All-Stars #9: Pacifica Rex!

Arcadia, California
The earliest hours of April 8th, 1942
A dozen figures darted ahead into the shadows and stormed the small, two-story house, securing the first floor swiftly and efficiently, to herald the arrival of a new figure. He was swathed in dark colors, the deepest green woven throughout with scarlet red threads shaped into vicious snapping, snarling, fire-breathing dragons. A black hood draped over the strange man's face, small mean eyes staring out from the holes as he observed the residents of the building.

The family stared up fearfully at the invaders, each but the leader armed with a vicious looking short sword, while the robed, hooded figure reached into a pouch hung from his belt and pulled out a large, round peach. He rolled the heavy fruit in his fingers as he observed the mother, the daughter, each clinging uselessly to either side of the man of the house, Jiro Shimada. He grinned as he looked into the eyes of the small, scared man.

<"There is no need for fear, Shimada-san,"> the hooded figure declared as he stood before the family, the pale peach clutched tightly by two fingers against his thumb, his arm outstretched. <"You are about to make a great contribution to the Rising Sun, as a true child of Nippon.">

<"I'm an American! You can't do this! I reject your offer!"> Jiro shouted back, voice cracked in fear as he tried to keep his family behind him from their uncomfortable, crouched position.

The Dragon King merely ignored him however, his other hand tracing invisible, arcane symbols in the air around the fruit, his lips murmuring ancient words of great power, the peach seeming to flicker in the dim light of the room. <"Take the fruit and bite into it,"> the mystic commanded, two of his minions looming menacingly over Jiro's wife and daughter. The implication made clear, Jiro merely growled at the leader of the Black Dragon Society and took the peach in hand. He felt a spark, then more tingly, caress his fingertips, and he slowly lifted the heavy fruit to his mouth while the Dragon King reached into another pouch and pulled out a small, pocked black stone. Beneath the hood draped over the mystic's head, the King smiled eagerly, awaiting the birth of his champion.

<"Bite into the fruit, and release the essence within,"> he instructed as he felt excitement surge through his body. He held the stone out in Jiro's direction now as he waited for Jiro to do as he was commanded. He could feel the Oni's power within the stone, struggling to escape, the small rock trembling in his palm.

Finally, Jiro's teeth tore through the thin skin and sunk into the juicy fruit, puncturing the soft flesh and a rush of energy poured out over and around him. He cried out, recoiled and dropped the peach as the energy lashed out at Jiro and the King watched and nearly laughed in glee as the stone trembled more fearfully now. Then the Dragon King's eyes widened in shock as the energy flowed past Jiro, ignoring him.

<"No! Momotaro's descendant is there! Take him, enter the mortal shell!"> he screamed and then went silent as the energy obeyed the sorcerer, crashing and coiling around Jiro.

And then dove into teen-age Miya Shimada with an unearthly screamed soon echoed by the Dragon King.

Santa Anita
Temporary Military Barracks
Lieutenant Colonel Robert Myers was a veteran of the Great War, and had engaged in a number of other military actions in the years between for his country. Despite his advance into middle age, he was very fit, and his experience made him a dangerous modern warrior. This experience, these instincts honed by years of military service, woke him out of a sound sleep, blurry eyes quickly adjusting to the gloom of early morning, quickly catching 3:21 in the morning on his nearby clock. The eyes fell quickly on the cause of his alarm, body tense and ready for action as the tall shadow stepped forward, glassy eyes staring down on him. Unlike many on the streets though, Myers found himself unnerved by the sight, well used to gas masks at this stage.

"Sandman. How did you get in here? This is a restricted area!" Myers was very angry as he sat up and glared back at the quiet, unmoving shadow of a man. There were no features he could discern, which upset him even more. Rather, Sandman stood there, an indistinct column of shadow with round glassy eyes boring into him.

"The night is my domain, Colonel," Sandman said in a low voice as he took a half-step forward, seeming to glide in the semi-dark. "Explain to me the meaning of what occurs here. Explain to me by what right you uproot your fellows in mockery of the Founding Fathers' ideals."

