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Forgotten Heroes
No Place Like Home
Part 1
On Vumania, the island base of the Forgotten Heroes, Captain Comet smiled as Joanie Swift entered in a blur.
"So far all seems quiet. The renewed activities of the JLA, Titans, and Outsiders make us Forgotten Heroes seem unneeded!" said the perky blonde.
Adam Blake said, "There's always a need for heroes of all kinds. Still, this lull makes me think about taking a vacation of sorts. I want to reconnect with my roots, as the pop psychologists say."
Joanie said, "That's right, in your own way you are as much a person out of time as we victims of Atoman are. You journeyed through space for so long that the world changed a lot in your absence."
Comet nodded. "Exactly. And I made a lot of errors when I first returned. I didn't acquit myself as well as I should have during my first cases back then. If I had not made good friends like the Hols, Superman and Green Lantern, I'd have been even worse."
Joanie said, "So, are your folks alive?"
Adam shook his head. "No, my parents and my mentor Professor Zackro are dead. I have one relation who is a black sheep of sorts, while another was a heroine in her own right. Actually, I was thinking about some friends instead of family. I think I'm going to try to go back home to visit them."
Joanie looked wistful. Her own life was a world and decades away. She had been torn through time and space by Atoman as part of a plot the madman had hatched against his own earth. She wondered if her friends, family, and boss Johnny Chambers were still alive.
Elsewhere on the island base, the Vigilante shot a row of cans with ease. He grinned and looked up at the muscular young man who watched the expert marksman.
"I reckon I ain't lost mah touch!" he said.
The Black Condor (Richard Grey) agreed. "Shooting with a mirror over one shoulder is like something one would witness on the television," he said.
"Shucks, it ain't so much," said Greg Sanders.
"Where's Angela?" he asked.
At that moment the pretty platinum blonde appeared out of the water nearby. She was sorrowful and it showed.
"Dolphin, what is it, honey?" asked Greg.
She said, "Rich called me Angela. That's not my name. I just learned this morning. Angel O'Day called. She had some genetic work done and the results show we are not sisters! I don't know who I am!"
Part 2
Golden Wasp (Cameron Van Cleef) looked thoughtful as he flew over Bludhaven. He had become a true hero to the people of the beleaguered city. He had even won a pardon for his past crimes as Killer Moth, although that had taken the persuasive skills and good word of Captain Comet to bring about. He even signed on as a reserve member of Captain Comet's heroic team. He could not abandon the feeling of appreciation that he enjoyed while serving as the city's lone hero.
He also had old business that kept him away from the lush isle base used by the Heroes. He wanted to see an old friend. He was nervous since it could ruin their relationship. What he proposed might meet with scorn or worse. He decided the chance was worth the risk.
He put his golden helmet on and flew off toward Gotham City. "Mort, I hope you give me a chance," he mused.
Part 3
Dolphin wept gently in Captain Comet's arms. He had assured her that the genetic facts didn't rob her of a loving sisterly relationship with detective Angel O'Day.
She had agreed readily. "Oh, I know. Angel said she cared for me like the sister she lost so long before. The one Phaeton turned aquatic, or so he claimed. I guess that child died. I mean, how likely is it any way that a small child could have survived alone at the ocean's floor? Our basic features were alike, and my abilities matched all she knew of her missing sibling. Phaeton certainly accepted that I was the child he stole from Mr. O'Day and turned into a water breather," she said tearfully.
Comet cupped her face in one hand. "We could still find your origin. Valor wanted to do so before she left Earth. I'll make it my top priority," he said reassuringly.
Dolphin said, "Angel's test was just part of a case. She did it for a lark, but I'm almost sorry we learned the truth!"
Comet said, "Something about your past tests make the answer seem correct when it wasn't. It's like your genetic pattern is... adaptable."
She nodded. "So who am I?"
He held her and tried to think of a reply.
Part 4
Later, Dolphin and Captain Comet sat together near the base communications computer.
He said, "I did something I should have done long ago. We know Aquaman to be the expert on undersea lifeforms, so I called him and spoke to him in addition to Mera and Aqualad. They told me something that might give us a clue. Following the Crisis, rebuilding work down below, and some personal problems, Aquaman rejoined the JLA and of course, they've been pretty busy too. Anyway, he said right after the Crisis he had a case that should interest you and might shed light on your mysterious origin!"
Dolphin's eyes grew brighter. "Tell me more!"
He did.
The rain beat down on the lonely pier and one man stood alone and unmoving. His beard was full and his long hair streamed back down his broad shoulders. The elements did not seem to affect him. Rain had little power over the King of the Seven Seas.
He scoffed at the old title. "King of naught! Rejected failure -- half-breed cast off by two worlds is more accurate." He was bitter; pitying himself. He was altered by Crisis and tragedy... but beneath it all this sorry figure was Arthur Curry -- Aquaman!
He had lost his son to a murdering foe called Black Manta. He had suffered marital strife ever since that crisis, as was natural. He had lost his intimate relationship with Queen Mera and now felt that she was a stranger to him.
Her beauty was intact, but now she was hardened by loss and bitter in act and word. She had given him a stern ultimatum -- return to life in New Venice beneath the oceans or she would depart this world entirely.
She had come from an other-dimensional realm and had great powers over water there as well as here, but the shapely redhead did not love the life of a superhero's wife. She sought Arthur's love and commitment to her life and world totally since the loss of their small son.
