Post by C_Miller on Mar 4, 2012 4:30:38 GMT -5
Ultimate Justice Society of America #7
All These Strangers Pt. 2
By C_Miller and The Wonderful Wachter
***
Opal City, Maryland
Jessica Garrick lazily parted her eyelids and checked the clock on her bedside table. 3:30 am, it read. Sleep was not coming to her easily lately. Not since Barbara, her former best friend had arrived a few days ago and it had nothing to do that she could hear the faint sounds of her and Jack making love in the next room.
Barbara represented her past and right now, the past made her uncomfortable. After Wally her ex-boyfriend took over the mantel of the Flash, she had been on the run for all intents and purposes, spending those few weeks hopping towns across Europe. She wasn’t even planning on returning to the states at all until her father called her about the bloodlines of the Justice Society.
But here she was stuck. Stuck in a mansion, surrounded by her past, the people and the relics. Stuck in her own constricting skin.
With a long, drawn out sigh, she got out of bed and threw on a bathrobe over her light blue camisole and tiny sleep shorts before she left her room. Never knew whom you could run into or what age they’d be, she mused wryly, when you wandered Camelot’s halls. Not fully knowing her objective, she walked down the hall to where Rick rested his head for the time being. She gave the door a light knock and followed with a louder knock when there was no answer.
“Ah well, he’s probably asleep.” Just as she turned to leave, she heard the door open and she spun around. Where she expected to see Rick Tyler, she saw Yolanda Montez wearing nothing but a white sheet.
The two women stood there in silence for a second. “Oh, I’m sorry, I thought this was Rick’s room…” Jessie whispered as she took a step back.
Yolanda nodded and gave her a mischievous smile. “It is… he’s in the shower… I can let him know you stopped by.” She licked her lips as Jessie’s face fell.
It seemed she had inadvertently surrounded herself with people who enjoyed the here and now more than she could. Her eyes flickered over the bed sheet and the tan skin it hid beneath. People were making bonds. Joining their bodies in ways she could remember but no longer had the heart, the drive, to care for. What right did Yolanda, a fool of a woman and more a wash out of hero than Jessie herself, have to be happy when she knew nothing of legacy she accepted?
The blonde woman shook her head. “No, that’s fine. I’m sure I’ll see him tomorrow.” Jess walked away and heard the door shut behind her with a snicker of a laugh. Rather than go back to her room, alone while the others around her paired up, she followed the familiar halls and steps to the master chef’s kitchen. However, when she got there she realized that she had inadvertently found her wish with Sand sitting at the main counter in the center of the room, a bowl of cereal before him.
“Couldn’t sleep?” Given his mantle, he knew the irony of the statement. The corners of mouth perked up in a sly grin when he saw her facial muscles twitch as she tried not to give an exhausted giggle.
Shaking her head, Jessie stretched and yawned as she took a seat across from him. He gently nudged the bowl of grapes he alternating between with the cereal towards her, which she graciously began eating from as well.
“I can never sleep before traveling.”
“Traveling?”
“What?” Jess met his twinkling gaze, her lips threatening to reach a full smile despite her best attempts to stop it.
“Nothing,” he said as his head moved in a denial. “It’s just you can run to Baltimore and back before my brain could register you went anywhere. I wouldn’t call your trips tomorrow ‘traveling.’”
“You know what they say about assuming,” her voice was low, lethargic in a way no speedster’s tone should ever be. “I never figured out how to alter my perception of the passage of time… this trip will feel like I’m walking to Louisiana.”
Sand stirred his cereal lazily. The playful glint in his eyes faltered in the face of her dour genuflection. Yet nevertheless his features and concern were earnest in a way most men his age had forgot how to pull off. “I’m truly sorry. I didn’t kn—”
“Eh. It’s not exactly something I advertise to everybody. And unfortunately, it doesn’t make my reaction time any better. A talented Speedster can change how they feel things… it makes doing what we do, being what we are, a whole lot easier.” She looked down at the grapes, averting Sand’s keen stare as she took a couple more and slid it back towards him with more force than she intended. The bowl clattered across the counter, echoing loudly in the nigh empty kitchen.
“When people think of us, they remember Dad’s smile in the face of danger and impossible situations. They think of Barry’s never faltering easy-going nature. Hell, even those twins on Brave and the Bold made jokes when up against innumerable odds. Somehow, that’s expected of us given our nature. We’re so fast that we shouldn’t waste time on being mopey or if we have moments of sadness, they should last only a second. But in reality, that cheerfulness is a coping mechanism. Back when I was Kid Flash, I used to do it too. Kept me going. Fake being happy, play up saving lives is all in a day’s work as Barry picked up all my slack, and I could ignore failures on the edge of my perception… of not being fast enough.
“Normal, well relatively normal, guys like you will never understand what is like to live in our world.”
The long speech, almost a soliloquy when she thought about it because she didn’t say it specifically to Sand, left her feeling relieved. A weight hadn’t left her shoulders but now she could recognize the burden and steady her legs to keep herself sturdy. Those were words she had wanted to say for a long a time. Words she had said before but never to anyone who hadn’t meant to hurt or try to deflect guilt. This… This was the first time she ever told someone outside her or her grandfather’s circle of friends.
First time she had a stranger who would just listen.
An awkward silence fell between them. Strong and profound. Her bitter tirade had stopped Sand in mid-bite, leaving him unwilling to break it by letting his spoon clatter back to his bowl. He looked ridiculous there, in the empty kitchen of a dead man, a spoon hanging out of his mouth. Jessica just had to laugh, a sign for him to finish chewing and to wipe the stream of milk trailing down his chin. The tension had been eased.
“So, Louisiana? Is that where you’re headed?”
“Yeah, Jack has me covering the South with Hawkman being the first in St. Roche. Then to make the pitch to the Blue Beetle,” Jessie nodded her head. “Truth be told, he probably wants to keep me from running into The Flash or Jade.”
“Why’s that?” His mouth asked the question before his brain registered the fact it might open a whole ‘nother can of worms.
“History, Sandy. Not stuff that’s worth digging up.”
“But if they join the team… what then?”
“I wish I knew…”
The sound of her chair scraping against the glistening tile signaled the end of the conversation. Jessica had said what she needed to say. What she didn’t need was to worry about the-what-could-bes if Jen or Wally joined the Justice Society. She gave sand an unenergetic wave goodnight, leaving him to finish his late-night breakfast and question if she was worth the trouble of staying on.
