Post by redsycorax on Feb 25, 2023 1:42:42 GMT
Earth-500's Flash, Tanaka Rei, has a rogues gallery analogous to his Earth-One equivalent- but also with some decided differences...
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ROGUES CEMETERY:
Lisa Sharif sat on the park bench, the wind whipping her blonde hair around her face as she stared down at her brother's grave. She tried telling herself that it wasn't his fault, that Lon would still be alive if he hadn't been driven to constant experimentation out of his desire to prove something against the Flash. It was all so damned complex and messy, given how damaged the two of them were by their abusive police officer father's repeated abuse and battery of both of them. But at least he wasn't hurting now. In fact, he wasn't feeling anything. Then she heard footsteps and a familiar mohican-haired figure stood next to her: "Hey, babe..."
"Roscoe. Hold me. Please." He had mentored her in her development of her abilities and she felt safe with the tall black man and fellow rogue.
"I'm so sorry, Lee. If I hadn't been out of the city fighting those Young Defenders baby heroes, I would have made it back. I owed it to Lon. He had my back for years."
"Damn the Flash! Damn him to hell! He had to keep pushing, didn't he? Except he wasn't the real one to blame. You know who I mean and the party chiefly responsible is gonna pay because...because, I've lost my brother. I... Roscoe, it hurts. It hurts so much."
"How long have you been here?"
"Since the funeral. At least two hours. I don't know. I lost track of time."
"Listen, some of the other rogues are holding a wake for him. Please. You're one of us. We miss and mourn him too. We don't want you to be alone at a time like this."
"I know you don't, Roscoe. I've never been in any doubt of that." The two lost souls kissed, then Lisa Sharif let Roscoe Dillon lead her away from her brother's graveside, even if the dull ache inside her would never really leave.
REI RESIDENCE:
"Good gosh! Hoshi, Captain Cold died of his injuries."
"Don't you dare blame yourself for this, Tanaka Rei. He's tried to severely injure you on numerous occasions and he was reckless about using his cryogenic technology anyway."
"I know, but... somehow, I could have reached him. I could have pleaded with him to stop before it ended up taking his life."
"Sweetheart, please. I know that it's got to hurt, because you're a decent, moral man and you extend that to your enemies. But they have to take personal responsibility for their actions and the consequences that follow in their wake. Lon Sharif is gone because he couldn't stop using that technology to combat you as the Flash and because he had competition for the MO from that new mob enforcer enemy of yours, Chillblaine. Unfortunately, this probably won't be the end of it. What about Sharif's sister, Goldenwing?"
"No-one's seen her for weeks. She must be hurting, honey."
"Tanaka, like her brother, she chose that life. I'm not going to cut her any slack just because she's female. She's a convicted criminal and she's in love with another of your enemies, the Top. They're on the wrong side of the law and as far as I'm concerned, that's that. As a human being, I feel for her. But as the Flash's wife, she's one of your enemies and that makes her one of mine too."
"There are times you can tell you're a cop's kid and a police scientist, darling."
"And proud of it. Now come on, help me put the kids to bed and we can talk some more about this."
ROGUES LAIR:
When Lisa and Roscoe walked in, their friends and fellow rogues clustered around then:
"Hey, Lee. God, I'm so sorry." Mirror Master embraced his colleague.
"Thanks, Sean. Roscoe here was right. It's good to be amongst friends right now."
"If there's anything we can do..." Sean Scudder asked
Lisa had obviously been thinking about exactly that: "Yes, there is. Does the Lair have a cache of Lonny's cryogenic equipment?"
Mirror Master and Weather Wizard exchanged glances: "Are you sure about this, Lee?"
"Yes, Jordan, I am. I won't let Lon's memory die. It's time I stopped being Goldenwing and stepped into Lon's shoes. Sean, Jordan, Roscoe, Jack [Jesse: Trickster-ed], Shelly [Rory: Heat Wave], Oren [Mercer: Captain Boomerang]..." Lisa disappeared into the Rogues equipment room and there was the sound of reactivated cryogenic equipment and the changing of clothes.
