ISSUE 13
“THE CALM BEFORE...”
BY
TRAVIS HILTZ
“THE CALM BEFORE...”
BY
TRAVIS HILTZ
Sunday on Danny the street ( somewhere on the East coast. Looks like it might be Boston.) A day to sleep in, have a lazy, late breakfast, do the crossword puzzle , maybe get a few chores done and, if you’re a member of the Doom Patrol, fight some super villains…
* * * * *
The bank doors shattered from a single blow, and the villainous martial arts master, Shatterfist emerged, closely followed by his partner in crime, Fastball.
Clad in a yellow bodysuit, with metallic black helmet, belt and gauntlets, Fastball, the ex-major league pitcher turned super villain, stood several feet off the pavement on a black, metallic slab, that resembled third base.
He casually tossed a metal sphere and caught it, while surveying the panicking crowd with a satisfied smirk.
Fastball was a man who enjoyed his job.
His Asian-American partner, glared angrily at the fleeing civilians and then at his teammate.
Shatterfist was shirtless, and clad in red: baggy pants, slippers, fingerless gloves and a domino style Oni mask with white horns.
“Not a bad days work,” Fastball drawled, patting the satchel slung over his shoulder.
“Cease your childishness,” Shatterfist snapped, scanning their surroundings, while maintaining a defensive stance. “I have no wish to deal further with the police.”
“Relax, pal,” Fastball said. “We got this timed. She’ll be here. No problems.”
Fastball was caught completely off guard by the giant, gloved hand that swatted him.
As Fastball lay in a crumpled heap on the sidewalk, Shatterfist glared upwards, as a fifty foot tall Elastic girl climbed over the bank.
“I don’t suppose we can talk about this,” She asked, hopefully. “and deal with this like adults…?”
The masked martial artist banged his fists together and they began to glow. He took up a defensive stance. Just as Shatterfist prepared to strike, a large, metal form barreled into him.
The villain spun, and dodged, avoiding the full brunt of Robot man’s attack. A quick barrage of blows sent the metal man staggering back with several new dents in his left arm.
Robot man moved like a boxer, with powerful, steady punches, that allowed Shatterfist to dance past his blows.
While that was occurring, Fastball managed to stagger back onto his anti-grave disk, and flew unsteadily upwards, hurling a variety of weaponized metal balls at the giantess.
Nothing from his arsenal was able to do more than startle and annoy Elastic Girl, puffs of smoke, gas and small explosions, but his plan was more to keep her busy, until his partner had dealt with her metal teammate. Elastic Girl stumbled around, swatting at the annoying flying villain, hoping she didn’t accidentally kick anybody down on the sidewalk, and mentally berated herself for not bringing any other members of the Doom Patrol with them.
Robert Crane, standing in for the team’s Robot man, was still an unknown quantity, being roughly 70 years out of practice being a super hero, and she, herself, felt she wasn’t much of a fighter or teacher, more a den mother for the dysfunctional super hero team.
* * * * *
Meanwhile, Robot man seemed to be accomplishing nothing more than keeping Shatterfist busy. He hadn’t landed a single punch, but had accumulated a half dozen dents.
He was growing increasingly frustrated and erratic in his efforts to stop the villain.
One wild blow, missed Shatterfist, but collided with the bank’s concrete wall, resulting in a massive crack in the wall and two broken fingers for Robot man.
Muttering darkly, under his breath, Robot man flung himself at Shatterfist, desperate to get his steel hands on his opponent.
Shatterfist’s breathing was level and he showed no sign of even breaking a sweat. In fact, his entire appearance implied he was bored by the entire situation.
His hands glowing with mystic Chi energy, Shatterfist casually flicked out, catching Robot man across the right temple, then planted a punch just below where one would imagine a heart might be in Robot man’s steel-plated chest.
“Damnit…!” Robot man growled, his red-glass eyes flashing and flickering, as he lunged savagely forward. One wild punch glanced off Shatterfist’s shoulder, which momentary threw him off his balance.
His other hand shot out and clamped onto Shatterfist’s throat.
“I’ve…zzzt…had…had enough of you!” Robot man growled, his voice becoming staticy.
Two quick blows to Shatterfist’s gut, changed the villian’s struggle from angry to becoming desperate to get free.
Elastic Girl managed to swat Fastball out of the air, catching him in her giant, cupped hands, like he was a baby bird. She delicately picked out the flight disk and the bag of loot, and dropped them on the bank roof.
Elastic Girl was pondering what to do with Fastball, when out of the corner of her eye, she noticed Robot man was beating Shatterfist to death.
She hastily dropped Fastball on another roof, knelt down and grabbed both combatants and yanked them apart.
“Robert!” She exclaimed, anxious and a little frightened. “What…what are you doing? Stop!”
In one hand, Elastic girl held the limp, battered form of Shatterfist.
She was forced to squeeze her other fist tightly, to hold Robot man and keep him from resuming his attack or lashing out at his giant teammate.
“Ow! Settle down!” She snapped, laying Shatterfist down on the pavement, in order to use both hands to clamp down on Robot man and hold him pinned, until he calmed down.
The metal man struggled, muttering and growling. His eyes flickered angrily.
Biting her lip, her enormous arms trembling with the effort, Elastic Girl struggled against her new teammate.
“Calm down,” She continued. “What’s wrong? Why are you so mad at that…kung-fu man?”
Robot man slowly stopped struggling and attempting to strike out at his teammate. Elastic girl opened her hands and let him go.
The metal hero, staggered briefly, then steadied himself clenching and unclenching his fists.
“Look at what he did!” Robot man snapped pointing to his iron chest plate. There were several, massive dents. “The damage he could have done…done, to my… my life support systems…to my…my…!”
“Heart…?” Elastic Girl prompted. “Do you have a heart? I thought it was just your brain, like with Cliff. We don’t really know how you…uh…work.”
“You know nothing about me! I am…am more than just a brain.” Robot man turned away, struggling to deal with his emotions after his outburst. “I need to…to make repairs.”
