Smallville s09e11 Episode Script
Absolute Justice
This is Clark.
Please leave a message and I'll get back to you as soon as I can.
Clark, this is Chloe with message number one-too-many.
I know trying to lead a contingent of Kryptonians looking for a lease on life is putting weight on your shoulders and I don't wanna add to that but I'm still trying to set up an official meeting with our super-gang.
Clark, we're playing too fast and loose.
We need to start taking this more seriously.
Who are you? My name is Sylvester Pemberton.
You and I share something in common.
We're both trying to put a team together.
- I don't know what you're talking about.
- You're the one they call Watchtower.
Watchtower? Technology today makes hiding a whole lot harder, Miss Sullivan.
When someone like you reaches out and plugs into so many outlets someone else is bound to pull out one of those cords and follow it back to its source.
You're lucky a friend did it first.
Friends? Friends don't sneak up on each other in a dark alley.
Is it just me or did it get really cold really fast? Unh! Hey.
Stay down, Miss Sullivan.
Help! Somebody, help! They came after us.
They'll come after all of you.
Ch- Check- What? Check what? Check what? Who are you? Who's coming? What has happened? Coming through.
Chloe, are you okay? Just some moderate frostbite and a little sleep deprivation.
Nothing a cup of hot cocoa and a nap won't fix.
But the real question is, are you okay? I haven't heard from you in days.
- Yeah, we've been playing phone tag.
- Uh, no, phone tag implies two people.
I've been playing phone solitaire.
Not nearly as much fun.
- I'm sorry.
I've been meaning to call- - It's okay.
No apology is needed.
Protecting the streets of Metropolis and chasing down Lois Lane is more than enough to juggle.
Add to that, you're now leading the secret city of Kandor.
I'm only helping them find their place here.
They're trying to make Earth their home.
Like John Jones did when he got a job and became a detective.
So, what, you're expecting the Kandorians to just become firemen and short-order cooks? They need to make their own lives and then move on from there.
Officer? Yes.
These are the recovered personals.
Who was he? His name was Sylvester Pemberton, but other than that, I haven't got a clue.
And his phone.
All right.
But I'm gonna get one.
Hi, again.
I just wanna make sure you have all my contact info - in case you need anything.
We're all set.
Thank you.
No! What do you mean? He can't be dead.
Don't.
Are you all right? My friend was murdered.
I'm sorry.
I don't know what to do.
I don't know what I'm supposed to do.
Do you wanna sit down? What is wrong with you people? Us people? The press.
Haven't you vultures done enough to Sylvester? - I wasn't looking for a quote.
I just- - Just stay the hell away from me.
What was that drama about? She obviously has a problem with reporters.
She's friends with Sylvester Pemberton.
Pemberton knew about Watchtower.
He wore some kind of weird uniform.
He had a weapon that could control light.
He was killed by ice from someone or something.
I'm getting some serious wall-of-weird flashbacks here, Clark.
I know that you have a lot of things pressing right now but this is a job for Clark Kent.
His final phone call lasted 30 minutes.
It was with a guy named Wesley Dodds.
You need to go check it out.
You dreamt about me, didn't you, Mr.
Dodds? But that's what you do.
You dream about killers.
It's time for the Sandman to finally have a good night's sleep.
Oliver, you got my message.
I got all 10 of them, Chloe.
Where are the other super-friends? Waiting for them to ping me back.
This is why I keep asking everybody to come up with some standardized trouble alert.
The team needs structure.
Is that what we're lacking? You're really on a kick lately, Chloe.
Personal phone conversations, bank records, Amazon wish list.
Big Sister's watching.
Is that my e-mail? I'll have you know that those messages between me and Canary were platonic.
Can we skip your virtual love life and actually focus on the job here? - Gladly.
- Great.
Our victim's name is Sylvester Pemberton and he had a long criminal record.
Fraud, embezzlement and assault.
He didn't have any family, but he did have a friend show up at the hospital.
Courtney Whitmore.
She's a sophomore at Blue Valley High and, uh, she gets a big old D-plus for her attendance.
She hasn't been to school in the last three weeks.
You don't think blondie's our killer, do you? No, but I do think she knows something.
I wanna take a closer look at this glowing staff the police have in evidence.
We need to get it.
We, meaning me, right? Hello? Mr.
Dodds? No bullets, just residual ice again.
So minus the patriotic hoodie, plus one gas mask and Dodds was killed the same way as Pemberton.
With what? Some kind of ice weapon? Evidence would suggest that weapon is more of a who than a what.
The ice samples we pulled from the first victim's wounds had human DNA.
So the killer was some kind of metahuman with an icy touch.
Well, that explains my arctic ride in the dumpster of doom.
Well, he certainly has interesting taste in victims.
But Clark said that the assailant left the letters J-S-A.
You have any idea what that means? Maybe it's a calling card.
Our cold-blooded cryo-killer definitely seems to have a score to settle.
Well, what was Clark able to dig up? Nothing yet.
When he checked in, he was still knee-deep in excavation at the Daily Planet archives.
Right.
Uh, let me run more tests on this.
And I'll see if I can help Clark unearth some answers about the elusive JSA.
Didn't think we'd have to dig this deep.
Well, I couldn't find anything online beyond Sylvester Pemberton's rap sheet.
Maybe they didn't want anyone else finding it.
They? They who? Sylvester Pemberton worked with 12 other criminals, including Wesley Dodds.
He mentioned bringing a team back together.
Back together? That means, at some point, they broke apart.
They were systematically caught and taken down.
For what? The crimes don't match who they are.
They were called con men for a reason, Clark.
That's Sylvester Pemberton.
He was accused of embezzling from his own company.
That's Wesley Dodds.
International business.
He had no prior criminal record until he was arrested at a student demonstration that turned violent.
A young woman was killed.
Who's that? Al Pratt.
Physics professor at Calvin College.
Arrested for assaulting police officers when they went after Dodds.
There he is.
I got him.
Let's go.
Come on.
Wait a minute.
I know that guy.
That's Ted Grant.
He's a heavyweight champion, but How is he involved with these guys? Jay Garrick, a research scientist.
He's charged with fraud and resisting arrest.
Alan Scott, the CEO of a broadcasting company? Arrested for aiding and abetting.
Chloe, they have no connections besides their arrests.
They don't even sound like criminals.
Abigail Hunkel doesn't exactly strike fear in this hero's heart.
I'm talking about these arrest reports.
Each one tried to take the fall for the other, and tried to protect one another.
I guess during the golden age of robbery and racketeering there was honor among thieves.
This goes beyond honor.
There were missing witnesses, circumstantial evidence accusations ofjury tampering.
They stood by one another and in the end, none of the convictions held up.
Almost sounds like you admire them.
I admire their loyalty.
I'll finish downloading the 411 on the mystery men the old-fashioned way.
You need to go and warn Carter Hall.
He's next on Pemberton's call list.
He called him over a dozen times in the last two days.
What kind of a team was this? The museum is closed permanently.
- The door was open.
- Wasn't supposed to be.
Mr.
Hall? Mr.
Hall, I'm Clark Kent from the Daily Planet.
What do you want? I came by to talk to you about your friends.
Sylvester Pemberton, Wesley Dodds.
They were both murdered.
Red, white and blue.
Too much red.
Stars and Stripesy, stars and stripe.
Sandman doesn't dream anymore.
Is Mr.
Terrific still terrific? I don't think so.
- Who's that? Who is that? Who is that? Kent Nelson.
Dr.
Kent Nelson.
But the doctor is out.
He's gone bowling.
My friend is very sick.
Now, I haven't spoken to Pemberton or Dodds in years.
Sylvester Pemberton called your phone several times over the last few days.
I didn't answer.
I understand you'd be reluctant to talk to the police, given your past- You don't know anything about my past, kid.
No, he doesn't.
Tick-tock, the Hourman's run out.
The Atom has split.
No, he doesn't.
He doesn't, Nabu, so stop whispering.
- Shh, shh.
Quiet.
- We have nothing else to say.
No looking, no looking.
Don't look.
Thank you for your time.
Quiet, quiet.
Shh, shh, shh.
