The New Super Friends
Volume 2, Issue 3 (February, 2005)
Story by: Christopher W. Blaine The New Super Friends is an original concept of Christopher W. Blaine that incorporates characters, situations and ideas published by DC Comics Inc. and are used without permission for fan-related entertainment purposes only. This original work is ©2004 by Christopher W. Blaine.
In an attempt to recreate the universe, the Time-Guardian murdered an innocent man. From the ashes of that crime rose a group of heroes from ages that never were to ensure there was justice for all. Now, those heroes protect their new world, banded together as comrades and as a family. They are the Super Friends!
"Hunted by the Huntress"
"Why can't we just take the elevator, Helena" Robin asked as they stepped out of the Batmobile. The Huntress pulled back her purple hood and let her dark hair fly free in the afternoon sun.
"Call me Huntress when we are in costume, Teen Wonder" she said after giving him a stern look. "I like the idea of having a life outside the costume, don't you"
The teenaged hero nodded and adjusted his mask. "I need a better costume" he said. In fact, the uniform he now wore was much different from the one he originally sported. Gone were the short pants and pixie boots, replaced with long leggings and real footwear. The bright colors were more somber now, more mature, just as he was.
When he had first come to this world, he had been a kid in every sense, but the past few years had allowed him to grow into a man. He was taller now, more muscular and was starting to come into his own. Huntress was the senior partner, that was for sure, but that did not mean he did not have his own opinion about things.
He started to say something to her about wanting to take the elevator, again, but stopped. She was looking at him again and he felt the slight flutter in his stomach. The truth was that he had a major crush on her and had for about six months. She was not his mother; they were not related in any way except for the legal guardianship she had over him. And, she was only ten years older than him, physically. Because of the time he spent in Limbo, he was technically older than her. His body was merely catching up with his soul.
"Using the elevator will not do any good because the police have already reported that the entrances to the studio have been blocked" she said as she moved to the back of the vehicle. She started to load the launcher and Robin offered to help. She laughed. "I don't know how to take you. One minute you're complaining about having to climb up the side of the building and the next you're falling all over yourself to help me out. What is it"
"Nothing" he replied, looking around. The police had blocked off the immediate area and as promised, they had cleared a path for the Batmobile. The Flash was supposed to be meeting them, but he was late as usual. Robin remembered hearing that Barry Allen, the first Flash, had also developed a habit of never being on time.
"I think after this adventure we should have a talk" Huntress told him as she finished up. "It's girl problems, isn't it"
"I'm fine, shoot the darn rope" he snapped.
She giggled at his outburst. "I think someone has a crush. I bet its on Shyla" she mused as she stepped away. She pressed a button on her utility belt and the line launcher fired. "She'd be lucky to have a fine young man like you"
"Oh, God, Huntress, can we talk about something else? Like, why didn't you ever go after Harley Quinn in all of this time" Robin straightened his utlity belt and counted to ten. He was not going to become like all of the other Jason Todd's that had existed. He was not going to become a hot-head and die young.
A red blur shimmered into human form next to him. The Flash smiled and rubbed the thin beard along his chin. "Hey guys! Dawnstar and Tula say hello"
"You're late" Robin said as he watched the line's metal spike dig into the side of the building. Huntress moved to test the line.
"I'm not late; I had to stop and put out a fire and stop a bank robbery in another town before I got here. It's good PR" he said. Robin did not argue because he knew that the Scarlet Speedster was correct and the Super Friends needed as much good press as they could get. The public still did not completely trust super-heroes and the antics of Lex Luthor's Legion of Doom were not helping.
"Any word on how much money has been deposited" Huntress asked.
The Flash nodded. "They are trying to shut down ATM's and banks, but the computer back at the Hall of Justice estimates that the Legion of Doom is about ten million dollars richer than it was this morning."
"You could go around and dismantle the ATM's" Robin offered.
"Thought about that, but then I'll have to put them back together and to be honest, I don't think the Metropolis PD would appreciate my efforts." The Flash looked at the cops and noted that they were having some problems. "I think maybe I should help with crowd control."
"Good idea" Huntress agreed. She turned to Robin. "Let's go, partner." She started to climb up first and when he double-checked what he would be looking at, he reached up and grabbed her by the belt. "I'll go first" he offered.
"Why"
"I just want to go first"
"You need to lay off the caffeine" she remarked as she stepped out of the way. He shook his head and grabbed the line. Powerful muscles flexed as he pulled himself up and began, literally, walking up the side of the building. The Flash watched them for a moment and then turned. In less than the blink of an eye he was next to the officer in charge of the scene.
"Anything I can do to help" he asked.
The cop did a double take. "Where did you come from"
"That, sir, is a very long and complicated story. Right now, I think we need to concentrate on the crowd." The Flash gave the assembly a scan and picked out those that seemed to have malice in their eyes.