Fists clenched, shoulders hunched, he then hobbled away, leaving Elastic Girl to deal with the police, the damage and the gathering crowd.
Sighing, unsure what was going on with her new teammate. She was worried that she and the other Doom Patrollers were missing things and letting Robert down. She sat, her back against the wall of the bank, lost in her own thoughts, barely noticing that her legs were blocking traffic.
One of the policemen geared up his courage, and went up to the giant heroine, and shouted his questions through his cupped hands.
Elastic Girl was distractedly explaining who she was and what had just happened, when a swirling, ebony portal appeared, hovering a foot or two above the sidewalk.
A slim woman in a light blue bodysuit, purple cowl and wing cape emerged. She wore tinted googles and wristbands that sparked with the same dark energy.
She looked around, confused and then spotted her unconscious teammate.
“Oh dear…!” Was as far as Nightfall got, before Elastic girl casually reached over and swatted her senseless.
“I’m sorry,” She said, getting to her feet. “But, I’ve had enough for one day. If you need more help, I’m the next street over. You can’t miss it.”
She stepped over a bus and started back to Danny the Street.
* * * * *
Meanwhile, some other members were seated outside, the local coffee shop on Danny the street, having a leisurely breakfast.
Mallah, the super-enhanced gorilla, having a cup of coffee and a cigarette, was consulting a battered notebook. Across the table, was the c-list supervillain, Papercut, who had several pieces of mismatched paper spread out around his much fuller and only slightly healthier plate.
“Okay,” He said, shoveling in a forkful of fried egg, before nudging his plate aside, and gathering up his notes by using his powers to float them around, until he had the pages in the correct order. “I know you have a list of some places we can search for the Brain, so, I put together a rough list of my contacts…might be someone here, who can help us.”
Mallah moved his cigarette to the corner of his mouth, reached out and took the pages from the skinny, white-clad super villain.
He looked over the list, for several moments, before glancing up, his expression full of doubt and disdain.
“These are your contacts amongst the criminal community…?” He asked, gruffly.
“Look, not everyone wants to take over the world,” Papercut replied, testily. “Some of us just want to rob a couple banks and survive a fight with the Red Tornado. You deal with mad scientists, secret lairs and occasional Nazis, but that crap requires equipment and help…minions. Since the Brain has kicked you to the curve, he’s gonna need help. Whatever your ‘best friend’ is up to, he’s still a brain in a fish bowl. I know the street level guys…the ones who know where to shop for neutron batteries or how to hire a gang without attracting too much attention.”
Mallah grunted, all he was willing to do to acknowledge Papercut might know what he was talking about. He took a pen out of his bandolier, and scribbled in his notebook and tore out the pages and handed them across the table.
“While I do not know the Brain’s plans, if he disappeared by design, then he might require some of this equipment.”
Papercut took the list and looked it over.
“Okay, I can work with this,” Papercut nodded. He took a final gulp of coffee, and stood up.
“Somebody said Danny landed us in Boston. I know a couple guys and can make some calls. See you later.”
Papercut was slipping into his white, multi-pocketed jacket, when Robot man went limping by.
“Wow! He’s looking rough. You okay, Robotman?” Papercut called.
The metal man barely glanced their way and continued trudging and clunking along.
“He and Elastic Girl must have gotten into something,” Papercut mused, as he walked the other way. “And he still doesn’t like you. Must have tangled with a talking gorilla back in the ‘good old days’.”
“ I could barely stand Steele,” Mallah muttered, gruffly. “Why would I care for that pretender?”
* * * * *
Elastic Girl was still upset when she returned to Danny the street. She was eight feet tall and couldn’t focus enough to get her arms the right length. She barely noticed when Larry Trainor joined her. He wore his red and white bodysuit over his bandages, along with a denim jacket he’d found at Danny’s thrift shop.
“Rough day in Bean Town?” He asked.
“Robert and I went in to see about an alarm going off and stumbled into some super villains robbing a bank…it didn’t go well.”
“I saw the tin man. You okay? We need to go after those guys?” Larry asked, as they walked.
“No, we…uh…caught them all,” Rita replied, taking a deep breath and returning to her normal height. Her arms still didn’t match. “One of them…he had…power fists, I guess you’d call them, he damaged…something, I think, and, it seemed to…um…really shake up Robert. He beat the man and I had to…had to pull Robert off of him. It was…bad.”
“You want me to talk to him?”
“No, I don’t…no,” Rita said, shaking her head, which caused her neck to stretch slightly.
She stopped walking and turned to face Larry.
“He worries me, Larry,” She said, quietly. “There’s something going on with him, and I want to help, but I think, maybe…we wanted to have a Robotman on the Patrol. We wanted it too much…”
“We want him to be Cliff,” Her linen-wrapped teammate said, looking away, while he stuck his hands in his coat pockets. “Yeah…I was thinking something like that. Didn’t know how to…uh…say it.”
“I was concerned for him before,” Rita said. “Now, I’m worried, and I’m worried we aren’t helping him. We’re making him worse…or…I don’t know…!”
“Should we talk to him or leave him alone?” Larry asked. “I’m not good at this kind of thing. I could usually let you…or Cliff, take care of it.”
“I don’t know,” Rita shrugged, and growing six inches. “Maybe we should ask someone who isn’t as caught up in this? He seems comfortable with Niles…?”
“Yeah, let’s have ‘Not the Chief’ help ‘Not Robot man’,” Larry frowned, rubbing his chin in thought. “That sounds like we are adding an extra spoonful of drama and crap. We need to deal with to this.”
“Maybe, Bast?” Rita suggested. “She’s not really connected to any of our history and she might be able to help Niles fix Robert’s body?”
“Not a bad idea.” Larry said, nodding. “I was going to head to the coffee shop. I’ll see if she’s around. You look like you could use a nap.”
“Yeah, I’m going to go get cleaned up.” Rita said, growing, so she could get to her apartment in a couple of over-sized steps. “ Let me know if you need anything. Oh, the Boston police may come by for a statement. Danny might need to stay in one place for a couple days.”
