“Everybody ready?”
They stood on the roof, three members of the Knight family. Father Jack was flanked by wife Sadie and daughter Wilhelmina. Son Kyle was not present, a fact that both women wanted to remark upon. But Jack had made his decision, and neither could talk him out of it.
“Are we there yet?” Wilhelmina asked sarcastically. A backpack was slung over her shoulder, and it looked rather heavy.
Jack shot her a look, and smiled. She was probably bringing gifts for her little cousins, he figured. “Yeah, the worst part of a Zeta Beam is the waiting.”
“No, the worst part was the sailing,” Sadie said. “I hope Will got them to aim better this time.”
“If the calculations were off, they would have contacted us in plenty of time,” Jack said. “And Sadie, honey, you know he prefers-”
“No. Will’s’s decided to go by Gavyn in public for her sake.” Even after so many years, Sadie was not a fan of the situation. “And Will prefers that I call him Gavyn in private to avoid the pangs of nostalgia. Outside his company, though, I will call Will whatever I damn well please.”
Jack knew better than to argue. He’d known the gentle reminder was a mistake as soon as he started saying it. The situation was weird, even by their standards, and nobody could blame the woman born Jayne Marie Payton for dealing with it the way she did.
Will Payton was her brother, and at the time of his death he’d been called Starman. Believing him to still be alive, Jayne had traveled to Opal City seeking the help of David Knight, who had begun calling himself Starman. But by the time she’d arrived, David had died and Jack had begrudingly allowed people to call him Starman, mostly for the sake of his father Ted, the original Starman.
Jayne had met David before, when he’d briefly fought Will over the right to be called Starman. But not knowing Jack, she entered his life under the name Sadie Falk. They’d gotten so close that Sadie had felt guilty about the pretense, but still told Jack everything and requested that he help find Will. And Jack had agreed without hesitation, going off into space with the alien Mikaal Tomas, who had one point had also been called Starman.
It was in space that Jack and Mikaal had learned about Prince Gayvn, an alien who had also been called Starman when he died in a great crisis. It was in the star-spanning empire that Gavyn had defended that Jack found Will Payton, alive and imprisoned. Apparently when Gavyn had died his essence had entered Will Payton, giving him his powers as Starman. When Will died in turn, that essence had returned to the source and reformed with Will’s body and memories. Eventually Will began to recall Gavyn’s memories, and he was able to shift his features to that of the previous Starman.
Jack wasn’t entirely sure how to define Will’s situation. Kyle had written a paper about it for his Philosophical Spiritualism course, and had received an average grade because the teacher couldn’t make sense of it. The entire family just accepted as Will privately, but acknowledged him as Gavyn publically. It was necessary for the sake of Kranaltine people, of the planet Prince Gavyn ruled with his wife Meria.
Another alien planet, Rann, was allied with Kranaltine. For this reason Jack’s family had access to their technology, the Zeta Beam. It provided instantaneous travel across interstellar distances so that the worst part was waiting for it to arrive.
After tapping her foot for several seconds, Wilhelmina pretended to check a watch and started to repeat her question. “Are we the-”
A streak of light broke through the atmosphere, undetectable to Earth’s technology. It struck the Knight family on the rooftop in a fantastic burst of light. The spectacle may have created a panic if Jack hadn’t informed the authorities ahead of it. In the next instant, the Knights were no longer on their rooftop.
In the next instant Jack, Sadie and Wilhelmina reappeared in a grand courtyard. The architecture of the surrounding buildings was unlike anything on Earth. Night was beginning to fall, and the stars in the sky did not match any that were visible from Earth.
“-ere yet?” Wilhelmina finished. She blinked the spots out of her eyes and approached the shapes waiting for them. “Finally! When you guys give a time, make it smaller window please.”
Jack put a hand on his daughter’s shoulder, holding her back. His eyes had recovered first, and could make out the crowd around them. Directly in front were Prince Gavyn, Princess Meria and their young son. Like everyone else in the crowd, their faces were obscured by what appeared to be pink starfish.
“Sadie, we need to run.” The words were barely out of Jack’s mouth when the crowd surged toward them.
It was unusual for the head of STAR Labs San Francisco to be having lunch with the young man from the mail room. Under other circumstances, tongues may have wagged. But Dr. Karen Lou “Kitty” Faulkner had known this man’s mother for years. And besides, Kyle Knight had already displayed a remarkable talent for science.
“The trials will be starting next month,” she said after their orders had been taken. “Your theory has drawn a lot of interest. Some of the finest minds I know are eager to see if this will solve the opioid crisis.”
“They could be doing it right now,” Kyle grumbled. “There wouldn’t be a shortage of volunteers. In a month every hospital in the country could be treated patients.”
“At the risk of how many lives?” Karen’s voice had more snap than she’d intended. “There is also the chance of long term side-effects. The only known subjects of the Mist’s ray are not encouraging.”
Someone bumped against Kyle’s chair, and he grimaced a little. “But you know this isn’t nearly as drastic as what my…what they were subjected to.”
