"How many cities need to be revived now?" I asked. I had just boarded the ship. Brainiac was tied to a pole that was attached to the ceiling and floor at the cortex of the ship. He still had the shard of kryptonite impaled through his torso.
Kate looked over at me. "We're only 25% of the way through."
I sighed as I rested my hand over my face. We had only made so much progress since we defeated Brainiac.
Kate gave a small frown. "I know it hasn't been easy for you, Diana," she said, "it hasn't been easy for me, either. Even when I try to run tests on Brainiac's system , I can only get so far. It's incredible that we were able to learn how to reverse some of the bottling, but nothing about what coordinates and positions he bottled them from."
I nodded. I looked back at the de-powered android. Suddenly, a moment flashed in front of me. I could see it happen all over again; Courtney/Stargirl was struggling against Brainiac's tendrils. With a weak smile and an even weaker chuckle, she sputtered,"But...if...if I die, can...can you be a dear and tell...tell Maxine that she was the best friend I ever had?" Before I knew it, his tendrils would rip her heart out.
"Diana?"
The memory snapped out. I looked back at Kate.
"Are you okay? You spaced out for a second there."
"Oh, yes, I am." I exhaled softly. "Kate, out of curiosity," I said after a moment, "have you ever met or heard of someone by the name of Maxine?"
She shook her head. "Why do you ask?"
A tiny smirk crawled onto my face. I walked over to the mainframe of the ship. Thanks to Barbara's help in uploading the Justice League files to the ship, I quickly pulled up the folder on the Justice Society of America.
Kate knitted her eyebrows softly as she looked at the screen. "That's where Courtney started off, right?"
"Alongside her stepfather, Pat Dugan," I confirmed, "but there were many more of us. Alan Scott's Green Lantern, Ted Grant's Wildcat, Jennifer Pierce's Lightning; just to name a few. There were even points in time when Dinah and I were active members." I scrolled through the folder before finding the profile that was named "Cyclone". I clicked on it. Suddenly, the profile expanded, revealing a picture of a young woman with bright orange hair and stunning green eyes. Freckles ran from cheek to cheek. She had a white tank tip under a green dress that had a golden whirlwind design embroidered on the chest. "But the JSA member Courtney specifically referred to was Ma Hunkel/Red Tornado's grand-daughter, Maxine Hunkel. She's known better as Cyclone."
"So an ally." Kate thought for a moment. "But why Maxine in particular? Shouldn't the entire JSA know what happened? They did lose a teammate after all."
"Well for one, Maxine and Courtney were best friends," I explained."
"So that was the 'bestie' Courtney mentioned all that time ago." Kate chuckled.
I turned to see her weak laugh escape her.
"Sorry, it's something about blondes and redheads being like this." Kate locked her pinky fingers together. "Kara and Babs. Harley and Ivy, even though Ivy was uncooperative last we saw her."
"And secondly," I added, "Maxine has powers that could easily over-power her fellow JSA members with little problem if she wanted to."
"How so?"
"She can manipulate the wind and air around her."
Kate's eyes widened slightly. She nodded her head. "Yeah, that...that has some firepower to it."
A smile formed on my face. "That's why we're recruiting her."
Her face straightened. "Right now?"
"Once the cities have been revived," I assured her, "we are not ready yet, nor is she with her grieving process I'm sure. But the time will come when we will need to summon her to battle alongside the Justice League Femme."