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Issue 7
Feb 7, 2006 20:44:40 GMT -5
Post by Admin on Feb 7, 2006 20:44:40 GMT -5
Secret Society of Super Villains Issue 7: "Day of the Dark Lord, Chapter Seven: Mantis Triumphant?" Written by David Peattie Edited by David Charlton
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Issue 7
Feb 7, 2006 20:45:53 GMT -5
Post by Admin on Feb 7, 2006 20:45:53 GMT -5
As Manhunter, Star Sapphire and Capt. Cold faced Mantis, wondering what to do, those same events were being watched by another, on the far distant planet Apokolips. Inside his laboratory, DeSaad observed the battle and sneered. Although at present, it looked as if Mantis had the upper hand, DeSaad knew better than to underestimate the Earthers. Their species had an unsettling propensity for rallying at the last moment and snatching victory from the jaws of defeat. Given the choice, DeSaad would much rather that the moronic Mantis stop prattling and simply kill the traitorous Secret Society members. He could always recruit others.
A sudden noise from the adjoining hallway took the Apokoliptian scientist's attention away from his musings, and he hastily activated the device that allowed him to impersonate his lord and master. His own frail body now hidden beneath the sophisticated hologram of the device, he turned towards the doorway and crossed his arms over his chest. When the door opened, the burly being that trudged through didn't see the scrawny DeSaad; he saw Darkseid, sovereign ruler of Apokolips.
This being looked human, for all his impressive size, but his skin had a somewhat reddish tint to it. He had black hair, and a full beard, which he wore close-cropped; it met his hairline, giving the impression of a lion's mane. His clothing was also somewhat uncomplicated: purple leotards that left his arms and legs bare, and gun-metal gray gauntlets surrounding his wrists, forearms and thighs. Another metallic garment cinched itself around his waist and lower torso, and his feet were shod with boots in the same violet shade as his leotards.
His name was Kalibak, and he was one of Darkseid's sons…the only one who was still loyal to Darkseid. Kalibak's brother, Orion, was loyal to Izaya, the ruler of New Genesis; an undying hatred existed between the two siblings and would probably continue until one of them was dead.
Upon entering the room and seeing Darkseid, he dropped to his hands and knees and bowed his head in supplication. The gesture seemed only to anger his ruler.
"Do not grovel, fool," Darkseid sneered. "it ill becomes one of your rank!"
Kalibak neither relaxed nor rose from his submissive position. Until Darkseid officially told him to rise, he didn't dare.
"I have not forgotten your recent failure," Darkseid went on. "I have merely chosen to ignore it, and to give you a chance to redeem yourself in my war for Earth-death!"
Behind his disguise, DeSaad knew he was laying it on a little thick. But he didn't dare show any signs of weakness when dealing with Kalibak; the brute would pick up on it instantly, and the game would then be over...with DeSaad the loser.
"I exist but to serve you, great Darkseid!", Kalibak vowed from the floor.
"Then arise, dog," the disguised DeSaad commanded, "and observe!"
As Kalibak obediently rose, "Darkseid" turned and placed his left foot on an odd-looking green chair. He then rested his left elbow on his knee, cradled his chin in his hand, and glared at the bank of monitor screens before him. There were seven of these screens, each one attuned to the Earth, and the areas within San Francisco where the Secret Society was active. One showed the outside of the Loman Building, where the Sinister Citadel was located; another focused on Manhunter, while the one next to it showed Star Sapphire. A fourth one displayed footage of the test mission teaming Copperhead and Grodd. On the bottom row, a screen showed Capt. Comet; another displayed a grouping of Capt. Cold with Sinestro and the Mirror Master; and the final screen had an image of Mantis on it. Kalibak's gaze followed his "father's" to these screens.
"Until recently," DeSaad/Darkseid noted, "I relied solely on Inter-Gang as my secret strike force on Earth…they were effective, but insufficient! Thus, I funded the formation of a new group…a Secret Society of Super-Villains!"
He paused, to let that sink in. Uncomfortable with the silence, Kalibak couldn't resist prodding: "And now, sire?"