“You see that across the street.” Karen indicated a dispensary, it’s line of customers stretching down half a block. “It sells every variation you can think of, but even among the same product I’d be shocked if the dosage didn’t vary wildly. And it’s like that all over the state, because the federal government won’t allow proper trials to determine benefits and safety. It terrifies me that the inevitable bad cases will destroy all the gains that have recently been made. And it’s happened before.”
Their food arrived, and Karen gave thanks was placed in front of her. “You’re a smart man Kyle, but you have to learn to slow down and consider the data that presents itself at each stage.”
“But what if the data is already out there?” Kyle argued. “Krypton, Thanagar, there’s so much knowledge out there to draw on.”
“It’s also especially dangerous to those who just rush into it,” Karen responded.
“Not if representatives from those planets helped to guide us.” Kyle leaned back in his chair, exasperated. “This is the worst part of not riding the Zeta Beam today. I’m sure Uncle Will would have agreed with this.”
Karen almost choked on her lettuce. Her wristwatch started to beep. “I’m sorry, but who? Will?”
“Yeah, my mom’s brother.” Kyle rolled his eyes. “But yeah, we’re supposed to call him Gavyn. No matter who many times they explain it-”
“But Will…Will died.” There was pain and confusion in Karen’s voice. The beeping from her wristwatch was going faster.
“Several times, apparently.” Now Kyle was looking at the older woman with confusion. “Aren’t you and my mom old friends? It’s weird she’s never told you about this.”
“I know Will died.” Karen was talking to herself, seemingly having forgotten Kyle. “Jayne was convinced he was alive, and I tried to help her through it. She’d say it to anybody who would listen, even went to Opal when a new…a new Starman surfaced.”
Kyle nodded. “And my dad found him out in space, the planet Kranaltine. He rules the planet now, with his wife Mer-”
“Wyyrrraaahhh!”
Dr. Faulkner had smashed her arms against the table, breaking the wristwatch. Her clothes were suddenly tighter, Kyle saw, and he was looking up because she now towered over him. Then she stood up, knocking over the table.
Thrown to the ground, Kyle clutched his arm in pain. He then looked up, flabbergasted, at his transformed supervisor. Dr. Faulkner now stood at least 8 feet tall, and her skin was a deep orange. The most bizarre change was her hair, which had shifted into a bright red, long mohawk.
Bellowing in rage, the transformed woman leaped into the air. Standing to his feet, Kyle tested his arm and was relieved that it hadn’t broken. Reaching for his phone, Kyle Knight set out to follow his rampaging boss.
Once, Jack Knight had been called Starman. He had accepted the name reluctantly, and had retired soon after meeting his son Kyle. He still kept the cosmic staff though, and used it now to defend himself and his family against a horde of mind-controlled aliens.
“Hang tight!”
Sadie and Wilhelmina were lifted into the air by a stream of cosmic energy from one end of the staff, Jack close behind them. From the staff’s other end, a burst of power kept the Kranaltines at bay.
Jack had been on this planet before, under both pleasant and unpleasant circumstances. That gave him a good sense of where to go, and soon he’d deposited his wife and daughter to another section of the palace.
“There’s a vault down that way,” Jack indicated to Sadie. “The lock has a genetic key, and Will should have programmed you in. You and Willie should be safe there, and with the communications array you should be able to contact Rann or another planet in the Coalition.”
“What are you going to do?” Sadie asked.
“I think those things are part of Starro the Conquerer,” Jack said. “I know nothing beyond ‘alien starfish that controls people’, but it didn’t seem to be accessing Will’s powers. I’m going to try to at least free him by burning that thing off his face.”
Sadie nodded. “Okay, well, obviously be careful. And try not to kill my brother in the process.”
“This is one of those moments where my having a belt wouldn’t be a bad idea.” Wilhelmina spread her hands. “I’m just saying.”
Jack’s phone started to ring. He looked at the screen. “It’s Kyle. I really don’t have time for this right now.”
“Give it to me,” Sadie says. “I tell him what’s happening, he calls the Justice League. Go, and maybe test the face-burn on another alien before my brother.”
As Jack flew off, Sadie grabbed her daughter by the hand and ran. The phone kept ringing, and Sadie answered it. “Kyle, it is wonderful to hear your voice. We arrived into a situation.”
“Mom, can we table the alien royalty drama for a minute. Because your friend has gone completely mental!”
Kyle had followed the rampaging Dr. Faulkner into San Francisco traffic, which had slowed considerably. Many cars that hadn’t been touched were immobile, and Kyle noticed that the traffic lights were down. So it appeared that this super-strong giant his boss had transformed into also drew energy from her environment.
“Did you or dad know about this when you sent me to work for her,” Kyle said into the phone after catching Sadie up on the situation.
San Francisco police had responded swiftly to the scene. They immediately opened fire on the orange meta-human, but their bullets had no effect. Backup would be called, with heavier ordinance. Kyle wondered if they had energy weapons, and started towards an officer to warn against that.
“Yes, but it’s been years since Kitty last transformed into Rampage. She wears a device to regulate her condition.”
“Did it happen to look like a watch? Because that broke soon after she found out that uncle Will was alive and married.”