"I have nothing to explain to you, mystery man," Myers shot back, angry at being interrogated in such a fashion. "You're here at my sufferance, for USO fodder. You've no right to question an officer of the United States Army!"

"I have every right to question questionable actions." He called on all of his meditative training to maintain calm in this confrontation. He had to remain calm, to hold onto the slender space of moral high ground. "I am the haunter of dreams for terrible men. At this moment, that numbers you unless you explain yourself to me!"

"You bastard! Those Japs are a danger to our war effort, or hadn't you noticed the fact that they bombed us four months ago?" Myers got to his feet, rising to his full six feet and finding himself staring into the glass eyes. "We're at war!"

"With the enemy. Those of the Rising Sun, from across the ocean," Sandman countered, not giving an inch, instead gliding a half-step closer, his fingers curling around the trigger of his gun. "Not with our own people. This way lies madness. You make a dread mistake, and it will come to haunt you. Be assured."

"I'll take that chance, Sandman. You've voiced your opinion. Now get out!" This order was given with the barest hint of concern, as the officer found himself taking a half-step back from the shadowy figure now closer to him. "And don't think that mask will keep you safe from me if you try something like this ever again!"

"Don't think that silver leaf will shield you from my gift of nightmares if I judge you guilty," Sandman countered as his thumb flipped a switch at the side of the bulky firearm. He drew it from his trenchcoat in a practiced motion and before Myers could do more than open his mouth to protest, smoke engulfed him. He coughed and sputtered and staggered to the window. As the smoke dissipated, so had the shadow that was the Sandman, and Myers was left alone, and rattled, and angry.


Barker Street
the crack of dawn
The Atom had been unable to sleep either after the near-confrontation with Sandman at the hotel. Instead, he'd put on his costume and stalked out into the night, using the breeze of a cool night (though cool was a much different meaning in the southern California climate, he realized quickly under his leather cowl) to help him work through his troubles. He'd found little activity though, even in those areas where the streets still had inhabited homes. Instead, he was left alone with his thoughts as he tried to figure out what was angering his friend, and what problem there could be in the country just protecting itself from an obvious threat.

"Yes!" he exclaimed as he noticed movement in an abandoned house. His fist smacked into his other hand as he grinned under his mask. "Some action at last. Damned looter taking advantage of a bad situation. Gotta love it." He moved up quickly from the street, through the backyard, and into the house through the opened back door that had first gained his attention.

He moved quickly through a small kitchen and into the parlor, his hand reaching out to grip the intruder's shoulder and spin the criminal around.

"Wha--?" The intruder gasped in surprise as he felt powerful hands spin him around and then a powerful punch cracked into his jaw, staggering him back and he fell hard to the floor.

"Got you, you little geek!" Atom growled as he stepped up to the prone man with both fists tight. "Robbing these folks while they're forced outta town? That's pretty low, even for a snake like you!"

The front door burst open as two soldiers stepped in with rifles out, and Atom noticed that the man he'd punched was also a soldier, eyes still dazed a bit from the blow. The soldier had dropped the bag of silverware with a clatter, and he scurried back on his rear to keep from the mystery man.

"What's going on here, Atom?" One of the newly arrived soldiers glanced down to the soldier on the floor then back to the mighty mite, not sure what to make of events.

"He attacked me! He's gone crazy!" the soldier cried out as he staggered up to his feet and moved behind his armed friends.

"You were robbing these people!" Atom protested as he took a step toward the three soldiers. The clicking of rifles being cocked made him stop, but the armed men still stared down at the five foot tall mystery man in fear. This was a member of the Justice Society, and a powerful masked crime-fighter from New York City's worst neighborhoods. They had no clue if their rifles would even slow this brute down, and they really didn't want to find out.

"I was bringing them their stuff back," the soldier tried to explain, though no one present believed him at all. "That's all. Gotta keep these people's things safe, right?"

"You little liar!" Atom was furious now, anger surging through his body, and they could see veins flaring in his bared arms. He took another step forward, the soldiers stepping back and raising their rifles.

"How do you know? Where's your proof? Huh? Ain't this America? Innocent until proven guilty? Huh? Well?" The criminal soldier countered, feeling more courageous now that he was safely behind two armed comrades-in-arms.

