-1- The Parademon flew.
His mistress was not present but she was near. He was uneasy even in this limited oversight. Not that he would in any way fail her commands--to him this was literally unthinkable--but simple nervousness. Always he had been a servant of commands from on high. From his first moment of awareness in the breeding vats, to the orders of the Grand Lord Darkseid, to his imprisonment here on this planet, to his oath of fealty to his Mistress that the humans called "Knockout", he had always had direct clear orders and direct supervision.
Now his orders were not entirely clear, merely to attract attention without hurting anyone, and wait for appropriate response.
So for perhaps only the second time in his life, he had dared to ask a question.
"But mistress, what if the response is not appropriate?" he had asked.
She had smiled a grim smile. "You will know. Any lesser response, you will be able to simply ignore. And if by some chance we do face the wrong enemy, I shall come and lead them away."
Those words were assurance enough for his simple mind. But he was still worried.
Of course, his Mistress was right. The initial response was weak small-arms fire from the local law enforcement....what were they called? Police, yes, that was it. He could ignore them. He already knew not to strike back at such, much as it annoyed him. Those rules had been laid down by his mistress long before the current mission.
He hoped a proper, deserving target arrived soon. The mistress seemed to want them to fight a particular enemy, though he knew not which one.
*****************
-2- The third member of the conspiracy--and in some ways it's original creator and organizer--was sitting in his own private study. A fireplace was crackling and roaring before him, and he had a book in his hand. He had been reading Machiavelli, but he knew it by heart. Hitler was too pedantic and predictable, and his insanity showed through in his writings. Savage, while mentally stable, was also too focused on his own superiority and single focus of purpose in his few narratives, too full of self-congratulation and not nearly enough wisdom and tactics. Al Ghul, likewise, was too obsessed with his notion of utopia; why bother, when in reality it was all about power?
In the end, he had settled on the more obscure, often never officially published, works of the early Roman emperors, Augustus and Caligula. Each, in their own way, knew about power. Augustus knew the technical details of power; and while Caligula was a debauched madman, he knew a thing or two about manipulation and intimidation.
In a way this...forced respite....was somewhat pleasant, once he had recovered enough to properly appreciate it. It had given him time to rest and relax, and plan anew. In some ways that was the best part of being a truly powerful man, or as the weak minded referred to such, a villain. While he considered the distinction meaningless--power was power, no matter what goal you applied it in the name of--he did not mind the label, either. He found that it helped create the proper aura of fear and respect.
His cell phone trilled. He sucked in a breath in annoyance--while he understood the necessity of the things, and was no kind of Luddite, they still annoyed him--and answered it. "Yes?"
It was Brent. "The stratagem seems to be working. The Parademon is on the loose, and none of the costumed vigilantes has responded--yet."
He chuckled to himself. The Squad was already splintering, excellent. "Send your pet soldier to deal with him, then," he replied, and hung up.
He chuckled softly to himself and returned his attentions to the narratives of Caligula. Yes, things were going well indeed. They had taken longer than he had anticipated to reach this point--much longer. But at last, his inevitable triumph was beginning to form.
*****************
-3- Checkmate had had problems enough dealing with the man who had been trapped inside the false OMAC armor. Doctor Jace had never been in their custody, and Doctor Stone had been less than cooperative. Besides which, they had already known that the original source of the technology was alien.
The conspiracy that had stolen him had the problem, with even further difficulties. They had tried torturing Stone, but this had been less than effective. He was the sort who dug in his heels and resisted all the more stubbornly, the sort who would only break at the point of death. One of the few traits he had passed on to his son, apparently.
But Wilkerson was able to do the one thing that Jace and Stone had been unable to do, create a firm, long-range form of mind control over the poor soul. Instead of the remote control his predecessors had worked with, he had used hypnosis, mental conditioning, chemicals like sodium pentathol, and good old-fashioned brain washing. The result was a much more placid and obedient soldier.
Oh, he wasn't nearly as powerful as he had been in the suit, but he didn't need to be, he now had all the lightning reflexes and enhanced strength that Wilkerson could give him. To solve the problem of his lack of mobility, he had been given rocket boosters attached to military hardware boots. This should have been enough.