* * * * *
Meanwhile, in Caffine Deim, the most popular coffee shop on Danny the street, things were quiet. The Sunday brunch crowd had come and gone and there were just a few scattered stragglers left.
Flex Mentallo, man of mystery muscle, sat at the counter, hunched over his coffee mug (black, two sugars), peering into its depths, like he was looking for answers.
“You need a refill, big guy?” Kate, owner, chief barista and part time member of the Doom Patrol, asked him.
“Hmmm…What? No, sorry, Kate, I’m fine. Just…thinking.”
“About what?” Kate asked, leaning on the counter and helping herself to a piece of Flex’s blueberry muffin. “You don’t seem your usual big, muscular, cheerful self.”
He shrugged his broad shoulders.
“When we visited that…other-dimensional trailer park*, (Last issue- informative Trav) we encountered the Great American Boondoggle,” Flex explained, thoughtfully. “He was…is one of my heroes. It was reading his comics that inspired me, as a youngster, to get into the hero game…!”
“But…?” Kate prompted.
“But, he was only ever a character from a comic book…like…me. Now, I just feel confused. Am I a fictional character come to life? Is my Earth out there in the multi-verse, and I’ve neglecting it, my teammates and Dorris, to be here, helping the Doom Patrol? Is all fiction just an echo of some other part of the vast network of interconnected realities…?”
“Wow…!” Kate breathed. “That is a lot to have to sort through.”
“I am a master of Mystery Muscle,” Flex said. “I tend to leave the science or deep thinking to my teammates…the Fact or Doctor .45, so, I feel like I’m punching outside my weight class with this kind stuff.”
“Yeah, I get it. That’s a lot. What are you thinking?”
Another shrug, another sip of coffee.
“I don’t really know,” Flex said. “I worry that I’m neglecting my team, my planet…my home, but at the same time, if I left…”
“Yeah, that’s tricky.” Kate nodded. “I can’t say the Patrol isn’t a little bit of a mess, at the moment. Not that I have the moral high ground…”
“Sorry, I’ve been rambling, and never thought to ask: how things are going with you?” Flex said, looking up from his cup and focusing on his teammate.
“Same old, same old.” Kate said. “ Transgender lesbian meets alien cat woman, falls in love and then waits while cat alien builds sci-fi transmitter on the roof of her coffee shop to find out if her race will welcome her back home or try and conquer the planet…again.”
“Ah, that old story,” Flex said, with a smile. “You think Bast will want to leave?”
“I don’t know,” Kate sighed. “To be honest, this may be the longest, and most stable, relationship I’ve had. I’m not sure if I’m anxious she’ll leave or…that she’ll stay.”
“Never dull around here.” Flex said.
Just then the lights flickered and faint tremor ran through the building.
“What the…!” Flex exclaimed, getting to his feet. “Do I want to know?”
“It’s Bast alien transmitter thingee,” Kate explained, straightening items on the counter that had been rattled too close to the edge. “It’s been happening all morning. Nothing to worry about…”
Just outside the shop, Bast landed, on all fours, on the sidewalk and then launched herself through the front door. She was clad in a white, silken sarong around her slim waist, and numerous bracelets, of the same silvery metal as her breastplate. Her green eyes were wide and anxious.
“Where are the others?” The alien scientist and sometimes goddess asked.
“What’s the matter?” Flex asked in reply.
“I am receiving a very strange signal,” Bast replied. “ I may have accidentally attracted some…worrying attention.”
“Okay, here we go,” Kate said, taking off her apron, and coming around the counter. “Chris, I need to step away! Keep an eye on things.”
She touched Flex Mentallo’s shoulder, on the way by, and they joined Bast outside.
“You see,” Bast explained, looking upwards. “There was a signal pulse and then the…”
“Let’s take this conversation upstairs, if you don’t mind,” Flex said, scooping up both women. He then leapt up three stories, to the roof, in a burst of mystery muscle energy.
* * * * *
Up the roof was a makeshift tower. A ten foot tall metal frame, strewn with wires of Christmas lights, connected to a half dozen car batteries, several lava lamps and at least three dismembered, out of date, personal computers and game stations.
Bast leapt to the nearest keyboard and clicked away for several moments. The Christmas lights blinked furiously and the tower hummed, like power lines on a hot, summer day.
“Well, that’s…impressive,” Flex nodded, rubbing his rugged chin, thoughtfully.
“At least I know what happened to all my spare playstation controllers,” Kate muttered. “So, Babe, what’s going on?”
Bast made a final click and turned to her friends.
“I have been sending out a signal, trying to contact my people,” She explained, glancing over at the several monitors as she talked. “While I was attempting to adjust the ionic frequency circuit, I received a most unusual signal, on an unusual frequency. It seems to be…quite possibly other-dimensional and its power output is in danger of burning out my entire transmitting system.”
“So, that’s bad,” Kate said. “You made contact with…something?”
“I believe so, but completely unknown to me,” Bast said, anxiously. “And, in trying to decipher the signal, I’ve effectively sent them an invitation to Earth. Unless, their carrier wave completely overpowers my transmitter!”
“I’m afraid to ask,” Kate said. “But, what happens then? How much damage do you end up causing to my building?”
“And these other-dimensional alien fellows are coming here?” Flex asked, looking around. “Do we know if that’s a bad thing?”
“What have you idiots done now?” Mallah grunted, climbing up over the edge of the roof. “Is that an ionic transmitter array?”
“Okay, can we just focus on it not blowing up for a couple minutes, and then ‘ooh’ and ‘ahhh’ over how smart my girlfriend is?” Kate interrupted, before turning to Bast . “What do we do?”
“We need to stabilize the structure, so I can adjust the systems,” Bast instructed, after a minutes’ thought. “Possibly Negative man could help with the energy overload worries….”
“I’ll fetch Trainor,” Mallah grumbled, leaping from the roof.
The lights flickered and glowing brighter when they came back. One of the lava lamps boiled over and burst like a shaken can of soda. The tower itself trembled and rattled and seemed to soften and slump with the surge of otherworldly energy running through it.
