Ted Knight was regretting the unexpected consequences of a decision he'd made earlier this morning. Who would have thought that attending a funeral of an old acquaintance would be so painful?

Earlier this week, Ted had come across a familiar name in the Obituary section of the Opal City Star Register. This wasn't unusual. Ted was now in his mid-70s, and the paper frequently ran obituaries about his contemporaries. He'd dated Harmony Davis a few times in early 1933, while he was a junior at Harvard and she a sophomore at Radcliffe, but she had never returned to school the next year, and he'd never heard from her again.

In her obituary, he discovered that Harmony had 'attended Radcliffe' (with no mention of a degree). She'd married to a man named Henry Valdez in August, 1933. They'd had a daughter, Carmela, in 1947, and Henry had died in an automobile accident that same year. Harmony had reclaimed her maiden name, never remarried, and spent most of the rest of her life in Clliffland, OH. She'd moved to Opal City in 1979. Her only other relative, daughter Carmela, had passed away not long ago.

For some reason, this obituary had made Ted despondent. 'Retarded aging isn't entirely a blessing,' he'd thought to himself sadly. 'So many of my old friends are dying of old age while I expect to live another 50 or 60 years.' He'd decided then that he would attend her funeral, inconspicuously. 'I wonder why she moved to Opal City?' Maybe he could introduce himself to any of Harmony's friends who attended and find out more about her. He always felt obscurely guilty when a long-time friend died of old age while he still looked fifty and felt forty, as if he was somehow cheating; showing his respect just seemed to be the right thing to do.

As it turned out, it would have been better if he'd stayed away. Though he hadn't intruded, or tried to join the friends and family of the deceased, after the service, a woman had walked up to him deliberately.

"You're Ted Knight, aren't you?" she barked at him. Without waiting for his reply, she continued, in a cold, bitter voice: "She hated you, more than anything in her life. I can't BELIEVE you came to her funeral!" She’d spit at his feet, then turned and stormed away.

***~~~***

"Nervous about your big moment, Molly?" Alan Scott teased his wife. They were on their way to breakfast in the Ocean City Hotel, Casino and Convention Center in Ocean City, New Jersey. Molly was dressed formally, with a long, pale green floor-length satin gown, and Alan had on a charcoal gray suit.

"Are you talking about playing chamber music for the Platinum Sponsor Breakfast or the Welcome Speech afterward?" she answered his question with a question of her own. She was carrying a very expensive Neapolitan mandolin. "You know I always love to play, but whoever heard of a mandolin ensemble at breakfast?"

"Well, you're the outgoing President of the Mandolin Society of America couldn't you have vetoed the idea?" he laughed with her. "Anyway, you told me that without the Platinum Sponsors, the whole convention would have been impossible so I think we're worth it." Of course, Gotham Broadcasting Corporation was one of the Platinum Sponsors. But Molly couldn't attend the Sponsor Breakfast and play in the ensemble at the same time, so they were splitting the duties.

"I'm just glad there's time scheduled for me to eat my own breakfast and change my clothes before I have to give the Welcome Speech," she replied with a chuckle. "I think I'd be a little overdressed on the podium otherwise."

The Scotts were attending the 2nd Annual National Convention of Mandolinists. Molly had been instrumental in setting up the first two conventions, but she'd had enough of being President. "And then I can go back to being just Molly Scott, private citizen!" she sighed in relief. "Well, actually, not until this evening I'm scheduled to teach a seminar in advanced Classical Pick Technique; then I'm a free woman again. And what are you doing this afternoon, Mr. Scott?"

"Going back to shop class, my dear," he responded with a smile. "I'm signed up for the 'Build a Mandolin' session. Good thing Alan Scott is not allergic to wood like the Green Lantern, eh?"

They reached the private dining room. Molly went to sit with the ensemble, and Alan went off to schmooze with the other big donors.

***~~~***

Nearby, in the Sapphire Sun Casino, Convention Center, and Hotel in Ocean City, the National Association of Jewelers was having their own national convention. The Sapphire Sun was specially designed to safely host conferences with exceptionally valuable displays. The convention center was built like a fortress, supplied with formidable security forces, boasted cutting edge surveillance technology, and included a number of rooms below ground level that were supposedly proof against a direct hit from an atomic bomb. The convention organizers proudly boasted that the valuables on display were 'safer than the gold in Fort Knox!' and the convention center's anti-theft record for all kinds of `high value' conferences in the 5 years since it was built was spotless.

Preston Prendergast, a private dealer in small ancient artifacts, was welcoming a potential buyer. They were in one of the armored, ultra-secure underground rooms, the size of a competition swimming pool, filled with tables covered with jewelry, unset gems, ancient coins, statuettes, wands, carvings, weapons, helmets and shields, scrolls and parchments, books, musical instruments, tools, and other antiques. A handful of big, tough-looking security guards stood throughout the room, all armed with tasers.

"So you represent Mrs. Pennington-Smythe of Shaker Heights, eh, Mr. Castle? I've done business with her many times. What happened to Mr. Fentiman, her previous buyer?" Prendergast asked diffidently. Mrs. Pennington-Smythe was an eccentric collector of antiquities with eclectic tastes - but Prendergast prided himself on having an eclectic selection to satisfy his pickiest customers.

"Fentiman made some bad buys, and P-Smythe wasn't happy. You won't be seein' him again, least not working for the old dame."

Prendergast winced at the familiar use of his old acquaintance's last name, but his expression quickly dropped back into his practiced smile now slightly strained. "That's a shame. I've known Mr. Fentiman," he emphasized the prior buyer's formal name, "for years and he always made exquisite selections."

"Musta gone senile, then, the wacky old coot," Castle sneered.

Prendergast made a tiny motion, telling his guards to be alert for anything suspicious. He couldn't imagine Mrs. Pennington-Smythe hiring a... a... a thug like this. Yet, the man had the correct credentials, credentials that were guaranteed to be impossible to obtain illegitimately. "Let me show you some weapons - I have recently obtained the jeweled Dagger of Acre, surrendered by Saladin to Richard the Lionheart to seal the Treaty of Ramla in 1192 to end the Third Crusade. I believe it would be a superb addition to Mrs. Pennington-Smythe's collection.

"Sorry, shorty, I'm looking for somethin' for myself first, and I perfer jewelry!"

Taken aback by Castle's rudeness, Prendergast started to voice his dismay prior to dismissing this lout and registering a complaint with Mrs. Pennington-Smythe and the conference committee, when he was dazzled by a flash of brilliant red light. The nearest of the hyper vigilante security guards instantly fired his taser, as Castle swung his fist towards an armor glass case holding, literally, an Emperor's ransom in gems and jewelry. An inch from Castle's chest, the taser wires smashed into something, and a red aura flared into visibility surrounding him.

The armor glass shattered explosively as Castle struck it, as if it were plate glass hit with a sledgehammer. The taser discharged against the red aura, adding an electric blue flare. Several other taser shots hit Castle an instant later, adding their own flares of lightning-like blue, and the room flickered dizzyingly. A ragged red flame blasted from Castle's fist and expanded into a rough globe, surrounding the exhibit with the shattered case. Castle continued to ignore Prendergast and the guards as the ragged sphere contracted into the shape of a valise. The exhibit table was untouched, but the jewelry was gone. By now, the guards had abandoned their useless tasers, and were closing in on the red-glowing figure of Castle, some of them pulling out truncheons and others donning brass knuckles.

"Shoulda learned better already, boys," Castle chuckled. Another bolt of flame flared from Castle's fist, and it zoomed through the room, twisting and darting like a balloon jetting air, slamming into the jaws of each of the guards, knocking them all down. Prendergast was shouting into a walkie-talkie when Castle took one step towards him, raised his left hand, and flicked his finger into the dealer's chin. Prendergast's head snapped backwards, and he took two staggering steps backwards until he collapsed on one of the other exhibits. Gas started billowing into the room from a half dozen concealed nozzles, and the guards who were struggling to get back to their feet collapsed unconscious. Doors with bars like those on jail cells slid into place covering the two entrances to the room. A loud siren was blaring...

Castle walked calmly through the chaos in the display room, the valise floating obediently behind him, attached to his red aura by a leash that looked like red lightning. Ignoring everything but the exhibits, he used his red flame to scoop up still more jewelry displays and dump them into the valise, which grew noticeably with each feeding. When he was satisfied that he had everything he wanted, he headed for the door. He gripped a bar with one hand and easily pulled the barred door out of the wall, casually tossing it aside. He raised one foot and kicked at the heavy, locked steel door, and it flew from its frame as if there had been an explosion behind it.

"Glad I wasn't standin' in the way of that!," he laughed.

Immediately a hail of bullets gushed through the open door-frame, from handguns, rifles and machine guns – Castle walked casually through the door as if he were taking a stroll on a cool summer evening. His aura was sparkling, flashing intensely whenever a bullet struck it, and dimming to become almost invisible immediately afterward. The guards who were closest to the blazing red apparition stopped firing as they were hit by bullets ricocheting from the aura, and the rest stopped shooting as they saw their comrades falling, wounded or worse, and the villain ignoring their fire.

Castle walked to the elevator shaft and casually tore the closed door open. He raised his arm above his head, and a blast of red flame shot up the shaft. There was the sound of a massive explosion, and then Castle lifted slowly into the air, floated up the shaft and the Sapphire Sun's perfect security record was shattered.

*****

In a ballroom at the Ocean City Hotel, Alan Scott and about 20 other would-be musical instrument makers were paying strict attention to their instructor. "We won't be making the 'bells' today, as I call the sound chamber." She held up a large, bowl-shaped object that they recognized as the back of the sound board. "It takes several days of warping wood strips in boiling water, gluing them together, and then sanding them to build a good one." She indicated a table covered with similar 'bells', though every one of them was a little different from each of the others. "We'll watch a video of one being created, and then you can choose one of these for your first instrument."

At that moment, there came the sound of a tremendous explosion, not too far away, and within seconds, they started to hear the wail of sirens from emergency responders. As everyone rushed to the windows to see what was going on, Alan lagged behind. He made sure no one was watching him and cupped his hand to hide the glowing green television, the size of a transistor radio, which materialized there.

'It looks like a red flame in human form. This looks like a job for Green Lantern!' he thought, as his Power Ring TV showed the roof of the Sapphire Sun exploding, and the red humanoid take to the sky. 'I need to get away, fast.'

He was already heading out the door of the classroom. A few steps down the hall, he paused, looked up and down the halls, and when he saw no one, he slipped into the men's room, already reaching up to unbutton his shirt. A couple of seconds later, the mighty red and green clad figure of Green Lantern phased through the window, then zoomed into the sky at jet speed!

