-1-Where exactly the staff had gotten to was problematic at best. Enchantress knew it would seek a host, but that was no clear indication of where it would go.
Judging by the various records and accounts of it down the years, the staff was not intelligent, as such. It served as a magnifying force for evil, and was drawn to seek out a host. It was not, apparently, too discriminating about a host, and was willing to serve whomever picked it up. Had said person already been evil, they were inspired to greater heights of darkness; if they had been good or ambivalent, they were then corrupted, but accomplished less evil than another might.
Not for the first time, Enchantress wished she had run across the staff in one of her previous lives. No disrespect to June, and thanks to June, she was confident, she would find it sooner, rather than later.
While it was true that she found June's predilection for technology tiresome and somewhat annoying, it was equally true that Enchantress was glad to have someone around who could handle such things for her. While people's fundamental nature had not changed over time, the details of how they went about expressing that nature did. Like fashion. Enchantress had found herself left behind by the modern world long before June became her host, and having someone to deal with such strange vagaries of technomancy (as she thought of it) was very helpful.
With Erinyes' help, she was able to almost immediately eliminate both North America and Europe as likely suspects. That narrowed it down to either South America or Africa. That was still disheartening to both witch spirits; it was a lot of territory to cover, and there was simply no way they could do it in the vacation time they had left. (Not understanding that time had already run out and the Squad was already tentatively on their trail, of course.)
But they would do the best thing they could, and head for South America first, as that was closer than Africa. They would search the coast and then move inward.
Another consideration was money. Magic couldn't simply conjure more of it out of thin air, and eventually June and Mitch's savings would run out. Not yet, but relatively soon. Enchantress knew ways to use magic to steal money, of course, but if Mitch witnessed it their control of him would be that much more difficult to maintain.
If the money looked like it really was going to run out, they would return to the Squad empty handed and start saving money up to start again. Neither Enchantress nor Erinyes seriously wanted to consider that possibility.
But both of them brooded over it on the flight to South America, while Mitch slept peacefully beside them.
But more, Erinyes felt her first tremor of doubt about the whole business. Not in a moral sense, of course. But in a practical one. Surely they could just drop the hammer on Mitch again if he was resurrected?
Too risky, Enchantress told her.
We need a long-term solution.Erinyes sat back in her chair, silenced but not satisfied.
*****************
-2-Vixen, Manhunter and Electrocutioner had the advantage of skipping London and going straight on to Vienna. Countered against this was the disadvantage that the trail grew cold there.
The staff at the Boltzmann institute were not very helpful, albeit not through any fault of their own. They told the three Squad members that June and Mitch had studied the obscure magical research files in the basement archives, but not which ones.
“Should we call Waller and ask if she can get the spy satellite information out of Checkmate again?” Vixen frowned.
“Only as a last resort,” Manhunter answered. Ever since the virus incident, he had felt he needed to be more of a detective again. He caught Electrocutioner's eye; the murderous vigilante felt the same way, he could see. “Let's hit the airport,” Manhunter went on.
A sour grin spread over Electrocutioner's face. “We're gonna strong arm them?”
“Down boy,” Vixen muttered.
At first, Electrocutioner looked mad, then he burst out laughing.
“Not to repeat myself, but only if we must,” Manhunter said. “We'll ask nicely first, rely on our Checkmate connections second, and strong arm people behind the terminal third.”
The scary thing was, neither Vixen nor Electrocutioner knew if he was kidding.
*****************
-3-Hours earlier.... Killer Frost had a more difficult time, first of all in getting away unnoticed. She had already worked off her embarrassment in Gotham, but that didn't mean they weren't keeping a close eye on her. Theoretically she could leave at any time...but there was a safe bet that she would be watched if she did. If not by the Squad themselves, then by Waller's spies who would report back to her.
Frost felt edgy, and restless. Not just because of the June situation, either. Her “vacation” in Gotham had made her feel more restless, not less. The Squad was a nice bit of job security and free license to freeze people, but she was sick of doing what she was told. She wanted to be out there again, free to kill whomever, whenever she wanted. Typically of her, the thought that she might lose and get busted again didn't matter to her. Or to put it another way, doing her own thing was more important than the consequences. Story of her life.
But now she ran into the roadblock of her previous choices making it difficult for her to follow June and Mitch. Or more accurately, Mark, Mari and Paul. She couldn't just sneak onboard their plane.
But she knew where they were going, generally. That helped.
So she waited...waited.... waited...and then snuck out during the shift change. It wasn't that she objected to freezing one or more of the idiot guards; it's just that she knew if she did, they'd never let her be a part of the Squad again. She would accept that...if she had to. But only if she had to.
Killing other people was no trouble to her. Unfortunately she had no time to play with any of them; this was all business, at least until she got to wherever June and Mitch were.
