| Issue #1 | Issue #2 | Issue #3 | Issue #4 |

#1

"Search and Rescue"

By Tony Thornley

 

One Year Later...

"Fire, down!"

Rick Tyler tackled Danielle Reilly as a plasma blast split the air where she was standing moments ago. Hourman looked up, then back at Firebrand, the JSA's newest member.

"You okay Dani?" he whispered. She nodded.

"I'm fine, just shaken," she replied, smiling behind her red, full-face mask. "This whole thing takes a lot of getting used to." Rick nodded. He jumped to his feet, and spun, assessing the situation. Hawkgirl and Red Tornado had the largest group of Kobra storm troopers pinned down. Kendra had come to her own since she'd returned from Polaris several months ago and Rick considered Tornado a valuable ally. Kendra swooped down as Tornado surrounded them in a whirlwind, clubbing individual troopers one by one.

"So cool!" Rick rushed back into the fray as the Thunderbolt lept onto their plane of existence. The djinn and his... partner?... master?... Jakeem had been one of the few that stood by the JSA the entire year since the ordeal involving Earth Two. Others were reliable, but shaken after what had happened to them, while others completely resigned from the team. The Thunderbolt reacted to whatever command Jakeem gave- Rick couldn't hear him- and began to transform Kobra's weapons into barnyard animals and flowers. Rick laughed to himself.

Rick spread his arms wide as he ran, clotheslining several of their foes. The buzz of the Miraclo was reaching its height, meaning he probably had half an hour left. He tried to minimize his intake of the drug ever since kicking his addiction to it. Only for emergency situations or fights such as this...

Hourman turned back to the fight. Quickly he dodged. One of the troopers swung his rifle butt at his head. Rick ducked under the blow and punched the man hard in the gut. He heard the click of another rifle behind him. Rick turned to face his new attacker, but a blast of fire reduced the gun to slag. He saluted Firebrand and she returned the gesture. Her red and orange costume seemed to be alive with the flames that surrounded her, and the way her orange hair was flowing... she was a sight to behold.

Hey fearless leader , a telepathic voice echoed in his head. There's going to be time for admiring her ass later .

Tactful as ever Hank , Rick returned, trying not to be angry at Brainwave's intrusion on his thoughts. What've you got for me ? Rick punched one of the Kobra troops, then ducked and swept another's feet out from beneath him.

Battalion commander dressed like a Thanksgiving turkey , he replied. Didn't even have to convince him to surrender... much . Rick smiled as he dodged another punch. Sometimes he couldn't stand Hank, others...

What about Karen and Jesse ?

Haven't heard from either since they took off after that hovercraft , Hank flashed, Or the Shade for that matter. Are you sure we can trust him ? Rick grabbed the assault rifles from two of the troopers and smashed them. He then punched each squarely in the fast, knocking them flat.

Sounds like the pot calling the kettle black there Hank , Rick replied.

Touche Hourman. I'll bring out the hostage. Brainwave out .

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sometimes Jesse Quick missed the Speed Force. True, without it she was still fast. The powers she'd inherited from her mother, Liberty Belle, had guaranteed that. Her superstrength and flight ability enabled her to keep up with the hovercraft that she and Power Girl had been chasing for several minutes. They suspected the craft carried Senator Chase and his family. Kobra had kidnapped them several days ago. It had taken them two days to find the Kobra installation they were held.

"You ready for this?" Jesse called to Power Girl. Karen shook her head.

"I'm waiting for the signal!" she called back.

"What signal?"

"Shade's."

Senator Steven Chase held his daughter Abigail close to his chest. The ten-year old had become even more frightened since they were loaded into the craft they were now in. Their captors gave no information, merely that it was time to move.

"It's okay sweetheart," he whispered. "They need Daddy to do something."

"What do they need?" the child asked. Steven looked up at his wife Amelia, whose face wore the same expression of fear, and then back down at Abby.

"I don't know."

"And you're correct that it's all right," whispered an unfamiliar voice. A tall man in a black suit and top hat emerged from the shadows. He held a cane in one hand, and put a finger to his lips with the other.

"Before you ask, I'm a member of the Justice Society and that's all that is important," he said. "I'm going to teleport you out of here and then myself and the others will take care of these men. Okay?"

Abby looked up at her father. Chase nodded.

"Good."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"What's the signal?" Jesse asked, pumping her legs furiously.

"Shade said we'd know it-" Power Girl stopped as the hovercraft was enveloped in tangible darkness. She smiled. "-when we saw it. Move!" Jesse jumped into the air as Karen dove. Her flight powers were something that Jesse had never fully embraced. More than anything, she used the abilities for short hops to boost her speed. That was still the case.

Jesse hit the craft and clawed her fingers into the hull. She was only a foot or so from the hatch. She inched her way towards it, then grabbed the handle.

