Author's Note: Good morning (or afternoon or evening, depending on when you're reading this). I'm going to be honest; I was unsure if this would be the best choice for the first story in Glimpses, as it's mostly just setting up characters I just wanted to be on the table for potential future projects. Then I realized that there's nothing wrong with that, as plenty of the future chapters I've planned to write will have more action scenes anyway. That, and I figured those interested would rather see something sooner than later. Alright, I hope you can have fun with this.
Earth-140
The Crestwood Club, New York City
The elegant sounds of a smooth jazz band. The inviting smell of expensive specialty foods. The glamorous style of high end tuxedos and gowns. All of these were things that could be found most evenings at the exclusive, expensive Crestwood Club of New York City. From one of the giant windows of the club, a lone, dark haired man stood, ignoring the fancy party he had his back turned to. He was silently staring down at the world below. Nearby, at a table, a squat, gray haired man noticed that the beautiful, much younger brunette serving as his arm candy for the event was repeatedly glancing over at the silent man.
"Somebody catch your fancy, my dear?" the man asked as he set down his glass of champagne.
The brunette turned to the man she had come with and shrugged.
"It's not like that." she responded. "It's just that, well, I recognize everyone here from other parties I've been escorted to. That is, everyone but him."
She motioned her head back at the man by the window. She noticed his reflection in the glass and was able to get a better look at his features. For a split second second, it seemed that he noticed her as well, even though he didn't turn his head back.
"Only Chinese guy I've seen here either." she added.
Her older date just dismissively chuckled before taking a small bite out of the steak on the plate sat down in front of him.
"I am afraid I don't know who he is either, my dear." he said to her after he swallowed the piece of meat. "Let's focus on our meal. Then we can ask about him if you still give a damn."
The two both returned to eating their respective steaks, but that was quickly interrupted by a shadow that suddenly cast down on their table. The two looked up to see the man they had been discussing.
"Korean." the man said to them.
"H…h...Huh?" the woman stammered, rather confused.
"I overheard you two. You called me Chinese, but I was born in South Korea." the man explained.
The pair at the table looked at each. Neither seems sure what they were supposed to say. The stranger extended his hand out and the brunette placed her hand in his. The man leaned down and smiled, though it seemed fairly stilted, like he was forcing it.
"I'm Douglas Dan." the man informed them.
"Ummm…" the gray haired man mumbled.
"So we aren't going to make introductions then?" Dan questioned.
The woman was silent too. Dan pulled his hand away.
"It seems you didn't want to talk to me after all." Dan said dryly. "I have yet to meet anyone interesting at this place. That's why I'm not here often."
A buzzing sound of a mobile phone could then be heard. It was coming from the inside of Douglas Dan's suit jacket. He promptly answered it.
"I'm listening." he answered. "What's the situation?"
A faint feminine voice could be heard from the phone's speaker.
"Oh, I can totally stop by. I'm not anywhere important at the moment anyway." Dan said.
He hung up the phone and quickly walked over to an elevator with a sign that read 'Private - Do Not Enter' placed on it. A young, modestly done up Hispanic waitress in a black dress walked up to the pair at the table with some bread and cheese on a platter.
"I see you two have met Mr. Dan." the waitress said to them as she set the platter down.
"Unfortunately, yes." the older man grumbled. "Very rude."
"Yeah, he acted like he was unimpressed with this place." the brunette huffed. "Who does he think he is?"
"Oh no one…" the waitress coyly began to answer. "He's just the owner of the Crestwood Club."
Inside the elevator, Douglas Dan produced a small key from his pocket that stuck into a slot underneath all the numbered buttons to the right of the closed door. This caused a hidden hatch to open and reveal a different, secret button that Dan then pressed. A secret compartment in the elevator opened and a black duffel bag fell out. Dan swiftly stripped off his tuxedo and other clothes until he was down to his underwear. He then began to zip open the bag.
"I'm glad I thought to hide this in here." he said.
Within less than two minutes, he put on the outfit that he stashed away inside the bag earlier that morning. He now wore a black mask that was fashioned to evoke the horns of an owl, with only his eyes and the lower half of his face exposed. Between the pointed parts was a yellow section that was pointed down in a way that helped emphasize the stylized, owl-like visage he aimed for. The rest of his costume consisted of an intimidating dark black bodysuit that was broken up by his violet gloves, boots, belt and cape. The cape was attached to a yellow pendant near his neck that stylized to look like an owl's eye, with the belt having a buckle of identical design.
