Post by C_Miller on Oct 22, 2011 21:25:22 GMT -5
Ultimate Justice Society of America #1
Legacy Pt. 1
South Lake Village, University at Buffalo. Buffalo, New York
Katie Garrick was your typical college student. During the week, she studied hard for her classes, occasionally pulling the odd all-nighter. On the weekends she went out drinking and partying with her friends, every now and then she brought a guy back to her dorm for a hook up, but not too much to be unsafe. Katie was a friend to all. She would give her last dollar to someone if they needed it and would spend more of her time off from schools volunteering at a local homeless shelter. The only thing that made her more than your average college Student was that she was the Great Niece of Jay Garrick, first person to call himself The Flash.
It wasn’t something that she especially reveled in. Not that it bothered her at all; it’s just not something she thought about. Occasionally someone she met at school that would ask her about it, but they were few and far between. There was one guy when she was a sophomore who tried to hook up with her because she shared blood with The Flash. She was actually kind of attracted to him until that.
The truth was, they had only met twice. Once when she was six, at an infrequent family reunion and once when she was sixteen, at her grandfather, his younger brother’s funeral. He was nice enough, in fact the one thing that stuck out was how friendly he was, but that wasn’t enough to form a relationship. For that reason, she didn’t like to associate with that. Nothing she had in life had anything to do with her relation to The Flash, especially not her friends.
“Okay, who’s more sober?” Katie’s roommate Erin Garland fakely slurred, feigning drunkenness. “We’re out of Smirnoff and wine… we need more.”
Katie rolled her eyes. Erin wasn’t even close to being drunk. She just didn’t want to take a run to the store. “I’ll do it… you’re such a loser.” She playfully tossed a pillow at her friend as she grabbed her keys off her bed and headed towards the door. “Anyone wanna come with? David?”
“Nah. Kate, you got it.” He took a swig from his bottle of Tennessee Whiskey. “I’m good anyways.”
Katie shook her head. “You’re good, alright.” She tossed her long mane of curly brown hair over her shoulder and left the room. This was your pretty average weekend. Her friends would drink themselves blind and then she, who tended to drink slower, would be called to get more. She didn’t mind too much though.
She left the building and began to walk towards her car that was in a parking lot, 20 some odd yards away from her building. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed a figure in a black trench coat following here, which caused her to begin walking faster. When she got to her car, she tried to put the key in the lock, but she dropped it because she was shaking so bad. “Excuse me, Miss?” The man asked.
“Y…y… yes?” She turned to face him but tried to back up further, which her car prevented.
“You’re Katie Garrick, aren’t you?” She opened her mouth to speak, but all that came out where a few short vowel sounds, so she nodded hesitantly. “Well that’s good to know.”
He pulled a long, thin sword out of his coat and slashed her neck with it. “Can’t afford to have you screaming.” He grabbed her and spun her around and then positioned the sword at her lower back. Forcefully, he ran the sword through her with the blade exiting her stomach and smashing her driver’s window.
She coughed and sputtered in an attempt to scream, but her severed vocal chords prevented it. The man then ripped the sword out and repositioned it again roughly around the same area and drove it in again, this time at a slightly upward angle to pierce her heart.
The second the blade pierced her heart, he felt her go limp in his arms. Once he was satisfied that she was dead, he let her go, letting her slide off the blade. “Sorry, luv. Nothing personal. We just had to end the bloodline. We have to end the JSA.”
***
Camelot. Opal City, Maryland. Two Days Later
Jack Knight didn’t like going to Camelot. Even growing up in it, he felt that a man with the last name of Knight naming his house Camelot was simply just vanity. After his father, Ted died and he discovered that he was really Starman, much of his life was put into perspective and Jack was able to rebuild a relationship with him in his mind and in his heart. He even took up the mantle of Starman in his honor. But none of that changed the fact that he had massive contempt for this house. This mansion. This mausoleum
When he reached the top step, he found a manila envelope with his name on it peaking out from under the doormat. “Why would I be getting male here?” He asked himself. He picked up the envelope and brought it inside with him. Carelessly, he tossed his set of keys onto the end table in the Great Room and walked aimlessly into the kitchen.
Once in the dining room, he grabbed an apple out of the fruit bowl situated at the center of the table and sat down at his father’s old spot. He carefully pulled back the prongs of the brass fastener and opened up the envelope, gingerly pulling out the papers. What he held in his hand were random newspaper clippings, coroner’s reports, birth certificates and other government documents.
One by one, Jack began to look at them. The first one was a newspaper article about a woman by the name of Katie Garrick who was killed on the SUNY Buffalo campus several days ago. The second was a coroner report for his cousin Roger’s death that occurred two weeks ago. And then there was a police report about an incident where a house fire killed fourteen people. The house belonged to Lavender Tyler. All the other people killed were children, nieces, nephews and grandchildren.