GL exerted his will to urge even more speed from the ring. He overtook and passed the other form in seconds. Spectators on the ground were awed at the site of twin comets, one red and the other green, racing across the sky, their glowing trails merging like Christmas ribbons as they faded. GL passed high above the red flier, then dropped in front of him. The jewel thief pulled up short to avoid a collision with the majestic figure who now stood on air in front of him with his arms crossed.

"Who do you think YOU are?" Green Lantern's voice, amplified by his ring for dramatic effect, boomed like thunder. GL could see that the other was a human, surrounded by a red aura that resembled flames. The other hardly seemed awed by the hero.

"I ain't decided yet. I'm thinking, Red Flare, Scarlet Flame or Crimson Blaze, Whatta you think?"

"How about the Red-faced Bust? And you won't have to worry about another name when I'm done with you they'll give you a number instead," Green Lantern quipped confidently. "Why don't you give up now, and come along quietly?"

"Pretty confident, aren't you?" Castle sneered. "My grandfather kicked ass on the first Green Lantern back in forty-nine just like I'm gonna kick your ass today!"

GL was a little startled. "I'm the first Green Lantern."

"Do you think anyone believes that?" Castle asked mockingly. "Everybody knew Green Lantern was getting old, and suddenly he's young again and we're supposed to think you're both the same guy? I'm not that stupid!"

Meanwhile, GL had been thinking. He'd fought so many unmemorable villains through the years that he'd forgotten most of them. "Think what you will, Red Rider, nobody 'kicked my ass' in 49, and you sure aren't going to do it today," he said calmly.

"Wrong on both counts, stupid!!" Castle pointed his right fist at Green Lantern, and a jagged red bolt of energy blasted from the big ring he was wearing.

As quickly as he'd moved, GL was quicker: a round green shield appeared in the air before him. The bolt hit the shield, and, unbelievably, the shield shattered! Green Lantern wasn't injured, but the force of impact knocked him off balance, and he tumbled backward through the sky. He gritted his teeth and regained his concentration, then flew back to his opponent, who was now standing still in the sky, his legs spread as wide as his shoulders, with his arms crossed, still surrounded by the jagged red glow.

"I remember a gangster who got his hands on a red power ring, back in forty-nine named Rocky Castle," GL said loudly as he approached. "But he sure didn't beat me. He was down for the count when a mad scientist named Professor Egri intervened. Anyway," his Power Ring flared, launching a giant green fist at his opponent, "let's see how YOU handle a little Power Ring action."

"Just like the old fart said," Castle laughed, as a giant punching bag intercepted the blow. The green fist vanished, and the punching bag hardly moved. "Well, we got that outta the way. Let's try somethin' diffrent." A jagged red shape resembling a Tommy Gun appeared in his hands, and he pulled the trigger, hosing a stream of glowing red bullets across the sky.

A green cinder block wall appeared between the two flying foes and the bullets spangled off the bricks but blasted away first green chips, and then green chunks, as the wall was chewed into two. The wall changed into a big green pillow, and the red bullets quickly tore it apart. Green feathers filled the air like a bizarre blizzard.

Green Lantern was practically dumbfounded! 'His red power seems to be greater than my green beam!' he thought in amazement as his mind whirled, trying to remember more about that long-past 1949 encounter.

Meanwhile, though disconcerted, GL wasn't wasting time, moving fast while his red-wrapped opponent's sight was obscured by the flying feathers. After the feathers dissipated, Castle realized that the Green Guardian was no longer in front of him. Still standing easily on air, he rotated in place, just in time to see a length of heavy metal pipe, wielded like a baseball bat by a pair of green hands, swinging towards his midsection. His shield flared as the pipe struck, vaporizing almost 10 feet of pipe, but the blow knocked him off of his balance, and now it was Castle tumbling through the air. GL chased after him, and whacked him again with the remaining length of pipe, and most of the rest of the pipe vanished. Castle was knocked higher into the air, and Green Lantern sped off in pursuit.

"ARRGHH!" Castle gave a violent shout of hatred and anger, and a blob of red energy tore away from his aura and raced towards the red and green clad caped hero. Castle then ordered his ring to flee. He didn't see his impromptu aerial torpedo explode on contact with Green Lantern's own aura. Only the Emerald Guardian's years of experience and iron will let him remain conscious long enough to order his ring to bear him gently to the ground. He awakened several hours later in a hospital bed.

***~~~***

Ted Knight sat in the living room of lonely, stately Knight Manor after breakfast, and brooded as he tried to read today's Opal City Star Register. The living room was the size of a small ballroom; one wall was mostly windows, surrounding a set of big, elaborate French doors which opened on the magnificent patio. The adjoining walls were lined with shelves filled with books and tchotchkes, interspersed with low tables supporting mood lamps and handsome plants.

The opposite wall was covered with photographs and portraits. In the center of the picture wall, in the place of honor, was a stunning, almost life-sized portrait of Doris Lee Knight, Ted's wife, which had been painted shortly before she had passed away in the early 70s. On the walls around her were family pictures with Ted, Jack and David, and pictures of the couples' parents, grandparents, and other relatives. 'Including people who had lived here a hundred years ago, and are long dead.' Ted thought morosely. 'Will I still be living here, a hundred years hence? Will my pictures still hang on that wall?'

"What strange lives some of us 40s heroes and our friends lead," he sadly mused aloud. "I wonder if any of the others consider their extended lifespans as a tragedy rather than a boon? Watching people who were our contemporaries die of old age, as we go on, and on..." He sighed. Ted hadn't been so introspective when he was younger. The world was too exciting back then - science, discovery and invention were his shiny new toys, his inherited wealth had allowed him to choose his amusements, there was the excitement of being Starman and the satisfaction of making a difference in the world, and he even got a thrill out of concealing his double identity from the people around him, almost as if he were getting away with something illicit.

"I need another perspective on this," he decided "Not from one of my fellow JSA members, who are in the same boat as I am, learning as we go. Not some non-human being with godlike powers, like Fate or the Spectre. Certainly not an immortal sociopath like Vandal Savage." Reluctantly, Ted got up from the sofa and went to his desk. He opened the middle drawer, manipulated a virtually invisible puzzle lock, and slid open a small compartment inset into the desktop above the drawer. A few business cards fell into his hand. 'Always wondered why I kept his card, but I never thought I'd use it,' he was thinking, when the wall of windows exploded!

The concussion knocked him down, and he used his momentum to roll behind a sofa. As he rolled, he caught a glimpse of a ball of intensely shimmering reddish-goldish energy streaking into the room through the shattered window wall. As he listened to the deadly typhoon of shattered glass shredding his dignified, peaceful living room, he had an instant to hope that whatever that energy ball was, it wasn't some kind of explosive missile!

An instant later, his worry changed to rage as the coppery energy washed across the sofa, lifted it, and hurled it directly at the portrait of Doris on the picture wall. With a tremendous crash, the portrait was destroyed, and a big chunk of wall was knocked down - along with most of the other pictures, momentarily filling the room again with the sound of plaster being smashed and glass shattering. Without the sofa blocking his vision, Ted saw a woman, surrounded by a bubble of the coppery energy, standing in the center of the devastated room.

He launched to his feet and stormed at the invader, any thought of danger overwhelmed by the destruction of the precious portrait of his beloved wife. His roar of anger was barely coherent, and can't be repeated here, but he used language he'd never used before, wishing the intruder and all her ancestors and descendants to hell, suggesting a canine background and unwed non-human parents, disgusting personal habits, and unappealing physical attributes. The woman he was charging was wrapped in crackling coppery energy, which held her floating a few inches off the floor and made it difficult to see her facial features. What he could make out easily was her weapon. A gleaming rod which, except for its coppery color, could have easily been mistaken for some iteration of his own Cosmic Rod.

Ted recognized the beginning of a familiar gesture and instantly dove aside, a second before a lightning bolt of red energy tore through the air above him. She shifted her aim, and blasted again. The second bolt grazed the desperate hero. It affected him like electricity, throwing him across the room, and when he landed he was having violent spasms. If his opponent had wanted him dead, there was nothing he could do - but all she did was laugh at Ted's agony. Finally the spasms calmed down, and Ted began to struggle painfully to his feet. He was still twitching enough to make purposeful actions all-but-impossible, but he managed to move closer to her. She blasted a hole in the carpet just in front of him, and he feebly jumped away, staggering towards a wall, then falling again. Once again she could have killed him, and once again she didn't; apparently she wanted to gloat.

"So, Ted Knight, I swore to my mother to seek vengeance for the pain and suffering you caused her. As pitiful Carmela Valdez, I could do little but seethe with helpless rage, but I am no longer simply Carmela Valdez. Behold, mighty Pellucidar!"

Her aura expanded and tore through the ceiling above and the floor below - but Pellucidar herself was motionless, floating majestically amidst the destruction she had created. Ted took advantage of the momentary distraction caused by the falling debris to slide painfully a few feet towards one of the (relatively) undamaged side walls. Though his nerves still jangled, and pain played throughout his body, and part of him was filled with rage, another, dispassionate part of his mind, shaped by the discipline required by science and trained by almost fifty years of super heroics, worked at top speed.

'Another ham, just like most other maniacs with super powers. Maybe I can use that to my advantage.' Even as she continued her tirade, a desperate plan was growing...

"Knight! What a blasphemous name for a charlatan like you; surely Rogue would be more appropriate. Well, Rogue, surely you remember my mother, Harmony Davis? A woman who surely loved you, a woman you promised to marry, then stole her virtue and discarded her like a piece of trash."

Ted shook his head and struggled to speak. "Your mother lied to you. It was never like that!"

"LIAR!" Pellucidar roared, and loosed another blast. Ted tried to roll away from it, but it threw him against the wall, and he crashed back to the floor amidst the remains of the small table, lamp and several plants which had originally occupied this spot.

"Of course you say that NOW, man! Like all men, you gained her trust, abused her, and dropped her when you found another pretty toy to play with."

Ted gathered himself for a last desperate action. He levered himself to his elbows and tried to shout: "NO! We never even..."

"I WILL HEAR NO MORE OF YOUR LIES!" Her amplified voice actually shook the room, shattering whatever glass remained intact. "I WILL END THIS NOW!" She punctuated her words of doom by firing an energy blast into the ceiling above Ted. The debris smashed down, and the weakened floor under him gave way, and the rubble crashed down into the first level of the basement. Pellucidar floated majestically to the new crater, and used rays from her scepter to methodically vaporize the pile of wood, plaster, concrete and stone which had buried the unfortunate Ted Knight.

