Presents.....   "Beautiful Day"
SHOWCASE #1 - January, Year One	by Will Short

(*This story takes place before JLA #1)

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Ivytown, USA - 9:01 PM, New Year's Eve:

I hate New Year's Eve. Really I do. I'd say it was probably the most destructive and pointless holiday...Just a bunch of people drinking, doing things they'll regret, completely ignoring tomorrow.

Actually, not all that stuff is  so bad, if you can do it.

"Beer, please," I say to the balding bar tender as I sit down. His smirk turns into smoky chuckling.

"HAHA...Boy, it may be New Year's, but I'm not gettin' drunk 'till after all my customers are."

"Which means...?"

"Which means," He says after dropping the smile, bringing his hand down harshly on the counter, "That all you're gettin' is a Coke, junior."

"Ju--Listen, pal, I'm twenty-nine years old. Just give me a beer."

"There ain't even hardly a hair on yer face, and I bet yer b--"

"Okay, okay, look..." I reach into my back pocket to fish for my wallet, and continue as I pull it up and shake it. "I've got an ID and everything, okay man? I just...look young for my age."

"Lemme see..." He says, so I take out a driver's license, as well as a few cards, each of which he grabs quickly, then laughs again.

"What?"

"Heh...Okay, 'Mister Palmer'...Or should I call ya 'Ray', since we're both adults? Haha..."

"What's so funny?"

The driver's license hitting me in the face hurts my pride more than anything else.

"That ain't you. Looks like yer dad 'er somthin'. I need real IDs, buddy."

"But that is me, damn it! I told you that I look young for--"

"Hey, there're two things you can do now," He interrupts me, leaning in close. "The first is you takin' a nice cool Coke and sippin' it with the rest of us. Or ya can keep bein' a little snot and spend the rest of yer New Year's face-first in the snow. Yer choice, kiddo. An' yer lucky I ain't booted ya out already, tryin' to use a fake ID on me, but--Ya know. Holidays an all."

"*Sigh*..." I slump back, defeated. "Fine. Coke."

Smiling, he turns away from me. "Good choice, 'Ray'," He says sarcastically, "One Coke coming right up."

I guess he feels a little sorry for me, because he leaves me alone pretty much after he's set down the drink. 

I stare into it, with the music of aged rockers playing in the background of the dull roar made by this little crowd. I looked at them all before...A pretty average bunch. Mainly people my age...My real age.

It's not the sort of thing that happens every day. I really am twenty-nine. But in my specific line of work - We'll get to that later - Things that don't normally happen every day...Well, do. It seems a nut named Extant wanted to erase me by de-aging me into oblivion. Luckily enough, depending on your point of view, another "associate" of mine managed to stop him, but not before I got to this.

A seventeen year-old's body. Maybe if I was a little older, it'd be a dream come true...But so far, it hasn't been really. Take for example: now.

It's New Year's Eve, for God's sake. And I can't drink anything above a soda...

So here I am. Ray Palmer...Also known to many as the shrinking super-hero called the Atom. Right now, I have a failed marriage and a failed super-team, the Titans, so we add this and...

Damn it, it's New Year's Eve. I should be able to enjoy it...Drink, be merry, whatever! And sometimes  I feel so old like this, in this body, with this mind...

"Didn't work, huh, son?" An old man, probably just into his sixties, sitting next to me asks.

"Something like that..."

He laughs lightly to himself. "Well, I'd buy you one myself, if Joe didn't already know you were underage." He smiles warmly at me, and I'm still staring at my drink. I need something...When I don't reply, he continues. "Something got you down? It's New Year's Eve! You need to be having a good time with other kids your age."

'Kids my age'...I need something, I just don't know.....

"You know--At one of those crazy parties? Lots of 'em out there, with plenty of kids."

'Ding.' There goes the light bulb.

".....Waitaminute...That's it!" I cry, jumping up from my stool. As I sprint to the door, I barely hear the bar tender behind me.

"Lotsa crazy kids these days, huh?"

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9:50 PM:

Well, here I've waited for an hour or so. I feel like the dog in '101 Dalmatians', trying to choose one to hop on. I also feel sort of weird...Nervous even? I mean, I am standing on the sidewalk at half an inch, hoping for some group of kids to come by that I can hitch a ride on, spy on...

