The Vulcan

(The Broken Bat)

Prologue

The darkness consumed the light, and the Gotham Knight flew through the air in his powerful bat suit; it was made out of a new, high-tech fiber alloy, and bullets couldn't penetrate it. The man underneath the mask, an older man approximately fifty-seven-years -old, and the powerful energy source that gave the uniform life weighed heavy on his heart muscles—weakening them. It was October Twenty Seventeen and an especially warm day when he donned his tenebrous uniform. He hadn't been on patrol since he helped the Vulcan fight against Ganthet because of the shortness of breath, pain in his chest, and occasional weakness. His doctor warned him that he'd have to slow down because the exercise stressed his heart.

When he took flight, he flew up and away so fast that he developed vertigo. It took him a few seconds to work through it, and then he darted straight for Gotham, First National Bank. He cut through the wind like an aerodynamic jet, and when he landed in front of the bank, several masked men tumbled out the front door. Immediately, he deployed a series of bang grenades and then engaged in hand-to-hand combat with the miscreants. He moved like a twenty-year-old, trained fighter, and the suit enhanced his strength and agility. But when he fought the last criminal, he felt a pain in his chest, and he couldn't catch his breath. He tried his best to back away from the criminal, but he lumbered along the street.

"Look at the big, black bat," the criminal said as he taunted him. "I thought I'd never see a weakened bat." He ran up to the Gotham Knight and punched him in the back of the head. He tried to fight back, but his arms felt like he was holding heavyweights. He felt himself dying, and there wasn't anything he could do about it. When the criminal pulled out his gun, he pointed it directly at the Gotham Knight. "This is a special, armor-piercing bullet," he said, "It can go through a tank." Suddenly, a lightning bolt flew through the air and cut off the man's arm, and it fell to the ground.

When JJ landed in front of the Gotham Knight he wore a solid black uniform with a V on his chest. The criminal tried to pick up the gun, and another lightning bolt turned him into dust. Rachel had given him the suit, and he had a white armored suit for Peppermint in his backpack.

"You're killing people now?" GK asked as he fell to his knees.

"You're welcomed, GK," he said as he flew straight into the air. He took GK to the top of Wayne Industries and pulled off the old man's suit. "I'll take these to your cave." He then took him to the hospital and rushed him through the emergency room. The nurses and doctors worked on him quickly and saved his life from a massive heart attack.

JJ raced to South Bend Street and came up to a nice home in a cul-de-sac. It was so perfect with the nice flowers in front of the house. They looked like Annuals, but he didn't know too much about flowers. He rapped on the door, the hardwood door, and it was thick like a barricade. It was like the entire house could stave off a missile attack. After several taps on the door, a tall black man answered, and said, "There's a doorbell."

"Excuse me," JJ said with a grimace. "I don't just push things when I come to Gotham. That's a good way to get blown up, Sam."

He smiled for a moment. "Good point, Vulcan," Sam Young said. "It's the Vulcan, Barbara."

"Barbara, how are you doing?" JJ said.

"Fine. What do you need?" She asked.

"You don't know me very well, but I had to save GK from himself. You have to talk to him, ma'am."

"About what?" She asked. "If you know GK, he's going to do what he's going to do."

"He's too old to be running around fighting crime," he said with a grimace. "He just had a heart attack. I dropped him off at Gotham Medical Center. I think he's going to be okay, but damn, Barbara. There's a point when enough is enough." Sam walked into the living room with some tea and poured Barba a drink.

"Thank you, dear," she said to her husband. "Vulcan, would you like a hot beverage?"

"No thank you, ma'am," he said.

"What do you want me to do about GK? I'm not going to arrest him."

"I'll never prosecute him," Sam said. "He's a fixture of good in Gotham."

"The best thing I can do is beg him to put up the suit," She said as she sipped her tea. "Why do you show up on my doorstep when you have a problem with GK, young man?"

"I know more about you than you know about you, ma'am," he said. "I've studied everybody associated with the Gotham Knight in depth. I leave no stone unturned, Batgirl."

She looked up at him for a moment with a grimace, and said, "Ugh. I haven't heard that in a long time."

"Don't hate the name," he said, "You're still Batgirl. Now, you're just Batgirl with a badge. You're still fighting for good. You're still putting the bad guys away."

"That's what I said," Sam said. "I tell her all the time that she's still Batgirl to me."

JJ smiled. " I'm begging you to talk to him, Barbara. I'm only in Gotham because I had a meeting with my boss, but I might not be around the next time."

"You care about him?" She asked.

"It's not that, but he's a good man underneath all the anger. Well, his philosophies are good, but his drive is a major factor in his cloistered lifestyle. He thinks crime will run rampant without him, but he must hand the reins over to the younger generation." He walked over to Barbara, and said, "Please persuade him to hang it up. We can't let the world see a weakened Gotham Knight. I don't want the world to ever see the Bat with a broken wing."