*****

As her rage abated, Pellucidar stopped blasting energy bolts through the ragged hole in the floor. She floated, a foot off the devastated floor, and slowly spun in a complete circle, closely examining the ruins she'd made of the formerly dignified living room. As she calmed, her aura melted into an unusual shape, until it appeared that she was standing inside the coppery ghost of a giant sitting dog. It looked a lot like a shepherd, a little like a husky with shorter hair.  With a little study, a cynologist would have recognized it as a coyote. "I planned to destroy this entire estate, burn the buildings to the ground," she said slowly, softly. "But with Knight dead, it just doesn't seem as thrilling as I thought it would."

As she turned back to the window wall, the coyote shadow turned with her, rising to its feet. She pointed her scepter weapon in the direction she was facing, and then moved in that direction, her body position lifting and gently rotating forward until she was horizontal and several feet off the floor. She floated casually towards the shattered wall, and the coyote trotted casually to keep up with her, and then when she reached the open sky, her body position rotated again, as she pointed the scepter up and away. As she climbed, the coyote leaped skyward and quickly morphed into a ghostly giant bird of prey, perhaps an eagle. While Pellucidar was flying slowly, the raptor's wings moved majestically; as she accelerated, they swept back into a gliding position.

Pellucidar was brooding; she gave no sign of either being in control of, or even aware of, the metamorphosis of her aura. She didn't even see the red and yellow comet streaking across the sky until suddenly the first Starman was standing on air in front of her. "Lady, I don't know who you are, but you better not think you're just going to fly away after wrecking Knight Manor like that. Ted Knight has been my friend for a long time, and I'm going to put you away!"

Pellucidar moved into a similar 'standing on air' position, and her ghostly aura once again morphed, this time into a bear. "Starman!" Pellucidar greeted him brightly, no longer moody. "Any friend of Ted Knight's is an enemy of mine!" She held her weapon high. "My name is Pellucidar, and I carry the ancient and magical Flarequake, the Scepter of Fire and Earth."

"Looks like a knockoff of my Cosmic Rod, if you ask me," Starman replied.

"But I didn't ask you!" she replied, making a sweeping gesture with Flarequake. A stream of coppery energy leaped from the scepter, growing into a giant hand, reaching for the hero. Before he could dodge, the hand grasped his spherical force shield, and began squeezing. "Flarequake was created long before your own feeble weapon!"

Initially, Ted wasn't too worried. A sphere is structurally a very strong shape, and Ted's cosmic energy bubble had temporarily held back Superman and Power Girl in Justice Society training exercises. He was stunned when the shield started to deform, like a glob of silly putty, squishing and oozing between the fingers of the giant coppery fist. Still, his reflexes had been honed by almost 50 years as a 'mystery man' and he flew between the encircling thumb and forefinger, just before they closed. 'Drops' of his energy bubble spurted away from the magical fist, and one of these spurts enclosed Starman.

As he struggled to regain control of his flight, an irrelevant thought crossed his mind. 'Now I know how that little dab of Brylcreem felt, back in the 50's!' Another train of thought was analyzing the attack and calculating his next move. 'My shield either shatters, or it holds... I've never seen it stretched or squished before!'

"My turn!" Starman crowed as he launched as attack of his own. A beam of golden energy, so powerful as to be almost solid, blasted at Pellucidar's own bear-shaped force field. Instead of slamming into her with the force of a speeding locomotive, though, the beam of energy was reflected harmlessly into an explosion of colored beams of light and for a second, looking at Pellucidar was like looking at a prism.

"I was so hoping for one of the younger Stars," Pellucidar's aura turned into a giant hunting cat, her voice a low rumble like a cross between a growl and a purr. "I had big plans for someone younger than you, old man!"

She gestured again, and Flarequake blasted out a stream of small energy 'bullets' like a magical machine gun. Ted instantly created a golden badge shaped shield, an oversize version of that used by the Guardian. As each magical bullet struck the shield, chips were blasted away, as if a mundane bullet had struck concrete, not at all what Ted had expected. Still, he reacted instantly and ordered the Cosmic Rod to dive, adding the Rod's power to that of gravity for a quick escape. A half dozen magic bullets was enough to weaken and then shatter the shield, but by that time Ted was well out of the stream of the following bullets. Pellucidar's arm moved to follow the falling hero, but by this time, Ted was getting tired of this fight.

Starman was achy and sore from the battering she'd given him earlier in his living room, and still enraged about the destruction of the portrait of Doris. 'Guess I'm inspired by using a Gravity Rod earlier.'* I hope an old trick will be my best trick!' he thought with grim amusement as he focused gravity strongly, directly under the floating villainess. Suddenly, her weight jumped to many tons, and she started plummeting towards the ground as her great weight surprised her and overwhelmed her magical flying energies.

*****

*Ted Knight hated to waste anything, especially things he built himself. Whenever he built a new version of his Cosmic Rod, or earlier his Gravity Rod, he had kept the older ones around as spares. 'Just in case', the spares were scattered throughout stately Knight Manor, disguised as wall decorations, or a model rocket on display in a trophy case in the den, or even as a table lamp as seen in Aquarius Redux: Calm Before the Storm, here: www.5earths.info/earth-2/showcase-e2-superstars-tp1969-3/

Ted had cleverly managed to get Pellucidar to blast him against the wall of his living room near the remains of a table that had supported one of the concealed Gravity Rods, this one, disguised as the base of a lamp. ("If it was so darn clever, why am I half dead?" he might have asked!). He used this G-Rod to protect himself, and escape through the basement, when Pellucidar had brought the wall down on him. When he had changed to his Starman battle suit, he'd unconsciously holstered the Gravity Rod through force of habit. (Continuity Bug).

*****

But only for an instant. Well before she smashed to Earth, her fall slowed, stopped, and then she floated lightly back upwards, her aura resembling a cloud or a puff of smoke. "Sorry, honey, but I guess you forgot the 'Scepter of Earth' part: Earth, gravity, Flarequake; you get the connection by now, I'm sure!"

As she zoomed towards her weary foe, Pellucidar's aura morphed again back into the giant bird of prey, diving on its dinner. A slight flick of her wrist, and Flarequake was surrounded by an energy construct like a long wooden spear with a barbed head of chipped stone, and an energy dagger that also resembled chipped stone appeared in the other hand. She thrust the spear forward, hoping to run Ted through when the two collided. The image of the raptor changed attitude, with the head going up and the claws extending to rend its prey.

'Time for my last trick,' Starman thought regretfully. 'I hope the Rod can handle the overload!' Theoretically, the Cosmic Rod could absorb ALL the energy in a small volume of space, and plunge that volume to almost absolute zero freezing the water vapor in the air, and even the gasses that made up the air, into a solid block, which should hold Pellucidar until Ted could summon help from the Justice Society of America. 'That's the theory, alright. But the theory doesn't address the dangers!' The danger to someone encased in the block, and the danger of destroying the Cosmic Rod. 'Still, I've seen people, including me, live through being encased in ice by the Icicle. And, I've got the Gravity Rod as a spare.' He pulled the Gravity Rod he'd used earlier this evening from his holster, held it at ready in his left hand. 'Plus, her aura's protected her from everything else I've tried.' He pointed the Cosmic Rod, thought it a command...

Instantly, a sphere surrounding Pellucidar turned black, the awful, limitless, light destroying black of deep space, but only for an instant, and then the blackness flickered, and in its place was a shining sphere of ice, smooth as if polished. Incredibly cold, ultra-hard ice that should hold just about anything Ted could conceive until help arrived. The blackness had vanished because the Cosmic Rod was instantly vaporized by the incredible surge of absorbed energy. Both Ted and the globe of ice fell towards the ground.

Ted's right hand was badly burned, even through his insulated glove, and it was difficult for him to concentrate on giving mental orders to the Gravity Rod in his left. He managed to slow his fall so the landing wasn't fatal, but on top of his earlier injuries, he was stunned and only semiconscious to witness Pellucidar's own landing.

Well above the ground, the ice sphere vaporized explosively, and underneath was a miniature star, shining a brilliant coppery color! Ted was half blinded, and the heat was searing, even a hundred feet way, through his insulated costume. The star winked out, and Pellucidar floated to the ground, erratically, almost like a falling leaf. She landed not far from the stunned Starman and taunted him as she stood above his stunned form: "Guess you forgot about the Fire part, too, honey!" was the last thing Ted heard before consciousness fled.

Pellucidar's aura was dimmed almost to invisibility, shapeless now and barely larger than she was. Flarequake's glow was now a dull, brown color like a penny that's been in circulation for years. She wearily regarded the unconscious figure before her, a faint smile whispered across her lips, and she turned away. A shaky gesture from Flarequake, and the ground in front of her began to churn, dirt drawing together and reshaping. A large brown horse grew upwards from the churning earth, and Pellucidar awkwardly, painfully, mounted and rode away barebacked.

Pellucidar raced north from no-longer-so-stately Knight Manor astride her magical telluric steed, at a pace no mortal horse could match. As they burst into a clearing in the woods of Susquehanna National Park, the mystical charger was suddenly forced to make a supernatural leap across a unique crater – and Pellucidar quickly brought it to a halt. Flarequake stored Earth and Fire magic, and allowed her to control that magic, but it had to be recharged when the stored magic was expended. Escaping from Starman's icy sphere had effectively exhausted the Scepter's store of fire magic, drastically curtailing her powers, and she needed to recharge it. This singular crater would provide an exemplary setting – once she got rid of the tourists.

Years ago, on this spot, a battle between the villainous super speedster known as the Rival and a gangster known only as Nails, who also had temporary super speed powers, had created this crater. The Rival had used his incredible speed to drill a shaft through the Earth's crust at this point, releasing an up welling of magma, and only the intervention of Captain Triumph had prevented the major catastrophe that would have occurred had a full-scale volcano erupted this close to Opal City*. As it was, what was left was a pit the size of a football field, perhaps 40 feet deep, with sheer rock walls and an almost tile-smooth rock floor. The National Park Service had installed drains to keep the caldera from becoming a pond; Susquehanna Park already had plenty of ponds, but there was no other 'natural' attraction like this crater in any other National Park anywhere in the country.

*Lily De Luna, Investigative Reporter, www.5earths.info/earth-2/showcase-e2-lilydeluna-tp1949/

The earth nearby rumbled, and several giant monsters, formed of boulders magically joined together into vague ape-like shapes, tore their way free of the ground. Dozens of tourists ran screaming into the surrounding woods in terror. The monsters didn't pursue, but instead took up sentry positions around the crater. Satisfied that she would have privacy for the time she would need, Pellucidar climbed down into the crater using one of the stairways the Park Service had constructed.