Sadie Falk-Knight ran through the catacombs beneath the Kranaltine palace, pulling her daughter Wilhelmina by the arm. They turned a corner so fast that Wilhelmina dropped her backpack without realizing, and the vault was there. Reluctantly releasing her daughter, Sadie stepped up to the vault door. In the center was an access panel, and Sadie pressed her hand against her. She didn’t even feel the laser remove a minute sliver of skin for analysis. The door simply opened. It was a genetic lock, and her brother had programmed in Sadie’s DNA.
“Why would you tell her that? They used to be in a relationship.”
“And I’m supposed to know this how? Because I’m sorry mom, but I would have remembered being told that my uncle had an ex-girlfriend nicknamed Rampage and wasn’t supposed to know he returned from the dead as an alien prince!”
The room inside wasn’t too large. There looked to be some supplies for an extended stay, but most of the space was equipment that Sadie couldn’t make heads or tails of. She had once seen the main Zeta Beam transmitter on Kranaltine, and one large piece of equipment seemed to resemble that.
“You’re right, I’m sorry. Clearly, this has to be dealt with.” Sadie tried some switches, but the Zeta Beam transmitter wasn’t responding. “Call Courtney. The cosmic staff can drain Rampage of energy and she’ll change back to Kitty Lou.”
Rampage hefted a large SUV like it was a paperweight. She threw it down the street with little effort, where it collided with a hot dog stand. The stand vendor had fortunately run off, and the driverless vehicle was empty.
“Mom, by the time Starwoman flies here, I could have walked home and built a cosmic staff.”
“You need to call somebody anyway. There’s an alien invasion here. Your father called it Starro. He’s trying to deal with it, but things look bad here.”
“Are you and Willy safe?”
“Your father got us to a vault under the palace.”
“The one with the old Zeta Beam transmitter?”
Kyle was no longer approaching the officers. Backup would be minutes away, and if his idea was possible their dilemma would be moot.
“Yes, but I don’t think it works. With all the years of peace, Will must not have thought to keep it maintained.”
“Mom, you know how we’re talking, right? Across interstellar distances with with no lag?”
“I suppose it’s something Ted Knight invented. Having to do with cosmic rays.”
The street was shaking. Rampage had smashed both fists against the asphalt, creating a shockwave in the direction of the police cruisers. One empty cruiser flipped through the air, and the police officers scattered.
“No, this is Zeta technology. I’ll talk you through how to connect it with the transmitter.”
“What would that accomplish, Kyle?”
“Dad gets a heavy brought there to help him out, and Rampage gets taken to a cosmic staff.”
At her mother’s gestures, Wilhelmina looked through a box containing various cables. There were several with the appropriate connections between the Zeta Beam transmitter and her father’s phone. Wilhelmina grabbed one and helped her mother connect the devices.
Behind Sadie and Wilhelmina, a soft noise could be heard behind the closed vault door. It was a faint pounding, and both women tried to ignore it. Focusing on getting help was what mattered. If the door was breached, there wasn’t anything they could do about it. After less than a minute, the pounding stopped. Briefly, it was followed by what could have been screams, but those only last a couple of seconds. Then silence.
The sound of more approaching emergency vehicles could be heard. “Mom, we need to move fast before Dr. Faulkner hurts anybody.”
“I think, it might be ready.” Sadie hesitated. “I have no idea how to aim this.”
“The signal’s already established. Just turn it on when I say, and my phone will be targeted.”
Understanding, Sadie nodded. “Be careful.”
Kyle Knight didn’t say anything. He’d broken into a dead sprint at Rampage. Suddenly he was back on the field, only instead of avoiding players he was navigating breaks in the pavement. Physical contact with Rampage would be the most certain method, but Kyle wasn’t suicidal. And he was confident of the math in his head.
“Now!” Kyle shouted into the phone. A brief count later, he threw his phone toward Rampage. It struck the back of her head with such force that she barely felt it, at the exact moment a Zeta Beam shot through the atmosphere.
Jack Knight had been wrong about the alien and his brother-in-law. Whether you called him Will Payton or Prince Gavyn, the once-Starman was incredibly powerful. Superhuman strength and durability, flight, able to absorb and project all forms of energy, the man was on par with Superman. The only caveat was that neither Prince Gavyn nor Will Payton had been very bright. Jack would never say anything, but he thought that was why they’d both died so often.
Unfortunately for Jack, Starro was in control. That kind of power under the command of an alien hive-mind intelligence was a bad combination. With the power of his Cosmic Staff, Jack was barely keeping his brother-at-law in check. High over the Kranaltine palace they battled in stalemate, while below the Starro-controlled citizens ran amok.
Jack figured that only reason he was holding his own was because Starro was still relatively inexperienced with Starman’s powers. He knew that wouldn’t last. Kyle had once told him about a self-learning computer program that had mastered chess in less than four hours. Jack didn’t think he would have nearly enough time.
The flash of a Zeta Beam appeared in the sky. Jack risked his life to glance up, and nearly wet himself at the sight of a large orange woman with a red mohawk falling toward him and Payton/Gavyn. He’d once seen photos of Kitty Faulkner as Rampage, but the sight in-person was another thing altogether.
