*Firebrand's Story, Continued*

[allstargal]

*There's a chill in the room -- more irony -- when Dannete stares at Mr. Terrific. It's not an unreasonable question, one she'd ask herself in this situtation. Where have you been? She takes a quick inventory of the room: two of her oldest friends, Wildcat & Libby Lawrence, both of whom she let think she was dead for decades; Dr. Fate & Jade, the

Comments

[jla_extras]

*Lyta Hall slips into the room quietly, not making a scene. Firebrand can't help but notice her resemblance to her mother, the WWII heroine, Fury, whom even she only knew casually.

The young woman says nothing -- Dannete figures she's been listening in the shadows for some time now -- but there's an odd, silent acknowledgement between Lyta and Fate, and the woman comes and stands next to her estranged husband. Fate lightly puts his hand on hers. There's a distance between them, it's obvious, but there's a connection, too. Lord knows if they'll ever work it out.*

[jla_extras]

"So what happened next?" Ted's voice is surprisingly gentle.

[allstargal]

*Dannete frowns a bit. She knows she's going to have to edit the rest of the story at points here. Or does she? She finds she's less than enthralled with the idea of keeping secrets any longer.*

Dr. Mid-Nite happened, of all people. This probably isn't in the JSA records, but after the war, he spent some time working with other former All-Stars in secret, for the government.

*She looks around. Aside from Ted and Libby -- and the Shade -- they're all so young. Most of them really don't have first-hand memories of the height of the Cold War, let alone the Red Scare

[jsaboss]

*Michael is intrigued at this point, his hands folded on the table, he leans forward attentively.*

I've never heard of any of this. I had no idea the All-Star Squadron continued in any form after the war.

[allstargal]

*It's funny, she never really talks about this stuff, not even to other circle members. And really, there's not a lot left from those days. Her and Perkins, really, ever since McNider died. Even McIntyre came later.*

It all went to Hell when Joe McCarthy and the HUAC went after the Justice Society. Even they didn't know it at the time -- we were above their clearance level -- but we found ourselves in a political street fight with them to keep operating. all the while Mid-Nite was sweating it out publically with the rest of his real team.

She looks seriously at Terrific.*

And don't think that we didn't know the truth of the matter. He might of been our leader, but there'd be no choice if he'd ever been forced to choose between us and the JSA. Still, McCarthy had the politicians running scared, and Washington was a mess. And then, when the JSA disbanded, well ... we knew we had to go into overdrive to keep a lid on things.

Mid-Nite put us into even deeper cover. We burned our tracks, in some cases literally, and used every bit of

[jla_extras]

"Safer?" Wildcat looks like he wants to spit. "We're not doing this because we want to be safe.

[allstargal]

There's safe and then there's safe, kitty-cat. I'd stand any of your sides against Baron Blitzkrieg or Per Degaton or the Ultra-Humanite, any day of the week.

But we wanted the Justice Society back. Not just as individuals, but as a concept. You had to be bigger than the crap we were buried in. You had to represent something.

Us? People weren't allowed to see us at all.

[jla_extras]

Ted's leer is somehow less offensive than it would be on another man. "And that's a damned shame, dollface, a hot tomato like you not being seen."

[jsaboss]

*As people are trickling out of the conference room -- it seems Ma Hunkle has prepared more desserts outside, Michael beckons to the Shade.*

A moment of your time, Shade?

[greysofshade]

A curt nod.

Mr. Holt. I have not as yet had the pleasure, but Jack speaks highly of you.

[jsaboss]

*Michael extends his hand and smiles politely at him. It's clear he's not entirely comfortable with him, but he ismaking an effort.*

Shade. A pleasure to meet you.

I wanted to talk to you a bit about Obsidian.

[greysofshade]

His tone turns sardonic.

Shall we skip the pleasantries, then, and get right to the accusations of conspiracy to turn the lad into a horrible shadow-monster? Because Ms. Hayden's attempts at politeness were in all honesty rather trying.