Green Beam

The prison was well lit and surrounded by every electronic security measure for Zoe Stollin to feed off of. The Living Lazer's cell was pitch dark and windowless, with the nearest electric source being the power lock. Stollin was 22 years old and a super-villain meant to be feared by others; she didn't fear the dark. The Living Lazer dreaded the insult of being locked away in a cell that reduced her to a common delinquent.

One fateful night changed all of that. A sleek black limousine pulled up to the gates of the Lockup Prison. The guards at the gate, without anticipating a high-profile visitor, glanced at one another and shook their heads. Probably another politician looking to make a media walk through. It still had to be dealt with.

"I'm sorry; you'll have to move your ve..." the senior guard began, sternly.

A burst of green light emerged from a tiny box and knocked him for a loop. The junior guard followed suit. Then, a man in a trenchcoat and dark hat emerged from the limo.

"Pull around the block." he said in a nondescript voice as he cradled the cube box. "I won't be long..."

With that, the box emitted another green beam and, this time, the automated surveillance cameras, exterior alarms, and electric fence all blanked out for approximately thirty seconds. The man in the hat and trenchcoat took that opportunity and sauntered into the prison...

**********************************

More guards attempted to stop the late-night intruder inside of the prison. The box in his hands rendered them stunned as well. Then, once the man was all alone, the box began to pulse and quiver in his hands.

"Subbasement level." the man declared. "The darkest level of the prison; the guards have gotten smart about their super-captives. They are not smart enough for the good doctor."

With that, the shadowy man entered an elevator. Nonetheless, he did chuck a card blandly at a stunned guard...

Ivan Eclipso, Lord of the Dark, MD.

The elevator dinged ominously and Dr. Eclipso made his way into the lowest levels of the prison. The box pulsed eratically as he drew near the tiniest, dingiest, darkest cell. Dr. Eclipso could only shake his head. How predictable could humanity's finest be...?

Within moments, the box had fired another green ray and shorted out the electric lock, just as it had already done to any cameras or robot sentries.

"Ms. Stollin?" Dr. Eclipso asked into the dark.

A darkened, Middle-Eastern arm barely moved to separate itself from the infinite shadows.

"Yes?" a rasp demanded.

"I'm Doctor Eclipso and you're better known as the Living Lazer." Dr. Eclipso announced, pleasantly. "I came here for your liberation and I require an assistant for my troubles..."

The box fired another green beam. This time, it glowed and sparked with Zoe and she felt her powers expanding once more.

"Mr. Ivan Eclipso," Living Lazer answered pleasantly as a green aura of energy surrounded her, "you've got yourself a deal...!"

The doctor usually insisted on his proper title. Today, that wasn't an argument he wanted to have with a willing accomplice. The two merely stepped out of the cell together instead, beating aside any leftover guards. Dr. Eclipso stood back and let Living Lazer have her fun. What better way to see his new accomplice live and in-person and with only a degree of her power returned...?

"Well done, my dear." Dr. Eclipso declared as the two casually left the prison and entered his limo. "We shall go far together."

Living Lazer glared over at the older man with malice in her eyes of his suspicious approach.

"The Living Lazer only works with others for so long." she informed him.

A sly grin finally crossed Dr. Eclipso's exposed face as he removed his hat to reveal the iron cap around his head. His charcoal eyes radiated the darkness that his name suggested. Even a glance into his face gave Living Lazer pause in her original vigil.

"But what about with the man who gave you your powers back?" Dr. Eclipso demanded, casually cradling his box device.

Living Lazer nodded in subservience once more as the box device launched another green ray to continue to charge her. Dr. Eclipso accepted her silent agreement and gave a grin.

"I saw what you did to the guards back there." Dr. Eclipso declared. "Let us see what you can do against Solara next..."

A sour smirk crossed Living Lazer's face.

"...My preference is to the Golden Glider." she retorted back.

Dr. Eclipso had studied Zoe Stolling's case file and had already forgotten that bit of information. The good doctor now had to think on his feet.

"...and your Vance Harper makes time with Teen Justice; including Solara." he insisted.

Eclipso knew that there was more to the hero's emotional profile than that; he hoped that Living Lazer had forgotten how to read between the lines in her young jealousy.

"...but his heart belongs to the Aquamarine." Living Lazer sneered as living energy danced between her palms. "I wish to fry her one of these days."

Living Lazer, for being so young, was more able to read a social situation than Dr. Eclipso had hoped. Then again, he could still work with this; for the time being...