Kate moved over to the tower, her left hand glowing purple, and grabbed hold of a metal bar.
Her coagulating powers re-hardened the metal.
“How’s that?” She asked.
“Very good,” Bast said, with a smile. “I just wish I could identify…um…anything about this signal. So hard to adjust to it and I’m not sure we are actually communicating. or just sending bursts of energy at each other.”
“Well, whatever is happening, it’s setting off my fillings, something fierce,” Flex said, running his tongue across his teeth.
Just then Larry Trainor came flying up over the edge of the roof and landed on the gravel with a thud and a groan.
“Do I…ow…want to know…?” He asked, propping himself up and rubbing his elbow.
“Bast may have accidentally invited some cosmic beings to Earth,” Kate said, helping him to his feet. “And whatever they use for energy is setting off Bast’s transmitter like a match to a firecracker.”
“And we don’t know if they’re friendly or might want to conquer the planet,” Flex added.
“If it ain’t one thing…!” Larry muttered, brushing himself off. He glared over at Mallah, as the gorilla climbed back onto the roof and tipped his beret to the bandage-wrapped super hero.
“So, what did I miss?” A giant Rita said, leaning her elbows on the edge of the roof.
“Just aliens,” Larry said, with a shrug.
“There’s another pulse building,” Bast said, leaning over the makeshift control panel. “Might want to brace yourselves!”
Mallah joined Bast at the controls, while Larry, Flex and Kate formed a half circle around the tower, taking up defensive stances, unsure what they’d need to do.
The air hummed, the tower trembled and began to soften again.
Kate did what she could to keep the metal solid and strong, Flex clenched a bicep to generate an energy wave.
Larry Trainior, sank down, slumping against a crate, as he released the Negative man.
Crackling with energy, the ebony form, floated free of its host and then over to the tower. As the transmitter began to spark and tremble, Negative man reached out towards the device. Its fingers got within inches of the sparkling tower, before Negative man suddenly drew its hand back and immediately flew back into Larry’s body.
“What the hell was that!?!” Larry gasped, sitting up and clutching at his chest.
“Are you okay?” Elastic Girl asked, reaching out with a giant finger to help steady him.
His reply was interrupted, as the sky above their heads rippled, like the surface of a pond, after you throw a rock into it.
The hum reached a level, where everyone was wincing in discomfort, and then a white sphere, resembling a golf ball, the size of a parking garage, appeared in the sky above the coffee shop.
“That’s…quite something,” Flex Mentallo said, craning his head back to take it in.
“Anybody recognize it?” Kate asked, shading her eyes with her hand. She glanced, anxiously over at Bast, who gave a quick, concerned shake of her grey-furred head.
On instinct, Mallah did a fast draw of his guns and then realized the futility of it, and dropped his arms, unsure what to do next.
“Bast,” Elastic Girl asked. “Does this mean your ride’s here?”
“I don’t…I don’t know,” The cat woman replied, still frantically adjusting controls, in hope of making sense of the situation.
The hum reached a fever pitch and then settled down, to a low pulsing noise, like background techno-beats.
“So, they came all this way to play their demo mixtape at us?” Kate muttered, sticking a finger in her ear and wiggling it.
“Either that, or they want us to find some humpbacked whales that they can talk to,” Larry added, climbing to his feet.
A massive disk opened in the bottom of the sphere, revealing a bright glow, inside.
“Well, whatever is going on,” Mallah said. “It appears it’s about to happen. Do we have a plan?”
“You and I will clear everyone away from the building,” Elastic Girl said. “And then, we hope for the best.”
“I think that’s…some form of transmat portal,” Bast said, faintly.
She then turned to Kate.
“I’m sorry. I thought we’d have more time.”
“Hey, it’s…it’s okay,” Kate said, hugging the alien scientist. “You do what you need to do, but just…uh…come back. Okay?”
The two women moved slightly apart, their noses touching. Bast dabbed at her eyes.
“I…I don’t…I…,” She said, between sniffles.
“Love you too.” Kate said, with a sad smile.
The light brightened, the hum increased and a beam of white energy shot down from the other worldly sphere…
Enveloping Larry Trainor.
“Um…what…?” Her muttered, his hands going to his linen-wrapped head. “What the hell is happening?! I can’t move!”
“Wait…what?” Kate exclaimed. “They aren’t here for you, Bast!?”
“I don’t know,” Bast said, returning to the transmitter controls. “I don’t understand! The signal…it contained a universal retrieval code. Why…?”
“What do we do?” Elastic Girl asked, shooting up another fifty feet. She still wasn’t tall enough to reach the alien construct.
“Why is it grabbing me!?” Larry shouted, struggling to stay calm. “Can you hear that? Who is talking to me? It sounds like a…uh…like a whole crowd of voices…It’s too…much…I don’t know…I can choose a second…I think…an advocate…I don’t…guys, help me!”
“Keep the people back,” Flex said, over his shoulder to the others. “Danny may need to leave quickly. I’ll help Larry.”
He then jumped into the beam of white light, which immediately withdrew back into the massive sphere. The portal closed, reality rippled again and when it went back to normal, the massive craft and their teammates were gone.
“No…no…!” Elastic girl shouted, up at the sky. “Bring them back! You bring them back this instant!”
“Jesus, Rita’s losing it,” Kate said, frantically looking around. “Um…damnit, it’s up to us. Bast, do your science stuff! Mallah, get down to the street, grab who you can, get everyone inside!”
She fumbled in her pocket and pulled out her cellphone.
“Hello, darling!” A voice said. “You’ve reached Danny, I can’t come to phone right now…”
“Danny, stop screwing around!” Kate snapped. “Get us away from here! Now! Uh…please!”
Elastic girl fell to her knees, and leaned against the rooftop, crying.
“Hey, Rita, it’s gonna be okay,” Kate said, running over and patting her giant shoulder. “Come on, we can do this. Please, take a breath and…get smaller. I’m gonna need your help.”
There was a ‘blip!’ and Danny the street left Boston.
