Issue #8: "Life and Death" Pt. 1

Editor’s Note: This issue takes place before the events of Batman #30.

Breakout: -15 minutes

Martin Stein walked down a Manhattan street towards his lab at Concordance Research wearing a smile that would make The Joker jealous. He’d been supposed to meet Clarissa for lunch about 45 minutes ago, but she’d called to cancel, saying something had come up at work. That would not normally be something that would make someone happy, but she had promised to make it later that evening after dinner. Martin had a feeling that he was in for a very good night.

He was about to turn a corner, when a feeling of heartburn began to erupt from his chest and he felt his body temperature rise. Damn it, Ronald, I told you if we were going to transform to call me first. The Professor managed to run into an alley before he was enveloped in an orange cloud and disappeared in a flash of light.



In the blink of an eye, Martin Stein and Ronnie Raymond had joined together and taken to the sky as the composite flame-haired hero known as Firestorm.

“Ronald, how many times do I have to tell you to call before…”

“I know, Professor, but I didn’t have any time,” Ronnie cut him off as he turned Firestorm’s head so the Professor could see a small private plane descending with its engines in flames. “We’re kinda lucky that it’s still on course for La Guardia, but at this rate, it’s going to be a pretty messy crash.”

“Alright, Ronald, first we need to put out that fire.”

“I’m on it.” Ronnie flew them to the rear of the plane and extinguished the fire by transmuting the air around the fire into carbon dioxide and smothering the flames. Once finished, he flew towards the front of the plane, and placed his hands on its nose and tried to push back on the plane, but his effort did not slow down the plane enough.

“Ronald, I think it’s apparent that we do not have the strength to stop this plane.”

“Well, you’re the second person to tell me I’m not Superman,” Ronnie commented. “Well, I’ve got an idea.” Ronnie concentrated as an orange cloud encased the small private plane. Once completely covered, the cloud burst outward and the plane was now transmuted into a hot air balloon.

“Interesting, Ronald.”

“Yeah, it just came to me,” Ronnie said as he grabbed a rope that was attached to the balloon and guided them down to an unoccupied space on the La Guardia runway. A middle-aged man jumped out of the balloon and ran towards Firestorm. “Don’t worry, sir; there is no need to thank me.”

“Thank you?” the man screamed. “Do you know how much that plane costs?”

“Don, please…” a woman said as she got out of the balloon and followed the man.

“I figured…” Firestorm began.

“You figured. You superheroes, always thinking that you can do whatever you want…” Don stopped talking as a flare shot up from Firestorm’s flaming hair and his eyes began to glow with great intensity as he began to glower at the man.

“Don, just apologize,” the woman said nerviously.

“For what? He ruined my plane,” Don said.

“You know what?” Firestorm said as he grabbed Don by his shirt and picked him up. “People like you make me sick. I should’ve just let you fall, you ungrateful piece of s…”

“Ronald, this is uncalled for,” the professor scolded Ronnie telepathically. “Put him down.”

“Fine,” Ronnie growled. “You want your plane back?” Firestorm dropped Don on his behind and pointed his hand towards the hot-air balloon, surrounding it with an orange energy that transmuted it back into the plane it used to be, but without the landing gears, causing it to crash onto the ground.

“Enjoy,” Firestorm said as he flew away.

“You dirty bum,” Don screamed, chasing after Firestorm.

“Ronald, what was going on with you back there?”

“That guy was a jerk, Professor. It makes me sick when we save people like that.”

“Ronald, we save who we can, when we can. We can’t just pick and choose who lives and who dies.”

“You’re right, Professor. But that doesn’t mean I have to like it.” Before the professor could respond, a brilliant flash of light shot straight up in the sky, catching Firestorm’s attention. “That came from Rikers.”

Firestorm flew as fast as he could towards the East River Island. When he got there he found a large, smoldering hole in the side of one of the buildings that allowed the inmates to flood the yard.

“We need to keep them on the island, Ronald.”

“Way ahead of you,” Ronnie replied as he pointed his hand at the perimeter fence, transmuting it into solid steel and growing it ten feet higher, though it didn’t prevent the hairy prisoner that was already at the top of it from escaping. Ronnie shot two flyers down and was about to go after the escaped prisoner, before he spotted a guard being charged by a muscle-bound man who was plowing though people with apparent enhanced strength. Firestorm swooped down and pushed the guard out of the way and took the brunt of the huge man’s charging shoulder.