"That Manta was a surface evil doer. If you had never ventured to combat such killers above the waves, then all would be well. You would still be a king, a husband, and a father!" she had cried.
That had hurt him. Was it true? Did the world above even need a "Fish Man"? Not with Superman, Batman, and Green Lantern around.
Now he had tried to listen to her. He had quit the new JLA abruptly, leaving his youthful partners to vanish to other realms or worse. He had been reluctant to even think of rejoining the reformed team.
He was guilty and had even given up his throne to loyal Vulko and now had nothing! The Crisis had wrecked much of New Venice and his life too.
Part 6
Arthur Curry had had a loyal partner in a young man named Garth (Aqualad), but even their relationship had suffered since Curry had been forced to choose between the purple-eyed refugee and his own fresh and blood. Much had died with poor baby Arthur. Manta had a good deal to pay for, in this life and beyond. Garth had lost his lover Tula (Aquagirl) in the bloody Crisis and was adrift literally and emotionally now. Perhaps, he thought, it was time for them all to renounce the surface world and its horrors for a dedication to a life ordered and serene beneath the ocean swells.
A cry rang out down the pier and Aquaman (no, Curry as he thought of himself right now) turned to see a young man surrounded by thugs.
"Surface world scum, preying upon the weak. More moral decay everywhere I turn," he said bitterly.
Odd, how often lately he thought in terms of himself as one apart... not just by nature of his mixed ancestry, not just because of his unqiue powers, but by deliberate choice. If he was not Arthur -- King of Atlantis and was unhappy of late as Aquaman, super-hero, then he could only be Curry... nothing else. Still, by any name and in any emotional state this man was more. He was a hero. He saved lives. He performed under deadly crisis conditions. He made things right. And so, he cursed and turned to restore the peace.
"Leave him alone. Stand away from him, you craven piranha!" he said coldly.
The storm raged and the thugs turned to see this newcomer. He was in a long dark coat and he looked as if he was born to rule both men and the wild elements themselves. A thug pulled a gun and found himself slammed down to the straining boards of the old pier.
"Your crutch is as useless against me as your foul intent. Surrender, or better yet... combat me if you dare," whispered the sullen Curry.
He grabbed a second mugger and lifted him bodily off the ground. "Carrion filth! I should let you take your chances in the sea! Try to impose your petty will upon Mother Ocean, then if she spares you... crawl back on shore," he said.
The thug trembled. This was no good guy super hero. This was a warrior -- savage, relentless, dangerous. The last thug fled as Curry shook his friend with raw force.
"Thank you, sir! Perhaps... you could release him?" asked a musically voiced young man. It was the victim. He was handsome in a dandy way with long flowing auburn locks and intellegent, quick eyes.
"Yes. Why not?" muttered Curry.
"I would not advise you to take your strolls on this pier after dark. I might not be here next time.Go home," said Curry.
"I see. Thank you. I really didn't intend to wander here... but I don't know where home is. I have no memories before staggering from some conflict onto this pier," he said.
Curry frowned. Then something within spoke to him. The hero he was still lived.
"Then come with me. I'll help you."
Part 7
"What is your name?" asked Curry as he watched the man eat in the small pierside diner.
"Aaron? Yes. Aaron. That is all I recall," he said. "That and this," he said as he held forth a chart with marked locations across the ocean depths.
"An undersea treasure map. You don't have the look of a scavenger. More like a scholar," said Curry.
"I do love wisdom and the search for it. That I feel but more than that all I know... all I feel is that the secret to my life is hidden in this chart," said Aaron.
Curry brooded over the chart. Atlantean language. This was no ordinary map. Glyphs built within it indicated magic in its creation. What does this chart portray? A treasure? cities? ruins of old Atlantis? Any of the above could be true. How did this man come to carry it with no memory and yet a path that led him unerringly to me when even I had no fixed purpose in my night's wandering? mused Curry.
"Come. Now that you have eaten, I'll solve this riddle for you," he said.
Aaron smiled, "You will? But why? You've been so kind."
Curry smiled slightly, "That's what I do."
A stylish and ornate Atlantean vessel carried Curry, Aaron, and two others through the black ocean depths toward the cities beneath the seas.
"Nice ride," said Garth with a hint of his old spirit or that he had developed while among the bantering Titans of his youth.
Curry nodded. The ship was his by birthright and he claimed it for this mission, even if he had relinquished other royal trappings.
The woman who sat apart from them was Mera, princess of the other realm and his estranged wife. Her company was chilling and rending to his heart now, but at least she had agreed to join them.
"Hope springs eternal, eh?" he brooded.
Aaron watched them all, especially the icy Mera. What sorrows had come to this family and how this noble man was sorely tried by all he had faced! Yet, he still fought to help one in need. That was the stuff of legends and of heroes.
Part 8
Beneath the ocean depths Curry, Garth, Mera, and Aaron journeyed to the first spot marked on the amnesiac man's magic chart.
"This spot is on a significant site from Atlantean history. It was a corner of one of the fabled Zodiac gates of ancient Atlantis," said Curry.
Aaron nodded. "During the glory days of the City of the Golden Gates!"
Garth said, "How did you know that?"
Aaron said, "That phrase seemed to come to me as naturally as the need to locate whatever awaits me at these charted spots does."
