MONSTROUS.
004. | ❛ JSA. ❜

"We're the Justice Society of America. And you're coming with us." The group of heroes narrowed down at the Legends, who were confused at what they had done to be approached by Rex Tyler's group. Crystal back up into Ray, grabbing his forearm a little scared at what they planned to do with them.

"Oh, my God. You're Commander Steel." Nate said in disbelief but when Commander Steel did a backflip to face Nate, he was even more astounded by him.

"Who the hell are you?"

"Whoa, whoa. Just relax. We're all friends here. Rex Tyler told us about the JSA. You guys are awesome." Ray tried to ease the situation but they all seem to never lower their guard. The woman with a mask and a star on her suit wasn't buying it.

"Hey. The name's Jax." Jax introduced himself to the star girl who did her best ignoring him.

"Rex never mentioned any of you." Her comment made Jax step back in defeat, giving Crystal a bit of snicker.

"Mind telling us what you were doing impersonating OSS agents?"

"Do you always ask questions? Or is it especially for us?" Crystal asked before Martin answered the question given.

"It's quite simple, actually. We were protecting Albert Einstein from Nazi agents who were attempting to kidnap him and force him to build an atomic bomb in the future."

"Time travel. It's... it's hard to explain." Nate said to Commander Steel.

"You can take all the time you need." The woman in a yellow suit said before she continued, "In custody."

"Whoa, take it easy. Let's talk for a minute. I mean, after all, you're my..." Commander Steel stroke Nate in the face with his gun initiating the fight that started almost immediately.

She watched as Mick threw a punch to this ghost man who disappeared and then threw him half way across the alley. Commander Steel yelled out an order which resulted in the ghost man, projecting his power to the sky turning it dark. The clear blue sky was no longer there instead being replaced by this black bubble they were in, making it harder for the Legends to see and attack. Nonetheless, it didn't stop them from trying their best to protect themselves.

Crystal started attacking the StarGirl, who held a mystical staff that shot out powerful source at Firestorm. Once she started attacking, Crystal started directing her source of magic at her but StarGirl decided to stick to physical strength using her staff to throw Crystal in the air and onto her back. This time she rose with veins sprouting under her eyes, "you pissed off the wrong person."

As she was going to attack, the other woman striked her throwing her once again and as she fell down, she saw the rest of her team defeated and laid on the ground wondering what was going to happen next.

[•]

"You just had to mention time travel, didn't you?" Mick groaned as Crystal paced around the cell that the JSA stuck the Legends in.

"Yeah, well, at least he didn't throw the first punch." Ray responded back by tempting Martin with his answer.

"I'm perfectly capable of defending myself, Raymond."

"I'm pretty sure that you got knocked out by a teenager in a star-spangled leotard." Sara pointed out the obvious.

"At least she knocked them out first then she focused on me." Crystal said with Nate trying to use her real name.

"Her name's Stargirl."

"Did anybody catch her regular-person name?" Jax asked

"I'm surprised you didn't ask for her number."

"Oh, so it's my fault that we got our asses handed to us?"

"Look, they're just better coordinated than us." Ray made it obvious that JSA were a better team than the Legends at least in coordination.

"You guys, just listen to me for two..."

"Pretty, shut up. If I recall, you were late coming to the party."
Mick continued the bickering with Crystal trying to keep the peace, because the JSA could be monitoring them.

"I don't understand why they were tracking us in the first place." Crystal sat down on the floor getting tired of pacing and waiting for the JSA to come and talk to them.

"Because they're the Justice Society of America, the single greatest secret force this country has ever known." Nate answered

"If it's so secret, how do you know about them?" Sara answered and before Nate could respond Commander Steel and the fairly toned woman came into their sight, "Because his Nazi handlers have briefed him, no doubt."

"Look, I'm not a Nazi. I'm a historian." Nate talked through the bars to them, both still unconvinced of where they came from.

"Here we go with the time travel nonsense again."

"070233." Nate blurted out numbers catching Commander Steel's attention.

"What?"

"Those are numbers on your dog tags. They're not disclosed on any documents, military or otherwise."

Commander Steel walked forward leaving the woman's side, "How do you know that?"

Nate pulled out his dog tags from underneath his shirt showing him directly the ones that he was talking about, "You gave these to your wife after the birth of your son in 1955. The dent in the front was from an assassin's bullet when you saved President Roosevelt in 1939. Your son passed them down to his son, me."

Ray helped Crystal up as Commander Steel decided on whether or not to let them out of the cell, but too much of a coincidence must of convinced him that the Legends weren't harmful. They unlocked the cage and led them directly to the hall of the JSA, where the rest of the team were.

"Mr. Tyler." Martin formally addressed him with Ray jumped with excitement, "See? Rex Tyler. Told you we knew the guy."

"I don't know you. Any of you. Tell me what the heck is going on here." Rex asked sternly.

"Well, we tried explaining..." Sara tried to speak but was shut down by Rex

"I'm sorry, ma'am, I was addressing the team leader." Rex pointed to Martin who was alarmed but Crystal stepped in regarding his comment.

"Team leader or not, we still deserve a bit of respect don't you think?"

"Ma'am it's best if the leaders talk this over." Rex tried reasoning with Crystal which only angered her more, strangely she never had outbursts like these.

"Like I said before you don't want to see me angry," Crystal took one step forward ready to let go of her bloodlust but was pulled back by Ray, trying to clam her down while Martin spoke.

