Tornado - Sketch on a possible continuation
Chapter 1
Five minutes. If she had just arrived five minutes earlier, DEO agent Eve Welch was certain that she could’ve prevented it. Welch had gone to the Metropolis Museum of Modern Art that day for a simple reason: to collect information from a source. However, upon arriving she had seen police cars outside and was soon informed that her source had been found in the bathroom, with his throat cut. Her source may have been a scumbag, but nobody deserves to die like that. Not to mention, whatever information he was getting her on the Norvell case, which she had been working on for months, was now lost.
Things only got worse, when Welch departed the museum and went back to her car. Just as she was about to get in, a 20-something tall man with curly brown hair rushed up to her with a smartphone, with intent to record her. The man couldn’t more obviously be a reporter, if he had worn a hat that said “Press” on it.
‘Agent Welch,’ the man said ‘Justin Moore, Daily Planet. Why is the DEO involved in this investigation?’
‘We’re not.’ Welch replied.
‘My sources told me that the victim was an employee of Norvell, Inc. Does the murder have anything to do with the recent allegations against the company’s CEO.’
‘I’m afraid that I can neither confirm nor deny anything, without clearance from director Trevor.’ Welsh replied, almost on autopilot and drove away, before Moore could ask her anything else. But Moore’s nose for journalism told him that there was indeed something fishy going on. Mere minutes after a Norvell, Inc. employee is found murdered, an agent of a government agency, that specializes on matters relating to metahumans and aliens and other things, shows up and takes charge. There was no doubt in his mind that the whole thing tied back to the allegations made against Emil Norvell, the CEO of Norvell, Inc., an arms manufacturing company. Allegations that Norvell not only sold arms illegally, but that he sold weapons of a more illegal nature. Of course, nobody had been able to prove anything. Norvell had been in the business for too long to make mistakes. If Moore was to believe the rumors, Norvell had illegally sold arms to South Africa, in the 1980’s. If Norvell truly was involved with the museum murder, Moore already knew that there’d be no way to connect Norvell to the murder and prove that he sent an assassin to take care of the man. He’d be allowed to walk away from it, just like how Norvell was believed to have gotten away with many things in the past.
Chapter 2
The next morning Lola Cortez arrived at the Rhode Island mansion of Mr. Emil Norvell. In her long coat and red hat, she exuded the mystique of a Latina Greta Garbo. Upon entering the mansion Norvell’s butler took care of the hat and the coat, while she headed into Norvell’s office. Cortez despised the revolting man, but he paid her well for her services. Besides there were worse things that she could, and had done, for money, than to put up with this balding overweight man with a silly mustache.
‘Did you complete that contract?’ Norvell asked as he was smoking his cigar. The smell made Cortez want to throw up.
‘Yes, the matter has been taken care of.’ Cortez replied and sat down.
‘I hope there wasn’t too much trouble.’
‘The asset completed the task. I do wish it hadn’t left a body, that could be found so quickly. We almost didn’t have time to get away before the cops showed up.’
Norvell got up from behind his desk and walked over to her. Placing his hand on her shoulder. Cortez didn’t know what disgusted her more. The thought about this revolting person making physical contact with her or the smell of his cigar.
‘My dear,’ Norvell proclaimed, ‘we’ve entered a new era of weapons. If you didn’t want the body to be found, you should’ve instructed the asset to get rid of it. You’re living too much in the past. Before, you hired someone to take out your enemies and they handled all the problems for you… but they’d also have dirt on you. Our boys in the lab have created an alternative. Now the assassin and the weapon are one and the same and they’ll never talk, but there are still bugs to be worked out.’
‘If there was nothing else, sir…’ Cortez remarked, wanting to spend no more time in Norvell’s presence, than she absolutely had to.
‘No, you may go.’ Norvell replied and Cortez began to walk out of the room.
‘Oh, there is one more thing, Ms. Cortez. The asset might not talk, but there are always others who might.’
‘Whoever do you mean, sir?’ Cortez replied, as she suddenly felt a sharp blade pressed up against her throat. It was the last thing she ever felt. If there was one thing that Emil Norvell had learned in over 40 years in this business, it was to leave no loose ends.