* * * * *
Next issue: Things get weird and cosmic!
Also, we go looking for the missing Brain!
and, get ready, because, after that, Cliff Steele is coming back (and I mean it this time!) and bringing with him a lot of changes!
* * * * *
The bank doors shattered from a single blow, and the villainous martial arts master, Shatterfist emerged, closely followed by his partner in crime, Fastball.
Clad in a yellow bodysuit, with metallic black helmet, belt and gauntlets, Fastball, the ex-major league pitcher turned super villain, stood several feet off the pavement on a black, metallic slab, that resembled third base.
He casually tossed a metal sphere and caught it, while surveying the panicking crowd with a satisfied smirk.
Fastball was a man who enjoyed his job.
His Asian-American partner, glared angrily at the fleeing civilians and then at his teammate.
Shatterfist was shirtless, and clad in red: baggy pants, slippers, fingerless gloves and a domino style Oni mask with white horns.
“Not a bad days work,” Fastball drawled, patting the satchel slung over his shoulder.
“Cease your childishness,” Shatterfist snapped, scanning their surroundings, while maintaining a defensive stance. “I have no wish to deal further with the police.”
“Relax, pal,” Fastball said. “We got this timed. She’ll be here. No problems.”
Fastball was caught completely off guard by the giant, gloved hand that swatted him.
As Fastball lay in a crumpled heap on the sidewalk, Shatterfist glared upwards, as a fifty foot tall Elastic girl climbed over the bank.
“I don’t suppose we can talk about this,” She asked, hopefully. “and deal with this like adults…?”
The masked martial artist banged his fists together and they began to glow. He took up a defensive stance. Just as Shatterfist prepared to strike, a large, metal form barreled into him.
The villain spun, and dodged, avoiding the full brunt of Robot man’s attack. A quick barrage of blows sent the metal man staggering back with several new dents in his left arm.
Robot man moved like a boxer, with powerful, steady punches, that allowed Shatterfist to dance past his blows.
While that was occurring, Fastball managed to stagger back onto his anti-grave disk, and flew unsteadily upwards, hurling a variety of weaponized metal balls at the giantess.
Nothing from his arsenal was able to do more than startle and annoy Elastic Girl, puffs of smoke, gas and small explosions, but his plan was more to keep her busy, until his partner had dealt with her metal teammate. Elastic Girl stumbled around, swatting at the annoying flying villain, hoping she didn’t accidentally kick anybody down on the sidewalk, and mentally berated herself for not bringing any other members of the Doom Patrol with them.
Robert Crane, standing in for the team’s Robot man, was still an unknown quantity, being roughly 70 years out of practice being a super hero, and she, herself, felt she wasn’t much of a fighter or teacher, more a den mother for the dysfunctional super hero team.
* * * * *
Meanwhile, Robot man seemed to be accomplishing nothing more than keeping Shatterfist busy. He hadn’t landed a single punch, but had accumulated a half dozen dents.
He was growing increasingly frustrated and erratic in his efforts to stop the villain.
One wild blow, missed Shatterfist, but collided with the bank’s concrete wall, resulting in a massive crack in the wall and two broken fingers for Robot man.
Muttering darkly, under his breath, Robot man flung himself at Shatterfist, desperate to get his steel hands on his opponent.
Shatterfist’s breathing was level and he showed no sign of even breaking a sweat. In fact, his entire appearance implied he was bored by the entire situation.
His hands glowing with mystic Chi energy, Shatterfist casually flicked out, catching Robot man across the right temple, then planted a punch just below where one would imagine a heart might be in Robot man’s steel-plated chest.
“Damnit…!” Robot man growled, his red-glass eyes flashing and flickering, as he lunged savagely forward. One wild punch glanced off Shatterfist’s shoulder, which momentary threw him off his balance.
His other hand shot out and clamped onto Shatterfist’s throat.
“I’ve…zzzt…had…had enough of you!” Robot man growled, his voice becoming staticy.
Two quick blows to Shatterfist’s gut, changed the villian’s struggle from angry to becoming desperate to get free.
Elastic Girl managed to swat Fastball out of the air, catching him in her giant, cupped hands, like he was a baby bird. She delicately picked out the flight disk and the bag of loot, and dropped them on the bank roof.
Elastic Girl was pondering what to do with Fastball, when out of the corner of her eye, she noticed Robot man was beating Shatterfist to death.
She hastily dropped Fastball on another roof, knelt down and grabbed both combatants and yanked them apart.
“Robert!” She exclaimed, anxious and a little frightened. “What…what are you doing? Stop!”
In one hand, Elastic girl held the limp, battered form of Shatterfist.
She was forced to squeeze her other fist tightly, to hold Robot man and keep him from resuming his attack or lashing out at his giant teammate.
“Ow! Settle down!” She snapped, laying Shatterfist down on the pavement, in order to use both hands to clamp down on Robot man and hold him pinned, until he calmed down.
The metal man struggled, muttering and growling. His eyes flickered angrily.
Biting her lip, her enormous arms trembling with the effort, Elastic Girl struggled against her new teammate.
“Calm down,” She continued. “What’s wrong? Why are you so mad at that…kung-fu man?”
Robot man slowly stopped struggling and attempting to strike out at his teammate. Elastic girl opened her hands and let him go.
The metal hero, staggered briefly, then steadied himself clenching and unclenching his fists.
“Look at what he did!” Robot man snapped pointing to his iron chest plate. There were several, massive dents. “The damage he could have done…done, to my… my life support systems…to my…my…!”
“Heart…?” Elastic Girl prompted. “Do you have a heart? I thought it was just your brain, like with Cliff. We don’t really know how you…uh…work.”
“You know nothing about me! I am…am more than just a brain.” Robot man turned away, struggling to deal with his emotions after his outburst. “I need to…to make repairs.”
Fists clenched, shoulders hunched, he then hobbled away, leaving Elastic Girl to deal with the police, the damage and the gathering crowd.
