Brave New World: Stargirl

Chapter 22

Is it just me, or does anyone else think that Eclipso is stealing Ricardo Diaz's moves. Dismantling Stargirl's team one by one before he fights her again himself.

"What the hell was Brainwave thinking? Going after the staff himself?" Crusher asked as he, Jordan, Paula, Steven. Anya and William all sat in the ISA headquarters.

"William, you ensured that Brainwave's cover would be kept right?" Jordan asked the Wizard, who nodded.

"Made sure he was changed into his regular hospital getup and everything before I had him dropped at Blue Valley Hospital. They won't suspect a thing. I've already established a cover as well." William said.

"Good." Jordan said.

"Jordan, what are we going to do? Project New America can't commence without Brainwave." Paula said.

"Do you think that you can wake him up?" Jordan asked Anya.

"I can try." Anya agreed.

"There is another option." Dr. Ito said as he joined them.

"What option?" Steven asked.

"Brainwave's son." Dr. Ito said.

"Except he's shown no sign of possessing the same powers as his father. We can't bring him into this unless we know for sure that he has his father's powers." Jordan said.

"Unless there's something you haven't told us." Crusher said to Ito.

"No. Cindy has yet to report anything back to me." Ito said.

"And you trust her to be honest with you? Honestly, that kid's more rebellious than the rest of our kids combined." Crusher said.

"At least our children know we love them. Imagine what Cindy Burman would be like if she had a parent who cared about her." Anya said.

"Enough. Bickering gets us nowhere." Jordan said.

"Why did you drop Brainwave at the hospital. He should be here where Ito can keep an eye on him." Paula said to William.

"Because in case you've forgotten, Henry is very well known in this town and like the rest of us, except the Gambler, just because he can't find a woman dumb enough to sleep with him, he has a son, so people would notice if he just disappeared." William said.

"William made the correct decision. Until we can deploy Project New America, maintaining our cover is necessary. But for now, we're going to proceed with our plans, though we'll have to accelerate our time table a bit. Dr. Ito, tell me what you need in order to complete your machine and we'll begin acquisitions. Though William and Anya will likely be handling that." Jordan said.

"Why not us?" Crusher asked, referring to himself and his wife.

"Because whoever put Brainwave in a coma is going to be looking for the rest of us, especially if they figure out we're here in Blue Valley. We need to do things covertly." Jordan said.

"And considering that you two like to leave a bloodbath in your wake, cover isn't really your style." William said.

"You want to say that again? After all, without that wand of yours, you're not so tough." Crusher said.

"Enough. Gambler, you will be tasked with identifying our new foe." Jordan said and Steven nodded.

"So what do we do?" Paula asked.

"How about you stop killing my football coaches every time they don't treat Artemis like she's the star." Anya said.

"Stop hiring bum coaches and we won't have that problem." Paula said.

"Enough. She's right, you two have risked drawing too much attention to our operation as it is." Jordan said.

"We want action." Crusher argued.

"Fine, we'll split the missions." Jordan said, not wanting to get into yet another fight, since honestly, all this pointless bickering was exactly that. Pointless. He was well aware that his teammates had issues with each other, but he didn't care. As long as they refrained from killing each other until after they'd put their plan into effect, he could care less what they do.

"Jordan, there is another problem that I don't believe you have accounted for." Ito said.

"What problem?" Jordan asked.

"The process will only affect fully developed human minds. Which means that people like Superman and Supergirl will not be affected and we can be sure that they'll be interested if we try to enslave half the country." Ito said.

"That is a problem that you will find a solution to. Ideally by finding a way to make sure it will affect aliens, since if it does, then we'll have Superman and Supergirl on our payroll. Very ideal to help bring our message to the rest of the country and the world." Jordan said.

"That will take and I will need information about the Kryptonians that isn't available to the public." Ito said.

"If it exists, I'll find a way to get it to you." Jordan said.

"Is there anything else?" Anya asked.

"That's all." Jordan said, dismissing them, though Ito stopped him before he could leave.

"What is it?" he asked.

"Cindy is growing restless. She is insisting that if we want her to keep doing her part, then she wants something out of it." Ito said and Jordan sighed.

"We wouldn't be having this conversation if you'd actually been a parent to her and hadn't let her become the spoiled brat she is today. Does she really think that she'll get a seat at the table if she keeps acting like this? She has no restraint and no control and I already have three attack dogs with that problem." Jordan said.

"Sportsmaster, Tigress and Grundy." Ito said and Jordan nodded.

"If your daughter wants a seat at the table, then she better grow up and show some actual maturity, not the same antics she's shown so far. Besides, members of the ISA complete their missions before insisting on rewards." Jordan said.

"She'll never get a membership will she?" Dragon King asked.

"Would you offer her one if you were me?" Jordan asked him.

"No." Ito agreed.

"Then we're done here. Tell her whatever you want, but make it clear that by insisting she be made a member of the ISA before she finishes her mission, she's just lowered her chances of it ever happening." Jordan said and Ito nodded as they went their separate ways, unaware that they'd been overheard.

"Fine then. If you won't put me on your team, I'll start my own." Cindy said to herself as she looked at the file she'd stolen from her father. The folder contained records on her and all the other ISA legacies. Henry King Jr., Artemis Crock, Issac Bowin, Joey Zarick, hell, even Icicle's own son Cameron Makhent was in here.

"Time to do some recruiting." Cindy said with a grin as she closed the folder and looked down at the title on it. The name of her new team. It was only two words, but it perfectly described what her team would be. INJUSTICE UNLIMITED.