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Suicide Squad
Whatever Happened To--?
WHATEVER HAPPENED TO--?: Part 1
Karin Grace was enjoying every use of her newfound power. The Star-band allowed the perky blonde to generate energy, create energy constructs, and summon the seemingly limitless Starlings who obeyed her every whim. Perhaps even Rick Flagg would start to actually look at her in a new and romantic light now that she was more than his loyal secretary.
She had mastered the device during her untold adventure with Valor in another dimension ruled by a madman named Dax. That event had been the cause of their delay in helping Comet beat the latest Secret Society of Super Villains.
As for the blonde beauty, Lesla-Lar (Valor), she had happily accepted Comet's offer to serve as the new science consultant to his team, and the Kandorian hoped to use her advanced science for the good of the team. She marvelled that lab work could still hold her attention, now that she had been embraced by her team and the media at large as the world's latest super-heroine sensation. The acclaim and adventure had jolted her out of her delusion that she was Supergirl. She still shared most of the late Maid of Steel's knowledge based on the time she observed her former foe as an unseen energy-based being. She also still was her exact twin except for the purple and pink stylings of her own mini-dress.
She had never established a Leslie Larson ID as she had planned, but then who had time? The powerful Enchantress, Super-Scavenger, and Knockout were still at large and up to no good. Plus, she had been trying to restore the inert android called the Red Tornado with no luck. Perhaps that would change now that Doc Magnus was here to add his robotic insights. The abrupt scientist did know his machines and could surpass her in that particular field. His companion, a silverly and shapely female robot named Tina or Platinum hovered over him adoringly while he worked.
"Oh, Doc, if anyone can save him, I just know it's you," she gushed.
He ignored her and worked quietly. "I can do no more. He's mechanically sound, but lacks... some spark... some vital essence," said Magnus.
Lesla said, "I guess it's that Elemental that gave him animation before. How do we get that benign Tornado Champion back? Is Zatanna available?"
"Blossom can commune with the air elemental," said a gorgeous blonde in a flowery bikini. Her pale white body shone in marked contrast to her golden hair which cascaded to her knees. She had been Rachel Green, a.k.a. "Mayflower," until her evil father, the Floronic Man had experimented on her and made her this enigmatic creature.
"What did you say, Mayflower?" asked Lesla.
"Blossom said that Blossom can commune with the Tornado elemental for you... in fact Blossom has summoned him now," she said referring to herself in third person as always.
The winds howled as the swirling champion appeared. He (it?) was but one aspect of the malign Tornado Tyrant and it took all the good being's will to master the Tyrant's destructive impulses.
Lesla shoved Magnus and Blossom behind her as the winds summoned (controlled?) by Blossom entered the inert Red Tornado. He arose and said, "Where am I? I remember nothing since the Crisis. I feel as if I did wrong during that calamity. I must see to my family and friends. Thank you for aiding me," he said slowly. He swirled off to check on his loved ones from his John Smith ID and to rejoin the JLA if they would have him.
Lesla smiled as Magnus and Platinum gazed at the leaving android. Blossom merely swayed out of the room in quiet repose.
WHATEVER HAPPENED TO--?: Part 2
The Weather Wizard had hit Blüdhaven like a sudden summer storm. His combination of lightning bolts and winds had allowed him to loot the city while the police watched helplessly. Then the Golden Wasp showed up in answer to the frantic cries of the outgunned cops. He flew down on silent wings and saluted the men in blue. "You know how Twain said everyone talks about the weather but nobody does anything about it? Well, gentlemen, I'm going to prove him wrong."
"Go get him, Wasp!" called a policeman.
Weather Wizard frowned. He had heard that Blüdhaven was ripe for the picking, since no hero lived there... or did the city now have a defender? He waved his wand and a hurricane force wind tore at Wasp. He landed quickly to avoid the powerful blast of wind and fired a small capsule. Wizard sneered as his winds dropped it short of his body. "You're fighting the winds and you'll never hit me!"
"I don't need too, old man," said Wasp.
The capsule exploded on the ground in front of Weather Wizard and magnesium flares blinded him. "Arrrgh!" he cried as he lost sight of the world around him.
Wasp took the moment afforded him and slammed into his green-suited foe. He slapped the wand away and with an easy right hook knocked the otherwise-powerless Wizard cold. "That puts an end to this unseasonable weather," he said with a bow. He dropped the Weather Wizard at the cheering policemen's feet. "I'll be back when needed, my friends, though you boys in blue are the true heroes," he said with a final wave.