If "Darkseid" was offended, he didn't show it. "Now," he went on, "their leader, the Manhunter clone, seeks to turn them against me! Mantis contends with them, even as we speak…yet the outcome of the fray is uncertain…and may require intervention!"
Furtively pressing a switch that Kalibak couldn't see, the cloaked DeSaad caused the video images to flutter and give way, as "Darkseid" shifted the camera focus from the still images to Earth proper…or rather, beneath its surface.
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Issue 7
Feb 7, 2006 20:48:12 GMT -5
Post by Admin on Feb 7, 2006 20:48:12 GMT -5
In the lab, no one had yet moved or responded to the ultimatum Mantis had given. Feeling a need to nudge things along, the energy vampire repeated his demand.
"Heed my words, villains," he hissed. "Yield to Mantis!"
This was more than one of the still-standing Secret Society members could take. Frosty felon Leonard Snart scowled at Mantis as his hand began snaking its way towards his gun holster.
"No way, bum," he snapped. "I'm gonna put you on ice! Dig?"
Hearing this, the clone of Paul Kirk realized that things were fast spinning out of his control. "Captain Cold, don't!", he barked. "We've got to work as a team!"
"Forget it, Manhunter!", Cold replied hotly. "I can take care of myself!"
With that, the frigid Flash-foe whipped his cold-gun from its holster and fired at Mantis. An ice-blast began streaking towards the insectoid from Apokolips…yet if Mantis was at all concerned for his safety, he didn't show it.
"Imbecile!", he spat. "Your cold gun is less than nothing…next to the power of Mantis, called the Power Parasite!"
Granted, the speech was a bit flowery and over-done. But there was no denying the truth of it, as a beam of energy lanced from the Power Parasite's right hand, striking the ice blast and shattering it into shards before it could reach him. He then fired a blast of less intensity at the icy antagonist himself, which connected and sent him sprawling to the floor, as unconscious as Grodd and Capt. Comet were.
"Now, mortals," Mantis demanded smugly, "have you seen enough?"
"Captain Cold…flattened with just one burst!", Manhunter exclaimed, surprised that the energy vampire was packing so much more energy than he had been last time. Defeating him in this encounter would be much tougher than Manhunter had thought.
"Great Darkseid would have you kept alive, Manhunter," Mantis assured him. "Yet it is your decision. Surrender…or die!"
The clone bent over his newly fallen comrade, verifying that Capt. Cold was still among the living, before he answered. His face took on a look of grim defiance.
"I will not yield," he said simply.
"Nor will Star Sapphire," his female companion added.
"If you want us, Mantis," Manhunter went on, "you're gonna have to take us!"
Now it was the energy vampire's turn to wear a grimly defiant look. "And so I shall!", he vowed, preparing to step forward and make good his threat.
"Au contraire, insect," Star Sapphire declared, as she levitated herself from the floor. "You're in for a surprise!"
"Star Sapphire…wait!", Manhunter cried in alarm.
"Unlike Captain Cold," the pink-garbed woman went on, "I am more than a match for one such as Mantis! See?"
So saying, she nimbly evaded the power parasite's grasp and hovered above him, near the lab's ceiling.
"Stubborn, blind female fool!", Mantis railed as she remained free of his reach.
"How quaint!", she taunted. "A male chauvinist insect!"
With complete confidence that she had the upper hand, Star Sapphire then maneuvered herself into a position directly facing Mantis, and willed her tiara's power gem to send a potent energy blast at him…little realizing that she was playing directly into his hands.
"Sorry to shatter your super-ego like tha..uhhh!", she cried out, her triumphant boast unfinished as mantis met her energy bolt with one of his own, causing a feedback that hurt her far more than it would have damaged him.
"I feed on power," he reminded her, "and I can absorb it faster than your gem can produce it!"
As the stunned Star Sapphire fell, Manhunter leapt upward, tucking his legs underneath him and preparing himself to launch into a brutal kick.
"In that case, buster," he said hotly, "let's see how you fare against sheer physical skill!"
"Come ahead, clone," Mantis challenged, "and find out!"
Sadly, anger had betrayed Manhunter. Almost at once, he regretted his reckless action…but it was too late.
"As I can accumulate power," Mantis pointed out, "so too can I discharge it…like this!"