Once she reached the rocky base of the caldera, stone hands erupted from the floor and walls and tore the wooden man-made structures to flinders. Pellucidar strode to the center and waved Flarequake, and a tiny vent was magically opened through the crust of the earth, once again allowing molten rock to escape the realm of magma deep beneath. The rocky hands piled the wood around the vent. As magma began to seep from the rent in the earth, Pellucidar pushed the pointed bottom end of Flarequake into the vent, where it was magically held upright, then quickly stepped away and watched the wood flare into a bonfire. She seated herself tailor-fashion, calmed her mind, and waited for the fire to burn out. Through her mystical connection to the Scepter, she could actually feel it drawing magical energy from the magma and the flames.

*****

The jagged red energy valise filled with gems and jewelry in tow, Castle had flown off swiftly towards Neward, NJ. Where could he safely stash his loot? From a summer outing with his parents when he was still in grade school, he remembered that there were caves in the Watchung Mountains to the west of the city. Hovering high above the mountains, he'd ordered the ring to give him telescopic vision, and he'd examined the valleys in the range, searching for one that was uninhabited and which contained a small cave. After he landed, he'd discovered that the entrance was a little too small for him to enter easily; he'd channeled his ring's power into his aura, giving him super strength he used to quickly enlarge the opening. Once he'd secreted his loot, he concealed the entrance with the shattered rocks and vegetation he'd gathered from other nearby valleys, and then he'd continued his journey home.

Once he was back in his old neighborhood, Rocky headed for his mother's costume store. He was a super villain now and he needed to look the part! She had just what he needed – though she was going to have to do some dying and tailoring in a hurry; he had plans for this evening in Baltimore, and he wanted to look his best, if she could do the work in time!

Though Rocky hated his mother and the feeling was mutual, he had to admit that her store was awesome! He was surrounded by dozens of mannequins dressed in colorful costumes. In the window, there was a big guy with long blond hair. He was dressed in a blue, form-fitting, sleeveless tunic with four silver discs sewn into the material. Yellow boots and a yellow belt along with a silvered winged helmet and flowing crimson cloak completed the costume. In the mannequin's hand, held as majestically as any kingly scepter, was a huge, hammer. This costume had always made Rocky uneasy – it reminded him too much of Superman. In one corner, there was a mannequin in a purple skintight outfit and cowl, with striped blue and black shorts, a black leather gun belt with two big guns and a domino mask hanging from the belt. Along the back wall were outfits of purple and blue, green, red, and yellow, all of which included bows and quivers of arrows as accessories.

Along one of the side walls were costumes for women. A black one-piece bathing suit with a black leather jacket, high heeled floppy-top black half boots and fishnet tights, a stylized magician's outfit like a blue suit jacket with blue hot pants, a yellow cummerbund, top hat, knee high black high heeled boots and fishnet tights, a one piece red bathing suit with a mask that framed the wearer's face, with a red cape and fishnet tights, a red mini dress with a stylized lightning bolt on the chest, white cape, yellow boots and fishnet tights and more. There was also a counter holding wig mannequins, which were displaying wigs in a wide variety of colors and styles.

In the middle of the room was a big circular rack with even more costumes on hangers. But Rocky was most interested in the mannequins wearing Justice Society costumes along the 4th wall.

His bent gray-haired mother was behind the counter, her back to the store. He slammed the door as he yelled at her. "Hey, you old witch, you're gonna be useful for once in your life!"

She turned and shrieked. "Rocky, you bastard!" she snarled in anger. "You're violating the restraining order. I'm calling the cops!" She turned back to the phone, shrieked again, this time in terror as a red lightning bolt slammed into the phone and shattered it. Her shriek altered in tone as she was struck painfully by fragments of plastic and metal.

"You ain't callin' nobody, ya old bag. I got sumtin I need from ya – and if ya do it right, maybe today won't be the day I pay ya back for all the hell you put me true growin' up."

More blasts of red lightning blasted holes in her counter, and in the wall behind her. She was cowering in fear when he was finished. "I'll do whatever you want... just don't hurt me!"

"Good choice!" Rocky barked in satisfaction. "OK, here's what I want – and I want it fast!"

*****

As he flew to Pennsylvania, Ted was busy solving puzzles, talking to himself quietly. "A cloudy sky shouldn't stop cosmic power. Egri must have built in that weakness, in case Rocky and Bullwinkle and the gang ever tried to get uppity." One down, one to go. He had to solve some thorny integrals and unravel the tangles of a potential temporal paradox before he continued. "The JSA thought Egri was vaporized, but theory suggests that the massive cosmic energy impulse he released blasted him out of space-time and through the time-stream a few years into the future- and incidentally incinerated him."

At least, his thoughts went _something_ like that - Ted is a genius and theoretical physics is his specialty; the mere mortals around him can't always follow his reasoning, even after he explains it in simple terms!

He soon reached a now-familiar (to readers, anyway) Cape Code house in a copse of wood in a Civic City suburb. 'That pile of ashes on the floor must have been Egri,' Ted thought sadly. 'Castle didn't show much respect for his remains.' He utilized one of the Cosmic Rod's minor powers to analyze a small lump of congealed metal lying near the corpse; it contained iron, aluminum, copper, zinc, and just a trace of tungsten. "Must have been the flashlight," he explained to the air while he examined the decrepit instruments strung around the room. "It looks like all the cosmic objects Egri was carrying were vaporized. But there's no way Castle used this junk to make a new ring – so he must be using the original; it must have survived the cosmic impulse. Lucky for us most of that stuff was destroyed - if Castle had super strength, super speed and all those other cosmic powers as well as a power ring, he might be unstoppable!"

Ted had outlived yet another of his contemporaries, yet this time, he didn't feel guilt as he did when they died of old age. If his luck had been a little different, back in the 40s, he could easily be the one dying of old age, but he could never have died because he abused his power. He felt regret that Egri had wasted his genius, but the dead scientist had brought it on himself and Ted felt little sympathy for those whose violent actions backfired on them.

He turned his attention back to the case at hand. The equipment in this lab shouldn't be destroyed; as old and decrepit as it was, it might hold secrets that he could decipher. He contacted Disaster, Inc., the JSA's 'cleanup team', to send a recovery team to box everything up and return it to a lab in JSA HQ. Then he took to the sky again, heading northeast for Neward, NJ, Castle's 'home turf'.

`Would have been faster if I'd gone straight from Gotham to Neward,' Ted thought as he flew northeast from Civic City towards Gotham City. `Still, it's less than an extra hour, and it's worth it knowing that Castle didn't use Egri's gear to cook up another new cosmic weapon.' He ordered the Cosmic Rod to scan for anomalous sources of cosmic radiation, and had to do an abrupt about-face when it indicated a very powerful radiation source southwest of him. 'Probably in Baltimore,' he estimated from the intensity of the readings. 'So I guess I didn't go so far out of the way after all.'

*****

Green Lantern's next stop was Hall Mansion. "Carter's reading Carmela's 'Pellucidar' paper now," Shiera told him as she showed him some tables in a large, controlled-environment workroom. Seemingly changing the subject, she continued: "We've been doing some work for the governments of the Central American countries, cataloging ancient artifacts stolen from that region by a smuggling ring that we busted last week, so they can be returned properly. " A third of the room was filled with packing crates, most of the rest of it with rows of tables. Two of the tables were set up as workstations, with brushes, bottles, cameras, small tools and computers. Most of the tables were covered with small artifacts, placed neatly and systematically, each sitting on a pile of typed pages. "The artifacts on these two tables," she pointed "all have to do with Fire and Earth deities and magic. Maybe your ring can detect some kind of characteristic `magical aura signatures' from them that you can use to track Pellucidar's Scepter of Fire and Earth?"

"If there is ever a chance, I'd really like to examine that Scepter," Carter spoke up, waving a rolled-up scientific journal as he passed out of the room's airlock. "Should tell us a lot about the civilization and culture that produced it. Not surprising that an underground culture would have an interest in controlling Earth and Fire, eh?" He slammed the journal down on an empty table top. "There is nothing in any of Valdez's papers that isn't completely accurate, as far as I can determine. She merely mentioned that Burroughs' fictional milieu of Pellucidar incorporated aspects drawn from known, well-documented subterranean civilizations. No reason for anyone to suggest that was a ridiculous idea; there are at least a dozen known subterranean cultures in the Western Hemisphere alone."

"A dozen?" Alan interrupted his friend, astonished and intrigued. "Name six!" he continued mischievously.

Carter counted on his fingers. "Off the top of my head: Four from North America: Cinthianar, under Metropolis and Enterrados in Texas, both discovered by Superman, Abyssia not far from Gotham City and Murania under New Mexico. On the North American continental shelf, with the entrance deep underwater: Centropolis, discovered by Rip Carter and his young allies, the Boy Commandoes. And there's Mikishawm, near Chile in South America." He paused, looked a little sheepish. "Ah... sorry, could you forget Centropolis? Carter and the boys asked me to keep it a secret." Alan smiled and nodded.

Returning to his original topic, Carter opened the journal to a page marked with a post-it. "This is the paper that caused her problems," he continued, anger deepening his voice. "It references several earlier papers by acknowledged experts in North American archaeology, and directly contradicted theories set forth by some of those same 'experts'. But she was too young, and didn't have the established reputation, to successfully challenge the 'giants' in the field. So they savaged her."

"She stepped on the toes of some of the Good Old Boys," Shiera translated with a sneer. "So the rest of the Old Boys Network defended their own and trashed her. Now she thinks she has a chance to strike back." She continued, her tone changing to reflect sadness. "She feels like she's been crapped on, and her mother before her, for their entire lives, and now she's got the power to get payback. If she wasn't going about it violently, I'd say `Good for her!' because I know what it's like, trying to break into the 'Good Ole Boy' network." She glared at the two men. "But, she _did_ start by trying to murder Ted, and I don't approve. So now you have to bring her in, Alan."

GL was glad she'd said `you' and not 'we'. He'd been worried that the Hawks would volunteer to help him capture Pellucidar, and he wanted to do this himself. "Well, you can't say us old dogs can't learn new tricks - we finally got the message, didn't we, Carter?"

"Yeah, and she's been a fantastic teammate since then, reminding all us `Good Ole Boys' to keep our minds open," Carter hugged his beautiful wife.

"Any insights on things I should look out for?" Alan asked his friends. They spent an hour or so discussing possible manifestations of Fire and Earth magic that Pellucidar might be able to command with Flarequake, then Alan ordered his ring to scan for the magical signatures of Fire and Earth. The ring almost immediately reported a strong match.