So it took her a little time to get to an airport. Checkmate and various super types could hop on a plane at any time, but otherwise the airports were much more careful these days. Granted, she was a Meta, but if she just claimed Checkmate or Squad authority to commander a plane, there would be a verification call to Waller, and that would be the end of that.
So she snuck out to a local private charter airport, charmed a pilot and went aboard with him.
Charming him was easy, and indeed she might have been willing to pay him what she promised if he went where she wanted to go, and maybe not even kill him afterwards.
But when she said she wanted to go to Europe, he panicked.
“We've barely got enough gas for that!” he protested.
She pouted. “You promised.”
“Yeah, yeah I did! I thought you meant to go like to Boston or something!” The man was sweating. His hair was thinning, but he was still healthily built and charming enough in his way. But now he was scared. Sometimes she liked that. But not right now, not while he was piloting the plane, and she needed him to take her where she wanted to go.
“Come on, honey. It's no big deal.”
“No big deal?? I could lose my license over this!”
She rolled her eyes. “Your license?!? Get serious, honey.”
Unfortunately, he decided to be serious. He reached for the radio.
She grabbed his hand and dropped its temperature twenty degrees. “Don't do this.... don’t be stupid.” She looked him in the eyes. “Don't. Throw. Your. Life. Away.”
“Oh....okay.”
She let go of the hand. “Good boy.”
He shook it nervously. “Am I gonna lose the arm?”
“It'll warm up....if you don't piss me off.”
He gulped. “Yes ma'am.”
“Good boy. Now, this ain't like a big commercial jet, probably nobody's gonna freak back at home if you don't respond right away. But I'm sure when we get close to Europe, people might start to ask questions. Tell them whatever you need to so we can make an emergency landing, k?”
He nodded, sweating even more.
*****************
-4-Matoury, Guyane (French Guiana).
Mitch and June's plane landed. Their pilot was almost as nervous as Frost’s had been; not because of his passengers per se; there were still seven others passengers with them on the flight. But the pilot never liked coming here.
The airport was an airstrip, a rudimentary tower and two low buildings.
“Are you sure we can find something here?” Mitch frowned.
June touched his hand and sent another wave of enchantment through him. “Have patience, my love.” She smiled at him. He smiled back, quieted, for the moment.
Erinyes was coming around to Enchantress' view on the necessity of this, but she still felt.... uneasy about it.
Enchantress sensed her concern.
Relax, little sister, we are doing well.
How can we be so sure?Because, child, there have been some unusual events occurring around Ill du Diable. The elder witch chuckled.
Devil's Island. How appropriate.Erinyes; unease grew.
I just hope we find it quickly, if it's even there.*****************
-5-Cavalier, Knockout and the Parademon found themselves in the briefing room, staring at Waller.
She wasted no time. “Some time last night, Killer Frost went AWOL. Also last night, a charter plane flew without clearance out of United States territory, on a general flight plan that will take it towards Europe. Which is where June and Mitch were seen last, and where the other members of the Squad went.”
Cavalier frowned. “She's following the others?”
“Apparently so. Without my knowledge. I've radioed ahead to Manhunter. They will continue to pursue June and Mitch. It's a safe bet that they will be gone by the time you get there. If you can capture and contain Frost in the mean time, great; if not, she will undoubtedly follow them, and so you will continue on their trajectory in the hopes that she will be trapped between you.”
“You will not, I trust, be alerting the local authorities,” Knockout said.
Waller nodded sourly. “Correct. Checkmate has been informed, and ground agents will give you what assistance they can, but we are keeping this very quiet. Knockout, you're in command, until and unless you catch up with Manhunter. He has final say in the field.”
Knockout nodded. Cavalier sneered in the background, but had learned enough not to say anything. The Parademon, of course, was stoic, standing by his mistress.
*****************
-6-When Waller radioed Manhunter, she had run into a logistical problem. In focusing on Frost, they had lost track of June and Mitch. The satellite network was not infinite, and more importantly, neither was Checkmate's access to it.
So, even if they had wished Waller to help them continue to track June and Mitch, she would have been unable to do so.
So they continued their questioning of airport staff. They had just finally gotten their South American lead when there was a commotion at the other end of the airport.
“Frost,” Vixen spat.
“We should have locked her up for good after the Gotham case,” Manhunter hissed.
Electrocutioner hung his head. “Let me talk to her, okay guys?”
“We're not letting her off the hook this time,” Vixen all but snarled at him.
Uncharacteristically, Electrocutioner put his hands up in an earnestly placating gesture. “I know, I know. But I'm the only one that might be able to talk her down without a fight.”
Vixen and Manhunter both nodded in unhappy agreement with his logic.
*****************
-7-When they got to the plane they found Interpol, local police, and a discreet Checkmate agent or two in business suits, swarming around the plane.