Okay.
Okay.
The helmet has something to say.
He whispers.
He whispers.
He could help.
We only help ourselves, Nelson.
Like we've always had to.
Maybe.
Maybe.
Maybe not.
Maybe not.
Oh, yeah, I got a peek inside lockup.
Pemberton's glow stick is MIA.
Oliver, we have to track it down.
Call you back.
Excuse me.
Miss Whitmore? Do I know you? If I had to take a guess, I'd say that golden rod doesn't belong to you.
Well, it belongs to me now.
You don't wanna get the police involved.
It'd be a shame to miss your prom.
Breaking and entering into police lockup gets more than a slap on the wrist.
Whoa, hey.
Come any closer and I'll give you my version of a slap on the wrist.
Let me just cut to the chase, Lite-Brite.
Two people were murdered, including a friend of yours.
Two? I'm trying to figure out who's behind this but I need you to be straight with me.
We help ourselves.
Hey, wait.
If someone's killing criminals from the past, why kidnap Courtney? Maybe she knew what Sylvester Pemberton had hidden up his sleeve.
His car received a handful of parking tickets in this lot.
So it should be easy to spot.
You could say that.
All right.
Just give me a sec to get this door open.
Or you could just try the handle.
Clark's at the Daily Planet trying to track down Pemberton's address but it looks like he may have been living here.
Well, if he knew someone was after him, maybe he was on the run.
Well, his choice of transport doesn't exactly blend in.
"Star Rocket Racer.
" What do you suppose this was, a getaway car? He knew about us.
He knew our identities.
That means Courtney probably does too.
You shouldn't have dragged Sylvester's sidekick into this, Nelson.
I'm not his sidekick.
I'm his protégé.
You're a little girl.
Your stepfather must be worried sick.
Go home.
- I read Sylvester's coroner report.
- Go home.
There was frostbite around the bullet wounds, but no bullets.
It's him, isn't it? Jack Frost nipping at our toes.
Oliver Queen said that there are two dead.
Wesley Dodds, the Sandman.
We have to do something.
Wesley Dodds.
We have to do something.
We have to do something.
What do we do? We have to do something.
Look at Kent Nelson, Courtney.
He spends most of his days wandering the streets searching for the secrets to the universe at the bottom of trash cans.
So Dr.
Fate is incapacitated.
The Sandman and the Star-Spangled Kid are both dead.
You were their leader.
What's your excuse? Excuse.
Your excuse.
What's my excuse? He doesn't gotta make no excuse.
Please don't make me ask another team for help.
Oh, the kids out there playing hero are hardly a team.
They don't know how to lace up their own boots.
If you had laced up your boots when Sylvester had asked, he might be alive.
Don't waste your breath.
I have enough guilt to last 20 lifetimes.
Don't.
The guilt, the guilt.
Don't guilt.
What would Shayera have done? Oliver's searching all over the city for any sign of Courtney.
- How did they know our identities? - They've been tracking us a long time.
- Let's hope the prime suspect hasn't.
- Did you find one? Temperature dropped 40 degrees right before Pemberton was attacked.
You said that the skin around Pemberton's wounds was covered with ice, just like Wesley Dodds'.
This is what led me to Joar Mahkent.
Back in Pemberton's day he was a cryokinetic hit man that was called the Icicle.
Where's the Icicle now? He's still recovering from some serious injuries he sustained several years ago.
He's in the psych ward at Metropolis General.
At least he's supposed to be.
We're gonna need him, Nelson.
No.
No.
No, no.
No.
I'm not good enough.
My morality might have wavered.
Yours never did.
You don't realize how badly I wish I could remember, Carter.
I wish I could remember what my life was like before Dr.
Fate.
I think I had a wife.
Her name was Inza.
And I had a family.
But I don't know where they are anymore.
I scared them away.
Not all of them, my friend.
Please, Nabu, don't whisper too loudly.
Don't show me what can be or not be.
Fate is a fickle thing.
Greetings, Hawkman.
Dr.
Fate.
It's been a long while since I made someone bleed.
Time to go hunting.
What happened to these people? They were so close.
They were criminals and were caught, that's what.
Carter Hall's hiding something else in that museum.
- Reporter's intuition? - Clark Kent's.
What is it, Chloe? Dead end.
The Icicle's been in a vegetative state for the last decade.
If that's true, there's no way he can be our killer.
What are you doing to him? Your fate is utterly binding.
You are of value, Clark Kent.
But you you walk the same path I do, Chloe Sullivan.
Who are you? Let me show you, my friend.
Clark? Oliver? What's wrong? - Clark's gone.
What do you mean? One of Pemberton's old gang somehow teleported him away.
He had to show him something.
Called him his friend.
Where would they take him? - The same place they took Courtney.
Another twist to the mystery.
Satellites caught the glow of that stuff over the Metropolis sky.
I followed it.
Wherever Goldilocks went, she got a change of clothes.
It's getting stranger.
Stranger how? Well, uh, it's in the middle of the night in Suicide Slum.
She's standing under a streetlight.
She's all dolled up with no place to go.
Looks like she's making herself a target.
What the hell are you doing here? Me? What are you doing? Get out of here.
Red, white and blue.
Loud and proud to be an American.
Nice.
At least I'm proud of something other than myself.
- What's that supposed to mean? - I know what kind of hero you are.
Is the masked cheerleader really talking down to me? Where's my friend? Where's Clark? Anyone up for some ice cream? Who are you supposed to be, sweetie? The new Star-Spangled Kid? It's Stargirl.
Say, cheese.
You jaded jerk.
You've just ruined everything.
This was my chance.
I was supposed to get the first shot at Sylvester's killer.
- He promised me.
He? He who? Oliver? Oliver.
Are you okay? He'll live.
Now, stay the hell out of our business.
Next time, I won't ask so nicely.
Ten-to-one says Pigeon-Man's got Clark locked up in a birdcage somewhere.
I don't know these people are, but they sure don't like us.
Ow.
- I thought you said it didn't hurt.
- I lied.
You're lucky he didn't drop you from 10 stories up.
I don't feel lucky.
Much as I hate to admit it, these people know what they're doing.
Ow! Don't you think it's sad that a secret society of retired supervillains can come out of the mothballs and tear us apart like this? They know everything about us, Chloe.
Yeah, we don't know anything about them.
Maybe it's time I gave up on bringing the band back together.
Maybe this has all been a lost cause.
Whoa.
Don't give up on us yet.
We may be dysfunctional, hard to wrangle at times but when the chips are down, we're always there, Chloe.
They took Clark out from under our noses.
And I took this off the winged wonder when he yanked me into the sky.
Looks like an antique from a museum.
I say we get some reinforcements.
Get Clark, throw them through some windows.
Detective John Jones.
Why did you bring me here? Dr.
Fate says you're a big deal.
I don't see it.
Clark Kent is not like the others.
His path is righteous.
Well, if Dr.
Fate says he's okay, that means he's okay, right? Why have you been watching us? Sylvester wanted to bring together a new Justice Society.
One with the surviving members and us new kids.
It wouldn't have worked, Courtney.
People never learn.
This generation will make the same mistakes the last one did like the one before that.
Obvious by how you've skipped your homework.
You don't even know who we are.
You don't know who we are either.
But none of us here are the bad guys.
You sure about that, Clark? The winged warrior here threw me through a window.
I hope I didn't make you cry.
Drop the mace, Conan.
I will on your head.
Bring it, Big Bird.
Just for the record, you started it.
I'll finish it.
Hawkman, no.
I hope it's not too late to say we come in peace.
This is our responsibility.
The people being murdered were our teammates, our friends.
Once we find the Icicle, we'll fade back away.
We're not asking you to.
All we want is justice.
Justice? Everything we've heard about you guys is blurry when it comes to justice.
You mean what you've read? Do you know who you're working with? These old men have criminal records longer than that staff of yours.
- They made those up.
- It's none of their business.
With all due respect, we're making it our business.
Even when I had the power to leave Earth, I chose not to.
For one reason: hope.
Hope for the future.
Humanity's capacity for violence is great.
But their capacity for hope is greater than any I've ever encountered.
