Chapter Seven

Next Day: DEO Noon…

"J'onn!" JJ exclaimed. Nia sat next to him while he argued with the boss of the DEO. "Why do you think I know what happened to the Israelites?"

"We sent in some investigators, and found their residue," he said. "We know you have the power to do just that."

"Really? How would killing people help me?" He asked. "You know damn well I wouldn't do that. Yes! I can incinerate people, but it's not my forte."

"Calm down, JJ," Nia said, "You're raising the temperature in the room. Literally."

"This is a colossal mess. I was with Peppermint, and we fell asleep watching horror movies," he said.

"She can confirm your whereabouts?" He asked.

"Of course," he said. "Both of you can detect if I'm being deceptive. Why all this drama?"

"Why are you so aggressive?" J'onn asked.

"Because I'm an empath," he snapped. "I feel what you're feeling, and it's painful. I take this shit personally." JJ's aura caused the heat to rise in the room. It was already a stuffy interrogation room. He sensed the other minds outside the door thinking badly of him, and he brooded over it. "It's not fair that you have Kara and the rest of the team watching this. You've embarrassed me in front of my peers. I'd have never done this to you." He walked over to the door, looked back at J'onn, and said, "I fooled myself into believing I was part of the team. I thought we had a code." When he walked out of the room, Kara tried to approach him, and he put up his hands with his palms faced outwardly. "Leave me alone. I trusted you most of all." He transferred his essence into pure energy, and exited the building, and then reappeared at his apartment complex.

His living room…

"They think because we live in Little Africa that we're guilty of crimes we didn't commit," JJ said as he lay on the floor of the living room. "It was foolish of me to think they were any different than anybody else."

"It's unfortunate," Peppermint said. "But where do we go from here?"

"I'll just work with Cadmus," he said, "At least Rachel knows I wouldn't kill like that."

"We had already had sex, watched some television, and fallen asleep by the time of the murders," she said, "J'onn could have just scanned your mind." She walked over to his room for a moment and returned with several large posters. "I went to that store, 'Everything Black,' and look what I found." She had eight, large posters of Chuck Berry and three of Fats Domino.

"This is good news," he said, "How much?"

"Only fifty bucks for all of them," she said, "That's a steal." Suddenly, a rap on the door, and then Peppermint answered it quickly. It was Kara, and Peppermint pulled her into the apartment, and snapped, "JJ's your student. Why didn't you fight for him?"

"I did. I fought for you, but you stormed out of the building," she said. "I begged you to slow your roll."

"If I had known people were being murdered, I would have stopped it, Kara," he said, "I'd never allowed it."

"I know," she said. "I'm sorry for that. But why in the hell did you tell Alex about James and Maggie?" She asked.

"For the team," he said, "Fidelity is very important for a cohesive unit." He paused for a moment, walked over to Peppermint, and then said, "Has she told Maggie that she's aware of the betrayal?"

"Not yet," she said, "She discussed it with me this morning."

"I implored her to take her time, so she could use the right words, calculate the responses, so she won't regret anything." He looked up at her, and then said, "We should have told her months ago."

"You're right," she said. "But she estimates within the next week…"

Stepping out onto the roof, over to the sidewalk, JJ, Super Girl, and Peppermint discussed the possibility of a potential threat to the planet, and it already existed on Earth. There had been a rumor about a specialized weapon with enough power to kill super beings, and JJ found the information on the weapon in the Cadmus archives.

"But you're saying it's merely a glove?" Super Girl asked in a calm voice. She dressed as Kara and looked inconspicuous because she wore some Gothic clothing. Her black trench coat fitted her perfectly, and she had on some well-put-together, Gothic glasses. With JJ and Peppermint standing next to her, she seemed like part of the neighborhood.

"It's called the Glove of Darkness, and it's attached to a specific bloodline," JJ said with a grimace. "It was forged in the darkness to stave off godlike beings."

"You're sure this isn't merely myth?" Kara asked with her arms folded.

"No," he said, "I informed you because I don't want any surprises. If we come across its power, we must be aware."

"There's an ancient sect of monks that supposedly guards the glove until the next wielder becomes of age," Peppermint said. "But what makes the glove a problem is how it controls the user's emotions. In the wrong hands, it'll kill who it chooses to kill."

