CHAPTER FIFTEEN: INTERLUDE

Hours later, the Crusaders found themselves confined to the only undamaged room in the entire museum. The rest of the structure was now occupied by local authorities who had begun the search for survivors. Police and emergency crews were shifting through the rubble, trying to find life amongst the shattered mortar and brick. As it stood, the macabre construction of blood and bone that now held court in the Extremists section of the museum had turned numerous stomach already. Those charged with taking apart the construct had done so quickly, trying not to remember what they were handling were once human beings.

No one liked the prospect that there could be more deaths beyond that atrocity but it was a reality that had to be faced. Once it was faced, the body count started escalating by the minute.

Most had been mauled to death by animal claws, no doubt the work of the Extremist named Tracer. With his heightened sense of smell, no one was capable of remaining hidden inside the museum for very long. Tracer could smell the scent of warm bodies and like the perfect hunter, he always found his prey. Eventually, the rescue parties abandoned the hope of locating survivors and the search became one for bodies.

Even though the Extremists were gone from the immediate vicinity, their battle had been fought to a stalemate with no clear winner. Considering the destruction to the museum and the number of dead being found, calling their battle a stalemate was being rather optimistic. To be fair, most of the deaths had occurred before the Crusaders' arrival on the scene. However, with every body that was found, each of them was struck with a feeling of failure.

Unfortunately that feeling only escalated with Ted's news regarding the fate of Kooey Kooey Kooey. In the aftermath following its destruction, news of the explosion had reached the rest of the globe. The prospect of a nuclear explosion fired the speculative imagination of the media. Television, radio and newspapers all screamed headlines about nuclear destruction in the South Pacific. Before today, only a handful of people even knew the name Kooey Kooey Kooey. Now the entire world knew it was the victim of an unknown nuclear attack whereby its entire population had perished in the atomic fire. For the moment, the public was unaware that this was the work of a super villain and the Crusaders did not see any need to make that fact known. If the public was aware that a super villain was going around dropping nuclear missiles on unsuspecting populations, it would cause a world wide panic.

"That hurts." Beatriz winced as a French medic tended to her wounds. Most of the cuts and bruises on her body were superficial but that did not lessen the pain of the injury to her ego.

"You must sit still mademoiselle." The middle age man remarked with patience borne from years of experience.

"This stuff stings." She declared.

"It is meant to." The man said with a faint smile. "Then we know it is working."

"Beatriz," Sigrid said limping over to her similarly injured comrade. "Its for your own good." The Norwegian had been tended to first and was now wearing a sling cradling her right arm. During her battle with Gorgon, Sigrid had fractured a bone in her arm. Although the adrenalin coursing through her body had dulled the pain during their fight, her arm was now aching painfully now the fire of her aggression had diminished.

"I know." Beatriz said with a sigh as she stopped fidgeting and allowed the paramedic to continue with his work. "How's the arm?"

"Sore." Sigrid added and sat down next to her. "It could have been worse."

"I don't see how." Beatriz replied. "I got my butt kicked."

Despite his attempts to conceal that how concerned he was about Beatriz's welfare, Guy Gardner nevertheless remained within earshot of the two women. While he did not want to appear to be unnecessarily protective, he could not deny that seeing her harmed did not infuriate him intensely. Guy hated seeing her lovely Latin features marred by such ugly bruises and was secretly pleased that Beatriz had dealt with the good doctor herself. Had he done it himself, Guy did not doubt he would have torn the Extremist limb from limb for the injury to the woman he cared for so deeply.

"You made up for it." Guy remarked trying to offer her some comfort. "You did fry Diehard."

"For all the good it did." Beatriz said softly.

He could not blame her sombre mood. With the destruction of Kooey Kooey Kooey fresh in their minds and the constant unearthing of another body from the wreckage of the museum, no one had reason to feel very triumphant over anything. Their first outing as a team had been nothing short of a disaster. They had accomplished nothing and that infuriated Guy to no end. Perhaps, the media were right. Maybe they were just a less perfect version of the real Justice League.