"Hell, yeah," Shelly Rory (Heat Wave) applauded, "go, sister! It's about damn time there were more female Rogues in this outfit!"
..."Meet the new Captain Cold."
KEYHOLE CITY:
"Hello, Mark."
Chillblaine turned and swallowed. Standing in the doorway was a familiar silhouette, but transformed.
"Jack!!!" Mark (Chillblaine) Blaine was panicking. He had never the most intelligent member of the Flash's wider rogue's gallery and he wondered where his interim boss, the drug racketeer Jack Monteleone, had concealed himself. Unlike his erstwhile employee, Monteleone had taken one hard look at the expression on Lisa Sharif's face and the new uniform that she wore and decided, for once, that discretion was the better part of valour. He had locked the door to his panic room and cowered there as Captain Cold strode forth:
"It's been a long time. More specifically, since you stole Lonny's equipment and forced him to make do with the patch job he was using when he died the last time he went up against the Flash."
"So why are you here, Lee?" Chillblaine had backed into Monteleone's desk, unsettled at the angry and vengeful expression on the new Captain Cold's face:
"You said you loved him, but you were responsible for the series of events that led to his death. You worthless, treacherous dungheap. He should never have broken up with Terry the Cat up in Gotham. At least he really loved him. But enough of that. Blaine- I've decided the Central-Keyhole area isn't large enough for two of us with the same modus operandi. So I'm giving you a choice. Either hand over the equipment you stole...now! Or face the consequences."
"Make me!" Mark Blaine had no idea of the risk he was running, as anger, arrogance and greed coursed through him, clouded his judgment and overpowered his fear.
"Believe me, I'm sorry it had to come to this. As a rule, we rogues don't kill. If this were a simple matter of theft..."
"You take this cryotech over my dead body!" Chillblaine went for his cryoblaster, but Lisa Sherif was the sister of the late Captain Cold and his successor. Whether Mark Blaine realised that logically meant that Lon Sharif had rigorously trained his sister for such a contingency as this, Lisa proved too fast for him. Monteleone's office exploded outward into frozen shards. Amidst the chaos was a series of pieces of frozen meat. Captain Cold walked from the office and past Jack Monteleone's panic room, mission accomplished. Then, she glanced at the open door and saw the bundles of bagged heroin there and shook her head. While Lon and she were on opposite sides of the law to their alcoholic and abusive police officer father, they both had some moral parameters in their lives and hard drugs weren't part of that package. One of the reasons she'd never approved of Chillblaine and Lon's relationship was Mark's addiction to hard drugs and what he'd do to satisfy it. Captain Cold turned and blanketed the room with cryoblast. The street value of the heroin would have run into millions, but she wasn't going to let it get there.
CENTRAL CITY POLICE DEPARTMENT:
"It's Hoshi. I think you'd better get down here, fast."
Hoshi Rei was a police scientist and no-one thought twice about the fact that she was calling her journalist husband Tanaka at Central City Pictorial News, except for the fact that she hadn't used his name because she was contacting his alter ego instead. Tanaka Rei ran into an alleyway and his red and yellow emblazoned uniform surged from an otherwise inconspicuous ring on his hand. In a matter of seconds, he had assumed his heroic identity and had sped across the city to meet his wife:
"Doctor Rei? It sounded urgent."
"Flash, we got called in to Keyhole. To be more specific, Jack Monteleone's former headquarters."
Her husband's brow furrowed: "What do you mean, former?"
"I think you'd better prepare yourself, Flash. And no, this wasn't an interneccine drug war either. Monteleone has left the Central-Keyhole metro area and very considerately provided us with video footage of what transpired."
