Saturday, November 30, 2019

MY JSA - pt. 6


"My next task was to accompany Shiera in my civilian identity and make sure there would be no other assassination attempts.

“The plane trips were uneventful.  Either Mochtar had no other plans to dissuade Shiera, or his assassins were too cowardly to attack her when she had company.  The last leg of our trip deposited us in Jakarta.  Nova Singgih was a geologist with a fair command of English.  She was a good hostess too, and planned to let Shiera spend the night with her.  Confident that Shiera would be safe for now, I went to the waterfront to look for my crate.  Under cover of night, I opened the crate and donned my Hawkman wings and helmet.  I’d packed a hammer as well.  If it was a good enough weapon for Thor, it would do all right for me.

“I had no guarantee that Shiera, as impulsive as she was, wouldn’t sneak out to explore Krakatoa’s island that night.  That meant Hawkman had to glide over there right away.  It was midnight when I alighted on an outcropping of rock on the island.  Between me and Krakatoa was a village.  Nova had told us some locals had decided to relocate to the island, even though it wasn’t safe.  Krakatoa was billowing up some ominous black smoke, but it was also my impression that I saw something moving in the smoke.  Just then, a flaming ball of fire streaked through the sky, straight out of the smoke over the volcano, and struck the village!  Most of the buildings were little more than shacks, and they lit up like matchsticks....I’m afraid to say most of the villagers were consumed in the conflagration right away, though I was able to swoop down and save some.

“When the worst of the fire seemed to be over, I had to find out what caused that fireball.  I soared back up into the air, and decided to do some aerial reconnaissance over the volcano. Amazingly enough, I four saw people walking along just inside the rim of the crater!  I could tell they were wearing hoods over their heads, but couldn’t see from where I was how they were able to withstand the heat that close to a semi-active volcano!  I dropped down towards the crater, and the four men fled down into the volcano when they saw me.  The inside of the crater seemed to be riddled with tunnels, and they disappeared down one of them.  I advanced as near as I could to pursue them, but all the way at the bottom of the crater was a pool of molten lava. The heat was maddening above that flaming pool. How anyone could live there was beyond me!  I had no choice but to turn back.

"Back on the mainland in Jakarta, I looked in through the upstairs windows of the hotel Nova and Shiera were staying in, and found Shiera’s room.  As I watched her sleeping, I noticed the door to her room closing.  Concerned, I forced the window to her room open, flew in, and turned on the light.  There was a pair of Indonesian scorpions on the floor -- one near my foot!  I swung my hammer and crushed it at once.  The Indonesian scorpion is only five inches long, but it’s poisonous and temperamental.  I had to chase down the other one and crush it too.  Shiera was certainly surprised to see me in her room so late.

“’Ooh, the hawk!’ she exclaimed, instinctively clutching her bed sheets to her to conceal her bare skin.

“’I’ll explain all in a minute after I check on Nova next door,’ I told her.  A minute later, I dragged Nova into Shiera’s room.  ‘She seemed to be asleep,’ I explained, ‘but she could have been responsible for the scorpions.  Talk, woman.  Do you work for Mochtar?’

“Shiera was in a nightgown by then and, trusting soul that she is, she helped Nova up to her feet.

“’I promise you I don’t,’ Nova told us, ‘but I do know who he is.  Dr. Mochtar is the finest geologist in Southeast Asia -- or was.  His theories on using geothermal energy to power weapons shocked the scientific community.  When normal avenues of funding abandoned him,
Mocthar went to the black market, and has been consorting with criminals since.’

“We had sent Nova back to her room so Shiera and I could talk it over.  I told her everything that had happened at Krakatoa earlier that evening.

“’So you paid a visit to the fire ghosts already,’ she said afterwards.  ‘And it’s true they live in fire and flame.  I believe what Nova told us too, Hawk.’

“’If she is telling the truth, then we have to find out what you know that Dr. Shiddig doesn’t. Why Mochtar considers you a danger, and not her.  She didn’t have scorpions placed in her room...’

“’Thermal insulation,’ she said, without batting an eyelash.  “I remember now. I was assisting the editor on a science journal two years ago, and recommended he turn down an article a Dr. Mochtar had written on thermal insulation.  It was poorly written and looked too hypothetical, but it was a detailed design for thermal insulation suits that would allow for close observation of active volcanoes!’

“I began to tell her my plan for getting one of those suits in the morning, but she interrupted.  I would have to get her one too, she told me.  And with that she let her nightgown slip away.  She can be so...persuasive.