Stop it Gardner. He told himself firmly. This ain't the time for it. There was still a job to do. The Extremists were still out there. With the death of everyone on Kooey Kooey Kooey, Dreamslayer was no doubt feeling very happy with himself. Guy wanted to shove his victory celebration down his throat before the man had the chance to light the candles.

"Together again and getting our asses handed to us," a familiar voice spoke up from the door. "Isn't it great?"

"Booster!" Ted exclaimed as he saw his friend walking into the room with Catherine at his side. The Blue Beetle was halfway across the room before the sentence had been completed to greet his friend. Booster was in full uniform and although his injuries could be detected through the ginger movements of his body, he seemed otherwise healthy. However, the exposed part of his face did reveal the lacerations and bruises he had received during his engagement with the Extremists.

"How are you doing buddy?" Ted asked, grateful to see him in one piece. After everything Booster had endured after the Overmaster, Ted had feared Booster might have been similarly crippled.

"I got pretty banged up," he explained as the others came towards him. "But I'm okay."

However that explanation seemed a little too optimistic and Ted turned to Catherine. "Is that true?"

"The doctors would prefer that he get some rest," she said with hint of disapproval in her voice. "Unfortunately Booster was having none of that. However, they believe he can come out and play as long as he keeps his force field between himself and the fighting." Secretly, Catherine had wished Booster had remained in hospital a little while longer. She still felt responsible for his injuries. If she had not insisted that he remain anonymous while he was guarding her, he would have worn his battle suit instead of confronting the Extremists unprotected.

"I'm alright." He tried to convince them.

"That's a familiar tune around here." Donovan retorted. "You people are as bad as cops." The new General Glory said with a faint smile. However, he was pleased that Booster was alive and well. In the short time that he had come to know this group of people, one thing was clear. They cared about each other. Even though they had no knowledge of him beyond the suit he was wearing, he could sense genuine concern for him as well. After being alone for so long, it felt good to have friends again.

"Worse." Catherine agreed with him. "They think they're all Superman."

"Bite your tongue." Ted looked at her. "We don't say the 'S' word around here."

"Ted, is it true about Kooey Kooey Kooey?" Booster asked on a more serious note. "I heard it on the radio at the hospital."

Ted nodded slowly, all humour draining from his face. "Its true." Ted nodded, feeling the same rage starting to bubble inside him again once the elation of Booster's well being had subsided. The vivid image of that wall of fire flashed through his mind once again. Even now, hours after the event, he could still feel the heat of nuclear fire against his skin. "Dreamslayer dropped Zatanna and me right in the middle of Ground Zero so we didn't miss anything."

Booster absorbed it as much as he could before the appalling nature of the act forced him to articulate his horror. "Herb, Puck, the Chief......" He said swallowing. Their faces flashed in memory. Suddenly, he felt his throat become dry. "They're all dead, aren't they?" It was more of a statement than it was a question. By the 25th century, Kooey Kooey Kooey had no history. Booster Gold now knew why.

"It was such a beautiful place." Catherine mused. "They trusted us to protect them from a nuclear tug of war between the superpowers..." She could not finish the sentence because her grief made her voice choke in her throat.

"It was an act of revenge." Guy said venomously. "Dreamslayer picked it because of that." If there was one thing Guy Gardner understood well, it was hatred and revenge. Dreamslayer had known that Kooey Kooey Kooey meant something to the Leaguers he had battled there. The bastard had chosen the island as a target because its destruction would be an outrage to all of them. "Have the Extremists been seen any where else?"

"No." Catherine replied. "Not since they vanished from here." She turned to Booster. "I have to go." She said softly. "Are you sure you are okay?"

Booster nodded quickly, trying to hide amazement at how much feeling she was showing towards him. "I've been in worse shape before." He responded trying to sound confident to allay her fears. "You go on and do what you have to. I'll be fine."