“Kyle like fire.”

Firestorm turned and saw that the childish voice came from the giant hulking metahuman who began to charge Firestorm at full speed. The bald man tried to grab Firestorm, who lowered his density and passed harmlessly through the criminal. Firestorm grabbed the collar of the prison suit and began to lift the 300-plus-pounder up into the sky, spinning around as he did. He then hammer threw him into a crowd of unruly delinquents who were busy tearing into each other.

“You shouldn’t have done that to poor Kylie, Fire-head,” a voice behind Firestorm said. “He’s a little slow and doesn’t know what he’s doing most of the time.”

“Not you two.” Firestorm turned around and saw Michael Saltzman and Ralph Locke, two thugs who used to supposedly work for reputed mob boss, Shoe Shine. They, along with the Hyena were locked up a few weeks ago while they were undergoing some illegal biological enhancements. Boss Shine was convinced that Firestorm was targeting him and wanted some superpowered muscle to help him fight off the Nuclear Man, even though every encounter Firestorm had had with Boss Shine had been pure coincidence.^*

“You know,” Saltzman said as his fingernails, now made with a steel alloy, began to grow. “Shoe Shine still has a price on your head.”

“And it’s still collectable, even here in the can,” Locke said as he flicked one of Saltzman’s razor-sharp fingernails. He made a fist with his left hand and tore off the skin, revealing a new fist made of the same substance as Saltzman’s nails. “Pity we got pinched before we could do this on the street.”

“I’ll show you what happens when people mess with Boss Shine,” Saltzman said as he licked his nails like a cat. “I can’t wait to taste your blood,” the hairy blond man with a weightlifter’s build said as he charged Firestorm.

“Who the hell is Boss Shine?” Firestorm said as he easily floated to the side to dodge a swipe from Saltzman’s nails. He shot a beam of energy at Saltzman, sending him flying into a guard tower. Locke was behind the Nuclear Man and tried to use his steel hand as a club, but Firestorm let it fall through his body as he became transparent. The force behind the strike, and the lack of a solid target, caused Locke to tumble to the ground.

The middle-aged man picked himself up, needing the help of his other arm to help pick up the one with the steel fist. He turned around to see Firestorm’s transparent body. Locke tried to throw a haymaker with the steel fist at Firestorm but the Nuclear Man became tangible and caught the punch.

“You know what the cool thing is about you turning your hand into this?” Firestorm asked as he began to surround the steel fist with orange energy that immediately turned into a reddish color. “Steel isn’t organic.” Firestorm squeezed the rusted steel fist and it shattered, leaving Locke in astonishment and feeling phantom pain while he screamed.

“Ronald, that was excessive,” Professor Stein pleaded with him.

“Sorry, I didn’t think…” Ronnie was cut off by the feeling of a jackhammer going off in his head. He grabbed the sides of his head and began to scream as he fell to his feet.

“I’ve never tangoed with a superhero before,” said a bald man wearing a prison jumpsuit and sitting in a wheelchair as he touched his left temple. “I wonder what’s inside of your head.” Ronnie screamed out in pain as the telepath searched his mind. To Firestorm, it felt like someone was raking their fingers though his brain repeatedly.

“Ronald, let me assume control. I think I have a way of dealing with him.” Ronnie willfully gave up his position as the ‘driver’ of Firestorm and let the professor take control.

“Interesting,” the telepath said aloud. “Two people trapped in…” It was his turn to be cut off by his screaming in pain. The professor used his ability to access memories of the previous hosts of the Firestorm matrix and flood the telepath’s mind simultaneously with them. Blood trickled down the telepath’s nose as he fell to the ground in convulsions.

“Alright, Ronnie,” Firestorm said, now having the voice sounding more like Martin Stein, “we need you back in the driver’s seat.” Since they’d broken free of Eclipso’s possession, Martin now had the ability to be in physical control of Firestorm. He could only do so with Ronnie’s consent or if Ronnie was unconscious during a time where Martin initiated their transformation into the Nuclear Man. The downside to this was that Martin could not use any of their powers of transmutation, energy blasts or transparency. He could only fly, walk and fight hand to hand.

“Kyle like fire,” both Martin and Ronnie heard as they were hit in mid-transition by Kyle Jones, who had recovered from the hammer throw earlier. Firestorm fell to his knees as he felt a double-fisted strike to the back of his head, knocking him to the ground. Kyle straddled the hero and began to punch the back of Firestorm’s head over and over as he repeated, “Kyle like fire.”