“The next morning, the two of us were on the volcanic island, staked out near the ruins of the decimated village.  My hunch was right, and within a few hours we spotted men moving about the ruins.  Spreading my metal wings, I soared into the air and dived down on them.

"They looked like natives, but up closer I could see they were wearing thick, black leather suits from the neck down.  I had my hammer in hand, and connected with each of the three men as I whirled past.  By the time Shiera caught up, none of them were in any shape for standing.  I stripped off one of their outfits, removed my harness, and tried it on for size.  Despite the hot weather, I felt amazingly cool inside this thick bodysuit.  On his person was a hood that completed the ensemble.  Shiera followed suit, and then helped me re-don my wings.  Scooping her up in my arms, we returned to the sky for a second aerial assault on Krakatoa.”

Hawkman stopped there for a minute, as our meat course was just now being served.  Delicious-smelling filet mignon was sat in front of everyone, and despite Scotty’s full stomach he vowed to eat at least half the thing.  “It hardly seems fair that I have to talk through the main course,” Hawkman joked, “but a deal’s a deal, I suppose.

“Landing on the lip of the volcano, we could see another patrol of six men heading to intercept us.  In hindsight, it might have been better if we had just snuck up to the volcano, because the alarm was sounded, and the patrol had red-hot spears to throw at us.  I pulled Shierra behind a rock just in time as the first salvo of deadly missiles landed on the other side.  ‘Stay here!’ I told her, as I dashed out from behind the rock and charged them at full sprint!  One guard held back and handed a second set of spears to the throwers, but I brought my metal wings around me and deflected every one of them.  I unfolded them only when I was close enough to swing my hammer into the ribs of the nearest one.  Even with his padding he went down from the force of my swing.  I spread my wings out to keep them from flanking me as I let another one have it.  But I still had four on me, and they had reinforcements coming.  I’d beaten down two more when the last two original guards managed to get a hold of my wings.  Now my plan had backfired, because I was pinned.  The five fresh guards dived on top of me, trying to drive me to the ground.  I was in a loosing struggle just to stay on my feet and keep the hammer in hand, but I still took out one more of them before I was crushed to the hard, cold lava beneath us.

“Leather cords were bound around my wrists behind my back, and I was slowly dragged back to my feet.  The devils got Shiera too, and did the same to her.  We were brought before their ruler -- Mochtar.  He was a giant of a man, clad in a black, insulated suit and hood like his men wore, only his hood had a half-skull mounted atop it like a cap.  He leaned on a spear, and was seated in a cave not far down into the basin.  Behind him was some great, humming machine with pipes running from it out of the cavern.

“’Outsiders,’ Mochtar said. ‘I have expected your return, winged man.  I will wrest whatever secret allows you to fly from your lips before you die.  Still, whatever it is, I think it cannot compare with what I have created...’ he used the spear to tap the machine behind him.  ‘This is but part of the colossal engine I am constructing to tap Krakatoa’s limitless geothermal energy. Harnessing the sheer power of the volcano, I can generate fireballs from the sky, create earthquakes -- perhaps even destroy the earth!’  He turned to Shiera then.  ‘Too bad such beauty must perish in the lava beds, but I cannot spare you.’

“Shiera gasped and choked on the hot air, as her hood was removed.  Mine was as well, though Mochtar allowed me to keep my hawk helmet on.  Small comfort, considering how warm I knew it would soon get under that mask.

“‘I won’t tell you anything if she dies,’ I said.

“’Perhaps you will trade your secret of flight if she dies a quick death instead of a slow one,’ he countered.

“All the while we’d been talking, I’d held the ropes that bound my arms tight behind my back against my wings.  Although they look like feathers, every part of the wings are made from a wondrous anti-gravity metal.  Better still, they had rough edges that could cut through rope. Since I couldn’t move my arms very fast, I had to stall for time.  I bargained with Mochtar, pleaded for Shiera’s life, and gave vague answers to every question he put to me until he became angry with me.

“’Take the wings from him and toss him into the lava!’ he ordered his men.  ‘I’ll divine their secrets myself!’

“But that had been all the time I needed, and as the guards converged on me, I unfolded my wings, snapping my bonds!  I grabbed the spear of the nearest one, and swung him into the guard next to him before they knew what was happening.  Recovering his spear, I still had four guards to fight single-handedly again, but I backed Shiera and myself to the wall of the cave so they couldn’t get behind us. The spears had wide rubber grips to keep our hands off the hot metal poles, but the rest of the spears were deadly weapons.  Knowing I could block thrown spears with my wings, they rushed me.  I was lucky to have that spear to block them.  One by one, I managed to make shots to their heads with the haft of my weapon, sending them all reeling.
‘Clear the track, boys, the express is coming through!’ I joked.