"Uh... uh... oh. Oh, well, simply put, we've come here as time travelers to identify aberrations in history and correct them."

"We're superheroes, like you guys." Ray chuckled with StarGirl clearly disapprovingly not believing them with a chuckle of her own.

"You think you're just like us? What are your qualifications?"

"What are yours?" Crystal snapped quickly rising to the front of the line, not being stopped by Ray but by Sara holding her forearm which normally calmed her down.

"Well, I used my personal fortune to create an advanced exo-skeleton, which is powered by dwarf star alloy." Ray described his suit which didn't impress them in the slightest.

"And I'm nothing like you. I'm a criminal." Mick said. Yeah so was Leonard.

"Are there any other felons on your team?" Vixen asked, whose name was given to her by Nate.

"No, no..." Ray shook his head side to side before Mick interjected again.

"Yes. She's an assassin, but never convicted, right?" He pointed to Sara who waved before he continued to Crystal, "And the fierce and spicy one next to her is a huntress slash vampire who hasn't been caught as well."

"We're protecting history. It's pretty important." Ray continued to speak before Martin took over.

"In the future, you risk your own life to save us, Mr. Tyler."

"How do you know my name?" Rex sternly replied, finding it weird that they knew him but he didn't know them.

"Because you told us your name in 2016." Crystal answered him while Ray explained to him how the events played after Kendra and Carter took off and Rex crashed their ship.

"So I crashed your ship, told you some bunk about not staying in 1942, and then I just disappeared?" He furrowed his eyebrows at them, not piecing any of it together.

"It was more like "fritzing" out." Ray explained with Rex looking at them like they were all crazy.

"You might've been on to something with the Bellevue idea." Rex turned back to Commander Steel, the Legends not getting the reference.

The phone begun to ring with Rex scoffing while going to answer it, "Yes, Mr. President, sir?"

"FDR? Oh, tell him I'm a big fan of the New Deal." Ray shouted out, with Rex covering the phone while giving him a confused look before returning to the call.

Sara looked to Crystal who was still sure that all eyes were focused on her, "Crystal, what was that all about?"

"I don't know. Some force just came over me, I just can't explain it. It was like a jab in me, something woke up inside me when he was talking to you like that. I've never acted this way before."

"You did when Leonard was around." Sara commented before realizing what she had just said. "Crystal, I'm sorry that I brought him-"

"Sara, it's okay to say his name. Everyone has to stop thinking that whenever they mention him that I'm going to turn into a bucket of tears. Leonard would've wanted me to be happy, and being with my family during this time is what makes me happy."

"Careful Crystal, you almost made me cry." Sara smiled before they turned back to the ending of Rex's conversation with the President.

"Of course. All right. You can count on us, sir." Rex hung up the phone and informing his team of what he was just told. "All right, we have to move out. Baron Krieger's been spotted in Paris."

"If it's permissible, sir, I'll fly ahead and record Krieger's movements." Vixen suggested to her leader.

"Sensible, as always."

"We could help you out with that. Fighting Nazis is kind of our thing." Ray interjected not recalling what happened the last time we messed with Nazis

"Yeah. Last time we tried, we ended up at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean." Mick examined a knife with Rex assuring them he didn't need their help.

"We can handle Adolf's buddies. I think it's best for the 20th Century if..."

"For us to leave it?" Martin asked with Rex nodding along

"And that's why you're team leader."

"Well, I guess we'll be on our way, then." Martin smiled with the Legends glad they were leaving behind the JSA.

[•]

"Can you believe what we just saw with our own eyes? The actual JSA. And Hourman? That guy's amazing." Ray highly spoke while dazing off.

"Aw, haircut's in love."

"Wouldn't be the first time," Crystal jabbed at Ray unknowingly at the comment she made. Mick laughed at the joke appreciating this new sense of personality that Crystal had. "Nice one, witchy."

"I'm sorry" Crystal mouthed towards him while he nodded at her accepting her apologies before continuing his admiration for the JSA.

"Come on. Those guys were precise, professional, in constant agreement. We can't even agree on whose turn it is to make dinner."

"Not it." Sara passed while Crystal agreed with her

"I can't argue with you, man. They got some serious skills."

"And we're Legends. We got Atom, Firestorm, a League of Assassin member, a witch slash vampire, and a criminal with a good need for burning stuff."

"Damn right," Mick agreed.

"Crystal's right. So big deal. Apart from the fancy headquarters, discipline, and calls from the White House, I mean, what do they have that we don't?" Sara asked leaning against the command board.

"An actual leader. Rip's gone, and who knows when or if we'll ever find him. In the meantime, we need someone who can make the tough calls." Ray positioned himself next to Crystal, who was next to Sara.

"Let me guess, you're volunteering?" Mick groaned while Ray rolled his eyes.

"With all due respect, Raymond, I think there's a reason Mr. Tyler just naturally assumed I was in charge." Martin spoke stepping down a step while they all looked up to him.

"Yeah, because Mr. Tyler is from 1942 and you're some old white dude." Jax made a point while Martin took as an offense.

" 'Old,' meaning experienced. What about... "

"Martin's right. With Rip gone, we could use some adult supervision. Congratulations, Captain." Sara stopped the bickering while Crystal agreed as well.

"Sara's right, so Captain Martin what is your first order of business?" Crystal asked.

"Well, then. Thank you all for your support. Now, I believe our first order of business concerns Dr. Heywood."