***
Portland, Oregon
Rick Tyler took a long sniff of the salty ocean breeze as he stepped out onto the tarmac from the cabin of his private jet. Glancing towards the gate, he spotted a beautiful woman who was holding a sign with his name on it. Without taking another moment’s hesitation, he strolled, with a skip in his step, towards her.
“Rick Tyler?” she asked him with a sensual voice. He smiled slyly at her and scanned her body up and down briefly.
“That’d be me,” he answered with a wink. “Mr. Holt did say his most beautiful assistant would be waiting for me… let’s just say he undersold you.”
The woman blushed at his bold statement and averted her eyes to the black asphalt. “We better be going. Mr. Holt doesn’t like to kept waiting.”
Rick snickered. “All business I see. Lead the way.”
She turned around and led him towards the limo just off the runway, giving him a good look at her rear figure, which he appreciated as evident by the hungry look in his eyes. “So, have you been to Portland before, Mr. Tyler?”
He quavered his head, snapping himself out of the daze that she had put him under. “Erm, yeah. As a kid, actually. Came on business with my father.”
Looking down at the floor, once they were in the cab, she bit her lower lip. ”Well, if you’re going to need help finding your way around, I get off at five tonight.”
All of the blood in Rick’s arteries quickly traveled to both the poles in his body.
When the cab arrived, Rick exited and scanned the property. It was a beautiful modern mansion made almost entirely out of titanium and glass and build near completely into the side of a mountain. “Heh. Better than what Jack’s got to offer… maybe I should turn in my resume,” he whispered to himself as he climbed up the steps that were carved into the rocky surface.
On the doorstep, at the top of the hill, he rang the bell and observed his surroundings some more. It appeared as if all of the trees were some type of fruit tree. A barrage of peach trees stood proud to his right and directly to his left was a lone apple tree. Seeing an apple hanging with in arm’s reach, he plucked it and took a large first bite.
He barely had enough time to swallow before the door swung open, revealing a black man in a white lab coat with a Miles Davis T-Shirt and ratty jeans underneath. “Ah. Mr. Tyler! Good to meet you! I was so sorry to hear about your father” The man pretty much forced his hand into Rick’s, which he shook warmly. Noticing Rick’s dazed face, he warmly slapped him on the back and guided him in. “Michael Holt. Professor Michael Holt. Please, come in. Come in.”
Rick took a step into the home and saw what looked as if it was the mix of a museum, library and roadside tourist trap. He walked over to one of the art deco looking titanium display cases and pulled a book from the top shelf. “Is this…?”
“A first edition of The Stranger? Yes, yes it is. Not generally thought of as the greatest prize of my collection. You’ve read Camus?” Holt asked as he moved closer to Rick to look over his shoulder as he flipped through the pages.
Rick stopped at the last page and read it with a sleight smile and the nod of his head. “I love this part… ‘For everything to be consummated, for me to feel less alone, I had only to wish that there be a large crowd of spectators the day of my execution and that they greet me with cries of hate.’ Beautiful.” With a quiver of his arms, he shut the book and replaced it on the shelf.
Michael raised his eyebrow, gazing at Rick intently for a few seconds. He quickly let out a light chuckle and slapped the man on the back. The Professor led him towards his laboratory where they sat down on stools at a lab table. “So, what can I do for you, Mr. Tyler?”
“I’m here on behalf of the Justice Society of America. We’re extending Mr. Terrific an invitation for membership, should you so desire.” Rick stated in the most professional, matter-of-fact way possible.
In an uncharacteristic act of humility, Michael averted his gaze from Rick’s. “I wouldn’t know anything about Mr. Terrific…”
Rick chuckled. “Mr. Holt, you may be the Third Smartest Man in the World, but that doesn’t mean I’m an idiot. Everyone knows you’re Mr. Terrific and you want people to know… you just have to keep up plausible deniability. My Dad had to do it for years with Hourman.” Rick’s voice quavered when he mentioned his recently deceased father.
Michael glared at Rick long and hard sizing him up. “Syria”
“Excuse me.”
“You were just in Syria.”
Rick raised his eyebrow. “How do you figure?”
Michael smiled widely. “Your complexion is lightly bronzed. Your parents are both nearly entirely Anglo Saxon so no room for it there. The JSA is centered in Maryland, which isn’t getting much sun in Mid-November. You walked in with a slight limp and a relatively haggard disposition, implying that you’ve been through heavy stress. And then the pin on your lapel for the Brotherhood of Global Security, which is an arms dealer.
“And on top of that you quoted the final passage of The Stranger with perfect accuracy, which says to me that you only know one paragraph. That’s a classic con tactic to get the person you’re trying to dupe on your side. So putting the arms dealing, the con artist, your tan and your exhausted disposition, I surmised that you were making money off of the Arab Spring.”
Rick leaned back in his seat and looked even exhausted. Quickly, he tried to reason in his head how he could have known that he was in Syria more reasonably. “There are a ton of countries that are similar. How’d you know it was Syria?”
Michael shrugged. “Wild guess.”
Rick leaned in close towards the man who was seated across from him. “This is why we need you. We need the genius. We have a lot of smart people, but we don’t have the Third Smartest Man… plus don’t you want to have a part in protecting your loved ones.”
Mr. Holt smiled sadly. “I don’t have any.”
Rick was entirely uncertain as how to answer that. “Michael, if you can’t give us Mr. Terrific. Can you at least give us Michael Holt…?”
Michael looked up at the young man and smiled. “You know, I do get bored rather easily… maybe this can give me something to do in my free time.”
***
Santa Barbara, California
Jack Knight removed his sunglasses from the case and placed them over his eyes as he took his first step out on the beach. Throughout his childhood and his teenage years, he never was one for beaches. When it came to swimming, he was much happier in a pool or better yet a hot tub and since he could never tan, lounging around on the beach was not something that was high on his list of leisure activities. However, the second the green-skinned, neon yellow bikini-clad beauty caught his eye, the beach suddenly got more inviting.
As Jack moved closer, he saw that she was posing around constructs that she was creating with her powers as a young man clad only in board-shorts who looked to be in his early 20s, but could easily pass for Courtney’s age was sketching her. His pencil eagerly scratched at the paper and Jack could definitely tell that he was enjoying himself. Dark hair framed his face and an easy going smile. His skin was not quite white but Jack couldn’t figure out if it was simply a tan or something else without asking.
“So, Jen,” he coughed, getting the attention of both, “this is what you do to pass the time these days?”
