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#16
AUG 14 |
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“Rage of the Downtrodden”
Danny Khalife’s head was down and his shaggy black hair obscured his eyes as he walked through the halls of his high school. The usual elbows were thrown into his ribs and finally his books were slapped out of his hands. Papers went sliding across the floor and his books were kicked everywhere. Danny sat back against the lockers and just waited. He knew he’d have to wait until the hall cleared.
The halls emptied and Danny quickly gathered everything back together. After all, he’d had plenty of practice. He walked down the hall to his locker and sighed. The word ‘Terrorist’ had been painted on it again and a picture of Osama Bin Laden had been taped to it. He ripped the picture down and wadded it up. He’d throw it away later.
He opened the locker and swapped out the books for the next class. He turned around and found himself facing a red wool jacket.
“Look what we’ve got here,” the football captain said. Two cronies standing beside him chuckled as they surrounded Danny. He slammed the locker shut. “Where’d the picture of your boyfriend go?” More chuckling. “You know, Jimmy’s brother is overseas fighting people like you right now,” the captain said as he jerked his thumb at Jimmy. “Maybe we can help him out a little back here.”
Before Danny knew it, the football players had scooped him up and ran down the hall with him toward the bathroom.
Half an hour later, Danny was seated in the principal’s office again. He was shivering under a blanket. The players had stripped him, written all over his body with markers and then set his clothes on fire in a trash can. The football coach and the principal were in the next room and Danny could watch them through the window.
“I’m telling you, those boys would have never done this,” the football coach said.
The principal wearily rubbed his face. “This is the ninth time,” he said. “This is getting out of hand. I want those boys in my office. There are suspensions coming.”
The coach leaned in closer to the principal. “This close to the playoffs?” The coach smirked. “Maybe you’re forgetting how much of this place’s budget comes from football tickets. You suspend our star players and you can explain to the board of education what’s going on. They won’t believe that stupid kid in there.”
Danny shifted around to pretend he hadn’t been listening as the principal opened his door. The principal forced a smile onto his face and said, “We’re getting you some more clothes now. If you want to go home, I understand completely.” The principal rested a hand on Danny’s shoulder. “It’s all going to be all right.” The principal turned and returned to the outer office.
Danny silently accepted the clothes a secretary handed him and waited as she closed the blinds and left him alone in the room. Fury built up in him as he dressed. He left the office without speaking to anyone and stormed out of the building. It was never going to be okay. Not for him. Not as long as those others were there to torment and abuse him.
Angry tears ran down his cheeks as he kicked a rock across the parking lot. It wasn’t going to be all right.
His eyes widened as he noticed a stick poking out of the ground. He pulled it out of the earth and looked at it. It was smooth and the end bore the picture of an Egyptian ibis. The picture began glowing and energy sparkled around Danny’s eyes.
“What’re you doing out here, terrorist?” a football player demanded. Danny smiled as he slowly turned. He raised the stick and an energy bolt struck the player, turning him into a red mist.
Danny lowered the stick and examined it before turning back to the school. It was time for class to begin.
“So what’re we doing out here?” Ryan Choi asked. He was riding on Firestorm’s shoulder as they flew over Ivy Town.
“Ray said you were ready to start getting a little real world experience with your powers,” Firestorm said. “He’s tied up on campus, so I get to be your coach today.”
Ryan rubbed his chin. “Professor Palmer’s been tied up a lot lately,” Ryan said. “Is something going on?”
“Honestly, I don’t know,” Firestorm admitted. “I’ve been so covered up by my workload I haven’t been able to find anything out.”
“Do you think something’s up?” Ryan asked.
“I doubt it,” Firestorm said. “Ray’s a Justice Leaguer. He wasn’t one of the founders, but he was one of the first new members they took in. I don’t think that there’s a lot that fazes him.”
Ryan was silent for a while as he rolled that thought around in his mind. His reverie was broken when Firestorm said, “Trouble.”
“What is it?” Ryan asked.
Firestorm pointed to a rising stream of black smoke. “Looks like a fire over there. Maybe we can do something to help out.” He altered his course and flew toward the smoke.
They landed to a scene of chaos. Screaming students ran past, shoving Firestorm so hard that Ryan nearly lost his grip on his shoulder. “Now what?” Ryan said.
Firestorm looked up. “Looks like we go talk to him,” he said. Ryan followed Firestorm’s gaze to discover Danny floating over the school, randomly firing energy blasts from the Ibistick.
