Identity Crisis #1 (2004)

Thirty minutes ago: In Opal City, Elongated Man and Firehawk have been on a stakeout overlooking a black market sale for the last two hours. They sit and ponder what the item being sold could be. Ralph suspects there’s a villain involved in the sale. Now: In Smallville, Clark Kent is visiting his parents. Martha Kent is cutting out a headline from the Daily Planet newspaper about a situation involving Psycho-Pirate being defeated by the team of Superman and the first Green Lantern. Martha asks Clark about what Green Lantern is like. Clark then assures her that she doesn’t need to send payment for their Daily Planet subscription, as staff can get a free one for their families, but Martha insists on still paying for it. Clark then receives a message on his Justice League signal device which causes him to change to his Superman uniform and tell his father to lock the doors. Now: In Gotham City, Nightwing is standing at the grave of his parents. Starfire joins him and he thanks her for being there. He suddenly receives a communication from Oracle who tells him to check his signal device. The message on it shocks both Nightwing and Starfire. Now: At a gym in Star City, Green Arrow and his son Green Arrow are training with the punching bag. Oliver prepares for him and Connor to head to a surprise party that Sue Dibny is throwing for Ralph, a party she throws every year involving a manufactured mystery for Ralph to solve. He asks Wildcat, also in attendance at the gym, if he’s going as well. Suddenly, Connor gets a message on his signal device and tells his father that the party may be cancelled. Seventeen minutes ago: During the stakeout Firehawk asks Ralph to tell her the story of how he met his wife. It is truly one of the great modern romances. Since the first day they met, when she saw him across the room at a party, she's only had eyes for him. murdered]] They've been deeply in love, and despite spending time with all of the other stunning men and women in the League, their interest has never strayed from each other. It is of course complicated by the fact that because Ralph has a public identity, Sue is always going to be a target for his enemies. On this particular day, Sue is throwing Ralph one of her famous surprise parties for his birthday. Every year, she creates a mystery for him to solve as part of her gift. Ralph is confident that he has already figured out the entire thing, but he is not aware that Sue has planned an extra surprise for him. Fourteen minutes ago: Benny Addison and Trey Williams are getting impatient to make the sale that Ralph and Firehawk are staking out. Twelve minutes ago: Bolt sits in his car, bargaining for information from the Calculator about the men from whom he’s supposed to be buying the mystery item. He contacted them two days ago to arrange the sale, but wants to know if they have weapons or if there are any superheroes in the area. Calculator charges Bolt $1,000 per question. After being told, based on witness calls to news stations, that Elongated Man and either Firehawk or Flamebird were seen in the area, Bolt is concerned he may have to face someone with powers. Firehawk and Ralph continue their conversation. Ralph suggests that, with his identity being public, it causes him to worry about Sue’s safety every day, despite the security technology in their home. Ralph knows that Sue will have bought him an antique magnifying glass from a shop in Belgium. At that moment, Sue is at home thanking Alfred Pennyworth by phone for helping her track down the shop and the item. Five minutes ago: Sue finishes her phone call to Alfred. She reflects that Ralph will have guessed she bought the magnifying glass, but another item she’s adding to the box is one he’ll never expect. Sue hears a noise and calls out to her unexpected visitor. Three minutes ago: At the stakeout, Firehawk asks if Ralph ever wishes he could back to having his identity be secret again. Then things begin to escalate. The sellers argue about keeping the item for themselves as Bolt teleports from his car to the alley the item is in. Two minutes ago: When confronted by Bolt, Benny and Trey demand the money they were expecting. When he refuses to give them any, they pull out guns. Bolt gets into an altercation with his dealers, and is mortally wounded when they shoot him. At the same moment Sue contacts Ralph as she is brutally attacked by a mysterious assailant. Hearing the sound of his wife being attacked, Ralph demands that Firehawk fly him home, despite the burns he’ll incur from her powers. The item in the crate is revealed as a Warsuit formerly