A warm November evening in the once-great city of Las Vegas was uncommon but not unheard of. Late nights normally ranged in the high forties to mid-fifties, but on this particular evening it was still in the high seventies. Several blocks from where Kate Spencer stood, the sounds of construction filled the night air.
The speed of “The Strip's” rebuilding amazed her.. Granted, having super-heroes from across the country swinging by regularly only helped, but it was still an amazing feat to pull off.. The destruction had been so massive, so extensive that Kate, herself, had believed the town would never recover. She supposed Plas was right:
”Where gambling is involved, there will always be a way to build”.Even the nearly completed twenty-five story Star Fish Casino and Hotel had gone up so quick she couldn’t help but wonder if Flash himself had something to do with it. It had helped that the remnants of the team had been continuously busy since…
Since it had all gone to hell.
It proved that the life turned on a dime sometimes. A year ago they were all together, struggling with their demons, both inside and outside of the team; but they were still a team. Now, half the team was gone; friends no longer talking to each other, and in some cases downright hostile. A city devastated, reputations destroyed, lives destroyed…
...lives lost.
She lowered her head, fighting the image; the little soldier, her little boy. Cameron. Fight it. Fight it. She took a deep breath. Not the time. Still, she couldn’t help wonder if she'd become some kind of monster. Her little boy was gone for good, and here she stood, in this costume, still fighting everything from party store robbers to corporations with super-agendas. It made no sense to stay at this all while she hurt so much.. That wasn’t totally true she admitted to herself quickly. Much of her decision was for Barbara. Nobody got through those dark days without scars, deep scars, and Babs had some of the worst. Well her and Zatanna,
She who could not be mentioned, as Eel was fond of calling her. n Never in front of Barbara, though.
Batwoman’s voice came across her ear piece, interrupting her unpleasant visit into the past. “There it is. That momentary glitch in the security system that immediately corrects itself, just like the last bank. Everybody in place?”
Manhunter responded immediately followed by Plastic Man with his usual low humor quip. There was no response from Grace at all. There was nothing unusual about that anymore. When the roof caved in on the team, Grace sat on the fence the entire time, right up to the final meltdown at the ruins of their old headquarters. That final divide between Barbara, Dinah and Helena – not more than two hours after the funeral. It was the ugliest fight Kate had ever—
“Manhunter! Where the hell are you?” Batwoman’s voiced hissed into her earpiece.
Kate Spencer snapped to attention as she took two steps forward and leapt off the side of the building. Her body spun around as she hurtled downward twenty-five floors. She pulled her body upright and brought out her staff. The two ends glowed a radiant blue before a small blast of concussive force shot out the bottom end, slowing her descent onto the roof of the bank.
Finding the locked door to the staircase she brought up her red and silver glove, firing an electric volt that immediately released the electronic lock. “Hope you got it, red,” she muttered out loud.
“I’ve got the security system locked down, don’t worry about my end of it – you stay focused.”
She wanted to retort but bit her lip. Barbara was right, she hadn’t been focusing and was already seconds behind in the plan. She moved quickly, silently descending, counting the floors as she went. Her new face-mask switched to infra-red, giving her an easy view of the staircase. When she got to the third floor she opened the door slowly, then peered through the crack of the door as she checked the long hallway in front of her.
With no one to be seen she made her way quickly to the other end, then glanced around the corner. She scoped out two men with automatic weapons standing at the door of the President’s office, just where all the other thefts had occurred.
“Ready,” she whispered.
“Waiting for the energy spike,” Batwoman whispered back into her ear. “Once it’s detected you are free to… go, go!” she suddenly exclaimed.
Manhunter did just that, sprinting toward the end of the hall before the two gunmen could even register what hurtled at them. The one on the right reacted slightly faster and had his gun completely raised a split second before both of Manhunter’s boots smashed into his face. As her body slammed into him, she twisted to the left and brought her staff down on the back of the other's neck, knocking him unconscious.
She caught herself as her feet hit the floor and spun the staff around while firing a blue concussive force blast directly at the door, ripping it off its hinges and into the room, striking two more men with guns. Kate stepped on the door as she entered, ignoring the cries of pain from the two men underneath. She found their leader and raised her staff at him. He turned around, light brown skin beaded with sweat. He wore tight jeans torn in several places and nothing more than a tank top. He was extremely muscular with the veins in his oversized arms literally pulsing but his eyes that really caught her off-guard. They were not a color she had ever seen before. Though the pupils were as blue as the Caribbean shoreline, the irises were green, a fluorescent green. So bright were they that for a second Kate could have sworn they were glowing. She hesitated.
