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#10
SEP 12 |
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“Discussions”
Freddy yawned as the alarm clock went off. He rolled over and slapped it off. He looked across the room and saw Ryan was already dressed and was heading for the door. “You’re up early,” he said.
Ryan shrugged. “Professor Palmer wants to do more testing on me after the whole growth thing.”
Freddy sat up. “Yeah. You know, that’s really pushing you into superhero territory.”
Ryan grinned sheepishly as he sat down at his desk. “I know.”
Freddy saw the look on his face and decided to press. “You’ve got a name! You’ve already picked out your superhero name, haven’t you?”
Ryan shifted uncomfortably in the chair. “I’ve thought of a few,” he admitted.
“And?” Freddy pressed.
“Well, I thought of Giant-Man or Goliath, but ruled those out because I can shrink, too. That’s why I ruled out Ant-Man or Yellowjacket, too – because I can grow.”
“Probably a good idea,” Freddy said. “I’d have to bet that those’re probably taken anyway.”
“That’s when I came up with this one.” Ryan said a sentence in Chinese.
“Not bad,” Freddy said, “but it sounds like kind of a mouthful. What’s the English translation?”
“Big Penis Asian Man,” Ryan said.
Freddy stared at him for a second. “Back to the drawing board,” he ruled. He lay back down. “Set the clock for 8:30 on your way out, okay?”
“You just did,” Ryan said. “Its voice controlled now. I’ll double-check, though. Alarm: eight-thirty AM.” The clock beeped once as Ryan left the room.
Later that morning, Bethany Silver was walking down a sidewalk on campus when she was stopped by a towering blond-haired man with muscles bulging beneath his tight t-shirt. “Marcus!” she exclaimed as she dropped her books and grabbed him in a hug. Her brother smiled as he gently hugged her back. The two knelt and began gathering Bethany’s books. “What are you doing here?” she asked.
“I talked with Mom about your visitor,” he said. “We decided it would be best for me to be nearby.”
The two started walking and Bethany dropped her voice. “But who’ll protect Mom?”
Marcus smiled. “She’s fine. Dad won’t find her if she doesn’t want him to.”
Bethany nodded. “It’s good to see you.” Marcus put his arm around his sister as they continued down the sidewalk.
Beneath them, Dwarfstar skulked through the steam tunnels that still ran beneath the campus. He smiled as he reached his destination and he placed a package very carefully, while making sure it was at the exact point he wanted. With the package placed, he extended a small antenna from the top of it and retreated down the tunnel.
Later that afternoon CM3 was flying over the city when he spotted Black Adam, who was dressed in civilian clothes. CM3 held back and tailed Adam, who landed behind the hospital. He watched as Adam started toward the hospital, but stopped just outside the door. Adam stood there a moment and as other people started walking toward him, he turned and walked away. Adam returned to his landing point and launched into flight. CM3 followed him a short distance and Adam stopped. CM3 pulled up behind him.
“I have no desire to fight you, Freddy Freeman,” Adam said. “Leave me.”
“I’m not here to fight,” CM3 said. “You just look like you could use somebody to talk to.”
Adam nodded. “Very well. We shall…talk. Follow me.” Adam turned and began flying away with Freddy following.
“Good,” Ray Palmer said. His eyes didn’t leave readouts on the computer in front of him. “You can go ahead and shrink back to normal now.” He started muttering to himself as he inspected the readouts.
Once more in the lab, Ryan returned to his normal size. “Seems like a second home in here,” he said as he looked around at the equipment again. He started toward a machine and started inspecting it.
“Don’t touch that,” Ray ordered from the control room. “If you enter the wrong command you’ll cause the sun to go nova.”
Ryan backed away. “Why don’t they shut this stuff off when they capture it?” he asked. His attention was soon captured by another gizmo.
Bethany Silver walked through the hospital. Despite herself, she still found herself looking over her shoulder for her father, who seemed to appear from nowhere.
She reached Adrianna’s room and entered to find her sitting up in the bed watching television. "You look like you’re feeling better,” Bethany said.
Adrianna smiled and shut off the television. “I am,” she said. “The doctor said I should be able to go home in a few days.” She smiled. “I’m looking forward to getting back to work. Just lying here is exhausting.”
Bethany smiled. “Don’t worry. Amon and I are keeping the diner going for you. It should be ready for you when you get back.”
“Isn’t that putting a stress on your classes?” Adrianna asked.
Bethany sat down. “Trust me, after my home life, running your diner’s like a break.”
“You never talk about your family,” Adrianna said.
“It’s a long story,” Bethany said, “and I’m sure you don’t want to hear about it.” The two friends continued talking as Bethany mentioned that Amon had also been working at the diner solo and had been having no problems.