And what then? Improvise, I guess.

None of them have really looked...'Right' so far. Too dorky to go to a party...Too weird looking.....Too popular looking.....

But there they are. Or there she is, specifically. She's tall and skinny, very thin, with a dark complexion and a pretty face haloed by a thick bush of short brown hair combed out in all directions. She's different, but I guess if you're that beautiful you can't hide it. The other one, who's walking a lot slower and dejectedly, he's shorter and a little rounder than her, wearing the same type of rugged jeans but baggier and a white shirt. His sunglasses are bright yellow, and his hair is a greasy blonde. Him, I don't care about as much, but her, whoever she is...

Heh. I guess I forgot this body comes with seventeen year-old hormones, too.

I run unnoticed out into the middle of the sidewalk, and as they approach their voices get louder. I jump blindly just at the right time and latch onto her pants leg, growing a little and making my way up secretly and taking in her wonderful scent. Her purse looks like a good place, for the moment. Back down to atomic size, and we're in business.

It's dark in here. And it smells like make-up and...Something else I'm really not sure of. Sitting there, I realize what I've just done, and unconsciously begin to listen.

"Man, I love New Year's Eve..."

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10:24 PM:

Here's what I know so far: The girl's name is Andrea, or Andy. She likes raves and music and using the internet. She's pretty easy going and really very smart. The guy is Drew, and he seems like a good kid if a little...Depressed. I know teenagers are supposed to be that way, but he really makes it obvious the way he does things.

Anyway, it seems that I was lucky: They're both heading to not just a party, but a rave somewhere a little closer to downtown. Oh yeah, and apparently, 'DJ Quirk rocks.'

Okay...Okay, I'm a scientist. A physicist. They're just kids. So how am I going to get this and fit in? 

"Dude, I swear, DJ Quirk is mixing tonight--"

"No way! That's false. Not on NYE."

"--Seriously. Never thought he'd even look at Ivytown."

"I still don't."

"Well then you're gonna be pretty surprised and pretty wrong tonight."

"Where'd you hear that, anyway?" 

Analyze, Palmer. Collect and analyze. 

"Look, he just played last night with WWM pretty near on their winter tour, and I could swear I picked him up on the club's site for tonight."

"But you're not sure?"

"I didn't say I wasn't."

"And you didn't say you were."

"That's probably because it was late when I was looking...And I was a little messed up."

"Aha--"

"Shut up, Drew. Even if Quirk's not there, we know we can have a good time, right?" 

It's like a quick earthquake in the bag, and I steady myself on her mirror. She must be shaking it... 

"Yeah...I guess so." The kid sounds a little dejected.

"Alright then, I promise you we'll have a good time. That way it has to happen."

"Fine, fine..." 

We're walking again. Time to get out the pencil and paper, Ray... 

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10:50 PM:

I can hear the music long before we get there. I'm sure they can too, but it's that much louder to me--We're probably still halfway down the block when it starts to hurt my ears enough for me to grow a little more. Not too much...I don't want to make her think she has a rat in her purse. 

Music's getting louder...I can feel the vibrations coursing through me. 

"I love the smell of a rave at night..." Andrea says.

"What smell? All I smell is sweat and smoke."

"Exactly," And it feels like we start going either up or down stairs. I can smell it...And still hear it, louder and louder... 

"Andrea! Drew!" Says a third raspy voice. "Tonight's a big night, my friends."

"What's up, Ty? What's the deal?"

"The Quirk is here, man...DJ freakin' QUIRK."

"See?" Andrea says.

"Then let's get the Hell inside!" Drew's voice raises, and when we start moving again, there's a sudden burst of sound and fury. 

"Hell yeah!" 

I don't know who said it, but it's barely audible over the pounding electronic music coming out of the speakers. Sticking my head out just a little, I finally see the place. Kids everywhere, on steps, on tables, on the dance floor: anywhere they can dance. A stray light flashes over me for just a second and keeps going with all the others. 

"There he is," Andrea says, pointing. On the huge stage, with the most chaotic lights, is a man in a hockey mask, rapidly twisting a varied set of turntables.

"God amongst men..." Says the third person...Ty, I think. Again we're moving. Maybe it's about time I got out of here... 