“You’re Manhunter,” he stated in a gruff baritone while a wicked grin crossed his face.
That moment's hesitation was all it took for the large man to pick up the desk in front of him, as if it were nothing more than cardboard, and throw it at her. She tried to spin away but the corner of the desk caught her shoulder and knocked her off-balance.
“And you’re rather a rude man to strike a woman.” The waste basket suddenly shifted into Plastic Man, and threw a haymaker to the leader's face. He let out a cry of pain as he grabbed his hand. It had felt like striking a cement wall. “Who the hell are you!?”
“I was given the name Mayme and it suits me.” He reached around and grabbed Plastic Man by the arms to twist them together into a knot. “And you are the lamest member of the bunch from what I’ve been told.”
A blast of blue energy to his back sent the man through the ceiling, giving Eel a chance to untwist himself. The ceiling gave way and both Mayme and Grace crashed back down, passing them through the floor below.
Though they hadn’t been together for months now, Kate Spencer couldn’t help herself when she’s saw Grace in action. Her ex-lover was Amazonian in looks, especially when she was in the middle of a spectacular fistfight, like now.
Grace’s blows came one on top of the other, never giving the over-muscled man who called himself Mayme a chance to react. By the time he tossed her off of him, both Manhunter and Plastic Man were ready with coordinated attacks. Striking the same spot on the neck at the same moment, the two immediately dropped him.
They stood in silence for a moment as they caught their breath and the dust settled around them. “He knew who we were, like he was expecting us,” Eel observed.
“We got him,” Manhunter said into her earpiece. “What do you want us to do with him?”
“Take him into custody and drop him off at the nearest precinct.”
“What the hell?!” Grace uttered as she brushed off the dirt from her uniform. “Shouldn’t we question him first, find out why he’s breaking into the office of every president of every national bank in the country? Get to the bottom of this?”
“That isn’t part of our job anymore, Grace,” Batwoman replied coolly before disconnecting herself from the link.
“Good times,” Plas muttered to himself.
******************************
“I’m getting tired of that one,” Barbara Gordon muttered after she turned off her link. “She needs to learn how to follow directions and keep her mouth shut or she’s out.”
“Be careful, you’re starting to sound a lot like
him,” came a familiar voice came from the far side of the room.
She swung her computer chair around with a sad little smile on her face. “Says the guy standing in the shadow.”
Dick Grayson sighed. “He's rubbed off on both of us I guess.” He sprang up from the sofa and headed towards the door. “Don’t worry, Buddy and I got it from here. We’ll get in, get your information and get out before the LVPD even figures out his real name.”
She nodded but said nothing, just watched him leave. Ever since Nightwing had joined the Outsiders, she was uncomfortable. Was he doing it for her or for Batman? He had told her point blank he wanted to be part of this team for her. After everything that had happened, he wanted to make sure she was okay. Ever since her life had been so messed up by both Zatana and especially Helena it seemed everyone was watching her. She couldn’t blame them really but she hated it. It made her angry.
As soon as she heard the elevator take him down from her new penthouse, she turned her attention back to her computer screen. With everyone gone she could refocus on her number one priority: Anarky. Just thinking his name made her blood boil. No matter how betrayed she felt by Helena, it could never compare to what he had done to her… to all of them.
Where would Lonnie be now, she pondered as she sipped her coffee. The Church of Blood had been quiet since before Vegas was devastated. She had gotten wind of rumors that Blood himself was still alive – that he hadn’t died by the hands of his so called “son” Anarky after all. She'd originally planned to send Kate and Dinah to look into it but then all hell broke loose. Still all surveillance surrounding the church itself had shown nothing out of the norm.
Except…
Barbara froze the most recent picture of the church before bringing up an older picture, taken days before their first encounter with Brother Blood, and before July eleventh. She studied both pictures, taking notes that would stay etched in her mind for all eternity. The most immediately interesting fact was in that latter picture: the Church of Blood stood undamaged while every building around suffered various stages of destruction. Not one scratch within any of that marble. It was something to keep in the back of her mind, though it didn’t bring her any closer to her subject.
