Tomorrow Girl in Bismarck: Chapter The First
Julius Jericho looked out upon Citadel City with a smirk on his face.
“It was done," he thought. "I, one of the most intelligent men on earth, have finally killed Tomorrow Man.”
Yes, it took him two full years to implement the final plan of such magnitude. He had to scour the world and set a plan so intricately complex you would almost have sworn he was making it up as he was going along, but Jericho never improvises. He is precise, dedicated, but ruthless too. Soon he would be able to have full control. Soon he would be finally able to get away from an alien and advance the human race to where it needed to be, with him in charge of course. Who else could lead the human race into the golden age he had been working his entire life to ensure?
But all that would come later. Right now he would simply take a delicious well-deserved drink of Scotch. So he turned away from his city and turned towards the liquor cabinet. It was then that damned voice came through, that voice that haunted him throughout his entire life.
“Unfortunately, Jericho.”
It was Tomorrow Man.
“Damned. But how?” he thought. “How could this have happened?”
"Because, Jericho, you can send twenty of the most powerful warlords at me all at once, but you forgot one thing, Jericho. They have families; they have worlds; and they don’t care much about a rich man’s squabbles.”
Jericho threw the glass down. “You know nothing. You are a cancer on the human race, Tomorrow Man.” Then something off to the side caught Jericho’s eyes. “And who is that?”
It was then that Tomorrow Girl, a red-headed beanpole whose legs were too long for her body, peaked out from behind the drapes that were oh so elegantly purple. “Hi. Sorry, I was shadowing him today. Just ignore me.”
Tomorrow Man angrily glared at Jericho, “You leave her out of this, you crazy madman."
“How can there be two of you?” said Jericho.
Tomorrow Girl tried to explain, “Sorry, please ignore me, but it’s complicated. It has to do with cloning and ... Well, I am from the same planet as him, but I was trapped in a different dimension. It’s a long, long story, Jericho. You would need a PhD in astrophysics to understand it."
"I do have a PhD in astrophysics," said Jericho.
"I didn't know. Did you know that, Tomorrow Man?" said Tomorrow Girl.
"Yea."
“Well you see, Tomorrow Man, you say that, but you have no evidence of me being involved in any of this. Now get out. and know one day you’ll falter,” said Jericho.
“We’ll see Jericho, we’ll see," said Tomorrow man as they gave each other mighty death glares.
“OK, I clearly see I am in the way," said Tomorrow Girl. "It was really just a pleasure to meet both of you, I mean to meet you Jericho. Tomorrow Man has told me so much about you. It’s, I mean, not a pleasure, because you almost killed him, but I mean... Ya. I’m just gonna perch right behind this building. Open the window. I’m just going to listen in and take notes.”
“As I was saying, one day the people in this city will rise up against you,” said Tomorrow Man to Jericho.
“We will see about that, Tomorrow Man,” said Jericho.
“It might not be tomorrow, right? But one of these days the people will rise up,” said Tomorrow Girl.
Tomorrow Man gave a look of pure disgust.
“I think it’s brilliant. High five, Tomorrow Girl," said Jericho. He put his hand up to give her a high five.
“Really. You think it’s really good?” said Tomorrow Girl, but when she was just about to give a high five Tomorrow Man stopped her.
“He doesn’t,” said Tomorrow Man.
“No, but he just said so,” said Tomorrow Girl.
“He’s being sarcastic,” said Tomorrow Man.
‘Wow. He really is a … I am not just picking up on that. Still the best day ever.”
“This day will not be the last, Jericho,” said Tomorrow Man.
“I’ll see you soon,” said Jericho.
So Tomorrow Man triumphantly flew out of Jericho’s office, followed hurriedly by Tomorrow Girl.
As they flew, Tomorrow Girl said, “So where are we going? What are we doing now?"
“How about we go to The Place with No Darkness?”
“That’s amazing. I dreamed about that for so long, and it’s happening today.”
And Tomorrow Girl, otherwise known as Joss, was right to be excited. The Place with No Darkness was the home to the greatest selection of superheroes ever known. Over two hundred active members, they represented the best of the best – the greatest heroes to have ever walked the earth. They had personally saved this blue marble over two hundred times. It was her dream.
“But, how do we get to this place?”
“Get ready for it. It’s some crazy wild and cool stuff that you’re about to see.”
And just as Tomorrow Man was about to press the button that would send them to The Place with No Darkness, the light signal came.
“But how do we get there, Tomorrow Man?”
“It’s simple. All I have to do is press this button on the watch, and we’ll be teleported right to The Place with No Darkness.”