There's a murderer on the loose.
As long as you know something about it we're not going anywhere.
I'm sorry I was late for breakfast, you would not believe the morning I had.
On my way to interviewing Nobel-prize winning tech guru Michael Holt my taxi ran out of gas.
So I got out, like a good soldier, and I pushed.
Then a bus ran through a mud puddle.
Not that I don't mind a good mud bath, but I prefer mine without clothes.
So by the time I got to Met U, I was interviewing the clean-up crew about how to get the stains out of this jacket.
Clark? Thanks, Lane.
What could be more important than a morning date with the great Lois Lane? What is this? Mud wrestling again, Lois? Tess Mercer.
What brings the big boss downtown to the little newspaper that could? I thought the Daily Planet was slipping off your priority list.
- Print is dead.
- So is privacy.
I'm expecting a package myself.
And you know the mailroom here.
They can get things a bit mixed up.
My name.
In print.
I guess I haven't been having many problems.
No.
Not yet.
What they did to you was an injustice, Dad.
They took the only family I have left away.
I've only just begun to take away theirs.
The Justice Society of America was cleaning up the streets before you were in diapers.
We tried our best to stay out of the public eye but a government task force got wind of our extracurricular activities.
They wanted us to work for them.
They wanted us to unmask.
And you said no.
We refused to play ball so they went after us hard.
One by one, they uncovered our identities.
They had us arrested and institutionalized.
They forced us out of the skies and off the streets.
We were ripped away from our families while trying to protect them.
Then why didn't you fight back? We did.
For as long as we could.
As I could.
I wasn't the leader they thought I was.
I made too many mistakes.
- I've made mistakes, but I haven't quit.
- Haven't quit? You haven't started.
Not as a team, anyway.
You're making this too personal.
That is our strength, not our weakness.
Carter, please.
There's over a dozen members of the Justice Society still out there.
Jay, Ted, Alan.
If we don't team up and stop the Icicle, he'll go after them next.
It's obvious you still care about this team.
If you didn't you wouldn't have kept watch over all of this.
This is a temporary alliance.
Do you have any idea where we can find Icicle? I've got one or two.
Unless this is costumes only.
- Who's this, your secretary? - Our eyes and ears.
There's a couple possibilities where Icicle might show next.
Cameras caught him at the hospital visiting his father last night, target one.
And if he's like his father he's gonna need to replenish his abilities with some liquid nitrogen.
Target two.
Do you know where the nearest nitrogen depot is? No, but I can find it, John.
I just need to look at their computer.
Got one? Wow.
So this is where you guys operate? More or less? Mostly less.
I guess it's everything you could ever ask for to fight the good fight, right? It's missing something.
Where are the pictures? Or, you know, a place to sit down and eat? Sylvester always told me that the JSA's brownstone was considered a second home for everyone.
I mean, they'd even spend Thanksgivings there with their spouses and kids.
It was like a family.
Yeah.
I mean, it was a family.
How did you get involved with the Justice Society? Well, my, um, stepfather, Pat was Sylvester Pemberton's sidekick years ago.
The Star-Spangled Kid and Stripesy.
Stripesy? Heh.
It was, like, the worst code name ever.
I found Sylvester's old equipment and, well, at first, I put it on, you know, just to annoy Pat.
But I don't know.
The first time I ever saved someone You were hooked.
- Yeah.
- Hmm.
Line and sinker.
Yeah.
So you're not actually related to any of them? Well, family is not just about blood.
And watching people doesn't make them a part of your life.
I don't know.
I mean, maybe your team would operate better if you didn't get together only when there was trouble and if you made it a little more home, sweet home and a little less nuclear war room? Incoming communication.
Green Arrow.
Hey, Oliver, what do you got? I'm here with my wingman.
You put the call into the snow miser? I left a message that said that his father's taken a turn for the worst.
If Icicle has been checking in as often as he has, we should catch him at Met Gen.
Thanks.
God, I hate waiting.
But you love talking.
Shut up.
Why did they have to team us up together? I asked them to.
- So I could keep you in line.
- What are you, my chaperone? Think of me as your parole officer, but with a mace.
I don't know what that means, but this is bad news.
You wanna know why? Because no one's been able to answer "why.
" Why what, Green Punching Bag? Frosty's kid's going after you for putting dear old in traction, right? But why now? It's been decades.
Because revenge is a dish best served cold.
We're telling jokes now? Right.
Why did you ask me to stay behind? What is it we need to talk about? The hope for tomorrow that your alien friend spoke of.
You are that hope.
I have seen it.
Because you see the future? I see everyone's fate but my own.
Sometimes that scares me.
But when I see the future of someone such as yourself I believe in tomorrow again.
When you saw my fate, what did you see? You will lead this generation as Hawkman once led ours.
You sound like a group I met from the future.
They hinted at my destiny, but they were as vague as you are.
Then let me be specific.
Although Lex Luthor is your ultimate opponent, you will triumph over him.
Lex? Lex is dead.
And when you show yourself to the world it will be a different age than ours, Clark.
A silver age of heroism that will start when they look up into the sky at you with hope for tomorrow.
You will help everyone to embrace it.
Hello? Hello? Lois? What's she doing here? She shouldn't be in the middle of this.
She is the key.
Hello? Hello? Careful, Lois.
This is the part where the doomed girl runs into the guy with the hockey mask.
Greetings.
- Aah! What the-? What is this, reverse Halloween? - Nice helmet.
- Thank you.
I was looking for Carter Hall.
He's not here.
Apparently, he was part of a group of masked men that were railroaded out of business.
- I'm guessing you were one of them? - I see your fate, Lois Lane.
You are the one he will need.
He is the one you will need.
What? The savior.
The one who will heal us all.
The sentient power.
I wonder if he does horoscopes.
You're taking this assignment too personally.
That's because it is personal, Waller.
Agent Waller.
Hawkman and the Justice Society left my father brain-dead.
And your mother died in childbirth from hypothermia.
She froze from the inside out because you inherited your father's frosty touch.
Who do you blame for her death? Don't try and twist me around, Waller.
Maybe you pulled me out ofjuvie.
But the reason I agreed to go on these missions of yours was to get a shot at the Justice Society.
I grew up in Chicago, Icicle.
The cold doesn't bother me.
I killed everyone you asked me to.
People I didn't know.
Maybe they had families.
Maybe they didn't deserve to die.
But I did it anyway.
I did you a favor.
Let's be crystal clear, Icicle.
No one's doing a favor.
This is business.
They took my father! If it wasn't for them, I wouldn't have all this blood on my hands.
This is personal.
You don't like it, find someone else to clean up your mess.
You're right.
This job should have been finished years ago.
It's a black mark on Checkmate's board.
Then let me finish it.
How's everyone else doing? John and Fate are scouring the depots.
Hawkman and Green Arrow, a.
k.
a.
the new BFF's, are looking for ice boy.
Any luck on your end? I checked Lois's car and apartment.
Someone led her to the museum.
Someone who wants her to get caught in the middle.
It's just a question of who.
Should I even bother asking? You can either hand those to me, or I can take them from you.
Well, it sounds like fun.
But given our last few encounters I should probably stay out of the sandbox.
Suspicious much? Maybe you two really are perfect for each other.
You were smarter when you were leaving.
I always thought it would be hard for you.
You know, being boyfriend-girlfriend with someone so nosy.
Maybe you're not the only one with a secret.
- What do you know about this? - Not much.
Just that your girlfriend is in way over her head.
Clark Kent.
And to think I was actually looking forward to breakfast with the Daily Planet's mild-mannered no-show.
Late night? I heard you were working on some kind of murder case.
Cases.
Plural.
And I've got my hands on a case full of classified intel.
Like, double super-classified.
Mind if I take a look? Usually we're a great team, but you decided to go it solo today.
So I just followed suit.
I'm sorry I was out, but I can assist you.
We could be Woodward and Bernstein.
- Clark and Lois.
- Lois and Clark.
If it's so double super-classified, how did you get on the case, Lois? I was handpicked by an anonymous source.
The two people that were murdered had criminal records but it's all fabricated.
Clark, they were vigilantes like the Blur.