“Dr. Mochtar was raging like a madman now.  ‘Stop him, you fools!  Stop him before he ruins everything!’ he yelled before he threw himself on me with a wild leap.  ‘I’ll finish you myself!’ he declared.  I told Shiera to run as I caught the brunt of his attack.  He was big, strong, and skilled with his weapon.  He kept me on the defensive, pushing me back across the room and towards the generators.  We neared ever closer to the spinning turbines of the great machine.
And that was the moment when I stopped faking, dodged his next thrust, and watched as it struck the inside of the machine.  The spear was torn from Mochtar’s hands as the turbine chewed it up, but the mangled spear was now hopelessly caught in the engine, and the stuck turbine was quickly overheating.  Dr. Mochtar realized too late what I’d made him do, and he threw his hands around my throat in a last effort to avenge himself upon me.  I grasped his wrists and twisted them until he released his grip.  He staggered back, but bull-rushed me with surprising strength until I was pushed halfway back across the cavern.  I delivered a chopping blow to the back of his neck that sent him sprawling to the floor.  I had the notion that I could still take him into custody, and went to lift him up, but he delivered a ferocious kick to my side.  Now I was angry, and I waited for him to rise to his feet before I pummeled him with my fist.  Again and again he fell back towards the mouth of the cave from the right crosses I delivered onto his face and arms.

“Mochtar yanked the hood from his own head so he could wipe the blood and sweat from his nose and mouth.  He looked behind me with his mouth agape and a look of horror in his eyes. Glancing back, I could see that the increased heat and pressure were too much for even his brilliant coolant system, and the machinery had burst into flames.  From elsewhere in the crater came the sounds of explosions.

“’I’ll get you out safe,’ I said, offering my hand.

“But Mochtar glanced at it with disgust.  ‘No, flying-man,’ he said.  “Not as your prisoner.’  And with that he jumped backwards off the ledge deeper into the crater.  I glanced over the edge to try and spot him, but there was smoke rising then from the lava tubes beneath the crater.

MY JSA - pt. 5


“One day last summer, my girlfriend Joan and I were dining at our favorite club, when Joan spotted someone she recognized.

“’Jay, look!’ she said, ‘Here comes Mary Rogers!’

“I recognized her. Her father was a deep sea diver and explorer, and had been in the newspapers just recently because of his search for the Sancta Joanna.  Joan, ever the sociable gal, invited Mary over to our table. Joan seems to know everybody, or can make friends with them anyways. They made small talk for just a few minutes before Joan asked about what she was doing in the city.

“Mary answered, ‘I’m trying to raise funds so dad can continue his search for that Aztec treasure ship. A group of roughnecks have been giving dad a lot of trouble!  They’ve smashed our diving outfits, fought us, and spied on us -- they’re waiting until we locate the treasure...’

“Well, that was all Mary needed to hear. The whole way home after that she was pestering me to lend a hand. ‘But you could do it,’ she begged. ‘Her father is practically alone. He can’t afford a big crew to protect him.’

“Naturally, she expected me to do something because Joan knows I’m the Flash. I told her, though, that I was busy with other matters in the city.  That didn’t sit well with her, and I got the cold shoulder when I dropped her off at home. But as soon as she was inside, I flew through the streets like the wind. It took me seven seconds to return home, change into my costume, and consult some maps. Then I was on my way to Panama. Having never seen a sunken treasure, I was curious to give the experience a try.  Actually, it was my first time in Central America at all!
So when I hit Mexico I started to slow down and cruised the rest of the way at 300 MPH.

“I was famished by the time I arrived in Panama but, in my typical haste, I had forgotten to change currencies before leaving home! I found some locals who were up early the next morning, impressed them with some high-speed juggling, and earned my breakfast. Then it was out to the coast to look for sunken treasure!  I may be faster on land, but I’m the fastest swimmer alive too. I dived in off the east coast and started combing the sea bottom. When I periodically came up for air, I happened to spot both of the boats I’d planned to look for on the surface. I spotted Tim Roger’s ship first, which was named after his daughter.  In fact, I later learned that he’d seen my wake in the water and thought a torpedo was after him! The other boat was the
Nancy K, and since it seemed to be following the Mary Rogers, I assumed I’d found the villains. I planned to visit them again soon.