"What a hero," said a cop.
A reporter spoke up as well. "I'm going to plaster his photo on the front page. Look out, Gotham City... you may have Batman, but Blüdhaven's got the Golden Wasp! He's got more style to him than that somber Batman," she said.
Wasp heard all on his helmet radio and took true pleasure in his fame, his success, and in being rated better than Batman. "Ah, I do hope to outdo you at your own heroic game, old foe," he said as he doffed his helmet in a plush penthouse. He revealed the handsome features of Cameron Van Cleef, a.k.a. the Killer Moth!
WHATEVER HAPPENED TO--?: Part 3
The lovely, platinum blonde Dolphin gazed longingly out to sea as she walked the beach. Her outfit was a bikini of light blue with a white swirl on the bottoms. "The new costume is nice and very feminine, but I still feel so... identity-less. If I only knew my true background. The life I led undersea was lonely and so empty of human connection. While Will and Adam, and even Lisa are friends to me now and I have a place on their team, I still wonder just who am I other than Dolphin?"
She was watched by an unseen scanner. A woman with dark hair and a metal mask gazed at her longingly. "I must have her. She will be perfect for my plans. Soon, I'll be ready to claim her for my own."
Will Payton knew he was Starman due to a fluke. He had been hit by an alien ray from space that gave him the power of a stellar conductor. Now while he didn't know the source of his power, Comet had worked with him to help him learn the limits and potential uses of the strange gift. He loved Dolphin to distraction and wished he could help her find her roots too. Still, she had emerged from her shy shell lately and that had to be good for her. Years alone in the sea like a little mermaid had made the girl shy and uncertain around people, yet needy as well. She did not know that at that moment the team metahuman co-ordinator, Lyla (Harbinger) had located a man named Argus who had received his own powers from an alien ray just when Will received his own. Dolphin tossed back her blonde locks in their newly curly style and pondered the source of the different powers... and the motive of the giver.
Dolphin's reverie ended when she noticed a blur flash by at inhuman speeds. She turned to see a reddish flash speed by toward the seaside research lab owned by STAR. The figure could have been the Flash since she knew of no other super fast being who merely ran. Superman, Captain Comet, Valor, and the new Supergirl all flew.
She ran toward the lab out of curiousity. Her shapely legs easily covered the distance rapidly, for she was very fast herself. "What is it?" she asked as a running lab worker burst out of the entrance.
"Some super-freak is racing over the facility doing damage and looking for something. I'd head back to the beach, Barbie," he said.
Dolphin hurried past him and saw her red-blurred figure from before. He/she was tearing apart the lab at top speed while workers and guards were knocked away by sheer momentum. "Stop!" cried Dolphin as she spotted the figure. Her own reactions were slightly faster than normal and she did focus in on the running woman when she drew closer.
She was a blonde with darker-colored hair than Dolphin's own silverly locks. Her hair was shorter and her face was masked by a black mask. Her red top had a black, wing-like pattern and she wore red hot pants over yellow pantyhose and yellow boots.
"What is it you want?" asked Dolphin. When she received no answer she snatched the woman's arm and held firmly, although the figure whirled around at super speed and swept Dolphin off her feet. Got to hang on, she thought as the lab became a vertigo-inducing blur. She fought forward as against a current and tackled the woman. She was much stronger than the runner; however, she found herself battered backward by a thousand super-speed blows. She staggered back and sat down hard as the velocity of her foe's takeoff left her stunned and alone.
"Nice try, Esther Williams," called the runner as she disappeared with a stolen device.
"Are you okay, Legs?" asked a guard.
Dolphin fumed and said, "I have been considerably better, thank you!" She hoped to get a rematch with the speedster.
WHATEVER HAPPENED TO--?: Part 5
Valor smiled as a crowd cheered her appearance in a San Francisco suburb near Vandyke University. I loved it here, she thought, then caught herself as she realized that she had fallen one more into remember things from Supergirl's life and not her own. The Maid of Might had been a co-ed at Vandyke years ago. Valor's sightseeing was based on someone else's life, yet she still enjoyed the nostalgia. I wonder if there would be a teaching or research position for a blonde named Leslie Larson, she mused.
