The Brave and the Bold: Green Arrow and Aquaman

You Can’t Go Home Again

by HarveyKent

Chapter 1

“We’re over the coordinates you gave me, GA,” the young pilot called to his passenger. “Say, there is an island down there, after all!”

“I told you, Sparky,” Green Arrow said, checking the straps on his parachute. “Just tell me when to jump.”

“You’ll radio me when you’re ready to be picked up, right?” Sparky asked.

“Sure will. And thanks again for the lift, Sparky. I wish you’d let me pay you.”

The pilot shook his head. “You captured those thugs that were trying to strong-arm me for protection money, remember? As far as I’m concerned, you’ve paid. OK, get ready to jump… now!”

As the parachute billowed out behind him and Green Arrow drifted slowly to the star-shaped island, he mused thoughtfully on the events that brought him there.

Starfish Island, the ace archer thought to himself. Where it all began. Where Green Arrow was born. Man, it feels like a hundred years ago! It’ll be good to walk that familiar soil again. Might help me get some of my perspective back. After that courtroom fiasco with the Lightning Bug and his lawyer, I need it! With slime like that working their tails off to put the bad guys back on the streets, I wonder just how much good guys like me actually accomplish. Ahh, nuts! I think like this about once every couple of years. All I need is some time away, to rethink things.

Once on the island, Green Arrow packed his chute and began walking, exploring the deserted chunk of ground that had been his home for over a year.

He was understandably unprepared for a sight that greeted his eyes as he reached the top of a wooded hill.

“Blazes!” the archer gasped. “Who put that there?”

Green Arrow dropped to the ground and watched the spectacle below. At the base of the wooded hill was a clearing, and in this clearing now stood a building. A cube-shaped structure of stone, painted in shades of green and brown to blend in with the island foliage and thus be invisible from the air. The emerald archer watched as men in gray coveralls entered and exited the building, some pushing hand trucks stacked with boxes or cylinders. Green Arrow’s falcon-like eyes spotted a length of pipe extending from the building down into the soft ground. He followed the line of the pipe’s direction, and quickly came to the sea. He saw the water slightly discolored in the area where the pipe must emerge.

“Damn! Even here?” Green Arrow grumbled to himself. They’ve gotta spoil everything with their so-called progress and their mechanization! Wonder why it’s so secret, though? I’m sure I would’ve remembered hearing something about this, if it had gotten any news coverage. And they’ve obviously gone to a lot of trouble to keep it hidden. Methinks Mrs. Queen’s favorite son had better check things out more closely!

***

Green Arrow waited until nightfall. When all was dark, he left his vantage point atop the hill and crept slowly, quietly, toward the building. The year spent on this island had not only made him the world’s greatest archer, but an excellent hunter and tracker as well. He moved as silently as a shadow, and soon was within a few feet of the building.

No guards, no fence, Green Arrow thought to himself. Someone’s pretty over-confident of their unknown status. Still, I’d better keep alert for more subtle security measures.

Just then, as Green Arrow scanned the blank stone wall of the building, something seized him around the neck. Something with a grip like iron, that squeezed his windpipe with just enough pressure to keep him from crying out.

Green Arrow reacted swiftly to the surprise attack. With a perfectly-executed judo throw, he hurled his assailant over his head. The man landed on the ground several yards in front of the archer. Green Arrow had a stunner-arrow notched in his bow and aimed at the man before he noticed that it was…

“Aquaman?” Green Arrow said, lowering his bow. “Blast it, what’s the idea of putting the strong-arm on me?”

“Green Arrow?” Aquaman asked, surprised. “I’m sorry! I didn’t realize it was you. I noticed you trying to sneak into this building, but I didn’t know who you were.”

“I thought you could see at the bottom of the ocean,” Green Arrow said, extending a hand to help his longtime friend to his feet. “This should be like bright daytime to you.”

Aquaman smiled at that as he accepted the hand. “Guess my mind was on other things. I’m trying to investigate this factory here.”

“What the heck is it?” Green Arrow asked, looking at the cube-shaped structure.