“Dear God…” Jack exhaled noisily under his breath. In one fluid motion, he gathered up all the papers and made a b-line for the service elevator that led to the subbasement. The second he got down to the subbasement, he turned on the super computer and paced around the room while it loaded.
“Welcome Ted, how can I help you today?” The chipper computerized female voice greeted him.
He sat down in the chair in front of the computer screen. “Yeah, I’d like to speak to Barbara Gordon.”
The computer beeped in approval and after a few moments, Barbara Gordon’s face appeared on the screen. “Jack? It said your father was calling. I was confused. You know, you have my phone number. You could have just used that.”
“Yeah… sorry. I was flustered.”
She looked at him with a confused look on her face. “What’s wrong?”
Starman shook his head emphatically. “I need all the files you have on the Justice Society of America. Birth Certificates, Death Certificates, Family Trees, dossiers, wills, financial records… everything.”
“Jack…”
“I have reason to believe that the Justice Society is being methodically hunted down and eliminated. Not just the members and in fact, decidedly not the members. Jay’s grandniece was just murdered a few days ago. My cousin was too last month, as was fourteen members of Rex Tyler’s family including his younger sister,” Jack spoke each word with dangerous intensity that was highlighted by his hybrid British accent.
Barbara looked intensely back at him and began to type something into her own supercomputer. “Okay, Jack, that should be everything you’re looking for. Do you need anything else?”
Jack nodded. “How many former JSA members are still alive?”
“Jay Garrick, Rex Tyler, Ted Grant, Wesley Dodds, Ryan Choi, Katrina Bond, Anna Pierce, and… hmm… my father…” She said the last one with a hint of contempt and an eye roll as it rolled off her tongue. Jack decided not to press her on that one.
“Okay, would you be able to contact them and get them here. Put the alert system to Defcon1.” Jack said as he eyed the room, looking for a Gravity Rod. At this point he didn’t want to risk leaving the bunker.
Barbara nodded. “And Babs… do you have any kind of protection?”
“Jade is here. And of course I have Spoiler.”
Jack shook his head emphatically. “I’ll send someone over as soon as I can. I don’t want you leaving your house until I get someone to protect you.”
“Jack, I’m fine.”
“I don’t want to hear it. Not that I wasn’t impressed with the Hourgirl story, but I’m not taking any chances. Starman out.” He switched off the communiqué and just as he did, he heard a very familiar whooshing sound come through the door and stop right behind him.
Jack turned around and saw exactly whom he was expecting. “Morning, Jay. How goes it?”
“Barbara set the JSA’s alert system at Defcon1. Is everything okay.” There was a clear concern soaking through Jay’s typically even keel and cheerful demeanor.
Jack stood up and shook Jay’s hand. “It’s a long story, but let me just say… we’re under attack…”
Before Jay was able to answer, they both snapped their necks towards the elevator shafts when they heard one begin to operate. When the doors swung open, they saw Rex Tyler and another man Jack didn’t know walk out. “What the devil is going on here?” Rex asked with the same concern as Jay.
Jay shook his head sadly at Rex and then noticed the Korean man behind him. “Oh, Jack. This is Ryan Choi. Proton. He works for KnightCorp.”
“Ryan, pleasure.” Jack shook his hand firmly.
“Okay, really, what’s going on?”
Jay looked at him with the gravest look that any of them had even seen Jay give. “The JSA is at war…”
After a few hours, the underground headquarters of the Justice Society of America was running like a well-oiled machine. Within the hour, Jack had retrieved his adopted brother David and little sister Melissa, Jay had gathered his wife Joan and put Jessie to work in gathering other unpowered family members of the JSA. Ryan too had moved his wife and young daughter to the bunker.
“Hey, just heard from Wildcat. He’s unavailable, but he told us to look into his daughter. A Yolanda Montez… apparently she’s living in Los Angeles.” Ryan called from across the room, leading Jay to call Jessie to let her know.
Rex scrolled through the list of known family members that they had compiled and when he saw that she wasn’t on there, he added her name and subsequently crossed it off. “Rex, your wife and daughter just arrived safe and sound.” Rex spun around and saw his wife Wendi and daughter Erin walking towards him with smiles on their faces.
“Dad… have you heard from Rick?” His teenaged daughter asked.
He slowly shook his head. “Not yet. We’re still looking for him though. There’s… there’s no reason to worry yet.”
“Joan.” Jay uttered into his microphone. “Can you lead Wendi and Erin to their rooms, please?”
A few moments later, Joan walked into the room and took the two women with her into the depths of the bunker. “Rex, just go word that your sister Jordyn is boarding a plane in Metropolis with her daughter Delilah.” Rex took a deep sigh of relief as he crossed both of their names off.