Jen Hayden looked up at Jack with a light smile of surprise. “You know how it is. Can’t replicate the thrill of fighting giant robots on a daily basis…”
“All too well, luv. All too well.” Jack walked up to the girl and gave her a friendly kiss on the cheek. “Which is actually why I came to talk to you.”
‘Moi?’ Jade mouthed as she gave him a faux pout as she placed her right hand on her chest. Without waiting for an answer, she pointed towards the artist. “Hey, do you think you could give us a few moments?”
He nodded and dutifully walked away, leaving Jade and Jack to talk, but not before flashing Jack a glare of annoyance.
Jack strained his face to hide the devilish smile that was spreading across his face. He knew that Jade was somewhat of a free spirit through what Babs and Jessie had told him, but he had seldom seen it up close. “So, was he a boyfriend of yours?”
The green woman let out an odd sound that could only be the described as a fake vomit and a snort. Jack looked over at her in alarm as she regained her composure. “Um… not really. We have slept together but… I needed somewhere to live and he’s really, really creative...”
“Couldn’t move back to Blüdhaven with Barbara?”
She laughed with a high giggly tone. “New Jersey gets about three or four days of sun during the winter… The Haven even less with all that goddamn smog.”
“I can’t say Opal City would be much better, but at least you’d be on the water.”
Jade looked up at him with a slight smile on her face. “Jack Kennedy Knight… are you making a pass at me?”
His face instantly turned beat red at the sound of his middle name and then only got redder as she finished her question. He was not one to blush, but for some reason she got under his skin and made his toes curl. “I… uh… didn’t Barbara get in touch with you?”
“Of course she did. I’m just playing with you,” she winked.
Jack grimaced as he let out a long sigh. “So, the JSA… are you in?”
“I’m not gonna lie, Jack… seeing Jessie on a daily basis, doesn’t exactly thrill me…” Jade sighed at the thought of her former best friend.
Jack noticed that there was more sadness than malice in her voice and her face, but he decided quickly not to press her on it. There would be time for that in the future. “Just think of it, Jen… as it stands now, we’re based on legacies and no one is covering Gordon’s spot. You also would never have to worry about having a roof over your head. Camelot has plenty of room.”
”But Jess…
“Look, Jen, I don’t really care what happened between you and Jessie, but I want you on my team… we need someone like you.”
Jade looked up at him with her sad eyes, which slowly turned into a light smile. Will I get my own room?
Jack laughed and pulled her into a tight side-hug as they continued to walk down the beach while the sun began to set.
***
Seigelville, Texas
A sharp whistle pierced the hubbub of construction surrounding the recently redesigned BlueGold Media building. Jessie had to admit, she didn’t really pay attention to the Brave and the Bold back when it was on the air other than to make verbal jabs at the corporate sponsored heroes but she did watch the newscasts following the so-called season finale and what she saw now impressed the hell out of her. The city was practically rebuilt. Streets were repaved, lampposts replaced. People went on with their lives like normal.
A far cry from what happened following Barry’s death.
Maybe there was something to be said for heroes being held accountable for the destruction they and their rogues wreaked.
Jessie paced back and forth across the roof of the building. She crossed side to side. All the while, she scanned the skies and the streets for the blue blur that was supposed to be meeting her here ten minutes ago. Yes, she could have probably searched the city for him. Yes, she’d probably have found him. Yet as she watched, she understood this was not her city to interfere with. Every time a Speedster went for a run, they’d find trouble. She’d be honor bound to help and she’d learned her lesson back in Blüdhaven.
She didn’t particularly want to end up like the twins.
A buzzing of wings or high-powered jets sounded from behind her. She spun to see a blue and black figure come in for a landing on the roof, heroic crouching pose and all. Wow. Did all rookies look like that? Did she once look like that? Covered in skintight plated armor, wings retracting with wide bug eyes and amazing expressful face, was the current Blue Beetle.
“Oh my god,” it was a young man’s voice. Not yet low enough to be considered fully mature. “You’re Jessica Garrick! Kid Flash! The Flash!” There was a pause in his hero worship that made him tilt his head as if listening to another voice. “Okay, you’re right. She’s a Flash. Not The Flash. . . No. I’m not going to tell her Dan let her father win that race. It’d be rude. . . I don’t care if you can space-jump.”
A multitude of emotions washed through Jessie in the span of Beetle’s one-sided conversation. A little bit of fury filled her gut. A tad of disbelief dropped her jaw. But mostly it was the confusion that made her widen her eyes and look at the young hero as if he was a crazy man. “Are you talking to yourself?”
“What? No. Talking to the suit. I’m the only one that can hear it.”
“Riiiiight. The first Blue Beetle didn’t talk to his suit.”
“Eh, the Scarab didn’t particularly like Dan for waking him of his sleep.”
“A talking… scarab.”
“Yep,” somehow the helmet twisted into a giant smile. “Magic plus alien technology. It’s awesome.”
“You sound insane, you know that?”
Blue Beetle nodded his head, the pincers behind his shoulders twitching in annoyance. “You’re not the first to say that. Anyways, I hate to cut this short but I have to turn down the invitation. I’d really love to be part of the Justice Society of America. Like every kid, I dreamed of having super powers and joining them but it’s just not possible. Seigelville needs me after what happened with the Circus of Strange and the Scarlet Scarab. Plus, I already signed a contract for Season 2 of BatB. My family kinda needs that money.”
“Then why the hell did you agree to meet with me?!?!” screamed Jessica before she could stop herself.
“It’s good manners. Teddy asked me to and it just wouldn’t be right to refuse over the phone.”
Jessica took a deep breath, thankful that she had decided to wear a tight, low cut shirt. She walked towards Beetle slyly, seductively. After Hawkman’s refusal, she was not going to come back to Camelot empty handed. Especially since Jade was going to join just to spite her. She needed this win. Sensually, she traced a finger across his plated chest. His bug-eyes widened in surprise and he took a half step back.
“You sure you won’t reconsider?” She asked in the sultriest voice she could manage. “There will be me there and…” she hated to say the next part. “A green-skinned bombshell that really likes the color blue.”
Beetle’s wings deployed surprising the both of them. “Yeah… uh… not gonna happen. I’m sixteen and you’re old. Like 25. It’s illegal. Plus… X-Ray vision. Not that I need it with Cheshire walking around. . . And I kinda have a crush on her. So… uh…yeah. Bye.”
A blast of wind from his rocket wings knocked Jessica over, her hair billowing across her face. In a fury, she rose to find him already gone.
“ARRGH!” she roared at no one in particular. “I AM NOT THAT OLD!!”
