Justice Society: The Justice Society Plays Hookey

Chapter 1
The Justice Society Plays Hookey!

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Chapter Description: Chapter One

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"Aw, c’mon, guys!" Fourteen year old Spike whimpered. "Why y’gotta pick on us little guys?"

"We are not ’picking on you,’" Hawkman replied, his arms crossed over his muscular chest. "Didn’t you boys scrawl those dirty words all over our brownstone?"

Slicker pouted. "We didn’t mean nothing..."

"Well, you’ve gotta clean it off!" The Atom said, his voice muffled a little by his full facemask.

The Flash materialized, carrying two metal mop buckets. "Here’s the buckets," He vanished and reappeared several more times, moving faster than the eye could see, until eight buckets, each filled with soapy water, stood in a row by the Justice Society’s defaced brownstone headquarters. "One for each of you!"

The eight boys looked at them. "Aw, gee whiz!" Scrapper kicked the dirt. "Do we gotta?"

"Yes. You have to," Doctor Fate floated down, gathering his golden cape around himself. The eye-slits of his bronze helmet seemed to narrow as he looked at the boys.

"Here are the sponges," The Sandman handed each of the teens a kitchen sponge, adjusting his fedora over his gasmask.

"Now get to work!" Hourman ordered, his yellow cape blowing in the wind.

"But... But it’ll take hours!" Toughy moaned.

"And people’ll walk by and laugh at us!" Bruiser complained.

"Well, you’re young," Green Lantern smiled. "You’ll survive. And you were able to endure the torture of writing all that."

"But... But..." Breezy stammered. "You guys can just clean it off with a wave of your hands! You don’t have to scrub the bricks like we do!"

"Perhaps not," The Spectre intoned, his deep, dreadful voice like something from beyond the tomb. "But we were not the ones who defaced the building."

"Aw, we were just goofing around..." Knuckles sighed.

"Well, you need to learn to respect private property!" Green Lantern said, no longer smiling. "Now get going!"

Sid looked up at them defiantly. Then he met The Spectre’s hollow, black-rimmed eyes.

"Aw, rats..." He murmured, grabbing a sponge.

"And you’d better do a good job!" The Atom added. "Or we’ll turn you over our knees and give you a paddling you won’t forget!"

The teens meekly set to work, red-faced and gulping.

The eight Justice Society members nodded, then went back into their brownstone headquarters.

"Well, that’s taken care of," Green Lantern nodded.

"Kids today!" The Sandman shook his head. "A bunch of little savages!"

"Maybe we ought to keep an eye on them," Hourman suggested. "They might try to sneak off."

"I doubt it," Flash smiled. "I don’t think they’ll risk ticking us off again!"

"They had better not," The Spectre clutched the edges of his dark green cloak, his dead white skin glowing with an eerie light. "Else they risk our wrath!"

The Flash nodded, opening the door of their meeting room. "Anyway, we don’t have time to play nursemaid. We’ve got business to take care of!"

"In a sense," Doctor Fate stepped carefully around the huge, ungainly-looking machine crammed into the meeting room. "So, what is this ridiculous contraption again?"

"It arrived this morning, along with this note!" Hawkman plucked a sheath of papers off the meeting table. "It’s some scientist’s new invention. He sent it here to ask us to test it."

"Oh, sure!" The Atom rolled his eyes under his mask. "Like we have nothing better to do!"

"Well, things have been a bit slow lately," Green Lantern shrugged. "What’s it supposed to do, anyway?"

"Leak oil, I’d guess," Hourman scowled.

Hawkman read the letter. "It’s from a Professor C. Rack Potts..."

"I believe he pronounces it Putts," Sandman corrected. "He’s a fairly reputable scientist, though he’s been known to have some crazy ideas!"

"Well, this is probably one of his crazier ones!" Hawkman smiled. "He says it’s a youth ray!"

The heroes looked over. "A what?"

"According to him, it can physically regress a man back to childhood!" Hawkman laughed. "He includes instructions on how it’s supposed to work!" He looked at the others. "So, any volunteers?"

The heroes looked at one another. "I will do it," The Spectre said finally. "As a spirit, I am less likely to be injured or hurt if something should go wrong!"

"Yeah! And that seems like a distinct possibility!" The Atom looked warily at the machine. "Still, if you’re game... How do we start it up?"

After consulting the scientist’s notes, the heroes set to work, The Spectre standing beneath a large, overhanging light fixture that protruded from the machine while the others twisted dials, pressed buttons, and flipped switches.

"Y’ready, Spectre?" Green Lantern asked. The Spectre nodded. "Okay, here goes nothing!"

He pressed the activation button. The machine clattered and jumped, shuddering as if about to explode on the spot. A purplish-blue beam of pulsating light emerged from the overhead fixture, enveloping The Spectre and swallowing him up.

The Flash looked at his watch. "One Mississippi, two Mississipi... Okay, that’s it!" He pulled the shutdown switch. The machine sputtered to a stop. "So, Spectre, feel any... GULP!"

