Chapter 3
Monsters and Rookies
JLA Universe
Gotham City
Present
Dinah Lance had decided to follow in her mother’s footsteps. She would be the next Black Canary. She was as good as her mother had ever been, when it came to hand to hand combat. She had her “uncles” from the JSA to thank for that. She had undergone training in self defense from the age of six with her uncles, Wildcat, Atom and Dr. Midnight. In addition to her considerable fighting skills, Dinah had a secret weapon, a super power she had discovered one day purely by accident. She had the ability to shatter objects with her scream. She had let out a scream of frustration one night several years ago, after having been banished to her room by her mother. Her scream had not only shattered her bedroom window but the bedroom window that faced hers on the house next door.
Dinah’s mother was mortified. Mortified that her daughter wanted to become a hero; that she had a “special ability” and that she could neither do, nor say anything to dissuade her. Dinah continued to train her body and now her scream. She spent hours of practice focusing her “Canary Cry” or “sonic scream” as Dr. Midnight called it.
Dinah had decided to become the new Black Canary. She had made an outfit and bought a blond wig to hide her beautiful, black hair. She had her outfit on underneath her winter clothes and the wig in her handbag. She was going to begin soon.
She just hadn’t planned on starting today.
Dinah was standing in line at the Gotham Bank, waiting her turn for the next available teller. Some patrons were discussing or commenting on the strange, beautiful woman that Superman had flown away with on live TV just a little while earlier, when suddenly, all hell broke loose. Perhaps, hell, was the wrong word to use in this situation. Dinah, and everyone else in the bank, suddenly felt chilled to the bone. Dinah looked around and realized that all the walls were covered in ice. Clutching her handbag to her chest she rushed to the bathroom. As she entered she heard the cold emotionless voice of Mr. Freeze. He announced that the bank was in his control and that he would tolerate no heroics as his henchmen spread out covering all possible escape routes.
Dinah quickly shed her outer garments to reveal, black fishnet stockings, a black jump suit and dark, knee-length boots. She pulled a black leather jacket, black gloves, a black mask and the blonde wig from the handbag to complete her outfit. She changed quickly. The young, dark-haired beauty disappeared, in her place stood a very sexy blonde.
Dinah was young but she was no fool, and had been very well trained. She knew, that as a female, she would more often than not, face off with stronger, bigger and heavier opponents; opponents that would not hesitate to use their size and strength against her. Dinah had been trained to rely on her mind and her considerable skills, and rely on them she did.
As she snuck out of the bathroom she could hear Mr. Freeze giving commands and making threats towards the back of the bank. She saw two of Mr. Freeze’s henchmen in front of her. One had his back to her, facing a group of terrified patrons. The other was just turning the corner, walking towards the front of bank. Both men wore what looked like deep sea diving suits or astronaut suits with oxygen tanks. The chill in the bank was painful. As Dinah was taking in her surroundings she suddenly noticed the frozen body of one of the banks security guards. His body was completely encased in ice. For a second, the frozen look of horror on the unfortunate guards face was mirrored by Dinah and then, as the second henchman disappeared from sight, Dinah went into action.
The first guard was standing with his back to her. Dinah leaped into the air and came down with her right heel smashing into the guards left calf muscle. The thug dropped to his knees and dropped his gun in a hiss of pain. Dinah ripped the ridiculous looking helmet from his head and swinging her left arm down in an arc, she ridge handed the man in throat. As the man spluttered, struggling for air, Dinah placed one of her forearms on either side of his neck, her left hand facing away from her body and her right hand turned towards herself. She squeezed down on his carotids, cutting off the major blood supply to his brain. The man was unconscious in seconds.
One down, who knew how many more to go. Dinah looked at the unconscious man’s radio and gun. She bent over to pick them up and as she straightened up she found herself staring at the second thug as he rounded the corner. He was too far away to attack and there was no place to hide. It seemed the element of surprise had been ripped from her.
The man took in the scene. He seemed frozen in place by the unexpected sight. His partner was down and there was this beautiful, blonde girl standing in front of him with lovely legs that he was having trouble taking his eyes from. He finally looked back up at her masked face. It seemed like such a waste to have to kill her. He could think of a half dozen other things he would like to do with her, but he knew that Mr. Freeze would kill him if he did. As he began to raise his gun the lovely creature went into a crouch and opened her mouth in what looked like silent scream.
