Passers by felt the chill of his presence, even though they couldn't see him. The Spectre stood outside the home of Miss Venus, the current headquarters of the Justice Society of America. He had made himself invisable to the human eye. It was better to observe their actions when they don't know he's there. The Spectre had gambled the future of the human race on these mortals. If his long term plan didn't come together then the future of humanity would be one of darkness and misery. Worst of all, he would have failed the Great Presense above and lost his chance for redemption. The JSA had to succeed! They had to counter the interference of the Dark Council. The alternative was unthinkable.
The Spectre walked foward, toward the Mansion. He walked through the wall, and entered the dwelling without anyone knowing. Now it was time to observe these mortals up close and see if his faith is justified.
The first team members he saw were Queen Hippolyta and Prince Namor. The Queen was looking at one of Miss Venus' antique Greek vases as if it brought back some poignant memory. The sea prince had just entered the room and was staring at the amazon with a lustful intensity.
"Greetings, good Queen," Namor said. "It is an honor and a pleasure to set eyes on such beauty upon my arrival."
Hippolyta turned and raised her eyebrows in suprise. She wasn't used to men and their ways yet, and was continually taken aback by their reaction to her appearance.
"Greetings, Prince Namor," she responded. "I trust you are well?"
"I am excellent!" he exclaimed. "In every way!"
Namor heard a laugh coming from the doorway. He turned to see Wildcat standing there, very amused at something.
"You know, princey, the only thing bigger than your ears is your ego," Wildcat said. "I'd work on my opening line if I was you."
Namor's face contorted in anger and he marched over to Wildcat.
"I am the lord of the seas, heir to mighty Atlantis!" Namor snarled. "I will not suffer disrespect from the likes of you!"
Wildcat was having too much fun at Namor's expense to realize the danger he was in. Wildcat didn't like Namor's pomposity and took any opportunity to take him down a peg.
"Relax, Mr. Ears," Wildcat grinned, "I respect you. I respect you for your fashion sense. I gotta love anyone who walks around Washington, DC in a little green bathing suit. Surf's up, everybody!"
Namor grabbed Wildcat roughly, almost dislocating his arm. Wildcat suddenly realized that Namor did not like to be heckled.
"No one speaks to me that way!" Namor roared.
Hippolyta recovered from her surprise at this display of adolescent male behavior. This had gone too far and she was determined not to be the reason that Namor killed Wildcat. With all her speed she raced over to the scuffling pair. Namor had pulled back his fist and was about to knock Wildcat's head off. Wildcat was struggling to free himself but wasn't having much luck. Hippolyta grabbed Namor's arm before he could deliver the fatal blow. Namor was about to lash out at this person who had dared interfere in an affair of honor until he realized that it was the lovely amazon queen. His face softened at the sight of her, and he bowed gallantly to her. Wildcat used the distraction to slip free.
The Spectre watched all this with deep concern. These were the people he had trusted the future to? Had he made a mistake?
Namor and Wildcat stared at each other furiously as Hippolyta tried to be the voice of sanity. The situation was abruptly resolved by the authoritative voice with filled the room.
"At ease, everyone. Stand fast!"
Captain America had arrived, and everyone was cowed by the power of his voice. Even the Spectre was impressed by his inner strength.
"We have business to attend to," Cap ordered. "Everyone assemble in the meeting room immediately."
A few minutes later and everyone was seated at the table in the meeting room. The Flash, Black Canary, and the Sentinel had arrived. Dr. Mid-Nite had been there all the time but preferred to stay hidden and observe his team mates. Only Dr. Fate was missing. The members in attendance awaited Cap's instructions. Cap addressed the group.
"We won't wait for Fate. I'll begin. I've just met with the head of the CIA. We have an assignment. Several months ago," Cap began, "British Intelligence got word that the Nazis were experimenting with something called Cold Atoms. We weren't sure what is was until an ace spy called the Angel got us some information. I won't go into details but Cold Atoms is designed to be a weapon. We naturally wanted to have a defense to it. The government sponsored the work of a robotics genious named Phineas T. Horton. His goal was to create a robot that was basically a mobile flame thrower, code-named the Torch! I've been told that he succeeded. The Torch was being shipped by plane to meet with the European Intelligence Agency, and it's American liason. Unfortunately, the plane was damaged by German fighter planes and it went off course. Indications are that it went down in the French Alps. We can't let the Nazis get their hands on such a dangerous weapon. We have to find the Torch and bring it back."
"That lets us out," Flash said. "We can't go to Europe."
"Right," Sentinel said. "The Spear of Destiny!"
"I know," Cap said. "I'm only taking a small team: Canary, Wildcat, Mid-Nite, and myself. That's all. Sentinel, if you could use your ring to transport us there it would be a big help."
