by Libbylawrence
Later, at the Meta-Human Rehabilitation Agency, Captain Comet spoke in great detail to Lyla, alias Harbinger. “Mayflower is fine, but she seems so alien. She calls herself Blossom and refuses to wear clothes — just that flowered bikini as a reluctant compromise. We may end up losing her to Floronic Man’s madness. I also wonder what this Conjunction the Enchantress spoke of means. Lesla says it was an effort to rid Earth of scientific or natural order.”
“What of the Red Tornado?” asked Lyla.
“I mean to fix him. It’s going to take a combination of magic and science. From what Firestorm told me over the phone, an elemental being called the Tornado Champion originally gave him his heroic life. (*) If it is out there, it’ll take magic to track it. Science will fix the inert body shell. Call Doc Magnus for me, okay?”
[(*) Editor’s note: See “Secret of Genesis,” Justice League of America #193 (August, 1981).]
“I’m on it,” said the efficient blonde.
***
Karin Grace was enjoying every use of her newfound power as Goldstar. The Star-Band allowed the lively blonde to generate energy, create energy constructs, and summon the seemingly limitless Starlings who obeyed her every whim. Perhaps even Rick Flag would start to actually look at her in a new and romantic light, now that she was more than merely his loyal chief administrator and medic.
She had mastered the device during an untold adventure with Valor in another dimension ruled by a madman named Dax, whom Supergirl had once fought before. (*) That event had been the cause of their delay in helping Captain Comet beat the latest Secret Society of Super-Villains team.
[(*) Editor’s note: Supergirl’s battle with Dax was depicted in Supergirl #5 (June, 1973).]
As for the blonde beauty Lesla-Lar, Valor had happily accepted Captain Comet’s offer to serve as the new science consultant to his team, and the Kandorian hoped to use her advanced science for the good of the team. She marveled that lab work could still hold her attention now that she had been embraced by her team and the media at large as the world’s latest super-heroine sensation. The acclaim and adventure had jolted her out of her delusion that she was Supergirl. She still shared most of the late Maid of Steel’s knowledge based on the time she had observed her former foe as an unseen energy-based being. She was still also her exact twin, except for the purple and pink stylings of her own minidress.
She had never established the civilian identity of Leslie Larson outside of the MHRA as she’d planned, but then who had the time for a secret identity these days? The powerful Enchantress, Super-Scavenger, and Knockout were still at large and up to no good. Plus, she had been trying to restore the inert android called the Red Tornado with no luck. Perhaps that would change now that Dr. Will Magnus was here to add his robotic insights. As the creator of the famed robotic team called the Metal Men, the brusque scientist did know his machines and could surpass Lesla in that particular field. His companion, a silvery, shapely female robot named Platinum, also nicknamed Tina, hovered over him adoringly while he worked.
“Oh, Doc, if anyone can save him, I just know you can,” Tina gushed.
Ignoring her, he continued working quietly. “I can do no more,” said Dr. Magnus. “He’s mechanically sound, but lacks… some spark… some vital essence.”
“I guess it’s that elemental that gave him animation before,” said Lesla. “How do we get that benign Tornado Champion back? Is Zatanna available?”
“Blossom can commune with the air elemental,” said a gorgeous blonde in a flowery bikini. Her pale white body shone in marked contrast to her golden hair, which cascaded to her knees. She had been Rachel Green, alias Mayflower, until her evil father the Floronic Man had experimented on her and made her this enigmatic creature.
“What did you say, Mayflower?” asked Lesla.
“Blossom said that Blossom can commune with the tornado elemental for you — in fact, Blossom has summoned him now,” she said, referring to herself in third person as she always had since she was changed.
The winds howled as the swirling Tornado Champion appeared, having been split off the other on Earth-Two. He, or it, was but one aspect of the malign Tornado Tyrant, and it took all the good being’s will to master the Tyrant’s destructive impulses. Lesla shoved Dr. Magnus and Blossom behind her as the winds summoned and seemingly controlled by Blossom hovered over the inert android, then finally spun with great force into the android body, until all was quiet once more.
As everyone watched in anticipation, the Red Tornado slowly arose and said in a confused tone, “Where am I? I remember nothing since the Crisis. I… feel as if I did wrong during that calamity.” After a brief pause he added in a determined voice, “I must see to my family and friends. Thank you for aiding me.”
At that, the newly restored Red Tornado swirled off into the sky to check on his loved ones from his John Smith identity, and he would rejoin the Justice League of America if they would have him. (*)
[(*) Editor’s note: See Justice League of America: Pyre, Epilogue: The League Stands.]
Lesla-Lar smiled as Dr. Will Magnus and Platinum gazed at the flying android vanishing over the horizon. Blossom merely swayed out of the room in quiet repose.
***
Elsewhere, the Enchantress turned to the Super-Scavenger and Knockout and said, “I will see Captain Comet and Dolphin pay for their actions. But first I need more allies.”
The Super-Scavenger said, “I want a piece of that Valor chick, too.”
“As do I,” said Knockout.
***
The news of the heroic actions of Captain Comet’s Rehab Squad were broadcast everywhere on the nightly news, and as the TV screen showed the beautiful Dolphin, one woman watched with true fascination.
“She’s divine. I must have her at any cost,” she said through a metal mask. And that would lead to problems for Captain Comet and the Rehab Squad someday soon.
The End