Sighing, unsure what was going on with her new teammate. She was worried that she and the other Doom Patrollers were missing things and letting Robert down. She sat, her back against the wall of the bank, lost in her own thoughts, barely noticing that her legs were blocking traffic.
One of the policemen geared up his courage, and went up to the giant heroine, and shouted his questions through his cupped hands.
Elastic Girl was distractedly explaining who she was and what had just happened, when a swirling, ebony portal appeared, hovering a foot or two above the sidewalk.
A slim woman in a light blue bodysuit, purple cowl and wing cape emerged. She wore tinted googles and wristbands that sparked with the same dark energy.
She looked around, confused and then spotted her unconscious teammate.
“Oh dear…!” Was as far as Nightfall got, before Elastic girl casually reached over and swatted her senseless.
“I’m sorry,” She said, getting to her feet. “But, I’ve had enough for one day. If you need more help, I’m the next street over. You can’t miss it.”
She stepped over a bus and started back to Danny the Street.
* * * * *
Meanwhile, some other members were seated outside, the local coffee shop on Danny the street, having a leisurely breakfast.
Mallah, the super-enhanced gorilla, having a cup of coffee and a cigarette, was consulting a battered notebook. Across the table, was the c-list supervillain, Papercut, who had several pieces of mismatched paper spread out around his much fuller and only slightly healthier plate.
“Okay,” He said, shoveling in a forkful of fried egg, before nudging his plate aside, and gathering up his notes by using his powers to float them around, until he had the pages in the correct order. “I know you have a list of some places we can search for the Brain, so, I put together a rough list of my contacts…might be someone here, who can help us.”
Mallah moved his cigarette to the corner of his mouth, reached out and took the pages from the skinny, white-clad super villain.
He looked over the list, for several moments, before glancing up, his expression full of doubt and disdain.
“These are your contacts amongst the criminal community…?” He asked, gruffly.
“Look, not everyone wants to take over the world,” Papercut replied, testily. “Some of us just want to rob a couple banks and survive a fight with the Red Tornado. You deal with mad scientists, secret lairs and occasional Nazis, but that crap requires equipment and help…minions. Since the Brain has kicked you to the curve, he’s gonna need help. Whatever your ‘best friend’ is up to, he’s still a brain in a fish bowl. I know the street level guys…the ones who know where to shop for neutron batteries or how to hire a gang without attracting too much attention.”
Mallah grunted, all he was willing to do to acknowledge Papercut might know what he was talking about. He took a pen out of his bandolier, and scribbled in his notebook and tore out the pages and handed them across the table.
“While I do not know the Brain’s plans, if he disappeared by design, then he might require some of this equipment.”
Papercut took the list and looked it over.
“Okay, I can work with this,” Papercut nodded. He took a final gulp of coffee, and stood up.
“Somebody said Danny landed us in Boston. I know a couple guys and can make some calls. See you later.”
Papercut was slipping into his white, multi-pocketed jacket, when Robot man went limping by.
“Wow! He’s looking rough. You okay, Robotman?” Papercut called.
The metal man barely glanced their way and continued trudging and clunking along.
“He and Elastic Girl must have gotten into something,” Papercut mused, as he walked the other way. “And he still doesn’t like you. Must have tangled with a talking gorilla back in the ‘good old days’.”
“ I could barely stand Steele,” Mallah muttered, gruffly. “Why would I care for that pretender?”
* * * * *
Elastic Girl was still upset when she returned to Danny the street. She was eight feet tall and couldn’t focus enough to get her arms the right length. She barely noticed when Larry Trainor joined her. He wore his red and white bodysuit over his bandages, along with a denim jacket he’d found at Danny’s thrift shop.
“Rough day in Bean Town?” He asked.
“Robert and I went in to see about an alarm going off and stumbled into some super villains robbing a bank…it didn’t go well.”
“I saw the tin man. You okay? We need to go after those guys?” Larry asked, as they walked.
“No, we…uh…caught them all,” Rita replied, taking a deep breath and returning to her normal height. Her arms still didn’t match. “One of them…he had…power fists, I guess you’d call them, he damaged…something, I think, and, it seemed to…um…really shake up Robert. He beat the man and I had to…had to pull Robert off of him. It was…bad.”
“You want me to talk to him?”
“No, I don’t…no,” Rita said, shaking her head, which caused her neck to stretch slightly.
She stopped walking and turned to face Larry.
“He worries me, Larry,” She said, quietly. “There’s something going on with him, and I want to help, but I think, maybe…we wanted to have a Robotman on the Patrol. We wanted it too much…”
“We want him to be Cliff,” Her linen-wrapped teammate said, looking away, while he stuck his hands in his coat pockets. “Yeah…I was thinking something like that. Didn’t know how to…uh…say it.”
“I was concerned for him before,” Rita said. “Now, I’m worried, and I’m worried we aren’t helping him. We’re making him worse…or…I don’t know…!”
“Should we talk to him or leave him alone?” Larry asked. “I’m not good at this kind of thing. I could usually let you…or Cliff, take care of it.”
“I don’t know,” Rita shrugged, and growing six inches. “Maybe we should ask someone who isn’t as caught up in this? He seems comfortable with Niles…?”
“Yeah, let’s have ‘Not the Chief’ help ‘Not Robot man’,” Larry frowned, rubbing his chin in thought. “That sounds like we are adding an extra spoonful of drama and crap. We need to deal with to this.”
“Maybe, Bast?” Rita suggested. “She’s not really connected to any of our history and she might be able to help Niles fix Robert’s body?”
“Not a bad idea.” Larry said, nodding. “I was going to head to the coffee shop. I’ll see if she’s around. You look like you could use a nap.”
“Yeah, I’m going to go get cleaned up.” Rita said, growing, so she could get to her apartment in a couple of over-sized steps. “ Let me know if you need anything. Oh, the Boston police may come by for a statement. Danny might need to stay in one place for a couple days.”
* * * * *
Meanwhile, in Caffine Deim, the most popular coffee shop on Danny the street, things were quiet. The Sunday brunch crowd had come and gone and there were just a few scattered stragglers left.