Gotham Medical Center (GMC) October 27th : 14:32

The medical center had a multitude of people running about, but JJ was oblivious to what was happening. An ambulance rolled up to the emergency room entrance and dropped off a bloodied patient, and it didn't look as if he'd make it. Ducking into one of the side closets in the main hallway of the hospital, he changed out of his uniform. He wore his gothic black clothing and had an upside down cross on his black shirt. He took out a small case, a case of silver contact lenses, and placed them in his eyes, and he knew it made him look sinister. He wore a black collar that signified oppression, and all of the boxy kids started wearing them after the government talked about passing laws where metahumans would have to register with the government. It was a horrible thought that he opposed at every turn, and his ideas put him in direct conflict with the vestiges of the Justice Corp.

He walked over to the help desk of the Gotham Medical Center; it was the help desk in the emergency room and looked directly at the secretary. It amazed him that she actually had time to file her nails with so much excitement happening in the place. Every time he tried to compose himself, it seemed like another ambulance dropped off another body. The waiting room area had a slew of people walking about with worried looks on their faces. It was a building of misery.

He glared at the woman, and said, "I need Mister Wayne's room number." He looked at her white name tag with black lettering, and it read Teresa Gray. She was no more than twenty-one, somewhat frumpy, and with long black hair.

When she looked up at JJ, she jumped at the sight of him. "Good Lord. You're creeping me the fuck out!" She exclaimed. "Are you part of his family or something?"

"I'm a friend of his," he said in a calm voice. "Is he okay?"

"I can't really give you that information," she said with a grimace. "If you're not family, I'm not authorized to tell you about his condition."

"Listen, Teresa! I'm the closest thing he has to family," he said, "Is he okay? Yes or no? There's no reason this should be difficult."

"No," she said. "He's not okay." She grimaced, and then asked, "Where do you get your beautiful clothing?"

"Gothic Wear," he said. "It's an outlet store in National City." He took one of her pens off the counter and wrote down the store's phone number. 'Give them a holler, and tell Sharon that JJ sent you."

"Thank you," she said with a smile.

He walked over to the other side of the room, and immediately called Barbara. He wanted to see Mister Wayne so badly that he thought about flying up to his room. In addition, he had the power to turn himself into an electrical current and appear in his room like magic, but he wanted to walk into the place like a man. Besides, the only time he moved into the walls and along the electrical lines was when he became enraged over something J'onn said or did.

When Barbara answered her phone, he told her that Mister Wayne's condition had taken a turn for the worse. While he was on the telephone with her, she walked through the sliding doors. Immediately, he walked up to them, and she flinched at the way he looked.

"Vulcan?" She asked. "You scared the hell out of me. "

"Sorry, ma'am. Just call me JJ," he said with a smile. He stood directly in front of her, and said, "As his sister, you'll be able to get us upstairs to see him."

"I'm…"

"As his sister," JJ snapped back.

"Oh. Okay," she said. "I see."

Mister Wayne's Private Room:

Spacious and extravagant-and more than he needed due to the fact he was in no condition to enjoy it because he wasn't conscious-was the first thing JJ noticed about the room. He lay in the bed with a machine breathing for him, and it was obvious death was imminent. The machine was so loud that he could barely hear himself think, and Barbara's eyes watered as she watched her former mentor lying on his deathbed. So many tubes, so many nurses roaming the hallway, so many things had gone wrong between the time he dropped him off and the time he made it upstairs. Everything was wrong.

Mister Wayne's colorless face made JJ believe his death was imminent, and he knew he couldn't allow him to die. He looked like a husk, an empty shell with nobody on the inside. When he dropped him off in the emergency room, he thought everything would be okay because he was fully awake. Barbara placed her hands over her mouth when she saw his condition, and then said, "He was so strong. I can only imagine the pain he must be in right now." Her husband held her closely, and JJ walked over to a chair that set against the far wall.

"I didn't expect this, Barbara," he said with a grimace. "When I dropped him off earlier, he was alert."

"That's the way of things," Sam said. "When heart attacks happen, often it's crippling."

Frustrated, JJ stuck his head between his knees and tried to think what needed to be done. Under no circumstance did he want to let Mister Wayne die. In fact, it wasn't congruent with what he knew about the future. According to the Green Witch, Mister Wayne played an acute role in the training of the next Batman, and it was that Batman who would raise the Destroyer.

A diminutive man, a man of Indian descent named Doctor Benja walked into the room, and JJ immediately stood to his feet. The doctor didn't have much hair on his head at all, but he only looked thirtyish. He had a clipboard and looked down at it for a brief second. "He had a massive heart attack. There's nothing we can do at this point. We're administering palliative care to make the transition easier, but in twenty-four to forty-eight hours, he'll lose brain function."

JJ sat down in the chair next to the wall for a moment, wiped his face, and asked, "There's no possibility of recovery?"

"Not unless a miracle happens," the doctor said with an unhappy look on his face. "With what I'm seeing on all the test, his heart is done."