"But what about our current situation?" Kara asked. "What killed those eight guys?"

"Nobody asked me to investigate the scene, but from what I do know, the killer is local," he said. "In addition, he has great power." He pointed to the warehouse across the street, and then said, "The particle accelerator blast came from there." He paused for a moment. "The killer could be anybody within a block radius of the particle accelerator. We're the strongest meta-humans."

"I hate to say this," Kara said.

"What's that?" Peppermint asked.

"He has to strike again before we can figure this out," she said.

"Somebody had to capture the killers on video," JJ said.

"Nothing," Kara said, "There're cameras, but nobody has them turned on. Stay vigilant."

"You two, Kara," JJ said.

Next Day…

They promenaded down the avenue being JJ and Peppermint, and as some cars drove by, they honked. They wore their anachronistic clothing with pride, smiling and holding hands. The old, Reese home, rundown, neglected, and trash on the porch, was no different from the home two, three, four, or even five years ago; it was a home of a drunk who didn't care to do anything with her life. The chips of white paint covered the front porch. It looked like the old, lead based paint, and it bothered JJ. He held Peppermint's right hand as he bent down to look at the paint chips, and he immediately knew.

"That is lead," he said to Peppermint. "This should have been extracted years ago."

With a lot of work, contractors could strip all the lead out of Little Africa; it was one of the reasons for the aggressive behavior and low test scores. It was a cool, dreary day, a day with an overcast, a day that would change Vera's family forever. He had two devices: one for the brain and one for the body. In some ways, he experienced apprehension because Vera told him a million stories of how doctors promised to remove the urinary pouch. Every time her bag leaked, every time she couldn't do what the other students did, every time she liked a boy-all made her curse god. Her bag was her imprisonment, and she hated it. JJ knew all this because after each moment of hope came an extreme moment of dismay.

JJ knocked on the door, the flimsy door, and he could feel the heat coming from inside the home. It was a cold day, probably about thirty degrees outside, and if anybody else in the neighborhood wore the Steampunk winter clothing JJ and Peppermint wore, they'd be considered crazy.

It was early. A large portion of Little Africa prepared for church or some Sunday activity, but not the Reeses. Denise loved preaching god this and preaching god that, but she only called god when she had a financial burden or Vera was about to die. She called on God when Cooper arrived because God chose to give him fetal alcohol syndrome.

When Vera answered the door, she fit the image of the old, unloved cat lady: scraggly hair, drab face, unkempt appearance, pink bathrobe, and feline houseshoes. They walked directly into the living room, and Denise sat in her recliner with a bottle of bourbon in her night clothes. Only forty-two, but she looked approximately sixty-something with her bobble head of gray hair. She looked over at JJ and Peppermint and then scoffed for a moment.

"You two uppity bitches make me sick," Denise said as she drank her alcohol. "I see the way you look at us."

Cooper walked into the living room, small, with beady eyes, and a thin upper lip. It was obvious his father was a black man, and it was also obvious his mother drank insanely during the pregnancy.

JJ looked directly at Denise, and said, "You're pathetic, Denise. You've failed in life, and if you had a modicum of decency, you would see what your failure has caused." He looked over at Vera, and then said, "I'm sorry to talk to you momma like that, but she's out of hand."

"It's okay," she said. "We've had words."

Peppermint sat by the door so nobody would enter the room. Vera took all the blankets off her bed, folded them, and placed them in the corner. She stood in front of him looking pallid and weak, and it had to do with her acute calcium deficiency.

"What do you need me to do?" She asked in her soft voice.

"Just lay on the bed," he said. He set the case on the nightstand, pressed a button, and a computerized keyboard appeared. He punched in the code the Green Witch gave him, and the case opened.

"If this doesn't work, it's okay," she said, "You and Peppermint are my most endearing friends."

He smiled. "Untie your robe," he said. "I hope this doesn't make you uncomfortable."

"Only because I have scars, a bag, and generally disgusting," she said with a grimace. "I'm the mistake god made."

Vera opened her robe. She cried while doing it, and it made JJ very uncomfortable. He removed his winter, anachronistic clothing, and set them in the corner. He reached into her dresser drawer and pulled out some shirts. He placed one over her breast and another one over her vagina area.

