Justice League Past Imperfect 83
The three Gordonian shock troops mounted the steps of the Hall of Justice while their pilot hovered their saucer to provide air support. As the alien soldiers reached the awning built to protect petitioners from the weather two giant hands stretched out from the building and grabbed the troopers.
The saucer fired two laser blasts and hit each hand. They shrank to normal size and withdrew back inside the Hall. The Gordonians rushed in with a cry. To their surprise, no one was to be found.
Elongated Man struck from behind them. He'd stretched himself out into the shape of the door frame. He wrapped one Gordonian up with his left arm while he punched another with his right.
The remaining trooper leveled his lance and began to open fire. Ralph twisted, bent, and moved away from the energy blasts with a cry of, "Eat your heart out, Plastic Man!"
The captive alien pressed his lance up against Elongated Man's arm and fired. Energy coursed through the stretchable sleuth and he cried out. Going limp, he fell into a long, stringy mass.
The three Gordonians clustered together and examined Dibney. One raised his foot and prepared to stomp on Elongated Man's head. A dart struck him in the throat and he hesitated. He pulled the dart out and examined it.
A trio of darts imbedded themselves into his scales. Sadly, the scales were so think that the tranquilizer potion secreted by the dart wasted itself on the lizard man's "skin" rather than enter into the bloodstream.
The reptilian trio turned to face Nemesis. He holstered his dart gun into his shoulder rig. He then ran straight towards the closest Gordonian. Going into a flying kick, he resoundingly bounced off of the Gordonian's chest.
The Gordonians broke into hissing laughter. Nemesis tried a backspin kick but it hardly fazed his opponent. The trooper swatted Nemesis aside with his lance.
General Eiling and Mr. Terrific appeared in the main hall. Eiling racked the slide of his Beretta and he opened fire. Two of the Gordonians received flesh wounds.
The slide of Eiling's gun caught and he ejected the magazine. Reaching for a second clip, he was struck by a Gordonian force blast. Mr. Terrific knelt to check the General's vitals. He was alive but Terrific doubted that he'd want to be when he came to.
Nemesis and Mr. Terrific were being held at lance point. Ralph was beginning to stir but the third trooper stood guard over him. The sound of cannon fire could be heard outside. Suddenly the doors burst opened as the Creeper came bounding into the Hall.
"Wowza!" the Creeper shouted, "Whatta hello!"
He looked around and suddenly remarked, "How come nobody ever invited me to the party?"
The trooper guarding Elongated Man swung his lance around. The Creeper went into action. He sprang into the air, caught an overhead support, back flipped off of it and landed in front of the Gordonian. Springing up into a kick to the reptilians head, he knocked him out.
Nemesis sprang for the closest trooper's lance. He was blasted by an energy discharge before he reached his objective. This, however, sent the Creeper back into action. He vaulted, leapt, rebounded, tucked, rolled, and delivered a massive uppercut as he evaded lancer fire. Another Gordonian went down.
Mr. Terrific grabbed a hold of the remaining trooper's lance. He twisted it out of the alien's hands. Spinning it over his head, he brought one end to the ground and rolled it down his hip until his arms were largely extended and poised to swing the lance into action. His hands found the weapon's trigger and the Gordonian fell, a victim to his own weapon.
"Check on Ralph." Mr. Terrific ordered the Creeper.
He checked Nemesis. The other man was unconscious but his vitals were steady.
Meanwhile, Elongated Man was sitting upright but was still woozy. The Creeper hunched over him. He pushed Ralph's nose into his face. Dibney swatted him away, "Go away!"
"He's okay." The Creeper called across the room.
"Ralph!" Sue Dibney cried out as she ran to his side, "I saw everything."
"I'm okay." Ralph said as he literally wrapped his arms around her, "See?"
"Can you get to your feet?" she asked.
The Creeper picked him up and put him on his feet, "He's okay. See?"
"Can we have a moment?" Sue archly demanded.
"A moment alone." The Creeper snickered, "We all know what happens now. The censors will cut this portion of our story out."
"What's facing us outside?" Mr. Terrific refocused the Creeper.