Mera snorted in disdain. "I find this whole quest to be a fool's errand, but then that was always the way with Arthur. Risking life and limb... and family for the sake of adventure. A boy who never grew up."
Aaron stared at the redheaded woman intently. "I feel as if I have known you before," he said.
Mera's eyes blazed. "I am the Queen of Atlantis... now and ever more... let not my mate's feckless abandonment of our heritage delude you about that. No male may suffer my wrath gladly and no one dares gaze upon my form unchallenged!"
Curry frowned, "Mera, you have jumped to wrongful conclusions again. Aaron means no harm... and must I remind you that your queenship was entirely due to the saving of my realm and the laws governing said kingdom. Without me you would never have even had citizenship there, so do not presume upon my temper too severely."
Garth winced. Mera has been an ice maiden for so long that even Aquaman's snapped. He won't let her talk to him like this anymore. That could be a good thing.
Mera flounced off to the back of the ship.
Aaron said, "I need to journey within that ruin. Perhaps you can aid me thusly."
Odd language for a treasure hunter, mused Garth.
Curry said, "Take the tablet in the cabinet. It confers limited water breathing ability for surface dwellers." They filed out of the ship, leaving Mera to pout within.
"Something about this place speaks to me," said Aaron as they made their way inside the ornate splendor that had fallen into ruins.
"Things were certainly made to last in those times. I suspect magic is behind their preservation," offered Garth.
Curry abruptly stopped. "I detect something moving toward us in the distance. This place could have guards, or what you'd call squatters on the surface world."
They saw armored figures approach from the ruins. "By Deedra's Chain! Skeleton warriors!" cried Aaron as they closed in and Curry's keen eyes recognized the animated corpses.
"Get back behind me. I'll wage this war!" he ordered.
Garth pulled Aaron to the side. "He means it, pal. Let's just allow the man to do his thing."
Part 9
Aaron nodded. The skeleton warriors closed in and Curry charged them. This was the time to release his fury. The pain of loss, the pain of rejection, the guilt he felt over all his failures, real and imagined, all exploded.
He slammed into the first corpse and sent bones shattering through the current. He saw a sword descend toward his skull, and noticed in surprise that Aaron had stopped it and disarmed the user. "I found this blade here. The movement came back to me as if from a dream of lore," he said. He whirled and ducked and defended himself skillfully.
Garth watched and thought, Aaron is a swordmaster! This guy has his secrets alright.
Curry was less surprised, for he had begun to guess just who Aaron might possibly be... though the answer involved magic or time travel, and he had seen both often enough. He refused to duck the blades aimed for his body. He merely surged forward like a wave personified and crushed one corpse after another in his wake. Curry fought through the skeletons and watched as Aaron uncovered a gemstone of crystal.
"This is what we came for. I sense that much," he said as he sheathed the sword he had claimed.
"Excellent! You are a fine swordsman..." said Curry, but then, that's what your legends said too, he inwardly added.
They returned to the ship where Mera lounged on a divan. "You returned? How nice. I would hate to see this fine adventure end with your death. The surface world must be in dire need of your powers. What would Superman and Hawkman do without the mighty Aquaman?" she said in a mocking tone.
Curry turned white and stalked off. "Set the course, Garth. I suspect the next marking is also over a former Zodiac Gate."
Aaron gazed into the crystal and visions of battles flashed through his mind. A huge Indian warrior and an oriental swordswoman along with a shapechanging blonde girl fought at someone's side. His side? Against aliens, wizards, and a weird creature with madness in his eyes.
The journey went quietly as Mera combed her long hair silently and Curry scowled out the portal.
Part 10
Garth mourned his lost love and wondered if his place was with the fragmented Titans. Could I even lead the team? I need something to challenge me. Aquaman and Mera are at war with each other and the pain that drives them is growing stronger ever minute. I can't watch them blow up like this, he thought.
Curry gazed at his woman. She was his woman. In Atlantean law, as ruler he could claim his mate or mates. Mera could be one of a harem, but he deferred to her. She had been his partner and lover. Had the tragic death of Arthur Jr. at Manta's hands many years ago now so embittered their love? He was angry and hurt, and could only act. Action would keep him sane. "This is it. The second arch or gateway was once here... where ruins now stand," he began.
"Uh, Aquaman, those sure aren't ruins anymore!" said Garth.
Huge towers rose from the sea as a gleaming city occupied the once empty oceanscape.
"By Tritan, that is new! That was not here last time I swam these waters. Those ruins are not from Atlantis," he vowed.
Aaron said, "I sense evil. I feel this place is not of this realm... not even of this dimension."
How does a guy like that know dimensional travel? wondered Garth.
Mera sat up and showed alarm for the first time. She clutched Curry's arm and he enjoyed the sensation.
"The sea life is scared. They say this city appeared here all at once, days ago," announced Curry after a quick conversation with the passing aquatic life.
"Let us leave!" said Mera.
"No! I need the gemstone within that tower. It was found and taken inside by whoever brought that tower here from the other realms," said Aaron.
"Okay, Garth, stay here with Mera. Aaron and I shall check out this place... be it demon abode or celestial palace, we'll brave its doors or die trying," said Curry.