“Rex, Jay. I have to go take care of some stuff.” Jack said as he walked into the room as he was throwing on his leather jacket.
Jay ran from his seat at the communications station to a spot between Jack and the elevator shaft to block him. “Jack, I wouldn’t risk leaving the bunker. By now there’s a chance that whomever is instituting this already is aware of the congregation in Opal City. What do you need? I can send Jessie when she’s done locating Wildcat’s daughter.”
“I just need to get someone to feed my cat for the next few weeks… And I wanted to get a cosmic rod. I can’t stand just sitting around here.” Jack began to pace in the area between him and Jay. “I… I just need to be proactive incase we need Starman.”
Jay nodded. “You’re right. Let’s just hope we don’t need Starman.”
***
Opal City Senior High School
“Okay, Courtney, your turn.”
Courtney Whitmore turned to the three other girls who auditioned for the role of Elphaba in their Drama Club’s production of Wicked. “Guys, you all were super great and I hope that we can still be friends no matter what happens. I’m going to hug you all now.” She closed the gap between them three and brought them all into a group hug. Behind her back, all three of the other girls shared looks of disgust.
“Okay! Wish me luck!” She squealed as she smiled and pranced out onto the stage to greet the judges. “Ms. Greenwood, I love your hair today. Did you do something different with it?” She tossed her hair as she gave the compliment.
The whole panel discreetly rolled their eyes. “Courtney, what song did you choose?”
Courtney scanned the audience, looking for her mom and stepfather to no avail. Her family never showed up to things like this. They were always too busy going to her stepbrother’s football, hockey or lacrosse games depending on the season. Then her eyes settled on the dead center of the room where she saw her neighbor and perhaps closest friend, Jack Knight giving her the thumbs up.
“Courtney?”
She snapped out of her daze and focused back on the judges. “Oh um… sorry. I’ll be singing Defying Gravity.” She knew it was the clichéd audition song for Elphaba, but it was her go-to shower song and she knew she could nail it.
“Then go ahead.”
She curtly nodded to the piano player and she was off. “Something has changed within me, something is not the same, I’m through with playing by the rules of someone else’s game.”
Jack nodded in approval at her with a wink. His stomach then sank at the thought of telling her that he’d have to leave for a while. Courtney was more important to him than he was willing to admit in his line of business. She was helped work him through his break-up with the girl he was going to marry a few months ago, but more importantly, she was the only person besides his brother to know that he was Starman.
“So if you care to find me, look to the western sky! As someone told me lately, everyone deserves a chance to FLY!” She threw her arms out and put as much power into that last note as she could muster. Everyone in the room was taken aback; even the drama teacher who had been there for 30 years was impressed.
Ms. Greenwood held up her hand to stop her, which she did with a smile on her face. Mr. Sanders leaned in to Ms. Greenwood. “You know, she may be irritating 90% of the time, but damn can she sing.” The rest of the panel nodded in agreement.
“Thank you, Courtney. I think that about wraps it up for today, we’ll post the results tomorrow. Good job everyone.” Courtney gave them a slight bow with a nervous giggle.
After she had gathered her things, she found Jack and jumped up in his arms, giving him a massive hug. He set her down softly on the ground and they began walking through the halls of the school. “Why do you act like that in public?”
“Like what?”
“Courtney, you know exactly what I’m talking about.”
She hesitantly nodded. “Yeah... I’m not proud of it… look back in Ohio I was cool. Everyone knew who I was… I got the 2nd female lead in my School musical as a sophomore. But here, nothing… I realized I had to get noticed. No one notices me unless I act like an arrogant, yet dim-witted blonde.”
“Is it worth it?”
Courtney hung her head in sadness. “I’d rather be noticed and a dumb blonde than myself and forgotten.”
The pair walked in silence until they had passed the administrative offices, the same ones that Jack remembered when he was her age. They hadn’t changed a bit in thirteen years. The inevitability of the conversation and the massive silence between them made each step tougher. “Thank you for coming.” She finally said to break the silence.
“I’m insulted that you think I would miss this.”
Courtney nervously tucked her hair behind her ear. “It’s just an audition…”
“Yeah… about that… I might not be able to make it to the performance…” Jack sheepishly rubbed the back of his head as the pair walked out of the building and towards the main parking lot.
She spun on a dime to get in front of him, stopping him dead in his tracks. “WHAT?!” She exclaimed in a state of distress.
“Look, I don’t want to concern you with the details, but the JSA just semi-reactivated and are currently undergoing a rather personal crisis right now.” Jack spoke, choosing every word as carefully as he possibly could. “I don’t know if I’m going to be able to see you or anyone for a while… I just needed to let you know.”