Atom stopped short and flexed his fingers as he listened to the kid's words. The little thief was right, and he knew it. They both knew it. "Get out of here," Atom growled as he stood his ground.

"Right. Got it. C'mon, Frank, get out, you've overstayed your welcome," one armed corporal said to the first soldier, who was already having a vicious bruise appear on his jaw. "Well overstayed it. Sorry, Atom. This was all a bad mistake, I promise you."

"Yeah. All a big mistake." Atom watched them leave and let his eyes drift down to the silverware scattered on the floor. He bent down to pick it up, sort it out, try to put it back as the thief's words ran through his head. Innocent until proven guilty, Atom thought. That's what Sandman's problem is, isn't it?


Arcadia Hotel
As the sun rises...
John Tane stirred slowly as his alarm went off. He wiped the sleep from his eyes, yawning heavily as he slapped at the clock. He stood up and then slapped the clock again as he continued to hear the alarm ring. Only when the third time failed to shut his clock off did he realize that the alarm was from the streets outside. He pulled on his pants and slipped the red suspenders over his shoulders as he looked out his window. There were thin columns of smoke from various points around Arcadia, and within the extent of his vision he could see soldiers dashing around.

He stepped back and his thumb reached up to rub the ever-present sheriff's badge on his left suspender. “Say you!” He called, and with a resounding crack, the magical genie commanded by Johnny Thunder appeared, human but pink-purple from the waist up, appearing as the legendary western hero of yore, while his lower body was a tangle of raw power resembling a large bolt of lightning. He hovered before his master and descendant as he spoke.

"What's up, Master John?" Jonathan Tane's spirit spoke as he glanced out the window and shook his head slowly, sadly.

"Say, you wouldn't happen to know what the hay's going on, do you, T-Bolt?" Johnny Thunder asked as he joined his genie in staring out of the window.

"Well, that would be a lot, Master John," the thunderbolt replied. "The Dragon King has tried to create a champion of the Japanese people by reawakening an ancient bloodline. The Black Dragon Society is now running around the town attacking army garrisons to draw attention away from his champion's actions, keeping your partners Atom and Sandman running and busy. And you overslept as usual."

"Yeah. I guess I did," Johnny chuckled ruefully. "What's this champion doing?"

"Well, she's out in the Pacific, drawing the ocean waters to her so she can sink as much of the local coast under a vast tidal wave. Or more accurately, a tsunami, which I might add, is the title she has assumed." All the while, the thunderbolt hovered near the window and continued to scan the countryside to gather the information his master requested.

"Golly, that can't be good, can it? I mean, talk about messing up the war effort," Johnny said as he realized what his genie was telling him. "That would be worse than Pearl Harbor. We've gotta stop this Sue Nammy, the evil witch!"

"No, Master John. She is only a little younger than you, and the Dragon King has twisted already hurt thoughts for his own ends," Thunderbolt explained. "She is no witch. She thinks she's doing right in saving her folks from relocation."

"Relocation? What...okay, wait, I know! That's those abandoned houses that have Sandman all upset right?"

Thunderbolt grinned at Johnny with pride and patted his descendant's head. "Good work, Master John. We may make a true hero out of you yet."

"Thanks," Johnny smiled in return, proud of himself, since he was too often too easily confused by all this sort of information. "Say, you need to get out and help my friends while I get to Sue, okay?"

"As you command, Master John."


On the streets
as the morning drags on
The Atom and the Sandman had been on the streets when the first of the Black Dragon Society struck, destroying a troop truck. From that moment, the war overseas had struck home, with soldiers trying to pin down the attackers with military precision, boxing them in to instead confront masters of stealth.

And through it all, the mystery men battled through the havoc, slowly unraveling the patterns of attack, making their way to the center of the assaults, to the source of the disturbances. It was after leaving a trail of beaten and unconscious Dragons that the two team-mates met up and gazed on the building that was their target.

"Is there any sign of Johnny?" Atom asked the Sandman as they took stock of the two-story white house on the other side of the street.

