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#3
MAY 11 |
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“Hunt for a Killer”
Ryan Choi listened at the door of his dorm room for a moment before he silently turned his key. He stepped inside the empty room and quickly locked the door behind him. He slumped down in his desk chair and let out a breath he didn’t realize he’d been holding. He looked over at Freddy’s bed and his disbelief began rising again. Surely he’d been mistaken. Freddy couldn’t be CM3…could he?
Ryan stood and began to pace. Ever since he’d seen Freddy transform, he’d stayed out of the room as much as possible; he didn’t know how he’d react if he ran into him. He paused a moment as he yawned. Sleeping in the lab wasn’t as comfortable as his sleeping in his own bed.
He thought a moment and decided he’d rather clear out before Freddy got back. He opened the door and discovered Bethany Silver on the other side with her hand upraised to knock.
“Hey, Ryan,” Bethany said. “Is Freddy in?”
“No, he’s out somewhere,” Ryan said, then tried, unsuccessfully, to hide a yawn.
Bethany smiled. “I think I know exactly what you need,” she said. “I was going to invite Freddy, but if he’s out it’s his loss.” She started down the hall with Ryan as she continued to talk. “I found this great little café a couple of blocks away and, since word is that one of the cafeteria workers was chasing squirrels with a butterfly net, I think it’s the perfect time to introduce you guys to it.” She smiled as she looked over at Ryan. “And I’m sure they serve coffee, too.”
Ryan nodded. Where was Freddy anyway? The room looked like nobody’d been in it since the explosion.
CM3 landed in Ray Palmer’s private lab. He held out a rat by the tail and dropped it into a cage. “Here’s your life form reading,” he said. “By my count that’s forty-three rats. I’ve lost track of the cockroaches.”
The Atom slammed a fist into his desk. “I don’t understand it,” he said. “We’ve determined that whoever tried to kill Snapper was using some of my shape-changing technology. My powers come from a type of dwarf star matter that gives off a trackable energy signature. Every one of these animals has been exposed to it.”
CM3 thought a moment. “There’s something I’ve been trying to figure out. Are we sure that whoever did this was trying to kill Mr. Carr?”
The Atom thought a moment. “What do you mean?”
CM3 leaned against a counter and continued. “When we were ending our meeting, Mr. Carr said that he was meeting you for lunch, but you were running late. If you hadn’t been…”
“I would have been in the office when the explosion occurred.” Atom thought a moment. “Which brings us to another set of questions: who was our killer’s target –Snapper, me or both of us?”
CM3 nodded. “And each one of those answers leads us somewhere different.”
Atom sat down and steepled his hands, deep in thought.
Dwarfstar fumed as he paced inside his lair. He couldn’t believe that he’d blown the element of surprise and the only person he’d gotten was that idiot Carr.
It was bad enough that CM3 had already foiled his original plan. He’d broken the Floronic Man out of Arkham and drugged him stupid so that he’d lure the Atom out of hiding – only for CM3 to show up before Palmer had probably even gotten word that his old villain had been spotted.
Dwarfstar stopped and thought a moment, then nodded slowly. CM3 just had to die, too. With the decision made, he set to work.
The bell over the door jangled as Bethany and Ryan walked into the diner. The woman behind the counter turned at the sound. She was pretty, with black hair and Middle Eastern features. Her name tag read ‘Adrianna’.
Adrianna smiled. “Go ahead and have a seat,” she invited. “I’ll be right with you.”
Bethany and Ryan sat down at the counter. “This place is incredible,” Bethany said as she took two menus and handed one to Ryan. “Trust me. After supper, get a piece of the cheesecake.”
Ryan looked over as Bethany’s purse began beeping. She pulled out her cell phone and checked the caller ID. She saw who it was and quickly hit ignore, then slid it back into her purse. She picked up her cup of coffee and her hand was shaking so badly a bit of the coffee slopped over the side and dripped onto the counter.
“Are you okay?” Ryan asked.
Bethany nodded. “Fine,” she said, putting on a smile that was obviously fake. She turned to see that Adrianna had come up in front of them. “What do you want to get?” Bethany asked him.
CM3 was flying over campus when something caught his eye. He landed atop a building and discovered a note under a brick with a mirror tied to it. The sunlight reflecting off the mirror had been what he had seen.
He picked up the note and read it; the handwritten note said simply, “Stay out of this.”
CM3 crumpled the note in his fist. “No way,” he said. “I got involved when you started blowing up buildings.” He picked up the brick and mirror and flew to Ray Palmer’s lab.
As CM3 flew overhead, Bethany and Ryan exited the diner. A still-shaken Bethany wrapped her arms around Ryan’s. Despite himself, Ryan found himself smiling.
