“Jewels of the South!”
Starring the Stunning Liberty Belle! Starman, Master of Gravity! And introducing…
Johnny Quick, Wielder of the Speed Equation!
Opal CityA bright blue sky, soft warm breezes and a bright sun cast a beautiful day over the city of the Opal. In particular, it shone over the two people seated at a table next to a large pool, sipping at drinks. One was a lovely young woman near her mid-twenties, with shoulder-length blond hair held back by a simple headband. She was dressed comfortably in a one-piece black bathing suit and sandals. She was athletic and tanned and she held a small notebook and pen.
Her companion was a handsome man perhaps ten years her senior. Close-trimmed light brown hair and inquisitive brown eyes were set into a handsome, squared face and slim but well-toned chest. He was dressed in simple swimming trunks, and had a towel around his neck, droplets of water glistening against his body.
The two people sat opposite each other and chatted quite amiably, big smiles on their faces as they laughed and talked, with the blond occasionally jotting something into her notebook.
“So, Ted, what does the premier bachelor of Opal City do with his free time?” Libby Lawrence asked after she took a sip of her lemonade. She let her eyes wander over the handsome playboy for yet another time, enjoying the sight with an unspoken sigh.
“You mean, what do I do when I’m not secretly zipping around the sky in red and green?” Ted Knight teased his guest as he gave a large swallow of his vodka and tonic. He was enjoying his guest, he hadn’t had this much fun in too long, not since he started his mystery man hobby. He found himself wondering how long Libby would stay, and how close she’d let him get to her. Sharing secret identities following the battle with Solomon Grundy was a large start. He thought momentarily back to Sheira Sanders, a.k.a. Hawkgirl, and felt sorry that she took off for home already. But then he remembered the sheer brawn on her boyfriend, Hawkman and realized he was better off this way.
“Are you giving me an exclusive on that, Mr. Knight?” Libby asked coyly, her pen poised over the paper as she stared into his chocolate brown eyes.
“Call it tradition, Libby, but I’ll have to keep my identity secret for now,” Ted answered as he finished his drink off. “It doesn’t hurt me now, but down the road, it could matter if my enemies know where to find me.”
Libby chuckled, reached out to put a hand on his reassuringly and nodded. “Of course. Just joshing with you, of course.” Neither of them could deny the tingle that passed through their hands as they touched, and Libby quickly pulled her hand back.
“So back to the question at hand then,” she added as she put her pen back against her paper.
Elsewhere in the OpalDoctor Phineous Droome was a gangly scarecrow of a man, just over six feet in height and just under 150 pounds in weight. Dark green eyes were deep set beneath a thick brow, and thinning blond hair reached shoulder-length to the scrawny body. He wore simple pants and a shirt, and hunched over an open panel, soldering circuits and fiddling with various wires and transistors, while three henchmen sat off in a far corner, playing cards.
Dr. Droome had worked long and hard these past few weeks, acquiring all the proper equipment (or as close as he could, owing to his wanted status by the FBI) while his men had crossed the Eastern Seaboard acquiring the finest rubies that he required for his experiments. But all the toil, all the hiding and near-shaves escaping the law and the mystery man that pursued him endlessly was worth it. He sat up straight and slapped the panel into place with a thunderous, “A-ha!” and spun around in his seat to look at his minions.
For their part, the three men looked up and smiled and looked like they gave a damn about his exclamation. In truth, they were just waiting to get paid, but they were willing to give this crackpot time to prove himself or hang himself. If the exultation was correct, they all thought, then perhaps it would be the former.
“You done, boss?” asked one of the criminals as they looked over at him.
“Indeed,” he answered with a vigorous nod of his head. He moved up towards the front of his device. The rear of the machine was tall and roughly square with many panels haphazardly arrayed over it. It stood just over six feet in height, and three feet wide, sitting on top of a pair of treads. A cylindrical extension reached out from this ugly gray body, three clear tubes nearly a yard long each connecting into a needle-like projection another foot in length. It was at this end that Droome now worked, pulling out the largest of the rubies and inserting it behind the three clear cylinders. “A test run now, and you’ll see the brilliance of my melting ray.” He cackled as he wiped his hands on his shirt, and returned to the control panel at the rear of the odd device.
With a flip of some switches and turning a dial, the apparatus began to hum, while the projection arm was aimed towards a tall slab of steel. The glass cylinders glowed, bands of light trailing from the machine end towards the outstretched needle as the four men watched, Droome cackling with glee.