“You don’t have to look, he will come to you when it is time; he won’t even know that he is going to do it.”
She froze. She knew the voice. She had heard it for days, right after the final battle. He was guiding her, or at least that’s what he had been telling her. She was listening… but cautiously.
“Stranger?” She turned her head as she called out. Nobody there. She hadn’t really expected there to be. Usually it was just that damn disembodied voice, only a quarter of a time was there something to see. She wondered briefly why she followed it, but then answered her own question.
Because he’s telling me the truth, I know it.So don’t worry about Anarky, he was telling her – better said than done. He had been such a big part of the destruction of her original team. Not all of it, mind you, but a big part of it. She would try one more lead before putting it on the shelf. Lonny had a mother. It was about time to visit her.
**********************
He flew so high above the clouds, his body tingled in an almost erotic euphoria. As he dropped back down, the wind whistled around him. He let himself enjoy the free-fall feeling before his powers again tapped into the vultures in the area around him and he brought himself upward on the airstream. He’d never get used to that. Never. And if he did then it would be time to quit.
The exhilaration he felt was only partially from these powers. His life was on a whole new track now and it felt good - felt right. His amazing wife, Ellen, had been all for the move to Las Vegas and even their son seemed to take a shine to the idea. Maxie was still too young to have had much change in her routine. As for himself, he quickly got those casino shows as a stuntman and coordinator. Yep, offering to join Batwoman and her Outsiders seemed to be working out for his whole family.
He circled in the air one more time to take in that beautiful image where desert landscape met city skyline, only to catch a glimpse of the large object out of the corner of his eye. Buddy Baker’s neck snapped to the left just as the object seemed to glide toward the ground a quarter mile from where he was. It was another human being whom he had unknowingly been sharing air space with. He arched his body, allowing the wind currents to guide him in that direction.
It was a male, nearly bald except for a shaggy Mohawk. He wore face-paint around his eyes that gave the illusion of a mask. His cloths were black with the design of a large winged bird on the front of it. Yet that wasn’t the strange part. No, for Buddy, that would be the wings that appeared come out of the stranger's arms..
Then the feathered man looked up at him, crossing his arms while glaring as Buddy circled him twice before gently landing next to him.
“Hi there! Name's Animal Man and I’m kind of new in these parts. Who might you be?”
“I know who you are, Bernhard Baker.” Up close Buddy could saw Native American in him, maybe even South American..
“Do we know each other?” Buddy asked, taken aback at the use of his real name by this stranger.
“I know you. Tocotl told me of your coming. We are connected, you and I. She told me that as well.” He continued to stare away from Buddy, his gaze never leaving the horizon.
“Connected? Like long-lost brothers or something because I’m not sure…”
“No. The Red.”
“The Red? What are you talking about? The red what? Are you okay? You need me to call someone? Maybe a padded white truck with a free jacket?”
The winged man finally turned to face him; his eyes black as coal, with barely any white at all.. “Be ready, Bernhard Baker, for you are here under false pretenses. You must be ready when it arrives. You will not be until you find peace within yourself.”
Buddy’s mouth opened as if he were about to speak but then closed again. He watched as the man took to the skies and flew away, toward the hills to the north. Buddy stood there for a long time before he moved, his skin covered in goose bumps, his heart racing. Something significant had just transpired; he was just superstitious enough to believe that. He was just unclear what that moment was, but the words were still echoing in his head.
“A-Man, you there?”
Buddy jumped as Nightwing's voice broke through the reverie.. He took a deep breath before answering. “Yeah, I’m here, Big Bird. What’s up?”
“Meet me across from the sheriff's office downtown in twenty minutes, we got ourselves a job.”
“I’ll be there.” He switched off the mic before sprinting back toward town. He tapped into a cougar that he somehow sensed was about five miles to the south, chewing on the carcass of jackrabbit. That was something new and something else to ponder. If nothing else he had a feeling that this new chapter in his life would not be dull.
*****************************
”The Justice League will be watching you now, Barbara. I’ll be watching you.”Batman’s words echoed in her head as she pulled her motorcycle up to the small apartment complex. Five units on the first floor, five on the second and Lonnie and his mother’s was thankfully on the bottom right corner.