They hurried off and Garth turned to Mera. "Can't you forgive him? He is suffering so. I know he loves you desperately. This whole series of events has nearly broken him. He is hard and it is from pain not from any lack of sensitivity," he pleaded at her feet.
She turned and said, "Boy, you are his foundling, not mine. I would as soon have cast you back to the outcast life your purple eyes earned you."
Garth winced and swam off. Got to get out or I swear I'll strike that witch! he thought.
Part 11
Tula, how did our world change so fast? How do I live without your wit, humor, love? Even when Roy, Donna, and I re-teamed to handle Dr. Light I couldn''t stop thinking about you! he groaned. His lost love haunted him yet but he was young and had much to live for yet.
He entered the towers and crossed a hallway full of ornate paintings of weird scenes. He had seen something like these seascapes in a nightmare. He heard a scream ring out and broke through a doorway to see a warlord hovering over a woman. "Leave her alone!" he declared.
The alien being was pink and red and did indeed look other worldly. "Make me, guppy," he said.
Aqualad ducked his chain-mailed fist and caught the arm in midswing. Like Dick taught me, he thought as he twisted and flipped the alien over his shoulder.
A swift kick to the throat left it stunned on the floor. He turned to look upon the alien's prisoner... and gasped in shock. "You!"
Elsewhere, Curry and Aaron ran around a corner.
"Curry, your mate is not what she appears to be... she is evil," began Aaron.
"Stop!" commanded Curry. "I love her, even if she has turned bitter."
An enormous alien being appeared before them with an army of guards at his bulbous sides. "Ha! ha! ha! It is my old foe returned to die at the hands of Warlord Galg the Destroyer!" said the huge fleshy creature. His size filled the hallway as his men lurked in front or behind his massive rolling fat form.
"Galg, you otherworldly fiend! I'll shred the flesh from your decayed mass!" ordered a grim and dangerously quiet Curry. He rushed forward toward the monstrous creature. "You rule a microverse. I assume that explains how the place suddenly appeared over an Atlantean ruin. You enlarged the base of your microscopic subsea kingdom," said Curry coldly.
Galg rumbled deep within his bulbous stomach. "True! I enlarged the tower and entered your realm from the microverse dimension beneath the ocean. And I am not going back either. It's the big time for me, as your kind say," he laughed.
Aaron drew his sword, only to be attacked by the pinkish alien guards. "By Deedra's Chain, come on fiends and face the power of the scion of the Golden Gate!" he cried. He swung the blade with rare skill and drove back the much larger creatures with his sheer courage.
Curry took the moment to send out a mental command, and the serpentine creatures curled around Galg's form came to obey their true king. They wrapped around Galg long enough for Curry to tackle him and pound him senseless. "This ends here! I've seen enough pain and death. I won't allow your kind of filth to sully the oceans of this world as you have your own," he growled.
Galg screamed and saw his guards fall to the sword of Aaron while Curry fought with a new fierce brutality.
"I surrender! Take your human friends and leave me. I shall return to my own realm!" he babbled.
Aaron said, "Look -- there upon his throne hangs the crystal we sought! It is of a kind to the one I carry."
Curry nodded. "If a hunch I have is correct, then we need to get those crystals together as soon as possible. Hope Garth and Mera are okay back at the ship."
He grabbed it and turned to hand it off to Aaron who smiled and fitted it into the one he carried. They formed half on an odd starlike emblem. He smiled again in recognizition.
Part 12
Elsewhere in Galg's tower, Aqualad gazed down upon a captive woman he recognized. Her hair was much longer than it had been when he had last met her. The young girl's golden locks were now thick and luxurious as they cascaded down her now mature body. She was beautiful like a fantasy creature come to stunning life. Her features were vibrant, youthful, and had a purity that touched Garth's heart. She wore a pink seashell bra and pink short skirt. Her legs were long, bare, and human. This last feature was not always the case, since this Atlantean-born resident of Denmark could turn her lower limbs into a mermaid tail and fly when she so desired. Her name was Ulla Påske -- the Global Guardian known as the Little Mermaid.
"Garth! Thank goodness! That monster caught me and has been doing terrible experiments upon me. That's why I can now live underwater as long as I want. Free me, please!" she cried.
He tore down her chains and carried the crying woman out of the cell. Garth and Ulla rushed down and into the main throne room as guards chased after them.
"Good to see you are as reckless as ever... and as loyal," said Curry.
Garth grinned and kicked a guard in the face. Ulla flew up and dropped a guard into his friends. She laughed with her old impishness. Her long blonde locks flowed in the undersea wind and she was magnificent to watch.
"Mermaid -- well met!" said Curry as he watched the blonde beauty fly directly through a squad of guards and send them rolling aside.
"Aquaman? You've changed!" she said.
Curry glanced at the woman's curves and new power and said, "I'm not the only one!"
Aaron gestured and energy flashed across the arena at his command. It sent another guard squadron cowering before his flashing magic. I'm right about his identity, mused Curry.
Ulla pulled Garth near. "Thank you so much for rescuing me." She kissed me on the cheek and he liked the sensation very much.
Curry noticed them and thought, Perhaps she'll make the Guppy forget poor Tula.
Galg whined. "That magical fire -- it disrupts the integrity of the enlargement machine! We'll be returned to the microverse!"
The structure began to flicker away around them in response to the magical power unleashed. They rushed out as Galg and his dreams of empire shrank to microscopic size and left the ruins of old Atlantis exposed anew.