The look of excitement swept from his face when a window broke open and a whirl of wind soon found the three goons unconscious, scattered by a sudden scarlet-and-yellow tornado. The blur of wind settled into the dynamic physique of the super-fast mystery man.
“Johnny Quick!” Droome shouted in panic. “No! Dammit no! Not now! How did you find me?” He stepped back and put his arms out to protect his machine.
“Gotta say, you hire quality goons,” the blond-haired young man said with a cocky grin. He took a step towards the criminal and flexed his knuckles. “They made it tough to find you, but here I am. Now, we going to do this the hard way, or the easy way?”
Droome leaped towards the rear of his machine, hoping to swivel around towards the mystery man as the humming increased, and the red glow became more solid. Johnny appeared next to his target, tapping him on the shoulder after the wind rushed past them.
“No!” Droome cried out as he jumped again, banging into the control panel. His shirt hooked the lever that started the treads moving, and the melting ray began to roll forward.
“You’re not getting away that easy,” Johnny said with that cocky look on his face. He took a step forward and then watched as the treads struck the box of tools and started to flip onto its side just as the beam began to fire. Johnny was caught entirely off-guard as he watched the entire accident in slow motion, Droome screaming in fright as the needle bent off, the cylinders cracked and the energy crashed back into the ruby.
Ted Knight’s ResidenceThe two people walked into the backdoor of Ted’s home having finished the interview. They were still chuckling over the final joke Ted had gotten in, and Libby was struggling to get the image of Dr. Mid-Nite and his owl out on the town out of her mind’s eye.
“So I’m thinking we should go out tonight,” Ted suggested as they paused in front of the door to Libby’s guest room. “Paint the town red, let me show you how a playboy millionaire supposedly spends his time. What do you think?”
Libby looked up at her friend and took a deep breath before nodding her head. “Okay. Sounds good. What the hey, sounds like a lot of fun.” She turned and opened the door to her room. “I’m sure I have something nice to wear in here. Something worthy of being escorted around town by the dashing Theodore Knight.” She gave him a wink.
He was about to say something in return, but was interrupted by a nearby emergency radio Ted kept on at all times.
“Fire trucks needed at 61 Burnley Avenue. Three-alarm fire reported at 61 Burnley Avenue.”
The two adventurous people stared at each other and wordlessly darted into their rooms.
Moments later, Starman was hurtling into the sky, golden energy beaming out from his Gravity Rod and carrying along Liberty Belle. The two mystery men streaked across the sky, towards the column of black smoke that billowed up from the Opal. They dove down towards the fire, as several trucks had already arrived and begun battling the blaze.
“What’s up, captain?” Starman asked as he and Liberty Belle landed next to the fire captain, Jack Gardner.
“Starman, good to see you,” the captain replied as he shook the red-and-green garbed hero’s hand. “Not sure of the details, but we’ve heard reports that some criminal scientist name of Droome was holed up in there.” He looked at Liberty Belle and tipped his hat. “Ma’am.”
“Don’t need to worry about Droome,” someone else said as a whirl of wind appeared near the three people. Johnny Quick stood there, dropping the three minions at his feet. “He was at the center of the explosion. I barely had the seconds needed to grab Larry, Moe and Curly before it all went off.”
Starman and Liberty Belle gave him an incredulous look. “Who are you?” Starman asked, pointing his gravity rod at the speedster.
“Johnny Quick,” Liberty Belle answered as she put a hand on Starman’s forearm and gently made him lower it. “It’s okay. He’s done some good.”
“Glad to hear you’ve heard of me, doll,” he said as he took her hand and gave it a kiss. Liberty Belle pulled it back as she shot him a disdainful look. “You and me, we should go out sometime, get some dinner, peek under each other’s masks.” He winked at her, and Starman’s knuckles grew white as he gripped the rod.
“There will be no dinner for you ever!” came a whispering, cold voice from the air around them. The three heroes looked around as more words filled the air.
“You’ll choke and die in agony for what you’ve done to me, Johnny Quick! And anyone who gets in my way goes with you!”[/i]
From the billowing black clouds a face formed, one of incredible cruelty, deranged mockery of eyes glaring down at them. Slowly, a cloudy human shape parted from the smoking fires and started towards them.
“I will see your face turn as red as your costume, Quick! You’ll choke with the name Mist on your blue lips!”