"Looks like she's still in Opal City," Alan told his friends after considering the ring's report. "I'd best be going." A green aura formed around him, he phased through the wall, and left a green glowing contrail as he rocketed off to the southeast.

***~~~***

A figure, partially concealed by a sheath of almost blindingly brilliant red flames, flew into the First Bank of Neward, simply ignored everyone in the place, and floated to a stop in front of the vault. The guards fired a couple of rounds but gave up quickly - bullets only bounced dangerously off that pillar of 'flames'. The figure reached into the door, its hands crushing through the hardened steel like it was Styrofoam, and then shrugged, and the door tore free from the vault. A jagged, glowing line of red energy extended from the ghostly figure's right hand into the vault, where it expanded like a balloon being filled - then contracted again, and the pillar of red flame turned and flew out of the bank, pulling behind it a large red ball on the end of a string, like a giant tether ball. When the guards reached the vault, it was empty.

A few seconds later, the same red flame-sheathed figure crashed through the roof of a nearby high school gymnasium. The aura of cool flames and expanded, and the two classes using the gym ran screaming for the doors as the basketball court was enclosed inside the red bubble. The tether ball dissolved, leaving a pile of money on the gym floor. Castle filled a small suitcase he was carrying with as many packets of thousand-dollar bills as he could squeeze in, stuffed a few more into his pockets, and then flew away, leaving behind tens of thousands of dollars. He wondered idly just how much the bank would actually recover?

Now with enough cash for his immediate needs, he hurried to the bar where his former boss normally hung out during the day. (He hadn't resigned yet - but he was about to). He thinned his force field until it was invisible, but would still protect him from bullets, and sat down at the bar. "Hey, Frankie! Can you'se have someone tell Jersey that Castle's here?" You didn't just bust in on Jersey, and Rocky wanted a favor.

"You knows you ain't due 'till T'ursday, Rocky,' the bartender's tone was disapproving. "Joisey's very p'tickular 'bout da schedule. G'wan, beat it!"

Castle dropped a 2 inch thick packet of thousand dollar bills on the bar, pulled two out of the wrapper, handed them to the amazed bartender. "Forget the schedule, Frankie - I make my own schedule now. The rest'a this stack's for Jersey, and another like it, if he can help me set up a deal. Take the rest'a dis stack up witcha ta show him I'm not foolin' around."

"Sure, Rocky, I'll be right back," said the bemused bartender. "Set yourself up if ya want while I'm gone!" Frankie swung open the gate in the bar, slipped past Castle, opened a second door, and hurried up the stairs to Jersey's second-floor office. Rocky poured a shot of the best Scotch the house had to offer - from Jersey's personal stash, not the crap that was served to customers, threw it back before Frankie returned. "He says ta come on up, Rocks!"

"Take my drink outta that 2 thou I gave ya," Castle chuckled. "And keep the change!" The bottle and two shot glasses floated along behind him, attached by an almost invisible pink tether.

*****

Castle stood before a bare desk, the size of a swimming pool. There were a couple of really hot dames sitting on the desk, and it was flanked by two of the largest men Rocky had ever seen. Seated behind the desk was a small, bald man with several scars on his face. His nose was flattened and his cauliflower ears showed evidence of an earlier career in the ring. The seated man had a deep voice which didn't match his appearance at all - and he was angry. "Rocco just told me dat somebody robbed da Bank of Neward, and you show up throwing thousand dollar bills around – you tryin' to get me busted?! And whaddaya doin; knocking over a bank witout ya dinna tell me nuthin'."

Castle cut him off - which never happened, and left Jersey ready to explode. "I don't work for you no more, Joisey. I work for myself now..."

Jersey erupted: "Nobody leaves my gang, least while he's still livin'! Tiny, Jumbo, dis guy needs a lesson."

Suddenly Castle was surrounded by an eerie red fire – totally red flames that flickered and flared, but gave off no heat. Tiny and Jumbo stopped uncertainly. "You'se guys ain't never done me no dirt. So siddown and I won't clobber ya."

The two giants looked at their boss. "You work for me, bozos, not for him!"

They turned back to Castle, who hadn't moved. "Sorry, boys, I tried ta make nice." Twin red bolts flashed out from the red flames and slammed into the chins of the two enforcers with audible crunches. One was knocked completely off his feet, while the other staggered backward several steps. When he started forward again, a lasso of red energy formed around him and held him motionless. The girls had dropped behind the desk and were whimpering in fear, and Jersey had a gun in his hand – a gun that looked almost as big as he did. Castle waved his hand negligently and a streamer of red energy leaped from his hand and knocked that gun away. Castle spoke again, casually, as if nothing had just happened.

"I need to hire some men in Baltimore for a job I'm wanna do there tonight, Jersey, and I knows you got connections there – and I don't." He threw two packets of thousands on the desk. "If you can call your pally down there and arrange for him and, say, 8 guys ta meet me at a place he chooses, da cash is yours. Tell `im I pay good, and I'll personally bust out anyone who gets caught."

He stood up, still surrounded by the crimson flames, and leaned on the desk, then set down the bottle and shot glasses, poured, and pushed one across to Jersey. "You set me up, Jersey, I'll be back for ya, and ya won't like that – but play square and I'll cut ya in on some future deals, and we'll both get rich."

Jersey picked up his shot glass, swirled it at eye level for a second or two, then raised it in a toast. "Here's to gettin' rich!" Both men threw down their shots, and then got down to business.

****

Castle landed several blocks from his mother's store, and once again thinned his aura to invisibility as he walked the rest of the distance. The closed sign was hung on the door, but that didn't stop him – a tiny flare from his ring, and the deadbolt was vaporized. "I'm back, ya old bat! Ya better be done!" he announced loudly as he strode to the back room, where his mother sat at a sewing table.

"Yeah, I'm done," she said sullenly, and indicated a set of clothes on hangers on a rack nearby. "You're gonna look like a real jerk-off, ya know, but don't blame me, it's what you wanted. Now take yer stuff and gettowda here."

"Not so fast, Momsy! Gonna check the fit first, and it better be right!" He pulled his new costume from the rack and stepped into the changing room. When he stepped out, he was wearing a perfectly-tailored pale blue three piece suit, a tie with diagonal blue and black stripes, and a black bowler. Even his mother would have admitted that he looked dashing, except…

He also had on a cape with a high collar. In outline it was similar to Green Lantern's cape. The inside of the cape was black, the black of a cloudless, moonless night sky, speckled with stars – it was almost like the cape had been cut from the sky itself – while the outside was red – the same red as the cosmic energy released by his ring. It was anchored to two red disks mounted on the jacket, over his collarbones, joined with a red chain.

Even through her fear and hatred, 'Momsy' could barely keep from laughing. Instead, she stood up and carefully inspected the fit. "Perfect. Now will you get the hell out of here?"

"In a minute, witch. First, you ain't gonna say nuthin to no one about this, hear?" She nodded, but he wasn't satisfied. Once again, he was suddenly surrounded by bright red, heatless flames. "Just to be sure ya don't ferget..."

He turned slowly in place, his right arm outstretched, and what looked like a stationary lightning bolt attached to his arm swept around the room, cutting through everything it touched - except the walls. Costumes were divided and mannequins were severed, and the remains fell to the floor. Castle laughed heartily, watching this destruction.

"Dis coulda been da whole place," he sneered at his cowering mother. "Or you..."

He threw a packet of thousands on the counter. "Dis oughta cover the costume - and the damage. Just remember - not a word." The living tower of flame seemed to stretch to the ceiling, and then Castle was gone like a rocket, smashing an almost perfectly circular hole through the ceiling, the contents of the attic, and the roof.

High over Neward, Castle ordered his ring to: 'Take me to Baltimore!' - but nothing happened! 'I told it to take me home before, and that worked, why not now?' he thought in alarm. 'Ring, ya better not crap out on me now!' He was a half mile in the air, and almost panicked before he realized he wasn't falling. 'Maybe da ring just don't know where Baltimore is,' he realized in relief.

Actually, Rocky had only a vague idea of Baltimore's location, himself. But he'd been to Baltimore before, on a road trip, and he knew that I-95 South ran through Neward, Civic City, Opal City and eventually into Baltimore. So he would simply follow the Interstate.

Stretch had passed out momentarily from being rolled into a small ball, but as soon as Castle's attention was turned to something else - blasting a hole through the walls and ceiling of the Fourier Hotel - the sphere trying to turn Stretch into a softball had vanished. His powers made him difficult to kill, and he realized he'd been unconscious for only a short time. As he sat up, he wasn't exactly surprised to see the King of Rock and Roll sitting on a laundry basket nearby.

"Hey, Stretch," Elvis greeted him heartily. "Man, you look bluer than my blue suede shoes.”

"Well, it's like this, Big El - I been a lot better, ya know?"

"Yeah, I do. You got beat worse than an Alabama mule with a stubborn streak at plowin' time. Hope you're planning to do better next time!"

"That's the thing, King," Stretch shot back, sounding a little depressed. "I think I've had enough of this job. Not sure they'll be a next time."

"Now listen, son. I know life's tough but I think it's great that you're tryin to turn an honest buck or two. I'm real proud of you for the way you're tryin to take good care of that hunka hunka burnin'love, Maggie, and the kid!"

"Really? YOU're proud of ME?" Stretch was incredulous. "As you just reported so accurately, I just got beat like an Alabama mule! I'm playin outta my league here!"

"Never figgured you for a quitter, son," the King sounded disappointed, "although I've been there myself."

"You?!" Stretch asked, stunned at the revelation.

"When my momma passed, I was ready to call it quits, but Colonel Tom, he set me straight, and that's what I'm gonna do for you. I'll bet if the two of us put our heads together, we can figure out a couple'a tricks that'll surprise that owlhoot! I got me a black belt, you know, and I picked up some dirty fightin tricks from some of the stuntmen in my movies. And you ain't no hound dog yourself, some of the things you learned from your pa, and palling around with the Jr. Injustice Gang. Always gonna be somebody stronger'n you, Stretcheroo, but that don't mean you gotta be a scared rabbit!"

Stretch smiled and stood up, took a single stride to be nearer his friend. "Whatta ya got in mind, Tiger Man?" he asked eagerly. The two talked quietly for a few minutes.

"It looks like you're itchin like a man on a fuzzy tree, Stretcheroo - I think you're ready. Go get 'em!" the King waved his hand at the rest of the world.

"On my way, boss. See you around. Don't be a stranger!" Stretch said over his shoulder, and he stretched through the hole in the ceiling, on his way to find Monk Slade.