As the CCTV footage played back, the Flash's eyes widened as he took in the spectacle of the confrontation between Chillblaine and the new Captain Cold, and the grisly denouement:
"That's Lisa Sherif! So she's succeeded her brother? Blazes, Doctor. She's murdered Mark Blaine."
"Exactly. See that frozen meat pile on the morgue slab? That used to be Blaine."
"So this is payback for his stealing Lon Sherif's cryo tech?"
"Looks like it. Be careful, Flash. None of them have ever killed before, but she looks every bit as dangerous as her late brother."
CENTRAL CITY DOWNTOWN:
At the Central City First Bank, news of what had happened had preceded the new Captain Cold as she and Heat Wave held up the First Central Metropolitan Bank:
"Lisa Sherif!"
Captain Cold turned and scowled: "Looks like we have company, Shelly."
"Well, well. The Flash and the Lantern. Hello, boys."
Green Lantern cleared his throat: "Look, on one level, I understand why you hated Chillblaine, but vigilante retribution isn't any solution."
"Even if we are grateful for the fact that you closed down that drug den. Extenuating circumstances."
"Come off it, Flash. If you think I have any confidence that I'll get a fair trial in this city, you're dreaming."
"Seriously, it's good to know that you despise hard drugs as much as I do. Please. Don't do this. Come in quietly."
"I see. You think that just because I'm new in this gig, I'll be less proficient than my brother was? Wrong, speedster!"
As a cryoblast leapt toward them, Green Lantern's power ring provided a suitable shield barrier for them both.
Heat Wave motioned toward them: "I'll take the Lantern, the Speedster's yours."
"Sorry for getting you into this, Shelly."
"Lee, honey, we're Rogues. We've got each others back."
"Appreciate it, Heat Wave."
As the two women separated, Shelly Rory levelled her flaregun at Green Lantern, who shook his head:
"Haven't you learnt anything, Heat Wave? The ring is impervious to anything you have to hand."
"Yeah, well, Lantern, I also happen to know that you're newer at this than old scarlet britches over there. And me? I've been doing this for years."
As the two of them joined battle, Jose Hernandez concentrated intently on his task: "Do you really approve of the fact that Sherif murdered a man in cold blood?"
Heat Wave sneered: "Hey, Blaine had it coming, ripping off Lonny like that. We Rogues have an honour code. And because of that, Lonny used second-rate cryo tech against the speedster. He died because of that. Worse still, Blaine strung Lonny along to get his hands on Lonny's cryo. Esprit de corps and all that. ...Okay, I take it back. You're good, ringwielder."
"Flattery will get you nowhere, flamer." Although Heat Wave was a strong and determined woman, Jose Hernandez was the Green Lantern of Earth and had been selected for his indomitability and strength of will. Eventually, that told, as slowly but steadily, his power beam made progress against her heat blasts. Ultimately, it was enough to cause blowback and knock Heat Wave off her feet and against a wall.
As Captain Cold noted the setback, she turned up the intensity of her cryogenic assault against the Flash while Green Lantern hauled the unconscious Heat Wave off to CCPD Headquarters Metahuman Villains Detention Unit. As rapidly as the Flash moved, he was impressed at Captain Cold's grit and determination:
"I don't want this to end badly for you."
"I killed a man, Flash. I don't want to kill you too, nor do I blame you for what happened to Lonny. But we're on opposite sides. Nothing can change that."
"So you're not stone cold about it? Please, Lisa. You don't have to prove yourself. Whether as Goldenwing or Captain Cold, you're a match for me. You're every bit as formidable as your brother."
Captain Cold nodded: "Yeah, thanks for that, speedster. Sorry it has to come to this." Whatever else Lisa Sherif may have had to say at that moment was lost as a yellow blur coursed onto the scene and sideswiped Captain Cold, knocking her out. As Toshiko Sato- Ms. Flash- decelerated, her uncle smiled at her:
"Sudden assist, but much appreciated."
"Wow, so Frosty's a female now? Hey, isn't that Goldenwing?"