Courtney felt tears well up in her eyes. He didn’t tell her what was going on, but he didn’t need to. She knew something terrible was going on. She closed the gap between the two of them again and wrapped him into a tight hug. “Take care of yourself, Jack. Let me know as soon as you’re safe.”
“Will do, Kid. Will do.”
He lightly kissed her on the temple and opened her car door for her allowing her to get in. Once her seatbelt was on and the car was started, he closed it firmly. The shared a look as she drove off and took off down the street.
***
“That’s it! Got ‘im!” Ryan exclaimed as he slammed his hand down on the desk in front of him and leaned his head back for a large laugh.
At that point, Jack had finished descending the stairs with a suitcase in his left hand and his cosmic rod in the other. “What’s it, got who?”
“Rick Tyler. I found him… he’s in Syria. Damascus to be exact.” Ryan replied with a sense of confusion in his voice.
Rex shot both men a glare. “What in the hell is he doing in Syria? My God, I’m going to kill him!” He shot up from his spot at the main supercomputer and charged towards the door that led to the hanger. “Jay, let’s go. Suit up.”
Jay jumped in front of Rex as he did with Jack hours earlier. “Hey buddy, I don’t think that’s a great idea. You’re not exactly a spring chicken.”
“And what’s that supposed to mean, Jay?”
“I’m not about to let you go to a warzone at your age without any powers. We’ll send Jessie.”
Rex was about to send an insult Jay’s way, but their fight was interrupted by Ryan who hadn’t look up from his computer screen once since he started earlier that afternoon. “Hey guys, I think I have a new lead.”
“What’s up?” Jack asked, walking over to the computer screen.
“I’ve been looking through financial records, your father’s to be exact and I found a curiosity. When your mother died in 1992, did your father ever re-marry or even date?” Ryan asked as he continued to examine the computer.
Jack shook his head. “Not to my knowledge. Why?”
“It’s probably nothing, but every month from October, 1994 until he died, I’m finding six-thousand dollars leaving his accounts and going into a high interest trust fund and then four-million a week after he died.” He looked up at Jack with his left eyebrow cocked. “Does this mean anything to you?”
Jack shook his head again. “No. Any idea who it goes to?”
Ryan took in a deep breath and slowly exhaled. “I’m trying. I’m a physicist, this is something that the Sandman would excel at.”
Patting him on the back, Jack walked away and was met by his brother David who had just come into the room, handing him a large cup of coffee “Hey, Jack. Thought you could use this.”
“Thanks, brotha.”
“How goes it?”
Jack let out a single chuckle and quickly raised and lowered his eyebrows. “That’s the million dollar question, isn’t it? My friends and family are being hunted, I’m stuck in a bunker, we may have a long lost sibling… I’m bloody stressed, man.”
“Chaj-ass-eoyo!” exclaimed a very excited Ryan Choi, causing the whole room including Jay, Rex, Jack and David to run towards his computer. “I think I pinpointed the recipient down. Um… 815 Cyprus Avenue… a woman by the name of… Courtney Whitmore.”
All the blood ran from Jack’s face.
***
Courtney gracefully cut the water off to the shower with a bit of a pout. She wanted to stay under the hot water for just a little bit longer, but it was beginning to turn cold. A few moments more and it would not have been pleasurable.
With a flick of the wrist and a flair for the dramatic, she pulled her baby blue towel off the towel rack and began to rub it over her body, purging the moisture away. Once she was satisfied with her state of dryness, she hopped out of the tub, did a bit of a spin in front of the mirror and began to examine herself.
She shrugged and wrapped herself in her cherry red terry cloth bathrobe. Before she left the bathroom, she took her towel and wrapped her hair up in it so she could finally leave the bathroom.
When she got to her room, she sat down in front of the mirror and began to brush her hair. “I feel pretty, oh so pretty. I feel pretty and witty and bright! And I pity, any girl who isn’t me tonight.” She sang lightly to herself.
As she was about to start the second verse, she heard a tap at the window. “Paul?” She asked questioningly. Her boyfriend would occasionally come tap on her window, but she knew that he was working tonight, however the thought of a late night visit positively enticed her. She adjusted her bathrobe so that it accentuated her cleavage and the shape of her breasts and walked over to the window with a skip her in step.
She opened it, but didn’t see anyone. “Paul? Paul, are you there?”
“Courtney Whitmore?” a voice in the darkness.
“Who’s there?”
Courtney’s vision went red as she felt a blunt force collide with her stomach and knock her backwards. Before she realized what was going on, she saw a large man come fly through the window feet first towards her. She staggered up and made her way over to her bed. “Who… who are you?”
“The name’s Degaton. I’m sorry we have to meet like this…” He pulled out his sword and drove it into her shoulder. In pain she fell backwards onto her bed and cried out for her mother, her stepfather and Jack.
Degaton brought the blade over his head and sent it crashing down into her stomach, pinning her to the bed.