Dinah’s sonic scream, blasted the thug off of his feet and threw him against the wall twenty feet away. He fell to the ground in an unconscious heap. Hide and seek was over. Dinah charged towards the front of the bank. She knew that there was at least one more armed thug up front. She would have to at least take him out so that the hostages could be freed.
As she rounded the corner she came face to face with another guard coming to see what the commotion was about. They were almost touching. The man looked shocked at the sight of her. She didn’t give him time for his expression to go from shocked to leering. Dinah slapped his gun hand down trapping his wrist and elbow in an arm bar. She stomped down of the back of his leg bringing him to his knees. As he came down to his knees she struck him in the face with her right elbow without letting go of his wrist.
Dinah let out a hiss of pain. She had forgotten about the helmets in that brief moment. Locking the man’s wrist with her right hand, she tried to remove the man’s helmet with her left before backup arrived. She realized, almost too late, that there was a second thug stationed at the front of the bank. She saw him from the corner of her eye as he raised his gun and fired. Dinah rolled behind the first thug, never letting go of his arm, using him as a shield and then for the second time let loose with her sonic scream. The man’s helmet shattered as he was thrown into the ice covered front door. The ice shattered, as well as the thick glass of the door it had covered.
Dinah returned her attention to her immobilized opponent. He lay very still. He had taken Dinah’s bullet in the back. Dinah was horrified but then realized that the man was still alive although barely. She yelled for the hostages to come to the front. They came running.
The hostages reached the exit that the masked girl had made for them, only to find it encased in ice once again. Mr. Freeze stood behind them with his freeze gun pointed at them.
“Those who disobey me will die. This I promise you,” the cold voice of Victor Fries boomed.
There were five more men behind Mr. Freeze. One of the five was the bank president, being held as a hostage. Dinah was confident that her “canary cry” could take out the lot of them but she did not want to hurt their prisoner. As she was debating what plan of action to take, Mr. Freeze noticed her for the first time.
He saw his four guards down and a lone, masked girl standing off to the side of the group. A deep rumble of displeasure came from his chest.
“So the Batman mocks me by sending a scared little girl to stop me! I will leave him your frozen corpse! Mr. Freeze declared.
He pointed his freeze gun at the Black Canary and squeezed the trigger.
Syndicate Universe
Daily Planet
Di-ana sat in her office. She was trying to make sense of the last few minutes and get her nerves under control.
Every little noise made her jump.
She forced herself to take some deep breathes. She closed her eyes and remembered her strict mental training. She focused on controlling her emotions. She knew she must conquer her fear of Ultraman and find a way to either, escape him, defeat him or win him back.
After what Ultraman had done to her for the last two days, the idea of winning him back filled her with the terror she was trying to conquer. Escaping him would be near to impossible, since he could see and hear most anything he wanted to. He would just find her no matter where she hid. She would have to find a way to hurt him. She must do something to make him think twice before hurting her again. He was more than a match for any of the syndicate members and she was quite sure that there wouldn’t be much they could even if they were all united against him.
She would have to use one of his weaknesses. Or find someone at least as powerful.
Well, Owlman had taken him down before with black kryptonite, but she was pretty sure that Jur-li would not fall for the same trick twice and she dreaded what he would do to her if he found her in Owlman’s company again.
Protex! Maybe Protex could help her. He was nearly as powerful as Ultraman. She quickly dismissed the idea. The white Martian was not opposed to eating humans or from attempting to use human females to try and breed. She knew for a fact that he did on occasion eat humans and was quite certain that he had not given up his attempts to revive his kind at the expense of a few females. She also had no doubt that he would want to use her mind and body in return for his help. She found the white Martian monster to be quite revolting. As much as she despised and used men and as desperate as she was for help, there were some things she would not stoop to.
A sense of hopelessness was starting to take over Superwoman’s thoughts again when she suddenly remembered Superman! Now that was somebody who could help her. She was sure of it. She just had to find him.
With a frustrated sigh she realized she had no idea how to locate him or if he was even from this universe. She had no idea what had happened. One minute she was alone and chained in the fortress and the next she had been standing in the middle of a snowstorm in Gotham. She had briefly tasted a younger, gentler, innocent and delicious version of Jur-li, and she wanted more.
She knew if she could find him. He would be able to rescue her, and bending him to her will would not be a problem. She wouldn’t even need her lasso. But how was she to find him?
She wondered if Professor Palmer could help her. She wondered why she hadn’t thought about that before. She would have to pay him a visit.