"A flying saucer." The Creeper reported, "Strangely enough, there weren't any pink elephants."
"Ralph," Mr. Terrific called out, "think you can handle one of these lances?"
"Try and stop me." Elongated Man called back.
"What about you?" Terrific asked the Creeper.
"What lances?" the Creeper asked.
"Never mind." Terrific replied. "Sue, you get the third lance." He showed the Dibneys how to fire the lances, "Sue, you're guarding the Gordonians."
"You ready?" he asked Ralph.
"I'm as good as I'm gonna get for a while." Elongated Man vowed.
"Follow me, lads!" The Creeper dashed outside.
"That idiot's going to get himself killed." Mr. Terrific snapped.
"He did get passed it to get in here." Elongated Man pointed out.
"True." Terrific conceded, "I suppose we should go check on the loon."
"After you." Ralph replied.
"Thanks." Mr. Terrific quipped.
"Any time." Ralph snickered.
Outside, the Creeper was dodging side to side in order to avoid the antiproton cannon blasts. He switched tactics and leapt up to the saucer. He caught the cannon and swung himself up to the saucer's cockpit.
A transparent dome separated the lunatic hero from the Gordonian. The alien threw the craft into several wild maneuvers. The Creeper slipped but he managed to hold on to the cannon.
The saucer leveled out and the Creeper clambered back atop the saucer's upper edge. He saluted and then jumped off to the ground. The Gordonian relished the chance to finally target the human.
The Creeper merely stood still and waved. Mr. Terrific and the Elongated Man came running out of the Hall, crying out at the top of their lungs. They reached the Creeper's position and trained their lances on the saucer.
Suddenly a golden stream of energy sliced through the cannon, slicing it off. All eyes, including the Gordonian's, turned to face the origination point of that blast. The Ray and the Red Tornado floated in mid-air and the Ray glowed.
The saucer began to climb. Red Tornado stretched forth his hand and the air began to stir. The clouds roiled and swirled. A funnel cloud formed and a twister descended. It enveloped the saucer and began spinning it.
The centrifugal force caught the saucer and tossed it around and around. It couldn't break free. In one last desperate move, the Gordonian poured all of the engines' force into one surge…straight for the ground. As the craft crashed, Red Tornado dismissed the tornado as swiftly as it had been created.
The pilot popped the hatch and stumbled out of the craft and collapsed upon the ground. The Ray and Red Tornado joined their fellows on the ground. The Creeper threw his arms out, "Admit it, you're happy to see me!"
"Glad you could make it." Mr. Terrific admitted.
"There's another loose one." The Ray said, "NORAD said that it went to Blue Valley, Nebraska. We figured that the Hall of Justice was a higher profile target."
"I don't know…" Mr. Terrific began.
"C'mon, what's in Blue Valley?" The Ray scoffed.
"Stargirl for one thing." Terrific revealed.
The Ray lost all color, "Ohmigod!"
"She'll probably need help." Mr. Terrific suggested.
"I'm on it." The Ray said and disappeared in a golden streak.
An amused Mr. Terrific asked himself, "I wonder if Courtney knows how he feels?"
Stargirl herself had gone out a back entrance from the school and taken to the air. She came flying over the buildings and saw that the saucer had registered her presence. It swiveled its main cannon in her direction and fired. The beam struck her but her cosmic convertor belt absorbed the energy and redirected back to the saucer in the form of "stars" pulsating out of her free hand's glove.
The saucer threatened to fall out of the sky but it stayed aloft. Stargirl was hit by a force beam and it knocked her out of the sky with a scream. She landed roughly and began to scrape herself off of the ground. The three shock troops closed in on her.
They waited until she was on her feet and then leveled their lances at her. She held her staff up as a ward in front of her. The beams struck its defensive field and it held.
Aggravated, the Gordonians rushed her. She blasted the leader with a cosmic energy bolt from the staff. She swung the staff as a bat and clubbed the next one on the head. As he stumbled she enveloped him in an antigrav field and floated him into the sky. She then reversed the gravitic field and plummeted him to the earth at 5 gs.