Flex Mentallo, man of mystery muscle, sat at the counter, hunched over his coffee mug (black, two sugars), peering into its depths, like he was looking for answers.
“You need a refill, big guy?” Kate, owner, chief barista and part time member of the Doom Patrol, asked him.
“Hmmm…What? No, sorry, Kate, I’m fine. Just…thinking.”
“About what?” Kate asked, leaning on the counter and helping herself to a piece of Flex’s blueberry muffin. “You don’t seem your usual big, muscular, cheerful self.”
He shrugged his broad shoulders.
“When we visited that…other-dimensional trailer park*, (Last issue- informative Trav) we encountered the Great American Boondoggle,” Flex explained, thoughtfully. “He was…is one of my heroes. It was reading his comics that inspired me, as a youngster, to get into the hero game…!”
“But…?” Kate prompted.
“But, he was only ever a character from a comic book…like…me. Now, I just feel confused. Am I a fictional character come to life? Is my Earth out there in the multi-verse, and I’ve neglecting it, my teammates and Dorris, to be here, helping the Doom Patrol? Is all fiction just an echo of some other part of the vast network of interconnected realities…?”
“Wow…!” Kate breathed. “That is a lot to have to sort through.”
“I am a master of Mystery Muscle,” Flex said. “I tend to leave the science or deep thinking to my teammates…the Fact or Doctor .45, so, I feel like I’m punching outside my weight class with this kind stuff.”
“Yeah, I get it. That’s a lot. What are you thinking?”
Another shrug, another sip of coffee.
“I don’t really know,” Flex said. “I worry that I’m neglecting my team, my planet…my home, but at the same time, if I left…”
“Yeah, that’s tricky.” Kate nodded. “I can’t say the Patrol isn’t a little bit of a mess, at the moment. Not that I have the moral high ground…”
“Sorry, I’ve been rambling, and never thought to ask: how things are going with you?” Flex said, looking up from his cup and focusing on his teammate.
“Same old, same old.” Kate said. “ Transgender lesbian meets alien cat woman, falls in love and then waits while cat alien builds sci-fi transmitter on the roof of her coffee shop to find out if her race will welcome her back home or try and conquer the planet…again.”
“Ah, that old story,” Flex said, with a smile. “You think Bast will want to leave?”
“I don’t know,” Kate sighed. “To be honest, this may be the longest, and most stable, relationship I’ve had. I’m not sure if I’m anxious she’ll leave or…that she’ll stay.”
“Never dull around here.” Flex said.
Just then the lights flickered and faint tremor ran through the building.
“What the…!” Flex exclaimed, getting to his feet. “Do I want to know?”
“It’s Bast alien transmitter thingee,” Kate explained, straightening items on the counter that had been rattled too close to the edge. “It’s been happening all morning. Nothing to worry about…”
Just outside the shop, Bast landed, on all fours, on the sidewalk and then launched herself through the front door. She was clad in a white, silken sarong around her slim waist, and numerous bracelets, of the same silvery metal as her breastplate. Her green eyes were wide and anxious.
“Where are the others?” The alien scientist and sometimes goddess asked.
“What’s the matter?” Flex asked in reply.
“I am receiving a very strange signal,” Bast replied. “ I may have accidentally attracted some…worrying attention.”
“Okay, here we go,” Kate said, taking off her apron, and coming around the counter. “Chris, I need to step away! Keep an eye on things.”
She touched Flex Mentallo’s shoulder, on the way by, and they joined Bast outside.
“You see,” Bast explained, looking upwards. “There was a signal pulse and then the…”
“Let’s take this conversation upstairs, if you don’t mind,” Flex said, scooping up both women. He then leapt up three stories, to the roof, in a burst of mystery muscle energy.
* * * * *
Up the roof was a makeshift tower. A ten foot tall metal frame, strewn with wires of Christmas lights, connected to a half dozen car batteries, several lava lamps and at least three dismembered, out of date, personal computers and game stations.
Bast leapt to the nearest keyboard and clicked away for several moments. The Christmas lights blinked furiously and the tower hummed, like power lines on a hot, summer day.
“Well, that’s…impressive,” Flex nodded, rubbing his rugged chin, thoughtfully.
“At least I know what happened to all my spare playstation controllers,” Kate muttered. “So, Babe, what’s going on?”
Bast made a final click and turned to her friends.
“I have been sending out a signal, trying to contact my people,” She explained, glancing over at the several monitors as she talked. “While I was attempting to adjust the ionic frequency circuit, I received a most unusual signal, on an unusual frequency. It seems to be…quite possibly other-dimensional and its power output is in danger of burning out my entire transmitting system.”
“So, that’s bad,” Kate said. “You made contact with…something?”
“I believe so, but completely unknown to me,” Bast said, anxiously. “And, in trying to decipher the signal, I’ve effectively sent them an invitation to Earth. Unless, their carrier wave completely overpowers my transmitter!”
“I’m afraid to ask,” Kate said. “But, what happens then? How much damage do you end up causing to my building?”
“And these other-dimensional alien fellows are coming here?” Flex asked, looking around. “Do we know if that’s a bad thing?”
“What have you idiots done now?” Mallah grunted, climbing up over the edge of the roof. “Is that an ionic transmitter array?”
“Okay, can we just focus on it not blowing up for a couple minutes, and then ‘ooh’ and ‘ahhh’ over how smart my girlfriend is?” Kate interrupted, before turning to Bast . “What do we do?”
“We need to stabilize the structure, so I can adjust the systems,” Bast instructed, after a minutes’ thought. “Possibly Negative man could help with the energy overload worries….”
“I’ll fetch Trainor,” Mallah grumbled, leaping from the roof.
The lights flickered and glowing brighter when they came back. One of the lava lamps boiled over and burst like a shaken can of soda. The tower itself trembled and rattled and seemed to soften and slump with the surge of otherworldly energy running through it.
Kate moved over to the tower, her left hand glowing purple, and grabbed hold of a metal bar.
Her coagulating powers re-hardened the metal.
“How’s that?” She asked.
