Courtney's mind was still reeling from what she'd just learned about her father. This whole time she'd thought that he was a deadbeat who didn't care about her when in reality he was a superhero who'd given his life to save the world and while she had about a dozen questions, the most pressing one was why. Why didn't her mother tell her the truth about her dad? Why did she let Courtney spend her life thinking that her father didn't care about her. It just didn't seem fair. Especially since it had robbed her of the chance to mourn her father, a fact that was just now catching up to her.

"Court, you okay?" Yolanda asked her, though that question seemed stupid, but considering the fact that Courtney looked like she was about to cry, she thought it was necessary.

"Not really. It just sunk in that my dad didn't walk out on me, he died and my mom didn't even have the decency to tell me that. Instead, she let me hate him instead of mourn him and now that it's sunk in, the grief is being pretty quick to set in." Courtney said and Yolanda nodded in understanding as she just wrapped her arms around Courtney and let the other girl silently weep into her shoulder as Courtney not only let go of the anger she'd held onto towards her father for most of her life, but more importantly, she also processed grief that was about 10 years overdue.

Yolanda wasn't sure if there was anything she could say to make Courtney feel better, so she settled for just continuing to rub Courtney's back and let the other girl cry, right as they heard the elevator door open and Yolanda couldn't stop herself from glaring at Mrs. Whitmore when she and Pat exited the elevator, since it was Barb's fault that Courtney was in her current state.

"Yolanda, what happened?" Barbara asked.

"She not only found out that everything you told her about her dad was a lie, but that he didn't walk out, he died and that grief is just now hitting her." Yolanda said, since Courtney refused to even look at her mom right now, like Yolanda, she believed that the only reason she felt this was because her mother had lied to her about this.

"Courtney, I can explain." Barbara said.

"Don't." Courtney managed to say through her tears and still without even looking at her mom.

"Courtney, I have something for you. Something that I think your father would want you to have." Pat said as Courtney finally looked up from Yolanda's shoulder to see that Pat was holding the staff she'd seen in both her dreams and she'd seen the hologram of her father hold.

"That's my dad's staff." Courtney said and Pat nodded.

"This is the cosmic staff. It was built by your grandfather Ted Knight who used it to become the first Starman. After that, he passed the staff on to your father Sylvester and now it's become clear that the staff has chosen you to be the next one to use it, since it's not just the family DNA that makes it work, since if it was, your mom could use the staff. Your grandfather built the staff to only work for people the staff deemed worthy, since he somehow gave it a mind of its own, don't ask me how, I don't know. But I do know that it wouldn't have chosen you if you didn't have the same characteristics, the same light, your father had. And I want to teach how to use it as best I can." Pat said and Courtney smiled through her tears.

"Thank you Pat. But why didn't you tell me the truth about my dad, since I know you were his sidekick?" Courtney asked.

"I wanted to Courtney, but your mom wouldn't let me. She wanted to keep you safe from the life your dad led." Pat said.

"I can understand that, but she shouldn't have let me think he didn't care. I spent years hating him when I should've been proud of him. And I couldn't even grieve for him until now because I didn't know he was dead." Courtney said.

"You're right Courtney, that was wrong of me, but I was trying to keep you safe from this life." Barbara said, trying to justify her decision.

"Unfortunately, that is unavoidable now." a new male voice said and all four of them jumped as they turned to see a guy with headridges and wearing the most ridiculous bulky costume any of them had ever seen standing there.

"Who are you and how the hell did you get in here?" Barbara demanded.

"My name is Mar Novu and I'm what your people might call a god." Novu said.

"I've never heard of you." Pat said.

"That's because I never felt it necessary to get involved in your world before now. But things have changed. If this world is to thrive, then all of its greatest heroes must reach their potential and that includes your daughter." Novu said.

"What does that mean?" Courtney asked.

"It means that you Courtney Whitmore have a destiny to fulfill, just like your father did before you. What that means is for you to determine yourself. But it is time for you to finally claim your destiny, something that has been put off for far too long." Novu said.

"Any chance you can tell me what that means?" Novu asked.

"All I can tell you is to follow your dreams. They will be your guide until you find your way. But first you must claim what is rightfully yours." Novu said and before any of them could say anything, he disappeared.

"Well, that was random." Yolanda said, though they all couldn't help but wonder what that weird guy meant.

"I've never heard of that guy before, but Dr. Fate was a lot like him. An incredibly powerful cosmic being who spoke in cryptic riddles. We'll have to figure it out ourselves." Pat said.

"What did he mean by my destiny?" Courtney asked and then, as if by some instinct, she held out her hand and the Cosmic Staff lit up and flew out of Pat's hand and into her's.

"I think that's a sign that your destiny is to pick up where your dad left off. It wants you to rebuild the JSA." Pat said and Courtney smiled a bit, since for the first time ever, she actually felt connected to her father.

"I'll help." Yolanda said.

"Yolanda, I don't want to put you in danger. This is my mission and it's personal." Courtney said.

"I have something you don't." Yolanda said.

"What?" Courtney asked.

"Powers." Yolanda said, shocking Courtney and her parents as suddenly she willed her eyes to shift to those of a cats and claws protruded from her finger nails.