"Of course!" Sentinel said.
"I wonder what they're wearing in the French Alps?" the Canary quipped.
"Why have I not been included?!" Namor fumed.
The Captain didn't want to tell the proud and easily angered Namor that he didn't include the sea prince because he wasn't good at covert activities. Namor was very loud. Cap had to think of a good excuse.
"Well, your highness, as you know, Queen Hippolyta is on a probation period, dictated by the goverment. That's why she can't come. As for you, I want you to . . . ah . . . oversee her training and orientation."
Namor smiled. "I apoligize for my tone, Captain. It is a wise decision."
Cap felt bad. It was a nasty trick to play on their new member, but it was all he could come up with. Nearby, Dr. Mid-Nite was smiling. He was impressed by Cap's handling of Namor. Cap continued to impress him.
"All right team, let's move!" Cap ordered. "Sentinel, you're in charge until I get back."
"I'll take care of things. Are you ready to go?"
"We are. Fire away."
The Sentinel engulfed the foursome in a sphere of green energy. In a moment, they were gone. The Spectre felt that this would be a good opportunity to watch the JSA in action. He slipped the bonds of the material world and followed the others.
The poor locals of a small village in the French Alps were in a panic. They'd been accosted by Nazis and many other horrors in recent years but none of them were as immediately terrifying as the flaming hellbeast that was assaulting their villiage now.
It was basically in the shape of a man but it was composed of fire. It flew throught the skies, leaving a trail of flames behind it. As it flew passed the small cottages, they caught fire. The flame creature swooped down and grabbed a tree, causing it to burn, then it landed and stalked some locals who ran for their lives. It uttered some gutteral sounds as it watched the town burn. A small boy was running and tripped. He looked back and saw the flame thing coming closer. He froze in panic.
The sound of gunshots woke him from his trance. Usually that sound was a threat to these simple people. Now it was his salvation.
Everyone looked and saw the soldiers coming - American soldiers. The stocky man who was obviously the leader wore a sergeant's uniform. He charged into battle, his men close behind him.
"Okay, firebug," the sergeant yelled, "let's see if you're so hot against people who cant fight back. And believe me, Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos can dish it out!"
The bullets didn't seem to have any effect on their flaming foe. Fury wondered if his eyes decieving him or were the bullets melting as they stuck their target. A few got through and hit the mark but didn't appear to do any damage. The boy managed to get away. Fury was relieved about that but had a bad feeling about this.
The fire man raised it's arm in their direction and suddently a wave of flame spit out toward them, worse than any flame thrower Fury had ever seen. The commandos dived for cover. Three of them caught fire. Some if the other tried to help put them out while Fury and the rest distracted their foe.
"We got trouble, howlers!" Fury said. "We're gonna have'ta put a little overtime in on this one!"
The Howling Commandos resumed their offensive.
Captain America, Wildcat, Dr. Mid-Nite, and the Black Canary were combing the hills trying to locate the Torch. They came across a Nazi battalion, or what was left of one. All of them were burned to a crisp.
"I guess the Ratsies found old Torchy first," Wildcat said. "Couldn't have happened to nicer guys."
"Look at those bushes," said the Canary, pointing.
Cap looked and saw the still smoldering greenery. "This didn't happen to long ago. The Torch probably isn't far from here."
Suddenly Cap snapped to attention, he gestured for silence from his team. They all stood quietly as he listened. Soon the rest of them heard the footsteps as well. Lots of footsteps. A platoon. Cap gestured for them to go into hiding. They all ducked out of sight.
Peeking out from their hiding places, the saw the American troops arrive. The big, tough looking sergeant was leading the group and signalled for them to halt. He looked at the charred remains of the German soldiers.
"Man oh man!" the sergeant said. "I know a few goose steppers who had a bad day."
Cap nodded to his teammates and the stepped out of hiding. The sergeant and his soldiers were alarmed by their sudden appearance and pointed their guns at the JSA members. But a look at the Captain's red-white-and-blue costume helped the sergeant to relax.
"Captain America?" the big Sergeant asked.
Cap nodded. "We're the Justice Society."
The Sergeant nodded back. "Yeah, I guessed that. My name's Rock. These guys are the best soldiers in this man's army . . . Easy Company! Any idea what happed to these goose stepping bastards?"
"One or two," Cap said. "In fact, we're here looking for the thing that did this."
"I say we give whoever or whatever it is a metal," Sgt. Rock Said.
Sgt. Rock glanced back at his men and noticed the they were all looking at the Black Canary's legs. He couldn't really blame them for that.
"I don't suppose you've seen anything unusual?" Cap asked.
"Most unusual thing that's happened today is what we're heading for now," Rock said.