***
Opal City, Maryland
Jessie, Sand, Hourman, Jade and Phantom Lady all sat around the meeting room table, waiting in eager apprehension on Starman, who was finalizing some of the last minute details. None of them outright spoke, as they were using the opportunity to size each other up. Sand gave Phantom Lady a judging glare due to her extremely revealing costume. He also wasn’t thrilled with having a pop star on the team.
The most noticeable tension was between Jade and Jessie who had spent the entire time that they were in Camelot either shooting malicious one-liners at each other or just glaring at each other as if they were plotting their kill. Sand and Hourman already had to separate them once when it was clear that they were about to come to blows.
Just then, Starman came bolting through the doors with a wide smile on his face. “Well, team, Michael Holt is in the process of finishing the system updates. Hopefully in a few days, we’ll actually have e-mail.”
Either a light groan or a light chuckle escaped from the group as he took his seat that was adjusted to be directly across from the door. “Ah, what’s the first order of business?”
Jessie’s eyes darted to Jade who was positioned two people away from her with Sand in between. “We… um… we need a seventh member, if we’re to reach the goal of having a team of seven… you know, like the original JSA.”
“We could ask my ex-boyfriend… he did the superhero thing for a while…” Phantom Lady sheepishly offered from her side of the table. The rest of the group could tell that she wasn’t entirely confident or comfortable in her own skin.
Hourman shook his head. “He was a douche. We need someone who the rest of the hero community will respect.”
“Oh like Jessica?” Jade shot out.
“Jennifer!” Jack scolded.
Jade scoffed and crossed her arms, looking down at her spot on the table. “Sorry…”
“I suppose we can as Artemis or Yolanda again… but I don’t think Checkmate would be fond of either of those choices…” Sand’s offering started off confident, but his ego clearly deflated as he went on.
Jack shook his head. “Most likely not…”
Just then the doors busted open again and Dr. McNider walked into the room, in full costume, which he hadn’t worn since they got back from Kahndaq. “Greetings, Starman. I would like to formally put my name in for active membership in the Justice Society of America. If need be, I can provide several character references… plus, you could always use a Doctor.”
Jack looked up at the Doctor and smiled widely. “No need. Welcome to the team, Doctor Mid-Nite.”
With a curt nod, Dr. Mid-Nite took the final free seat, which just happened to be next to Phantom Lady. She looked at him and gave him a light nod with a schoolgirl smile and a blush. “So, Starman, what’s on the agenda for the day?”
Jack chuckled at Dr. Mid-Nite’s all business attitude. “Well, now that we have our team ironed out, we have a press conference scheduled in the Press Room of KnightCorp. If the public is going to accept us, they have to know us…”
After an hour or so passed, the team left the meeting room and began to make their way up to the Great Hall in silence. However, as they walked up Michael Holt tapped Dr. McNider on the shoulder and pulled him backwards. “Doctor, do you have a minute?”
“Dr. Holt? You know who I am?”
Michael nodded almost coldly. “Of course. Remember that article you sent to Harper’s Weekly about metahuman medicine?” Holt waited for a nod from the Doctor, which he got with reluctance. Holt was referring to the abstract to McNider’s senior thesis from John Hopkins University. “I wrote the dissenting opinion anonymously.”
“That was almost nine years ago… you must have been…”
“A senior in high school.”
Dr. Mid-Nite looked at the man strangely with a cocked head. “Impressive. What can I help you with?”
“Looking at the files, I saw you were the only other person with a secret identity… now it will be somewhat suspicious if we’re living in the Justice Society headquarters… I was wondering if you’d like to split an apartment?” Michael Holt asked hopefully.
McNider looked at him even more strangely. ”You’re Michael Holt. You’re one of the richest men in the country. Why do you need to split an apartment?”
Michael laughed as if it were completely obvious. “I have no reason to have an apartment here. We’d put it in your name of course. Now, do you have any problem with the piano?”
“Piano?”
“Yes, the piano. I like to play when I think. I’m also not a very sociable person and I keep a very irregular sleep schedule, sometimes staying up for a week and subsequently sleeping for 48 hours straight. Oh and I also sing in the shower.” Michael Holt rolled his eyes into the back of his head as he rattled off the list. Secretly, he was recalling everything that anyone had whom he had ever lived with listed as a complaint. “If you take no offense to those, I think we’d get along quite well.”
Dr. Mid-Nite was a bit taken aback, but the sheer thought of living with the self-proclaimed World’s Third Smartest Man intrigued him. “Sure, that sounds satisfactory and makes sense. Where are you going to look?”
“I’ve already found a lovely place. I’ll send a moving van to pack up your place later this evening. Dr. McNider, it’s a pleasure.” Holt stuck out his hand for McNider to shake.
McNider shook it warmly and promptly walked away from Holt to catch up with the rest of the team.
***
The Press Conference ended on a positive note for the group, which was far better than they had expected. Despite a few tough questions early on about jingoism, possible issues brewing up elsewhere in the Middle East and several basic questions of distrust of people that wear masks and costumes, the managed to rise above it. Sand was able to put the military minded people at ease due to his military background, while Hourman’s near genius level knowledge of the Middle East earned him some points. Starman was also able to put the public at ease over the history of the Justice Society.
Towards the middle of the set of questions, Jess and Jade had the crowd in hysterics, but rather than play off each other, they fought each other for who could win over the crowd the best. Dr. Mid-Nite and Phantom Lady, decidedly remained a bit more reserved until one reporter from US Weekly asked whether or not she would be continuing with her musical career.
“Seeing as my manager-slash-mother is currently plotting ways to disown me as we speak, it might take a while,” she said with a light half-hearted giggle. The giggle was just for show, because deep down her mother’s abandonment was killing her.
The crowd didn’t pick up on the sadness in her face as they decide to join in with her laughter.
“Well, we should probably be getting back to Camelot… does anyone have any final questions?” Starman asked as he stood up, leading the rest of the team to follow suit.
When they all were finally standing, a man on his cell phone rushed towards the stage where they stood. “Starman, Starman… There’s a thirty foot lizard creature terrorizing Baltimore… the Police can’t stop it!”
Starman looked to each member of the group and they each responded with a quick head nod. “Well, I guess it’s time to see the team in action.”
With a shout and a large smile on his face, Jack ran towards the hanger with his team hot on his trial. This was the moment he had been apprehensive about and all of his fears were put behind him he was finally doing that. When they reached the SR-71 Blackbird that belonged to the JSA, Rick put his hand on Jack’s shoulder.
“Shouldn’t you say a few words?”
