Chapter 24

While Henry was looking Courtney over in the med bay, Pat had taken charge of the JSA and he'd even let Mike sit in since if the ISA had found out Courtney's identity, then they were all at risk.

"Tell me again why Cindy is allowed to sit in on this meeting?" Rick asked, still annoyed that he wasn't allowed to use his father's hourglass.

"Because she's the only person here who has actual information on the ISA." Pat said, getting real tired of Rick's attitude, since it had been weeks and he still had not shown any improvement.

"Including their real names. Should we start with the one who nearly killed Courtney tonight?" Cindy asked.

"Brainwave." Pat said.

"Better known in this town as Dr. Henry King Sr, father of my now ex-boyfriend Henry King Jr and one of the top brain doctors in the country." Cindy said.

"That explains so much about his son." Yolanda said.

"Henry doesn't know that his father's a villain, though he does know that he's a jerk." Cindy said.

"Does he have his father's powers?" Pat asked.

"If he does I haven't seen any proof of it, which is actually why I had to start dating him in the first place. Our fathers wanted me to keep tabs on him in case there was any trace of him developing his powers." Cindy said.

"How do you know he wasn't just hiding them?" Yolanda asked.

"Do I want to know what's happening between Yolanda and Henry?" Chloe asked Jen, since she was the new girl.

"Probably not." Jen confirmed.

"Got it." Chloe said as they returned to the primary conversation.

"Anyways, next up would be an old playmate of Chloe's dad, the Rival, also known as Edward Clarriss." Cindy said.

"Seriously, who came up with that name?" Chloe asked.

"He named himself that since he was your dad's rival. Not one for imagination, but he was the only person who could give your dad a run for his money in the speed department." Cindy said.

"Fair point. And I guess I can't really talk since my dad named himself the Flash." Chloe said.

"That's still better than the Rival and that's coming from me." Cindy said.

"True." Chloe agreed.

"Okay, back on topic, the reason your father hated the Rival so much is because of one of his worst crimes. He killed your dad's sidekick, the original Silverbolt." Pat said as he pulled up a picture of the first person to wear the Silverbolt mantle.

"Dad told me her name was Eliza Harmon. Was she a member of the JSA too?" Chloe asked.

"No, sidekicks weren't allowed in until they graduated to full hero status." Pat said, since he hadn't been a member of the JSA until now.

"Wow. So what happened. I've asked mom and dad about what happened to her and they never answer." Chloe asked, hoping to finally get an answer about it.

"It happened before the massacre. Your dad and Silverbolt were engaging the Rival in one of their worst battles ever. The ISA had the rest of the JSA scattered across the country to prevent us from helping them. The Rival was putting up one hell of a fight and he had your dad at his mercy and he was preparing to put his hand through his heart, but Eliza decided that the world needed the Flash more than Silver Bolt, since she saved your father's life, but ended up taking the attack meant for him. She died in your father's arms. Jay never forgave the Rival for doing that." Pat said.

"And I never will and I don't want Chloe going up against him." Henry said as he and Courtney joined him, Yolanda quickly got up to help Henry guide Courtney to her usual chair at the head of the table, since it had been agreed early on that that seat was hers, since she was the new JSA's leader.

"You feeling any better?" Yolanda asked Courtney as she sat back down in her usual chair next to her.

"Still a little dizzy, but I think that once I get some sleep, I should be fine." Courtney said.

"Any idea what's going on with her?" Pat asked Henry.

"Still waiting for Gemma to finish the results. But anyways, Cindy said that Clarriss is back in play." Henry asked and Cindy nodded.

"The ISA brought him back into the fold a few weeks ago." Cindy confirmed.

"Okay then Chloe, I'm going to be upping your training and putting your brother on standby, since you are not ready to fight someone as powerful as Clariss yet." Henry said, while Chloe had been making big strides in her training since they'd moved to Blue Valley, she wasn't at the level where she could fight an opponent as experienced as the Rival yet.

"Dad, I can handle it." Chloe said.

"Chloe, Clariss not only has speed, he also has years of training to back it up. You're not ready yet." Henry said.

"Dad, you know Clariss might not give me a choice about it. From what you told me, once he finds out there's another speedster around, he'll want to come after me." Chloe said.

"Not any time soon. Right now he isn't at full power and the ISA is making him conserve his speed." Cindy said.

"Wait, he's not at full power?" Henry asked, wondering if this might have anything to do with what his son was dealing with back in Central City.

"Yeah. I don't know why and even if they told me, I doubt I'd understand all that science stuff." Cindy said.

"Okay, let's move on." Courtney said, getting them back on topic.

"Right, next up, we have the ISA's showman, the Wizard. Aka, William Zarrick." Cindy said.

"Wait, as in Councilman Zarrick? Jimmy Zarrick's father?" Yolanda asked, finding it hard to believe that such a nice kid could be the son of a villain.

"Yeah, that apple fell very far from the tree. He's nothing like his old man and honestly, the Wizard is probably the softest member of the ISA." Cindy said.

"What about the ISA's attack dogs?" Pat asked.

"I assume you're talking about Sportsmaster and Tigress?" Cindy asked, since no one else fit that description.

"Who else would I be talking about?" Pat asked.

"Fair point. Their real names are Lawrence Crusher Crock and Paula Brooks. AKA Artemis Crock's parents." Cindy said.

"No wonder that girl is so intense." Courtney said and everyone who'd met her nodded in agreement.

"It does explain why she's such a natural athlete though." Beth said.

"Pretty much." Cindy agreed.

"What about the others?" Pat asked.

"Well, the original Fiddler is locked up, but his wife took his place in the ISA with his mind controlling violin and she's none other than our principal. Anaya Bowin." Cindy said.

"I knew that woman was evil." Rick said and everyone rolled their eyes at that.

"Very funny, though several students would likely agree with you." Jen said.

"Then we have the ISA's computer expert, the Gambler, also known as the American Dream's CFO, Stephen Sharpe." Cindy said.

"I always knew there was something weird about that man." Barbara said, being the only one in the room besides Cindy who had some experience with the man.

"Trust me, you don't know the half of it." Cindy said.

"Are they still controlling Solomon Grundy?" Pat asked and Cindy nodded.

"Yeah and he's the one who's responsible for Hourman's death." Cindy said.

"Wait, Grundy's the one who killed my dad?" Rick asked angrily as Beth and Mari moved to hold him down.

"I don't know why, but your dad apparently got back on the ISA's radar after he survived the massacre and the ISA sent Grundy to tie up that particular loose end." Cindy said.

"And what about the ISA's leader, you know the man who killed my father?" Courtney asked, wanting a name.

"Icicle is actually Jordan Mahkent, the founder and CEO of the American dream and the dad of our classmate Cameron Mahkent." Cindy said.

"Wait, the guy who's spent more time and money than anyone on bringing this town back to life is actually the man who killed my husband?" Barbara asked and Cindy nodded.

"How do the ISA know who I am, since Brainwave seems to know who I was, even before he read my mind?" Courtney asked.

"I don't know. I'm guessing through one of my dad's side projects, not that I'd know, since they never tell me anything." Cindy said and Courtney nodded.

"What do we do now?" Beth asked.

"Now we make plans to take the ISA down." Courtney said.

"Do we have any idea on how you did that weird light blast thing, since that could come in handy but also be dangerous if you can't control it." Yolanda asked Courtney.

"We're still waiting for Gemma to get us the test results." Henry said and Courtney nodded.

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