Flashpoint: Crisis On Earth 23

Part 2 - Meanwhile In Detroit

There's a knock on the door. It's Amaya. Her eyes are wet with tears as she asks, "Jax, do you have it?" Of course I have it. It's the only reason I've been able to continue as the Nuclear Man, which is ironic as my flame is no longer powered by the firestorm matrix but by Zambesi magic. Here she is, Amaya Jiwya, telling me that her granddaughter, this generation's Vixen, is no more. The legends seem to be unreachable, so I am her last hope.

I owe who I currently am to Amaya during our time spent together when we were both legends. The Legion of Doom (Thawne, Dahrk, and Merlyn) traveled to the island Lian Lu to free Slade Wilson. Grodd took over Dahrk's mind to gain his freedom and to create his own Earth-1 Gorilla city in Africa. This drew the attention of the Legends as it created a time quake so powerful  that would make the Planet of the Apes a reality. In response to this, the Legends went to investigate.

During the initial confrontation, Thawne murderes Stein before he and I can form Firestorm. I'm devastated because Stein (and therefore a part of me) had been instantly and permanently severed.

Amaya takes me to her village in Zambesi, hoping the connection to our common motherland will begin to help fill the void left by Stein's demise. While on our way, I confessed to Amaya that I was going to miss being Firestorm. Amaya told me that Stien's demise wouldn't spell my own.

When we arrive at the village, we go to the  Elder who, upon meeting me, immediately says that there is a fire in me, to which I reply, "Not anymore".

The Elder told me about the amulet that gives Amaya her powers, revealed that there are four more totems and that the ancestors told him that a young man would one day show up with the owner of the spirit totem and he was to help that young man transition into something called "the Fire Elemental". The Elder had been waiting to give me the Fire totem.

Just as I hang the fire totem around my neck to embrace my new role as the Fire Elemental, Amaya received a distress call from the Waverider. Rushing back and saving the team, we celebrate with a kiss. I've never forgotten how soft her lips are.

I invite Amaya inside my house, and we sit at the kitchen table as she shares the details. Mari is dead, apparently killed by Deathstroke and the Wintergreen Gang - a scourge we've been fighting for months. The news hit me like a ton of bricks. It's as if someone has taken the breath from my body. Mari, Kuasa and I have grown close over the last 5 years fighting side by side in an effort to clean the stench of organized crime from the streets of Detroit and for The Vixen to be unceremoniously disposed of over night is a blow from which I can hardly see recovery.