Dragon King's Lair

**Dragon King's Lair** is an underground bunker in Blue Valley, Nebraska, where he conducted the majority of his experiments. He hosted meetings and spent most of his time there.

The lair is accessible through both the Burman residence and underground tunnels. Following the JSA destroying the satellites in a room several feet from the lair, it can be presumed the lair itself was either destroyed or barricaded by rubble.

## Series

### Season 1

Dr. Ito catches his daughter spying on the Injustice Society of America's meeting, and yanks her back to his lair. He scolds her for eavesdropping and denies her request to have a seat at the ISA table. He remarks that if she is bored she should throw a party or buy new clothes, he doesn't care. Cindy makes it clear that she is bored with teen life, and to prove her point and skills, she produces a blade from her wrist and nonchalantly kills one of her father's carefully cultivated assistants. He scolds her for this saying it takes weeks to condition them. He notes that Cindy has learned “nothing” from her mother’s death, brushing off her claims that it was an accident and she was young. Dr. Ito reminds her that he gave her powers to protect herself, not to “enhance her tantrums”. When Cindy takes a liking to the suit on display, he demands that she leave it be but she ignores him and takes the scepter instead. He forcibly yanks it from her hands and commands that she stays focused on Henry. Cindy wants to break up with him but he commands that she stay focused on Henry, whom she apparently was tasked with monitoring, in case he exhibits the same powers as his father, Brainwave. If Brainwave doesn't wake up they will have to use Henry's abilities to drive the machine Dr. Ito is building. Throughout the discussion, he looks at blueprints for a device he is building.

Cindy triumphantly returns from her fight against Stargirl, announcing that she did what no one else in the ISA could - she found Stargirl. Dr. Ito already knows this and gestures to the monitors. He comments that she didn't alert him, and asks if Stargirl's dead. Shiv answers probably, and he takes her Staff and angrily throws it, saying Stargirl survived. He sent minions to collect the body but it was gone. Shiv tells him she beat Stargirl, but there was someone else there but she couldn't see them. He deduces it was another JSA member and begins to angrily berate her for taking the Shiv suit "before graduation". He continues on about her reckless actions that almost jeopardized everyone. Cindy counters that she hurt Stargirl, to which he doesn't doubt as he snidely says she hurts a lot of things. She demands he stop bringing up her mother but he coldly states that *he* didn't mention her mother. She begs for him to listen to her but he's done. He laments how instead of focusing on his important work, he had to explain his daughter's ill-attempt to the other ISA members, and notes she might never get her seat at the table now. Shiv exclaims she did nothing wrong, but he angrily tells her that Stargirl was in the tunnels and is still alive. He orders her to go back home and he'll call for her when the time comes. She stares in defiance, and he dares her to make him remove her hood. Out of fear of his true form, she leaves the lair, and he returns to his work.

That night, Dr. Ito watches his monitors as Cindy and Stargirl battle it out once again on the streets of Blue Valley. He presumably sends his minions to fetch Cindy and bring her to him through a sewer grate. He also watches Henry King Jr. exhibit telepathic or telekinetic abilities that resemble that of his comatose father. Ito blissfully realizes that his daughter was wrong, and Henry does have his father's powers.

Shiro continues to punish Cindy for disobeying him, going as far as locking her away in a cell inside his lair. He ignores her screams and protests to let her out. When those fail, she switches to a threatening tactic. She threatens to kill him just like she killed her mother. This catches Ito's attention, and he glides toward the cell door where she cockily admits to knowing he wouldn't lock up his only daughter. Without saying a word he closes the small window in the front of the door that allowed Cindy to peer out. She screams in protest but he ignores her as he returns to his blueprints. He tells someone to turn on the gas as his daughter needs a nap. The gas always calmed her as a child. He continues that he doesn't need to wait for Brainwave to awaken, as they have the next best thing - Brainwave's son.

Jordan brings a recently awakened Brainwave to Dr. Ito in the hopes the doctor can restore Brainwave's memories from the past decade. Dr. Ito attaches Brainwave to a machine that works to restore the lost memories. Jordan also has the Cosmic Staff suspended in a cage from the ceiling. As he works, Cindy suddenly shouts that they have visitors, catching the attention of Ito who notices Stargirl, Wildcat, and Henry King Jr. have broken in. He merely raises one finger at the trio and commands his minions to "*go*". He watches as his minions fight the trio much to their demise.

After watching his minions fail, Dragon King decides to take matters into his own hands and join the fight. He approaches Stargirl who refers to him as Snap Dragon, but he angrily corrects that his name is Dragon King and unsheathes his Katana. The pair begin an intense battle with Stargirl using a spear and Dragon King using his sword. He is able to gain the upper hand by knocking her to the ground. She tries to block his Katana blow but it slices through the spear, rendering it useless. He grabs her and throws her across the room. He stands on top of the steps and lets out a yell as he leaps into the air, his sword raised above his head, and as he prepares to kill the heroine. Seconds before he lands, Wildcat slides Stargirl the Cosmic Staff and Stargirl is able to block the blade. She throws him aside with the force of the staff and stands to her feet, Wildcat by her side. Dragon King whirls around, his hood having flown off to reveal a scaly and lizard form with sharpened teeth and beady eyes. He lets out a yell as saliva drops from his mouth. The girls scream and Stargirl blasts him backward with her staff, rendering him unconscious. Henry unhooks his father but he's too late, Brainwave has his memories back. He tells Henry this is who he's alway been, and it's who his son is too. Henry screams "No!" and telepathically sends his father flying backwards. The teens then escape the lair.