Jack smiled widely at Rick. “Let’s roll!”
All These Strangers Pt. 2
By C_Miller and The Wonderful Wachter
***
Opal City, Maryland
Jessica Garrick lazily parted her eyelids and checked the clock on her bedside table. 3:30 am, it read. Sleep was not coming to her easily lately. Not since Barbara, her former best friend had arrived a few days ago and it had nothing to do that she could hear the faint sounds of her and Jack making love in the next room.
Barbara represented her past and right now, the past made her uncomfortable. After Wally her ex-boyfriend took over the mantel of the Flash, she had been on the run for all intents and purposes, spending those few weeks hopping towns across Europe. She wasn’t even planning on returning to the states at all until her father called her about the bloodlines of the Justice Society.
But here she was stuck. Stuck in a mansion, surrounded by her past, the people and the relics. Stuck in her own constricting skin.
With a long, drawn out sigh, she got out of bed and threw on a bathrobe over her light blue camisole and tiny sleep shorts before she left her room. Never knew whom you could run into or what age they’d be, she mused wryly, when you wandered Camelot’s halls. Not fully knowing her objective, she walked down the hall to where Rick rested his head for the time being. She gave the door a light knock and followed with a louder knock when there was no answer.
“Ah well, he’s probably asleep.” Just as she turned to leave, she heard the door open and she spun around. Where she expected to see Rick Tyler, she saw Yolanda Montez wearing nothing but a white sheet.
The two women stood there in silence for a second. “Oh, I’m sorry, I thought this was Rick’s room…” Jessie whispered as she took a step back.
Yolanda nodded and gave her a mischievous smile. “It is… he’s in the shower… I can let him know you stopped by.” She licked her lips as Jessie’s face fell.
It seemed she had inadvertently surrounded herself with people who enjoyed the here and now more than she could. Her eyes flickered over the bed sheet and the tan skin it hid beneath. People were making bonds. Joining their bodies in ways she could remember but no longer had the heart, the drive, to care for. What right did Yolanda, a fool of a woman and more a wash out of hero than Jessie herself, have to be happy when she knew nothing of legacy she accepted?
The blonde woman shook her head. “No, that’s fine. I’m sure I’ll see him tomorrow.” Jess walked away and heard the door shut behind her with a snicker of a laugh. Rather than go back to her room, alone while the others around her paired up, she followed the familiar halls and steps to the master chef’s kitchen. However, when she got there she realized that she had inadvertently found her wish with Sand sitting at the main counter in the center of the room, a bowl of cereal before him.
“Couldn’t sleep?” Given his mantle, he knew the irony of the statement. The corners of mouth perked up in a sly grin when he saw her facial muscles twitch as she tried not to give an exhausted giggle.
Shaking her head, Jessie stretched and yawned as she took a seat across from him. He gently nudged the bowl of grapes he alternating between with the cereal towards her, which she graciously began eating from as well.
“I can never sleep before traveling.”
“Traveling?”
“What?” Jess met his twinkling gaze, her lips threatening to reach a full smile despite her best attempts to stop it.
“Nothing,” he said as his head moved in a denial. “It’s just you can run to Baltimore and back before my brain could register you went anywhere. I wouldn’t call your trips tomorrow ‘traveling.’”
“You know what they say about assuming,” her voice was low, lethargic in a way no speedster’s tone should ever be. “I never figured out how to alter my perception of the passage of time… this trip will feel like I’m walking to Louisiana.”
Sand stirred his cereal lazily. The playful glint in his eyes faltered in the face of her dour genuflection. Yet nevertheless his features and concern were earnest in a way most men his age had forgot how to pull off. “I’m truly sorry. I didn’t kn—”
“Eh. It’s not exactly something I advertise to everybody. And unfortunately, it doesn’t make my reaction time any better. A talented Speedster can change how they feel things… it makes doing what we do, being what we are, a whole lot easier.” She looked down at the grapes, averting Sand’s keen stare as she took a couple more and slid it back towards him with more force than she intended. The bowl clattered across the counter, echoing loudly in the nigh empty kitchen.
“When people think of us, they remember Dad’s smile in the face of danger and impossible situations. They think of Barry’s never faltering easy-going nature. Hell, even those twins on Brave and the Bold made jokes when up against innumerable odds. Somehow, that’s expected of us given our nature. We’re so fast that we shouldn’t waste time on being mopey or if we have moments of sadness, they should last only a second. But in reality, that cheerfulness is a coping mechanism. Back when I was Kid Flash, I used to do it too. Kept me going. Fake being happy, play up saving lives is all in a day’s work as Barry picked up all my slack, and I could ignore failures on the edge of my perception… of not being fast enough.
“Normal, well relatively normal, guys like you will never understand what is like to live in our world.”
The long speech, almost a soliloquy when she thought about it because she didn’t say it specifically to Sand, left her feeling relieved. A weight hadn’t left her shoulders but now she could recognize the burden and steady her legs to keep herself sturdy. Those were words she had wanted to say for a long a time. Words she had said before but never to anyone who hadn’t meant to hurt or try to deflect guilt. This… This was the first time she ever told someone outside her or her grandfather’s circle of friends.
First time she had a stranger who would just listen.
An awkward silence fell between them. Strong and profound. Her bitter tirade had stopped Sand in mid-bite, leaving him unwilling to break it by letting his spoon clatter back to his bowl. He looked ridiculous there, in the empty kitchen of a dead man, a spoon hanging out of his mouth. Jessica just had to laugh, a sign for him to finish chewing and to wipe the stream of milk trailing down his chin. The tension had been eased.
“So, Louisiana? Is that where you’re headed?”
“Yeah, Jack has me covering the South with Hawkman being the first in St. Roche. Then to make the pitch to the Blue Beetle,” Jessie nodded her head. “Truth be told, he probably wants to keep me from running into The Flash or Jade.”
“Why’s that?” His mouth asked the question before his brain registered the fact it might open a whole ‘nother can of worms.
“History, Sandy. Not stuff that’s worth digging up.”
“But if they join the team… what then?”
“I wish I knew…”
The sound of her chair scraping against the glistening tile signaled the end of the conversation. Jessica had said what she needed to say. What she didn’t need was to worry about the-what-could-bes if Jen or Wally joined the Justice Society. She gave sand an unenergetic wave goodnight, leaving him to finish his late-night breakfast and question if she was worth the trouble of staying on.