"What's the probability of there being a mistake?" JJ asked.

"This man's a professional, JJ," Sam interjected.

"I'm not questioning his skills, but I'm a man of numbers," JJ replied.

"About a fifteen percent chance we're wrong," he said, "I'd push it more to a ten percent chance at this point."

"Thank you, doctor," JJ said, "I just wanted to know the numbers."

"But if he awoke, it'd be a miracle," the doctor said.

"Yeah. I don't believe in miracles," JJ said while looking over at Barbara. "Please give us some privacy while I talk with his sister."

"Yes, sir," the doctor said.

Immediately, he pulled out his cell phone, and text his girlfriend Patty "Peppermint" Lee, and wrote.

Text Message to Peppermint:

JJ: Bring the device to Gotham's Medical Center. Move as fast as possible. We're in room eight-thirty-two.

Peppermint: On my way.

End Text Message

Barbara pulled out her cell phone and called her father, and JJ grabbed it, hung it up, and she complained. "Why did you do that?"

"Don't tell anybody about this?" He said with a grimace. He knew what he had to do, and he couldn't have everybody discussing the miracle that happened with Mister Wayne. The Green Witch had given him a device so powerful that it had the ability to restore life. It was a science beyond anything in existence, and he planned on using it to save his life. "The fewer people know the less explaining I'll have to do."

"What are you saying?" She asked with a befuddled look on her face.

"It's classified, Barbara. You guys head to the house, and I'll take it from here," he said, "I promise he'll be over for Thanksgiving. Okay, I don't promise that, but he'll at least give you a call."

"Do you know what you're doing?" She asked. "The doctor just said he wouldn't recover."

"Do we ever know what we're doing?" He said smilingly. "What you heard and what I heard are two different things. I heard there's a chance, and I'm going to use that window of opportunity to make him better. The less you know the better you'll be. So, you forget what the doctor said, focus on what I'm saying, and that way nobody needs to explain what's going to happen here."

"Before you exit my city, you call me, JJ," she said. "You obviously know something I don't know."

"Yes, ma'am," he said. "When I'm done, we'll have your old mentor back."

A little later...

When Peppermint walked into the room with the device, she had on her black, Gothic wear with the collar of oppression around her neck, and handed JJ the device. Her hair was long in the back and she wore black rimmed glasses. Her black collar fitted perfectly on her neck, and she looked svelte except for her baby bump.

"He's looking bad," she said as she looked over at him, "I didn't know it was like this."

"Me either," he said. He kissed her lightly on the mouth, and then said, "Stand outside the door, so nobody sees this." As soon as she stood outside the door, he didn't waste time in fitting the device to Mister Wayne's midsection. He had a multitude of scars all over his torso, and it was obvious the man had a lot of brushes with death.

He could hear nurses traipsing back and forth in the hallway, and at times, he had a hard time drowning out all the noises his ears picked up. He wanted to remain focused on Mister Wayne, but every time a nurse walked past the door, he felt on edge. Once he had the device fitted on Mister Wayne one of the nurses came to the door. She had a strong voice that carried throughout the entire hallway.

"Please don't enter the room," Peppermint said calmly. "Reverend Johnson is doing a twenty minute, deep prayer session, so Mister Wayne's soul finds the right path on its journey."

"Twenty minutes? Y'all messin' with my schedule," she said loudly. "I'll be back."

The device said, "Narcotizing patient." JJ sat in his chair for a moment as the device repaired Mister Wayne's body. Immediately, he realized that he didn't set the parameters correctly because he watched the fifty-seven-year-old man rejuvenate in front of his eyes. He continued to watch Mister Wayne as some color turned to his pale skin, and then the machine said, "Restoration done." He looked at his face for a moment, and he looked about ten years younger, and that wasn't what he wanted to do. He didn't want to make the man younger for several reasons, and the main one was it might interfere with the timeline. The machine fixed his heart completely, but it restored some of his youthfulness, and he immediately realized that could interfere with the future. He placed the device back in its carrier and pulled out the piece for the brain. He stuck that on Mister Wayne's head, and a red light appeared on the face of it.

"Restoring logical brain," the device said.

It reconnected all of his wirings and restored any parts damaged by the massive heart attack. He blinked his eyes rapidly for a moment and then grimaced at JJ.

"Peppermint," JJ said, "Get in here."

She walked into the room, and said, "Did it work?"

"Yeah," he said, "Help me take off this stuff off him."

JJ pulled the tubing from down Mister Wayne's throat, and he began to gag in the process. When he liberated the tubing from his throat, Mister Wayne began coughing for a moment, and then he said aloud, "Oh shit! I think I died! But I feel like Superman right now."

"About that?" JJ asked. "I only meant to restore your heart health, but I accidentally took about ten years off your life because I didn't set the machine correctly. I'm sorry about that."

Peppermint handed him a mirror, and said, "Here you go, Mister Wayne."

He took the mirror and looked at himself for a moment. "What's the problem?" He asked. "I'm looking happy and healthy."