Pretty soon I feel a shaking through the dark of the purse. One quick shrink down to near-atomic size and I crawl out unnoticed, hitching a ride on Ty's forest of arm hairs. 

"I don't wanna alarm anyone...But I'm gonna need to drop a load here before we get started," He says. Perfect.

"Niiiice, Ty," Andrea says, looking in her purse. "Hurry up--I don't know how long we'll wait."

"Can't rush progress..." 

On the way to the bathroom, I have to shield my ears from the music. It just sounds like one beat over and over with a lot of weird noises to me. 

With the opening of the door, the smell released nearly knocks me out. Worse than any I've smelled at any lab...Better get to normal size pretty quick. Hopping off of Ty's arm before he can unzip, I switch my ride to stray dust particles until I'm close enough to one of the stalls. At its bottom, I can see the microbes building something close to their own political system. Something I've grown used to. 

I hesitate. After this, what am I going to do? Go act like I'm one of Andrea and them's friends? Or tell them I've been spying on them for the past hour? People I can handle, but these...They're people. They're more than people, they're popular, and I'm just..... 

Ah. I'm seventeen again. 

Quickly I begin my ascent, and as the world warps and shrinks around me, I see the stall door closing behind a body with its back to me... 

Ty turns around and steps back, startled. "Dude--!" There I stand, helping him crowd the tiny stall. He eases. "Oh...S-Sorry man. Didn't know someone was in here..." He scratches his head as he leaves the stall. 

I reach into my back pocket for a wrinkled notepad, and with the pencil from my pocket, I underline the words "man" and "dude", the only two written on the paper. 

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11:13 PM:

Out of the bathroom, I look around, and the place is suddenly much friendlier. The music is still loud, but hardly deafening, and the lights make it all seem...Sort of like a sci-fi movie. I spot Ty near by, talking to someone I don't recognize. Without realizing it, I start moving in his direction, butterflies in my stomach. 

"H-Hey--Er, dude," I say, tapping him on his shoulder. He turns around with a strange look.

"...Huh? What do ya want?" He sounds kind of annoyed. Maybe I should just...No.

"Well, uh--I was just sort of new...To the area, I mean, not to raves--And I was kind of wondering if you could show me around a little?" Lying through my almost chattering teeth. He backs up some again, his hands raised.

"Wh--Hey, listen man! I know what happened back there looked pretty bad but it seriously was an accident! I'm not really that way..."

"I.....Just wanted someone to show me around, that's all."  

"You're sure?"

"Yeah...I-I guess I am."

"Okay man, fair enough--It's the least I can do since I busted in on ya like that. C'mon," He says, motioning me to follow. We walk, and I know where we're headed...Who we're headed towards. 

She's already dancing. 

"Andrea.....An--Andrea. Andy!" Ty calls to her, finally breaking the trance she seems to be in. She smiles her beautiful little smile, and dances her way over our direction. Looking at her, I see her big eyes, and notice the glaze that seems to have overtaken them...

"Hmm, who's your friend?" She asks in a voice I almost don't recognize.

"This is...What was your name?"

"...Ray. My name's Ray."

"Yeah, Ray...I'm doin' him a favor, showin' him around and everything. I figured if I'm gonna show him the sights, I better show him the best around, huh?" He says, starting to dance for a second with her. She smiles, and looks back at me with a hypnotizing effect, but doesn't speak.

"Andy, you listening to me? A--Hell, you guys started in early, didn't you?"

"Mmmmmmmaybe," She coos, twirling.

"You guys better have some for me, else Drew is gonna feel the wraith...Listen Ray, you--" 

"Come on," Andrea interrupts. She becomes more still and sizes me up, then stares me right in the eyes. "Come dance with me. Ray."

"A-Alright..." I agree, and before I join in, Ty leans over to me.

"She's a man-eater, bro. Be careful," He says quietly, then goes off to the table where Drew is sitting very still. But that's not where I want to be looking...Not right now. 

In that short amount of time, she's almost danced away from me, and I hurry to catch up. God, this feels so stupid at first. I haven't danced in...Hell, I probably have never danced except with Jean. I'm sure I look like a fish out of water here. 

Not like Andrea. She's...Natural. Most of other kids around, when they dance it looks forced, but not her. She flows with the music, and plays around that constant beat, and the whole time she looks as graceful as a ballerina. The opposite of me. 