She remembered Supergirl's romance and fight with the SSSV's Super-Scavenger and felt an odd mixture of pain and displeasure as the feelings of betrayal of Kara Zor-El's for her old beau-turned-foe came back to Lesla. "I'll bring him to justice along with my... her... foe the Enchantress, for her memory and my own good, too."
Valor streaked downward and her keen super-hearing picked up a distress call in space. She rocketed upward as wind swept back her golden hair and fluffed out her pinkish miniskirt. The NASA satellite is being attacked, she realized as her super-vision spotted a woman terrorizing the crew. The sexy blonde literally tossed the crew through the air into a shuttle. She seemed bent on emptying the communcations satellite of all crew.
"Hold it, girl! The cheerleading practice is about several thousand miles away," said Lesla, noticing the girl's orange miniskirt.
"I am no pom-pom girl, as you Earthers say, though I must admit you have gall to talk of me that way seeing as how you're dressed like a Sandra Dee look-alike," she quipped.
Lesla frowned at the language used. "Earther, pom-pom girl, and Sandra Dee? You've been out of touch for a while, haven't you honey?" she said as she caught a flung crewmember and placed him gently down. He fled to the shuttle and waited. The blondes squared off, and a wrestling match ensued. She's very strong! Maybe as strong as I am, thought Lesla.
The other blonde flew upward and dragged Lesla with her. They fought in midair with neither one gaining an advantage until the blonde in the orange mini-dress blew with super breath at a control. The shuttle full of crew launched into space. "Go save them, princess!" cried the laughing villain.
Valor slapped her across the room and flew off to rescue the crew. She soared through the airlock and sped up to snatch the falling shuttle. She fought to keep a steady grip and slowly inched the craft to a stable position. With a determined effort, the lovely Lesla Lar landed with the craft and crew intact on land below. By the time she returned to space there was no sign of the satellite or her foe.
"No radiation or sign of a teleporation device residue either, and my eyes should have been able to pick up either! That leaves one alternative: magic," she mused with her hands on her hips. "That woman owes me another chance. Next time I'll show her who the better woman is," she vowed.
WHATEVER HAPPENED TO--?: Part 6
In space a small ship hovered, and within reclined a beautiful redhead in a green and gold costume. Her name was Maxima and she had come to this part of space to find a mate. Her current candidate was none other than Adam Blake (Captain Comet). "He is handsome, heroic, resourceful, and has mental and physical advantages over every other male I've encountered! But when to make the offer? Do I wait and observe him more, or just gift him with my divine self?" she pondered and rolled over on the silky sheets to dream of him.
Captain Comet was blissfully unaware of his "honor" as he flew over the city of Washington, DC. He knew the quiet would likely be brief. He had driven off alien invaders, battled super-villains, and recruited and reformed former criminals, but now he enjoyed just flying freely over the city with no pressing business.
"Spoke too soon," he said when a crime came into view. A sauve man in black was robbing a government shipping vehicle. He flew down and landed in front of the dapper man. "Sorry pal, no withdraws today," he said.
The man smiled and replied, "Ah my good man, you must allow me the easiest of withdrawals: namely that of myself from this locale," he said with a laugh. Comet reached for him and the man rippled like a bad TV picture. "Sorry, but I am not quite so easy to catch!" he taunted from behind Comet.
Rather than grab at another illusion, Comet used his mental powers to probe for thoughts nearby. He soon found the elusive trickster and spun around to land a hard right on his chin. He crumpled to the floor and appeared in the flesh inches away from where he had appeared to be. "I defer to your wit. You are worthy, good sir. The Daily Star shall honor you muchly," he said, rubbing his chin.
Comet said, "Surrender now, and I'll go easy on you!"
The dapper man smoothed his black suit and said, "A noble offer from a chivalrous foe. You are worthy in every way but I must exercise the better part of valor and merely bid you a fond adieu!" He vanished again as an explosion rocked the empty truck.
Comet swooped down, lifted up the burning truck high in the sky and made it safely miles above the ground before it exploded anew. "He got away. That man was clever. He didn't seem like a really evil man either," mused Comet.
WHATEVER HAPPENED TO--?: Part 7
Lisa Snart was a sex symbol. She was blonde, beautiful, flirtacious, alluring and totally addicted to adoration. Plus, she was becoming a heroine. She had largely adopted the values of service to others exemplified by Captain Comet. As the Golden Glider she was a skillful skater with an agile mastery of combat, based on savate. She did like helping others, but she still couldn't resist a photo op.
