Vertigo, Part 14
Please Read and Review. I'd like to know what I'm doing right (to keep doing it), and what I am doing wrong (to correct it.
Notes, the parenthesis indicates languages other than Japanese, in this case, English.
Day Eight
A Possible XXVIst Century
North of New York Ruins
Blue Beetle extended an old mapamundi over a flat rock. "(Okay, people. We need to take a big decision here. Right now. Just how are we gonna get to Rising Sun Country? We have no plane big enough to carry Unit-04, so we must go over land most of the route.)"
He began to point at the multitude of crayon markings on the map. "(According to Brother Eye, this is the state of the world today, (1) sorry about the crayons. It was the only thing available.)"
The group leaned forward to study the map. Beetle continued, using an old car antenna as a pointing device. "(The shortest route would normally go through Alaska, but that would also be quite a bad idea. Here, we have the Radiation Barrier, running almost along the old border line between Canada and the USA,)" he traced a blue zigzagging line. "(Over here, in what used to be Canada, we have the Dominion of the Devils.)" He looked around, "(If you ever wanted to be in a 1950s giant insect movie, here's the place.)"
"(And in Alaska's place; the Strange Fire Area. No one knows what the heck is going on there. And I'm not getting paid to go and see. So, I really suggest we take the relatively safer scenic route. It goes NorthEast, we can follow the old Zoomway for a long stretch, and we arrive to the Seaway Dolphins territory.)"
Kamandi shuddered. "(I knew some dolphins there. I thought they wanted to keep me as a pet or something.)" (2) A sad expression crossed his face. "(I was very wrong, and I said things I now wish I could apologize for.)"
"(Well,)" Mari grabbed Kamandi's arm, and leaned against his shoulder. "(If you wanna talk about it… you know… I'm here.)"
Kamandi wrapped her in a one-armed hug. "(I'll tell you later.)" he smiled sadly.
"Ahem." Beetle looked around before continuing. "(Then there's this weird new continent. According to Brother Eye, it just emerged at the end of the XXIst Century. It basically forms a land bridge all the way to Ireland. So, we can simply walk all the way to Europe.)"
"(Easy Peasy, Bugboy. But what about the sea? Unit-04 may not need to recharge, but swimming is out of the question.)"
Booster Gold scratched his head. "(Build a boat?)" Everybody stared at him. "(Stupid idea, yeah…)" he shook his head.
Skeets beeped. "(Building a boat would take a lot of resources we don't have, Sir.)"
Booster looked down. Skeets continued, "(Maybe we could make a deal with the Sacker Consortium and book passage in one of their merchant ships.)"
"(What?)" The others chorused.
Dr. Canus raised a hand. "(We could get a job as caravan guards with Sacker. As long as treated respectfully, they are quite reasonable bosses.)"
The Dreaming
The House of Mystery
Commander Ikari's Office (facsimile version)
By issue 34, Asuka was really curious to keep on watching Sugar and Spike's adventures.
For some reason, Cain began to look a bit… annoyed…
Tokyo-3, Japan
GeoFront
Science Division Workshop.
"Here you go, Hikari." Lt. Ibuki put a plastic bag in Hikari's hands. The content felt like a rigid, strangely shaped lunchbox-sized… thing, accompanied by something soft and pliable. "Try it on! It was made to your exact measurements."
Shinji nodded, pulling out his own plugsuit from a similar bag. "It really feels as if you are wearing nothing. I'm sure you'll find it very comfortable once you get used to it. The only inconvenient is that we have to get new suits made frequently, as we are still growing. All three of these are new. Apparently it is cheaper to make several at once. And we were due for a refitting in a couple of weeks anyway."
Rei showed Hikari the size of her own suit. The height was apparently right, but it looked like two or even three Rei's could fit inside. "In its dormant state, the suit is big and loose, except for gloves, shoes, and genital protective covers; for female pilots, two chest coverings are included, to protect and support the breasts. This is a deliberate design characteristic." She explained, ignoring Hikari's blush. "It allows the wearer to manually adjust the fit before activating the suit for operation."
Maya nodded sagely. "The cloth is actually a cutting edge nanofibers weave. This button here…" she pointed at the right wrist of Shinji's suit, "…ionizes the fibers, the suit shrinks immediately. You'll hear a hiss of escaping air, as the suit molds itself to your body."
"It's quite comfortable, unless you have to wear a suit that doesn't belong to you." Shinji said, without thinking, he covered his mouth with a hand, blushing an interesting cherry red. "I really must stop bringing that up…" he mumbled.
Hikari shook her head. "I don't wanna know."