"What's that?"
"I just got a call on the field radio. A sergeant I know named Nick Fury is calling for reinforcements. I've know Fury for a long time and he never asks for help. This must be something big!"
Cap rubbed his chin. "Hmmmm . . . "
Fury was losing his trademark confidence. He'd been in many a battle over the years, even before WWII started, but he'd never felt so helpless against an opponent. This thing was an unstoppable monster and it would take more than Fury and his men had to stop it!
The flame being took to the air again and was circling the commandos. Fury was anticipating an attack. He was relieved when he saw the colorful shield skimming through the sky. It struck the flame man, knocking him out of the sky.
"Good news, Howlers!" Fury yelled. "Reinforcements just got here!"
He knew the shield was the hallmark of Captain America. He looked across the road and saw the star-spangled hero catching his returning shield. He spotted the other costumed characters with him and even his old pal Sgt. Rock.
"Hiya, Rocky."
"Ho there, Nick," Rock called back. "Imagine you calling for help! I'm never gonna let you live this down!"
"Up yours, Rocky!"
Cap took charge. "Rock, Fury! You and your men clear the civilians out of the area! We'll handle the Torch!"
The flaming Torch picked itself up off the ground. Dr. Mid-Nite noticed that it rubbed itself in the ribs where it got hit. It stood up and looked around. Dr. Mid-Nite got the impression that it was confused.
Cap charged toward it. It held it's arms up foward and grunted again. Dr. Mid-Nite took in the body language. Flames shot foward from it's hands. Cap crouched and used his shield to cover himself. He dived foward and rammed shield first into the Torch. the Torch fell over backwards. Cap flipped to his feet and put some space between him and the red-hot robot. The Torch rose up again. His arms flailed and he made another noise. Cap was surprised. This wasn't an attack posture. What was it doing?
The Torch detected something moving to it's left and turned towards it. It saw the Black Canary dragging a wounded man to safety. The Canary placed herself between the man and the robot, ready to take the flame burst herself to save the innocent man. But the Torch didn't do anything. It titlted it's head and stared at her in fascination.
Wildcat approached Cap. "Don't just stand there, boss man," Wildcat said. "Let's take him down before he hurts the Canary."
"No!" Dr. Mid-Nite snapped. "We've all made a terrible mistake!"
The Black Canary lifted up a stick and prepared to defend herself. "Hey guys, I could use some help here!"
"Put the stick down!" Dr. Mid-Nite yelled. "Don't do anything aggressive. It won't hurt you!"
"Are you sure?"
"Trust me!"
The Black Canary took a deep breath and dropped the stick. The Torch stepped a bit closer. It reached out towards her. She cringed and was about it jump backwards out of his reach. But then . . .
. . . the man of flame lost his flame. The fire went out and everyone could now see that that underneath those flames was a very human looking being. He appeared to be totally human. The Canary's jaw dropped. This didn't look like a robot. He was handsome.
He looked scared. The gutteral sounds he was making started to take form. "Uhhh . . . ahhhh . . . I . . . I . . . I am . . . scared."
Black Canary felt a rush of pity for it . . . for him. She reached out her hand. "Don't be scared. It's all right. Come on. Come with me. I'll take care of you."
Slowly the Torch reached out to her. He took her hand. She smiled at him.
The sides of the Torch's mouth began to twitch. For the first time ever, he smiled. this was, after all, the first time that he had ever had anything to smile about.
"How did you know?" Cap asked Dr. Mid-Nite.
"I put it together," Mid-Nite said. "The first time I ever heard of Phineas Horton, he was working on an artificial intelligence. He couldn't finish the project because they stopped his funding. Now, suddenly he has unlimited funding to work on this Torch - the first ever Android. I suspected that Horton might have used some of that funding to finish his AI project."
"So when he perfected the android, he programmed the Artificial Intelligence into it," Cap said.
"Exactly," Dr. Mid-Nite said. "I noted from the Torch's actions and body language that it was hurt or confused. This android thinks and feels. It thinks!"
"So why'd it attack the village?" Wildcat asked.
"He didn't mean to. He was activated prematurely, probably by the crash. He isn't used to using his powers yet. I heard one of the locals say that he was flying and grabbed a tree before he landed. I think he was having trouble directing himself and had to use the tree to stop himself. He's like a child, he needs to be taught to use his powers."
"Who's gonna teach him?" Wildcat asked.
Everyone looked over at the Torch. He was being led by the hand by Black Canary.
"I . . . I didn't . . . Didn't want to hurt anyone," the Torch said.
"It's all right," the Canary said softly.
"I think it's best she does," Mid-Nite said. "He seems quite smitten with her."
"Smitten?" Wildcat cried, confused. "He's a freakin' toaster!"