"It's bad enough trying to stop then from getting to the ATM's and running down to the nearest wire service, but now they want to come and pay tribute to Quinn" the officer told him as he shoved the face shield of his riot gear up. "We've got reports of internet servers going down because of high bandwidth traffic as people make payments to the Legion of Doom with their credit cards."
"Just tell me what you need" the Flash offered.
"Our radios are going down; we switched to a Kord Tech internet comms system a few months back. If you could scour the city and let me know if any of my men are in trouble..."
The Flash nodded. "On it, sir; be back...in a flash"
In the back of the crowd, a dark-haired woman watched the goings on with great interest. She had not expected all of this, but then she logically concluded that this was Metropolis and things like this were bound to happen. It had been awhile since she had been here, her home, and it did not feel right.
There was something different about this place; or was it her? She did not know at the moment and did not care. She had important business to attend to and all of it was within the WGBS building. She looked above the heads of the crowd and saw two figures climbing up the side of the building. She nodded, admiring their tenacity while at the same time wondering if it were not somehow suicidal to go marching into the waiting arms of Harley Quinn.
The Clown Princess of Crime was no pushover, despite the bad luck that had fallen upon her over the years.
The woman shrugged; it was not her concern. She had other things to do and they involved getting into the WGBS building at any cost.
Gunther watched as Harley smacked around a few employees before breaking into a rendition of a medley of songs from various cartoons. He kept his eye on the crowded prisoners, noting that some of them seem to be unaffected by the programing that was now running via a recorded feed. One of them was Lana Lang.
He saw her hand resting on a broach on her left breast and began to suspect that it was much more than a simple heirloom. Stepping out of the control booth, he made his way past Harley, who took the time out to squeeze his posterior, and stepped up to Lana. "I'll take the broach" he demanded.
She hesitated. The broach was how she changed into Insect Queen and though it had been several years since she last used it, she wasn't ready to just give it up. "No" she said defiantly. "You may be robbing all of them, but I'm not the kind to be cowed."
He shrugged and slapped her across the face. Harley stopped her song and dance routine and rushed to Gunther's side. "Heck, yeah! Smack her another one! She likes it, she really likes it"
He ignored Harley and reached for the broach. Harley made another comment about squeezing the forbidden fruit, but then she gave a small squeal when Gunther pulled the broach away. "Give me that you son of a..."
Harley stepped between them. "Hey, now! You don't know a thing about his momma! Why, she might have been a good old bag of farts"
"God, do you ever shut up" Gunther asked, exasperated. Harley's antics were wearing his nerves thin. "I can't believe I agreed to this mission" he said as he made his way into the control room. He set the broach on a video panel, pulled out his pistol and shot it. It exploded into a million fragments and Lana gave a scream.
Harley punched her in the stomach. "Shaddup you"
Lana went down, tears pouring down her face. In a single moment, Insect Queen had been murdered and she had only herself to mourn the loss. She now realized it was foolsih to have put on the broach during all of the confusion. Harley kicked her again, hard in the face, and Lana felt her nose break under the impact.
"Quit that crying or momma is gonna give ya anudder" Harley cried out, her accent changing to that of lifetime, blue-collar Gothamite. "Mistah J did not take that kinda crap, a needer will I"
"Harley" Gunther called out from the control room. The villainess stopped her rant and turned to him. "Yes, lover-boy" she asked, batting her eyelashes.
"The totals are coming in; looks like you made the Legion. Twelve million so far and its still rising" he called out. His tone was more upbeat with the delivery of the funds. He pulled out his cell phone and dialed in a number. "Let me ask Mr. Luthor if there is anything else he needs us to do."
Harley clapped her hands and turned back to Lana, who was trying to get up to her knees. Nobody bothered to try and help her. Those not under the control of the news tape were too scared of Harley. Harley reached down and grabbed Lana's arm. "This is how things go crack, red" she said before demonstrating her considerable strength. Lana's arm could not withstand the force that Harley put on it and it snapped with a loud crack.
In shock, Lana fell back, her eyes rolling up towards her brain. "Snotty-nosed so and so, think you're better than old Harley? Why I'm the rootin'-tootin' money rustling cowgirl with the nice round caboose"
Gunther got off the phone. "Hey, fruitcake, the boss says that the other news agencies are stating that Huntress and Robin are climbing up the side of the building" he told her. "Mr. Luthor says you have to deal with them."
"Are you going to help me, my little love-slave" she cooed.
Gunther's form began to bulge, looking like he was starting to boil. Harley said nothing, waiting to see if he actually exploded. His clothing melted away to morph into a hybrid costume that was one half Superman's and one half Batman's, right down to part of the pointed cowl. His skin took on a green hue and his height increased by several inches. Muscles, barely contained by the uniform he wore, bulged.
Before Harley stood the Composite-Superman, one of the most powerful beings on the planet and the Legion of Doom's primary enforcer. "No, I'm not."