"The backpack has a full set of sensors, we can monitor your vitals with it, in an emergency, we can energize it with a brief electric shock if you lose consciousness; or even administer a stronger shock to the area around your heart, and that's something I would really like it was not a necessary precaution. The backpack also locks magnetically into place against the back of the control seat, and the suit will limit your movements if your unconscious,in short, the plugsuit…" Maya explained. "…works as a safety harness. Even immersed in LCL, you'll need protection from sudden jolts." She pointed at the changing cubicles. "Let's see how they fit."
The Dreaming
Graveyard Between the House of Secrets and the House of Mystery
Billy Batson wiped the sweat off his forehead. He didn't know how many graves were in the place, all of them in an awful state. He had occupied his time cleaning them, one by one; his heart breaking more and more as he recognized names and symbols.
He read the name on the headstone, and he paled in horror.
"Mary Batson/Bromfield" and the same familiar lightning bolt.
"…No…" he whispered, his deep voice cracking. "No…" he fell down to his knees, weeping for his late sister. He stayed there for a long time, sobbing with deep, ragged breaths.
Somewhere in the Atlantic Ocean
"(Easy, easy. That's better.)" Indigo studied the hard water construct. "(Very good. Your control has improved a lot!)"
"(Garth makes me swim ragged if I don't practice. Mother looks sad and worried and proud and really stressed out when she sees me practicing. I don't know why. Do you know?)"
"(Dear child. I do know.)" Indigo shook her head sadly, while the water column dissolved and fell back to the sea. "(But I respect your Mother's wishes and Garth's advice.)"
"(Can't you tell me, just a little bit?)" Princess Mareena pouted.
"(Sorry, girl. You better ask your Mother. But be wary, it's very painful for her, and I don't blame her a bit for keeping it bottled up. I just think it would be healthier for her to… I don't know, acknowledge it and maybe get some therapy.)"
"Oh…" Mareena began to shape another hard water column, this time, adding small bumps at regular intervals. "(Must be something about Father, then.)"
"(Ask, child. Things are gonna get bad soon, and maybe there won't be another chance later. Remember this, when the Phantom Stranger appears with a warning, you must take it seriously, that guy doesn't exaggerates stuff.)"
"(She doesn't like him.)" Mareena manipulated the column surface, adding smaller bumps over the originals.
"(I don't know of many who could honestly say they actually like him. He's a good guy to have at your side when things get bad, but I've never known him to be quite a social creature.)"
"(He's kinda creepy.)" Mareena ventured.
"(Yep, he is. That eyes-in-eternal-shadows thing… or the glowing eyes thing.)" Indigo rubbed her arms, as if cold. "(Anyway, wanna spar? Nothing like a fight to see how you fight, Mama says.)"
"(You're on!)" Mareena smiled. A moment later, the two were standing on their respective hard water columns.
"(Okay, rules.)" Indigo began. "(Only hard water attacks, and only dodging defense. Three tags to win.)"
A moment later, the ocean water looked like a strange landscape of moving shapes, all made of water.
Kansas, USA
Near Smallville
Kent Farm
"(That's a clown suit.)" Tom Bronson (3) noted. "(A daltonic clown suit.)" He added, shielding his eyes with a hand, "(Bro! I bet Doc Mid-nite (4) could see it!)" His tail trashed from side to side, as his cat-like face twisted in feigned disgust.
"(Well,)" Clyde Phillips Jr. (5) answered, absolutely immune to criticism; even if it came from his closest friend. "(I like it better than Dad's! No jester hat or little bells.)" He put the colorful jacket on, it fit perfectly over his shoulders.
From behind Tom, his girlfriend, Renata Arsala, adjusted her black wig over her own blonde hair, a curious reversal from the original Black Canary and her daughter. Her costume followed the original design, with a few adjustments her Father had insisted on. Like a mask and armor weave; but especially, a distinctive lack of exposed skin and fishnets; instead, her legs were covered by a pair of black jeans, the cloth treated to work as light armor. "(I like it too, Tomcat! I mean, it's not a shiny black pelt like yours, but it has its charm.)"
"(Oh, please, Canary! It looks like the Sixth Doctor (6) discards!)" He began to point at the different sections of the Oddman suit. "(Red, Yellow, Black, White, Blue! Stripes, smooth, polka dots, and plaaaaid! No rhyme nor reason! It's not even symmetrical, Fer Pete's Sake! No one is gonna take you seriously, Clyde!)"