"I want you to be comfortable, Vera," he said softly. "We're never to talk about what we're doing here right now." He placed his hands on her head and pushed the hair out of her face. "I need you to promise me. Do you promise never to tell?"

"JJ, you know I won't tell," she said. "I promise."

Her stomach looked like the doctors butchered her through the years. It was nothing more than a bunch of grooves and valleys, and it was a hideous sight. He had never seen so many scars on the human body in his entire life; it looked like the doctors practiced carving a turkey. Gently, he pulled off her urinary pouch, threw it in the trash, and then took out the medical device. The smaller one fit on the head and the larger one fit on her waist. Carefully, he placed the larger one on her stomach and pressed the green button on top of the device. It appeared to analyze her issues, and after about a good five minutes, the device said, "Narcotizing subject."

The machine released some small, DNA altering robots that traveled into her body, repaired all the damage including her kidneys, her uterus, and vulva. It rerouted everything, and made a functioning bladder, a new kidney, and repaired the old one. The grooves and valleys dissipated in front of his face, and he hadn't ever seen anything like it in his entire life. The whole process took nearly two hours, and JJ watched the entire process. "All done," the computer said.

When he lifted the device off her stomach, he couldn't detect one scar or blemish on her. The DNA altering robots wiped away any history of her scars. As he put the larger machine back in its case, he took out the smaller one. Pushing the green button, a glowing, yellow light encompassed her head, and the computer said, "Creating scientific brain." It took longer to rewire her brain than her body, and when the process finished, she began a heavy menstrual cycle.

She awoke, and asked, "Why am I bleeding?"

"Peppermint, come here?" JJ asked.

When she walked into the room, she already had the box of woman products, "The Green Witch warned of this."

"Am I okay?" She asked.

JJ walked out of the room with the case, and picked Cooper up with one arm, and twirled him around and around, and took him to his little bedroom. The kid laughed, and then he placed him on the bed.

"You want to play a game?" JJ asked.

"Okay," he said smilingly.

"Okay. Close your eyes," he ordered.

"Okay," the kid said. JJ placed the large device around Cooper's waist, and the robot repaired him on a DNA level. Once it finished, he placed on the head gadget and increased the child's IQ past one hundred and forty. He collected his things, and let the kid remain asleep.

JJ walked into the living room, and Denise lay in the recliner asleep, and she looked the mess: crumbs on her lap, throw up on her gown, greasy, gray hair, and a horrible body odor. She acted the same way every day. When Vera and Peppermint came from the backroom, she acted differently in how she carried herself.

"Can I have children?" Vera asked.

"Yes, but don't," JJ said. "Remember, you're going to raise a being so powerful that human beings won't be able to touch him directly. Make sure every boy you have sex with has a rubber."

"I'm a real girl now?" She asked.

"Vera, you were always a real girl," he said, "There are thousands of women with your same problem. I promise you that they're real women."

JJ and Peppermint took off their shoes, lay on the couch, and actually fell asleep, and it wasn't anything out of the ordinary for them. They often had spats with Denise about her drinking, so that was normal too. Tommy, Peppermint, Vera, Becky, Johnny, Nate, and JJ were all close and had their own click. So, when they fell asleep on Denise's couch after berating her on her drinking was business as usual. The other friends didn't hang with Vera like JJ and Peppermint did, but JJ and Peppermint visited the other friends, in the same manner, he did with Vera. What happened in Vera's house stayed in Vera's house. After about two hours, JJ heard Vera crying, and he immediately ran to her bedroom.

"Why are you crying?" He asked as she lay on her bed in sweats and a shirt.

She looked over at him with a grimace on her face, and said, "I don't know how to be normal."

He grabbed a hand mirror off her dresser. Gently, he raised up her shirt and displayed her stomach. He let her see her stomach through the hand mirror and then said, "It's perfect. You're all better."

"It seems so surreal," she said.

"I want you to take a good look," he said softly. "The future wanted you healed because you will be raising the greatest being in the universe someday. You must be of sound mind. You're whole. Your brother is whole."

"My mother is broken," she said. "Can you make her whole?"

