"JSA All-Stars" Yon Twelve-Winded Sky

Yon Twelve-Winded Sky is a story arc that lasted for two issues of JSA All-Stars from January to February 2011.

Cyclones!

Maxine Hunkel is at when her friend Stargirl calls her, claiming that she missed her and wanted to see how she was doing. The ulterior motive is that Courtney wanted to check on Maxine’s well-being since the latter was recently de-powered in the aftermath of the battle against the Paradoran gods. Cyclone insists that she is fine and that the loss of her superpowers may actually be a blessing in disguise since it has allowed her to focus more upon her academic life at the university and put her concentration into connecting with new potential friends. Unfortunately Maxine is lying to Court, for not only is her school work suffering but she proceeds to eat alone at the campus food court. Stargirl is quick to point out though that Maxine will always have a place on the All-Stars despite the fact that she no longer has powers.

At Harvard’s Biotechnology Laboratory, Maxine struggles with microscopic analysis to try and improve the condition in her biochemical processes that caused her powers to be lost. Her friend Tim, who is a professor at the university, concludes with her contention that protein actin filaments in her body are not aligning properly and hence not allowing for her superpower to once again manifest. He truly wishes to help her but Maxine seems intent on doing this herself. He comes to reveal that he knows she is Cyclone, and it is obviously no surprise from how almost everyone on campus seems to know her alter ego. When Tim attempts to ask her out upon a date, Maxine is quick to back out, still having feelings for Mon Roi, and heads back for her dorm room.

Just as Maxine is ready to accept her fate living a powerless life, she receives a most shocking surprise when another Cyclone appears in her room. She is an almost exact clone in terms of appearance and mannerisms, and Maxine proceeds to contact the All-Stars in the hope that they could give her some answers to this strange situation. Alas only Roxy is in communication to tell her that they left the planet for the Circinus Galaxy dealing with another problem entirely. Maxine and the Cyclone double try and figure out the problem for themselves by trying to find out who is the real one between the two of them. They try first by asking each other questions that only the true Maxine Hunkel would know. Unfortunately this inquisition goes nowhere and they are compelled then to think of a plethora of possibilities for why there are currently two of them present. Some of the possibilities range from multiversal theories to genetic mutations. Alas at this point their queries are bringing more questions than answers.

Tim in the meantime is sulking at the biotech lab that his life’s work is over and that he will no longer receive funding for his research nor gain the tenure track he so desperately wishes to have. His academic work at Harvard is going nowhere, and he is at wit’s end. Seeing that Maxine’s computer was still on, Tim takes a peek to see what her findings conclude thus far and somehow finds a solution. From this he creates a chemical that he sets within an injection vial with the specific intention of injecting himself with this solution. He ends up becoming inundated with Maxine’s wind powers as a result.

Attempting to get to the bottom of this whole mystery, Maxine asks the Cyclone double what her last memory was, to which the latter recollects waking up in a hospital in Turkey with King Chimera watching her, just as she remembers herself. She even remembers battling the Paradoran gods just as Maxine does, but the only problem with this is the clone remembers the event as having just happened whereas in reality the adventure happened well over six weeks ago. The confusion concerning this discrepancy is short-lived when Tim is found flying over an intersection of summoning winds and cyclones in a fashion similar to her powers. And just when Maxine thinks it could not get any more confusing, a third Cyclone appears before them out of nowhere. The two Cyclones with powers attempt to try and bring Tim to a halt so that no more damage was done to the intersection, but he would have none of it, bursting free and heading south out of range. Unable to go after him, Maxine and the two Cyclone doubles head back for the dorm room to sort things out. When they arrive back at the dorm room, however, they are met by nine more Cyclone doubles.