"(Ah, but that's the point of this whole thing, Tom.)" He put the strange mask on, smoothing it over his face. Slicked black-blue hair, an eerie, fixed smile, and triangular shapes over eyes and nose. The eye pieces were tinted in different colors. Red on the right, yellow on the left. "(I want to be fun! I like being the class clown! It's in my blood! But unlike Mom and Dad (7), I'm not going to go around stealing stuff just because. I'll be a clown on my terms. And I really want to be underestimated. No one messes with the mamut, but the mockingbird messes with everybody!)" He put the white gloves on. "(Let's see… it worked in the demonstration…)"
He raised a foot against the wall of the barn. Somehow, his foot locked on the wood; waving his arms, he managed to stand horizontally, like a gigantic spider on two legs. Even his toes defied gravity. He ventured a step "forward" and then another, and another, until he reached the ceiling.
"(Hey, Clyde!) Canary shouted, "(How does it feel?)"
"(Really weird! Max was right, the gravity inducers keep a subjective gravity towards my feet. I feel just as if I was standing on the ground, instead of hanging upside down from the ceiling. I looove it!)" He began to dance on the ceiling. "(I can't even feel blood rushing to my head, I feel perfectly normal.)"
"(You think we could win a match vs the Dibny kids?)" Canary tapped speculatively her chin with a finger. "(Hal has been unbearable since his first sparring session.)"
"(There's a chan…)" Tom interrupted himself, and pointed a clawed finger at a window, "(What's that?)"
"(An ear! On the window!)" Canary jumped down from her seat. The lone appendage shot upwards, disappearing from sight.
"(Must be on the roof!)" (8) The new Odd-Lad ran, still upside down, to the closest window, without stopping, he crouched down, grabbed the upper edge of the window, and swung himself up to reach the exterior of the barn, while his friends ran out through the door.
"Wow." Diana said, "(Almost like in Dad's tale!)" She grinned, stretching her arms to grab at the wind vane, she then jumped as her arms returned to their normal length pulling her towards the weathervane, and in direct collision route with Odd-Lad, who was reaching the roof right under the vane.
"Hey!" He protested, pulling his tie off, throwing it towards Diana's face.
Somehow, the tie wrapped around Diana's eyes. "Hey!" She protested. She flailed her arms around, at the same time, trying to remove the improvised blindfold and keep the meddler away. Even stretching her head was useless, as the tie tightened around her, making a grotesque image. "(Uncle! Uncle!)" She released the vane, and returned to her normal size. "(A little help?)"
"(So, little Miss Dibny…)" Odd-Lad said. "(Spying? Tsk, tsk, tsk!)"
At that moment, Tomcat appeared, his claws were really suited to climbing. "(Okay, who's gonna help me to sharpen my claws?)" He growled, at the same time ten sharp claws emerged from the tip of his fingers.
"(Easy, buddy.)" Odd-Lad said. "(It's Diana Dibny.)" He grabbed her shoulders to stabilize her. "(Hey, Diana, stop flailing. I don't wanna fall.)"
Diana calmed down, but her breathing was ragged, as if she had ran several blocks. "(Sorry! I just wanted to practice stealth!)" Her face readjusted itself when Clyde removed the tie.
He put it back into place and adjusted the knot. "(Really?)"
"(Really, and to think Dad told me what had happened to him when he tried a similar trick.)" She smiled crookedly. "(But he did it through a chimney.)"
Canary finally arrived to the roof, barely breathing hard. "(Okay, whose head I'm gonna bash in?)"
Diana's head sunk between her shoulders.
"(No one's gonna bash no one's head, Rennie.)" Odd-Lad said. "(Diana was just playing spy.)"
Canary looked at Diana, then at Clyde, back at Diana… "(Oookay, I see, c'mon, Tom, let's go back to sparring. Let Clyde interrogate our spy.)" She winked at the two, dragging Tom by the end of his tail.
Oblivion Bar
(Unnamed Pocket Dimension)
"(The clientele is not much tonight, Tala.)" Eddie Deacon said from behind the bar, using his oversized hands and a rag to clean the wooden surface. "(I think I can handle the rest of the shift. You've earned a free afternoon.)"
"(A most wonderful idea. I'll take it.)" The statuesque sorcerer put down her tray, put a few glasses on the washing machine, and left the bar. "(See you tomorrow, Eddie.)"
She sashayed to the door, her long, black dress flowing over her like a layer of paint, and her shiny black shoes clacking on the floor. "(Berlín, Germany.)" She said to the closed door, and when she opened it, she was on a dark street in the German capital city. She closed her eyes, and inhaled the air of the city.
She smiled to herself, her blank eyes looked around, seeing the faint currents of Magic running through the city.
"(Hmmhm. Yes. Berlin will do. I'll indulge a little today. Nothing that will bring attention to me. Just stay on the plan and things will sort themselves out.)" She whispered. A predatory smile parted her blood red lips, showing the white teeth behind.