The seven heroes stared in amazement at the rosy-pink boy in the oversized dark green trunks and cloak who stood where The Spectre had been. He stared up at them, then down at himself.

"Great galaxies!" He pulled the hood of his cape back, revealling a dark red flattop. "It worked! I’m a little boy again!" He grabbed at his trunks, which had slid almost beyond the point of no return, yanking them back up.

"Good gravy!" Sandman peered at the boy. "Why, he doesn’t look more than ten, maybe eleven years old!"

"How do you feel, guy?" The Atom asked anxiously.

"I... I feel fine..." Wrapping his cloak around himself, The Spectre stepped out from under the lamp. "A little chilly perhaps..." His slippers slid off his now smaller feet.

"Incredible!" Green Lantern exclaimed. "But what about your powers? Do you still have them?"

The Spectre considered, shaking his head. "I don’t think so! It’s transformed me into an ordinary human boy!"

"Astounding!" Hawkman shook his head. "I wonder how it would work on an ordinary human being!"

"Well, since I’m between Miraclo pills, I’m an ordinary as anyone here!" Hourman stepped under the light. "Go ahead, hit me!"

The machine clattered and sputtered into life again. And when it shut down, another ten year old boy stood in an oversized costume.

"It works!" Hourman removed his cowl, revealling the face of a brown-haired schoolboy, freckles dotting his nose. "It actually works!"

"But how do we get them back to normal?" Doctor Fate asked anxiously.

"Get back under the light, boys," Hawkman motioned to the little Spectre and Hourman. "One at a time."

He pressed some buttons and threw the switch. A bluish-purple light enveloped each of the shrunken heroes in turn, restoring them to their proper selves.

"Wow!" Hourman exclaimed, back at his proper age. "That’s strange!"

"Indeed," The Spectre, a ghost once again, said, readjusting his slippers. "Why would anyone invent such a device?"

"I don’t know," The Flash pondered. "To relive one’s youth, perhaps?"

"Yeah!" Green Lantern smiled. "A chance at a second childhood!"

The Atom nodded, looking a bit nostalgic. "Gee, I almost wish I could..." He exchanged looks with the others.

Green Lantern picked up the thought. "Hey, why not?"

"Yeah," Hawkman said. "We’ve worked hard the past few months. We deserve a chance to play hookey!"

Eight more times, the purplish-blue light flared. And suddenly, there were eight ten-year-old boys in oversized costumes where The Justice Society had been.

"Hey! Lookit me!" Green Lantern pinwheeled, his costume flapping around him. "I’ve shrunk!"

"Gosh!" The Atom exclaimed, adjusting his mask. "It’s kind of strange to be eye-level with the rest of you guys!"

"Yeah!" Sandman chuckled. "You didn’t have to shrink as much as the rest of us!"

"Let’s just... HEY!" Hawkman pushed back his bird’s head mask, which had fallen over his face. "Let’s just... YIPE!" He tried to step forward and was yanked backward off his feet by the weight of his now too-large wings. He undid the straps and shed them. "Let’s just...WHOOPS!" He grabbed his trousers before they slid off completely. "Let’s just hope we don’t run into any trouble!"

"Indeed!" A child’s voice echoed from within Doctor Fate’s helmet. "In this form, we’re all completely powerless!"

"That we are," The Spectre held his cloak pulled tight around him, not entirely certain where his shorts were.

"Aw, don’t be such worryworts!" Hourman laughed. "All we have to do is reverse the ray and we’ll be our old selves again!"

"Okay," Hawkman said. "So now what?"

Hourman grinned. "Well, what do little boys always do when they play hookey?"

The eight exchanged looks, smiles widening at the audacity of it all.

"To the swimming hole!"

Doctor Fate turned to look at them as best he could through the now too-high eyeholes in his helmet. "Wait, we can’t run around like this!"

"We certainly can’t!" The Flash grinned, letting his pants fall to the floor. He stepped out of them and wiggled out of his shorts.

"But... But we have no clothing to fit us..."

"So what?" The Atom stepped out of his boots. "Who wears clothes at a swimming hole?"

"But it’s over three miles..."

"So we’ll sneak out the back way and go through the woods!" Green Lantern undid his cape. "Noone will see us! C’mon, are you chicken?"

Doctor Fate pulled off his helmet. "Certainly not!" He muttered, struggling to undo his belt.

Moments later, after a quick peek to make sure the coast was clear, eight little pink streaks sped from the back door of the Justice Society brownstone. They climbed over the back fence and ran for the woods, little cottontails bobbing behind them.

"This is crazy!" The Sandman exclaimed, not for the first time. "I just wish I knew why I feel like we’ve forgotten something..."

Meanwhile, beneath the open window of the meeting hall, the eight surly teens dropped their unused sponges into their buckets.

"Oh," Slicker grinned. "This is going to be good..."

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