To Be Continued
Legacy Pt. 1
South Lake Village, University at Buffalo. Buffalo, New York
Katie Garrick was your typical college student. During the week, she studied hard for her classes, occasionally pulling the odd all-nighter. On the weekends she went out drinking and partying with her friends, every now and then she brought a guy back to her dorm for a hook up, but not too much to be unsafe. Katie was a friend to all. She would give her last dollar to someone if they needed it and would spend more of her time off from schools volunteering at a local homeless shelter. The only thing that made her more than your average college Student was that she was the Great Niece of Jay Garrick, first person to call himself The Flash.
It wasn’t something that she especially reveled in. Not that it bothered her at all; it’s just not something she thought about. Occasionally someone she met at school that would ask her about it, but they were few and far between. There was one guy when she was a sophomore who tried to hook up with her because she shared blood with The Flash. She was actually kind of attracted to him until that.
The truth was, they had only met twice. Once when she was six, at an infrequent family reunion and once when she was sixteen, at her grandfather, his younger brother’s funeral. He was nice enough, in fact the one thing that stuck out was how friendly he was, but that wasn’t enough to form a relationship. For that reason, she didn’t like to associate with that. Nothing she had in life had anything to do with her relation to The Flash, especially not her friends.
“Okay, who’s more sober?” Katie’s roommate Erin Garland fakely slurred, feigning drunkenness. “We’re out of Smirnoff and wine… we need more.”
Katie rolled her eyes. Erin wasn’t even close to being drunk. She just didn’t want to take a run to the store. “I’ll do it… you’re such a loser.” She playfully tossed a pillow at her friend as she grabbed her keys off her bed and headed towards the door. “Anyone wanna come with? David?”
“Nah. Kate, you got it.” He took a swig from his bottle of Tennessee Whiskey. “I’m good anyways.”
Katie shook her head. “You’re good, alright.” She tossed her long mane of curly brown hair over her shoulder and left the room. This was your pretty average weekend. Her friends would drink themselves blind and then she, who tended to drink slower, would be called to get more. She didn’t mind too much though.
She left the building and began to walk towards her car that was in a parking lot, 20 some odd yards away from her building. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed a figure in a black trench coat following here, which caused her to begin walking faster. When she got to her car, she tried to put the key in the lock, but she dropped it because she was shaking so bad. “Excuse me, Miss?” The man asked.
“Y…y… yes?” She turned to face him but tried to back up further, which her car prevented.
“You’re Katie Garrick, aren’t you?” She opened her mouth to speak, but all that came out where a few short vowel sounds, so she nodded hesitantly. “Well that’s good to know.”
He pulled a long, thin sword out of his coat and slashed her neck with it. “Can’t afford to have you screaming.” He grabbed her and spun her around and then positioned the sword at her lower back. Forcefully, he ran the sword through her with the blade exiting her stomach and smashing her driver’s window.
She coughed and sputtered in an attempt to scream, but her severed vocal chords prevented it. The man then ripped the sword out and repositioned it again roughly around the same area and drove it in again, this time at a slightly upward angle to pierce her heart.
The second the blade pierced her heart, he felt her go limp in his arms. Once he was satisfied that she was dead, he let her go, letting her slide off the blade. “Sorry, luv. Nothing personal. We just had to end the bloodline. We have to end the JSA.”
***
Camelot. Opal City, Maryland. Two Days Later
Jack Knight didn’t like going to Camelot. Even growing up in it, he felt that a man with the last name of Knight naming his house Camelot was simply just vanity. After his father, Ted died and he discovered that he was really Starman, much of his life was put into perspective and Jack was able to rebuild a relationship with him in his mind and in his heart. He even took up the mantle of Starman in his honor. But none of that changed the fact that he had massive contempt for this house. This mansion. This mausoleum
When he reached the top step, he found a manila envelope with his name on it peaking out from under the doormat. “Why would I be getting male here?” He asked himself. He picked up the envelope and brought it inside with him. Carelessly, he tossed his set of keys onto the end table in the Great Room and walked aimlessly into the kitchen.
Once in the dining room, he grabbed an apple out of the fruit bowl situated at the center of the table and sat down at his father’s old spot. He carefully pulled back the prongs of the brass fastener and opened up the envelope, gingerly pulling out the papers. What he held in his hand were random newspaper clippings, coroner’s reports, birth certificates and other government documents.
One by one, Jack began to look at them. The first one was a newspaper article about a woman by the name of Katie Garrick who was killed on the SUNY Buffalo campus several days ago. The second was a coroner report for his cousin Roger’s death that occurred two weeks ago. And then there was a police report about an incident where a house fire killed fourteen people. The house belonged to Lavender Tyler. All the other people killed were children, nieces, nephews and grandchildren.