"Probably nothing," JJ said, "Maybe everything is okay. We can't talk about this ever, Mister Wayne. Never. Barbara and Sam came by, and I told them you'd at least call them on Thanksgiving, but I also asked them to keep quiet."

"Who all knows?" He asked.

"Peppermint, Barbara, Sam, and the doctors," he said, "We'll just say it was a misdiagnosis."

When Peppermint sat in the chair to rest her back, Doctor Benja walked into the room, and when he saw Mister Wayne walking over to the bathroom, he nearly fell down, but Peppermint caught him.

"Are you okay?" JJ said with a grimace on his face. He helped his fiance keep the man upright.

He looked at Mister Wayne's empty bed, and then looked over at the bathroom for a moment. "How is this possible?"

"I think we know miracles don't happen," JJ said with a smile. "It's obvious mistakes were made in the testing. It happens to the best of us." JJ paused for a moment and shook the doctor's right hand. He then turned to the bathroom, and said, "Mister Wayne, Peppermint and I are heading back to National City. Give me a holler if you need anything."

"Run by the mansion, and get me a suit, JJ," he said from the bathroom. "One of my business suits."

Chapter One

Little Africa High prepared for the Halloween Dance, and Peppermint with her band of boxy students fixed the entire auditorium up in a nineteen fifties rock n roll theme honoring Chuck Berry. The decoration committee dressed the entire gym in a classic fifties style, and some Little Richard played in the background. It was the song, "Lucille." A life-size photo of Chuck Berry met everybody at the entrance into the gymnasium, and Principal Taylor drove an old, Chevy onto the auditorium floor, and it was in mint condition.

JJ at first wanted Peppermint to indulge in a more busy style of decoration, but Peppermint said for such an occasion less meant more. On the stage set the guitars and drum sets and JJ's guitar with Peppermint's face on it was center stage. Right beneath the pull out stage was the entertainment center: stereo, turntables, and so on. Huge speakers set against the walls throughout the auditorium and JJ felt everything was going right.

When Peppermint climbed onto the ladder, JJ immediately became worried, and asked, "Should you be up there like that?" He stood below her with a stitch of anger on his face like he knew what was best for her.

She looked down at him and grimaced. "Um. I can fly around town, but this makes you nervous?" She asked in an informal manner.

"Okay then," he said as he walked away. He didn't say anything else to her about ladders after that. She flew all the way to Gotham, gave him the medical device to heal Mister Wayne, and then flew back to National City. But at the same time, with her being four months pregnant, he didn't know how to act. He worried about all the excitement of being a part-time hero was too much for her. At times, it was too much for him because he had all of his school work, band, and all the other nonsense he liked doing after school. As of late, Peppermint's health was his number one concern. Nothing in his mind took more of his time than her.

Nate and Vera roamed into the auditorium and started setting up the tables around the room, and it was the first time he recalled her actually participating in a Halloween dance setup. JJ and Peppermint always involved themselves in the setup, even if they only did something small. But now that Vera didn't wear an ileostomy bag, she no longer chose to live a forlorn life of hating her body and telling her momma she wanted to die. Due to the fact JJ and Peppermint spent a lot of time at her house, they heard her complain about her past problems a lot. Now after he used the sophisticated, medical device to restore her health, she doesn't speak of the bags anymore.

It took about four hours for the decoration committee to put everything in place, and it looked professional with how the ruffles aligned the walls. They tried their best to give the gymnasium the 1950s feel, and according to the sign-up roster, they expected nearly five hundred students in the gym.

Nate walked over to JJ, and said, "You heard somebody burned down Shonny's house in National City, right?" He immediately noticed how Nate looked over at him in what he thought was an accusatory glare. He looked right over his glasses at JJ, and tacitly asked, "You don't know anything about that right?"

"Don't look at me like I know something," JJ snapped at his old friend. He hated Shonny, but he wasn't about to burn down the kid's house. He looked at Nate for a long minute, and asked, "Did my name come up?"

"Not that I know of," He said. "Man! You're like National City's hero after you alerted the cops to the graveyard of dead kids. They're still pulling dead bodies out of that field." He paused for a moment, and then said, "Personally, I think you have a target on your head."

"What makes you say that?" JJ asked with a grimace.

"Dude! Those child predators have entire, underground organizations," he said, "I saw your name mentioned on the Dark Web, but it went to a secured website."

He knew it was true, but the incident had taken place a few days prior, and the nation was enthralled with the mess. When he went to visit Rachel, she was the one who informed him about the target he put on himself. She called the organization the Libertines, and they were a secret organization involved in the sexual exploitation of children. He wasn't surprised that Nate had incited to the goings-on on the Dark Web because he indulged in one particular, dicey, after-dark activity: Shootin' Craps.

"I'm not dealing with the media part of this," JJ said with a grimace. "There're a huge underground market and a lot of power behind the enslavement of children," he said. "It's on the cops to finish the investigation."

