Day One - Savannah Police Barracks, Mid-morning.

Johnny parked the roadster in front of Savannah's Police Barracks on Oglethorpe Street in a slot reserved for the Chief. He climbed two sets of stairs to the detective division. "Not as young as I used to be," he thought as he entered the detective's bullpen.

Lieutenant Ned Wells saw him come in and waved him to an interview room on the right. "She gonna sign a complaint?" Ned asked.

"Nah," Johnny answered. "But he's good for the other jobs." He dropped a handful of pawn slips on the table. "He'd tag along with his momma to social events. At least three of your cases are solved right there." He pointed to the tickets. "No doubt he did 'em. Do me a favor, don't pick him up till after I get paid."

Wells laughed. "Sure. God forbid you missed a payment on that Corvette."

Johnny turned to go, "Well I don't see the city payin' me to do your job for ya."

"You know the Captain would hire you in a minute. Hell, you'd probably get my job."

"I operate better on my own. I'll let ya know when the check clears." Johnny grabbed his hat and left.

                                                                                      ~~~

"How did it go?" Rusty Ringle looked up from what he was reading as Johnny entered the office.

"Not so good. I kept hopin' the kid would run, so I could smack him around a bit but he just sat there next to his Momma."

"Johnny, you can't keep hitting everybody. The times are changing. An' how many times I told ya to lose that grimy old Fedora. That's all old school stuff. The clients don't want to hire Phillip Marlowe anymore, they want Richard Diamond. Someone who thinks, not someone who cracks heads."

"Sometimes it just feels right to crack a few heads," Johnny grumbled. "Whaddya working on?"

"A new comic by Sid Tyler. Might as well, we got nuthin else going on. How long we gotta hide down here in the sticks?"

"I ain't hiding'. Johhny Earthquake don't hide from nobody." The desk bounced a couple of times in response to a massive fist smashing down on it. Remarkably, nothing was broken. Rusty was unfazed.

"Ya turned down jobs in Beantown and Chicago. Titan was beggin' ya to solve a little problem for him in LA. Yet here we sit. What are we doin' here, Johnny?"

Johnny Earthquake dragged his big meaty hands down across his face.

"Rusty.. ya know... after the war... I'm just sick of science heroes and villains. I need to get back to just clean detective work. I need to make a difference for people, not try to save the world."

Rusty wouldn't let it go. "Yeah, these poor rich people here really need your help. Didja get a lotta satisfaction from findin' that old broad's ice for her?"

There was a soft rustle from the front hall and then a sharp clap as the door on the mail slot dropped back into place. "That's funny, the mail's already come today," Rusty said as he got up. "Don't disturb yerself, I'll get it."

He was back just a moment later with a funny look on his face. "It's from Lady Stanhope, an' I don' think it's a check." He dropped the bulging envelope on the table.

Johnny Earthquake tore open the envelope and dumped out a pile of confetti. On closer inspection, it was the Stanhope invoice, torn into shreds.

"Guess she wasn't too happy with your work," Rusty quipped.