Chapter 3
As much as Tess had hated to admit it, Lois had been right when she told Tess that she needed a life. The 18 months following the “crisis” certainly had been eventful. As a member of the Justice League, Tess had fought against an alien starfish, Appellaxians, the androids built by former STAR Labs scientists Ivo and Morrow, along with brother Lex’s “Injustice League” and other threats. The problem wasn’t Tess’s place as a member of the League, it was her existence outside of the team. All the other members returned to their daily lives, after missions. Had day jobs, private lives, friends, family and dealt with threats, that didn’t require the attention of the whole team. Certainly, the last one applied to Tess as well, but outside of that, she didn’t have a life outside of the Justice League. At first, she had filled her time with monitor duties – a duty now redundant, with the new system they installed. Occasionally, other members would invite her to their homes, but outside of that she didn’t socialize much as a civilian. Especially now that Emil Hamilton wasn’t with her anymore – never a good idea to have your sort-of boyfriend, also be your sort-of therapist.
Part of her problem was that she was Tess Mercer, the illegitimate child of Lionel Luthor and Pamela Jenkins and the adopted daughter of Edgar and Trisha Mercer. But, Tess Mercer had died, as far as the rest of the world was concerned, during the event known as “Contact”. It would be a nightmare to try and reclaim her former identity. She couldn’t just show up, as Tess. Lex would be able to use the remains of her original body to disprove her claim. Not to mention, he’d probably try and kill her again. The action might also have required her to reveal her dual identity as the android superhero known as “Red Tornado”. Tess had already gone through enough hassle over her robotic status. As a woman, she may have sometimes been treated as a second-class citizen, but as a machine, she had sometimes been treated worse.
The answer had been to create a new identity for herself, which required a new name. “Jane Smith” sounded too lazy and too much like she was living under an alias. “Tess Jenkins” would be too obvious. Apart from changing the color of her hair, she had chosen to retain her original face – some things she wasn’t ready to give up. A blond Tess Mercer look-a-like is one thing, especially as she had been “dead” for a few years and wouldn’t reside in Metropolis or Smallville. There are plenty of look-a-likes in the world. Heck, Tess remembered some guy in IT at LuthorCorp getting into troubles with the police when he was mistaken for Winslow Schott. But, a Tess Mercer look-a-like, who was also named Tess, and have the last name of her biological mother, would be too much.
Tess finally settled on the name “Kathleen ‘Kathy’ Sutton”. She didn’t have past connection to anyone named Kathleen or Sutton, so nobody would be able to connect her and Tess Mercer. Luckily for Tess, she wouldn’t have to start from scratch. Before going underground and hiding from Checkmate, she had set up several secret bank accounts, that she never got around towards emptying, after Checkmate was destroyed and she was able to return home. Emptying the accounts and placing all the money in the account of Kathy Sutton, Tess found herself with little over $36 million. Welcome money indeed, as it meant she could afford an apartment and wouldn’t have to worry about employment - at least not for the time being. After all, several of the other JL:ers had day jobs and she had seen them having trouble getting away from them, when they had to handle a crisis. Not that Tess was against getting a job, but she was just unsure about what she’d want to do – thanks to her current state, she’d be able to give herself any skill and degree.
The money was also useful, as she would not only have to get an apartment, but everything inside it. Be it furniture, houseware or clothes. An easy mistake to make, when one is setting oneself up with a new identity and a new life is to buy all new stuff. Meaning anyone who’d enter her home would find nothing, but brand-new things and she would constantly be seen wearing new clothes. Sure, she was rich. But even rich people don’t have homes with only brand-new furniture. Real people have heirlooms, furniture they’ve owned for 5-10 years. Brand-new television, computer and kitchen utensils were one thing. But outside of that, Tess felt that a person shouldn’t own more than 10 % of brand-new things. Instead she went hunting for second-hand furniture and clothes. Things that would make it seem like Kathy Sutton was a young woman, who had existed for longer than ten days.
Going into her new life, Tess knew that Kathy would need a complete backstory. A consistent backstory. If Kathy had an ex-boyfriend, that she ever brought up, Tess would need to base him on a real person. Ensuring that her description of the mythological ex-boyfriend would be consistent. Wanting to avoid people who might have known her as Tess Mercer, she certainly wasn’t going to live in Smallville or Metropolis or Houma in Louisiana. Especially not Houma, where she had grown up. If she hadn’t liked coming back there as Tess Mercer, she sure as hell wasn’t going to go there as Kathy Sutton. In some ways, the choice ended up being made for her. After the destruction of the Watchtower outpost on the moon, the League had moved their base to a forgotten military mountain base, from the early days of the cold war, which was located near the town of Happy Harbor in Rhode Island. Wanting to be near the base, Tess decided to live in the town. Needing a backstory, that motivated the move of Kathy Sutton to the town, Tess went with the explanation that she had she had been left some money by her late father – not entirely a lie – then broken up with her boyfriend and decided to relocate to Happy Harbor, having visited it as a child and liked it. Nothing too fancy or eyebrow raising. Just some heirless, who decided to start a new life, after a bad break-up.
