The Brave and the Bold
November 8, 1939
"Fellas, this looks like the start of a joke."
"The Flash and Green Lantern walk into a diner…," said Jay.
The waitress gave a courtesy laugh.
"Take a seat anywhere you like," she said.
Jay led Green Lantern to a booth, giving out smiles and nods to the other people already in the establishment. He could tell that his companion was much less comfortable, his arms tucked beneath his prodigious cape. They took a seat, with Jay leaning his helmet against the seat. He examined the menu as Green Lantern looked around.
"Are you sure this is safe?" said Green Lantern.
"If you're worried about the food, I can vouch for it."
"No, not that. I meant being here at all. Is it appropriate to talk here?"
"Like I said, this ain't my first time here. These are good folks. Honest. They won't bother us."
Green Lantern didn't look convinced, but he stopped glancing back at the other patrons.
"Besides," said Jay, "if I don't get some food in me you'll have to fly me back to Keystone."
The two of them were in northern Oklahoma on account of a tornado that threatened a number of towns. It wasn't peak season for them, but Jay handled the danger when he could. The real problem was that he wasn't always alerted in time. The Flash could be anywhere in the country, but only if he knew about it.
Green Lantern's assistance had been a surprise, but a welcome one. The man used his green flame to protect from the worst of the tornado's destruction, plucking animals and people from the air and shielding buildings from the winds. The Flash managed to cancel out the vortex by running in the opposite direction, hitting a speed that nullified the tornado. Which was why he was so beat.
The waitress returned to ask about their order.
"Nine pancakes, three plates of bacon, two servings of hash browns, a dozen eggs scrambled, three biscuits, two steaks, country fried. And a glass of milk."
"And for the other gentleman?" asked the waitress.
"A cup of coffee is enough."
When she left, Green Lantern looked at Jay with amazement.
"You're really going to put away all that food?"
"Being as fast as me ain't free. Literally. I'm spending most of my money on food. That stunt I pulled with the tornado really took it out of me," said Jay. The hunger pangs were unpredictable. Some days he could go about his business and eat normally and others he felt like he could devour an entire grocer's store.
"Don't worry about paying for any of it," said Jay, "I grabbed some dough right after we wrapped up."
"Nonsense, I can get it" said Green Lantern.
The waitress made several return journeys with plates covered in food. Green Lantern nursed his cup of black coffee. Jay never touched the stuff. It made him too jittery for his own good.
Green Lantern looked less tense. He took a hearty sip.
"It just hit me. You're not blurring your face here."
"Not worth the effort."
"You trust these people that much?"
"I do. Besides, it's not like I'm handing out my address to any takers."
He cleared off another plate of eggs.
"Plus, I see any hint of a camera and I can blur it again."
"I can't see them getting the jump on you," said Green Lantern.
"I never got to ask you what you're doing this far from New York?" said Jay between bites.
"Believe it or not, I was looking to have a conversation with you. I got sidetracked by that tornado before I could get to Keystone."
"Well I'll be. How were you planning on getting my attention?"
"I figured a big green signal flare with your name on it might be enough."
"That woulda done it. Why all the effort to see me?"
"I hear you've already had a chat with our peers about the prospects of a group effort."
Jay took a pause, leaning back in his seat.
"Yep. Canary came and found me. I take it you had a similar visit."
"From Sandman."
Black Canary had mentioned to Jay that the spook in the gas mask was the other half of her partnership. For his money, he preferred having been approached by her.
"What was your take on the matter?" said Jay.
"I gave a tentative yes. I'm not sold."
"Why's that?"
Green Lantern hesitated, messing with his ring. Jay could see small sparks float off of it.
"I didn't choose this life. I figure most of us didn't. At least not the powers."
He pointed to the ring.
"I got this through a horrific accident. One that took someone close to me. My first act with it was closer to vengeance than heroism.
Everything that's come after felt like simple inertia. I saw a newspaper with Superman and I thought, why not? If he can help, I have to."
"He inspired me too," said Jay.
"I like helping people, but I don't necessarily feel comfortable with them. That mess at the fair highlighted that. Even here, the way they look at you is night and day compared to me."
"I don't think that's your fault. Sounds like you had a rough start to this line of work. I can't say that I wouldn't be the same if my origins had been more dire."
Losing Joan, his mother, or maybe Elliot might have provoked a similar outlook. He didn't even want to consider it.
"I doubt it," said Green Lantern. "You've got an optimism to you that's infectious. You're a natural."
Jay suppressed a laugh. It was proof that his confident act was working. Maybe with enough time it would all be real.
"The point is that I wanted your perspective on this team that they want to form. My inclination is to remain solitary, but I recognize my bias."
Jay took a deep breath, sliding the now empty plates away.
"I think we've got to do it. For a couple of reasons.