"Perhaps," Nate said, "But at some point, the demons will come knocking on your door."

"I'll be ready," JJ said, "But you're the one who needs to be careful. Shootin' Craps is dangerous."

"I know," he said, "But I can make some quick money."

JJ looked at him as he smiled about making money and then said, "Vera Reese is important to me. I don't want you putting her at risk," he said.

"You act like she's your wife," he said with a grimace.

"She's like my sister," JJ said. "But her safety is paramount. Just make sure she's safe at all times."

"We're not dating," he said with a smirk. "So, I don't know why you're acting all concerned."

"You're not fooling me, Nate," He said. "I know you like her. That's obvious." Vera stood across the floor, and looked back at JJ for a moment, and waved. He waved back.

"Yes, I do," he said, "But I'm not going to take her on any dice games."

JJ looked at him for a moment, and as he walked away from him, "I'll be watching." He then went over to Peppermint while she finished up with the last of the decorations. He sat at the table where she rested her feet every once in a while, and she had a half eaten candy bar on the table.

"Is this yours, babe?" JJ asked.

"Yeah," she said. "Are you going to eat it?"

"It looks enticing," he said with a smile.

"Fine! Just eat it then," she said with a grimace. "I knew you'd hog it all if I didn't eat it fast enough." He stuck the whole thing in his mouth, and when Peppermint looked over at him, she shook her head in disbelief. "It's all fun and games until you choke to death."

JJ laid his head on the table and watched Nate and Vera on the other side of the room. He worked his foolishness with her, and did a few backflips on the gymnasium floor, and then Vera clapped for him. He was pretty good with the flips, but he didn't understand why all the showboating for her. He then placed his arms around her, and she seemed to relax in his warmth.

After about five minutes of them hanging on each other, Johnny walked into the gymnasium and came over to JJ. "Lazy ass," he said.

"I work," JJ said. "At least I'm here for moral support." Johnny continued to walk across the floor, over to Nate and Vera, and then they did their special handshake, but Johnny messed it up. "How you mess up the handshake?" JJ screamed from across the floor, but he didn't seem to hear him.

"Say, baby, hold the ladder?" Peppermint asked. He trotted over to the ladder and held it as she stepped down from it. "Fold it up, place it in the utility room, and then let's get out of here."

When he finished putting up the ladder, he ran over to Nate and Johnny, and then asked, "Do you have all the music you need?"

"Yeah," Nate said. "I have all the mp3s you gave me, the albums, and a lot of other music from that era."

"JJ, let's go!" Peppermint screamed from across the floor.

"See Y'all tonight," he said. "Johnny. You need a girlfriend or something."

"By seven?" He asked. "I'm not that boxy."

Later...

It was around two in the afternoon, and most of the school let out to go home early, eat, do whatever, and be back at seven o'clock for the dance. Two o'clock was about the time JJ left school every day because he had already completed a lot of the coursework over the summer months. In his senior year of school, he'd take mostly college accredited classes, and the same for Peppermint.

Vera walked up to them as they walked out of the building. JJ walked closes to the street as they moseyed down the sidewalk.

"You know I like Nate?" Vera asked for a moment. Walking with her hands behind her back, she looked over at him, and the said, "You know, right?"

"Yes," JJ said with a smile. "He likes you also."

"He hasn't told me he likes me yet," she said sheepishly. "I've been waiting for him to actually say he likes me."

"He told me he liked you when we were talking in the gym," JJ said. "He keeps telling me."

"He definitely likes you," Peppermint said. "Actually, he won't shut up about it."

Vera sighed. "Maybe I should make the first move?"

"Oh hell to the gnaw!" JJ exclaimed. "I mean come on. If he likes you, he should make the first move."

"You're very chivalrous," Vera said.

JJ smirked. "It's not that, but do you really want an easily manipulated beta male?"

"Of course not," she said with a grimace. "I want a strong man with principles, morals, and cares about people." She stopped walking for a moment, and then said, "I want somebody who won't beat me."

JJ and Peppermint walked Vera up to her house, told her they'd be by later, and then began their short trek home. The air was cold, but not too chilly, and he took off his jacket, placed it on Peppermint, and continued walking down the street.

"Are you ready to be a Momma?" JJ asked her as they lingered down the street, holding hands, and smiling.

"I'm worried," she said with a grimace. "There are so many bills and I wonder how I'm going to pay for everything."

"Pay for everything?" JJ asked. He stopped on the sidewalk, stood against the building, and Peppermint walked up to him. "You don't have to pay for anything," he said with a grimace. "I've paid for everything so far."

"But what about the big money stuff?" She asked. "What about the birth of the baby?"

He looked down the road at all the people walking about, and said, "It's unfortunate you don't have faith I can provide for my family." He grimaced. "I don't work for free. Cadmus cut me a check for nearly thirty thousand dollars for my consulting work." They began walking down the street again, and then he said, "National City paid me four thousand dollars when I investigated the killings at National City High."