She posed in a short green mini-skirt and white tube-top on a parked snowmobile at the middle of Washington's hottest beach. As a calendar girl, she did give part of her earnings to charity. After finishing a shoot, she turned to see a police car speed to an abrupt halt as an agile man escaped the law by swinging offroad in a modified vehicle. She decided to take down the red costumed felon herself.
WHATEVER HAPPENED TO--?: Part 8
Golden Glider slipped on her skates and raced off after the red sportscar. She darted in and out through traffic with amazing skill. The blonde bombshell neared his car's sloped back and with sudden jump soared through the air and up into the backseat of the convertable. "Goin' my way, sailor?" she teased as he turned around in shock.
"Get out, lady! This is serious business. I've never hit a lady, but don't push me," he said.
"Between you and me, darling, I'm no lady," she cooed and slammed her fist into the back of his head.
He spun off the road, as she had intended, away from other traffic. As the car screeched to a halt, he jumped out and ran with a bag under one arm. His red mask and costume made a stark contrast to the grassy bank around him. Glider leaped out and let her skates provide her with an icy path to arch over his head and land directly in his path.
"Miss me?" she asked posing with her hand running through her long blonde hair. He fired a gun at her and she was suddenly trapped in a gooey bubble. Her skates sliced through it, but it held so firmly that by the time she had freed herself from the trap her red suited foe had escaped. If that gum had gotten in my hair, I would have killed him, she thought.
A final related crime involved the newly-powered Goldstar. She soared over the sea and enjoyed the sun, until she saw a weird figure flying by towards an Army plane. He flew near the government transport plane and pulled a gun out of his dark blue costume. He had pale, but handsome, features under sloping, dark black hair. He fired, and a yellow ray sliced the plane's wings off with ease. As it fell he flew closer and activated a wrist-worn device. An anti-gravity field or tractor beam pulled a machine out of the crashing plane and carried it in his wake.
Goldstar took a deep breath and flew in pursuit of the falling plane. Karin knew this was life and death so she prayed her Star-band was up to the task. She concentrated and an energy hand formed under the plane. It caught the plane and steadied it as she slowly lowered it safely to the ground. The crew thanked her and she smiled happily. Well, Mr. Rick Flagg, wait 'til you hear about little Karin, she thought. The man who wrecked the plane had fled with his stolen machine as soon as his ray had locked on to it.
Back at Rehab Headquarters the heroes shared their adventures and a computer-check by Lyla revealed that the thefts had several things in common. Lyla sat on a table in front of the assembled heroes in a pink blouse and white shorts. Her newly-curled hair looked wonderful.
She said, "One: These thefts are of equipment that could only be used to broadcast some kind of dangerous and powerful energy ray. That suggests the satellite will be used to do so for either terrorism or pure destruction. Two: The crooks are all powerful or skilled and, from the way you all described them, unknown to any source of conventional law enforcement. Even the Monitor's files tell me nothing, going back decades... and you all agree that none of the crooks looked older than thirty-something."
Lesla Lar spoke up, "My sparring partner called me Sandra Dee and used the term Earther. That suggests to me that she is both alien and... what? ...likes old movies?"
Captain Comet snapped his fingers. "That's it! My enemy said I'd make the news in the Daily Star."
"So? That's the paper in Green Arrow's hometown, Star City," said Golden Glider.
"Yes, but it is more than that. It is the home paper in the Metropolis on Earth-Two. I know because I once shared an adventure with that world's JSA. So, on that world super-heroes, or 'mystery men' as they called them, became active much earlier than they did here."
"You were the one of the first super-heroes on this world," said Glider proudly.
WHATEVER HAPPENED TO--?: Part 9
"It's true that I did my part until others came along to help," said Comet modestly. "However, I suspect that the apparent youth of these unknown foes, combined with their date references makes them time-travelers or Earth-Two metahumans who crossed over at some previous time."
"Could they be Earth-Two metahumans who were also plucked from, or travelled through, an earlier time?" asked the lovely Lesla. "That way they could be young and yet from the Golden Age as I 've heard that world's JSA's beginnings called."
"Possibly. What's your opinion, Lyla? You are the metahuman expert, no matter what world or time," he said.
