Crossover Earth '98
Anchorman #2 Michael Kelly
Abe was troubled. Johnny was a wonderful kid, but his desperate need to be recognized was going to get him in trouble some day. Big trouble. The kid was brilliant but naive. The intelligence greater than most adults combined with the foolishness of youth. Abe remembered how it was for himself. He could recite details from the most mundane events all the way back to his second birthday. He had pulled some pretty stupid stunts himself like the time he rigged up a remote control to his fathers Volks wagon. Eeesh. Sometimes having a perfect memory is not so pleasant.
How was he going to get Johnny to understand the meaning of mortality, responsibility, and wisdom. Two months ago this crazy idea of his would have mildly irritated him, like a bad ulcer and he would have been worried to death like any sane parent is about their child. But with God knows who on their trail, they had to remain innocuous. Something quite alien to a teen, particularly one with his talents. As soon as he lights up that force field of his and someone gets the information in the Internet they were sure to have snoopers on their trail. So, in addition to the not insignificant possibility of someone shooting bullets at his son, there’s the government ready to put him in jail and some shadow organization ready to kill for the secrets Abe carried all probably desperately searching for one of them to do something obvious.
Johnny was thrilled. A chance to work with a real super-hero. It was so cool it was beyond words. He wanted very badly to call his friends back in LA but knew his dad would have a fit. But he hated to admit it, dad was right. That gizmo of dads could do way cool things. Some of the stuff he mentioned sounded like pure sci-fi. Stuff like FTL drives, cryogenic sleep, alternate sources of cheap energy. And it didn’t surprise Johnny in the least that someone evil was after it. He was a comics addict and even joked about the possibility when his dad first started talking about his work. But unlike his dad, Johnny believed in the triumph of good over evil. Let them try and take his dad and they were in for a big surprise. That gizmo of his was way beyond the prototype stage. If he had his way they would become a super-hero team and kick some serious butt. He had managed to build his own force-field device using some of the lessons dad gave him. Nothing as complicated, of course, but still able to stop bullets cold. And his even let him move around normally. With the martial arts lessons he’d been taking and the cool force blade he invented he could fight with the best of them. Look out Mockery Brigade, move over Chariot, here comes... Aw, heck. What’s the use. He had promised not to use the device. Dad could be such a stick. But there was a bright side to all of this. He WAS part of the team, and he WAS going to be working with Torch, he just had to keep a low profile.