Chapter 1
Five minutes. If she had just arrived five minutes earlier, DEO agent Eve Welch was certain that she could’ve prevented it. Welch had gone to the Metropolis Museum of Modern Art that day for a simple reason: to collect information from a source. However, upon arriving she had seen police cars outside and was soon informed that her source had been found in the bathroom, with his throat cut. Her source may have been a scumbag, but nobody deserves to die like that. Not to mention, whatever information he was getting her on the Norvell case, which she had been working on for months, was now lost.
Things only got worse, when Welch departed the museum and went back to her car. Just as she was about to get in, a 20-something tall man with curly brown hair rushed up to her with a smartphone, with intent to record her. The man couldn’t more obviously be a reporter, if he had worn a hat that said “Press” on it.
‘Agent Welch,’ the man said ‘Justin Moore, Daily Planet. Why is the DEO involved in this investigation?’
‘We’re not.’ Welch replied.
‘My sources told me that the victim was an employee of Norvell, Inc. Does the murder have anything to do with the recent allegations against the company’s CEO.’
‘I’m afraid that I can neither confirm nor deny anything, without clearance from director Trevor.’ Welsh replied, almost on autopilot and drove away, before Moore could ask her anything else. But Moore’s nose for journalism told him that there was indeed something fishy going on. Mere minutes after a Norvell, Inc. employee is found murdered, an agent of a government agency, that specializes on matters relating to metahumans and aliens and other things, shows up and takes charge. There was no doubt in his mind that the whole thing tied back to the allegations made against Emil Norvell, the CEO of Norvell, Inc., an arms manufacturing company. Allegations that Norvell not only sold arms illegally, but that he sold weapons of a more illegal nature. Of course, nobody had been able to prove anything. Norvell had been in the business for too long to make mistakes. If Moore was to believe the rumors, Norvell had illegally sold arms to South Africa, in the 1980’s. If Norvell truly was involved with the museum murder, Moore already knew that there’d be no way to connect Norvell to the murder and prove that he sent an assassin to take care of the man. He’d be allowed to walk away from it, just like how Norvell was believed to have gotten away with many things in the past.
Chapter 2
The next morning Lola Cortez arrived at the Rhode Island mansion of Mr. Emil Norvell. In her long coat and red hat, she exuded the mystique of a Latina Greta Garbo. Upon entering the mansion Norvell’s butler took care of the hat and the coat, while she headed into Norvell’s office. Cortez despised the revolting man, but he paid her well for her services. Besides there were worse things that she could, and had done, for money, than to put up with this balding overweight man with a silly mustache.
‘Did you complete that contract?’ Norvell asked as he was smoking his cigar. The smell made Cortez want to throw up.
‘Yes, the matter has been taken care of.’ Cortez replied and sat down.
‘I hope there wasn’t too much trouble.’
‘The asset completed the task. I do wish it hadn’t left a body, that could be found so quickly. We almost didn’t have time to get away before the cops showed up.’
Norvell got up from behind his desk and walked over to her. Placing his hand on her shoulder. Cortez didn’t know what disgusted her more. The thought about this revolting person making physical contact with her or the smell of his cigar.
‘My dear,’ Norvell proclaimed, ‘we’ve entered a new era of weapons. If you didn’t want the body to be found, you should’ve instructed the asset to get rid of it. You’re living too much in the past. Before, you hired someone to take out your enemies and they handled all the problems for you… but they’d also have dirt on you. Our boys in the lab have created an alternative. Now the assassin and the weapon are one and the same and they’ll never talk, but there are still bugs to be worked out.’
‘If there was nothing else, sir…’ Cortez remarked, wanting to spend no more time in Norvell’s presence, than she absolutely had to.
‘No, you may go.’ Norvell replied and Cortez began to walk out of the room.
‘Oh, there is one more thing, Ms. Cortez. The asset might not talk, but there are always others who might.’
‘Whoever do you mean, sir?’ Cortez replied, as she suddenly felt a sharp blade pressed up against her throat. It was the last thing she ever felt. If there was one thing that Emil Norvell had learned in over 40 years in this business, it was to leave no loose ends.
