The Pit Stop

The Pit Stop is an automobile and mechanic business located on Hood Street^[1] in Blue Valley, Nebraska. It is owned and ran by Pat Dugan, having rented the location after his move to Blue Valley. When Pat becomes the mentor of an unlikely group of superheroes that serve as the modern-day Justice Society of America, the Pit Stop becomes a makeshift headquarters for the young heroes.

Series[]

Season 1[]

When Pat Dugan arrives in Blue Valley, he rents the space from Blue Valley Tires and converts it into a shop. He later dons it The Pit Stop.^[2]

Pat continues to improve the business but also stores his S.T.R.I.P.E. Armor in a private room of the Pit Stop. He works on it day in and day out in an attempt to improve it enough so he can work alongside Stargirl.^[3]

Season 2[]

Pat plans a two-week vacation with his family and asks Zeek to manage The Pit Stop while he's gone. Zeek agrees but asks what is beyond the "Employees Only" door. Pat brushes it off as nothing that Zeek needs to worry about. The men shake hands and Pat leaves. However, when the vacation fall through, Pat returns to tell Zeek the news. He finds the man beyond the "Employees Only" door admiring S.T.R.I.P.E.. Zeek nonchalantly plans to install a flamethrower in the robot, but promises not to tell anyone of the project Pat is working on.^[4]

With the arrival of a new JSA legacy named Jennie, she and Pat head to The Pit Stop to train with Green Lantern's ring. They bump into Zeek who has installed the flame throwers successfully but promises a stronger flame in a day or two. When he leaves, Pat and Jennie work on their training. Later, the rest of the JSA join them to gawk over Jennie's incredible abilities. When Courtney angers Jennie and causes the teen to run off, Pat gives Courtney a much needed heart-to-heart on the balcony. Courtney than accepts Jennie as the daughter of Green Lantern. When the lantern begins to act up, the young JSA members flee The Pit Stop with the lantern.^[5]

Mike takes possession of the Thunderbolt and is reprimanded by Pat, who takes him to The Pit Stop alongside the rest of the JSA. They learn about Thunderbolt's powers. Pat then talks one-on-one with the genie who plays inside S.T.R.I.P.E. before admitting to Pat that he befriended Mike because they're both alone. Pat allows Mike to make one perfectly crafted wish to locate The Shade. The group works together to make the wish, writing it out on the whiteboard. Mike makes the wish and Thunderbolt burns a hole in a map of Blue Valley to show where Shade is hiding. Mike is instructed to stay at The Pit Stop while the rest of the team ventures out to interrogate Shade.^[6]

A day or so later, Mike is kidnapped by recently escaped convicts Larry Crock and Paula Brooks. The convicts lure Pat to The Pit Stop, more specifically, the back room where they had broken the lock. They make a deal with Pat they will break back into prison after they watch their daughter's football tryouts. They threaten to harm Mike and Pat if he doesn't agree to their deal, which includes Pat harboring the convicts at his house. Pat reluctantly agrees to the deal.^[7]

Season 3[]

Zeek arrives at The Pit Stop for work when Jakeem Williams throws a newspaper at his feet on his paper route. That afternoon, Pat shows Sylvester The Pit Stop, S.T.R.I.P.E., and the updated Rocket Racker.

The JSA heads to The Pit Stop that night to debrief after facing-off with the No Limit Gang. Cindy is incredulous over them hanging out at a greasy garage, even if it's the only place big enough to keep S.T.R.I.P.E.. She remarks that it smells like a gas station bathroom. Rick asks if she's going to complain about everything. She offers her house as an alternate meeting place, as she has comfortable chairs and wine. Rick presses that they don't drink on the job, with Beth adding they aren't 21 and don't drink at all. Cindy calls the situation lame. Across town, Steven Sharpe finds surveillance feeds of dozens of locations around Blue Valley, including The Pit Stop.^[8]

They have another meeting, this time with Sylvester and Pat, about Gambler's murder. As the JSA begins their investigations, Rick works late at night to work on the hourglass. Beth keeps him company, and The Shade visits them on his way out of town. He wishes Rick luck on bringing back Grundy, then disappears in a cloud of black smoke.^[9]

In the morning, Pat welds pieces for S.T.R.I.P.E. as Sylvester reads job ads out of the newspaper. Zeek chimes in with advice for Sylvester. That night, Rick arrives late to the Pit Stop, something Pat points out. He apologizes as he had a flat. He looks up at Courtney who stands on the balcony with Yolanda and Beth. He asks if they're going after the Crocks. Courtney and Pat are going to talk to them, give them a chance to explain. They're just waiting for Cindy. Her phone rings with a call from Mike that Sylvester is attacking the Crocks in public.^[10]

Beth and Dr. McNider analyze a single skin cell found at Gambler's trailer, which is non-human and unidentifiable. Dr. McNider recalls a sample like this once before. It belongs to Cindy's father. Beth analyzes the DNA again, remarking that it's Dragon King.^[11]

Yolanda, Rick, Beth, and Sylvester have a JSA meeting without Courtney. Sylvester recommends that Rick fixes the hourglass, so Rick stays late to do just that. As he works, Sylvester recommends he remove the limiter. When Rick does, he successfully regains powers from the artifact.^[12]

Yolanda tells Sylvester, Rick, and Beth that she found The Gambler's laptop hidden in Cindy's room. He needs to know what's on this laptop right now, telling Beth to do it. He instructs her to download everything, and then Yolanda will put the laptop back where she found it. Sylvester explains that if Cindy knows the laptop is gone, she'll know she's busted and might run.

