Lynn's Table one evening and seated at a table was Lincoln dressed in his best suit while sitting opposite to both Zee and Perdita who he thought looked stunning in their dresses. They were tucking into the best thing that Lincoln's dad made on the menu as Lynn Sr trying in vain to look professional came up saying "would the gentleman and his dates be wanting anything else?"
Lincoln and Zee rolled their eyes while Perdita giggled and shook their heads; "We are just fine but thanks for doing this for us Dad." Lincoln then said as Lynn Sr nodded and then left them. "Sorry that the best that I can do for our first date together would be getting my Dad to hook us up with a private session at his restaurant." Lincoln told Perdita and Zee apologetically as their shook their heads.
"You shouldn't apologise at all Lincoln; this is still a great gesture to go through this lengths and the food tastes good. I should talk to your father about possibly expanding his restaurant into Vlatava." Perdita then replied and Lincoln thought that his dad would be up for that.
"Not only that but I can't help but think that this is actually the best and most appropriate place for our first date; do you know that this was where Lincoln and I first met Perdita?" Zee then asked as Perdita looked intrigued.
"Really? Did you hit it off at first meeting?" Perdita asked as Lincoln looked nervous and Zee sighed.
"Not exactly... I was being stuck up and... I only changed my tune when the place was collapsing after an incident here... He pushed me out of the way and ended up in the hospital for it... I regularly visited him in hospital and after I apologised; I offered to give him a chance as a friend and I never regretted it..." Zee then explained as Perdita's eyes widened and Lincoln smiled.
"Worked out for the best... We became friends and that incident was kind off my origin... Deathstroke was involved and actually donated his blood for my transfusion that I needed..." Lincoln whispered and Perdita gasped silently.
"Oh my... His reputation reaches even Vlatava and it's neighbours..." Perdita then stated and Lincoln sighed nervously as he was mixed knowing that an infamous mercenary he had to thank and it was thanks to his blood that he had a career in superheroics. "Let's not dwell on that; what else have you been up to?" Perdita asked changing the subject.
"This sucks... We decide to help out Lincoln and this is the thanks we get? It worked out in the end; he has 2 girlfriends but we have to do this..." grumbled Lynn Jr as she was washing dishes in the restaurant's kitchen with Lisa drying; their father having decided that helping out in the restaurant during their brother's date would be part of their punishment.
"Well things could have gotten worse and Lincoln had become a source of mockery in social media during those 24 hours." Lisa then replied as Lynn Jr looked down to her sister.
"Hope you are not directing the blame to me for that; you were the one who made that stuff that caused Lincoln to act like that and you should have known better when showing me stuff like that!" Lynn Jr then ranted and and Lisa glared up at her with her arms folded.
"Your argument being that I should have known that you would have screwed things up? Not incorrect I suppose; plus let's not forget who used the entire formula despite being warned to only use at the maximum 3 drops..." Lisa retorted as they heard something coming from the kitchen door leading to an alleyway.
They opened the door and saw a large muscular boy with a skull like head that seemed to be glowing dark purple. They were startled and Lynn Jr then whispered to Lisa "Lees; before we see what this is about... I think Firestorm is needed..."
Lisa nodded as they both combined fire Firestorm and then flew out the door; startling the figure as Firestorm was floating above him. "Oh... So Dr Electron has sent another of his experiments to bring me in; hasn't he? Well you are no match for me..." the figure then ranted as he then had his hands glowing dark purple and was sending blasts at Firestorm.
Firestorm dodged the attacks as they hit the wall; "Chill out buddy; I don't know no Dr Electron... Stop this or I will retaliate..." Firestorm retorted firing blasts at the figure and then charged at his stomach to punch him there but he seemed to take it just fine. She was then punched through the wall by the figure; Firestorm grunted as she got up.
"Lisa; ever heard of a Dr Electron?" Firestorm asked as she began flying back in the air to get out of the way of the figure as he then charged right into the main restaurant area making everyone scream and started to evacuate as the figure began firing blasts at them.
"No but I suspect that it's a supervillain's alias." Lisa replied appearing to Firestorm in her floating head vision. Firestorm went to grab at the figure but ended up ripping off a lanyard; the figure then spotted Lincoln running away with Zee and Perdita and then began running to them.
He then picked up Lincoln by the shirt and snarled "I know you work for Dr Electron and I an warning you to leave with his minion!" Perdita then instantly kicked at the figure to get him to let Lincoln go. "Zelda my love; leave... Please; I don't want you to see me like this... I am not Albert Michaels the man you love... Your father turned me into the Atomic Skull..." the figure then told Perdita softly as Perdita was confused.