Lyla smiled. "Thanks, but I admit the Monitor's files may contain references to such older heroes or villains from Earth-Two; none seem familiar to me. Of course, if they had brief careers long ago, then came to our time and world, that would explain their unknown status."
"They are Earth-Two's 'Forgotten Villains,' " piped up a smiling Dolphin.
"Or 'Forgotten Heroes.' The man I faced did not strike me as evil, just oddly determined to accomplish his mission," declared Captain Comet.
Goldstar rushed in to add her tale and suggest they seek out the source of her foe's pale features. "Could be an albino... or a Martian," said Lyla.
"I assumed they were all green," said Dolphin.
"No, hon, some are pale-white on our Mars. Who knows what they are like on the Mars of another dimension. Why do they even have to be from Earth-Two? That Daily Star reference proves little. Maybe they are from Earth-Three or Four, or even A," said Lyla.
Captain Comet added, "Let's talk to some other Earth-Two crossovers, like Sargon."
Lyla smiled. "The Black Canary of JLA is really the daughter of the Earth-Two JSA heroine. That fact has only recently come to light, but the Monitor knew of it when it did."
"Let's go pay a few visits to see if they can shed light on the matter," ordered Adam Blake, Captain Comet.
WHATEVER HAPPENED TO--?: Part 10
Black Canary was gracious and smart, and undeniably sexy. Starman and Dolphin listened as she told them all she knew of Earth-Two. "I can't say I recognize any of those types from any JSA cases I knew of from the memories I picked up from Mom or the other JSAers. It's an odd story that I won't go into about my life and my mom's," she said, crossing her legs. "I know Reddy was built on Earth-Two, but he is not really a native being, but an elemental/android. You say he is well again and gone to the Suttons? I'm so happy. He's a sweetheart. I made his costume for him, you know."
Dolphin said, "Miss Lance, do you know any other Earth-Two people who live here now?"
"Well, Zatara crossed over, but he died recently. The Freedom Fighters were here, but left for another world a while back. You know of Sargon? The Spectre roams where he will, as does Dr. Fate. You'd know them if you met them anyway," she said, shrugging her shapely shoulders.
"Thank you for your time," said Starman.
"What's on your mind, Will? You seem distracted," said Dolphin as they left.
"Say Dolphin, do you ever wear fishnets?" he said.
"Bad choice of words," she said.
WHATEVER HAPPENED TO--?: Part 11
Sargon added little, but an offer of his help anytime. He knew of no other Earth-Two heroes like those mentioned by the visiting Captain Comet. "I do recall a suave magician pre-dating me or even Zatara called Nadir. I never met him and only read of his adventures back in 1937 or so, but he sounds vaguely like the man you fought. He vanished before the war," said the equally suave Sargon.
"Thanks, my friend. That does help," said Comet.
"Who's the boyscout?" sneered Guy Gardner as he swaggered in the room.
"I'm Adam Blake, Captain Comet," he said extending a hand.
Gardner ignored it and said, "You look like some Adam Strange wanna-be to me. I'm the one, true Green Lantern."
"Actually, I have met both the real Green Lantern and his alien predecessor. They were true heroes in that they did not feel the need to constantly prove themselves. You might benefit from their example," he said.
The angry Gardner said, "Who died and made you the expert on super-heroing, you Johnny-come-lately nobody?" He swung at Comet, who ducked and left him stunned on the floor with a mild mental blast.
"Actually, since you asked, I was one of this Earth's first super hero. Thanks, Sargon."
He walked off, leaving an amused Sargon to help the dazed Guy up. "No cracks from you, Turban Boy," he muttered.
WHATEVER HAPPENED TO--?: Part 12
"Captain Comet, there's big-time trouble brewing! The NASA folks have detected their missing satellite and it's brimming with energy of a source that is best defined as potentially deadly on a universal scale," shouted an upset Rick Flagg.
"Where? We'll get right on it," said Comet.
"I've got the position programmed in the skimmer," said Lyla.
"Let's move out! Lyla, stay here and contact the JLA, Outsiders and Titans in case they're needed," he said.
Lyla ran up and kissed him on the lips. "For good luck," she explained.
Comet smiled and led his team, including an annoyed Golden Glider, into the shuttle. "That Pollyanna, Harbinger is after you, Adam," she said. He ignored her and piloted the craft to the position Lyla had entered. They soon spotted nothing.