“What do you want, Freddy Freeman?” Adam asked. He and CM3 were standing on the roof of a building on campus.
“Believe it or not, I wanted to see if you were all right,” CM3 said.
“Of course I am well,” Adam said.
“Then why do you keep going back to Adrianna’s hospital room?” CM3 asked. “I saw you earlier. Why couldn’t you go inside?”
Emotion tried to fight its way onto Adam’s stony visage. “I…regret…her injury,” Adam admitted haltingly, “but it was out of my control. I am different from you or Billy Batson. When you change into your alter egos, your same mind is in control of your Marvel form. When I am Theo Adam, I have no control over myself. It is as if I am in a dream. I saw him attempt to rob that restaurant, and there was nothing I could do to influence him until he called the wizard’s name.”
CM3 nodded. “I think you feel more than regret,” he ventured.
Adam sat down. “I…do not know,” he admitted. “The last time I felt like this was toward my wife Shiruta. It has been so long…” His voice trailed away as his head lowered.
CM3 started to place a hand on Adam’s shoulder but stopped after thinking better of it. “Have you thought about trying to talk to her?” he asked.
“I could not,” Adam said. “Not after what happened. How could I face her?”
“It might help you,” CM3 said. “You could always take her a gift if you wanted to.”
“Perhaps,” Adam mused. He stood and began pacing. CM3 kept back and avoided making any threatening moves as he watched as Adam paced and thought.
“That wasn’t so bad, was it?” Ray Palmer asked. Ryan Choi, finally free of the lab, was walking beside him through the halls of the Justice League Watchtower.
“I’m glad it’s over,” Ryan said before fighting back a yawn. “Growing and shrinking like that can really wear you out.”
Ray nodded. “I want you to be careful,” he said. “We don’t know what your limits are and I don’t want you trying to learn by yourself. You could wind up hurt very easily. We’ll leave the testing to the lab, okay?”
“All right,” Ryan conceded.
“I mean it,” Ray said as he stopped in the middle of the corridor. “You were really brave to take on Giganta like you did, but something bad could happen very easily if you find yourself in a situation like that again. You don’t have the training in fighting and I’m not sure how good your control over your powers is yet. You’re one of my students; that makes you my responsibility and I don’t want you getting hurt.”
“Then how did you learn?” Ryan asked. “When you got your start, the JSA had retired. Who trained you?”
“I learned by myself,” Ray admitted, “but I was lucky. The villains I faced were just as inexperienced as I was. Today, even they’re more dangerous, like the Floronic Man. When I first fought him he was just a human scientist instead of whatever he is now.”
“So how do I learn?” Ryan asked. “Do I keep sneaking up here or just bury what makes me special?”
Ray exhaled heavily before responding. “Yes, I’ll program the teleporter to allow you access to the Watchtower. I’ll also enter you into the security system to deny you access to any dangerous areas. I’ll set up a training program for you in the VR room and I’ll talk to J’onn J’onzz about training with you. I can help you with shrinking but he’d be better suited to help you with growth. I’m also going to keep running tests on you; I want to see if you can affect your molecular density as well. If you can, I might have Firestorm work with you.” Ray thought a moment. “I’ll also give you some exercises you can do in your room. Just choose a safe area. Don’t start shrinking down in the middle of your floor and then have Freddy walk in and step on you.”
“You sound like you’ve got experience in that,” Ryan noted.
“You’d be surprised how often I nearly got stepped on when I started,” Ray said. “I’m also going to get you a special signal device. This doesn’t make you a member of the JLA. It’s going to give me a way to contact and find you if you get in trouble. Don’t start doing anything on your own until I give it to you. And don’t tinker with it after I give it to you.”
“All right,” Ryan conceded. Ray continued lecturing him as they walked back toward the teleporter.
CM3 sat on the roof as the sun began to glow red. Adam had been silent for the last few minutes and the sunset cast eerie colors on his features. “Perhaps you are right, Freddy Freeman,” he said. “Perhaps I should talk to her. But what if she throws me out?”
CM3 shrugged. “When you’re Black Adam, you look completely different from Theo Adam. She won’t know.”
Adam slowly nodded. “You have given me much to consider. I thank you.” Without another word Adam lifted into flight and flew away.
CM3 watched him go. Deep down, he knew that he was taking a chance by not trying to capture Adam. Still, if his suspicions were right, perhaps Adam was changing. Perhaps…
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Next Issue: In CM3 #11: Adam finally talks to Adrianna and Dwarfstar reveals his intentions. Plus, Kid Eternity and CM3 finally meet each other.
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