A Possible XXVIst Century
Japan
Tanuki Village Near the former site of Tokyo-3
Captain Atom worked diligently on transcribing his notes into a useful field map. He had a full table to work on. Drawing tools and artisan ink with quills. He had made a few tools the Tanuki didn't have, and he was checking and rechecking his drawings.
He looked for the pen knife to sharpen a quill, and didn't find it. He looked under the table, all around the room, and under a loose bunch of papers. Finally, a tiny hand tapped on his forearm, passing the pen knife.
"Thank you." He said without thinking. His brain caught up with him when he noticed the little fox-like creature peering over the table. Tentatively, due to the hairdo and flowers cutely arranged on the hair, Captain Atom concluded he was dealing with a female kitsune… um… kit.
"What are you doing? Is that a manga? Doesn't look interesting. What's that?" The little creature asked one question after another, pointing all around the map, dangerously close to the ink pot.
Atom snatched the pot before an accident could happen.
"Hey! No! Stop!"
The kit scrabbled to climb up the table. With his left hand, Captain Atom managed to grab the back of the kimono, and raised the kit over, and more importantly, away, from the table. Hanging from her garments didn't do anything to stop the barrage of questions and random stuff coming from the kit.
"Hi! I'm Kimura Chiaki (9). Are you the Shiny Metal Man? Mom says you're dangerous! That humans are like dumb animals. Are you dangerous? You don't look like you're dumb. Dad says you can fly like one of the rockets we shot to the sky in New Year. Do you explode too? Does it hurt?"
The Dreaming
The House of Secrets
There was a knock at the door if the House of Mystery. "Oh, my…" Kyoko Zeppelin Soryu looked up from the sweater she was knitting. "Are they done with the story at last?"
Abel stood up, "I hop-p-p-pe so. My brother c-c-can be really disagreeable-b-ble."
He opened the door, to find a tall, muscular figure standing on the threshold. Whomever it was, his clothes were dirty with wet clumps of dirt, making his red shirt and blue jeans look brown and gray. His shoulders shook with heartbreaking sobs. Abel stood there, paralyzed, but Kyoko ran to the strange man and rushed him inside, wrapping him in a blanket that had appeared on a chair close to the door.
Author Notes:
(1) Blue Beetle has a rough copy of the Kamandi's World Map, published in one of the Kamandi issues
(2) Kamandi issues 22 and 23 (Oct and Nov, 1974)
(3) Tom Bronson, AKA Tomcat, is Wildcat's son. Unlike his father, Tomcat is a literal werecat; he transforms at will into a black felinoid, keeping his human personality. He debuted in Kingdon Come issue 2 (Jun, 1996) as an adult. His debut in mainstream continuity was in Justice Society of America issue 1 (Feb, 2007)
(4) Dr. Mid-Nite, in any of their incarnations has a couple of distinctive characteristics: first, complete blindness in normal light, but able to see perfectly in full darkness. And second, they are actual, fully certified doctors, physicians. The original, Dr. Charles McNider debuted in All-American Cómics issue 25 (Apr, 1941), the second, Dr. Beth Chapel, debuted in Infinity Inc. Issue 19 (Oct, 1985), and the third, Dr. Pieter Cross, debuted in Dr. Mid-Nite issue 1 (Feb. 1999).
(5) This is a curious character. Clyde is a character who debuted as a baby, with no name. I chose to use his father's name to keep things simple. I'm not sure of the issue he actually debuted in, but the closest I could locate was Hawk and Dove issue 18 (Nov, 1990), though it's not completely clear if his mother is still pregnant. There's a line that makes me think the baby has been born, but it shows a remarkable lack of reaction to events around him.
(6) From the British TV show Doctor Who. The Sixth Doctor, portrayed by Colin Baker from 1984 to 1986, was infamous due to his overenthusiastically bizarre choice of wardrobe.
(7) Punch (Clyde Phillips) and Jewelle, a notorious crook couple; they found a chest containing alien artifacts, and then used them to embark on a criminal spree; they modeled themselves after both Bonnie and Clyde, the bank robbers; and Punch and Judy, two traditional (and violent) puppets. Their original versions debuted in Captain Atom issue 85 (Mar, 1967). The post-Crisis versions debuted in Secret Origins issue 28 (Jul, 1988) .
(8) In the Elongated Man back-up story "Ten Miles to Nowhere" originally published in Detective Comics issue 327 (May, 1964). This is the first solo story for the Elongated Man, and it set the style for many of his future appearances. In short, he and Sue travel around the USA, accidentally find some mystery, Ralph's nose twitches, he investigates and solves the mystery.
(9) According to a quick Google search, Chiaki means "Sparkling light" and Kimura " Tree Village".