Catherine kissed him lightly on the cheek and offered him a killer smile as she drew away and bid farewell to the others. Booster almost melted in his boots from that smile and for a few seconds after she was gone, he stared dreamily after her. Who would have thought that almost getting himself killed would engender such feeling from someone like Catherine?

"My hero." Ted said mischievously.

"I told you eventually she would succumb to my charm." Booster retorted with a smile. He could still smell her perfume. "It just took a little time.

"Yeah, once a woman slaps you around, she's yours." Guy added, sharing the joke with Ted for a few seconds before he remembered that they had bigger concerns at the moment than simply Booster's love life. "Okay back to business. Dreamslayer and his Extremists' are not done with us yet, not by a long shot."

"He is probably planning their next move." Beatriz suggested. "Whatever that might be."

"If what you've told us about Dreamslayer is correct," Donovan added. "Isn't he going to be a lot stronger now?"

"At least." Guy agreed. "He's killed many people here and who knows how many at the island."

"Each time he kills he becomes stronger." Sigrid mused. "Its disgusting knowing that he's stronger because he killed everyone on the island." The audacity of Dreamslayer's actions infuriated the young woman. She could not fathom any action that could justify the genocide of a race, particularly one as simple and benign as the islanders of Kooey Kooey Kooey.

"This has gone far enough." Guy declared with an edge of finality to his voice.

"I agree." Ted turned to him. Guy's tone indicated that the Vuldarian had made some decision regarding their next course of action. Ted for one, wanted to know what plan Guy was conceiving. "What's on your mind, Skipper?"

"Call me that again and you'll be a blue and black beetle." Guy threatened through narrow eyes.

"I'm real scared." Ted grinned, knowing Guy was joking.

"I say we call him out." Guy stated allowing his eyes to move across the faces of his companions, so they would know how determined he was about this. "We've let him say when and where and look what's happened. He's picked places with lots of innocent victims he can feed off when they're dead. I say we don't give him that advantage any more."

"Guy's right." Zatanna Zatara stated as she made her appearance in a puff of dark smoke. The magician appeared as tired and weary as they did. There was still an ugly streak of red across her forehead that had yet to be tended.

"You sure know how to make an entrance." Sigrid stated as she watched the smoke disappear.

"Zatanna." Ted went to her. Their exchange was still fresh in his mind and he hoped they could explore the incident once this was all over. For the moment, her injury held more concern for him. The cut was deep and the skin around it was becoming purple. While Zatanna appeared to be a powerful mystic, he did not know if those abilities extended to self regeneration. "Are you okay?" He brushed a strand of hair from the gash on her skin.

Zatanna offered him a warm smile, unable to deny that she enjoyed his affections. "No better off than the rest of you." She spoke, addressing the others as well. "I've been seeking a higher power, I think we may have the help we need."

"I hope you're right," Guy declared and continued with what he had been discussing prior to her timely arrival. "We've got to get Dreamslayer somewhere isolated. Every time we've run into him, there has been too many innocent people around. He's using them to recharge." He reiterated for Zatanna's benefit.

"What about some place like the desert or may be Antarctica." Booster suggested.

"Dreamslayer likes to perform." Ted shook his head. "He would just let us freeze our butts and not show. I think it has to be somewhere that provokes a response."

"Ted's right. The guy's got a sense of irony. I mean look at the places he's picked so far. Stone Ridge, Paris and the Worgi, its like he's visiting all his old hunting grounds. We got to remember that he's not just Dreamslayer any more, there is a bit of him that's also the Gray Man. We've been letting him make all the rules because we weren't sure who were dealing with. Now we do."

Guy moved his gaze towards Zatanna. The superhero Steel, who was one of Guy Gardner's best friends, had recently told him about what she had done at Metropolis in the wake of the clone wars. Although it was hard to believe that any one human could possess such incredible abilities, he had seen enough of the young magician to know that she was no novice in such things. Besides, the evidence of her powers were undeniable. Metropolis was still home to millions. "What you did at Metropolis, can you do it again?"