Rampage collided with the Starro-controlled Starman. Taking him in her growing arms, Rampage pulled him back to earth while feeding off his energy. By the time they crashed into a courtyard, Rampage was over twelve feet tall.
“Kitty, can you understand me?” Jack flew near the towering woman, hesitantly hopeful that this reinforcements wouldn’t be a new problem. Rampage answered that by throwing part of a water fountain at his head.
“Guess that answers that. Still…” A blast of energy from Jack’s staff caught the dazed Payton/Gavyn full in the face. Already weakened, the Starro gave a shriek of pain as it burned from the prince’s face.
Though obscured by ashes, it was the face of Will Payton that blinked into awareness. And it was the voice of Will Payton that spoke. “Wh-what?”
Rampage punched Will Payton in the face. Jack watched his brother-in-law crash through a wall, then focused his staff’s energies on Rampage. “I can’t even begin to guess how you ended up here, Kitty, but I hope I remember how to power you down.”
From the Cosmic Staff came a sphere of energy that encased Rampage and suspended her from the ground. Roaring with anger, Rampage slammed a fist against the energy field. The feedback of power almost caused Jack to drop his staff, and he could see that Rampage was still growing.
A hand touched Jack on the shoulder, and only the accompanying voice kept him from reacting in defense. “Thanks, Jack, but I should deal with this.”
The features of Will Payton had morphed into Prince Gavyn. In his hands was a tall plain staff, used to focus his awesome inborn power. Presented toward Rampage, the staff glowed faintly as energy arced from her. The memories of Will Payton knew that Rampage fed on energy, and Prince Gavyn was absorbing that energy to power her down.
Breathing heavily, Jack nodded. His age was catching up with him. “Okay. I’ll get started on all these Starros, then.”
“That won’t be necessary now.” The energy being drawn from Rampage, Prince Gavyn was directing it upwards. “He’d caught me unawares, before. But I know Starro’s mental energy now, and he can’t run from me!”
The staff was raised, and the power rained from the sky. Citizens of Kranaltine, controlled by Starro, had been converging on the courtyard. Streams of energy sought out each Starro and burned it from the host. Looking up, Jack saw it wasn’t just over the courtyard. All throughout the city, Prince Gavyn was seeking out Starro, and eliminating the alien would-be conquerer.
“Will they be okay?” Jack asked. “I saw they also controlled Meria and…”
“Everybody will recover,” Prince Gavyn said. “Everyone I’ve freed is of my people. No humans.”
Jack tried not to feel too uneasy. “Sadie and Willy must have gotten to safety. I had better go get them.”
In front of Prince Gavyn, Rampage had transformed back into Dr. Karen Faulkner. “Yes, Sadie can introduce us. I feel as though I should know this woman.”
Kyle Knight was sitting in the kitchen when Sadie walked in. She went straight for the refrigerator, taking out a beer. Kyle had rarely seen his mother drink. The day’s events must have really rattled her.
“He went right to sleep,” Sadie said. “Your father doesn’t have the energy for this sort of thing anymore.”
“What’s going to happen to Dr. Faulkner?”
Sadie sat down across from her son and took a drink. “A story is being put forward. Starro tried to use her in the attack on Kranaltine. That should keep her out of trouble with the authorities, and with S.T.A.R. Labs.”
Kyle wasn’t sure what to think of that. “I guess it helps that she didn’t hurt anyone.”
“Kitty never would have forgiven herself.” Sadie took another drink. “And neither would I. I should have told her about Will from the beginning.”
“If it’d been possible, I don’t think you would have told me and Willy,” Kyle said. “It’s always been clear that you aren’t…comfortable with the situation.”
“Instead of finding out my brother was alive, I learned he may have been killed years earlier and replaced by an alien.” Sadie finished the can. “Yeah, I didn’t tell Kitty because I hate talking about it. I hate thinking about it. I hate the whole shitty situation.”
Sadie looked her son in the eye. “But I can’t help but be grateful. Because this was part of the path that led me to your father. You and your sister, this life we’ve built here, there’s nothing I would take back.”
“Even being chased into a vault by starfish-possessed aliens?” Kyle asked.
The laugh wasn’t entirely out of humor, and Sadie took a long gulp of her beer. “Okay, yeah, that was harrowing. It was somehow worse when the banging stopped, Willy and I were just waiting in silence until your father contacted us. When we saw why the banging at stopped…”
Sadie shivered. “They’d turned on each other. Ripped themselves apart. Yeah, Kyle, I’d take back your sister having to see that.’’
In her room, Wilhelmina Maisie Knight was sound asleep. The day’s events had been scary, particularly when they left the vault. Wilhelmina had been in a daze while her mother guided her through the bodies. But when Wilhelmina saw her bag, and picked it up, all that went away.
It wasn’t something that the young woman could explain. The doll in her bag, the one she’d found among her dad’s old junk, somehow made her feel safe. That as long as it was around nothing bad would happen to her. So at bedtime she took it out of the bag, set it on a shelf, gave it a light kiss and went to bed.
In the dark room, the small ragged doll watched as the Knight girl slept.
Next Issue: Wilhelmina Knight discovers a way to be special, while Kyle Knight’s true potential is revealed!
