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Issue 6
Jan 24, 2006 20:18:11 GMT -5
Post by Admin on Jan 24, 2006 20:18:11 GMT -5
Secret Society of Super Villains Issue 6: "Day of the Dark Lord, Chapter Six: No Man Shall I Call Master." Written by David Peattie Edited by David Charlton
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Issue 6
Jan 24, 2006 20:20:46 GMT -5
Post by Admin on Jan 24, 2006 20:20:46 GMT -5
After a few rounds of general glad-handing, the meeting adjourned, and for the time being, the various members once more went their separate ways. Now left to his own devices, Comet pondered his next move.
His soul yearned to clean up the group of evildoers once and for all. But he only had evidence of wrongdoing against Grodd and Hi-Jack (the bank robbery and attack on Green Lantern) and Sinestro (the murder of GL Gretti in space). Probably, there were outstanding warrants on the other Secret Society members, but Comet wanted to be sure that he smashed the organization once and for all. To do that, he needed to know who was backing the team; Manhunter and the others acknowledged that there was someone mysterious financing the team, but Manhunter refused to say who it was, and the others claimed they didn't know. So Comet forced himself to be patient, waiting until the time was right.
In the meantime, he figured he might as well go back to his birthplace and see how it had changed in the years he'd been gone.
So it was that, twenty-four hours later, an unmarked sedan entered a small Midwestern town…and a quiet, non-descript man disembarked, to enter a long-shuttered house. He walked around inside sadly, noting the layers of dust, the tarpaulin-covered furniture, the paintings hanging crookedly on the walls; the litter on the floor, never picked up; the peeling paint. Several silent moments passed, as Adam Blake gazed at the dusty remains of the building he'd once called home…and then, still silent, he left and walked the four dozen paces to the town's cemetery, where he stood, first looking at the tombstone of his parents, John and Martha Blake…and then at the stone above the grave of his longtime friend, Professor Emery Zackro.
His eyes closed, then opened, and for an instant, tears seemed to glisten beneath a tormented brow. But then the quiet of the area, and Blake's grief, were interrupted by the sound of a snapping twig, indicating that he was not alone. Blake spun, instantly on guard. "Who…?", he cried out tentatively.
"It's me, Adam," came a familiar voice from a nearby tree. "Manhunter."
Looking up, Blake's vision confirmed that the leader of the Secret Society had been hiding in the branches of a nearby tree.
"I didn't hear you, my friend," Blake noted, trying to look and sound more relaxed even as he mentally stayed on full alert. "Were you following me?"
Blake hadn't been lying when he observed that Manhunter had indeed managed to sneak up on him. That a skilled assassin could move that silently came as little surprise, but for Blake not to have picked up his thoughts attested to just how preoccupied he'd been with the graves of his loved ones. Once again, he told himself he'd have to be more careful. It was becoming clear that he could not afford to underestimate any of the Secret Society's members.
"Guilty as charged," Manhunter replied, in answer to Blake's question. "As for hearing me…no one hears me, unless I want to be heard."
"The other thing…the telepathy…", Manhunter continued, "is something else again. Grodd's put a mental force-field around all of us…to keep you from reading our minds. There's a reason for that, Adam…not a very nice one…and that's what I want to talk about, away from the others."
As he'd said this, Manhunter had nimbly leapt down from his perch in the tree, and he and Adam had begun walking out of the cemetery and back into the dark, deserted streets of the town.
"Sounds grim, Manhunter," Blake responded. "Is this a test of some kind?"
"Maybe," the clone of Paul Kirk allowed. "It depends on your outlook."
"That sounds intriguing," Blake thought. "I can't wait to hear the rest of this!"
"Go on," he urged.
"First of all, some information…", Manhunter began. "I'm a clone, Adam…a living bio-duplicate of a man named Paul Kirk, who died some months ago, battling a villainous group called the Council. There were dozens of clones like me…but they were destroyed, and only I survived. The others were evil, Adam…but I wasn't! Still, they'd gained a reputation…which stuck to me."
This was a fairly incredible revelation on Manhunter's part, and Comet didn't have to fake his surprise.
"Are you trying to tell me you're a good guy…unlike the rest of the Secret Society?", Adam asked.
"Yes, I…huh?", Manhunter said, suddenly becoming flustered. "You know?"