Zatanna caught on to his intention immediately. When Metropolis had been destroyed, in the massive clone war and by Lex Luthor's fail safes, Zatanna had used the memories of her citizens to restore the entire city to its original, pristine, state. For Zatanna, that moment had been her coming of age. It had been the greatest feat of magic she had ever been called on to perform and its accomplishment established her as great sorceress in her own right.


"You want me to bring back Kooey Kooey Kooey?"

Ted looked at hers sharply. "You can do that?" He asked astonished. "You bring them back?"

"No," she replied quickly before his misunderstanding led to more hurt. "I can't bring back its people but I can make the island what it was."

"How is that possible?" Donovan asked.

"I get a visual image of the island from someone who was there and I used it to recreate it as it once was." Zatanna explained.

"Then why not people?" Beatriz demanded. "You could bring back all those people who died..." Despite herself, Tora's name leapt into her mind at that possibility.

"No." Zatanna said firmly. "I cannot bring back the dead." She took a deep breath and tried to explain the concept to them as it had once been explained to her. "When someone dies, their soul passes to another plane of existence. Once the crossing is made, there is no return for the soul. You can reanimate the physical bodies and create simulations of the dead but you cannot replace the soul that has been lost. I will not bring those people back because they won't really be alive. Their souls have already passed on. I am sorry."

"I am sorry," Beatriz apologised. "I hoped."

Zatanna nodded in understanding. How many times had she attempted to dabbled in those forbidden incantations and then thought better of it? The mastery of life and death was one of magic's oldest desires. She knew of people who could maintain their bodies for centuries of immortality but no one who had truly returned from the dead. The spell for that power was still elusive to the greatest of conjurers and rightly so. The cycle of nature required a beginning and an end to all things.

"So you can do it?" Ted asked hopefully. He knew the island would never be the same without its people but at least some part of their world would still remain.

"Yes I can." Zatanna answered. "And I am certain when it is done, it will get Dreamslayer's attention."

"Good," Guy replied with a cold smile. "We'll be waiting."

**********

Having unanimously decided that the situation with the Extremists could not be left to escalate any further, the Crusaders proceeded to Kooey Kooey Kooey immediately. They made one stop at the Paris branch of Star Labs and borrowed a number of radiation suits. Zatanna could not be expected to perform the spell that would restore Kooey Kooey Kooey to its former state and still maintain a force field to protect them all. While Booster was capable of conducting that task, the shield bubbles he projected did not have the ability to filter in oxygen. Normally, he would circumvent this problem by dropping the shield for a short period of time to replenish his air supply. However, in a nuclear radiated environment, this solution was not possible.

Once the suits were collected, the group departed immediately for the island. At the moment, the public was still unaware of who was really behind the nuclear destruction of Kooey Kooey Kooey. Catherine had been forced to depart because she had convened a meeting of top level United Nation delegates in order to explain the situation. At the moment, everyone was pointing a finger and one another, unwilling to take responsibility and accusing each other like frightened children.

"How are you doing babe?" Guy asked Beatriz when they finally had a moment.

The group was on its way towards the island and everyone was taking the time during the journey to catch their breaths. The past day had been eventful to say the least and the brief interlude was well needed. Sigrid and Booster had picked up Chinese food during their hiatus at Star Labs and now everyone was indulging in a much needed meal. Despite the tension of what lay ahead, the Crusaders were starting to relax a little.

Beatriz swallowed a mouthful of fried rice and looked up at Guy. There was something in his eyes she could not define and she wondered what was wrong. "I'm okay." Beatriz said cautiously. "How are you?"

