Brave New World: Stargirl

Chapter 20

"Courtney, what is so important that we had to come here so late?" Yolanda asked her when they, along with Pat, Rick and Beth, gathered at the Pit stop later on.

"Well for starters, a member of the ISA showed up at my house." Courtney said.

"Wait, is that why your staff showed up?" Pat asked and Courtney nodded.

"Wait, how would an ISA member even know who you were, let alone where you live? You haven't even put on your suit outside of training?" Rick asked.

"Because that member said his name was Brainwave. Pat, does that mean anything to you?" Courtney asked and Pat nodded.

"Oh yeah. And Court's right, that was definitely a member of the ISA." Pat said.

"Why is he called Brainwave?" Beth asked.

"Because his powers come from his brain. He's a metahuman who can read minds, control minds to a degree and move things with his own mind. He's incredibly dangerous, he killed a lot of members of JSA that night." Pat said.

"Maybe we should get a complete rundown of the ISA so we know who's who if we end up facing any more of them. And by if, I mean when." Courtney said and Pat nodded.

"And we will. But first, Courtney, why don't you tell me what happened when Brainwave attacked?" Pat asked and Courtney nodded as she told him what happened, though she did leave out a few things, like he said, mainly because it was personal and while she may trust Rick and Beth, she wasn't ready for them to know about it yet. Especially since the fight had made her realize that she needed to have a talk with Yolanda.

"Wait, if Brainwave was knocked out like that after you two fought, why wasn't he at the house when we pulled up?" Yolanda asked.

"I can only guess that one of his partners got him out of there. I'm more surprised that there weren't any marks from the fight in the house." Pat said, looking at Courtney.

"I didn't really get the chance for that to happen. Somehow the only thing the staff hit was Brainwave." Courtney said.

"You mean you hit Brainwave?" Beth asked.

"No, trust me, if I were the one who aimed at the staff, there would've been a lot more damage, since I'm still training with it." Courtney said.

"She's not wrong. No offense Court." Pat said.

"None taken, you're right. Though I'm sure dad had the same issues when he first got the staff." Courtney said.

"That is true." Pat said.

"But blast marks weren't the only thing missing from the fight scene. There was also no Brainwave. Think he got away?" Yolanda asked Courtney.

"Not on his own. I've been meaning to tell you about that. Pat, during the fight, my staff hit Brainwave's head and it caused some kind of chain reaction that ended with him passed out on the ground. He wasn't moving, but it looked like he was still alive." Courtney said.

"Did it look like Brainwave was losing control of his powers? Things were floating around?" Pat asked.

"Yeah, you know what happened?" Courtney asked.

"I can guess. It sounds like the collision overloaded Brainwave's brain and knocked him out. There's a good chance he'll be out of commission for a while until he recovers." Pat said.

"Well, at least that will buy us some time, since he knows who I am and he knows who you are Pat." Courtney said.

"We'll figure something out." Pat agreed.