Second Chances: Stargirl - Rough Draft

Chapter 15

Hector was finishing unpacking his stuff into his new room in his family's new house in Blue Valley, since he had to admit, he could see the charms of the small town life. Plus, now he had people his own age he could talk to about all the craziness that had become his life since he found out his parents were superheroes.

Though it didn't help that all of those kids were also superheroes, which was totally unfair in his opinion, since Courtney, Jenni and Rick had all inherited their father's mantles and weapons, so it seemed unfair that he couldn't join the JSA too. But apparently his parents' power wasn't one that could be inherited, which meant that he'd never sprout wings, which sucked, since he wanted powers to be a member of the JSA.

"Hector, are you almost done unpacking? We need to get ready for the housewarming party tonight." Carter said as he entered his son's room.

"Just a few more things to put away." Hector assured his dad.

"Good. But what's that box? I don't remember unloading it from the truck." Carter asked, referring to the box that Hector swore had just shown up out of nowhere on his desk.

"I don't know, it wasn't there a second ago." Hector said as he went to open the box.

"Uh dad, I think my life just got more interesting." Hector said as he saw what was inside.

"Why? What's inside the box?" Carter asked, only to be stunned when Hector pulled a very familiar helmet out of the box.

"Isn't this Dr. Fate's helmet?" Hector asked and Carter nodded.

"Yeah, but I really don't know why all these dangerous weapons are choosing teenagers to take up the mantles of adults." Carter said.

"But this means I get to join the JSA?" Hector asked.

"Hold on, I'll need to talk to your mom about this." Carter said.

"Talk to me about what?" Kendra asked as she entered the room after putting Alda down for a nap in her new nursery, only to stop short when she saw what her son was holding.

"Where did you get that?" Kendra asked.

"It just appeared on my desk. I swear, I didn't steal it." Hector said.

"I believe you and honestly, we should've seen something like this coming, since it sounds like we're rebuilding the JSA, which means a new Dr. Fate. I just wish it weren't you. But then again, I'm sure Barbara and Pat feel the same way about Courtney getting her father's staff. Anyways, we'll talk about this with the whole JSA later on tonight. But for now, let's just enjoy the party." Kendra said, wishing that it would only be her and Carter would be risking their lives against the Injustice Society once again. Not her son and she prayed to any deity who would listen to her plea that her daughter would not have to inherit this burden. This was not the life she wanted for her children. She didn't even want this life for herself and Carter, but unless they could find a way to break their curse, they had no choice about it. But that didn't mean that her children should have to follow this dangerous path as well. None of her previous incarnation's children had taken up the mantles of heroes before. So why now did her current incarnation's children have to?

"Speaking of which, you should put that away for now. Our guests will be arriving soon." Carter said, though, the only people they'd invited were their fellow members of the JSA, current and former, who lived in Blue Valley and their families.

"So the helmet just appeared to Hector?" Pat asked Carter as they and Rex spoke later on that night about Hector finding the helmet.

"Yeah. Now I know how you felt about the staff picking Courtney and the Thunderbolt picking Mike. Honestly Rex, you're the only one of us who made the choice to pass the torch onto your son, how did you do that?" Carter asked Rex as Pat also looked at him, curious about that.

"Not easily. I mean, I told Rick I'd pass the hourglass down to him when he turned 18, not 10. But that was before the JSA massacre and I was hurt in a way that the doctors said I was lucky to be alive. Which meant I couldn't be Hourman anymore. So when the staff came to Courtney, I knew I'd have to start teaching Rick how to use the hourglass properly." Rex said, still wishing that he could be the one fighting the ISA and not his son.

"At least you're both here to watch your children grow up to be heroes." Pat said as he looked over at Courtney and Jenni, who were both talking with MIke, Yolanda, Rick, Beth, Hector and Jenni, who'd moved in with the Tylers after she came to Blue Valley, thinking of how proud their fathers would be to see them now.

"Sylvester and Alan may be gone, but their spirits and legacies live on in their daughters. Just like Ted and Charles's legacies live on in their successors." Carter said.

"Still." Pat said.