Chapter 3
As much as Tess had hated to admit it, Lois had been right when she told Tess that she needed a life. The 18 months following the “crisis” certainly had been eventful. As a member of the Justice League, Tess had fought against an alien starfish, Appellaxians, the androids built by former STAR Labs scientists Ivo and Morrow, along with brother Lex’s “Injustice League” and other threats. The problem wasn’t Tess’s place as a member of the League, it was her existence outside of the team. All the other members returned to their daily lives, after missions. Had day jobs, private lives, friends, family and dealt with threats, that didn’t require the attention of the whole team. Certainly, the last one applied to Tess as well, but outside of that, she didn’t have a life outside of the Justice League. At first, she had filled her time with monitor duties – a duty now redundant, with the new system they installed. Occasionally, other members would invite her to their homes, but outside of that she didn’t socialize much as a civilian. Especially now that Emil Hamilton wasn’t with her anymore – never a good idea to have your sort-of boyfriend, also be your sort-of therapist.
Part of her problem was that she was Tess Mercer, the illegitimate child of Lionel Luthor and Pamela Jenkins and the adopted daughter of Edgar and Trisha Mercer. But, Tess Mercer had died, as far as the rest of the world was concerned, during the event known as “Contact”. It would be a nightmare to try and reclaim her former identity. She couldn’t just show up, as Tess. Lex would be able to use the remains of her original body to disprove her claim. Not to mention, he’d probably try and kill her again. The action might also have required her to reveal her dual identity as the android superhero known as “Red Tornado”. Tess had already gone through enough hassle over her robotic status. As a woman, she may have sometimes been treated as a second-class citizen, but as a machine, she had sometimes been treated worse.
The answer had been to create a new identity for herself, which required a new name. “Jane Smith” sounded too lazy and too much like she was living under an alias. “Tess Jenkins” would be too obvious. Apart from changing the color of her hair, she had chosen to retain her original face – some things she wasn’t ready to give up. A blond Tess Mercer look-a-like is one thing, especially as she had been “dead” for a few years and wouldn’t reside in Metropolis or Smallville. There are plenty of look-a-likes in the world. Heck, Tess remembered some guy in IT at LuthorCorp getting into troubles with the police when he was mistaken for Winslow Schott. But, a Tess Mercer look-a-like, who was also named Tess, and have the last name of her biological mother, would be too much.
Tess finally settled on the name “Kathleen ‘Kathy’ Sutton”. She didn’t have past connection to anyone named Kathleen or Sutton, so nobody would be able to connect her and Tess Mercer. Luckily for Tess, she wouldn’t have to start from scratch. Before going underground and hiding from Checkmate, she had set up several secret bank accounts, that she never got around towards emptying, after Checkmate was destroyed and she was able to return home. Emptying the accounts and placing all the money in the account of Kathy Sutton, Tess found herself with little over $36 million. Welcome money indeed, as it meant she could afford an apartment and wouldn’t have to worry about employment - at least not for the time being. After all, several of the other JL:ers had day jobs and she had seen them having trouble getting away from them, when they had to handle a crisis. Not that Tess was against getting a job, but she was just unsure about what she’d want to do – thanks to her current state, she’d be able to give herself any skill and degree.
The money was also useful, as she would not only have to get an apartment, but everything inside it. Be it furniture, houseware or clothes. An easy mistake to make, when one is setting oneself up with a new identity and a new life is to buy all new stuff. Meaning anyone who’d enter her home would find nothing, but brand-new things and she would constantly be seen wearing new clothes. Sure, she was rich. But even rich people don’t have homes with only brand-new furniture. Real people have heirlooms, furniture they’ve owned for 5-10 years. Brand-new television, computer and kitchen utensils were one thing. But outside of that, Tess felt that a person shouldn’t own more than 10 % of brand-new things. Instead she went hunting for second-hand furniture and clothes. Things that would make it seem like Kathy Sutton was a young woman, who had existed for longer than ten days.
Going into her new life, Tess knew that Kathy would need a complete backstory. A consistent backstory. If Kathy had an ex-boyfriend, that she ever brought up, Tess would need to base him on a real person. Ensuring that her description of the mythological ex-boyfriend would be consistent. Wanting to avoid people who might have known her as Tess Mercer, she certainly wasn’t going to live in Smallville or Metropolis or Houma in Louisiana. Especially not Houma, where she had grown up. If she hadn’t liked coming back there as Tess Mercer, she sure as hell wasn’t going to go there as Kathy Sutton. In some ways, the choice ended up being made for her. After the destruction of the Watchtower outpost on the moon, the League had moved their base to a forgotten military mountain base, from the early days of the cold war, which was located near the town of Happy Harbor in Rhode Island. Wanting to be near the base, Tess decided to live in the town. Needing a backstory, that motivated the move of Kathy Sutton to the town, Tess went with the explanation that she had she had been left some money by her late father – not entirely a lie – then broken up with her boyfriend and decided to relocate to Happy Harbor, having visited it as a child and liked it. Nothing too fancy or eyebrow raising. Just some heirless, who decided to start a new life, after a bad break-up.
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