by Libbylawrence
Amanda Martin, the Star Sapphire, was thrilled that her mother, Myra Mason, was going to marry Dr. Charles McNider, alias Doctor Mid-Nite. This idea had never appealed to her until she experienced the heroic lifestyle he embodied by becoming a super-hero herself. (*) Then it all changed. He became a mentor to her, not a rival for her dead dad’s memory.
[(*) Editor’s note: See Liberty Belle: The Stars Above.]
She transformed into the pink miniskirted, booted costume she wore as the Star Sapphire, and as her alien energy gem flashed, the pretty blonde girl flew out of her room and into the night sky. She soared over the city until she spotted what seemed to be a crime. Yes, it was definitely a weird occurrence below. She flashed her purple light over the scene of a fight going on below. A man she thought she had seen before in old magazines was battling a woman she also knew of and had believed to be long gone.
The man was the Killer Moth, an old Batman foe, and judging by her martial arts skills and fish-netted costume, the woman was the Black Canary. Moth aimed a kick at the gorgeous blonde, who easily ducked it to deliver a kick all her own. The green-masked villain rolled over and struggled to his feet. He charged in and tackled the dynamic blonde. Trashcans clattered down the alley as their bodies impacted on them.
“Not so easy to beat, am I?” yelled the Killer Moth.
“I am not afraid of someone who looks as if they escaped from a can of Raid!” said the Black Canary in a deep Southern drawl. She flipped her high-heeled boots up and sent Killer Moth over her blonde locks into a brick wall. He fell and did not get up. “Oh, dear. I hope I didn’t kill him!” said a concerned Black Canary, whose real name was Angel O’Day.
“Nice job!” said Amanda as she landed.
“Thanks! I’ve read about you recently. You’re the Star Sapphire!” said Angel, and they shook hands.
“The bane of my existence, I fear, dear bird,” said a man who stepped from the shadows. He wore a dapper tuxedo and spoke in deliberate tones of polished gentility.
“The Penguin!” said Amanda, recognizing him from their last battle seconds before gas knocked her cold.
Black Canary had bent over the Killer Moth to unmask him and see if he was badly hurt, so she too fell prey to the sudden gas attack. As she fell, she dropped the Moth mask to reveal a beautiful woman with vibrant red hair.
“Ah, so my new comrade is a shapely damsel under that gender-masking Moth costume!” he mused. “Green Arrow will be so pleased, but Dart might not like this turn of events!”
The hulking Barracuda scooped up all three women and followed the son of the Penguin away.
***
The Black Canary had been tracking the Killer Moth from a crime spree in Georgia that had led through Angel O’Day’s Virginia residence to New York City. Angel had continued her solo career as the new Canary down South after being tricked into serving as a pawn for a JSA foe a few years earlier. (*) Angel tossed back her long, blonde hair and sat up. She found herself tied up near the immobile Amanda Martin. Three other girls in costumes were also in the room.
[(*) Editor’s note: See Justice Society of America: Times Past, 1981: Angel.]
“Are you really the Black Canary?” asked Flare.
“No. At least, I’m not the first one. I’m her southern belle successor!” she said, rolled over on her side. She slipped her fingers up a sleeve and smiled as a thin file came out. Slicing through her ropes, she hurried to free Arrowette and Flare. Just as she woke Amanda, the villains returned.
“Oh, no, you don’t!” said Dart as she whipped out several darts.
The faux Green Arrow aimed and fired from his bow as Dollface, Moth, Penguin, and Barracuda charged inside. Black Canary shoved the heat ray aside and nimbly rolled out of the path of the arrows.
Arrowette spun into a high kick that disarmed Dart for a moment. “So, little girl. You want to mess with the Red Dart’s daughter?” she sneered.
“The real Green Arrow used your dad for target practice!” said Bonnie as she was hit by a left hook.
Flare jumped through the air and landed directly on the plastic but pretty Dollface. “I used to love to play with Barbies!” she joked.
The inhumanly supple Dollface merely shoved her down, as she was completely unharmed by the impact of Flare’s speeding body. “I play rough!” giggled the mad Dollface as she choked Flare with wickedly pointed, polished nails.
Arrowette barely recovered from Dart’s punch when her evil husband hit home with a goo-arrow. She fell into a sticky heap that reduced her movement considerably.
Canary chopped the umbrella-waving Penguin in the wrist, and he dropped his latest lethal umbrella with a startled yelp. “Dear lady, your physicality arouses me strangely!” he said.
“Funny, you just make me sick!” said Angel.
Killer Moth fired a pellet across the room, and it bounced harmlessly off Star Sapphire’s hastily created force-field. “You are, like, so totally lame!” said Amanda in her best valley girl impression. The redheaded, unmasked Moth frowned and fought back.
Amanda envisioned a bolt of energy, and one shot forth from her gem necklace to send the Barracuda reeling away from a groggy Coral, who was slowly stirring, since the heat-ray had been moved away by Angel.
Flare choked and fought back, but no impact seemed to hurt Dollface’s mutated body. “I feel nothing, just like a real doll, don’t ya know!” she giggled madly.
Star Sapphire heard the comments and tried to take a new tactic. She slammed an energy bolt into Coral’s bonds and freed the Atlantean princess.