Once more fiery energy crackled from his hand, striking the off-balance Manhunter and jolting him into senselessness.
"Now," Mantis concluded, "let there be an end to your disobedience!"
Groggily, Star Sapphire crawled to her feet, even as Manhunter also slowly recovered his wits, groaning with the pain.
"Have it your way, Mantis," Sapphire said, stalling for time. "…but who is Darkseid, anyway? Why do you serve him?"
She already knew these things, of course; Manhunter himself had told her and the others just minutes before. But she had learned that getting an opponent to talk about himself, or his employer, was often useful. Particularly if a little seduction and flirtation was added for good measure.
Mantis, for his part, took the bait, warming to the subject. "Darkseid is a god," he replied. "The ruler of all Apokolips! He gave me my powers, and promised me mastery of Earth…the doomed dominion!"
That sounded a bit odd to Sapphire. If Darkseid planned to destroy Earth, what good would it do Mantis to rule over it? Still, she kept that thought to herself, asking instead:
"And what of the Secret Society? Where do we fit in?"
"As privileged slaves," answered the power parasite with a smirk. But even as he spoke, Star Sapphire gauged the distance…and acted. Once more she leapt into the air, arcing downward to grab Manhunter's arm.
"I will be slave to no man," she declared, "…ever! It's time we made our escape!"
Manhunter, though, was still somewhat groggy and slow on the uptake. "Escape..?", he echoed dumbly.
Zooming through the underground complex's corridors as quickly as her gem's power could carry them, Sapphire didn't even spare Mantis a backwards glance.
"Oui," she replied to Manhunter's question. "Or would you rather stay behind?"
The rush of air past his face helped Manhunter clear his head. "But what about the others?", he asked.
"The devil take the others, Manhunter!", was all the reply he got. She meant it, too.
"He will, Camille," Manhunter rejoined, referring to Sapphire by the human name he knew her by. "Believe me, he will…if we don't rescue them first!"
"Run, mortals…run!", Mantis called after them. "Return with reinforcements, if you will…Mantis will be waiting!"
"Au revoir, m'sieu Mantis!", Sapphire threw back. She and Manhunter then plunged through the last set of doors into the corridor they'd entered through, and back up the stairwell to the hidden entrance.
"Perfect!", Mantis thought as he watched them leave. "They will rise to the bait!"
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Issue 7
Feb 7, 2006 20:49:24 GMT -5
Post by Admin on Feb 7, 2006 20:49:24 GMT -5
And indeed they did, each in different fashion. Upon reaching the vacant lot they'd landed in, Manhunter vaulted into the SSOSV shuttlecraft, fired up the engines, and prepared to take off. He suddenly noticed that Star Sapphire had not joined him, and looked over his shoulder to see her taking off in a different direction.
"Star Sapphire…wait!", he called after her. "Where are you going? The Secret Society is now Earth's only protection against Darkseid!"
"Wrong, Manhunter, mon ami!", she replied. "We're just in it for the money…but there are those who eagerly defend Earth for free! I'm going to find a super-hero!"
So saying, Sapphire flew off, leaving Manhunter to make the trip back to the Sinister Citadel alone. He fretted about the fates of Capt. Cold, Grodd and Capt. Comet, still prisoners of Mantis. He hoped that he would be able to convince the other members of the team to join him in the battle to free them, and to rid the world of Darkseid's evil. And he hoped it was a fight that they could win.
He would have been surprised, and no little alarmed, to realize that other parties closer to home were also conspiring against the Secret Society. Approximately forty-eight hours earlier, in a nearby-to-San Francisco city jail, two armed guards had led a familiar figure, wearing a scaly golden costume, into a waiting cell.
"You may be the self-styled serpentine king of crime, Copperhead," said the first guard, a man named Gordon Zizernik who had four more years to go before he could retire with a solid pension. "But you're back behind bars, just the same!"
"You wouldn't act so smug," Copperhead replied, "if you knew what was goin' on right under your noses! I was set up…by a whole Secret Society of Super-Villains!"
The serpent scoundrel entered the cell, then turned around to face the guards. "They're organized...up to somethin' big!", he continued. "And I can lead you right to 'em!"
"Save it for the judge," Zizernik said wearily as he locked the cell door.