"None. I can only assume he's responded to the disturbance as well, and may be somewhere else," the Sandman answered.

"Probably overslept again," Atom answered with a wry chuckle. "Not like we're gonna need his genie against these guys anyway."

"I would not be so sure," Sandman cautioned. "These are agents of the Black Dragon Society, a powerful secret sect from our Pacific enemies, and their king is said to be a powerful sorcerer. We must not treat him lightly."

"Right. Got it. Jap Doctor Fate. Man, let's hope your info's over-hyped this time." He glanced toward the building. "Shall we go? I'll charge in, let you do your sneaky thing?"

Sandman nodded in response and saw the movement of Atom's mask that revealed the cocky grin of his short companion. The two moved out, the Atom charging across the street and aiming for the front door. He lowered his shoulder and prepared for the jarring shock that came from battering down a solid wood object. He was not prepared to bounce off the solid wooden door though, and he stumbled back and grabbed the aching joint. "What the hell?"

He glanced up and watched as the hooded form of the Dragon King appeared at a window, a glittering, gleaming Mother-of-Pearl shell held between two fingers. "I think not, man of mystery," the Dragon King sneered at the bruised Atom. "Your science will not penetrate my sorcery, man of the atom. My kami will whip the winds to protect me."

Sandman appeared from around the house and moved up to Atom, staring up with unblinking panes at their enemy. "It is true. I can find no way into the house."

"I think that's my job, folks," the Thunderbolt said as he appeared between them, a purplish-pink arm around each mystery man's shoulders. "Oh Kami! Come out, come out, wherever you are!" He snapped his fingers and a shimmery face flitted out from the shell. "You don't have to listen to this guy anymore. You're not where you belong, you belong back over the sea. This is my land. So go...I release you." Again, the Thunderbolt snapped his fingers and the shell ceased to glitter as the air spirit gave an exultant cry. As the face flitted away, the eyes of the Dragon King grew wide with fear at the knowledge of what came next.

And come it did, as Atom and Sandman stormed the house. Gas flooded the front hallway, and several hard thuds resounded from falling Dragons as Atom took the more direct route through the window between the mystery man and the Dragon King. Glass shattered in all directions, cutting up the Atom's bare legs and arms, but he didn't care at all as he stalked up to the retreating master of the Society. As Sandman pivoted into the parlor, he heard his diminutive partner's angry voice and smiled, safely concealed by the unforgiving gas mask.

"How dare you? It's bad enough these folks are getting jerked around by the government, now you're gonna make it worse for them by thinking you can traipse your hob-nailed feet around our home?" Atom leaped into the Dragon King, fists flying furiously into his opponent's face. First came a sick crack from the King's nose, followed by a crunching that could only be teeth, and then powerful thuds into the left cheek. Sandman approached, followed by Thunderbolt, and both realized that the scene, though satisfying, was also wrong.

"Stop, my friend," Sandman said as he pulled Atom from the unconscious thug. "This isn't the Dragon King. It couldn't be. I have no doubt you could defeat him, but he's much more skilled in combat than this." Sandman bent down and tore the hood away, revealing a young, battered face. "This is a decoy."

"You gotta be kidding? He...you mean he's gone? That yellow coward!"

"Worse than that, mighty mite," Thunderbolt said as he zipped through the entire house, then returned and shook his head sadly. "No Shimadas. He must have taken them."


The Pacific Coast
at mid-morning
Johnny Thunder rowed hard, oars pulling his small boat out into the choppy seas as he focused on his task. He felt the spray of water, and the stiff breeze and stared out at the rear of the rowboat angrily.

"Darn it, next time I gotta remember to get T-Bolt to whip me up a motorboat," Johnny scolded himself as he continued his slow, difficult trek into the water. "Or hey...you know, I bet I coulda gotten him to bring me right to her. Darn it!" He looked around as he realized he was talking to himself, then returned to concentrating on his rowing.