A tear rolled down Harley's face. "Oh...oh, Gunther...how could you? What will I tell the children? Daddy is a closet shape-changer" She put the back of her wrist to her forehead. "I feel faint, quick, catch me and bring me a soothing alcoholic beverage" She started to fall towards him and he stepped out of the way, allowing her to fall to the floor.
"You make me sick" he said. "Take care of the Bat problem and we'll contact you on how to get to our headquarters" he told her.
"It isn't a Bat problem. Batman is dead" she reminded him.
"Looks like Batman, acts like Batman, it is Batman" he argued. His body began to become transparent as he applied the powers of Phantom Girl. "Doesn't matter, nutjob, this is something that Mr. Luthor wants taken care of." The he was gone, slipping down through the floor.
"Nutjob" she asked as she got herself up. "He does care, doesn't he" She them moved back to Lana. "Tell me, red, have you ever thought you found that one special guy that you wanted to make babies with and then cut their throat as they slept"
Lana did not answer and Harley gave her shapely leg a kick. "Come on, red, I've got nobody to talk to"
When her prodding produced no visible results, Harley shrugged and moved over to the anchor desk where she had laid out various explosive devices. She held one up and walked over to Linda, who was looking ahead with a blank stare. "Come here, chesty" Harley said as she grabbed the woman by the hair. She gave it a good tug. "Damn, you must use a lot of conditioner; that is some strong hair, lady."
With some effort, she managed to drag the helpless weather girl over to a corner desk. She pulled out her blouse and looked down. "Well, I'll be, they are real" she exclaimed as she produced a hand grenade and dropped it in. After about five more, she strapped a stick of dynamite to Linda's face with duct tape.
Whistling a happy tune, Harley went about the news room, grabbing several people and positioning them at various points. Some got a few explosives, some got a lot. One rather large cameraman even got a kiss on the forehead before Harley started laying out fuses.
"John? John Stewart" Hal called out as soon as he saw the withered form of Green Lantern. He quickly holstered his weapon and hoped over the rocks and refuse that littered the cave the hero was in.
He came up short as he got closer and inspected the man. His once lean, muscular form was now a skeletal memory. Eyes were sunken in and his hair was nearly gone. He looked as if he had aged a hundred years in just two. There was nothing heroic about this man anymore, Hal told himself, except for his legacy.
He knelt in the dust next to him. John's eyes opened and flashed briefly with green energy. "Hal? Little Hal...Jordan" he asked. His breath reeked of gum disease and poor diet. "It got you"
"What happened John"
"Scared...got so scared..." the former Green Lantern managed to croak out. "Take the ring...use it..."
"I've got to get you to a hospital" Hal told him. He reached for his cell phone and then threw it down when he saw that he was out of range of any transmitters. "You need medical help"
"Dying...but that's...that's okay" he said with his eyes closed. "Katma" he suddenly cried out, invoking the name of his dead alien wife. His body stiffened and then sagged, one last breath managing to escape from his deflating lungs.
Hal's eyes watered, but he did not weep. The man whom he had previously known had obviously died long before, under the control of the Time-Guardian. John Stewart would be remembered, thankfully, as a hero. He had run away when confronted with battling his friends, and his fear and perhaps cowardice had exacted an awful price from him.
"But out of the ashes" Hal said as he looked down on the power ring. He remembered how envious he had always been of his cousin, how he had gotten the most powerful weapon in the universe while Air-Wave could only skate on power lines. He smiled as he remembered better days and then reached for the ring.
It easily slipped off the emaciated finger. Hal knew it would size itself for him automatically. He was also thankful that it could transform his street clothes into a uniform of the Green Lantern Corps because, as he looked down at John's body, he did not relish the idea of putting on the one before him.
Putting the ring on he braced himself. He had always expected that something magical would happen when you became a Green Lantern, but he was mildly disappointed when only a slight breeze hit his face.
"First things first" he told himself. He held the ring up to his face. "Power Ring, tell me where your battery is at. No...show me the power battery"
He hoped there was enough charge in it to fulfill his command, but he was not sure. Power rings only held 24 hour charges. To his relief, a green lantern appeared in the air above his head. Many Green Lanterns carried their batteries in a sub-space pocket with them to prevent theft.
He recalled how his cousin used to recharge his ring. Making a fist and placing the ring against the "light" of the battery, he called out an oath.
"In brightest day, in blackest night, let no evil escape my sight! Let those who worship evil's might, beware my power..."
He stopped and swallowed. Did he really want to become a super-hero again? Could he not find someone worthy of the power ring, someone just as acceptable as himself? He was a federal agent now, using the system to bring in criminals. It was a good life.
He shook his head. Ever since he had lost his Air-Wave powers he had been in a funk. He joined the FBI because it was the closest thing to being a hero that he could find. He lived for the danger, the excitement.
Yes, he told himself, I want this! I always wanted this.
His clothing melted away, changing into a modified version of his cousin's uniform, complete with mask. "Beware my power" he bellowed. "Green Lantern's light"