“Dear God…” Jack exhaled noisily under his breath. In one fluid motion, he gathered up all the papers and made a b-line for the service elevator that led to the subbasement. The second he got down to the subbasement, he turned on the super computer and paced around the room while it loaded.
“Welcome Ted, how can I help you today?” The chipper computerized female voice greeted him.
He sat down in the chair in front of the computer screen. “Yeah, I’d like to speak to Barbara Gordon.”
The computer beeped in approval and after a few moments, Barbara Gordon’s face appeared on the screen. “Jack? It said your father was calling. I was confused. You know, you have my phone number. You could have just used that.”
“Yeah… sorry. I was flustered.”
She looked at him with a confused look on her face. “What’s wrong?”
Starman shook his head emphatically. “I need all the files you have on the Justice Society of America. Birth Certificates, Death Certificates, Family Trees, dossiers, wills, financial records… everything.”
“Jack…”
“I have reason to believe that the Justice Society is being methodically hunted down and eliminated. Not just the members and in fact, decidedly not the members. Jay’s grandniece was just murdered a few days ago. My cousin was too last month, as was fourteen members of Rex Tyler’s family including his younger sister,” Jack spoke each word with dangerous intensity that was highlighted by his hybrid British accent.
Barbara looked intensely back at him and began to type something into her own supercomputer. “Okay, Jack, that should be everything you’re looking for. Do you need anything else?”
Jack nodded. “How many former JSA members are still alive?”
“Jay Garrick, Rex Tyler, Ted Grant, Wesley Dodds, Ryan Choi, Katrina Bond, Anna Pierce, and… hmm… my father…” She said the last one with a hint of contempt and an eye roll as it rolled off her tongue. Jack decided not to press her on that one.
“Okay, would you be able to contact them and get them here. Put the alert system to Defcon1.” Jack said as he eyed the room, looking for a Gravity Rod. At this point he didn’t want to risk leaving the bunker.
Barbara nodded. “And Babs… do you have any kind of protection?”
“Jade is here. And of course I have Spoiler.”
Jack shook his head emphatically. “I’ll send someone over as soon as I can. I don’t want you leaving your house until I get someone to protect you.”
“Jack, I’m fine.”
“I don’t want to hear it. Not that I wasn’t impressed with the Hourgirl story, but I’m not taking any chances. Starman out.” He switched off the communiqué and just as he did, he heard a very familiar whooshing sound come through the door and stop right behind him.
Jack turned around and saw exactly whom he was expecting. “Morning, Jay. How goes it?”
“Barbara set the JSA’s alert system at Defcon1. Is everything okay.” There was a clear concern soaking through Jay’s typically even keel and cheerful demeanor.
Jack stood up and shook Jay’s hand. “It’s a long story, but let me just say… we’re under attack…”
Before Jay was able to answer, they both snapped their necks towards the elevator shafts when they heard one begin to operate. When the doors swung open, they saw Rex Tyler and another man Jack didn’t know walk out. “What the devil is going on here?” Rex asked with the same concern as Jay.
Jay shook his head sadly at Rex and then noticed the Korean man behind him. “Oh, Jack. This is Ryan Choi. Proton. He works for KnightCorp.”
“Ryan, pleasure.” Jack shook his hand firmly.
“Okay, really, what’s going on?”
Jay looked at him with the gravest look that any of them had even seen Jay give. “The JSA is at war…”
After a few hours, the underground headquarters of the Justice Society of America was running like a well-oiled machine. Within the hour, Jack had retrieved his adopted brother David and little sister Melissa, Jay had gathered his wife Joan and put Jessie to work in gathering other unpowered family members of the JSA. Ryan too had moved his wife and young daughter to the bunker.
“Hey, just heard from Wildcat. He’s unavailable, but he told us to look into his daughter. A Yolanda Montez… apparently she’s living in Los Angeles.” Ryan called from across the room, leading Jay to call Jessie to let her know.
Rex scrolled through the list of known family members that they had compiled and when he saw that she wasn’t on there, he added her name and subsequently crossed it off. “Rex, your wife and daughter just arrived safe and sound.” Rex spun around and saw his wife Wendi and daughter Erin walking towards him with smiles on their faces.
“Dad… have you heard from Rick?” His teenaged daughter asked.
He slowly shook his head. “Not yet. We’re still looking for him though. There’s… there’s no reason to worry yet.”
“Joan.” Jay uttered into his microphone. “Can you lead Wendi and Erin to their rooms, please?”
A few moments later, Joan walked into the room and took the two women with her into the depths of the bunker. “Rex, just go word that your sister Jordyn is boarding a plane in Metropolis with her daughter Delilah.” Rex took a deep sigh of relief as he crossed both of their names off.