But being there, close and still far away from her and smelling her over all the crap in the air, I start to feel it. The music pervades my body and overrides my mind, and I'm staring at her, and matching her moves, and...She just touched my arm, and.....I close my eyes and just move, and... 

Round and round and round... 

And when I open them again, I'm dancing by myself. The shock jolts me into reality again, and for a second I look around worriedly, like it had never happened. Quickly I spot her lithe body gyrating without end nearby, oblivious to the me and probably to anything else around her besides the music. 

I thought she wanted to dance with me...And now I'm alone. I'm stupid. 

Walking away again, I hear someone calling my name. "Hey, Ralph---I mean Ray!" He yells. I spin and see him and Drew, whose head is down on the table. He's waving for me to come over, and reluctantly, I comply. 

"Siddown, my good man," Ty says, seeming a little more active than before and patting the seat. As I sit, I try not to disturb Drew.

"What's...Up with him?" I point.

"Eh, Drew--He's never real good with any of his stuff, you know. He's more into the downers."

Looking at his still head, I ask, "What do you mean...'Downers'?"

"You know...Depressants. Plenty of the green stuff for our man D here, huh?" He slaps Drew's limp body on the back, and it responds with a grunt and jump. "There he is."

"Green stuff..." I let it roll of the tip  of my tongue. "You mean mari--Er...Pot?"

"Weed, a few 'shrooms or whatever...Not really the most uppity stuff, but it gets 'im goin'!" He takes a little piece of rolled foil and starts unraveling it. This is all changing very quickly...I heard about some of these rave things before, but I didn't know it would be so out in the open...

Inside are little circular tablets. I've seen them on the news shows before.

Ecstasy. Designer drug. Nasty stuff.

"Now this--" He says with a lusty grin, "This, I like. X. It's so beautiful. Happy New Year's, kiddies!" He pops three into his mouth, simple as candy, and swallows with a single gulp. Sighing in satisfaction, he sits back with closed eyes before jumping back up. "Ha! Dude, I'm sorry...What kinda guy am I? You're new, no hook-ups...Here you go, buddy," Ty offers an open  handful of remaining tablets to me.

"No!--I mean...No. No thanks." Suddenly these kids, these cool, nice kids...They're not the same people. And I'm not this person either. I'm Ray Palmer, the Atom, and I'm twenty-nine years old.

Ty's disheartened face doesn't keep me seated. "I--Listen, I've gotta go."

"Dude, Ray, what're you talking about?"

I start walking clumsily. "This was a mistake..." I mumble.

"What? You asked me to show you around, dude, not--"

I far enough away not to hear him, and I don't really care what he's saying. Why the Hell am I so offended, anyway? It's not like I was an honest friend, just a peeping tom taking it way too far, trying to be a kid again--

"LINER! FLATLINER! GET BACK -- FLATLINER!"

I can't ignore that type of yell. Here we go...

I turn around and there's a circled crowd of people slowly backing away. Some are pointing, and when I get closer, I see a look of jaded experience on some of their faces. Suddenly the music's stopped, leaving a painfully noticeable gap in the atmosphere. The crowd is too damn thick...No one's moving.

Then I see her, passed out and bleeding slightly out of the nose on the ground, the only soul near her a complete stranger with an oxygen machine.

"Andy..." Ty says softly right by me, with a groggy looking Drew in tow. No one is doing a thing...This is stupid.

"Excuse me..." I force my way through to the middle, "Coming through..."

"Hey dude," The guy yelling says, putting his hand on my chest, "Didn't you hear? Freakin' flatliner, okay? Back of--"

"Shut up. This isn't helping at all, just sitting there and doing nothing. If you want to help, and you don't want blood on your hands, then get out of my way and do what I tell you to."

"--And who the Hell are you?"

I rip off my jacket and shirt, and my costume and belt are revealed. "I'm the only person who can do anything to save her. You," I say, pointing to Ty, "Get her something to drink...Something non-alcoholic, with ice, and a cold wet rag if you can. Does anyone here know CPR?" Dumbfounded, none of them answer. "*Sigh*...Then do whatever you can to keep her breathing. That oxygen machine won't do it, though. Just, if she stops breathing completely, start pumping her chest and breathing into her mouth...I don't have time to train here, so just do it comfortably. What do you have that thing around for, anyway?"