Finally, Maxine contacts Roxy in order to get to the bottom of this madness, and the latter is more than happy to explain once the analysis was clear. Apparently the nanites in Maxine’s blood sensed their demise after the damage she suffered at the hands of the Paradoran gods while she was in her sojourn at the hospital in and took on a response of rapid evolution. They soon spread from her body, seeking new hosts to multiply and colonize in. Maxine recalled having sneezed upon a nurse in the Turkish hospital and Roxy explains that that nurse was one of the first hosts for the nanites, from which she underwent a complete mutation to become Cyclone. From the nurse, the nanites spread to ten other bodies, choosing human hosts based solely on similarity to Maxine’s height and weight, and copied her DNA and brain processes while infusing them into their new hosts. This would account for why the Cyclone doubles all have the same memories and recollections that Maxine does and believe them to be the real Maxine. Strangely enough, the only thing that differed in the selected human hosts was bone structure. Roxy has bad news to announce though, reasoning that this strange occurrence cannot be mended without the original nanites, who were destroyed in the replication process. However, one Cyclone double points out that Tim is the one in possession of them with his newly gained powers.

Maxine and the Cyclone doubles catch up to Tim, who is near the center of an Atlantic-based hurricane blowing over . He is unwilling to part with his newfound gift, thinking he finally has the answers to Earth’s atmosphere and the weather itself. His work has purpose again, and he will have no part of Maxine taking his success from him. Working out a plan together, the Cyclone doubles throw their powerless friend into Tim’s arms in midst of them creating an icosahedron wind blast that compels the nanites to escape his biochemistry and return back to Maxine. Maxine has her powers once more and carries the now powerless Tim in her arms, flying with her copied doubles back to Harvard and then to the All-Stars headquarters. While at the headquarters, Roxy communicates to the nanites to reverse the cloning process, by which the eleven Cyclone doubles revert back to their default physiques, leading to mass confusion among them about how they ended up at that location.

Winds of War!

Courtney arrives at the All-Stars headquarters in upstate to find the others speaking with an alien visitor, beseeching them to help defend his home world against a menace known as the Jek D’Gronn and their impending invasion of his home planet X-Anathraxis. Tommy Bronson and Nathan Heywood seem willing to go while Karen Starr and Rick Tyler seem hesitant to trust this X-Anathraxian’s word. Not willing to stand about while the All-Stars deliberate, the alien visitor transports them to his planet immediately to bring them in the middle of a Jek D’Gronn invasion.

On X-Anathraxis, the All-Stars put up a stiff resistance against Jek D’Gronn attacks, but even seasoned ones like Albert Rothstein doubt they could hold off the attacks for long in waiting for the Qorathi fleet to finally arrive and relieve the beleaguered planet. But help does arrive when the fleet eventually comes, though it is found to be a ruse since the High magus of the Jek D’Gronn kidnapped the princess of Qorath and the fleet is merely acting on their Emperor’s orders to return his beloved daughter. Somehow the All-Stars seem to arrive upon Qorath IV and find themselves stranded looking for water and sustenance in midst of the sandy environment. Stargirl and Anna Fortune are quick to point out that while there is water to be had, there are also terrible sand worms to be dealt with. And these sand worms invariably come to attack the team during this search for water. The All-Stars are in dire straits.

At the core of the X-Anathraxis, the battle rages on between the All-Stars and the Jek D’Gronn. But the Jek D'Gronn invasion eventually comes to a halt when its leaders are captured by Power Girl and the hostilities come to an end. The visitor thanks the All-Stars for their help and is most glad of the victory, though Power Girl is quick to point out that there was a heavy cost due to the fighting. The planet is saved from a most terrible fate and the All-Stars are transported back to Earth. Of course, when they arrive back at the headquarters, each one of them are confused to no end why they have found eleven different redheaded female individuals wearing costume similar to Cyclone’s. After all, they are no longer the "Cy-Clones" and appear to be just confused females who happen to be wearing the same costume arrangements that Maxine does as Cyclone.

Aftermath

Maxine finally has her powers back and has discovered ways of being her true superhero self while being able to balance her daily life and academic work. With some much needed time to spend with King Chimera, the two come to a clearer understanding of their feelings for each other. In addition, Roxy makes a curious discovery to Power Girl regarding Maxine’s bodily make up. Apparently the nanites made a little mistake when changing the cloning status, for Maxine’s bone structure was swiped with one of the other females in the process. Karen wonders if this would endanger Maxine’s health in any way, but Roxy quickly points out that she would not even know the difference lest she chose to count the fillings in her teeth. The story concludes with Roxy’s utter contempt for the bodies of humans.

Collected Editions

• JSA All-Stars: Glory Days