“Professor, what’s going on? Why can’t I control the body?” Ronnie asked.

“He hit us in mid-transformation; it might have caused us to be in a kind of mental limbo, where neither of us can take control of the body,” the professor explained.

“Well, Professor, if the muscle-head pyro ends up killing us, I’m sorry I took you unexpectedly from whatever you were doing.”

“Ronald, that doesn’t matter right now. We need to find a way to get this behemoth off of us.” As soon as the professor had said his last word, a red and yellow blur streaked in and snatched Kyle off of Firestorm, swirling around him so fast it caused the giant to be lifted up and slammed down to the ground.

“Alright, Titans, let’s make this fast,” Firestorm could hear someone say as he heard the ground start to rumble and a blast in the background. He lay motionless on the Rikers prison yard as his - Ronnie’s - consciousness finally took control over the body. His vision was blurry and could hardly make out anything but the general shapes of the people around. Firestorm tried to stand, but could not keep his footing and started to stumble, but then he found himself being held up by a pair of strong hands.

“Are you okay?” a feminine voice asked as Ronnie’s vision came back into focus, giving him an eyeful of an ample bosom, encased in a purple top. Ronnie looked up and saw a very pleasantlooking face. The orange skin and solid green eyes gave it a very exotic look.

“Woah,” Ronnie said as he jumped back, startled by the heroine.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen a guy have that kind of reaction to Starfire,” said a red-headed young man wearing a yellow costume with red leggings and a thunderbolt across his chest. He stood next to a young blonde girl, who was floating on a slab of earth.

“I don’t think I have either, and I don’t think we’ve been properly introduced, Firestorm,” a man said, wearing a black costume with a blue stripe going across the shoulders and chest in a v-shape. I’m Nightwing. That’s Kid Flash and Terra and next to you is Starfire.”

“Hi,” Firestorm said sheepishly as he smiled at Starfire.

“Nice to finally meet you,” Starfire said. “Your eyes are very pretty.”

“Thanks.” Firestorm blushed as his glowing eyes dimmed a little.

“Ronald, control your hormones and get your mind out of the gutter.”

“Anyway,” Nightwing began as he cleared his throat, gaining the attention of Starfire and Firestorm, “we know you’re a member of the Justice League…”

“I’m actually a reserve member…” Firestorm said. When they’d first gotten their powers, Ronnie had thought they would be a great fit for the Titans. The Titans seemed to be about Ronnie’s age and their headquarters were local. Professor Stein thought their powers would be more beneficial dealing with the bigger threats that the Justice League typically handled, and eventually convinced Ronnie into accepting reserve membership.

“Right… anyway,” Nightwing continued and extended his hand, “it’s been long overdue, but welcome to the superhero community. Feel free to stop by Titans Tower anytime.”

“I told you, Professor,” Ronnie thought. “I told you that the Titans would think we’re cool.”

“Let’s not argue about this again.”

“Thanks, I appreciate that,” Firestorm said as he shook Nightwing’s hand, as well as those of the other Titans. He looked around and saw that all of the prisoners looked like they were all apprehended and in custody. “I can’t believe you four took care of this breakout. Where are the rest of the Titans?”

“They were on their way. The four of us were closer and got here first,” Nightwing said. “It was nice to meet you, but we have to get back to the Tower.”

“Right, I’ll be sure to stop by. Let me fix that wall for you guys,” Firestorm said as he transmuted the wall back to its original chain link form and watched the Titans leave. “That was awesome.”


^* To read about Firestorm’s previous meetings with Boss Shine and the Hyena check out All-Star Comics #6



Later that Day…

“Christ, this is the last thing I need to deal with,” the warden of Rikers Island said, smoking a Marlboro Red. “What’s our damage?”

“Well,” the officer began, “we have a couple of officers in critical condition. Officer Ramon was the only fatality. All prisoners except two are accounted for.”

“Christ, who are we missing?”

“Danton Black and the Hyena.”

“Two of the flamehead’s…Great,” the warden said, putting his cigarette out in an ashtray.

“Sir, the family of the Hyena has an order of protection against it. I’ve notified their local precinct and they’ve deployed a unit to go to the house.”

“The good news keeps on coming,” the warden said as he lit up another Marlboro.