"I understand you're this wiz-kid investigator. You've made apps, and so on, but none of it feels like security," she said. "It's like our whole world can come crashing down at any time."

"Maybe your insecurities are just with me," he said. "I have a bank account with nearly fifty thousand dollars in it, and Cadmus owes me a four thousand dollar check on the next pay period."

"I'm sorry for my negative feelings," she said. "I'll work on myself."

"I'll work on myself too," he said.

The dance was expected to last until twelve o'clock at night, and then the decoration committee would spend Saturday cleaning up the gymnasium. The students had to sign a waiver they wouldn't wreck the place or start any fights. The school hired a total of seven police officers who would watch over the festivities, and the extra pay came out of the student's budget. The way JJ handled making money in the past was holding concerts in Martin Luther King Jr. Park and people paid ten dollars a head to sit on the greens, the main part of the park that the city cordoned off for the festivities. The concert happened in the spring, and the previous year he took in nearly five hundred thousand dollars, and all he did was cover other people's music. Nate gave a fifteen-minute comedic show. Tommy covered three Prince songs. Johnny played some Bob Dylan songs. Peppermint did Madonna, Britney, and a couple of Rick James' songs. JJ did the rest.

The school used a portion of the money to augment teacher's salaries, and another portion of the money purchased the hardly usable computer lab. If not for Rachel Ballard, the computers wouldn't work at all, but she installed Linux on them instead of dealing with the more expensive, retail operating system, and now the students used them non-stop. But whenever JJ involved himself in helping out his fellow students, he always did it with heart. That was the main reason he felt a certain negative way that Peppermint didn't have any trust in his abilities.

At Home…

Peppermint and JJ stood in the hallway outside their perspective apartments. It was cold in the hallway, but he didn't mind as long as he was with his fiancee. "We'll head back around five-ish," She said. "It will give us an opportunity for any last minute business."

He placed his hands on her waist, looked her in the eyes, and said, "Okay." He kissed her on the lips for a long time.

She looked into his eyes for a moment and smiled. "Don't start nothing and there won't be nothing," she said sheepishly. He laughed, and then she looked down at her watch, and said, "No. We don't have enough time, JJ."

"Okay," he said. He walked into his Mother's apartment, past his mother, and into his bedroom. Immediately, he moved the mouse to his computer, signed into it, and looked at a map of what appeared to be Gotham. It had a red dot moving about the map, and he watched it closely. "What are you doing, GK?" He said to himself. Unbeknownst to GK, JJ placed a tracker in his suit, so he could hone in on his location. He had another one on his phone. Rachel Ballard gave him the equipment when he brought to her attention about GK's heart issues, and how he seemed to be testing nature's powers.

On his bed was the device he used to heal GK, and he had it sitting on the bed like it wasn't important. Quickly, he took a shower, lotioned up, and doused on some cologne, and then tried to click on a satellite image of GK racing through Gotham. At one point, he'd just stand atop some building, and then he would swoop down into an alleyway. It appeared that he simply patrolled the area, but that wasn't his major concern. What worried him the most was somebody with powers who GK couldn't handle. Although he never really had too many problems in taking out metahumans, he thought there was always that one with extraordinary abilities that he wouldn't be able to handle.

Suddenly, his computer died. The screen went completely blank, and he smelled a slight burning odor that permeated throughout the entire room. Frustrated, he sniffed the back of the computer, and the horrible smell hit him directly in the face. He screamed, "Damn, Computer!" In the background, he heard something unraveling, and when he turned to the black case, two small computers exited the case, and one of them spoke. They hovered by his head.

"Colonel, I am a Doraxian Palm Computer," it said in a woman's voice, "I am assigned to you."

He walked around the devices for a moment and looked at them closely. "Do y'all have names?" JJ asked.

"I'm Orion," the female computer said. A blue light was on in front of the computer. The casing around it looked solid, water resistant, and strong. It appeared to be a serious piece of machinery.

"I'm Veo, father. I mean, Colonel," the other computer said. "I am assigned to Peppermint Johnson."

"I need to call Peppermint," JJ said, "This is incredible."

Suddenly, he heard her voice coming from Orion. "What?" She asked on the computer. He did take notice of how terse she was with him, and on some levels, he was bothered by how she had treated him lately. He didn't know why she acted shortly with him.

"Get over here," he said. "I have something you need to see."

"I'm getting dress," she said. "I don't want to be late."

"Now, Peppermint," he said.

She stormed into his room, and she had her shoes off, hair partially fixed, and wearing only the corset portion of her dress. "What do you want, baby?"

"We have friends," he said as he turned his eyes towards the Palm Computers.

"Peppermint, I am Veo," the computer said, "I am assigned to you."

"Is this a joke?" She asked.

Orion put an image of the Green Witch in the middle of the room, and both of them recognized her. It was an unexpected move by the computer, and it made JJ nervous when it moved from its current position to the middle of the room. The Green Witch wore her Golden Knight uniform and stood in front of them with her hands behind her back. The holographic image of the Green Witch spoke to them for a moment.