***
Portland, Oregon
Rick Tyler took a long sniff of the salty ocean breeze as he stepped out onto the tarmac from the cabin of his private jet. Glancing towards the gate, he spotted a beautiful woman who was holding a sign with his name on it. Without taking another moment’s hesitation, he strolled, with a skip in his step, towards her.
“Rick Tyler?” she asked him with a sensual voice. He smiled slyly at her and scanned her body up and down briefly.
“That’d be me,” he answered with a wink. “Mr. Holt did say his most beautiful assistant would be waiting for me… let’s just say he undersold you.”
The woman blushed at his bold statement and averted her eyes to the black asphalt. “We better be going. Mr. Holt doesn’t like to kept waiting.”
Rick snickered. “All business I see. Lead the way.”
She turned around and led him towards the limo just off the runway, giving him a good look at her rear figure, which he appreciated as evident by the hungry look in his eyes. “So, have you been to Portland before, Mr. Tyler?”
He quavered his head, snapping himself out of the daze that she had put him under. “Erm, yeah. As a kid, actually. Came on business with my father.”
Looking down at the floor, once they were in the cab, she bit her lower lip. ”Well, if you’re going to need help finding your way around, I get off at five tonight.”
All of the blood in Rick’s arteries quickly traveled to both the poles in his body.
When the cab arrived, Rick exited and scanned the property. It was a beautiful modern mansion made almost entirely out of titanium and glass and build near completely into the side of a mountain. “Heh. Better than what Jack’s got to offer… maybe I should turn in my resume,” he whispered to himself as he climbed up the steps that were carved into the rocky surface.
On the doorstep, at the top of the hill, he rang the bell and observed his surroundings some more. It appeared as if all of the trees were some type of fruit tree. A barrage of peach trees stood proud to his right and directly to his left was a lone apple tree. Seeing an apple hanging with in arm’s reach, he plucked it and took a large first bite.
He barely had enough time to swallow before the door swung open, revealing a black man in a white lab coat with a Miles Davis T-Shirt and ratty jeans underneath. “Ah. Mr. Tyler! Good to meet you! I was so sorry to hear about your father” The man pretty much forced his hand into Rick’s, which he shook warmly. Noticing Rick’s dazed face, he warmly slapped him on the back and guided him in. “Michael Holt. Professor Michael Holt. Please, come in. Come in.”
Rick took a step into the home and saw what looked as if it was the mix of a museum, library and roadside tourist trap. He walked over to one of the art deco looking titanium display cases and pulled a book from the top shelf. “Is this…?”
“A first edition of The Stranger? Yes, yes it is. Not generally thought of as the greatest prize of my collection. You’ve read Camus?” Holt asked as he moved closer to Rick to look over his shoulder as he flipped through the pages.
Rick stopped at the last page and read it with a sleight smile and the nod of his head. “I love this part… ‘For everything to be consummated, for me to feel less alone, I had only to wish that there be a large crowd of spectators the day of my execution and that they greet me with cries of hate.’ Beautiful.” With a quiver of his arms, he shut the book and replaced it on the shelf.
Michael raised his eyebrow, gazing at Rick intently for a few seconds. He quickly let out a light chuckle and slapped the man on the back. The Professor led him towards his laboratory where they sat down on stools at a lab table. “So, what can I do for you, Mr. Tyler?”
“I’m here on behalf of the Justice Society of America. We’re extending Mr. Terrific an invitation for membership, should you so desire.” Rick stated in the most professional, matter-of-fact way possible.
In an uncharacteristic act of humility, Michael averted his gaze from Rick’s. “I wouldn’t know anything about Mr. Terrific…”
Rick chuckled. “Mr. Holt, you may be the Third Smartest Man in the World, but that doesn’t mean I’m an idiot. Everyone knows you’re Mr. Terrific and you want people to know… you just have to keep up plausible deniability. My Dad had to do it for years with Hourman.” Rick’s voice quavered when he mentioned his recently deceased father.
Michael glared at Rick long and hard sizing him up. “Syria”
“Excuse me.”
“You were just in Syria.”
Rick raised his eyebrow. “How do you figure?”
Michael smiled widely. “Your complexion is lightly bronzed. Your parents are both nearly entirely Anglo Saxon so no room for it there. The JSA is centered in Maryland, which isn’t getting much sun in Mid-November. You walked in with a slight limp and a relatively haggard disposition, implying that you’ve been through heavy stress. And then the pin on your lapel for the Brotherhood of Global Security, which is an arms dealer.
“And on top of that you quoted the final passage of The Stranger with perfect accuracy, which says to me that you only know one paragraph. That’s a classic con tactic to get the person you’re trying to dupe on your side. So putting the arms dealing, the con artist, your tan and your exhausted disposition, I surmised that you were making money off of the Arab Spring.”
Rick leaned back in his seat and looked even exhausted. Quickly, he tried to reason in his head how he could have known that he was in Syria more reasonably. “There are a ton of countries that are similar. How’d you know it was Syria?”
Michael shrugged. “Wild guess.”
Rick leaned in close towards the man who was seated across from him. “This is why we need you. We need the genius. We have a lot of smart people, but we don’t have the Third Smartest Man… plus don’t you want to have a part in protecting your loved ones.”
Mr. Holt smiled sadly. “I don’t have any.”
Rick was entirely uncertain as how to answer that. “Michael, if you can’t give us Mr. Terrific. Can you at least give us Michael Holt…?”
Michael looked up at the young man and smiled. “You know, I do get bored rather easily… maybe this can give me something to do in my free time.”
***
Santa Barbara, California
Jack Knight removed his sunglasses from the case and placed them over his eyes as he took his first step out on the beach. Throughout his childhood and his teenage years, he never was one for beaches. When it came to swimming, he was much happier in a pool or better yet a hot tub and since he could never tan, lounging around on the beach was not something that was high on his list of leisure activities. However, the second the green-skinned, neon yellow bikini-clad beauty caught his eye, the beach suddenly got more inviting.
As Jack moved closer, he saw that she was posing around constructs that she was creating with her powers as a young man clad only in board-shorts who looked to be in his early 20s, but could easily pass for Courtney’s age was sketching her. His pencil eagerly scratched at the paper and Jack could definitely tell that he was enjoying himself. Dark hair framed his face and an easy going smile. His skin was not quite white but Jack couldn’t figure out if it was simply a tan or something else without asking.
“So, Jen,” he coughed, getting the attention of both, “this is what you do to pass the time these days?”
Jen Hayden looked up at Jack with a light smile of surprise. “You know how it is. Can’t replicate the thrill of fighting giant robots on a daily basis…”
“All too well, luv. All too well.” Jack walked up to the girl and gave her a friendly kiss on the cheek. “Which is actually why I came to talk to you.”