They stood on the roof, three members of the Knight family. Father Jack was flanked by wife Sadie and daughter Wilhelmina. Son Kyle was not present, a fact that both women wanted to remark upon. But Jack had made his decision, and neither could talk him out of it.
“Are we there yet?” Wilhelmina asked sarcastically. A backpack was slung over her shoulder, and it looked rather heavy.
Jack shot her a look, and smiled. She was probably bringing gifts for her little cousins, he figured. “Yeah, the worst part of a Zeta Beam is the waiting.”
“No, the worst part was the sailing,” Sadie said. “I hope Will got them to aim better this time.”
“If the calculations were off, they would have contacted us in plenty of time,” Jack said. “And Sadie, honey, you know he prefers-”
“No. Will’s’s decided to go by Gavyn in public for her sake.” Even after so many years, Sadie was not a fan of the situation. “And Will prefers that I call him Gavyn in private to avoid the pangs of nostalgia. Outside his company, though, I will call Will whatever I damn well please.”
Jack knew better than to argue. He’d known the gentle reminder was a mistake as soon as he started saying it. The situation was weird, even by their standards, and nobody could blame the woman born Jayne Marie Payton for dealing with it the way she did.
Will Payton was her brother, and at the time of his death he’d been called Starman. Believing him to still be alive, Jayne had traveled to Opal City seeking the help of David Knight, who had begun calling himself Starman. But by the time she’d arrived, David had died and Jack had begrudingly allowed people to call him Starman, mostly for the sake of his father Ted, the original Starman.
Jayne had met David before, when he’d briefly fought Will over the right to be called Starman. But not knowing Jack, she entered his life under the name Sadie Falk. They’d gotten so close that Sadie had felt guilty about the pretense, but still told Jack everything and requested that he help find Will. And Jack had agreed without hesitation, going off into space with the alien Mikaal Tomas, who had one point had also been called Starman.
It was in space that Jack and Mikaal had learned about Prince Gayvn, an alien who had also been called Starman when he died in a great crisis. It was in the star-spanning empire that Gavyn had defended that Jack found Will Payton, alive and imprisoned. Apparently when Gavyn had died his essence had entered Will Payton, giving him his powers as Starman. When Will died in turn, that essence had returned to the source and reformed with Will’s body and memories. Eventually Will began to recall Gavyn’s memories, and he was able to shift his features to that of the previous Starman.
Jack wasn’t entirely sure how to define Will’s situation. Kyle had written a paper about it for his Philosophical Spiritualism course, and had received an average grade because the teacher couldn’t make sense of it. The entire family just accepted as Will privately, but acknowledged him as Gavyn publically. It was necessary for the sake of Kranaltine people, of the planet Prince Gavyn ruled with his wife Meria.
Another alien planet, Rann, was allied with Kranaltine. For this reason Jack’s family had access to their technology, the Zeta Beam. It provided instantaneous travel across interstellar distances so that the worst part was waiting for it to arrive.
After tapping her foot for several seconds, Wilhelmina pretended to check a watch and started to repeat her question. “Are we the-”
A streak of light broke through the atmosphere, undetectable to Earth’s technology. It struck the Knight family on the rooftop in a fantastic burst of light. The spectacle may have created a panic if Jack hadn’t informed the authorities ahead of it. In the next instant, the Knights were no longer on their rooftop.
In the next instant Jack, Sadie and Wilhelmina reappeared in a grand courtyard. The architecture of the surrounding buildings was unlike anything on Earth. Night was beginning to fall, and the stars in the sky did not match any that were visible from Earth.
“-ere yet?” Wilhelmina finished. She blinked the spots out of her eyes and approached the shapes waiting for them. “Finally! When you guys give a time, make it smaller window please.”
Jack put a hand on his daughter’s shoulder, holding her back. His eyes had recovered first, and could make out the crowd around them. Directly in front were Prince Gavyn, Princess Meria and their young son. Like everyone else in the crowd, their faces were obscured by what appeared to be pink starfish.
“Sadie, we need to run.” The words were barely out of Jack’s mouth when the crowd surged toward them.
It was unusual for the head of STAR Labs San Francisco to be having lunch with the young man from the mail room. Under other circumstances, tongues may have wagged. But Dr. Karen Lou “Kitty” Faulkner had known this man’s mother for years. And besides, Kyle Knight had already displayed a remarkable talent for science.
“The trials will be starting next month,” she said after their orders had been taken. “Your theory has drawn a lot of interest. Some of the finest minds I know are eager to see if this will solve the opioid crisis.”
“They could be doing it right now,” Kyle grumbled. “There wouldn’t be a shortage of volunteers. In a month every hospital in the country could be treated patients.”
“At the risk of how many lives?” Karen’s voice had more snap than she’d intended. “There is also the chance of long term side-effects. The only known subjects of the Mist’s ray are not encouraging.”
Someone bumped against Kyle’s chair, and he grimaced a little. “But you know this isn’t nearly as drastic as what my…what they were subjected to.”