Part 13
The tower blinked out of sight as they all crowded into the vessel.
Mera lounged lanquidly across a divan. "Oh, we have company," she sneered.
Garth and Ulla whispered together in the back of the craft.
"So you have parents in Atlantis still, as well as adopted ones in Denmark? I find it interesting that you adapted to life above so well. I mean, you're the national heroine of Denmark, chosen to represent your home in the Global Guardians! That speaks volumes about how well you are loved by the Danes," he said.
Ulla gazed in his intense purple eyes and said, "Well, I never knew life beneath the waves for an extended period of time... until Galg's experiments altered me... increased my powers and made the duration I can live above or below water limitless. I guess I owe that thing thanks... but if you had not freed me, I think he intended me for his harem."
Garth kissed her. "I don't blame him!" Ulla smiled and embraced him back.
Mera combed her hair and watched as Aaron stared back at her. "I do know you... from the past," he whispered.
"One final chart reading... directly below. It should finish the crystal and restore your memories," said Curry.
In minutes they had located the final crystal.
"Arion!" The name rang out from Aaron's lips with joy and awareness as he fitted the final crystal together. No one had come forth this time to oppose him.
"I am Arion, Lord High Mage of Atlantis! You have restored me to my self after foul magic gone astray banished me from my era and clouded my mind!" he said with a newly found regal power.
Part 14
Curry smiled grimly. "I suspected as much. You are the hero my people have celebrated for eons. You are the greatest legend we have in Atlantis. A hero who wrought wonders and saved Atlantis from dark magic again and again... especially from..." began Aquaman.
A magical blast surged through him and he was driven to the ocean's floor.
"From his brother! From Garn Daanuth!" said Mera as her eyes widened in evil glee! "From the spirit that now wears this comely body!"
"Great Atlantis! This explains Mera's changed ways... her hate... her venom!" breathed Curry.
Arion stepped forward. "My brother! I knew your stench within that mate of Curry's. Release her and duel with me anew! I shall defeat you for good this time, so swears Arion, Prince of Magicians!"
Garth held Ulla near as the ancient foes faced one another.
Curry stood firm, even as fiery rays bathed his body in pain. "Mera, I love you! Fight this fiend!"
Mera laughed and generated a blast of solid water that tore toward Arion. Garth leaped forward to be slammed down by her second fist. "Boy, you are not worth my time. Let me slay your master and you may flee with your plaything," said Mera/Garn.
Arion summoned forth a powerful crystal in the pattern of the jewels that had restored his mind. "Garn, you drove me to the extreme of using magic untried to secure my life and heir. It brought me here, but so protected me that even I lost memory of the fact that I was Arion. It hid me from myself as well as from you!" he said as he waved Curry aside.
"She is my wife, don't harm her, even if you are the legend I revere so much! I won't lose another loved one!" said Curry.
Arion frowned. "I seek to save her from the evil that has warped her thusly!"
Garn said, "I was drawn through time to this era, as were you, but I retained my sense of self... and lost my body. I claimed hers through the darkness her child's death filled her with anon."
Curry menaced him/her. "Leave her and take me as your host. I am stronger. I am the heir to Atlantis. You would control the true power of the ocean world... not merely his mate!"
Mera smiled and said, "Indeed, such sacrifice! Yet I read you truly. You are willing to give up your life, your soul to free this woman."
"So be it!" she/he said. Energies flashed as he left a limp Mera to fall to the ground while the colored energy surged over Curry's body... before Arion shoved the crystal between the energy and Curry.
"No!" screamed Garn as he was imprisoned within his brother's sacred emblem.
"Yes. You read my thoughts perfectly, Arthur. Know that I am pleased with you," said Arion.
"My brother's evil is now contained, and I will deal with him later. How fares Mera?"
Curry held his sobbing wife close. "Oh, Arthur, forgive me! It was that things using my lips, my body... I love you!"
He smiled and tears filled his eyes. "Mera, I've found you and I won't lose you ever again!"
A beaming Aquaman held his wife and said, "Arion, I cannot thank you enough for this! You made me myself again... you and Garth."
Arion said, "You can return the favor. Aid me in finding my own lost child! My infant daughter was also transported through time when the spell went wrong. She could have ended up here, or even a few decades past, or possibly yet to come! The magic would have adapted her to ensure her survival, but naught else can I say."
Aquaman said, "I'll clean up a bit and we'll find her."
Mera clung to him happily as Arion said, "Milady, I sense that you carry within you a new life yet aborning. A strong and healthy daughter free of any taint of my brother's magic."
She wept as her husband rejoiced at the news.
Part 15
"Not long after that Arthur became busy with JLA cases and yet he and Arion were both intrigued when I reminded him of you," said Comet as he closed his story.
Dolphin said, "You mean you think I was the babe transported through time to grow up in our era? I am the lost daughter of this Arion of Atlantis?"
"'Tis true! My child, I know you now -- you are my one true daughter! Your aquatic gifts came to preserve you in the much altered Atlantis and its environs of this era!" said a rich, musical voice.
Arion and Aquaman entered the room. Dolphin gasped at the handsome, regal heroic figure before her. "Can this be?" she said slowly.
A magical glyph flashed into view as Arion touched her hand. "See? 'Tis the symbol of the House of Arion! Our touch produced it as a heralding that you are mine," he said tenderly.