Part of an underground group of honest-to-goodness spandex-sporting superheroes.
I met one of them.
He was wearing a gold-plated helmet and a cape.
Which actually looked pretty good.
And that's all you know? No.
Their leader, a man named Carter Hall almost killed one of their enemies.
Someone named the Icicle.
He had a son, and here's the weird thing he was plucked from juvie by someone very high up.
Sealed records.
Now, I'm not supposed to know this but there were other bad guys that these underground heroes fought and every single one of them was released from prison secretly.
They and their records, MIA.
Someone's collecting them.
I appreciate the assist.
I'm interested in you.
You are not a human, but you are forced to be.
I used to have special abilities like Clark.
But you sacrificed them to save Clark Kent.
You see what I see in Clark Kent but without the aid of the helmet of Nabu.
His magic reveals the fates of people around me.
I look into the window of the future and witness what might be.
But, eventually, it became too much.
I saw too much.
Before your people were destroyed, did you have a wife, John? And a daughter.
You miss your family.
As do I.
We are in danger.
We're too late.
He's already been here.
It is not your fate to die this day, Martian.
You've been out of the game too long, doc.
You're way out of practice.
Your heyday is over.
But I'm still in my prime.
- Clark? - Courtney, I'm sorry about Dr.
Fate.
I know.
When Hawkman heard, he flew off.
- Green Arrow went after him.
- And John? Some doctor named Emil had him transferred to a secured room.
Dr.
Emil, what do you think? John seems to be undergoing some kind of incubation.
But the end result, we can't begin to guess.
Excuse me.
Part of me wishes Hawkman would find Icicle first.
He'd do what I wouldn't.
I know it's wrong.
It is wrong, Courtney.
Sylvester said that.
The JSA has always done the right thing.
And in the end, when everything got turned upside down Hawkman began crossing the line so many times that the line disappeared altogether.
Then it's up to you to make it right.
You're the next generation.
Sylvester said that too.
You're a lot like him.
When this is over, don't let the torch that he kept burning the one that he literally passed on to you, go out.
Keep his legacy alive and you keep him alive.
Those are classified.
I was wondering how they got here.
They were left for you, Miss Lane.
Who are you? If I'm willing to give you a front-page story, does it matter? Okay, then.
- Why me? - I've read your work.
You pull more skeletons out of closets than the organization I work for have hidden.
You embrace the truth.
And the truth will set you free.
Your point is? I'll be in touch.
This is it, Dad.
This is gonna help me finish them off.
Now I'm ready.
Goodbye, Father.
I love you.
I'm thinking we should regroup before we go after Icicle Junior.
You go back to Sherwood, Robin Hood.
I'll turn the Icicle into slush myself.
It's not what happened to you that destroyed this team, is it? It's what happened to her.
Right? Hawkgirl? Who was she, your partner? My wife.
You were married? Hard to believe? What would someone like me know about love? Well, I only know it ends.
And it always ends in every one of my lives, past and present.
Past lives? Shayera and I were born over a thousand years ago.
We were cursed by one of our enemies.
Destined to fall in love, only to watch each other to die lifetime after lifetime.
Well, the sooner this life is over the sooner I see my wife again.
I've never had a connection like that.
At least, not one that lasted.
Because you hide it.
Hide what? You don't want anyone to know how important they are to you.
So you act like a jackass.
I do know what it's like to feel like the only thing to do with your life is throw it away.
But you didn't, did you? You stuck around for Dr.
Fate.
- He needed my help.
- He did.
He needed your help.
Now there's a young girl, she's counting on you.
Your team is out there.
So why don't you take the death wish and shelf it? Thing's heavier than it looks.
You get used to it.
You really gotta work on your landings.
Would've been smoother if you hadn't thrown up.
- Send me your dry-cleaning bill.
- Send me your dinner bill.
- How's John? - There's not much more they can do.
Then I guess we'll just have to wait.
No more waiting.
No more pairing off.
We should have stuck together from the beginning.
Your fate is in my hands.
Or I guess I should say, it's on my head.
I killed you.
I'm Mars' sole survivor.
There's a reason for that.
No! I'm sorry about your friend.
So am I.
You're not like the others, are you, Clark? Kids who are in it for the thrills or because they have a chip on their shoulder? You don't do this for glory or vengeance.
I guess not.
Your team is better than I thought too.
Even I have to admit, Green Arrow has pretty good aim.
We're not a team.
I mean, not like yours.
Why? Because of you? They're the best friends I have, but I don't know if we'll be what the JSA was.
You have to trust them.
I do.
You have to remember they're people too.
They'll make mistakes.
We all do.
We all have to keep trying.
Isn't that what you said? Yeah.
You know, I only learned to fly after my kingdom was attacked and taken from me.
Was only then that I realized it wasn't the throne that was important.
It was my people.
My wife.
You have the capacity to break the chains that are holding you down, Clark.
And when you do what Dr.
Fate envisioned will come to pass.
You will soar higher than any one of us.
What about you? You gonna keep your wings locked up? No.
No.
No, I am putting people under them.
Chloe helped Courtney and I locate the remaining members of the JSA.
Their children and their protégés.
I think the coming generation could stand to learn a thing or two from those of us that have done it before.
Some of us already have.
Courtney.
The Justice Society lives again.
So, what do you call your team, anyway? A work in progress.
Clark.
You know, those are some real party animals you have as friends.
Ha, ha.
If it isn't my favorite Martian.
Looks like you're enjoying the return of your powers.
At a cost.
Dr.
Fate's final act was to restore my Martian abilities instead of saving his own life.
- What happens to the helmet now? - According to Hawkman someone worthy will be drawn to it, and they'll become the next Dr.
Fate.
What's next for you? My time as a detective has allowed me to protect humans on a very personal and individual level.
I've enjoyed that.
So I will continue to protect and serve, using every tool I've got.
Me too.
Dr.
Fate was inundated with a constant flow of visions and information.
But there is a limit to how much knowledge someone can have.
It drove him to the edge of sanity, and he fell off.
I don't need my telepathy to know you run that risk yourself.
The golden helmet possessed by ancient spirits and the Watchtower are two entirely different things.
I can handle it.
I only say because I care.
You and Clark, Oliver You're my family here.
Anyone home? What's up? Nothing, actually.
Ha, ha.
I, uh, thought I'd stop by and see if anyone was hungry.
I could use some dinner.
Chloe? Uh, sure.
You're buying, Mr.
Queen.
I'm living off a policeman's salary.
- All right.
Fine.
Dessert's on you.
On Mars, we never had dessert.
But I have grown especially fond of cookies.
- Front page, Clark.
- Hey, congratulations.
It's hard to believe that a group of underdogs can be swept under the rug.
At least, thanks to you, the world now knows who these heroes are.
Hopefully, we'll be seeing more of them.
You know, the byline could have read, "Lois Lane and Clark Kent.
" - Next time.
- Maybe.
It's not everyday that you get an exclusive with a helmet that can tell you your fate.
So he told you your fate? Huh? Yeah, he was just babbling about how I'd be there for him.
And he'd be there for me.
It just- Sounded like a Valentine's Day card.
Who's the him? It's ridiculous.
I quote, "Savior/sentient power.
" Do you believe in fate, Lois? Only the kind you make happen.
I was already transferred to three different prisons before I got here today.
Haven't eaten, haven't slept, and I'm burning up, damn it! I wanna speak to her now! The helmet, it- It messed with my mind.
It screwed me up.
I'm well aware of the capabilities of Dr.
Fate's helmet.
Let me go back out there after the Justice Society, Agent Waller.
I can finish what I started.
What Checkmate started.
I can still take down the JSA single-handedly.
You knocked on their door.
You got them back into the game, back into the public eye.
That's mission accomplished, Icicle.
- That's all I needed you to do.
- What? You don't have the talent to take a team like that out.
There's an army of heroes growing.
This generation and the last are coming together and I'm gonna need them if we're going to survive the apocalypse that's coming this way.
Apocalypse? This is not what I signed up for.
Oh, but it is.
Welcome to the Suicide Squad.
Come on.
Well, Agent Mercer.
It's been a long time.