"He is an artificial lifeform. His emotions may be simulated, they may be created in a different way than ours, but they exist nonetheless."
"This is too weird!"
Sgt. Rock and Sgt. Fury came back to the former battleground. "What the hell is goin' on here? Where's fire guy?"
Cap didn't want to explain. He looked to Dr. Mid-Nite. "Would you . . . ?"
"Of course," Mid-Nite said.
As Mid-Nite explained to the sergeants, Cap whispered to the Canary. "Could you take him out of here? The villagers seem a little upset by his presense. Just take him for a walk or something while I straighten things out here and see to the wounded."
The Canary nodded. "Come on," she said to the Torch, "let's take a stroll."
The Torch obediently followed.
Over the next twenty minutes, Cap and the others tried to restore order to the ravaged town.
Order didn't last long.
A white, misty beam shot into view and engulfed one of Easy Company in a block of ice. Spear-like icicles flew toward the assembled group, impalling some of them and wounding others.
"First fire, now ice!" Wildcat grumbled. "An evil weatherman must be behind this!"
A man came into view. He was ghostly white, even his clothes. He looked like he was made of ice.
"I am called the Icicle! I have come to find the object that crash landed in a plane two days ago. It's not near the wreckage. So one of you has it! Hand it over and I may just let you live. No promises mind you, but I might."
"I guess we know what project Cold Atoms was all about," Dr. Mid-Nite said.
Cap nodded.
"But this guy's not a German!" Wildcat said.
"I'm a defector!" Icicle said. "Volunteering for this Cold Atoms experiment was part of the deal. But enough talk. Where's the Item!"
Cap called out to his teammates, "Let's get this guy!"
The three JSA members, backed by Fury and Rock, attacked the Icicle. Wildcat and the two Sergeants were quickly encased in ice. Cap threw his shield but the Icicle froze it in a pillar of ice. Dr. Mid-Nite used his black-out bombs to buy them some time. Cap and Mid-Nite fell back to regroup. Icicle spears whizzed passed them, coming perilously close.
Not far away, the Black Canary heard the sounds of battle. She gestured for the Torch to sit down. He did.
"Listen. You stay here. All right? Stay here!"
The Torch looked at her dumbly. She hoped that he got the message. He raced away to help her partners. The Torch watched her go.
The Canary got there just in time to see Dr. Mid-Nite being frozen.
"Canary, stay out of sight!" Cap shouted.
The Canary saw the Icicle, but unfortunately, he saw her at the same time. He tried to run for cover but an ice spear hit her in the leg. She toppled to the ground, bleeding and in pain. The icicle fired another freeze ray at her. Suddenly Cap leaped in the way and took the hit himself. Cap was frozen in a cube of ice. The Canary was alone, and wounded, and the Icicle had her in his sights.
"Noooooooo!!" an angst ridden voice yelled.
The Icicle turned in suprise to see the flaming form of the Torch flying towards him.
"What the . . . ?"
Massive burst of flame spit out at the ice man. He tried to erect shields of ice but they melted. The Icicle counter attacked with ice spears, but they melted before they got near the torch. The Torch mimicked the Icicle's style and threw fireballs at the icicle. Bursts of flame exploded around the Nazi agent. The Icicle was suprised at the power of the Torch. He hadn't expected this. This was going to be difficult. The Torch flew in a circle around Cap, and the ice started melting. The Canary kicked at it with her good foot to help it crack. Cap suddenly broke free. After a moment of disorientation, he got his bearing again. He noticed that the Torch's proximity has loosed his shield from the ice pillar. He yanked it out and went to join the Torch against Icicle.
The Icicle was falling back, waiting for an opportunity to take the Torch down. But then he saw that Cpatain America was back in action. He knew immediatley that the Captain's military cleverness combined with the Torch's power would be a potentially unbeatable combonation. He knew his Nazi masters wouldn't like this but he had no other choice. "He who fights and runs away . . . "
The Icicle bid a strategic retreat.
Later, after the Torch had used his flame to free all the others . . .
"So what do we do with him now?" Black Canary wondered. "If he's intelligent, we can't just hand him over to the feds like some piece of hardware."
"I have a bit of clout with the government. Maybe I can arrange something for our android Torch," Cap answered.
"Not 'Android' Torch," Canary said. "Call him a Human Torch."
The Spectre watched this and nodded in satisfation. Not only was the JSA getting more poweful with the addition of new members like Wonder Woman and the Human Torch, but their humanity was growing stronger every day. He hadn't made of mistake. These were the best mortals he could have chosen. The saviors of the race.
Next issue: The JSA is missing and the reserves are called in to battle the Shade. And how do Conan and Red Sonja fit into this?