The Flash nodded: "Yeah. While you and the other Young Defenders were away on that Tamaran mission, Lon Sharif had to use second hand cryo tech against me. It ended up killing him. Goldenwing, his sister Lisa, took over as Captain Cold in his place. She also killed Mark Blaine, the Monteleone mob enforcer known as Chillblaine."
"Ms Frosty there is a murderer?"
"Yes, although she also iced out a major drug shipment. Which probably means that her actions will get dialed down to manslaughter as an extenuating circumstance. I'm okay with that."
EPILOGUE 1:
Lisa Sherif, the new Captain Cold, sat in her cell, biding her time. Strangely enough, despite her ordeal of the last few weeks, she had a smile on her face. She caught a motion out of the corner of her eye and picked it up. In her hands, she held a silver top:
"For me? Oh, Roscoe, sweetheart. You shouldn't have." Lisa Sherif kissed the top gently and hugged it close to her. At least she'd made Blaine pay. Even if it wouldn't bring Lonny back.
EPILOGUE 2:
But truth to tell, Lisa Sherif wasn't the only one intimately affected by the untimely death of her brother, although the other's response was completely different. In a gay bar in Gotham, a redhaired man sat listening to REM's Everybody Hurts and nursed a beer in his hands. Underneath his glass, there was a photograph of Lon Sharif and himself, taken in what might be charitably called a simpler time, although not necessarily more innocent. Terry was getting plastered, well and truly. And he was crying, as much from the good memories as the bad ones. After the bar closed, he stumbled down the street and somehow found his way back to his solitary apartment. He spent a restless night, tossing and turning. However, in the morning, things were a lot clearer. He wished he'd been able to get through to Lonny before they broke up, to divert him from the path he was on. And damn it, he wouldn't go the same way.
A Daily Planet headline lay almost unnoticed on the bed. In it, the Justice Alliance attended the funeral of Hermes Trismegistus, with a close-up photograph of the grieving Green Lantern.
In days to come, their lives would become closely interwoven.
THE END
[12.10 PM, FEBRUARY 27, 2023]
++
ROGUES CEMETERY:
Lisa Sharif sat on the park bench, the wind whipping her blonde hair around her face as she stared down at her brother's grave. She tried telling herself that it wasn't his fault, that Lon would still be alive if he hadn't been driven to constant experimentation out of his desire to prove something against the Flash. It was all so damned complex and messy, given how damaged the two of them were by their abusive police officer father's repeated abuse and battery of both of them. But at least he wasn't hurting now. In fact, he wasn't feeling anything. Then she heard footsteps and a familiar mohican-haired figure stood next to her: "Hey, babe..."
"Roscoe. Hold me. Please." He had mentored her in her development of her abilities and she felt safe with the tall black man and fellow rogue.
"I'm so sorry, Lee. If I hadn't been out of the city fighting those Young Defenders baby heroes, I would have made it back. I owed it to Lon. He had my back for years."
"Damn the Flash! Damn him to hell! He had to keep pushing, didn't he? Except he wasn't the real one to blame. You know who I mean and the party chiefly responsible is gonna pay because...because, I've lost my brother. I... Roscoe, it hurts. It hurts so much."
"How long have you been here?"
"Since the funeral. At least two hours. I don't know. I lost track of time."
"Listen, some of the other rogues are holding a wake for him. Please. You're one of us. We miss and mourn him too. We don't want you to be alone at a time like this."
"I know you don't, Roscoe. I've never been in any doubt of that." The two lost souls kissed, then Lisa Sharif let Roscoe Dillon lead her away from her brother's graveside, even if the dull ache inside her would never really leave.
REI RESIDENCE:
"Good gosh! Hoshi, Captain Cold died of his injuries."
"Don't you dare blame yourself for this, Tanaka Rei. He's tried to severely injure you on numerous occasions and he was reckless about using his cryogenic technology anyway."