She fell into his arms. "We have much to talk over!" she said happily.
Captain Comet smiled broadly as he shook hands with Aquaman. "I understand you are a father to be," he said.
"Sounds like Mera is too proud to keep secrets," said Arthur Curry. "That's one reason I've scaled back some of my JLA work. I intend to be here for our daughter. She will not suffer like my son did," he said grimly.
Captain Comet said, "I'm sure the Princess of Atlantis will be very happy!"
Part 16
Dolphin and her new-found father enjoyed time together on the isle for a few days. She exulted in having a true family and a birthname.
"Mara was your mother's name, and it is yours as well. She had your hair," said Arion.
Dolphin smiled at him. "I want to hear everything about your time and the wonders of lost Atlantis."
Arion smiled and spoke in his musical tone, "That tale would take many a day, but I would love to share the glories of that fabled realm anew."
She kissed him on the cheek and they watched Captain Comet depart. "I owe so much to him. He's wonderful! A hero's hero," she said.
"He lives up to his name as a Man of the Future," said Arion.
"I have a name to live up to as well," said Richard Grey.
"The Black Condor is one that suits you, pal," said the Vigilante.
"Maybe. Still, while I was given that name by the mutated birds of the flock, it was first used by another who visited here before I left the east. He earned it. I feel like I'm unworthy," said the young man.
"So what should we call you when you're suited up, Pard?" said Greg Sanders.
"Raven!" said Rich Gray.
"Right nice choice," said Greg.
Meanwhile, Captain Comet was heading home...
Part 17
Vigilante frowned as he saw Richard Grey carrying a suitcase that night.
"Whoa! Where you headed?" he asked.
Richard said, "Greg, my father's lawyer located me this afternoon. I have a rather large estate to manage, as his only heir. I also realize that while Father Pierre did a fine job of teaching me while we hid in the caves from the wizard who sought my death, I have a lot to learn about just being a normal man and not a 'bird man'. So I hate to say it, but I'm leaving for Massachusetts, where the land is, and I hope with the lawyer's advice to continue a more formal education."
Vigilante said, "Nothin' wrong with that. Don't look so crest-fallen. When you get settled and all, Raven can fly again."
Richard shook his head. "Thanks, you and the rest have been great. I told Hawkman my plans as well. He thinks it is a good choice. Say good bye to Adam for me when he gets back. I took my leave of Mara... seems odd to call Dolphin that." He entered the transponder and vanished with a final smile.
Greg Sanders said, "I hope he finds what he wants. Lawyers can be as slick as snakes at times. Like when they're awake."
Elsewhere, the Golden Wasp hovered near a large estate outside Gotham.
I may get a rough reception, thought the former Killer Moth. Still, I need to make peace with him sooner or later.
He moved toward the large driveway with a sense of hope and a bit of his old cocky manner intact.
Part 18
Captain Comet reached a small town he knew so well. It had been decades since he was last there, but, to his surprise and relief, little had changed in Midwest City.
"Odd, the new buildings are impressive in a military manner but nothing has changed in terms of residential buildings, and my total recall makes that a certainty," he mused as he walked the streets dressed in a blue suit. There's my old workplace. Be good to see Lucy again, he thought as the Man of the Future approached Midwest City Public Library, where he'd worked in his Adam Blake identity.
He stopped on the steps and remembered Lucy Torrence, his old flame. She had been blonde and dainty, yet full of fun. He had thought about her often since he left Earth and Midwest City so long before. She'd be in her fifties by now! So odd how my mutant metabolism sets me apart from others. I'm over fifty myself, yet I have not aged since my twenties or so. It makes me wonder if a thousand years from now, when all of mankind is like me, I'll be around to see for myself, he thought.
Adam recalled Professor Zackro -- his old mentor -- telling him that his powers might be incomplete and that he could develop new and amazing ones as he aged. He had gained some abilities over the years in space. Perhaps more would come. He did not like to feel different or apart from other people. This being a mutant was a difficult burden at times. Yet it was not his nature to be negative, so he tried to comfort himself by how many good things he could do for others because of his gifts.
He entered the library and frowned. Odd. No computers. I'd have wagered the library would have been updated since my time as Reference Librarian in the 1950s. He glanced at the old wooden drawered card catalogue. Amazing! No new materials have been added since I left. I'd know if anything was new. I had the whole collection in my memory, he mused.
Adam saw Lucy and he smiled. She was graying but still pretty. "Lucy! It's so nice to see that you're still here," he began.
She turned and greeted him with the frozen smile of the good public servant... and nothing more. "Mr. Blake. How are you? It's been years since you were last in our community. I understand you have made quite a name for yourself as Captain Comet. You are in that Justice League I believe?" she said.
He said, "I'm just an associate. How are you?"
She said, "Fine. I'm still in circulation. Mr. Jenkins has your old job."
Comet blinked in surprise at more than just her cold manner. Jenkins had been sixty back in the 1950s when Comet last worked there. "He is still working?" said Adam.
Mr. Jenkins, old yet crisp in manner, appeared. "Indeed I am. May I help you?" he said.
Adam said, "I see some military facilities are here now, yet little else has changed. I find that odd."
"Perhaps you should leave," said Lucy.
Adam said, "No, I think I'd better stay a while..."