When Project New America begins, the JSA arrives in the tunnels seeking to stop the ISA. Stargirl, Wildcat, Shining Knight, and S.T.R.I.P.E. converse in Dragon King's eerily empty lair. Jordan, Dragon King, Sportsmaster, and Tigress arrive, with the former announcing they will go no further. Courtney quizzes Jordan on not having an ice mask, and he responds he has nothing to hide, addressing her by her real name. Sportsmaster remarks his deja-vu, and Tigress adds how fun *that* night was. He says it's time to kill the JSA again. The two groups face off, and begin to charge. Dragon King leaps into the air, slicing downward with his sword.

Stargirl and Icicle engage in battle, she dodging his ice daggers while trying to strike him with the Cosmic Staff. Wildcat and Tigress have a heated blow exchange, and she retracts her claws for better defense as Dragon King and Justin sword fight in the background. Stargirl flips as Icicle continues to miss at her, and throws up an ice shield before being throw off and chased after by the heroine and S.T.R.I.P.E.. Hourman is severely punched by Sportsmaster and thrown into the air, and Wildcat skids across the floor before being attacked by Tigress. Justin sends Dragon King's sword into a door, and the latter venomously tells him he came back to die. Justin agrees, saying one will die and proceeds to attack.

He pushes Dragon King off him and continues their fight. Dragon King gains the upper hand in their fight, kicking Shining Knight to the floor. The hero skitters backward to the steps where he tries to grasp his sword, but the cloaked villain steps on the blade, stopping Shining Knight. He raises the Katana above his head ready to impale the man when suddenly, he is stabbed through the back and chest. He grunts unexpectedly and falls to the side to reveal Shiv, who has stabbed her father. She sheaths her wrist blade and coldly states that he shouldn't have locked her up, calling him "daddy" before walking away, Dragon King lying still on the lair floor.

Icicle grabs the Staff and an ensuing blast sends Stargirl across the room as S.T.R.I.P.E. punches the floor next to him. She notices Hourman and Wildcat struggling in their fights. Determined, she pounces on Tigress and hits her with the Staff, throwing her over to Wildcat.

In a flip, she kicks her leg at Sportsmaster's neck and knocks the villain out. Icicle notices, and begins to form an ice attack until Hourman punches him into a pillar. Wildcat checks to see Tigress is unconscious, and ambushes Icicle, striking him across the face and throwing him into the center of the room. Stargirl swipes the Staff up his chin, flying him into the air and landing on the steps. With the rest of his comrades defeated, he looks up at the JSA. S.T.R.I.P.E. raises his fist, but is suddenly punched across the room. The teenagers look over, surprised to see Solomon Grundy, who roars at them. Stargirl and Wildcat step back but Hourman doesn't. He charges at the monster, but the zombie simply bats him away and he violently crashes into some wreckage. Pat advises Courtney and Wildcat to find the machine, as he'll take on Grundy and protect Hourman. He stands up and runs into Grundy, picking him up as a rag doll and pins him to the wall. They give several blows as they start their battle.

As Wildcat and Stargirl try to access the machine room to stop Project New America, Cindy tackles Stargirl and they begin fighting. Stargirl tells Wildcat to go without her, and the heroine does. She takes out several minions on her way. Stargirl fights Cindy off her. She mutters she doesn't have time for this and aims here Staff at her. She blasts her against a doorway which knocks her out. Hourman continues to fight Grundy and checks on an injured Pat, who notes Barbara is in trouble. Hourman says he heard and tells Pat to go save his wife before turning all of his attention to Grundy. He beats Grundy to the point where he stops fighting and cowers. Hourman yells at him to fight back and lifts a giant chunk of concrete to throw on Grundy. He relents when he sees how frightened Grundy is, so he throws it away and yells at a terrified Grundy to leave and never come back. After Grundy leaves, Justin is surprised at Hourman sparing Grundy, but Hourman says his hour was up in anyways.

### Season 2

A version of Dragon King's lair manifests in The Shadowlands as part of Cindy's worst fears. She relieves the horrific experiments done to her by her father, though Courtney ultimately helps Cindy break free of the illusions.

## References

1. ↑ "*Shiv Part One*"
2. ↑ "*Shiv Part Two*"
3. ↑ "*Brainwave Jr.*"
4. ↑ "*Stars and S.T.R.I.P.E. Part Two*"
5. ↑ "*Summer School: Chapter Eleven*"