belonging to Lex Luthor. Meanwhile the assailant sets fire to Sue’s body. The dealers attempt to flee the scene of the black market sale, but Bolt calls out to them to help him. Trey stays with Bolt and phones for an ambulance. Thirty seconds ago: Bursting into his own home, Ralph finds Sue lying dead on the ground and her body horribly burned. Rushing to hold her, he breaks down emotionally and physically as he realizes what's happened. In addition, a pregnancy test in the box with the magnifying glass displays Sue's special gift to him… she was pregnant with their unborn child, and he was going to become a father. One hour after Sue’s death: In Gotham City, Tim Drake has returned home after battling Mad Hatter, as Robin. His father recently found out about his other life and is concerned for Tim’s safety. As Tim assures his father that everything is fine, a news report on their TV relays to the audience the news that Sue Dibny has been murdered. One hour after Sue’s death: In Washington, D.C., Jefferson Pierce and Tatsu Yamashiro are having dinner in a restaurant. After another diner is disruptive during his phone call, Jefferson uses his Black Lightning powers to shut off the man’s cellphone. Jefferson’s pager goes off, but he doesn’t check it, feeling that whatever the news is it can wait. One hour after Sue’s death: In Ivy Town, Ray Palmer has travelled through the telephone, using his Atom shrinking powers, to the office of his ex-wife, Jean Loring, to sign papers that will give him back patents that had been given to Jean in the divorce settlement. Ray is contacted by Oliver Queen who tells him that Sue is dead. He shrinks himself and Jean and they travel through the phone to the Dibny’s home. Four hours after Sue’s death: The heroic community is very quickly organized. There are contingency plans and notifications and protocol in place, largely organized by Oracle. The original Green Arrow arrives at the crime scene, and Batman has already been there and left to perform tests. A full investigation is conducted, and many favors are called in to keep the police out of their business until they're finished examining the scenario for themselves. Mister Miracle is called in to look into how an attacker could've gotten inside, the Atom looks for microscopic evidence, the Ray does spectrum analysis, the Metal Men look into metallurgy and even Animal Man sniffs around for anything unusual. Metamorpho will look later into anything they can't identify. The Dibny’s home was protected by an advanced League security system combining known technologies from across the universe. There is no visible evidence of anything out of the ordinary, and nobody can figure out how a killer could've gotten in and out without leaving a trace. Arrow swears that whoever did this better hope that the cops find him before they do. Forty-eight hours after Sue’s death: A funeral is held in Central City, the place where Ralph and Sue first met. People come from across the country, and in some cases across the world, to mourn and pay tribute to the deceased. Superheroes gather, along with anybody who worked with or even knew Sue at all. To preserve the identities of everyone involved, costumes are worn at all times during the ceremony. The pall-bearers are Green Arrow, Hawkman, the Flash, and Sue's uncle. Wonder Woman is responsible for delivering the eulogy, because she knew her the best. After she is finished, Ralph tries to give a speech, but physically cannot hold himself together he is so upset. ."]] After it's over, Captain Atom organizes everyone into strategic search groups to find and hunt down the murderer. A list of suspects is made based on the way she was killed, largely composed of fire-based villains and teleporters. Once everyone else has left, there are six remaining members of the League who haven't been assigned to any case, deliberately. The Atom, Black Canary, Green Arrow, Elongated Man, Hawkman and Zatanna. They are drawn together by a secret they hold from the rest of the community, so big that it would threaten to tear everything apart if it got out. There's a mixture of dignified purpose and shame, as the murder brings up consequences to their actions they haven't had to deal with for years, but which they and they alone must deal with. As they convene in the back of the church, Ralph has snapped back like elastic into a man of action from his distraught and miserable form. They all know who did it, the only person who could possibly hold a grudge against someone like Sue Dibny. Ralph asks them to help him find the man responsible, who he believes to be Doctor Light.