‘Moi?’ Jade mouthed as she gave him a faux pout as she placed her right hand on her chest. Without waiting for an answer, she pointed towards the artist. “Hey, do you think you could give us a few moments?”
He nodded and dutifully walked away, leaving Jade and Jack to talk, but not before flashing Jack a glare of annoyance.
Jack strained his face to hide the devilish smile that was spreading across his face. He knew that Jade was somewhat of a free spirit through what Babs and Jessie had told him, but he had seldom seen it up close. “So, was he a boyfriend of yours?”
The green woman let out an odd sound that could only be the described as a fake vomit and a snort. Jack looked over at her in alarm as she regained her composure. “Um… not really. We have slept together but… I needed somewhere to live and he’s really, really creative...”
“Couldn’t move back to Blüdhaven with Barbara?”
She laughed with a high giggly tone. “New Jersey gets about three or four days of sun during the winter… The Haven even less with all that goddamn smog.”
“I can’t say Opal City would be much better, but at least you’d be on the water.”
Jade looked up at him with a slight smile on her face. “Jack Kennedy Knight… are you making a pass at me?”
His face instantly turned beat red at the sound of his middle name and then only got redder as she finished her question. He was not one to blush, but for some reason she got under his skin and made his toes curl. “I… uh… didn’t Barbara get in touch with you?”
“Of course she did. I’m just playing with you,” she winked.
Jack grimaced as he let out a long sigh. “So, the JSA… are you in?”
“I’m not gonna lie, Jack… seeing Jessie on a daily basis, doesn’t exactly thrill me…” Jade sighed at the thought of her former best friend.
Jack noticed that there was more sadness than malice in her voice and her face, but he decided quickly not to press her on it. There would be time for that in the future. “Just think of it, Jen… as it stands now, we’re based on legacies and no one is covering Gordon’s spot. You also would never have to worry about having a roof over your head. Camelot has plenty of room.”
”But Jess…
“Look, Jen, I don’t really care what happened between you and Jessie, but I want you on my team… we need someone like you.”
Jade looked up at him with her sad eyes, which slowly turned into a light smile. Will I get my own room?
Jack laughed and pulled her into a tight side-hug as they continued to walk down the beach while the sun began to set.
***
Seigelville, Texas
A sharp whistle pierced the hubbub of construction surrounding the recently redesigned BlueGold Media building. Jessie had to admit, she didn’t really pay attention to the Brave and the Bold back when it was on the air other than to make verbal jabs at the corporate sponsored heroes but she did watch the newscasts following the so-called season finale and what she saw now impressed the hell out of her. The city was practically rebuilt. Streets were repaved, lampposts replaced. People went on with their lives like normal.
A far cry from what happened following Barry’s death.
Maybe there was something to be said for heroes being held accountable for the destruction they and their rogues wreaked.
Jessie paced back and forth across the roof of the building. She crossed side to side. All the while, she scanned the skies and the streets for the blue blur that was supposed to be meeting her here ten minutes ago. Yes, she could have probably searched the city for him. Yes, she’d probably have found him. Yet as she watched, she understood this was not her city to interfere with. Every time a Speedster went for a run, they’d find trouble. She’d be honor bound to help and she’d learned her lesson back in Blüdhaven.
She didn’t particularly want to end up like the twins.
A buzzing of wings or high-powered jets sounded from behind her. She spun to see a blue and black figure come in for a landing on the roof, heroic crouching pose and all. Wow. Did all rookies look like that? Did she once look like that? Covered in skintight plated armor, wings retracting with wide bug eyes and amazing expressful face, was the current Blue Beetle.
“Oh my god,” it was a young man’s voice. Not yet low enough to be considered fully mature. “You’re Jessica Garrick! Kid Flash! The Flash!” There was a pause in his hero worship that made him tilt his head as if listening to another voice. “Okay, you’re right. She’s a Flash. Not The Flash. . . No. I’m not going to tell her Dan let her father win that race. It’d be rude. . . I don’t care if you can space-jump.”
A multitude of emotions washed through Jessie in the span of Beetle’s one-sided conversation. A little bit of fury filled her gut. A tad of disbelief dropped her jaw. But mostly it was the confusion that made her widen her eyes and look at the young hero as if he was a crazy man. “Are you talking to yourself?”
“What? No. Talking to the suit. I’m the only one that can hear it.”
“Riiiiight. The first Blue Beetle didn’t talk to his suit.”
“Eh, the Scarab didn’t particularly like Dan for waking him of his sleep.”
“A talking… scarab.”
“Yep,” somehow the helmet twisted into a giant smile. “Magic plus alien technology. It’s awesome.”
“You sound insane, you know that?”
Blue Beetle nodded his head, the pincers behind his shoulders twitching in annoyance. “You’re not the first to say that. Anyways, I hate to cut this short but I have to turn down the invitation. I’d really love to be part of the Justice Society of America. Like every kid, I dreamed of having super powers and joining them but it’s just not possible. Seigelville needs me after what happened with the Circus of Strange and the Scarlet Scarab. Plus, I already signed a contract for Season 2 of BatB. My family kinda needs that money.”
“Then why the hell did you agree to meet with me?!?!” screamed Jessica before she could stop herself.
“It’s good manners. Teddy asked me to and it just wouldn’t be right to refuse over the phone.”
Jessica took a deep breath, thankful that she had decided to wear a tight, low cut shirt. She walked towards Beetle slyly, seductively. After Hawkman’s refusal, she was not going to come back to Camelot empty handed. Especially since Jade was going to join just to spite her. She needed this win. Sensually, she traced a finger across his plated chest. His bug-eyes widened in surprise and he took a half step back.
“You sure you won’t reconsider?” She asked in the sultriest voice she could manage. “There will be me there and…” she hated to say the next part. “A green-skinned bombshell that really likes the color blue.”
Beetle’s wings deployed surprising the both of them. “Yeah… uh… not gonna happen. I’m sixteen and you’re old. Like 25. It’s illegal. Plus… X-Ray vision. Not that I need it with Cheshire walking around. . . And I kinda have a crush on her. So… uh…yeah. Bye.”
A blast of wind from his rocket wings knocked Jessica over, her hair billowing across her face. In a fury, she rose to find him already gone.
“ARRGH!” she roared at no one in particular. “I AM NOT THAT OLD!!”