"What are you talking about..." Perdita asked as the Atomic Skull then ran away as Firestorm flew after him but ended up crashing into a wall. Firestorm groaned as she was then helped up by Lincoln and Zee but then heard sirens.
With advice from Lisa; Firestorm went away to separate into Lynn Jr and Lisa and then they ran back.
Everyone was being checked on the outside the restaurant and the authorities had come; "I sure hope that another of your daughters isn't responsible for this Mr Loud..." Gordon told Lynn Sr seriously as Lynn Sr laughed awkwardly.
"...He seemed to know me or think he did... Said his name was Albert Michaels and he thought my name was Zelda..." Perdita explained to the police while she was being checked on by her frantic bodyguards once they had united. Lincoln was deep in thought and brought out his phone.
He then showed off a film poster showing a yellow skull headed person in a yellow suit with a dark green high collar cape; "Curse of the Atomic Skull... A dark superhero movie that I have seen on the TV; first time was back in Royal Woods... Kind of scary but it still holds up and it's a cult classic... Though the main star Lawrence Dennis turned out to be a neo-Nazi but still..." Lincoln said out loud as attention was onto him. "Anyway... The main character is named Albert Michaels, transformed by a Dr Electron and his love interest is named Zelda daughter of Dr Electron..." Lincoln then explained as Gordon facepalmed.
"Just what I needed... Someone who thinks he is a move superhero; as if the guy back in Gotham who thought that he was Zeus was bad enough..." Gordon sighed as Supergirl then flew into the area. "You know when I took the transfer here; I thought your cousin would replace Batman as my main contact in the capes department but you Super Friends seemed to be going for the job..." Gordon commented as Supergirl sighed.
"Don't sound so disappointed Commish and the rest of the Super Friends are busy so how about I take the Louds and Ms Zatara home and then hunt for this Skull guy..." Supergirl then suggested as Lynn Sr blinked and Lincoln and his sisters nodded encouragingly to Lynn Sr who relented.
They then went after after Lincoln hugged and kissed PErdita goodbye for now; "So any leads?" Supergirl asked as Lynn Jr then blinked and then brought out hte lanyard and there was an intern card at STAR Labs for a high school student named Joseph Martin.
Supergirl, Firestorm, Peacemaker and Zatanna went to the STAR Lbs facility; "I have for years hoped to gain entry into this building and see what they have been working on only for my applications to be continually shut down by my age..." Lisa told Firestorm with a sigh.
"Well you can have a look while we talk to the scientist guys..." Firestorm replied and Lisa shook her head.
"Now how it works Lynn; you are only seeing a representation of myself in your mind where I am... I can only see what you see through your own eyes and I can't just float around and look around..." Lisa explained as the others just stared at her.
"This is going to take some getting used to..." Zatanna sighed as they knew about the case of Lisa talking to Firestorm in her head as a scientist with a goatee and glasses greeted them at the door.
"Wait... You're Kal's science buddy who helps him with his science stuff..." Supergirl then exclaimed as Lisa's eyes widened at seeing the man who nodded.
"Ah yes; nice meeting you Supergirl. I'm Professor Emil Hamilton the director of STAR Labs. How may I help you?" the scientist introduced himself as Firestorm showed him the lanyard. Hamilton sighed before saying "You all had better come with me..."
Hamilton then called them in and brought them to a private room; "Can I please ask for your silence in anything you hear about?" Hamilton asked as they hesitatingly nodded. "Joseph is a high school intern here helping out and quite gifted and had a love of superheroes; especially obsessed with that Atomic Skull movie. One day while I was called for a meeting; he found papers on my desk about a secret project we have been working on... Studying the Metagene and seeing about suppressing it or bringing it out..." Hamilton explained as they took in the Metagene research comment.
"He decided to try it on himself; see about awakening one on him so he could be a superhero for real..." Peacemaker spoke up putting the pieces together.
"You are certainly smarter than your predecessor Peacemaker." Hamilton then said as Peacemaker sighed. "He stole my keycard and found the room where there was a live test; before he could be stopped got in the way of the chemicals used and... There indeed was a dormant Metagene within him..." Hamilton said as Firestorm's eyebrow was raised.
"So a gene within him was enough to turn him into a radioactive skull and funny that he was obsessed with an Atomic Skull movie guy and it turned him into one?" Firestorm asked as Hamilton sighed.