“You know,” Bethany said, forcing herself to speak in a normal tone, “Adrianna’s really amazing. Her parents were killed in a car wreck and she took over the diner. It’s just her and her little brother. I’m surprised he wasn’t there today.”
“Maybe we can go back sometime,” Ryan suggested. “It seems like a nice place.”
Bethany smiled. “Maybe Freddy can come next time.”
Ryan’s smile faded as the bottom dropped out of his stomach.
Atom frowned as he put down the note. “Nothing,” he said. “No fingerprints, no DNA, and I’d bet that any of these items could be picked up at your local Lex-Mart.”
“Which means they’re all but untraceable,” CM3 finished.
“Exactly,” Atom said. “We’re back to looking for a needle in a haystack.” Atom leaned forward and steepled his hands. “I wish that Barry was here. He was the criminologist. He could take these three things and ferret out a suspect in a day, but I don’t have those skills.”
CM3 nodded. “The wisdom of Solomon isn’t helping a lot right now, either.”
Atom stared at the note. “I just get the feeling I’m missing something.” His eye fell on a wall clock. “Don’t you have a class coming up?” he asked.
“I can miss it,” CM3 said. “This is more important.”
Atom turned in his chair to face CM3. “This isn’t high school any more, Freddy. If you don’t go to class, you don’t only fail…here you’ll get kicked out. You’ve got to go to class.” Atom paused a moment longer. “I’ll keep working on this here. Go on and I’ll call you after class if I find anything.”
CM3 didn’t like it, but he nodded and turned to leave. Atom watched him go and then returned his gaze to his microscope.
CM3 was flying back when he felt something bang against his shoulder. He looked down and saw Dwarfstar standing on a roof and waving at him with a wide smile on his face. CM3’s eyes narrowed as he drove toward Dwarfstar.
“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” Dwarfstar said as CM3 landed. “You look pretty mad.”
“I get that way when people start blowing up buildings,” CM3 said as he took a step toward Dwarfstar.
“I wouldn’t,” Dwarfstar said. “Take another step and another building on this campus goes boom.” Dwarfstar smiled as rage crawled across CM3’s face. “That’s better.”
Dwarfstar turned and looked over the campus. “You know, you don’t have to get involved with this,” he said. “You’re not a part of this. Just walk away.”
“I can’t do that,” CM3 said. “Not when innocent people are getting hurt.”
“Innocent?” Dwarfstar smirked. “That little loser Carr hasn’t done anything since the Justice League let him hang out with them, and did you ever hear the story about why he quit? He’s hardly innocent.” Dwarfstar shrugged. “But that’s how you heroes always are. You think that you can just fly in and bend some girders and pose for pictures and everything’s fine. I’m here to tell you it’s not! It’s not always just fine!”
“Why are you doing this?” CM3 asked. “Maybe I can get you some help.”
“I don’t need help!” Dwarfstar yelled. “I need you to butt out so I can take care of some business!”
“What kind of business?” CM3 asked as he slowly eased forward.
Dwarfstar grinned. “Oops,” he said, “you moved.” CM3’s head whipped around as an explosion erupted across campus. He heard Dwarfstar’s laughter echoing in his ears as he rushed to rescue anyone who might need it and knew that the villain would be gone when the danger was over.
Freddy Freeman stood on the lawn in front of the damaged building. Dwarfstar had planted this explosive inside a building that was closed for renovations. No one had been inside and no one had been hurt, but the distraction had been enough to allow the villain to escape again.
Freddy was starting across the campus as Bethany ran up. “Freddy!” she said with a smile on her face. “I’ve been looking for you all day!” She took his hand and they started across the campus as she continued talking, oblivious to the anger brewing inside Freddy about Dwarfstar’s escape.
Mary Marvel landed behind a tree and changed back to Mary Batson. She smiled as she thought of how surprised Freddy would be to see her. Still, she’d seen on the news about the explosions and wanted to make sure he was okay.
She stepped out from behind the tree and started down the sidewalk. She smiled as she recognized Freddy a short distance ahead of her. She froze as she saw that he was holding hands with a beautiful blond girl who was smiling as she talked to him.
Tears began to flow down Mary’s face as she stood motionless on the sidewalk while Freddy and the girl walked farther away. Finally, when she could take no more, she rushed to a tree, called down the lightning again, and flew away as quickly as she could. But she still couldn’t escape the pain she felt as the image of Freddy and the girl holding hands kept playing over and over again in her mind.
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Next Issue: In CM3 #4: A new person moved onto Freddy’s floor, and an attack by Dwarfstar will have drastic consequences for someone…
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