Between Sessions 2 and 3

[Adminenkainen]

Hour-Man wakes at the farmhouse in the barn after 14 hours of uninterrupted rest. He feels almost good as new. When he emerges and enters the farmhouse ((in costume?)), he encounters only Zatara, sitting alone in the kitchen and reading the newspaper while drinking coffee. Zatara is no longer in the combat fatigues he wore last night, but a white dress shirt and gray slacks. Although seriously injured last night, he appears to be good as new this morning.

"Ah, our guest is up! How fares our mystery rescuer this morning?"

[dtspurrier]

Hour-man smiles and says, "good morning to you too. If the coffee is fresh I would like some. Well anyway since you are in your civilian attire I might as well change too. My civilian name is Rex Tyler and since we are a team now I don;t mind sharing my little secret."

[Adminenkainen]

Zatara neatly folded the newspaper, got up, and poured coffee for Rex. "None of us are obligated to share our secrets with each other. No one, for instance, knows who the Sandman really is yet. My real name is, believe it or not, Zarah -- and yes, I know that's Hebrew for Sarah; my parents wanted a girl and had a cruel sense of humor. Zatara is my stage name, when I perform."

Zatara sat back down and motioned for Rex to join him at the table. "The others are out. I'm not sure about the Sandman; I think he stayed at the hospital over night. Bart is out doing reconnaissance at the factory. Doris is in town, trying to restock us with supplies. And by that I think she means bullets. It occurred to me this morning that I might be able to get us some help, but it could take a few days to get here. I've been attempting to call my associate in New York from the Tragers' phone this morning, but he's not a morning person and hasn't answered yet. Later some of us will have to go meet this Shiera when she arrives. What are your plans?"

[dtspurrier]

Rex takes some coffee and says, " well my personal life I work in a lab as a chemist and I was just finishing my meeting with a lab in Morristown when i heard what had happened. SO right now I would have to contact my employer and use some vacation time. Other then that we have a case to solve and some bad guys to stop. So I am basically free, I can accompany you to meet with this Shiera."
Rex would use the phone to call his employer and ask for the extended vacation time, Rex would use some country air would be good for his health, as an excuse.

[Adminenkainen]

Rex got a local telephone switchboard operator on the line and explained who he was trying to reach. The sweet-voiced woman on the other end was unfamiliar with connecting to New York and fumbled a bit, but managed to reach other, more experienced operators as the call was manually patched through further and further north and east. The whole process took six minutes.

During which time, Zatara (or Zarah) mentioned, "Don't worry about the expense of the call; I am sure our members will reimburse the Tragers for you."

Soon, Rex was talking to a receptionist, and then a secretary, and finally Mr. Bannermain himself. "Oh, hello Rex...still in West Virginia? Hmm, need some rest, eh? Well...sure, why don't you take off the rest of the week. That's five days -- but I need you back Monday morning, and you might need to put in some late hours next week to catch up."

Later that day ((and after more rest, so Rex is back up to full hp now)), Rex makes a rendezvous with Bart and Doris, after explaining who he is since they have never seen him in plainclothes before. They are at the Airworks factory, the only place with a runway for planes within 60 miles. Though not a public airport, Bart and Doris have apparently spent some time negotiating for this special permission for Shiera's private plane to land here.

Shiera, in a black dress of mourning, cuts an attractive figure, with wavy, dark brown hair exposed to her shoulders. Doris is first to greet Shiera, with a handshake. "I'm so sorry to meet you under these circumstances," Doris says. "Your fiancee was...a noble fighter."

"For longer than you can imagine," Shiera says. "But I haven't come just to collect his things; I've come to avenge him. Who do I have to kill for this?"

[dtspurrier]

Rex surprised by this woman's reaction, expected mostly grief and want to return her husbands remains to be buried. Rex knows some things about religious ceremonies but still is more of a scientist then of faith. Rex does answer, " I am sorry for your loss maam. My name is Rex but you can call me Hour-man and while I did not know your husband, I am planning on bringing the people responsible to justice. However before we rush into this we do need a plan."