Or so they thought.
The soldier launched from Wilkerson's base via a long launch tube that brought him out southwest of the capital. From there it wouldn't be that long of a flight to find the Parademon.
But of course, the Parademon was all too happy to meet him.
The soldier had no memory of who he had been before he had been put into the false OMAC armor. That had been true even before Wilkerson got to work on him.
Perhaps it was better that way. That he had no idea what he had lost.
*****************
-4- "I don't see the point of this," Electrocutioner grumbled.
"That's because you're a vigilante with no detective skills," Manhunter replied, but not unkindly.
"All right, enough chest-beating," Waller grumbled. "What have you got?"
"Now that Brent and Roberts made the mistake of identifying themselves to us," Manhunter said, "We can trace their movements."
"We don't have access to their phone lines or anything else in our current situation," Steel pointed out.
"I agree," Manhunter said, cracking his knuckles. "Which means we have to do it the old fashioned way. One of the benefits of having a secret identity. Manhunter's a wanted man. But Mark Shaw should be able to get in and out and get the relevant information without too much trouble."
"Surely the conspirators know who you are." Geo-Force said.
"I'm sure they do. I'm also sure they won't expect this tactic from me. We should have some time to pull this off before they start coming after us in our secret identities."
"How reassuring," Cavalier said dryly.
"None of us here are hackers," said Manhunter, "But I'm sure I can get the information through other means. Sarge Steel, I may need your help...."
*****************
-5- The Parademon saw the soldier coming for him and grinned ferally. No sign of his mistress....this must have been who she had been expecting. She would come to aid him, though. She could not fly, but had convinced the human Steel to get her a rocket backpack shortly before this betrayal by those from the...from the
Pen-ta-gon. It was a tactical advantage, she said, and that much he had certainly understood.
He flew towards the enemy, meaning to collide with him in midair in a contest of strength, but the man pointed a finger at him, and a bolt of glowing red plasma shot from the man's wrist. (Wilkerson had done his job well.)
The Parademon absorbed the blast with a grunt. He'd experienced worse in training back at home on Apokolips. Which was not to say it didn't hurt.
He came in again, faster this time. Against a normal opponent, even a super-powered one, this would have been unsettling. But of course, the soldier was no normal opponent. He wasn't even fazed.
The soldier delivered a hard kick to the Parademon's chin as he came in. The Parademon was knocked back, but quickly regained momentum; as the soldier reached for his throat, the Parademon batted his hands away and grabbed the foe's throat instead. The soldier responded with simultaneous hard chops to each side of the Parademon's neck, which did not phase him, but he brought his wrist cannon to bear, which belched plasma into the Parademon's face, and at the same time brought his knees up hard. Neither attack affected the Parademon's alien biology much, but it was enough to loosen the Parademon's grip and knock him away.
It was at precisely that moment that Knockout arrived, smashing into the soldier. "Use your axe!" she shouted to the Parademon in the language of Apokolips.
The Parademon was annoyed at himself for not thinking of that sooner; but anger quickly turned to amusement as he drew the weapon and went to his mistress' aid.
*****************
-6- Manhunter, Waller, and Steel had agreed to go together to this little clandestine meeting; Geo-Force had volunteered to come along. It was not the first time he had dealt with such dealings, he said. Waller thought he was probably thinking about the deals he had made to save his sister.
Even though Waller had spent years and years dealing with absurd bureaucracy and conspiracy, she preferred to deal with it in a bull-in-a-china-shop manner. Actually meeting in a conspirational manner didn't suit her. No doubt what Brent and company had intended.
So there they were, in the middle level of a parking garage in Morningside, Maryland, not far from the capital, waiting for someone from Checkmate who might--just might--help them. Waller felt like they were in the middle act of "All the President's Men" or some much more low-budget conspiracy film.
Twenty minutes later--twenty long minutes later--there was the gleam of light off of a silver-plated revolver pointing at them from someone using a Saturn as a cover. Slowly, the wielder of the weapon moved closer.
