A Month ago...
"Where is the coin?" Eclipse asked firmly, glaring at his old foe through the prison bars as he leaned on his crutches. "You're cursed, you need that coin to avoid bad fortune. Where is it?"
"There is little bad fortune that can occur to me here. This prison is awfully dull." Madros replied, not bothering to look up from his position in bed. "What is the worst that could happen? I could choke on my dinner, or stub my toe on the bed. Either way, I'm sure you people would intervene should my life be at risk. What kind of heroes would allow a prisoner to rot?"
"You didn't answer my question." Jason gritted his teeth, his fists tightening. "We've searched the building we found you in and it wasn't there, so you didn't cast it aside at the last minute. You hid it before you even arrived. You knew we were coming... I thought that apprehending you was too easy, and it was... You wanted this, didn't you?" Madros grinned. "Why?"
"That..." The madman chuckled, turning his head so his hideously scarred side was in plain view. "Will soon become apparent. When I discovered you and your young friend were on my trail, I decided to send a message to you and your associates."
"And what message is that?"
"Leave me to my business, or suffer the consequences. Arresting me will prove to be the biggest mistake of your career, Jason. This is your last chance to release me, boy."
The Teen Wonder stared at the demonic face of his old enemy. "You're in the Champions of Peace holding cells. You have nothing but the clothes you were given when you arrived. There is no possibility of communication to anywhere outside these walls. You're bluffing, Madros. You don't have anything." And with that, Eclipse vanished in a flash of red light.
"Your loss..."
Now...
Eclipse sat in his chair, stunned. A month had passed since his interview with Madros, yet Jason was two years older. The fundamentalist elder, Father Time, had removed the powers of both Eclipse and Hesperus, and sent them both hurtling back through the time-stream, where they lived two years in the land of Camelot, under the rule of King Arthur. Without his powers, Jason had spent much of the past month focusing on inventing new equipment. His crutches had been upgraded and modified, able to take on many forms and fire multiple weapons. They were also tied to his nano-suit, and like the suit, responded to his mental commands. Eventually, through the assistance of an old friend, Eclipse was able to force his crutches to morph into an armored suit. The suit could take on two forms, a light armor which could fly and fire rapid weapons; and a heavy armor, based on the design used by his old nemesis, DaggerKlutz.
In his powerless state, Jason had not seen much superhero action. He had largely let his team-mates do all the heavy lifting while he co-ordinated them from afar. Now, he was finally ready to jump back into the fray. But an emergency news broadcast completely shattered his enthusiasm.
"At 12.00pm today, the city of Phoenix, Arizona, was torn apart by a violent explosion. The explosion emanated from Midtown, but soon touched many other areas of the city. Whether this is the work of terrorists or superhumans had yet to be identified, but the casualties are still being counted..."
By this point, Eclipse had already left. His crutches bonding to his body to form the lightweight armor, Jason's metallic wings burst forth as he soared out of the open window of Champions Tower. His COP communicator was attached to his wrist, and the 19 year old leader was now keying instructions into it. "Champion Squad, come in. All available squad members make your way to Phoenix, Arizona. Use the emergency teleport function if you have to, just get there now. And I want someone to find the source of this explosion, whether it was a bomb, a supervillain or just some scared mutant kid. The epicenter of the explosion is marked on your map, we'll meet there." He also sent an audio copy of the news broadcast for any team-mates who hadn't yet heard it. The teleport function of the communicators was seldom used because of how much energy it used up, but Eclipse thought this was enough of an emergency. His suit, however, was able to move at such speeds that it only took him a few minutes to arrive at his destination. As he touched down, Eclipse frowned at the sensation of standing up. He had been crippled and unable to walk since his KoV battle with Portrait, but the new suit was able to support and move his legs without the aid of crutches. However, he couldn't actually feel anything below the waist, making it a very odd sensation, almost like he was levitating again...
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