Blake grinned. "Grodd's shield is effective, Manhunter…but not against me. I've known the Society is evil since I first…"
That was as far as he got, because suddenly, the ground between him and Manhunter was split by a powerful energy bolt, knocking the two men to the ground.
"Stars and galaxies!", Blake exclaimed. "What…?"
The two looked up in the direction the bolt had come from, to see an astonishing sight. On the rooftop of a nearby business, stood a man dressed from head to foot in a costume of varying shades of green, complete with a pale green cape and a mask over his face that seemed somewhat insectoid; the mask was in a pale yellow. This man stood on the ledge of the roof, pointing his left hand at the pair; this hand still glowed and smoked a bit from the energy that had been released from it.
"That," he said, answering Blake's question, "was a blast of charged atoms, mutant! Courtesy of Mantis…whom men call the Energy Vampire!"
Still on his back as he recovered from the initial shock, Manhunter seemed more surprised by their new foe's appearance than Blake himself was.
"Mantis!", he cried. "You…here?"
"And where else should I be, slave, but where my master sends me?", Mantis sneered. "I overheard your words, and I know of your betrayal of he-who-rules-us-all…and this I swear: for your treachery, you will die!"
So saying, Mantis leapt off the roof , and as he did so, his booted feet began to glow with the same unearthly energy that had left his hands. As Blake struggled to his feet and got out of the way, both he and Manhunter realized that Mantis was preparing to unleash a second energy blast upon making contact with the ground. And Manhunter knew as well that he didn't dare still be there when Mantis did so.
"Maybe, Mantis," the clone said grimly as he threw his body out of range. "But if I do, it won't be at your hand!"
Less than a second after Manhunter had moved, Mantis landed, with a loud crackle of energy and a deep rumble beneath the Earth.
"You're too slow…too talkative," Manhunter taunted. "In a word, you're a fool!"
"Maybe he is, Manhunter," Blake put in, as he once more commanded his suit to give way to his space-protection costume. "Yet he seems a dangerous fool…and shouldn't be fought alone!"
Now once more garbed for action, Capt. Comet lunged at Mantis, and was nearly atop the energy vampire before Mantis turned around and noticed.
"Eh?", the green-clad villain said dumbly. "Behind me…?"
He had no time to dodge, duck, or say anything more. Capt. Comet hurtled into him with a full head of steam, slamming him to the ground.
"Be careful, Manhunter," Comet warned. "He's charged with power!"
This was undeniably true. Each time Comet's fists made contact with his foe, sparks of energy flew everywhere. Thankfully, Comet seemed to be immune to it.
"Aye, fools…beware Mantis!", the creature said, with a defiance that belied his current, apparently helpless situation. He scuttled out of Comet's reach and stood, his back to a nearby wall that had been damaged in the fight.
"I appreciate the concern," Manhunter told his friend, "but I'm not exactly without defensive tactics of my own! See?" And with that, he threw a dagger from his belt-sheathe, pinning Mantis' cape to the wall.
"You dare to defy Mantis with a mere knife, clonal fool?", Mantis said, seething with outrage. "Truly, you are deluded!"
With that, Mantis caused his entire body to glow. Manhunter's dagger soon began to glow as well, then vanished in a wisp of smoke.
"He's radiating energy…", Comet observed with awe.
"…melting my blade like hot wax," Manhunter confirmed, no less alarmed.
"HAH!," Mantis spat triumphantly, as he spun to face his quarry. "And next, traitors…you burn!"
Once more, a gout of fiery energy erupted from his hand, headed straight for Manhunter. It seemed that not even he could move aside in time to prevent being injured or killed by the blast.
"Must move fast…real fast!", Comet cried, and he leapt, panic adding to his already incredible speed. He shoved Manhunter out of the way of the blast literally at the last possible second, leaving a supremely frustrated Mantis to cry, "NO!" in response.
Sprawled on the ground, recovering his breath, Manhunter told Comet, "That's one I owe you, Adam!"
"Stay back, friend," Comet replied, as he positioned himself in front of Manhunter. "He's up to something!"
"Very perceptive, mutant," Mantis confirmed as he considered his options, then leapt back skyward towards the rooftops again. "I've decided to let you live…at least, for now!"
"Can't let them know I just ran out of power!", the energy vampire thought. "Have to rest…recharge!"