“First, though, I had to find the Sancta Joanna, and even at my speed that took nearly two hours! The tides had pulled its wreckage miles off course over the centuries.  I was still checking out the ship when I felt that something big was moving through the water towards me from behind.  Sure enough, it was a hungry tiger shark -- and I could tell it thought I looked like a nice, juicy morsel.  I swum around it fast and grabbed its tail fin.  Like a dog chasing its own tail, the shark kept circling around trying to bite me. But I couldn’t play around for long because my breath was running out.  I spun it around and around as fast as I could and then let it go.  It went sailing away almost as fast as me!

“After saying so long to the shark, I decided it was time to pay a visit to the Nancy K. I had to slow down when I climbed up onto the boat deck, and I was spotted right away by two tough-looking guys on watch.  They had time to ask me what I was doing there, but that was it. Once I was on deck, I whizzed past them so fast they thought they’d seen a ghost!  I searched the ship, and took a quick look at their diving equipment.  It was all state-of-the-art -- just what Rogers needed, if this wasn’t in fact his equipment. I needed to visit the Mary Rogers to get the whole story first.  

“’And what might you be doing so far from land?’ Rogers asked when I climbed up onto his boat.

“’I happen to know you’re having a little trouble finding the treasure,’ I said. ‘I’ve come to help you!  That galleon is a couple of nautical miles from here.... South by southeast.’ Rogers was skeptical, and apparently didn’t recognize me from any news coverage.  I wasted a lot of time trying to convince him to follow me to the treasure before he told me why he couldn’t.  The men from the Nancy K had boarded him in the night and sabotaged his engine!  I couldn’t exactly get out and push, so I did the next best thing and dived overboard again.  I was getting used to being soaking wet by then!  I swam behind the boat and took hold of its propeller in both hands. It took a lot of strength to get that propeller turning -- and I was afraid I’d run out of air first -- but once I got it turning it was pretty easy to keep it turning faster and faster.  Soon the Mary Rogers was going faster than it ever had before!

“When I figured we were pretty close to the treasure, I climbed back on board and told Tim he could dive and see for himself. After helping him into his diving gear, I remained on board as a lookout.  I knew the cutthroats on the Nancy K must have seen us moving when we shouldn’t be, and would follow.  Sure enough, they were on us before Tim Rogers had come back up yet.  For the third time that day, I’d have to board a boat.  First, I swam under it and grabbed its rudder.  I pulled them off course to buy Tim more time.  This time, there was enough excitement on deck that no one saw me sneak aboard. There were seven men onboard, mostly Hispanic except for one who was fair-haired enough that he must have been an American.  I was just a blur to them as I raced around, picking up every piece of diving equipment I found, and throwing it all overboard.  I slowed down long enough to confront a burly, bald man with a thick, black uni-brow.  He’d been trying to draw a bead on me with his gun, so I decided to give him a chance to surrender before I had to get rough.

“’You’d better be careful, or I’ll take away your ship!’  I warned.

“’Who the dickens are you? Why that screwy outfit? Talk, or I’ll fill ya full’a lead!’

“Apparently, no one this far south had heard of the Flash yet, though by the slang he used, I knew this fella had to be no more Hispanic than I am.  I was beginning to suspect that these guys weren’t just modern-day pirates, but maybe even professional rivals of Rogers’.  But to find that out, I had to ask Rogers some questions.  I dove overboard yet again, and though the man with the gun followed me and fired into the water, I was already hundreds of feet away by then.

“I dashed back to Rogers’ ship. He had just come up from the bottom.

“’Me boy, you were right!’ he said. ‘That’s the Sancta Joanna down there -- and it’s chock-full of gold she is, too!’

“’I can get you some real diving equipment from the Nancy K,’ I said, ‘but tell me -- how come they came down here at all?’

“’Word leaked out that I was after gold!  Burly Billy is a black-hearted villain.  He got a roughneck crew together and followed me!  He threatened Mary and me, stole our lines and equipment -- made life miserable!  I sent Mary to New York for help!’

“That’s where I had stepped into the picture, and everything Rogers said fit with what I knew or had guessed.  Confident that I had the whole picture, I was ready to dash back over to Burly Billy’s ship and give them what they deserved.  But looking over the starboard side, I could see the Nancy K was approaching us.  In fact, I could see the big bald guy who must have been Burly Billy on deck with some of his henchmen.  They spotted me too -- but not for long at the speed I swam back to their ship.  I came up their starboard side behind them, grabbed their guns from their hands under their very eyes, and then dove back underwater to reach the propeller.  I did the same trick to them I had done to Rogers, only this time I ‘propelled’ them south and east along the coast until we hit the mouth of the Amazon River.  Leaving them there for Brazil to worry about, I really opened the throttle and ran on the surface of the water until I’d reached Panama again.  And since I was drenched to the bone anyways, I decided to help Rogers with the treasure by bringing up a few dozen hat-full’s of gold!