“You see that across the street.” Karen indicated a dispensary, it’s line of customers stretching down half a block. “It sells every variation you can think of, but even among the same product I’d be shocked if the dosage didn’t vary wildly. And it’s like that all over the state, because the federal government won’t allow proper trials to determine benefits and safety. It terrifies me that the inevitable bad cases will destroy all the gains that have recently been made. And it’s happened before.”
Their food arrived, and Karen gave thanks was placed in front of her. “You’re a smart man Kyle, but you have to learn to slow down and consider the data that presents itself at each stage.”
“But what if the data is already out there?” Kyle argued. “Krypton, Thanagar, there’s so much knowledge out there to draw on.”
“It’s also especially dangerous to those who just rush into it,” Karen responded.
“Not if representatives from those planets helped to guide us.” Kyle leaned back in his chair, exasperated. “This is the worst part of not riding the Zeta Beam today. I’m sure Uncle Will would have agreed with this.”
Karen almost choked on her lettuce. Her wristwatch started to beep. “I’m sorry, but who? Will?”
“Yeah, my mom’s brother.” Kyle rolled his eyes. “But yeah, we’re supposed to call him Gavyn. No matter who many times they explain it-”
“But Will…Will died.” There was pain and confusion in Karen’s voice. The beeping from her wristwatch was going faster.
“Several times, apparently.” Now Kyle was looking at the older woman with confusion. “Aren’t you and my mom old friends? It’s weird she’s never told you about this.”
“I know Will died.” Karen was talking to herself, seemingly having forgotten Kyle. “Jayne was convinced he was alive, and I tried to help her through it. She’d say it to anybody who would listen, even went to Opal when a new…a new Starman surfaced.”
Kyle nodded. “And my dad found him out in space, the planet Kranaltine. He rules the planet now, with his wife Mer-”
“Wyyrrraaahhh!”
Dr. Faulkner had smashed her arms against the table, breaking the wristwatch. Her clothes were suddenly tighter, Kyle saw, and he was looking up because she now towered over him. Then she stood up, knocking over the table.
Thrown to the ground, Kyle clutched his arm in pain. He then looked up, flabbergasted, at his transformed supervisor. Dr. Faulkner now stood at least 8 feet tall, and her skin was a deep orange. The most bizarre change was her hair, which had shifted into a bright red, long mohawk.
Bellowing in rage, the transformed woman leaped into the air. Standing to his feet, Kyle tested his arm and was relieved that it hadn’t broken. Reaching for his phone, Kyle Knight set out to follow his rampaging boss.
Once, Jack Knight had been called Starman. He had accepted the name reluctantly, and had retired soon after meeting his son Kyle. He still kept the cosmic staff though, and used it now to defend himself and his family against a horde of mind-controlled aliens.
“Hang tight!”
Sadie and Wilhelmina were lifted into the air by a stream of cosmic energy from one end of the staff, Jack close behind them. From the staff’s other end, a burst of power kept the Kranaltines at bay.
Jack had been on this planet before, under both pleasant and unpleasant circumstances. That gave him a good sense of where to go, and soon he’d deposited his wife and daughter to another section of the palace.
“There’s a vault down that way,” Jack indicated to Sadie. “The lock has a genetic key, and Will should have programmed you in. You and Willie should be safe there, and with the communications array you should be able to contact Rann or another planet in the Coalition.”
“What are you going to do?” Sadie asked.
“I think those things are part of Starro the Conquerer,” Jack said. “I know nothing beyond ‘alien starfish that controls people’, but it didn’t seem to be accessing Will’s powers. I’m going to try to at least free him by burning that thing off his face.”
Sadie nodded. “Okay, well, obviously be careful. And try not to kill my brother in the process.”
“This is one of those moments where my having a belt wouldn’t be a bad idea.” Wilhelmina spread her hands. “I’m just saying.”
Jack’s phone started to ring. He looked at the screen. “It’s Kyle. I really don’t have time for this right now.”
“Give it to me,” Sadie says. “I tell him what’s happening, he calls the Justice League. Go, and maybe test the face-burn on another alien before my brother.”
As Jack flew off, Sadie grabbed her daughter by the hand and ran. The phone kept ringing, and Sadie answered it. “Kyle, it is wonderful to hear your voice. We arrived into a situation.”
“Mom, can we table the alien royalty drama for a minute. Because your friend has gone completely mental!”
Kyle had followed the rampaging Dr. Faulkner into San Francisco traffic, which had slowed considerably. Many cars that hadn’t been touched were immobile, and Kyle noticed that the traffic lights were down. So it appeared that this super-strong giant his boss had transformed into also drew energy from her environment.
“Did you or dad know about this when you sent me to work for her,” Kyle said into the phone after catching Sadie up on the situation.
San Francisco police had responded swiftly to the scene. They immediately opened fire on the orange meta-human, but their bullets had no effect. Backup would be called, with heavier ordinance. Kyle wondered if they had energy weapons, and started towards an officer to warn against that.
“Yes, but it’s been years since Kitty last transformed into Rampage. She wears a device to regulate her condition.”
“Did it happen to look like a watch? Because that broke soon after she found out that uncle Will was alive and married.”