The pilot was chilled and shivering, half-frozen but not quite to death. With proper medical care, he would probably live.
“Sh-she d-did this to me as s-s-s-soon as-s w-we lan-nded,” he chattered out with great difficulty. “Th-then she ran into the back of the p-plane. I didn't s-see her g-get off.”
“None of the hatches were blown, or doors opened?” Manhunter asked urgently.
The shaking pilot shook his head. “N-no.”
They set to searching the plane.
They tore past Frost, sitting in the third row, head down, in their haste. Frost's half-freezing of the guard had been a calculated move to make her own body temperature normal. They herded her off the plane with the other sheep, and when they got ready to start questioning people, she touched one policeman and cooled him just a little. As he doubled over in shock, she slipped away into the crowds.
She wasted no time in congratulating herself, instead looking for the Squad plane so she could sneak on board it.
*****************
-8-They spent twenty minutes going over that plane with a fine toothcomb before the policeman had recovered enough to relay the facts to them.
“Gone again.” Manhunter blistered the air with an impressive number of curses.
“We can waste more time searching for her,” Vixen said, “Or we can go on after June and Mitch, and let Knockout hunt for Frost.”
“Want me to stay?” Electrocutioner asked.
“I appreciate that you're trying to help,” Manhunter said, and he meant it, “But it's better if you stay with us. Besides, from all we've been able to figure out, she's probably after June too, though God knows why. We know they went to Guiana, let's get going. One way or another, Frost will come to us.”
*****************
-9-It took the two witches the better part of the day to make it out to Devil's Island. The abrupt changes back and forth in the time zones were inflicting serious jet lag on both Erinyes and Mitch, leaving them tired and disoriented. Enchantress had been living from host body to host body long enough that she could divorce herself from such concerns personally, but was nevertheless aware of the deleterious effect it was having on their shared body. She was practical enough, in that sense; it did no good to wear the body out. Only the relative nearness of their powerful prize (or so she hoped) drove her on.
Soon, sister, she urged Erinyes.
Soon we shall have what we seek. Then we may rest all you want or need.June made a noncommittal grunt that was not prepared to commit itself. She had magically whammied Mitch twice more to keep him quiet. Her resources were beginning to fray. Normally Mitch would be much more quiescent, but the circumstances were provoking his native intelligence. Which was ironic, given what they were doing here.
Quietly, Erinyes' doubts were beginning to grow. She knew she had made her choice some time ago and could not look back, but she was worried all the same.
What if, she thought to herself for the first time,
the price was too high?Enchantress heard the thought, but was not especially alarmed by it.
It's never too high, dear, if you get what you want. I learned that long ago. And after all, playing by the rules carries it's own price, no? A very heavy one.True, Erinyes answered, unhappily.
Moments of doubt are forgivable, little sister. We all have them. But then we leave them behind.Further dialog was cut off as the boat reached the island. The witches had been surprises and ironically amused to learn that the former prison was now a launching pad for various ESA and French space projects, and as such, had a moderately significant tourist trade. It was the odd things happening at the launch pad that had called their attention to the place, most notably blood red weeds growing up around the rocket. There had even been one "accidental" death for a worker on-site in the past few days. Apparently the staff, if responsible, had an ambient affect on the local area as well, at least if it was not wielded by a host.
This would make their work easier and difficult in roughly equal measures. Easier, because they could blend in with the crowds, and harder to find the staff in those crowds. Especially if someone else had found it first.
Enchantress still had her personal disdain for technology, but this time Erinyes showed initiative.
Think about it; once we've seen and done everything on Earth, where else is there to go, except out there? We know there are other planets. The Starro thing, Thanagar, Apokolips....Perhaps, little one, perhaps, Enchantress agreed grudgingly.
But what if our immortality is tied to Earth?Well, perhaps the staff can help with that too, Erinyes countered.
Enchantress let go of a little mental chuckle.
I'll give you this much, sister. You are thinking proactively. That is a good thing. But we have to find it first!In that event, weary as they were, both witches were prepared to fight to take the staff. If an ordinary person had taken hold of it, they would be no trouble. If a metahuman or cleverer soul had grasped hold of it, things would get bloodier. In either case, however, the new wielder of the staff, if there were one, would be uncertain, unsteady, and inexperienced. It should be easy enough to take the staff from any such person.
Fortunately there was no launch today, but there would be one soon. So crowds were thin and manageable, and if there was any staff-related commotion, they were sure to be aware of it.
Soon enough, Enchantress felt a welcoming chill in her blood.
We are close, little one, very close.They had come to the rocky, Atlantic facing beach. The tide washed back and forth.... and there was a pale violet glow from below.
I can feel it too, Erinyes thought, in equal measures of excitement and fear.
They leaned over the short cliff and looked down at the coast proper.
Then...
they....
saw....
it....