Superwoman sat back with a sigh. She felt much better now that she had the beginnings of a plan. She was still afraid, but the fear was at the back of her mind. “No,” she thought smugly to herself, “I’m not afraid of you anymore!”
The knock at her office door made her nearly leap out of her skin.
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JLA Universe
Gotham City
Outside Gotham Bank
Batman landed lightly on the roof of the bank. Superman floated a few feet above it.
“Can you see what is going on?” Batman queried.
“Looks like everyone is at the front of the bank. There are two dead guards. One is in the vault and one is in the teller area. I see four unconscious thugs. The one you described as Mr. Freeze is walking towards the hostages in the front with four armed men and an important looking hostage,” Superman answered.
“If you could be so kind as to protect the hostages at the front, I’ll take care of Mr. Freeze and his boys,” Batman offered.
“One hostage rescue coming right up,” Superman answered with a smile as he shot into the air. He flew down to the front of the bank melting the ice with his heat vision before he flew in. He stopped between the hostages and Mr. Freeze just as he fired his freeze gun at them. Almost too late, Superman realized that Mr. Freeze was not aiming at the group but a little off to the side at someone else. He caught a brief glimpse of a strikingly beautiful masked blonde girl just before he zipped in front of her to take the blast.
Black Canary knew that her sonic scream could shatter ice. So she did not bother to dodge as Mr. Freeze fired his ice ray at her. Instead she fired off her own weapon at the same time just as, in a blur of red and blue, Superman stood between her and the villain. It was too late to stop. Superman took a powerful, although short burst of Black Canary’s sonic scream to the back. The powerful blast knocked him forward into Mr. Freeze’s ice ray.
In a moment he was incased in ice.
Mr. Freeze had no time to gloat or realize what had just happened as a large shadow struck him from behind knocking him to the ground. As Mr. Freeze got to his knees he saw that his weapon had been destroyed and his remaining men lay unconscious on the ground.
Black Canary looked at the frozen form of Superman is horror. Her guilt was short-lived as almost as soon as he had been frozen then he was breaking free of the ice.
Black Canary rushed to his side. Superman smiled at her as he stood up. “Be right back,” he promised and then he turned and strode over to where the fallen Mr. Freeze lay cuffed with his men.
Superman looked around and listened for Batman but he was gone. The freed bank president wasn’t sure what had happened. For a moment he thought he had seen a large shadow. He had fallen down and when he was again able to get to his feet all of his captors were unconscious or on the ground.
He walked back with the bank president to where the rest of the hostages were preparing to give their statements to the police. Superman saw that the pretty, masked blonde had also disappeared. He gave a brief statement to the officers, then with a wave to the freed hostages and one last look around for the masked girl or Batman he flew up and to the roof of the bank.
As he landed on it he heard a distinct sound, a soft electronic hum. It was too soft for the human ear but he picked it up easily. Looking carefully he located the source and bent down to pick it up.
It was a small electronic signaling device. Superman picked it up and after looking it over carefully placed in his ear. Almost immediately he heard Batman’s voice through it.
“Thanks for your help today. If you ever need to get in touch with me just press in the small button on the ear piece and start talking,” and that was all he said.
Syndicate Universe
Outskirts of Coast City
Ultraman, Power Ring and Johnny Quick were in conference. The three looked grim.
“How many ships did you say are coming towards us?” Johnny asked Power Ring.
“I counted fifty,” Power Ring answered. “They are armed to the teeth and should arrive by Tuesday.”
“That gives us three days to organize our defenses,” Ultraman stated. “I had other plans for the rest of my weekend but she can wait.” He said this under his breath more to himself but the mad look that came into his eyes for a brief moment was very loud.
“Do you have any idea who they, where they’re from or what they want?” asked Ultraman.
Power Ring cleared his throat. “No to all of the above. I don’t even know if they’re from our plane of existence. The only identifying marks were spheres with flames coming out of them on their hulls.”
Johnny Quick could see that they were losing Ultraman’s attention. “Well, I guess we should inform the rest. And then you and Power Ring can go pay their advance guard a visit.”
Ultraman brightened at the suggestion. “That is fine. I’ll inform Owlman and Superwoman; you two inform the rest. Meet me outside the Floating Fortress in two hours”
With that said, Ultraman took off like a bullet.
Power Ring and Johnny Quick looked at each other.
“Seems Ultraman can’t keep his hands off Superwoman,” Johnny said with a smirk.
“Yeah, well neither can the rest of us,” Power Ring responded with a satisfied smile.