“Rex, Jay. I have to go take care of some stuff.” Jack said as he walked into the room as he was throwing on his leather jacket.
Jay ran from his seat at the communications station to a spot between Jack and the elevator shaft to block him. “Jack, I wouldn’t risk leaving the bunker. By now there’s a chance that whomever is instituting this already is aware of the congregation in Opal City. What do you need? I can send Jessie when she’s done locating Wildcat’s daughter.”
“I just need to get someone to feed my cat for the next few weeks… And I wanted to get a cosmic rod. I can’t stand just sitting around here.” Jack began to pace in the area between him and Jay. “I… I just need to be proactive incase we need Starman.”
Jay nodded. “You’re right. Let’s just hope we don’t need Starman.”
***
Opal City Senior High School
“Okay, Courtney, your turn.”
Courtney Whitmore turned to the three other girls who auditioned for the role of Elphaba in their Drama Club’s production of Wicked. “Guys, you all were super great and I hope that we can still be friends no matter what happens. I’m going to hug you all now.” She closed the gap between them three and brought them all into a group hug. Behind her back, all three of the other girls shared looks of disgust.
“Okay! Wish me luck!” She squealed as she smiled and pranced out onto the stage to greet the judges. “Ms. Greenwood, I love your hair today. Did you do something different with it?” She tossed her hair as she gave the compliment.
The whole panel discreetly rolled their eyes. “Courtney, what song did you choose?”
Courtney scanned the audience, looking for her mom and stepfather to no avail. Her family never showed up to things like this. They were always too busy going to her stepbrother’s football, hockey or lacrosse games depending on the season. Then her eyes settled on the dead center of the room where she saw her neighbor and perhaps closest friend, Jack Knight giving her the thumbs up.
“Courtney?”
She snapped out of her daze and focused back on the judges. “Oh um… sorry. I’ll be singing Defying Gravity.” She knew it was the clichéd audition song for Elphaba, but it was her go-to shower song and she knew she could nail it.
“Then go ahead.”
She curtly nodded to the piano player and she was off. “Something has changed within me, something is not the same, I’m through with playing by the rules of someone else’s game.”
Jack nodded in approval at her with a wink. His stomach then sank at the thought of telling her that he’d have to leave for a while. Courtney was more important to him than he was willing to admit in his line of business. She was helped work him through his break-up with the girl he was going to marry a few months ago, but more importantly, she was the only person besides his brother to know that he was Starman.
“So if you care to find me, look to the western sky! As someone told me lately, everyone deserves a chance to FLY!” She threw her arms out and put as much power into that last note as she could muster. Everyone in the room was taken aback; even the drama teacher who had been there for 30 years was impressed.
Ms. Greenwood held up her hand to stop her, which she did with a smile on her face. Mr. Sanders leaned in to Ms. Greenwood. “You know, she may be irritating 90% of the time, but damn can she sing.” The rest of the panel nodded in agreement.
“Thank you, Courtney. I think that about wraps it up for today, we’ll post the results tomorrow. Good job everyone.” Courtney gave them a slight bow with a nervous giggle.
After she had gathered her things, she found Jack and jumped up in his arms, giving him a massive hug. He set her down softly on the ground and they began walking through the halls of the school. “Why do you act like that in public?”
“Like what?”
“Courtney, you know exactly what I’m talking about.”
She hesitantly nodded. “Yeah... I’m not proud of it… look back in Ohio I was cool. Everyone knew who I was… I got the 2nd female lead in my School musical as a sophomore. But here, nothing… I realized I had to get noticed. No one notices me unless I act like an arrogant, yet dim-witted blonde.”
“Is it worth it?”
Courtney hung her head in sadness. “I’d rather be noticed and a dumb blonde than myself and forgotten.”
The pair walked in silence until they had passed the administrative offices, the same ones that Jack remembered when he was her age. They hadn’t changed a bit in thirteen years. The inevitability of the conversation and the massive silence between them made each step tougher. “Thank you for coming.” She finally said to break the silence.
“I’m insulted that you think I would miss this.”
Courtney nervously tucked her hair behind her ear. “It’s just an audition…”
“Yeah… about that… I might not be able to make it to the performance…” Jack sheepishly rubbed the back of his head as the pair walked out of the building and towards the main parking lot.
She spun on a dime to get in front of him, stopping him dead in his tracks. “WHAT?!” She exclaimed in a state of distress.
“Look, I don’t want to concern you with the details, but the JSA just semi-reactivated and are currently undergoing a rather personal crisis right now.” Jack spoke, choosing every word as carefully as he possibly could. “I don’t know if I’m going to be able to see you or anyone for a while… I just needed to let you know.”
Courtney felt tears well up in her eyes. He didn’t tell her what was going on, but he didn’t need to. She knew something terrible was going on. She closed the gap between the two of them again and wrapped him into a tight hug. “Take care of yourself, Jack. Let me know as soon as you’re safe.”
