Justice Issue Guide #7

Issue 18:
Orphans of the Storm

In a park on the outskirts of Pittsburgh, Justice was walking past several folks enjoying the beautiful day. A mother reading stories to her children. A man walking his dog. A couple making out. Kids playing hopscotch. But while he was happy to see normal people doing normal things, they weren't why Justice was here. No, he was working, seeking out Glen Baker, a paranormal he felt was abusing his powers.

Locating the man on a park bench, Justice accused Baker of using his precognitive parability not to save lives but for personal gain. Baker invited Justice to have a seat next to the dead man, so he could tell the vigilante his tale, but Justice insisted he had no intention of killing Baker. Justice then took the invited seat, and commented upon the color of Baker's hair, which was suddenly, shockingly white.

Insisting that he didn't dye his hair, Baker informed Justice that something he saw with his power changed his hair color from its natural black. He went on to explain that he didn't help others with his power because nobody would believe him if he tried. Sensing his obvious, extreme distress, Justice offered to put Baker out of his misery if he wished, but Baker simply stated Justice wouldn't have time to.

That was the moment the world ended.

Starting with the horrifying white light, the explosion was followed soon enough by a deafening sound, and then finally the wind. The terrible, terrible wind. As it tore through the area, pulling everyone towards the strange detonation, Justice tried and failed to catch a child blowing past him. Baker was tangled in the chains of a swing, his neck broken almost instantly as it stayed anchored to the ground.

Sheltering himself with a halo of his shields, Justice barely withstood the onslaught of the endless winds, but dropped them to catch another child being pulled away in the gale. Now being drawn towards the disaster with a toddler in tow, Justice reestablished his shields, protecting himself and his charge from flying debris for as long as possible - at least, until the wind suddenly stopped.

Having been pulled high into the sky by the winds, Justice and his new friend suddenly plummeted. Exhausted, Justice had since dropped his shields, but managed to put them back up a third and final time just before he struck the ground. Barely surviving his fall from the sky, Justice carved a trough behind him as he slowly came to a stop, quickly losing consciousness from the strain on his mighty shields.

Waking with a start after receiving a strange vision of Ken Connell in his underwear, Justice felt the need to preserve an image from this seeming dream. Though he knew not where he was, Justice vaporized a throw rug next to the bed he woke up in, and traced the shape of the Star Brand into it before it faded from his waking mind. Justice then staggered out of the room he was in, meeting a middle-aged couple.

As he tried to get his bearings, Justice asked the couple what the heck had happened, so Willie and Edna explained how they'd found him and the toddler he's saved in their back yard. Other than that, they only knew what the television was telling them, that some terrible calamity had befallen Pittsburgh, and that the winds said disaster kicked up had trashed everything else for miles around the city.

Vowing to investigate, Justice promised to check on Willie and Edna's family in the city, and then borrowed their car. Taking it to a park, possibly the one he was in before the disaster began, Justice continued until armed soldiers attempted to prevent his further movement. Fighting them off for a time, Justice was 'saved' by Terrance Updike of the National Security Council, who gave him his card, and blessed his passage.

Justice then carved his way through the heaps of debris with his sword arm, climbing into the air with his shields as he reached the edge of the disaster site, the former city of Pittsburgh. Climbing until he stood miles over the crater, Justice indeed saw nothing remained of the metropolis, and that no one could have survived the atrocity that had been inflicted upon the city and its many residents.

Returning to Willie and Edna's home, Justice informed them of their family's fate. He then implored them to take care of the child he had rescued, as the authorities were going to be of no help considering the situation. Finding that the kid was deaf, they indeed agreed to do so, and asked Justice to remain until things were under control. But Justice refused, because he proclaimed an entire city was clamoring... for Justice!

Issue 19:
Hero Worship

In his secluded mountain cabin, Bernie Switz was putting the finishing touches on his book. My Time With the Millenias, his expose on the Millenias cult and its creepy Savior, was only one page from completion when an angry mob suddenly tore its way into his refuge. Led by said Savior, they literally beat Bernie to death before burning the journalist's cabin and all of his work to the ground.

Come morning, on the eastern side of Pennsylvania, a young laywer was having car troubles, no thanks to Justice. Using his shields to impair the progress of her car, he feigned fixing it to bum a ride from the hapless young woman. She indeed offered him one, as long as he was headed to Philadelphia, so Justice decided that's where he was going. Philadelphia, the city where his daughter was currently living.

Later that day, Angela Tensen was meeting with the staff of Temple University, who let her know she was denied financial assistance due to the fact that her father was still technically providing half of her tuition - even if it was from a fund he set up before his untimely disappearance over a year ago. Distraught, Angela left to return to her job at a nearby book store, unknowningly followed by Justice.

As coworkers Rich and Mags commiserated with her over her current plight, Angela found herself thinking about her dad, even though the others were talking about how Libya was apparently claiming responsibility for the Pitt. As she did so, Angela thought she spotted her father peering through the windows of the bookstore, but whoever she saw had vanished before she could make her way to the door.

Meanwhile, Terrance Updike was informed by his lieutenant, Chauncy, that Justice had been spotted in Philadelphia. Chauncy suggested sending a crew to collect the paranormal vigilante, but Updike flat-out refused. After all, upon seeing him in action near the Pitt, Updike wanted Justice to join the NSC of his own free will. He felt trying to strong-arm the man would only get a lot of people killed.