”It’s okay, Barbara, we’re all on the same side. Never be afraid to call us. I think all of you were very brave and your team sacrificed an awful lot.”She pushed the thoughts to the back of her mind as she approached the door to the corner apartment. Three young men, all in their late teens by appearance, were hanging near the corner lamp, all with cigarettes and a halo of smoke circling above them. By the odor that seemed to be hanging in the air, they had had more than Marlboros recently.
“Hey there, leather lady,” one of them shouted. “Don’t know where you’re going, but I bet you and I could score it big at my place.”
She turned to him, taking two steps toward them as she entered into the glow of the corner light. When all three let out a synchronized gasp she couldn’t help but smile just a bit. When the press decides to give someone in her community the reputation of being a bit of an anti-hero it did come with a few privileges that up until recently only Batman had been able to acquire.
“Whoa!” One of them, not the one with the big mouth though, finally blurted out. “Our bad, Batwoman. We don’t want no trouble.”
“Go away.”
They ran.
The applause behind her made her spin around to find Manhunter, Plastic Man, and Grace standing in the middle of the dark deserted street. The bemused look on all three of their faces made her blush. Her head dropped sheepishly.
“Who’d a thought it?” Grace chuckled uncharacteristically.
“Thanks for the backup,” Batwoman replied, choosing to skip any retorts that were running through her head. Grace had been rather
touchy since her and Manhunter had officially called it quits, so seeing any kind of a smile on her friend's face was worth the embarrassment.
“You think he’s in there?” Manhunter asked as she withdrew her staff from behind her back.
Batwoman turned to the front door several feet from them. “If he is, he has to know by now we’re here. I doubt he is though. Just in case, Eel, go around to the back of the building and make sure there's no other way out. We’ll go in the front door, ladies.”
The three female Outsiders walked directly to the door. Barbara knocked three times before pulling a small device from one of her belt compartments. She slipped a thin end into the lock, squeezed the handle and there was a soft clicking sound before the door popped open.
Grace motioned for the other two to stand back as she took point, pushing the door open with one arm while raising her fist in preparation with the other. As she stepped into the living room of the small apartment she instantly covered her mouth and nose with her hand. She began to cough and gag as the odor overwhelmed all of them.
“What the fuck is that smell?”
“I have an idea,” Batwoman answered Grace’s question grimly as she too covered her mouth with her gloved hand. “But it’s not a pleasant one.”
“And you’d be right.” Plastic Man came in from the hallway, his face ashen-white. “There was a broken window in the bedroom so I took a peek inside. You’re not going to like what you see.”
He stepped aside, allowing Barbara to enter the bedroom that was the center of the stench; so bad, she actually wretched several times before regaining control. From the reaction she could hear behind her, her teammates also struggled.
She was prepared mentally for what she would see. The odor alone told her the body had been in the room for more than a week, maybe two. She turned the corner and stepped into the room proper but the moment her eyes made contact with what remained of the corpse the smell became nothing more than a minor nuisance. Her eidetic memory kicked into over drive with the realization that the decomposition of the body was in no way normal.
The mother of Anarky lay face up on the floor of her bedroom. She was completely naked, a needle still stuck in her left arm. Her eyes were open in horror; her mouth….
Oh no! No!… there was a green foam – now coagulated – that had run down the side of her cheek from that mouth…
not him, not yet… a mouth that smiled hideously, grinning while her dead eyes continued to look on in horror.
Even as her senses whirled with that information and her heart pounded faster, her brain processed the rest of the corpse. The throat and neck, all the way down to her chest was somehow burned open.
Acid The skin of on her breasts bore slight burns as well though the skin itself had already started to slightly decay. Her abdomen and hips seemed to be untouched; it was when Barbara’s eyes met with the lady's genitals that she let out her only audible gasp. It had been shredded, mangled to the point where Barbara would later, in her own notes, compare the sight of it to that of picking out slightly less than fresh ground beef from the grocery store. The apparent weapon lay between her slightly elevated legs.
The legs? It was then that she noticed an even more bizarre piece of the crime scene. The victim’s feet were planted firmly on the bedroom floor while her knees jutted in the air as if she were getting ready to do a round of crunches.
“Sweet Jesus…” Grace exhaled just moments before her stomach lurched and she expelled the Indian food she had had at lunch.
“Look at the face…” Manhunter whispered.
“Look at the weapon.” Plastic Man replied, picking up the sharp edged metal symbol of chaos.
“Anarky…” Batwoman nearly choked as the reality of the situation before her truly began to sink in.
