StarFall Comics
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Proudly Presents:
City Streets
#10: Aftermath
cover: Josh jumping into a swimming pool, drenching the twins.
It had been two weeks since the team had raided Harnagorn's laboratory, and helped free Danette Simpson from being a pawn in Harnagorn's plans. The elation they'd felt had worn off, as things returned to what passed for normal. Which, in the summer heat, meant one thing:
"CANOPENER!" Josh yelled, as he hit the water, creating a large splash, almost completely drenching Robin as she relaxed by the side of the indoor pool in a gym Jack owned.
"Thanks for the shower!" she spat, after Josh resurfaced.
"Any time, Rob!" he laughed, heading back to the diving board.
Down in the shallow end of the pool, Allan, Heather, and Danette floated.
"You've all been so nice to me," Danette stated, watching Josh pick a water fight with the twins, "helping me deal with what I can do and what Harnagorn did to me. But I'm not sure I want to live this kind of life. I don't want to be on the run, striking back wherever and whenever I can. I want to know I'm heading towards something, not away from it."
"You're leaving?" Heather asked.
"Yeah. Don't worry, your secrets are safe with me."
"Where will you go?" Allan asked.
"I have some cousins over in Jersey," Danette stated after a few moments of thought. "I'll try them."
"Good luck," Allan told her. "Just remember, we're here if you need us. For anything."
"Thanks, Al."
Hours later, Josh strode into the Loose Goose, just as the lunch crowd was dispersing.
"Hey, kid," Jack greeted him. "What's up?"
"We need information," Josh stated, dropping into a whisper. "What do you know of a Senator Broderick?"
"Come in the back, kid," Jack stated, eyeing the place rapidly. "There's somethin' I gotta show ya."
"You're not forcing her to stay?" Heather asked Allan later, as they watched Danette get in a cab.
"I thought you knew me better than that, Heather." Allan had a hurt expression on his face. "The only person I'm forcing to stay is myself."
"That's just it, Allan," she explained. "I don't know you. You're a complete mystery to me. The only reason we're in the same room right now is because you freed me from Harnagorn. And I think I'm...." She stopped herself short.
"You're what?"
Heather turned her back to Allan, her red hair whipping only inches past his nose.
"Please," he asked, genuinely concerned. "Tell me?"
"I... I think I'm... falling for you," she whispered. She turned back and hugged him tight, her face buried in his chest. "This is so crazy."
Allan, to say the least, was speechless. Not knowing what else to do, he simply held her close, not saying a word.
Harnagon glared at Joseph Smale, who was still confined to his wheelchair.
"You aren't trying hard enough! If you can't re-establish contact, then I will simply have to find some other means of getting into your brother's mind!"
Joe shifted uncomfortably, but answered in a tone that he hoped sounded indignant.
"I can get the rapport back, if you'll stop badgering me, and let me concentrate!"
"Don't take that tone with me, Smale! I'll give you a few more days. Don't make me regret this decision."
Joe wheeled out of Harnagorn's office, wishing that he could regain the link he and his brother had shared, but it was gone, and nothing he tried had gotten it back. Despite the brainwashing, Joseph Smale missed his brother.
"This guy's dirtier than Clinton in a whorehouse." Jack told Josh, as he spread out several large file folders on a table in the back room. "He's got his hands in almost every pocket in Washington, and brokers for some of the nastiest people in and out of the States, including the Tong."
Josh looked over several papers, and whistled to himself when his eyes caught a list of names.
"That's why I was sold to Harnagorn after my sensi died! His name's on this list."
"And Harnagorn's. There are even a few Nobel prize winners on there. You should know from your own experience, kid. Absolutely nothing is sacred with these people, except their own skins."
"Who's this Dr. Jerome Kay? Didn't he get an award or something for experiments in genetic manipulation?"
"Kid, I'm not even gonna discuss him."
Jack gathered all the files together, and put them back in the hidden safe he had taken them from. Then, turning back to Josh, he put a hand on the boy's shoulder. Josh winced under the pressure that Jack applied, his body becoming stiff and inert.
"You must not tell anyone about the files you just saw. Not even the rest of your little group here. I'll show 'em to Allan later, maybe. But if any of what I showed you leaks, we're all dead."
Josh just nodded his head, and Jack released his shoulder.
"That's the dirt on our two scumbags, gang," Josh told the others later. "Apparently, this assassination plan goes farther than Harnagorn and Broderick."
"We just have to figure out who else is involved," Robin muttered. "Why couldn't this have been easy?"
"It never's easy, sis," Lee told her. "It just looks easy at times."
All heads turned towards Allan. "So what do we do, chief?" Josh asked.
Allan thought for a second before answering. "Josh, you and the twins should head down to Washington for a few days. See what you can find out. The rest of us'll keep an eye on Harnagorn."
"What if you run into trouble?" Robin asked.
"Then we'll just have to call in a favor," Heather stated.