The third dropped his lance and held up his hands. The saucer fired its antiproton cannon and decimated the sensible soldier. Enraged, Stargirl unleashed a volley from her staff. She caught the cannon as it was going to fire again and it overloaded and exploded. Seeing that his cause was lost, the pilot began an ascent.
She caught him in a high grav field. He fired all of his engines and thrusters. It was no use. He was still being driven downwards. He did change his direction and was now floating above the parking lot. His engines and thrusters finally failed.
The saucer fell to the earth, landing on several cars…including a certain Porsche Carrera GT3 RS. Stargirl's jaw dropped and she merely gaped at the wreckage. Her precious car now looked like a stepped on soda can. She'd driven 2 hours away to reach Omaha and the car dealership. Now her baby was recycling fodder.
She heard a classmate say, "Whoa! Whitmore's gonna be pissed."
Stargirl screamed as a force blast struck her in the back and sustained its blast. She fell to the ground and was practically prone as the offending Gordonian stalked up to her. She rolled onto her side. Her staff was out of her reach. She fired off a burst of stars.
The Gordonian broke into a hissing chuckle as the discharge harmlessly bounced off of his breastplate. He leveled his lance and Stargirl grimly prepared for the worst. She figured that this was a good enough way to go out…she just wished it wouldn't hurt so bad.
An amber burst of energy blasted the Gordonian. He flew sideways and collapsed into a heap. The second trooper began firing into the sky. He was similarly blasted by the golden energy.
Stargirl craned her neck around to see who her savior was…if it was a savior. The Ray landed next to her and offered her a hand. He helped her to her feet and she gushed.
"Thanks Ray! I was so done for." She babbled.
"As long as your safe." He replied. Their eyes met and held together. She felt an electric tingle go through her body and she wondered what had just transpired.
The saucer's hatch popped open and the pilot came ambling out clutching a lance. The Ray stretched forth his hand and unleashed another discharge. The burst caught the Gordonian in the chest and he collapsed.
Sirens and police lights could be heard. A few fire trucks and ambulances followed.
"They might as well bring a wrecker." Stargirl bitterly mumbled.
"What was that?" the Ray asked.
She knelt to retrieve her staff, "Nuthin'. Best face forward. Our adoring public is about to grace us with their presence."
The Ray noted her sarcasm and as the police cars squealed to a halt and a uniformed female officer bulldozed her way to Stargirl you could see the officer get more and more upset. Finally she was upon them.
"Okay Missy," the officer snapped, "what do you think you've been playing at this time?"
"Knock it off, Chief." Stargirl snapped, "I saved all of these people."
"They probably came after you!" Chief Wilkinson snapped back, "Ever think of that?"
Actually, she hadn't. With the wind sucked out of her sails she subsided.
"Who's your boyfriend?" the Chief asked.
"Oh no," Stargirl waved her hands back and forth, "he's not my boyfriend."
"Whatever." Wilkinson said dismissively, "What is his name?"
The Ray held out his hand, "Hello, Ma'am. I'm the Ray."
"The Ray?" Wilkinson repeated, "I suppose you're a member of the Justice League."
"That's right." The Ray happily answered, "And Stargirl just helped thwart a member of the vanguard of an alien invasion. The rest of the League is battling the others even as we speak."
"And what would they want out of Blue Valley, Mister Ray?" the Chief's sarcasm bit deep, "Is it wheat? Maybe it's corn? We don't have much else to offer besides our little miss here."
Wilkinson aimed a finger at Stargirl, "We hardly had any problems with aliens or super villains before you arrived."
"But you did have problems." Stargirl happily pointed, "I've just made your life easier."
"That's debatable." Wilkinson groused.
"You've got dozens of witnesses." Stargirl pointed out, "Do I really need to stay?"
"She means, do 'we' have to stay?" the Ray amended.
"I suppose not." The Chief deflated, "Stay out of trouble. Both of you."
"No prob." The Ray said and the pair flew off.
Wilkinson watched them go and then she shook her head, "I'm not sure that boy's intentions are entirely honorable."
Knowing Stargirl's identity, she figured the Dugans could deal with the Ray first hand.