"What in blazes are you doing out here, you crazy man?" Tsunami asked, her voice shocked and incredulous as she watched the small, fragile vessel bring its passenger closer and closer to the crashing waters swirling around her. She was upheld by a small column of water as the rest of the seas raged in a circle around her. Bottle-green chain armor clung to her young body, offering a sinful glimpse of her despite being covered from the shoulders to her feet. Bared shoulders and collar offered a hint of her cleavage and her long black hair fluttered in a radius around her head, and deep black eyes glared at the young blond American rowing toward her.

Johnny jumped slightly at the sudden voice, and then stopped rowing so he could turn around to face its source. He smiled at her and waved, a face delighted at the lovely young woman looking out through the spray of sea-foam. "Hey, Sue! Wow, good golly, you're pretty! T-Bolt didn't tell me you'd be a looker."

Tsunami, Miya Shimada, stared back at the strange man in red suspenders looking back at her with such an unusual look in his eyes. She spun slowly to match the way his boat was taken around her by the currents she generated. "Looker? Me? You think I'm pretty?" The waves softened a bit as she tried to adjust to his compliment. "Wait...no! You confuse me! You're trying to trick me!"

"Nope. Not at all. I'm Johnny. Johnny Thunder? From the Justice Society," he explained, as if there were other Johnny Thunders he could be confused with. "Maybe you've heard of them?"

"I know them," Tsunami growled as the waves grew more ferocious, and Johnny was pitched back into the boat, his head striking a wooden seat.

"Ouch! Hey, I'm just here to talk," John called out. "I mean, I'm no masher...really! I just wanted to tell you that this isn't a good idea. I mean it!"

"What's not a good idea?" Tsunami yelled back angrily as she spun the waves faster, the oceans gathering about her as she prepared her ferocious attack. "Protecting my people from your government pigs?"

"Well...okay, that sounds like a good idea, but it's not!" Johnny called back as he climbed back up to the pointed front of the boat, clutching it so he could keep looking her in the eyes as best he could. "Don't you see? You sink the coast under your tidal wave, and you're just the bad guy! The Army, the FBI, the JSA...we'll all have to beat you up and put you in prison. Then what will happen to your folks? What will happen to the other Japanese living here in the US? Huh? Tell me!"

The waves slowed, the swells lessening as Johnny's words reached her and she stared back. "I can avenge their indignities!"

"And let some Dragon King and his bosses try and take things over and make things worse? I heard some things from my buddy Sandman. He's been to the Orient, you know that? And he's mentioned what the women get to do over there. You mean that's better?"

Miya's eyes softened as she watched the poor man pitch into the seas, waves crashing over him, soaking him to the skin as his boat began to leak and sink, but he just kept looking at her. "But my parents."

"You're just gonna hurt them, right? Do they really want you doing this kind of thing? Really?" Johnny hoped this would reach her, because soon, he was going to be drowning, as he began to remember he couldn't swim.

The swells fell further, the waves growing weaker, less violent and returning to normal. "I won't put up with what you're people are doing to mine! I can't! No more than you could if our places were changed."

"Right. Well...okay, yeah, I'd be pretty upset to," Johnny answered and then the boat was gone and he began to splash furiously to keep his head above water. "But this isn't the answer!"

"I'll find one, Johnny Thunder!" she screamed back, furious at him for being right, furious at herself for being wrong. "I'll come back, and I'll have an answer, I promise you!" With that, the column of water vaulted her into the air and she then knifed neatly back into the ocean, vanishing into the dark waves as Johnny spat out salt water and flailed around helplessly.

"It's okay, Master John, I have you," Thunderbolt said as he fished Johnny out of the water with a net. In a flash, the pair were back on water, a drenched Johnny Thunder facing Sandman and Atom.

"Well, the good news is, Sue's not going to drown the coast in a huge tidal wave," Johnny reported as Thunderbolt held a hand out and heated the air around his master to start drying him.

"The good news? What's the bad news?" Atom asked.

"She's still out there, and she's going to come back some day. And I don't know what side she's gonna be on."

"Let's hope the correct one, John," Sandman said as the four figures looked out into the vast blue-green sea. "We can help her decision though. We'll find her parents, get them back from the Black Dragon Society safely. Show her that not all American's are out to hurt her people."

"Our people,"Atom corrected Sandman as they continued to look out at the rolling surface.