"I've been doing some thinking." He said sitting down in the seat opposite her. The memory of her cry for help was still vivid in his mind. When he had heard her scream, Guy had never been so afraid of anything in his life. The possibility of losing her struck cold terror into his heart the way nothing had been able to since he lost Tora. And there lay the problem. He realised for the first time that he loved Beatriz even if she was not Tora. She would never be but that did not mean the intensity of his feelings for her was any less, just different.

"Really?" Beatriz did not like the sound of this. In some ways, she felt extremely insecure of her relationship with Guy. Sure, they had a great time together. Their relationship was a powder keg of fireworks and passion and she knew without doubt that she loved him deeply. Except, she always felt that to Guy she was Tora's replacement. Their relationship had been borne out of their mutual love for Tora and that kinship had been the basis of all intimacies since.

"You know I'm no good with that sensitive stuff." He said clearing his throat.

"I hadn't noticed." She said with a faint smile.

Guy gave her a look but continued anyway. "I've been thinking that we got involved because we missed Tora so much and we needed to fill the spaces inside us. It was a good idea to begin with but may be it isn't the best way to keep going."

"I see." Bea said shortly, trying not to leap to conclusions at where this was heading.

Her tone of voice immediately put Guy on guard and he started to realise that perhaps she was misreading the entire point of this exercise. Perhaps he should really clear this up quickly before the situation got out of hand. "When I heard you cry out for help, I don't think I've ever been so afraid in my life." It was a difficult admission for him to make but Guy knew it was the time for such things. "I guess I figured out then that you and I are all there is to us. Neither of us will ever forget about Tora because she's a part of us, but she's a part of us that is in the past. We have to move on." Guy paused and took a breath. It was easier facing a planet full of Tormocks than saying was he was about to. In the end, Guy decided to just come out and say it. "I love you Bea. I know I haven't said it before but I do. I feel this way because of who you are not because of Tora."

Beatriz tried not to let her emotions show so all she managed was a small nod. "I know." She replied. Her voice was almost a whisper. The truth was, she did not know. Not at all. Hearing him say it out loud finally, put her fears to rest finally.

Guy could tell his words had affected her considerably but Beatriz was too much the hot headed Latino to admit it so he chose not to wait for a response. Instead, he took her face in his hands and kissed her tenderly. When he looked up at her, her eyes were glistening. She was trying very hard not to cry and he loved her for it.

"I wondered if what you felt for me was real," she managed to say after a while. "Was it just what was left over for Tora or was it really for me."

"I'm sorry I never made it clearer." Guy replied, regretting that he had waited so long to let his feelings be known.

"You have now," she smiled. "And that's all that matters."

"Now," he said with a straight face. "Do you want some sweet and sour chicken?"

Beatriz could only laugh in response and after a moment, Guy joined her.

****************

"Ah the mysteries of life solved." Donovan mused as he wrestled to pick up a morsel of savoury meat at the bottom of the carton he was holding with chop sticks.

"What mystery would that be?" Sigrid inquired.


"I never imagined being in the company of super heroes could be so...normal."

Ted who was at the controls had to turn around at that remark. "Normal? Us?"

"Yeah," Donovan answered. "Normal. The bad guys are worse of course but no different to any other bad guy I've faced on the force. All of them are making a grab for turf or waiting to blow someone away for revenge. Dreamslayer just does it differently."

"You know I never thought of it that way." Booster replied considering what the younger man had said. "You are right though." He added. "When we finish up for the day, we go home to what's left of our lives. I gave up trying to have a secret identity because its pointless. I admire Batman and Superman who can do it but its so much work."

"Tell me about it." Sigrid retorted understanding that situation all too well. It was hard to be taken as Sigrid Nansen when genetics had turned her skin blue and her hair snow white. People could barely imagine there was a real person beneath the persona of Ice Maiden. "Do you know how hard it was to get a job looking like this?" She looked down at herself. "I passed the bar at Star Labs only because scientists weren't squeamish about how I looked. Most people don't even think I'm human."