Manhunter tensed, but Steel put a placating hand out. "Cameron Chase," Steel said. It was not a question.
"You're all wanted dead or alive," Chase said.
"And you believe those charges are just?" Manhunter asked.
"Doesn't matter what I think."
"Yeah right," Waller sneered. "That's why you're here by yourself."
Chase hesitated, but the gun never wavered. "What do you want?"
"General Brent and former Congressman Roberts are the rising stars in the wake of our....difficulty," Steel said.
"No kidding," Chase said. "Your point is?"
"Our point is, who are they working with, and for?" Manhunter said. "Who are their contacts, allies, backers?"
"Co-conspirators," Waller put in.
Chase finally lowered her gun. "I'll look into it. I might have something for you tonight. Maybe. But don't get your hopes up."
"Hope's in dear supply these days," Geo-Force said, quietly.
Chase stared at him for a long moment, the nodded and slipped away.
"Wait, how will we contact her?" Waller protested.
Geo-Force shook his head. "No need."
"Why not?" Waller seethed
"She'll find us," Manhunter said.
"Not if she turns us in!"
"Somehow," said Steel, "I don't think so."
*****************
-7- The soldier was proving to be a bit more resilient than either of them had thought.
They did not realize that he was the false OMAC from the Markovia campaign; but it probably wouldn't have mattered if they had. Then, as now, his capacity for endurance was great. Part of that was what the OMAC armor had done to him before he'd lost it; part of it was what Wilkerson had done to him since. And back then, they'd both the entire Squad roster, the entire Titans roster, and some men with energy rifles going at him. This time it was just Knockout and the Parademon, alone, with no official sanction.
For the first time, Knockout experienced some doubt.
The Parademon had no such problem, of course, he had faith in his mistress, and their ability to conquer any adversary. And she had reminded him of the one thing he had made the mistake of forgetting; his axe.
He wielded it now. Forged of the darkest metals in the most brutal forges of Apokolips. He held it high and waited, as Knockout traded blows with the soldier. She went to kick him in the head, but he caught her foot with one hand, and brought his other elbow smashing down upon her leg. She gritted her teeth against the pain; such a strike could not break her leg, but it did bruise it. She went to strike again but the soldier threw her away, towards the Parademon.
Parademon wanted to catch his mistress, and she had told him on this world compassion was valued; but he also knew that she would survive, and that if he allowed himself to be distracted by her the soldier could use the opportunity to kill them both.
So he slipped aside and closed with the soldier, looking him in the eyes for the first time....seeing the close cropped brown hair, the empty gray eyes.
He swung his axe hard at the man's neck, and it struck home.....but the man merely jolted, winced, and stared at him.
The soldier smiled at the Parademon, and shook his head.
He raised his wrist plasma launcher, but before he could fire, Parademon brought his axe down on it.
It exploded, and both of them were covered in seething, scalding, burning plasma.
Knockout shouted, watching them fall, and shot down after them.
*****************
-8- They had left behind the "surveillance proof dome" and were now hiding in one of the safe houses that Katana was using. Waller was uneasy about it. They all were; but Waller showed it the most. She had issues with not being in control.
"Please stop pacing a hole in the floor," Katana said, without looking at her.
"They'll come for us, I know they will," Waller said, pacing irritably.
"Parademon and Knockout are running interference as planned," Geo-Force reminded her. "It's on the news."
"Then Chase will sell us out!"
"No she won't," Steel said with confidence.
Waller stormed out of the room, muttering to herself.
Manhunter and Cavalier flinched as both of their cell phones started to ring at once.
"What is it?" Vixen asked them.
"Vixen, honey," Manhunter said, not looking up from the text message he had received. "Check your email."
"Your secondary account," Cavalier added.
"Katana, please?" Vixen looked at her.
Katana rolled her eyes. "Of course," she snorted.
Vixen sat down, booted up the computer, and opened her secondary web-based email account, which had been encrypted three different ways after the Calculator affair, encryption codes they were sure that Brent and his allies could not have even known about, let alone had time to break.