We have a lot to catch up on.
Please leave a message and I'll get back to you as soon as I can.
Clark, this is Chloe with message number one-too-many.
I know trying to lead a contingent of Kryptonians looking for a lease on life is putting weight on your shoulders and I don't wanna add to that but I'm still trying to set up an official meeting with our super-gang.
Clark, we're playing too fast and loose.
We need to start taking this more seriously.
Who are you? My name is Sylvester Pemberton.
You and I share something in common.
We're both trying to put a team together.
- I don't know what you're talking about.
- You're the one they call Watchtower.
Watchtower? Technology today makes hiding a whole lot harder, Miss Sullivan.
When someone like you reaches out and plugs into so many outlets someone else is bound to pull out one of those cords and follow it back to its source.
You're lucky a friend did it first.
Friends? Friends don't sneak up on each other in a dark alley.
Is it just me or did it get really cold really fast? Unh! Hey.
Stay down, Miss Sullivan.
Help! Somebody, help! They came after us.
They'll come after all of you.
Ch- Check- What? Check what? Check what? Who are you? Who's coming? What has happened? Coming through.
Chloe, are you okay? Just some moderate frostbite and a little sleep deprivation.
Nothing a cup of hot cocoa and a nap won't fix.
But the real question is, are you okay? I haven't heard from you in days.
- Yeah, we've been playing phone tag.
- Uh, no, phone tag implies two people.
I've been playing phone solitaire.
Not nearly as much fun.
- I'm sorry.
I've been meaning to call- - It's okay.
No apology is needed.
Protecting the streets of Metropolis and chasing down Lois Lane is more than enough to juggle.
Add to that, you're now leading the secret city of Kandor.
I'm only helping them find their place here.
They're trying to make Earth their home.
Like John Jones did when he got a job and became a detective.
So, what, you're expecting the Kandorians to just become firemen and short-order cooks? They need to make their own lives and then move on from there.
Officer? Yes.
These are the recovered personals.
Who was he? His name was Sylvester Pemberton, but other than that, I haven't got a clue.
And his phone.
All right.
But I'm gonna get one.
Hi, again.
I just wanna make sure you have all my contact info - in case you need anything.
We're all set.
Thank you.
No! What do you mean? He can't be dead.
Don't.
Are you all right? My friend was murdered.
I'm sorry.
I don't know what to do.
I don't know what I'm supposed to do.
Do you wanna sit down? What is wrong with you people? Us people? The press.
Haven't you vultures done enough to Sylvester? - I wasn't looking for a quote.
I just- - Just stay the hell away from me.
What was that drama about? She obviously has a problem with reporters.
She's friends with Sylvester Pemberton.
Pemberton knew about Watchtower.
He wore some kind of weird uniform.
He had a weapon that could control light.
He was killed by ice from someone or something.
I'm getting some serious wall-of-weird flashbacks here, Clark.
I know that you have a lot of things pressing right now but this is a job for Clark Kent.
His final phone call lasted 30 minutes.
It was with a guy named Wesley Dodds.
You need to go check it out.
You dreamt about me, didn't you, Mr.
Dodds? But that's what you do.
You dream about killers.
It's time for the Sandman to finally have a good night's sleep.
Oliver, you got my message.
I got all 10 of them, Chloe.
Where are the other super-friends? Waiting for them to ping me back.
This is why I keep asking everybody to come up with some standardized trouble alert.
The team needs structure.
Is that what we're lacking? You're really on a kick lately, Chloe.
Personal phone conversations, bank records, Amazon wish list.
Big Sister's watching.
Is that my e-mail? I'll have you know that those messages between me and Canary were platonic.
Can we skip your virtual love life and actually focus on the job here? - Gladly.
- Great.
Our victim's name is Sylvester Pemberton and he had a long criminal record.
Fraud, embezzlement and assault.
He didn't have any family, but he did have a friend show up at the hospital.
Courtney Whitmore.
She's a sophomore at Blue Valley High and, uh, she gets a big old D-plus for her attendance.
She hasn't been to school in the last three weeks.
You don't think blondie's our killer, do you? No, but I do think she knows something.
I wanna take a closer look at this glowing staff the police have in evidence.
We need to get it.
We, meaning me, right? Hello? Mr.
Dodds? No bullets, just residual ice again.
So minus the patriotic hoodie, plus one gas mask and Dodds was killed the same way as Pemberton.
With what? Some kind of ice weapon? Evidence would suggest that weapon is more of a who than a what.
The ice samples we pulled from the first victim's wounds had human DNA.
So the killer was some kind of metahuman with an icy touch.
Well, that explains my arctic ride in the dumpster of doom.
Well, he certainly has interesting taste in victims.
But Clark said that the assailant left the letters J-S-A.
You have any idea what that means? Maybe it's a calling card.
Our cold-blooded cryo-killer definitely seems to have a score to settle.
Well, what was Clark able to dig up? Nothing yet.
When he checked in, he was still knee-deep in excavation at the Daily Planet archives.
Right.
Uh, let me run more tests on this.
And I'll see if I can help Clark unearth some answers about the elusive JSA.
Didn't think we'd have to dig this deep.
Well, I couldn't find anything online beyond Sylvester Pemberton's rap sheet.
Maybe they didn't want anyone else finding it.
They? They who? Sylvester Pemberton worked with 12 other criminals, including Wesley Dodds.
He mentioned bringing a team back together.
Back together? That means, at some point, they broke apart.
They were systematically caught and taken down.
For what? The crimes don't match who they are.
They were called con men for a reason, Clark.
That's Sylvester Pemberton.
He was accused of embezzling from his own company.
That's Wesley Dodds.
International business.
He had no prior criminal record until he was arrested at a student demonstration that turned violent.
A young woman was killed.
Who's that? Al Pratt.
Physics professor at Calvin College.
Arrested for assaulting police officers when they went after Dodds.
There he is.
I got him.
Let's go.
Come on.
Wait a minute.
I know that guy.
That's Ted Grant.
He's a heavyweight champion, but How is he involved with these guys? Jay Garrick, a research scientist.
He's charged with fraud and resisting arrest.
Alan Scott, the CEO of a broadcasting company? Arrested for aiding and abetting.
Chloe, they have no connections besides their arrests.
They don't even sound like criminals.
Abigail Hunkel doesn't exactly strike fear in this hero's heart.
I'm talking about these arrest reports.
Each one tried to take the fall for the other, and tried to protect one another.
I guess during the golden age of robbery and racketeering there was honor among thieves.
This goes beyond honor.
There were missing witnesses, circumstantial evidence accusations ofjury tampering.
They stood by one another and in the end, none of the convictions held up.
Almost sounds like you admire them.
I admire their loyalty.
I'll finish downloading the 411 on the mystery men the old-fashioned way.
You need to go and warn Carter Hall.
He's next on Pemberton's call list.
He called him over a dozen times in the last two days.
What kind of a team was this? The museum is closed permanently.
- The door was open.
- Wasn't supposed to be.
Mr.
Hall? Mr.
Hall, I'm Clark Kent from the Daily Planet.
What do you want? I came by to talk to you about your friends.
Sylvester Pemberton, Wesley Dodds.
They were both murdered.
Red, white and blue.
Too much red.
Stars and Stripesy, stars and stripe.
Sandman doesn't dream anymore.
Is Mr.
Terrific still terrific? I don't think so.
- Who's that? Who is that? Who is that? Kent Nelson.
Dr.
Kent Nelson.
But the doctor is out.
He's gone bowling.
My friend is very sick.
Now, I haven't spoken to Pemberton or Dodds in years.
Sylvester Pemberton called your phone several times over the last few days.
I didn't answer.
I understand you'd be reluctant to talk to the police, given your past- You don't know anything about my past, kid.
No, he doesn't.
Tick-tock, the Hourman's run out.
The Atom has split.
No, he doesn't.
He doesn't, Nabu, so stop whispering.
- Shh, shh.
Quiet.
- We have nothing else to say.
No looking, no looking.
Don't look.
Thank you for your time.
Quiet, quiet.
Shh, shh, shh.
Okay.
Okay.
The helmet has something to say.