"Time for the Black Owl to take off into the night!"
NYC Jitters
Even though it was nighttime, the warmly lit coffee house known as NYC Jitters was filled with several customers, with the baristas at the counter doing everything they could to get all of the orders ready in a flash. At the front of the line to get their drink were two strapping young men. The two were recognizable as identical twins. They were of some kind of Indian heritage and wore casual t-shirts, jeans, and unzipped sweatshirts of varying colors. These unassuming clothes did little to hide their healthy, athletic appearances. A barista with dirty blond hair with black framed glasses rushed up with two paper cups.
"Two green teas for Rick and Dick?" she asked.
"Um, actually I'm Daruk. This is my brother Rithvik." one of the twins said to correct her, motioning to the other.
"Aw crap, I'm so sorry!" the barista gasped, worried that she had offended her customers. "I…"
"Hey, we're good. We're good." Daruk said, blushing a tad. "We did order green teas."
"Yeah, so don't feel too bad. Someone clearly wrote our names wrong on the cups." Rithvik said kindly.
Rithvik slapped some cash down on the counter while Daruk picked up their beverages.
"Thanks! You're a super gal!" Rithvik complimented her.
The twins then strolled off to get a table. They couldn't help but overhear the bespectacled barista shouting at someone and couldn't help but watch.
"OJ, Mister Pierce told you to do better with people's names!" she yelled.
One of the baristas getting coffees ready, a muscular looking Caucasian man with a stubble goatee and a shaved head, seemed offended.
"Take a chill pill, Linda!" he snapped at her. "You sound like you want to put an arrow through my head."
"If I don't do it, Kathy will!" the woman barista, Linda, countered.
The male barista, OJ, looked at one of their co-workers, another woman. She was a pale white woman who had a short, androgynous haircut dyed a bright red. Her arms were exposed, showing her many tattoos. She cocked an eyebrow at him. This seemed to be Kathy.
"I am already sweet on Linda, so you probably shouldn't tempt me." she said playfully.
"Alright, whatever…" OJ sighed.
Daruk and Rithvik were both rather amused by the interaction they had just witnessed from the small table they had found.
"Haha, I'd watch a TV show about them." Rithvik commented with a snicker.
"Eh, it's probably work for some niche audience." Daruk said.
The two then both slurped down some tea from their cups. Both smiled as they savored the taste.
"Aw yeah, that's the stuff…" Daruk hummed.
"So how are things going with that girl you li..." Rithvik began to ask, before noticing someone walk in through the entrance.
Daruk, who was facing away from the entrance, seemed confused by his brother. He turned around and saw who he saw. It was a good looking, blond haired, blue eyed man in his late thirties. He wore a logo-less baseball cap, a blue button down shirt, and other inconspicuous clothing. Though he didn't draw much attention from anyone else there, the two were well acquainted with this man, who spotted them instantly and went right over to their table.
"Jupiter, what are you doing here?" Daruk asked softly, almost whispering.
"There's a situation and we need everyone we can get." the man, Jupiter, answered.
"Well then, I guess we'll have to drink these on the go." Rithvik said. "Let's go."
The three quickly exited NYC Jitters out the front door. This being New York City, the street was swarming with tons of people. After a few minutes, the three were able to duck into an area between two buildings where no one seemed to be at the moment. Jupiter looked around just to be sure. He removed his cap, reading that he had two spiked antennas on his head.
"You have your costumes on hand?" he asked the twins.
"We have them on under these street clothes." Rithvik answered.
"We'll be ready if you just give us two minutes, Master Magician." Daruk assured him.
Jupiter gave them the time they needed. Rithvik and Daruk were soon shown to be in matching long sleeved blue jackets, white pants and boots with single red stripes down the sides, and red belts and gloves. Over their hearts on their jackets were white star shaped patches, with Rithvik's having a red 'Y' in the center and Daruk's having a red 'D' in the same location. They had also put on black domino masks.
"Now let's see what the world has to throw at Yank and Doodle!" Daruk confidently beamed.
"Alright-y then...Quizacto! Quizacto!" Jupiter chanted.
The three then disappeared in a large puff of sparkling blue smoke, with no trace of them left behind.
