El Dorado- home of The Color Guard

Silver Streak whooshed into a kitchen and back, distributing beers to the twelve players around the table, and popping the top off of one for himself as he sat down.

"It's really a great honor to have you for our poker night, sir," said a blushing Golden Girl.

To her left, Golden Lad nodded in agreement. "Yeah, you've got to be the greatest hero of World War Two!" he declared with a slight British accent.

"Oh, I didn't do that much for the war. Really," insisted the aging superhero.

"The Allies might have lost if it weren't for Super-American, sir!"

"Are you kidding me?" balked Golden Arrow. "The Allies might have lost if it weren't for Super-American, sir!"

Super-American smiled slightly, taking off his winged helmet, and revealing a full head of white hair. "No, son, that's not true at all," he said as he pulled slightly on one of the cards in his hands, then pushed it back into row with the others. "The Allies' win was ancient knowledge to us. The only reason I came from the future was to inspire them to do what they were meant to. I merely gave hope at a bleak time. To be truthful, I tried to make my contributions as minimal as possible so as not to alter history. Sure, I threw a Panzer or downed a Zero here and there, but nothing the historical records didn't note as defeated anyway. I'm just glad to have helped."

"How much did you alter history when you helped make him," purred the violet-haired woman with the cat-like eyes as she nudged Green Ghost.

"Tigress!" blustered Green Ghost as he traded two cards to White Panther, who was the dealer.

"Saving his mother changed quite a bit as it turned out."

"Ha!" laughed Super-American. Pointing a thumb to his left, he said, "Actually, I'm afraid my boy here is the reason I can't go back to the future. Saving his mother changed quite a bit as it turned out. The Purple Plague didn't kill her, so the Golden Knight didn't kill him. So Golden Knight didn't go to--"

The hero's story was interrupted by loud gasps from Tigress and Golden Girl, and Golden Arrow choking on his beer. The others at the table stared in stunned silence. Finally, a horrified Tigress exchanged glances with Green Ghost, trying to get words out, but failing. Then she stared at his father for long moments before saying, "Did... did you say 'The Purple Plague,' sir?" She was almost crying as she said it.

"Well...yes," said American, a look of concern on his face as he put his cards face down on the table. "Whatever's the matter, young lady?"

Her lip quivered slightly, but with her voice shaking, she managed, "The P-Purple Pl-Plague is m-my f-father."

"Your father was a villain?" asked Super-American in surprise.

"Dad!" barked Green Ghost.

Tears welling up in her eyes, begging for it not to be so, she pleaded, "H-he killed your wife?" Turning to Green Ghost, she was nearly frantic. "Your mother?!"

"And Golden Knight killed her father? My father did that?"

"And Golden Knight killed her father?" asked Golden Girl. "My father did that?"

"Our father," corrected Golden Arrow.

"So you two are siblings," said Super-American with a nod. "And you, Golden Lad? Another brother?"

"Oh, no sir, I'm the boyfriend," he said, his British accent becoming more pronounced. "I got my powers from Golden Girl when she saved me from The Green Dragon, back when he fought The Black Dragon over London. I helped in the fight, and we've been together ever since." He smiled at Golden Girl, but it faded quickly when he saw the concern still on her face.

"I see," said Super-American. "So The Color Guard is a family affair then?"

"With the emphasis on 'affair,' I'm afraid," said a raven-haired looker.

"Sis, come on," said White Panther.

Super-American laughed. "And 'sis,' is it? Whose children are you?"

"Most of our parents were members of The Rainbow Bridge Club back in the day."

White Panther smiled with embarrassment as he looked at his cards, then folded his hand. "Most of our parents were members of The Rainbow Bridge Club back in the day. We're son and daughter of White Indian and The Black Cat, who also used to be a villain. When she got together with dad, she changed sides and names, becoming Black Angel."

Super-American nodded. "I knew them well. Good people."

"I took my mom's name of 'Black Cat' when I first joined The Color Guard," said the sister.

"Which got my attention, because Black Cat was my mom, from when she was still a villain."

"Ah," said the older hero, "that explains 'Tigress' then."

"It's Purple Tigress actually," she said respectfully. "He never became a hero, but he was still my dad."

"My dear, that seems truly hard to believe," he said with a warming smile. "I knew your father too- he was a terror to fight."

"You would've believed it when she came at us guns blazing," said White Panther, making Tigress wince. Looking to his right, he winked at her. "She came in all, 'Who are you to have my mother's name,' and bam! Pow! We had a fight on our hands!" he laughed.

"I was out for blood, until she took off her mask. She looks so much like mom."

"I was out for blood," confessed Tigress. Pointing at her half-sister, she said, "until she took off her mask." Faltering a bit, she said, "She looks so much like mom."

"She told me so too- said I was beautiful- which is how I got my new name," she said with a soft smile. "If 'Black Cat' was going to cause her pain, I didn't want that, so I took a name inspired by my new sister- 'Black Beauty.' That's been my name ever since, and we invited her to be on the team. That's how the daughter of two supervillains got to be on the team."

"Well, I didn't accept right away," said Tigress bashfully.

Nudging Red Rocket and laughing, Golden Arrow said, "Yeah. She came at us a few more times before coming around. Took Green Ghost joining us to change her mind. She had a bit of a crush as it turned out." The group laughed good-naturedly.

"I've been meaning to ask how that happened," Super-American said to his son. "You were going by Amazing Man." He smirked, then winked with a chuckle.

Story and characters owned by Chris Bishop, copyright 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022.

Thanks for stopping in! :^D

to be edited.

why has nonbody read this!!!!!

@4donkeyjohnson: Best I can figure is because it's a repost from the CCC. Anyone who would have read it had already done so there. I had fun with it though. Thanks for checking it out. :)

Edit: Although it has had 211 views. So people just aren't commenting. :}