He whispers.
He whispers.
He could help.
We only help ourselves, Nelson.
Like we've always had to.
Maybe.
Maybe.
Maybe not.
Maybe not.
Oh, yeah, I got a peek inside lockup.
Pemberton's glow stick is MIA.
Oliver, we have to track it down.
Call you back.
Excuse me.
Miss Whitmore? Do I know you? If I had to take a guess, I'd say that golden rod doesn't belong to you.
Well, it belongs to me now.
You don't wanna get the police involved.
It'd be a shame to miss your prom.
Breaking and entering into police lockup gets more than a slap on the wrist.
Whoa, hey.
Come any closer and I'll give you my version of a slap on the wrist.
Let me just cut to the chase, Lite-Brite.
Two people were murdered, including a friend of yours.
Two? I'm trying to figure out who's behind this but I need you to be straight with me.
We help ourselves.
Hey, wait.
If someone's killing criminals from the past, why kidnap Courtney? Maybe she knew what Sylvester Pemberton had hidden up his sleeve.
His car received a handful of parking tickets in this lot.
So it should be easy to spot.
You could say that.
All right.
Just give me a sec to get this door open.
Or you could just try the handle.
Clark's at the Daily Planet trying to track down Pemberton's address but it looks like he may have been living here.
Well, if he knew someone was after him, maybe he was on the run.
Well, his choice of transport doesn't exactly blend in.
"Star Rocket Racer.
" What do you suppose this was, a getaway car? He knew about us.
He knew our identities.
That means Courtney probably does too.
You shouldn't have dragged Sylvester's sidekick into this, Nelson.
I'm not his sidekick.
I'm his protégé.
You're a little girl.
Your stepfather must be worried sick.
Go home.
- I read Sylvester's coroner report.
- Go home.
There was frostbite around the bullet wounds, but no bullets.
It's him, isn't it? Jack Frost nipping at our toes.
Oliver Queen said that there are two dead.
Wesley Dodds, the Sandman.
We have to do something.
Wesley Dodds.
We have to do something.
We have to do something.
What do we do? We have to do something.
Look at Kent Nelson, Courtney.
He spends most of his days wandering the streets searching for the secrets to the universe at the bottom of trash cans.
So Dr.
Fate is incapacitated.
The Sandman and the Star-Spangled Kid are both dead.
You were their leader.
What's your excuse? Excuse.
Your excuse.
What's my excuse? He doesn't gotta make no excuse.
Please don't make me ask another team for help.
Oh, the kids out there playing hero are hardly a team.
They don't know how to lace up their own boots.
If you had laced up your boots when Sylvester had asked, he might be alive.
Don't waste your breath.
I have enough guilt to last 20 lifetimes.
Don't.
The guilt, the guilt.
Don't guilt.
What would Shayera have done? Oliver's searching all over the city for any sign of Courtney.
- How did they know our identities? - They've been tracking us a long time.
- Let's hope the prime suspect hasn't.
- Did you find one? Temperature dropped 40 degrees right before Pemberton was attacked.
You said that the skin around Pemberton's wounds was covered with ice, just like Wesley Dodds'.
This is what led me to Joar Mahkent.
Back in Pemberton's day he was a cryokinetic hit man that was called the Icicle.
Where's the Icicle now? He's still recovering from some serious injuries he sustained several years ago.
He's in the psych ward at Metropolis General.
At least he's supposed to be.
We're gonna need him, Nelson.
No.
No.
No, no.
No.
I'm not good enough.
My morality might have wavered.
Yours never did.
You don't realize how badly I wish I could remember, Carter.
I wish I could remember what my life was like before Dr.
Fate.
I think I had a wife.
Her name was Inza.
And I had a family.
But I don't know where they are anymore.
I scared them away.
Not all of them, my friend.
Please, Nabu, don't whisper too loudly.
Don't show me what can be or not be.
Fate is a fickle thing.
Greetings, Hawkman.
Dr.
Fate.
It's been a long while since I made someone bleed.
Time to go hunting.
What happened to these people? They were so close.
They were criminals and were caught, that's what.
Carter Hall's hiding something else in that museum.
- Reporter's intuition? - Clark Kent's.
What is it, Chloe? Dead end.
The Icicle's been in a vegetative state for the last decade.
If that's true, there's no way he can be our killer.
What are you doing to him? Your fate is utterly binding.
You are of value, Clark Kent.
But you you walk the same path I do, Chloe Sullivan.
Who are you? Let me show you, my friend.
Clark? Oliver? What's wrong? - Clark's gone.
What do you mean? One of Pemberton's old gang somehow teleported him away.
He had to show him something.
Called him his friend.
Where would they take him? - The same place they took Courtney.
Another twist to the mystery.
Satellites caught the glow of that stuff over the Metropolis sky.
I followed it.
Wherever Goldilocks went, she got a change of clothes.
It's getting stranger.
Stranger how? Well, uh, it's in the middle of the night in Suicide Slum.
She's standing under a streetlight.
She's all dolled up with no place to go.
Looks like she's making herself a target.
What the hell are you doing here? Me? What are you doing? Get out of here.
Red, white and blue.
Loud and proud to be an American.
Nice.
At least I'm proud of something other than myself.
- What's that supposed to mean? - I know what kind of hero you are.
Is the masked cheerleader really talking down to me? Where's my friend? Where's Clark? Anyone up for some ice cream? Who are you supposed to be, sweetie? The new Star-Spangled Kid? It's Stargirl.
Say, cheese.
You jaded jerk.
You've just ruined everything.
This was my chance.
I was supposed to get the first shot at Sylvester's killer.
- He promised me.
He? He who? Oliver? Oliver.
Are you okay? He'll live.
Now, stay the hell out of our business.
Next time, I won't ask so nicely.
Ten-to-one says Pigeon-Man's got Clark locked up in a birdcage somewhere.
I don't know these people are, but they sure don't like us.
Ow.
- I thought you said it didn't hurt.
- I lied.
You're lucky he didn't drop you from 10 stories up.
I don't feel lucky.
Much as I hate to admit it, these people know what they're doing.
Ow! Don't you think it's sad that a secret society of retired supervillains can come out of the mothballs and tear us apart like this? They know everything about us, Chloe.
Yeah, we don't know anything about them.
Maybe it's time I gave up on bringing the band back together.
Maybe this has all been a lost cause.
Whoa.
Don't give up on us yet.
We may be dysfunctional, hard to wrangle at times but when the chips are down, we're always there, Chloe.
They took Clark out from under our noses.
And I took this off the winged wonder when he yanked me into the sky.
Looks like an antique from a museum.
I say we get some reinforcements.
Get Clark, throw them through some windows.
Detective John Jones.
Why did you bring me here? Dr.
Fate says you're a big deal.
I don't see it.
Clark Kent is not like the others.
His path is righteous.
Well, if Dr.
Fate says he's okay, that means he's okay, right? Why have you been watching us? Sylvester wanted to bring together a new Justice Society.
One with the surviving members and us new kids.
It wouldn't have worked, Courtney.
People never learn.
This generation will make the same mistakes the last one did like the one before that.
Obvious by how you've skipped your homework.
You don't even know who we are.
You don't know who we are either.
But none of us here are the bad guys.
You sure about that, Clark? The winged warrior here threw me through a window.
I hope I didn't make you cry.
Drop the mace, Conan.
I will on your head.
Bring it, Big Bird.
Just for the record, you started it.
I'll finish it.
Hawkman, no.
I hope it's not too late to say we come in peace.
This is our responsibility.
The people being murdered were our teammates, our friends.
Once we find the Icicle, we'll fade back away.
We're not asking you to.
All we want is justice.
Justice? Everything we've heard about you guys is blurry when it comes to justice.
You mean what you've read? Do you know who you're working with? These old men have criminal records longer than that staff of yours.
- They made those up.
- It's none of their business.
With all due respect, we're making it our business.
Even when I had the power to leave Earth, I chose not to.
For one reason: hope.
Hope for the future.
Humanity's capacity for violence is great.
But their capacity for hope is greater than any I've ever encountered.
There's a murderer on the loose.