"Chase says that Brent and Roberts have spent some time visiting a well appointed private house in Culpepper, Virginia. Also, there had been extensive visits by doctors from the nearest hospital there.
"Genetics, like Wilkerson?" Manhunter frowned.
"No," Vixen said, "Good old-fashioned general practitioners. They're monitoring someone apparently. Chase doesn't know who, but suspects it's something to do with post-op recovery."
"So that's why their ally is so secretive," Cavalier said. "Recovering from a hospital stay. Most interesting."
"What is?" Waller wanted to know, coming into the room again finally.
They told her.
She and Steel exchanged a look, grinned in satisfaction, and they made plans to move out.
*****************
-9- The Parademon and the soldier hit the ground, both of them still burning.
Slowly, they staggered to their feet and started trading punches once more.
Knockout landed nearby, knowing that it was only a matter of time before some hero or other showed up. This area of the country in particular was still sensitive to such madness since the Starro Crisis.
The Parademon made a double-armed over-hand chop with his axe, meaning to split the soldier's skull, but the soldier not only caught the blade in his hands, he started trying to wrench it away from the Parademon. Knockout charged in with her shoulder, and the impact knocked the soldier down and sent the axe tumbling. Quick as she could, she got back up and started stomping away. The Parademon scrambled around to the soldier's head and started punching it as the flames died down.
"Get your axe!" she shouted at him as the soldier kicked her away. But she was not so easily dissuaded this time, and jumped hard on the soldier as he tried to get up, causing the street to break and the two of them to fall into the sewer below.
She pounded away at the soldier's head, ignoring his strikes to her ribcage, until the Parademon returned with his axe. He brought it down on the soldier's head, two, three, four, five times.
On the sixth stroke, there was a sickening
crunch, and the soldier lay still.
"Finally," she breathed. "Now we must flee, before other heroes find us."
The Parademon frowned, but answered, "As you say, Mistress."
They fled into the sky.
*****************
-10- The man was still sitting in his chair. Still reading. Nothing so deeply philosophical this time, nor even particularly authoritarian. Just some ripping semi-autobiographical, semi-fictionalized activities of a black ops squad commander. The man smiled to himself, thinking fondly of the good old days--not that long ago, really--when everyone, even the whiny liberals and unmotivated libertarians had cheered such men as heroes. But, not any more.
He sighed.
Things were getting a tad more urgent, and the situation, especially in light of the Parademon battle, had not gone quite as they had planned. That being so, he had reluctantly agreed with Brent that some protection for his own person might be in order. Hellbore was here (the man sneered at the name), as well as several of Malthus' Robots and Wilkerson's pet soldiers.
So he wasn't entirely surprised when the front door came crashing in. Hellbore was not quite as foolish as his name, the man noted; as he hung back and let the robots and soldiers take point, converging from other areas of the house to defend him. Only after the battle had been joined did the syringe-wielding villain join the fray.
That brash fool Cavalier--the one who, along with the Apokolips drones, should have sided with them--was weaving his rapier in intricate patterns, trying to destroy Hellion's syringes. Electrocutioner and Manhunter threw punches left and right, Vixen took the power of a Cheetah and started tearing robots apart. The conspirator wondered idly why Electrocutioner wasn't using his killing voltage attacks. Perhaps he wanted to show his physical strength. Such pointless bravado.
Steel and Waller were there too, and pulled handguns and were blasting away. But abruptly they caught sight of him....
"
No.....how....?" Waller lowered her weapon.
"Hold." the man said, and for the moment his forces regrouped. The Squad members were staring at him, also.
"You died," Waller said, staring. "Impossible...."
"Oh come now, Waller," he chided her. "You're not the only one who can survive a head shot. Our experiences are not so different, really."
"We should have known," Steel fumed. "Wilkerson and Malthus were working for him back then, also."
"And Brent admitted as much," Waller was close to tears of frustration. "Openly admitted they worked together before he was shot down!"
"Exactly. It's amazing you finally put the facts together to even find me," Wade Eiling said. Then began to laugh.