One: We've already been shown that there's going to be problems that we can't handle on our own. The World's Fair would've gone much worse without all of us there and that was just luck. Now, I'm sure Superman or you woulda done okay in the end, but there' no telling if we woulda stopped those bombs or prevented the villains from stealing that gem. The chances of people getting hurt were much higher.
Two: Speaking of villains, if they're getting organized that means we need to as well. No point in giving them an edge on us.
Finally, I think a group of us presents a better look to the public. And the government. There'll be less fear that any one of us is a loose cannon if we're part of a team."
"It could also make them afraid of that much power in one place," said Green Lantern.
"They'll find a way to be afraid of us anyway if we give them enough time. As long as we keep doing the good work we'll be in the right," said Jay.
"You've given this some thought," said Green Lantern.
"Speed gives me plenty of time to think," said Jay. "Enough from me though, did that help you at all?"
"Maybe. I suppose it would be nice to work alongside others for a change. Strength in numbers."
"Maybe I should've just convinced you otherwise. If we get you and Superman I don't know that there will be much for the rest of us to do."
"Heh. I can't speak for Superman, but I've got a few weak spots that are worth covering. I've had a number of close calls."
The waitress cleared their table, as Green Lantern paid the bill, ignoring Jay's protestations.
"You'll have to share those stories with me sometime," said Jay.
"I'd like that Flash."
"Call me Jay," he said extending his hand.
Green Lantern hesitate.
"I don't need to know."
"No, no. Think of it as a first step," said Green Lantern taking his hand. "Call me Alan."
The waitress cleared her throat loudly across the diner. The men both looked at her, as she patted the radio next to her.
"...reports from Central City that the First Bank is being robbed by the costumed criminal known as Ragdoll and his associates."
Jay grabbed his helmet as Green Lantern opened the door with a grin.
"Race you there," said Alan.
November 12, 1939
There had come a point in this new era of what Jill Corrigan pretended was her life that she stopped clinging to any hope that sense would ever return. Embracing the lunacy that defined it was the only mechanism for regaining any sliver of control. It was this preservation of the ego that kept her sane as she flew through the void of space on the trail of a serial murderer from another dimension.
Were she to describe what it was like when the Spectre took form to another person she would return to the sensation of being underwater, just below the surface. She could see through the threshold, getting a distorted image of what was on the other side. There was also that anticipation, the feeling that she could move slightly and breach the surface tension, exiting on the other side. Jill was seldom able to force that transition, but the impression remained.
Her quarry was a stone grey brute known as Oom. Jill came across the creature in her day job, the end point of an investigation into a series of murders plaguing East Los Angeles. The scenes left behind were grislier than the baseline, immediately attracting Jill's attention. Many of the victims were Mexicans and transients, less liable to provoke much sympathy from her coworkers, but the murders occurred with enough frequency that Jill's superiors wanted it wrapped up quickly to prevent panic. Or speculation about their competence.
Even in the form with which she presented the world, Jill's senses had expanded in a variety of peculiar ways. She had an intuitive capability to detect the presence of other people and with effort her sight and hearing could penetrate most obstacles. It was hard to focus these abilities, without growing faint. Too much and she would initiate the shift to the Spectre.
A stakeout of the eastern streets of the city yielded results when Jill interrupted an assault by the creature on a pair of workmen leaving a bar. Oom had struck down one of them and was about to make short work of the other when she intervened. The beast had grown frustrated when it was unable to kill her with its fists, then relucant when her ghostly passenger emerged.
Oom fled into the night's sky, beyond the bounds of Earth's atmosphere. She had scarcely any time to process that the stars were racing by her as the Spectre flew after Oom. Any sense of proper speed or scale vacated her mind. They were purely in the bounds of unreality.
It was a testament to the power of the beast that the chase had gone to these lengths. The typical foe of the Spectre was dealt with swiftly, slain in a fashion that Jill presumed to be poetic. Murderous arsonists transformed into rapidly dwindling candles. Serial abusers left in cages with hungry beasts. Her passenger often appeared to savor the hunt, taking a form of pleasure in the fear that arose from these killers and malcontents.
"Our quarry was never human. Oom is an ancient and terrible being, recently freed from millennia of imprisonment."
The Spectre's voice pierced Jill more than the bullets that killed her. No amount of time spent in their presence made her more comfortable with it.
"Have you encountered the creature before?"
"Had Oom met me, he would not have lived to escape his imprisonment"
"Where is he running to?"
"The murders were preparation for this journey, which he made in haste. He seeks a gemstone on a distant moon, one that would restore his full power."
"Would you be able to handle him were he to get it?"
"In my reduced state, it would be a challenge."
The Spectre often made oblique remarks about their diminished power. Jill surmised that its presence on Earth and its union with her was a form of punishment, for a failure she could not conceive of. They did not have emotions in the human sense, but there was a barely contained fury, an indignity, that marked every interaction with them.
The Spectre closed the gap. For all the animosity that characterized Oom, Jill could detect the mounting desperation on his face. He appeared to be muttering a chant, one that somehow carried through space. A large form moved beside the Spectre.