*****

"O'Brien, I can't believe you dare come walking back in here!" Slade complained loudly as he walked back into the ShieldBright control room. "You did nothing to stop that super punk from stealing anything he wanted from the show - and then you let him get away!"

"Lissen, big mouth - if you remember, you'd just tossed me outta here, claiming you didn't need my help. Funny, nobody but me even tried to stop that red-flamin' freak. I slowed him down, while you did squat."

As they were arguing, Stretch's arm extended back towards the workstation with the monitor that now showed a heap of nude unconscious thugs, formerly dressed as security guards, now bound with their own hand cuffs. Without even looking, one of Mr. Elastic's fingers unerringly pressed the button that ejected the tape that had recorded his capture and binding of the guards. All of Slade's men had been staring fixedly at their monitors, pretending not to hear the argument, and no one had seen Stretch recover the tape.

On his way back to the control room, he had discovered that the men he'd knocked out were still unconscious, so he'd used their own handcuffs to secure them - he cuffed one arm of each man to a leg of another, cuffing the last man to the first one. Even if they came to, they weren't going anywhere in a hurry! Especially since he'd used a knife to cut off their clothes - just to make sure none of 'em was hiding a key. Then he'd made a quick phone call to his FBI contact - he'd caught these guys, and he was going to get the bonus!

"Speaking of the robber in red, any idea where he is now?" Stretch asked innocently.

"Didn't you see the hole he blasted out of the building? He's long gone, Rubbermaid – and you'd better be gone too!"

Suddenly, the tech whose tape Stretch had swiped noticed a blinking red light on his console. Before he could say anything, the young man was on the move!

"Thanks, Dude!" Stretch yelled at the monitor technician as one leg elongated through the control room door, then snapped back into its normal configuration, yanking Stretch from the room at breathtaking speed. As he raced down the hall with giant strides, his arms snaked out and he snatched two fire extinguishers from the walls.

Outside he paused, thinking quickly. Elvis had made a great suggestion for just this situation, but how was he going to implement it? He wrapped the extinguishers up in his legs and used his arms to slingshot into the air. He quickly shaped his body into an airfoil, then grabbed an extinguisher in each hand, holding them against the underside of his 'wings', using his hands to help streamline the overall shape. He had to form bigger wings than normal to support the weight of the canisters - and even so, he wasn't going to be able to stay aloft as long as he normally did.

Reshaping his eyes for sharper distance vision, he quickly spotted his target about a mile away. The glowing red aura was unmistakable, though he was a little puzzled that his foe seemed to be returning to the Fourier - perhaps he'd decided he'd left too much loot behind on his first visit?

Carefully, Stretch pulled the pins on the fire extinguishers, and quickly reshaped his hands to form nozzles aimed behind him. The thrust produced by the two fire extinguishers discharging was a little uneven and he almost started to tumble before he got the hang of directing his CO2 rockets just right - and then he was zooming through the air, accelerating like a missile!

***~~~***

Stretch was moving faster than he'd ever flown before. In his mind, he could just barely make out a few words of an Elvis song: "Fools rush in...". He shook his head once and concentrated on his flying. He realized that he'd forgotten to put his goggles back on after he'd stretched his head earlier, and he was having trouble seeing his target, plus the weight of the fire extinguishers was starting to affect his flight. Since they were now empty, he swung his arms around and threw them at the flying figure. This disrupted his aerodynamic shape, and the added drag slowed him down abruptly. He didn't see the canisters bounce off the floating figure with no effect.

Before he started to fall, he shaped one of his hands into a giant fist, and slammed the energy shield in front of him with a tremendous punch. Now that he could see better, he was a little surprised; instead of the ragged red fireball, the flier was now surrounded in a transparent reddish-gold aura that had the shape of an eagle. His punch had jarred the flier to a halt, and Stretch had started falling. He reached out and wrapped his arm around the tail of the bird, then let his arm snap back to its normal length, yanking him once again toward his target at high speed, and he landed another giant punch before he realized that the aura he was holding onto was suddenly HOT!

The weren't too far from one of the downtown skyscrapers, so he stretched a single finger into a long thin line and wrapped it around a decorative carving on the building's wall. He started swinging on that 'thread' until he was zooming toward another building, then released his 'finger hold'. As he flew through the air, he twisted and hit the new building's wall with hands and feed. Extruding suction cups on the surfaces of his hands and feet, he stuck to the wall and then started climbing like a human spider!

As he clambered over the edge onto the roof, he looked up and saw a 12' high red bear facing him, one paw pointed in his direction. The bear was transparent, and standing on the roof inside the outline of the bear was a woman, one arm pointed in his direction, holding a staff in that hand. She looked pissed!

'Holy ship!' his thoughts raced as for an instant, time seemed to stand still. 'The color's wrong, the shape's wrong, and the other one was a freepin' guy! Looks like you're back in the crapper, Stretch.' He quickly spoke aloud. "Um... I sorta made a mist...YEEEOWW!" he finished, as she launched a bolt of energy squarely at his head.

He collapsed to the rooftop, still screaming, and the bolt passed above him. It didn't touch him, but it left behind a cloud of faintly glowing energy, like the streak behind a meteor, and he could feel his skin tingling as the mystic energy brushed him. His legs became springs, launching into the air above the roof, and as he was rising, his arm elongated and he grabbed an antenna on the roof behind her. He then contracted his arm, and was snapped at high speed to the antenna, passing over the roaring bear and temporarily out of sight of his opponent.

*****

Pellucidar had been thinking furiously as she tracked Starman's energy discharge. She had barely been able to match his speed, much less overtake him, and in the few minute flight between Opal City and Baltimore, she'd quickly realized that Flarequake had almost managed to use her anger to influence her actions yet again! As her anger faded, she allowed herself to become visible again, and then her magic told her that Starman had finally slowed and then abruptly stopped moving, above the skyscrapers in downtown Baltimore.

Ahead of her, she could see two glowing balls in the sky, one golden and the other blood red. As she concentrated, her vision zoomed in, and she could see Starman, surrounded by his golden aura, apparently confronting a man dressed in a blue suit, with a high collared red cloak and blue bowler, surrounded by a ball of transparent red flames. Suddenly a bolt of red energy blasted from the flaming aura and exploded against the golden aura. Carmela reduced her flight speed, not quite sure what to do.

Concentrating on the nascent fight between Starman and the Cosmic Man, Pellucidar never noticed the approach of the rocket-propelled Elastic Man until a giant human fist slammed into her, jolting her even through her protective aura. Once again, her anger flared, and then she was punched again. When she saw some weird, fleshy tentacles wrapped around her aura, she blasted a single thought at Flarequake: "HOT!!" Her attacker screamed and fell, while she glided to a landing on a nearby roof. When she landed, her aura morphed from the shape of a falcon to the shape of a large bear standing upright on its hind legs.

Only seconds after she set down, a fleshy tentacle flopped over the cornice at the edge of the roof, and then pulsed strangely, and the being (a man?) who had just attacked her swarmed onto the roof. Before he could attack again, she fired an energy bolt, meaning to paralyze him, but he managed to duck out of the way, then leaped high in the air in preparation for another attack.

Carmela's temper flared higher as her opponent flew over her head, coming to a landing behind her. 'How DARE that coward try to attack me from the rear!' her thoughts thundered in her head. She spun to face him, but somehow he had already managed to hide himself. Pellucidar swept her scepter in a broad flat arc, and a brilliant ray flared out, slashing through everything on the roof at waist height - the small structure at the top of the stairs, the housing for the elevator machinery, a couple of industrial-sized air conditioners, a flag pole, some antennas...

The beam itself was silent, but wherever it touched, there was chaos! It cut easily through the wooden stair top landing, and the top half crashed down. By then, the deadly ray was eating through the elevator machinery. The metal disintegrated with hisses and crackles, and alarms started blaring as the elevators started falling. One of the air conditioner compressors exploded, and then the other, and for a few instants, highly compressed Freon blasted into the air, producing weird whistling sounds. The tops of smaller things clattered to the rooftop as well.

Stretch was awed by the destructive power of his new opponent-by-mistake. 'Geez, Big E, I am SO out of my league here!' he spoke silently to his ghostly mentor. 'Lemmy show y'a a neat trick I just came up with, all on my own!'

He was hiding behind the remains of the elevator machinery - he stretched his left pinky , then reshaped the top segment, flattening it and stretching it until the pinky looked like a pink car antenna with a pink, handkerchief-sized flag attached. He cautiously raised his arm above his impromptu temporary battlement, shouting 'TRUCE! I surrender!"

Pellucidar didn't recognize the bizarre replica of a truce flag - for one thing, it wasn't white, for another, Flarequake was once again 'encouraging' her anger. She flicked a laser-like beam at it, and sliced through Stretch's pinky.

"YEEOWWW!!!!!!" Stretch yelled. "Oh boy, does that hurt!" (That's not really what he said, but this is a family magazine). "Guess it wasn't such a frippin neat trick after all!" He dropped back behind his shield and his hand returned to normal – except that there was only the stub of his little finger. There wasn't even any blood. He grabbed the stub with his other hand and pulled, and when he stopped pulling, he had stretched the stump into a replacement finger. "Now I'M MAD!" he yelled. "If you ain't seen me when I'm mad, you ain't seen NUTHIN!"

He stretched his arms in two direction – with his left hand, he picked up the ragged end of a vent pipe that Pellucidar had just blasted loose. With his right, he grabbed the base of an antenna tower that was between him and the glowing villain. His right arm snapped back to normal, and Stretch was yanked towards his opponent at high speed. She fired another blast at him, but he contorted his body to avoid it; then he flipped end for end, and as he whipped past Pellucidar, he whacked her with the pipe. The pipe bounced off her force field, but he saw her jolted backward an inch or so. His legs had changed to springs and he bounced from the retaining wall with a Sproing!, zooming past her even faster than before – and he whacked her again, this time from behind – with a little bit greater effect than his first strike.

Stretch did another unique flip turn, and his leg springs launched him off the remains of the elevator shaft even faster than before. But this time Pellucidar was ready for him. She stepped aside from his bullet-like flight and after he passed her, Flarequake flared. A sphere of energy flashed out and enveloped him around the waist, lifting him just enough that he cleared the retaining wall. The thin line of energy connecting the sphere to Pellucidar snapped taught, jerking Stretch to a halt, and then the sphere split, the halves hinging away from each other, curiously resembling a human fist opening. Pellucidar laughed sharply once, then turned to watch the confrontation between the man who wanted to be known as Castle, the Cosmic Man and Starman.

