Life without Rapunzel II, or Keeping Busy
May. 6th, 1994 02:04 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
gotham_knockingTwo days became two weeks became two months. And still she was gone. And Knox was alone. And lonely.
So he threw himself into work. There was a lot to throw himself into. The League of Heroes was going full tilt, so much so that people began to wonder if Batman would spend more time facing large scale threats with Superman and the Flash and the Green Lantern and less time handling street crime. A quick survey of crime reports and news reports and other data showed that Batman was still around. Gotham could rest easy.
That took two days.
There was a new scandal at City Hall. Nothing glamorous, and nothing that even touched the mayor directly, but Knox hadn’t covered a scandal at City Hall in a while. It was fun to see old friends in the press corps, and to butt heads with the latest flack giving reporters the runaround. But scandals have a way of coming and going really fast in Gotham. People got bored.
That took a week.
Captain Atom didn’t fade so quickly.
At first, Knox lumped him in with the ever growing number of costumes and capes – his unofficial estimate put the number of heroes at 60. But the images of him that came in – first grainy photos, then grainy video and then usable stuff – showed a man who looked like he was covered from head to toe in tin foil. It was weird. Disturbing. And Captain Atom was everywhere. Everywhere except Gotham. Knox was hoping to find a pattern to Atom’s appearances and follow him.
Before he could go, things changed in a hurry.
Repeating the breaking news from Ottawa, Canada, an assassination attempt against President Eden, Prime Minister Mulroney and Mexican president Fuentes was foiled just mintues ago by the superhero Captain Atom. Authorities identify the assailant as a former Quebec separatist…
This was a story with legs. And so many angles. Marty Yan got sent to the Canadian embassy and to Montreal. Frank Martindale worked the phones with the Secret Service and FBI. People flew to Ottawa and interviewed experts of every sort. And Knox did what everyone expected: he looked high and low for the Captain Atom story. Suddenly, the silver skinned man was America’s Hero. Bigger than Reagan, Elvis and Mickey Mantle put together. Bigger than Superman. Everyone wanted to know about him, and Knox almost forgot how lonely he was.
Almost.
The big story fell apart after two more weeks. Not because Knox, or anyone else, gave up. But because Captain Atom went public. On Nightline. Alex was beside himself with jealousy that Ted Koppel got the exclusive. Once again, TV was going to ruin all his hard work. But he was sure that there was still something to report. Sure enough that he actually watched Nightline for the first time since it was called America Held Hostage and Carter was in the White House.
The captain didn’t explain why he called himself Captain Atom. Or if there was any connection with the six inch high hero called the Atom. He gave only the vaguest description of his powers. And he told a strange story about being caught in a rocket when it launched, and when it exploded due to the extra payload. Somehow that gave the man his silver skin and superpowers galore. Powers he apparently kept secret for years, until a dying love made him promise to do more.
It was a sad, sweet, heartwarming tale. Captain Atom was likeable despite his odd appearance. Knox wanted to believe. The man had saved the president, after all. The man did something that only Superman and the Elongated Man had before him in going public with his origins. And yet…and yet Knox didn’t buy it. Things didn’t add up. There was a story under the story here. He was sure of it.
And so two months passed. Knox found the thing he had wanted for years. The big story. He was happier with his career than he’d been in ages.
And he was still alone. But just as he was sure that he could find the truth about a walking piece of tin folk, he knew that he would not be alone forever. Rapunzel was out there. Someday she would find her way back to the Bar. And when she did, he would have some story to tell her.
[With appreciation to the classic work of Cary Bates and Pat Broderick]
So he threw himself into work. There was a lot to throw himself into. The League of Heroes was going full tilt, so much so that people began to wonder if Batman would spend more time facing large scale threats with Superman and the Flash and the Green Lantern and less time handling street crime. A quick survey of crime reports and news reports and other data showed that Batman was still around. Gotham could rest easy.
That took two days.
There was a new scandal at City Hall. Nothing glamorous, and nothing that even touched the mayor directly, but Knox hadn’t covered a scandal at City Hall in a while. It was fun to see old friends in the press corps, and to butt heads with the latest flack giving reporters the runaround. But scandals have a way of coming and going really fast in Gotham. People got bored.
That took a week.
Captain Atom didn’t fade so quickly.
At first, Knox lumped him in with the ever growing number of costumes and capes – his unofficial estimate put the number of heroes at 60. But the images of him that came in – first grainy photos, then grainy video and then usable stuff – showed a man who looked like he was covered from head to toe in tin foil. It was weird. Disturbing. And Captain Atom was everywhere. Everywhere except Gotham. Knox was hoping to find a pattern to Atom’s appearances and follow him.
Before he could go, things changed in a hurry.
Repeating the breaking news from Ottawa, Canada, an assassination attempt against President Eden, Prime Minister Mulroney and Mexican president Fuentes was foiled just mintues ago by the superhero Captain Atom. Authorities identify the assailant as a former Quebec separatist…
This was a story with legs. And so many angles. Marty Yan got sent to the Canadian embassy and to Montreal. Frank Martindale worked the phones with the Secret Service and FBI. People flew to Ottawa and interviewed experts of every sort. And Knox did what everyone expected: he looked high and low for the Captain Atom story. Suddenly, the silver skinned man was America’s Hero. Bigger than Reagan, Elvis and Mickey Mantle put together. Bigger than Superman. Everyone wanted to know about him, and Knox almost forgot how lonely he was.
Almost.
The big story fell apart after two more weeks. Not because Knox, or anyone else, gave up. But because Captain Atom went public. On Nightline. Alex was beside himself with jealousy that Ted Koppel got the exclusive. Once again, TV was going to ruin all his hard work. But he was sure that there was still something to report. Sure enough that he actually watched Nightline for the first time since it was called America Held Hostage and Carter was in the White House.
The captain didn’t explain why he called himself Captain Atom. Or if there was any connection with the six inch high hero called the Atom. He gave only the vaguest description of his powers. And he told a strange story about being caught in a rocket when it launched, and when it exploded due to the extra payload. Somehow that gave the man his silver skin and superpowers galore. Powers he apparently kept secret for years, until a dying love made him promise to do more.
It was a sad, sweet, heartwarming tale. Captain Atom was likeable despite his odd appearance. Knox wanted to believe. The man had saved the president, after all. The man did something that only Superman and the Elongated Man had before him in going public with his origins. And yet…and yet Knox didn’t buy it. Things didn’t add up. There was a story under the story here. He was sure of it.
And so two months passed. Knox found the thing he had wanted for years. The big story. He was happier with his career than he’d been in ages.
And he was still alone. But just as he was sure that he could find the truth about a walking piece of tin folk, he knew that he would not be alone forever. Rapunzel was out there. Someday she would find her way back to the Bar. And when she did, he would have some story to tell her.
[With appreciation to the classic work of Cary Bates and Pat Broderick]