He finally came to rest atop a nearby office building, and now Manhunter and Comet could see the strange-looking purple vehicle parked there, which greatly resembled the same shuttlecraft the Secret Society was using during its test missions. As he landed in the open cockpit, he tossed one more taunt at his enemies.
"I leave as I came, worms…abruptly…for such is the way of Mantis!"
Comet winced as he heard this. That was cornball dialogue worthy of a B-movie, even from the last time he'd been on Earth.
"I wasn't ready this time," Mantis told himself as he flew away. "yet I dared not disobey orders! Next time…they die!"
After making sure Manhunter was all right, Comet stared upwards after the fleeing craft.
"I can still fly after…", he began.
"Let him go," Manhunter said quietly.
"What's your game, Manhunter? Tell me!", Comet insisted.
"I'll do better than that, Adam," the clone replied. "I'll show you…but only if you'll help me convince the others to take a stand!"
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Issue 6
Jan 24, 2006 20:22:50 GMT -5
Post by Admin on Jan 24, 2006 20:22:50 GMT -5
Thus it was that, the next morning, a sleek flier lifted off from the roof of the Sinister Citadel, and settled somewhat later in a deserted lot near Fisherman's Wharf. On board the craft were Manhunter, Capt. Comet, and fellow Secret Society members Capt. Cold, Star Sapphire, and Grodd.
As the five disembarked, Manhunter led the way towards a large rock in the center of the lot…a rock too big to be moved without heavy machinery.
"Look, pal," Capt. Cold said warily. "Are you serious?"
"Yes," Manhunter replied tersely. "This is it," he said, indicating the rock. "Grodd?"
Wordlessly, Grodd placed his hands underneath the rock and lifted, and the rock came up as if it weighed nothing…which to Grodd was nearly true. Once it had been removed, a shaft was revealed, with a set of stairs leading down…and they descended into mystery.
"You see," Manhunter told his allies, as they reached the bottom of the stairwell. "just as I said: an underground complex!"
The Secret Society members found themselves in a dimly lit corridor, snaking its way underground for a considerable distance in both directions.
"The lab is over here," Manhunter said, pointing to his right. The team followed as he began walking in that direction.
"I'm acting against orders by revealing this," he went on, "but it's the only way to prove I'm not lying! Okay, you've seen hidden retreats before…no big deal…but are you prepared for this?"
With that, Manhunter threw open the doors to the complex's lab, the lights springing to life as soon as they stepped inside.
All four of Manhunter's comrades walked around, taking it all in with expressions of awe and wonder on their faces. Even Grodd, who considered himself something of a scientist himself among his other accomplishments, was impressed. The lab was full to the rafters with astonishing, alien-looking technology.
Most prominent in the lab, however, was a bank of just over a dozen large glass tubes, each of which seemed to contain gestation chambers for humanoid life forms. All the tubes were occupied, with people apparently growing in them at varying rates. What the purpose of this apparatus was, the Secret Society members could only guess at.
"Go ahead," Manhunter urged, "take a look around…take a look at unlimited evil given technological expression!"
Manhunter turned around, slowly, motioning with his arms so as to direct everyone's attention to all the equipment and inviting them to speculate on all the possible uses for it, as he continued.
"This is but one of many such labs, here and on other worlds! Everywhere! And all masterminded by the single most sinister villain ever to walk the Earth…the same financier and force that is behind the Secret Society of Super-Villains!"
While Grodd and Capt. Cold continued drinking in the lab's ambiance, Capt. Comet and Star Sapphire were the only two that seemed to listening intently to Manhunter's words. It was Sapphire who broke the momentary silence that followed Manhunter's oration.
"Sacre!", the pink-clad woman exclaimed. "Our mysterious benefactor sounds evil, indeed!"
If Manhunter detected any sarcasm or skepticism behind her words, he didn't show it.
"Evil?", he repeated. "He is its essence unleashed!" As he said this, he reached over to what looked like a television monitor, and twisted a knob to turn it on. Seconds later, a portrait of a grim looking individual, with soot gray skin, wearing a purple tunic and a gun-metal blue helmet, glared from the monitor as though he could see the room's five occupants.
"Look now," Manhunter urged his four comrades, "upon the true face of evil…the face of Darkseid!"
Both Grodd and Capt. Cold looked at Darkseid's face, and their own features seemed to pale somewhat. The countenance of the lord of Apokolips tended to have that effect on people.