Copperhead was crestfallen. "You don't believe me?", he asked.
"Not a chance!", said Zizernik's partner, Peter McEnery. "Every two-bit hood we lock up invents a wild story of his own…but frankly, buddy, yours is the wildest yet!"
As they began walking away, Copperhead grabbed the bars and shook them, knowing all the while it was a futile gesture.
"It's true, I tell you…it's true!", he shouted, in vain. His ardent protestations ignored, Copperhead was left to brood in anger, alone.
Though not for long.
Behind Copperhead, a sudden explosion tore out the rear wall of his cell. The venomous villain spun around to look, and an expression of surprised joy bloomed on his face.
"Wha..?", he asked, momentarily startled. "This is too good to be true! I was all wrong about Grodd and the rest abandoning me! They've come to bail me out...the hard way!"
And so it would have seemed. But then, things are not always as they appear to be, as the reptilian rogue discovered to his chagrin as he stepped towards the opening and saw who had come to his rescue.
"No! Not you!", he cried, his protests once more falling on deaf ears. "Not you!"
Copperhead's scream of abject despair waned with the racing wind, and was lost by the time his once-skeptical jailers arrived. The two men stared for long seconds at the hole in the cell's back wall.
"Y'know, Pete," Zizernik mused, "maybe there was something to Copperhead's story after all!"
"Yeah," Pete replied. "Maybe!"
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Issue 7
Feb 7, 2006 20:50:09 GMT -5
Post by Admin on Feb 7, 2006 20:50:09 GMT -5
But that, as noted earlier, had been nearly two days before Manhunter and Star Sapphire escaped from Mantis. Back in the present again, at a certain bourgeois eatery in downtown Frisco that shall go unnamed, a crime was in the making.
Inside, among the fast food restaurant's other customers, were two men who, at first look, seemed utterly unremarkable. In their usual hang-out of Central City, their unmasked faces had adorned many a WANTED poster. But in San Francisco, no one recognized the Mirror Master and Capt. Boomerang while they were out of costume. It was something that the two Flash-foes planned to take full advantage of.
"Uh…wait," Sam Scudder told the cashier behind the counter, a pretty brunette named Terri Fletcher. "On second thought, make that five cheeseburgers and two fries…to go!"
Turning to his compatriot, he remarked, "Might as well be extravagant…right, Cap'n?"
"Whatever you say, Scudder," the civilian-clad Capt. Boomerang replied.
Scudder nodded approvingly. "You and me think alike, Digger," he noted. "We even eat the same junk food!"
Smirking, "Digger" Harkness declared, "We'll have to pull a job together, mate. Soon. Besides this one, I mean."
"Don't sweat it, Cap'n," Scudder said cheerfully. "We will! As for this one…just consider it my treat!"
By this time, the lovely Ms. Fletcher had finished putting the last bag of french fries into the carry-out bag. "That'll be $3.02, please, with tax," she told them. "And have you got the two pennies?"
Neither Scudder nor Harkness answered her, nor did either one make any move to withdraw money from their pockets. Instead, Scudder narrowed his gaze to catch that of the hapless waitress.
Eyes met briefly across the counter, and mirror contact lenses glittered hypnotically…glittered as they created the illusion that Scudder and his companion were vanishing!
"Th-they're gone," the dumbfounded Terri cried, "and the cheeseburgers and fries disappeared with them!"
In reality, of course, neither the two men nor their lunch had disappeared at all. They had merely become invisible to Terri Fletcher's eyes, thanks to the uncanny mirage cast by the special lenses Scudder was wearing. This allowed the pair to walk out without paying, and no one was any the wiser.
As the two strolled back in the direction of the Loman Building, they couldn't resist congratulating each other.
"Nice work, Mirror Master," Harkness said approvingly.
"Don't mention it, Capt. Boomerang," Scudder rejoined.
"What say we return to the Sinister Citadel?", Boomerang asked then.
"Suits me," the Mirror Master agreed. "I could use a little more excitement in my life!"
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Issue 7
Feb 7, 2006 20:50:37 GMT -5
Post by Admin on Feb 7, 2006 20:50:37 GMT -5
To be continued!
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