“That’s what I’m trying to find out,” Aquaman said. “Fish in the area have been dying, because of waste chemicals dumped in the water. I did some checking, and no public or private industry or military organization is registered as having a facility here. That means this is something clandestine, probably outlawed. But what brings you here?”

“Remember when I told you my origin? How I was stranded on an island for a year, taught myself archery to survive?”

Aquaman’s eyes grew wide with understanding. “You mean, this is that island? I had no idea!”

“Yeah, looks like Tom Wolfe was right, doesn’t it? Well, let’s see what we can find out by snooping.”

***

“Say, Ollie,” Aquaman whispered as the two longtime comrades crept around the side of the building. “I’m worried that our scuffle may have betrayed our presence here. Do you think that’s possible?”

Suddenly, bright lights flashed on, illuminating the spot where the two JLA champions stood. A dozen men with rifles ran into view from around the corner of the building, calling for them to surrender.

“It’s possible,” Green Arrow quipped, as he brought his bow around. In one fluid motion he drew an arrow, notched it to the bow-string, drew, and fired. Straight and true, the arrow flew to its target. In a sound of shattering glass and a sizzle of electric sparks, the bright light went out.

Aquaman waded into the armed guards like a tidal wave, fists pumping furiously. The sudden darkness and the swiftness of their foe caught the guards unprepared; like tenpins they went down. One of them managed to aim his rifle at Aquaman’s back; Green Arrow quickly dispatched this threat with an electrified arrow to the rifle barrel. In moments, all the guards lay on the ground, unconscious.

“Is it me, Ollie,” Aquaman asked, “or are they not making thugs like they used to?”

“Dinah and I were discussing this not long ago,” Green Arrow said. “I think we’re weeding out the weak ones. Like Darwinism; we’re improving the strain, or something.”

“Well, someone’s still hiring the weak ones,” Aquaman commented. “Let’s go find out who.”

Chapter 2

Before the two heroes could go much further, a shimmering curtain of yellow light enveloped them. The energy paralyzed their muscles, rendering them immobile. Then the energy changed, to a slightly acidic tingle that the Justice Leaguers recognized as very similar to the teleportation device utilized by their satellite headquarters. In a twinkling, they disappeared.

When they rematerialized, each hero was inside a transparent cylinder just barely wide enough to contain him. The material seemed like glass, but was actually a kind of plastic that resisted even Aquaman’s great strength. The heroes looked around, and found that they were in the center of a fully-automated manufacturing facility of some kind. Neither could tell what was being manufactured, but Aquaman noticed a catch basin into which waste chemicals were constantly dumped. He saw the huge gray pipe feeding those chemicals into his beloved sea.

A frail-looking man in magenta coveralls turned to the heroes, and grinned maliciously at Green Arrow.

“Well, well, the Emerald Archer himself,” the little man snickered. “We meet again, after so long.”

Green Arrow squinted at the man. “Have we met before, skin-’n-bones? Can’t say I remember you.”

The man visibly started at that, offended. But he quickly recovered himself. “Oh, but I remember you, Green Arrow. I spent ten years in a dingy, dim cell, remembering you. And now fate has brought you into my hands. I intend to pay you back, Green Arrow, for every lonely hour I spent in that cell because of you!”

Green Arrow stared at the little man for a long moment. Then realization slowly dawned on his face.

“Suuuuure!” he said. “Now I place you. Horace Kates, AKA the Wizard! Been a long time, shorty!”

“The Wizard?” Aquaman echoed. “Why does that name sound familiar?”

“Aquaman, you remember about ten years ago, when two of our enemies tried to outwit us by exchanging locales? You chased a pirate named ‘Shark’ Norton onto land, while I dealt with this Luthor wannabe at sea!”

“And now at last, the time has come for my revenge!” Kates raved. “I have spent the last year on this island, perfecting my new super-weapon. Just a few more adjustments, and it will finally be ready for testing. Once it is complete, I will sell it to the highest bidder and retire a wealthy man!”

“Uh huh,” Green Arrow said, with the air of one who had been there and done that. “And I suppose you’ll be testing it on me, huh?”

“Oh no,” Kates corrected. “This weapon is far too powerful for that. To use it on just one man would be like swatting a fly with a Buick. I had intended for you to die under its power, but this will be much better. You get to watch as the weapon destroys its first target: Star City!”