***
Opal City, Maryland
Jessie, Sand, Hourman, Jade and Phantom Lady all sat around the meeting room table, waiting in eager apprehension on Starman, who was finalizing some of the last minute details. None of them outright spoke, as they were using the opportunity to size each other up. Sand gave Phantom Lady a judging glare due to her extremely revealing costume. He also wasn’t thrilled with having a pop star on the team.
The most noticeable tension was between Jade and Jessie who had spent the entire time that they were in Camelot either shooting malicious one-liners at each other or just glaring at each other as if they were plotting their kill. Sand and Hourman already had to separate them once when it was clear that they were about to come to blows.
Just then, Starman came bolting through the doors with a wide smile on his face. “Well, team, Michael Holt is in the process of finishing the system updates. Hopefully in a few days, we’ll actually have e-mail.”
Either a light groan or a light chuckle escaped from the group as he took his seat that was adjusted to be directly across from the door. “Ah, what’s the first order of business?”
Jessie’s eyes darted to Jade who was positioned two people away from her with Sand in between. “We… um… we need a seventh member, if we’re to reach the goal of having a team of seven… you know, like the original JSA.”
“We could ask my ex-boyfriend… he did the superhero thing for a while…” Phantom Lady sheepishly offered from her side of the table. The rest of the group could tell that she wasn’t entirely confident or comfortable in her own skin.
Hourman shook his head. “He was a douche. We need someone who the rest of the hero community will respect.”
“Oh like Jessica?” Jade shot out.
“Jennifer!” Jack scolded.
Jade scoffed and crossed her arms, looking down at her spot on the table. “Sorry…”
“I suppose we can as Artemis or Yolanda again… but I don’t think Checkmate would be fond of either of those choices…” Sand’s offering started off confident, but his ego clearly deflated as he went on.
Jack shook his head. “Most likely not…”
Just then the doors busted open again and Dr. McNider walked into the room, in full costume, which he hadn’t worn since they got back from Kahndaq. “Greetings, Starman. I would like to formally put my name in for active membership in the Justice Society of America. If need be, I can provide several character references… plus, you could always use a Doctor.”
Jack looked up at the Doctor and smiled widely. “No need. Welcome to the team, Doctor Mid-Nite.”
With a curt nod, Dr. Mid-Nite took the final free seat, which just happened to be next to Phantom Lady. She looked at him and gave him a light nod with a schoolgirl smile and a blush. “So, Starman, what’s on the agenda for the day?”
Jack chuckled at Dr. Mid-Nite’s all business attitude. “Well, now that we have our team ironed out, we have a press conference scheduled in the Press Room of KnightCorp. If the public is going to accept us, they have to know us…”
After an hour or so passed, the team left the meeting room and began to make their way up to the Great Hall in silence. However, as they walked up Michael Holt tapped Dr. McNider on the shoulder and pulled him backwards. “Doctor, do you have a minute?”
“Dr. Holt? You know who I am?”
Michael nodded almost coldly. “Of course. Remember that article you sent to Harper’s Weekly about metahuman medicine?” Holt waited for a nod from the Doctor, which he got with reluctance. Holt was referring to the abstract to McNider’s senior thesis from John Hopkins University. “I wrote the dissenting opinion anonymously.”
“That was almost nine years ago… you must have been…”
“A senior in high school.”
Dr. Mid-Nite looked at the man strangely with a cocked head. “Impressive. What can I help you with?”
“Looking at the files, I saw you were the only other person with a secret identity… now it will be somewhat suspicious if we’re living in the Justice Society headquarters… I was wondering if you’d like to split an apartment?” Michael Holt asked hopefully.
McNider looked at him even more strangely. ”You’re Michael Holt. You’re one of the richest men in the country. Why do you need to split an apartment?”
Michael laughed as if it were completely obvious. “I have no reason to have an apartment here. We’d put it in your name of course. Now, do you have any problem with the piano?”
“Piano?”
“Yes, the piano. I like to play when I think. I’m also not a very sociable person and I keep a very irregular sleep schedule, sometimes staying up for a week and subsequently sleeping for 48 hours straight. Oh and I also sing in the shower.” Michael Holt rolled his eyes into the back of his head as he rattled off the list. Secretly, he was recalling everything that anyone had whom he had ever lived with listed as a complaint. “If you take no offense to those, I think we’d get along quite well.”
Dr. Mid-Nite was a bit taken aback, but the sheer thought of living with the self-proclaimed World’s Third Smartest Man intrigued him. “Sure, that sounds satisfactory and makes sense. Where are you going to look?”
“I’ve already found a lovely place. I’ll send a moving van to pack up your place later this evening. Dr. McNider, it’s a pleasure.” Holt stuck out his hand for McNider to shake.
McNider shook it warmly and promptly walked away from Holt to catch up with the rest of the team.
***
The Press Conference ended on a positive note for the group, which was far better than they had expected. Despite a few tough questions early on about jingoism, possible issues brewing up elsewhere in the Middle East and several basic questions of distrust of people that wear masks and costumes, the managed to rise above it. Sand was able to put the military minded people at ease due to his military background, while Hourman’s near genius level knowledge of the Middle East earned him some points. Starman was also able to put the public at ease over the history of the Justice Society.
Towards the middle of the set of questions, Jess and Jade had the crowd in hysterics, but rather than play off each other, they fought each other for who could win over the crowd the best. Dr. Mid-Nite and Phantom Lady, decidedly remained a bit more reserved until one reporter from US Weekly asked whether or not she would be continuing with her musical career.
“Seeing as my manager-slash-mother is currently plotting ways to disown me as we speak, it might take a while,” she said with a light half-hearted giggle. The giggle was just for show, because deep down her mother’s abandonment was killing her.
The crowd didn’t pick up on the sadness in her face as they decide to join in with her laughter.
“Well, we should probably be getting back to Camelot… does anyone have any final questions?” Starman asked as he stood up, leading the rest of the team to follow suit.
When they all were finally standing, a man on his cell phone rushed towards the stage where they stood. “Starman, Starman… There’s a thirty foot lizard creature terrorizing Baltimore… the Police can’t stop it!”
Starman looked to each member of the group and they each responded with a quick head nod. “Well, I guess it’s time to see the team in action.”
With a shout and a large smile on his face, Jack ran towards the hanger with his team hot on his trial. This was the moment he had been apprehensive about and all of his fears were put behind him he was finally doing that. When they reached the SR-71 Blackbird that belonged to the JSA, Rick put his hand on Jack’s shoulder.
“Shouldn’t you say a few words?”
Jack smiled widely at Rick. “Let’s roll!”