"I sympathise," Zatanna spoke to Sigrid as she reached for more fried rice. "Try growing up with a name like Zatanna and then having a father who was a superhero magician. I mean I loved my father but I grew up without having a real home because we were on the road all the time. When he disappeared when I was 18, I didn't know anyone. I never stayed around long enough to have friends nor did I have family. My first real family was the League."

"It was that way with us too, wasn't it Booster?" Ted mused, remembering those heady days in the infancy of Justice League International. He missed those times with Scott, Tora, Jonn, Guy, Bea and Max. They shared the warmth he never had with his family and when the League came to an end, it felt as if the best part of his life had come to a close. "The League we knew was warmer, more personal. I guess I wasn't too heart broken to be left out of the new League, it just wouldn't feel the same."


Booster said nothing and was glad Beatriz and Guy was sharing a private moment alone because what he was about to say would undoubtedly sadden them. "Justice League International died when we lost Tora. It had been starting to crumble before then but when Tora died, the heart of what we were died too. After that, the family disappeared and what was left was not what I wanted to be apart of."

"We tried hard to make it work," Sigrid spoke in the defence of the team that remained after Tora's demise. "But we never had that kind of cohesion. People were too shell shocked by Tora's death and then Maxwell Lord. We never regained our balance I think."

"God I miss Max," Booster said to the others who had not know Max. "He was the most manipulative bastard that ever lived but you always knew deep down inside he was crusader at heart. "He did everything to make the League autonomous, so we would not be subject to anyone. He really believed that we could make the world a better place, even if we showed up red in the balance sheets."

"He was a remarkable man." Zatanna agreed, knowing of Maxwell Lord's reputation. He was a genius who allowed superheroes to do what they could to help, unencumbered by the trivialities of a society complicated with silly conventions.

"He sure was." Ted replied. "We floundered without him no matter what anyone might say. Thanks to Max, we had UN sanctioning, which meant we could help the parts of the world that really needed it. We weren't just limited to fighting super villains on American soil, we were a global force. When Superman took over, we should have guessed it was the begining of the end."

"Come on Ted," Booster said knowing how inflamed Ted could on this subject. "He did die protecting us from Doomsday."

"Oh really?" Ted put the Bug on auto pilot and turned around to face his companions. "Yes he did and I'm not forgetting it but we fought Doomsday too. Both of us almost died fighting him too. Bea almost lost her powers permanently and did anyone care that Guy and Tora were injured? Does that make us any less because Maxwell Lord was pulling the strings?"

They could not say no.

"Max allowed us to be more than just a bunch of superheroes." Ted said softly. "He turned us into a family."

".engamahC" Zatanna said cryptically. With a sudden sparkle of glitter, a bottle of champagne appeared out of thin air in her hands. She grasped the green glass of the bottle and tilted it towards Sigrid. "If you would be so kind." She smiled at the Ice Maiden.

"My pleasure." Sigrid smiled and blew a kiss against the smooth surface. Her icy breath immediately chilled the bottle, creating a thin layer of frost against the glass. At the same time, the cork popped loudly and a strong gush of foam surge from its opening.

"Hey that's pretty sharp." Booster laughed as he reached for some paper cups that that was meant for the bottle of Soder Cola they had purchased with their meal. He handed them out as Guy and Beatriz entered the passenger bay of the Blue Beetle Bug.

"What's going on?" Guy inquired.

"Things were becoming entirely too intense around here." Donovan replied. "Zatanna was trying to ease the tension."

"Champagne huh?" Beatriz laughed. "I could go for that. Give me one of those cups."

As the champagne settled, Zatanna filled everyone's cup and then announced. "I think we should make a toast."

"Okay," Sigrid nodded. "To the Crusaders?" She suggested, looking around her companions for alternatives.

"How about to new beginnings?" Guy said giving Beatriz a wink as he said that.

"That's good," Ted nodded his approval, "but I liked to make a little addition." He raised his paper cup and declared with a smile. "To new beginnings and to new families."