Lesla said, "It's there! I can hear the machines and see the cloaking device radiation."
Comet nodded. "I also pick up very sinister thoughts. Someone there plans to destroy the world!"
Goldstar followed Comet's whispered instructions and concentrated. An energy-shield formed around the skimmer and molded itself on to the satellite, which sparked into view at the touch of her starband energy. "This will allow us entry without letting the atmosphere leak out," she said.
"Good work. Valor, Starman and I will take the lead; Dolphin, Glider, Cheetah, follow."
They raced forward and Lesla cried out, "There are about seven of them in there. I recognize my foe and the others fit your descriptions." Valor streaked forward and saw her orange-miniskirted, blonde foe from before. This time she noticed an S emblem on her cape. "So this is where you ran off to," she said, slamming into her at top speed.
"I didn't run! I left you tricked and beaten," she grunted as she kneed Lesla. Lesla turned and her eyes blazed heat vision that sent the speeding red and gold woman Dolphin had faced careening off course. Her foe slapped her and said, "You'll bow before your better, you smart-mouthed little girl!"
Valor twisted and sent her crashing into a mechanical woman below. "I may be a girl, but I am a Supergirl," she said.
"That's your problem. I am Tharka the Superwoman," said the orange-costumed foe as she blew Valor backward with super breath.
WHATEVER HAPPENED TO--?: Part 13
Valor scanned the room as Comet entered and ordered the foes to surrender. The super-fast blonde in yellow pantyhose, a red top, and boots circled him at blinding speed. "Can't see me, huh, tall, dark, and handsome?" she said.
"No, but I don't need to see you to beat you," he said, tracing her position by her thoughts. He jumped out to a spot just as she crashed into him and fell down stunned.
Dolphin leaped over them and tackled the dapper wizard. "No tricks this time. Just a quick left hook," she mused as she batted him down.
"My dear girl, you are simply divine. Too pretty to be a brawler. You should be immortalized in stone," said the man from the floor. Instantly Dolphin turned to stone.
Starman saw this and went wild. He blasted a strong, robotic woman with his full force. She had extended a robotic arm to grapple with him with surprising power until he let loose with a stellar blast. She crumpled and her legs dissolved into molten pulp as Starman released his full power for perhaps the first time.
"No, Will! She is not just a machine! There's a human brain in that metal shell!" called out Captain Comet. A chastened Starman froze in horror and the wizard sent him crashing to the floor after blinding him with dazzling pyrotechnics.
Goldstar sent her starlings racing forward to tear into the blue-suited man whom she had seen wreck the Army plane. His weird, futuristic weaponry held the hoard of Starlings at bay, no matter how fiercely she ordered them on. "Stop him! Destroy him, you witless fools," cried a passionate Karin Grace.
Cheetah pounced on the man in red, who fell under her and rolled around the floor with the clawing Debbie Domaine wrapped around him.
Glider screamed as her agile skating led her to the feet of their leader. His yellow and orange suit was impressive and his very presence was commanding. Before anything could happen, he fired green energy at Valor, who screamed and fell to her knees. "Kryptonite!" she gasped.
"Yes, and why not Kryptonite, since I am Atoman!" he roared.
WHATEVER HAPPENED TO--?: Part 14
"Atoman! You're from Earth-Two as well! Why are you trying to destroy Earth-One with the stolen equipment?" questioned Glider.
"He's not! He brought these forgotten heroes here from Earth-2 before the Crisis -- plucked them from time and somehow enslaved them all to destroy Earth-Two, not Earth-One," said Comet.
"Exactly! But you can't stop me," sneered Atoman. A weakened Valor fired heat vision at the madman's belt device and it melted. Kryptonite radiation burst out and his scream rang out, "Fool! Without the regulator I can't control my Kryptonite emissions," said Atoman.
Comet called out to Goldstar, "Shield Valor!" Then he tackled Atoman and soared out into the skimmer away from Valor.
"You can't win! I can beat you! I'll kill the Superman of Earth-Two by destroying his whole world. This world gives me greater power than I had back there. Those heroes were taken from time periods on Earth-Two and brainwashed to do my bidding. The ray will destroy Earth-Two for good," he ranted as they struggled.