Sadie Falk-Knight ran through the catacombs beneath the Kranaltine palace, pulling her daughter Wilhelmina by the arm. They turned a corner so fast that Wilhelmina dropped her backpack without realizing, and the vault was there. Reluctantly releasing her daughter, Sadie stepped up to the vault door. In the center was an access panel, and Sadie pressed her hand against her. She didn’t even feel the laser remove a minute sliver of skin for analysis. The door simply opened. It was a genetic lock, and her brother had programmed in Sadie’s DNA.
“Why would you tell her that? They used to be in a relationship.”
“And I’m supposed to know this how? Because I’m sorry mom, but I would have remembered being told that my uncle had an ex-girlfriend nicknamed Rampage and wasn’t supposed to know he returned from the dead as an alien prince!”
The room inside wasn’t too large. There looked to be some supplies for an extended stay, but most of the space was equipment that Sadie couldn’t make heads or tails of. She had once seen the main Zeta Beam transmitter on Kranaltine, and one large piece of equipment seemed to resemble that.
“You’re right, I’m sorry. Clearly, this has to be dealt with.” Sadie tried some switches, but the Zeta Beam transmitter wasn’t responding. “Call Courtney. The cosmic staff can drain Rampage of energy and she’ll change back to Kitty Lou.”
Rampage hefted a large SUV like it was a paperweight. She threw it down the street with little effort, where it collided with a hot dog stand. The stand vendor had fortunately run off, and the driverless vehicle was empty.
“Mom, by the time Starwoman flies here, I could have walked home and built a cosmic staff.”
“You need to call somebody anyway. There’s an alien invasion here. Your father called it Starro. He’s trying to deal with it, but things look bad here.”
“Are you and Willy safe?”
“Your father got us to a vault under the palace.”
“The one with the old Zeta Beam transmitter?”
Kyle was no longer approaching the officers. Backup would be minutes away, and if his idea was possible their dilemma would be moot.
“Yes, but I don’t think it works. With all the years of peace, Will must not have thought to keep it maintained.”
“Mom, you know how we’re talking, right? Across interstellar distances with with no lag?”
“I suppose it’s something Ted Knight invented. Having to do with cosmic rays.”
The street was shaking. Rampage had smashed both fists against the asphalt, creating a shockwave in the direction of the police cruisers. One empty cruiser flipped through the air, and the police officers scattered.
“No, this is Zeta technology. I’ll talk you through how to connect it with the transmitter.”
“What would that accomplish, Kyle?”
“Dad gets a heavy brought there to help him out, and Rampage gets taken to a cosmic staff.”
At her mother’s gestures, Wilhelmina looked through a box containing various cables. There were several with the appropriate connections between the Zeta Beam transmitter and her father’s phone. Wilhelmina grabbed one and helped her mother connect the devices.
Behind Sadie and Wilhelmina, a soft noise could be heard behind the closed vault door. It was a faint pounding, and both women tried to ignore it. Focusing on getting help was what mattered. If the door was breached, there wasn’t anything they could do about it. After less than a minute, the pounding stopped. Briefly, it was followed by what could have been screams, but those only last a couple of seconds. Then silence.
The sound of more approaching emergency vehicles could be heard. “Mom, we need to move fast before Dr. Faulkner hurts anybody.”
“I think, it might be ready.” Sadie hesitated. “I have no idea how to aim this.”
“The signal’s already established. Just turn it on when I say, and my phone will be targeted.”
Understanding, Sadie nodded. “Be careful.”
Kyle Knight didn’t say anything. He’d broken into a dead sprint at Rampage. Suddenly he was back on the field, only instead of avoiding players he was navigating breaks in the pavement. Physical contact with Rampage would be the most certain method, but Kyle wasn’t suicidal. And he was confident of the math in his head.
“Now!” Kyle shouted into the phone. A brief count later, he threw his phone toward Rampage. It struck the back of her head with such force that she barely felt it, at the exact moment a Zeta Beam shot through the atmosphere.
Jack Knight had been wrong about the alien and his brother-in-law. Whether you called him Will Payton or Prince Gavyn, the once-Starman was incredibly powerful. Superhuman strength and durability, flight, able to absorb and project all forms of energy, the man was on par with Superman. The only caveat was that neither Prince Gavyn nor Will Payton had been very bright. Jack would never say anything, but he thought that was why they’d both died so often.
Unfortunately for Jack, Starro was in control. That kind of power under the command of an alien hive-mind intelligence was a bad combination. With the power of his Cosmic Staff, Jack was barely keeping his brother-at-law in check. High over the Kranaltine palace they battled in stalemate, while below the Starro-controlled citizens ran amok.
Jack figured that only reason he was holding his own was because Starro was still relatively inexperienced with Starman’s powers. He knew that wouldn’t last. Kyle had once told him about a self-learning computer program that had mastered chess in less than four hours. Jack didn’t think he would have nearly enough time.
The flash of a Zeta Beam appeared in the sky. Jack risked his life to glance up, and nearly wet himself at the sight of a large orange woman with a red mohawk falling toward him and Payton/Gavyn. He’d once seen photos of Kitty Faulkner as Rampage, but the sight in-person was another thing altogether.