"There is a lot about the Metagene that doesn't make sense to even the brightest minds on Earth and I guess irony decided to make itself a factor." Hamilton then said and then coughed. "You can imagine that such a transformation from a normal human teenager into the Metahuman form that he now has would be traumatic; I guess he ended up into a delusion that he was the Atomic Skull in the movie... He ended up running out before he could be restrained..." Hamilton then finished explaining as Firestorm then turned to Peacemaker.
"So what happens in the dumb movie can we use?" Firestorm asked as Peacemaker then thought hard.
"Been a while since I saw it but I believe... Zelda is taken by her father's men as a bargaining chip against the Skull who goes to rescue her... Oh no..." Peacemaker then said as his eyes lit up in realisation.
"If you know what to do then I have to make a call..." Hamilton then said.
The Atomic Skull ended up attacking Perdita's limo and the bodyguards rushed her out to get her to safety; "Is even the safety of his daughter a worthy sacrifice for Dr Electron's fiendish schemes..." the Atomic Skull demanded firing blasts to make the bodyguards jump out of the way. He then grabbed Perdita's arm as she was about to run away.
"Zelda; we have to go... You can't trust your father..." the Atomic Skull then said softly as she then got her arm free.
"Get away from me you brute..." Perdita snapped as she then began running away and then Peacemaker swooped in with his grappling hook and got her into his arms. She then smiled at him and Atomic Skull then ran to him only for Supergirl to swoop in and punch him hard in the face.
Atomic Skull then blasted radiation at her only to be blasted by Firestorm; Atomic Skull roared as he then blasted at them and ran after Peacemaker but Hamilton then then jumped out of the way. "It's me you want Skull..." Hamilton said as Atomic Skull roared at who he believed to be Dr Electron. He then got punched into the air by Supergirl and Zatanna appeared to put him into magical chains that subdued him as he landed on the ground with a thud
"Please me down Peacemaker; I am thankful but I have a boyfriend..." Perdita then said with a smile as Peacemaker was trying to keep a straight face under his mask as he put her down and let the bodyguards take her away.
"Thanks Doctor Hamilton but how did you get here so fast..." Peacemaker asked Hamilton as ARGUS agents suddenly appeared and then an ARGUS van turned up. Then the Super Friends then glared at them and Hamilton. "So were you doing this Metagene research for ARGUS?" Peacemaker asked as Firestorm looked confused. "Sorry; it escaped me that you don't know yet but they are basically a government group... Say that they are on our side but they sent a Kryptonite powered robot or guy in suit against us to cap off our first adventure... Led by a guy calling himself the General... Speak of the devil they say..." Peacemaker explained to them as the General appeared.
"Thank you for taking care of Mr Martin for us; we will take care of it from here." the General then said as Zatanna stepped forward.
"Does take care of it mean taking him to some military prison that doesn't exist officially?" Zatanna accused as Supergirl then looked to Hamilton.
"Does Kal know that you are dealing with these guys?" Supergirl asked as Hamilton sighed.
"Superman does know off my doing work for ARGUS...Purely to help take care of extra normal threats as well as back up plans if something happened and made the heroes not act themselves... He understands the concerns even if he has some of his own about the work being abused by corrupt individuals..." Hamilton then replied.
"I don't blame him considering 'the good guys' sent their Metallo after us..." Peacemaker then retorted.
"The Metagene research is solely to neutralise the powers of dangerous metahumans in custody and I promise you the upmost care to Mr Martin. he will have the best psychiatric help and there is a special school set up by us to help him control his new powers..." the General then put in as they looked sceptical.
"So we have to take your word for it now?" Peacemaker asked and the General nodded as the Super Friends reluctantly left.
"So time to go home and try and not get anyone else suspicious?" Firestorm asked feeling like she would soon dislike ARGUS as much as the other Super Friends did and Peacemaker nodded.
"But you did good." Peacemaker complimented her and Fiestorm nodded.
"Still we need to see about getting a date that won't be interrupted by a villain attack..." Zatanna sighed as they went their separate ways for the day.
The Joseph Martin version of the Atomic Skull in how he was introduced in the comics is an interpretation I wish would be used more in thinking he is the hero of a film serial and I used the identity of the first Atomic Skull as the identity of the in-universe character. Reminds me of an episode of Misfits (a very good British show about a hailstorm that ends up creating super powers to people and it shows the titular young 'misfits' finding out their powers and being unwittingly dragged into dealing with villains of the weeks while they are just trying to focus on completing their community service with no desire to even entertain being superheroes) where the group had to deal with this guy who ends up believing that he is the protagonist of a GTA styled video game. Yeah some people lucked out more in what this incident gave them than others. Plus the mentioned ARGUS school is based on one that is brought up in Superman & Lois where the DOD trains kids with powers.