Comet ducked a rapid punch and hit him in the stomach. He followed up with a left hook. "You fight from hate and a desire to destroy! I fight for life and justice and those ideals always win," said Captain Comet as he slammed into the Kryptonite-emitting Atoman. He blasted out with a mental bolt and spun around to kick the yellow-suited villain down. A final, desperate lunge by Atoman only resulted in a right cross from Comet.
Meanwhile, the shielded Valor slugged Thakra and flew into the death-ray machine. She tore it apart and tossed it into her blonde foe's path. Thakra fell hard and around her the other Earth-Two slaves blinked their way to normalcy with the destruction of the Atoman's equipment. "What have I done? What did we all do?" asked a sorrowful Thakra.
Valor saw Comet drag Atoman back within the satellite and smiled. "You did nothing that can't be undone." Dolphin returned to normal as well as Nadir's magic spell ended at his command. Comet said, "Now folks, just who are you all?"
Later, back on Earth, the team sat around with the Earth-Two natives who introduced themselves.
"I suppose, chronologically speaking, I should go first. I am Nadir, the Master of Magic! I began crime-fighting before Superman, Crimson Avenger, or the esteemed Zatara. But in June of 1939 I was nearly choked to death by a foe of mine. I was saved from death by Atoman's time ray. It plucked me from that deadly moment in 1939 and brought me, enslaved, to this year around one week ago. To me, 1939 was eight days ago," said the dapper wizard.
Next, Tharka spoke up. "I am Superwoman from Zor. On Earth-Two I have no powers, so I once needed the help of the Superman of that Earth to appear powered. He aided me and I left for Zor in 1952 after one case on his world. I never reached Zor. I was plucked through time to this point a week ago as well," said the blonde in the orange mini-dress.
"Odd that you still have powers on Earth-One," said Lesla.
The man in red coughed nervously. "I am Albert Elwood, an inventor. In November 1962, I became the second Crimson Avenger, with help from Batman and Superman of Earth-Two! I retired after my two cases with them, the second one in 1963. I didn't measure up to them or to the memory of the first Avenger, who saved me when I was a young man. My retirement started a week ago, as well, but I was torn through time and space to this point."
The pale man with advanced weaponry smiled. "I, too, met Batman of Earth-Two. He aided me in my settlement on his world as a Manhunter from Mars when I arrived in May 1953. My last memory is of the year 1966 before I was brought here. My real name is Roh Kar," he announced.
The metal head which was all that was left of the Starman-melted Robotgirl spoke weirdly as well. "I am Robotgirl. My human mind was placed in this crude metal shell by Chuck Grayson in 1951 after the real Robotman disappeared, and I suffered injuries looking for him. In crossing from one Earth to another through time I have lost some memory, like my true name and if I ever found Robotman. Now I need a new body," she said sadly.
"I'll bet Doc Magnus could whip you up a new body that would even look more feminine than that old one," said Golden Glider.
The red-clad speedster said, "I am Joanie Swift! That is my crimefighting name. My real name is Joanie Jameson. I gained this powers nine days ago when I worked with a hero called Johnny Quick. I was a college student who worked for a professor pal of his who learned his secret and gained like powers. I saw Johnny only nine days ago and made this swell costume, but never got to start my official career as a mystery woman since Atoman caught me and brought me here from 1952."
"So can you return us to our proper times and Earth-Two's universe?" asked Superwoman.
Captain Comet frowned, "No. All access to Earth-Two and the other Earths has ended. I doubt Atoman's ray could have even worked. Plus I'd say he really got you all during the Crisis and just kept you entranced until his plans were ready around a week ago."
Superwoman said, "No problem. I'll find the Zor of this universe." She flew off at top speed.
"Guess there are enough super-women around now, anyway," said Lesla.
Nadir said, "I'd like to stay here for now, anyway. I'd like to meet Zatara and Sargon, who I hear are here now."
"Well, actually, Zatara is dead," explained Comet.
"I am sorry to hear that. The boy was very good," said the dapper Nadir.
Robotgirl said, "I'd love that new body you mentioned. Could I really look like a woman again?"
"Sure! Wait 'til you see Platinum," said Starman.
Joanie and Roh Kar also wanted to resume heroic careers here on Earth-One.
Crimson Avenger said, "I'm through with heroics. Let me find a job and some peace and quiet as a scientist."
"I bet STAR could hire you," announced Lesla.
"Then it's settled. At least we stopped Atoman and gained several new heroes for our world," said Comet.