JLA Universe
Gotham City
Superman had just taken to the sky when he noticed an object falling through the atmosphere. He flew towards it, calculating its speed and trajectory. He knew it would land in the harbor but wanted to know what it was. It crashed into the harbor as he hovered over the water. As Superman scanned it he heard a familiar heartbeat on the dock. He turned with a smile. “So we meet again.”
Batman did not return the smile but acknowledged his presence with a question.
“Did you see what it was?”
“No, but if it’s looking for a fight it won’t have much of a chance against the three of us,” Superman answered with a smile. “Hopefully whatever it is, its vulnerable to female voices.”
“Feel free to join us whenever you like.” Batman whispered.
Black Canary stepped out from behind a pile of crates. “Ok, how did you know I was here?” she asked exasperated.
“You have a distinct heart beat,” Superman said with a smile.
“You make a lot of noise trying to be quiet,” Batman said softly.
Black Canary heard Batman’s voice but it took her a second to locate him. His voice had nearly made her leap out of her skin but when she saw him she did jump. He was standing next to her.
At first, all she saw was black and grey and muscle as she was staring directly at his chest. She looked up to his face. What she could see of it seemed nice but the voice was a bit scary. She could not see his eyes hidden as they were behind his cowl.
“Hi,” she croaked. “I’m the Black Canary,” she said, her voice getting a little stronger.
The introductions were cut short.
“Whatever it is, here it comes!” Superman shouted.
There was some violent churning and a dark, grotesque looking creature, at least fifteen feet tall, burst from the depths of the bay landing heavily on the shore.
Syndicate Universe
Ivy Town
Ray Palmer and Protex exited the lab where they had been experimenting at the expense of their teammates. Ray locked the door and turned to Protex. “See you on Monday.”
“Yes, on Monday,” Protex answered in his deep other worldly voice.
While Ray appreciated that Protex was alone in the universe, and that he was always available to help him with his “projects,” he still gave him the creeps. He always wondered if the white Martian was thinking about eating him.
Ray teleported home, Protex did not.
JLA Universe
Coast City
Hal Jordan sat across from an attractive brunette at the Coast City Cafe. It was Saturday evening, and already turning to dusk they were just finishing a light meal. He had seen her at the air force base where he worked a couple of months prior but had not had the chance to speak to her. They had met by accident again today, bumping into each other at the supermarket. He hoped he would be able to do some more “bumping” with her later at his apartment. If her body language was any indication, she was already conquered. That meant that he would not have to waste time taking her clubbing. A quick walk along the beach, a few lines about her beauty, some stories about his work, and he would have her naked in his bed, he thought smugly.
Hal was quite satisfied with himself. He had a ways to go before he had as many notches on his belt as his friend Ollie, but he wasn’t as rich. Of course, that meant that the ladies wanted him for his body and not his money he thought with a satisfied smile.
Hal knew he was considered handsome. With his six foot two, athletic frame, shock of brown hair, blue eyes and his roguish daredevil attitude there were few women who had turned him down. The few who had he dismissed as no great loss.
Hal enjoyed his job as a test pilot for “Ferris Aircraft.” He loved flying fast planes just as much as he loved fast women. He never turned down an assignment no matter the risk. Everyone at Edward’s Air Force Base called him “Fearless Hal”. He didn’t seem to have a sense of caution or self-preservation. He just wanted to be in the air as much as possible.
Hal’s attractive boss, Carol Ferris, had expressed some concern for his dangerous, self-destructive behavior, but since he was her best pilot, she did not push him too hard to slow down.
Hal was very happy. He had a whole evening free to spend with this pretty girl. He thought she said her name was Penny. He was pretty sure it was Penny. He couldn’t risk asking her and ruining the moment.
“…made you want to fly?”
Penny’s question yanked Hal from his daydream. It had been his father of course. His father had been a hotshot pilot as well. He hadn’t been home much. But his adventurous spirit and his wild stories had infected young Hal with an unquenchable desire to conquer the skies. The night he saw his father fall from the sky while testing a faulty jet had been the worst of his life. He had determined then and there that he would follow in his father’s footsteps and defeat his father’s killer, the sky.
“My father,” Hal answered in a moment of honesty. “He took me up in the air for the first time when I was four years old. He told me seeing how small the world looks from so far up in the sky makes you appreciate life just that much more.”
Hal took Penny’s hand. “It makes me appreciate life and beauty. It makes me not want to waste a moment,” he said staring into her eyes.