A run down parking garage
To a normal person not in the know, there was nothing interesting to be seen in this parking garage. It was exactly the kind of place you would expect it to be, with various run-of-the-mill cars parked in whatever space was available. There were noticeable piles of litter scattered throughout and the lighting was mediocre at best. That's what made it the perfect hiding place, for there was one special vehicle there that, if one weren't in the know, would only be worth paying attention to if they had a fascination with motorhomes. This vehicle, which was parked between two tiny old cars, was an impressively sized motorhome that had a shiny black paint job with large red and white stripes. Yes, that did make it stand out against a lot of the cars in the parking garage, but all that suggested was that it belonged to some well off tourists. The true owner was far more fascinating than that though, as was the meeting inside that was about to begin. Within the motorhome stood two individuals who were, in fact, far from typical people. Sparkly blue smoke appeared out of nowhere right in front of the mysterious motorhome. The door on the side was then opened up by the two inside while the smoke cleared away. Jupiter and the twins walked out from the smoke. Jupiter was now wearing a connected blue short sleeved shirt, belt, and shorts that all possessed a metallic sheen, a short red cape with a yellow jewel for a clasp, flared red gloves, and red and blue boots. Just as they were about to walk into the motorhome, another figure swooped down from the poorly lit ceiling, landing between the three and the entrance with a single fist to the ground. He stood up from the pavement. The light showed his full appearance to then; it was the Black Owl.
"I hope I'm not late." Black Owl vocalized.
"Hello, Black Owl." Yank greeted.
"Quite an entrance, but who am I to talk?" Jupiter quipped.
Black Owl, Jupiter, Yank and Doodle all stepped into the large motorhome. In contrast to the parking garage, the light inside was vibrant, and showed off the modern interior of the vehicle well, with the two other costumed heroes still standing there, whom the others easily recognized from their past adventures.
"Good to see you, Doctor Frost. You too, Bulldog." Doodle spoke in a friendly tone.
Doctor Frost was a conventionally attractive, physically fit blonde. She wore a long sleeved mint green leotard that had simplistic, white colored icicle patterns on the collar, chest and upper shoulders. The sleeves ended near some thin black bands around her wrists. Her robust legs were left exposed save for black boots that stopped just below her knees. In contrast, Bulldog was a tall, muscular, chiseled Caucasian male with shortly cut black hair and a stern, chiseled face. He was dressed in black military fatigues with padded black body armor over it, with a white, cartoon bulldog face stitched onto the center of his chest piece.
"I'd like to know if anyone else is coming; are we everyone you contacted?" Black Owl asked.
"Doctor Frost here tried to reach out to everyone she could, including the Futureman, Voodini, and Airmale. Unfortunately, none of them are available, so it's just us." Bulldog explained.
"I honestly prefer it this way. We have more of a history with you two and Black Owl than them." the woman called Doctor Frost stated, sounding positive.
"Yeah, if it weren't for my being here, this would be a reunion of the team that took down Frankenstein." Jupiter acknowledged.
"Minus one. The Green Lama was there that day as well." Black Owl corrected him.
"Oh...right." Jupiter sighed, awkwardly rubbing the back of his head.
"It's a shame that he's still MIA since that awful disaster we had to live through." Yank said sadly.
Doctor Frost placed her right hand on Yank's shoulder and smiled.
"Guys, I think it's the perfect time to let you know why I wanted to see you all; I think I may know what happened to Green Lama." she announced.
Black Owl, Yank, Doodle, and Jupiter all looked stunned.
"Two days ago, I was once again battling regular nemesis, Vulcan, on an unpopulated tropical island." Doctor Frost began to elaborate. "It turned out to be different from one of his usual endeavors; Vulcan and his underlings were trying to access a bizarre portal that had appeared on the island out of nowhere. Vulcan claimed that the portal could bring him to another world, one where there would be no heroes to oppose him. I was skeptical, but as we were fighting, I took a look into the portal and… I briefly saw the Green Lama, and heard his voice crying out for help. After that, I sent Vulcan running like I usually do."
"It sounds like Vulcan was right then." Black Owl concluded. "During all the chaos, the Green Lama must've been pulled through something else like it."
"I have suspected for a while now that the events of that grim day came from outside our universe." Jupiter admitted. "I didn't say anything because I didn't want to worry any of you without proof. I should've known."
"Why didn't you go through and try to bring him back, Doctor Frost? Did the portal close up before you could?" Doodle inquired.