Rampage collided with the Starro-controlled Starman. Taking him in her growing arms, Rampage pulled him back to earth while feeding off his energy. By the time they crashed into a courtyard, Rampage was over twelve feet tall.
“Kitty, can you understand me?” Jack flew near the towering woman, hesitantly hopeful that this reinforcements wouldn’t be a new problem. Rampage answered that by throwing part of a water fountain at his head.
“Guess that answers that. Still…” A blast of energy from Jack’s staff caught the dazed Payton/Gavyn full in the face. Already weakened, the Starro gave a shriek of pain as it burned from the prince’s face.
Though obscured by ashes, it was the face of Will Payton that blinked into awareness. And it was the voice of Will Payton that spoke. “Wh-what?”
Rampage punched Will Payton in the face. Jack watched his brother-in-law crash through a wall, then focused his staff’s energies on Rampage. “I can’t even begin to guess how you ended up here, Kitty, but I hope I remember how to power you down.”
From the Cosmic Staff came a sphere of energy that encased Rampage and suspended her from the ground. Roaring with anger, Rampage slammed a fist against the energy field. The feedback of power almost caused Jack to drop his staff, and he could see that Rampage was still growing.
A hand touched Jack on the shoulder, and only the accompanying voice kept him from reacting in defense. “Thanks, Jack, but I should deal with this.”
The features of Will Payton had morphed into Prince Gavyn. In his hands was a tall plain staff, used to focus his awesome inborn power. Presented toward Rampage, the staff glowed faintly as energy arced from her. The memories of Will Payton knew that Rampage fed on energy, and Prince Gavyn was absorbing that energy to power her down.
Breathing heavily, Jack nodded. His age was catching up with him. “Okay. I’ll get started on all these Starros, then.”
“That won’t be necessary now.” The energy being drawn from Rampage, Prince Gavyn was directing it upwards. “He’d caught me unawares, before. But I know Starro’s mental energy now, and he can’t run from me!”
The staff was raised, and the power rained from the sky. Citizens of Kranaltine, controlled by Starro, had been converging on the courtyard. Streams of energy sought out each Starro and burned it from the host. Looking up, Jack saw it wasn’t just over the courtyard. All throughout the city, Prince Gavyn was seeking out Starro, and eliminating the alien would-be conquerer.
“Will they be okay?” Jack asked. “I saw they also controlled Meria and…”
“Everybody will recover,” Prince Gavyn said. “Everyone I’ve freed is of my people. No humans.”
Jack tried not to feel too uneasy. “Sadie and Willy must have gotten to safety. I had better go get them.”
In front of Prince Gavyn, Rampage had transformed back into Dr. Karen Faulkner. “Yes, Sadie can introduce us. I feel as though I should know this woman.”
Kyle Knight was sitting in the kitchen when Sadie walked in. She went straight for the refrigerator, taking out a beer. Kyle had rarely seen his mother drink. The day’s events must have really rattled her.
“He went right to sleep,” Sadie said. “Your father doesn’t have the energy for this sort of thing anymore.”
“What’s going to happen to Dr. Faulkner?”
Sadie sat down across from her son and took a drink. “A story is being put forward. Starro tried to use her in the attack on Kranaltine. That should keep her out of trouble with the authorities, and with S.T.A.R. Labs.”
Kyle wasn’t sure what to think of that. “I guess it helps that she didn’t hurt anyone.”
“Kitty never would have forgiven herself.” Sadie took another drink. “And neither would I. I should have told her about Will from the beginning.”
“If it’d been possible, I don’t think you would have told me and Willy,” Kyle said. “It’s always been clear that you aren’t…comfortable with the situation.”
“Instead of finding out my brother was alive, I learned he may have been killed years earlier and replaced by an alien.” Sadie finished the can. “Yeah, I didn’t tell Kitty because I hate talking about it. I hate thinking about it. I hate the whole shitty situation.”
Sadie looked her son in the eye. “But I can’t help but be grateful. Because this was part of the path that led me to your father. You and your sister, this life we’ve built here, there’s nothing I would take back.”
“Even being chased into a vault by starfish-possessed aliens?” Kyle asked.
The laugh wasn’t entirely out of humor, and Sadie took a long gulp of her beer. “Okay, yeah, that was harrowing. It was somehow worse when the banging stopped, Willy and I were just waiting in silence until your father contacted us. When we saw why the banging at stopped…”
Sadie shivered. “They’d turned on each other. Ripped themselves apart. Yeah, Kyle, I’d take back your sister having to see that.’’
In her room, Wilhelmina Maisie Knight was sound asleep. The day’s events had been scary, particularly when they left the vault. Wilhelmina had been in a daze while her mother guided her through the bodies. But when Wilhelmina saw her bag, and picked it up, all that went away.
It wasn’t something that the young woman could explain. The doll in her bag, the one she’d found among her dad’s old junk, somehow made her feel safe. That as long as it was around nothing bad would happen to her. So at bedtime she took it out of the bag, set it on a shelf, gave it a light kiss and went to bed.
In the dark room, the small ragged doll watched as the Knight girl slept.
Next Issue: Wilhelmina Knight discovers a way to be special, while Kyle Knight’s true potential is revealed!