The collision sent the Spectre off course through inky black. Reduced as she was, it was nigh impossible for Jill to conceive of distance or scale in the star speckled tapestry that was space. Which made it all the more notable that the new threat before them was astonishing.
Still unfurling from a wavering green slit was a gargantuan serpentine monstrosity, complete with an incongruous three-hinged jaw and a plethora of spikes that jutted off it. It was like a fantasy illustrator's half-baked sketch had leapt off the page and decided to attack them.
"The Spectre will not stop Oom," said the grey brute, as he used their predicament to escape the pursuit.
The serpent slithered through space towards them, its mouth opening to reveal rows of spiral shaped teeth. The Spectre seemed enlivened by this new creature and met its charge. It may have been his lowered status or a desire for simple-minded barbarity, but the clash that followed was unhinged in a way that humans were not supposed to witness. This was not the first moment that Jill wished she could avert her gaze, but that was one of the many unpleasant aspects of her present condition. She was forced to watch as her pale companion grappled with the space beast. When at last, the Spectre spiked the serpent on one of its own protrusions Jill felt a slim measure of relief, tempered by the knowledge that there was still the matter of Oom to be dealt with.
The Spectre reoriented to their prey's location. Before long, they were on the desolate plain of an unknown moon. A part of Jill was cognizant of the fact that she was experiencing something never before seen by a human being, but it was background noise to the spectacle at hand.
Oom was not alone. A man in a golden helmet dueled him on the cratered surface, unleashing a barrage of energy that carved new scars into their surroundings. The gem that Oom sought hung precariously in the sky beyond them, fluorescent with a vibrant red light. Jill intuited a power from this interloper that marked him of as a kind to the Spectre, if not the same animal entirely. Their fight was a close one, liable to tip one way or another until the Spectre entered it.
The battle concluded with Oom restrained under both the golden man's summoned chains and a mountain of rock conjured by the Spectre. He snarled and raged, but it was in vain. The Spectre moved as they so often did, to kill their target.
"Wait," said the sorcerer.
"Move aside. Judgement shall be rendered."
"I concede that Oom is worthy of such an end. But, there are other considerations," said the golden man. Jill noted that his hands flickered with his magics, perhaps bracing for a second confrontation.
The Spectre bristled at the obstacle. Jill could feel their mounting anger.
"Oom is linked to the gem of Yzgarty," said the man, pointing to the floating stone. "Were he to perish the energies would be free for the taking from any interested party. As long as he lives, even in imprisonment, another threat is prevented. Balance is maintained."
"He has escaped once."
"But not from your bindings. I would not beseech you to stay your hand were it not vital."
The Spectre grimaced. They pointed at Oom, whose body seemed to dissolve into a current of color that flowed into the gem.
"I thank you for the confidence," said the sorcerer.
"The blood of anyone slain by Oom from hereafter is on your hands Doctor Fate."
There was history between these two.
The Spectre took the gem and hurled it into the ebon darkness of space.
"Before you depart," said Doctor Fate, "I had another request of you."
"Speak quickly."
"There is a group of champions assembling on Earth. Mortals, but ones with power and righteousness. I plan to join them."
"This is beneath me."
"I said much the same when I was first approached. Yet, circumstances have forced me to reconsider.
The wheel turns ever closer to chaos. Surely you've felt it. We are on the brink of ruin. To deny their help, however small in the scale we operate on, would be unwise."
"You place too much faith in these beings. Who do you think shall bring about this chaos?"
"Faith is necessary. Even you are bound to one of them…"
"Do not mistake my penance for affection for these beings," said the Spectre, with more ferocity than Jill had ever witnessed.
"This host is my sentence. To teach me of the value of humanity. Their value? All she has taught me is of the evil in their hearts. Ignorant of the paradise they are blessed with, the miracle of their very existence. Hatred is their language, slaughter their prayer."
Doctor Fate did not emote with the helmet, but Jill thought she saw him flinch in the face of such raw anger. It was as if an entire storm bore down on a single point, here on this lonely corner of the universe.
"If that is truly your feeling, then perhaps I could provide my aid. To sever you from the woman. It would not be easy, but with my magi…"
"No!" shouted Jill, her voice erupting from the Spectre with such force that it pushed back Doctor Fate.
An uneasy feeling clawed at her guts, one that sent her back to that day. The day she died. The feeling when the blood ran from her and the light became faint, as all the possibilities for her life collapsed into that one singular endpoint. No life flashed before her, just the damning knowledge that it was over, that there was no escape, no last minute flourish to save her. There was no warmth. No acceptance. In that space between her death and the thing that found her, Jill saw nothing.
She would not go back there. She could not.
Doctor Fate let his cloak wrap around him, fluttering on a breeze that did not exist.
"I see. Then there is nothing else for me here."
An ankh formed behind him, which he floated into, beginning to vanish.
"I hope that you find a shred of mercy for humanity. For your sake as much as ours."