Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
"DON'T YOU THINK YOU'RE PUSHING HER TOO FAR, SEBASTIAN?" Rosa Florés asks, looking down at her nine-year-old daughter who is with a trainer, practicing in their private facilities. Her father only smiles and looks down at his wife as Amalia once again begins attacking the punching bag. She snarls like a tiger and her hits are equally vicious, reflecting her prior four years of training.
"Look at her, love. She's having fun! Does she look like she's being pushed?" He lets out a small chuckle as they look back at their little girl. It's true, no matter how hard she was pushed, Amalia always thrived under the pressure. She's already more than proficient in hand to hand combat, and recently has begun learning how to shoot and throw knives.
Sebastian walks behind his wife, resting his clasped hands over her baby bump. They're set to have another daughter in another two months, something which has their mansion compound buzzing with activity. He's noticed recently that Rosa has been looking more and more unhappy, but figures it's because of the unexpected pregnancy and does anything and everything he can to make it easier on her. After all, they're so old they didn't even think it was possible for them to have another child.
Rosa nods, but it's clear she's still troubled. Sebastian wishes he could ease her troubles, but he can see there's something she's not telling him and he respects that, giving her space to come and talk to him in her own time. "I'm going to get off my feet," she says, detangling herself from his grasp, "I'm not quite as young as I was when I carried Lia, you know." She quietly exits the gym, leaving her husband to watch his pride and joy.
He sighs, knowing he must go to attend another meeting. Border Patrol found one of their largest underground tunnels, resulting in a shipment being lost that was worth nearly $2 million. He leaves behind his eldest daughter, letting her stay and prepare for the day when she will follow in his footsteps. She must be strong to inherit the empire he's built, after all, they don't call him El Patrón for nothing.
-×-×-×-×-
Cierra Florés was born a month later, having been delivered four weeks early due to complications. Despite being premature, she was just as strong as her sister, showing the same loud temper and resilience.
Unfortunately, less than a month after her birth, Rosa vanishes, leaving her family behind. Sebastian is heartbroken that the woman he loves more than all the stars in the sky has left him and angry that she just abandoned her children. No matter how many men he sends out to find her, they all come back empty-handed. It seems that he has finally discovered the source of her permanently troubled expression.
Amalia divides her time between physical training, schooling and caring for her little sister. After learning her mother wouldn't be coming back, she assumed a much more protective role over Cierra. Cierra looks at her differently now, like a guardian, almost as if she knows, too, that her mother fled without a second thought about her.
In the other aspects of her education, Mal's learning even faster. Her aim is rapidly improving with both knives and guns, and she is able to take on fully grown men with less and less of a challenge. She was always closer to her father, wanting to make him proud so she could be just like him, and now that is more evident than ever.
She's learning about different types of narcotics, where they get them, how they're transported across the border and throughout the rest of Central and South America, and how they're distributed to individual dealers. It doesn't matter that she's still a child, because without her mother to rein them both in she strives to go farther faster and her father pushes her even harder to do so.
By the time she hits her teenage years, she works directly with her father running their drug empire. Her mere presence demands respect, not because she is the daughter of El Patrón, one of the most fearsome cartel leaders of the modern era, but because she has earned that for herself. It doesn't matter that she's young, or a girl, because she proves herself day in and day out, displaying a strength that many are left cowering in fear of.
Amalia Florés is a name to be whispered with reverence and terror. She is the heir to the Florés cartel, a name cursed by governments and praised by back alley addicts.
-×-×-×-×-
She's eighteen, and the name Amalia Florés has been replaced with her new title, El Ángel Oscuro. Now she runs the cartel equally with her father, and it won't be long until he retires and she assumes full command over the family business. Cierra is nine now, but not near as hardened as Amalia was at her age. She as sheltered as can be, taking into account the fact that she is, after all, the second born to Sebastian Florés himself.
Sebastian has given Amalia an offer. A small organization known as Necron has come and offered a chance to enhance her, to make her into a superhero of legends like Captain America of old. Her father trusts her judgment, but she knows this is an opportunity she can't reasonably decline. This is her chance to be a true god, more powerful than any other man on Earth. And so, she agrees.
It's cold and dark. She's been stripped of her dignity, but she refuses to be broken in the mere weeks since she left her home. She regrets her decision, but she will not give in to the pain she feels coursing through her veins every day. She can't tell how long exactly it has been since she was brought to this new hell because she spends most of her days in a haze of drugs and pain
But she makes a vow. She can feel herself getting stronger, faster. She will survive this. She will endure whatever hell they plan to put her through, and when it is over, she will raze the whole godforsaken laboratory to the ground. She is Amalia Florés, and no man could possibly stand between her and the vengeance she will rain down on the fool.
She is El Ángel Oscuro, the Dark Angel, heir to the Florés cartel, and she will not rest until they are where they belong, on their knees, begging for mercy.