So Tomorrow Man pressed the button on his watch and a great beam of energy came out of nowhere, and suddenly they were transported to The Place with No Darkness, a massive satellite orbiting the very Earth itself. Tomorrow Girl was in total shock, and it was truly a wondrous sight to behold. All the most fantastical beings on the Earth resided here, in the high-tech wonderland. The walls themselves beamed with bright neon colors. You could see the Earth. They say one of the greatest things about being on The Place with No Darkness is seeing five dawns in one hour, and that was happening right now.
“This is amazing. It’s one of the most exciting things I’ve ever seen, Josh - Josh Jones, who is Tomorrow Man. I’m sorry. Did I ruin your secret identity? I’m sorry. I’m really sorry. It’s just - I’m really excited to be part of all of this, and all those people seem very nice from far away. Are they nice in real life?”
“Yes, they’re all very nice. Most of them are,” said Tomorrow Man.
“I mean, you always figure that, but it's nice to know."
“We’re with friends here,” said Tomorrow Man.
“I’m just really excited to be here,” said Tomorrow Girl.
“Yes, I can see that. So, do you want to meet the gang, the inner circle?”
“Yes, very much so."
“Okay, come with me," said Tomorrow Man.
You see, Tomorrow Man might have been the greatest super-hero the world had ever seen, but he was not the only greatest super-hero the world had ever seen. In the inner sanction of super-heroes, the six original founders, there was the man who bleeds iron, noted for his cock-sure attitude and for being a billionaire playboy, a man known the world over for his playboy good looks and his genius engineering. There was also Mr. Mental-Man. He could speak with his mind. Also there were others who are not very relevant to the story.
She was amazed to meet all these legendary and amazing heroes. It felt like a dream. Then she heard a voice in her head from the friendly telepath. She thought to herself, “This must be like some sort of fantastical, wonderful dream."
Mr. Mental-Man said, “Yah, a lot of people think that, but it’s real.”
Tomorrow Girl said, “So what’s my first job, stopping a bank robbery; saving a city from a flood?”
“No”, said Tomorrow Man, “It’s something even better. It’s filling out several forms, and completing at least three medical exams!”
“That’s amazing too," Tomorrow Girl said with as much enthusiasm as she could muster.
It was then that Tomorrow Man’s watch went off, the watch he had been given by Police Commissioner Siegel. Thus the Hall of Justice was closed, and as they walked out Tomorrow Man got a call from his wrist-mounted communicator.
He said, “A call from my wrist-mounted communicator.” So he fiddled around with it, with his Apple watch.
“Who is it?" Tomorrow Man said.
“A mad man has sent us a threatening note. He claims to be one of your many enemies."
"Who is it? Is it Derius Dax?”
“No”, said Siegel.
“Is it the Master Intelligence?”
“No.”
“Is it the Gorilla God?”
“No,” said Commissioner Siegel.
“Wait, I know this. I know every one of your enemies. Let me think; let me think. I can figure this out. He’s threatening City Hall, so in theory what he is obsessed with is power, and that eliminates none of your villains," said Tomorrow Man.
"Wait, Commissioner. What does the note say?” said Tomorrow Girl.
Tomorrow Girl then put her hand on the wrist mounted communicator. “Am I supposed to ask him that? You’re the big important one. I’m just here to learn. Sorry, right. Thank you, thank you again.”
“Commissioner, what does the note say?” said Tomorrow Man.
“Okay, I’ll read it. ‘Dear Tomorrow Man, you think yourself a knight, but you’re really a pawn. You’ll have to stop me soon or checkmate.' ”
“What does the footnote say, Commissioner?” Tomorrow Girl said.
“One minute, let me check. ‘By checkmate I mean I really am going to blow up something, so you better stop me. Signed, an anonymous villain.' ”
Tomorrow Man said, “Thank you, Commissioner. I’ll get right on that.”
Tomorrow Girl suddenly seized up in excitement, “Oh my God, oh my God, I know who it is; I know who it is.”
“Well, can you tell me, ‘cause I have no idea who it is.”
“Wait, you really have no idea who it is?” said Tomorrow Girl
“No, I can’t think who,” said Tomorrow Man.
“It’s The Chess Master,” said Tomorrow Girl.
“Who?” said Tomorrow Man.
“You fought him like two times, remember? He’s a chess-themed super villain who is inexplicably bad at chess,” said Tomorrow Girl.
“I’m not placing it,” said Tomorrow Man.
“Remember, it was right around the time you won a local Emmy for Best Variety/ News Morning Program?”