With no velocity and nothing to support him, Stretch's instinctive fear of falling latched onto him like a bear trap. No, tighter than that - Stretch had in fact easily escaped from a bear trap once. A heartbeat later, and he was flailing in panic as he plunged 11 stories into the man-made canyon of downtown Baltimore.

He was just starting to remember he could glide, and such a fall probably wouldn't hurt him anyway, when a giant green baseball glove materialized beneath him, almost gently breaking his fall.

"You didn't need to do that, you green grandstanding gorilla!" Stretch yelled as he looked to the sky. He flashed his middle finger, expanded to the size of a baseball bat. "I flippin' had it under control!"

"You're welcome, son," Green Lantern answered ironically. "Now, stay out of this!" The glove changed to a human hand, holding Stretch dangling beneath it by thumb forefinger holding his belt, like someone holding a mouse by the tail. He was quickly deposited on the roof of the next building.

Green Lantern landed on the trashed roof where Pellucidar was just preparing to leave. "You're pretty good against inanimate things that can't move and kids," he spoke quietly, swing his arm around to indicate the wreckage on the roof. "Let's just see how you do against a pro!"

***~~~***

"Filppin' super heroes - aways screwin' me over!" Stretch was furious. "I'll show him a thing or three!" As he started making preparations to launch himself back into the battle, he realized that the King was standing between him and his target. If he fired himself out of his current human slingshot configuration, he'd knock down his idol!

"Damnit, Tiger Man! Get outta the way, or I swear I'll knock you on your ass!" he threatened.

"Hey, calm down, son!" Elvis cautioned his protege. "Your real fight ain't with the lady or even the Green Goblin up there. You're gettin' paid to keep the diamonds and jewelry safe - and fightin' the wrong battles won't feed the baby!"

"It's too frippin' late for that, Big E! The glowing red guy's gotta be long gone by now," Stretch said dejectedly, as he returned his body to normal and approached his hero. "Whatta ya want me to do, just quit? That'd sure make you and Maggie proud, wouldn't it?"

"Best remember, son, you caught them other knocked out jailbirds by your lonesome - that don't sound like no quitter to me. You run off now, and Slade will get the bonus – your bonus. Besides," Elvis continued, "who says the red guy's escaped?" He pointed to the south, and Stretch could see glowing balls of red and yellow, swooping through the sky, with yellow and red beams blasting between them, only a few blocks toward the waterfront.

Stretch once again elongated a finger, got an elastic hold on the next building to the south. "Gonna try somethin' new, Big E. Thanks for the pep talk!" He didn't notice, but the King had already vanished, a big smile on his face. Stretch leaped off the building and let his finger line swing him like a pendulum in the direction he wanted to go. "Geronimo!" his exultant shout echoed off the buildings around him. When he reached the top of his upswing, he repeated the trick with the forefinger of his other hand, getting a hold on the next building and releasing his hold on the prior building.

If the citizens of Baltimore could have seen above the glare of street level lights, and happened to look up in the next minute, they would have seen a strange sight - a man swinging rapidly from building to building many stories above North Calvert St. Some of them even heard the swinging figure; Stretch was beating his chest with his free hand, bellowing a roar that most adults would recognize instantly from the movies. "AHHH EEEOOOEEE AHHH EEEOOOEEE AHHH!!!!!!" Every jungle beast roaming loose around the city instantly headed for the waterfront (or would have, if there had been any...)

Unfortunately for Stretch's fun, he could see that the buildings ahead of him were smaller than the ones in the middle of town - he was going to have to give up his Tarzan schtic soon. So at the top of his next swing, he didn't shoot another finger-line to the smaller building; instead he snapped his finger back to him and formed once again into the shape of a glider. He was lucky to catch a thermal which helped him gain altitude while he was still over the city.

'Who's inside that yellow glow? If it's Corona, she'll probably need some help,' he wondered eagerly. 'But I remember her power as being more yellow; this one is almost golden.' His former Jr. Injustice Society teammate Savant (Henrietta King) had tried to make sure all the Jr. Injusticers had at least rudimentary knowledge of their potential foes. A short memory flashed through his mind:

<< "This is Corona," Henrietta said, switching to the next slide, which displayed 6 pictures of the blonde heroine in various poses and activities - flying, standing, projecting energy beams and creating energy constructs.

"WOW, is she HOT!" Stretch had whispered to his buddy Mitch (Bluestreak) Mercury.

In return, Mitch jabbed him with an elbow. "Don't let Maggie hear you say that!" he whispered back.

"It's OK, Mitch." Of course, Maggie had overheard. "She IS hot! Can't believe she took her heroic name from a beer, though - what a bimbo!"

Henrietta had called them back to order, and gave the a quick briefing on the Amber Avenger and her yellow power ring. "Seemingly not as powerful as Green Lantern, but nobody knows if her ring has any vulnerabilities."

She lost Stretch's attention when she switched to the next slide -- some dumb hero or other. >>

As he got closer, he realized that the pale yellow glow surrounded Starman, not Corona. Neither combatant saw or heard him as he approached. They were much higher than Stretch, but over the water there was a strong thermal updraft, so he started to bank and climb. He was just beginning to gain a little altitude when Castle dropped something - something brown and just about the size of a stuffed 55 gallon leaf bag.

The Prince of Putty banked and dived - he had a good idea what this falling object might be; he'd seen Castle dragging it behind him during their brief encounter at the Fourier, wrapped in a red aura. 'He musta forgot about it in the fight, and the power pulling it just shut off - just like he forgot about me when he was bustin' out of the Fourier!' Stretch thought triumphantly. 'I might get outta this smellin' like roses after all! Hope Starman can keep him busy long enough for me to get the loot back to the store. Not that I'm goin' back to help him out. Once I get paid for tonight, I'm through with this hero spit!'

He zoomed underneath the falling bag and enveloped it with his body when it struck him. He reshaped his form for maximum streamlining, dove to gain speed, and leveled off less than 20 feet above the water, flashing toward shore, and out of this story, at high speed.

***~~~***

Ted pulled up sharply and the two men faced each other, each surrounded by a glowing aura, standing on air.

"That was almost impressive, Red Ringer - or is it Ring Ranger? Green Lantern told me that you seem a little confused about your identity."

"What he probably didn't tell you, old man, is that yesterday I whupped that pantywaist good, easy as breathin'. He's years younger than you, and everyone knows your Cosmic Stick is puny compared to his Power Ring." He stood up straighter, crossed his arms, raised his nose, and spoke in a haughty tone, amplified by the power of his ring. "I'm Castle, the Cosmic Man!"

Castle probably couldn't have said anything more likely to anger Ted if he'd planned it. Ted was feeling an unusual amount of angst about his age today and maybe a little jealous that Alan looked like a kid again. Since he'd swapped weapons with Alan, he'd come to realize that not only was the Cosmic Rod better suited for Ted's intellect and personality than the Power Ring, but that it had strengths that Green Lantern's vaunted weapon didn't, and he was tired of hearing that his own weapon was only second-rate. And finally, he'd lost a fight today with another youngster, recently watched his home get trashed, and witnessed the destruction of his most precious possession, the portrait of Doris, his long-dead wife.

"You're wrong, wrong and wrong, Castle," he gritted through clenched teeth. "Three strikes and you're out!" A golden beam of pure force, as dense and powerful as Ted could command blasted from the Cosmic Rod, smashing into the ragged red aura surrounding Castle, and he was slammed backwards. Ted was stunned when the Cosmic Man recovered;– that was as powerful a blow as he'd ever struck! 'That should have put him out cold,' flashed through his mind with dismayed amazement, but then his analytical intellect cut in. 'Egri's technology wasn't advanced enough to withstand that kind of power on its own. There must be something more going on here.'

Castle quickly took advantage of Ted's slight pause and immediately launched his own attack. A red stream of flame blasted from his ring, like some kind of super-powered flamethrower, and exploded on contact with Starman's own golden aura. Giant red flames splashed in every direction, and this time Ted was driven backward. Twin spheres of golden energy appeared in the air to either side of Castle and slammed together against the villain's aura like two balls on a clicker toy, with no apparent effect, then bounced apart and started to swing together again.

Castle leaped forward and swung a roundhouse right. Ted got his own left hand up and managed to block, but the force of the block hurt like hell. He jabbed back with his right. For a few seconds, the two men exchanged blows. Castle strode forward aggressively, driving Ted backward. He didn't notice that Ted was circling so that he retreated towards the waterfront, getting the fight out over the harbor rather than downtown.

Ted fought awkwardly. In all his years as a hero, he had rarely tried to slug it out hand-to-hand with another flier. His super-powered aerial confrontations were usually more along the lines of a dogfight, or exchanges of energy blasts at a distance. And his Cosmic Rod in his left hand interfered with his punches and his blocks. On the other hand, Castle continued to push forward confidently, driving Ted back step-by-step as if he fought like this all the time. Ted changed his tactics – he created a small, round energy shield, similar to the kind the Roman Gladiators had called a Cetratus, with the Cosmic Rod embedded in the shield. Now he could block most of the Cosmic Man's blows with the shield in his left hand, but it was still difficult to punch with his right. Castle continued to push forward. Ted couldn't believe he was having so much trouble with this amateur!

Castle was starting to get a little winded. If a street fight lasted this long, it would be time to take a step back and end it by blowing the other guy away with his pistol. He didn't think his pistol would help much right now, but he DID have his ring, and he suddenly realized how it could give him another added advantage.

As a kid, Castle's favorite hero had been the Human Bomb. He ordered his ring to increase his physical strength and speed, and 'energize' his hands. His new speed enabled him to easily evade Ted's block with his next punch, and there was an explosion when the aura around his fist touched the aura above Ted's stomach. The unexpected super-strength behind the blow, and the added power of the explosion, tossed Ted backward, tumbling out of control. Neither fighter noticed that at the exact instant his hands became energized, the red energy tether supporting Castle's bag of loot vanished, and neither saw it gathered up by Mr. Elastic.

By the time Ted was in control again, Castle was advancing rapidly, striding through the sky - and Ted realized why Castle was better at this aerial boxing match than Ted was - Castle wasn't flying! At least, not in the sense that Ted was flying. Castle's ring was providing him with some sort of invisible platform, and to Castle, he wasn't flying at all - he was standing and moving on solid surface, even though Ted was unable to see that surface.

"This is going to be almost too easy!" Ted smiled to himself. He dropped below Castle's mad rush, creating a golden 'rock' right where he'd been standing. The Cosmic Man tripped and took a tumble, ending up face down on his invisible platform, his arms and legs outstretched.