“I left an astounded Tim Rogers behind me, laid out on the nearest beach to dry, and bought myself a feast of a lunch with a gold coin I’d liberated from one of those hat-full’s.  That afternoon, I returned to Kansas, changed clothes, and found Mary and Joan at the club.  Joan started on me right away, trying to persuade me to help Mary’s father, but I surprised them both with a telegram from her father that told Mary he had found the treasure.  Later, Joan cornered me and asked why I hadn’t told her.

“’You’d have wanted to come along!’ I said.  ‘I needed to make a quick job of it because I’m so busy these days, and you’d have gotten into trouble and had to be fished out.’

“So you see, even if it wasn’t my most exciting case, it was definitely my wettest -- and when I said that to Joan, it was my most dangerous!”

“I read about Rogers finding that treasure,” Scotty Thunder blurted out, “but I didn’t know you had anything to do with it.” The room turned quiet and Scotty knew he’d spoken out of turn again.  How long before these heroes got so annoyed with him that they just threw him out the window, he wondered?

But the Flash just said, “Well, there are lots of things we fellows do that nobody knows about! Am I right, Hawkman?”

“Yes, you are indeed,” Hawkman responded, “and for some reason or other it reminds me of my most exciting adventure!  It had to do with some very strange men -- men who could live in fire! I’m sure most of you have heard of the eruption of Mount Krakatao on an island between Java and Sumatra in 1883.  Over 36,000 people were killed!  Well, here’s a strange story about things that occurred there recently.  It was late last year, in fact, when Krakatoa went into action again. At the time, though, I was in New York for a gathering of scientists to discuss the region of
Indonesia.  I was there with Shiera -- my colleague, helpmate, and, well, we’ve been intimate in two lifetimes.  It was at the conference that I learned of her plan to visit Krakatoa.

“’Yes,’ she said, ‘the society has decided to study the volcano...and more than that, I’m going to investigate the queer tales I’ve been hearing from my correspondents there.  Nova Singgih spoke of strange balls of fire, and of fierce underground explosions.’

“By then, the conference was over, and I was escorting her home, but we were still discussing the matter.  Shiera had everything planned out, and this woman from Jakarta, Nova, was going to meet her there. ‘I’m sailing for Krakatoa tomorrow,’ she sprang on me.  It hit me like a ton of bricks.  I didn’t want her being away from me for such a long time.  I would have suggested going with her, but I expected Hawkman might be needed in the states.  So, instead I wished her good luck and told her to be careful.  I left her at her house and went on my way, unaware at first that Shiera had an unexpected guest waiting in the shrubbery by her door.

“While she was getting out her key, a dark-skinned man rushed her, pinned one arm across her throat, and held a thin dagger to it.  ‘Die,’ he whispered, ‘Mochtar has ordered it be so.’

“Shiera managed to gurgle a half-scream as he tensed his arm to plunge the dagger home, but I hadn’t been out of earshot, as he must have mistakenly thought.  I was on him that instant, grabbed the hand holding the dagger, and forced it away from Shiera.  I yanked his arm behind his back, then spun him around so I could face him, and gave him a swift punch to the face.  He was out like a light, and it took some shaking on my part to rouse him for questioning.  Poised with one fist over his face and one fist clutching his shirt, he came to seeing that I still meant business.

“‘She is going to Krakatoa,’ he said. ‘She had better stay away or the fire ghosts will get her.  She seeks to learn about Mochtar and that is forbidden.’

“I was about to hit him again when Shiera told me to let him go.  A little later, inside her home, she said, ‘I’ve heard of the fire ghosts!  They are supposed to live in the volcano.’

“’It isn’t right you should go alone,’ I told her.  ‘I wish you’d give up the idea.  You’ll be hurt...’ But there was no dissuading her.  At least she let me...stay the night there to protect her from any further attacks.  But just before dawn I slipped out and raced to my home.  I had by then decided that if she was going she was going to need Hawkman along.  Normally, a giant set of wings wouldn’t get through customs, but luckily I’m also an archaeologist, and know people who make a living at smuggling rare antiquities.  With a generous helping of cash up front, a crate packed with my Hawkman gear was on a fast steamer bound for Indonesia."