"Get in there!" Karen yelled from the nose of the craft. She pushed against the hull, trying to slow the small ship. Jesse could see her muscles straining. "Shade needs your help!" Jesse nodded and ripped the door from the hinges. She pulled herself inside and dodged as a hand composed of shadows flung one of the Kobra soldiers out the newly opened hatch.

"Thank you my dear," Shade said. "That lad was making this quite bothersome." The dark man smiled at her and placed a finger to his hat as a salute.

"Bother this!" one of the soldiers cried, lunging at Shade with a club in hand. Shade melted into the shadows, then reemerged behind the man.

"Creativity my boy!" Shade exclaimed, smacking him in the back of the head with his cane. "Something our crrent era seems to lack in. Movies based on other movies, superheroes stealing other's names, and now you taking the words from my mouth!" Jesse smiled. Shade had the situation well in hand. Shade surrounded his opponent in a veil of shadow.

"Jesse, the controls please!" he exclaimed, waving towards the control panel. "I'm afraid that young man I threw out the door was the pilot, and I have no grasp on technology such as this." Jesse nodded and jumped into action, quickly taking the controls and attempting to regain the ship's altitude.

"How are you holding up Power Girl?" Jesse asked through her comm. Karen had her back to her, trying her best to still slow the ship. She gave Jesse a 'thumbs up'.

"A little help would be nice, but I'm surviving!" she cried. Jesse began working fast, reigniting the engines and taking the controls.

"I'm going to try to set her down PG!" Jesse cried. "Hang tight!" Shade stepped behind her.

"I actually suggest we abandon my dear," he said. "The senator's safe and I've teleported away our foes. Staying with this ship is quite pointless." Jesse nodded.

"You hear that PG?" Jesse called.

"Yeah, and if you don't stop calling me PG I'm going to beat you!" Karen replied. "Get out of there!" Jesse jumped to her feet and Shade motioned to the hatch.

"After you."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Jakeem Williams collapsed onto the couch in the JSA headquarters. The clean up after defeating Kobra had taken some time and he was exhausted. He closed his eyes for several moments, took several deep breaths, then reached into his jeans pocket and pulled out his enchanted pink pen. He clicked the top and grinned.

"So cool!"

The Thunderbolt lept from the pen, grinning widely. The pink djinn made a lap around the room, laughing. He then stopped in front of Jakeem and folded his arms.

"So... good job today, hunh?" he asked. Jakeem smiled and ran his hand across his head. He missed his dreadlocks, but ever since he'd been merged with Qwisp in the fifth dimension his hair hadn't grown.

"Yeah, we did good," he replied. He nervously looked to one side of the room, then back at Thunderbolt. "Any luck yet?" A look of pained resignation replaced Thunderbolt's smile.

"Finding the others?" He sighed. "I've tried so hard Jakeem. There's a magical barrier placed around that I can't begin to breach. I have nothing." Jakeem grunted and slumped down into the cushions deeper. What else was there? He'd asked Thunderbolt every conceivable question that he could to find their teammates. What else was left? An idea suddenly popped into his head.

"Heh," he laughed. "How about this? Can you find their captor?" Thunderbolt smiled.

"That we can work with."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Albert Rothstein thumbed through his briefing again. He'd been operating as leader of Task Force X for six months now and it was still taking a lot of getting used to. When he was in Infinity Inc. and the Justice League, it was all about being a hero. In the JSA, it was carrying on a legacy. With the Suicide Squad... They were the ones no body wanted around. No one would mourn for them if they were slain in battle.

"Could this damn chopper be moving any slower?" growled Hellhound. Atom Smasher looked up at his team and glared at Hellhound. He was the group's most recent addition, a member of Luthor's Society that was dumb enough to get caught. The rest of the group consisted of the Pied Piper, Icicle, Tarantula, Scorch and Black Spider.

"We can throw you out, amigo," Tarantula said. He glared at her.

"Try it amigo," he replied. Al rolled his eyes. This was becoming all too common.

"It's amiga, 'Hound," Piper said. "Let's just chill." He quickly looked at Icicle. "Don't even think it." He just laughed. Al stood and braced himself against the ceiling of the chopper.

"Okay, we've established you mostly hate each other's guts," Smasher said. "I don't care. You're going to be watching each other's backs out there. I've got the kill switch, and I've had to use it before." He took a deep breath, hiding a hint of emotion at what he'd been forced to do. "Our target is a Society safehouse. This is the closest thing they have to a resort. Mission 's simple- bring in as many as we can." Al looked over his shoulder at the pilot. They were getting close.

"What about the ones we can't bring in?" Icicle asked. Black Spider spoke up before Atom Smasher could reply.

"Take 'em out."

"No!" Smasher replied. "You kill any of them, I'll take you down. Got it?"

"Yeah," Spider growled. "Got it."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In JSA #2 : The team continues investigating the disappearance of the senior members of the JSA, while the Suicide Squad's mission leads them into a collision course with the team!