"I know, but... somehow, I could have reached him. I could have pleaded with him to stop before it ended up taking his life."
"Sweetheart, please. I know that it's got to hurt, because you're a decent, moral man and you extend that to your enemies. But they have to take personal responsibility for their actions and the consequences that follow in their wake. Lon Sharif is gone because he couldn't stop using that technology to combat you as the Flash and because he had competition for the MO from that new mob enforcer enemy of yours, Chillblaine. Unfortunately, this probably won't be the end of it. What about Sharif's sister, Goldenwing?"
"No-one's seen her for weeks. She must be hurting, honey."
"Tanaka, like her brother, she chose that life. I'm not going to cut her any slack just because she's female. She's a convicted criminal and she's in love with another of your enemies, the Top. They're on the wrong side of the law and as far as I'm concerned, that's that. As a human being, I feel for her. But as the Flash's wife, she's one of your enemies and that makes her one of mine too."
"There are times you can tell you're a cop's kid and a police scientist, darling."
"And proud of it. Now come on, help me put the kids to bed and we can talk some more about this."
ROGUES LAIR:
When Lisa and Roscoe walked in, their friends and fellow rogues clustered around then:
"Hey, Lee. God, I'm so sorry." Mirror Master embraced his colleague.
"Thanks, Sean. Roscoe here was right. It's good to be amongst friends right now."
"If there's anything we can do..." Sean Scudder asked
Lisa had obviously been thinking about exactly that: "Yes, there is. Does the Lair have a cache of Lonny's cryogenic equipment?"
Mirror Master and Weather Wizard exchanged glances: "Are you sure about this, Lee?"
"Yes, Jordan, I am. I won't let Lon's memory die. It's time I stopped being Goldenwing and stepped into Lon's shoes. Sean, Jordan, Roscoe, Jack [Jesse: Trickster-ed], Shelly [Rory: Heat Wave], Oren [Mercer: Captain Boomerang]..." Lisa disappeared into the Rogues equipment room and there was the sound of reactivated cryogenic equipment and the changing of clothes.
"Hell, yeah," Shelly Rory (Heat Wave) applauded, "go, sister! It's about damn time there were more female Rogues in this outfit!"
..."Meet the new Captain Cold."
KEYHOLE CITY:
"Hello, Mark."
Chillblaine turned and swallowed. Standing in the doorway was a familiar silhouette, but transformed.
"Jack!!!" Mark (Chillblaine) Blaine was panicking. He had never the most intelligent member of the Flash's wider rogue's gallery and he wondered where his interim boss, the drug racketeer Jack Monteleone, had concealed himself. Unlike his erstwhile employee, Monteleone had taken one hard look at the expression on Lisa Sharif's face and the new uniform that she wore and decided, for once, that discretion was the better part of valour. He had locked the door to his panic room and cowered there as Captain Cold strode forth:
"It's been a long time. More specifically, since you stole Lonny's equipment and forced him to make do with the patch job he was using when he died the last time he went up against the Flash."
"So why are you here, Lee?" Chillblaine had backed into Monteleone's desk, unsettled at the angry and vengeful expression on the new Captain Cold's face:
"You said you loved him, but you were responsible for the series of events that led to his death. You worthless, treacherous dungheap. He should never have broken up with Terry the Cat up in Gotham. At least he really loved him. But enough of that. Blaine- I've decided the Central-Keyhole area isn't large enough for two of us with the same modus operandi. So I'm giving you a choice. Either hand over the equipment you stole...now! Or face the consequences."
"Make me!" Mark Blaine had no idea of the risk he was running, as anger, arrogance and greed coursed through him, clouded his judgment and overpowered his fear.
"Believe me, I'm sorry it had to come to this. As a rule, we rogues don't kill. If this were a simple matter of theft..."