"Listen, guys. I'm giving you two your Palm Computers that will help you in all your endeavors. Peppermint, you're now in the fourth month of your pregnancy, and things are about to change for you. You two are family and have always had the strongest bond I've ever seen in my life. There's a criminal element named Perilous Pearl, a shapeshifter, and a time manipulator who wants Mister Wayne and Vera Reese dead. Vivian, a metahuman from twenty-seventy has already informed Rip Hunter of the Time Bureau about Perilous Pearl, but she's evasive."

"But why is she doing this?" JJ asked.

"She had orders to kill T'Nalia and me, and the reward for that was a little over four billion dollars," she said, "The General made an attempt to wipe her out with an ES missile. He hit her ship, and it went down on a small star in the Dark Corridor. After she freed herself, she traveled back to twenty-seventeen. I suspect she's already in Gotham. When you capture her, bring her to the Time Bureau. The Palm Computers will help you locate the bureau because they exist outside your understanding of time." She paused for a moment, pressed a button on what looked like a control panel, and then an image of the darkest woman he had ever seen in his life appeared. Her silver hair was straight, long, and beautiful. She was like midnight. "This is Perilous Pearl, a beautiful creature, and my first mentor." A look of frustration came on her face, and then she said, "You must let your mental powers grow, JJ. You must use your telepathy and master that skill. Perilous Pearl is from a planet called Vordia. She's a powerful telepath. She doesn't die easily. If you take her leg, she'll grow another one. The only thing she can't grow back is her head."

"Why us?" Peppermint asked. "This is a huge burden on two sixteen-year-olds."

"Colonel, you have your orders," the Green Witch said. "Do what you're told. You chose to be heroes, so be heroes. Niona McGinnis out."

"Good lord," JJ said, "Was that a recording or was it live?"

"It was a recording, sir," Orion said.

When Peppermint turned around for the door, her Palm Computer slid into an opening on her dress and then turned itself off. "Oh! That's cool," she said.

At the dance…

JJ stood at the threshold of the auditorium with his lovely Peppermint, and they were dressed in the classical fifty style clothing. He had on the high water jeans with the slick black hair, and muscular arms flexing through a white t-shirt. In the front pocket of his jeans, he kept his Palm Computer. The acoustic guitar hung from his back like a Rock N Roll legend. It was only five-thirty in the afternoon, and only a few students roamed the auditorium, but they were all dressed like nineteen fifties big boppers and teenage teenie boppers. Nate stood at the turntables, and played a song called, "Little Queenie."

Peppermint and JJ ran into the middle of the floor, twisting and a turning, and dancing like they lived in the nineteen fifties. All the students in the gymnasium rocked back and forth as the cute, teen couple danced in the middle of the large auditorium. He twirled her around and around and twisted from side to side. After the song ended, it segued into a Fat Domino's song called, "I Hear You Knocking."

JJ and Peppermint strolled down the floor to the sound of the music. They were faced in the same direction but swayed opposite of each other to the beat of the music. They spun around, and then out of nowhere, they started doing a Boogie Woogie Swing Dance that had everybody in the gymnasium flocking around them.

Nate walked from behind the turntable, turned to Vera, and they began dancing around the room. He stepped back from her during the chorus, and said, "I hear you knocking, but you can't come in." Vera blushed at all the attention he gave her, and JJ laughed because he had never seen Nate with such a big smile on his face.

After a few dancier songs, Nate put on a song as the auditorium began to fill with students. It was another Fat Domino's song called, "I Want To Walk You Home." The kids mingled with each other and rocked back and forth. A photographer took pictures of the couples while they sat in the automobile in the center of the room.

Nate pointed over to JJ and had a big smile on his face as he began to shake his head. He played The Coaster's song called, "Yakety Yak." The entire group of kids started dancing back and forth on the dance floor and twirling each other around. It was everything he wanted it to be. He ran up to the stage, and behind him was his band, "Black Mold." As soon as Nate lowered the volume on "Yakety Yak," he began playing, "School Days" He strummed the guitar, and began to sing like he wrote the song. All the students danced while looking up at the stage, and Peppermint was on the keyboard that produced the swing beat. They drank punch, ate ice cream, smacked on cotton candy, and all the things students liked.

When he started singing, "Sweet Little Sixteen," all the ladies made a huge circle on the dance floor and competed with their swing moves. It was an incredible scene as they danced in the nineteen-fifties swing style. Everybody seemed to be having a blast, and JJ felt good about talking the student body into doing a Chuck Berry Theme Halloween Party, but with all the dancing, having fun, and the security not having to stop fights, he felt like the entire night went better than planned.