[Adminenkainen]

"We'll have a plan," Bart says, "but we can't rush back into this. And definitely not with someone untrained."

"I know how to fight," Shiera countered the insinuation.

"That's good, but do you have any experience fighting?" Bart continued to press.

Shiera opened her mouth as if wanting to say something, but didn't.

"This is no way to greet a grieving fiancee, and I'm sorry," Doris cut in. "Yes, Rex is right, we need a better plan. We need to round up the others and have that discussion. There's no reason why Shiera can't be in on that plan with us, in some capacity."

Shiera was driven to the city morgue to see the Hawkman, and she told everyone his real name was Carter. She was given some of his effects there, and promised more were waiting for him at the farmhouse.

Later that afternoon, in the dining room of the Trager farmhouse, what remained of the Justice Society sat assembled at the dining room table.

There was Bart Regan, broad-shouldered, his short curly black hair well groomed, wearing a dark blue suit.

There was Doris West, slim, beautiful, with a strong chin and wavy, shoulder-length black hair, wearing a short-sleeve dress with black diamonds on a red background, but a white collar. She wears a wide-brimmed white hat -- far, far from the bloodied combat fatigues Rex first saw her in.

There was Zatara, a swarthy-looking man with a pencil thin mustache and his hair well-greased and slicked back, wearing an expensive-looking black suit.

There was the Sandman, most mysteriously dressed. He wears a green panama hat, that weirdly-designed gas mask he's rarely been seen without -- brass and carved in an abstract design of a face, mounted on a dark blue scuba mask that descends to his shoulders under a tan suit jacket, itself worn over a collarless white shirt, plus brown slacks, a purple cape, and yellow gloves.

There was Rex Tyler, the Hour-Man ((dressed in costume or plainclothes -- you decide!)).

Doris spoke, as if team leader or chairwoman. "We have taken a secret vote and unanimously accepted Hour-Man into our ranks. What we have assembled here...is all we have to work with, for now. Hour-Man has suggested we bring in the police or the military, but that not only hands off responsibility to others, it almost surely takes us off the mission and even calls into question our future as a team."

"Not to say that some of you could not still team up on your own," Bart jumped in, "but Doris and I would likely be reassigned by the government."

"I don't think any of us want that," Zatara said. "We are down two men, but we would return much better informed this time. We still have no idea where they came from, but we have a handle on what those 'Mephisians' are now -- super-hypnotists, able to make us see illusions. But illusions can be countered, by shutting off your senses -- closing your eyes so you don't see them, plugging our ears so we can't hear them -- and if you believe an illusion isn't real and touch it, you'll know there's nothing really there. That is the surest test I know for illusions."

"It seemed like the rat-men were real, or at least most of them were," the Sandman said, his voice distorted by the mask. "But there are a lot fewer of them now after Hour-Man's fire bombing."

"We don't know how many more are down there we just haven't encountered yet," Doris added. "We've seen, for instance, only four Mephisians, but there could be more of them too."

"And then there's the hooded cultists," Zatara said. "We didn't check, but it's a safe bet that those, at least, are human. Hour-Man says he encountered their leader, and he could control shadows. Is he a magician, like me? Did he conjure all these creatures from some other realm? If so, that makes him extremely powerful and dangerous."

"If we find him and take him out quickly, would that solve everything?" the Sandman asked. "If Hour-Man saw him in that one bedroom once, maybe he can be found there again."

They all paused as they heard Shiera coming down the stairs of the farmhouse. She entered the room with them -- but wearing a modified version of the Hawkman's costume, along with his distinctive hawk-like helmet (only minus his still-missing wings). "Did I dress right for this party?" Shiera asked. "Call me ...Hawkgirl."