Back in Philadelphia, the Savior was whipping his flock up into a frenzy. Stating that the end was nigh, more or less, he implored them to spread out across the city and convert others to his teachings. And by doing that, he meant to relieve them of their material possessions, so that he may offer them up to God. And as most cultists do, they bought into his grift hook, line, and sinker.

In fact, as they sallied forth into Philadelphia's streets, two of Savior's flock ran into Angela, and immediately dragged her into an alley. When she resisted, one of the thugs pulled a knife on her, nicking her face with it and causing her to pass out. While the cultists debated what to do with her, the prospect of killing her came up, which immediately prompted Justice to lurch out of hiding!

Beating on the cultists for a few moments, Justice was unable to pry any information out of them about this Savior they mentioned, so he straight-up murdered one in front of his buddy. This dramatically loosened his tongue, and he spilled the beans on where the Savior was holed up. After taking Angela to the hospital, Justice then confronted Savior, at which point the two argued over Justice's methods.

Hoping to show his followers that Savior wasn't anything holy, Justice then assaulted the priest without his powers, despite him being at least twice Justice's size. It took some doing, but thanks to his superior fighting skills, Justice ultimately defeated Savior, leaving the smug paranormal grifter defeated on the basement floor. At that point, Savior's cult turned on him, and beat him into a bloody pulp.

When the Savior's former followers began to literally worship him, Justice flew off the handle, telling them all to go home. Of course, he spotted Savior's safe on the way out, and liberated much of the cash the crook had fleeced from his former flock before he left. This, naturally, he used to pay up his daughter's tuition at Temple - even if he did so in an anonymous fashion so Angela wouldn't know its source.

Mind you, Angela did, since folks at the hospital, and then at college, were able to describe him afterwards.

Issue 20:
Creeping Paranoia

Walking down the streets in suburban Philadelphia, Jimmy the Geek was being tormented by his neighbors. Having developed super-hearing in the wake of the so-called Black Event, Jimmy looked otherwise normal... save for his enormous ears. He was taunted with nicknames like Dumbo (TM) ever since his parability emerged, but today was different, for he had recently met a representative of the Forsaken known as Seraph.

Considering himself the protector of all paranormals, Seraph stood up for Jimmy while he was being harrassed. His neighbors didn't like this, though, and one pulled a knife. The paranormals' self-declared protector then drew his scythe and cut the knife-wielding thug's hand clean off, taking the time to chase Jimmy's tormentors off. He then agreed to join him at the Pitt-Aid concert, being held that night.

Later, at Pitt-Aid, while numerous famous music acts played their hearts out, Angela Tensen was attending the event with some of her work friends when she once again thought she spotted her father nearby. Racing through the crowd, Angela was surprised to bumble into Seraph instead of her dad, and her friends hurriedly pulled her away from him. Little did Angela know, however, that Justice was indeed nearby.

Watching her encounter with Seraph, Justice was in turn spotted by the man, and the two glared at each other momentarily before Seraph melted into the crowd. Sure that Seraph would come to him in good time, Justice drifted off, eventually bumping into Playback as she attempted to get a read on supposed 'real' rocks from the Pitt that a vendor was peddling to attendees of the Pitt-Aid concert.

Distressed at his appearance, Playback panicked when Justice pulled a piece of paper from his pocket. Annoyed that she seemed terrified of him still, Justice handed her his paper with the drawing of the Star Brand on it, hoping she could get some kind of reading from it. Since the paper itself hadn't directly interacted with the fool who created the Pitt, Playback couldn't perceive anything about it with her power.

Fleeing as soon as Justice was distracted, Playback fought her way through the crowd of concertgoers, ultimately colliding with Terrance Updike, who was informed of Justice's presence by his underling, Chauncy. Exploiting the opportunity, he made his sales pitch to Playback about joining the NSC. The group had been keeping tabs on Playback like it had several other paranormals, and Updike hoped she would join them.

As Playback did so, Angela found herself targeted by Jimmy the Geek, who repeatedly hit on her. Incapable of taking no for an answer, he ultimately groped her behind, prompting Angela to punch him out before ducking into a Port-O-John. As Jimmy the Geek began to shake the temporary toilet, he was tossed aside by Justice, who then threatened him for misusing his parability of super hearing.

Seraph chose that moment to reappear, chiding Jimmy the Geek for his bad behavior before turning on Justice himself. Taking a swing at him with his empowered scythe, Seraph sliced through Justice's shields like they were tissue paper, and then absorbed his sword blast with the weapon before flinging it back at him. Having started this fight in a crowded venue, Seraph's attack attracted all kinds of attention.

This attention turned into a panic after Seraph shouted that his foe was the Justice Killer, the masses stampeding away from the battle. Though he had Seraph on the ropes, Justice was forced to defend his daughter when she was in danger of being trampled by the crowd, and quit using his shields to suffocate Seraph and instead built a shelter around Angela to keep her safe from the panicked attendees.

Seraph slipped into the crowd again as the police approached, leaving Justice to be beaten senseless by officers eager to capture the Justice Killer. Intent on defending Angela at all costs, Justice couldn't protect himself, and took an astounding beating from the police as a result. Though he finally lost consciousness after he was severely brutalized by the authorities, Justice managed to protect Angela long enough.

The stampede had passed her by right around the time he passed out.