Free Countdown by Unknown Author Page A

his head. It took him a second to focus his blurry eyes.
    And right about then, he thought to himself, Maybe I should’ve told Superman I was coming here, just in case.
    The Sphinxes weren’t done with him yet. Led by the snarling hood who had laid Jimmy flat, they converged on the fallen reporter with clenched fists and bellicose expressions. Jimmy scooted backward, only to bump into the overturned trash can. Outnumbered three to one, he suddenly wished that he had left well enough alone.
    “O-okay guys,” he stammered, trying in vain to talk his way out of a severe beatdown. “Sorry for the misunderstanding. Have a good time at the game. Popcorn’s on me.” He smiled weakly up at the sneering hoodlums. “Uh ... go Yankees?”
    “Go nothing, fool.” The gang leader grabbed Jimmy’s throat with murder in his eyes. His fingers tightened on the reporter’s windpipe. “Nobody messes with me and keeps suckin’ oxygen!”
    Oh my God, Jimmy realized in horror. This guy’s playing for keeps!
    A tingling sensation rushed over his body. Before he knew it, needle-sharp spines poked up from his skin like the quills of a porcupine. The spines shot from his face and palms, spearing his attacker, who recoiled in pain and surprise. “Yaaaahh!” the hood shrieked as the barbs punctured his skin. Looking like he had just run face-first into a cactus, he scrambled backward into the arms of his fellow Sphinxes, who appeared equally frightened by Jimmy’s bizarre transformation. Their startled eyes bulged from their sockets.
    “Let’s bounce!” a spooked hooligan exclaimed. Assisting their limping comrade, the gang members beat a hasty retreat. They booked down the sidewalk as fast their drooping trousers permitted. “Dude’s a freakl”
    Jimmy barely noticed their departure. He was too busy staring in shock at the quills projecting from his hands. For a second, he feared that he had permanently turned into some sort of human porcupine, then breathed a sigh of relief as the pointy spines retracted back into his flesh. Within seconds, they had vanished entirely. Only a scattering of fallen quills upon the pavement proved that he hadn’t imagined the whole thing.
    I don't understand, Jimmy thought. Why’d they come out when that guy tried to choke me, but not when he slugged me? And why shooting spines, anyway?
    His experiment had been a success of sorts, but had left him even more confused than before. Gathering his things, Jimmy clambered to his feet and made tracks toward the nearest subway station. His jaw ached. A dizzying mix of fear and excitement had his brain awhirl.
    What’s happening to me?
    32 AND COUNTING.
    GOTHAM CITY.
    No longer bound by gravity, Mary Marvel soared through the heart of a raging thunderstorm. She thrilled in the fury of the tempest and her newfound powers. The night sky serenaded her. The thunder roared like a symphony of drums, as though the very atmosphere were drawn tight over the planet and hammered on with the fists of gods. Turbulent winds caressed her, and driving sheets of rain baptized her rebirth. She could hear the dark clouds scrape against each other and the raw elemental forces cycling through the air around her ... for her. Forty thousand thunderstorms happened every day, and right now she could feel ten thousand storms scattered between Gotham and Beijing. She was one with the lightning.
    This is amazing, Mary exulted. It’s even better than before. She twirled high above the city, exhilarated by the sheer bliss of being able to fly once more. All her prayers had been answered—and then some. How on Earth could Teth-Adam walk away from a feeling like this?
    She wasn’t just powered by magic anymore. She was magic. Her entire body was attuned to the mystical energies flowing unseen through the city below. She felt a subtle distortion in the ley lines and realized that something was seriously amiss. Perhaps that was why Madame Xanadu had tried to warn Mary away from Gotham