion at hyper-speeds, avoiding their demises. And though they were able to stay a few steps ahead of death, it was clear that this sick ordeal was meant to last forever.

Finally, Sedah stepped in and offered Courtney an out. The goddess told the athlete that if she sacrificed one of her friends, she and the other two could leave the realm, return to Earth AND keep their powers. Courtney, however, refused to do so and continued to run for her life. A little while later, Nevaeh came with a second offer. She would agree to send the women back to Earth, but they would have to allow the spirits of the evil clones to inhabit their bodies, thus allowing the goddesses to control their actions whenever they so pleased.

At this point Courtney’s entire body was screaming in pain, and realizing that there was no other way out of this insane predicament, she agreed.

The clone spirits entered the bodies of the women and they were returned to Earth, back to the stadium from which they had first disappeared. It was now nearly 8 years later. They had been running in the 5th Oblivion for the better part of a decade. But there was no time for rest, as there just happened to be a chopper waiting for them.

The door swung open and out stepped the ruthless CEO of the multinational A.I. company, Universal Intelligence – Reina Valencia. The ladies weren’t sure what to do, but the spirits inside of them knew exactly what to do. They accepted Reina’s invitation to board the chopper, and flew back to the Universal Intelligence World Headquarters in California.

Courtney and her friends were offered jobs at Universal Intelligence. Reina had a diabolical plan in mind in which she would use a vortex, that could theoretically be formed by the combined hyperspeed of the 4 women, to gain access to the 5th Oblivion herself. Reina’s endgame was to eventually ambush and kidnap the goddesses of the afterlife, then use them as test subjects (but that’s a story for another day).

For now, Courtney and the others would be given physical enhancements that would actually increase their supersonic speed and make them perfect for a number of missions. One of these missions was to head to Vegas and kidnap a woman who had just gained hyper-cognitive abilities. Her name was Kharma Lucky. Courtney is called upon to do the job.

When she arrives in Vegas, she finds that Kharma is part of the Sista Clique, a dance team that attended the same college she and the other Heat Seeking Eagles attended. Small world. She also finds that Kharma ain’t the only one with hyper abilities; the other four members of the Sista Clique are packing powers as well. On the streets of the Vegas Strip, Courtney Quick (as she had come to be known) engages the Clique in battle. Her speed is nearly unfathomable, and several times she nearly nabs the hero. But the combined power of the five friends keep her from completing the job.

Kharma tells Courtney she should just give up. But the heat-seeker has no intention of doing that. Instead, she pulls out a cell phone and makes a call. 13 seconds later, Jessica Dash shows up. This fight is far from over…

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