The JSA has an argument at the Pit Stop over Courtney's relationship with Cameron. It escalates to Courtney's decision to step away from the team for a whole. A few hours later, Beth shows Pat and Courtney the surveillance feeds from around town, including one in the Pit Stop.^[13]

Rick, Zeek, and Jakeem play a board game in The Pit Stop. Over comms, Sylvester critiques this being a normal Wednesday night for them. Zeek sure does love board game night, as does Jakeem. This whole "situation" reminds Zeek of his granddad and the case of the stolen Studebaker. Jakeem thinks that sounds exciting, but Rick glances up from the game, telling him to just wait. Zeek launches into his story. There hadn't been a robbery in Blue Valley in almost ten years, and back then, his granddad was a volunteer sheriff's deputy. He knew all the goings-on in town. Beth starts shutting down the power grid, and across Blue Valley, the power goes off. From Richie's to The Pit Stop, the JSA prepares.

A bright pink light shines through the windows and Thunderbolt cheers that the wish is granted. Dozens, if not hundreds, of cameras litter the floor. Zeek remarks it's quite a collection of cameras, but Jakeem sighs that none of them are the right ones. He was really specific this time - he wished for every camera that The Gambler's killer ever touched.^[14]

A day later, Pat sits at his workbench in The Pit Stop, pensively looking at his computer. He searches for Maggie Shaw, Reno and the results show Mike's mom. Crusher walks into the garage a moment later, wanting to check in, since he and his family were being spied on just like Pat. He can't wait to catch these peepers, as it'll be relief to cut loose after being on a leash for so long. He asks where Pemberton is, and Pat explains how Beh tracked the feed to a mine in Utah. Crusher questions what Pat is doing, then, and he merely says he's looking for someone. The radio crackles and he picks it up, greeting Sylvester. The search is terrible as he's hit another dead end. Beth thinks the signal is being masked since it's bouncing all over the place. Crusher picks up a piece of equipment and whispers what this is, and Pat whispers back to leave it alone. Sylvester is heading back unless Beth locks onto another lead. Pat tells him to be careful and he'll see him in a few hours. He turns off the radio.^[15]

Sylvester and Pat work on S.T.R.I.P.E.. Pat will hit the sky to see if can find any clue up there. He's about to get into the robot when the door opens, with Mike and Jakeem running in. Mike calls out for his dad, who asks where they've been. Mike explains they were in the woods. Pat hurries down the ladder to hug him. He makes sure they're both all right, ensuring they are. They got a lot of folks worried, asking if they know that. They do, and Jakeem tells Pat and Sylvester they found a monster in the woods. The adults question the statement, with Sylvester asking if it was Grundy. Jakeem blurts out it was a huge mutant gorilla. The men exchange a worried look, as Mike continues that it was a white one. They recognize the key words of a white gorilla. Jakeem asks if they know what it is, and they do. It's one of the most dangerous things that the JSA ever faced.^[16]

Pat is sitting in S.T.R.I.P.E. when he gets a call from Courtney that Larry and Paula were killed. Mike asks his father what's wrong.^[17]

Sylvester visits the next morning to check on Yolanda and Beth's progress on tracking Ultra-Humanite. After a fight with Sylvester, Pat arrives at The Pit Stop to find Zeek shaking his head while looking at a dismantled S.T.R.I.P.E. whose parts are everywhere. The man just walked in and then went flying off like a witch on a broomstick. Pat remarks that Sylvester's lost his mind, but Zeek isn't so sure. He has something to run by Dugan. Maybe, just maybe, Sylvester is doing to Pat when he did to Little Dugan when Eclipso was prancing around Blue Valley. Pat can't remember what he did, so Zeek explains further. He told Mike to meet him when S.T.R.I.P.E. was fixed, knowing good and well it wouldn't be. He lied to protect him. Pat realizes Sylvester's lying to protect him now. He'd rather they hate him than have them get hurt. Which means Sylvester's going to get himself killed. Pat tells Zeek to grab that wrench has he's gotta move face. Zeek tells him to hold up. He's as fast as they come, but putting old Humpty Dumpty together here is going to take more than a few minutes. Pat understands that, but he has an idea. Zeek realizes what he means and nods.^[18]