Green Arrow hammered against the unbreakable plastic prison. “You’d destroy a whole city of innocent people? My God, Kates — why?”

“Isn’t it obvious?” Kates grinned. “I really hate your guts, you know.”

Just then, Kates heard a strangled cry for help. He spun on his heel, and saw two of his henchmen fighting off tentacles that were wrapped around them. The tentacles were rising from the catch basin of the factory’s waste chemicals. The henchmen had been standing near the basin, and now were caught by…

“An octopus?” Green Arrow gasped. “Um, one question, ‘Ocks’… how?”

“I figured I might need an ace in the hole,” Aquaman said. “Before I set foot on the island, I coated my octopus friend Topo with liquid rubber, like I once did when we fought the Electric Man. It protected him from the chemicals while he swam up the dump pipe and into the factory.”

Kates drew a fantastic-looking pistol and fired an energy-beam at the waving tentacles. Topo countered by tossing a henchman like a rag doll, directly into Kates.

“Buys us the time we need,” Green Arrow said, drawing an arrow from his quiver. “This acetylene arrow will burn through this plastic, but it’ll take time. Couldn’t do it with Kates watching us, but Topo makes a class-A distraction!”

Kates struggled to get past the flailing bodies of his henchmen. “Enough, fools! Let me blast that octopus to kingdom come with this proton pistol!”

“Uh-oh,” Green Arrow said. “Call him off, ‘Ocks’! I don’t want Kates hurting your octopus pal! I’m almost through this oversized test-tube!”

At Aquaman’s silent command, Topo retreated back down the drainage pipe. Kates fired a brilliant enegry-beam into the water after him, then watched him escape.

“Bah, the octopus has given up!” Kates announced. “All right, you men, get the weapon ready for test — AAHH!”

Kates turned to see Green Arrow wading into his henchmen, fists flying. He looked to the tubes and saw a huge hole cut through one of them. Aquaman was still in his prison, obviously anxious to get into the fight.

The villain snarled as he leveled his proton pistol at Green Arrow.

“Boss!” one of his henchmen called. “Don’t fire! It’s too close; you’ll hit one of us!”

“Consider that an occupational hazard,” Kates growled, and slowly pulled the trigger.

“Not so fast, Kates!” a commanding voice barked out. A green-gloved hand shot out and shoved Kates’ pistol aside, even as the energy-beam lanced out.

” ‘Ocks’!” Green Arrow gasped. “How’d you get out of the tube?”

“When you got out, you dropped your acetylene arrow,” Aquaman explained. “It landed near mine, and burned a small hole in it. Small, but large enough for me to get my fingers into and use my sea-born strength.”

“You fool!” Kates howled. “You made me shoot the computer banks!”

“Is that bad?” Green Arrow asked.

“Bad?” Kates screeched. “It’s started a chain reaction! This island is going to go up like a firecracker in less than ten minutes!”

Green Arrow and Aquaman looked at each other.

“Eight?” Green Arrow asked.

“Seven,” Aquaman declared.

Seven minutes later, Aquaman and Green Arrow were riding away from the island on the back of a whale. Kates and his henchmen, securely bound with arrow-lines, were sulking farther back down the whale’s back.

“Told you,” Aquaman said. “Seven.”

“Lucky,” Green Arrow grumbled.

A few minutes later, Green Arrow stood solemnly and watched Starfish Island explode in a great incendiary display.

“Starfish Island,” Green Arrow sighed. “The birthplace of Green Arrow. Ah well, easy come, easy go.”

“Say, GA,” Aquaman asked, putting a friendly hand on Green Arrow’s shoulder. “What were you doing on the island, anyway? Reminiscing?”

“More of a retreat,” Green Arrow explained. “You know how depressing the super-hero biz can get. We put slime like Lex Luthor, the Joker, and Black Manta in stir; in six months’ time they’ve either escaped, or been freed on a technicality. Every now and then I’ve got to remind myself why we bother.”

“And do you remember now?” Aquaman asked kindly.

“Sure,” Green Arrow smiled. “For the six months.”