While Castle was getting to all fours, Ted was using the Cosmic Rod to scan through the electromagnetic spectrum, trying to find the wavelength range that allowed Castle to see his energy platform – there was no way the villain could be that confident if he was walking on transparent air! The platform was opaque in the near infra-red (as Ted had expected), so he commanded the Cosmic Rod to cause his aura to 'blue-shift' one specific frequency of NIR, and now he could see the ghostly outline of Castle's support. Of course, he couldn't know for sure how Castle saw the platform, but if his ring made it appear opaque to the Cosmic Man's eyes, Ted thought he could have some fun with this!

He used the Cosmic Rod to change the appearance of his aura, so he looked like one of the adult ghosts in the Casper cartoons. Then he popped through the platform, waving his arms wildly and screaming "BOOOOO!!!!!!!!" followed by a tongue-wagging-in-coke-bottle sound like the Road Runner made when he stuck out his tongue at the Coyote. The Cosmic Rod amplified his noises, and lowered the pitch, so the air almost shook with the intensity of the bass sounds.

Castle screamed and jumped backwards, leveled his arm, and unleashed his most powerful blast yet. Ted barely dropped safely down under the blast. He quickly moved behind the Cosmic Man, who clearly couldn't see him under his platform. The ghost popped up again behind Castle, booing and screaming, and once again, Castle screamed and swept his arm around in terror, blasting away. Ted barely avoided the blast, and decided he'd had enough `fun'.

So he launched a golden globe which entrapped Castle. The surface of the globe turned flat black; Starman was trying a variation of the tactics he'd used against Pellucidar, suitably modified to stop the Cosmic Man without destroying his replacement Cosmic Rod. Instead of trying to absorb ALL the ambient energy around Castle, Ted focused only on the wavelengths that Castle used to see and the Cosmic Ring needed to function. Castle was wrapped in total darkness, and no cosmic radiation came through the globe for his ring to control. The Cosmic Man was helpless, in something like a sensory deprivation chamber.

After half a minute to let Castle realize his predicament, Ted began to shake the globe vigorously. After a minute of shaking, he used the Cosmic Rod to project his voice inside the sphere. "Not too bad for an `old man' with a `puny Cosmic Stick', eh, Castle?" He chuckled. "Tell you what – I'll stop shaking you around like a baby's rattle when you take of your ring and drop it. Don't worry, I'll know when you do. Better not wait too long! I can do this for hours."

Ted continued to rattle the sphere until Castle couldn't stand it any longer. He removed his ring and dropped it; the ring passed freely through the energy comprising the globe, and Ted caught it, and slipped it into the Cosmic Rod holster on his hip.

***~~~***

(Green Lantern landed on the trashed roof where Pellucidar was just preparing to leave. "You're pretty good against inanimate things that can't move and kids," he spoke quietly, swinging his arm around to indicate the wreckage on the roof. "Let's just see how you do against a pro!")

It seemed to be the day for ring slingers to say stupid things. She had been dismissed like this by the `professionals' in her field, ridiculed by those who had never even met her because her well-reasoned and documented ideas were different than theirs. And here was another self-proclaimed `pro' - someone who had never met her, someone who had no idea what she could do, dissing her. Well, she hadn't had the power to fight back against the powers that be in archaeology, but she had the power to fight back today!

Perhaps fueled by her Scepter's insidious Fire Magic, Pellucidar's anger exploded - and Flarequake responded by releasing a beam of energy that blasted and battered Green Lantern's protective aura, knocking him backward, causing him to tumble out of control until he slammed into the remains of one of the air conditioners that was as large as a tractor trailer. His aura saved him from fatal injuries, but he was stunned and woozy as he slid to the roof. He called on his years of experience and managed to focus his fantastic will power on a single word: "UP!" and he blasted toward the stars like a rocket.

This move took Pellucidar by surprise, and by the time she'd launched herself skyward as well, Alan Scott had a chance to pull himself together.

"Good think Wildcat taught me to roll with the punch, and to cover up when I'm groggy," he said to no one in particular, concentrating on making the words come out right. "I've given her one free shot. I'm sure not going to give her another!"

He leaned backward, kept leaning, with his ring still driving him like a jet, and did a loop, orbiting through 270 degrees and ending up flying horizontally towards his foe. She wasn't used to aerial combat, and was stunned to see him change direction as quickly as he had. He flashed by her and the old `giant boxing glove' slammed into her - and it was now her turn to tumble.

Her aura turned into a giant bird, which spread its wings and regained control of the fight, and then her anger drove her after her foe once more. The two engaged in a curious combat - Green Lantern surrounded by a glowing green aura which flashed brightly when his enemy landed a blow or a beam, while Pellucidar's aura was constantly changing shapes, from one predatory animal to another, to a brute with a club, a warrior with a bow, an armored vehicle. The power of their weapons seemed to be almost evenly matched - the Green Flame of Life flaring from the Power Ring, and the coppery Fire Magic of Flarequake blasting back.

Green Lantern sensed that his weapon was more powerful, but her anger drove her to greater exertions, and his heart really wasn't into fighting this woman; if anything, he felt sympathy for her. He'd been run out of the business he loved by the Psycho Pirate, and he knew how it felt when everyone seemed to be against you. And he felt guilty - maybe she wouldn't have blasted him if he hadn't introduced himself with a wisecrack. Still, she wasn't showing any signs of relenting any time soon.

"Look, I'm sorry about that `pro' crack that started this," the Emerald Guardian spoke through a giant megaphone, while blocking her attacks but not launching any of his own. "We're not accomplishing much up here but battering one another. Why don't we call a truce?"

A coppery-red bolt of energy bounced from his shield in response.

"Listen!" he insisted, "if we keep this up, somebody else could get hurt. Right now, you're responsible for nothing but property damage. I'm sure the JSA would be willing to help put things back together."

He dodged a lightning bolt.

"I've talked to Carter and Shiera Hall, and they told me they'll publish their own paper, citing yours. If two world-renowned archaeologist used your paper as a source, no one would dare mock your work again.”

He saw her react to that; her body jerked, and she responded, roaring like a bear "LIAR! Why would they cite a murderer? I KILLED Ted Knight today. Why should I give a damn if I hurt anyone else?"

"Is that all you're worried about?" he sounded amused, as he used a giant green tennis racket to bat a ball of crackling reddish energy high into the sky. "You didn't kill Ted Knight. He's fine!"

"LIAR! How could you know that?" But for an instant, she stopped attacking.

A voice louder than either of the fighters thundered: "Because I'm Ted Knight!"

***~~~***

Ted flew between the two opponents and pulled back his hood. "Ted Knight, Ms. Valdez. You didn't kill me," he tried to grin, to show her it was OK, "but you did manage to batter me a bit." He was understating the damage he'd taken, but he'd taken a lot worse through the years.

Carmela was still stunned. Her mouth dropped open in a cliché of surprise, her arms dropped to her sides, and her head drooped momentarily. Her aura, which had been a giant bear ready to attack, shrank to a glistening sphere barely large enough to contain her. 'But... but... I killed you! I saw the ceiling collapse on you!" She straightened, but made no aggressive move - yet! Both heroes remained cautious.

"I'm sure you understand that I'm never far from my one of my Cosmic Rods?" Ted didn't think he needed to go into detail explaining that it had actually been an obsolete Gravity Rod. She was nodding thoughtfully, secretly a little jealous that he had more than one, as he continued. "You probably don't remember the fancy lamp on the side table where I ended up," she shook her head, "but I keep a number of my toys scattered around the place."

"But, but, I... I wrecked your house!" she stammered.

"Yeah, you did," he replied. "And you destroyed the painting of my wife!" he added sternly. "I'm pretty pissed abut that, too. But none of that is worth throwing your life away." He paused for a half second. "Especially since Shiera and Carter Hall are anxious to help you restore your reputation.'

"Uhhh - I don't mean to interrupt this fascinating reunion, but... you guys might be surprised the next time you see Ted's so-called 'house'," Green Lantern interrupted with a chuckle. "I can't speak for the painting, but I'm pretty sure there was nothing wrecked that Johnny Thunder’s magic genie T-bolt couldn't fix." Now, he paused for a half second. "Even with Johnny telling him what to do."

He turned to Pellucidar. "I'm really sorry - my thoughtless remark precipitated this whole dust-up. You'd think that after almost 50 years as Green Lantern I'd know better."

This caught Carmela's attention. "You're _really_ the original Green Lantern?" He nodded. "How did you stay so young?"

"Well, sometimes, there are _some_ benefits to being around magic all the time," he replied, while thinking: 'Whew! It looks like she's calmed down.'

"Tell you what - why don't we make a visit to the Justice Society headquarters and see what we can do to straighten out everything else? The JSA actually has some experience dealing with the aftereffects of property damage." 'We should,' he thought... 'We've wrecked a lot of stuff in our battles over the years, and we've never been sued,' "We can fly by Ted's house on the way and see what kind of interior decorator Johnny Thunder makes? I'll bet you'll be collaborating with the Halls by this time tomorrow."

"But... I know Starman's secret identity!" she protested suspiciously. "I can't believe you'd just let me go. Even if you trust me, I don't know if I can keep that kind of secret. I've always had a terrible temper, and when I lose my temper I don't have much control over what I say. And," she sighed, considered, decided it would be best to tell them before they discovered it the hard way: "something in Flarequake's magic seems to make my anger worse. It's like the magic is in control, not me, and the magic needs to be used - violently. Against things, if there are no people available."

"I can probably help you with that," Green Lantern assured her. "One of my friends discovered a way to use his Power Ring to protect his mind, so no outside force can ever control him. It works for me, too - and during our battle, my Ring analyzed the magic used by your Scepter, and there are a lot of similarities between your coppery energy and my green energy. I'll bet the Earth magic can protect you from the Fire magic."

"About the identity thing," Ted added, judiciously, "everyone knows the Hawks' secret, and they seem to be doing OK. I never expected to keep it a secret for so long anyway." He pulled his hood back up, and she was astonished to see his features blur slightly; the man in the hood was recognizably NOT Ted Knight. "Maybe people won't believe it, anyway."

"Maybe _I_ can do something about that," Carmela responded. "I know Flarequake can affect minds - maybe I can order it to erase your identity from my memory."

"I wouldn't recommend that," GL warned. "Messing around with your memory can have unexpected effects on your mind - and your life!" He was thinking of the shock he'd undergone when he met Jade and Obsidian - his children from a marriage he didn't even remember.

Carmela nodded, but didn't reply. It seemed clear to all three of them that she was going to ignore Alan's advice. There was a bit of uncomfortable silence, broken by Starman:

"Let's go see how badly Johnny managed to mess up my living room!"

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