JJ walked into the living room, tapped Denise on the shoulder, and she struggled to wake up. The stench of a horrendous life cloaked her entire aura, and it bothered him. She hadn't worked a decent job in forever and lived off the government's dole. She gave her life to the bottle, and the fact she allowed her alcoholism to deform the mind of her child was unforgivable. "Wake up Denise," he said loudly. He shook her again and again, and then out of nowhere, he shocked her to wake.

"What the fuck, JJ?" She asked. "Damn!"

"I don't know how not to think about you as an idiot, but I think the real Denise lurks behind all the alcohol and shame," he said. "Your hands shake. Your alcoholism poisoned your son. You've let the pain of life destroy you." Peppermint sat up on the couch and stretched.

"You have no right to talk to me like this," she said, "I tried my best to be a good parent."

"If I told you your son was the smartest kid in National City, what would you think?"

"JJ, you're being silly," Denise said.

"Actually, he's the smartest kid I know," Peppermint said.

"You better not say Cooper is anything lesser than a genius in your eyes," he said, "You need to see him as intelligent so he'll know he's intelligent."

"You two haven't seen the IQ test," she said loudly. "He's like a sixty-five."

JJ could feel her pain because of his empathic abilities, and he wanted to be hard, but he felt a great deal of pity for her. "You could never look at Vera, and see her beauty, Denise. You've always blamed her for this. You ever think Danny deserved all the blame."

She began to sob loudly. "I hate that my children are born with defects, but that's God's will."

"I don't think that's God's will," Peppermint said.

"Vera! Come here, please?" JJ asked in a strong voice. She walked into the living room in her gray, baggy sweats. She had her hair in a ponytail with a long-sleeved, blue shirt. "She's beautiful," JJ said.

"Very beautiful," Peppermint said.

"Aren't you going to tell her?" JJ asked of Denise.

"Of course I think she's pretty," she snapped.

"Can I be honest?" He asked.

"Go ahead," she said with a grimace.

"Vera's breasts are way-way better than yours," he said. Peppermint started laughing.

"True! True!" Peppermint exclaimed.

"You have two kids, and see what happens," she said. "Vera will never experience childbirth."

"Says who?" Peppermint asked.

"Doctors," she said.

"Right now as I'm speaking to you, your daughter is one of the most important human beings on the planet," he said, "I'm serious."

"Why?" Denise asked.

"I need you to promise me you won't say anything about what we're about to show you," he said.

"What's so important?" She asked.

"Promise, Momma?" Vera said.

"I promise," she said in a lazily way.

"Take off your clothes," Peppermint said.

When she pulled off her shirt, she had on a white bra, and she had normal sized breast, but it was her stomach area that was of the most important in JJ's view.

"Wait?" Denise asked. "Where're the scars?"

"She's on her period right now, so there's no reason to show that," he said, "Oh. She can have babies, but you must ensure she doesn't."

She walked over to her daughter and began to sob. "I don't understand."

"At this point, I don't think we need you to understand this. We just need your compliance," he said. "This is your daughter. She's a whole woman as of today."

When Cooper walked into the room, he said, "What's this? A fashion show?" He walked over to the recliner, and said, "Momma, all my books are baby books. I need something adult."

She looked over at him, and asked, "Your face is different!"

"He's whole, Denise," JJ said. "Now, we need to make you whole."

"How is this happening?" She asked.

"A future world beyond this world wants Vera whole because she will adopt a child in the future who will decide if humankind lives or dies," Peppermint said. "Now, I want you to understand the importance of that."

"This is the reason why we must make you whole, Denise," JJ said. "Family is paramount in making children whole."

Denise sat on the couch for a moment and then said, "I have breast cancer. It's stage four. I have only months to live."

"Oh my gawd," Cooper said, "Why didn't you tell us?"

"Lie down, Denise," Peppermint said. "We'll use the device, and it will tell us if it can or can't heal you."

JJ pulled the machine out of the black box, placed it on her stomach, and it began to analyze her. Peppermint grabbed his shoes and handed them to him as they waited for the process to finish. For what seemed like a long time, a green light radiated her breast, and then the machine said, "Narcotizing patient." He went through the same process that it did previously, and when he placed the equipment back in the suitcase, Vera grabbed their coats.