That evening…

Ronnie tuned onto Conway Avenue and began to make his way toward the house of his girlfriend, Doreen Day. She’d been very distraught when she’d called Ronnie and asked him to come over. She’d mentioned something regarding her sister and how a police car was stationed outside of her house, but Ronnie hadn’t paid much attention to it. His thoughts had circled around the appointment he had with Dr. Smith to discuss the results of the blood work to see what was wrong with his health. He was worried that his powers as Firestorm were having adverse effects on him.

Ronnie heard a scream coming from the direction of Doreen’s house. He sprinted and saw that a police car was parked outside, and one of the officers had been shoved through the windshield. He ran into the house and saw that the other officer was lying down in a pool of his own blood, struggling to breathe. Another scream came from the dining room. Ronnie grabbed the downed officer’s nightstick and ran in and found the Hyena stalking Doreen into a corner.

“Ronnie, get out! Run!” Doreen screamed as tears ran down her face, smearing her mascara.

“No, Doreen, I’m not leaving you,” Ronnie said as he assumed a fighting position. His eyes started to turn orange and a cloud of orange smoke began to swirl around him.



Martin Stein and Clarissa Clemens burst through the door of Martin’s brownstone. They passionately kissed each other while fumbling with each other’s clothing, trying to take them off before falling down on Martin’s couch.

“I told you that I would make up for canceling earlier,” Clarissa said as she smiled and threw Martin’s shirt and tie to the floor.

Martin smiled as he began to pull off her dress before a familiar heartburning sensation began to start in the middle of his chest. Not now, Ronald, the professor thought as he clutched his chest.

“Martin, are you okay?” Clarissa asked with a look of concern.

“I’m fine,” Martin said as the heartburn began to subside. “Just a little heartburn from the dinner.”

“That’s good; real good,” Clarissa said as she pulled Martin down and began to kiss him.

“Sorry, Ronald, no playing superhero tonight,” Martin said as he began to kiss the nape of Clarissa’s neck. He did not see a darkness cloud over Clarissa’s eyes.



“Professor?” Ronnie yelled as he waited for the transformation, but nothing happened. The Hyena turned its attention to Ronnie and leapt at him. Ronnie instinctively swung the nightstick he’d taken off of the officer and hit the beast in its snout. Ronnie then ran towards the front door, hoping to lure the Hyena away from Doreen, but before Ronnie could get to the door, he tripped and fell over the fallen officer in the living room, whose breathing had begun to get shallower.

The Hyena now stood over Ronnie, who could feel its hot breath as it snarled at him, exposing its jagged and yellowed teeth. Drool dripped from its mouth as it eyeballed its prey, before a pot connected with the side of the beast’s head.

“Ronnie, get out of here,” Doreen said as she threw a plate at the beast, which now turned its attention to the blonde college student. Ronnie got to his feet and jumped on the back of the animal, hitting it repeatedly with the nightstick, but the Hyena managed to buck him off of its back and turned its attention back to Doreen.

“Please, Summer, you don’t have to do this,” Doreen pleaded with the snarling animal.

Summer? Ronnie thought to himself as got to his feet. He saw the Hyena stop for a moment, before rearing for an upward slash. Ronnie sprinted towards Doreen and pushed her out of the way of the slash.

But it didn’t prevent Doreen from getting splattered with blood.

Ronnie found his breathing to be more difficult, as he began to feel his airway being obstructed by blood that he was gurgling on. He grabbed his throat and felt the blood seep though his fingers as he fell to the ground. With what he thought was his last breath, Ronnie heard the Hyena roar and Doreen scream his name. He found himself looking into the eyes of the fallen officer who was also on his last breath.

Two orange beams of light emerged from Ronnie’s eyes and connected with the eyes of the officer. A familiar orange smoke began to swirl and surround both bodies. It contracted and then expanded with a brilliant flash of light that distracted the Hyena from a hysterical Doreen Day.

“Get away from her,” Firestorm said as he now stood in the spot that was once occupied by Ronnie Raymond and the fallen officer.

“Ronnie?” Doreen asked as the Hyena roared and charged the Nuclear Man.

“Doreen, please run,” Firestorm said as a crackling energy began to surround his fists as he prepared himself for the charging Hyena.

“What’s going on? What’s happening? What did you do to me?” the officer said in Ronnie’s mind.

“Calm down,” Ronnie replied mentally. “You’re a superhero now.”

To Be Continued!



If you wish to comment on this issue, please CLICK HERE to visit the letters page.