Her big eyes stared back into his brightly.
Hal smiled back at her. “What do you say we go down to the beach and take a walk along the surf,” he suggested.
Penny loved the idea. Hal paid the bill and they were off.
As they strode along the surf holding hands, Hal placed his free hand into his pocket. His fingers came in contact with a hard object and instantly Hal’s thoughts were pulled back to six weeks earlier.
Carol had told Hal that she did not want him in the air that day. He was to report to the simulation hanger, to run some, well, simulations. He had just sat down in a simulator when he had been enveloped in a strange green energy and transported to the desert miles from the base. He had deposited in front of some kind of spacecraft that he had never seen before. Sitting just outside the craft leaning against its hull was a purple man dressed in a green and white uniform. The man looked seriously injured and was talking to him in some strange language.
The strange man had realized that Hal could not understand him. Making a fist the purple man had said some more gibberish to his ring finger and then suddenly Hal could understand him.
“I am Abin Sur,” the strange man had begun. “The ring has chosen you because you are without fear. Take it and this battery. The ring will do whatever you will it to. It must be recharged every twenty-four hours.”
The purple man had proceeded to repeat a chant to him, which while it had seemed cheesy, the ring had obviously been infused with energy as the alien had held it to the battery.
“Take the ring, Hal Jordan of earth and be fearless in your fight against evil. The Corps will come to find you and trai…” and he had died.
Hal remembered putting on the ring for the first time standing next to the dead alien. He did not know why but he felt like he had seen his father die all over again. He wondered what had attacked this “Abin Sur” and if it would pursue him here as he slipped on the ring.
He was again enveloped in a green glow of energy but this time it seemed to penetrate his very being. He cried out in surprise realizing that he was floating off the ground. His clothes were gone, replaced with a uniform mask similar to the alien’s.
For a moment he just floated there in a daze. Then remembering the words of the purple man he willed himself down. He looked at the stranger who had given him this amazing gift. He had said a small prayer for the first time in years wishing the stranger peace and then, using the ring he had buried him.
The next day, three aliens encased in green energy and clothed in a uniform similar to his, had appeared in his apartment. One looked like a giant bull ready to charge. He was surprised when he heard him give his name as Kilowog. He had expected something along the lines of “Toro”. The second one was about the same size as himself except that he was pink and had a huge head. His forehead took up as much or more room as his face. He wanted to call him “Forehead.” But had the good sense not to antagonize the very serious looking pink guy. The third one really got his attention. She was tall, as tall as himself, she was pink like “Forehead” but without the giant head. She had beautiful reddish black hair that fell past her shoulders. She was very well muscled and she had a beautiful yet fierce face.
He had initially gone on the defensive but they spoke to him in English through their rings. They had come to welcome him into the ranks of the Green Lantern Corps and the large bull like one, named Kilowog was to train him.
Hal had learned that Foreheads real name was Sinestro and that the pink muscled beauty was Boodikka. He hoped he would get a chance to wrestle with her, but it seemed she did not find him at all interesting.
Kilowog proved to be a good and patient trainer. Over the past several weeks he had taught him how to project his will power to the ring and how to fight. And Kilowog could fight. Sinestro was not bad either. He was certainly better than Hal but he seemed very ill-tempered and so Kilowog wisely did not allow him any hand to hand combat with his new pupil. Boodika, on the other hand, was a warrior born. She was fierce but fair. While she was not anywhere near as powerful as Kilowog she was perhaps just as good a hand to hand fighter.
Hal met many a humiliating defeat when sparring with her. It seemed he was destined for humiliation when It came to hand to hand combat but when it was time for will power it seemed he had the edge her. In all of their training exercises with the power rings, ninety-five percent of the time Hal was victorious. He had gotten so good that he had been allowed on a couple of space missions.
The boy who had wanted to conquer the sky had in the last few weeks conquered space.
Hal brought his thoughts back to the present. They were walking along the beach now. He could feel Penny’s excitement and desire for him. He stopped and turned towards her cupping her upturned face in his hands. Her eyes were closed, her face happy. He bent down to kiss his prize of the week and was knocked off his feet as a giant object crashed into the water just meters from where they stood.
Hal sat up dazed. Penny lay unconscious underneath him. He stared at the water as he put on his ring. There was a churning of the water and a giant grotesque yellow creature, about fifteen feet tall leaped from the water and landed heavily on the beach in front of him.