The guy with the machine answers. "This...Sorta thing happens a lot. We keep it around just in case...

"I'm sure it's never helped. Here, give it to me...I'll need it. And somebody call an ambulance--I'm going in."

"Going in...?"

I'm already shrinking down with the machine over my mouth, jumping between her cells and inside the girl called Andrea. Time to go to work.

It's a place I've really been in a lot,  at least as much as most surgeons--The human body, I mean. I know my way around, and from what I understand with X, it's a toxin, like a poison, that spreads through your body and eventually kills you. The source might still be in her intestines...

Her temperature's rising. Must be at least 103 right now, maybe more. They better be using those rags...God, it's hot in here.

In the feet long rope of her digestive track, I luckily find a little bit of the pill still being digested. I have to be careful with my belt's ray...And...There. Now it's no bigger than an electron. But I can still smell the toxin in her body, even with the machine on. Back into the bloodstream.

Near the surface of her skin, the sound from outside transmitting through solid and liquid. Most of all, I hear a single television in the background, and I almost scoff at it.

It's one minute to midnight. One minute until 2001. Work, Palmer...Focus.

I find the first main patch in five seconds near her shoulder, and with my other little belt gizmo, the mini-laser, I manage to evaporate it. Over by the spine, I have to be careful with my shot, but again, it's no trouble. Over and over again, I find the poison, no trouble, no time. It's like there's something else working with  me on this...

Forty seconds 'till midnight, and there's one more by her pancreas. It takes some swimming, but I get there within ten seconds, and the taint is gone, or at least enough that she won't get hurt anymore. I wipe my forehead of sweat that would be there if I wasn't inside a human body.

Through the skin, back to normal size, and even a little wet, I'm fine. It's Andrea I want to know about.

I kneel down beside her, hearing the countdown in the background beginning, and the rest of the people around are surprisingly quiet. I hold her upper body up in my arms, taking in whiffs of her, feeling and waiting.

10...

Her eyes open, and flutter.

9...

She strains weakly to speak. I smile.

8...

"R...Ray...?"

7...

"Yeah, Andy, it's me."

6...

She observes the scene around her. "You...Saved me? My hero...Ni...Nice costume. Y-You're the...Atom?" She grins meekly.

5...

"You actually know who the Atom is?"

4...

She laughs a light laugh, taken then by coughing. "Yeah...With--With the Teen Titans..."

3...

No more Titans.

2...

"I always thought you'd be cute...Under th-that mask..."

1...

...Pulling me closer...Lips together...

Happy New Year.

"Happy New Year!" Resounds around me.

I love the New Year's.

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10:33 AM - New Year's Day:

I wake up in bed on New Year's Day feeling fresh as a daisy.

No hang over. No regrets. It's  not three in the afternoon, and I'm not still tired. I feel great, actually...And now I get New Year's. It's not about forgetting the past, or the present...It's about welcoming the future, and hoping for a second chance.

I gave Andrea a second chance. And I've been given one, too. We're lucky, especially Andy, because not everyone gets those these days. I think I'm going to tell her that when I visit the hospital today. And you know what? She'll probably listen, too. I mean...I am her age.

But there are other things to do with second chances. Helping myself and Andy is just the bottom of it. I hear the JLA are having one of their famous membership drives...And they're no Titans, believe me...

I sit up and bask in the light of the sun seeping through my window, refreshing myself in its love and offering. It feels new, today. 

It's a beautiful day.....

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"The little things that matter the most..."

End

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TROPHY CASE

Ray Palmer, the Atom featured here, was originally introduced in the classic Silver Age run of "Showcase", issue #34 in 1961 specifically, beginning his long career as an original and great hero. As JLU's first issue of "Showcase 2001", we have one of the titles many characters start it off, and in a way, it's the first appearance of what is hopefully a new type of Atom. He is accepting and understanding his new situation, and he is being integrated into modern society. As a side note, Ecstasy is by no means a "safe drug", just as none of them truly are. I hope I have somehow imparted that on you a little more. Thanks for joining us at "Showcase 2001"...Will Short, signing off.

-Will Short

11:37 PM

March 5, 2001