Coral smiled and said, “Thanks!” Then she hit Barracuda with all her might, and the genetically altered daughter of Shark Norton gasped and bit Coral’s arm.
Fangs sank in, and Coral generated an explosion of hard water from the hanging heat pipes above. Barracuda moaned and released the daughter of Aquaman, only to charge the distracted Black Canary. She hit Angel solidly in the back of the head, and the Canary fell to the floor.
Killer Moth smiled and said, “Nice goin’, sugah!” And she in turn fired a pellet at Coral. An inky cloud shot out, but Coral’s eyes were uniquely attuned to see in the murky depths, and she resolutely charged the flighty Moth. She only hit her once, but her Atlantean power did the trick. Killer Moth was stunned.
Penguin aimed a blade over Canary’s limp form. “Surrender, or I’ll end this darling young woman’s life prematurely!” he said delicately.
“Never!” bellowed Arrowette, who tossed an arrow with precise timing. Though stuck in the goo, she had one free arm to do so.
A blinding flash caught the dapper Penguin, and he blinked in pain. This gave Star Sapphire time to generate a force-field around the stunned Canary. It deflected the umbrella blade Penguin blindly brought down on the young woman.
Green Arrow fired a net arrow that caught Coral and held her for about a minute, until her strong arms ripped it apart. Barracuda snarled and tackled her, and they wrestled desperately.
Dart smiled, posing alluringly. Her darts flashed out and caught Amanda unaware. She screamed and was enveloped with energy. The gem stopped working as she lost concentration.
Got to use my innate power, she mused. Suddenly, Dart spasmed and stuck herself with one of her own darts. This was due to the cryotuber power Amanda possessed that let her briefly alter other people’s nervous systems. Dart frowned as a powerful drug kicked in and reduced her to tears. She lay still suddenly.
“Darling!” yelled Hawke as he fired arrows at Sapphire. They were burned up as her energy flared up anew.
Flare had almost passed out when she got an idea. If she couldn’t hurt Dollface with force, she gave in and let the beauty assume she had won.
“Killed her!” said the dim-but-deadly Dollface. She turned to smooth one lock of hair, and when she did, Flare kicked the evening-gown-wearing Dollface into the same goo that held Arrowette fast. The limber Dollface could twist amazingly, but the goo held her in one place. Arrowette frowned at the close proximity of the madwoman, but neither could harm the other.
Coral held onto Barracuda long enough to get her leverage back, then spun the heavy woman into the back of Green Arrow. He landed hard and rolled out the room’s door.
His wife lay still, and Black Canary roused suddenly to kick the Penguin below the belt, then said, “Sorry!” Green Arrow escaped, leaving the others beaten.
Coral and Sapphire knocked Barracuda cold with their combined efforts. They helped Flare free Arrowette, and they smiled as Canary surveyed the landscape of beaten foes.
“We did great!” said Coral gleefully. “We should be a team!”
“Or join the Junior JSA,” offered Flare.
“I wonder if I’m too old,” mused the twenty-something Angel.
Bonnie remained grim. “We’ve still got to find and discredit that sneak, the fake Green Arrow — and rescue Max’s kid!” she said determinedly.
***
The ladies flew over the city, carried in a force-bubble created by Star Sapphire, heading directly to Max Lord’s office. He received them cordially and sorrowfully.
“Bonnie, I am sorry,” said Max. “Hawke has my daughter Maxine. He threatened her to buy my endorsement.”
“We can find her,” said Arrowette. “We just turned his wife the Dart over to the cops along with several other crooks.”
“How?” asked Max.
“Simple. We track him by the bug I dropped in his quiver!” said a cocky Bonnie.
“What? When?” asked Max hopefully.
“I slipped it in when I tackled him,” said Arrowette.
“Actually, I tackled him, and Bonnie did the bugging with a device from the Arrowcave,” said Flare.
“Right! Now join us, and we’ll close him down,” said Black Canary.
“I’ll be glad to!” said a beaming Max Lord.
They soared toward the riverfront and stopped at a crumbling warehouse. “This must be the place,” said Coral after a refreshing dip in the river.
They entered via Star Sapphire’s energy blast and saw the startled Connor Hawke. “How?” he sputtered, reaching for his bow.
“Not this time!” said Amanda as she closed an energy dome around it.
He cursed and ran for the window, and Canary tackled him and tossed him back to Arrowette. “You dared soil the memory of Green Arrow!” she said furiously. She fired rapidly, and the bow-less Archer was wrapped up in a binding net.
“Daddy!” cried a fourteen-year-old girl who embraced the eager Max Lord.
“Maxie, baby!” he said as they hugged.
“I’ll pay you back for this, little girl!” vowed Connor Hawke.
“I’ll be waiting for you and that tramp you call a wife!” promised Arrowette.
“This will be the end of his claims to the Queen fortune,” said Max. “I’ll retract all I said tomorrow. There are only two heirs to Oliver Queen — you and Roy Harper.”
“I’ll always try to be worthy,” said Bonnie.
“How about that group idea?” said Coral.
“Let’s try to join the Junior JSA team,” said Flare.
“Well, I’ll try, but my time is mostly spent down South,” mused Angel O’Day. “Maybe I could be a reservist.”
“That’s not up to us, but I know we’d love to have you!” said Star Sapphire as they left.
The End