"You take this cryotech over my dead body!" Chillblaine went for his cryoblaster, but Lisa Sherif was the sister of the late Captain Cold and his successor. Whether Mark Blaine realised that logically meant that Lon Sharif had rigorously trained his sister for such a contingency as this, Lisa proved too fast for him. Monteleone's office exploded outward into frozen shards. Amidst the chaos was a series of pieces of frozen meat. Captain Cold walked from the office and past Jack Monteleone's panic room, mission accomplished. Then, she glanced at the open door and saw the bundles of bagged heroin there and shook her head. While Lon and she were on opposite sides of the law to their alcoholic and abusive police officer father, they both had some moral parameters in their lives and hard drugs weren't part of that package. One of the reasons she'd never approved of Chillblaine and Lon's relationship was Mark's addiction to hard drugs and what he'd do to satisfy it. Captain Cold turned and blanketed the room with cryoblast. The street value of the heroin would have run into millions, but she wasn't going to let it get there.
CENTRAL CITY POLICE DEPARTMENT:
"It's Hoshi. I think you'd better get down here, fast."
Hoshi Rei was a police scientist and no-one thought twice about the fact that she was calling her journalist husband Tanaka at Central City Pictorial News, except for the fact that she hadn't used his name because she was contacting his alter ego instead. Tanaka Rei ran into an alleyway and his red and yellow emblazoned uniform surged from an otherwise inconspicuous ring on his hand. In a matter of seconds, he had assumed his heroic identity and had sped across the city to meet his wife:
"Doctor Rei? It sounded urgent."
"Flash, we got called in to Keyhole. To be more specific, Jack Monteleone's former headquarters."
Her husband's brow furrowed: "What do you mean, former?"
"I think you'd better prepare yourself, Flash. And no, this wasn't an interneccine drug war either. Monteleone has left the Central-Keyhole metro area and very considerately provided us with video footage of what transpired."
As the CCTV footage played back, the Flash's eyes widened as he took in the spectacle of the confrontation between Chillblaine and the new Captain Cold, and the grisly denouement:
"That's Lisa Sherif! So she's succeeded her brother? Blazes, Doctor. She's murdered Mark Blaine."
"Exactly. See that frozen meat pile on the morgue slab? That used to be Blaine."
"So this is payback for his stealing Lon Sherif's cryo tech?"
"Looks like it. Be careful, Flash. None of them have ever killed before, but she looks every bit as dangerous as her late brother."
CENTRAL CITY DOWNTOWN:
At the Central City First Bank, news of what had happened had preceded the new Captain Cold as she and Heat Wave held up the First Central Metropolitan Bank:
"Lisa Sherif!"
Captain Cold turned and scowled: "Looks like we have company, Shelly."
"Well, well. The Flash and the Lantern. Hello, boys."
Green Lantern cleared his throat: "Look, on one level, I understand why you hated Chillblaine, but vigilante retribution isn't any solution."
"Even if we are grateful for the fact that you closed down that drug den. Extenuating circumstances."
"Come off it, Flash. If you think I have any confidence that I'll get a fair trial in this city, you're dreaming."
"Seriously, it's good to know that you despise hard drugs as much as I do. Please. Don't do this. Come in quietly."
"I see. You think that just because I'm new in this gig, I'll be less proficient than my brother was? Wrong, speedster!"
As a cryoblast leapt toward them, Green Lantern's power ring provided a suitable shield barrier for them both.
Heat Wave motioned toward them: "I'll take the Lantern, the Speedster's yours."
"Sorry for getting you into this, Shelly."
"Lee, honey, we're Rogues. We've got each others back."
"Appreciate it, Heat Wave."
As the two women separated, Shelly Rory levelled her flaregun at Green Lantern, who shook his head:
"Haven't you learnt anything, Heat Wave? The ring is impervious to anything you have to hand."
"Yeah, well, Lantern, I also happen to know that you're newer at this than old scarlet britches over there. And me? I've been doing this for years."
As the two of them joined battle, Jose Hernandez concentrated intently on his task: "Do you really approve of the fact that Sherif murdered a man in cold blood?"