“That I remember,” said Tomorrow Man.
“You beat him twice with the 3-move Checkmate,” said Tomorrow Girl.
“Oh yeah. He’s the one that cried. Jeesh. Commissioner Siegel, I guess I could handle that.”
Then the wrist-mounted communicator went off.
“Hello, Tomorrow Man. This is Blood Wolf. I hear you have a problem with the Chess Master. I think I can handle this guy.”
“Really, you think you can handle him?” said Tomorrow Man.
“Please. I’m in town, fighting the scum and villainy that rot society. I’ll be five minutes.”
“Well, you’re a peach, Blood Wolf,” he said, and turning ever so slightly to Tomorrow Girl, “Anyway, go over there and fill out your paper work.”
So Tomorrow Girl went into the doctor’s office for the variety and splattering of tests; and in there she finally realized something. She finally realized the deep, dark truth about herself. As the League’s genius on-staff medical technicians came up, she realized that, although she wasn’t afraid of Grgak from Jupiter, and she wasn’t afraid of Throng, the Conqueror, she was afraid of needles – deathly afraid of needles in fact. And as the owl-like on-staff doctor plunged the dark metal sphere into her flesh, she seized up with terror, and – then she was happy, because she realized this was it. This was the worst thing that was going to happen to her today. After this day she would finally be able to live her lifelong dream, being a member of the League. And as she left the doctor’s office and viewed the graceful earth once again, she beamed with pride, because she knew she was ready to take on the world. But she looked around and Tomorrow Man wasn’t there. When she asked a passing repair technician where Tomorrow Man was, he said in a suspiciously gruff voice, that sounded almost fake even, “I have no idea.”
She didn’t think anything of it, as she moved along. Tomorrow Man probably just went out and got them a celebratory hot chocolate – her favorite. That’s probably what he did. As she looked up at the earth, she was totally calm. So she resigned herself to look out the window for a minute, waiting for him to come back. It’s amazing looking out at the earth. You can see 5 sunrises within 5 minutes. It’s truly breathtaking.
And as she stared at the earth in all its majesty, part of it fell off. It started to crack something terrible. It started to rip apart. Then it occurred to Tomorrow Girl that nobody was here. The entire station and its 2000 employees – it was entirely empty. The earth was starting to crack apart. Oh my God, part of Asia just fell off. What’s going on? There’s no alarms. Something terrible has just happened. She flew into the Meeting Room of Justice, and she looked around. Dead. All dead. All the council leaders were dead. What’s going on? All of them, except Tomorrow Man, who wasn’t there, were all dead. This was not something she was ready for. It was then a door, cleverly hidden within the wall, opened up, and Julius Jericho, disguised as a repair technician, came out, his hands still wet with blood. He looked around the bodies, and then noticed Tomorrow Girl, who was at this moment seething with rage.
“Now, I know how this looks, but you gotta believe me; I had nothing to do with it.”
And against all common sense, against every rational part of her body, she kind of believed him.
“ I believe you.”
“Wait. Wait. Why?” he said.
“I don’t know. I kind of believe there’s good in everybody, and also you probably would have bragged about this.”
“Um…….. dammit, dammit, dammit, Uhhh. Universe Code 8762.”
Then the ominous computer voice said, “Opening Computer 8762.”
And the mighty Table of Justice, which had seemed like they didn’t really do anything but eat lunch on it, parted ways, and a small ship came out, and Julius Jericho started storming out of the room.
“I would suggest you use that ship if you want to live. It’s not like there’s a point anymore.” he said.
“What? Wait. What’s going on? How did you know this ship was here?” said Joss.
“I built the station. Use it or don’t. I don’t care anymore. I’m gonna get drunk,” and he angrily stomped out of the hall. So Tomorrow Girl stared at the ship for a good long period, unsure of what to truly do. It was then that the entire half of the space ship was careened into destruction.
Needless to say, the event had left Tomorrow Girl rather stunned and shocked, and unsure of exactly what to do with herself. Should she trust the villainous Julian Jericho? Or should she go and try to save the planet earth, which, checking briefly outside again, seemed to no longer exist. In the end, the decision was finally made, when 5 seconds later, the entire space station crashed and broke in half. So, she decided it was time. Nobly stepping into the egg-like-designed space ship, which was only built for one, she said, “Do what you were designed to do.” And silently the ship door closed, and an uncertain future lay out in front for her.
The events of this story are true. It occurred in North Dakota in 2010. The names have been changed to protect the victims. Everything else has been told exactly as it happened.