“Will do, Kid. Will do.”
He lightly kissed her on the temple and opened her car door for her allowing her to get in. Once her seatbelt was on and the car was started, he closed it firmly. The shared a look as she drove off and took off down the street.
***
“That’s it! Got ‘im!” Ryan exclaimed as he slammed his hand down on the desk in front of him and leaned his head back for a large laugh.
At that point, Jack had finished descending the stairs with a suitcase in his left hand and his cosmic rod in the other. “What’s it, got who?”
“Rick Tyler. I found him… he’s in Syria. Damascus to be exact.” Ryan replied with a sense of confusion in his voice.
Rex shot both men a glare. “What in the hell is he doing in Syria? My God, I’m going to kill him!” He shot up from his spot at the main supercomputer and charged towards the door that led to the hanger. “Jay, let’s go. Suit up.”
Jay jumped in front of Rex as he did with Jack hours earlier. “Hey buddy, I don’t think that’s a great idea. You’re not exactly a spring chicken.”
“And what’s that supposed to mean, Jay?”
“I’m not about to let you go to a warzone at your age without any powers. We’ll send Jessie.”
Rex was about to send an insult Jay’s way, but their fight was interrupted by Ryan who hadn’t look up from his computer screen once since he started earlier that afternoon. “Hey guys, I think I have a new lead.”
“What’s up?” Jack asked, walking over to the computer screen.
“I’ve been looking through financial records, your father’s to be exact and I found a curiosity. When your mother died in 1992, did your father ever re-marry or even date?” Ryan asked as he continued to examine the computer.
Jack shook his head. “Not to my knowledge. Why?”
“It’s probably nothing, but every month from October, 1994 until he died, I’m finding six-thousand dollars leaving his accounts and going into a high interest trust fund and then four-million a week after he died.” He looked up at Jack with his left eyebrow cocked. “Does this mean anything to you?”
Jack shook his head again. “No. Any idea who it goes to?”
Ryan took in a deep breath and slowly exhaled. “I’m trying. I’m a physicist, this is something that the Sandman would excel at.”
Patting him on the back, Jack walked away and was met by his brother David who had just come into the room, handing him a large cup of coffee “Hey, Jack. Thought you could use this.”
“Thanks, brotha.”
“How goes it?”
Jack let out a single chuckle and quickly raised and lowered his eyebrows. “That’s the million dollar question, isn’t it? My friends and family are being hunted, I’m stuck in a bunker, we may have a long lost sibling… I’m bloody stressed, man.”
“Chaj-ass-eoyo!” exclaimed a very excited Ryan Choi, causing the whole room including Jay, Rex, Jack and David to run towards his computer. “I think I pinpointed the recipient down. Um… 815 Cyprus Avenue… a woman by the name of… Courtney Whitmore.”
All the blood ran from Jack’s face.
***
Courtney gracefully cut the water off to the shower with a bit of a pout. She wanted to stay under the hot water for just a little bit longer, but it was beginning to turn cold. A few moments more and it would not have been pleasurable.
With a flick of the wrist and a flair for the dramatic, she pulled her baby blue towel off the towel rack and began to rub it over her body, purging the moisture away. Once she was satisfied with her state of dryness, she hopped out of the tub, did a bit of a spin in front of the mirror and began to examine herself.
She shrugged and wrapped herself in her cherry red terry cloth bathrobe. Before she left the bathroom, she took her towel and wrapped her hair up in it so she could finally leave the bathroom.
When she got to her room, she sat down in front of the mirror and began to brush her hair. “I feel pretty, oh so pretty. I feel pretty and witty and bright! And I pity, any girl who isn’t me tonight.” She sang lightly to herself.
As she was about to start the second verse, she heard a tap at the window. “Paul?” She asked questioningly. Her boyfriend would occasionally come tap on her window, but she knew that he was working tonight, however the thought of a late night visit positively enticed her. She adjusted her bathrobe so that it accentuated her cleavage and the shape of her breasts and walked over to the window with a skip her in step.
She opened it, but didn’t see anyone. “Paul? Paul, are you there?”
“Courtney Whitmore?” a voice in the darkness.
“Who’s there?”
Courtney’s vision went red as she felt a blunt force collide with her stomach and knock her backwards. Before she realized what was going on, she saw a large man come fly through the window feet first towards her. She staggered up and made her way over to her bed. “Who… who are you?”
“The name’s Degaton. I’m sorry we have to meet like this…” He pulled out his sword and drove it into her shoulder. In pain she fell backwards onto her bed and cried out for her mother, her stepfather and Jack.
Degaton brought the blade over his head and sent it crashing down into her stomach, pinning her to the bed.
To Be Continued