“Ah,” Ryan said. “How did I miss that?”
“Let’s go talk to the wacko,” Firestorm said as he lifted off again.
Firestorm flew up beside Danny and held his hands up as Danny jerked the Ibistick his direction. “Hang on there,” Firestorm said. “I’m just here to talk.”
“Talk!” Danny spat. “That’s all anyone does. Or did.” Danny chuckled. “Now I’m doing something. I’m going to make them pay for what they did.”
“Come on. You don’t have to hurt anybody,” Firestorm said.
Danny laughed and pointed the Ibistick at Firestorm. “You think you’re so special. Let’s see what happens when you’re not.” An energy beam flew out from the Ibistick and struck Firestorm as Ryan jumped clear. Ryan started enlarging as an energy corona surrounded Firestorm. When it cleared, he was Ronnie Raymond again.
Ryan finally enlarged and touched down. He caught Ronnie and shrank back to his normal size. “What happened?” Ryan asked.
“I don’t know,” Ronnie said. “I can’t feel the Firestorm matrix. I’ve lost my powers.”
“Wonderful,” Ryan said as he pulled out his cell phone. “Looks like it’s time to call in reinforcements.”
“Great,” Freddy Freeman said. He was sitting in his dorm room working on a paper and his phone decided to ring at the same time that someone knocked on his door. “Hello?” he asked as he answered the phone. He opened the door and waved Chris Freeland inside as he listened to Ryan. “Give me a second,” Freddy said. He turned to Chris, who smiled.
“He’s at the diner,” Chris said as he leaned against the wall. “I have a man notifying him now.”
“Who?” Freddy asked. He listened to Ryan and turned back to inspect Chris, who looked relaxed. “I’m on it,” he said. “I think I’ve got the right answer for you.”
Freddy hung up the phone and walked over to Chris. He poked a finger in his chest. “You’d better be right about this,” he warned. Chris simply smiled a mysterious smile.
“So what’s the word?” Ronnie Raymond asked.
Ryan hung up his phone and turned to Ronnie. “He says he’s got somebody coming to take care of this,” he said. “But it’s up to us to keep things going until then.”
“Wonderful,” Ronnie said. “I’m out of this one.”
“Great,” Ryan said. “Let’s see what I can do.” He shrank and dropped into Ronnie’s hand. “Give me a pitch?” he asked.
Ronnie threw Ryan upward toward Danny. Danny noticed Ryan coming and waved the Ibistick, freezing Ryan in his place. “I just want to talk,” Ryan said.
Danny smirked. “The time for talk is over, doll man.” The stick waved and Ryan changed into a plastic action figure. Danny picked Ryan up and squeezed his legs together, prompting him to punch.
“Stop this.” The voice was commanding, regal and gave no room for disagreement. Danny looked up and gasped. A scowling Black Adam hung there in the air with his arms folded. Danny dropped Ryan, who was caught by Ronnie.
“You will explain yourself,” Adam said. Danny scrambled to obey. Adam nodded slowly as the story unfolded.
“Stay here.” Adam landed in front of the police, who’d established a cordon around the school. Adam walked right up to Chief Warner. “The boy will come with me,” Adam said. “He will undo his damage.” Adam launched back into flight, ignoring Chief Warner’s protests.
“Do it,” Adam said. Danny nodded and waved the Ibistick. Instantly everything he’d done was undone. Students reappeared, once again alive. Ronnie found himself changing to Firestorm and Ryan returned to flesh.
“Are we sure that this is a good idea?” Firestorm asked as he and Ryan watched Adam and Danny fly away.
“If you think you’ve got an idea to stop them, I’d love to hear it,” Ryan said.
“I don’t know if you’ve helped or not,” Freddy said. “You may be causing more problems in the future with that guy coming under Adam’s influence.”
“You may be surprised,” Chris said. “Now I need your help. Or rather, CM3’s.”
“Captain Marvel,” Freddy said. The lightning struck and when the dust cleared, CM3 stood there. “So now what?”
Chris smiled. “Eternity,” he said. A red-haired man in a costume similar to Captain Marvel’s appeared and picked them up. As they began flying, Chris looked at CM3.
“And now our search begins.”
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Next Issue: In CM3 #17: As CM3 and Kid Eternity try to locate Mr. Keeper, Ryan finds himself in a confrontation he’d never expected! And who is snooping around Ray Palmer’s lab?
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