Heat Wave sneered: "Hey, Blaine had it coming, ripping off Lonny like that. We Rogues have an honour code. And because of that, Lonny used second-rate cryo tech against the speedster. He died because of that. Worse still, Blaine strung Lonny along to get his hands on Lonny's cryo. Esprit de corps and all that. ...Okay, I take it back. You're good, ringwielder."
"Flattery will get you nowhere, flamer." Although Heat Wave was a strong and determined woman, Jose Hernandez was the Green Lantern of Earth and had been selected for his indomitability and strength of will. Eventually, that told, as slowly but steadily, his power beam made progress against her heat blasts. Ultimately, it was enough to cause blowback and knock Heat Wave off her feet and against a wall.
As Captain Cold noted the setback, she turned up the intensity of her cryogenic assault against the Flash while Green Lantern hauled the unconscious Heat Wave off to CCPD Headquarters Metahuman Villains Detention Unit. As rapidly as the Flash moved, he was impressed at Captain Cold's grit and determination:
"I don't want this to end badly for you."
"I killed a man, Flash. I don't want to kill you too, nor do I blame you for what happened to Lonny. But we're on opposite sides. Nothing can change that."
"So you're not stone cold about it? Please, Lisa. You don't have to prove yourself. Whether as Goldenwing or Captain Cold, you're a match for me. You're every bit as formidable as your brother."
Captain Cold nodded: "Yeah, thanks for that, speedster. Sorry it has to come to this." Whatever else Lisa Sherif may have had to say at that moment was lost as a yellow blur coursed onto the scene and sideswiped Captain Cold, knocking her out. As Toshiko Sato- Ms. Flash- decelerated, her uncle smiled at her:
"Sudden assist, but much appreciated."
"Wow, so Frosty's a female now? Hey, isn't that Goldenwing?"
The Flash nodded: "Yeah. While you and the other Young Defenders were away on that Tamaran mission, Lon Sharif had to use second hand cryo tech against me. It ended up killing him. Goldenwing, his sister Lisa, took over as Captain Cold in his place. She also killed Mark Blaine, the Monteleone mob enforcer known as Chillblaine."
"Ms Frosty there is a murderer?"
"Yes, although she also iced out a major drug shipment. Which probably means that her actions will get dialed down to manslaughter as an extenuating circumstance. I'm okay with that."
EPILOGUE 1:
Lisa Sherif, the new Captain Cold, sat in her cell, biding her time. Strangely enough, despite her ordeal of the last few weeks, she had a smile on her face. She caught a motion out of the corner of her eye and picked it up. In her hands, she held a silver top:
"For me? Oh, Roscoe, sweetheart. You shouldn't have." Lisa Sherif kissed the top gently and hugged it close to her. At least she'd made Blaine pay. Even if it wouldn't bring Lonny back.
EPILOGUE 2:
But truth to tell, Lisa Sherif wasn't the only one intimately affected by the untimely death of her brother, although the other's response was completely different. In a gay bar in Gotham, a redhaired man sat listening to REM's Everybody Hurts and nursed a beer in his hands. Underneath his glass, there was a photograph of Lon Sharif and himself, taken in what might be charitably called a simpler time, although not necessarily more innocent. Terry was getting plastered, well and truly. And he was crying, as much from the good memories as the bad ones. After the bar closed, he stumbled down the street and somehow found his way back to his solitary apartment. He spent a restless night, tossing and turning. However, in the morning, things were a lot clearer. He wished he'd been able to get through to Lonny before they broke up, to divert him from the path he was on. And damn it, he wouldn't go the same way.
A Daily Planet headline lay almost unnoticed on the bed. In it, the Justice Alliance attended the funeral of Hermes Trismegistus, with a close-up photograph of the grieving Green Lantern.
In days to come, their lives would become closely interwoven.
THE END
[12.10 PM, FEBRUARY 27, 2023]