As long as you know something about it we're not going anywhere.
I'm sorry I was late for breakfast, you would not believe the morning I had.
On my way to interviewing Nobel-prize winning tech guru Michael Holt my taxi ran out of gas.
So I got out, like a good soldier, and I pushed.
Then a bus ran through a mud puddle.
Not that I don't mind a good mud bath, but I prefer mine without clothes.
So by the time I got to Met U, I was interviewing the clean-up crew about how to get the stains out of this jacket.
Clark? Thanks, Lane.
What could be more important than a morning date with the great Lois Lane? What is this? Mud wrestling again, Lois? Tess Mercer.
What brings the big boss downtown to the little newspaper that could? I thought the Daily Planet was slipping off your priority list.
- Print is dead.
- So is privacy.
I'm expecting a package myself.
And you know the mailroom here.
They can get things a bit mixed up.
My name.
In print.
I guess I haven't been having many problems.
No.
Not yet.
What they did to you was an injustice, Dad.
They took the only family I have left away.
I've only just begun to take away theirs.
The Justice Society of America was cleaning up the streets before you were in diapers.
We tried our best to stay out of the public eye but a government task force got wind of our extracurricular activities.
They wanted us to work for them.
They wanted us to unmask.
And you said no.
We refused to play ball so they went after us hard.
One by one, they uncovered our identities.
They had us arrested and institutionalized.
They forced us out of the skies and off the streets.
We were ripped away from our families while trying to protect them.
Then why didn't you fight back? We did.
For as long as we could.
As I could.
I wasn't the leader they thought I was.
I made too many mistakes.
- I've made mistakes, but I haven't quit.
- Haven't quit? You haven't started.
Not as a team, anyway.
You're making this too personal.
That is our strength, not our weakness.
Carter, please.
There's over a dozen members of the Justice Society still out there.
Jay, Ted, Alan.
If we don't team up and stop the Icicle, he'll go after them next.
It's obvious you still care about this team.
If you didn't you wouldn't have kept watch over all of this.
This is a temporary alliance.
Do you have any idea where we can find Icicle? I've got one or two.
Unless this is costumes only.
- Who's this, your secretary? - Our eyes and ears.
There's a couple possibilities where Icicle might show next.
Cameras caught him at the hospital visiting his father last night, target one.
And if he's like his father he's gonna need to replenish his abilities with some liquid nitrogen.
Target two.
Do you know where the nearest nitrogen depot is? No, but I can find it, John.
I just need to look at their computer.
Got one? Wow.
So this is where you guys operate? More or less? Mostly less.
I guess it's everything you could ever ask for to fight the good fight, right? It's missing something.
Where are the pictures? Or, you know, a place to sit down and eat? Sylvester always told me that the JSA's brownstone was considered a second home for everyone.
I mean, they'd even spend Thanksgivings there with their spouses and kids.
It was like a family.
Yeah.
I mean, it was a family.
How did you get involved with the Justice Society? Well, my, um, stepfather, Pat was Sylvester Pemberton's sidekick years ago.
The Star-Spangled Kid and Stripesy.
Stripesy? Heh.
It was, like, the worst code name ever.
I found Sylvester's old equipment and, well, at first, I put it on, you know, just to annoy Pat.
But I don't know.
The first time I ever saved someone You were hooked.
- Yeah.
- Hmm.
Line and sinker.
Yeah.
So you're not actually related to any of them? Well, family is not just about blood.
And watching people doesn't make them a part of your life.
I don't know.
I mean, maybe your team would operate better if you didn't get together only when there was trouble and if you made it a little more home, sweet home and a little less nuclear war room? Incoming communication.
Green Arrow.
Hey, Oliver, what do you got? I'm here with my wingman.
You put the call into the snow miser? I left a message that said that his father's taken a turn for the worst.
If Icicle has been checking in as often as he has, we should catch him at Met Gen.
Thanks.
God, I hate waiting.
But you love talking.
Shut up.
Why did they have to team us up together? I asked them to.
- So I could keep you in line.
- What are you, my chaperone? Think of me as your parole officer, but with a mace.
I don't know what that means, but this is bad news.
You wanna know why? Because no one's been able to answer "why.
" Why what, Green Punching Bag? Frosty's kid's going after you for putting dear old in traction, right? But why now? It's been decades.
Because revenge is a dish best served cold.
We're telling jokes now? Right.
Why did you ask me to stay behind? What is it we need to talk about? The hope for tomorrow that your alien friend spoke of.
You are that hope.
I have seen it.
Because you see the future? I see everyone's fate but my own.
Sometimes that scares me.
But when I see the future of someone such as yourself I believe in tomorrow again.
When you saw my fate, what did you see? You will lead this generation as Hawkman once led ours.
You sound like a group I met from the future.
They hinted at my destiny, but they were as vague as you are.
Then let me be specific.
Although Lex Luthor is your ultimate opponent, you will triumph over him.
Lex? Lex is dead.
And when you show yourself to the world it will be a different age than ours, Clark.
A silver age of heroism that will start when they look up into the sky at you with hope for tomorrow.
You will help everyone to embrace it.
Hello? Hello? Lois? What's she doing here? She shouldn't be in the middle of this.
She is the key.
Hello? Hello? Careful, Lois.
This is the part where the doomed girl runs into the guy with the hockey mask.
Greetings.
- Aah! What the-? What is this, reverse Halloween? - Nice helmet.
- Thank you.
I was looking for Carter Hall.
He's not here.
Apparently, he was part of a group of masked men that were railroaded out of business.
- I'm guessing you were one of them? - I see your fate, Lois Lane.
You are the one he will need.
He is the one you will need.
What? The savior.
The one who will heal us all.
The sentient power.
I wonder if he does horoscopes.
You're taking this assignment too personally.
That's because it is personal, Waller.
Agent Waller.
Hawkman and the Justice Society left my father brain-dead.
And your mother died in childbirth from hypothermia.
She froze from the inside out because you inherited your father's frosty touch.
Who do you blame for her death? Don't try and twist me around, Waller.
Maybe you pulled me out ofjuvie.
But the reason I agreed to go on these missions of yours was to get a shot at the Justice Society.
I grew up in Chicago, Icicle.
The cold doesn't bother me.
I killed everyone you asked me to.
People I didn't know.
Maybe they had families.
Maybe they didn't deserve to die.
But I did it anyway.
I did you a favor.
Let's be crystal clear, Icicle.
No one's doing a favor.
This is business.
They took my father! If it wasn't for them, I wouldn't have all this blood on my hands.
This is personal.
You don't like it, find someone else to clean up your mess.
You're right.
This job should have been finished years ago.
It's a black mark on Checkmate's board.
Then let me finish it.
How's everyone else doing? John and Fate are scouring the depots.
Hawkman and Green Arrow, a.
k.
a.
the new BFF's, are looking for ice boy.
Any luck on your end? I checked Lois's car and apartment.
Someone led her to the museum.
Someone who wants her to get caught in the middle.
It's just a question of who.
Should I even bother asking? You can either hand those to me, or I can take them from you.
Well, it sounds like fun.
But given our last few encounters I should probably stay out of the sandbox.
Suspicious much? Maybe you two really are perfect for each other.
You were smarter when you were leaving.
I always thought it would be hard for you.
You know, being boyfriend-girlfriend with someone so nosy.
Maybe you're not the only one with a secret.
- What do you know about this? - Not much.
Just that your girlfriend is in way over her head.
Clark Kent.
And to think I was actually looking forward to breakfast with the Daily Planet's mild-mannered no-show.
Late night? I heard you were working on some kind of murder case.
Cases.
Plural.
And I've got my hands on a case full of classified intel.
Like, double super-classified.
Mind if I take a look? Usually we're a great team, but you decided to go it solo today.
So I just followed suit.
I'm sorry I was out, but I can assist you.
We could be Woodward and Bernstein.
- Clark and Lois.
- Lois and Clark.
If it's so double super-classified, how did you get on the case, Lois? I was handpicked by an anonymous source.
The two people that were murdered had criminal records but it's all fabricated.
Clark, they were vigilantes like the Blur.