"No, the portal is still there, remarkably enough." Doctor Frost responded. "As for your first question, I'll admit that I didn't want to go in alone. I have no idea what Green Lama is facing in this other world, so I figured I'd try to put together a team to go get Green Lama back. So...what do you all say?"
She stuck out her hand. The other four costumed heroes all exchanged glances with one another for a little while before grinning, with all of them placing one of their own hands on top of Doctor Frost's in a stack. The touch of her skin felt cold and they all pulled their hands away. It was clear that they had all meant that as a yes.
"Don't worry, Green Lama! We'll find you no matter what!" Yank proclaimed.
Secretly, Jupiter almost felt like they were being watched, but he wasn't sure by what, or by who. The Master Magician brushed the feeling aside as he and the others began to discuss their new shared mission.
So, I should probably explain things; Earth-140 is a world that is home to my reimagined versions of the public domain comic book heroes that were originally published by Prize Comics. Don't worry, a lot of more well known, more modern characters will be included in the future chapters. As for these characters and their world, here's some notes;
- In the original comics, the Black Owl was bored playboy Doug Danville. He actually started out as "K the Unknown" before switching to the Black Owl identity, before later giving it up to enlist in the army. Here, he is, as pointed out, Korean-American, with his surname changed to reflect it, and didn't pass on his mantle to anyone else. I picture him as being played by John Cho (Maybe #StarringJohnCho influenced me, maybe it didn't). Since Yank and Doodle and Jupiter are still in blue and red, I decided to change his design from blue and red to black and violet, while keeping the yellow accents (with my own spin). I envision Doug as being aware of society's ills and his privilege, with his fancy club merely being his way to keep a close eye on those who may use their wealth for evil.
- Yank and Doodle are more or less the same in spirit; two goodhearted young men who want to do good, and do it by being patriotic masked superheroes. Though not demonstrated here, they do still grow stronger when they are in close proximity to each other. In the original comics, they actually were named Rick and Dick Walters and were white. I decided to make them Indian-American and changed their names to Daruk and Rithvik. It's understandably difficult to find a pair of young Indian American actors who are twins, so no fan cast for them sadly.
- Jupiter, Master Magician, is actually the character who lead me down this path to begin with. I follow professional artist Luciano Vecchio on DeviantArt and it was his drawing of Jupiter that made me want to look into the Prize Comics heroes. The only major changes are that Jupiter is not from the planet Jupiter like in the comics, but from a different galaxy altogether, and that he's gay and in a romantic relationship with reporter Jim Johnson, his main supporting character from the original comics. I picture Jupiter as being played by actor Scott Evans (who is the younger brother of Chris Evans, but I didn't know that at first).
- Doctor Frost was a man in the original comics and, as the name suggests, has ice powers (think Iceman). Since it seems Prize Comics only had male heroes, I decided to make one of them into a woman. The costume was originally, get this, a blue top with a green speedo (still with the legs exposed). I decided to keep the general idea, but make it all mint green. I picture her as being played by Samara Weaving. You probably know her from her role as "Woman who is dismissed by lots of internet commenters just because she kind of looks like Margot Robbie". She's great in Ready or Not, so I assume they just aren't giving her a chance.
- Bulldog is based on "Bulldog" Denny Dunsan, a descendant of Doctor Victor Frankenstein who was the heroic antagonist to Frankenstein's Monster in Prize's horror comics starring the creature. The original comics actually had a crossover where Green Lama, Black Owl, Yank & Doodle, and Doctor Frost helped Denny defeat the monster. Similar events happened here, as alluded to in the story. He's now a full on monster hunter, akin to Blade or a member of the BPRD from Hellboy.
- I originally planned to include a new take on the Blue Streak as well, but it didn't feel right.
- And now for the elephant in the room; in this universe, there are versions of Arrowverse leads who are all just normal human employees at a New York coffee shop that is named like the ones seen in those shows. Linda is Kara's and her name is taken from her Linda Lee and Linda Danvers aliases from the comics. O.J. is Oliver, just going by his first two initials. Kathy is Kate Kane, and her line about liking Linda is a reference to those who ship Supergirl and Batwoman (I) online. The unseen Mister Pierce is Jefferson. I like to think that it goes beyond that, with Barry and one or two of the Legends having counterparts who work there as well, with other characters from the shows being regular customers at the place.
That's it for now. Make sure to keep and eye out for the next chapter!