[dtspurrier]

Rex tyler is in plain clothes simple shirt and blue jeans. His costume is drying from being washed, to get rid of the blood and ash and dirt. He smiles at Shiera. Rex comments " thank you for accepting me into the group. I promise to serve honorably. I know where the room is and I will make a map for us. He did not harm me though and led me to your trapped chamber. Which leads me the question why did he not attack me or try to capture me by himself. Also Zatara is right those illusions look quite real. Zatara is there any protection spell to help us defend against it?"

[Adminenkainen]

Rex Tyler showed up at the table, dressed like a farmer, and looked like the only person who didn't dress up for a formal party. But everyone quickly got over the awkwardness of it as serious matters were discussed.

"Hold on," the Sandman interrupted. "So you think now that man you met might actually be on our side?"

Zatara shook his head later. "No, or if there is a protection spell, I don't have it. But that brings up the next matter we need to discuss. I can try to get more spells, but would need time for them to be shipped to me and then study them. It could take a week."

"I was thinking something similar," the Sandman brought up. "I might be able to have the parts for another gas gun sent here, but would need days to assemble it."

"But do we have that time?" Bart asked. "We've already given them a whole day to prepare for us. Can you imagine how prepared they'll be in a week?"

"Or, they'll lower their guard after we haven't been back for a week," Doris said. "We really have no way of knowing how this will play out."

"I'll forego a vote, as I don't know the situation as well as the rest of you," Shiera spoke up. "So long as I don't get left behind."

"What about you, Hour-Man?" Doris asked. "Do you have anything else to add before we vote on how long to wait?"

[dtspurrier]

Hour-man thinks and says, " well Sandman my real civilian job is a chemist. So if your gas you use is chemical I can assist with rebuilding it. Something to consider is that when we did ask for an evacuation the upper management was hesitant to do so. Remember the voice on the other line speaking with the plant supervisor yesterday. I am not sure what these cultists are? who they work for? and if upper management is involved what is there plan? We could do some research at a library or ask the manager again who owns this company?"

[Adminenkainen]

"I'll...consider your offer," the Sandman said enigmatically.

"Alright, let's table our vote on how long to wait and discuss Hour-Man's current suggestions," Doris said. "It's true we know nothing of the cultists or their motives. But is there any reason to suspect the Airworks upper management of being behind the sabotage of their own factory?"

"There's the old motive of insurance fraud," the Sandman volunteered.

"I suppose the most far-fetched possibility is they're enemy agents?" Bart said.

"Is it really that far-fetched?" Zatara said. "The cultists have seemingly impossible resources, like rooms full of monsters. No ordinary insurance defrauders have those."

"Okay," Doris said, "so it's not so far-fetched that we shouldn't look into it. Between the six of us we have a fair amount of investigative skills. So take this into consideration when voting on how long we want to wait before going back in."

The votes were cast.

Doris West: "Two days."

Bart Regan: "One day."

Sandman: "Seven days."

Zatara: "Five days."

Hawkgirl: "One day."

Hour-Man:

[dtspurrier]

Hour-man casts his vote for five days. He does say this, " regardless of how long we decide to wait we should post watch on the factory case the situation becomes more grave, then we need to act immediately. "

[Adminenkainen]

Some simple math was done. "Three and a half days it is," Doris said.

"We can split into three teams," Bart said. "One team watches the hideout and makes sure no monsters come out. One team works on our plan of attack and getting us whatever we need. One team investigates the Airworks company and its employees to see if there really is a connection."

"I'll watch the hideout," Hawkgirl volunteered, after being quiet a lot.

"I'll help with that," Bart volunteered.

"I'll work on getting us what we need," the Sandman said. "You with me, Zatara?"

"Sure."

"I'll investigate the Airworks people," Doris volunteered. "You with me, Hour-Man?"

[dtspurrier]

Hourman agrees to the plan. He does ask, " are we doing this in civilian attire or in our costumes?"

[Adminenkainen]

Doris laughs. "I intend to wear a dress, so people won't think I'm strange. I suggest you wear something non-costume-like as well, unless your idea of investigating is showing up as Hour-Man and beating people until they tell you what you want to know?"