“Very good,” Bast said, with a smile. “I just wish I could identify…um…anything about this signal. So hard to adjust to it and I’m not sure we are actually communicating. or just sending bursts of energy at each other.”
“Well, whatever is happening, it’s setting off my fillings, something fierce,” Flex said, running his tongue across his teeth.
Just then Larry Trainor came flying up over the edge of the roof and landed on the gravel with a thud and a groan.
“Do I…ow…want to know…?” He asked, propping himself up and rubbing his elbow.
“Bast may have accidentally invited some cosmic beings to Earth,” Kate said, helping him to his feet. “And whatever they use for energy is setting off Bast’s transmitter like a match to a firecracker.”
“And we don’t know if they’re friendly or might want to conquer the planet,” Flex added.
“If it ain’t one thing…!” Larry muttered, brushing himself off. He glared over at Mallah, as the gorilla climbed back onto the roof and tipped his beret to the bandage-wrapped super hero.
“So, what did I miss?” A giant Rita said, leaning her elbows on the edge of the roof.
“Just aliens,” Larry said, with a shrug.
“There’s another pulse building,” Bast said, leaning over the makeshift control panel. “Might want to brace yourselves!”
Mallah joined Bast at the controls, while Larry, Flex and Kate formed a half circle around the tower, taking up defensive stances, unsure what they’d need to do.
The air hummed, the tower trembled and began to soften again.
Kate did what she could to keep the metal solid and strong, Flex clenched a bicep to generate an energy wave.
Larry Trainior, sank down, slumping against a crate, as he released the Negative man.
Crackling with energy, the ebony form, floated free of its host and then over to the tower. As the transmitter began to spark and tremble, Negative man reached out towards the device. Its fingers got within inches of the sparkling tower, before Negative man suddenly drew its hand back and immediately flew back into Larry’s body.
“What the hell was that!?!” Larry gasped, sitting up and clutching at his chest.
“Are you okay?” Elastic Girl asked, reaching out with a giant finger to help steady him.
His reply was interrupted, as the sky above their heads rippled, like the surface of a pond, after you throw a rock into it.
The hum reached a level, where everyone was wincing in discomfort, and then a white sphere, resembling a golf ball, the size of a parking garage, appeared in the sky above the coffee shop.
“That’s…quite something,” Flex Mentallo said, craning his head back to take it in.
“Anybody recognize it?” Kate asked, shading her eyes with her hand. She glanced, anxiously over at Bast, who gave a quick, concerned shake of her grey-furred head.
On instinct, Mallah did a fast draw of his guns and then realized the futility of it, and dropped his arms, unsure what to do next.
“Bast,” Elastic Girl asked. “Does this mean your ride’s here?”
“I don’t…I don’t know,” The cat woman replied, still frantically adjusting controls, in hope of making sense of the situation.
The hum reached a fever pitch and then settled down, to a low pulsing noise, like background techno-beats.
“So, they came all this way to play their demo mixtape at us?” Kate muttered, sticking a finger in her ear and wiggling it.
“Either that, or they want us to find some humpbacked whales that they can talk to,” Larry added, climbing to his feet.
A massive disk opened in the bottom of the sphere, revealing a bright glow, inside.
“Well, whatever is going on,” Mallah said. “It appears it’s about to happen. Do we have a plan?”
“You and I will clear everyone away from the building,” Elastic Girl said. “And then, we hope for the best.”
“I think that’s…some form of transmat portal,” Bast said, faintly.
She then turned to Kate.
“I’m sorry. I thought we’d have more time.”
“Hey, it’s…it’s okay,” Kate said, hugging the alien scientist. “You do what you need to do, but just…uh…come back. Okay?”
The two women moved slightly apart, their noses touching. Bast dabbed at her eyes.
“I…I don’t…I…,” She said, between sniffles.
“Love you too.” Kate said, with a sad smile.
The light brightened, the hum increased and a beam of white energy shot down from the other worldly sphere…
Enveloping Larry Trainor.
“Um…what…?” Her muttered, his hands going to his linen-wrapped head. “What the hell is happening?! I can’t move!”
“Wait…what?” Kate exclaimed. “They aren’t here for you, Bast!?”
“I don’t know,” Bast said, returning to the transmitter controls. “I don’t understand! The signal…it contained a universal retrieval code. Why…?”
“What do we do?” Elastic Girl asked, shooting up another fifty feet. She still wasn’t tall enough to reach the alien construct.
“Why is it grabbing me!?” Larry shouted, struggling to stay calm. “Can you hear that? Who is talking to me? It sounds like a…uh…like a whole crowd of voices…It’s too…much…I don’t know…I can choose a second…I think…an advocate…I don’t…guys, help me!”
“Keep the people back,” Flex said, over his shoulder to the others. “Danny may need to leave quickly. I’ll help Larry.”
He then jumped into the beam of white light, which immediately withdrew back into the massive sphere. The portal closed, reality rippled again and when it went back to normal, the massive craft and their teammates were gone.
“No…no…!” Elastic girl shouted, up at the sky. “Bring them back! You bring them back this instant!”
“Jesus, Rita’s losing it,” Kate said, frantically looking around. “Um…damnit, it’s up to us. Bast, do your science stuff! Mallah, get down to the street, grab who you can, get everyone inside!”
She fumbled in her pocket and pulled out her cellphone.
“Hello, darling!” A voice said. “You’ve reached Danny, I can’t come to phone right now…”
“Danny, stop screwing around!” Kate snapped. “Get us away from here! Now! Uh…please!”
Elastic girl fell to her knees, and leaned against the rooftop, crying.
“Hey, Rita, it’s gonna be okay,” Kate said, running over and patting her giant shoulder. “Come on, we can do this. Please, take a breath and…get smaller. I’m gonna need your help.”
There was a ‘blip!’ and Danny the street left Boston.
* * * * *
Next issue: Things get weird and cosmic!
Also, we go looking for the missing Brain!
and, get ready, because, after that, Cliff Steele is coming back (and I mean it this time!) and bringing with him a lot of changes!