"The woman who could cancel out Solara's powers for me and use those same energies to win over Golden Glider's heart," he declared, draping a skeletal, old hand on her shoulder in the darkness of the limousine, "can certainly do as you with to the Aquamarine..."

Living Lazer mentally reached out to the box device, charged herself with another green beam, and her body radiated hot enough to scald Dr. Eclipso's hand.

"Naughty girl!" he spat, shaking his bony hand in air.

"I detected a #MeToo moment a second ago, 'grand-pah'." Living Lazer chortled. "And I have already seen through your arguments; you still gave me power back, and my liberty; did I not agree to help you for a moment...?"

Dr. Eclipso forgot the burn on his hand and nodded as a wicked smile crossed his face. Success! His greatest adversary would seen be a distant memory and no one else in Teen Justice would be nearly as equipped to stop him in the future...

****************************

Calling Teen Justice, calling Teen Justice; There's been a prison break! Zoe Stolling, the Living Lazer, has been reenergized and turned loose again. Most security footage was destroyed but we may have some details on her anonymous benefactor...

"Display the surviving footage for me." T.J.'s computerized, holographic form requested.

The surviving footage of the moment that the man left his limousine played back to the screen. It was enough for T.J. and his computer brain went to work at least removing the hat to expose a face.

"Ivan Eclipso, Master of Shade." T.J. reported. "Eclipso and Living Lazer together could only present a big problem."

His mind reached out and found Sarah Myles, the sun-powered "Solara." With the power of sunup, she had found enough power to enjoy the thrill of self-propelled flight. At least she saw no reason to use her solar beam powers so haphazardly.

T.J. shook his head. Teen Justice did great things for the community and they deserved to have a little fun. He hated to call them back. Nonetheless, it was their villains who kept forcing their hands. T.J. sighed helplessly. Once again, the grownups, and the teens who they sometimes shamelessly groomed, needed to learn a lesson from Teen Justice.

"T.J. to Solara." T.J. intoned as his mind reached out with the same message. "I do apologize for this, Sarah, but..."

"...I heard." Solara's voice came back in over a wireless earpiece. "Dr. Eclipso and Living Lazer; together. That needs to be stopped; and I'm afraid that, being villains, they aren't about to politely wait until the Golden Glider is available to assist me."

"I'm trying to track him down now." T.J. declared. "I...found him. Vance and Maureen are..."

"...Together; typical, and Rex isn't back from Texas yet." Solara interjected. "I'll try to handle it. But at least let me tie my morning flight in with tracking them from the air."

"I wouldn't have it any other way." T.J. chuckled. "Good luck in the mission; and, in the meantime, you do deserve the thrill of your flying work out."

"Thanks." Solara answered. "For a computer, you're a good leader, and...wait; I might have something here. I'm transmitting visual..."

The visuals filtered into the monitors in short order to reveal a giant power station. Sure enough, the entire structure seemed to fluctuate between power and loss. This was followed by surges of electricity to illuminate what appeared to be an effeminate human shape...

"That sure looks like something to me." T.J. confirmed. "Do try to be careful out there; and...Solara??? SARAH!"

Contact had just gone dead...

*********************

Solara had intended to continue to investigate from a distance. The sudden arrival of a pulsing green beam had changed her plans as it seemed to fly directly at her. Her curiosity over the green ray was cancelled out as it made impact and...her powers were gone! The loss of her solar bolts seemed to be a secondary concern as her power of flight left her whilst she was in midair!

Finally, Solara somehow shook her senses back together and mopped some stray dirt from her face and blood from her lip.

She didn't have to glance around for the source for long as Zoe Stolling still glistened with radioactive green energy and seemed to tower over the hero as the young villainess flew. There had been a time when flying imposingly over the opposition had been Solara's position and she didn't like being grounded.

Living Lazer chuckled down at her opponent as if she had sensed the new dilemma and electrical energy laced amongst the green energy.

"No, no, sister; you're only powerless, not dead...yet." Living Lazer declared.

Solara could feel the sun's rays again. Experimentally, she hovered for a moment to where Living Lazer might be too busy to notice. Success.

"You still speak of the idea of sisterhood; an ideal that we both share to a certain extent." Solara declared. "Perhaps you could explain to me what you are doing with..."

The very ground beneath Solara exploded in the green energy force once more and cast her aside as her powers were cancelled out once more.