Part of an underground group of honest-to-goodness spandex-sporting superheroes.
I met one of them.
He was wearing a gold-plated helmet and a cape.
Which actually looked pretty good.
And that's all you know? No.
Their leader, a man named Carter Hall almost killed one of their enemies.
Someone named the Icicle.
He had a son, and here's the weird thing he was plucked from juvie by someone very high up.
Sealed records.
Now, I'm not supposed to know this but there were other bad guys that these underground heroes fought and every single one of them was released from prison secretly.
They and their records, MIA.
Someone's collecting them.
I appreciate the assist.
I'm interested in you.
You are not a human, but you are forced to be.
I used to have special abilities like Clark.
But you sacrificed them to save Clark Kent.
You see what I see in Clark Kent but without the aid of the helmet of Nabu.
His magic reveals the fates of people around me.
I look into the window of the future and witness what might be.
But, eventually, it became too much.
I saw too much.
Before your people were destroyed, did you have a wife, John? And a daughter.
You miss your family.
As do I.
We are in danger.
We're too late.
He's already been here.
It is not your fate to die this day, Martian.
You've been out of the game too long, doc.
You're way out of practice.
Your heyday is over.
But I'm still in my prime.
- Clark? - Courtney, I'm sorry about Dr.
Fate.
I know.
When Hawkman heard, he flew off.
- Green Arrow went after him.
- And John? Some doctor named Emil had him transferred to a secured room.
Dr.
Emil, what do you think? John seems to be undergoing some kind of incubation.
But the end result, we can't begin to guess.
Excuse me.
Part of me wishes Hawkman would find Icicle first.
He'd do what I wouldn't.
I know it's wrong.
It is wrong, Courtney.
Sylvester said that.
The JSA has always done the right thing.
And in the end, when everything got turned upside down Hawkman began crossing the line so many times that the line disappeared altogether.
Then it's up to you to make it right.
You're the next generation.
Sylvester said that too.
You're a lot like him.
When this is over, don't let the torch that he kept burning the one that he literally passed on to you, go out.
Keep his legacy alive and you keep him alive.
Those are classified.
I was wondering how they got here.
They were left for you, Miss Lane.
Who are you? If I'm willing to give you a front-page story, does it matter? Okay, then.
- Why me? - I've read your work.
You pull more skeletons out of closets than the organization I work for have hidden.
You embrace the truth.
And the truth will set you free.
Your point is? I'll be in touch.
This is it, Dad.
This is gonna help me finish them off.
Now I'm ready.
Goodbye, Father.
I love you.
I'm thinking we should regroup before we go after Icicle Junior.
You go back to Sherwood, Robin Hood.
I'll turn the Icicle into slush myself.
It's not what happened to you that destroyed this team, is it? It's what happened to her.
Right? Hawkgirl? Who was she, your partner? My wife.
You were married? Hard to believe? What would someone like me know about love? Well, I only know it ends.
And it always ends in every one of my lives, past and present.
Past lives? Shayera and I were born over a thousand years ago.
We were cursed by one of our enemies.
Destined to fall in love, only to watch each other to die lifetime after lifetime.
Well, the sooner this life is over the sooner I see my wife again.
I've never had a connection like that.
At least, not one that lasted.
Because you hide it.
Hide what? You don't want anyone to know how important they are to you.
So you act like a jackass.
I do know what it's like to feel like the only thing to do with your life is throw it away.
But you didn't, did you? You stuck around for Dr.
Fate.
- He needed my help.
- He did.
He needed your help.
Now there's a young girl, she's counting on you.
Your team is out there.
So why don't you take the death wish and shelf it? Thing's heavier than it looks.
You get used to it.
You really gotta work on your landings.
Would've been smoother if you hadn't thrown up.
- Send me your dry-cleaning bill.
- Send me your dinner bill.
- How's John? - There's not much more they can do.
Then I guess we'll just have to wait.
No more waiting.
No more pairing off.
We should have stuck together from the beginning.
Your fate is in my hands.
Or I guess I should say, it's on my head.
I killed you.
I'm Mars' sole survivor.
There's a reason for that.
No! I'm sorry about your friend.
So am I.
You're not like the others, are you, Clark? Kids who are in it for the thrills or because they have a chip on their shoulder? You don't do this for glory or vengeance.
I guess not.
Your team is better than I thought too.
Even I have to admit, Green Arrow has pretty good aim.
We're not a team.
I mean, not like yours.
Why? Because of you? They're the best friends I have, but I don't know if we'll be what the JSA was.
You have to trust them.
I do.
You have to remember they're people too.
They'll make mistakes.
We all do.
We all have to keep trying.
Isn't that what you said? Yeah.
You know, I only learned to fly after my kingdom was attacked and taken from me.
Was only then that I realized it wasn't the throne that was important.
It was my people.
My wife.
You have the capacity to break the chains that are holding you down, Clark.
And when you do what Dr.
Fate envisioned will come to pass.
You will soar higher than any one of us.
What about you? You gonna keep your wings locked up? No.
No.
No, I am putting people under them.
Chloe helped Courtney and I locate the remaining members of the JSA.
Their children and their protégés.
I think the coming generation could stand to learn a thing or two from those of us that have done it before.
Some of us already have.
Courtney.
The Justice Society lives again.
So, what do you call your team, anyway? A work in progress.
Clark.
You know, those are some real party animals you have as friends.
Ha, ha.
If it isn't my favorite Martian.
Looks like you're enjoying the return of your powers.
At a cost.
Dr.
Fate's final act was to restore my Martian abilities instead of saving his own life.
- What happens to the helmet now? - According to Hawkman someone worthy will be drawn to it, and they'll become the next Dr.
Fate.
What's next for you? My time as a detective has allowed me to protect humans on a very personal and individual level.
I've enjoyed that.
So I will continue to protect and serve, using every tool I've got.
Me too.
Dr.
Fate was inundated with a constant flow of visions and information.
But there is a limit to how much knowledge someone can have.
It drove him to the edge of sanity, and he fell off.
I don't need my telepathy to know you run that risk yourself.
The golden helmet possessed by ancient spirits and the Watchtower are two entirely different things.
I can handle it.
I only say because I care.
You and Clark, Oliver You're my family here.
Anyone home? What's up? Nothing, actually.
Ha, ha.
I, uh, thought I'd stop by and see if anyone was hungry.
I could use some dinner.
Chloe? Uh, sure.
You're buying, Mr.
Queen.
I'm living off a policeman's salary.
- All right.
Fine.
Dessert's on you.
On Mars, we never had dessert.
But I have grown especially fond of cookies.
- Front page, Clark.
- Hey, congratulations.
It's hard to believe that a group of underdogs can be swept under the rug.
At least, thanks to you, the world now knows who these heroes are.
Hopefully, we'll be seeing more of them.
You know, the byline could have read, "Lois Lane and Clark Kent.
" - Next time.
- Maybe.
It's not everyday that you get an exclusive with a helmet that can tell you your fate.
So he told you your fate? Huh? Yeah, he was just babbling about how I'd be there for him.
And he'd be there for me.
It just- Sounded like a Valentine's Day card.
Who's the him? It's ridiculous.
I quote, "Savior/sentient power.
" Do you believe in fate, Lois? Only the kind you make happen.
I was already transferred to three different prisons before I got here today.
Haven't eaten, haven't slept, and I'm burning up, damn it! I wanna speak to her now! The helmet, it- It messed with my mind.
It screwed me up.
I'm well aware of the capabilities of Dr.
Fate's helmet.
Let me go back out there after the Justice Society, Agent Waller.
I can finish what I started.
What Checkmate started.
I can still take down the JSA single-handedly.
You knocked on their door.
You got them back into the game, back into the public eye.
That's mission accomplished, Icicle.
- That's all I needed you to do.
- What? You don't have the talent to take a team like that out.
There's an army of heroes growing.
This generation and the last are coming together and I'm gonna need them if we're going to survive the apocalypse that's coming this way.
Apocalypse? This is not what I signed up for.
Oh, but it is.
Welcome to the Suicide Squad.
Come on.
Well, Agent Mercer.
It's been a long time.
We have a lot to catch up on.