“Mind if I ask you a question?”

Tempus Fugitive had returned to the end of the universe. Once more he stood before the Eternal One.

“You may,” the Eternal One said as he stared off into space.

“When do I become you?”

“We have always been the same being, Ernie.”

“Yeah, technically, but look at us. We don't even look alike. I'm just a normal Joe and you're...” Tempus Fugitive took in the sight of the Eternal One; inhumanly tall and androgynous with frighteningly large eyes that never blinked. “... different.”

“You are overly concerned with the superficial.”

“Okay, but it ain't all just about the way we look. For instance, what are you doing right now?”

 Amy Winter stood atop a landscape retaining wall at the Battery Park refugee center and scanned the crowd. She clutched a doll which, upon inspection, proved to be alive. Living Doll had spent the first couple of hours at full size holding Amy while they searched the crowd, but the little girl insisted that she should hold the shrinking superhero like an actual doll. Living Doll even allowed Amy to brush her hair, a mistake she would not make twice.

“I don't think mommy's here,” Amy said.

Living Doll hugged the little girl as best she could with her tiny arms. “There's a lot of people here, Amy. It might take a long time for us to find her.”

"Really?  That's the best you have?  Compelling?"  Ludmella rolled her baby blue eyes before placing her head down between her knees. Her short blond hair flopping upside down in defeat.

"Yup. He said compelling, and that word isn't said enough." The pretty brunette ran her tongue lightly over her lips before she dove back in.  "Com...pellll....ling.  Can't you feel the pull of it?  And greatness, don't forget greatness!"  Salandra said with an impish grin.  She had started out the dialog with no other intention than getting her long time friend good and agitated, but the more she chewed on the idea the more it sounded like a good one.

Doug dropped the paper on the table and wiped his mouth with the cloth napkin. He took a sip of his water and sighed, pushing his plate away. Breakfast was by far the best meal of the day. Today he’d gone for something simple; chicken fried steak, two eggs over easy, crispy hash browns and an English muffin. Strawberry jam, of course. Water and juice to wash it down and, now that he was finished, a cup of coffee.

He waved at the server, a pretty young thing with coppery-red hair and a tattoo just visible on her décolletage. She looked over and, when he pointed to the empty coffee cup, smiled and nodded.

Jacob was sitting in the break room, apparently lost in thought. His eyes, half closed, faced the wall. His hands were placed on the table. His fingers moved slightly,like a typist finding home row without looking at the keyboard.

Vanessa looked up from her magazine to watch Jacob. What a slacker that kid was!

"I heard you went to MIT," she said.

"I did," he said, and stifled a sigh. He could guess where this was going. Vanessa was an empty nester who worked at Whole Foods more out of boredom than anything else. Jacob could understand that much. But her tendency to mother the younger crew members was annoying.

"So...what are you doing here?" she asked. "I bet you could be doing great things, if you just applied yourself."

"Damn." Jackie uttered, checking how much time was left downloading her new game and seeing she still had an hour to go. It never failed, her internet connection would always go down when she needed it the most and true to form it had gone down when the game had been released at midnight. It had still been down when she had had to leave for work. Now it was so slow it seemed no better than dial up. She knew the reason, the cable connection provided by the apartment complex couldn't handle the number of people trying to surf the net at the same time and it seemed like that was the first thing everyone did when they got home in the evening. It would get better later as people went to bed but she had been waiting for the latest Dragonquest game for months.

 Crimson Gladiator found Danger Man at the third place he thought to look, Danger Man’s ex-wife’s house. More correctly he found him standing at the edge of the crack in the Earth where the house used to be.

“Mel?” Crimson Gladiator said.

Danger Man turned and recognized Crimson Gladiator. Any surprise he felt remained hidden under layers of guilt and despair.

“Hey, GC.”

“I’m here to take you into custody.”

“I figured as much.” Danger Man turned his attention back to the crevice.

The Human Head floated past Crimson Gladiator and Danger Man, and hovered over the crevice as he tried to see to the bottom.

“I take it your wife’s residence was here.”

“Yeah.”

Excerpt from Iron Maiden's WordPress blog:

I suppose you've all seen the video by now. It was all over the local news and I don't doubt that it's on You Tube by now.

Okay, this is a writing assignment for all potential Justice Patrol contributors, and if you're reading this you're a potential contributor.

I would like for one of you to write a story about the woman in the image. I have no idea who she is in the Justice Patrol universe. That's up to you. The art came from a comic book about Julie Newmar, but don't let that pollute your muse. If you wish to participate, just send me a personal message, give me an overview of your idea, and I'll let everyone know that you have dibs on the character.

Here's hoping the day brings you good times with good friends. Hugs to you, bruv...