Part 19
In Washington, DC, a distinguished, graying man ranted and raved in his empty office.
"My second Society did little more than allow his team to display their skills. Of course, he did rid me of that Wizard, or whoever it was posing as the Wizard. Still, after all these years Blake returns to Midwest City! I should be calm. This is a good thing. Choosing Midwest City as our base was entirely due to the fact that he once lived there and had friends there. Hurting Captain Comet was my main goal. Now either he will figure out what we've done and be killed, or he will leave discouraged and alienated from those he once thought of as friends. Either way, I triumph and avenge myself upon him after so very long!" He calmed down. "Yes, homecoming is a good thing after all."
This feeling was not what Adam Blake was experiencing.
He had not expected old friends to treat him the same after decades apart, but he did not expect the town to be full of so many odd elements either. He had walked out of the library toward the drug store on the corner.
Lucy had turned in his absence to Jenkins and as one they said, "Yes, homecoming is a good thing after all."
Captain Comet knew that something was wrong in his old community.
The basic elements of comfort -- books, clothing, means of cooking are all unchanged since the 1950s. A glance around the drugstore proved that. The menus had the prices from back then still posted. No one entered to eat while I was there, and that tale about the kitchen being closed was a lie. I could tell, he thought as he left the old eatery after being turned away.
The waitress was going to leave for college back then. She's still there. Older, but still there. The old folks I knew are all alive. No one died in all the time I left. It's weird. The phone book is unaltered. No one moved. No new families came to live here. This is a mystery Ralph Dibny could get into, he thought.
I know the answers can be found at the new place, he vowed. Tonight I go to the new military complex as an uninvited visitor, he thought.
Part 20
That night, Captain Comet approached the high fences of the new development in Midwest City. He noticed security alarms overhead and calmly, with a great deal of expertise, disabled them with telekinesis. He similarly manipulated the locks, and soon found himself in a laboratory environment.
Clearly this is not so much an arsenal as a research and development lab. Still, biochemical weapons could be hidden within, or something worse. If this was on the level, the rest of Midwest City would have signs of normal progress. If nothing else, something as superficial as a portable stereo or a mini-skirt would be in evidence. Yet, from all outward appearances Eisenhower could still be in the oval office!
He glanced through some papers in a cabinet and realized what he had found. It only took his keen mind and photographic memory a quick glance to absorb, retain, and analyze all he read.
This is worse than I thought. The whole city has been virtually at a standstill since the 1950s. Culture has not developed here in any manner, from music, literature, and art, to the sciences and simple domestic comforts! The reason for this can only be that the inhabitants who are also bizarrely unaltered since the 1950s no longer have normal human interests in such matters. I'd wager the reason the drug store didn't serve me is that food has not been a concern of this city for decades!
He saw five men approach, and he knew them all from his time in the city. None had altered except for looking a bit older. "Alan, Wayne, Donald, Jay, James. You know me? What have they done to you all?" he asked, although he already had an idea, and doubted he'd get a reply.
"You know what we are. Adam Blake, you defeated us before," they said in unison. He saw them pull out odd stun guns, as if all of them acted with one set of reflexes.
He concentrated, and the guns spun out of their hands even as he had them whirl around to aim at their surprised owners. "These guns won't harm you any longer, will they? They only affect humans, not bio-bots," he said sadly.
"As always you are clever, Man of the Future," they said.
"Don't you all ever get tired of this Greek chorus bit?" he said as he grimly prepared for what he anticipated would follow.
"Bio-bot, plasmen, or synthezoid. The terms are of no matter. We know what we are," they said.
"Of course you do. Everything one of you artificial beings knows, sees, or does, is automatically perceived by all of your pod brothers. I recall that much," he said.
Part 21
"Why did you replicate? I assumed you all had been destroyed by me back then when you tried to conquer earth in the 1950s," he said.
Others joined the five. Lucy, Jenkins, Betty Cooper, Debbi Jones, women and men he had know from his time in what had been a happy community.
"You know our tale. We were called plasmen by the U.S. military labs that produced us. We were/are synthetic humanoids who could alter our shapes to mimic anyone. You deduced our secrets when we rebelled against our makers. Your keen brain destroyed us... except for one lone brother who went into deep hiding and learned your ways. He rose through the military -- aging his human form -- until he commanded the division that formed your Suicide Squad. Imagine how he/we hated your return and yet rejoiced at a chance to avenge our race upon you! He thrilled as we all did to send you into danger. Even now Logan commands and occupies your friend Flagg and his allies through the unknowing Waller."
Comet frowned. "So one plasman survived and... replicated until he had somehow replaced every citizen of Midwest City to spite me!"
"We did not replicate and slay your friends. We bio-assimilated with all of the city's dwellers. They were needed to provide us with memories and knowledge of human ways. Their minds have been dormant since we took control," said all of them as one.
"You fiends! No wonder you kept others out and never adopted new fashions, fads, language, et cetera. You don't need to eat, sleep, or age except as you choose to keep up a disguise of normalcy. You ignored creature comforts that would otherwise have developed over time because your artificial nature makes such things meaningless!" he said even as his mind raced at the possibilities. No one has died yet. The folks I knew sleep or hibernate inside these things who have assimilated them all, he mused.
"We welcome you here. We picked your old home to inflict pain. That is what you humans feel, yes?" said the collective being.