But about ten o'clock, JJ took the stage again, and played "Johnny B. Goode." He danced back and forth on the stage, and the students still had a mountain of energy for the Halloween Party Tribute to Chuck Berry. As he hit the last few bars, he looked up and saw a figure standing in the doorway of the auditorium. It was Barbara Gordon, and immediately he knew something was wrong. Cutting the song short, he raced through the crowd, and Nate immediately put on another wonderful song.

"What are you doing here?" JJ asked with a serious look on his face.

"It's Bruce," she said, "He called me around eight o'clock saying he was under attack by a powerful Sapphire." Closely, he watched her every move and looked down at her feet. It was a habit he needed to break, but he could ascertain a lot about an opponent by the way they stood.

He walked into the hallway of the school, and then said, "How did you get here so fast?"

"I'm Batgirl," she said. "I have excess to the Bat Jet."

"I'll go to Gotham, and see if I can find him," he said with a grimace. "I'm not sure why a Sapphire would attack GK." He ran over to Peppermint, and said, "We have to go."

"What's going on?" She asked. "We still have a few songs to play."

"Johnny can do it," JJ said.

"I haven't seen Johnny," she said.

He told Nate that he had to leave early, and wouldn't be able to play the last four songs of the night.

"I'll just play them from the mp3s I have," he said, "Don't worry about it."

Gotham: Eleven O'Clock PM…

The town smelled bad. Trash overran the poor parts of Gotham. Children played up and down the foggy streets, and it shocked JJ because it was late, a Friday night, and predators were everywhere. It rained earlier, and it soaked the streets. Some areas flooded a bit, but Fifth Street looked okay. The stench antagonized him. It was Gotham, and it smelled awful. Gotham always smelled bad because Gotham's sin lived underneath the city. The outcast, the indigent, the unwanted-all lived in Gotham's sewers, and they all played some chord on the sex-slave guitar. It was a crowded area, and every kind of miscreant roamed the street looking for trouble.

Peppermint and JJ walked along Fifth Street, a crime-ridden side of town, and they had Orion following behind them. He had the black, medical case in a backpack as he held hands with his fiance while on the walk. "I'm tracking the tracker, and it's underneath the ground in this area."

"Orion, what's the quickest way underneath the street?" Peppermint asked.

"There's a manhole cover approximately three hundred feet north," she said, "That will lead to him."

"Orion, find him immediately, check his status, and report back," JJ ordered.

"Yes, sir," the Palm Computer said.

JJ watched the computer lift up the manhole cover, and then he looked over at Peppermint, and said, "Incredible." The device went out of his sight, and he hoped that it would find GK quickly. Across from his position set a women's clinic, and for some reason, it looked insidious. He didn't quite understand why he felt something was off about the clinic, but he felt like it preyed on the people in the area. Every building in the sector looked worn and somewhat dilapidated, but not the clinic. Of all the buildings in the district, it didn't look like a rundown establishment. The way it sparkled in the middle of so much trash and death JJ thought the government owned it. He looked up at the Gotham skyline for a moment because he thought he saw a flicker.

The computer resurfaced, and said, "Come quickly."

JJ and Peppermint flew down in the hole and flew with the Palm Computer. When they came into a large room, they ran into about thirty people living in a shanty town. It smelled like urine and human feces all over the place; it was unbearable. He hadn't seen so many indigent people in one location in his entire life. He met plenty of poor people through the years, but nothing like what he saw in front of his eyes. They didn't have anything except the clothes on their backs, and they were in tatters. Over forty people had pup-tents around the entire area. Wedged in the far corner of the room, out of sight of all the inhabitants, GK bled and shivered from the immense pain. He had a gash in his midsection that tore through his uniform, and JJ didn't expect him to last long with a wound like his.

"It's okay, GK," JJ said. "You're with friends now." He helped him out of the corner and sat him on the ground. He pulled out the medical device, and it healed him like it did all the other times.

"I was attacked by a Bounty Hunter," he said, "She moved like nothing I've ever seen in my life."

JJ looked at him for a moment as the old man lay on the ground. "She's from another world and from about fifty years in the future."

"What does she want with me?" GK asked. "It seemed personal."

"You play a role in the future like the rest of us," Peppermint said, "It's the way it is."

"What's that?" GK asked as pointed to the computer hovering behind him.

"My name is Orion, Mister Wayne," the computer said. "The being that attacked you is a very powerful Sapphire. It's important you use all necessary precautions as long she's in this time. She also knows your real identity."

"Orion, can you make an educated guess on where Perilous Pearl will attack next?" JJ asked.

"National City," she said. "Looking at the extent of GK"s injuries, she probably thought he'd die of his wounds. She won't kill her prey immediately. All the data on her tells me she likes to play with her prey."

"Orion, access GK's utility belt and give him a detailed copy of Perilous Pearl's information. We need to know as much about her as possible."

"GK, I have a tracking device in your uniform," JJ said, "I implore you not to remove it. I put it there because of this very situation."

"So, you're just invading my privacy?"

Orion laughed. "I detect you're tracking JJ, GK."

"So, everybody's tracking everybody," GK said. "Good!"