The Man:
"Test number 47," I say into the recorder. "I'm making excellent progress in developing a cure for both the smallpox virus and orichalcum. Despite the noise."
About to pour fragments of dead skin from a hognose snake, I stop when the Junker shakes. A few seconds later, I hear crashing sounds. Following the sounds, the noise starts in the kitchen, then moves to the repair bay. I sigh and shake my head when I hear my tools being thrown around. The noise moves again, this time phasing through the walls and falling into what sounds like the sleeping quarters. Judging from the sound — a low rumbling — it sounds like Deadman grabs a bedframe and slams it into the intruder.
"I really hope that was Barry's bed," I say. "Or Harleen, or Jason. I hope it wasn't Oliver's bed. I like that guy."
Pouring the hognose snake's fragment into the orichalcum, watching as the flakes swing left and right, they hit the orichalcum and spark. The sparks jump high into the air, almost out of the glass bottle. Pulling back, I keep watching before speaking into the recorder.
"The orichalcum reacts with snake skin. It acts as an ignitor, setting the skin ablaze. However, the glow on the orichalcum lowers again, but not as much as the water from the Himalayas."
I turn and look at my collection of alchemy ingredients.
"All my ingredients have reacted with the orichalcum in one way or another. Some have sparked. Some have boiled. Some have lowered the orichalcum's glow, but none of them have fully rendered the orichalcum unharmed. I need something else. Something else. Something...else."
A memory flashes through my head. I see myself in San Francisco, California, standing inside an antique shop, but it's not the antique I remember. It's something or someone else.
"One more thing," Uncle said, hitting me in the forehead with his two fingers.
"Ouch," I yelled. "Will you knock that off!"
Opening my eyes, I snap back into reality, into the present situation. Turning and looking at my box of ingredients, I rush over and begin digging deeper.
"Come on, come on, don't let it be back in the base. Please don't let it be back in the base."
Carefully pushing aside glass jars with ingredients, I almost jump into the air when I see what I'm looking for near the bottom.
"Yes!"
I shout while pulling out a large yellow pufferfish and a large, thin, grey lizard. The pufferfish and the lizard are both dried out, but only the pufferfish is round, like it has inhaled water. Gently placing the pufferfish and lizard down, I move as fast as I can. I get another sample of the orichalcum, a fresh one, straight from the ancient container. Sealing it inside an empty glass jar, I grab some other ingredients: water from the Himalayan mountains, the slime from an axolotl, antler shavings from white-tailed deer in North America, Asian lotus petals from Southeast Asia, and finally leaves from a Willow tree I discovered while exploring in the desert.
"Test number 48," I start, grabbing the glass jars with the orichalcum and the water. "Here goes nothing."
I watch as each ingredient interacts with the orichalcum. The water from the Himalayas slightly lowers the orichalcum's dark glow. The axolotl's slime and the deer's antler shavings boil the water, but the water doesn't burst or explode. The lotus petals and Willow leaves calm the boiling water. It also lessens the orichalcum's glow even further. Finally, putting the glass jar aside, I grab the pufferfish and lizard.
"Uncle," I say, taking a few deep breaths. "Wish me luck."
Aiming the pufferfish and lizard at the glass jar, I begin chanting.
"Yu Mo Gui Gwai Fai Di Zao. Yu Mo Gui Gwai Fai Di Zao. Yu Mo Gui Gwai Fai Di Zao."
As I keep chanting, the pufferfish and lizard begin glowing bright green. Sensing the magic as the fish and lizard are filled with it, they then shoot thin beams of pure energy at the orichalcum.
"Yu Mo Gui Gwai Fai Di Zao," I repeat. "Yu Mo Gui Gwai Fai Di Zao. Yu Mo Gui Gwai Fai Di Za."
The beams intensify. The magic from the fish and lizard reacts with the orichalcum. Its dark and eerie glow returns, but the water and other ingredients keep it contained. A few seconds later, its glow begins to flicker. One moment, it's lighting up the whole lab. The next moment, the glow vanishes completely, and the only light comes from the beams. Jumping between light and dark, I keep chanting, not stopping to breathe until the orichalcum's glow vanishes again and doesn't return.
Stopping, I allow myself to take a few deep breaths before putting the fish and lizard down on the table. Grabbing the glass jar, I examine it. The orichalcum lost more than its glow. It lost its black and green color. Now, it's a bright green color.
Holding the orichalcum close, I close my eyes and focus. Feeling the energy radiating from the orichalcum, I smile.
"It's not the same," I say. "It's cured."
Tapping the disc on my chest, the yellow rubber fabric splits apart. It flows like water back into the disc before the disc falls off. Catching it in my hand, I pocket my excellneno disc before looking back at the cured orichalcum. Holding up the glass jar, I turn my head and think.
"I made a cure to reverse the orichalcum, and possibly the smallpox too, but this is no way close to enough. I need to make more, but--"
I turn again toward my collection of alchemy ingredients. The water from the Himalayas is low. The glass jars holding the lotus petal and axolotl's slime are already empty.
"I don't have enough to make another cure, and I don't have time to retrieve all the ingredients. What to do? What to do?"
Racking my brain for an idea, I look around the room, and my eyes land on the ventilation tube connecting the sink to the airtight barrel.
"Batwing dust," I say, slamming my hand on the ground. "I have batwing dust!"
Reaching over, I grab the jar with the batwing dust. Opening it with my thumb, I carefully pour a little into the cure orichalcum. Once enough is poured, I close the jar and carefully stir it. This time, instead of turning into a bubbling, oozing slime and then exploding, bright-white, glowing cracks appear on the orichalcum sample still inside the jar. A few seconds later, the orichalcum breaks apart. The leftover fragments bubble and dissolve into the water. A few more seconds later, a white and blue smoke filled the entire glass jar.
"Who needs a drink of the cure," I ask with a smile, "When you can just breathe it instead?"
Turning off the radio, I'm about to walk out of the laboratory when I hear a loud crashing sound.
"Oh yeah. Deadman and his opponent, whoever that is."
I think it's over for a second.
"Only three people come to mind: Spectre, Gentleman Ghost, and Black Manta. Deadman wouldn't have trouble fighting Black Manta, and if he were fighting Spectre, Spectre could just snap his fingers and throw Deadman across the world. That leaves only one person. Gentleman Ghost, but if it's really Jim Craddock, then the other two won't be far behind. Black Manta won't be too much of a challenge, but Spectre will be. The others can't fight him or Craddock when they're intangible."
Thinking it over for a few more seconds, I look down at the glass jar with the cure. Turning to my collection of ingredients, I then put down the jar. Reaching in, I smile when I see some strips of brown paper near the bottom.
"So glad I have a bad habit of throwing things away."
Grabbing the paper strips, a small wooden bowl, a wooden club, and some other jars, I begin pouring the ingredients into the bowl. Once bark from an Ash tree, basil, Peach tree woodchips, and rue, I begin crushing them with the club. Pressing them until they're dust, I add some black ink. Reaching back over and in, I pull out a special paintbrush, the brush made from a combination of horses' and lions' manes. Dipping it into the ink, I begin drawing Chinese Hanzi on the paper strips.
Drawing until the ink is almost all gone and most of the strips have characters on them, I grab them and shove them into my jacket pockets, careful not to wrinkle the paper or ruin the ink. Grabbing the glass jar with the cure, I leave the lab.