"Correct. You succeeded in that. The idea that these poor people have suffered through decades of domination because they were my friends does hurt me. However, you greatly fool yourselves if you think I can't stop you!" he said.
Part 22
"To stop us you must fight those you cherish. Friends, loved ones... family," they intoned as the crowd parted to allow one beautiful blonde woman to step to the front.
"Zinda!" said Adam.
"Yes! When I/we came here after your departure, I was rapidly allowed within and assimilated with great pleasure because of my relationship to you, cousin," said the blonde as her words echoed from all of the plasmen.
"You forgot about this!" cried Captain Comet as he whipped out his blaster.
"You can not harm us with that ray gun!" they said.
"Don't be so sure. Do you think I just carry it around for show? It contains a concentrated form of something you are vulnerable to... pure oxygen!" he said as his mind probed the closest plasman.
The gun fired and they all screamed as one.
"What defeats one of you, defeats all of you! The pure oxygen will destroy you and free your altered human hosts!" he said. They all shrieked, and then silence reigned.
"Adam! What happened?" gasped Zinda Blake as she fell into her cousin's arms.
"It's a long story that I'll share with all of you," he said with a smile as Lucy, Jenkins, Betty, Veronica, and all the people of Midwest City awoke for the first time in decades.
In DC, the graying Logan lay prone on the floor of his office. His aides tried to rouse him, but this original plasman had no human host and thus was totally inert following the oxygen blast.
Days later, Captain Comet sat next to a much-younger Zinda Blake.
"The benefit of your contact with those creatures is that none of you have aged. The mere cosmetic effect of aging was due to the plasmen's ability to alter their looks and thus your own as need to appear to age like real humans. In truth, by being dormant for those years, you and the others have not aged in over twenty some years. I suppose it seems to you all like you went to sleep in the 1950's and then woke up days ago, but it was actually decades later when I destroyed the bio-bots."
Zinda said, "Did you kill them?"
Comet laughed. "No. They were never truly alive, but I merely mentally dominated one and through it all the rest. I created the vivid mental impression that I had blasted them with pure concentrated oxygen -- it is their greatest weakness -- when in fact, I never fired the gun at all. Better living through mental prowess, I say."
Zinda laughed. "When you taught me to fly back when I was a girl, I knew you were smart. You've impressed the world since then."
Adam turned to his blonde cousin, "You have, too, as I've learned recently. After I left you made a real name for yourself as Lady Blackhawk around 1959 or so."
She said, "Yes. I missed out on so much with my old friends by being trapped by the plasmen. I may be no older then I was in 1968 or so, but what do I do now?"
He said, "Cousin, you join me as my team's personal pilot."
Zinda hugged him. "I love the idea!"
He said, "I only wish our distant cousin young Tom Blake had not become the Catman. Talk about a black sheep."
Zinda elbowed him. "Don't ever say Black sheep to a Blackhawk."
Part 23
Cameron Van Cleef (The Golden Wasp) knocked at the door to his old friend's manor. "Come on, Mort. Open the door!" he yelled.
Then, a handsome face peered out anxiously. "Cameron, old man! Do come inside. Wouldn't want the neighbors to see you dressed like a giant insect. Bad for property values, you know," said Mortimer Drake.
"Certainly, but it's fine for you to go around dressed like an escapee from Captain Blood," replied the Wasp as he shook hands with the Cavalier.
"What brings you here this night? Larceny, women, or both?" said the long haired, bearded man in the plumed hat.
"No, I want to offer you a deal," he said as he removed his helmet.
"Do tell! If I can acquire more antiques and hold off the creditors from the family pile here, then I am assuredly your man," said Cavalier with a sweeping bow.
"Look, Mort. I am legit now. I have the papers to prove it. Captain Comet squared things for me after I served on his team and made a name for myself in Bludhaven with the local cops," he said as he drank from a crystal glass.
The Cavalier lounged carelessly nearby. "Old man, Bludhaven is so downscale. Not our kind of people," he drawled.
"I like it there. They accept me as a hero. I'm the Batman of Bludhaven!" he said.
Laughter rang out. "And that was your old ambition was it not? To get the respect the Caped Crusader has! Well done. As for me, I'd prefer a good claret and the works of Drayton," said Mort.
"Mort, you are a wanted man. Come with me, join my team... well, actually it's Comet's team... and you can earn a pardon," he said.
"We do work well together. Still, Captain Comet seems a dull dog to me. Not the swashbuckling type like us. That Golden Glider does seem worth my time though," he smiled.
"She is not with the team," said Cameron.
"Too bad. I have an offer for you. Keep all pure and wholesome as the Wasp, but acquire a third identity like the Scarab, or the Fly, or the Red Whosis, and be my criminal partner for old times' sake," he said with a roguish gleam in his dark eyes.
"I like that idea. Still, I can't go back. I'm trying to be honest. I really am a reformed man," said the Wasp.
Cavalier said, "No. I can't see myself as the hero. I tried that pose before, you know. Should I reach for the electrified sword? Are you 'gonna take me in' as they say?" he said.
Wasp shook his head. "No. We go back too far for that. Just don't cross the path of Comet's team or pull a job in Bludhaven," he warned.
Cavalier grinned. "Agreed! Now, pour the claret and raise a toast. To the thrill of the chase!" he said.
"To old friends!" replied the Wasp.