Capt. Comet looked at the screen, and had to steel himself against the aura of sheer malevolence that seemed to radiate from it. "So that's the Darkseid I kept seeing in Manhunter's mind," he thought. "No wonder I get such a feeling of fear when Manhunter thinks about him! If I get a reaction like this from just his picture, the real McCoy must be walking dynamite!"
Only Star Sapphire seemed to have no reaction to Darkseid's picture, or the announcement that he was behind the Secret Society, at all. But before anyone could notice this and wonder about it, something else came along to distract everyone's attention. By an odd coincidence, it was Sapphire who noticed it first.
"Manhunter!", she cried out, placing a hand on his shoulder even as she turned and pointed to the other side of the room. "Behind us, I hear…voices!"
Manhunter turned his head to look and asked, "Who…?"
Suddenly, the double doors through which they'd entered the lab burst open again, with the arrival of someone that Manhunter and Comet knew quite well.
"MANTIS!", both men cried in unison.
For indeed, it was the energy vampire, taking them by surprise again. And this time, he had brought with him a quintet of henchmen, garbed in green costumes similar to the one he himself wore. These were Apokoliptian "dog soldiers", bred for their toughness and their ability to follow orders without question. If Darkseid told them to follow Mantis into battle, they would do so, and give their lives at his command if ordered to.
The six Apokolips natives fanned out into the room, intending to attack the Secret Society members and conquer them. Two of them rushed towards Capt. Cold, who swiftly drew his cold-gun from its holster and fired at the floor just ahead of them. Instantly, that section of the floor iced up, becoming so slippery that the Mantis-men lost their footing and fell…cracking their skulls on the floor, and falling unconscious as a result.
As this was happening, Cold noted, "Frankly, I never heard of the guy," referring to Mantis, "but I just iced two of his insects!"
Star Sapphire, for her part, had taken to the air and flew past Cold.
"Two others," she observed, "about to jump Manhunter from behind!"
Indeed, the cloned assassin seemed to be in trouble. For while he was squaring off against the fifth Mantis acolyte, who held a sinister looking sword in his hand, two others were sneaking up on Manhunter from the rear.
"I'll squash them," Sapphire promised, "like bugs…with a little help from my star sapphire!"
Sending a mental command to the purple gem that was her namesake, Sapphire caused the jewel to form two gigantic hands, which grasped the heads of the two Mantis followers. She then slammed their heads together like coconuts, and like the two that had been felled by Capt. Cold, these worthies also his the floor, no longer conscious.
Below her, drawing on ninjutsu skills memory-printed into his genes…skills mastered by the original Paul Kirk…Manhunter was matchless. He deftly evaded the sword-thrust of his opponent, then stepped in with a right cross that left the sole remaining Mantis-man sprawled on the floor. This one, though, still had a bit of fight left in him, as he picked up his sword again and shook his fist defiantly.
"Arrogant swine!", he spat. "Have you no respect for my blade? I shall teach you!"
Manhunter said nothing in reply. It would have been pointless.
Once again, the insectoid swung his blade in a way designed to slice Manhunter open or cleave him in two, vertically. Manhunter leaped into the air, tucking his legs underneath him, to evade the sword; then, landing far enough inside the henchman's personal space to be safe from the blade, he drew his left leg up into a savage kick to the man's jaw that finally took him out of the fight for good.
That, however, still left their boss to contend with, and he promised to be far tougher. Up to now, he had been flying about the room, not taking part in the battle…trusting that his aides were up to the job of dealing with at least the humans in the group. But now he felt he had no choice but to go on the attack himself, and he zeroed in on the two members of the team he felt were the biggest threats…the mutant and the ape.
Seeing this, Manhunter cried out, "Grodd! Adam! It's…"
"Mantis!", the energy vampire finished for him, as he aimed his left hand at Grodd. "And I'm too close for you to avoid my blast…", at which point he nailed Grodd with an energy burst, "…or my boot!" This was followed by his delivering a stunning kick to Comet's head, with enough force to lay Comet out.
As he swooped around to face the other three, Mantis prepared to deliver his ultimatum.
"The rest of you have a choice," he declared. "Think fast! Either surrender…or die!"
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Issue 6
Jan 24, 2006 20:23:07 GMT -5
Post by Admin on Jan 24, 2006 20:23:07 GMT -5
To be continued!
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