Stargirl led the Ray to her home. They floated down to the ground and entered through the back door. Once inside they discovered Celeste Holms of all people to be in the house.
"What're you doing here?" Stargirl demanded.
"Courtney!" Pat Dugan snapped, "Celeste was kind enough to bring your pack and duffel to us. She also seems to be yet another Blue Valley High student that knows your so-called 'secret identity'."
"Now, if I can have a moment alone with the Ray, you two girls can talk." Dugan insisted.
Courtney pulled off her mask and motioned for Celeste to follow her, "C'mon. Privacy is this way."
They ended up in Courtney's room. Courtney shrunk the cosmic rod down from its staff configuration it its smaller forearm's length form. She tossed it onto the bed. Next, her gloves came off.
She whirled on Celeste, "Now, what're you doing here?"
"I thought I could help." Celeste meekly replied, "If your stuff was found and both Courtney Whitmore and Stargirl were missing then people would figure it out."
"Oh." That caught Courtney cold, "Thanks."
"D'you suppose we could start over?" Celeste asked, "I've been an ass. I totally misjudged you. You didn't fall down and worship at my feet when I arrived so I blacklisted you. Now I wonder about how unfairly I've treated everyone else."
"Who are you and what did you do with Celeste Holms?" Courtney asked.
Celeste wore a sad little smile, "I guess I'm asking you for a second chance. I'll understand if you say 'no.'"
"I didn't say 'no' the first time." Courtney softly reminded her, "I suppose I can say 'yes' this time."
Celeste's relief was obvious, "Thank you. I…I don't know what else to say."
Courtney smiled, "We'll figure that out tomorrow."
"Yeah." Celeste agreed, "Tomorrow will be the start of a whole new me."
"I hope so." Courtney encouraged her as best she could, "Now, if you could go to the living room, I'd like to change outta this costume."
"Oh. Oh!" Celeste realized what Courtney had said, "Sure thing. I'll just be going home now."
"See ya." Courtney closed the door behind her as she left. Pausing for a second, she pondered Celeste's words, "Who knows? It could happen. There's only three days left to school. Then we'll see how she does this summer."
The Ray seemed subdued when Courtney emerged from her room in civvies. Dugan escorted him to the back door where he flew off back to the Hall of Justice. Courtney watched him go with a disappointed air.
"He had to leave?" she asked.
"The boy has things to think about." Dugan replied.
"Like what?" Courtney was curious as to why her stepfather was being so cryptic.
"Like the fact that he's nineteen, in college, and…" he trailed off.
"And?" she wouldn't drop it.
"And that you're only sixteen." He finally answered.
"What's that gotta do with…" realization struck Courtney like a hammer to the head. She very quietly said, "Oh."
"Exactly." Dugan sighed. Next he asked, "Where's your car?"
"Remember when you encouraged me to buy catastrophic coverage as part of my insurance package?" she asked.
Dugan immediately grew weary, "Yes?"
"A flying saucer is using my car as a parking space." She explained, "That's about as catastrophic as it gets."
"You're not buying another Porsche." Dugan sighed, "When the insurance money comes, you're paying off what you owe and you're using the remaining seventy thousand to buy a cheaper and more practical car."
"But…" Courtney protested.
"I listened to you last time and look where it got you." He pointed out, "This way you can own the car outright be able to buy the same thing again if it gets destroyed."
Courtney wanted to argue. She really did. The problem with getting older though was that you began to see the other side of the coin as well. The Porsche had been a self indulgent splurge but it really wasn't a practical choice. This way here, she could get something completely decked out and still not make payments. It was a win-win scenario.
"Okay." Courtney surprised Dugan, "I get it. I'll start shopping around for something less expensive."
Off balance, he merely said; "Good. Let me know if you need any advice."
"Okay." She readily agreed, "I'll give you my final list of candidates and we can go over it to pick the most reliable car."
Dumbfounded he simply nodded. She headed for her room and her computer to start her research. Dugan wondered what had happened. He was suddenly dealing with a new and different Courtney. He might have to start worrying about the Ray after all.