"I sense power fluctuations, heroine!" Living Lazer reminded her, soaring tantalizing inches from where Solara now lie. "You can't fool me like that."

So that was the advantage that Living Lazer retained over a powerless, doddering old man like Ivan Eclipso. Solara reached to grab at the young villainess and she chose then to soar away because she could. Solara then had a vantage point on the mechanical energy box. Furthermore, she saw Dr. Eclipso moving through the Power Station. What was he up to while Living Lazer did the grunt work...?

Solara ignored lunging for a villain who still had her powers while she was powerless. Instead, she leapt for the box and scooped it up experimentally. She could feel the green power source within.

As her powers recovered again after the last blast, her hands burned with solar energy experimentally and, finally, the power device blew up in her hands...

Living Lazer felt her green, power-draining energy fading with each blast. She now had the electricity to supplement it. However, for each green bolt that missed, Solara did have her own flight powers back. Finally, with the point proven that she could fly again, Solara took it upon herself to handle the hero side of business again.

A solar blast stunned Living Lazer in midair. A second solar blast prevented her from becoming her energy state to dodge in time. The third solar blast did ground Living Lazer once more and Solara landed alongside her, her point proven.

"No more tricks from you today; you're beaten here." Solara announced, hoisting the powerless Living Lazer back to her feet and cradling her into a standing position. "Now, about your generous benefactor..."

"...He-he cared about my freedom." Living Lazer mumbled.

"Not even you are so foolish as to believe that for a moment and I can hear it!" Solara retorted. "Now, did he say anything to you?"

"Not beyond using that device to empower me; a device that you took away." Living Lazer answered.

Solara glared back at the villainess and gestured out at the power station.

"We both know that you're surrounded by all kinds of power," she reminded her; then, as her hand glistened with solar energy and she tapped Living Lazer on a shoulder, "in all of its forms."

Living Lazer felt the draw of power and, young villain that she was, only nodded. Today, Solara had a point.

Solara then scanned the area for where Dr. Eclipso had gotten off to.

"There." Living Lazer pointed out, firing off a solar bolt of her own to illuminate the tallest tower of the Power Station.

Dr. Eclipso stood there with a giant cannon device aimed at the sun.

"...At last; finished!" Eclipso barked. "Now that Living Lazer delayed that little pest for me long enough, my giant Eclipse Ray is finished! Beachgoers will have their vacations ruined, farms will be in ruin; until they meet the demands of Ivan Eclipso!" And that irritating little sun-gnat can't stop me!"

Solara glanced over at Living Lazer.

"Pest, gnat; one of your fellow sisters?" Solara demanded. "Is that a man who cares about the liberation of any woman?"

Living Lazer trembled in place and her hands danced with electricity as the Power Station fluctuated again.

"Not in my dictionary!" Living Lazer agreed.

*******************

The Power Station was fluctuating again. This time, it was messing with the power to Dr. Eclipso's cannon. He glared down toward the ground.

"That's enough, Zoe!" he shouted. "You're insolently messing with greatness now!"

Instantly, Living Lazer was airborne as an electrical phantom.

"So sorry, my good doctor!" she declared as her voice crackled. "You wanted energy right; enough to charge your machine?"

The electrical energy surged outwards once again and detonated the Eclipse Ray with sufficient force to knock Dr. Eclipso off of the beam at the top of the station.

He had to settle for being caught midfall by Solara from behind. With that, he was restrained between the two women.

"You're off to prison again, Ivan." Solara announced.

"...and these hands," Living Lazer added, launching an energy surge that only harmed his digits, "aren't touching me again."

With that, Solara restrained Dr. Eclipso in her arms alone. On a certain level, Living Lazer wondered what would happen to her next and she stood by and waited.

"You're still a villain." Solara declared. "Today, you're a villain who helped me, sister, and I thank you."

"Next time?" Living Lazer asked as she stepped away.

"Next time you do wrong, we'll still be there to stop you." Solara answered.

Living Lazer nodded in understanding and turned away once more.

"Zoe." Solara added.

"Hm?" Living Lazer answered, pivoting again.

"When next I see Vance," Solara added, "I might tell him how you finally aided me this day."

Zoe beamed from behind her Living Lazer disguise.

"Agreed." she answered, vanishing in the form of energy once more.

"Oh, brother." Dr. Eclipso grumbled from his place in Solara, his opponent's, arms. "Will you just take me back to prison already???"

Solara chuckled at the villain's predicament and finally took off once more. Today, she had been successful once more...